#i dunno man just the way some people act towards themselves confuses me

[arachaoticnid]

Ive never really understood the idea that a persons identity is innate and needs to be found. I suppose to some extent our identities are sculpted from birth and life but searching for the 'true' you sounds... impractical? at the very least. Why would you only look for yourself when you can create yourself?

[tobiosmilktea]

umpah umpah! smau

↪︎ bokuto x f!reader x iwaizumi

[008] — we meet again!

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a/n: i was listening to hozier while writing this which explains why both bokuto and iwaizumi is whipped for the mc ✨

asking if you were okay was a good question. really, it is—too bad you didn’t know the answer to that very question no matter how grossly interchangeable the words were tossed around and scrambled into nuances phrases. if anything, it made your mood turn even more sour as your two best friends tried their best to calm you down. keyword: tried

kaori was too busy dying of laughter as she would tease the glaring look on your face. “you’re going to pop a blood vessel, honey.” she snickered, holding her stomach as it ached under the constant tension.

meanwhile akaashi was still profusely apologizing beneath the latter’s amusement. a sigh left your lips for the umpteenth time in the span of five minutes as your arms braided over each other in frustration. “what the fuck are you trying to get at, keiji?”

a gasp practically escaped kaori as she slapped her hand over her mouth, “(y/n) used your first name, that’s how you now she’s pissed off.”

akaashi could only roll his eyes. it was to his best bet to ignore any of kaori’s quips as she’s known to escalate things just by the power of that witty brain of hers. “nothing!” the editor exclaimed as he turned back to you, “i just figured it wasn’t a big deal since you and bokuto both said you guys ended on good terms. besides, i warned you to check the list.”

“okay, but that doesn’t explain the fact that iwaizumi is here!” it was at this moment that you were glad the music was pumping loudly through the venue speakers to hide over your shouts.

“i told you they work for the same team, but i didn’t know they were friends until i saw who bokuto wanted to invite!”

you groan, “unbelievable.”

“i just don’t think you should let their presence ruin the rest of the night, (y/n).” akaashi mentions flatly.

“i agree,” kaori suddenly cuts in, “it’s your party, you could kick them out if you want.” she suggests with an impish tone and an expression laced in provocation.

“i’m not going to kick them out, kaori—” you’re interrupted then as she swiftly elbows you in the breast, “ouch! what was that for?”

 “sorry, i was aiming for your ribs not your titty.” she laughs briefly before motioning to a familiar figure making it’s way towards you three. perhaps it was his height that triggered a response in you to cause your heart to rapidly thump against your ribcage, but honestly, it was probably his spiked hair with white tips that was the perpetrator. “is that bokuto? oh fuck, he’s coming, act natural.”

great, you thought. you had to fight the urge to just walk away a leave, but you knew it wasn’t going to end well whatever you did. knowing your luck, you were going to stumble upon this man one way or another.

“akaashi, there you are!” bokuto calls out over the crowd, serpentining his way through groups of conversating individuals to reach his best friend. but in all honesty, akaashi knew what this guy was doing. bokuto didn’t listen to a word he said in his text messages as the volleyball player ended up coming over here either way just to talk to you.

you’re over (y/n) my ass, akaashi thinks to himself, feigning from rolling his eyes again because at this point, it was just a matter of time before everything came crashing down.

it almost felt like a target was on you, perhaps a red laser shining right in the middle of your forehead the moment bokuto flickered his attention to you. “(y/n)! it’s so nice seeing you again!”

you nod as an awkwardly smile melted on your expression, “it’s nice seeing you too, bokuto.” despite your meek demeanor, what you said certainly wasn’t a lie. you would be lying to yourself if you said that you didn’t miss bokuto and his warming aura. you suppose it was the sudden meeting that caused your fight or flight response to suddenly kick in.

bokuto’s eyebrows furrow slightly, “bokuto? what happened to calling me kou?”

as if the situation wasn’t already difficult being in, it was as if he flicked another match into the burning dumpster fire of a party. “well... we haven’t seen each other in years, so i thought it was appropriate.”

“ah...” his voice trailed on as a few beats of silence ensued.

“oh shit,” kaori suddenly curses under her breath as she nonchalantly spilled his drink all over her arm. “um, akaashi could you come and help me clean this off?” she asks in faux concern, not bothering to give the guy a chance to answer as she tugged him away.

you couldn’t help but feel a faint smirk forming on your lips as you watched the two disappear into the crowd. kaori was always good at acting herself out of awkward situations that you honestly had to applaud her. maybe later you would teasingly remind her to audition for the webtoon’s live action just to spite her. it was just a little mindless payback for leaving you alone with your ex-boyfriend.

your striking gazes met again as you turned your attention back towards bokuto. at first glance, he looked exactly the same as you last saw him—then again, the last time you did see bokuto was when you two decided to break up on the day before graduation, you couldn’t remember much of him as it was dark under the midnight sky as tears blurred your vision. even when things ended up mutual with no hard feelings, you still couldn’t help but feel a tug at your heart when you recalled the way bokuto looked at you then.

it was hard to sleep that night. 

it was a bizarre juxtaposition of comparing eighteen year old bokuto to him now. rather than appearing before you with messy hair and tears streaming down his face, he was beaming in some contagious lightheartedness. it was a feeling you never thought you would feel so nostalgic in as he still smelt like fresh chamomile. he was much bigger now, more buff as one would say and not to mention taller as well.

perhaps going professional really treated this man wonders as you had to admit how increasingly more attractive he has gotten.

“you look great, by the way.” bokuto says, pulling you out of your thoughts as you realize how long you have been staring.

“thanks...” god, this is awkward. this certainly wasn’t leaving a good impression on your part, “you don’t look too bad either.”

a red tint burned at the tips of bokuto’s ears as he scratched the nape of his neck like it was some kind of nervous tic. he usually doesn’t get nervous meeting people, new or old, yet there was something about the way you look at him even after all these years that would send his heart rate into the extremes. he hated how this all ended due to your differing aspirations. “congrats on having a successful webtoon. love cemetery is amazing and i’m obsessed if you couldn’t already tell.”

“i never really pinned you to be one of my biggest fanboys, you know.”

“i’ve always been your biggest fanboy,” bokuto assured with a smirk, “how about you, are you still my biggest fangirl?”

you playfully scoffed at his statement, “um...”

“um?” he pressed, finding the amusement in your eyes adorable.

“i dunno, i haven’t really kept up with volleyball after high school.” you chuckled, swirling the contents of your drink in your hand. “besides, i think you have enough fangirls drooling over you.”

“who needs all of them if i have you?”

you rolled your eyes as you took a sip from the alcohol in your hands. “you’re flirting again.”

“isn’t that the reason why you dated my in the first place?” bokuto jested, feeling the burning in his cheeks as he couldn’t stop smiling. this was progress to him knowing that this playful banter was enough to surely get you two to reconnect again.

you peered your eyes at him suspiciously, “you’re planning something, aren’t you?”

“you’re making it sound like i’m evil!”

“well, are you?”

“of course i’m not,” said bokuto, “i just wanted us to be friends again.”

“you’re kidding.”

he shook his head, “never in a million years.”

you weren’t sure if it was his words that made your chest feel warm or if it was the alcohol in your system. regardless, you refused to let bokuto affect you so easily in a span of a couple minutes even if you took your alcohol well.

“at least you weren’t kidding when you said you were going professional.” you hummed, leaning against one of the smaller round tables as you stared into the crowd. you were hoping bokuto would do the same, but he’d rather look at you than a congregation of random strangers.

“and you weren’t kidding either when you said you wanted to become an artist.”

“i mean, becoming a webtoon artist wasn’t exactly what i thought i was going to be, but i’m glad where i am now in life.” you answered as your eyes wandered the room.

“even without me in it?” god, what a flirt.

that infamous laugh of yours emitted from your cherry-colored lips. it was the type of laugh everyone found themselves attracted to and never annoyed, in fact, it was the laugh bokuto hadn’t even realized he missed so much until the moment it left you.

his mindless attempts at flirting was catching up to you now as you couldn’t fight the feeling of the heat rising to your cheeks. “well, you’re right in front of me aren’t you?”

“things are different know, though...”

“right but—” you tried to respond, but was inevitably interrupted by yuko.

she came up to you in a slight hurry, calling out your name before apologizing to bokuto. “sorry to cut your conversation so short, but i need (y/n) to come take care of something for me.”

confusion melted upon your expression as you turned to her, “we do?”

“we do,” she huffs.

“it’s alright,” bokuto says while motioning for you to follow suit of your manager. “let’s catch up more sometime, yeah?”

you smile at him, one that’s less mediocre and awkward and a bit more genuine. “of course,” was the last thing you could say before yuko yanked at your arm once again until you were in just another body in the crowd.

despite yuko’s hand firmly gripped around your wrist to ensure you wouldn’t get lost in the sea of people, it was difficult trying to focus at one thing at a time. at first it was the worry about your manager and her sudden interruption, but now it was trying your best not to spill your drink due to all the drunken bodies bumping into yours. were there really this many people on the invite list?

grumbling to your self, you threw your head back as you finished the last bits of drink in your hand while you were pulled through the crowd like a ragdoll. having to pay for a stranger’s dry cleaning due to a spilled drink was the last thing on your mind right now.

“what did you want me to help you with?” you shout over to your manager once she slowed down.

“nothing,” said yuko over her shoulder, “i was watching you and bokuto talk and you kept getting redder and redder i thought you were going to pass out.”

embarrassment flushed through, cheeks heating up again at the thought. “ugh, was it that obvious?” you groaned as your head fell from the utter humiliation that was coursing through your body at that moment—far too distracted that your humiliation could only worsen the moment you bumped into another.

“sorry, i wasn’t looking—” the apologetic tone in your voice subsided as your eyes flickered up to whoever’s chest it was up to a yet another familiar face.

“(y/n)?” he says.

“iwaizumi?” you say.

your names were jumbled up in unison just as much as your thoughts immediately dissipated into thin air. just my luck, huh? you swore you were dreaming. nothing in the absolute world could possibly make such a ironic turn of events as if you were in some melodrama yourself. call it fate or destiny, but bumping into both of your exes within a span of ten minutes was something you never would’ve wished upon yourself.

“it’s um... fancy meeting you here.” you start the second you flicker a look over to yuko as she could only give you a pitiful smile. “it’s been a while, right?”

regardless of the confident aura you were extruding right now, you were completely freaking out for the third time this evening. you knew today was going to affect you emotionally, but you wasn’t expecting it to be like this. you were expecting to get a bit emotional due to the fact your webtoon that you poured your absolute heart and soul into has come to an end and not because two attractive dudes from your past just coincidentally came back into your life.

and yet it didn’t matter, it wasn’t like iwaizumi could see through that little façade of false confidence in your expression as it felt like he was meeting you for the first time all over again. it fit all down to a tee from the way his adam’s apple bobbed up and down in his throat to his breath hitching from the sight or to the infamous monarch butterflies tickling his gut.

“it’s nice to see you too, (y/n)...” his words trailed as you couldn’t help but notice how deeper his voice had gotten since the last time you’ve seen him. granted, he was fifteen back then and had a lot of time to grow up and become this absolute adonis.

iwaizumi certainly wasn’t planning on coming across you this evening either. if anything, you two both shared that internal panic when your eyes briefly met at the start of the party. however, he couldn’t help but feel a bit relieved knowing that in the end you two did manage to cross ways. he supposes that after seeing you and bokuto talk as if you two have known each other for years created an inkling feeling in his gut.

he hates the way you distracted him the majority of the night. it wasn’t like you two were on talking terms especially after years of not seeing each other, yet it felt strange for him to even let himself feel this way.

besides, iwaizumi felt absolutely terrible knowing satomi was trying her hardest to capture his lingering attention by making conversation about anything—literally anything.

anyone who had been friends with iwaizumi in the past know he’s an absolute sweetheart, but at the same time, he’s honest. he’s not the type to hesitate in telling someone the cold hard truth even if it meant hurting their feelings, yet whenever he would look at satomi, he couldn’t bring himself to say that he wasn’t interested in the conversation.

you cleared your throat, pulling iwaizumi back from his thoughts, “so... i heard that you became the new athletic trainer for the black jackals.” the man before you nods as he was stilling taking you all in. was he staring at you for that long? “i thought were living in california, why the sudden change of plans?”

iwaizumi shrugs as he took a sip of his beer, “i ended up getting a better job offer here, so i decided to move back. why? have you missed me?”

the moment those words left his lips, he immediately wanted to slap his hand over his mouth and cringe. why was he suddenly so flirtatious with you? was it because he saw you and bokuto flirting earlier, was that it?

you chuckled in amusement as you nod. you honestly weren’t going to lie that his words did catch you off guard for a second. something like this was definitely not in iwaizumi’s handbook his (more or less) complicated personality, yet you decided to play along anyway. “of course i have, iwa! i’m not soulless, you know.”

iwa? the man before thought to himself, what happened to haji? he shook the thought out of his as he opened his mouth in attempt to speak, but he noticed your attention leaving his and onto the person beside him.

satomi cleared her throat as she looks at him innocently, waiting for iwaizumi to introduce her to you.

“oh uh,” he motions his head to the team’s physical therapist next to him, “this is yahagi satomi, she’s my—”

“—date for this evening,” she cuts iwaizumi off and answers for him, catching him a bit off guard and confused, yet he doesn’t correct her. granted, satomi was his plus one so it made sense.

you purse your lips as you took in her features. she was a bit on the shorter side with her long copper hair pulled back into a sleek high ponytail as her bangs were styled perfectly to fit her face. semi was right, she is pretty. it was then you stuck your hand out for her to shake, feeling who cold her palm was compared to yours. “it’s nice to meet you. how long have you two been together?” you ask out of the blue.

i mean, what’s wrong with a little curiosity?

“oh no, we’re not together.” iwaizumi is quick to answer, not even noticing satomi’s slight change in expression when she parted her lips to answer herself. “she’s just my plus one because bokuto told us to.”

you nod at his words, trying your best to ignore the intravenous relief that was coursing through you at that moment. you realized how long you had been standing there then, failing to notice that yuko was still by your side the entire time. if anything, she was just trying to help you out once again as she could literally feel the rising tension in the air. if you were to talk to satomi any longer, it would surely go wrong knowing your luck. luckily, she spots sugawara’s silvery hair just a few feet away.

yuko wasn’t entirely sure how in the hell she was going to get his attention to save your asses, but it was going to happen one way or another. she was just glad you were too preoccupied talking to iwaizumi and satomi that yuko was able to text sugawara to come over.

she watched sugawara feel the buzzing of his phone in his pocket, observing his every move as he pulls it out and read the text as the screen light shined over his face. he looked up then, eyes scanning the room briefly before landing upon yuko’s familiar figure standing next to yours.

the manager widens to eyes a bit at him like a warning to come over here.

she wasn’t sure what was so hard to understand from the pure helplessness in her expression, but sugawara was taking his sweet ass time.

yuko grumbled to herself. at this point, perhaps she was just trying to save herself.

it was then sugawara was finally making his way over to you and yuko. “oh hey, iwaizumi! long time no see, sorry to interrupt but i need to borrow (y/n) and yuko for a second.”

you gave sugawara a confused look as it washed over your expression. again? ugh, give me a break. however, before you could excuse yourself from the conversation, iwaizumi grabs your upper arm lightly.

“(y/n),” he stops you in place, “we should catch up sometime.”

you open your mouth to respond, but sugawara interjects before you could. “why not catch up now?” he suggests, causing all four of you to snap your head towards him, “i’m sure i’ll just yuko’s help will be enough, plus (y/n) has tons of time to talk to more guests.”

the silver haired man gives you a sly wink before taking yuko with him and leaving you behind. great.

you honestly couldn’t excuse yourself now as it would be obvious why no matter how many excuses you come up with, so you had to power through. besides, what could go wrong with talking with your first love and some random girl that somehow gives you a weird vibe?

“so how do you guys know each other?” satomi questions you, suddenly interested in your relationship with iwaizumi. it sounds suspicious, yet she was genuinely wondering if she was attempting to make moves on someone like iwaizumi was a good idea.

“we went to middle and a little bit of high school together,” you answer as a matter-of-fact. there was surely no need to lie.

her eyebrows rise in curiosity, “that makes sense... you guys must have been really close, huh.”

you flickered a look to iwaizumi, examining his reaction if he was also noticing her off words. “yeah... really close.” his expression melted into confusion then as you placed your gaze back to satomi.

iwaizumi scratched the back of his neck as the words remained at the tip of his tongue. why weren’t you mentioning that you two dated before? it wasn’t like it was a crime nor secret. he hated to think this, but could it be because you regretted your relationship with him?

he shook the thought out of his head quickly. the obvious answer was no as the breakup was mutual, yet after all these years of drifting apart, was that really the truth?

if he recalled correctly, one of the last words you said to him before you inevitably left for tokyo and never looked back was that you love him and would always be there for him no matter what. you even promised to text him as much as possible, yet after months had passed since you moved to your new life, it was as if the promise was nonexistent. however, iwaizumi couldn’t bring himself to blame you. if anything, he had himself to blame considering how many times he had written that same text over and over again, yet never had the courage to send it.

“(y/n) had to move to tokyo after our first year so we kind of drifted.” iwaizumi answers. even now with the chance open for him to mention your previous relationship was out in the open, he was still do cowardly to say it.

perhaps somethings never change.

fun facts! —

iwaizumi wasn’t really keen on using social media back in high school, which explains why he never really found out about (y/n) and bokuto’s relationship

it wasn’t like (y/n) and bokuto liked posting about their relationship either at the time

satomi and bokuto have always been homies after they have gotten closer when bokuto injuredhis knee and had to go to physical therapy, but he never really talked about his past relationships, hence satomi not knowing about (y/n)

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[derpangel]

Wrath

That sinking feeling in my stomach. From the moment I woke up it did not leave my side. A constant heavy weight in my core.

Something is wrong, something I can’t properly attach a reason to, but I simply knew something is not right.

Groaning I raise my hands, with them flanking my head. With a hiss of air I remove my helmet, exposing my features to the warm midday air. Turning my helmet around I face it. Looking deep in to the jet black glass of my helmets lens, the feeling in my core only grew.

Frowning I look around, soldiers filling the trench we are tasked with holding, MG nests lining my right with man and woman diligently keeping watch for the slightest of hostile movements.

Glancing to my left I see one of my friends sitting next to me, his armor decorated with a distinctive blue line painted across his chest , his eyes closed.

“You doing alright?” I ask him, wondering if he’s feeling something similar as me.

“Tired.” he responded, monotone voice not allowing me to pick up anything.

Raising a eyebrow I look back to my helmet “A bad feeling kept you from sleeping?”

From the corner of my eyes I see him sit straight up, his body turning stiff “Dunno, just couldn’t sleep.”

Sighing I look up to the sky, something is wrong, I just know it.

As I’m facing up, my eyes closed, another voice in front of me rings out “Sargent, something the matter?”

With the voice my eyes shot open. Scrambling to my feet I quickly salute the person standing before me.

Standing slightly shorter than me, my commanding officer stands before me. ”Ma’am!” being the only thing leaving my mouth as my helmet thuds off of the ground.

“At ease. Something troubling you?” she asks me while I pick up my helmet.

“No ma’am.” I quickly respond.

“It doesn’t take a expert to tell Sargent. Consider it an order, speak up.” she simply responded, shooting down my poor attempt at hiding my worries.

Staying quiet for a few moments I shake my head “Ma’am, something’s wrong. I have no prof, but I just know that something isn’t right.”

A sigh escaped her as she shook her head, I stiffened at the response. Perhaps it would have been better not to speak.

“I had hoped that you would not say that.” she announced. Confusion starting to grow in me.

“I have seen many soldiers look concerned since this morning, questioning them resulted in the same answer, something just being wrong. I hade wrote it off as nerves acting up, but if somebody like you feels the same....nerves have nothing to do with it.” a frown formed on my face with her words, I’m not alone. Something really is amiss.

Before ether of us could speak a soldiers voice filled our ears “Gas! Gas on the horizon! Seal helmets!”

Looking back at my commander, with her meeting my eyes, I quickly throw my helmet on, the familiar sound and feeling of the helmet sealing coming over me. Soldiers around us started to rapidly move, setting up at the trench end to repel any attack that may come.

Walking up to the trench myself, my weapon in hand, I look past the craters formed by explosions to see a wave of green rapidly approaching our position. Only the Vek use poison gas, and only on civilians at that. Air scrubbers come standard in any military helmet now a day, meaning this is a mute attempt. But as I watch the wall of green get closer, a feeling of dread comes over me.

Having no time to question it, the wall of green moves over us. Tinting all our sights in green. Readying my weapon for the incoming attack, my body stopped moving. A burning sensation filled my lunges as I stumbled back from the trench wall, many soldiers collapsing to the ground around me. A cough escaped me, then another, and another. The burning sensation growing ever worse in my chest. All around me the sound of soldiers coughing filled my ears. my eyes darting around at the sight of soldiers collapsed on the ground.

Breathing becomes agony, as with every breath I attempt to make the burning in my chest grows. Falling to my knees I feel something warm slowly flowing down my chin. Collapsing to the ground, all I can do is watch my fellow man suffer a slow and agonizing death.

As my body grows motionless, in front of me a foot appears, the foot walking past me. Turning my head I see one of our soldiers walking through the green air, no signs of the gas affecting him. As I watch him, the soldier turns around, his head watching the death all around him. My eyes widening at the sight of a blue stripe across his chest.

As I watch him, he moves out of the trench towards the Vek line. With every moment the truth of the situation grew ever clearer.

A traitor.

He’s a traitor.

As I lay on the ground a new sensation starts to come over me. Another burning sensation. A burning that consumed the pain the gas gifted me with. 

A person I called a friend did this, he would not only doom us to a slow and agonizing death, but if we fall, the city, the people we swore to protect would suffer just like this.

I could no longer feel the pain of my lunges failing, the pain of them falling apart. That did not mater. None of that matters now. I can’t accept this.

No, I won’t accept this! I refuse to let anything happen to civilians, to the people I swore to lay my life down for!

Gritting my teeth I start pushing myself off of the ground, forcing myself on to my knees I grab my helmet and rip it off. The moment I do blood pores out and covers me in its crimson color. Throwing it away I cough once more, more blood spilling on to the ground.

Looking up I see countless of my comrades lying on the ground, motionless. Succumb to the grim fate thrown at us. But among them, movement. Some of my brothers and sisters yet live, as they rise, defiance burning within them.

Raising to my feel I make my way to the trench wall, my feet dragging as I force all the strength in me to allow me to move. Reaching the wall I collapse on it, beyond the trench a legion of Vek slowly moving closer in the open. No attempt at seeking cover, so sure in there victory as they crawl across the ground.

The sound of bodies hitting something solid echoes in our trench as more and more dying soldiers throw themselves at the trench walls. And to my left a figure climbs out of the trench.

The figure leaning against a pole holding the flag of our empire, legs shaking as they stand. After a few moments they remove there helmet, my commanders platinum hair, now tainted a crimson red in spots, lightly swaying in the wind.

Only the soft hum of wind filling the air as the Vek stopped there advance at the sight. She looked at them, rage, hatred, and defiance burning in her eyes as she took in a deep breath, blood dripping from her mouth in the proces.

Knowing what is to come, I raise my weapon, my sights instantly landing on a all to familiar sight to me. A humanoid figure, with a blue stripe across there chest.

My commanding officers voice broke the silence, her roar shaking the ground we stand on “Let none live! Sow despair in there hearts!”

And with her roar, she fell to her knees, her arm raised as she fired the first shot from her handgun. Now she may rest, having done her duty. For now we must complete our duty as well.

A roar escaped me as I pull the trigger, my round crossing the field.

With it a body falls, the body of one who should have been tried for his crimes, but was shown mercy with a quick end.

Following me the roars of countless broken bodies fill the air, followed by countless weapon fire, hundreds of our MGs silenced, but there fury living on in the ones that fight.

Climbing out of the trench I slowly shamble my way towards the panicked and retreating Vek, My weapon firing with every step I take.

They will not reach the city for as long as we breath!

[ugly-crying-over-bucky-barnes]

The Love Yet Known Part 2

Summary: Tommy Shelby needs to make sacrifices to ensure the safety of his family. So he concocts a plan to marry off his sister to the one and only Alfie Solomons.

Thanks for the love for the first part! Heres for you, @97freaknik. Sorry the tagging system isn’t working. 

And thank you to my permanent tag who have yet to block me despite my spamming of works. 

          The drive to London was almost absolutely silent. Neither Alfie nor Eliza really knew what to say to one another. It was as if they were just acting out something for the sake of Tommy. Neither of them exactly knew how they’d ended up in such a predicament.

            Alfie’s mind was racing, wondering how stupid he was to agree to something like marrying a Shelby. He thought about the ramifications, was there even a rabbi who would consider converting her and allowing them to marry? What sort of effect would this have on his life in the long run?

            He glanced to his left where Eliza had been sitting quietly since they’d left Warwickshire. Her eyes were locked on the window, never turning her head. He wondered if she was wishing she was on the outside, not in the car with him. Maybe she figured if she didn’t look at him, she wouldn’t have to think of the arrangement.  

            Alfie cleared his throat, the silence too uncomfortable for his liking. “Erm, you like dogs?” He asked.

            She looked away from the window to show she had heard him. “Pardon?”

            “Dogs? Do you like dogs? I have a dog.” He clarified. “He ain’t mean or anything. I bought him to be a guard dog but he had other plans. Too nice for his own good.”

            A hint of a smile formed on her lips. The sense of humor didn’t exactly fit his image. But it did help her relax a little. “Yes, I like dogs.”

            “Good. That’s good. I sorta have a nasty habit of picking up strays.” He admitted. “I don’t keep all of ‘em. There’s a charity that a dear friend of mine runs. They train dogs to help blind people. So, they take in most of the strays.” He rubbed the back of his neck. It was strange. It was almost as if he was trying to list off his good traits so Eliza wouldn’t look at him like he was a monster. Maybe he could put her mind at ease. “But, Cyril I kept. Cyril’s me dog. I kept him, couldn’t give him away.” The silence on Eliza’s end was killing him. He wanted her to say exactly what she thought about him. Most people who worked for him kept their opinions to themselves. Most of his business partners/enemies were vocal about what they thought. But neither of those opinions mattered. Because none of those people were intending to marry him. If they were to marry, Alfie wanted to know Eliza’s opinion of him. Even if she said she hated him and wished him dead, at least he would know.

            “He sounds lovely.” She said politely.

            “Yeah…he is.” Alfie fiddled with one of his rings. He wasn’t sure how he was going to make this work. It gave him a headache thinking about it.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Much to Alfie’s relief, Eliza took immediately to Cyril. The bullmastiff seemed to enjoy a female presence in the flat. At least she didn’t feel completely alone in Camden Town. Alfie just felt a little guilty that her only companion was a slobbery, goofy dog.

            Still, he capitalized on her affection for the mutt. He allowed her to take Cyril out for walks whenever she pleased and didn’t say anything when Cyril started to sleep in her bedroom.

            Meanwhile, Alfie was trying to figure out the complicated matters of converting Eliza so they could get married. Tommy continued to call to push the matter. It was clear over the phone that he was desperate to make the union complete. The Italians would be closing in at any time and Tommy didn’t need another threat from Camden Town to weigh on him.

            “Y’know, I know you’re godless, Tommy. I understand that, but us godly men have rules and those rules simply cannot be tampered with. Centuries of laws, mate, can’t be overturned ‘cause you find it inconvenient.” Alfie said over the phone.

            “I gave you money to ensure it.”

            “Right, well some rabbis take bribes as an insult, mate.”

            “Alfie, if you’re holding out on me…” Tommy warned.

            “She’s been living with me for nearly a month, Thomas, if I really wanted to back out, I would’ve sent her home to you.” He cut the man off.

            Tommy muttered something over the line but Alfie couldn’t hear what it was.

            “There’s a rabbi that Ollie found that might go through with the conversion and marriage,” Alfie said. “When I hear from him, I’ll let you know.”

            The Blinder seemed to have his worries put to rest at least for the time being. “And how is she doing there?”

            “Well, her best friend is me dog,” Alfie replied honestly. “She hardly speaks to me, not that I blame her much.”

            “She’s always been quiet,” Tommy assured him.

            “Well, circumstances ‘n such.” Alfie sighed and cracked his knuckles. “Anyways, I’ll let you know, Tom. I’ll let you know.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~           

            One night a couple of days later, Alfie and Eliza were sat down together for dinner. “I just wanted you to know that I’ve found rabbis who are willing to convert you.” He brought up the topic.

            “Oh. Okay.” She nodded.

            Alfie had learned over the few weeks together that she was a difficult person to read. She was a lot like Tommy, and less like her other brothers who were prone to showing their emotions on the outside. She always spoke to him in a calm, steady, and polite manner. Almost as if she were afraid of setting him off, or it was simply just her demeanor. Alfie would’ve preferred if she were a bit more like Arthur, as terrible as that would be. At least he would know what she was thinking instead of having to guess.

            “Didya…well…have ya put any thought into it? I mean, ain’t a small decision.”

            Eliza shrugged as she pushed her food around the plate with her fork. “I haven’t put much thought into religion.” She admitted. “Polly was the only one who took Christianity seriously in our family.”

            “Right.” He nodded. “Still, being Jewish is more a way of life, innit?”

            “That’s what I’ve been told.” Alfie had arranged for Ollie’s wife to give some insight to Eliza into what it meant to be a Jewish wife. He assumed they’d bonded, but Eliza didn’t say much about it. Though, she did frequently visit Ruth and her and Ollie’s pack of kids. She never said what they spoke about.

            “Right. Well, just wanted to know what your thoughts about it were.” He posed the question again, hoping to get a little further into her mindset.

            “Ruth said if we were going to have children, they needed to be brought up fully Jewish. Or at least, that’s what she thought your intentions were.”

            Alfie cleared his throat. How could they discuss children? Of course, it was a factor but a child wouldn’t just magically appear once they were married. And they hadn’t even touched each other aside from the mistaken brush of an arm. “Well, right.” He tilted his head to the side, hoping suddenly for an interruption so he could leave the conversation.

            “Alfie?”

            The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. It was the first time she had addressed him by name. The way she spoke his name was so soft. Like nothing, he’d heard before. “Hm?” He couldn’t exactly speak properly.

            “Do you think I’m afraid of you?”

            He raised an eyebrow. “Afraid? Well, I’d hope not. I told your brothers that I ain’t here to hurt you.”

            “Then why do you walk on eggshells around me?”

            Alfie opened his mouth but only let out a small, confused grumble. It must’ve been that Shelby wit that had gotten them there. She was so good at concealing her feelings that Alfie looked like a fool. Dancing around the topic, trying to please her, giving her everything she wanted. God, he must’ve looked like a sap.

            She smiled slightly. “I didn’t expect you to try to impress me so much. The way my brothers spoke of you, I was expecting something else entirely.”

            He drummed his fingers on the table. “There’s a difference, yeah, ‘tween business and me personal life. What your brothers see ain’t what you’ll see.” He tried to explain.

            It was different from her family’s mentality, or Tommy’s to be more specific. In the Shelby family, everyone dealt with family business. There were no exceptions unless you absconded. Even then, it was tricky to escape business. But it appeared Alfie was keener to keep his two lives separate. Eliza considered how this difference might benefit her.

            “All the day’s shit, yeah, it gets left at the fucking door.” He pointed down the hall toward the front door. “This is sorta a sanctuary, innit?”

            Eliza nodded. “That sounds nice.”

            “Nice, yeah it is nice.” He agreed.

            They were quiet for a moment, neither of them really wanted to return to the conversation topic of children. It seemed too fresh.

            “Ruth is trying to teach me how to cook kosher.” She spoke up after a bit. It was the first time she offered any information without Alfie prompting her. Maybe because now she felt the flat was a safe place for her. “Just, I dunno if you were wondering why I’m there for so long.”

            Alfie shrugged. “I’m glad you two have gotten along. Didn’t want you to feel lonely here.” He admitted and went back to eating before his dinner went cold.  

            Eliza watched him for a split second. So, he cared about how she felt? Imagine that.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            It took quite a bit of convincing to get the rabbis to convert Eliza. Wrestling with tradition, Alfie knew he was asking for a lot. But the conversion went through and under Jewish law, he was allowed to marry her. Not that he was looking for some massive wedding. It would be best to call the least amount of attention to himself as possible. The Camden community might not take kindly to his bride-to-be if they found out she was a convert. And if they found out she was a Shelby? Well, granted, Alfie was scary enough to thwart off criticism. But he didn’t want the rumors to get around to Eliza. He didn’t want her to feel unwelcome.

            In reality, Alfie felt as though he was going mad. Since when had he given two shits about someone’s comfort? His job was basically to make people feel uncomfortable so they’d be more willing to listen. But apparently, Eliza had made quite an impact on him.

            She fit in very nicely in his flat. Never made a fuss or anything. That wasn’t to say she was like a little dormouse. She wasn’t very tidy. Alfie chalked this up to her growing up with five siblings. He didn’t particularly mind, though. It was nice to see the flat actually lived in. For so long it had been just a place to sleep. But Alfie realized he had grown fond of coming home late from work and finding traces of Eliza throughout the house.

            A dirty pan in the sink, her book on the sofa, a couple of hairpins on the coffee table, and the stray teacup with cold tea that had been forgotten about.

            For a brief moment, as he cleaned up, he wondered if their children would be just as messy. Alfie could imagine coming home to the floor littered with toys. It brought a smile to his face.

            Of course, children was still a conversation they had to have. Alfie loathed the fact that they had to get over that little mountain of a decision. He wouldn’t dare force anything onto her. Purely by his own standards and morals. Plus, the added benefit of getting a bullet in his head courtesy of the Shelby boys.

            So, he waited and hoped that was something they could get to. Because, despite their relationship still being merely two people who lived together, he did like her. More so, even.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~

            The wedding, although very traditional in the ritual sense, was very small. Only a few people very close to Alfie attended if only to witness the union. There wasn’t a reception or party to follow. No grand affair.

            They simply walked out of the building as man and wife.

            “Alfie, can I ask you something?”

            “’Course.” It was a bit strange. Eliza was standing in the foyer as he went to go feed Cyril. Standing in her wedding dress, she looked a bit out of place.

            “I know what is…expected of us tonight.” She wrung her hands together. “But I don’t think I’m quite ready. I’m sorry I just…”

            Alfie felt oddly relieved. He was hoping she would say something, otherwise, he’d feel like a monster if she went through with consummating the marriage and she wasn’t ready. “No reason to apologize, love.” He walked back out of the kitchen, shrugging off his jacket. “Ain’t any rush.”

            “I appreciate that.” She said softly. “Thank you.”

            “So…I’ll see you tomorrow then? I’ve got to work early.”

            “I’ll make breakfast.” She offered.

            “Nah, that’s alright. You don’t need to get up so early.”

            “I don’t mind…”

            “S’alright, love.” He gave her a warm smile and held out an arm, allowing her to go upstairs first.

            Eliza smiled back, feeling her cheeks warm a bit. She went upstairs, allowing Cyril to trot by her.

            “I had a few things shipped in from Paris. Sorta wedding gift, if you will. I hope you don’t mind, I asked Ruth if she could help me.” Alfie said as he climbed the stairs behind her. “I left it on your bed.”

            “Oh, Alfie, you didn’t need to-”

            “S’alright.” He assured her, meeting her at the top of the stairs. “You Shelbys like nice things, aye?”

            She shrugged. “I’m a Solomons now.” She pointed out.

            He let out a brief chuckle. “Yeah, that’s true. F’ya want, we can get a nice box for your dress. Maybe to store it? I dunno, me mum did the same thing. I still have her dress, fuck if I know what I’m gonna do with it. But she-well it were the only thing she brought from Russia.”

            “I understand, it’s important to you.” Eliza agreed.

            Alfie rubbed a hand over his beard. “Yeah. Yeah, it is. Well, I won’t keep you up.”

            “Goodnight, Alfie.” She smiled at him before going down the hall to her room. Like he said, there was a large box on her bed. After shutting the door, Eliza opened the top and found an array of beautiful pieces of clothing that must’ve cost a fortune. Beaded gowns, satin gloves, a fur-lined coat, and much more. Eliza carefully unpacked everything, folding the items or hanging them up in the closet. Then she landed on a pair of silk pajamas that looked like what picture stars wore. A gorgeous burgundy color with embroidered designs on the cuffs of the shirt and pants.

            She smiled and felt her heart skip a beat. It had been a little unnerving knowing that she would become a Jewish wife. There were a lot of changes she had to make, moving to Camden, marrying Alfie, and trying to keep her end of the bargain by converting. But in the end, she was still married to a gangster. One who, although he looked simply, did like luxury items. And maybe it was how he was trying to show his affection for her.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Married life wasn’t all that different for Alfie. He continued to work the same tireless hours and continued to keep up his agenda of legal and illegal operations. Mostly illegal.

            What changed was coming home to a gentle person who had a good skill of keeping the flat calm. Alfie assumed that like the other Shelbys, Eliza would manage to only raise his blood pressure. But she had the opposite effect.

            She had become more of an open book with him, which led Alfie to believe they were moving in the right direction. She told him more about what she did during the day. Mainly, she spent her time with Ruth and some of the other women in the neighborhood.

            It was nice to hear things that weren’t related to business. Alfie’s entire life was business. Now he had someone else to occupy his thoughts.

            As the weeks wore on, both Eliza and Alfie began talking on a more intimate level. Soon she found she was telling him things not even her siblings knew. Things that were very personal to her.       

            She also began to notice Alfie stealing a few looks her way. Meanwhile, she found herself looking forward to seeing him every day and often was disappointed if he worked late and she fell asleep before he came home. Her heart skipped a beat when he smiled at her or called her pet names. She figured it was just instinct, something he did to everyone. But it felt special to her.

            Eliza realized, when winter came, that there was no reason for her sheepishness. They were married, after all. If she wanted to further their relationship, all she had to do was ask.

            So, she did. One night, Alfie came home late from work. He picked at some leftovers waiting for him, before heading upstairs. His hip was bothering him as the days got colder, so he wasn’t in a grand mood. When he reached the second floor, the door to Eliza’s room opened.           

            “Sorry, love, didn’t mean to wake you.”

            “You didn’t, I was waiting for you to get home.” She lingered in the doorway for a moment. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you come in, I would’ve kept you company while you ate.”

            “S’alright, didn’t eat much.” He shrugged. “There something you needed?”

            “Well, yes.” She walked into the hallway. It felt a little silly asking her husband what she was going to ask. So, Eliza gained some of that Shelby confidence and looked him in the eye. “Will you kiss me?”

            It certainly wasn’t what Alfie expected. He thought maybe she wanted to use the car or needed some spending cash. So, he felt a little bad that he was silent for so long, but he didn’t know what to say. “Erm, I didn’t-well-”

            Eliza began to clam up, fearing she had overstepped a line. Maybe it was all in her head and Alfie didn’t really like her all that much. “Sorry, I shouldn’t’ve asked…”

            Alfie caught her hand before she could scurry back to her room. He drew her closer and his other hand cupped her cheek. His eyes searched her face before he kissed her, trying to get a mental image of her locked in his head. The tiny bit of freckles on her face, the wintery blue eyes looking up, yearning, and the way her lips parted slightly. He would catalog the little bits of information away because he couldn’t imagine how this would last long. Nothing good in life ever lasted long and Eliza was one of the best damn things that ever happened to him.

            That night, Eliza slept in Alfie’s room for the first time. It was how she came to the realization that her husband was just a big bear. Grumpy, stubborn, yet he cared for his own. Eliza liked that. She had grown up around bristly love. Polly marched them to mass every Sunday no matter how much they complained because she wanted to ‘save their souls’. Arthur would gladly murder any boy who gave her even the slightest of looks. Tommy was stern but she found out later it was because they had no father figure so he had to take on the role. And John? Well, John pretended to hate his twin sister. He wanted to appear tough in front of his friends and teased her at school. But every night, when there was no available light to read, he conjured up a story for her.

            Other people may not have understood, but Eliza knew that real relationships couldn’t be found in the pages of her books. She liked Alfie because he was real. The most real thing she’d ever known.

            After that night, their relationship bloomed much faster. They found married life soothing when others found it stressful. They enjoyed each other’s company so much that Alfie started to cut back on late nights at the bakery. It meant more to Eliza than he might have realized.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            As the situation with the Italians got more intense, Alfie started to realize how much their relationship had grown. He found himself contacting Tommy more often, demanding information about what Luca Changretta was doing. He wanted to ensure there would be no threat to his London empire and there would be no threat to his wife.

            His anxiety about everything reached a boiling point when Eliza disappeared one morning. Had he looked in his study, he would’ve seen the note she left for him saying that she was taking the car to visit her family in Small Heath.

            But he didn’t. So, he naturally assumed something bad happened and rallied a search team. He was at his wit's end, practically tearing his hair out.

            When Eliza arrived home, unharmed and acting normally, he lost his cool.

            “Where the fuck have you been?” He demanded when she walked through the door as if nothing had happened.

            Eliza looked taken aback. He’d never taken such a harsh tone with her. “Pardon?”

            “I’ve half me men out looking for you, you think it’s alright to just disappear like that?”

            “Alfie, I left you a fucking note on your desk.” She snapped, not happy he was talking to her in such a way. He usually was very respectful.

            He looked a bit hesitant, maybe he had neglected to see the note. But he was still too upset to admit he was in the wrong. “You could’ve told me, aye? Where were you?”

            “What does it matter?” She asked defensively, trying to pass by him in the hallway.

            “Because there’s a man out there who wants to wipe out your entire family, Liz!” He snapped, standing in her way so she couldn’t shrug off his concern.

            “You don’t think I know that?”

            “You have no idea where he could be or what he could’ve done to you!”

            “I was in Small Heath, I was perfectly okay.” She retorted. “I have the right to go where I please.”

            “Small Heath?” Alfie looked at her in disbelief. To think she could go that far and think she would be fine on her own. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

            “Do not take that tone with me!” She held strong against him. “If I want to see my family, I can. You can’t keep me locked up in Camden.”

            “That ain’t…” He let out a frustrated noise. The last thing he wanted to do was make her feel trapped. “I don’t understand why you just up and left. What did you need to do there?”

            “That’s my business.”

            “Liz-”

            “You don’t control me, Alfie.”

            “I know!” He shouted. “You don’t think I know that? But I care too much about you to let you be killed because of what your fucking brother has gotten your family into!”

            Eliza’s lower lip wobbled and she crossed her arms over her chest. “I went because I was late. My aunt confirmed it, I’m pregnant.”

            Alfie was knocked right in the gut by the news. What he thought would never happen was now a reality. “Liz…”

            “Just fuck off.” She spat and turned to head upstairs. But she paused halfway. “I was so excited to tell you and this is how I’m treated? You can sleep on the couch.” She stomped upstairs and slammed the door shut before locking it.

            Alfie felt like an absolute imbecile. He was notorious for letting his temper get the better of him. But he was proud of himself for never letting Eliza see that side of him. Now he had mucked up what they’d been building for months.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~          

            Eliza didn’t come down for dinner or breakfast the next day. Alfie decided to try and speak with her before he went to the bakery for the day.

            His first knock was met with silence.

            “Eliza, please, just let me apologize.” He said as he knocked again.

            “Go to hell, Alfie.” She finally replied.

            He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Love, I’m tryna apologize, here!” He exclaimed. “What else do you want me to do?”

            There was another bout of silence before the door swung open. “You think an apology is some grandiose gesture?” She demanded. “Alfie, I’ve walked across hot coals for you and you don’t even realize.”

            “M’tryna…I don’t know what you want me to say.” He grimaced, realizing how shit he was at relationships sometimes.

            “I went to Small Heath and you know what Ada said to me? She asked me about my headscarf. She said it was oppressive and I never should’ve converted for you. She said you would never be able to do anything that comes close to what I’ve done for you. Do you want to know what I said?”

            Alfie nodded.

            “I said she was wrong. I told her that you treated me right. You respected me. You were there for me and appreciated the person I was. I converted for you, I married you, and now I’m going to give you a child. So, don’t act like you have this authority over me when I’ve done so much for you.”

            He sighed. “You’re right, love. It were wrong for me to treat you like that.” He acknowledged in a rare event of humility. “But me worst fear is losing you. ‘Cause you’re the only thing on this Earth that means a damn to me. If I lost you if that fucker killed you? I’d never forgive myself. I would spend the rest of me days mourning.”

            Eliza’s tense stance relaxed a bit when she heard the genuine concern in his voice. His anger was out of fear. She knew men like Alfie had a hard time addressing their fears because they weren’t meant to be scared of anything. Her voice softened. “I’m not going anywhere.” She promised. “You have me until the end of time.”

            “And you have me.”

            She smiled and stepped into his arms so he could hold her close. “That’s good to know.”

              Permanent Tag: @papa-geralt-of-cirilla @giftofdreams @biba3434 @kimmietea @karmezii @enrapturedbythemoon @vampgirl1997 @tarafaithe

@fuseburner​

PB Masterlist

[sokkasangel]

you suck

bucky barnes x reader

summary: bucky & you always had an affectionate friendship. even your teammates thought you had a thing. but you always thought it was flirting; but to bucky it was just a friendship.

warnings: angst & harsh language

word count: 2k

a/n: this is actually two requests mashed into one! ( @drunkbucky & @cap-n-stuff-main )

masterlist

“hey, sexy,” you called out as bucky passed you. he walked through the kitchen, shirtless. he had just finished training & was now heading to the elevators to go up & take a shower.

“hey, beautiful,” he returned. “how’s your morning so far?”

“oh, y’know. just eatin’ some fruit.” you leaned over the counter, pushing your bowl towards the soldier. “want some?”

“nah, i don’t wanna share that fork with you,” he teased.

you both knew full well that you had shared food more times than you could count. this was no exception.

he leaned toward you & let you feed him a slice of pineapple from your fork.

“you two are gross.” wanda pushed past bucky, heading to her room.

“yeah, i don’t understand why you two don’t just date,” vision said as he followed wanda.

this was a regular occurrence: the team butting in & asking what the status of your guys’ relationship.

you & bucky had always been close, constantly flirting & teasing beyond friendly boundaries. flirting was your way of... well, flirting.

but flirting with bucky had the complete opposite meaning. maybe it was because he didn’t understand why anyone would want to be near him, let alone date him. or maybe it was because it had been such a long time since he last flirted with a woman.

either way, your guys’ relationship was the pure definition of mixed signals.

you yearned for bucky to one day take your compliments seriously. whenever you two were sitting on the couch together, far too close to be friends, you’d die for him to turn to you & kiss you.

bucky was handsome & funny & so unbearably kind. his laugh was enough to drive you crazy. but when he called you beautiful or doll? oh my lord, your mind went crazy.

“y’know it’s been a year?” natasha’s voice rang through your room as you rummaged through your closet.

“since what?”

“since you & bucky started going all we’re-dating-but-not-really.”

“why bring that up? & what am i looking for again?” you turned back to your friend, who had taken this time to rearrange your stuffed animals from smallest to biggest.

“i bring it up because it’s clear that you drool whenever he walks in the room. i can just tell your heart rate spikes when he says something.” natasha placed a stuffed duck next to a bear. “& you’re looking for a bomb ass outfit to wear today when you finally confess your feelings to bucky.”

“but i don’t want to~” you whined. “plus, what if he doesn’t feel the same way?”

“trust me, babe. i’ve known this man for years. he’s stubborn, but i just know he’s head-over-heels for you. don’t worry.”

—

with help from your red-headed friend, you were dressed in an outfit that brought out both your eyes & your curves. you felt confident & ready. you were going to confess your feeling to bucky. it was now or never.

you took the elevator down from the bedrooms to the training center. you walked down the hall, past glass-walled rooms, which were separated by different activities & equipment. making your way down to the boxing ring, you could hear two familiar voices.

“so how do you feel about her?” a rough voice echoed from the last room down the hall. you recognized this as steve’s voice.

“i dunno,” bucky’s voice reached your ears.

oooo~! now you can get reassurance that natasha was right about bucky’s feelings. it felt like ages since bucky started talking; your body was filled with excitement. you couldn’t wait until what he would say about you.

“i mean, don’t get me wrong, i like flirting with her, but it feels wrong,” bucky continued.

your eyes widened.

what?

“whaddya mean, buck? i see the way you look at her. it reminds me of rose & you, back in the day.”

“i just feel bad for her, y’know? i don’t want her to think her flirting is unrequited.” bucky’s voice was softer. you could hear a tinge of sadness, even.

but what?

feel bad for me?

who does he think he is?

so he’s been faking it this whole time? all those compliments & jokes didn’t mean anything?

you wanted to blame natasha for giving you false hope, but you could only blame yourself.

he was bucky barnes. the infamous heartbreaker. sure, he hadn’t been called that since the forties, but do people really change? he’d been through hell & now his self image was horribly damaged but that still makes him a heartbreaker. steve has said multiple times how bucky wouldn’t want to be in a relationship. why did you think you’d be the girl who’d change him?

you had given yourself false hope. for an entire year. you lied to yourself. “maybe tomorrow,” you had said. each night, you hoped bucky would sneak to your bedroom & confess himself. & of course it never happened...

tears welled up in your eyes. you couldn’t stay here. you couldn’t keep listening. you tried to escape silently, but a sob left your mouth as the tears streamed down your cheeks.

you heard the two men mutter in confusion, but before they could see how humiliating this was for you, you jumped on the elevator.

as soon as those doors opened, you fled to your bedroom. like a princess in a disney movie, you laid on your bed & cried. you cried until there was nothing left in you.

all the memories from the past year flooded your mind. hugs, movie marathons, & shared meals that meant so much in those moments now seemed like jokes in themselves. how stupid could you be?

—

the next few days were spent in your room & in pajamas. you told what had happened to clint & natasha, who apologized profusely. they continuously brought you comfort foods & consoling words.

when you did venture out into the kitchen & common areas, you ignored both steve & bucky. it was obvious why you stopped talking to bucky, but steve... you thought he was your friend, that he would at least tell you something that important. but instead, he let you continue to act like a fool.

—

on the fourth evening of your pity party, you spent your time in a ball on your bed watching all the movies on your watchlist.

you were actually paying attention to this one, but then a knock came to your door.

checking the time, you saw it was already well past midnight. who the hell was knocking this late?

begrudgingly, you left the comfort of your bed & opened the door. & of course the last person you wanted to see stood there.

bucky barnes was standing outside your door at two in the morning. if this happened a week ago, you’d be swooning. but now you wanted to go take a shower.

“h-hey,” bucky said. awkwardly, he waved shyly.

“hi.” you tried not to show too much emotion. you had been sad for long enough, now you were just angry.

“s-so what’s been going on? i haven’t, uh, seen you much lately.”

“yeah.”

“so, what’s up?”

“what do you mean?”

bucky just quirked his eyebrow in response, so you continued. “i heard what you told steve the other day. y’know, when you said you were just flirting with me because you felt bad.”

it felt nice to stand up for yourself, for once.

“y/n... i- that’s not what i was saying. you didn’t let me finish!” he tried to reach out for you but you backed up. “y/n... please.” you could see there was actual regret & sadness in his eyes.

well, you already acted like a fool for an entire year. one more night wouldn’t hurt.

“fine, tell me the rest.”

you motioned toward your bed. it was the middle of the night, & you were tired from standing.

bucky sat across from you with his elbows on his knees. he looked both anxious & stressed.

“i- ugh. how am i supposed to say this.” he rubbed a hand over his face. “i- i don’t feel bad for you. fuck! no, that’s not what i meant! i do feel bad for you hearing that & feeling bad. but i don’t pity you. i didn’t do all that stuff because i pitied you.”

he took a few deep breaths before continuing.

“i love you, y/n. i just... i didn’t know if you felt the same. & i know i’m an awful person. & i don’t know why you’d want to date a person like me, so that’s why i didn’t act on my feelings. i didn’t want to hurt you... i guess that backfired, huh?” he chuckled, softly.

you smiled.

“you really love me?” you asked.

“yeah. a lot. i mean, a lot a lot.”

“come ‘ere.” you extended your arms & made grabby motions with your hands.

you welcomed bucky into a long hug. this was much better than any other hug you two shared. five minutes ago, you hated this man. but now, you loved him more than anything.

[kstewdeux]

Scars On My Heart

Orginally Posted on FFN and Ao3 for @superpixie42

"It's just a stupid cut," InuYasha snapped as he tried to scramble backwards without wincing, "It'll get better in the morning. I don't need you to clean it."

"Oh yes. Whatever could go wrong," Kagome countered scathingly as she watched the black haired boy literally back himself into a corner, "Why bother cleaning a dirt covered wound? It'll just seal up all that dirt in the morning and you'll get blood poisoning. No big deal."

Inuyasha smirked despite himself before his glare returned full force.

"You just want to see me naked," he tried hoping her embarrassment would get her to leave him alone.

"Oh. You got me. That was my plan all along," Kagome bit back sarcastically before giving him a withering glare, "Shirt. Off."

"Make me," he snarled and Kagome sighed.

"You're so immature."

"You're immature."

"Great comeback," Kagome snorted, "Doesn't sound like something a child would say at all."

"I'm not a child!"

"Then stop acting like one," Kagome clipped back as she raised an eyebrow, "You want to keep going? We've got all night and I'm not backing down until you let me see your wound."

The stare down that followed would've sent chills down even Naraku's spine before InuYasha admitted defeat and began shrugging out of his clothes.

"Not like dirt even got on it," he muttered scathingly, "Stupid woman. Being all dramatic."

Kagome ignored the insult as she collected the linens and disinfectant she had laid out. Scooting towards the seething man sending daggers at her with his dark eyes, she gently wiped away the smeared blood before her hand paused. Wiping again, she realized that some of the dark pink streaks weren't blood smears at all.

"What are these?" Kagome whispered as she traced a few with her finger and Inuyasha's angry countenance faded as he looked down.

"Nothing," he replied indifferently, "Hurry up already. That shit burns my nose."

"They're scars," she whispered as her eyes traveled across his chest. It was littered with them. How had she never noticed before?

"Are you blind? They've been there woman," he hissed as insecurity welled in his chest, "Like I said. They're nothing."

"I've never seen them," she replied softly as her gaze drifted upwards to his neck. Several purplish jagged lines adorned his throat. Like multiple someones had tried to slice it at one point or another. A shaky sigh escaped her lips.

"When did these happen?" she asked quietly as she traced a particular nasty one on his throat with her finger causing him to shiver. Not because it felt good either. He'd always assumed she'd been able to see them. A cold feeling of dread settled uneasily in his gut.

"Years ago," he admitted nervously as his eyes searched her face. She looked so sad. He swallowed thickly and unfortunately the movement accentuated the pale purplish lines causing Kagome's eyes to widen incrementally.

There were so many of them. Not one or two or even three. Dozens of people had tried to slit his throat. Dozens.

Forcing his chin up so she could inspect them more thoroughly, she really should've seen what followed coming. Hell hath no fury like an insecure half-demon.

"Get the fuck off" he snapped as he roughly pushed her away before instantly regretting what he'd done when Kagome fell onto her back. Her head making a soft thump as it made contact.

"Wait. Shit. Are you okay? I didn't mean..." he hissed as he scrambled forward and gently helped her back up, "Sorry. I just..."

"It's fine, InuYasha," she sighed as she rubbed the back of her head. He looked more miserable and horrified than she'd ever seen before.

"I hurt you," he whispered as his human eyes seemed to scan her body for injuries before, finding nothing worrisome, he finally relaxed. Kinda.

"I tried to pop the personal space bubble," Kagome laughed softly, "Should've known better."

"The what?" he blurted before the rest of what she'd said registered.

"You think I'd hurt you," he accused as his heart broke and she shook her head.

"I'm not saying that," she comforted as she gave him a reassuring smile, "Just saying I shouldn't have tried to do that."

Whatever she was doing was having the opposite effect of what she wanted. InuYasha suddenly looked so incredibly lost and scared and unsure of himself. Obviously unnerved by what he'd done and upset about what she'd said. If it wasn't so sad, she might've laughed at the uncharacteristic behavior. It was weird. Just...weird.

"Do you want to look at them?" he finally asked as he cast her a quick glance. He could fix this, he thought. He needed to fix this. He'd hurt her. Oh god he'd actually hurt her.

"The scars you mean?" she clarified and he nodded. His mind still replaying the last excruciating minute over and over and over. His self loathing building until he very seriously almost puked. Stupid human emotions. Making him do shit and feel.

"Do you want me to?" She asked hesistantly and he shrugged in reply. Truth be told, no. No he didn't. He didn't like being stared at on a good day. Especially when those stares focused on part of himself that were different.

All this time he'd assumed she saw them. Even on occasion when he felt like punishing himself, he almost thought she found him attractive despite his married skin, and demon traits. The demonic traits she obviously wasn't bothered by but the scars she clearly had never noticed before did. They seemed to bother her a lot.

Was she disgusted by him now? He had just gotten used to her genuine acceptance too. Assuming that she really didn't care about his appearance but now he knew the truth. It was entirely possible her vision was so bad she just didn't know.

Maybe she couldn't see what he looked like at all. That would explain a lot actually.

Either way he needed to fix all of this. He needed to fix it now.

Swallowing thickly, he nodded as he moved back into the corner and waited for the doom that was inevitably coming.

"Why don't I see these when you're normal?" Kagome asked as she scooted forward and began looking at the scars of his chest more closely. The small line over his heart that had clearly been placed there by Kikyo's arrow. The deep purple puckered one where Sesshomaru had thrust his hand through his stomach. But there was a series of healed gashes wrapping around his side that had her particularly concerned.

"I dunno," he muttered awkwardly. Being examined so throughly made him uneasy. She seemed so intrigued by those marks on his skin and not in a good way. Had she really never noticed before? What else had she not seen?

"I normally have dog ears, ya know," he muttered in an unsure tone that had her looking up at him instantly in amusement.

"No duh," she giggled, "What do they have to do with these scars?"

Well that was one less thing bothering him. She wasn't blind as a...

Wait, what the hell? What did she mean what did his ears have to do with...

"Are you really that stupid? I only have these because of those ears. Because of what I am," he snapped angrily as he glared down at her.

"I didn't mean..." Kagome groaned as she sat back on her knees and gave him a patient glare, "I was just wondering why you said that."

"Because you're acting like this," he gestured to his exposed torso, "Is new. Like it hasn't always been there."

"I've seen you literally naked before and you don't have these when you're your usual self," Kagome pointed out with an amused smile that fell when he merely looked confused, "At least to human eyes, I guess. Can you see them all the time?"

He let out a shuddering breath as he tried to get his anger back under control. Why were emotions so much harder as a human?

"They're lighter normally. More silver," he admitted finally as he awkwardly shifted his weight. He'd always assumed...

Maybe the others couldn't see them either. The scars invisible to human eyes. Shippo noticed. InuYasha knew he had. There were times the stupid brat seemed a little too focused on the worst of these blemishes when he thought no one was watching.

"Maybe that's it then," she hummed as she glanced over her chest before her eyes drifted back to those deep grooves wrapping across his stomach from the back.

"What's this one?" she asked quietly as she reached out and ran her finger across one of the shockingly deep valleys. He cringed and sat up a little straighter so his back was nearly flush against the wall. The scars on his chest, though numerous and ugly themselves, were the least of his problems. His chest wasn't a veritable topographical map complete with enough sprawling grooves that someone might mistake it for tree bark. At least the part she was looking at now had some smooth areas.

"It's a scar stupid," he clipped back hoping that the insult would end this line of questioning before swearing silently when her hand suddenly slipped behind him and her eyes widened in horror.

"Let me see your back," she breathed and he shook his head.

"I'm still bleeding," he pointed out as he desperately tried to change the subject, "You need to finish what you started. What about blood poisioning?"

"The bandage will have to wrap around your middle which will require me seeing your back," she pointed out with a knowing look.

"It's not that bad," he argued weakly, "Just put one of those bandaids on it."

"InuYasha," Kagome warned, "Don't make me say it."

"You wouldn't dare," he sneered although she could hear the genuine fear in his tone. She didn't sit him when he was human for a very good reason. The miko had done so once before when he was human and the spell had straight up broken his nose. Blood had gushed out all night after Sango had set it and the resulting bruise took two full days to disappear. To call the incident unpleasant would be an understatement.

"Then lay down and let me see your back," she challenged and the glare off began. Growing in intensity as they shot daggers and screamed at each other through expression alone. The problem he had was that he knew she would never let this go if he didn't fold. Might even be afraid to touch that part of him if she thought it might aggravate injuries long since healed. Kagome riding his back was definitely not something he had any intention of giving up. Which caused a conflict of It's own. If she saw, she might not want to touch him at all. Might be disgusted by the memory of seeing the mottled, disturbing sight.

"I just want to see," she finally asked in a soft, pleading tone as she batted her eyelashes at him and pouted prettily. His resolve wavered at the dirty trick.

"You're still you Inuyasha. I feel bad that I've never noticed before," she tried again in the sweetest, least cheesy tone she could manage and he folded.

Damn her.

Sighing, he slowly sprawled out on the floor, wincing when his still unattended injury hit the gritty floor. So much for worrying about the previously not covered in dirt wound.

Kagome's soft gasp felt like a thousand daggers in his heart. He turned his face away from her and rested his cheek on his arms. She'd never look at him the same again and a part of him grieved the inevitable loss.

"What happened?" she asked as her fingers trailed down the heavily grooved flesh. How could she have missed this? His back normally felt so smooth and this was far from the first time she'd tended to an injury.

"What do you think happened?" he chuckled darkly, "I got hurt."

Clearly, Kagome thought miserably as her eyes followed a strange series of wide loops. They had obviously been stretched over time. As he had grown, the skin had been pulled to match his larger stature.

"These are from when you were small," she whispered as she traced the asymmetrical grooves that were much, much deeper than they looked and were to blame for the wrap around blemish as well.

"Yeah," he sighed heavily. He knew which ones she was referring too. Those had been the first ugly marks he'd received.

"Are they from a whip?" she asked cautiously and he nodded.

"Why?" she asked quietly before huffing in frustration and backpedaling, "I mean I know why, why but I just..."

"My grandfather tied me to a post after mother died," he explained softly, "Something about the plague. I can't really remember."

She let out a shuddering breath and her fingers stilled for a moment.

"Is that how your mother died? She got sick?" Kagome asked as her fingers began lazily tracing the elaborate purplish groove once more and he nodded. Truth be told, it felt nice to have her touch him so intimately. When she usually tended to his injuries touch was just a means to an end. Deliberate and purposeful. This was...

He shivered slightly at the sensation.

"Sorry," she cringed as she retracted her hand, "Did that hurt?"

"No. Just cold is all," he lied softly, "You can keep looking if you want."

"There's so many," she murmured sadly as her fingers splayed out against his back and he had to bite his lip to keep from moaning. This wasn't bad. This wasn't bad at all. Why had he fought her again?

"What's this one?" she asked as one finger pressed lightly into a crescent shaped groove above his shoulder blade. He shrugged and the movement caused the marred flesh to crumple around her fingertip.

"I get injured a lot Kagome. You can't expect me to remember each time," he sighed.

"I..." the miko began as she lifted her hand and leaned over to look at his face, "I've been working on using my power to heal injuries. Since you're human right now, would you mind if I practiced? Maybe I can fade some of them. If you want."

The prospect of Kagome basically giving him a massage was very, very tempting. Whatever she wanted to try obviously wasn't going to work but who was he to say no to a pretty girl wanting to run her hands all over him?

He nodded before a satisfied hum escaped him when her palms suddenly pressed against the base of his back, applying slightly more pressure as they began sliding upwards before running down his sides. Again and again and again until he was panting slightly.

His mind lazily drifted into a less than innocent direction as he allowed himself to pretend that she still somehow found him attractive and her hands were running over him for an entirely different reason. It was especially easy to fantasize when her fingers trailed over his hip bone. A little too easy.

This needed to stop before he did something else to fuck up the best thing that had ever happen to him.

"I think that's enough," he sighed as he pushed himself back up into a sitting position.

"I got rid of a few," she offered with a proud little smile that had his heart melting.

"Did you?" he laughed before his face fell and his insecurity peeked out its head in his mind. He needed to get ahold of himself before he got his hopes up.

"I still can't do deeper scars but..." she admitted before trailing off when she noticed how he was withdrawing into himself.

"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked before mentally smacking herself upside the head. She was just winning the asking stupid questions game tonight, wasn't she?

"I have a scar too," she offered and he glanced at her in confusion, "Do you want to see?"

Before he could respond, she was pulling her shirt up and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head as smooth creamy flesh he'd never gotten a good look at before was exposed for his viewing pleasure. Not only was he allowed to look, he was expected to look and his little, very male heart could barely handle it.

"See? Where the jewel popped out," she commented oblivious to his inner struggle. It wasn't nearly as bad as she thought it was but it was still rather deep. The hot pink puckered blemish the only thing even remotely flawed about her stomach. His hand moved before he could stop himself. His calloused palm resting on her waist as his thumb gently caressed the mark. Trailing up and down over the scar while the sensation of his hand on her skin overwhelmed his system.

His eyes trailed over the light tan curves of her stomach. His mind trying to commit the sight to memory. Counting every freckle and taking note of every minute detail.

"Still beautiful," he whispered more to himself than her before he inhaled sharply and retracted his hand like it burned. He hadn't meant to say that out loud dammit. He hadn't...

"You...you think I'm beautiful?" Kagome asked softly and his heart plummeted to the bottom of his stomach as he waited for the axe to fall. Her hands lowering her shirt slowly as her sapphire eyes tried to read his mortified expression.

Smiling softly, she scooter closer to him and he flinched.

"You think I'm pretty," she teased and his humiliation only grew as he glared at the floor to his side. That was a stupid thing to say. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. St...

He gasped softly when her lips suddenly were pressed against his own. Each meeting slow and lingering and coaxing him to respond and with a soft groan he did.

Panting heavily several long heated moments later, he stared at her in utter confusion.

"Why'd you do that?" he managed to breathe.

"Because I think you're pretty too."

InuYasha snorted before pulling her in so he could kiss her again.

[lo-55]

Shattered Chains of Fate Ch. 4

Loss.jpeg

Night has fallen on Chaldeas. Though the globe still casts its red glow across the room, the doom of humanity, it’s too late and Ichigo has been awake for too long for the grief to wash across him like so many waves right now.

He’s summoned another servant today, with the help of technology and Saint Quartz and Cu Chulainn, of course. It was maybe  his fault that he now had two celtic servants. One a caster with vicious loyalty but a habit of hitting on girls, and another that avoided women like the plague and followed Ichigo like the most desperate of puppies.

So now he has four servants to keep up with, and so he’s  tired .

They go off to the next singularity soon. Somewhere in England, in the late nineteenth century. He should really be resting. Getting ready for the next fight. Letting Olga Marie try an fail to teach him even the simple but powerful magecraft that she and Cu specialize in.

Instead, Ichigo finds himself standing in the doorway to the Chaldeas observation room, looking not at the ominous depiction of their future, but the man standing in front of it.

Romani Archiman. Dr. Roman. His shoulders are tense and drawn and his hair is out of its usual pony tail. He looks as tired out as Ichigo feels. When no one’s watching, right now, his green eyes are dull and his humor has faded. When had he last slept? When had any of them?

Mash kept reminding him how important it was to get proper sleep, and maybe it was easier for demi-servants than it is for humans. He doesn’t know. He never thought to ask.

Ichigo comes to a stop beside him.

It is a testament to his exhaustion that Roman doesn’t even notice Ichigo enough to react until he’s been standing there for nearly a full minute. When he does he jumps, startling and in the space between breaths Roman’s demeanor shifts. His eyes crinkle with a smile and he turns to Ichigo, a dozen times more cheerful than he’d been mere seconds before. It’s a startling contrast. From one face to another in less time than it took Ichigo to even realize he’d seen him looking so serious.

Roman was not a serious man. He had a tendency to jump around and get overly excited over seemingly nothing at all. Like cake, and slacking off and a blog he’s obsessed with that is, somehow, still posting online even though the world outside is nothing more than ash and fading memory. Ichigo personally suspects that it’s a prank put together by Da Vinci.

That artist is something of nuisance.

“Ichigo!” Roman’s smile is hard to spot as a fake, when Ichigo doesn’t know to look for it. Now that it is, it’s still hard but he can see the slant to his eyes, the tiny purse of his mouth. Ichigo is no genius, but he likes to think Roman is his friend. And so he does his best to learn to read him.

“Did you need something?” Roman asks, peering curiously at him. Something under Ichigo’s skin hums and crawls. The hiding sets his teeth on edge. Maybe it's because Ichigo himself is such a straight forward person, but he doesn’t much chair for people who hide like this.

And maybe it’s hypocritical, but at the moment he, frankly, doesn’t give a shit.

“You need to sleep,” Ichigo says, his jaw set in a stubborn line.

“Oh! Ah, I just have a little more work to do here before I can do that. See, Sonya wasn’t feeling well earlier and-”

“Roman,” Ichigo grabs his elbow and watches the man jump, like he’s been shocked. He acts like no one’s ever laid a hand on him before in his life.  “Go to sleep. We’re not going to a singularity tomorrow. You can afford rest.”

Still, Roman’s smile turns, tilts, like he’s confused, and this close Ichigo realizes that he’s thrumming with anxiety.

  No wonder he can’t sleep.  

Ichigo is not a genius. And he’s not the best at offering comfort, especially not at times like this. This is a time when they have to step up, when there is no other choice for them than to stand together, and he can’t say he’s entirely sympathetic with the doctor.

But he pulls him, by the elbow, not giving him time to argue as he manhandles him towards the hallway that leads to the dorm rooms. Most of them are empty now, their occupants frozen in cryogenic coffins. Anyone who isn't working is frozen, in fact. All of the staff that had died during the initial explosion had been dragged out, sometimes in pieces, and laid in the snow and ice outside the facility. It would preserve them for the time being. And with Ichigo around, so too were the ghosts.

It had started with Marie, but by now most of the dead staff have started to drink in his reitsu, to supplement themselves. If they take enough, they can even interact with the world around them, though it leaves Ichigo exhausted if too many do it at once. It’s like vampires, but they're eating his soul instead of drinking his blood. And in any case, it keeps the chains in the chest from eating their way up.

Marie had explained, very vaguely because her family specialized in astronomy not ghosts, that if those chains vanished entirely they would have less ghosts and more ghouls. Which was bad.

They pass twelve of them on the way to their destination.

“Ichigo, please,” Roman tries to tug his arm out of Ichigo’s hand, but out of the two of them it’s no contest who the stronger one is. “I have work-”

“You’re no good if you work yourself to death!” Ichigo snaps. He closes the door behind them with a tap to the pad on the wall and tosses Roman bodily onto the bed.

Roman scrambles to sit, blinking at their surroundings in confusion.

It’s almost the same as the last time they’d been there, during their first meeting ever. The only difference is that there’s a pair of jeans in the corner and a picture of his sisters and his mom on the desk under the window now.

“This is…”

“My room,” Ichigo finishes for him. He runs his fingers through his hair, his customary scowl in place. This was probably stupid but-

“You said you come here to relax, right? To goof off and slack on your duties. Well, relax. Marie’s still around so it’s not like you’re the acting director anymore.”

Roman gapes at him like a fish.

“But- But-”

“Shut up,” Ichigo orders tersely. He’s already second guessing his initial reaction but he wasn’t gonna leave Roman there to stare at their doom and he doesn’t have the damn poetry of words to convince him that they’ll rise above their challenges. “And go to sleep. Chaldea will be here in the morning, and so will the past.”

Roman slowly gathered his limbs together underneath him. He looks at Ichigo, confusion written across his face and it’s all Ichigo can do not to snap at him. Roman is a doctor and grown ass man. He should know better than to neglect himself.

To be fair, Goat Face is also and doctor and grown ass man, and Ichigo doesn’t trust him to so much as feed himself.

“O-kay,” Roman says at last, drawing the words out and his face finally softens, with fondness and truth. Some of the lie slips away. “Okay. But what about you, Ichigo? You need to sleep too. You’re supporting multiple servants and multiple ghosts, now.”

Ichigo hadn’t even thought about that.

He shrugs, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “I dunno. I can just sleep in a chair or something.”

“No!” Roman shakes his head. “No, that’s not acceptable. As your doctor I have to advise against it.”

“ ‘as your doctor’? What the hell kinda crap are you going on about?” Ichigo scowls deeper.

“You need to sleep, in a real bed. Honestly. We can just share.”

“Excuse me?”

“Like a sleep over in a movie!”  

“... You were homeschooled, weren’t you?”

“Eh?!”

“Fine, whatever,” Ichigo was too tired to deal with this. In the morning he’ll kick himself, and maybe Roman, but for now all he can think of is turning the lights off and getting some sleep, at last.

And if it’s easier to sleep when the living are next to him and not when he’s haunted only by figurative ghosts instead of literal ones, no one will even be the wiser.

*

It’s not so much a house as it is a room where he can simply exist.

It’s small, single story and a basement that still smells faintly like lightning and copper and a strange magecraft. One that he can’t quite place, one that he’s never encountered before.

Ichigo doesn’t ask about the old owners and Waver Velvet, who gets pissed every time Ichigo doesn’t call him something stupid like Lord Elmeloi the fifth or whatever, hadn’t volunteered any information.

Ichigo spends a few minutes looking around. There’s a fold out couch in the living room and the kitchen is stocked with none perishables and frozen meats. The bedroom has runes carved above the door and the window, offering Ichigo a modicum of protection from what might be out there. There’s a bed big enough for his whole family and then some, and the closet has a few changes of clothes. Three suits, of all things, and a familiar mystic code.

White and black, it’s a body suit he’d been given early on. His Chaldea combat uniform.

The material feels like silk but Ichigo knows better than to think it is. It’s tough enough to hold up to arrows and fire and more than he wants to think of. He’d only taken blunt force trauma when he’d worn it. There were three spells woven into the fabric, and Ichigo wonders what it will be like to wear it again before he dismisses the idea.

Ichigo wonders just what Waver had thought Ichigo was going to be doing here, that he needed this.

He goes to the basement.

It’s bigger than he would have expected, and there are weapons lined on the walls. Spears, swords, and bows, and a range setup with dummies stuffed with straw.

There are no windows, to hide him from curious eyes. Any non-mags who finds out about magic is sentenced to death, and that is part of why Ichigo hasn’t told his family about his escapades. His wars.

Kon walks past him at the foot of the stairs. Along another wall is a shelf built into the stone foundations, filled with texts and materials that Ichigo can recognize instantly.

He’d never been good at spell work on his own, but he can use the magic equivalent of chemistry just fine. And, on top of that, after Babylonia a certain goddess had magnanimously taken time out of her ever so busy schedule to teach him the graceful art of gem magic.

Or rather, a stuck up deity who Ichigo had bribed to be his friend had taught him how to shove magic energy into rocks he could throw at people to blow them the fuck up.

Combined with the runes that Cu had spent years drilling into his head, Ichigo could survive a regular mage battle fine on his own, if he had time to prepare. And war has made him paranoid, so he starts taking stock of everything that he’d been given.

Evil bones, dragon scales, eternal gears, crystals of several types and a mystic gunpowder. A few feathers, and a jar of scarabs. Chalk, too, and strong thread that’s more like fishing line.

There’s also, definitely for the best, a fire extinguisher in the corner.

“What kinda place is this, Ichigo?” Kon finally asks. He pokes at a jar of red liquid on top of the thick desk that Ichigo has been given. It’s all and all not very personalized, but for Ichigo’s purposes it’s more than enough. Especially given that Ichigo’s purpose was to sit somewhere where his dad wasn’t. Where he didn’t have to think about the spirits or the hollows or the shinigami, however briefly that might be.

“It’s just a house, Kon. A… friend of mine owns it. Think of it as our secret hide out,” Ichigo waves his hand around, idly.

“A secret hide out huh… I get it!” Kon bounced towards him, his soft paws scuffing lightly on the concrete floor. “This is a place to bring girls!”

Ichigo snorts and punts the plushie towards the stairs. “What girl is gonna hand around a creapy basement with you, huh? What are you a serial killer?”

“More like a lady killer! Or I could be, if I just had a body to call my own. Hey, you said I could borrow yours, remember!”

“I didn’t forget. Sorry, we’ve been busy,” Ichigo steps over him and climbs back up to the totally normal looking house above, with Kon on his heels. He lets out a soft breath. It feels too warm above ground, but Ichigo opens the windows and lets the sunlight pour inside upon his skin, lets the wind pull at his hair and dance through the drapes. “I’ll let you have it tonight, okay?”

“But nothing in this town ever happens at night!” Kon whines. When Ichigo sits on the couch he climbs up to flop across his lap, pouting.

“Just try to stretch your legs, and you can have some time on the weekend, deal?”

Kon considers him suspiciously before he nods, once.

“Deal.”

They sit together in the sunlight, in the foreign house, with the spring air cooling them until his phone goes off. Rukia, of course, because work doesn’t give him much of a break.

It’s alright. Sometimes a few minutes to breath is enough.

* *

Rukia Kuchiki is  not the first Shinigami that Ichigo has ever encountered.

There was another, a man who had taken to following their group around North America.

They met in 1783. He was… strange. And admittedly, it was a strange situation that they had found each other in. He’s pretty sure Shinigami don’t normally hang around Alcatraz, but what does he know? The island is infested with all sorts of monsters and guarded by one of the oldest heroes of written legend.

Beowulf. Powerful and vicious, battle hungry but not necessarily cruel. He’d even let them pass into the fortress after just a ‘test’ fight against a dragon.

They, or rather Ichigo, find the Shinigami with Sita, sitting next to her in the deepest prison of Alcatraz. Florence Nightingale is somewhere above them, charging headlong after him with Rama strapped to her back. He’s in bad shape, his curse slowly consuming his body, and Sita is their only chance to save him. Even without Beowulf the prison is crawling with dangerous creatures of all types.

Ichigo finds Sita first.

But she is not unguarded and Ichigo curses himself for leaving his servants upstairs to handle the chaos there.

Ichigo is more than capable of handling celtic soldiers, who fall beneath his vicious attacks and his steadily strengthening magic. The more he uses it the stronger it gets, and his body is adapting quickly to the strain it puts upon him. It’s only been a year or so and he can already go toe to toe with most average mages. A simple soldier with a spear is well within his abilities.

This man, Ichigo can tell with a second of inspection, is not.

He doesn’t have the same energy as a servant. And he’s dressed in clothes that aren’t celtic or american. He’s dressed like he’s from japan.

A black kosado and hakama. All black, with curly brown hair that’s nearly past his shoulders and brown eyes that almost fool Ichigo into thinking that he’s harmless.

But people are more themselves when they aren’t being watched, and this man, older than Ichigo and, he realizes, most certainly dead, has no idea he’s been seen.

He looks at Sita like she’s some kind of puzzle, like some game that he doesn’t know all the rules to. Ichigo stays a moment, and watches him watch her until Sita realizes that she has a visitor.

“Oh!”

She leans forwards on the bed, and right through the stranger, who half turns to look at Ichigo over his shoulder. He’s not interested in him though, not really. He can see it.

Roman is hiding something.

Something important, and he doesn’t know what but he does know now how to recognize when someone is hiding something. Even if it wasn’t for Roman, it’s not only heroes he’s summoned. There is an assassin class, and his heroes have their flaws. Their secrets. Each singularity is it’s own mystery and they are full of liars and tricksters and more than ever before Ichigo has a bone deep appreciation for people who are plain and true.

Ichigo crosses his arms over his chest and stares right at the ghost.

“You’re Sita, right? Rama’s wife?”

“My Lord Rama? Is he here?” she rushes to her feet, all red hair and fire the flutters like an ember on the wind. Not like Rama, who burns anything in his path if he must.

Ichigo nods, once. He lets the stranger inspect him too. There’s the smallest amount of stubble around his chin, like he hasn’t shaved in a while. And he’s armed. Saber class.

“Yes. But he’s injured. We need your help to heal him.”

Ichigo finally breaks eye contact with the ghost. He steps backwards and points his fist at the lock on the door. Sita hurries to brace herself and he shoots it off with a vicious Gandr. When he uses them on living things, he’s lucky to stun them. On inanimate objects, they blow up. He doesn’t get it, but that’s his life. Becuase fuck him, obviously.

“Yes!” Sita agrees eagerly. Her smile is equal parts soft and fierce. “If I can be of use to him, then I’ll do whatever I can.”

“Okay,” Ichigo stands away from the prison door. “Stand back,” he orders, and she steps back into the cell, against the door. The ghosts watches him raise his hand, holding up his fist at the door. The mystic code hums across his skin and he feeds his own mana into it. There’s a flash of pale blue and red and the lock explodes in shards of steel, just as they’re joined by others.

Rama comes stumbling around the corner, his fine clothes stained with blood and his body frayed at the edges. He looks bad. The hold in his chest is starting to gape and glow gold at the edges.

Ichigo hears the ghost suck in a sharp breath and he takes a step towards Rama before Ichigo cuts him off, blocking him from his friends. Sita rushes to him.

“Sita!” Rama reaches out around him and Ichigo can’t understand how he’s even on his feet. How deep does his love for his wife run? “Damn it, my vision is blurry. I can’t see anything…”

“I’m here!” Sita falls to his side as Rama collapses, finally succumbing to his festering wound. Ichigo watches, his hands clenched at his sides as Mash explains about Cu Chulainn Alter, and his Gae Bolg.

Ichigo stands back, with his Cu at his side. The caster leans on his staff, watching Sita gently stroke her husbands hair. They will never meet, and it drives pain into Ichigo’s chest on their behalf.

“Well. Fuck.” Cu says bluntly.

Ichigo snorted. “Yeah. That sums it all up pretty well.”

The ghost tries to take another step, but Ichigo catches his hand.

He spins, his brown eyes wide. “You- You can see me.”

“Well yeah. No shit,” Ichigo says aloud. Caster peers at him curiously, but Ichigo just taps the corner of his eye. A ghost, and Cu nods and leans back again. Even amongst his heroic spirits he’s an oddity. Not all of them can see ghosts. Only the ones that attack them, and more than once has Ichigo had to forcibly guide them into striking true.

Cu is a bit better. He hasn’t told him explicitly but Ichigo suspects that Scathach is somehow related to the afterlife. The land of shadows sounds like it should be full of ghosts.

Ichigo let’s go when the ghost pulls at his hand, peering at Ichigo. It’s funny, watching someone pull a metaphorical mask onto their face. This one is a kind person, someone who’s harmless, but Ichigo can still see them. He is armed and his eyes betray him, as eyes so often do.

Sharp and intelligent. Like a cat watching him.

“I suppose you do have some reitsu. But to be able to see me, is still not an easy feat.”

Ichigo frowns. “I do? It feels like all of it’s being sucked out by everyone at Chaldea…”

“Excuse me?” he blinks at Ichigo a couple of times.

“Nevermind. There’s just some people who are sucking up my reitsu so they don’t disappear, you know?”

And now even the ghost was looking at him like he’s crazy. Great. Awesome.

The glittering glow of Sita’s body dissolving interrupts them, and Ichigo turns to face his servants with a hard clench of his jaw. Rama slowly sits up, sorrow over taking his features. Even in a holy grail war, he will never meet his wife again.

“We should go,” Ichigo says quietly. “We still have to go east. We have to finish what we started. Rama, are you ready?” Ichigo goes to him, and offers him his hand. Rama takes it and stands.

“Yes. My body does not falter. I renew my vows now, Master of Chaldea. I, Rama, King of Kosala, will fight at your side. I shall not be defeated again. This I swear!” He bows his head to Ichigo, this proud, powerful king.

“Yes,” Liz steps up, a noble countess with her chin lifted and her eyes defiant. “We will win, for you our master!”

“We will rip out the root of the infection,” Nightingale agrees, smacking her hands together. Her red eyes burn with a ferocity that would make lesser men tremble.

Mash nods, shortly and firmly. “I will put my faith in Master, and follow his lead.”

“You already know that I will strike down your enemies,” Medusa adds, her long hair swaying with the promise of poisons.

“Lead the way, Master,” Cu claps his shoulder and Ichigo looks each of the mover in turn. Finally, he speaks.

“I swear I told you to use my damn name. You’re all so dramatic.”

Cu laughs at him, and Ichigo starts the long walk. From Alcatraz to Washington.

Only now they have a tag along. The ghost insists on following them along, because apparently Ichigo and the singularity is dangerous enough to warrant his attention. Which is  great .

“What do I call you then,” Ichigo asks, side-eying his newest companion.

He tilts his head, sending brown waves spilling across his shoulders.

“Mmmm. Kyo,” he says after a minute.

“...That is  not a real name.”

* * *

“So, your friend, the Lord, how do you know him?”

Ichigo looks up at Rukia. She’s standing over his bed that night. Chad is asleep in the corner, passed out after a study session run long.

“Who, Waver? We met a while ago.”

Ichigo scoots back on the bed, until his back is to the wall and he can sit, criss cross, looking at her. Waver had come to town earlier, on business as much as to see Ichigo. They’d talked, briefly, in front of the school earlier until Ichigo had had to rush off. Not before Waver had extracted a promise to meet up with him a few days in the future. Apparently there was some weird shit going on in town that had nothing to do with Ichigo and his friends, but was now his problem because he was a mage.

A two bit one, but still.

“How?” Rukia asks, narrowing her eyes at him if only slightly.

Ichigo considers telling her everything, but it’s a bit too much to believe.

‘I time travelled for three years trying to stop the incineration of humanity and I met him as a demi servant and his old servant because he fought for a holy grail and oh yeah did I mention i punched god?’

Yeah, no. Even shinigami didn’t go time travelling. He’d checked. It didn’t help that most shinigami were so out of touch with the living world that even three hundred years ago they didn’t know much about human magics or the goings on. Before the fall of the age of gods humans and spirits had been closer, had almost lived together. Ereshkigal had told him some of how it worked, four thousand years ago, but he’s certain things have changed. For one, she is clearly not in charge of the afterlife anymore. Which begs the question of just where she had gone.

To the reverse side of the world? Or somewhere else entirely?

“After Chaldea,” he says instead, picking over his words with as much care as he can, “After the explosion of Chaldea, their patrons, the Clock Tower in London, sent someone to see what was happening. And to take stock in the situation. Waver was the one that they sent.

“Apparently he gets the ‘problem children’ a lot.” And that was what they were, really. He and Mash, they were just teenagers. Even now. Eighteen….

Eighteen is not enough years for what he’s seen, what he’s done. For the choices he’s had to make.

“No wonder they sent him for you,” Rukia snorts at him, but there’s a smile at the corner of her mouth and Ichigo fights not to return it. Instead he scowls, as he usually does.

“Yeah, yeah,” he waves his hand dismissively at her. “I’m going to get a drink. Do you wanna come with?”

“No,” she shakes her head and he stands and leaves her in his bedroom. His dad is in the clinic. He’s been avoiding Ichigo for weeks, ever since that day in the cemetery and Ichigo is fine with that. He’s still angry.

Yuzu and Karin are up in their own room, and the lower half of the house is quiet. Ichigo pours himself some water and takes a few minutes to calm himself. Waver has him on edge, and more than that…

Something is coming. He doesn’t know what, yet, but his instincts are hissing in the back of his mind, louder and louder ever since he took Rukia’s power as his own. Something is something. Something dangerous. Something deadly. Some change he has no idea how to see or stop.

His cup is covered in a thin layer of frost.

Ichigo stares down at it.

The cold spreads across the surface, white eating over the glass. Elegant swirls of frozen leaves spread out from his finger tips.

He pours out the water and puts the cup away, trying not to think about it.

Because even with Ichigo, even with magic and ghosts and all the other shit in his life, he’s never frozen anything. He isn’t fucking Jack Frost.

He goes back upstairs, trying not to think about it, and helps Rukia rouse Chad to send him on his way home. There’s work to be done. A smarter man would ask about the ice. Would mention it to Rukia. Would wonder if the two aren’t connected.

And Ichigo is not stupid, but he’s maybe a little too used to strange things happening and learning the why at a later date.

* * * *

The acrid smell of burning flesh sears into his mind. Into his soul. Choking him, smoke curled into his lung like an ash made cat that tears claws into the soft tissue.

It’s red. Red, red, red everywhere. Fire singes along the edges of reality. The earth hovers, red and burning and doomed from the start. Doomed from babylonia, doomed from the present and the now.

Mash lays in front of him. Crushed, broken. No shield, no armor, just a dead little girl, reaching for his hand.

Yuzu and Karin are sprawled apart from eachother and they never should be, never should be, because they are twins, they were born together nothing should ever tear them apart-

Isshin. Isshin and his mother, they lie beside a river that runs with fire instead of water. Bloody, broken, staring at Ichigo.

The air shifts and the glittering shine of gold spins around him with a scream. His servants, his friends, cut down and torn apart and left only as glitter that roars their betrayal at him. At his failure. He is the master, the center of power, but he cannot fight on his own. He is powerless in the face of the hulking monster that drags itself out of the rubble to kill him.

He takes a step back, fear clogging his throat. Lahmu crawl across the broken rubble of Fuyuli, of Uruk, of Rome and London and Camelot. His foot hits something. He doesn’t look down, he doesn’t need to. Orange and green and white. White and gold and black. Romani, laid to waste.

He is helpless. Powerless. His command spells are gone and he has failed. Lost.

Fire roars at his throat and-

He’s punched in the face by the smell of perfume.

Ichigo looks up at the sky. Pale blue, a few whisps of cloud floating across it.

He drinks in air. Air that tastes like flowers instead of ashes and death.

Something soft touches his shoulder and it’s only familiarity that keeps him from lashing out.

Lavender eyes peer down at him. It’s his hand on his shoulder. His Caster.

His Merlin.

“Wha- I’m in a dream?” Ichigo sits, slowly, and Merlin helps him up. A warm hand on his shoulder and guilt in his eyes.

“Yes. I’m sorry,” Merlin shakes his head, mournfully. “I normally call you here before they can set in, but I was distracted this time…”

“Distracted,” Ichigo repeats dumbly. “Wait. So every time you’ve brought me here, it’s because I was going to have a nightmare?”

“I did tell you, once. Incubi are made of dreams. And I, as half of one, gain my sustenance out of them as well. Bad dreams are sour, so I don’t want yours to-”

“Cut the crap,” Ichigo elbows him lightly in the side. “Just tell me the truth. We’re friends and you don’t want to see me suffering.”

Merlin can only stare at him for a second. “... I always forget how brazen you are, Ichigo. You never have minced your words. You really consider me a friend, do you?”

“Of course I do! And don’t try to give me any shit about we can’t be friends because I’m human. I’m not anymore, remember. I’m a shinigami.”

“Yes, yes. And isn’t that ironic? I, unable to die, and you a creature made of death.”

“You make a bad philosopher. Stick to being a dreamer, Merlin.”

Merlin merely laughs at him, a softness in the wind, and Ichigo sits with him until the sun comes up outside his bedroom window.

* * * * *

What was with people and coming in through his window?

Ichigo stares at the man, Urahara, that is sitting on his window sill. Kon is having a minor panic attack in his arms, flailing around. Rukia has left. Vanished with only a note to tell them not to look for her and if she thinks Ichigo will listen to it, she doesn’t know him very well at all. Ichigo has never been one to abandon his friends, even if they don’t explain what’s happening or why they’re in trouble.

Ichigo will go after her, but first he needs to figure out how to turn into a shinigami again. Kon is no help, he’s too busy running around for Ichigo to dig his pill form out of his plush body. And this man…

His timing is too good. Is he some kind of clairvoyant, like Gilgamesh? Or just a man with far too many cards in his hand to play?

Whatever the case, Ichigo is strangely glad that he’s here. Without Rukia’s glove and with Kon losing his mind, Ichigo needs help to get out of his body.

“So you’ll pop me out of my body,” Ichigo says, eying his cane, “Just because Rukia is a regular customer. Is your shop really that slow?” He definitely has too much time on his hands.

“That’s right!” the man practically sings and Ichigo could swear for an instant his eyes were lavender instead of grey. He’s like a strange mix of Merlin and Da Vinci.

And isn’t  that a scary thought?

“...Yeah, okay. I’d appreciate the help.”

Kisuke pushes his cane through Ichigo’s chest and he pops out the other side like a weasel.

Ichigo carefully lays his body in bed and covers it up. It’s almost two in the morning and normal humans are asleep, including his family. He picks a few small rocks out of his school bag, simple stones with straight lines carved onto them. He eyes Kisuke, still sitting in the window.

“When I get back from this, I’ve got a couple of questions for you,” he says, marching up to Kisuke, who flicks his fan out over his mouth. Only his eyes are visible and those are still hidden in shadow.

“Oh? I can’t imagine what you’d ask a simple shop keeper like me…”

“Plenty,” Ichigo says plainly. He plants his hand next to Kisuke’s head and leans over him. “But for now. Get out of my room.”

He pushes him straight out the window, and onto the lawn beneath. Ichigo figures that he’s probably tough enough to take a little tumble. He trusts Kisuke to be fine before he jumps out the window after him. He needs to get to Rukia. He can feel it. Something is happening.

His instincts hiss that he needs to  move .

He follows the feeling of coolness and wind and snowflakes that he can almost see. It’s joined by another feeling, something clean and pale and just a little bit angry, thin threads that wrap together to be stronger.. Uryuu.

He needs to hurry.

Ichigo sprints across the city, pouring on his speed. Faster and faster until he swears he’s running on the wind.

He turns the corner.

Uryu on the ground, Rukia not far. Two Shinigami. Red hair and black. The red head with his sword lifted above Uryu’s head, ready to strike.

Ichigo swings his sword off his back and the streets cracks and erupts beneath the sudden force of his power. It throws the shinigami, Renji Abarai, off of his feet.

“Huh? Who are you? Who’s orders are you here on?” he barks.

Ichigo ignores him. He touches Uryu’s shoulder, making sure he’s still in one piece, and pours Mana into his human body. It should be enough to jump start his own healing process. Mana transference is about all Ichigo is good for anyhow.

“What did you…?” Uryu looks up at him, bewildered.

“Later,” Ichigo says. He blocks the blow that comes from behind, bracing himself against the ground.

“I get it,” Renji pushes down hard, his eyes wild. He feels like fire and venom and bone. “You’re the one that stole Rukia’s powers! Because of you, she’s going to be executed!”

Ichigo’s blood runs cold. Rukia. Executed? For helping him? For giving him the power to protect his friends, his family?

No. He will not allow it.

“That’s bullshit!” Ichigo throws him back, power surging through him. His own anger and the energy that Rukia has given him. Cold coursing through his veins. “Rukia was just helping, she saved us! Isn’t that what your job is?!”

“She broke the rules is what she did. What’s a few human lives to a shinigami? She should have never done that.”

A few human-

Ichigo throws himself at Renji with vicious abandon. Renji is fast but Ichigo is strong, Rukia is strong, and it’s her power that lets him swing his sword with utmost surety.

Still, it’s hard to keep up when Renji won’t shut up. Something about menos and children and then he asks Ichigo’s swords name.

He frowns and racks his brain. That feels like something he should know. On the tip of his tongue. His sword. Rukia’s sword. Does it have a name?

Renji takes his silence for ignorance and he’s not wrong.

He puts his sword in front of him and it glows faintly red. The taste of fire and bone is stronger.

“A shinigami’s zanpakuto is the true form of their soul, it’s their true power. And this is mine! Now Roar, Zabimaru!”

Ichigo watches the sword change, grow fangs and cracks. A Noble Fantasm? No, it’s much weaker. He looks at Renji, looks harder at his power. He’s strong, probably stronger than Ichigo but is he stronger than Ichigo and Rukia together? This will have to be a battle where he can’t rely on brute strength.

The sword swings and the cracks pull apart until it’s a glorified whip with teeth and Ichigo jumps back to dodge it. The stones weigh heavy in his pocket and his mind whirls. No longer a saber, no longer capable of simply attacking and slashing until he’s won.

“Give up already! You’re 2000 years too young to beat me!”

And maybe Renji would be right. Maybe he would be too much for Ichigo to handle, in another life. Maybe if he really was just a fifteen year old kid, shihakusho more green than black, he would leave him laying in a puddle of blood without breaking a sweat.

But Ichigo is not fifteen. He is eighteen and he has fought eight wars. He has ended extinction and walked the land of the dead, and demons, and stood amongst stars. He has fought and bled and killed and died, and he has done it all for his family, his friends.

And now.

Now these two are trying to take another friend. They are trying to steal Rukia, to punish her for saving him and giving him strength enough to fight.

And he will not allow it.

His temper howls, blood rushing into his ears and battle fury washes over his skin.

Beneath it, beneath that hot fire that has driven him for so much of his life there’s something else. Something cold and foreign, frost on a window pane in summertime, snow floating around a campfire.

He lunges for Renji.

Renji is forced to release his noble phantasm, his zanpakuto. It lashes out, a segmented whip that bites the pavement with terrible teeth. Ichigo takes it in stride, catches it’s glinting teeth in his own too-long blade and twirls it like spaghetti around a knife. The teeth catch and hold, Renji’s eyes go wide and Ichigo yanks him forward with his zanpakuto.

He takes one hand off his own sword and drives it into Renji’s jaw. His teeth click and blood spurts between his lips before he drops like a lead balloon.

With Renji at his feet Ichigo turns to face Rukia and the man in the white cloak. He tilts his long blade, letting Renji’s zanpakuto slide off. On the ground it glows faintly red and returns to its original form.

“Are you next then?” Ichigo asks, his voice careful and calm even as the wrold inside him rages. Plans pick up and he reads this mans strengths. He’s leagues ahead of Ichigo but even still…

Ichigo is not the type to run. He is not the type to give up. No matter that Rukia is screaming at him to. He won’t-

He twists and blocks the blow he had barely ever seen, his sword moving faster than his mind.

Surprise registers on the man’s face, muted and little more than a twist of his mouth and a twitch of his eyes. Ichigo shoves him away, but he wasn’t fast enough.

Blood seeps out of his back. The cut it shallow, it won’t slow him down but the fact remains. He got hit.

Faster, whispers a voice in the back of his head. A memory, a premonition. He blocks the next attack but only just and under the force of the drawn sword, his own begins to crack. No. No, he will not lose, not like this.

He shoves the man back and flings one of the stones at him, shooting a burst of Mana through it. The man in white has to move fast to avoid the fire that erupts in front of him.

“Ichigo?” Rukia stares at him, her mouth open. “What was that?!”

“I’m not that great at magic,” Ichigo admits, tossing another stone up and down in his hand. He never takes his eyes off of his enemy. “In fact, I wouldn’t even call myself a real mage. I’m pretty second rate at this stuff. But this much… This much I can do.”

He shoots another stone at the shinigami in front of him, who’s name he never did get, and grins when he’s forced to release his own zanpakuto. He’s glad about it, but Rukia is screaming at him.

The air fills with glittering flower petals and Ichigo tastes steel, feels the weight of ‘Duty’ and ‘Honor’ and the scent of sakura blossoms wash across his skin.

They surge at him, a tidal wave of power, danger. Each one is a blade and Ichigo cannot dodge of block them all. Even still, he will not run. He will-

  Protect Rukia!  

Fine.

Cold chases through his body, Rukia’s power surges. Ichigo gives his strength over to it, pours his reitsu into the sword as he once did his saber’s and the sound of bells echoes around him.

A ribbon flutters graceful in front of his face and he swings, running on instinct alone.

The wave of flower petals is stopped in its tracks. Frozen in a circle of ice that reaches towards the sky.

Ichigo is aware, from the shock on the faces of the people around him, that he’s just done something impossible. Again.

Oh well.

He turns again to the Shinigami, bringing his blade in front of him. Not his, Rukia’s. He was going to save her-

“Rikujōkōrō.”

Ichigo shouted when light, six straight rectangles of it, slammed into his stomach. He froze, unable to move. The ice shattered and the blades inside of it floated back to their master, reforming into a single sword. This time, Ichigo couldn’t block. He could do nothing as the blade pierced him twice, and the light faded.

He tried. He did. He would crawl if he had to but-

“Stay alive, for just a little longer, Ichigo. And if you follow me, I will never forgive you.”

He can recognize what she’s doing. She’s drawing the man, Byakuya, and the newly awakened Renji away from him. She is protecting him, and the helplessness is acid on his tongue.

He was left, bleeding, dying, on the streets of Karakura.

* * * * * *

[pog-through-the-suffering]

ive . never made an original post on this blog besides being completely head full of thoughts regarding the dream smp these past months so, 🎉here’s to my first og post

The Traitor!!!

(yeah i know it's already been a day and none of this stuff is new hsjfhj just let me be a drama queen that really likes analysing characters)

can i just say before i get into it that i love the descent into pretty much grey morality for most of the "characters" involved in the smp. like. pretty much nobody is morally correct! other than niki nihachu because niki can do no wrong :) also i'll be referring to the characters... of these people? and not who they are

now, i've got a couple people that i think are traitors and i'll explain them a little further down but here's some things i noted when i was watching the vod that might be interesting owo

dream says, quote, "[you] may have traitors in your ranks" which,

could be a double jebait; he knows there's a traitor but he wants to sound like it's up in the air

there really is no traitor and this is just a ruse to get pogtopia to implode on itself

the traitor still hasn't made up their mind on whether or not they will betray pogtopia

and i think the last one is the most interesting, at least from a semi-meta perspective, to have a traitor that's not fully into the role and doesn't decide until last minute. idk, something about the angst really fuels me :)

either way, here's my predictions on who could be the traitor ranked (more or less) most compelling to least compelling, and i'm not accounting for realism because... this is my tumblr post and i get to pick how i order things :) i'm hiding the (long) analysis in read more because... i just realized how much i have to say and i am Not concise.

tl;dr

tubbo, while unrealistic, makes for an interesting twist and, for angst reasons, would also be cool to write about if he betrays pogtopia

similar to tubbo, tommy betraying is unrealistic, but for angst reasons would also be cool

technoblade is kind of obvious, but the continuity (if he’s the traitor) would make me pretty happy.

wilbur soot would be a little null, since he’s already planning on blowing everything to smithereens either way, but would be another step in his spiral downwards (jeez how far can this guy go) so i’m not mad.

georgenotfound would not be super surprising per say but would continue with his general characterization as an arbiter of chaos (i’ll maybe elaborate in a different post) it would be :)

badlands folks would... not be surprising. they never formally aligned with pogtopia, and aside from sam never really... offered their help? concretely, at least.

fundy already used up his secret traitor card.

same with eret, i love her, but his betrayal wouldn’t be super impactful. plus, they’re more aligned with badlands?

niki nihachu... i said i won’t care about realism but i sincerely cannot in canon imagine this. but if she did... oh the angst would be *chef’s kiss*

hbomb, ponk, purpled, itsalyssa, punz, other people? they never really were involved with this season aside from like,,, maybe helping schlatt hunt down tommy and wilbur right at the beginning. so the betrayal wouldn’t. matter.

tubbo - look, ik i said i don't care about realism, but the chances of this actually happening are... pretty slim. i love tubbo. i support tubbo. but they... like, the confused "no?" when he first came on VC with tommy makes me think it probably won't be him, unless they're really that good at acting. which, i mean, i guess would make for a fantastic surprise. but there's something deeply compelling about this kid, who largely has been relegated to third in command/less important than his friend, and who has been treated like a work horse a lot of the time (being asked to farm netherite for this upcoming war, being forced to decorate what ended up being his fucking funeral, otherwise grinding for shit in the earliest war only for it to get ruined by dteam), fucking snapping. plus, it's not like tubbo hasn't demonstrated his penchance towards chaos. also, i think there's something to be said about the lingering effects of manipulative authority/paternal figures and how that would manifest in tubbo, but that's a post for another day.

tommy - okay, yeah, maybe i just like kids my age popping the fuck off because of terrible parental figures, but shhhhhh. for real though, i think it would be really interesting for the person who up to this point has largely been the moral compass or otherwise the hero of the smp. for him to turn out to have always been as bad as the "villains" he's fighting... i dunno. also, something about him betraying because he's so fucking done with the people who are supposed to protect and lead him? mghhghh. but i like this probably mostly for the pop off factor LOL

technoblade - i mean... this one's a little obvious innit? i'm not mad at this, for sure, because techno's always made it clear he is ultimately here for chaos and anarchy. plus, i'll be able to stew in the dynamics of dream and techno fucking the server up LOL. all that aside, if techno turns out to be the villain i will be happy about the (now) fired chekhov's gun. like, i appreciate the continuity between "schlatt suggests techno is a pogtopia spy when he joins" to "techno admits he's just an anarchist" to techno's accidental or forced, depending on how you read it, betrayal of pogtopia by killing tubbo, and it all culminating in techno's final betrayal. while not the most surprising, it would be narratively fitting. and that's always nice isn't it? when things end with a nice bow on top-

speaking of nice bows on top, wilbur soot! i mean,,, as the man has said himself, there's really nothing more he can do to betray (if not pogtopia) tommy's values. the bitch wants to blow up manberg! and that's super fucking sexy. i love his corruption arc, it's *chef's kiss.* so... is he gonna be the traitor? probably not. but something about being driven to the very brink, that you've got nothing else even after you want to destroy it all that you seek out your former mortal enemy to cause even more pain and destruction... very compelling, very nice.

speaking of brunet british twinks,,, georgenotfound. even if george wasn't really on the smp or never formally betrayed manberg, i think they kind of accepted that he's on their side. and while this wouldn't necessarily a surprising twist, this would continue with dteam's (accidental?) characterization of themselves as arbiters of chaos. maybe i'll write a whole nother post about that, stay tuned :)

any of the badlands people - i mean... i love them. i love what they stand for. but they never really aligned with pogtopia, did they? so one of them, any of them, except maybe sam, would make for a pretty weak sauce twist. like, perhaps with skeppy? and it continuing the trend of enemy between tommy and skeppy? but really the most compelling is sam in that he agreed to help tommy but as a final reveal he doesn't join tommy's side when tommy does whatever with the creeper head.

as for weak sauce twists, fundy being the traitor would be pretty fuckin' weak. i'm sorry! he already used his secret traitor card, and everyone knows, once you've used it once you can never (until the next season) use it again.

other characters on the smp... yeah, i love eret! i love her! he's fucking fantastic! their gay castle? best fucking build! but like i said, already used secret traitor card. plus, she's part of badlands, so i don't think his betrayal would be surprising. and niki nihachu,,, i know i said i wouldn't care about realism, but i honest to god cannot imagine her being the traitor. i guess if she was there'd be some nice angst about her realizing that everything is shit, no matter where you turn, pogtopia's being run by a fanatical JD, manberg's run by a dictatorial senile goat man, badlands isn't even strong enough to have its own territory. so, what can a woman do when she has nothing left to lose? but for real, within canon it just... wouldn't really make sense to me. hbomb hasn't been involved in the plot, punz + ponk + purpled + alyssa + others haven't really been involved in the plot aside from. like chasing down tommy and wilbur that one time.

and... yeah! those are my thoughts :)

[pastabrand]

Unpopular PJO/HOO/TOA opinions

This is gonna be wordy but I’m not sorry for it.

Percabeth is hella overrated. It’s nice, but I would prefer other ships over it and some of y’all Percabeth shippers are scary as hell

I love TOA. A lot people don’t like it because it doesn’t include the main 7 and another topic that I’ll mention later but honestly, I could care less. I’m glad that the others aren’t there other than cameos. It means they’re getting a chance to heal after everything and honestly, good for them. People like to cast TOA as an unnecessary spinoff that didn’t need to be included yet it gives y’all the type of character development you scream and beg for in other books. It’s literally the perfect character development trope you crave, yet puts a good spin on it.

Some of you haven’t even READ toa and say you hate it. Like what? How is that supposed to work.

PJO was way better than HOO. TOA sits in the middle of the two.

I love TOA because it shows Apollo’s character growth from one of the most arrogant, cocky, and prideful gods. And even then, he doesn’t go from that to a helpless mortal loving fool, he stays arrogant and prideful but less so. Not to mention more understanding of mortals and demigods live and what they go through. He doesn’t go from one extreme to the other, but one extreme to more of a center balance. It’s more natural that way.

While Jason’s death in TOA was sorta cheap, it goes to show demigods can die at the least expected times. If Jason had died during the war, then it would be “oh, well, that’s what war does. It kills people. Nothing new.” Compared to Jason going about life as normal and one small mission is his end. It’s more impactful and realistic that way. It goes to show that life as a demigod is always dangerous, fighting or not.

Jason’s anger to Percy for not noticing Nico’s feelings towards him is absolute bullshit. Fuck that as a whole. Nico acting cold and hateful towards Percy doesn’t and shouldn’t equal “I like you, notice me please”. The internalized homophobia should be Jason’s focus, not Percy’s lack of attention at Nico’s feelings.

Same for Leo about Calypso. Not to mention they both shove the blame onto Percy like its his fault when it really isn’t. Having your memory forcefully wiped mere months after a war isn’t gonna help when remembering stuff like that. Not to mention the Gods are bums who will try to do as little as possible and leave the rest to demigods. It leads to one sided anger and unnecessary confusion and guilt on the other side. Bad writing on Rick’s part tbh.

People need to stop acting like Jason didn’t die. That’s clinging into a ghost and not letting it move on. I hate to be the one who says it, but Jason is canonically dead and acting like he isn’t won’t change shit. It’s gonna lead to unhealthy habits in the future, trust me. You can’t write a fic post TOA then be like “oh yeah, Jason’s alive because I want him to :)))” because that isn’t how life works sweetheart.

People also need to stop pretending TOA doesn’t exist. You might not like it but you have to acknowledge that it is actually there and it follows the PJO/HOO timeline.

Paul was just a card to give Sally a nice man to lean on when it wasn’t necessary.

Percy should’ve been wayyyy more suspicious of Paul when he was first introduced. 6 years of abuse from a “father figure” isn’t just gonna go away because “oh he’s nice.” Guess what? Gabe was nice at first canoncially (even if it was for a very short amount of time).

Percy. Has. Serious. Anger. Issues. He’s sassy and stuff, sure, but he’s also got some severe anger problems that he both inherited from Poseidon and developed and festered over time from living with Gabe for 6 years.

Percy is the type to act like Hades or Apollo, attack a lesser being(s) because he can’t go after the big shot without fear of punishment. I wouldn’t be surprised if some his expulsions were from beating up various kids and/or teachers.

For the first half of TLT, Percy did not like Camp Half-Blood or consider it his “home” other than Grover and Luke. The camp treated him like shit because he was a noobie at first and then because he was a son of the Big Three. He hated Poseidon for his lack of care and lack of help when he and his mom were abused under Gabe. Had Luke talked to him during that time period and/or Kronos spoke to him in dreams, he would’ve joined the Titans. His loyalty for the camp didn’t form until near the end of TLT.

Nico and Percy basically had somewhat personality switches. Nico was an excitable, happy, laid back, and naive kid while Percy was a quiet, angry, and irritable kid. Nico’s switch came from Bianca’s death while Percy’s was more gradual. In the end, Nico became the quiet, irritable kid and Percy became the more happy, laid back kid.

Stop ignoring the fact that Nico, a literal 14-year-old, traversed into Tartarus. Alone. There’s always fics of Percy and Annabeth recovering or suffering from the after affects of the fall and war while Nico is relatively normal. The boy is not and has not been okay. His life has been one shitshow to the next ever since he was ten.

Both Percy and Nico have incredibly dark sides to their powers that they seemingly enjoyed that was fueled by anger. Percy with Achlys and Nico with Bryce. Percy admitted to liking torturing the goddess and Nico, though more subtly, seemed amused by Bryce and his attempts to justify his crimes and then frantic attempts to stay alive. Bryce literally says “I’m Bryce Lawrence! I am alive!” And Nico casually responds with “Who are you?” as he turns Bryce into a souless husk of a person. You cannot tell me that he wouldn’t have tilted his head innocently and cracked a small smile at that.

Piper’s portrayal as a Native American. Do I even need to go into that?

Percy. Liked. Luke. The boy knew the son of Hermes for what? 1 week? 2? Yet considered him to be a friend, possibly a close one at that. It probably went the same route Nico’s crush did. Hero adoration to actual romantic feelings but godspeed. Not because he just wanted to like a boy, but because, other than Chiron, Luke treated him with kindness, patience, and understanding as a male figure, something Percy didn’t really have growing up. Not to mention Luke helped Percy when no one else would. As a 12 year old, those type of feelings were bound to develop.

People who make the characters treat Percy and Leo as dumb, oblivious, or one dimensional sassy bois™️. Percy and Leo would be offended and/or defensive of such a thing because of childhood trauma. How many years do you think they can to endure that when they were younger from people they were supposed to trust or respect? You seriously can’t think they would be fine with it because their friends. Maybe a reference once or twice, but constantly? Absolutely not. Old habits die hard.

Solangelo seemed forced to me. I dunno, Nico’s whole confession felt like a ruse to get him set up with Will right away. I felt as though there wasn’t any real “connection” between the two prior to them getting together. It all felt rushed and out of place for the setting they were in. I’ve never understood it nor liked it and usually try to avoid it. That and Caleo seemed like a way to put all the characters in relationships so that they were “happy”, portraying that they needed to be with someone to achieve their happiness. Leo and Nico would’ve been better off single and learning to love themselves before loving someone else. Same applies to Sally.

Nico and Thalia would never get along because Thalia would be a reminder of what Nico lost (Bianca) and how easily how she could be replaced.

Demeter kids need more respect. I feel like that’s what Meg is for. To show that they can also technically be considered “Big Three” material because, if you forgot, Demeter is a child of Kronos as well. That means Demeter’s kids are cousins with the Big Three kids as well.

Aphrodite’s kids also need more respect. Aphrodite in the PJO universe is literally older than all gods, as she was born from Uranus’ gentials in the ocean and arose from there. Their powers could be exapanded wayyy more if they were focused on more.

Not to mention Poseidon kids could possibly gain attibutes of what would be considered Aphrodite’s powers since she was born from the ocean and vice versa. The possibilities are endless there.

That’s all I could think of for now! Lemme know what you guys think though.

[sebthesnipe]

The Morals of Evil

My Dearest Procyon

Other works by me (AO3)

Tumblr Master Post

First (Beginnings) / Previous / Next

TW: Idk what but... Read at your own risk and let me know if I need to add.

Logan was yanked from where he curled around himself atop his bench, hitting the ground with a solid thud.

He didn’t bother trying to fight. He knew how this went. It wasn’t the first time he had been dragged from his slumber by the brutes that worked for Noname. 

Two pairs of rough hands gripped him under the arms and dragged him up off the floor. He tried to stand, but weakness that had set in from hunger left his legs practically useless. 

The men paid no mind as they carried him out of the cell to be tortured once more. 

Despite his dread, Logan didn’t protest or whimper. No, this was expected. At least there was one good thing that came out of it: he’d get away from that bone chilling cold for just a little bit. 

…………………..

By the time Logan was tossed back into his cell, like a sack of potatoes fresh off the wagon, he wasn’t sure how long he’d been gone.

He didn’t bother to move off the frozen stone floor or wrap his clothing more tightly around himself. Everything hurt far too much. 

It must have been days. He had drifted in and out of consciousness throughout his time with Noname’s Confessor, but he wasn’t sure if that was from the pain or exhaustion. Logically, he knew that he wouldn’t die from this torture. Noname would send a healer soon enough to ensure that.

He groaned, shifting to relieve some of the weight on his dislocated shoulder, flopping onto his back and hissing from the whip lashes that still oozed. 

He peered up at the moss covered ceiling, his vision beginning to blur. What he wouldn’t give for an end to all of his suffering. 

The world began to fade.

He couldn’t give in. He couldn’t give Noname the information he was searching for. 

Suddenly, everything went black.

…………………………………

Logan huddled around himself, a small flame dancing between his fingers. 

He coughed weakly, curling closer around the little heat that the small flame produced, ignoring the sound of people milling past his small alley in the busy street. 

“Ah, there you are!” a silky voice came, causing Logan to glance up at the well dressed man. “I thought I sensed magic. Though, I have to say, finding someone so young is a surprise.” 

Noname bent low, offering out a hand to the young Logan, who shied away from the movement, obviously expecting to be struck. 

“Don’t worry, Kiddo,” Noname cooed softly. “I’m not going to hurt you. How about you come with me and we get you a nice meal and some warm clothes?” 

Logan eyed him suspiciously, but the mention of food had his stomach growling. 

“Come on now, I know you must be-”

“So this is how it happened,” Logan’s dream companion commented, appearing just over Noname’s shoulder. “It’s about time.”

Logan pushed himself to his feet, becoming aware of the dream just as he always did when the other man appeared. 

“Why are you so interested in my meeting with Noname, anyway?” Logan asked, brushing off the snow from his trousers. 

“You’re the oldest of his followers,” the violet eyed man pointed out, as he circled the unmoving man in question. “No one really knows anything about you, aside from the fact that you’re his seer.”

“Was his seer,” Logan corrected. “Now I’m nothing more than his prisoner.” 

“A seer that disobeyed him,” the companion commented, pulling himself up to sit on one of the crates. 

“With good reason,” Logan countered. Something tugged at his mind. There were so many pieces to this puzzle and yet he couldn’t put it together. Who was this man, what was his interest in Logan, and why did he seem so familiar?  

As if sensing Logan’s confusion, the companion waved his hand, quickly replacing it with the ever present apathy that accompanied these dreams. 

“I dunno,” the younger man said pointedly, “it seems like a prolonged amount of torture and your enevitable death would be reason enough not to disobey him.” 

“The things I’ve seen,” Logan replied, “They are reason enough to endure such treatment.”  He moved to study the younger face of his old friend. Noname had been quite handsome back then, with kind features and a warm smile. Logan couldn’t help but stare, just for a moment. The man before him no longer existed, that much was clear.

 The feeling of loss made his chest constrict painfully. 

“What did you see?” The dream companion asked, peering at Logan eagerly. 

Logan tensed at the question, his head suddenly beginning to pound. The dream around them shook violently, tossing his companion off of the crate with only the blanket of snow to cushion his fall. 

“Nevermind!” The fallen man cried, not having expected such a violent reaction from Logan. It appeared he’d have to ease his way into that particular topic. Luckily his dismissal seemed to work in calming Logan, or at least stop the dream world from collapsing around them.

 “And they call me temperamental,” the violet eyed man scoffed as he pulled himself to his feet, bushing off his dark cloak. “So, Noname found you. Then what?”

The image began to fade at the question. The unmoving version of Noname shimmered before dissolving into the snow, replaced by a large table inside  a crowded inn.

Logan turned towards the new scene, catching sight of Noname.He sank down on an empty bench as his old friend placed a steaming bowl of stew in front of him.

“So, tell me about yourself, Kiddo,” Noname smiled, sitting across from him. “Where are your parents?”

Logan didn’t answer as he watched him, studying his features. His heart ached for this man, just as it had done before. Not the man that currently held him prisoner, but the man before him; the one that had pulled him off the streets and offered him safety and warmth.

“Whoa! Slow down! You’re going to make yourself sick,” Noname laughed. Logan noticed for the first time that the bowl of stew seemed to be emptying itself out, sloshing over the sides as if someone was currently ravishing it. 

Noname turned to call for another bowl before the image froze.

“Seeing him like this is creepy,” the  companion commented, suddenly at Logan’s shoulder once more. “He seems so…” the man grimaced, “.… Smiley.”

“He was like that back then,” Logan nodded, giving his own soft smile.

“When did he turn?” The companion asked, erasing Logan’s smile instantly.

The scene dissolved into another new dream. 

Noname stood  perched on a large pedestal built in the center of a crowded courtyard A light shone from his chest and the crowd of people shuffled closer and closer. 

Logan brushed past them as they parted to make way. Soon he stood at the base of a large flowing fountain. 

Noname smiled down at Logan. He bent to cup his hands into the water and offered them out for the man to drink. Logan obeyed. Noname’s shine dimmed just slightly as Logan’s own incandescence appeared. When Logan stepped back into the crowd, another man stepped forward. Noname bent, scooping water before offering it out. His glow faded again.The process repeated. 

“Sharing a source of magic doesn’t turn someone evil,” The companion commented, pulling Logan’s attention.

“Noname is not evil,” Logan chided with a glare. 

“How can you say that after everything he’s done to you?” the other man demanded with confusion. 

“Evil is a construct that keeps humanity in what we consider a moral line, but it is not a force or a being. Evil is an act which we consider bad,” Logan lectured. “A person does not turn evil.”

“Whatever you say,” the companion scoffed with a roll of his eyes. “My question still stands.”

“If you are trying to understand what made him who he is, perhaps you should understand this,” Logan sighed, obviously not too enthused by the line of conversation. “If a man murders another in order to save the lives of the ones he cares about, does that make him evil?”

“Well…” the companion mumbled, obviously considering the scenario, “no.”

“And yet, he has still committed murder,” Logan replied.

“Yes, but for a good reason,” the companion countered.

“So, an inherently evil act can be considered good if the reasons are justified?”

“I… suppose so,” The companion shrugged,  “I don’t think I understand where this is going.” 

“Of course you don’t,” Logan retorted, earning a glare. “Noname was a good man who cared greatly for those who found themselves in need. He was willing to share himself with each and every one of them until-”

“Until there was nothing left,” The companion realized, peering over his shoulder at the now dimly lit man who still scooped water. 

Logan nodded. “If you give too much of yourself away, it can be hard to continue to see the good in the world. You lose sight of what is important.Instead of doing what’s right or good, you fight to support others.” Logan nodded towards the shadow of the man in question. “You starve for power and will do anything it takes to obtain it because without it you lose the ones you’ve struggled to care for and that…” He paused, shaking his head, the image obviously paining him. “Well, that is worse than death itself.”

Silence fell for a moment as Logan’s companion took the words in. 

“You’re telling me that Noname does what he does out of love?” He scoffed. “That’s a bit hard to believe.”

“No,” Logan huffed in mirthless amusement. “No, I’m telling you that is how it started. He’s since lost sight of that. All he knows now is the thirst for power.”

“Which is why you disobeyed him?” 

“In part,” Logan nodded, turning away from the scene, unable to watch any longer. “I am a seer. I’ve seen many things. Some of which has proven to me that my decision is one I doubt I will ever regret.”

“So, you saw the outcome of his next endeavor?” The companion asked. 

“I saw a few outcomes, yes.”

“So, what the big deal. Why not tell him?”

Logan pinned him with a flat stare. “Knowledge is power. You should keep that in mind. That’s what these dream interrogations are all about, aren’t they?” Logan asked, feeling no small amount of pride at the surprised look the other man gave. “Yes, I knew what was happening despite your attempts to keep my mind clouded. I’ve seen what Noname will have to do to gain the power he seeks. I’ve seen how he can accomplish it and how he can lose it. Noname knows this. He also knows that the likelihood that he will obtain that power without my assistance is very slim. More importantly I have seen the outcome of what will happen if Noname succeeds.” 

“So, what if-”

“No!” Logan snapped, taking a step forward, his eyes starting to shimmer with an eerie blue light. “Let me be clear, no matter how hard you try, no matter how much you pry, no matter how much flesh they tear from my body, I will NOT help him achieve his goals! Noname does not care what happens IF he manages to take the power he wants. He only cares that he succeeds in obtaining it. And if you have any self-preservation or care for your fellow man, you will see to it that he never does!”

Virgil staggered back as Logan’s power engulfed his own, bringing the younger man’s name to the forefront of Logan’s mind. Yes, He remembered him! Virgil had barely been older than Logan had been when he was taken in. He had-

“I’m not a coward!” Virgil yelled angrily, straightening. “I’m not the one  wasting away in a cell  because he’s afraid of power!” 

“Ha!” Logan laughed coldly, “I am willingly marching towards my own death and you think that is cowardice! I would hate to see your definition of bravery,” 

“Don’t you get it?!” Virgil snapped in response, though he found himself sinking back at the sound of Logan’s laughter. “The more powerful Noname gets the more powerful we all do!” 

Logan’s amusement evaporated instantly, anger flooding him. The dreamscape began to shake just as it had done before, making Virgil stumble to keep his balance. 

“You’re just like the rest of them.” Logan growled, “So power hungry. So selfish.” Logan’s presence seemed to grow. At first the sense was something intangible, like the an empath could feel another’s distress. Then, Logan’s physical form grew, doubling in size in a matter of seconds.

“I am not doing this for my sake you imbecile! I’m doing it for him! For you! For all of y-”

Virgil snapped, his fingers sliding against one another, the sound echoing in Logan’s mind.

tag list:

@hiddendreamer67 @nightashes @aequinoctiale

[auroraknux]

I wrote something new for my Brotherswap AU. This time, it’s some Mario x Peach fluff! I’m not used to writing any of these characters at all, so I apologize if I messed up their personalities or dialogue.

I tried to convey that Mario and Luigi are still themselves, despite some changes to their personalities caused by their different circumstances in this universe. I don’t know how well that got across. (Just in case the story didn’t make it clear enough: Mario only acts shy around Peach, which of course is because of his crush on her.)

Oh, and for anyone who isn’t familiar with this AU: basically, Mario and Luigi’s roles are switched. Luigi is the hero, and Mario is the one who doesn’t get much attention.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I wanted this to take place during a party but I wasn’t sure what to have the party be for (I didn’t want it to be another “rescued from Bowser” party), so I randomly went with “the summer solstice”.

Story is under the cut. Hope you enjoy it!

--

It was the night of the summer solstice. Every year, the Mushroom Kingdom held a festival for this occasion at Peach's castle.

The castle was crowded that night. It seemed as if the entire kingdom had come to celebrate. There were so many people there that some of them had to stand outside. Fortunately, the castle staff was prepared for this, and had food and activities available both indoors and outdoors.

Peach scanned the crowd, looking for one specific person. She was a little worried that he wouldn't be here, given his anxiety around large crowds. However, he had promised that he would come, and he wasn't one to go back on his word. Finally, Peach spotted a man in green.

"Luigi!" she shouted with a wave.

Luigi looked up, and smiled when he saw her. "Hey, Princess!"

Peach went over to him and gave him a hug. "It's good to see you, especially when I'm not being kidnapped."

Luigi hugged her back. "Yeah, it's nice to have a break for once."

They let go of each other, but kept smiling.

"How have you been?" Peach asked.

"I've been doing okay. I've been very busy, though. There was a huge pipe problem in Toad Town that everyone was expecting me to fix. Good thing Mario was there to help!"

"Where is Mario, anyway?" Peach asked. "Did he stay home again? He's been doing that so much lately."

Luigi grinned triumphantly. "Nope! I got him to come with me this time."

Peach's heart fluttered. "Really? Where is he?"

"Probably eating all of the cake," Luigi said with a chuckle. "We should go find him before there's none left."

Sure enough, Mario was stuffing his face with cake.

"Come on!" a toad groaned. "Leave some for the rest of us, uh...Marvin, was it?"

"It's Mario," Luigi corrected.

Mario turned around. "Hey, Bro!"

His demeanor turned shy when he saw who was with Luigi. "Oh, and...P-Princess."

Peach smiled. "Hello, Mario! It's good to see you. I'm really glad you came."

Mario fidgeted with his gloves. "It's good to see you too."

An awkward silence followed.

Peach coughed. "Luigi, would you mind taking care of that...thing we talked about?"

Luigi looked confused. "What thing, Princess?"

"You know…" Peach glanced back and forth between Luigi and Mario.

"Oh." Luigi realized what Peach was trying to do. "Right, right! I'll go, uh...do the thing."

He gave her a quick wink before running off (most likely planning to hide from the crowd in the bathroom again).

"What was that about?" Mario asked.

"Oh, nothing." Peach made a beckoning motion. "Mario, will you please come with me? I want to talk to you."

"Me?" Mario winced at how his voice cracked when he said that. He cleared his throat. "S-sure, Princess."

He finished the last bit of his cake, then practically jumped over to Peach.

"Okie dokie! Lead the way, Your Majesty!"

Peach smiled. "This way, please."

Peach led Mario through the castle. They soon came to a flight of stairs.

"I've never been to this part of the castle before," Mario said curiously.

"I don't bring many people here."

Peach glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then grinned mischievously. She leaned down towards Mario's ear.

"I'll race you to the top," she whispered.

Mario grinned back. "You're on, Princess!"

The two stood at the very bottom of the stairs.

"Ready…" Peach said. "Go!"

The two began to run up the stairs. Well, Peach ran. Mario's method was to use his signature jump, which allowed him to climb multiple stairs at a time. He may not have been able to jump as high as Luigi, but it was still rather impressive.

Mario reached the top first.

"Yahoo!" he cheered, doing a victory pose.

Peach giggled. "Oh, darn! You win, Mario."

When she got to the top, she motioned for Mario to follow her again. They soon came to a set of double doors. Peach opened the doors, and the two stepped out onto a balcony. They were greeted with a cool breeze, a strong contrast to the blistering heat they had endured during the day.

"This part of the castle gives me the best view of the stars," said Peach.

Mario looked up at the sky, eyes filled with wonder. "Mama Mia…"

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Peach asked softly.

Mario nodded. Then he looked back at her. "Oh, yeah, didn't you want to talk to me about something?"

Peach nodded. She was a little nervous, but she couldn't put this off any longer. She took a deep breath before she began.

"Mario...I'm sure you've heard those rumors about Luigi and me."

"Oh. Yeah, I have." Mario averted his gaze, his expression neutral. "Luigi, uh...he said none of that was true."

Peach nodded. "People like to speculate about us being a couple, but we're just friends. Luigi is a great guy, but he's not really my type."

"Really?" Mario's eyes shifted nervously. "So, uh...what is your type? I-if you don't mind me asking, I mean."

Peach smiled. "Well...there is a guy that I like. He's a little shorter. He's outgoing and energetic, and loves a challenge. He's very kind and selfless, and is always willing to help those in need. He's very supportive of his brother. He absolutely loves cake. And, he has the most adorable smile."

"Wow," Mario replied. "Sounds like a great guy. Does he know you like him?"

Peach blinked. Is he teasing me, or is he really that oblivious?

"I’m not sure if he knows."

"Well, you should tell him! I'm sure he would like you back."

"Oh?" Peach playfully raised an eyebrow. "Why do you think that?"

"Well…" Mario looked down at his hands. "You're very kind and compassionate, always looking out for your people. You have a pretty voice, and a cute laugh. You're really fun to go kart racing with, or play party games with, or do anything with. A-and, you're really beautiful too. You're a wonderful person, and anyone would be lucky to be loved by you."

Mario was blushing, and Peach was pretty sure she was too.

Wow...he really feels that way about me?

"S-sorry, was that weird?" Mario asked.

"Not at all. I think that's really sweet of you to say." Peach walked closer to Mario. "So...you think I should tell him?"

Mario nodded.

"Hmmm, maybe I'll do it now," Peach continued. "He's here at the party right now, so this is a good chance."

"He is? You should go find him, then!"

Oh dear, Peach thought. He really is that oblivious.

"I don't have to."

"Huh?" Mario looked confused. "What do you mean?"

Peach gently took Mario's hand in her own. "Because he's right here."

Mario stared blankly at their intertwining hands for a minute, as if trying to comprehend the words he had just heard. Then his eyes went wide.

"...Oh. Oh."

Peach giggled. "I like you, Mario. I like your laugh, your smile, your voice, your energy, your loyalty to your brother, everything. I think you're a great person, and that you deserve more appreciation than you get."

"You...you really think so?" Mario asked softly.

He's not used to being complimented by people other than his brother, is he? Peach realized with a pang of sadness.

She knelt down beside Mario. Gently, she removed his hat. She was amused at his confused look.

"Yes, Mario. I mean every word.”

And with that, she planted a kiss on his nose.

Mario's face turned almost as red as his hat, eyes wide in surprise. Peach giggled. Once the shock wore off for Mario, a bashful smile formed on his face.

"Th-thank you, Princess. That means a lot, coming from you."

Peach ruffled Mario's hair with her free hand. "There's no need to be so formal when it's just us. You can call me Peach."

"Okay, Pr--uh, Peach."

Peach stood back up, still holding Mario's hat.

"Can I have that back now?" Mario asked.

"Hmmm, I dunno…" Peach said with a teasing smirk.

She took off her crown and put the hat on her head. "How do I look?"

Mario giggled. "Not bad!"

Gosh, he's so cute, Peach thought.

"Here." She placed her crown on Mario's head. "Now you can be the princess!"

Mario grinned. "For my first act as princess, I declare that everyday shall be National Pizza Day!"

Peach bowed. "It shall be done, your majesty!"

They both laughed.

"Ahem."

They both turned towards the sound of the voice. Toadsworth was standing in the doorway, tapping his foot.

"Princess, the guests are getting restless. They keep asking where you are. Please come back downstairs as soon as possible, before they begin to fear that you've been captured again."

"I’ll be right there, Toadsworth." Peach turned to Mario. "Well, this was fun while it lasted. We'll have to pick a less busy night to go on a date."

Mario nodded. "I'd like that."

After swapping hats again, the two followed Toadsworth back downstairs. The old toad's suspicious glances in Mario's direction didn't go unnoticed by either of them.

When they returned to the party, they quickly spotted Luigi at the snack table. He waved at them. Peach gave him a wink. He beamed in return.

"Will you excuse me for a moment?" Mario asked Peach.

Peach nodded. "Of course."

As Peach went to see her other guests, Mario went over to Luigi.

"I saw that." Mario crossed his arms. "You two planned this, didn't you?"

Luigi smiled sheepishly. "Heh, looks like you caught me, Bro. After you told me you liked her, I talked to her and found out that she liked you too. So I encouraged her to confess to you, and I suggested she do it during the festival."

"So you didn't just drag me out here because you thought I needed to get out more. You wanted to set me up with Pe--the princess."

Luigi nodded, looking rather proud of himself.

Mario smiled softly. "Thanks, Weeg."

Luigi hugged him lightly. "Anything for my Big Bro!"

He let Mario go. "Now go find your girlfriend. I'm sure you want to spend some time with her."

Mario's heart skipped a beat at the word "girlfriend".

I guess she really is my girlfriend now, isn't she?

He waved as he walked away. "Catch you later, Weeg. And make sure there's some cake left later!"

"As if you haven't had enough already," he heard Luigi mumble.

[gukptune]

— SOFTY (m)

↛ seokjin x reader

a freshman and senior seemingly despise each other, one says the other acts older than they are and one says the other acts like a child, a feud brewing within the estranged pair.

↛ genre: gb n’ bg series, uni!au, good boy!seokjin, smut, fluff

↛ warnings: explicit language, slight age gap, unprotected sex, little bit of masturbation, vanilla sex

↛ words: 7.5k

↛ note: like mentioned above the sex is vanilla cuz he’s old yah know, it fits the concept okaaay

Lacklustre, was the kindest thing you could say about this party. The music was absolute crap, the drinks weren’t even getting you relatively drunk and the people here could barely get a few words out from how fucking timid they were. You didn’t plan on partying, but Jisoo wanted to come see her boyfriend and begged you to come with. But of course as soon as her eyes caught sight of her man she left you with the dust.

You were fumbling in the kitchen of the host’s house, seemed like the host lived with their parents due to the sheer amount of adult utensils, what kind of college kid would have multiple toasters. 

You were also sure from the family pictures all over the walls, kind of cute, most party hosts would hide that stuff.

The cabinets were filled with healthy cereals, nuts and dried fruits. A family like this should have some sort of hard liquor hidden, you know your own parents even had their own wine cellar. As you peaked into the fridge there wasn’t anything interesting but a cola, you picked up the can with a huff before you could hear a few people step foot inside the kitchen.

“I can’t help you much with psychology Namjoon,” An unfamiliar voice clearly, they didn’t take note of you or couldn’t see you from your position.

The boy who was probably Namjoon groans with frustration, “I don’t even know why I chose to study this.”

“Because you like knowing how people feel without asking them?” The other boy teases as he steps closer to where you were currently, crouching.

With that you jumped up from your crouch, revealing yourself to them from the other side of the island. A shriek left both their lips as if you had frightened them beyond their heart could take, the shorter one holding onto his chest and heaving.

“You—holy shit, what—how,” He asked, trying to catch his breath. 

His buddy holds onto the poor dude chuckling.

“He meant, how didn’t we notice you,” Namjoon asked.

You shrugged taking a sip of your cola, “Dunno, maybe you’re both blind.”

As if they’ve never heard someone say something like that they looked at you with such shock, you cocked your head taking a look at them. What you could say was that they exuded the most nerd energy you’ve never fucking seen. 

The Namjoon boy sported a dress shirt tucked into his slim fit trousers. Whilst the other, visibly more attractive to you, wore a navy sweater with a black turtle neck peaking from the base of his neck. But of the way they carried themselves told you enough about them.

“Well, see you around.” You began making your way out of the kitchen, hearing a sound come out of the other boy’s mouth but not bothering to look back. You weaved into the crowd as the music seemingly got louder, making you want to find a whole to hide in at this point.

He bothered you, a lot. You were mostly bothered by him, he didn’t do anything to you but he kept looking your way as if you were some sort of freak. It was also extremely noticeable how he’d constantly find himself in the same area as you, and no it was not a coincidence anymore. 

Finally, you found Jisoo again and dragged her away from her boyfriend who didn’t seem to mind at all.

“What’s his name?” You nodded towards the brunette who tries to blend in by looking at some pictures on the wall. Currently you were situated near the front of the house, not that the house was large it all but it was cozy and maze like enough to hide in some corners easily. You leaned against the rail of the staircase that you dragged her on, not going up all the way.

Jisoo looked in the direction of your head nod and visibly perks up, “Ah! It’s Kim Seokjin!”

You raised an eyebrow at her enthusiasm. “He’s in my biology class, he’s a senior I think. Did you know he’s like super smart, he’s majoring in bio-chemistry, just like Spider-Man—“

You interrupted her with a overly loud yawn, pointing out, “Why are you telling me all this, I only asked for his name.”

Jisoo who can’t seem to lie or keep a straight face grins like a child in a candy shop, she weaves her fingers together as she rolls on her heels, “Well, I think he’s got a crush on you.”

Your face stretches into a disgusted scowl, “Uh, gross.”

“Oh come on! He’s cute—“

“And old!”

Jisoo smacks you in the arm causing you to let out a gasp, “He’s my age!”

“My point exactly—”

You ducked before she could hit you again, laughing as you turned around walking backwards up the stairs with a hand holding Jisoo away from you at an arm’s length.

“We both know we’re only friends because you like treating me like a little sister right.”

Jisoo’s eyebrows stitched together, “Doesn’t mean I’m old!”

“Well, if we think statistically, you’re a millennial and I’m a gen z which makes us very different. If that’s not enough, we like very different things, talk very differently and well, see the world differently.” You tried to explain to a grumpy Jisoo.

“Still doesn’t mean I’m old!”

Before you could retort and spit out another factor, a very clumsy person rushed past you before you could see them. You turned with a huff, about to yell as you see it was Seokjin who was running towards the bathroom. Slipping past you were who you assumed were his friends.

“Aw, look, you made him cry!”

You whipped your head around looking at Jisoo, stomping your foot childishly, “He didn’t go running to the bathroom because I made him cry, gosh, why do you say shit like that.”

You dropped off the steps, getting around Jisoo. She stops you with an arm blocking your path looking you right in the eye, you sighed in frustration as you rubbed your face with your hands, “I say shit like that to make your life more interesting, you should probably check if he’s actually crying or not.”

She turns you around and pushes you up the stairs, “He’s not crying though!”

“You don’t know that.” You could practically hear the grin on her face.

You grunted your entire way towards the bathroom upstairs, you knew exactly where it was mainly because you nearly spent your entire time in there during the lame party.

You could see the crowd of boys murmuring to themselves around the agape bathroom door, you pushed past them towards your focus. Seeing Seokjin coming into view with his face all red and blotchy.

“Aye! Park Jimin, fuck off. You find your volleyball girlfriend somewhere and leave me alone!”

“Hyung! I’m trying to help you please just direct that vomit to the toilet,” Jimin groans, “Can you also stop crying please, it’s making me sad too, hyung.”

Seokjin pushes Jimin until he fell onto his bum, you stood in the frame of the door with the rest of the boys leaving the scene as you appeared. You rolled your eyes hoping this wasn’t going to be going in the direction you think it will.

You could see Seokjin planted on his butt with his head leaning against the sink counter as he vents to himself.“That’s the first time I’ve seen her that close, I couldn’t even say anything!”

“Hyung, it’s okay, you’ll see her again,” the poor younger boy did try his best.

Seokjin sniffled, turning away from Jimin with his eyes shut, “See her again? For her to say what, that I’m old! Like I said, she’s too good for me.”

Alright, at this point it was very clear he was talking about you. You didn’t know whether you should be flattered. You didn’t feel bad though, it was kind of funny that he took a joke this far.

Seokjin, fumbled with his top before he looks up, right at the door frame where you stood to pretty much have his eyeballs pop out of their sockets, “She’s here!”

Jimin whips his head around to see you looking right back him with your eyebrows stitched together as if you were confused and concerned. He stood up, brushing off his trousers as he nods at you, “Hey! Could you please help with him, thank you so much y/n!”

Park Jimin had the guts to weave past you and shut the door, pushing you into the small bathroom with a man-child sprawled all over the floor like an omelette someone had dropped. You couldn’t help but chuckle at the imagery.

“So now you’re just going to laugh at me?” He whines, acting very hurt, at least he managed to say something.

You rolled your eyes as you dropped on your knees in front of him, staring at him dead on. 

“What are you doing,” You said, “Look at yourself, you’re acting like a kid.”

Seokjin frowned, his eyes dropping to the floor like you’d just told him off, “I’m sorry.”

“What?”

Seokjin sighs, looking up to meet your eyes, “I said I’m sorry.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because I put you in this situation, you probably hate it, and me.” 

Oh god, now he’s really sad. The lack of sympathy you had for most people seemingly disappeared, you actually felt kind of bad, maybe because he looked really cute all huddled up hugging himself. 

Maybe it was weird since he had tears running down his face and his lips were swollen, his very plump large lips were—

Shit, what were you thinking.

He had been staring at you too, he had to had noticed how you lost your words and just stared at his most prominent feature and very attractive prominent feature that you’d love to—

“I don’t hate you, stupid.”

Seokjin finally releases himself from his own hug, seemingly opening up to let you in figuratively.

“Really?”

You shrugged, “Yea, as long as you don’t cry anymore like a little bitch.”

After that you had managed to get him out of the bathroom, having him trail behind you like a lost puppy for nearly the entire night. He also resorted back into a snail hiding in his shell. You concluded that his friends made him nervous, they kept looking over your way and well they were pretty happy for him, anyone would be if you saw your friend finally talking to their crush.

If only they knew Seokjin kept his lips shut the entire night, if only he could’ve gained some sort of confidence and well put those lips to good work, you would’ve enjoyed your night much more.

After that party came the rest of the week, of which you had only gotten a glimpse of him every now and then. You had the urge to ask him what’s with that, you had thought he would at least try something, after all you did befriend him.

“You keep looking his way,” Jisoo said with her mouth full of her yogurt, “Don’t tell me you’ve got a crush, y/n, I can’t believe you’re falling for a nerd!”

She sounded happy for some reason, as if she was relieved by the idea, that was still an idea and nothing more. You grunt, shaking your head aggressively, “Don’t—”

“He’s really nice, kind, he’ll treat you right. His family is wealthy and look at him—”

“You know if you actually think of him so highly you could date him,” You interrupted, eyeing her now that the party had gone south for her.

With that being brought up, Jisoo pouts as she dug at the bottom of her plastic cup. It was rather out of nowhere, that after only a few weeks together, she was dumped.

“He’s a prick,” She said, referring to her now ex-boyfriend.

You nod your head in agreement, “Told ya.”

“He literally had sex with me once!” She whined, “And then he told me I was shit!”

You let out a deep sigh, pursing your lips. God, some guys could truly be brutal. By all means, she did decide to date the biggest fuckboy in school and she was hot.

“Shit at what? exactly” You asked.

Jisoo leaned in from across the table, whispering “Doggy style.”

Which immediately made you groan and squeeze the centre of your forehead with your fingers, “He’s a fucking noob, oh my god, seriously I can’t believe you thought you were bad. Jisoo, in a position like that he’s the only one fucking you, we can’t do shit from being held down like that.”

Her eyes widened in realisation, “Thats why I felt so useless.”

“All we could do is push our butt against them, this is stupid, he’s so stupid.” You managed to make her feel better.

“So he’s the shit one at sex,” She wiggled her eyebrows with pride.

“Duh,” You replied. 

She did truly believe him, as if he was to blame her for the shitty sex. He was probably the worst guy to ever hook up with, from your friends elsewhere they said he only cared for himself during sex and cared little for his partners. A dick pretty much.

“Oh! He’s looking at you.”

You heard Jisoo quip as your eyes met with Seokjins from across the cafeteria. He seemed to jump when you noticed him. Pulling up one of his friends to hide his standing form, which didn’t work since he was much taller than the friend.

Even a tiny look and he was already blushing head to toe, as if your ego couldn’t get any bigger. You waved a hand at him and gave him a smile.

Seeing the boy, blink back at you as if he couldn’t believe it before he waves back enthusiastically. 

“Awe, young love.” Jisoo sighed euphorically, leaning on her hand.

You cocked your head at her, “Say that again and your yogurt won’t make it’s way to your mouth.”

At the end of the day, and the end of the week you had finished your final class of the semester and was ready to party yourself to death. A party finally hosted by someone you could stand and well, had a whole lot of money to drop on booze.

As you began walking home you could see a very specific boy standing on the sidewalk as he seemingly looked like he was waiting for a ride. Your heart beats faster within an instant as you approached him.

“Hey,” You said, watching as he turns his head to see you right next to him.

His eyes widened as he takes out his earphones, clearly flexing with those earpods, before responding, “Hi, y/n.”

He looked great today, a simple gray sweater and dark jeans. His hair done messily, probably from his whole day in lab.

“How are you?” You started the conversation on something you hoped he could answer easily, of which he did.

“Great, I managed to finish my project in class and left early. I felt bad leaving the others back in class but they didn’t mind, I also have a family dinner apparently. I was definitely not aware of that until a few minutes ago but—” He pauses for a second as he looks into your eyes, he lets out a cough, “Sorry, how was your day.”

He must’ve stopped himself thinking he was rambling on about something you didn’t care much for, honestly it was fun hearing him finally speak his mind and well speak to you. Just a tiny progress.

“Nothing too interesting, had my last class today so I’m free until school starts up again after Christmas,” You explained, taking a look around for a second before continuing, “Do you not live at home?”

“No, my parents think it’s better for me to have my own responsibilities and have my own space for things I want to do... but I do live with some of my friends,” He trails off.

A little part of yourself wanted to imagine if the boy brought girls to his place, you bet it was nice seeing as his parents were extremely well off. You could think of many things he could be doing in a flat, all for himself with anyone.

“Are you having dinner with your parents?” You asked.

You realised how bright he was, excited to talk about his family, he must love them. He took a second to respond though, seemingly just staring back at you. Before he shakes his head a little, nodding with a big smile on his face.

“Yes, and well my siblings. Think of it as a monthly update on our lives,” He explains, rolling the airpods in his hands as he did.

You nod biting your lips as you looked down, playfully hitting his feet with your own, “Is the dinner tonight?”

He nods, his eyebrows raised as if he was wondering why you kept asking of it.

You pursed your lips, “All night?”

“I’m not sure about that yet, uhm, why are you asking?” He watches as your hand came up to tangle in his hoodie strings.

“Well, there’s this party. You could come—after the dinner,” You suggested, “I really want you there.”

There was no lie in that, you wondered if he would actually agree. A family dinner wouldn’t drag into the night would it? Then again, his family probably talked about his extremely difficult course, their future, shit that actually dragged on.

He took a moment to look at you with the most confused face you’ve ever seen on a person, “Me? You—you’re inviting me to a party...because you want me there?”

He must’ve thought he was dreaming, the boy was literally pinching himself. You nodded, trying to convince him, “Yes, I want you there, Jin, you can bring your friends too—if you want.”

“My friends? Would that be okay with the—uh—the—”

“The host? Of course, if he has a problem with it. I’ll deal with it.” With that he was convinced, you thought, nodding to himself as he probably thinks of how to get his friends there.

“I’ll—uhm, try to leave my family’s place at nine then?” He asked, looking at his phone at the time with his face scrunched.

You laughed, shaking your head at how early the boy thought he had to be there, “The party would start at eleven, you can come at midnight or something like that.”

“Oh...that’s very late.”

You shrugged, tying up his hoodie strings together, he gulps slightly at how close your hand was to touching his very nice chest, “It’s a normal time, just call me.”

You took his phone out of his hand to see that he didn’t have a lock on his phone, what a weirdo. Typing in your number quickly you handed it back to his shaky hands.

“Wear something, hot?” You smiled, tapping his shoulder as you walked past him to leave.

Giving him no time to think or stop you, clearly you wanted to leave him wanting more. You could hear him mutter loudly as he looks down at his top. Venting about how you tangled up his top to the point that could choke him. 

You just couldn’t wait for that party now, huh.

As the time was well past midnight you stumbled around the house wondering where he was, you couldn’t see none of his nerdy friends though the place was very crowded, much more crowded than the last party you got yourself into.

Jisoo was over on the couch trying her best to play spin the bottle without chickening out, as if you’d ever play a game like that, you’re just asking yourself for herpes at that point. You didn’t stop her, she wanted to do it, after all her ex-boyfriend was watching every move she made.

You managed to get yourself into a secluded area of the house, where one person sat with his hands on a piano, playing nothing.

“Yoongi?”

He turns around, seeing you talk towards him. He flashes you a smile as he notices you’ve lost your shoes, “Are you here to ask for where your shoes are?”

“Psh, no. I’m here to ask if you’ve seen some nerdy looking boys,” You leaned against the piano, asking him in a playful tone. 

Min Yoongi, was a good boy. He only looked bad on the exterior, and god, he looked extremely hot in his black getup and mellow attitude. Never the less you were here asking for another.

Yoongi raises an eyebrow at you, “Nerdy looking boys? Sorry to say, I haven’t seen them.”

You hissed, turning to lean your back against the piano with frustration.

“If you’re looking for someone, can’t you call that someone?” He adds, immediately beginning to play the keys before you could say something back. He was right, you could call him, or was your ego too big to allow yourself to do such a thing—

It kept ringing with an answer, fuck, you managed to swallow for pride for what. To be stood up, now you felt pathetic.

Kim Seokjin, stood you up. How could someone like him, drop the opportunity to be here with you. That didn’t even anger you as much as knowing that you invited him yet, he wasn’t here to ease you of your boredom. Even the split second you had with him on the street was the most thrilling moment of your month, somehow a prissy nerd managed to get you whipped.

You thought about leaving, going home to sleep, something Yoongi would do. Unless of course, the tides changed and you suddenly get a buzz in your pocket that made you jump.

You pulled out your phone to see it be him, Seokjin, you sneered wondering if he was calling to make an excuse, you took the chance and answered, immediately your ear being filled with the sound of his voice.

“Hi! Hey, y/n! Shit, I’m so sorry, fuck, I had to go pick up the guys. Are you mad at me? Please don’t be,” Seokjin continued to ramble on as the words went in one ear and out the other.

Seokjin swearing was truly a strange feeling, somehow kind of kinky to hear such a preppy boy spit such vile. You let him go on until he had stopped for you to respond, and of course you couldn’t really stay mad knowing how awful he felt, “I’m not mad, but could you get here faster, I’m dying.”

“You’re—you’re dying? What happened!” He pretty much yells in panic, which resulted in you hearing his friends start to panic too.

You scrambled to calm him down, “No! Not actually dying, I’m figuratively dying... of boredom?”

You could hear a very loud sigh of relief, as if he just dropped his entire chest, “Thank god, I thought, wow.”

Now you held in your laugh, it was funny to say the least. Only a few years in age difference and here he was acting like he’s never heard a joke in his life. Yet, you’ve heard him pull dad jokes as if he was forty.

It took him only a couple of minutes after you ended the call to get here, you had opened the door for them knowing they may have been too scared to ring it themselves or just walked in like everyone else. Whilst, his friends scattered around the party you managed to keep Seokjin attached to you for most of the night. 

“Did you have a good dinner?” You asked, getting him a drink from one of the icebox in the kitchen. You shook the little ice off of it as you handled it to him, his hand brushing over yours without him flinching for once. You leaned your side against the counter, looking right at him as he looks down.

“It was—alright.”

You cocked your head, raising your eyebrows, “Something happen?”

“No...not really, just the same ole stuff,” He hobbles around, popping open the drink as he took a sip as if it was way for him to not talk about it anymore.

You thought about asking him about it more, it seemed like something he didn’t really want to talk about so you let it go. Giving him a grin you saw him blink at you strangely, “What?”

He blinks again, as if he couldn’t come up with the right words, “I—just, you’re—you look really...hot.”

You perked up, letting out a small ‘oh’ as you pushed yourself off the counter. Clearly it was a good choice to wear an almost off the shoulder top that had a fat tank strap on one side, a choice you made just to show more skin. That and you just wore a tartan skirt that flowed slightly, definitely adding to the plumpness of your bottom. You were glad he noticed and said something.

“And you,” You replied, “Not that you don’t look great everyday, just today you look hot not just cute.”

That must’ve been something for him to take as he blushes, holding up the can higher as if it would hide his pretty face at all. You chuckled, leaning towards him.

You grabbed his wrist and pulled it away from his face, he was tall, you craned your neck a little to look up at him. There he was looking right at where you were, you then dropped your gaze towards that of his lips, twitching slightly at how your breath was brushing past it.

“Jin—”

“Yes?”

You swallowed, biting onto your lips as you pushed his wrist towards the table making him drop the drink onto it. You breathed out heavily, hoping he’d take the hint, at this point most guys would take the leap but knowing him, he was too much of a good boy to do it on a whim.

“I want you.”

He raised his eyebrows, “You want me to what?”

You could roll your fucking eyes right now, he was so oblivious, that or he was in-denial. You were hoping it was the latter, you were obvious, occasionally trying to brush your ass up against him whilst you walked around. Even brushing your hand against his thigh whenever you’d sit down.

You sighed, tilting your head, “Really? You really want me to spell it out?”

“Spell? I don’t—”

“Kim Seokjin, you stupid nerd, I want you,” You tried your best to explain to him with the tone of your voice, at this point you were sure he was just denying it. You pushed his wrist onto the small of your back and pushed yourself against him. His breath hitching as he fumbles with that hand.

You leaned in, lips brushing against his, “Do you get what I mean?”

“I—I think so,” He stuttered, his eyes moving around behind you as if he was worried someone would see, “Do you really want to though? You’re—”

“Not too good for you—”

With that you pressed your lips against his, tilting into his lips as you held onto the back of his neck pulling him into you. His lips didn’t move with you at first, must’ve been the shock, he then realised that you weren’t in for just a peck.

His hand tightening on the side of your waist as his empty hand pulled you in at the hip, your stomach now flat to his pelvis, feeling the rather friendly thing he was hiding in his pants.

Your lips moved together roughly, more rough that you thought he could handle. Of course, you lead the pace, knowing him he wouldn’t try to. He only tilts his head in the same direction you did, allowing him to pretty much swallow you. You let out a whimper at the tightness of his palm, holding onto your waist as if he was going to lose it somehow.

He must’ve liked it, his crotch acting on its own.

You unlatched yourself from his lips, with a pop. A whine leaving your lips as you opened your eyes to those shut of Seokjin’s with his lips redden and full. You moaned, pressing your hips into his cock, feeling it twitch within it’s confinement. 

“Y/n...”

“Yea?” You replied, running your hands up his nape, lacing his hair between your fingers as you pulled. His eyes would shut in pleasure, with a grunt like sigh leaving his lips. At least he was relatively vocal.

“We—we can’t do this here,” He said, allowing you some space to look around. He mustn’t have been to a party like this where either everyone was too high or too drunk to think. Of course, no one was looking your way, but at least he was a gentlemen.

You agreed, pulling at the collar of his sweater, “Does that mean we can do this elsewhere?”

He had suggested taking it to his house, which was great, you just couldn’t wait. He had left the car with one of his friends, one of the boys that lived with him. You didn’t mind, here you were walking to his place with your arms linked with his. Ever so often you could sense him staring at you, probably in disbelief.

You were in disbelief, were you really about to take him home…to fuck him?

There wasn’t much time to think through it as you’ve arrived, apparently, he takes you into his condo. Passing through a very fancy looking lobby which made you wonder if his parents had paid for it or did he and his friends manage to, never the less you walked into the elevator along with him and made way to his door.

At his door, he pressed his thumb against the keypad which lit up with a passcode for him to press in but instead he just swipes his keycard against it and the door unlocks, fancy.

He pushed the door open for you, allowing you to walk in first. You took in the place, very well kept for a bunch of university kids living together. He must’ve noticed your pleasantly surprised expression.

“I—uh, I try to keep the place together,” He said.

You chuckled, “You? Just you?”

He shyly laughs as well, brushing up his hair as he watched you wonder around his place, “They others aren’t as keen on, wasting their time on this stuff I guess. I just dislike mess.”

“You’re pretty much their caretaker at this point, Jin,” You looked to him, seeing his lips twitch as you said his name.

His very visibly still red lips, messed up by your lipstick previously and his hair, that he had tried to tame still tousled on his head. You sunk into having a way too creative mind again, seeing his broad shoulders right at eye level. Him leaning so casually against his kitchen table, you could imagine just dropping on your knees and taking his thick cock right in your—

“Would you like to see my room?”

With that you nodded, sort of over eagerly. He smiles, leading the way to his bedroom. 

As you entered the room, you could see his personality all over his room. His walls were the plain gray colour, yet the wooden floor had a few carpets sprawled around the room adding some sort of coziness to it. His bed was relatively large for one person, with dark navy sheets. In one corner was his set up, his computer probably for gaming, laptop and a whole load of posters of space, robots and all things he liked. He also had random, blue prints and computer parts littered on his desk, in a mess, strangely enough, he also noticed you staring right at his desk, making him jump and run over to it trying to put it in place.

Not that it bothered you at all but it was kind of cute how he was trying to make his place look presentable for you, even though it already surpassed expectations.

Your eyes fell onto something that kind of made you step back of a second, maybe you seeing things. You stepped closer to the strange thing ahead, on his nightstand.

“Jin...” You called out, proceeding to point at it, “Is that a lizard?”

As you began to move away mainly out of fear the damned thing starts moving, “Jin! There’s a fucking lizard on your nightstand and it’s chasing me!”

You jump on his bed to get away from the culprit, seemingly a terrifying bearded dragon that you weren’t very keen on. The owner of said demon’s eyes widen as he realises your absolute fear, picking up the thing and putting it in a glass enclosure. As he moves towards you with guilt, his eyes sad and lips pouted, you sat back and looked at the lizard staring back at you.

You held up a hand to stop him coming towards your laid body, pointing behind him, “You better cover that up and wash your hand if you’re thinking of fucking me today.”

He splutters with his eyes blown out, “Fuck—fuck you?”

You shrugged, beginning to unlace your shoes, “Unless you want me to fuck you?”

“Uh—I, ah—”

“I’m kidding,” You teased, before winking, “For now.”

Within an instant the flustered cute nerd jumps off his feet and finds something to cover up his lizard from seeing whatever sinful shit was about to happen. Rushing himself to the bathroom leaving the doorway ajar, allowing you to see inside the pretty bathroom.

Kicking off your shoes, you pushed your socks off pushing your feet up against the blanket. Other than that you’d hope he wouldn’t have trouble taking any thing else off. Stretching out before your next exercise you turned back to the nightstand that his pet was at, looking at his strangely fascinating clock, in the shape of a constellation. This boy really loved space and science, huh.

Before you know it you felt a heat behind you, the bed sank down from a fresh weight. With your braided hair to the side you felt an oddly confident pair of familiar lips running down your neck. He breathed against your nape before sinking a deep open mouthed kiss on your shoulder, sucking on it.

You let out a long awaited moan, feeling his hand run up your sides as he pushes himself against your back.

“Didn’t know you were this bold,” You moaned.

Jin, breathes out a shy laugh, “Are—are you okay with that?”

You turned your head towards him, looking him in the eye, “Of course, do what you want, fucking use me.”

As if he’s never heard such a thing, the boy had a stitched on expression of shock, but you could tell it was a pleasant surprise. Maybe for the first time a girl like you was finally giving him the time of day. You were willing to give him your everything.

With a nod, he proceed. His lips immediately attaching against yours taking the breath out of you. He was pretty much sucking you try, it was rough, wet and hot. Your hand lazily strung over his broad shoulders as he tightly holds onto your waist.

He turns his head sideways to better access you, his tongue slipping through you easily as you whimpered submissively. Feeling slightly lightheaded from how intense this was becoming, fuck, a nerd was literally fucking his tongue into your mouth and you were just accepting it.

You wanted more, fuck, you wanted so much more.

You pushed away from his lips with a pop, breathily whining at him, “Jin, take it off, please~.”

Jin grunts, swallowing hard as you can see his adam’s apple bop up and down, “Take what off, y/n.”

Oh fuck, hearing him say your name with such lust in him was making you so wet. The look he was giving you, like he wanted to eat you like wild animal.

“Everything, Jin, everything,” You pushed his top to exposed his stomach to you. His very toned, and ripped stomach to your surprised. He doesn’t argue knowing it was damn well what he wanted as well.

He rips off his top without a sliver of shyness, standing on his knees whilst his eyes never lose contact with your own. Your hands beginning to pet at his sides and sliding down his bottom, squeezing his tight ass in your hands causing his breath to hitch, not out of dismay but of pleasure.

He unbuckles his belt in a way you could already imagine him using those veiny pretty hands and fingers to fuck you.

As he takes care of the rest of his clothes you wanted to him so bad, it was getting rough, you slick dripping self was trapped inside an extremely tight pair of pants and underwear. As he pushes his clothes off the edge of the bed, you pushed yourself back against the headboard, running your fingers down your slit before you lifted your bottom to slip the constrictors off.

Your bare pussy now visible to his keen eyes, you pushed apart your thighs to show him your glistening needy cunt. Jin’s hungry eyes forced himself closer, his bare body closer.

You took his time to notice his package, his very red, thick cock just dangling right in front of you. It was enough to make you cream but of course you didn’t, you couldn’t let the nerd come before you.

You rubbed your fingers against your folds, opening up yourself to him, “You want this?”

“Yes,” He breathes, his hands brushed up over your ankles towards your thigh.

You pouted, dipping your finger inside of you, “What is ‘this’, that you want, Jin?”

He swallows again, taking deep breathes as he watches your finger ease in and out of you, “I want you, I want to fuck you. I want to cum inside of you.”

The last part made you raise your eyebrows, you shivered a little from the thought, shit, you wanted it as much as him.

“Then come here,” You whimpered, tightening around your finger as he reaches you fully. His bottom half only lifted over you slightly. His face right up against you, his heavy breathing would’ve been audible from the damn bathroom.

You used your free hand to brush up against your clothed breast, his eyes trailing towards them. He gets what you wanted as he engulfs your throat with a deep kiss as his hands pushed up your top, fully over your head allowing your barely covered breasts to bless his eyes.

Jin sighs euphorically, his eyes asking you for permission of which you granted with all your pleasure. He takes them in his hands as he rolls your nipples through your very thin bra.

“Can I take this off?”

At this point you realised that you’ve willingly taken nearly everything off yourself. For the last piece of course you let him. His soft and gentle hands wrapping behind you to ease the clips off and the whole thing.

Stars festered in his eyes as he was met with your entire bare body, as if he had just gotten a candy he was never allowed to have. He latches himself onto your neck licking, sucking and biting on it as his hands caressed you with such lust.

You moaned and choked up, the boy hasn’t even touched your most sensitive parts and here he was already making you tear up. Your fingers weren’t finished, still set inside of you. 

“Jin, help me out will you,” You batted your eyes, “Baby, I need you so bad.”

He looks down at the fingers leaving your core, drenched and hot, he nearly drolls from the sight. Pushing himself off of you as he begins to stroke himself. You were guessing he wasn’t a virgin, by the looks of it he might’ve just had some plane vanilla sex all his life, it was fine for you to do it that way—to start.

He closes his eyes as he wet himself with his cum, pulling his thick cock between his hand as the other keeps him half upright over you. You got up on your elbows, to allow yourself to be closer to him and help him as well.

“Jin, come on, you know you want to feel how fucking wet you made me,” You kissed his cheek, running your lips against it, “All of this—”

You slipped your hand between the two of you and smeared your own arousal on his dick, making him groan. “—I’m this wet just because of you, Jin.”

“Fuck!” Jin swears, for the second you hear him curse subconsciously. His face stitched with overhearing pleasure, from jerking off and having a visible human being, a fucking hot, needy, naked one right in front of him. Rubbing against him, licking him—not to mention a human being he’s been wanting for the longest time but never dared.

You leaned into his ear, biting it a little as you whispered, “Come on, you’re ready. Just fuck me already.”

Like a command, he guides himself towards you, stopping himself right before the entry, “Don’t we need a condom?”

“Uhm, no? Unless you’re not clean...” You paused.

Jin nods his head for a second, as if he was contemplating he looks over at his nightstand making you turn that way as well—

But in fact, he tricked you. With you distracted he pushes himself inside of you, making you moan out in an out of nowhere sense of pleasure. His thick, head heavy cock penetrating you with so much brute it hurt but in a good way, fuck, you liked it when a guy can stretch you out this much.

“Fuck—y/n, you’re so tight, shit,” He finally whimpers, the first time you’ve heard a guy do that, “And—fuck, I haven’t fucked anyone in nearly a year, I got checked last month.”

What a fucking tease, the look on his face of cockiness as he’s fooled you was sort of cute. He for once got the better of you and well here he was fully inside of you as your cunt squeezes the brains out of him.

He was a spluttering mess, he couldn’t even make a proper sentence after the second thrust. With a mighty cock like that, he knew where to put it, how to fuck hard and how to be a cutie about it.

“Do you feel good?” He asked, his voice pitched up like hell.

You laughed, “Fuck yes I feel good, holy shit—I feel so fucking good.”

It was sort of a fuel for him, hearing you praise him, knowing that he’s fucking you good. He begins to slack after a while, at least he lasted quite long in your opinion.

You pushed his shoulders back, non-verbally telling you to lay down. You pushed him down onto the bed sheet, pushing yourself on top of him as your bottom half swallowed him whole.

“Shit—y/n, uh, I don’t want to cum yet,” He whines, his eyes looking at you in panic.

You smiled at him, riding him without listening. Your hand on his chest keeping yourself upright, the other petting the side of his face as he leans into it with his eyes now shut trying to hold himself back from busting.

“It’s okay Jin, come on, just cum for me,” You told him, seeing him physically twitch as you did.

“But I—I don’t want it to be over yet,” He said.

As cute as that was you knew he was just worried he wasn’t going to be doing this ever again, “Shush—If you cum right now, I promise I’ll fuck you again, okay?”

His eyes widened as his face lit up, “Really?”

“Yes, really. I like you, Jin.” You explained, he really doubted it that much.

“You really like me? Like, like like or just like?”

You rolled your eyes, considerably done with him holding himself back by talking, you clenched as he begins to cum out of pure pressure, “Fuck!”

“I like you, like I want to date you like you.”

Finally he gets it, nodding as he lets himself go. With that you did the same, knowing how to get yourself off in his position better than most. He manages to get down off his high at the same time as you. His hand tightly squeezing your hips to keep you on him as you both could feel his hot cum leaking out between the two of you.

The grin on his face was the most fucked out expression you’ve never seen, that or he was genuinely happy. Probably the second.

“y/n, I’ve liked you for the longest time—”

“I know, I see the way you look at me,” You cut him off.

Jin smiles wholesomely, “Thank you.”

“For what.”

“Excepting my love,” He says in the most cheesy way possible.

You rolled your eyes, trying to get off him as he holds you down with his hands.

“Let me go, I’m—”

“No, please baby.”

You shook your head, looking away from him as he kept blabbering like the old man he is. As you laugh at his best efforts to make you stay, you managed to get sight of something you didn’t want to.

“Jin! Your lizard is on the bed! Why is it on the bed!”

“I don’t know, shit—what if he was here the entire time!”

“Then he must’ve enjoyed himself.”

“What?”

“Nothing, nothing at all.”

© archangegguk, 25 may 2019

[bangtaninink]

i’m too lit to dim down a notch vi

Summary: Jeongguk is the new kid in town. Kind of. He’s looking for an Authentic College Experience™, and you have no problem helping him out with achieving that (fratboy!AU)

Part: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

                                                         〰️

Jeongguk is just a tiny bit stressed.

He’s been running around campus like a headless chicken, no idea where he is or which building he’s in anymore. Why does the Film Society meet in the Engineering building anyway?

Oh. Nevermind.

The giant Film Society sign makes him feel like an idiot, because he’s pretty sure that he’s passed through here before, so how the hell did he miss it? He’s a little out of breath, and he pulls his phone out to look at himself, cringing at his bedhead.

(He really should have listened to Seokjin when he told him to bring a comb. Has he been walking around all day looking like this?)

When he walks into the room, the first thing he does is look at his phone and check the time, instantly feeling like even more of an idiot, because he’s a whole fifteen minutes early. There’s barely anyone here: two people are at the front setting up the projector and laptop, and then he looks around and...

“Oh? Noona, you’re here already,” he says, spotting you in the back corner, curled up in a bean bag that could easily fit another two people. You look up from your phone, lips curling into a smile.

“Hey, babe. You’re early,” you say, sitting up.

“Yeah, hah. I, uh, thought I was gonna be late, so...” He walks over, sitting down on a pile of pillows next to you, dropping his bag down behind him.

“Engineering building?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, I don’t fucking get it either,” you laugh. “Hey, Sora. Explain to me again why the Film Society meets in the most confusing building on campus.”

One of the people at the front turns around, hands on their hips.

“First of all,” Sora says. “The Engineering building is not the most confusing building on campus. That award goes to the Fine Arts building. Second of all, why wouldn’t I take advantage of the best technology in our university? You know that the Engineers have the best shit. And third of all, who’s the hottie?”

“This is Jeongguk,” you reply, chuckling. “Sports science sophomore.”

“Ooh. It shows.”

“He’s also Beta Tau.”

“Oh. Eww. Sorry.”

“Jeongguk, this is Sora. They’re a social studies senior. Not the biggest fan of frat boys if you didn’t catch that earlier.”

“Um, nice to meet you,” Jeongguk says sheepishly.

“Man. You had so much potential, Jeongguk-sshi.”

“Ignore them,” you say, rolling your eyes. “Sora’s first love was a frat boy until he moved to Paris to “pursue his art” or some bull like that. They’re butthurt, and angsty, and have vowed to never mess with another frat boy again.”

“A-fucking-men,” Sora comments.

“Don’t take it personally, babe.”

“Oh. Okay, yeah. Sure,” Jeongguk replies, nodding.

More Film Society members start to trickle in the closer it gets to five, and Jeongguk is, needless to say, beautifully surprised by the array of people that come in. You seem to notice this, but you don’t make a comment on it.

“Alright. Okay,” someone at the front calls out, clapping his hands. “Let’s get into it. Welcome to the Film Society. I’m Kiha, your president. This is Sora, your vice president. Thanks for being here tonight.”

“We do have some new faces here, so welcome to the newbies,” Sora continues, sitting comfortably on the table by the laptop. “We will take this moment to remind everyone about the rules. One: the Film Society is not a place to take a siesta, or a nap, or get your fucking beauty sleep. We are here to watch and appreciate films.”

“Two: respect everyone’s request,” Kiha says. “Even if Minwoo is requesting Despicable Me 2 for the fiftieth fucking time.”

“It’s a great fucking movie!” someone at the front calls out -- Jeongguk assumes it’s Minwoo, if the following groans are anything to go by.

“Shut up, bitch. Okay, two-point-five: if you’re new, tell us your birthday if you’d like, because we organise viewing parties of your favourite movies. Three: if your request is chosen for the week, you must come up here and explain why you chose the movie you did, but don’t bullshit. If your reason is “I just like it”, then say that. Don’t try to sound cool, and start making up shit about cinematography and camera work or whatever. You ain’t slick, fool.”

“Why’re you talking like a lame Samuel L. Jackson?” Sora asks, looking annoyed.

“I dunno. I’m sorry.”

“Anyway. While Kiha recovers from that, four: we’re kind of obliged to say that pornography cannot be shown. Personally, I think that’s kinda lame, but whatever.” “True. Five: there will be absolutely no devil worship in the Film Society. So if you think Weinstein, or Scorsese, or fucking Selena Gomez are gods amongst mortals, get the fuck out now because you are not welcome here.” In the corner of his eye, Jeongguk sees someone raise their hand. “Yes. New kid.”

“Uh... what if we wanted to request something like Pulp Fiction? It’s a great film, but Weinstein worked on it, I think,” he asks.

“If we all come to a consensus and want to watch the movie, all good,” Sora answers. “We know some films are just absolute classics that are, unfortunately, directed and or produced by spawns of Satan, so we leave that up to the group to decide. Just don’t bring up any controversial producers and directors.”

“And actors,” Kiha adds.

“Yeah. Unless you’d like to get into a fight with Jinah. Fair warning: you’re gonna lose.” Someone on the other side of the room raises a fist in the air and nods. “Six: no sex. I know it’s fucking tempting with the dim lights and shit, but... keep it in your pants, people. And, that’s it I think.”

“Alright. Tonight’s film has been chosen by... who chose today’s film?”

“I think we picked Jungwoo, right?”

Jeongguk watches as someone by the front stands, turning around to face the group.

“Hey, guys. I’m Jungwoo. Uh, the movie I requested is Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. I requested it because... I dunno. I just love the way Brad Pitt says Nazis in his weird ass accent in the movie, honestly. So... yeah.”

Jungwoo sits down as Kiha and Sora set the projector and laptop up, and Jeongguk looks around, shifting on his pile of cushions to get comfortable.

“Hey.”

Jeongguk turns when you grab his attention.

“You wanna sit on here with me?” you ask, already moving to the side. “Inglourious Basterds goes for two and a half hours. You might not have an ass if you’re on those pillows the entire time.” He chuckles softly.

“Have you seen the movie before, noona?” Jeongguk asks, sitting down next to you -- you’re right; now that he’s sitting on the bean bag, he knows he would’ve left with a numb ass if he stayed on those cushions.

“Mhm. A while ago though. Have you seen it?”

“Nah. I haven’t seen a lot of Tarantino movies. I’ve seen Kill Bill a couple times. And that one about the flight attendant lady who smuggles money for Samuel L. Jackson.”

“Oh, Jackie Brown. That’s a pretty good movie too.”

“Alright everyone,” Sora announces from the back of the room, standing by the light switches. “Phones off. Let’s watch.”

                                                         〰️

Jeongguk thinks the movie’s pretty good.

Until, that is, you decide to get comfortable about halfway through.

He tries, very hard, to keep his composure when you move around to sit a little closer to Jeongguk, not taking your eyes off the screen when you rest your head on his shoulder and press yourself against his side. You’re the epitome of calm, relaxed as if you do this all the time, but Jeongguk is the complete opposite, unsure if he’s about to piss his pants or pop a boner.

(He prays to God neither happens.)

Inglourious Basterds is gruesome, as all Tarantino films are, and Jeongguk tries his best to focus on all of it, eyes hyperfocused on the blood on the screen and not the blood heading south in his own body. He gulps, and tries to stay cool.

                                                         〰️

Fifteen minutes of the movie is enough for you to remember how the rest goes, and you proceed to zone out, not really watching what’s on the screen and instead, staring blankly towards the front.

It’s cruel, what you’re doing to Jeongguk, but Yoongi’s words don’t seem to sit right with you still as you replay them over and over again. You like to think that you’re pretty good at sensing looming crushes, at figuring out if someone is going to start developing some feelings before they’re even aware of it themselves, so needless to say, it’s stumps you that there’s a possibility that you hadn’t caught this early enough.

Since that night at the bar, you’d convinced yourself that it’s because you’re not fucking him that explains why you hadn’t suspected anything. You blame it on Jeongguk being new to the group, to Seoul itself, and assumed that the way he acted around you was just him being him.

So Yoongi telling you that he suspected that Jeongguk had a crush on you so blatantly like that had been a big slap to the face.

This is dangerous and ballsy, but you have to know for yourself if what Yoongi says is true. You shift around, adjust your position on the super sized bean bag to lie on your side pressed up against Jeongguk, eyes still glued to the screen in an image of nonchalance, and the way Jeongguk tenses a little against you tells you everything you need to know.

Fuck.

                                                         〰️

“See you guys next week,” Kiha says as everyone files out of the room, Sora adding a wave over their shoulder as they get to work on rolling up the screen of the projector.

“Wait, so... is that it, noona?” Jeongguk asks you once you’re both out of the room, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

“What do you mean?” you ask with a soft chuckle.

“Like... there’s no disussing or assignments? No three-page paper on the themes of Inglourious Basterds?” You throw your head back and laugh.

“It’s a club, babe, not a class. Kiha and Sora aren’t trying to add more to your workload.”

“So... we just watch movies every week? That’s it?”

You shrug.

“Pretty much, yeah. Sometimes, we’ll go down to watch a new release at the cinema or whatever, but for the most part, it’s just a movie or two in the Engineering building.”

“Wow. That’s... fucking cool,” Jeongguk says, nodding thoughtfully. You laugh and shake your head.

“Where are you headed to now, babe?” you ask. “You don’t have anymore classes, do you?”

“No, I’m all done for the week.” Jeongguk stops walking suddenly, hand resting on your arm to do the same. “Hey, noona. You wanna go get something to eat? My treat.”

“Wh-- Jeongguk, no way. I still owe you from baseball last week.”

“Noona, that was nothing. I told you that already,” he says, laughing. “It was just Burger King. And then you also let me sleep on your sofa that one time, and came to both my tryouts, so technically, I owe you.”

“God, you are next level,” you mutter, chuckling and shaking your head. “Alright, Richie Rich. Where do you wanna go?”

Jeongguk grins.

“Barbecue.”

“Barbec-- Jeon Jeongguk, are you insane?”

“C’mon, noona. I’m starved.”

                                                          〰️

“You wanna slow down there, champ?” you say, amused as you watch Jeongguk shovel another heaped spoonful of rice into his full cheeks. He smiles, tight-lipped, chewing and swallowing.

“Do you have work tomorrow, noona?” Jeongguk asks, reaching for a napkin to wipe the corners of his mouth.

“I do. Why? You wanna stop by?”

He shrugs.

“Depends. I’m not sure if Taehyung hyung wants to spend the entire day playing Overwatch again. It’s kinda weird though.”

“What is?”

“I never really thought I’d enjoy going to a club. Like, there’s so many people, and it smells like sweat and... other bodily fluids... I mean, how can you work there, noona?”

“I mean, the pay’s pretty good. And for the most part, as long as I’m behind the bar, I’m fine,” you reply. “Most guys are too drunk to coordinate their limbs over the counter and shit, you know?”

“But... the smell... the people...”

“You get used to it after a while. A couple shots every now and again helps.”

“Man,” Jeongguk sighs. “I could never. You’ve got bigger balls than me, noona.”

“So. Should I keep an eye out for you tomorrow night?”

“I’ll text you.”

                                                         〰️

“On your left, Jeon,” Taehyung says, fingers moving frantically across the keyboard of his laptop.

“Yep. I see him,” Jeongguk replies, licking his lips in anticipation.

The ruckus outside of Taehyung’s room is drowned out by the sounds coming from his laptop and Jeongguk’s, two pairs of eyes glued to the screens, half empty Red Bull cans at their feet.

Taehyung whoops when a player of the opposition dies, and Jeongguk grins, chest swelling with pride as they win yet another match.

“Dude.” Taehyung flexes his fingers as Jeongguk finishes off the last of his drink. “Have I ever told you how fucking glad I am that you moved down here?”

“Only every time we’ve played Overwatch together, yeah,” Jeongguk chuckles.

“Well, I just wanna say I’m glad one more time. Another round?”

“Sure, hyung. Just give me a minute. I’m about to piss my fucking pants.”

“I reckon I should get a toilet installed in my room. Do you know how goddamn convenient that’d be?”

“Gross. Your room’s gonna smell even more like shit than it already does,” Jeongguk says, scrunching up his nose as he walks out.

“Dick.”

Jeongguk laughs to himself as he makes his way over to the bathroom and proceeds to empty out a bladder full of coffee and Red Bull. It’s a disgusting combination, and he finds himself wincing at the smell, vowing to never subject his body to such an atrocity, knowing full well he’ll do it again next week when Taehyung is rousing him from his sleep Saturday morning.

He’s in the middle of washing his hands when his phone chimes in the pocket of his sweatpants, and then again when he haphazardly dries his hands on his shirt before he fishes it out.

< hey, guk. i won’t be coming into work tonight :( think we might’ve eaten something weird last night? i feel like shit’s shit > < how’re you? are you feeling alright? have you been gracing the porcelain with your beautiful face like i have?? >

“What’s up with you?”

Jeongguk looks up from his phone at the sound of Taehyung’s voice once he’s stepped back into his room.

“Huh?”

“You look like you just found out your grandpa died,” Taehyung says. His eyes grow wide the second he finishes. “Wait. He didn’t, did he? Oh my God, fuck. I’m so--”

“No, I’m fine. My grandpa died when I was two, hyung. I’m good,” Jeongguk replies, sitting back down in front of his laptop, phone tucked back into his sweatpants.

“Oh. Then why were you looking at your phone like that? Don’t tell me you got kicked off one of the teams, man. I was looking forward to coming watch you.”

Jeongguk snorts.

“You told me yesterday that you wanted to pick up chicks and dicks at every game.”

“That too. But, for real. What’s up?”

Jeongguk hesitates, worrying at his lip and picking at the edge of his thumbnail.

“Nothing. _____ noona just texted me saying she won’t be going to work tonight, that’s all,” he says, trying to sound casual, unbothered. Taehyung, however, sees right past that, arching a questioning eyebrow at the younger.

“_____?” Jeongguk shrugs, reaching over to grab a new can of Red Bull. “As in... my sister, _____?”

“Step sister,” Jeongguk mutters under his breath.

“You can’t pull the ‘step sister’ card on me, dude,” Taehyung laughs. “But, regardless, explain.”

“Wh-- um, what am I explaining exactly?”

“Let’s start with why you’re texting my sister.”

Jeongguk watches Taehyung crack open another can of Red Bull, leaning back against his bed with a growing smirk on his lips. Jeongguk doesn’t know why he’s nervous; he’s not guilty of anything, and it’s an innocent question from Taehyung. He knows nothing about his not-crush; if anything, his smugness is an indication that Taehyung assumes Jeongguk has joined the gang of guys having sex with you.

Jeongguk desperately wills the rising blood to his cheeks away at the thought.

“Well, uh... we’re both in Film Society together,” Jeongguk offers.

“And?” Taehyung prompts. “Just ‘cause you guys are in the same club, doesn’t mean you gotta be texting each other.”

“Uh... I asked her to have dinner with me last night after Film Society because I still owe her from baseball. And, uh, we were just talking and stuff. I was gonna go down to the club and hangout today if she was working.”

“Uh huh.” The corners of Taehyung’s mouth twitch as he holds back a grin. “And, just to clarify, you were the one who asked her to have dinner with you last night?”

“Um... yeah.”

“Jeon Jeongguk, are you fucking my sister?”

Jeongguk stutters and stammers at Taehyung’s question, caught off guard by how upfront the elder is. He can’t even begin to comprehend it all, mind reeling with hypotheticals and an out of control imagination that he has to get a grip of.

“Wh-- h-hyung!” he splutters. “No! N-no, I... I’m not h-having sex with your sister! I swear! We were just... w-we just hung out last night after Film Society. We’re just friends.”

Taehyung hums, fingers tapping on the rim of his can as he says, “I mean, sure, but _____’s also friends with Jimin, and Yoongi hyung, and a bunch of other frat dudes, but that doesn’t stop them from doin’ the do any time they’re feeling horny.” Jeongguk looks everywhere but at Taehyung; Taehyung chuckles at the sheer panic on the younger’s face. “Hey. Dude, it’s fine. If you’re fucking my sister, it’s chill. I don’t really care. She can do whatever she wants; it’s her body. And you can do whatever you want.”

“Hyung... seriously. I haven’t had sex with _____ noona,” Jeongguk urges.

“Hmm. Well, if that’s true, then I’m surprised. You seem like you’d be her ideal lay.”

Jeongguk opens his mouth to ask for some clarification, but Taehyung cuts him off with a slap to the younger’s knee, jerking his chin towards his laptop.

                                                         〰️

“I love Saturdays. Don’t you love Saturdays, Guk?” Hoseok asks.

“Huh? Oh. Yeah, sure,” Jeongguk says, not looking up from his phone, resting on his elbows against the kitchen counter. “Hey, um. Do you know how to make juk, hyung?”

Hoseok looks at him with confusion, bottle of soju in hand.

“Jeongguk, no one in this house cooks. Well, no one except Jin hyung, but he’s busy with Namjoon doing whatever the fuck they do on Saturdays. Those lame slam poetry readings at those bougie bars or whatever.”

“Oh.”

“Why? Do you want juk? They probably sell instant juk at convenience stores and shit. It’s probably not the kind your mama makes, but who’s expecting that?”

“Aren’t those, like, super salty and bad for you?”

“Probably,” Hoseok replies, shrugging. “But it’s either that, or you learn how to cook, dude.”

“True.”

“I guess if you want the good shit, you’d go to, like, a supermarket. If you’ve got the funds, anyway.”

“Right.” Jeongguk taps his finger against his phone, thinking. “Do you think anyone’ll let me borrow their car, hyung?”

“Probably not. We have a bad rep with cars, and on Saturdays, they’re either in use, or two kilometres away from being totalled. You can use my board if you want though.”

“Yeah?”

“As long as you return it in one piece.”

“Of course, hyung,” Jeongguk replies, straightening up with a smile. “I’m not Taehyung hyung.”

                                                         〰️

Jeongguk holds Hoseok’s skateboard tucked tightly between his arm and side, wary of keeping a distance from the stacked foods along the shelves. He picks up a plastic wrapped styrofoam cup of instant soup, turning it in his hand to read off the label.

Reduced salt.

That sounds like a good thing, right?

He puts the cup back onto the shelf, and pulls out his phone to read off the list he’d typed up earlier.

Instant juk. Bananas. Plain crackers. Something with electrolytes.

Jeongguk frowns at the shelves full of cups of instant foods, lamenting on all the requests he turned down from his mother to join her in the kitchen back home in Busan. This’ll have to do for now, he muses, making a mental note to learn how to cook.

Jeongguk wanders the aisles and picks up everything he needs: three cups of instant juk (reduced salt), a bundle of bananas, unsalted rice crackers, and two bottles of Pocari Sweat. He watches, adjusting his grip on the skateboard, as the cashier scans and bags everything, taking his card and swiping it through the machine boredly.

(A second mental note: start looking for a job.)

The ride to the Eta Theta Tau sorority house is uneventful and quick, the streets not too busy; Jeongguk assumes that at eight o’clock in the evening on a Saturday, most normal college students are getting ready for parties, not riding down the empty streets on a borrowed skateboard to bring food to their friend-slash-maybe-but-not-really-crush.

When he gets to the front door of the Eta Theta Tau sorority house, it occurs to Jeongguk that he has no idea what the protocol is: does he knock, or is he allowed to walk right in? He’s not here for a party. He picks up the skateboard, tucks it under his arm, shifting his hold on the bag of groceries to grab his phone.

But he hesitates again because he could call, but you might not be feeling well enough to meet him at the doo--

“Oh!”

Jeongguk looks up to find the front door now wide open, a wide-eyed and surprised Halla standing in the doorway.

“Jeongguk... sunbaenim, right?” she asks, smiling politely.

“Uh, yeah. Halla, right? From the party?” Jeongguk asks back, eyes narrowed slightly in thought.

“That’s me. What brings you to the Hot Box, sunbaenim?”

“Oh. Right. Um, _____ noona’s here, right?”

“Yeah, she is! Although, she’s not feelin’ so hot right now. Food poisoning, I think she said. Real gnarly.” Halla makes a face, shaking her head. “But she’s upstairs in her room, if you so dare to enter the dragon’s lair.” Jeongguk chuckles, stepping inside when she steps aside and waves an arm, letting him in.

“Thanks. You heading out somewhere?” he asks.

“Mhm! Hyuna unnie told me to meet her down at the Pie Hole,” Halla answers, fixing her hair.

“The... Pie Hole?”

“The Delta Pi frat house. Their parties are supposed to be epic. Unforgettable.”

“Does every frat and sorority have a nickname or something?”

“From what I’ve heard? I think so.”

“Uh huh. Wait. What’s the nickname for Beta Tau then?”

Halla tilts her head, lower lip jutted out.

“I think Beta Tau are the Boyscouts or something.” Halla smiles, dipping her head a little in a polite bow. “I’ll see you around, sunbaenim. Tell unnie I hope she gets better soon!”

Jeongguk watches Halla walk off with a wave over her shoulder, waving back dumbfoundedly.

                                                         〰️

You groan softly and lift your head up off the pillow, emerging from your little blanket cocoon at the sound of gentle knocking on your bedroom door.

“Who is it?” you croak.

“It’s me, noona,” you hear, eyebrows rising in surprise at the voice.

“Come in.”

You watch as your door opens slowly, Jeongguk’s head poking into your room tentatively.

“Hey, noona,” he says, smiling as he steps into the room, shutting the door behind him.

“Hey, babe. What’re you doing here? You feeling okay?”

“I’m doin’ okay. But I had, like, five Red Bulls and a couple coffees with Taehyung hyung today, so maybe not.”

You chuckle softly, pushing yourself up to sit against the wall as Jeongguk sets his skateboard down by your door and sits down at the foot of your bed.

“What’s in the bag?” you ask.

“Oh. Um.” He pulls it closer, reaching in to unpack everything, laying it all out on the sheets. “I bought you some stuff. I feel bad, ‘cause... y’know. I asked you to eat barbecue with me last night, but you got sick and I didn’t.”

You click your tongue.

“Guk, it’s fine. It happens. You didn’t have to go and buy me all this.”

“No, for real, noona,” he insists. “Also, um, sorry I only got instant juk. I’d cook you some, but... well, I can’t. I bought you some Pocari Sweat, and some bananas too. Oh, and some rice crackers as well.”

“God, you are really something, Jeongguk,” you say, laughing and shaking your head as you reach for the packet of crackers. “Last time I was sick, Taehyung sat right there, sipping his Coke, saying I had it coming for me.”

“That’s kinda mean.”

“That’s Taehyung for you.”

“Should I cook one of these for you, noona?” Jeongguk asks, reaching for one of the plastic-wrapped styrofoam cups.

“Nah, it’s fine. I’m not crazy hungry right now,” you reply, grabbing his wrist before he can get off your bed. “The crackers and the banana look good.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah,” you chuckle. “Let’s just sit here and watch a crime documentary on Netflix or something. I’m not getting out of this bed for a while.”

“You... you like crime documentaries too, noona?”

Jeongguk looks at you with eyes as wide and round as a baby deer, and you can’t help the fond smile that spreads across your face.

“Sure do, babe,” you say, wiggling your eyebrows.

“Have you seen the Making a Murderer one?” he asks, excitement clear in his eyes as he turns around and sits on his knees, leaning forward with anticipation.

“Oof. A classic. Put that one on.”

                                                         〰️

Jeongguk’s eyes are so hyper-focused on the screen of your laptop, that he doesn’t notice the added weight on his arm right away.

“It’s pretty tough, don’t you think, noona?” he mutters quietly, not turning. “How can you tell if they’re really innocent, or just really good actors?” He doesn’t get a reply. “Noona?”

When Jeongguk finally turns to look at you, he almost chokes on his own spit. The documentary continues to play, but he pays it no attention, stunned silent by the way you’ve fallen asleep on his shoulder, hands softly curled around his forearm. His heartbeat is deafening in his ears, taking in the way your eyelashes seem to cast a slight shadow on your cheeks; the way your lips are parted is unfairly tempting, and Jeongguk isn’t sure how strong his resolve is. He swallows thickly, throat suddenly dry.

“Noon--” Nope. Bad idea, Jeongguk thinks, realising that he should let you sleep since you aren’t feeling well. He leans over as best as he can without disturbing you to pause the documentary, the room drowning in almost complete silence immediately.

The position you’re in is bound to leave you with a stiff neck or a sore shoulder, and as much as he wants to let you sleep, he cannot let you sleep like that. With weird and awkward manoeuvring, he manages to nudge the laptop shut with his socked foot without jostling you too much. He doesn’t know how to go about moving you from your half-sitting-up position to lying down properly on your bed without somehow wrapping his arms around you and getting into a very awkward position that, in the event you wake up in the process, he would have no idea where to begin explaining himself. Still, the need to make sure that you don’t wake up with a sore neck on top of your food poisoning outweighs whatever weird feeling is stirring in his stomach at the sight of you pressed up against him, neatly polished nails stark against his forearm.

He sends a silent apology your way, unable to shake this weird feeling of violating you when he leans over and tucks his hand between the bed and your thighs, slowly lifting you to pull you down gently, stretching your legs out from where you’d pulled them up against his knee. You stir, and Jeongguk freezes immediately at the way you make a soft sound, your head turning slightly, hair falling over your cheek, lips parted. He swallows thickly at the sight before him, all of a sudden hyper aware of how hot his hands feel from the nerves and Something Else, and he withdraws his hand from your thighs as soon as he realises he hasn’t.

Jeongguk waits a beat for you to settle before he attempts to pull his arm out of your grasp. He doesn’t know if he’s only imagining the way your fingers seem to tighten their hold on his forearm ever so slightly, but it makes him freeze again nevertheless. He spends a moment trying to figure out a good plan of action, and maybe it’s the smell of your shampoo, or the faint aroma of perfume hanging in the air, but something seems to lead him to lying down with you.

If he can’t make you lie down on your own, he’ll just coax you into doing it with him.

Jeongguk wraps an arm around your thighs again. There’s a dull ache in his shoulder starting to creep up on him from holding himself up for so long on his elbow, careful not to crush you. Gently he pulls your legs down to slowly drag your body down his bed, your back sliding against the pillows to lay flat on the mattress. Jeongguk stops to shuffle himself down until he’s level with you, your hands still wrapped around his arm, and soon enough, he finds himself hitting the pillow beside you.

Jeongguk stares with wide eyes at your sleeping face, fascinated with the pink of your cheek where it had been resting on his shoulder. If you were to wake up now, he thinks, he would have no clue what to even say to you to begin to explain why he’s here, on your bed, lying beside you, eyelids growing heavy with sudden sleepiness. He feels your fingers twitch against his arm before you start to shift, still asleep, lips in a pout as you roll over onto your side, draping an arm across his stomach.

Jeongguk’s eyes snap open, and he wills all the blood in his body to not head south immediately.

He’s never been more tense in his life, and he’ll be very surprised if the rapid beating of his heart doesn’t wake you up. He swallows thickly and dares to look down, relieved to see that you’re still sound asleep, face smushed up against his chest, soft breaths ghosting across his shirt.

You shuffle again, and Jeongguk has no time to try and hold back his gasp when your leg drapes over his thighs, chest rising with surprise. He stares up at the ceiling, holding his breath as you mumble incoherent words unknowingly.

“Noo--” he starts, stopping himself immediately before he can finish. He breaks out into a cold sweat, hands clammy be his side.

The seconds -- minutes -- seem to tick by slower than usual, the traffic outside quieting down until all Jeongguk can hear is the sound of your breaths while you sleep. Gradually, the urge for everything to rush south subsides in favour of his body warming beside yours, a fond smile forming on his lips the longer he looks at you. This close, he swears he can count all your eyelashes, mentally trace patterns with the tiny moles on your cheek and neck, and before he can stop himself, his eyelids begin to grow heavy, certainly too heavy to keep open any longer.

Jeongguk tells himself he’ll just rest his eyes for a few minutes -- staring at the screen was a lot for his eyes, after all -- but inevitably, without meaning to, he falls asleep, face just inches away from yours.

                                                         〰️

Before you’ve even opened your eyes, the first thing you notice when you wake up is how much stiffer your pillow seems to be than usual, and the way it seems to rise and fall in time to your breaths.

When it dawns on you what you ‘pillow’ is, you slowly crack one eye open, hesitantly focusing your gaze.

Oh fuck, is your initial thought.

Oh. FUCK, is your second.

You stomach stirs ominously; it’s unpleasant, but tolerable, and definitely better than how it was yesterday. You open both eyes properly to take a look at Jeongguk’s sleeping face, and you curse yourself for staring, completely enamoured by his parted pink lips and the slight flush creeping on his cheek from where its pressed up against your pillow. Every fibre of your being is telling you to look away or push him off the bed and wake him up, but you can’t. You can’t bring yourself to look away, not when Jeongguk’s lips look so ready for a quick peck, or how adorable the fading scars from past pimples scatter his cheeks like faint freckles.

You really should turn away, or at least shut your eyes and pretend to still be asleep in case he wakes up, but you just can’t.

You hold your breath when Jeongguk starts to stir, tongue darting out to lick his chapped lips, nose and eyebrows scrunching up. He takes a deep breath in, and groans slowly as his eyes blink open.

It takes him a moment to properly wake up.

“G’mornin’, noona,” he says, voice croaky and rough with sleep. He clears his throat quietly, one hand reaching up to rub his eyes.

Then, all of a sudden, Jeongguk stops, freezes, before lowering his hand slowly to look at you.

“Noona!” he cries out, jerking back so quickly to create distance between the both of you that he ends up falling off the bed completely. You gasp, scrambling up onto your knees to lean over.

“Jeongguk? You okay?” you ask.

His words come out rapid fire as he quickly gets up to stand, hands frantically trying to tame his hair. “Yep. Mhm. Yep. I’m good. I’m okay.” His eyes look all around the room, anywhere but you, and it’s cute as fuck -- so cute, that you can’t help but smile fondly as he clears his throat and scratches the side of his neck.

“You okay?” you ask again, stretching your hand out. He looks at your hand like it’s the first time he’s ever seen a hand, but takes it eventually, standing to sit down on the edge of your bed.

“Yeah,” he says softly. “Sorry.”

“For what?”

“Well, I-I mean... I fell asleep here... and I probably took up all the space... a-and--”

“Babe. It’s fine.”

“Huh?”

“It’s fine. I’m glad you slept over, actually. It was nice to know someone was watchin’ out for me,” you reply, laughing.

“Oh.” Jeongguk blinks, as if processing the information. “Well, I felt bad -- I still do, honestly. You wouldn’t have gotten sick if I didn’t ask you to have dinner with me.”

You click your tongue.

“I said it last night, and I’m saying it again: Jeon Jeongguk, it’s fine. It happens. Don’t beat yourself up about it,” you say, shuffling over to drape yourself over his back, chin resting on his shoulder, arms loosely locked around his neck. He stiffens a little, and tries his best not to be so obvious with the way he breathes in sharply at the sudden hug. “And you bought me all that stuff. If you owed me because I got sick -- which you definitely don’t -- you’ve already paid it back. Consider yourself a debt free man.”

Jeongguk worries at his bottom lip, fidgeting with his fingers, thoughts running a mile a minute because this is all too much to handle so early in the morning. This close, he can smell your shampoo, and the remnants of your perfume, and he’s a little dizzy with how nice the combination is.

“I mean...” he starts. “If... if you’re sure, noona.”

“A hundred percent,” you reply back instantly. “Don’t worry so much. You’re the last person in Beta Tau to owe me anything right now. You have nothing to feel bad about. ‘Kay?” You see Jeongguk jut his bottom lip out, nodding back in reply anyway.

“Mmkay.”

                                                         〰️

“Jeon Jeongguk.”

Jeongguk furrows his brow, Hoseok’s skateboard tucked under his arm, the laces of his sneakers half untied. The sight of Taehyung, Jimin, Hoseok and a disgruntled Yoongi in front of him, arms crossed over their chests, is a strange thing to see at half past ten in the morning, and Jeongguk is undoubtedly confused.

“Uh... yeah?”

“Where’ve you been?” Jimin asks. “You didn’t come home last night.”

Jeongguk clears his throat, and straightens up, shoving his free hand into the pocket of his sweatpants as he toes off his shoes.

“Right. Yeah, um. Sorry.”

“Where’ve you been?” Taehyung says, repeating Jimin’s question.

“Um. The Hot Box?”

“The Hot Box,” Hoseok repeats, eyes narrowing with suspicion. “You spent the night at the Hot Box. And what business do you have over there?”

Jeongguk clears his throat again and sniffs, tampering down the nervousness that’s quickly rising in his chest, instead feigning nonchalance.

“Well, if you must know, hyung,” he replies. “I was taking care of _____ noona.”

Yoongi eyes dart towards the younger, expression giving no clues away.

“‘Taking care of _____’,” Taehyung repeats, fingers curling in the air in makeshift quotation marks.

“Taking care of her... with your dick?” Jimin asks, smirking.

“No,” Jeongguk says, proud of himself for not choking on his own spit at the accusation. “She had -- no, has food poisoning. I was making sure she was okay.”

“Making sure she was okay by giving her a little Netflix and Chill.”

“Yeah, but not in the way you’re implying, hyung. We watched a crime documentary and slept.”

“And did your dick make an appearance, Jeon?” Taehyung asks, sniggering.

“Wh-- no!”

“You’ve slept over at _____’s room twice now, and you’re telling me you two haven’t fucked?” Hoseok asks. “Honestly, I dunno if I’m more surprised by you or her!”

“You idiots woke me up for this?” Yoongi says, sighing and ruffling his hair. “Who cares if Guk and _____ are fuckin’?”

“I do,” Jimin says, jabbing his finger against his chest.

“Why?”

“Because I think it’s only fair that our fellow brother here gets a good piece of ass during his time here. _____ needs a good talking to.”

“Oh. She’s gonna get one,” Taehyung says, nodding firmly.

Jeongguk watches Yoongi shut his eyes and take a long, deep breath in through his nose.

“I’m out,” he says. “You bitches are on a whole ‘nother level of ridiculous.”

Hoseok steps forward towards Jeongguk, draping his arm around the younger’s shoulders as Yoongi shuffles away and back upstairs to his room.

“Dude. You really didn’t bone _____? For reals?” he asks.

“I didn’t,” Jeongguk replies, toeing off his shoes. “You can ask her if you want.”

“Damn. Prayer circle for the Jeon, coming right up,” Taehyung says, frowning.

                                                          〰️

You drop your bag down with a loud thud, dropping yourself down onto the bench and leaning over to snatch Taehyung’s drink right out of his grasp, just as he’s about to take a sip.

“That’s it,” you say, sipping loudly on his Coke. “I’m quitting Yoga.”

“Wh-- oh wow, hello,” Jimin says, eyebrows raised as he gives you a onceover.

“Please keep your dick at bay, Park Jimin. I feel like death.”

“Yoga?” Taehyung chuckles, taking his drink back.

“Hot yoga. Jesus fuck, I thought I was gonna pass out doing the goddamn downward dog.” You sigh, tucking a sweaty lock of hair behind your ear. “Where is everyone?”

“It’s Monday morning. Probably asleep.”

“Except Jeongguk. He’s at practice,” Jimin says, leaning over to take a sip from Taehyung’s drink too.

“Oh?” You sit up onto the table, eyebrow raised as you cross your legs. “Swim, or baseball?”

“Can’t remember, but the guy was up at the fuckin’ crack of dawn.”

“I have a question though, o great sister of mine: you really haven’t hooked up with Jeongguk?” Taehyung asks, leaning forward and nudging your yoga pants-covered knee. “Like, legit?”

“Yeah, legit. Why? Is that really so hard to believe?” you ask.

“A little, mainly because he seems like he’s right up your alley.” Taehyung finishes off his drink, before tossing the empty cup into the closest trash can, groaning when it bounces off the rim and falls to the concrete ground, lid popping off on impact. “But, hey. If he’s not your type, he’s not your type.”

“Well... it’s not that he’s not my type, per se...”

“So, you do wanna bone.”

“I mean... if he asked, I wouldn’t say no. I’m not ins--”

“Hey. Wow, you look... gross.”

Three heads turn, watching Hoseok approach the table, Jeongguk and Namjoon following right behind. You scoff at the scowl on Hoseok’s face.

“Dude. Showers exist for a reason,” he says.

“Give me a break. You try doing hot yoga on the cusp of Summer, bitch,” you say.

“No one forced you to join the Yoga Club. That was your choice. And clubs don’t contribute to your grades, so it’s not like you have to do the hot yoga sesh to be able to graduate.”

“Whatever. I’ll leave then if my sweat is so offensive to you, oppa.”

“Ya nasty, _____. Downright nasty.”

You roll your eyes and get off the table, bending down to pick up your bag.

“I actually do have to go though. I have a lab at nine,” you say.

“How fun,” Namjoon says, chuckling.

“Oh, definitely. We’re dissecting spleens today. Joy.”

“I hope you’re gonna shower first,” Hoseok says. “See, you should be more like Jeongguk here. Jeongguk swam, like, ten kilometres, was soaked head to toe in chlorinated water, and still had the decency to take a shower before coming here. Why can’t you be more like Guk here?”

You look over Hoseok’s shoulder to where Jeongguk stands, one strap of his bag slung over his shoulder, giving you a little wave and a shy smile.

“Hey, Guk,” you say, smiling back, glaring at Hoseok briefly, your whole demeanour shifting quickly, depending on who your attention is directed at. “How was practice?”

“Hey. Yeah, it was good, noona,” he replies, carding his fingers through his still-damp hair. “I haven’t swam that much in a while though, so I’m probably gonna be sore for a few days.”

“I’m sure _____’ll be more than happy to give you a massage,” Jimin says, smirking. “Her hands are amazing, dude.”

Jeongguk’s cheeks colour and warm up while you turn to look at Jimin over your shoulder with a pointed look.

“Well these hands won’t be goin’ anywhere near you any time soon, babe,” you say.

“Woah, woah, woah. Wait. That’s not fair!”

“Should’ve thought of that before you said some clown shit, you fool. Alright. I’m off.”

“Wait, noona,” Jeongguk says, hand on your wrist to stop you from walking too far. “When’s your last class today?”

“I’ll be done by three today. You want me to wait for you before we go to Photography?”

“I mean... if that’s okay with you. My last class finishes at four.”

“That’s all good,” you say. “I got some books I need to pick up from the library anyway.”

“Ah. Should I meet you there, noona?”

“If you want. Or I can meet you somewhere closer.”

Jeongguk hums softly, lips pouted as he thinks it over.

“The library should be good,” he replies. “I’ll run over as soon as I’m done.”

“Sounds good -- but you don’t have to literally run, babe.”

“Eh. What’s a light jog in the middle of the day?”

You snort, shaking your head with a laugh.

“Alright, well, I’m off. I’ll see you losers later!” you say, waving over Jeongguk’s shoulder at the rest of the group, who reply with tired waves back.

                                                          〰️

“I see we’ve got some new faces,” Jaewon says, rolling a camera lens between his hands, watching as people file into the room. “Hmm? I see the troublemaker’s back.”

“Wow,” you say, scoffing. “You’re really gonna say that when you made me the subject of your last portfolio?”

“You’ve got a pretty face, _____, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re like a goddamn typhoon when it comes to the student body.”

“_____’s got the student body,” Yura says as she walks past, sending a wink your way.

“Glad to see you’ve always got my back, unnie,” you say, laughing.

“Ooh, new guy,” Wheein says, sidling up to Jaewon. “Wow. Look at that jawline. That shit could cut a brick.”

“Guys, this is Jeongguk. Guk, this is Jaewon oppa, president of the club; Yura unnie, the secretary; and Wheein unnie, the treasurer.”

“Hello. It’s nice to meet you guys,” Jeongguk says, bowing his head in greeting.

“Hey, as VP, couldn’t you make more of an effort to get here earlier? You should be setting an example to the rest of the club members,” Jaewon sighs, nudging your shoulder with the camera lens.

“Hey, I got here, didn’t I?” you reply. “And besides, I waited for Jeongguk to finish class so that we could walk here together. It’s his first meeting and all.”

“Yeah, yeah. Alright. Let’s get started. Everyone, grab a seat!”

                                                          〰️

“Well, we’re getting closer to the Summer break. Should we set a little project, kids?” Jaewon asks; he’s met with a room of groans.

“Hey, c’mon, guys,” you say, laughing from where you’re sitting on the edge of the table. “It’s not gonna be that bad. It’s not even mandatory. It’s just a club, remember?”

“Way to keep them motivated, VP. Anyway, in the spirit of photography, we’re gonna set a little project for you kids. We want you guys to build up a portfolio of pictures that showcases your Summer.”

“It doesn’t have to be a huge portfolio,” you add. “It can have as little or as many photos as you want, just as long as it captures the essence of your beautiful time away from these lecture theatres.”

“We’re planning on having the presentations on the second meeting after the Summer break, just to give you guys some time to edit the photos and compile everything together, but you’ll have the whole break to take all the photos you want.”

“The next few meetings until the break’ll be some time to plan out your portfolios and take some test shots around campus, if you so please. It’s a free for all; you pick your photos and topics. Everyone just remember the club rules—”

“No nudes, no lewds, no boobs,” Jaewon finishes.

“It’s a damn shame, honestly,” Wheein says as the club members disperse, sliding off the table she was sitting on to cross the room and grab her camera. “_____ photographs so well when she’s naked.”

The club sniggers and you laugh loudly, amused by the scandalised look on Jaewon’s face.

“Why do you act like you’ve never seen _____ naked?” Yura asks, shoving Jaewon’s shoulder. “I saw your fucking portfolio’s B-cuts, idiot.”

“What a church boy,” Wheein says, grinning as she wraps an arm around Yura’s waist, chin resting on her shoulder.

“Well... I don’t think I’ve ever met a church boy who sends dick pics to the entire yoga club — allegedly by accident.”

“That was no fuckin’ accident.”

“Jeongguk, right?”

“Um, yep,” Jeongguk asks, frozen at your side.

“You’re not a church boy, are you?”

“Um... not that I’m aware of, no?”

Yura and Wheein look at you pointedly; you shrug dismissively in reply.

                                                         〰️

“You know some... interesting people, noona,” Jeongguk says, chuckling as you both walk out of the club room, slinging his bag onto his shoulder.

“I’m sure you’ll meet a few characters while you’re here, babe,” you laugh. “You’re in two clubs and two varsity sports teams.”

“It’s funny. I thought I needed to join more clubs, because I was worried I wasn’t in enough. But I dunno if I could handle more than what I already have.”

“Mmm, I think you’re good for now. You’re in more than everyone else at Beta Tau. I think those guys are more interested in maintaining their place at the frat, to be honest.”

“That’s fair, I guess.”

“What are you doing for the rest of the night?” you ask.

“Not sure, but I’m exhausted,” Jeongguk replies, running his fingers through his hair.

“Oh yeah. You’ve been up for a while, huh?” He hums in reply.

“Gonna take a while to get used to this routine, I think.”

You bring Jeongguk over to one of the last remaining food trucks on campus, the smell of hot soup and spicy rice cakes rich in the air.

“Let’s grub, bub,” you say, nodding your head in greeting to the vendor, pulling out one of the plastic stools under the bench, Jeongguk following suit as he drops his bag at his feet.

“Damn. This smells so good,” he says, taking a deep breath.

“Auntie Choi’s the best on campus. You can never go wrong with her food.”

Auntie Choi scoffs, waving her hand dismissively as she laughs quietly and serves you both a bowl of noodles, eventually turning her attention back to cutting up and skewering fish cakes.

“Thank you for the food,” you and Jeongguk say, snapping your chopsticks and digging in.

Jeongguk groans with a mouthful of noodles as he looks at you, and you completely understand, without words, what he’s trying to say. The food is really damn good, there’s absolutely no denying it, and you won’t be even a tiny bit surprised if Jeongguk himself becomes a regular customer just like you.

A bowl of noodles, two plates of spicy rice cakes, and an argument over who was paying — you won eventually — later, the both of you head back to the houses, Jeongguk, once again, dropping you off at the sorority first before he heads back to Beta Tau.

You’re halfway through your nighttime skincare routine when your phone pings with a new message.

< noona, do you have any camera recommendations?? i forgot to ask you earlier at dinner hehe >

“Cute,” you say quietly as you finish rubbing moisturiser into you skin before you reply to him.

The conversation lasts well into the night, the both of you falling asleep somewhere around half past one, in the middle of sharing vine compilations, and you letting Jeongguk know of the inner workings of the Beta Tau Fraternity.

“Woah, dude. You good?” Namjoon says the next morning, eyebrows furrowed as he holds a hand out to stop Jeongguk from walking any further down the hall. “Did you not sleep?”

“Huh?” Jeongguk asks, ruffling his hair mid-yawn. “Oh. Yeah, I’m good, hyung. Just had a late night.”

“Thought you would’ve knocked out in an instant. You were up even earlier than me and Jin hyung yesterday.”

Jeongguk chuckles tiredly, saying, “yeah, I was pretty exhausted; but, uh... I was talking to _____ noona last night. Lost track of the time I guess.”

“Ah.”

Jeongguk looks at Namjoon, and hates the look the elder gives him.

“Don’t, hyung,” he groans. “I don’t need you giving me shit too.”

“Alright, alright,” Namjoon replies, chuckling.

“Why does everyone react like that anytime I bring up _____ noona?”

“I guess she has... somewhat of a reputation.”

“What, because she sleeps with a lot of people? But she’s a straight A student too. Why doesn’t anyone focus on that?”

Namjoon shrugs, saying, “dunno, but I feel like she’s kind of made her reputation more about her... ‘sleeping habits’, rather than her academic standing.”

“Huh?”

Chuckling, Namjoon pats Jeongguk’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it, Guk. If you enjoy her company, you enjoy her company. _____’s honestly pretty entertaining ninety-nine percent of the time. She’s a good study buddy, good friend, and... I’ll admit it: she’s great in bed too.”

“Wait, wh—”

“Go to class, dude. I gotta go take a shower.”

[vgckwb]

P5R: Rebel Girl (A FeMC Story/P5R Rework) Chapter 9: Promises

Ren woke up the next morning. Today’s the day she thought. The day we’re going to infiltrate Kamoshida’s Palace. She got herself ready and got dressed. She woke Morgana up and he hopped in her bag. She walked down, ate her curry breakfast, and headed to school.

Outside of the school she ran into Ryuji. “Oh hey” Ryuji said. “So, we heading in today?” Ren nodded. “Good.” Ren thought about something. “What is it?” Ryuji asked.

“Well, I was just thinking,” Ren pondered, “we should probably find a good meeting place to discuss everything.”

“What’s there to discuss?” Ryuji asked.

“You moron!” Morgana said from the bag. “It’s important to go over everything and not just act on impulse.”

“Man, you are one rude cat,” Ryuji said.

“I am NOT a cat!” Morgana shouted.

“Was that a cat meowing just now?” said a nearby student.

“Where do you think it’s coming from?” another said.

The group was embarrassed. “This is also part of the reason I want to organize a meeting spot.”

“I guess that’s fair,” Ryuji said, relenting. “Why not the roof. There’s only a few people who ever go up there anyway. I’m sure we won’t bother them.”

Ren nodded. “Alright, I’ll tell Ann and we’ll meet on the roof after school.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Ryuji said. The two continued to march into school.

On their way to class, a teacher called out Ryuji. “Sakamoto!” The pair turned to see the teacher alongside Kamoshida. “Did you threaten Mr. Kamoshida?”

“What?! No. I-” Ryuji let out.

“Mr. Kamoshida said you did” said the teacher.

“There were plenty of people there. Any one of them would say you did” Kamoshida said.

“Really?” Ren said. “Because I was there and I don’t remember it like that.”

“Is this true?” the other teacher asked.

“Well, she was there,” Kamoshida said.

“What did you see?” the other teacher asked.

Ren thought about it. “From what I saw, Ryuji was trying to tell Kamoshida something, but Mr. Kamoshida wouldn’t listen.”

The other teacher turned to Ryuji. “Sakamoto, is this true?”

“Uh, yeah!” Ryuji said.

“Hm” the other teacher said. “Well, from numerous other reports, it did turn into a screaming match.”

“Well, uh, that’s true…” Ryuji said.

The teacher turned to Mr. Kamoshida. “Kamoshida, I’ll have a talk with him about his temper. If it doesn’t seem like he’ll change, I’ll take your recommendation into consideration.”

“Thanks,” Kamoshida said, smiling. Ryuji and Ren were confused about this. Kamoshida walked off.

“Sakamoto,” the teacher said. “Let’s go.”

“Right now?” Ryuji asked. The teacher nodded. Ryuji sighed. “Fine. Later Ren” Ryuji said. Ryuji and the teacher walked off.

Ren continued on looking back at them when she ran into someone and they both fell over. “Sorry,” Ren said.

“It’s OK Senpai!” Kasumi said. Ren looked and sure enough it was Kasumi. Her smiling face made Ren blush a little bit. Kasumi got back up and dusted herself off. “Here, let me help you up.” She offered her hand.

Ren stared at it for a little bit before reaching out and getting pulled back up. “Thanks,” she said. “You know, you’re surprisingly strong.”

Kasumi giggled. “Thank you Senpai,” she said. “It comes from a lifetime of gymnastics.” Ren smiled. “Although, I guess bumping into you wasn’t very graceful, was it?”

“I guess not,” Ren said. “Although I bumped into you.”

“Wait,” Kasumi said.

Ren grew concerned. “Kasumi?”

“Why did I say that?” Kasumi said. She grabbed her head. “Ugh!”

“Kasumi, are you OK? Ren asked.

“Why?” Kasumi said, curling up while still standing. “Why is this happening?! Why am I here?!” She began to wobble.

“KASUMI!” Ren shouted. Kasumi began falling. Ren caught her. Ren began breathing heavily. She picked her up. Despite being strong, she’s also pretty light. Ren focused up. She carried Kasumi to the nurse’s office.

After an examination, the nurse turned to Ren. “It seems she’s running a fever.”

“Is she going to be alright?” Ren asked.

The nurse nodded. “It looks like it’s just from stress. Once she’s had a chance to relax, I’m sure she’ll be alright. Thank you for taking her here right away. She might have been worse off otherwise.”

Ren was relieved. “Thank you.”

The nurse smiled. “You should get to class. She’ll be alright here. We’ll do everything to make sure of that.”

Ren bowed. “Thanks again.” She left. She was still worried about Kasumi, but she knew she was in good hands. When she got to class, she told Ann about the meeting spot. Afterwards, the two of them sat down.

All day in class she was worried about Kasumi and Kamoshida. She did fine with her grades, so she wasn’t worried about that. She knew they had to start today, but didn’t want to leave Kasumi like that. She vowed to check up on her after school before meeting with everyone else.

Once class had ended for the day, Ann was getting up when Ren spoke up. “Hey Ann.” Ann turned towards her. “You go on ahead. I’ve got something I need to check up on.”

“Huh?” Ann said.

Ren smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll be there in a bit.”

“OK” Ann said.

“Thank you,” Ren said. She got up and walked out. Ann was standing still and blushing nervously. She eventually regained her composure somewhat and walked up to the roof, abit stiffly.

Ren was walking through the halls when she overheard some conversations. “Man, did the honors student really miss all of today’s classes?”

“Talk about special treatment. I wish I could do that.”

“Maybe you should get a special skill.”

“Yeah. But it could be anything. I mean, gymnastics isn’t all that special.”

Morgana was hissing. “How terrible are these people?! She passed out! Do they only care about themselves?! How selfish!”

Ren thought about it. “It’s just like she said.” Morgana halted his anger for a second. “She told me that no one wants to talk with her because of her honors status.” Ren looked dejected.

Morgana picked up on that. “Well, that’s not true.” Ren looked at him. “You were worried about her all day. I’m sure she’ll be happy once you greet her.”

Ren smiled. “Thanks Morgana.” She continued walking.

Ann was the first one on the roof. “Alright. I’m here.” She said

“Whatcha doin’?” Ryuji asked, coming up behind her.

Ann was startled. “Don’t do that!” she yelled, slapping him

“OW!” Ryuji said, recoiling. “What was that for?”

“Oh. Sorry” Ann said. “You just surprised me.”

Ryuji sighed. He got up. “So, where’s Ren?” he asked.

“She had something to do,” Ann said.

“Oh. I see” Ryuji said.

Ann smiled. “Don’t worry. She said she’d make it.” The two continued to wait, though it was a little awkward.

Ren made it to the nurse’s office. She was relieved when she saw Kasumi eating some jello. “Oh, senpai,” Kasumi said. Ren walked over. “I heard you carried me to the nurse’s office.” She looked off. “I’m sorry I worried you.”

Ren smiled. “It’s alright. I’m just glad you’re OK.” She sat down next to her bed. “Are you feeling better?”

Kasumi thought about it. “I guess. I dunno. Something still feels off to me. But I should be alright.”

“Well that’s good to hear,” Ren said. “Just make sure to get some rest. I don’t want you ending up in the hospital.”

“Don’t worry senpai!” Kasumi said. “I’ll be sure to make a full recovery. And thank you.” Ren was surprised. “I...I don’t know what would have happened if it wasn’t for you. I might still be on the floor had I passed out on my own.”

Ren frowned. She knew that Kasumi might be right, based on what everyone was saying. “Don’t worry about it.” Kasumi looked at Ren. “I’m just doing what anyone would do. I’m not all that special.” She was fighting back tears. While she was saying all of those things, she knew that she was lying. She could have died, and no one would have cared because she’s an “honors student.” What pathetic people.

Ren felt a hug. “It’s OK senpai,” Kasumi said. “I know people just see me as a honors student. And it sounds like you know too.” She let go. “I don't want to be a burden on you…”

Ren found her resolve. “You’re not a burden.” Kasumi looked up at her. “You’re not just some honors student. You deserve to feel. You deserve to love, and be loved in return. You deserve a break when you need it. You deserve to live. Because you’re here.”

Kasumi blushed. She became completely flustered. “Th-thanks.”

Ren smiled. “Are you going to be alright now?”

Kasumi was still stunned. “Y-yes. Um, Senpai? Can I get your contact info? I mean, just so we can make sure we’re alright? And reach out to each other when we need it.”

Ren smiled. “I’d like that.” They exchanged contact information. “Alright then. I have to get going now. Promise me you’ll be alright.”

Kasumi was still shaken. She then smiled and said “I will be. My parents are picking me up soon. Thank you senpai.” Ren smiled and left. As she was leaving, Kasumi’s heart skipped a beat. She got a minor headache when a thought crossed her mind. No one’s ever said that to me before.

After all that, Ren finally made it to the roof. “Where have you been?” Ann asked, slightly relieved that she was now here.

“We were starting to get worried about you,” Ryuji added.

Ren looked distant. “Something happened this morning… Yoshizawa fainted in front of me.”

The two of them were shocked. “Is she OK?” Ann asked.

“Wait, the honors student?!” Ryuji asked.

“She’s fine,” Ren said. “The nurse told me she passed out due to stress.”

“I’m not surprised,” Ann said. “I mean, she must be under a lot of pressure. Not to mention the rumors.”

“It’s such bullshit, the things I hear,” Ryuji said. “I know I deserve some of the things said about me, but she’s doing her best. Why do people have to be such jerks, you know?”

“Yeah,” Morgana said. “We overheard some of that too.”

“I met up with her before coming here to make sure everything was OK,” Ren said.

“And…?” Ann asked

Ren smiled. “I think she’ll be alright.”

“Alright! Way to go!” Ryuji said.

“Now, with that out of the way, let’s discuss our plans” Morgana said. The four of them gathered around a table. “We’ve spent the weekend preparing everything, so we should be good to go.”

Ren nodded. “I think we should begin the infiltration today.”

“Are you sure? Ann asked. “It’s OK if you don’t want to if you’re worried about Yoshizawa.”

Ren shook her head. “I’m fine. I know she’ll pull through.”

“Well, if you’re good, then so am I” Ann said.

“Alright!” Morgana said. “We know Kamoshida is a bastard. And we know Shiho is organizing students to kill him by locking him in the school and burning it down during an early morning teacher’s meeting May 2nd. So that is our deadline. Is there anything else we should know.”

“Well, I know that this doesn’t mean much,” Ryuji said. “But because of the argument I got into with Kamoshida, I have to be on my best behavior. Kamoshida said he’d expel me at that meeting, and my homeroom teacher agreed if I didn’t clean up my act.”

“What are you talking about?” Morgana said.

“Huh?” Ryuji said.

“That IS important,” Morgana said.

“Um, I don’t follow,” Ryuji said.

“Yeah, I don’t get it either” Ann said.

“Not you too, Lady Ann” Morgana said.

“‘Lady Ann’?” Ann replied.

“Er, forget I said that” Morgana said. “Anyway, from here on, we are going to be acting as phantom thieves. A group of clandestine individuals who sneak into other people’s hearts and steal their desires without a trace. If there’s going to be pressure on Ryuji, then Ryuji shouldn’t  do anything to stick out or give us away.”

“Oh. I see” Ryuji said. “Alright! I think I can do that.”

“You say loudly” Morgana remarked.

“Ryuji’s always been kind of loud,” Ann said. “I think you need to work on that.”

“Yeah, alright,” Ryuji said.

Ren nodded. “Is everyone ready?” They all looked at her. “Once we begin, we’re in this for real. No turning back.”

Ann nodded. “I’ll do anything to help Shiho.”

Ryuji grinned. “We’re going to make sure everything will turn out alright.”

“Well, you know I’m here to help you with anything,” Morgana said.

“Well then, it’s settled,” Ren said. “Starting today, we are going to be phantom thieves. Changing the world, one heart at a time.”

“I like that!” Ryuji said.

“Me too,” Ann said. “It gives us some mystique.”

Morgana nodded. “We’ll see our justice through to the end!”

Ren felt a surge of energy swelling up in her through her new group of ragtag friends.

I am thou... Thou art I… Thou hast acquired a new vow...

It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Fool Persona I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power.

Fool-The Phantom Thieves: Rank 1

[brittle-bone-gabe]

The Forgotten: Chapter Nine - Trashmouth

Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five, Chapter Six, Chapter Seven, Chapter Eight, Chapter Ten, Chapter Eleven, Chapter Twelve, Chapter Thirteen, Chapter Fourteen, Chapter Fifteen, Chapter Sixteen, Chapter Seventeen, Chapter Eighteen, Chapter Nineteen, Chapter Twenty, Epilogue

Summary: Barry Berkman couldn’t remember much of his childhood; he knew he used to live in Derry, Maine, but that was about it, besides being taken by his “Uncle Fuches” at age 16 to move to Cleveland, Ohio. Eddie Kaspbrak moved from Derry, Maine to LA, becoming a police officer, surprisingly enough. Normally things were quiet for the most part, besides the occasional drug busts, but it’s when someone named Barry Block enters his line of sight as a possible suspect for the recent string of murders he has to push the feeling of remembrance to investigate.   Pairing: Adult Reddie  (Richie x Eddie) Or, technically, Barry x Eddie Read on Ao3: Here

Eddie waited in the lobby of the precinct until Richie drove away from his spot across the street before heading back inside. Almost like he needed that reassurance that Richie left without any issues, Eddie was hoping that he would make it home alright… Wherever home was for Richie…

There was so much on Eddie’s mind right now, after hearing what Richie had to say. Just… knowing that he was more or less forced into a life he didn’t want to be apart of was very saddening. While it was sad, Eddie had to tell himself that Richie could’ve tried a little more to get out of that life; he could’ve left without telling anyone since it was apparent that he was allowed to go wherever he wanted, especially since he attended an acting class. The situation was fucked up, but Richie still killed people, he was still a murderer… So why was Eddie having such a hard time coming to terms that he needed to arrest him?

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Eddie turned around, limping his way through the precinct. A couple of phones started ringing in the office around him, for some reason the sounds were setting Eddie off, suddenly it felt like he was having sensory overload. The officers who were standing around talking and laughing at a normal, reasonable volume now felt like they were all screaming and it was setting Eddie on edge. He needed to get away from this.

Instead of heading back into his cubicle, Eddie took a quick turn, limping into the conference room where he used the whiteboards for the case he was working on. The pictures of those in the acting class were still pinned up, seeing them felt like a slap in the face. The answer was there the whole time and he was too blind to see it. What was he going to do now? The case was more or less solved… but did he honestly have the heart to arrest Richie? Yeah, he understood that if he didn’t he would be a hypocrite, and if anyone on the force found out he would get into some major trouble… but at the same time… Richie was his best friend that was put into an unfortunate situation.

As if on autopilot, Eddie began taking the pictures down, deciding that he needed to talk to Richie about all of this if he were going to keep this from coming out. He couldn’t willingly allow Richie to keep doing this job, but if he stopped, actually changed his life around like he wanted to then maybe it would be more bearable to let Richie walk free. Yeah, it felt wrong, it felt horribly wrong, but it was a difficult choice. Letting out a shaky sigh, Eddie pinched the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache coming on.

“Giving up on the case?” Detective Mae asked, leaning against the door frame of the conference room with her arms folded over her chest.

“What? Oh…” Eddie looked at the pictures he was holding onto. “I dunno…” he admitted, tossing them onto the long table in the center of the room. Everything is right there… you have the evidence… Eddie let out a sigh, rubbing the back of his head. “I can’t… really find anything else about this case. I think it’s time to put it back.”

“Uhhuh…” Mae said, acting as though she didn’t believe him which set Eddie further on edge, giving her a look. “What, uh… what was that in the car?”

At first Eddie had no idea what she was talking about, but then it hit him quickly.

“Were you watching me?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Mae shrugged, walking over to the table, picking up the pictures to shuffle through them as if there was a secret message there. “Did it have to do with the case?” She asked, a small smile tugging at her lips but she refused to smile fully, dropping the pictures back down on the table.

“Yeah,” Eddie lied, “but, it’s not that. I don’t have anything else to go off of this case…” he repeated as if he said it enough times it would become true.

She couldn’t hide it anymore, Mae finally let her smile shine through. “I know what’s going on here.”

The sentence was so vague, there was so much shit that Eddie had going on, so much shit that Eddie was hiding that he felt like panicking. No, there was no way she knew about Barry. Eddie knitted his eyebrows together, trying to act like he was confused about what she was talking about… Well… he was confused. Eddie literally had no idea what she was going on about or what she could possibly know.

“Wh-what-what do you mean?” Eddie stuttered, resting his hand on his aching leg, which suddenly felt more painful than usual. He needed more pills.

“Don’t play dumb, Kaspbrak. You weren’t talking about the case with that guy.”

“Wh-”

“What’s his name?”

Eddie paused, trying to put two and two together to see where she was getting at, but he couldn’t be sure.

“ What?” Was she implying what Eddie thought she was implying? For fuck’s sake, what was Eddie getting himself into now?

“I’m not stupid, Eddie.”

Eddie opened his mouth to naturally say Barry, but that wasn’t his name. “...Richie,” he answered quickly.

“And how long has that been going on?”

Well, shit. Mae was implying… that. For almost a year, Janice and Mae had been encouraging Eddie to put himself back out there after he broke off his engagement with this woman he’s been seeing when he lived in New York for a short period of time. The relationship had become long distance when Eddie decided to move to LA for a better job opportunity, of course his fiancée didn’t like that, but she was suffocating him, so why not break it off? Eddie wasn’t happy with her, she wasn’t happy with the situation… It seemed like the best option.  

Eddie cleared his throat, his face now had a pink tint to it. “We’ve actually known each other for years, but we’ve just reconnected.”

                                                              -----

Barry slammed the door of his car a little too hard in the parking lot of the theater that it echoed. Out of pure paranoia, Barry glanced over his shoulder into the street to make sure that nobody had been following him. Well, the only person he had been paranoid about was Eddie, if he wasn’t paranoid before he was paranoid now, especially since he basically spilled everything to him in the car earlier. Now he had every right to come and arrest him, but if Eddie was going to keep his word like he had implied then Barry should be fine.

He moved towards the building, his mind and heart heavy as he had been thinking about something the entire drive here. He clutched the backpack strap that was over his shoulder, digging his fingernails into it instead of picking at his skin, Eddie told him to stop doing that so he was going to attempt to stop. From behind, Barry could hear a group of other students laughing and talking amongst themselves, something he lowkey wish he had; of course he was acquaintances with most of the people in his class, but not close. Sure, they invited him out sometimes, more so when Barry first joined the class, now it seemed like he would be invited once in a blue moon. While going out with friends once in a while would be fun and get him out of the hotel room, he wasn’t going to force himself into somewhere he wasn’t welcomed.

Letting out a sigh, Barry went inside, picking at the band-aids on his hands. The dim light shined over his face as he moved past the stage he had become accustomed to rather quickly so he could take his normal seat up in the front. Before sitting down he caught eyes with Sally, giving her a small smile, she returned it but it didn’t feel sincere. Yikes, this is why Barry didn’t interact too much with others.

There was a lot on Barry’s mind right now; his main issue was his identity. Who was he? Obviously his real name is Richie Tozier, he understood that now, but it was still hard to come to terms with. His childhood was a distant memory, his whole life was picked apart and pieced together with false information from the one man he thought he could’ve trusted, and now this whole thing with Eddie? Barry closed his eyes, letting out a breath to calm himself, to calm his thoughts and focus on the moment like Mr. Cousineau had taught him to do.

“...Barry? Barry.”

Barry jerked his head up at the stage where Gene Cousineau was standing, trying to get his attention. He felt the entire class looking at him, like their eyes were burning in the back of his head and he hated the feeling. Barry’s shoulders hunched up, embarrassed that he was zoning out in class again. Gene was more like a father figure to Barry than Fuches ever tried to be to him and Barry hated letting him down.

“Yeah?”

Gene motioned for him to come up on stage. Out of habit, Barry looked over his shoulder to make sure he was gesturing to him. He swallowed hard, shifting his backpack to the left side of his feet so he could get up from his seat.

With his heart pounding against his chest, Barry made it up on stage, standing next to Gene, who was holding a script out to him. He paused, looking at the small stack of papers in Mr. Cousineau’s hands.

“This is the monologue I want you to do for the next class, Barry,” Mr. Cousineau told him, shaking the script a little to encourage Barry to take it from him.

Knitting his eyebrows together, Barry took the script, the papers feeling rather heavy in his hands. His identity was a major part of anxieties as of late, he wanted to change himself again. Or… Not necessarily change himself, more like going back to the person he was born as.

“Hey, guys… um…” Barry had started his announcement to the class, instantly regretting it as he had no idea how he wanted to word this or if this was exactly what he wanted. Well, he started, he might as well finish it. “So I’ve decided something.” He had everyone’s attention, he could tell by their confused looks. “I’ve decided that…” He took a deep breath, looking at the script in his hands. Yes, he wanted this, he didn’t want to be Barry anymore… “I’m changing my name.”

There was some murmuring, which made Barry worried that he made the wrong choice to bring this up. Maybe he should’ve kept living his life as Barry while suffering with this identity.

“Changing it to what?” Mr. Cousineau asked him, rubbing his chin.

“Richie Tozier. Or, on stage, Richie Trashmouth.”

“What’s with the name change?” Sally had asked from her seat, from her tone it was obvious that she wasn’t impressed.

“I dunno… It feels… right. Better than Barry.”

Sally opened her mouth to say something else, but Mr. Cousineau cut her off before she could say anything.

“Alright, Richie Trashmouth,” Richie let out a sigh of relief, he liked how that sounded coming from Mr. Cousineau who always easily accepted him, “we do our monologues next class.”

The rest of class had ran rather smoothly, certainly a lot better than last time for Richie. He was certainly in the zone now, doing the exercises without his mind wandering and forcing himself into a panic attack. In fact, not once did he think about Fuches, or Eddie, or the hot water he could possibly be in. This is exactly what Richie needed, finally he was able to relax and chill out with a hobby he actually enjoyed.

Towards the end of the class, Gene was standing up on the stage, giving feedback as he checked the old fashioned watch on his wrist.

“Well, that’s all I have for you guys. I hope you all have a wonderful night.” Everyone started packing up their belongings and standing up from their seats, so Gene had to call from over them. “Richie? Can I speak to you for a moment?”

Richie stood up, throwing his backpack over his shoulder before meeting up with Gene who had stepped off the stage. They stepped to the side so the rest of the class could leave.

“I need to ask…” Gene started, gesturing towards Richie’s face, “what’s with the glasses, son?”

“Oh…” Richie instinctively reached up to touch the side of his glasses to make sure they were still on his face, as he had just gotten used to them so it was like they weren’t even there, “I usually wear contacts, but I don’t have anymore. I need them to see.”

“Listen,” Gene started as he grabbed Richie’s shoulders, looking him in the eyes, “I’m really proud of you. I know it wasn’t easy to stand up there on stage and tell everyone about your new identity.” Richie nodded, feeling his eyes burning from the tears that were threatening to fall because, for once, he felt like someone understood him and what he was going through. “But, I have to ask… Is there a reason for it?”

“It’s just… I caught up with a friend from my hometown and seeing him again made me remember a lot of things.”

“Cleveland?”

“Actually, no. Derry, Maine.”

“Never heard of it.”

Richie chuckled, rubbing his eye with the back of his hand. “That’s not a surprise.”

“Well, I can’t wait to see what Richie Trashmouth brings to us. Have a nice night, Mr. Tozier.” Gene patted his shoulder before heading back down the hall towards his office.

Richie’s heart and chest felt heavy, but not from anxiety or any negative feelings for once, no, instead it was more like a… overwhelming feeling of happiness. He had a huge smile on his face as he turned to leave the theater. Mr. Cousineau accepted his new identity and that’s all that really mattered to Richie, it felt like he was doing something right for once in his life and wanted to keep this going. Now that he was Richie Tozier that meant he wasn’t going to be doing anymore jobs for Fuches and that was final. As soon as Richie got back to the hotel he was going to take his half of the money, pack his shit up, and leave to find his own place away from Fuches and Hank. Fuck the job. Fuck Fuches. Fuck this.

The moment Richie stepped outside the building his smile dropped when he saw Sally standing out there, waiting for him with her arms folded over her chest like an upset mother. Richie stopped in his tracks, his hand clutching the backpack strap again, swallowing hard. He felt like he did something wrong, but wasn’t sure what it was. He opened his mouth to speak but Sally started speaking first.

“What the hell was that?” She asked him.

“W-what was what?”

“That… Richie thing.”

Richie glanced around for a moment before looking back to Sally, confused on what that was supposed to mean. “That’s… my name?”

“And the glasses?” She reached up, touching them which caused Richie to flinch and back up a little bit. “What the fuck’s going on with you?”

“I just feel like it’s more fitting,” Richie defended himself with a single arm shrug.

Honestly though? What was the big deal? He was wearing glasses and had a new name. How did that suddenly make it the end of the fucking world? Why was it okay for other people in Richie’s life to do things to make themselves happy but whenever he did something for himself to change his life, to make him happy it was suddenly wrong? It wasn’t fucking fair.

“I mean…” Sally started, dropping her arms to her side dramatically, “it’s one thing to have a stage name like Barry Block, but why do you need to change your entire name? And why Trashmouth?”

“Oh… that’s what my friends called me back in Maine.”

Sally rolled her eyes. “Get it together, Barry,” she said before walking away.

Richie took off his glasses, holding the lenses up so he could see through them before attempting to snap them in half, only managing to bend the frames. He was left there alone, confused, and in the middle of yet another identity crisis.

[wanderingsoul210]

Ranger Charlie

(This is a story where Charlie meets Mike, a boy who had run away from home and had gotten lost. The 2 wound up even more lost and must work together to avoid dangers, hunters, and to get back to safety. But there seems to be a hidden past behind Mike, and Charlie wants to find out what exactly he’s hiding. If you don’t know, Mike is my Panlie fan kid who “spoiler alert” gets adopted by the Panda and Charlie.)

P.S( Apologies ahead for typos, bad writing, and of course, this weird formatting. I promise I’ll get better, I have to, because the WBB/Panlie fandom is dying fast!)

Chapter 1: The Lost Boy

It was an accident.

That’s all Charlie could think as he walked through the woods in what appeared to be his Ranger uniform. He wore long boots that neared his knees, a tucked in collared shirt along with a sash that contained useful items for being about in the outdoors, and finally a pair of shade sunglasses hung from the base of his collar shirt and a long hat similar to Tabes.

The twigs snapped under his steps as he casually walked through the woods. His eyebrows were burrowed as he was deep in thought, barely even paying attention to his surroundings. The events that had transpired earlier had kept eating away at his mind and he couldn’t help but stay unfocused as he pondered around with these thoughts.

He closed his eyes for a moment and slowly the events replayed themselves in his mind...

-/-

5 hours earlier...

“Right! I’ll let him know right away! Uh-Huh! Yes sir! Goodbye!” Ranger Tabes hung up the phone and looked out into the woods. Her mind filled with worry with what her supervisor just informed her.

She bit her lip and grabbed ahold of her phone before she paused.” This is serious. Do they really think he can handle something like this?” She thought about it for a moment before she shook her head to shake away any doubt.”No! Of course he can do it! If anyone could it would be him...”

She bit her lip as she contemplated her choices.” No one knows the woods like Charlie , so he’ll be perfect, but...this is nothing like our usual rounds. Whoever or whatever is screaming in that part of the woods needs ours help! It could be a deer giving birth, or an injured animal, or worse, a hiker who needs help...!”

Without wasting another second, she grabbed the phone and began to dial someone up...

Meanwhile, the Bears sat on the couch, watching what appeared to be a weird reality show about making urban people survive in rural areas and vice versa.

A guy dressed in overalls and a straw hat watched helplessly as his roomba drove out the front door and began to drive down the street.” My roomba! It’s running away!” He said in a heavy country accent.

Grizz chuckled as the show cut to commercials.” Heh-heh, this show is so crazy! Who comes up with this stuff!?” He said, turning to his bros. Ice Bear shrugs and Panda frowns.” I don’t know, but couldn’t he have just, you know, picked up the roomba an problem solved?” Asked Panda confused.

Grizz just tskd tsk’d and shook his head.

“You just don’t get it,”he says.” Where’s the drama in that? Where’s the action or adventure?” At that moment Charlie stuck his head through the doorframe and turned to the bears.

“Hey y’all, sorry I took so long.” He said as he walked over to the couch.” What’d I miss?”

Panda rolls his eyes and sighs.” Nothing much, just idiots being idiots...” Grizz squints at Panda for a moment before he turns to the tv.” Meh, some guys roomba ran away and now he’s all sad or something...huh, I guess it is kind dumb...” said Grizz.

Panda turns to Charlie and glared at him .

Charlie’s face blushes a bit as he put on a nervous smile.” Uh, what’s up Panda? You look a little...”

“Dude, were you in my room again?”

“Huh?”

Panda sighed and shook his head.” You said you had to ‘drain the main vein’ and that was 15 minutes ago...so what took you so long...”

Charlie was silent for a second before he sputtered.” I...may have clogged the toilet again...and needed...a....really big pillow to unclog it...and stop the water from going to the living room...”

Panda was silent for a moment before he leaned over and peered into the hallway.

His face lit up with anger as he saw the mess in the hallway and the pillow...the pillow!?

“Miki-Chan!”

Panda hopped and pushed pass Charlie as he ran up to the soggy mess and knelt down. His paws shook as he reached down and caressed her face.

Shocks soon converted into anger as he spun around and pointed a finger at Charlie.” Charlie! Why would you do this to my Miki-Chan!?” He cried out causing Charlie to take a step back.

“I-I’m sorry Panda! I thought... I thought she was just a pillow, y’know? I didn’t think...” he sputtered before Panda interrupted him.”Just a pillow!?” Panda let Miki-Chan fall to the ground as he rose to his feet.

“I know she’s not alive, but she’s a better friend than you’ll ever be!” As soon as the words left Panda’s lips, he knew he regretted them. The look of pain on Charlie’s face once he said it. With one final cry he carried Miki Chan off the floor and ran into his room leaving a trail of water behind.

Panda slammed the door and locked it before Charlie ran forward and tried at the the knob.”P-Panda wait! Please! I’m sorry!” Charlie apologizes before pounding on the door.” Please! Let me make it up to you! I-“

“Will you just go away and leave me alone!?” Panda cried out.

And Charlie let his head fall in silence.

He messed up. He knew that. He turned to see Grizz and Ice peeking their heads around the corner. Grizz was the first to step out.

“Hey man, I’m sorry Panda’s acting a little over dramatic with Miki-Chan. He’ll get over it, trust me...” Said Grizz. Charlie just shook his head and looked at the water in the floor.” No, no I should’ve thought about how Panda would feel about this...” Charlie frowned for a moment before sighing.

“Well, I guess I’m gonna head home before I make things worse. Tell Panda that I’m really sorry for all this, and I promise I’ll make it up to him...” Charlie said as he made his way to the front door.

Grizz turned to Ice for a moment before running towards Charlie.” Wait! Charlie, we can fix th-!”

Before Grizz could finish his sentence, a familiar ringtone began to play from the living room. They all paused and turned their heads towards the sound. Grizz walked forward and picked his phone up from the table and looked at who was calling.

“Oh hey, it’s Tabes!” He stated before answering the call.” Hey Tabes!”

“Hey Grizz, Uh, would you by chance happen to know where Charlie would be? It’s kinda urgent...” She stated. Grizz let out a small chuckle.” Sure I do, he’s 3 feet behind me!”

Tabes sat up in her chair at what she just heard. She was relieved that it was much easier to find Charlie than she anticipated. Grizz turned, phone raised up to Charlie’s face, and smirked.” It’s Tabes, she’s asking for you.” Said Grizz.

Charlie looked at the phone and hesitantly grabbed it and raised to his face.

“H-hello?” Charlie stammered, to which he joked when Tabes called his name.

“Charlie! Glad to hear your nearby!” She said, turning on her chair to look at a nearby map.” Listen, I need you to swing by my station as soon as possible.” Charlie burrowed his eyebrows in confusion.” What? Why?” He asked.

“Is it serious? Cause me and Panda just fought and I really want to make it up to hi-“

“There’s no time for that!” She interrupted.” Look, this is serious, probably the most serious mission you’ll get, so please partner, try to get here soon...!” Charlie looked down in silence for a moment before sighing.” Ok, yeah, Tabes, I’m on my way. See you soon...”

Charlie presses the hang up button and turned to Grizz and Ice Bear.

“Well guys, looks like I’ll have to make it up to him another time,” he said followed by a sigh. Grizz frowned.” Thats ok, but is everything ok with Tabes?” He asked.

Charlie shrugged.” I dunno, but she said it was urgent, so I guess I better skidaddle,” and with that he left the cave, stopping at the edge of the clearing to wave goodbye before continuing...

-Present time-

Charlie sat motionless for a while, his eyes closed as he stayed silent. Slowly though, a sound began to ring in his ears which drew him out of his focus. He shook his head before looking around realizing, that this might be what he was looking for.

“Huh, the cries sound like they’re coming from over...there!” He stated as he instantly took off towards the noise. As he ran, the noise began to grow louder with each step. Charlie ran and ran until the sound was in seeing distance. He slowed down to a walk as he approached a clearing. What he saw made his heart drop and his blood freeze.

Charlie stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed a young human boy around the age of 12. He wore cargo shorts that passed his knees as well as a black shirt and a small back pack. He had scraggly black hair and brown eyes. A look of worry was plastered on his face and he appeared to be filled with fatigue as he weekly struggled to pull his leg free from 2 logs that had somehow managed to trap him.

Charlie kept his distance and watched as the kid manage to pull his leg free before he fell over and landed hard on the ground. It was quiet for a moment before the a small cry came from him. The boy turned over and sat up before examining his ankle by raising his pant leg. Even from the distance Charlie kept, he could see that the ankle was swollen and red.

“Oh C’mon!” The kid cried out, tears welling in his eyes as he tried to stand up, but only fell back down upon feeling the intense pain.” Crap...this is it...I messed up...I should’ve never run away from home...dammit...!”

Charlie knew as a Ranger, it was his job to protect any wild life that needs the help, but did this kid count as wild life? He leaned more against the tree and tried to get a better view, but to his dismay, a twig snapped under his boot causing the boy to snap his head in the direction the sound came from.

“Wh-who’s there!?” The boy cried out with a shaky voice only to get silence as Charlie ducked behind the tree, but it was too late.” Hey! I can see you behind that tree! Pl-please! I need help! I’m hurt! Can you help me...!?”

Charlie’s heart raced as he took a breath and stepped out from behind the tree. The boy looked at Charlie before it dawned on him what exactly he was looking at. His eyes widened with fear as Charlie slowly and carefully walked towards him.

“N-no! Stay back!” He cried out as he tried to crawl backwards, his gaze not leaving Charlie’s as he continued on. “Get the hell away from me! Leave me alone! Someone help! Anyone! Save me!!!”

“Hey, it’s ok little guy...!” Charlie Said causing the boy to shake his head in disbelief. “I’m not gonna hurt you! Calm down, please. I’m here to help...!” The kid stopped moving and swallowed nervously as Charlie knelt down in front of him.

He wasn’t sure what exactly he was staring at, but it spoke to him. And...he was wearing Ranger clothes? What the hell was going on? He thought as he tried to calm down.

“Y-you...you spoke...” The boy sputtered causing Charlie to chuckle.” Well yeah! So can you!” Charlie Said. The boy tried to wrap his head on what was going on.

Was he hallucinating? If so, this was one hallucination he couldn’t see past.

“But...you’re a monster...”

Monster?

That was a new one. Charlie had been called many things, Chupacabra, big foot, heck, even a mysterious creature. But monster?

“I know I’m not the friendliest looking Charlie, but I promise, I want to help you,” explained Charlie as he took off his hat.” That’s my job, to help the helpless...”

The boys fear turned into anger as he scoffed.” I’m not helpless...! I’m...just kinda lost...!” He muttered before Charlie pulled out a gauze from his pouch and wrapped it around the boys ankle. He winced as the pain extended up his leg for a moment before he relaxed as the pain subsided. He looked up at Charlie before turning away.

“But...um...thanks anyways...” He said, causing a smile to break on Charlie’s face.” Aww, shucks! Don’t thank me yet! We still gotta get you back safe and sound...!” The boy nodded his head.

“Yeah, but that should be easy right? Since you know the way?” The boy asked as Charlie helped him slowly stand upright. With a grunt, the boy stood steady on his feet, a slight wobble to his stance.

“Sure Do!” Exclaimed Charlie as he took a few steps back to give the kid some space.” Just follow me and I’ll bring you back to the Rangers Station, er, wait, I don’t think I got your name? What was it?”

“Oh,” the boy looked down quietly for a moment before he chipped up.” It’s uh, Mike...” Charlie gleamed with excitement as they began to walk down the path.” Mike Huh? My name’s Charlie! Or you can call me whatever if that makes you comfortable.”

Mike shook his head.” Nah, Charlie’s a good name for you...it really suits you...” he stated with a smirk. This just seemed to make Charlie more excited as they got to know each other more, so he had to ask.

“Thanks...But um...how did you get wat the heck out here Mike?” Charlie asked.

Mike’s walking slowly came to a halt before he looked up nervously at Charlie.

“I...I was on a hiking trip with my parents...and I guess I kinda split up from the group...and gotten lost...”

Charlie burrowed his eyebrows and frowned.” Oh man! Then we better get back to the station quick! Your parents must be worried sick about you...!” It was after a few moments before Charlie realized Mike had stopped walking and was several feet behind him.

“Hey!” He called as he ran back to him.

“What’s wrong pal?” Mike shook his head as he let his bangs cover his eyes.

“I doubt that...” Mike said with a weak smile. He looked up at Charlie before turning on his heel.” There the reason-“ He sped off in the opposite direction before Charlie could react.” Why I’m here...!”

“M-Mike!” Charlie called out before he took off right after him.” Wait!” Even though the pain in his ankle made every fiber in his body shiver and ache, he knew he had to keep going. He wanted to find civilization again, but not if it meant by meeting his parents again.

Mike hopped over a fallen over tree and continued running, ignoring the faint calls of his name in the distance. Without warning, a vine wrapped around his ankle causing him to tumble and slide down a steep slope. Mike desperately grabbed at every branch and shrub on the floor, but to no avail.

He looked back in the direction he was sliding down towards and his eyes got wide. Growing nearer was a literal cliff drop, that appeared to go hundreds of feet down with no chance of surviving.

Mike could only watch in horror as every second that passed, he grew closer to his death. His life flashed before his eyes as they welled up with tears. With one final cry, he shut his eyes and grit his teeth and braced himself for the fall.

As he felt himself fall over the edge, he could only accept his fate. Was this his fault? Probably. All he could think about was how his death would go unnoticed. No one would care that he was gone, not even his parents. He just wished that at least someone was here to comfort him. He was a scared kid after all.

With a breath, he waited for the impact. And waited. And waited. But it never came. In fact, it didn’t even feel like he was falling at all. He slowly peeked open an eye before he opened both of them wide. He realized he was dangling upside down, swaying softly to the wind.

“What the?” He muttered. His leg above him appeared to be caught on something around the ankle. Hesitantly, he looked up and gasped at what he saw.

“Whew! I got you!” Said Charlie, one hand enclosed on his ankle and the other hanging on for dear life to the cliff edge.

“Just hang on! I’ll get you outta this...!”

Mike could only watch as Charlie struggled with what to do.

This is my fault.

Tears welled up in his eyes as they blurred his vision. Just moments ago, he was afraid to lose his life, but now? It’s all he wanted. Because of him, he was going to get this nice...creature killed... With one final breath Mike couldn’t take it anymore. He let out a cry of despair.

“What do you think you’re doing!?” Mike cried out.” Just let me fall! If not, we’re both gonna die...!” Charlie just shook his head and scoffed.” That wont happen! Everything in this forest is mine to protect!” Charlie shouted, gritting his teeth as his grip got weaker.” The trees, the life, everything! I’d give my life up for it all if it meant I could save you...” Mike looked at Charlie hysterically and yelled.”What!?”

Charlie began to sway Mikes body slowly building momentum. He looked down at Mike and grinned.”And I won’t let you down! Not on my waaaaaatch!!!”

And with that, Charlie used all his might to swing Mike high over the ledge and smack dab on the clearing. With a grunt, he pulled himself up and later on his back, panting for air. Mike was also doing the same, his breathing more heavier than Charlie’s.

As he lay there, reality set in his mind and he felt guilty when he realized what he had cause.” Charlie...” he started, trying to hold back any tears as he sat up.

“I’m sorry...! I’m so so sorry...! I almost got us killed...I...can you forgive me!? I didn’t know what to do...! You were gonna take me back to my parents and I-“

Before he could finish, Charlie leaned in and embraced him in a hug.” Hey, hey! It’s ok!” Comforted Charlie while his body trembled slightly from his own near death experience.” I’m sure you had your reasons. It’s not your fault...”

Mike tensed up a bit before he leaned into the hug and finally, the tears began to pour. He just wanted to get away from all this. He just wanted to go home, but he knew that could never happen.

Mike noticed how scared Charlie was, so in an attempt, he pulled away and let out a shaky breath.” We should get going...” Mike muttered getting a confused look

from Charlie.” It’s gonna get dark soon...”

Charlie turned his head and did see the sun nearing towards the ground of the horizon. With a nod of his head and huff, he stood up.” Yeah, you’re right. We better get moving...”

Mike pursed his lips as Charlie pulled out any leaves that got caught in his hat as the two continued to walk. Mike was completely silent the whole time, afraid to do anything that’ll land him in more hot water than he already is.

“All he was trying to do was help me,” he thought as he stole a glance at Charlie. “If only I could tell him...but...how would he react...?” Suddenly Mike crashes into Charlie before taking a step back.” Huh? What happened? What’s going on?” He asked.

Instead of getting a response, Charlie hopped onto the nearest tree. Mike watched in awe as Charlie easily scaled the trees as if it was nothing. Clearly, he had been doing this for years because he made it look like child’s play .

In a matter of seconds, Charlie reached the peak of the tree and looked around the whole area. That’s when a worried look formed on his face. He was up there for some time, but after another a moment, he slid all the way down the side of the tree before landing with a thud.

“This isn’t good...” Charlie muttered taking off his hat and scratching the back of his head. Mike stood there and watched as Charlie paced back and force, deep in thought. It was obvious something was worrying the cryptic so Mike had to figure out what was bothering him.

“Charlie...” Mike started catching the squatch’s attention.” What’s wrong? Did I do something wrong...?” Charlie burrowed his brow for a moment before sighing.” To be honest kid, none of this looks familiar...” Charlie muttered causing Mikes face to fall.” I don’t think I’ve been to this part of the forest yet... everything is new to me and...I have no idea where we are...!”

Mike swallowed nervously as he fell back and sat down on the ground.” You mean, we’re gonna have to try and survive out here? With no equipment or food or anything!?” He asked, a feeling of despair washing over the two. Charlie nodded.

Mike looked down and let out a small laugh.” Man, could this day get any better?” As if on que, thunder roared across the woods causing several birds to fly out into the sky. Mike could only shake his head before turning to Charlie.

“So what now Mr. Expert?” Asked Mike.

“Got any bright ideas?”

Charlie nodded his head.” Yeah,” he said helping Mike back up on his feet.” First things first, we gotta find some shelter before nightfall, or before it rains, because the woods become extremely dangerous with one of those around...”

Mike sighed before nodding his head. And with that, the two began to walk deeper into the woods, with the storm and nightfall closing in in them...

(End of Chapter 1)

Ok I’ve been meaning to post this for a while now, but it’s something for the whole We Bare Bears Hiatus. Sorry for spelling errors and typos. It’s my first story in a while and I’m working on this to be made into a illustrated comic. Anyways, part 2 is already almost done, so stay tuned! And feedback is greatly appreciated!