#i only just realized i forgot Dream's whiskers :(

[soniclozdplove]

Got more mermaid thoughts because of @skumhuu and their au. I guess you could consider thus a hasty continuation of my last one but it's really based on a fic I'm writing in my notes that will likely never see the light of day because I refuse to take credit for any writing I ever do

[tenebraevesper]

Sonic Cyber Revolution, Entry 60: The Sol Dimension

''Always following the clouds on the trail of a legend, your path takes you across the sea – (Ohhhhh) ONE PIECE! Nanana nanana nanana nanana, ONE PIECE! Nanana nanana nanana nana- Find the greatest treasure in the world, you trained hard for this. There's nothing left here to hold you, let the stars guide you! Your friends will accompany you on this journey! (Ohhhhhh) ONE PIECE! Nanana nanana nanana nanana, ONE PIECE! Nanana nanana nanana nanana, ONE PIECE! Chase after your dreams (after) – ONE PIECE! The wind drives you out to the sea – (Ohhhhh) ONE PIECE! There is nothing here to hold you anymore – ONE PIECE! Find the greatest treasure in the world – (Ohhhhh) ONE PIECE!''

– Die Legende by One Piece

xXxXxXx

''They're gone! I can't believe it! How does a whole ship just vanish into thin air?!'' Marine was baffled, throwing her hands in the air and looking at the rest of Team Neos for some kind of answer.

''You mean, besides sinking…'' Lily said in a dry tone, earning a few raised eyebrows.

''A ship disappearing right in front of everyone's eyes makes absolutely no sense. It's impossible!'' Tails said, his eyes narrowing. ''Maybe it has some kind of cloaking device…'' He flew over to where the ship was just a moment ago, trying to reach for what he assumed to be the invisible ship, but there was absolutely nothing there. Tails' eyes widened in surprise. ''It's really gone!''

''What do we do now?'' Warren asked, him and the rest turning to Lucas. Lucas was silent, trying to figure something out, when Marine suddenly marched over to the pirates they had subdued and tied up with a furious look on her expression.

''What did Captain Whisker do to my friends?!'' She glared at the pirates. ''How did his whole ship vanish?!''

''We have no clue! The Captain never told us anything!'' one of the Irregular pirates responded.

''All we know is that he had some device on him that let us appear right in front of you,'' another Irregular added, a bit frightened when he was met by Marine's death glare.

''Wait… Maybe there is an explanation to how they had managed to disappear,'' Warren said, turning his attention to Tails. ''Could you search the surrounding waters?''

''Sure, but what am I searching for?'' Tails asked, raising his eyebrow.

''Anything that doesn't belong in the water… I suppose,'' Warren said, shrugging. Tails didn't have much of a response to that, but he did as he was told. Lucas turned to Warren with a questioning look.

''I assume that you already have an idea what might've happened,'' he said. Warren gave him an unsure look.

''I'd say that I have a hunch, but I can't prove anything without some evidence. However, considering how we all have experience with ARNavs, and especially Irregulars, and-''

Warren was interrupted when he heard Sonic shouting, ''Hey, what's that?!''

Tails flew towards where Sonic was pointing at, finding a strange device floating in the waters, picking it up and flying back on the ship. Warren gasped in relief. ''Yeah, that's what I was thinking about! It's a portable AR Field generator!''

''What do you mean, portable AR Field generator?'' Marine asked, giving the device a dubious look.

''To sum it up, since ARNavs cannot survive for long outside AR Fields, such portable devices were created to be installed on various vehicles, such as planes, cars,… and even ships,'' Warren explained, giving her a questioning look. Marine blinked in surprise, only to realize what he meant.

''Oh, right,'' she muttered, giving him a sheepish look and trying to ignore the gazes of her own crew, which were made up of normal ARNavs, not Irregulars. ''I kinda forgot the Ocean Tornado also had one of those.''

''In any case, them vanishing into an AR Field would make sense, and I wouldn't be surprised if Makoto and Sana have no idea what had happened since they had their AR Visors on,'' Warren continued. ''It also makes sense that Captain Whisker would throw the generator overboard, since the generator needs to be outside the AR Field to actually generate it.''

''So, what do we do? Should we enter it?'' Lily asked.

''Actually, I don't think that would be a good idea,'' Tails said.

''Why not?'' Minami asked.

''The issue is that I don't believe that Captain Whisker would be capable of making a portable AR Field generator, and this one doesn't look like it was mass produced by a company,'' Tails explained, showing the device to the rest of the group. There appeared to be a logo on the underside, but unfortunately, it was too damaged to make out what it was. Tails then looked at it. ''I'm afraid we might run into the same problem we had with Starline. We could try to enter the AR Field by ourselves, but what if we get blocked… or worse, we get stuck inside it without a way to escape?''

''Does this mean that Silver, Blaze, Makoto and Sana won't be able to find their way out of it?'' Amy asked in concern.

''I'm not sure, but I suppose that the only person who knows how to use it is Captain Whisker,'' Tails replied.

''Do you think you'll be able to find a way to open the AR Field up?'' Lucas asked.

''If we were at our workshop, then we would be able to open the AR Field up safely without having to worry about whether we can leave it or not. However, with the tools we have now, this doesn't look like a possibility,'' Tails explained.

The whole group felt troubled by the grim news, staring at the device in Tails' hand and hoping that their friends within the AR Field were safe, as well as able to find their way out of it.

xXx

Silver and Blaze were completely shocked when they realized that the Ocean Tornado had completely vanished from their sight. Both ran over to the railings, already fearing that something might've happened to it, but not only was the Ocean Tornado gone, but they had also realized that some of the islands they could see in the distance were also nowhere in sight. However, before they could even register what the meaning of this was, they suddenly heard cries from their partners.

''Blaze!''

''Silver!''

The two quickly turned around, only to be met with Captain Whisker and Johnny holding Sana and Makoto hostage, the two robots having placed a cutlass and a dagger on their necks. The two robots had taken advantage of the moment of confusion and made sure to quickly end the fight in their favour.

''Let them go!'' Blaze demanded, her and Silver fearing for Sana and Makoto's safety. Unfortunately for them, Sana and Makoto had cancelled the Chaos Surge, but the two Irregulars were still powerful enough to take on the pirates. However, considering how attacking the pirates would also probably result in harming Sana and Makoto, there really wasn't anything they could do.

''Ha ha ha, do ye really think I'd let go of a precious hostage when I have The Blazin' Guardian at me mercy? Yer more delusional than a sailor hearin' a siren's song,'' Captain Whisker replied. Blaze frowned, glaring daggers at the pirate, but once glance at Silver told her that this was a fight she couldn't win. The risk was too great, and even if they had managed to somehow attack Captain Whisker and Johnny without injuring Sana and Makoto, the two robots might just decide to cut their losses and cut their partners' throats from ear to ear.

Blaze shuddered at that thought, and then spoke up, ''Fine. What do you want from us? Where is the Ocean Tornado?''

''Yer in what is known as a… as a…'' Captain Whisker trailed off, raising an eyebrow as he tried to remember the name of this place.

''You'e in AR Field,'' Mini said helpfully, with Captain Whisker rolling his eyes.

''Aye, I know we're in an AR Field. I'm tryin' to remember the blasted name of this place,'' Captain Whisker told him in an irked tone.

''It was the Sol Dimension, sir,'' Mum added.

''WHAT?!''

The pirates were a bit startled when they heard everyone shouting in unison. Despite not being as familiar with the video games, Sana and Blaze have heard of the Sol Dimension and understood its significance as much as Makoto and Silver did.

''Do you want to see that this AR Field is based on the Sol Dimension?'' Makoto asked.

''Aye, that's what I was told,'' Captain Whisker confirmed. Makoto and Sana exchanged glances, both aware that Captain Whisker and his crew were definitely not working on their own, because there was no way they would have access to a place like this. Not to mention, it also explained why the Ocean Tornado had vanished, as their ship was outside the AR Field.

''Why have you brought us here?'' Sana asked.

''We brought ye here to tell us the location of the Sol Emeralds; you in particular, Blazing Guardian,'' Captain Whisker said, his words once again surprising everyone.

''Sol Emeralds? Why would I even know the location of the Sol Emeralds?'' Blaze asked, now completely confused. She had never heard anything about them until this adventure, and those pirates now expected her to lead them to those gems. This whole situation just felt completely ridiculous.

''Don't act dumb, we know that you're the Guardian of the Sol Emeralds,'' Johnny said.

''Yeah, in the video games!'' Makoto shouted, feeling frustrated with the whole situation, with the pirates looking stunned. ''I don't believe that the Sol Emeralds even exist in this reality, even if we're in an AR Field based on the Sol Dimension. You did all of this for nothing!''

''Watch yer mouth kid-'' Captain Whisker growled, but his confidence was wavering and he was second-guessing his decision. The idea that Blaze wouldn't even know anything about the Sol Emeralds had never crossed his mind, especially since the person who granted him access to the Sol Dimension in the first place told him that he would be able to find the Sol Emeralds if he took Blaze as a hostage. He was certain that this person told him the truth and followed their instructions as close as possible, just like he would follow a map to the treasure – only to get disappointed when he learned there was absolutely nothing there.

''If we don't know the location of the Sol Emeralds…'' Silver started, drawing everyone's attention. ''Maybe you could let us go?''

For a moment, it seemed that Captain Whisker seemed to be considering his suggestion, only to instantly snap out of these thoughts, pointing his cutlass at the hedgehog.

''I won't let ye go so easily, not until I found me treasure!'' Captain Whisker growled in response, with Blaze giving Silver a look, only for him to smile sheepishly.

''Well, it was worth a try,'' he said.

''Aye, and you better think fast how to get me to the Sol Emeralds, else yer friends will walk the plank!'' Captain Whisker added, placing the cutlass back on Sana's neck. Blaze furrowed a brow, gritting her teeth. She wished for nothing more but to burn the pirates to a crisp, but unfortunately, that wasn't possible. Next to her, Silver was just as worried about Makoto's safety, wondering if he could surprise the pirates with his psychokinesis, but he didn't want to take any risks. Captain Whisker, in turn, narrowed his eyes, glaring at them. ''Hurry up! My patience is gettin' thinner by the second!''

''Maybe there is a way!''

To everyone's surprise, Makoto was the one shouting. Captain Whisker turned to him, giving him a scrutinizing look. ''How would ye even know how to find the Sol Emeralds, lad?''

''Well, I don't know about the Sol Emeralds…'' Makoto gulped when Johnny pushed the dagger against the skin on Captain Whisker's command, quickly continuing, ''However, we ended up in situation where we also had to deal with powerful gems known as the Chaos Emeralds, and we know how to find those.''

''The Chaos Emeralds?'' Captain Whisker repeated, feeling quite intrigued by the possibility of finding another treasure. ''How do we find them?''

''Unfortunately for you, the only way to summon the Chaos Emeralds is to unleash a surge of powerful Chaos Energy within an AR Field, and neither Silver nor Blaze are capable of doing that. You would have to ask the black and red hedgehog back on the Ocean Tornado for help,'' Makoto said. He had been hoping that the pirates would be foolish enough to reveal themselves and attack the Ocean Tornado again, meaning they would be able to escape the AR Field and reunite with their teammates.

''Yer bluffin', lad!'' Makoto panicked for a moment, fearing that Captain Whisker saw through his plan, only to relax when he realized that the robotic captain still wasn't the brightest bulb in the box. ''That hedgehog didn't look like he'd help us findin' the Chaos Emeralds.''

''But, maybe if you ask him nicely…'' Makoto continued.

''Hah, pirates aren't nice!'' Captain Whisker responded. ''Now, we'll go back to you tellin' me how to find the Sol Emeralds!''

Makoto and Sana exchanged glances with Silver and Blaze, having no idea what they should even say or do to salvage this situation.

xXx

''Wait, what about Chaos Control?'' Touka suddenly suggested, much to everyone's surprise. ''That was the method we used to escape Starline's AR Field. Maybe it would work on this one?''

''Unfortunately, we established that using Chaos Control can severely affect AR Fields, to the point of making them collapse if you don't know what you're doing,'' Warren pointed out.

''What about the Chaos Emeralds?'' Shadow rose his voice, drawing everyone's attention. ''We know that using a Chaos Emerald won't damage the AR Field.''

''I agree with Shadow,'' Sonic said, then turned his gaze to Lucas, who didn't seem to share his partner's enthusiasm.

''Right… but, shouldn't Shadow be inside the AR Field for the Chaos Emeralds to appear?'' Lucas asked.

''Maybe we could do it from the outside?'' Touka suggested. Lucas went silent for a moment, rubbing his forehead.

''Honestly, I still don't like this, but we don't have much of a choice, do we?'' he said, looking up at the rest of the team. Touka and Shadow then exchanged glances, reaching for each other.

''Chaos Surge!''

Feeling once more a surge of Chaos Energy, Shadow approached Tails, who directed him towards the invisible AR Field and focused on entering it. ''Chaos Control!''

There was a flash of cyan light, followed by shimmering from the area where the pirate ship had vanished, only for Shadow to feel like he was blocked by something, followed by what he could only describe as a backlash in the form of a burning sensation spreading through his body.

''Shadow!''

Shadow was caught by Sonic, almost falling on the ground as he felt something akin to flames burning his fur. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Touka collapsing as well, with Lucas trying to help her get up, clearly feeling the same backlash.

''Touka, are you okay?'' Lucas asked her in concern. Touka responded with immediately cancelling the Chaos Surge, the orange energy crackling around her and Shadow disappearing.

''Yeah, just… What was that?'' Touka asked, baffled by what had happened, turning her attention towards Shadow, her eyes widening in surprise. The dark hedgehog had already managed to recover, realizing that he was holding something in his hand.

It was a green Chaos Emerald.

xXx

''Aaagh!''

Sana and Makoto managed to break out of Captain Whisker and Johnny's hold when reality around them almost crumbled apart, leaving the pirates stunned when they saw an island appearing literally out of nowhere.

''Let's go!'' Sana shouted as she, Makoto, Blaze and Silver ran towards the edge of the ship and leapt off of it, getting caught by Silver's psychokinesis as he flew them to the island. They could hear Captain Whisker shout in rage behind them, ordering Johnny to follow them, so they quickly made their way into the dense jungle-like environment, trying to find a place to hide and recover.

''Over here!'' Makoto shouted, motioning to the other three to follow him deeper between the bushes and shrubs, managing to hide just as Johnny zoomed past them. Silver breathed a sigh of relief.

''That was close,'' he muttered.

''Don't relax. We're not out of danger yet,'' Blaze told him. ''We need a plan to escape this AR Field.''

''I wonder what had happened. We were only surrounded by the ocean, and suddenly, there's an island,'' Sana said.

''I guess the rest of Team Neos is messing around with the AR Field from the outside,'' Makoto said. ''It is possible that they have figured out what's going on and are trying to break inside.''

''I just hope they won't break apart the AR Field, because if they do, we're done for,'' Sana said.

''This… This isn't too different from what we experienced while dealing with Dr. Eggman and Dr. Starline,'' Silver said. ''I'm sure that our friends will be able to get us out of here.''

He glanced at Blaze, catching her gaze, and then she nodded. ''Right. We should trust our friends.'' She then turned to Sana and Makoto. ''Meanwhile, we should focus on dealing with Captain Whisker and his crew.''

''What about the Sol Emeralds?'' Silver asked. ''I mean, if they exist, maybe we could use them to escape this place.''

''Right, but the issue is that we don't even know how to summon them,'' Blaze said.

''I was actually wondering whether you'd create the same phenomenon as Shadow did with the Chaos Emeralds,'' Makoto said, getting a couple of confused looks. ''Only, instead of using Chaos Control, you'd be using your pyrokinesis.''

''I don't know… What if it doesn't work?'' Blaze asked, feeling doubtful, only to be surprised when Silver held her hands, squeezing them in assurance.

''Blaze, I know you can do it,'' he told her in a confident tone. ''Besides, even if it doesn't work, we will find another way out of this place. We have nothing to lose.''

Blaze felt a rush of warmth spreading across her muzzle, being a little flustered. It felt as if a flame was burning in her chest, comforting her and keeping her safe. She then nodded confidently, squeezing Silver's hands in return.

''I will do my best,'' she said. She then turned to Sana. ''I suppose that we would need Chaos Surge for this.''

''Right, and from what we know, you need to unleash a strong burst of energy,'' Makoto said.

''That will reveal our location and weaken you, though, but Makoto and I will make sure to protect you,'' Silver added. Blaze and Sana nodded, then connected their hands.

''Chaos Surge!''

The two were soon enveloped in a blazing aura, wisps of flames dancing around them. Makoto and Silver took a step back, feeling the heat of the flames, but Blaze and Sana shook their heads, with Sana saying, ''Don't worry, we won't hurt you. We know how to control these flames.''

''Let's do this,'' Blaze said, with her and Sana holding hands, both of them closing their eyes and focusing. They could feel the flames, their energy, coursing through their body, calling for those strange and powerful artifacts, hoping for them to form within the AR Field and aid them in their escape. Even with their eyes closed, they could see a faint light appearing before them.

Makoto and Silver could see flames forming in their hands, growing into a larger and larger fireball, looking more like a small sun. Then, Blaze and Sana unleashed it, the fire spreading in waves across the island and water, with Makoto and Silver being stunned to see colours in the flames – green, red, blue, yellow, purple, turquoise and white – and caused the AR Field surrounding them to break into data particles. Then, the flames dissipated, with Blaze and Sana feeling exhausted. They looked around, but unfortunately, there were no gems filled with incredible power in sight. Did they fail?

''Aghhhr!''

Makoto cried out in pain when he was suddenly grabbed by Johnny, who threw him against a nearby palm tree.

''Makoto!'' Silver called out for his partner, only to get confronted by Johnny. Unfortunately for the robot, the grey hedgehog grabbed him with his psychokinesis and rammed him straight into the ground. Silver then ran up to Makoto, checking on him. Makoto seemed to have suffered from a bruise due to hitting the palm tree, but otherwise appeared to be fine.

''I'm fine,'' Makoto told him, reaching out for him, with Silver accepting his hand. ''Chaos Surge!''

Just as Johnny had managed to recover, he was faced with another burst of psychokinesis, throwing him through a palm tree, which splintered and collapsed. He managed to look up, only to see a Chaos Surge-empowered Makoto and Silver, both now standing protectively in front of an exhausted Sana and Blaze.

''Sana, Blaze, leave Johnny to us,'' Makoto said.

''Try to find the Sol Emeralds,'' Silver added.

''But, there's nothing here!'' Sana protested, only for Blaze to grab her hand.

''I don't know how to explain it, but I can sense something,'' Blaze told her, giving her a determined look. ''I trust Silver and Makoto to take care of this. We should go.''

''Okay,'' Sana said, with her and Blaze rushing off.

Meanwhile, Silver formed a barrier to stop Johnny's vicious punches, the pirate robot grinning. ''Ha, so you have actually managed to find the Sol Emeralds!''

''That remains to be seen,'' Silver replied, with Makoto interfering and enveloping Johnny into a cyan aura, stopping him from moving.

''It doesn't matter how hard you try, we won't let you go after them,'' Makoto said, his eyes narrowing. Johnny smirked.

''That's why the Captain will be the one to find the treasure first!'' he said, with Makoto and Silver's eyes widening, realizing that their friends were in trouble.

xXx

Blaze and Sana were rushing deeper into the jungle, with Blaze leading Sana towards the source of the strange sensation she felt. It was as if someone, or something, was calling for her, and she desired nothing more but to answer that call. The two ran as fast as possible to find this voice, only to see a shimmer of red embedded into a palm tree.

''The Sol Emerald!'' Sana exclaimed, only for the two to be tripped over by Mini and Mum, falling on the ground.

''Ha ha hah! I had figured you'd be leading me to the treasure!'' Captain Whisker, who walked up from behind them said, pointing his cutlass at the two. Blaze gritted her teeth, but due to her exhaustion, felt too powerless to even go after the Sol Emerald. Yet, she pushed herself off the ground, summoning flames once more, only for Captain Whisker to easily cut through them, grabbing Blaze by her neck and slamming her into the palm tree.

''Blaze!'' Sana cried out, but Captain Whisker pointed his cutlass at her, forcing her to step back.

''I won't let ye get in my way of getting the Sol Emeralds!'' Captain Whisker growled.

However, before anyone could make a move, there was a flash of cyan light right behind them, catching all of them off guard. Before Captain Whisker could even register what had happened, a blue blur smashed right into the pirate's back, revealing itself to be Sonic. Captain Whisker, Mini and Mum suddenly found themselves surrounded by Team Neos, brought here by Shadow, who was holding the green Chaos Emerald in his hand.

''Blaze, Sana, are you okay?'' Marine called out, concerned for the two.

''Don't worry, we're fine,'' Sana replied, grabbing Blaze and pulling her away. Blaze understood her intention, and she rushed towards the red Sol Emerald, hearing Captain Whisker cry and curse when she grabbed it, being enveloped in flames once more. She turned around, feeling as if her energy was replenished thanks to the Sol Emerald, and was met with looks of amazement.

''I will never let you take the Sol Emeralds for yourself!'' Blaze told Captain Whisker, a stern expression on her face, the red Sol Emerald floating in her hand. She started to walk towards him, ready to burn the pirate to a crisp, only to be surprised when Johnny suddenly emerged, trying to escape Silver and Makoto who were pursuing him relentlessly. He suddenly stopped, barely managing to dodge a punch from Knuckles and a swing of the Piko Piko Hammer from Amy, joining Captain Whisker, Mini and Mum and realizing that they were in big trouble.

''There is no way for you to escape,'' Blaze said, approaching them.

''I will never surrender! I'd rather jump into shark-infested seas than surrender to ye!'' Captain Whisker growled, but before either of them could make a move, the pirates dissipated into data particles, much to the shock of Team Neos, and disappeared into nothing.

''What- What happened?!'' Sana exclaimed. Blaze ran over to where the pirates stood a moment ago, expecting some kind of trap, but there was nothing there. They were gone.

''How is this possible?'' she muttered, puzzled by what had happened.

''It's an AR Field.'' Blaze, Sana and everyone else turned to Tails. ''They probably had an exit planned, or someone else forced them to exit the AR Field.''

''In other words, they got away,'' Blaze said, feeling slightly disappointed.

''Yeah, they did, but you had managed to find the Sol Emerald,'' Silver said, placing his hand on Blaze's shoulder in order to cheer her up. ''That's what counts.''

Blaze smiled in response, only for Marine to suddenly run up to her and hug her tightly. ''I was so worried about you! Are you okay?''

''I'm fine, don't worry Marine,'' Blaze said, with Marine turning to Sana, who gave her an assuring smile.

''What happened?'' Lucas asked them.

''Captain Whisker and his crew wanted to use Blaze to summon and find the Sol Emeralds, and we managed to find one,'' Sana explained, with Blaze showing the gem to everyone.

''Unfortunately, if the Sol Emeralds behave the same way as the Chaos Emeralds when they first appeared, they might disappear once we're outside the AR Field,'' Shadow said. Blaze looked down at the Sol Emerald, giving it a thoughtful gaze. Somehow, holding the Sol Emerald felt quite strange, as if she was holding a living flame in her hand.

''If that's so, then at least I know that they won't fall into evil hands,'' Blaze said.

''If there's nothing to do here, we should leave,'' Lucas said, drawing everyone's attention. Shadow was about to use Chaos Control again, when Blaze stopped him.

''Please, allow me,'' she said. Shadow nodded, stepping back. Blaze then held up the Sol Emerald, surrounding everyone in an inferno and in the next moment, they vanished.

xXx

The group found themselves back on the Ocean Tornado. The green Chaos Emerald in Shadow's hand had vanished, but to everyone's surprise, the red Sol Emerald in Blaze's hand was still there.

''That's strange,'' Tails muttered, taking a look at the Sol Emerald. ''It should've disappeared once we were outside the AR Field, right?''

He glanced at Shadow with a questioning look, with Shadow pointing out, ''That is why I said that it 'might' disappear.''

Blaze turned her attention back to the Sol Emerald. ''I don't know how to describe it, but it feels as if this Sol Emerald has a will of its own. It's as if it wants to stay with me.'' The Sol Emerald in her hand then dissipated into data particles, with Blaze absorbing it. ''I feel as if the other Sol Emeralds are still around, but it will take me some time to find all of them.''

''So, what do you suggest we do now?'' Sana asked her. Blaze was about to answer, only for Marine to interrupt.

''How about we first leave those pirates to the authorities?'' Marine suggested, pointing at the still bound pirate Irregulars. Blaze smiled.

''I suppose we could do that. After all, we did fulfill our main mission,'' she said, with Marine saluting.

''Aye aye!'' Marine then ran up to the helm, steering the ship back to the mainland.

Blaze and Sana then turned back to Team Neos, with Sana saying, ''Thank you so much for your help.''

''You're welcome, but we didn't do much,'' Lucas replied, the rest of the team agreeing with the sentiment. Sana shook her head.

''No, I mean it. If it wasn't for your help, I don't think we would even know how to escape the AR Field, let alone found a Sol Emerald,'' Sana explained, glancing at Makoto and Silver specifically.

''Well, we were just figuring things out as we went along using previous experience,'' Makoto said, rubbing the back of his head.

''Nevertheless, your help means a lot to us,'' Blaze said, gazing at Silver and smiling at him, who looked quite flustered. As the group continued the conversation of what they wanted to do next, including wanting to do a little sightseeing – and Sonic also being very happy that he'd be back on solid land – with Blaze and Silver walking a bit away from the rest of the group.

''Thank you for your encouragement, Silver,'' Blaze said, with Silver just smiling back.

''It's fine. I'm sure you'd do the same if our situations were switched,'' Silver replied. Blaze leaned against the railing, lowering her head.

''I guess, but…'' She lifted her head up, feeling a rush of warmth. ''If it weren't for your reassurance, I don't think I would be even able to summon the Sol Emeralds.'' Blaze took notice of how flustered Silver got, his muzzle slightly pink. She then summoned the red Sol Emerald in her hand. ''I want to go and find the other Sol Emeralds, and make sure to protect them from pirates or whoever wants to take them and use them for evil purposes.''

''I wish you a lot of luck with that,'' Silver told her. Blaze smiled back happily.

''Thank you, Silver. I hope that you can protect your future,'' she replied. Silver nodded in response, and both turned back to the sea, listening to the waves and watching the passing boats.

Both took their duty seriously, and neither of them would waver, as long as they had their friends to support them.

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[sluttyten]

the cinderella search

summary: you’re a staff member at SM, and during the annual Halloween party, you go dressed as Cinderella. Enter Johnny as Prince Charming. You talk, you flirt, he falls in love, but you forget to tell him your name before the night ends, and thus begins his Cinderella Search.

length: 10,615

tags: near-strangers to lovers, bed sharing, fingering, dry humping, fluff, light on the smut compared to some of my other works tbh

Growing up, Cinderella had always been your favorite fairy tale. You just really loved the glamor and romance of the story, the idea of dressing up all beautifully and mysteriously, going to a ball to be noticed by the Prince. 

And once you grew up, you still had that fantasy tucked away in the back of your mind, made more real when you entered the idol industry by joining SM Entertainment as a staff member. You were just a minor staff member, not important enough to be a manager (though that was the dream), but you were around idols so often that the fantasy was there, prodding you in the back of your mind.

There were days when you dreamed of being swept up in a Cinderella-style romance with one of the idols in the company. 

“I can’t blame you one bit,” your close friend Jiwon tells you one day. She’s a makeup artist for the company; she’s seen their bare faces, seen them up close and personal, and having worked there for longer than you, she knows various artists under the company better than you do. “I won’t disagree with you at all that a secret romance with one of them would be amazing. Just like a drama. I want Kyungsoo to be my prince charming.” She sighs dreamily. “I can’t wait for the Halloween party.”

That’s exactly what you’ve been talking about almost non-stop since you first heard that it was happening this year. With the party not having happened for a few years now due to one thing or another, this year it’s come back with a bang, and when the memo was put out that every staff member was invited to come in costume as well, just as a celebration for how hard everyone’s worked, it’s all that pretty much everyone’s been talking about. You’re excited that you get to go, that you get to dress up as well, and what caused Jiwon to start gushing about D.O. is you mentioning that you wanted to go dressed as Cinderella.

“Promise we can get ready together?” She asks you. “I really, really want to do your hair and makeup, I can already picture it.” Jiwon holds her fingers up, framing your face between them. 

It helped that you already had the dress to wear for your costume. You’d spotted it a few years ago in a thrift shop, and because of your pure love for Cinderella, as soon as you saw the dress, you knew that you had to have it. Sure, it had been collecting dust in your closet for a couple years, but now you had found the perfect use for it at last.

The day of the Halloween party, Jiwon comes over just as she’d planned, taking as much of the day as she possibly can to make you up and style your hair to make you look like the Cinderella of her imagination. She’s just going simply, wearing all black with some cat ears, some whiskers drawn on her face, but most of her attention to detail is poured into her work on you. 

By the time she finishes the last touch, you’re ready to leave. Already you’re going to be cutting it close to showing up late, so as she drops her brushes back in the bag she brought, you grab your phone, and make for the door.

“Oh no, you’re not finished yet.” She snakes her hand around your arm, bringing you to a halt. Jiwon tuts at you. “Cinderella can’t go to the ball without her mask.” 

Like a true fairy godmother, Jiwon pulls a beautiful mask out of the makeup bag. “I saw this when I was shopping for my costume, and I knew it would just be perfect. You can’t be Cinderella and have everyone know who you are, that goes against the point of being Cinderella, right?”

She carefully sits the mask on your made-up face, ties the ribbons around the back of your head, trying not to disturb the work she put into your hair.

“Can we go now, fairy godmother?” You ask. “Before midnight, preferably.”

The fairytale vibe of the night truly hits home once you arrive at the party’s venue. Everyone’s in costumes, and at first it’s overwhelming because you can’t immediately distinguish the idols from the staff from the higher-ups in the company. As you and Jiwon step inside, you can only make out a few distinct people. 

Red Velvet’s Irene is dressed like an actual goddess, complete with an array of stars in an arc around her (an interesting choice that definitely makes sure no one gets too close to her). You spot Chanyeol standing tall over the group of people he’s talking with too. And then you see him.

Prince Charming.

Johnny Suh. 

He looks breathtakingly handsome, wearing a white uniform adorned with golden tassels and medals. His hair is gelled back from his face, and he’s in the middle of laughing at the princess beside him, though her back is to you. Johnny literally looks like a prince with his face full of sunlit radiance, and in that moment your heart yearns. You wish you had a Prince Charming, but it’s clear that this one already has his princess.

And then she turns around with a flip of her long, dark wavy hair.

You burst out laughing so loud that Jiwon hits your arm to make you quiet down. 

Hendery is dressed as a princess, clinging to Johnny’s arm as Jungwoo and Ten stand there with them, both of them laughing along with the costumed couple.

There are several other princesses you soon realize. Staff members and female artists have both dressed as princesses, and the more of them you see, the more you think that you’re not the Cinderella of this ball. There’s others that shine with more glitz and glamor than your thrifted dress ever could. So you mostly stick to yourself, seated at a table in the corner, sipping at your drink to avoid talking to a drunk coworker when he stumbles into his seat at the table.

You just watch the party, suddenly no longer feeling it because the best looking man here tonight is clearly Johnny Suh (which you’ve thought that numerous times before, but especially so tonight) and it’s obvious that everyone else thinks so too. He wins a prize. He has people coming up to him all night, fawning over him, running their fingers through the tassels on his shoulders.

“Stop pouting,” Jiwon tells you as she drops down into the seat beside yours. She sits a fresh drink down in front of you. “Just drink this down and come have fun with me. We can mingle and actually get the chance to speak to some of these idols we never work with.” 

You know she has her eyes on D.O. who’s standing in a clear line of sight from where you’re both sitting, holding an audience of a few people captive with his story.

“You go.” You nod toward him. “Here’s your chance, Jiwon.”

She frowns at you. “I didn’t spend so long making you look like Cinderella just for you to sit all glum in the corner. You look fantastic, darling, and if you don’t get up and show off that lovely dress and your beautiful face, then we can’t be friends anymore.” She folds her arms in front of her and pouts. 

“If I go get some more drinks, does that count?”

“It’s an improvement at least.” She sighs. “I’m going to try to talk to him. While I’m gone, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” She eyes your coworker who’s slumped over in his chair now, starting to snore. “And make sure he doesn’t puke on himself.”

You have no intention of babysitting a guy who takes every opportunity to steal credit from you, so you definitely leave the table as soon as Jiwon walks away. 

You’re standing at the bar area, waiting for the man behind the counter to make the drink you’d requested, when someone comes up beside you, just a figure in the corner of your eye. It’s only when he speaks that you look up to see who he actually is.

“I think you dropped this,” Johnny says, and he’s holding up one of the satiny blue gloves you’d worn tonight. You’d taken them off while you ate, and you forgot you’d tucked them in the ribbon around your waist.

“Oh, thank you.” You incline your head and reach for the glove, but when your fingers brush Johnny’s, you pull away with your whole hand tingling. “I probably dropped the other one somewhere too.” You look around, searching the floor.

Johnny chuckles. “No, it’s still right there.” 

You feel a blush rising to your cheeks, and you’re grateful that you’re wearing the mask that hides most of your face. The other glove is still safely tucked at your waist, and as Johnny tells the bartender what he’d like, you pull both gloves onto your hands.

“Here’s your drink, Princess.” The man behind the counter winks as he says it, pushing the drink toward you. “And yours, Prince Charming.”

You take your drink and start to walk away, planning to head back to your comfortable corner to drink alone in peace, but then you notice Johnny just a step behind you. 

“I think you’re the only person dressed as a princess tonight that hasn’t come up to talk to me tonight.” He says, “Which is unfortunate, since I saw you the moment you walked in, and I wanted to come talk to you then, but Hendery wouldn’t let go of me. I think you deserved best costume; I’ve never seen a better Cinderella.”

His flattery works wonders on melting what nervousness you have in talking with him. Johnny’s all but a stranger to you. You don’t work closely with NCT, but on the few occasions you’ve gotten to work with them, Johnny was always such a large personality, so nice and funny and handsome. Maybe you definitely have a ridiculous crush on him. But it’s always been foolish and far-fetched.

This is the first conversation you’ve ever had with him, and you don’t quite make it back to that table in the back corner. Johnny drags you down to sit beside him at his table, and even though you’re surrounded by the other members, the way he’s looking at you as you talk makes it feel like it’s only the two of you in the whole building. 

You finish your drink, lose track of time, and by the time that the party’s really and truly ending, you’ve forgotten everything but the way that Johnny looks at you, the sound of his voice, and how much that you have in common with him. Maybe it’s ridiculous to form such a deep connection with someone at a party, especially when tomorrow you go back to being just a lowly staff member and he’s a world-famous idol. 

But Princess Hendery is the one to break up this intimate conversation. His hand lands on Johnny’s shoulder, and Johnny’s head snaps around. 

“Hyung, your ride’s about to leave.” Hendery pats Johnny’s shoulder, and then points down the length of the table to a man you recognize as an NCT manager. A tipsy Jaehyun walks by, his fingers twisting in the neck of Johnny’s uniform, and he leans in to whisper something in Johnny’s ear, his fingers slipping down to get a better grip on Johnny’s uniform, and then he’s dragging Johnny out of his seat, pulling him away out the door with their manager before you can get another word in.

You look around then, somewhat dazed at being pulled back into non-Johnny reality, and also slightly buzzed from your drinks, and you realize that the room has emptied out around you, only a handful of people remain. Including Jiwon. She’s bright red and grinning from ear to ear, leaning on a man in costume.

You refuse to let her make any drunken mistakes tonight, so you make your way over, loop your arm around her waist. “Come on, fairy godmother, it’s midnight and we need to get home before the spell wears off.”

Jiwon moans and groans, reluctantly letting you lead her out of the party at last, taking her home to pass out on your sofa.

And it’s a bit later as you fall into bed fresh from your shower with all the makeup washed away now, as you look happily at the photos you’d taken with Jiwon and some selfies you’d snapped several times throughout the night, that you tragically remember that you never gave Johnny your name.

By tragedy or fate or something else against you in the universe, you don’t get to see Johnny again before your position in the company takes you overseas. Not long term, just for a month. But during that month you build a lot of experience toward achieving your dream of becoming a manager for a group, getting your hands almost within reach of that prized promotion. 

And as for your Cinderella moment, you try to put it out of your mind, just as you’re sure Johnny’s done. Over a month has passed since the Halloween party, and you doubt he even remembers the Cinderella he spent the night talking to. Even if he does remember, you feel that any chance has long since passed for you to find him and tell him it was you.

On your first day back within the building, you’ve barely made it inside before Jiwon finds you. 

You hear her slippers slapping against the ground as she runs toward you, and then she loops her arm through yours in a vice. “Come with me. We need to talk,” she whispers conspiratorially, dragging you into the elevator with her.

“I didn’t want to tell you this while you were away dealing with everything, but,” she says excitedly in a hushed voice so no one overhears, “As your self-designated fairy godmother, I thought I should definitely give you a little heads up. Johnny’s been looking for Cinderella.”

Your heart thuds in your chest. “What?”

“Everyone’s heard him asking around casually about who’d been Cinderella that night, but you sneaky thing!” She pinches your side. “How did you manage to go the whole night without telling anyone who you were?”

Had you? You’d definitely talked with several other staff members at the start of the night, including your supervisor. At least one of them must have recognized you, right? But looking back now, maybe you hadn’t talked in particular about anything that would have given away who you were, and you don’t remember any of them calling you by name or even acknowledging that you were in their department. 

You’re still trying to wrap your head around it when the elevator doors open, and Jiwon walks out, still arm-in-arm with you.

“Look, it’s even a company-wide kind of meme.” She points at a bulletin board nearby where normally notices about events and deadlines and everything are hung. But now there’s also a sheet of paper with the word WANTED at the top, a badly pixellated image of the Disney version of Cinderella beneath that, and below that LAST SEEN: SM HALLOWEEN PARTY. In tiny font beneath contact NCT Johnny if you have any information. 

“What the hell?” You look around to see if anyone else is looking, and then you step forward and tear it off the bulletin board. “What are people thinking? What if this shows up in the background of a video?” Idols pass through here semi-frequently with cameras on them for one reason or another. You can only imagine the chaos of fans reacting to such a notice as this Cinderella one.

Jiwon laughs as you crumple the sheet up and toss it in a nearby trashcan. “At this point, everyone’s started assuming Cinderella was just a random party-crasher or a ghost since she hasn’t come forward.” She pats your shoulder comfortingly. “One of the aespa girls almost confessed to him that it was her.”

A flare of jealous heat sparks to life in your belly. “Well, it definitely wasn’t!”

“Of course not! She was dressed like a princess too, but not anything remotely Cinderella-esque.” Someone walks into the elevator area, so Jiwon drops her voice to a whisper once more as she tries to urge you, “You should go tell him that you’re his Cinderella! It would be so cute!” 

“Are you kidding?” You hiss, glancing over at the man waiting for an elevator. “Look at me, Jiwon. He’d take one look and laugh that I couldn’t possibly be Cinderella. I don’t look anything like I did that night.” You gesture at the very casual outfit you’re wearing, your drastically less made-up face, and just everything about you. You’d truly experienced some kind of magical transformation that night courtesy of the woman beside you. “I couldn’t tell him. Plus, it’s been over a month. Is he really still looking for Cinderella? I’d have given up by this point, like you said, just thinking it was a random party-crasher or something. Plus, if this is like an actual Cinderella moment, it’s not like anything romantic can happen between him and I. It’s against policy.”

Jiwon shakes her head, disappointed. “You’re such a party pooper, darling. And, you’re right, this isn’t a fairytale, okay? I get that. It’s real life and there’s actual consequences, so I won’t blame you if you don’t tell him. But come on, the risk is well worth the reward here, I would think. This job or Johnny? The choice is obvious to me.”

Maybe once you would have agreed. Choosing the literal man of your dreams (because Johnny has been showing up in your dreams with some amount of frequency ever since Halloween) would have been an easy choice before you’d actually landed a position in SM Entertainment. Even then, it wouldn’t have been a crazy choice in your mind. But more recently things have changed.

“They’re promoting me.” You shake Jiwon loose so you can face her properly. “That’s what the whole point of me being overseas for the last month was. Training me up, seeing if I had the potential to really be a manager. And that’s my dream job, you know. I don’t think the risk is worth the reward in this case. But damn,” you sigh, catching sight of a screen showing a clip from one of NCT’s music videos, Johnny’s face filling the screen. “I wish it was possible.”

To give up your dream job just for the possibility of a romance with an idol seemed far-fetched and stupid. 

So you ignore the Cinderella search. It’s not like you ever even see Johnny, so it’s not a problem at all.

Until the day comes when you officially receive your promotion. 

“You’re being promoted,” your supervisor tells you, “NCT needs a new manager, and you’re best qualified for the job.”

Your stomach feels like it drops to the floor. “What?”

You’d been expecting that you were going to get to help manage a new group, or at least maybe aespa. You didn’t think they’d throw you to the wolves that was the confusing mess of NCT’s schedules. So it was a nightmare wrapped in a thin layer of a dream, and right at the heart of it all was Johnny Suh.

You were so nervous on your first day as a manager (because of course, you couldn’t manage one of the other units, you had to be assigned to 127) that Johnny would recognize you on the spot, call you out on being Cinderella, and make a scene. But you were equally as nervous that he wouldn’t recognize you at all.

The latter turned out to be the truer though not entirely accurate.

When you were introduced to the members, Johnny gave you a kind smile, and then said, “Hey, I recognize you.”

Your heart stopped and then started beating at what felt like double-time. “You do?”

He nods. “Yeah, you’ve worked with us before, right?”

Ah. Your heart rate slows back to normal. “Yeah, yes, I have. Just a few times.” 

Then he repeats your name back to you as if making sure that he’s got it right, and an hour later you’re still thinking about the way that your name sounds from his lips.

That feeling doesn’t pass, not for a while. 

Slowly you grow more comfortable and relaxed in your role a manager for the group. You get used to the stunning presence of the handsome men. You get used to the sound of Johnny’s voice and his laugh. You get used to driving the members around, shuttling them to and from schedules, getting them what they need, managing them and managing your feelings.

And best of all, you never hear Johnny mention Halloween or Cinderella, which makes it much easier to put it all from your mind. Well, somewhat easier. Jiwon refuses to let you forget; she calls herself your fairy godmother all the time, calls you princess, teases you when you mention stories that involve Johnny, which is most of them because within several weeks of you becoming a manager for the unit, you and Johnny have actually grown quite close.

“Oh, come on!” Jiwon exclaims one evening as she stretches out on your bed. “I’m tired of all of these cute, funny stories about Johnny! I want gushy romantic, hot stories.” She rolls over onto her stomach and looks at you. “God, let me tell you, one time when I was doing their makeup the stylist had to make an alteration on his pants, and that man whipped off his pants with no shame and stood there in his underwear for me to do his makeup. Babe, I know you’re already mentally going through hoops to avoid thinking about him, but trust me that you would reconsider if you had seen his--”

You slap your hand over her mouth. “Don’t.”

“No need to sound so pained about it.” She pushes your hand away. “I don’t know why you’re fighting this so hard. Yeah, you’re a manager, but you and him are fully grown adults. This is a stupid policy because from the stories you’ve told me, if you and Johnny were just alone for like an hour together, you would probably end up together.”

You roll your eyes. There have been times you’ve been alone with Johnny, driving him to or from a schedule. It wasn’t like there was undeniable sexual tension in that van or anything like that. And even if Jiwon means totally alone in a non-mobile setting, you doubt anything like that would happen, but you’ve never yet had the chance to find out.

When the first winter storm hits, you’re driving Taeyong back to the dorm from a solo schedule he’d had that had run long. It’s very late. Taeyong dozes in the passenger seat, you’re yawning every other minute, and as you enter the city limits you realize that it’s starting to snow large, fluffy flakes that are coating everything they touch.

The city’s been extremely cold lately, so you’re not surprised that the snow isn’t melting, just piling up, making it hard to see at times. 

By the time you reach the dorm, the roads are slushy and slick. Snow blows across the streets in waves.

Taeyong’s schedule had been a three-day event, so he has a few items to unload, and due to the sharp cold breeze and how deep asleep he’d been just moment before, you help Taeyong unload and carry his belongings up to the dorm. Your shoes squeak on the floor, and by the time you reach the door of the dorm, you’re both still shivering.

The door opens with a chime, and as you come inside, you see Johnny’s sitting at the kitchen table playing on his phone and eating cereal. Taeyong mumbles something, toes off his shoes, drops his bags, and just stumbles off to bed, too sleepy to even do anything else.

Johnny’s watching you as you let out a big yawn and sit what you’d been carrying down beside the rest. 

You run your fingers over your hair, brushing away the last snowflakes that cling somewhat intact to your hair. “It’s snowing pretty good out there. I haven’t seen snow like this in years.”

Johnny glances over at the large window of their living room. The puffs of snow float by, lit up by all the city lights, and he stands up, walking over to press his face to the glass, looking down at the street below and the rooftops around their building. Everything’s already covered in a pretty decent amount of snow. 

“It’s beautiful out there.” Johnny is pressed to the glass, looking out at everything. 

Before you can register what’s happening (it is very late and you’re half-asleep on your feet, so excuse you if you’re a little slow at the moment), Johnny’s walking back past you, grabbing his coat from the back of a chair with one hand, and taking your hand with the other. He guides you along by the hand down through the building, out into the falling snow. 

“What are we doing?” You ask, folding your arms around yourself as Johnny releases your hand once you’re outside. Shock at the situation kept you silent until then. “You shouldn’t be out here. You’ll catch a cold.”

Johnny laughs. “I’ll be fine. Come take my picture.” He walks out into the snow-covered street, tilting his head back to the sky, arms held out. The streetlight just down the road casts Johnny and the snow in a silver light, and he’s so beautiful in that moment that you’d be crazy not to take a photo, so you pull out your phone and start taking pictures of him. 

This photoshoot goes on for several minutes before you pause to check a photo you just took, and for your efforts of trying to be a good photographer, you get a snowball right to the shoulder. Johnny’s laugh is loud in the muted silence of the falling snow, and he only laughs louder when you shove your phone into your jacket pocket and duck down to form a snowball of your own.

The snow fight lasts until you’re both pink-cheeked, sniffling in the cold air, and neither of you can feel your fingertips anymore.

“I’m t-too cold to keep this g-going.” Johnny laughs and shivers, tucking his hands into his armpits as he walks toward you. 

“I - I should get going anyway.” Your teeth chatter together. “I still need to get home, and it’s late.”

“Come up for c-coffee,” Johnny suggests, his eyes lingering on you and the snow caught in your hair, wreathing your face. “You’re clearly tired and cold. You need some coffee.”

Damn your heart and Johnny’s good intentions. You follow him back up to the dorm, and while you shuck off your coat and wet shoes and damp socks, Johnny starts making you both some coffee. And minutes later, you’re still shivering as you clasp a warm mug between both of your hands, sitting next to Johnny while he swipes through your camera roll to check out the photos of him you’d just taken.

You know that you should leave. It’s not appropriate for you to just be hanging out at the dorm. You should put your coat and shoes back on, take the coffee to go, and head home so you can get some sleep before you have to work tomorrow. Just as you’re about to say something along those lines, your phone buzzes against the table and Johnny makes a soft, oh.

“What?” You lean closer, sitting the mug down on the table.

“It’s a weather alert.” Johnny looks up at you, and for a moment neither of you speak or move or breathe. You’re so close together right now. You can see all of the little water droplets stubbornly clinging to his eyelashes from the snow. You can smell the coffee on his breath and something a little sweet too. But then Johnny snaps his mouth closed and leans back a little, just putting some distance between you and him. 

He clears his throat, then says, “It says the roads are really bad, that it’s just going to get worse. You should probably just stay here tonight, and I feel like you’re going to argue with that, but honestly, it’s for your own safety. Roads are dangerous, plus you’re already cold and tired. That’s a bad combination. You’re just going to have to be back here in a few hours to pick us up anyway since hyung is gone.”

You’d forgotten about that. The manager that normally stays at the dorm with them is gone for the week. That’s why you had to be the one to take Taeyong to his solo schedule, and why you were going to have to be up earlier than normal for work tomorrow. Maybe Johnny has a good point.

Johnny looks away from you, back down at your phone, and he swipes away the notification, then makes a little frown. 

You look down as well, and there you see that your phone has gone back to the screen showing all of your photos, and there, just barely visible at the top of the screen, is a photo you’d taken of yourself in the Cinderella costume on the night of the Halloween party.

Johnny inhales and the silence as you wait for his exhale seems to last an eternity.

“You were--”

You push back from the table, already reaching to pull your shoes back onto your feet, forgetting entirely about your wet socks. “I’d really better leave.”

You’re halfway to the door, hopping on one foot, struggling to get your second foot into it’s boot, when Johnny loops his hand at your elbow, helping to steady you as you’d nearly just tipped over onto your face. 

“Please don’t leave.” He pleads.

You look up at him. Your foot thumps heavily down onto the ground. “Johnny.... please. I shouldn’t stay here, I could get in trouble with the company.”

His eyes are softer than you’ve ever seen them before. “Please stay. It’s dangerous out there, I’ve said that already. If anyone has a problem with you staying here overnight for your own safety, then I’ll vouch for you. I’ll make the others vouch too.” His hand slides from your elbow down to your wrist, holding loosely now that you don’t seem to be in such a rush to leave. A slow, crooked smile appears on his lips. “And anyway, Cinderella, you’re supposed to leave a shoe behind, not your wet socks.”

You roll your eyes, but you smile as well. “I didn’t want to tell you.”

“That you’re the Cinderella I’ve been looking for for months now?” Johnny’s hand slips even lower on your wrist until his fingers are just clasping your hand. “Why didn’t you want to tell me? I had so much fun talking with you that night, and after we left I realized I hadn’t even found out who you were.”

You shiver now that your feet are back inside your wet shoes. 

Johnny clicks his tongue disapprovingly. “Take your shoes off. You’re staying. Go on. Sit right there.” He points at the chair beside the table. “I’ll be right back. Don’t you dare leave.”

His voice is so commanding, you wouldn’t dare leave now. He walks out of the kitchen, and when he returns a moment later, he’s carrying a change of clothes for you from his own closet. 

“I know it’s your job to worry about us,” he says, holding out the clothes to you. “But please let me take care of you too. Don’t catch a cold. You can go shower in the bathroom off my room, put these on. You’re staying here tonight.”

You nod, accepting the sweater and slick basketball shorts. 

When you emerge from the shower several minutes later, feeling much more thoroughly warmed, the lights in the dorm have all been turned off, but Johnny’s sitting on the sofa now with his phone lighting up his face. It’s very, very late. He looks as if he could nod off right there, but as you walk closer to him, he blinks up at you. A smile breaks across his otherwise sleepy expression.

“What?” You ask, sinking down onto the sofa with him. There’s a blanket draped over the back, and Johnny immediately pulls it down over your shoulders. You clasp the edges of it together in front of you. “Why are you smiling like that? Are you feeling feverish or something?” You lift a hand and immediately check his forehead with the back of your hand, but he doesn’t feel warm.

Johnny, still smiling, reaches up to lightly bat away your hand as he sighs and rests his head against the cushiony back of the sofa, staring at you. “No, like.... It’s just, I can’t believe you’re actually wearing my clothes.”

“You gave them to me.” You reply, amused at the dopey look on his face. 

“I know.” Johnny whispers. “You just look really good in them.”

Your heart flutters in the way that you know you shouldn’t let it. This is Johnny. You’re his manager. This is inappropriate to be feeling this way about him. It’s definitely inappropriate to be sitting on a sofa in the dark with him, wearing his clothes, having just showered in his shower using his shampoo and body wash. But it feels good.

You lean your head against the sofa’s back too, draw your knees up toward your chest, and you look right back at Johnny in the same way he’s looking at you. You whisper, “You should go to bed. We all have to be up in a few hours.”

He bites his bottom lip and then stretches out a risky hand to touch yours. When you don’t pull away or tell him not to, Johnny keeps going, turning your hand over, pulling it into his lap. He touches your palm, caresses your fingers, treating you like you’re fragile and delicate like a little princess.

“Johnny,” you whisper a few moments later when he’s still just holding your hand, making no effort to go to bed. “Go.”

“There’s so much snow out there.” He says after another few seconds. “There’s no way that we’ll still have our schedules tomorrow. By the time morning really comes, we’re going to be buried in. I was looking at the weather while you were showering, and it’s not showing any sign of stopping before at least tomorrow night.”

“Banking on your schedule being cancelled doesn’t mean you don’t have to go to bed.” Your hand shakes slightly as you lift it, trembling with the risky nature of what you do next. Johnny’s hair is soft and his face is pleasantly warm as you push a few loose strands away from his face. 

Johnny exhales at the feel of your fingertips just barely brushing his skin. “Come to bed with me. Haechan’s not here. He’s upstairs tonight.”

You noticed that as you crept into Johnny’s room to use that bathroom. Both of the beds were empty. 

It’s tempting to give in, to follow him into that bedroom and let the door close behind you as you get into bed with him. You’re sure that sharing a bed with Johnny would be very warm and comforting in this snowy cold night. But you can’t. 

“Johnny.” Your voice trembles ever so slightly. “I can’t. I’m your manager, and it just.... I could get in trouble.”

“You’re still shivering from the cold,” he argues, “Basically hypothermic. I’m just trying to keep you healthy, trying to save you from freezing. No one would know but us. If the others ask questions, I’ll make excuses.” He smiles, and that almost does it for you.

You shake your head, close your eyes, turn your head away from him so you’re not faced with the temptation. “No. I’m serious. You should go to bed. I’ll stay right here. Just here.” You pat the sofa. “I’ll be comfy and this blanket’s warm.”

“Fine.” Johnny sighs, and he stands up, still holding your hand. “But don’t think that you can sneak out, Cinderella. Okay?”

You squeeze his hand lightly. “I’m not going anywhere, Johnny.”

He leans in so quickly that there’s no time for you to even protest before he’s pressing a kiss to your cheek. And then he’s gone, vanishing into his bedroom as you sit frozen on the sofa, looking after him.

It takes a long time to fall asleep after that. Just you lying there in the dark with the blanket tugged up to your chin, listening to all of the unfamiliar sounds of the dorm, watching the snow drift by outside the window, shivering in the chill air.

After nearly an hour of silence and cold and overthinking, you sit up, gather the blanket around your shoulders, and you tiptoe across the living room to the door of Johnny’s bedroom. 

When you reach the door, you stand there in hesitation, your knuckles hovering just inches from the door. You’re being silly. Ridiculous. You’re putting the future of your career in jeopardy by just standing here before his doorway and contemplating going inside. You shift your weight uncertainly, drop your hand to your side, consider turning back and walking to the sofa, but before you can move, the door swings open and you’re faced with Johnny’s chest.

You lift your gaze slowly to his face.

“I could almost hear you thinking through the door,” he says with a smile, and then he steps aside, “Why don’t you come in?”

“It’s just cold out there,” you mumble as you step inside, pulling your blanket tighter around your shoulders. “I was going to ask if you had another blanket.”

Johnny hums in a way that tells you that he doesn’t buy your lie one bit. He closes the door behind him, his back braced against it as he faces you. “I can’t believe that all this time you’ve been my Cinderella.” He shakes his head, gaze wandering over the shadowy shape of you.

His room is dark but your eyes are adjusted just enough that you can see him fairly well in the faint light coming in through the window. So you can see as he pushes away from the door, as he steps toward you. Your body tingles in anticipation, your fingertips go numb so you curl them into fists in your blanket, and Johnny stops right in front of you.

“It’s well past midnight, Cinderella,” he whispers. “The ball is ended, the magic spell is worn off, and you’re still just as beautiful and fascinating and enchanting as you were that night.” His hands come up to the blanket wrapped around your shoulders, fingers tucking underneath. Your grip on the blanket loosens even as Johnny starts to move the blanket.

It falls away, pooling at your feet.

“Johnny.”

His thumb brushes along your jawline. Your body feels on fire, your fingers burn with the desire to touch him too. So you do, curling your fingers at his hips, his skin warm under yours, and Johnny takes a shuffling step just a bit closer to you, his bare toes bumping against yours.

“Johnny,” you repeat his name, lifting your chin to look him in the eye. “Kiss me?”

He doesn’t wait for you to ask him again. Johnny leans in and catches your lips in a kiss. His palm rests against the side of your neck, his thumb still stroking at your jaw. When you try to press closer, to deepen the kiss, Johnny backs away.

“Don’t stop,” you whine, clenching your hands at his sides. 

Johnny chuckles, dipping forward to kiss your forehead. And then he kisses you again. He takes a step back, you follow, and another, and then he’s sinking down onto his bed, his hands moving to your hips to guide you to straddle his lap, not breaking the kiss as you do.

Making out with Johnny Suh is certainly not what you imagined you’d be doing tonight when you brought Taeyong home from his schedule, but here you are, sitting in his lap in his bed, his hands on your hips, and your mouth on his.

“Wait,” he mumbles, pulling back momentarily. “Let me put some music on or something.”

You don’t want to move from his lap, but you let him lean away, reaching back across his bed toward the pillows to grab his phone. He taps at the screen for a few moments, and then music—soft enough to not wake anyone but just loud enough to mask any sounds the two of you may make—begins to play over his Bluetooth speakers.

As Johnny sits back up, leaving his phone tucked beneath his pillow, you admire the sight of him. His abs. His chest. His arms.

You’ve seen Johnny shirtless before in dressing rooms, for photo shoots and video shoots. But seeing him like this, in the half light of his bedroom with the tingling reminder of his lips on yours, is a completely different experience.

Like a magnet, he finds you again. His mouth on yours, kiss unrestrained under the cover of the music, letting out tiny little moans as he kisses you. Each sound brings a smile to your lips, and after a few moments, you’re grinning into the kiss, twisting your fingers into his hair, and Johnny smiles as he fits his hands under your borrowed sweatshirt, his fingers chilly on your heated waist and belly.

His fingers shift higher and higher, and your breath hitches as he caressed your breast.

“Alright?” He murmurs, giving you a moment to answer while he kisses the corner of your mouth, skimming his lips over your jaw, down your throat.

You shiver, twisting your fingers a little more tightly in his hair, shifting just that much closer to him. You can feel every inch of him against you, your body burns and tingles, your heart racing in your chest.

“So good,” you moan softly, tugging lightly on his hair to bring his mouth back to yours.

Johnny smiles into the kiss, his thumb drifting attentively over your nipple. Slowly he eases backwards until he’s flat on his back and you lie against his chest, still just kissing him and yearning to feel his hands touching you everywhere, not just your breast. You shiver against him again, and Johnny is gentle as he rolls you under him, as he tugs the blankets up over your bodies.

“Still cold, Cinderella?” He teases, his nose bumping against your cheek.

You push a section of his hair back behind his ear, spend a few seconds lingering there, your thumb against his face. He’s so handsome, and you being here beneath him in his bed, it’s unreal. Like a dream. Like a fairytale Cinderella moment you never thought you’d have because he’s an SM Prince, and who are you? Hardly any better than a servant.

Johnny shifts to the side, looking down at you. “What are you thinking about? You’ve got that expression.” He lifts a finger and traces the furrow between your eyebrows.

“I’m just thinking how I don’t belong here.” You sigh, looking away to the window. Your hand is on his arm and you absentmindedly stroke over his sunflower tattoo, mirroring the movements of his thumb moving back and forth on your waist beneath the sweatshirt. 

Johnny’s lips touch against your throat, pulling a sigh from your lips, to which he asks, “What do you mean you don’t belong here? And don’t tell me again that it’s because you’re a manager.”

But that’s exactly why. 

“Stay here. With me.” Johnny withdraws his hand from beneath your sweatshirt. “If you feel like this is moving too fast, we can stop here. We can go to sleep. Just sleep.”

He moves back an inch or two, just as much as his narrow twin bed will allow, but you don’t want him to go far. You scoot closer again, still gripping his arm. Johnny smiles at that. You sink your head onto the pillow, look up at him. “I’ll stay.”

“Good.” Johnny brings his hand up, tracing his knuckles lightly along your cheek in a way that makes your heart pound and your toes and fingertips tingle in delight, in the need for reciprocation, to touch him and hold him too. But you bring your hands up to your chest, clench them into tight fists inside the sleeves of the sweater, will yourself to not touch him because if you do, you’re pretty sure you won’t be able to stop yourself from going further. 

“You promise you won’t run away after I close my eyes?” Johnny asks. 

“I promise.” You watch as Johnny stands up from the bed, and he hesitates then for a moment, looking down at you, his hands on his hips. You think, for a moment, that he’s about to tell you goodnight and sleep in Haechan’s bed instead. But he takes a deep breath, his thumbs tracing along the waistband of his sweatpants. 

“So, normally, I do sleep in my underwear. I get hot at night, so it’s just a lot more comfortable for me.” He explains, glancing away as he admits this. You have a feeling that he might actually normally sleep naked, but given that you’ve both agreed to draw the line at making out and some light touching tonight, being naked in bed with you might be a bit more than you wanted. 

You appreciate his unspoken question, a request for you to consent to him stripping to his underwear to sleep in bed with you. But it’s his bed, in his bedroom, in his apartment where you still feel you don’t entirely belong. You’re the intruder here. And besides--

“I like to sleep in my underwear too,” you tell him. “So it works out.” 

Beneath the blanket, you shimmy easily out of the silky basketball shorts Johnny had lent you, and as you drop them out over the side of the bed, you watch Johnny swallow, his throat bobbing even as he smiles a little. You watch too as his thumbs tuck under the waistband of his pants, and then he’s pushing them down, kicking them off, slipping back into the narrow bed with you.

You keep the sweater on, but the bare skin of your legs, from toe to hip feel so free beneath the sheets, and when Johnny’s knee knocks into yours, you feel it from the point of contact all the way through your body. You’re hyper-aware of him, more than you’ve ever been with anyone else probably.

And then you lift your leg a little, draping it over one of his so your knee rests between both of his. You prop yourself on your side a bit, a hand tucked under the pillow. Johnny faces you too.

“Goodnight, Cinderella,” he whispers. 

“Goodnight, Johnny.”

You don’t remember falling asleep. One moment you were listening to the music softly playing still from the speakers, to the even sound of Johnny breathing. And then you’re woken by the sound of your phone ringing while the sky outside is still a dim shade of gray.

Your phone’s in the pocket of the shorts on the floor, so you fumble around for a moment before finally fishing them out of the pocket. You stab at the button to answer the call, squinting against the brightness of the screen.

“Hello?” You mumble into the phone.

Johnny shifts beside you, his hand sliding over your belly where the sweatshirt has ridden up through the night. His thumb touches the lacy edge of your panties. You close your eyes and focus on breathing, on listening to whoever’s interrupted your sweet sleep so early in the morning. 

“I’ve got some good news.” It’s your boss, the one who makes all of the big calls. “Schedules are cancelled for the day, that’s the official news. The city’s snowed in, so you can stay home today.”

You can’t believe Johnny was right about that. You’ve never had a day where you heard of their schedules being cancelled because of the weather like this, but you accept it, thank him for calling to let you know, and when you end the call, you lie there in the silent darkness of the bedroom.

At some point in the night, the music has ended. It must be very early, with the sky still so dark outside the window, but even in the half-light you can still see snowflakes drifting by. 

Johnny’s fingers twitch on your belly, his pinky finger stroking along the top edge of your panties. You turn your head to look at him.

His eyes are still closed, but you can tell that he’s awake.

“Who was that?” He asks after a few moments, his voice soft and rough at the same time, drenched with sleep. 

“You were right. The day’s schedules are cancelled.” You lay your hand over his. You’re half-tempted to move it just because it’s driving you to distraction, but at the same time you don’t want him to stop touching you like this.

“Mm, perfect.” Johnny opens one eye to look at you. “Now we can just sleep for the rest of the morning. Stay in bed.”

You want that. There’s nothing you want more right now than to stay here in bed with Johnny. “I should probably go let the other boys know. Tell them to turn off their alarms. To stay inside today where it’s warm.”

The tip of his pinky makes it just beneath the edge of your panties. Your nipples are hard, and you’re glad you’re wearing the sweatshirt so he can’t tell how just this tiny touch is affecting you so greatly. But it’s something in the way he’s looking at you right then--his bottom lip caught beneath his teeth, his eyes on your parted lips--that tells you that somehow he already knows how aroused you are.

You almost close your thighs, squeeze your legs together to do something about that burning need rising between your legs. But your one leg is still draped over Johnny’s, your calf against his. And when you move it just a little, the friction of your skin against his has Johnny breathing more deeply.

There’s a buzz running under your skin, zipping through your veins, and in the moment you forget everything else but that feeling and Johnny making you feel it. 

Your hand covers his on your belly, and you apply just the lightest amount of pressure. His fingers slide so eagerly into your panties.

His breath sounds unsteady, and you’re sure yours does too.

“I’m gonna be so honest right now,” he tells you, his voice barely more than a breath. “I’m so hard, baby. The second you made that little whimper, shit, I felt lightheaded.” You don’t know what whimper he’s talking about, but you don’t care. His fingertips are edging lower and lower inside your panties and in a second he’ll be touching your clit and that’s all you want right now. You almost buck up into his touch.

You grip his wrist before he can, and Johnny freezes. “We don’t have any music,” you tell him. 

Johnny smiles. “Guess you’ll just have to try to keep quiet then, won’t you?”

“Guess you should kiss me again then.” You reply, and Johnny’s only too pleased to satisfy that request.

The moment his mouth is on yours, he’s dipping his fingers lower, his middle finger touching your clit, and he gasps lightly as he feels the heat of your wetness coating his fingers. You can’t believe you’re doing this with Johnny.

He rolls closer, and as he does you can feel his erection against your thigh. 

“You want me to finger you, baby?” His words flow over your lips, swallowed right down by your eagerness. You nod. “I want to hear you say it.”

A new wave of heat bursts in your belly at Johnny’s dominant tone. “I want your fingers, Johnny.” 

He smiles as he kisses you now, pressing his long middle finger inside you in a way that would have you loudly gasping except for his mouth sealed over yours. Johnny curls his finger just right, his palm smoothly moving against your clit as he thrusts his finger inside you, soon adding a second then a third. 

You’re openly panting and moaning into his mouth as he fucks you on his fingers. His other arm is wrapped around your back, bracing you against him as he works you quickly toward an orgasm. His erection is against your thigh, and occasionally you notice him grinding against you, thrusting forward to help with what he needs. But most of his attention is on you, making you feel good.

It’s still some time before dawn when Johnny brings you tumbling over the edge of your climax. Your thighs close around his arm, his fingers still pumping inside you, and you bite his tongue as you cum, and that just makes him moan. 

You’re still shaking from the ecstasy when you break the kiss to drop your head to his shoulder, your breath coming out in shaky puffs.

Johnny kisses your forehead, his damp fingers pull out, slipping out of your panties to rest against your thigh, the other hand strokes your lower back, a relaxing weight keeping you resting against him. You try to move a hand down, wanting to touch him too, but Johnny makes a noise.

“You don’t have to.” His damp fingers close around your wrist. “I’m fine.”

“You’re still hard.” You raise your knee a little so your thigh brushes against where his dick is still full in his underwear. 

His eyes flutter for a moment, his hips grinding forward. 

You lift a hand to touch his hair, tugging lightly to bring his lips to yours as you tilt your head back. “Let me make you feel good, too, Johnny.”

Johnny slides his body over yours smoothly, his body bracketed perfectly by your thighs. You tangle your arms behind his neck, kissing him like your life depends on it as he grinds against you through your panties. 

You can feel him very clearly now. Every inch of him. You wish he was inside you, stretching you wide open, filling you deeply with his length. You kiss him and trace all of those desires against his tongue. Your heart pounds with that desire, breath racing and your nails rake down his back as he picks a good rhythm. You’re going to cum again, you already know it.

“Fuck,” Johnny mumbles into the kiss. “I wish I could cum inside you.”

“Then fuck me.” You gasp back. “Where are condoms?”

His lips slide from yours, over your jaw to your throat. He groans. “In the drawer over there.” But you can tell from the tightness in his voice, from the broken staccato beat of his movements that he’s close, that he probably won’t be able to hold back much longer. Why wait? Why risk putting a pause on this if it might just ruin his orgasm?

You shake your head, tangle your fingers in his hair, guide his lips back to yours. Next time. He can fuck you next time. Right now you just want him to cum; you want him to get you to cum a second time.

A hoarse groan builds in the back of his throat, and Johnny thrusts one last time before he freezes, his cock twitching in his underwear, right against you. You can feel the wet heat of him spreading through the material right against you, and you buck your hips up, chasing your own orgasm even if it means grinding against Johnny’s sensitive cock as he comes down from his high.

Johnny’s mouth feels so soft against yours when you kiss this time as your orgasm crashes through you. Lazy kisses, bodies intertwined. Johnny doesn’t move from between your thighs, just holding himself above you, kissing you slowly and softly.

Morning is breaking outside, though with the heavy winter weather, there’s not too much of a difference visually. 

Eventually Johnny moves away, his hand slides up under your sweatshirt, just touching your bare skin as you both tuck yourself against each other and catch your breath. 

It’s still early. You could roll over to fall back asleep, but even as you consider that, you know it’s too late, you’re already wide awake. Johnny knows it too, so after a handful of moments, he kisses you and then sits up.

“I’m going to shower.” He stands out of bed, tugging uncomfortably at his underwear. You can see the damp spot spread over the front of them, and you hide your smile in his pillow. You made him cum in his pants. It’s cute. You close your eyes and replay that moment, Johnny pressed against your like that, the way he’d moved, the way he’d sounded as he came.

When you open your eyes again, he’s gone. The bathroom door is closed, only a thin sliver of light beneath it and the gentle patter of the shower turning on indicating that Johnny’s behind it.

The dorm is still thick with the sound of sleep, so you’re quiet as you redress and creep out of Johnny’s room. You stand to look out the window in the living room. The world outside is covered in thick snow that continues to fall. Your breath fogs the glass.  

Taeyong’s the first one up, stumbling out of his room in just shorts and a tshirt, shivering as he walks into the kitchen. He pours himself a glass of water, and when he turns around, he spots you and nearly drops the glass. He swears viciously before realizing it’s you.

“Fuck, I’m sorry.” He covers his mouth. “Did you stay here last night?”

You nod. “The weather got worse and I was really tired, so Johnny insisted that I stay.” Taeyong makes a face that you can’t quite decipher before he hides it. “Your schedules are cancelled for the day, by the way. We’re snowed in.”

Taeyong nods. “In that case, I’m going back to bed.” He disappears back into his bedroom, and once more the dorm falls silent.

A shiver works its way down your spine as you yawn. You’re so tired, but you know you can’t go back to sleep, so you go make yourself a strong cup of coffee, watch the snow and think. You think about how what you did with Johnny was a mistake--it was great and you loved it and you can’t truly bring yourself to regret it, but it was a mistake nonetheless because if it gets out, if this becomes serious or ends badly, then it will reflect horribly on your career, and all of your dreams will be flushed away. 

You want Johnny. You love the way he makes you feel. But you know that you shouldn’t indulge. 

And for the next several minutes you sway back and forth on that dangerous line of thought--you want him, but you shouldn’t want him. Maybe you should just leave today, go home, and the next time you see him pretend that the events of last night and this morning never happened. Maybe he’ll forget you’re the Cinderella he spent months searching for.; maybe that was all just a fun game for him anyway, and he’ll lose interest now that he’s found you.

By the time the coffee finishes brewing, you hear the sound of movement in Johnny’s room as he leaves the shower. You pour yourself a mug, another one for him, and then you knock carefully (to not spill the coffees) on his door before opening it.

Johnny’s sitting in bed again, but when he sees you, he sits up and runs his fingers through his hair. 

“Feel better?” you ask him, standing there beside his bed as you offer him one of the coffees. He nods and sips at his coffee, and you look over at the window again, at the steadily falling snow. "I guess I still need to figure out some way to get home.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Johnny murmurs into his coffee. “You can stay here. Stay right here.” He lifts his face out of his mug just long enough to grab your hand and pull you down to sit on his bed. He doesn’t let go of your hand.

You say his name in a warning tone, but it just makes him smile. 

“What?” His thumb rubs gently over your knuckles. “Cinderella kept running away from the Prince because she was scared of her stepmother and stepsisters, right? Well, the Prince found her and they lived happily ever after. I like you. I liked you before I knew you were my Cinderella from Halloween. Finding that out last night or this morning or whatever, that’s just a bonus. I like you in case what we did earlier didn’t make that obvious, and if you like me too, well we can find a way to be together even if our wicked company tries their best to keep it from happening.”

You feel very warm all of a sudden, possibly its the coffee or the bulky sweater Johnny had let you borrow, or it could very well be that he’s confessing to you. Confessing in such a cheesy manner, too. He has feelings for you. For you, not for the Cinderella fantasy version of you. 

You push the sleeves of the sweater up your arms, trying to cool down some.

“Johnny.” You know that nothing good can come of what he’s suggesting.

“Don’t say my name like that,” he says softly. “Don’t say it like it’s a no. Don’t say it like you want me but you can’t. We already started down this path, so don’t turn your back on this, please. Say my name like you agree with me, like you like me too.” 

“Johnny.” This time you put your longing for him behind those two syllables. You try your best to make it sound like a yes. 

You want Johnny. You want this to work. And if he believes in it, then you want to too. But you won’t let this affect your dream. You’ll have Johnny and you’ll have your dream job too. You can figure it out as you go.

Johnny grins. “Yeah, that sounds much better.” He takes a drink of his coffee again, watching you over the lip of the mug, then says, “I can’t get over how a few months ago I wanted to learn your name and now you’re having breakfast with me in my sweater.”

“Coffee is hardly breakfast, Johnny. Please tell me that you know that.” You groan, prying the coffee mug out of his hands.

He shrugs and grins, watching as you sit his mug and your own on his bedside table. And then he reaches for you, pulling you into his lap so you’re face-to-face. Johnny kisses you slowly, deeply, and when he pulls away, he murmurs, “All I know for now is that you’re my mysterious Cinderella, you’re wearing my sweater, I can still smell you in my sheets, and we have no plans for the rest of the day. If you’d like, I’d love to make you cum again.”

Oh God, you think to yourself, what have you gotten yourself into?

a/n: so months and months ago back when I was accepting requests based off a prompt list, someone sent me a prompt for Johnny to use both “No, like…. It’s just, I can’t believe you’re actually wearing my clothes.” and “I can’t get over how a few months ago I wanted to learn your name and now you’re having breakfast with me in my sweater.” and thus this was born

I wouldn’t have taken so long to write this, and I’m really really sorry to the original requester (especially since I know I’ve messaged them and let them know it would take a while, but damn I don’t think either of us thought it would take this long, and I checked and they haven’t been active on their blog in a while, so now I feel bad) but I got distracted with writing the next part of the poly series (which was Adore You) and then forgot about this for a brief time, and then once I remembered I was deep into working on the poly finale, so I had to focus on it. But now I’ve finished that! And I’ve finished this too, so if the original requester is still around and sees this then I’m sorry it took so long please forgive me! I would tag them, but I’m not entirely sure if they wanted to be tagged in this or not!

[sundaysundaes]

Into the Forest of Fireflies’ Light

Lee Taeyong X Reader, feat. Haechan | Fluff, Best Friends to Lovers, Angst | Supernatural AU | 18k

Summary: You can only remember summer. Of the love you could never receive. Of the lips you could never truly taste. Of the warmth you could never take. And of a boy with smiles so soft, being consumed by the fireflies’ lights (strongly based on a beautiful Japanese animated movie called Hotarubi no Mori e)

Dear Taeyong, 

I can only remember summer

Of the taste of the dry weather on our tongues

Of the songs the cicadas chanted behind our backs

Of the sunlight that bit through our skins

Of the summer dresses and cat masks we once had

I remember that twig of an oak tree between our hands 

Separating you and me, life and death

That warm goodbye from your usually quiet lips

The way you said, “Until we meet next summer.”

And how I always truly, desperately, believed in it

You are the beautiful reality in my sleep

The blissful dream in my wake

I will see you again next summer

I miss you

***

Dear my love,

I can only love summer

Of faith that bloomed between us

Of loving smiles that shone when I glanced away 

Of the longing distance we put between us

And the fireflies’ light that will soon consume me

I will wait for our late exchange of secret words

And next time, I will take your warm goodbye from your lips

“Until we meet on the next life, Taeyong,” you said

Yes, that’s true

Until we meet on the next life, my dear

Because of you, I have truly lived

Our summer will last for eternity

I love you

“Make sure you listen to your uncle, okay?” Your mother says in her motherly way just like how she usually does. “Do you have your handkerchief? Your ticket? A nice pair of shoes. Don’t zone out and miss your stop. You’re always clumsy like that.”

You straighten up with one bag slinging around your shoulder and another one hanging around your wrist. With a casual pair of flip-flops, a white sleeveless summer dress decorated with broderie details, and your lips curving upwards in a farewell smile, you respond, “Jeez, Mom. I’ve been going there every year. I’ll be fine. I’m taking off now, okay?”

Although your mother seems unsatisfied with your words, she lets her daughter kiss her cheek and waves her hand goodbye. As you take the first step out of your house, the sun quickly showers you with light that is hot enough to leave sunburn on your skin. The trip to the nearest bus stop will be nothing but exhausting, you’re sure of it. But it’s okay. It’s summer anyway. You always love summer.

The bus comes only a few minutes later after you arrived at the stop and dropped your heavy bags next to your feet. You take a seat on the right side of the bus, near the window. There are only three passengers on the vehicle aside from you—a man with a sweaty neck on the front row, and a mother cooling her half-sleepy child with her paper fan on the back seat. You smile a little to yourself. Everything seems normal, just like always.

You lay your head on the window, randomly staring at the trees and leaves getting blown by the wind, as the bus starts moving. Taking a deep breath, you close your eyes, letting your memories come close and your thoughts fly back to him.

The first time you met Taeyong was when you were six.

***

Thirteen years ago, you were nothing but a lively little kid with short-cropped hair and choppy bangs. During a hot summer day, you got lost in the forest of the Mountain God, which was said to be where spirits lived. After running around searching for an exit, you became so tired; you couldn’t move a muscle. You ended up sitting under the shadows of the swaying tree branches and felt a little ticklish from the green grass that spread widely underneath your feet. You hugged your knees to your chest, gave your best to act strong but failing pathetically with every try. When you started crying from fear and loneliness, he appeared before you.

“Hey, Shorty!” A male’s voice resonating through the air made you gasp sharply. “Why are you crying?”

There was a boy, standing just a few meters away, with half of his body hidden behind a tree. His posture seemed a bit rigid as if he was nervous or shy for suddenly reaching out to you. The boy was noticeably taller, with a voice that sounded deeper than any boy you’d ever met before. But judging by the way he dressed—at his denim trousers that ended a few inches above his ankles, combined with a casual short-sleeved button-down white shirt and a red tee underneath it, he was probably still around eighteen.

What caught your attention was the cat mask he wore on his face. It wasn’t unusual—you had seen your friends wearing it a few times during the summer festival. The white mask had ears, whiskers, and big round black eyes that were continuously staring back at you with no emotion. The mask covered his entire face, but you could still see his hair. His hairstyle was normal—a little bit messy from the wind, with his strands ended a few centimeters above his neckline, but the color was odd. It was silvery white, almost like an old man’s.

“It’s…” You gaped, not caring about any of that fact at the moment. “It’s a person! I’m saved!” You claimed happily, standing on your feet with so much speed, it almost gave you a head rush. With your hands spreading in front of you, you frantically ran towards the boy with joyful tears in your eyes. “I’M FINALLY SAVEEEEEED!”

But with a quick reaction, the boy moved away before you could embrace him and you ended up landing face-first on the ground, with a handful of grass finding their way to stick themselves into your mouth.

“S-sorry,” the boy said apologetically but he didn’t move any closer to help you up. “You’re a human child, right? If a human touches me, I’ll disappear.”

Previously annoyed, you looked up at him with knitted eyebrows. “If a human?” You blinked twice in confusion. Your eyelashes were still a bit wet from the tears that were no longer falling. “You’re not human?”

A momentary silence came by before he formed an answer. “I’m…” He hesitated. “Something that lives in this forest.”

“Huh?” You unconsciously tilted your head before realization hit you like a train and you clapped your hands in glee. “Then, you’re one of the Spirits?” Another silence, and this time, the boy decided not to reply, so you tried again. “But… What do you mean by ‘disappear’?”

He stayed mute, his body standing still as if time just stopped. You couldn’t see the expression he had behind the mask so you wouldn’t know how he reacted. You could only see the flat emotion the cat mask was giving you as he continuously stared at you. If you weren’t a playful little girl with a naturally born cheery attitude, you would’ve found it creepy.

But instead, you found it rather amusing.

You reached out your little hand toward him, climbing back to your feet and when he moved away from your touch, you began to try harder. Every time the boy tried to escape, you laughed a bit louder, tried a bit better, and before you knew it, you ended up chasing him between the trees.

You ran after him, reaching out for him, closer, closer, closer—

Thunk!

You groaned in pain, covering your bruised forehead with both palms as you kneeled on the ground. You couldn’t believe he just hit you on the head with a twig!

“Y-you’re really not human after all…” You whimpered, rubbing your ache away. “No human would hit a child like that!”

When you began to sob a little from the pain, the boy sighed. “To disappear means to be obliterated,” he explained, slowly taking his eyes off you to face the sky instead, “That’s the spell that the Mountain God placed upon me. If I get touched by a human, then that’s the end.”

You had stopped crying by the time his sentences sank into your head. His previous action was really necessary, then, if he was truly in that condition. If you had kept on chasing him and he’d failed to avoid you, he would’ve disappeared. Now that you thought of it, you realized you nearly killed him with your antics.

“I’m…” Still sitting on the ground, you folded your knees underneath you and bowed down, overwhelmed with guilt. “I’m sorry…”

With an unreadable expression, the boy approached you and gently offered the wooden twig. “Here, Shorty,” he said, “Grab the other end.” When you gazed up at him, he was facing away. His posture seemed to give out a vibe that he was a bit embarrassed but you weren’t exactly sure of it. “You’re lost, aren’t you? I'll lead you out of the forest.”

You were surprised at first, both from his kindness and his features, because from that position, you could see the side of his face. His jawlines were sharp and prominent. The skin of his cheek was just as pale as the rest of his body. He was so white; it was almost ghastly.

You beamed at him. “You’re so nice! Thank you!” Moving by reflex, you began to run toward his arms again. The boy was screaming from being caught off guard, and you almost got him before—

Thunk!

You were stopped by another hard hit on the head.

“I’ve told you not to—” The boy was breathing hard with his body leaning forward and his hands clamped around his knees to steady his weight. “Don’t touch me.”

You were practically rolling on the grass to mute the aching you felt on your temple. “S-sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”

The two of you walked next to each other with thirty centimeters long wooden twig between your hands. With every stride he took, you had to match it by doubling your steps. Your height difference was striking. It almost looked like you two were siblings—with him being the high school student older brother and you being his elementary school sister.

You were walking down some stone steps, tightening your grip around the twig to maintain your balance. There was a temple inside the forest, and that was the only way out. You usually followed that path to come back home but that day, you were having too much fun wandering around on your own that you forgot the way to find those tracks again.

There were abandoned Buddhist statues on the side of the stairs and the steps had some cracks on them even though they were made of stone. You could tell that the place would be too scary to walk alone when the night fell and the cicadas stopped singing. But right now, you couldn’t care much about it.

“It’s just like going on a date!” You chirped happily, jumping like the little girl that you were as you climbed down the steps. You hadn’t known how a date would feel like—after all, you were only six back then—but you had imagined it happening with a boy in your school, and this one fit your imagination well.

The boy had his free hand stuck inside his pocket. With a nonchalant voice, he replied, “Not a very romantic one, though.” And when you weren’t looking, he stole secret glances at you. Of course, with the mask still on, there wouldn’t be much of a difference, even if you had been looking.

“You aren’t afraid, are you?” he asked, and although you were surprised, you grinned at him.

“Of what?”

The boy seemed a bit hesitant before he answered, “Nevermind.”

You walked a few more steps until you finally arrived at the end of the stairs. The sun in the background was already setting, splashing orange tint to the previously blue sky. “If you go straight, you’ll hit the mountain path,” the boy said, standing under the simple wooden gate with no doors that indicated the entrance to the forest. And with his usual flat tone, he said, “Goodbye.”

“Are you always going to be here?” You questioned. “If I come back here, can we meet again?”

“This is the forest where the Mountain God and the Spirits live,” he answered matter of factly. “Set foot within and you’ll lose your way and be lost forever.” The wind was blowing, caressing his silvery-white hair and that made you stare in awe, memorizing how out of this world he seemed and wondering what kind of expression he displayed behind that mask. “You shouldn’t be here,” he finished. “That’s what the villagers say, right?”

That was true. It was, and you understood that, and yet, you just couldn’t wave this meeting away as if it never happened. Facing him a little bit better, you warmly smiled and introduced yourself. “I’d love to be your friend. Can you tell me your name?”

He didn’t say a word, just continued to stand in front of you with his cat mask staring back at your face. You waited… and waited… and even a second felt so long.

Those expressionless cat’s eyes kept staring back at you, making you feel somewhat woozy and embarrassed. It was as if you just asked something too personal. Perhaps he didn’t want you to know. Perhaps he didn’t want you to be attached to him. Perhaps he just wanted you to go away.

“U-umm…” Panicking, you took a step back, putting more distance between you. “Anyway, I’ll be back tomorrow with a thank-you present!” Just that, and I won’t come back if my presence bothers you so much. “B-bye!” You shouted, turning around on your heels and proceed to run from the tension that felt like cutting your skin open.

But then—

“It’s Taeyong.”

You stopped abruptly and turned around, but the boy was no longer in sight. His voice vanished without a trace, drowned by the wind.

But you heard it loud enough to put a permanent smile on your face that night.

Taeyong.

When you were walking by the fields that seemed more familiar, you were humming to yourself. It was until you heard your name being called that you stopped singing.

Your uncle was walking toward you with tattered breathing. Perhaps, he had been running around the village searching for you all day. “Uncle!” You greeted, grinning innocently as you ran toward his arms. “Uncle, I—”

“You stupid girl!” Your uncle landed a knock on your head before you could hug him and it was the third time you felt like your head was about to explode that day. “If you go into the forest on your own and get hurt, what are you going to do?!”

You finally began to realize that possibility and ended up crying as you ran to embrace him again. Your uncle let your tiny arms wind themselves around his waist and though he was still upset, he felt more relieved than anything. He patted your back and soon after you calmed down, you began to walk with your hands holding one another.

“Hey, Uncle.”

“Hmm?”

“Is it true that there are spirits living in that forest?”

“The Mountain God’s forest, huh? Who knows. That’s what they say,” he answered in an unusually serious demeanor. But when he started again, he had a tiny smile painted upon his lips. “When I was little, I wanted to meet the spirits so my friends and I often went into the forest. In the end, I never met any but I had the feeling I’d occasionally spot something from the corner of my eye. On summer nights, you could hear the sounds of the river coming from the forest. And now that I think about it, Hyori said she and her friends went and had fun at a summer festival in the forest. But there’s no way the villagers would’ve held a festival in the forest. So then, whose festival could it have been? It started this crazy story that they must’ve snuck into a festival for the spirits.”

The old man with a scruffy beard was laughing, his eyes glistening with the reminiscence of his childhood. “Man, that takes me back!” he exclaimed. “We were so stupid back when we were kids.” Then he laughed some more. You were only busy carving his story into your mind.

That night, you had trouble sleeping. The last words that Taeyong spoke to you were echoing in your head.

This is the forest where the Mountain God and the Spirits live. Set foot within and you’ll lose your way and be lost forever.

You understood that and yet…

***

“You came back,” Taeyong said, sitting at the end of the stone stairs where you parted ways the day before. He was wearing the same clothes, with the same cat mask on his face. “I didn’t think you’d really come back.”

You blinked your eyes, mouth slightly parted. The question ‘Was he waiting for me?’ ran through your mind. “You…”

The boy tilted his head, “Huh?”

“YOU WAITED FOR MEEEEE!” You screamed in excitement, running towards him in reflex with your arms reaching forward. The boy yelped in surprised then—

Thunk!

“You just don’t learn, do you?” Taeyong sighed, holding the same wooden twig he held on the previous day. Though the pain on the top of your head was throbbing, you chuckled, feeling your heart burst in warmth and joy.

“I was so happy, I just…” you giggled again. “Sorry.”

The boy leaped forward, approaching the spot where you were squatting down due to the pain. Taeyong pocketed both of his hands and threw his face to the side. “It’s a bit hot here. Shall we go somewhere cooler?”

“Huh?”

“Don’t worry,” he assured, climbing up the stairs even though he just hopped down from there. Perhaps he wanted to walk beside you? “I’ll walk you back again.”

Your lips broke into the biggest grin you had ever made in your six years of living. “Okay!”

You went inside the forest, walking next to one another with nothing but air between you. You wondered if Taeyong had decided to trust you now, or if he was just being polite. You offered him the vanilla ice cream you’d brought from your uncle’s shop and the two of you ate your ices in silence. But the thing was, the silence was never awkward. You knew by then that Taeyong wasn’t much of a talker, and you were already too happy for being able to spend your day not with just a new friend, but also your first Spirit friend. It felt surreal and exciting at the same time.

The deeper you went inside the forest, you found out that the trees were bigger, almost taking all of the blazing sunlight to themselves and left none for you and Taeyong to bask on. The wind felt soft on your skin, the scent of grass and blooming flowers filled the air.

Your smile never receded from view when you walked behind Taeyong. It was only when you noticed that something had been following you that you began to frown. “Hmm?” You were sure something was following you, but Taeyong was walking like everything was normal.

As you were about to dismiss the thought, a shadow crept along the ground, a layer of dark mist clouded your vision, then a voice, low but thunderous, spoke. “Taeyong.”

You froze, your fingers almost gripping at the end of Taeyong’s shirt. The shadow turned colossal, darker, and somehow, somehow, you could see it grinning eerily at you.

“Is that a human child?” the shadow asked in a reverberating voice. You could practically feel its eyes on your skin. “Can I eat her?”

You hastily moved to the side with your tiny steps, hiding behind Taeyong’s legs. The boy noticed your fear and he quickly set out a hand to let his opponent know that you were off-limit. “No,” he said, “She’s my friend.”

“Is that so?” The shadow’s voice reminded you of the sound of the dark grey clouds rumbling before the storm came to wash the earth. “Human child, please don’t touch Taeyong’s skin. If you do, I’ll eat you.”

You were so scared; you started to shiver all over. By the way you were clutching to his shirt, Taeyong realized that you were, indeed, only a vulnerable little girl, barely knew anything about the world and the secrets it held. “Hey—” But then he abruptly sneezed.

The Shadow suddenly shrieked in horror then there was a blast of smoke, making you jolt on your feet, tiny hairs standing up at your nape. When you managed to look between the mist with narrowed eyes, that shadowy figure turned into a cute little golden fox with nine furry tails and a pair of sparkling ruby eyes.

“Oh!” It was so tiny, you could probably hold it with both hands. “Is that a Spirit Fox?”

The Fox’s fur was standing up, perhaps it was startled by Taeyong’s sudden sneeze. It wasn’t even that loud—to be honest, Taeyong’s sneeze was much quieter than how your uncle used to do. To be frightened only because of that…

“Yeah, he’s another one of the Spirits. He transforms to scare people away, but he’s all bark and no bite,” Taeyong said, approaching the little golden fox that was hiding behind a tree with its body cowering to the ground. “Isn’t that right?” The boy bent down, grabbing the fox with both hands, and lifted it off the ground. “Haechannie?”

Puff!

There was another kind of explosion that clouded the forest with ash grey mist, and you coughed a couple of times before you gazed back to the Fox. It was no longer a fox—it was a person.

Taeyong was holding a boy’s waist with both hands just like how he did to the animal before and your jaw grew slack at the sight. The golden fox just turned into a human—a male, nonetheless—with golden hair and the same pair of ruby eyes that matched the blush that crept through his cheeks. His skin, you noticed, had a darker complexion but it complimented his looks so much as if he was kissed by the sun, smooth skin glistening under the light. He also had a pair of dog-like ears and a nice golden Foxtail that resembled his previous form. And although the color of his hair and eyes were striking, it didn’t startle you as much as the fact that the boy was naked.

You screamed, immediately turning around from the sight of the two boys facing each other with Taeyong’s hands still holding Haechan’s bare waist as if it was the most normal thing to do. You had your hands covering your face, feeling embarrassed since it was the first time you witnessed a naked boy’s body.

“It’s because you startled me,” Haechan whined, arms flailing as he blushed a bit deeper. “Now let go of me, Hyung.”

Taeyong sighed, taking his hands off the boy that appeared to be the same age as him—just a couple of years younger, maybe. He didn’t seem to be bothered by Haechan’s bare skin at all, though he looked tired of his antics. “Don’t bother her, okay? She’s a friend.” Taeyong pointed his head toward you squatting down on the ground with your back turned, face sinking into your palms. You could hear Taeyong telling him your name but Haechan snorted in response.

“I don’t care what her name is!” Haechan shouted, looking away from the other boy. “Why are you getting all chummy with her even though you just met!” The way he whined so childishly was the complete opposite of the way he talked in his monstrous shadow form earlier. “And she’s a human! What would you do if she touches you by accident?” With a prominent pout, Haechan added under his breath, “You’re such an idiot.”

With the cat mask staring flatly at him, Taeyong replied, “I can hear you, you know.”

“Ah, damn it!” Haechan groaned, giving the other boy a shove on his shoulder. “I won’t cry if you disappear, all right?! It will all be your fault! Taeyongie, you big idiot!” He quickly turned back into his animal form, nipped Taeyong’s finger with his pointy teeth, and climbed the tree with his little paws.

Taeyong yelped a little from the bite but more because of the shock instead of pain. “Haechannie!” he called, but the fox spirit never looked back, jumping from one branch to another until he disappeared behind the trees. The cat-masked boy huffed and walked back towards you. “He’s gone now,” Taeyong said, bending down a little to match your height. “I’m sorry if he scared you.”

You slowly sneaked a glance behind you, and it was true. Haechan was nowhere to be seen. It was then that you could finally grasp what just happened.

“It was so…” You clenched your tiny fists before you jumped and punched the air. “SO AWESOME! That was the first time I’ve seen a real spirit! Not quite like I imagined, and I wasn’t prepared to see a naked boy like that but wow, they really do exist!” And as you continued jumping happily on your feet, shouting, “Amazing! Amazing! So amazing!” Taeyong muttered, “So what did you think I was?” And without waiting for you to calm down, he walked again with his hands tucked neatly inside his pockets.

You eventually followed him with your usual lively grin. “Are you a no-face or something? Why are you wearing that mask?”

“No particular reason,” Taeyong answered, making you frown. Perhaps he hadn’t trusted you that much? “Never mind me. Tell me about yourself.”

Your eyes twinkled; your grin turned mischievous. “Are you curious?”

A pause, then, “That’s why I waited for you.”

You couldn’t suppress your laughter. He was waiting for you, after all.

So you told him about yourself, from the most important things to the littlest nonsenses that went through your mind. Taeyong listened to your words in silence, no comment, no reaction, not even giving the slightest hum. And since he was always wearing that cat mask on his face, there was no way of telling how he felt when he listened to your stories. Did he even pay any attention to you? Was he bored? Was it entertaining for him? Taeyong was a mystery you didn’t know how to solve.

The next day and the day after that, you went back to the forest again and again. You kept running and playing all around the mountain, just together with the boy who was probably, at least, twice your age. You managed to break through the walls he built around you, little by little. His quiet, reserved demeanor gradually turned into something warmer, though not as lively or chaotic as you were. He began to tell you his favorite spots in the forest; crafted little ships from long leaves so you could watch them float along the river streams; and grabbed your sun hat when it got blown away by the wind before they got caught between the branches of a willow tree. 

You even got Taeyong to play tag with you. You would run away from him, and he would chase after you with a twig on his hand so he didn’t have to touch you directly when he said, “Tag, you’re it!” Taeyong’s favorite trick was pretending to fall on the ground and waited for you to come back with a worried face. You always did, but Taeyong still wouldn’t be able to catch you even after you fell for his trap because you were always much faster.

These mundane things you shared were special to both you and him. And even though they would most likely dissipate from your memories as you grow older, at that time you felt infinite.

***

One day, you were humming to yourself as you were busy collecting little flowers from the field while Taeyong was lying down on the grass with his mask-covered face facing the clouds. The sun was hot but the wind was nice. At the end of the day, it was comforting.

With a handmade bouquet between your tiny palms, you rose to your feet and ran to Taeyong’s spot, only to found the boy resting there with one hand lying idly on his stomach. You kneeled next to his head, facing him upside down. “Taeyong…” you murmured to yourself, gazing at his cat mask. “Did he fall asleep?”

Slowly, out of curiosity, you reached out a hand. You hesitated, but it would be okay if you only touched his mask, wouldn’t it? Swallowing hard, you decided to take your chance.

How does he look underneath that mask?

You placed your tiny palms on each side of his mask, and slowly, carefully, lifted it off his face. Your heart was racing, as if you were doing something sinful your heart forbid you to. You pulled it higher, and higher, until you could see his face, and for that moment, the time seemed to stop.

Despite his height, Taeyong had a young baby face with long eyelashes brushing the top of his cheeks. His eyes were closed and he looked so blissful, like a baby falling asleep in his mother’s arms. His skin was soft, flawless, but pale—almost transparent as the sun shone its light upon it. His nose was cute. He had curvy, thin lips, with two tiny moles faintly painting his lower one. His jawlines were sharper than Haechan’s, making him look mature, and the more you observed his features, the more you thought that, oh, he was indeed a boy.

A beautiful, beautiful boy.

You thought that Taeyong was unfair to hide such beauty from the world; to only let the world witness malice while he kept such purity inside the forest. 

How young… How innocent…

Then Taeyong suddenly smirked and before you knew it, a pair of deep, dark brown eyes were staring back at you.

“Ah! SORRY!” You exclaimed, startled to the point that all your breath left your lungs at once. Panicking, you unintentionally slammed the mask down onto his face harder than you intended to.

Taeyong hissed in pain, holding his face over the mask, and turned to his side. “Attacking someone while they’re asleep like this,” he said, eventually moved up and sat down cross-legged on the grass. “You surely are a scary little lady.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—” You looked away, muttering quietly. “You were pretending to sleep anyway, weren’t you?”

Taeyong paused for a second before he propped his elbow on his thigh and laid his chin on his palm. Somehow, you felt like he was smiling behind that mask. “I looked normal, didn’t I?” he asked, a bit playfully. This time, it was you who just sat quietly and stared back at him without a word.

“Taeyong… Why are you wearing that mask?”

He straightened up, voice sounding unusually soft when he spoke. “If I don’t wear this mask, I don’t look like a spirit, do I?” Surely with that mask on, Taeyong seemed less human. After all, that mask was designed after the Cat Spirit that was retold from time to time. But why? Why did he have to go that far? Was he scared that people would mistake him for a human and grabbed him accidentally without purpose?

You just sat in silence. Somehow, your chest tightened, as if you were drowning little by little. It was heartbreaking to know that Taeyong seemed like he didn’t have a choice. Maybe he wanted to throw that mask away. Maybe he wanted to be human—or at least, look like one. Maybe he wanted to be connected. To truly be alive. But then that would mean he had to risk everything…

And knowing how even days had passed by, you hadn’t seen anyone getting along with him other than you, Taeyong had probably never set a foot outside the forest either.

Is that why he seems so…

Lonely?

“You’re weird,” you said and you ended the topic just like that. Because if Taeyong didn’t want to tell, then you wouldn’t want to force the words out of his mouth.

Taeyong only chuckled.

***

“Taeyong.”

“Hmm?”

“I don’t think…” You stared sadly at your feet as you climbed down the stone steps that lead you back to the entrance gate. “I don’t think I can go back here tomorrow.”

Taeyong didn’t utter a word. Like usual, he just walked in front of you with his hands in his pockets and his mask pressed tightly against his face.

“I’ve told you before, haven’t I?” You continued. “That I’m just staying at my uncle’s place for the summer? So, I have to go home tomorrow…”

Taeyong just hummed once, to let you know that he was listening but did not intend to form a reply. You brought your head down, feeling disappointed. But why were you disappointed? You never felt like this when you said goodbye to your other friends before.

Taeyong stopped dead on his tracks. “Will you…” he said, turning his body slightly to face you but not quite. “Will you be able to come again next year?”

You stood still, your lips trembled slightly as if you were about to explode into words. Before you knew it, you felt your eyes grew a bit teary but you blinked your tears away before they fell and with a huge smile on your face, you merrily replied, “Yeah!” You had never felt so relieved.

And that was how summer became something you always looked forward to.

***

Every year, you came back and Taeyong always waited for your promised summer. You would find him sitting near the gate, on the stone stairs with his white cat mask placed upon his face. The two of you usually just did the same routines, lying lazily on the field of grass, eating ice creams as you crossed the wooden bridge, or throwing pebbles while dipping your bare feet into the water of the lake that was as clear as the sky.

“So cold!” You were turning eight that year, shouting as you plunged your bare feet into the water. Taeyong only let out a flat comment, “You’re weird. Of course the water is cold.” And although he sounded bored, you could tell that he was probably smiling behind his mask. After all, he could have just stayed silent about it, and yet he said something just to pull a reaction from you. You adored that part of him where he acted like he was fine being alone when in reality, there was nothing he craved more than someone’s attention.

Sometimes, when you walked too close to each other, a Spirit would show up in some form to revive the forgotten space between you. A lady wearing a snow-like kimono with flaming red hair once grabbed the side of his cheek and said with a pair of agonizing eyes, “Please be careful, Taeyong. We don’t want to lose you.” 

A willow tree caressed his hair with its branch, pulling him by the neckline so he would distance himself away from you. The way its thick branch was shaped into a beast’s claw, clutching at Taeyong’s entire body was almost frightening, but there was only tenderness laced with concern when it spoke, “It’s dangerous, Taeyong. That’s a human child. If she touches you, you’ll disappear.”

“Thank you,” Taeyong always said, placing a reassuring hand on the tree’s claw. “I’m fine.” He sounded so sincere and absolute, leaving the Spirit Tree with no choice but to retract its claw from him.

“Please don’t touch him, human child,” the Spirit Tree said once again before it went back to its slumber. You could only answer, “Yes,” but to you, it was more than a promise. After all, you wouldn’t want Taeyong to disappear.

You couldn’t help but notice that other Spirits could touch him normally. You tried to put aside how your heart jerked with jealousy. You wouldn’t let your selfishness be the end of him.

Haechan was the one who showed up the most, appearing in his animal form to bite the end of your skirt and pulled you away from the other boy. He persistently yelled at you how your entire existence was a threat to him, making you realize that you were a weapon, designed by God to annihilate him and yet, Taeyong still waited for your visit every year. How could someone dare to take a risk like that? 

Were you really worth all the trouble?

***

Every year, you waited for the summer to come. And before you knew it, you were already a ten-year-old girl. You grew taller, but your hair was still cut short with choppy bangs. Though you grew older, it didn’t mean your childish personality was wiped away.

“Hey,” Taeyong called, searching for you who were hiding somewhere in your sky blue summer dress through the holes of his cat-mask. “It’s dangerous to wander alone in the forest! Where are you—”

“SURPRISEEEED!” You shouted, dangling upside down from a tree branch with your legs circling it. Taeyong yelped, taking a step back in surprise from your sudden appearance. You were enjoying the moment, but before you could laugh about it, the end of your dress couldn’t fight the gravity so it fell covering your face. Your white panties were shown clearly for Taeyong’s eyes to see. “OH NO!” You quickly attempted to pull your dress back up and eventually, shifted your weight so you ended up sitting on the branch.

“What are you doing exactly?” Taeyong asked, not because you looked dumb but because he was genuinely interested in knowing. He always seemed to find your existence somewhat amusing.

You chuckled lightly. “I wanted to see your startled face but…” You forgot he was wearing his mask all the time so that was ultimately pointless. Taeyong just stared back, waiting because you looked like you wanted to say more. “You know, Taeyong… Can you at least take your mask off when I’m around? Once in a while is okay, right?”

Taeyong let a second pass. “Well, it’s fine but…” He placed his fingers at the end of his mask and slowly began to lift it off his face. “Is there a particular reason why?”

You observed him with anticipation. “Well, not really, but—” A cracking sound could be heard as the branch wasn’t strong enough to handle your weight, and with a shriek, you found yourself falling.

Calling your name, Taeyong ran towards you in reflex, arms out and ready to catch you. In a split second, as you fought to defy gravity, you could see his hands desperately trying to save you. Aside from the fear of falling, all you could think about was—

No.

Please, don’t.

Don’t touch me.

If you touch me, you’ll—

You fell head first on small bushes that were soft and safe enough for you to land on. You had landed on the ground before Taeyong could reach you and although you felt like you probably twisted your shoulder a little, you were more than fine.

“That was close…” Taeyong breathed out, his hands still hanging stiffly in the air.

“Y-yeah…” You felt slightly lightheaded as adrenaline faded away from your veins. You were in haze, body reclining against the bushes, grateful to be able to come unscathed. 

“I’m sorry,” Taeyong murmured, but from not being able to be there on time to catch you or because he had retracted his hands back in reflex when he nearly touched your skin, you weren’t sure. “Are you okay?”

You exchanged stares, letting a few seconds pass by in silence before you finally let out a weak chuckle. “Thank goodness.” When Taeyong asked you what you meant, you softly added, “No matter what happened, Taeyong, don’t ever touch me, okay?”

His lips were tightly shut as he approached your spot, but the gesture he made with his hands seemed like he wanted to comfort you. Why would he want to comfort me, you thought but soon enough, you found the answer.

Because when you spoke again, your words are tainted with your tears.

“Did you hear me?” You forced yourself to smile but once the first tear broke, the rest of them were unstoppable. You cried again, and again, and again, until your whole body trembled, chest suffocating. You tried to laugh it off, shakily saying, “No matter what, okay?” but the more you tried to pretend that it didn’t faze you when you almost erased his entire existence over your negligence, you sobbed even harder.

You finally understood why the Spirits didn’t want you to be close to him. It wasn’t because they didn’t trust you. It was because Taeyong was just too kind. Even if it meant he would be wiped off the earth, he wouldn’t mind as long as you were safe. The way he had run toward you with his arms reaching out to you was a proof of that. The Spirits probably thought that Taeyong would be obliterated someday not because you touched him, but because he tried to save you when something like this happened again.

No. I can’t afford that.

No matter what, please don’t touch me.

You didn’t want him to see this side of you. You didn’t want him to know that in a human world, sometimes pain could be so unbearable that all you could do was just fall to your knees and wish that someday you could stop crying and stand up again. 

This ugly side of humanity… You didn’t want Taeyong to know…

But Taeyong never said a word.

***

The next summer and the summer after that, you continued to visit the forest to meet him.

“Taeyong! I’m here again this year!” You greeted, wearing your junior high school uniform with your skirt ending a few inches above your knees. Taeyong, dressed in the same way like he always did, was already there at the spot where he usually waited for you to arrive. “Ta-daa!” You twirled once for him, making your skirt flutter and your longer hair sway above your neckline. “I’ve become a seventh-grader now!”

As always, you couldn’t tell what kind of expression he had behind that mask, but Taeyong was indeed staring at you for a few seconds. “Somehow…” he began saying, “You’re starting to look like a girl.”

“I am a girl,” you replied, unconsciously pouting and Taeyong laughed a little in response. Even the way he laughed felt like summer to you—radiant and hot enough to light a spark of fire to your chest. Standing up, he stuck his hands inside his pockets, and climbed up the stairs. “Shall we go?”

“Yeah.” You smiled, then as you saw his figure, you began to realize. “Oh…”

“Hmm?”

“Nothing.” 

You just noticed that your ages were gradually getting closer. Unlike you, Taeyong didn’t age normally as any human would. Somehow, he aged much slower, maintaining his youth to stay perfectly the same from season to season. Your height was almost on the same par as Taeyong’s shoulders now. As the years went by, your appearance began to change, but Taeyong almost looked the same as the day you first met.

If this keeps on going… Maybe…

You stopped walking when you realized Taeyong wasn’t walking beside you anymore. You looked back, facing the sun that was setting behind the hill and the boy who stood with his face lifted to perceive the sky. There was a butterfly on Taeyong’s mask, just right on the cat’s nose and slowly, he began to take it off. Underneath the shadow of the mask, Taeyong was smiling, softly, gently, and he eventually brought his mask down to stare at the butterflies that flew through the branches of the trees.

He closed his eyes.

From where you were standing, Taeyong merely appeared like a silhouette but in your eyes, he was a painting worth being praised. A beautiful portrayal of a man who only knew bliss in his life with a pure smile that even God wouldn’t be able to resist its beauty.

It was probably the day when you realized the reason behind the ache in your chest.

Someday, I will be older than him, won’t I?

You didn’t know what would be more dreadful to face: Taeyong leaving you over an accidental touch, or you leaving Taeyong because of old age. After all, time is cruel. Time is responsible for the summers that come and go, for the leaves in autumn that shrivel, for the long and cold winters that made your teeth jittery. It’s amazing how you can fall asleep by listening to the sound of the rain and when you wake up, the sun is blazing once again and the roads are dry. It would be as if it never rained.

What if I become like that? You questioned yourself. What if for Taeyong, I’m just nothing more than a fleeting summer day?

With the two of you being bound by the chains of time, you knew that there would come a day where time would become your enemy.

You buried your thoughts deep inside your mind, and promised him, “I’ll come back here again tomorrow, okay?”

Taeyong opened his eyes, gazing back at you, and smiled that one breathtakingly beautiful smile. “Then I’ll be waiting as always.”

***

“Before our summer vacation started, a boy in my class asked me out,” you said, now fourteen, as you hugged your knees to your chest, making sure that your sky blue sleeveless summer dress was not showing the polkadot panties you wore underneath. “I didn’t know what to do.”

Taeyong didn’t respond, wasn’t sure how to. He just stared at you—blankly, by the look of his cat mask, and you curled your toes in the uncomfortable silence.

“Say something, will you?” you mumbled after a while, heat rushing to your cheeks.

“I don’t even know what that means.”

“Well, that—” You opened your mouth but then nothing came out. What did that mean exactly? ‘To go out’? “Well, I mean, I think he wants me to date him… or something,” you finished terribly.

Taeyong hummed, lying down on the grass and folding his hands underneath his head to use them as his pillow. The leaves of the trees above him were doing a great job in providing the shades he needed. “Date, huh?”

There was something annoying about how Taeyong behave so nonchalantly like this, as if you were conversing about what you had for breakfast. But you noticed that it was weird of you to feel that way. Did you even have the right to be upset?

“What do you suppose they do?” Taeyong suddenly asked, snapping you out of your reverie.

“They?”

“People who are dating,” he explained further, his hands now moving to lay on his sides. “What do you think they do?”

You thought about it, looking up at the pillowy white clouds and feeling the wind that caressed your strands. “I don’t know,” you answered, throwing yourself to the grass again, next to Taeyong but remembering to put a safe distance between you. “Maybe go somewhere together, hold hands and stuff?”

Taeyong fell into another silence.

You couldn’t help but let your eyes linger on the small gap between your pinky finger and his. You almost moved your hand closer, just a little bit, but then he lifted his arm and you nearly yelped in shock.

Taeyong took off his mask and placed it over his chest. His hand was now nowhere close to your smaller one. He had his eyes closed and from where you were lying on his side, you could see how long his eyelashes were, how they fluttered against his cheeks. Taeyong still looked so young, like a pure little boy with no idea how to sin, and perhaps that was because he never stepped a foot outside the forest. You envied his naivety but you also questioned how he truly felt for living a life monotonously like that. Even though he had Haechan and the rest of his Spirit friends here, was it really better for him to have no contact with humans?

Because sometimes… Taeyong looked so lonely.

The boy parted his lips. “Do you think they would kiss?”

If you had been drinking, you would’ve sprayed all of it on Taeyong’s face. “What?!”

“Those couples,” Taeyong elucidated, as if you were asking because you didn’t understand, when in reality you were just utterly embarrassed by it. “Do you think they kiss a lot?”

“What—” You almost bit your tongue. “Who even told you this stuff?! I thought you were supposed to live inside the forest!”

“I do, but it doesn’t mean I’m raised like Tarzan, you know.”

He even knows Tarzan! You wanted to scream. “Let me guess, Haechan?”

“Yeah.”

That perverted little fox! Of course he told him this stuff! 

“Yeah, well, I think they do,” you sighed, lying down on the grass again with another huff. “I remember having this conversation with a friend. See, she has a boyfriend, and she told me that they were kissing the other day. I, just like now, didn’t know what to say.”

“You never kissed anyone before?”

Your face was aflame and it had nothing to do with the sun. “N-no…” Of course not! If I had done it, then—

“Why not?” Taeyong asked, staring at you with genuine curiosity. You promptly looked away, ignoring the question.

Because then you’d disappear, you idiot. But how could you tell Taeyong that? You didn't even know why you wanted to kiss him. When exactly did you start wanting it? When did you start looking at him differently?

“I just…” You absentmindedly played with the tip of the grass underneath your fingers. “…haven’t found the right person yet.” Actually, I have, but if I touch him, he’ll disappear so… “And there’s a difference, you know, between kissing someone because they’re attractive and kissing someone because, umm, w-words can no longer express the intense feelings you have for them.” You clear your throat, feeling a bit nauseous all of a sudden. “Even if I did go out with him, I can’t just kiss him because he’s cute. It’s not right.”

Taeyong’s eyes were following the clouds, which were somehow changing shapes from one to another. “A kiss, huh…” he mumbled, reaching out a hand toward the sky and spread his fingers widely as if he was about to seize the sun. “I wonder if humans are as warm as this.”

“As the sun?” You asked, laughing quietly. “I certainly hope not. That’d be scary.”

Taeyong only smiled, slowly averting his eyes to lock them with yours. But you’re already burning as bright though…

“What?” You asked when you saw him looking at you without saying anything. “Did Haechan draw something on my face again? I swear to God, it’s like I can’t even let my guard down for one sec—”

“Don’t kiss him,” Taeyong suddenly said, abruptly cutting the rest of your sentence short and leaving you gaping, loss for words. When silence came to fill the space, he tried to break through the tension. “I mean…” He scratched his cheek awkwardly. “Well, it’s your choice, but…”

Your heart warmed. “But…?”

Taeyong’s tongue laid heavy in his mouth and he quickly put his cat mask back on. “We’re too far inside the forest. We should be getting back now before it’s too late,” he sternly said, sitting up. “Come on, I’ll walk you to the gate.” And he stood up, placed his hands inside his pockets as always, and walked away without even waiting for you to get up.

You followed with a blissful smile breaking on your face.

“I won’t,” you said, loud enough for him to hear. “If you don’t want me to kiss him, I won’t.” Taeyong never said anything back.

But you noticed the way the tip of his ears went red.

***

Taeyong called your name. His voice, like always, sounded a little bit muffled from the mask. “Hey, I’m back. Too bad, I can’t find the—”

The sight of you in your favorite peach summer dress, sleeping soundly on the grass as if nothing could attack you at that moment, made him grow speechless. You had one arm lying down on your stomach, your lips were slightly parted  as you fell deep into slumber, and Taeyong could see your chest heaving up and down slowly every time you breathed.

“Goodness,” he muttered, sighing. “This is a forest, you know? Moreover, it’s the forest where Spirits live. What would you do if they attack you?” Not that Taeyong actually thought that would happen—except for Haechan. That devilish fox could be pretty childish when he got jealous. Taeyong wouldn’t be surprised if he found him biting the edge of your dress again.

But, of course, you didn’t hear him. You had always been a heavy sleeper, even a clap of thunder could barely wake you up.

Taeyong huffed once more before he sat down next to you, taking a glance at the beauty marks on your face, at your bangs that had grown longer since your first visit two months ago, and at the lovely shape of your mouth. The way your lips seemed so soft and rosy, sparked curiosity and something within him that he couldn’t properly name, as he didn’t quite understand the feeling just yet.

Pressing one palm to the grass to prop his weight, Taeyong took off his mask. His silvery-white hair fell covering his hooded eyes but the soft wind blew it away. He leaned over, almost hovering above you by the time he laid his other palm on the other side of your head. Releasing a shaky breath, he brought his face down to yours.

I’m… Towards you, I’ve been…

Close. So close. Taeyong could even count your eyelashes if he wanted. You were breathing softly, warm air flowing from your slightly parted lips. Taeyong wanted to seal them with his own.

“Taeyong?”

Taeyong blinked, freezing on the spot. You were awake, staring at him with your eyes still slightly red from sleep. “Taeyong, what are you doing…?”

Taeyong only stared at you, eyes to eyes with such close proximity. He could tell how nervous you were, no matter how hard you tried to keep your face composed.

“I couldn’t find the flower you wanted,” he said, with a voice so calm as if he was speaking in a safe distance. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s…” You swallowed, still locking your gaze together although your heart was screaming like a beating drum. “It’s all right…”

Taeyong spent another two seconds being in that position before he finally pulled away, just to press his mask to your face. You let out an ‘oof’ sound of surprise but you didn’t take it off. You just laid there, completely still, with his mask covering your face. It smelled just like him—the dry air of summer, with a hidden scent of fresh green grass and sunray.

“Your face’s red,” Taeyong said. “Go back to sleep.”

You wondered whether the sun managed to bite through your skin and warm your face like this. But how would that explain your racing heartbeat?

“Okay…” you murmured and the sounds of birds chirping suddenly became louder as you both fell mute, unsure of what to say.

Not far from there, a golden fox scrunched his nose in annoyance. With a small puff of smoke, Haechan returned to his human form.

“Is he an idiot?” Haechan growled in his human voice, sneaking around behind the bushes with no clothes on like usual. “What would he have done if she didn’t wake up? Did he want to die?! I should’ve knocked some sense into his head! Stupid Taeyongie!” But despite the venom in his words, Haechan could only look away and do nothing. After all…

Taeyong had looked so happy.

There was only this little smile displayed on his lips, yet somehow he looked more alive than Haechan had ever seen him before. It was the first time Haechan ever witnessed that kind of expression on him.

Haechan gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. “That idiot,” he said again, grumbling but instead of running back and throwing a fist at the other man, Haechan kept walking away and bit his lower lip until it grew white. Stop looking that happy. You know how this would end, don’t you? She can’t give you the happy ending you want. 

Don’t start something that will only hurt you, Hyung…

***

On the last day of your eighth summer together, you bought Taeyong a scarf. When he asked the reason why, you simply explained with, “My uncle said the winter will be freezing this year, so be sure to wear it, okay?”

“I don’t get cold, though.”

“Just wear it.”

Taeyong hummed, taking a detailed look at the maroon knitted scarf in his hands. The cuts that appeared on your fingers when you tried to knit it three months earlier had disappeared, and just by seeing him holding it already made you feel like it worth every effort you’d given.

“Oh, and here.” You took a small music player from your summer dress’s pocket. It had earphones and batteries that would definitely last for at least a month if it was only used once a while. “I’ll give you this.”

“You’re giving me a lot of things today,” Taeyong commented. “And what’s this?”

“An mp3 player,” you said as you sat next to him on the stone stairs. “Here, I’ll show you how it works. First, you press here to turn it on, then you pick the song from the playlist.” You demonstrated every word and Taeyong stared intently at the mp3 screen from the holes of his mask. “I already put some songs in it. I’m not sure what kind of music you like, so I kind of put every genre I could find. You can skip it by pressing here if you hate the song.”

“How can I hate it when I can’t even hear it?” he innocently asked and you laughed.

“That’s why they invented these earphones, silly,” you giggled, and without waiting for his permission, you plugged in one earphone to his ear while you pressed the other one to your own. You moved a bit closer toward him and Taeyong fidgeted a bit from the distance. “Don’t worry, I won’t touch you,” you said and you wondered since when did it begin to hurt you so much when you said those words? “But be very still, okay?”

“Oh, it’s playing.” Taeyong was astonished when the song started playing in his ear. It was a piece from Beethoven, a sound of violin combined with piano and cello. You explained everything to him, from the instruments, to the harmony, to the genius composers in the music industry. It was all new to him. “And what’s that sound?”

“That’s the sound of timpani,” you explained and when you glanced to the side, you realized how close you were to him. One wrong move and you could hurt him. You needed to be extra careful. It was probably best to move away, Haechan would’ve certainly told you so but just for one more second…

Let me be this close to you for one more second before I go…

“Wait, don’t change the song,” Taeyong said, snatching you away from your thoughts. Your finger stopped moving around the playlist. “I want to hear this one to the end.”

You grew quiet. There were over a hundred songs you had put into the music player and out of all of them, Taeyong had to choose this song. This one song that took you an entire night contemplating whether you should put it inside the device or not.

“This is the sound of a violin, right?” Taeyong asked, looking serious because of his mask but you dared to think that he was smiling underneath it. “It’s nice. It’s not as rich as the other piece that had timpani in it, but… It’s beautiful. I like this one.”

You stood up abruptly, your earphone detaching itself from your ear. “I—I have to go. It’s getting late.”

“Huh?” Taeyong was a bit startled. “Oh. Yeah…”

You stepped forward, not looking back at him or waved him goodbye like usual. Instead, you rushed forward with your head hanging low.

To think that he would like your song.

To think that he would say that your violin playing was nice.

To think that he would prefer your song better than any other ones there.

“Hey,” Taeyong called, and you froze before you slowly peered back at him. If he could see the blush on your cheeks and ask about it, you would lie and say that the lights were playing tricks on him.

“Thanks for these,” Taeyong said and the boy had taken off his mask. With that warm smile that almost matched the warmth of the sun drowning behind him, he waved his hand goodbye. “Until we meet next summer.”

***

“Why doesn’t he wear clothes?” You exasperatedly asked one day, in the middle of a blazing summer. It was your ninth summer together. You were fifteen-years-old, and Taeyong… Well, you never actually knew what his real age was but he still looked like he was around eighteen as always.

“Who, Haechan?” Taeyong asked, and the little golden fox lounging on his lap perked his ears at the question. Taeyong smiled a little and you, once again, whispered gratitude toward whatever it was that made him take off his mask that day. The boy placed his palm on the Fox’s head and stroke its fur. Haechan purred and leaned into the touch, his tails swaying happily behind him. “Haechan doesn’t like human clothes. He said they’re uncomfortable.”

“Well, I’m uncomfortable seeing a grown man walking around naked and clinging to you like a possessive girlfriend—” Your sentence shortly ended with a shriek when a cloud of smoke exploded around you and you knew perfectly well what caused it.

“I’m not his girlfriend, you ugly monkey, but Taeyong-Hyung is mine!” Haechan, already standing in all of his naked glorious human form, shouted as he hugged him from behind, having one arm around Taeyong’s neck, and his chin being annoyingly close to the other boy’s shoulder. “And I’m not clingy because I want to. He’s just warmer than any other Spirits here and I happen to like warmth.”

“It’s summer.” You squinted your eyes menacingly, sounding remarkably irritated but still trying your best to hide the flustered look on your face because no matter annoying Haechan was, he was still a fully naked boy. “It’s like forty degrees out here, how much hotter do you want?”

Haechan actually had the knack to ignore you with a “Hmph!” while puffing out his cheeks and nuzzled his head against Taeyong’s palm. “You don’t find me annoying, do you, Taeyongie?”

Taeyong smiled and patted his head. “I’m already used to you being like this.” Haechan’s golden tail wagged excitedly in delight. “But you should put some clothes on, Haechannie. You’re making her feel uneasy.”

“I don’t care about that monkey girl!”

“What did you say, you stupid fox?!”

Both you and Haechan gritted your teeth, facing one on one in a glaring battle before your head nearly burst from being unable to contain the shame. Haechan was so naked, you couldn’t handle staring at him for a second longer than that. Haechan was cackling proudly for achieving victory.

“That’s not nice,” Taeyong scolded and Haechan only huffed, curling on the ground and laying his head on Taeyong’s lap.

“Of course,” Haechan grumbled quietly, plump lips turning into a pout. “Why should I be nice to a girl who can make you disappear anytime she wants? That’s ridiculous.”

You froze, heart dropping to your stomach, before you hugged your knees to your chest and half-buried your face in them. Taeyong was glancing at you for a second before he brought his eyes back to the boy on his lap and pinched Haechan’s nose.

“Hey, ouch!” Haechan batted his hand away, snarling. “What the hell was that for?!”

Taeyong didn’t utter a word but there was something… Some kind of tension that made Haechan pout angrily and mutter harshly in your direction. “Well, I’m sorry, okay?” Haechan heaved the loudest sigh. His ears went down dejectedly as he laid on his side. Taeyong’s hand had stopped long from stroking his golden hair. “I know you don’t mean any harm to Taeyong-hyung, but… I mean, I… I…”

You waited in silence as Haechan tried to form his words. He looked rather cute, trying desperately to draw the right sentence to apologize when he would pretty much prefer dying instead of doing so. Eventually, Haechan sat up, pointing rudely at you with his finger, and shouted, “All right, fine! You’re allowed to stay with my Taeyongie for now, but if you pull some kind of trick like trying to kiss him in his sleep again, I won’t forgive you, OKAY?!”

Both you and Taeyong jolted, hearts thumping loudly behind your ribcages.

He was watching?! But wait, Taeyong thought, he said she was trying to kiss me. So he wasn’t watching me when I tried to kiss her. But when did she…

Taeyong turned his head toward you at the same time you were averting your gaze from Haechan’s to his. Both of you blushed and immediately brought your eyes away.

“I—I should go.” You abruptly stood up, your knees wobbling under your weight. This is so embarrassing, I could die! “I’ll c-come back tomorrow, okay?”

“Huh?” Taeyong was not being himself, losing his composure. “Yeah, s-sure. I’ll—”

But you had already walked away from your spot, mentally slapping yourself in the face because oh God, no, now he knows. What should I do? How can I face him now?

“What’s up with that girl?” Haechan asked, raising an eyebrow as he draped his bare arms all over Taeyong’s body again. “I know she’s weird, but that was too weird, right?”

“Haechannie.”

Taeyong’s voice startled him a bit. “Y-yeah?”

“When you said…” Taeyong swallowed, the thought of him trying to kiss you in your sleep started to overwhelm him once more. Did she really do the same thing to me? When? “What you said before… Was it true? Did she really try to kiss me?”

It was saddening for him that Taeyong was paying more attention to you than to him again. Ever since you came into his life, all Taeyong could ever talk about was you. You were the reason behind his smiles, when it was used to be Haechan who brought warmth to Taeyong’s cold demeanor. “Well,” Haechan sighed in defeat. “To tell you the truth…”

With a dandelion flower tucked between his fox teeth, Haechan ran with all of his power to where Taeyong was. He moved his four legs as fast as he could, his golden tail swinging behind him. Being a small fox had its perks. He could easily jump from one tree to another, he could slip through narrow spaces, and Taeyong once said that he had soft fur that was nice to touch. Haechan truly adored that boy so as a token of his gratitude; he wanted to give him a dandelion flower—one that Taeyong loved the most.

Taeyongie! Taeyongie! I want to meet him! I want to give this to him!

So he ran faster, and faster, looking for him until Haechan saw his figure sitting next to a tree with his spine pressed against the thick trunk. From where he was, Haechan could only see his back.

Ah, there he is! Taeyongie!

He ran faster, crossing the field of grass to get to that spot, but only to find Taeyong sleeping with his bangs covering his eyes and his mask tossed to his side. Then there was you—the girl who always hung around him—kneeling in front of him with… 

Haechan blinked. What kind of expression is that?

Your eyes were soft, your lips parted forming Taeyong’s name, and even from where Haechan was hiding behind the tree, he could tell that you were nervous. There was something different with the way you looked. Haechan usually saw you as an annoying, little clumsy girl who posed nothing but a threat to his dearest friend. But that day, he noticed how feminine you really were.

Has she… Haechan unconsciously thought, his heart racing a little. Has she always been that pretty?

“Please don’t wake up,” you whispered, your cheeks heating up. Then you leaned forward, pressing your palm to the grass next to his waist to prop your weight.

Wait! Haechan shouted in his head but he couldn’t will himself to move. Wait, what do you think you’re doing—

Then you closed your eyes and filled the spaces between you. Haechan wasn’t breathing at that moment. He couldn’t even think.

You were kissing Taeyong.

That girl! Haechan yelled in anger. If Taeyong disappears, I am going to kill—

“Hmm?” Taeyong’s voice came through his hearing. “Oh sorry, seems like I fell asleep. You came back already, huh?”

“Yeah,” you replied, smiling at him before you stood up. “I was just going to drop this for you and leave since I thought you were sleeping.” 

Haechan crawled a bit closer to take a look at what you were referring to. It was a handful of dandelion flowers—just like what he wanted to give him—with a white paper card laid upon them. 

The paper! Haechan realized. Of course! She was using that when she kissed him!

You took the small paper card and laughed. “I was going to write something like ‘Make a wish for me’ or something but you already woke up.”

When Haechan looked back at Taeyong, the boy was staring at you in the same way you’d looked at him before. Those soft, gentle eyes. That adoring gaze. That longing stare.

Taeyong stood up, taking the dandelions off his lap and offered them back to you. “Why don’t we make a wish together?” he asked, smiling so tenderly that even you got startled for a moment.

“Okay!” you chirped merrily and you walked next to each other as you blew the dandelions one by one.

“What did you wish for?”

“World peace,” you answered with a grin. “You?”

Taeyong sneaked a glance toward the small gap that separated your hands from one another. “An ice cream,” he said, smiling back. 

You tittered, oblivious about the actual thing he desired the most. “You’re so weird.”

Haechan watched from afar, hiding behind the shades of the tree before he eventually transformed into his human form, laid his back against the trunk and blew his own dandelion flower away. The seeds were swaying together with the wind, leaving him alone as Taeyong’s chatter began to wash away from his ears.

“Idiot,” Haechan muttered. “Stop being so obvious. You’re even making me embarrassed.”

“Haechannie?” Taeyong’s soft voice woke him from his reverie. Noticing how the boy hadn’t spoken for a while, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

Haechan glared at him, shouting. “Nothing’s wrong! Just go die, you idiot!” Then he morphed back to his animal form, bit him in the nose and scurried off.

Taeyong hissed in pain, rubbing his nose. “Why is everybody leaving so suddenly today?” he sighed before throwing himself back to the ground, lying on the grass with the sun showering him with its light.

Ah, I want to see her again already.

***

Seasons changed and what was once warm air caressing your strands, had turned into soft snow prickling against your skin and coating your spine with shivers. You began to realize that the world became a little dull as you grew older. You stared at the glassy window in front of you with lifeless eyes, close enough to make the glass hazy with your warm breath. The school’s bell rang, indicating that your next class was about to begin but you kept standing still in the hallway, just staring at the cloudy weather.

A boy called your name—Mark Lee, you remembered well, from his big doe eyes and his messy raven hair. “Shouldn’t you be heading to the lab? Everyone already left.”

“Huh?” You blinked, still somewhat dazed until you noticed that Mark was already carrying his textbook, ready to move to the biology lab. “Ah, right!” You sputtered, turning on your heels to run toward your classroom but Mark caught you by the wrist.

“Here,” he said, giving you the note and the textbook you wanted to grab. “We’re going to be late, so I’ve brought your stuff with me. Let’s go.”

And if your thoughts weren’t so distraught, you would’ve noticed how Mark had been paying more attention to you than anybody else for the past few weeks.

But that was the problem. You had been having trouble focusing these days. Everything just seemed to pass by like a blur. During your next class, you didn’t pay any attention at all. It wasn’t like you were busy chatting or drawing random doodles on your note. You were just staring blankly at your textbook. Your eyes were half-lidded, your thoughts scattering all over the places.

At home, you hardly finished your dinner. Your mother scolded you as she thought her daughter was snacking before they shared sukiyaki at the dining table. You could only pout before you took your leave. You didn’t tell your mother that you had hardly eaten anything all day.

When the lights were off and you were settling down under your blanket in bed, you couldn’t sleep. You kept staring at your ceiling, part of your soul going somewhere else. Somewhere where it was warmer, brighter, with a stupid-looking cat mask in sight.

You eventually closed your eyes with the thought of gentle brown eyes staring at you behind silvery white strands.

Six more months left until I can see you again.

***

“Good morning.”

You exhaled from your mouth, creating visible puffs of air in the chilly weather. Your coat and scarf were clinging tightly to your body and yet you still felt cold. You never enjoyed the winter season. Or, any other seasons, for that matter.

“I said, good morning.”

You blinked. Your brain finally could process that someone had been calling you since a moment ago. “Oh,” you said, smiling politely. “Good morning, Mark.”

“Dozing off already?” Mark said, fixing the strap of his bag that was about to fall off his shoulder. “Isn’t it still too early for that?”

You could only laugh but even the sound of it felt empty to your ears.

“There’s frozen ice underneath your feet,” he warned, his voice sounded a bit muffled. Half of his face was covered with his checkered navy blue scarf. “Be careful.”

You stopped walking and noticed that you were indeed standing on asphalt-covered with black ice. It made a soft creaking sound when you tried to walk on it. It was too slippery.

“You’ll slip. It’s dangerous.” Mark took out his hand from the pocket of his brown duffle coat. “Come here,” he called, offering his hand. There were clouds of breath when he spoke.

Appalled, but only for a second, you then smiled gratefully. “Thank you.” You took his hand, but Mark was the one who held it tighter. He was warm and the texture of his palm was rough. You never knew that a boy’s hand could feel like this.

You were no longer walking on the frozen ice but Mark never let go of your hand. He just continued walking in front of you, dragging you gently by the hand. “It’s cold today, isn’t it?” he said and you wondered whether you should reply to a rhetorical question like that. You ended up saying nothing.

“Haven’t you been a little out of it lately?” Mark asked after the small awkward silence. “Actually, you’ve always been that way, but…” 

His grip around your hand wasn’t exactly too tight or too loose, and it somehow felt nice so you were confused. Why weren’t you affected by it? Why didn’t you feel anything at all? Some other students who were passing you were staring, and both you and Mark would probably need to get ready to clarify dating rumors the second you arrived at class but you felt nothing. Nothing at all, except…

Mark’s mouth was moving but you couldn’t hear him over the loudness of your thoughts.

I want to see Taeyong.

I want to touch him.

I want to feel his hand on mine.

I miss him.

But you still had six months left before summer came.

It didn’t use to be a problem. But at that particular moment, as Mark began to lace his fingers more comfortably around yours, you thought that it hurt. Not seeing Taeyong was more than painful.

It was suffocating.

***

“Is that your new uniform?” Taeyong asked, leaning his shoulder to the tree near the stone stairs where you usually met. That was his first line after nine months of separation. 

You timidly smiled, nodding with your fingers interlacing behind your back. You were wearing a white and dark blue uniform, indicating that you had become a high school student that year. You wore a hairpin to clip your bangs from falling over your face. Taeyong didn’t comment on it but he noticed how your hair had grown longer, and how he loved it now as much as he’d loved it then.

“Time really flies, doesn’t it?” Taeyong marveled, as you climbed up the stone stairs, walking to a deeper part of the forest. “You’re already in high school, huh?”

The cicadas were singing loud behind your backs. They always sang the loudest when it was hot. “Yup.”

You sat on the carpet of green grass near the pond. Pink lotuses were growing, blooming underneath the sun. Taeyong sat cross-legged, and you sat next to him with your legs folded carefully to guard your skirt against blowing because of the wind.

“You don’t come running at me anymore these days,” Taeyong chuckled “You were so clingy when you were a kid.”

“Of course not.” You scoffed. “I’ve learned my lesson after all the beatings you did.”

Taeyong stayed in silence so you eventually looked away and diverted your gaze toward the sky. “I’m really looking forward to it,” you said. “In three years, when I graduate, I plan on looking for a job here. Then, I can be with you more. In winter, in autumn, in spring… We’ll always be together.” Your voice became softer, just like the sheepish smile you displayed on your face. “Always, okay?”

Taeyong glanced back at you through the holes of his mask. You seemed so optimistic and bright; it was almost painful.

Because what were you doing exactly? You both knew this wouldn’t last. You weren’t supposed to be together. There was no way for you to be together without you hurting each other in the end.

It was just… Impossible…

When Taeyong called your name, his voice had lost its cheeriness. “Let me tell you about myself.”

You blinked. “Eh?”

“I’m not a spirit,” Taeyong said, sitting up better on the ground. “But I’m also no longer human. It seems like I was once a human, but when I was a baby, I was abandoned in this forest.”

Taeyong could no longer recall the memory back when he was a baby, being left all alone in a wooden basket in the middle of a haunted forest. “I’d only just been abandoned, so I cried helplessly, as if to call back the parents who left me.”

But Taeyong’s tone was no longer painted with agony. You wondered how many years had truly passed since the day he was abandoned for him to feel nothing when he spoke about it.

“They said I didn’t stop crying for a long time,” Taeyong said, and you noticed that he must have been talking about the Spirits. “It was until they placed this cat mask on my face that I began to laugh. I should’ve died then, but the Mountain God appeared and cast a spell that allowed me to continue living so that I never move on.”

Taeyong never once looked at you when he retold his story. “I’m like a ghost,” he said, and finally turned his mask-covered face toward you. “So, it’s okay if you forget about me.” You couldn’t find anything to say. Your mind was busy processing all the information you'd just received. “A body that’s maintained by magic is very weak,” Taeyong continued nonetheless as he stared at his own palm. “If it touches a real human body, the spell will break and the body will disappear. It’s such a fragile thing…” There was an obvious pain in his voice now. “Just how long can you—”

“Something that disappears when touched,” you immediately said, not wanting to hear the question escaping his lips. “It’s just like snow, isn’t it?”

This time, it was Taeyong who went speechless.

“You know, Taeyong…” You embraced your knees to your chest, staring at the pond. The light cast its reflection on your face, which to Taeyong only added more sparks to your beauty. “I thought of you during winter. And fall… And spring… I thought of you all the time, so...” You locked their gazes together as you smiled. “Don’t forget about me, okay? Don’t forget. Time might separate us one day, but still, until then, let’s stay together.”

Taeyong never once discussed it again. He decided that you were worth it. He would allow himself to be selfish. Whether he would disappear from your touch, or whether you would pass away on your deathbed even when he was still in his twenties, no one could ever know. But if he could spend that time with you, no matter how short it would be, no matter how much it would hurt, he would endure the pain. If it meant that he would stay together with you, he would crush his own happy ending. Because you had decided to let yours go.

And there was no way he would let you go down that road on your own.

***

“A spirit festival?” You asked, as you sat next to each other near the lake with your feet dipped into the water. Now eighteen, you felt closer to him more than ever. You secretly wondered if someone saw you walking together side-by-side, would they think of you as a couple?

“No, a summer festival held by the spirits,” Taeyong corrected.

“There’s not much of a difference.”

“The nuance is completely different.”

“Nuance?”

“When you were little, I thought you might get scared so I didn’t invite you. But tonight,” Taeyong stopped to showcase his grin. “Can you sneak out of your house? I’ve wanted to go with you for a long time…”

As if you could decline that tempting offer. “I—I want to go!” You exclaimed, jumping up to both of your feet.

“Then meet me at eight at our usual place.”

“But when you think about it,” you muttered, hand propping your chin as you ran through your mind. “A festival filled with Spirits sounds a little unnerving. On top of that, it’s at night.”

Taeyong took off his mask and you could see the sincerity behind his brown eyes. “Don’t worry,” he said, smiling handsomely. “On the outside, it’s not very different from a human festival. It’s supposed to mimic human festivals after all.” And at that time, his smile turned a bit sheepish. “And I will protect you, so…”

You felt like something just lit a fire behind your chest. “W-when you say things like that,” you said, eyes glancing away from embarrassment, “it makes me want to jump at you.” You wanted it to be a joke. You both knew that there was no way you would touch him underneath your conscience.

“Then do it,” Taeyong, in all of his seriousness, said, “I’m serious.”

You could only look at him with conflicted feelings.

***

The summer festival that was held by the Spirits inside the forest was indeed similar to the ones in the living world. Lanterns were lit up, surrounding the place with orange-colored lights that seemed normal enough for your eyes. But when you took a closer look, the fireballs behind the paper lantern were actually dancing. Spirits were everywhere around the place and this time, they didn’t look like ghosts or monsters. They were all disguised as humans, even wearing yukatas and wooden sandals but with masks over their faces—just like Taeyong. Not every Spirit managed to do well with their disguises, though. You could still spot some children with pig noses and cat tails, and you could see Haechan’s fluffy golden tails and matching fox’s ears on his head as he waved a hand and ran toward Taeyong with all of his strength.

Taeyong was wearing a dark grey yukata with his usual cat mask placed on his face, and the Fox boy jumped into his arms, winding his long limbs so naturally around his neck.

“Taeyongie!” Haechan chirped as he nuzzled his nose against Taeyong’s neck, despite them being full-grown men. The other boy pushed him away with one palm.

“Y-you’re wearing clothes,” you stammered, gaping at the sight that Haechan wasn’t actually naked at that moment. Instead, the boy was wearing a white yukata with golden obi around his waist. It matched his blond hair and golden ears perfectly.

Haechan groaned, “Oh man, don’t tell me that monkey girl is here with you to—” The rest of his words died on his tongue the second he checked your appearance. No longer wearing your summer dress, that night you were wrapped in a sky blue kimono with falling cherry blossoms painted around it. You had a salmon-colored obi around your waist, curving your body perfectly and you had your bangs clipped to the side, showing more of your face for them to admire. 

“Hmm?” you asked, tilting your head slightly when you noticed that Haechan was staring without saying a word. “What is it?”

“You…” Haechan gulped before he took a step back and pointed a finger at you. Taeyong could blatantly see the blush on his face but you never paid attention to anyone besides Taeyong. “You’re so ugly, you almost made me puke!” Haechan screamed.

“Excuse me?!” You shouted back and Taeyong laughed when Haechan turned into his animal form, sending a small kick to her face—it wasn’t as painful as it was surprising—before he ran away like a scared little rodent.

“Why are you laughing?” You pouted, rubbing your slightly bruised cheek from Haechan’s attack. “God, he must have hated me so much. What’s his problem? And is he leaving his clothes just like this?!”

Taeyong couldn’t understand why you were so oblivious of Haechan’s feelings. But if it meant he could stare at your adorable confused face longer then he wouldn’t say a word to explain.

“Hey,” Taeyong called, bringing out a thin white scarf from his sleeves. “Tie this around your wrist. You’ll get lost if you don’t.” You obeyed right away, even humming happily as you did it. Taeyong tied the other end around his wrist as well. With that, you were connected to each other.

“It’s just like going on a date,” you said, giggling. Taeyong had brought his mask to the side of his head, so most of his face was shown when he smiled beautifully.

“It is a date,” he said, successfully sending your heart thrumming wildly against your ribcages. When you weren’t as flushed, you mirrored his little smile, wishing for your heart to beat at a slower pace so you could focus more on his beautiful features instead. Taeyong was so close and so handsome; it felt almost surreal for you to witness. “Shall we go?”

You shortly nodded and let him lead the way, a thin white scarf bridging the small gap between you. It’s funny how you weren’t exactly holding hands, but it felt just the same way. Your heart was racing, your thoughts were filled with him, and your never-ending smile, brighter than all the lanterns combined, was the proof of the joy you shared with him.

It was perfect. He was perfect.

There were fireworks, music, and dances. Everything looked so fun. Taeyong bought you cotton candy, but when you tried to take a bite, it flew towards the sky, morphing into clouds between the shining stars. Every time you laughed, Taeyong was grateful to be able to witness the beauty of it. It was so easy for your happiness to be his.

You walked around, checking some food stalls from one place to another, with him trying to match his steps with yours without you knowing. You wanted to buy a mask as well, perhaps one that looked similar to Taeyong’s. When a mask finally caught your interest—a tanned person’s face with his eyes crossed, you touched it to try it on but it turned out that it was an actual Spirit’s face, not a mask. Flustered, you had no choice but to run away, shouting “I’M SO SORRY!” and forcing Taeyong to follow you with chuckles reverberating from his chest.

Taeyong laughed more frequently that night than he had been the entire summer and you loved it. You loved the way he laughed without care. It was like firewood in the cold, darkest night—warming, bright, and beautiful.

“Ah, I had so much fun!” You cheered, still laughing slightly as you walked away from the festival. It was getting late and knowing how your uncle must have been worried for your well-being, Taeyong took you home. “Everyone really went all out with their disguises, didn’t they?” Your voice echoed through the night. “It was like a mimicking competition. You weren’t kidding when you said it’s supposed to imitate human’s festival.” No wonder his uncle’s friend Hyori had managed to sneak inside back then. “Is it like this every year?”

“Yeah, every time summer comes around…” But Taeyong’s voice suddenly lost its liveliness. And as you walked further away from the festival, the forest became dark once more, with only the moon and the stars illuminating your faces.

When Taeyong called your name, it was a mix of a longing sigh and a hushed whisper. Little frogs and insects were making sounds in the background and you could hear your steps matching his as you stepped on the grass, near your usual private pond. “I can no longer wait for summer to come around,” he softly murmured.

You turned your head toward him, glancing at the face of the boy you’d spent your entire summer with. Taeyong was wearing his mask again, and you wished he didn’t. You wanted to see his expression when he said those words.

“When I’m away from you,” Taeyong confessed, “even though I can’t be around the crowds, I want to go see you. Even though I knew it would’ve killed me, I was ready to step a foot outside this forest and run to you. Nine months are too long for me to wait for you.”

You almost reached out a hand to touch his, but you stopped before you got your wish. Instead, you sank your fingernails to your palm, hard enough to tear your skin apart so you could focus on the pain on your skin instead of the one in your chest.

Why does he have to be so close and yet so far away?

Then Taeyong suddenly stopped walking, lifting one hand to take off his mask and pressed it to your face. Before you could understand what was happening, Taeyong bent his head down and kissed the other side of the mask, right where your lips would be if there were no barriers between you. The thin mask was the only thing separating your lips from touching one another.

You froze, seeing Taeyong’s close-up face from the holes of the mask. As you’d guessed, Taeyong had long eyelashes. And he was so beautiful, so gentle, so young but with the expression of a man who spent hundreds of years in silence, yearning for other people’s touch.

Taeyong wasn’t really kissing you and yet, you still couldn’t breathe.

He pulled away after a few seconds had passed; smiling at you in the way it was almost breaking you apart but not quite.

Why does this feel like a goodbye?

“That mask,” he said, gazing straight at you. His smile never faltered from his lips, which only broke your heart even more. “You can have it.” And with him taking another step forward, you began to walk side by side again without uttering any other words.

He probably won’t come back to the place where we usually meet next summer. You pondered, hiding your face behind his mask. This is definitely our last…

“Hey, wait for me!” Two children passed by, running with their little feet and roaring into the night. The first boy managed to get a few steps ahead and his little sister was trying to catch up to him but she fumbled and slipped on her feet.

“Careful!” Taeyong shouted in reflex and reached out a hand to help her. With a hold around her wrist, he managed to prevent her from falling. The little girl smiled, showcasing her teeth and thanked him before she ran away chasing her brother again.

“Be careful, you guys!” You said and the two children waved their hands at you. You chuckled to yourself. I wonder if I was like that when I was a—

Taeyong’s sudden call of your name made you jolt. You hastily turned around, hoping to see him smile from the holes of the mask you had on your face, but instead what you saw was something more.

It was your nightmare.

Taeyong had his hand—the one he used to touch the little girl—stretched out in the air, staring at it with parted lips and wide eyes as his fingertips started to glow and slowly disappearing into thin air like fireflies vanishing in the night.

“Ta…” Your throat, your chest, it felt like fire was consuming every inch of you. “Taeyong..?”

You couldn’t believe what was happening. You wished you were dreaming. You prayed for it to be a dream. But Taeyong was really there, disappearing little by little in front of you and you couldn’t do it. You couldn’t live without him in your life. How could just one touch of a hand do something like this?

“That girl was a human?!” You panicked, head throbbing loudly but the pain didn’t even come close to the aching you felt in your heart. What should I do? What should I do now?! I can’t lose him—I don’t want to lose him—

Taeyong!

The glow started to spread to his wrist, passing his elbow, to his chest and you wanted to scream stop! Don’t take him away from me! Please, stop! But Taeyong was smiling, so widely and beautifully and this time there was no trace of loneliness or secrets he tried to keep to himself like his usual smile. This time, he really did smile with all of his heart.

“Come here!” He called your name between his smiles, throwing his arms out for you to jump into. “I can finally touch you now.”

And you didn’t let a second to waste. You pushed the mask away from your face, facing him with a smile because that was what he deserved and then you hugged him, embraced him tightly with all of your strength, and you never wanted to let go. Taeyong looked so happy so you held your tears to yourself, no matter how much they burned behind your eyelids, and when Taeyong lifted your face and pressed a kiss to your lips, you curled your fingers on the back of his yukata.

Taeyong was so warm. And soft. And…

Gone.

You fell to your knees with his yukata held tightly against your chest. Your shoulders shuddered. Your chest felt like a thousand ice blades striking you at the same time. The clothing still smelled like him and yet, Taeyong was nowhere to be seen. He was consumed by the fireflies’ light and now there was no trace of him left.

I love you, you heard him said just a split second before he vanished. Faintly. Lovingly. Awaking every memory of the summers you’d spent together. That twig of oak bridging the distance between you. Those flowers you picked from the fields for him. That time when he ran to save you from falling. How lonely he’d looked from time to time. And how lonely you were when he wasn’t around. When Taeyong wasn’t there to spread happiness to your life.

And now he’s gone…

“Me too,” you sobbed as you held onto the piece of fabric he left from his final moment as if you were hanging on a thread that separated life from death. “I love you too.”

I love you so much, Taeyong.

And you let yourself cry, just this once, just for tonight. You would cry your heart out, screaming his name, telling him how much you loved him, just for this time only. Taeyong was the source of your happiness. Not even his death should change that.

When there were no more tears to cry, you got back to your feet and the first step felt so heavy. It was easier to just be drowned in silence, never have to get up again, never have to see the light of day now that his light had been taken away. But Taeyong wouldn’t wish for that to happen. He wanted you to be happy, with or without him.

So you picked his mask off the ground and embraced it tightly to your chest. There were murmurs of the Spirits around you, thanking you for being with Taeyong until the last moment of his life. They said Taeyong could only truly smile when he was with you.

Haechan appeared in front of you, wearing his previous white yukata with golden obi around his waist. His fox’s ears were down and his tails were no longer wagging behind him like always. His eyes were red and puffy, though he wasn’t crying.

“Taeyong-hyung wanted nothing more but to feel a touch of a human,” he said when you’d lost your voice to speak. “Being hugged by you before he vanished like that… I guess he wouldn’t have preferred anything else.”

You weakly smiled and reached up to stroke Haechan’s hair. The Fox boy seemed somewhat startled but didn’t move away. “He must have been happy,” you said, smiling with tears brimming in your eyes, “to have someone like you paying so much attention to him.”

Haechan brought his head down and you could hear soft sobs as he began to break down once again. He was biting his lip until it grew white, just to muffle his whimpers. You told him that it was all right for him to cry as hard as he could. After all, it was only normal. The pain of being left by someone you love… Taeyong must have understood it well.

I probably won’t be able to look forward to summer for a long time.

My chest will hurt. 

My tears will be overflowing. 

But this warmth in my hands and these summer memories will live forever in my heart. 

I wouldn’t ask for anything more.

You smiled, kissing the temple of the mask and whispered, “Until we meet on the next life, Taeyong.”

***

It takes bravery to show up at the gate of the forest in your sleeveless white summer dress and you can feel your knees trembling underneath your weight but your resolve doesn’t dissipate. It’s been one year since Taeyong has vanished without a trace. Your heart still bleeds, but your tears are dry. And although it kills you to know that Taeyong is no longer there, waiting on the stone stairs like usual, you keep your smile intact, taking a seat close enough to the spot where Taeyong used to sit waiting for you.

“I’m here this year too, Taeyong,” you whispers, one hand being placed on the stone steps as if it was out for him to touch. “How are you?”

A soft wind blows, caressing your now longer hair and swiping warmth to your cheek. Lonely. You feel so alone. The cicadas are singing loudly as always but they don’t sound the same without the sound of Taeyong’s soft chuckles. You can no longer share stories with him, can no longer try to close the forbidden gap between you little by little. There’s nobody you can show your uniform to.

Don’t cry, you will yourself, hugging your knees tightly to your chest. Don’t cry. Taeyong wouldn’t want you to cry. You said you could do this, remember?

But it still hurts.

So you quickly open your bag and retract his cat mask from it. Placing it upon your face, you bask in what’s left of Taeyong’s scent as you close your eyes. This way, even if you end up crying, no one will see. If Taeyong is still here, or if he somehow stares down from heaven, he won’t be able to see you breaking apart.

“If you want to cry, just cry,” a boy suddenly sits down next to you, your shoulders brushing one another. “Idiot.”

You look to your side, feeling your breath stutter a little. “Haechan-ah…”

The Fox boy turns his head to face you as well but unlike Taeyong who greeted you with a gentle smile, Haechan was scowling. He has an apparent frown on his handsome human face, but although he is glaring, his nine tails betray him as they wag in elation behind him. “What are you staring at?” he says and flicks you on the forehead. It doesn’t hurt since he’s only grazing the mask, but it does make you move your gaze away.

Haechan still looks as young as always. His golden hair is still shining reflecting the sunlight, his ruby eyes are shimmering, and his sun-kissed skin still glows beautifully.

“You’re wearing clothes,” you comment, noticing the casual white shirt and the blue jeans he has on his body. He’s not wearing anything to protect his feet though.

“Of course, as if I would give you the reason to ogle at my perfect body,” Haechan spits back harshly and you don’t answer anything back. Eventually, it creates tension between you so he runs a hand through his hair and mutters, “Well, I mean… Taeyong told me it made you uncomfortable, so…” You still stay mute but for an entirely different reason.

“Thanks,” you finally say, your voice sounds a bit muffled because of the mask.

Haechan feels his face growing hot and he grits his teeth to wash it away. “You’re being gross, stop it,” he raves and yet his tail sways faster behind him as his ears perk up in joy. You can finally understand why Taeyong was fond of him. Despite his snarky attitude, Haechan is shy and he’s never honest when it comes to showing his feelings, but his body often betrays him. He has his own charm.

So you laugh—softly, quietly, unfamiliar to your own ears, but it’s a start. “I’m sorry.”

Haechan huffs and fixes his red eyes to the sky. The clouds are moving, changing shapes and he secretly wonders what would Taeyong say at times like this. “I thought you wouldn’t come this summer,” he murmurs.

“I thought I wouldn’t too,” you admit. “But I realized in the end, even though he’s gone, it doesn’t mean he can’t still live in my memory. I think when someone dies; it doesn’t really mean that they’re gone. The difference is that we can’t physically see them anymore, so as time goes by, we begin to forget. And once we forgot about them, then I guess that’s when someone truly dies.” You take off your mask, turn it around on your palm and stare at the cat’s two-round, lifeless eyes. “I can’t see Taeyong anymore but I won’t let him disappear from my thoughts. He’s now living in my memory and I will keep it that way. He’s already a part of me now—of who I have become.” Your lips curve up as you rub your thumb along the cat’s whiskers. “I’m sorry for saying such weird things. I must have bored you by now.”

But unbeknownst to you, Haechan is staring at you with admiration in his eyes. He never knew you had such a complex personality. 

Even though she’s a human. Even though she’s just a human.

“You know, for Spirits like us,” Haechan says, “Humans have always been nothing better than something to eat. It’s not worth having a relationship with them. You can’t befriend someone who will pass away in a blink of an eye. Spirits like us can live for hundreds of years. And you, people like you, can barely even reach a hundred. Becoming attached to something so fragile will only hurt us, that’s why we try to never look at humans as someone to be friends with. Just like humans in general, we’re afraid of getting hurt.”

Your eyebrows are knitted together, can barely understand why is Haechan telling you these things.

“I saw Taeyong-Hyung when he was with you,” Haechan utters, and this time he smiles at the memory of his friend. He looks much younger like this. “He was happy. Perhaps happier than I’d ever seen him. That’s probably why I decided not to eat you.”

“You wanted to eat me?”

“A few times, yeah.”

“Even though you were so startled when Taeyong suddenly sneezed and almost ran for your life like a little scaredy-cat?”

“That’s—” Haechan blushes madly. “That’s different!”

You place a hand over your mouth, covering your small laughter. “Okay, okay,” you said and Haechan feels a tweak in his heart again. Humans are such fragile beings, he wonders, maybe that’s the reason why I want to protect her so badly?

He quickly shakes the thought away, blushing even deeper. Get a grip on yourself, you idiot!

“Well, Haechannie.” You stand up from the spot you’ve been sitting on, smoothening down your dress. “I’m supposed to head over to my uncle’s house now. I don’t want to make him worry.”

“Oh…” Haechan blinks, standing up as well. “Right, of course.”

You’re appalled at how taller he is now. Even when you’re standing up straight, you can only reach a little above his shoulder line. “Are you still growing?”

“Huh?” Haechan takes a look at himself. “Oh. Yeah, maybe.” And you want to comment on that but you’re distracted by the look of Haechan’s fox ears going down. “Are you…” he looks away, somewhat hiding his lips behind the back of his hand. His cheeks are burning redder by the second. “Are you going to come back here tomorrow?”

The wind is probably playing tricks to your ears, that’s why you’re hearing some weird stuff right now. “What?”

“Ah, damn it!” He groans, his blush now expanding to the tip of his ears. “I said, are you going to come back here tomorrow or not, you stupid monkey girl! Don’t make me say this thing twice, it’s freaking embarrassing!”

It takes another two seconds for you to process before you burst out laughing. He’s so childish; it’s somewhat adorable. “If you want me to, I will,” you reply, wiping small tears away from your eyes.

Although Haechan’s ears perk up instantly at your answer, he keeps muttering rudely, “Well, don’t expect me to wait here for you or anything, okay? Today is special but I won’t do it tomorrow.”

“Huh?” You nearly break out into laughter again. “You were waiting for me today?”

By this point, Haechan’s practically combusted into flames. “SHUT UP, YOU MONKEY GIRL!” In a split second, he transforms into his animal form, creating musky grey mist all around you, and he bites your nose before he scurries away. His golden tail still wags happily behind him as he runs off.

Rubbing your nose from the itching pain, you grin with your teeth shown and waves your hand goodbye. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Haechannie!”

“It’s Donghyuck!” His voice can be heard but he’s nowhere to be seen. “My real name is Donghyuck. You better memorize that!”

Donghyuck… Somehow, you could feel your heart warming in the way it hasn’t been for a year long. “Then, I’ll see you tomorrow, Donghyuck…”

Your summer is changing. The feeling is different though something hasn’t quite changed. You still miss Taeyong, terribly so. There will probably no way you can stop missing him. After all, they said first love lasts forever, right?

But I’m doing fine, Taeyong. There are still many things for me to do so I will move on, little by little. No matter how long it would take for me to be able to remember your name without hurting; to remember your smile without regretting not being able to kiss your lips longer; or to remember the days we spent together and not crying over them—I will heal. 

Time will no longer be our enemy. It will be the one to erase my pain.

I will heal.

***

Dear Taeyong,

I miss you.

I miss you a lot.

I miss you to the point of shedding my tears.

But I will not wish for you to come back.

After all you never truly left me, did you?

I remember everything.

I still remember everything.

Even if ten years have passed, even if twenty, even if a thousand years have gone by, as long as I’m still alive, I promise you until my dying breath that I will remember you.

You are still the beautiful reality in my sleep.

The blissful dream in my wake.

I am still here, in the place where we usually meet.

I am not waiting for you—I know you wouldn’t want that.

But I am here because of you. Because you remind me of summer. Of joy. Of faith. Of love. Of a bittersweet goodbye. 

Everything about you brings smiles to my face, even if our first embrace ended without time waiting for me to keep your warmth. Even if our kiss never left an aftertaste on my lips. 

It’s all right. It’s enough. 

No matter where you are now, Taeyong… Be happy.

I will meet you again in our next life.

Maybe by then, we can set our promise not by words, but by our fingers lacing together. 

And maybe by then, you can stroke my hair when I cry. 

And every time we part, I will let you take my farewell words from my lips. 

Take my breath, if you must. After all, they’re yours. Everything about me is yours.

I love you.

I love you so much.

I love you despite everything that separated us. Time, distance, age, even a single touch—Nothing can make me tired of loving you. I love you. I have never loved anyone else but you.

I am forever yours.

***

My Love,

I miss you too.

I miss you so much.

I miss you to the point of breaking apart.

And I’m glad you don’t wish for me to come back. 

I don’t think it would’ve done us any good.

I still remember you.

I will always remember you.

Even if I no longer have a body, even if not even my ashes remain, even if the fireflies decide to abandon me, I will remember you.

Listen to me, my dear.

Even if I had the chance to choose, I still wouldn’t change a thing. 

I’d prefer not to be able to touch you, to feel your warmth, or to taste your lips, 

rather than not be able to fall in love with you.

I’d rather be consumed with these feelings I have for you, 

rather than being burned by a passion that would be over after the summer end. 

This is all right. This is enough.

So no matter what happens next… Be happy.

For I do not wish for anything else.

I have no regrets. 

You have given me everything I’d asked for. 

You have given me more than I could ever imagine.

I have never desired anything until I met you. 

I am eternally grateful for our meeting. 

Even if we had to separate for nine months each year, I have enjoyed every little second that we spent, from sunrise to sunset even if it was only three months a year.

I will see you in our next life.

And by then, I will place a ring around the finger you lace with mine. 

And by then, I will kiss the tears away from your eyes.

And we will never part, but I will seal your lips with mine from saying those farewell words.

I love you too. I wouldn’t have understood love if it wasn’t for you. My whole life wouldn’t have meant something if it wasn’t for you.

Until we meet again, my love.

I am forever yours.

***

[cosmiclatte28]

Neo Got My Back (Jaehyun x reader)

a/n : a domestic Jaehyun fluff scenario! 

enjoy! you all deserve a ( good bed time) story.. though I hope this is good enough.. 

warning : mentions of past incident of almost dying but nah you lived :D, some slight cursing

tagging @yutahoes who might like this domestic jaehyun and ofc @neopalette

--- here goes nothing ----

It’s starting to get dark outside and your house still feels empty. You walk around the small room holding your phone while checking if there is any new message or a call. It’s been a long day for you to finish your works and take care of your dog that’s feeling a bit under the weather. You give up waiting for a reply and choose to just leave your phone and take care of your sick dog.

“Neo, come here.” You make yourself comfortable on the floor and pat your lap as the small Labrador walks slowly to you.

“Aw look at you, you’re still sick but feeling better?” you ask when the good boy wags its tail

“Are you excited to meet daddy?” you coo at your pal and he licks your cheek. You giggle and kiss him back “I also miss Jaehyun, don’t worry he is coming home tonight.”

Your dog seems to understand what you said, maybe its because he heard Jaehyun and home in one sentence and your tone sounds happy. If you are happy, then Neo is happy.

“Let’s try to eat some more, you’re not eating as much as usual and I don’t find that settling.” You reach on the dog food you’ve prepared before hand and try to feed Neo.

He eats, but without much energy. You’re sad actually to see him acting like this, at night he also whimpers some soft painful growl. You’re planning to take him to the vet if he’s whimpering again tonight.

“Are you sick or are you just acting up to see Jaehyun?” you tease your Labrador, who once were caught acting sick just to bring Jaehyun home. Jaehyun loves Neo to the point where he is willing to drop his business to come and hug this good boy. Maybe it’s because Neo once saved your life.

You told Jaehyun about the story where Neo saved you from almost drowning in the beach when you were a teenager. Since then, Jaehyun’s love to Neo sort of jumps over the moon. He said he ought Neo everything because thanks to Neo he got to meet you.

Your dog finishes his dinner and proceed to lay on his bed to sleep, maybe he is not feeling well. You put your worry aside and grab your phone again, checking if Jaehyun actually replied your message or called you.

Nothing. No messages, no calls. He must be busy in the office, you thought to yourself. Trying your best to stay calm and think of positive things. You trust Jaehyun, he won’t be home late for any other reasons other than caught up with work or stuck in the road.

Jaehyun sighs and glances on his watch again. It’s already one hour past his regular go home time and his phone battery died the moment he was about to tell you he will be home late.

Well the project he is working on this month has a change on the product launching date, so the team has to rush things up and make sure they’re ready for the launching next week.

His attempt to stay calm with tuning into his favorite radio channel fails. Not even his music playlist can calm him down. He knows you’re probably worried something bad happens to him without news or update from him to you and that is not settling in his heart.

“I am so sorrryyyy..” he mutters to himself when he sees the red lights and rows of cars all crawling in the night street. Why must the road be congested today?

He made it into your neighborhood and at that moment he realized something.

“Shit, I forgot to download the Netflix movie she wanted to watch.” Jaehyun internally curses himself. Works really preoccupied his mind to the point where he forgot. Well he hopes you won’t be mad and just let him download it for awhile to avoid pauses.

The lift ride to your room is not helping. With the lift keeps on stopping on different floor, he has to hold his patience and not cry in there when the door once again opens and he’s still halfway to your floor.

The man with a nice fitted suit finally steps out of the crowded lift. His face shows how tired he is, but the smile he has in his face upon imagining the face of his lover and faithful pal is bright enough.

Jaehyun takes a deep breath when he presses the six-digit combination lock to your home and once he presses the handle down, all of his exhaustion seems to leave his shoulder.

The familiar scent of your favorite aroma therapy candle greets him. Slowly Jaehyun takes off his shoes and when he did not see you or get a surprising jump from you, he knows you’re probably in your room doing works or maybe playing with Neo.

His steps resonate through the room, first the kitchen looks bright with a nice simple dinner nicely arranged on the table. Though it’s no longer steaming, Jaehyun can feel his stomach rumbles.

“(Y/n)?” he calls your name slowly after putting his working bag and suit aside. His hand unties his tie as he uncuffs his buttons and walk to look for you.

“Oh you’re asleep?” he talks to himself in whispers when he finds you laying down sleeping on the sofa with Neo cuddled next to you, despite the lack of space!

Gently he tucks your hair aside from your face and leans in to kiss your forehead. “Sorry for being home late.”

You twist in your sleep and slowly open your eyes. Blinking your sleep away and gathering your energy to process what is this. Is this a dream or is this Jaehyun?

Your hand reach out to touch his cheeks and when you feel it you smile. “Hello love,” you yawn and hug his torso.

“I haven’t showered or changed.” he runs a hand on your hair and the other free hand is already rubbing Neo’s chin.

“It’s okay, you can shower later.” You mumble as you bury your face into his torso.

“Have you eaten?” you ask, definitely knowing he hasn’t eaten yet.

He nods “I am hungry.”

“I can heat the food for you. Take a bath quick.” You push him to the toilet. He laughs and ruffles your hair before leaving to take his towel and clothes.

You bring Neo with you to the kitchen, and start to heat the food again.

Seeing Jaehyun still try his best to smile in front of you despite his stress and tiring job, makes you feel grateful and that the only way you can pay him back is by giving him the attention and cares he deserves.

He returns with a brighter face and a comfortable tee shirt and sweats. You’re done with heating the foods and so you join him sitting on the other end of the table as you scoop him some foods into his plate.

“Thank you, you cooked this?” he asks while taking small bites on the foods. Knowing his best to not expect too much when you are a terrible cook.

You bite your lips “I tried a receipt from Taeyong’s website.” You look up at him with expectations, couldn’t be that bad right? You’ve been practicing for a while. Jaehyun nods and eats more “I guess you improved?” he chuckles when you let out a delightful clap

“I am glad!” you grin. “I am ready to be your housewife.” You tease him.

He giggles and reaches out for more kimchi “Who made this kimchi? So good.”

You roll your eyes “Mom.”

“Ah, learn from her first to make this good kimchi, then you can marry me.” He playfully pokes your cheek and you pout at him “You hold your words. If I succeed making that kimchi, you’re marrying me.”

He flashes his ring finger to you, the one with a couple promise ring he has with you and winks “I am more than ready to change this ring into a diamond one.”

You blush “Keep your words okay. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

He nods “I am. I am going to keep my words. Right Neo? You are our witness.”

The dog barks and stays under the table accompanying the warm night both of you spend together.

“About not replying to your text, I am sorry my phone died, and I don’t bring my charger with me today.” He brushes his hair away from his eyes.

You nod “I knew it, you and your hobby of running out of batteries. I’m just afraid something bad happens.”

“No, don’t worry. It’s just we had to take over time to finish a project for next week. Sorry to keep you waiting.” He raises from the chair and brings his plates to the dish.

You quickly keep the remaining foods into the refrigerator while Jaehyun takes the gloves and starts to wash the sink.

“Ow poor you, did you finish it? Things are okay?” you lean on the counter next to him.

“Yes, I can go home because I finished my parts.”

“Good then,” you pat his shoulder “You must be tired, let’s-“

He cuts you in “About Netflix-“ he takes a sharp pause “I am so sorry we have to postpone watching A Whisker Away, I haven’t downloaded it yet.”

You smile and rubs his shoulder “Don’t worry, the film is not going to disappear! Let’s rest instead. You had a long day and I want to cuddle with you.”

Jaehyun smiles and jumps into your side, he hugs you and pulls the cover over you both “Okay, cuddle it is then! Come here, let me hug you until you beg me to stop.” He peppers you with raspberry kisses on your neck and arm and you giggle loudly.

“love you Jae!” you kiss him quick to which the other man smiles and kisses you back “And I love you most.”

end

[magicflowershop]

one day kitty; Bokuto version

《inspired by movie A Whisker Away》

✿✿ you wished to be with the person you like and wish granted. whiskers, button nose, tail, four legs and ears on top of the head; you turned into a cat. with this, you are given the opportunity to be with the person you want to express your affections to. but as a cat. and only in one day.

― haikyuu characters x cat!reader imagines!

❀ masterlist ❀

the wheel of names have spoken.

you have shitty life and you dont want it anymore, and hence you resort to drastic measures

one being to give up your life completely to a huge cat that you met one time at this shed when you were running away from home

yes we angsty now

at first you were skeptical bc how in the hell does this cat thing exist?? and how can it tell that you’re giving up on your life???

but since you were down as hell, and you were overwhelmed with emotions and were beyond your right state of mind,,, you accepted the offer of what this cat gave

so now you are a cat

by then, an entire night flew by and you woke up realizing you actually slept in the shed again lmao silly you—

and you weren’t actUALLY DREAMING YOU TRULY BECAME A CAT

so being the masochist you are, you decided you shouldn’t pass the opportunity to have a little adventure,,, to your house and school

well because you’re an insecure bitch who wants to know whats it like in a world without you in it and how the people around you would react without you in their lives,,,, yk quirky things like that uwu

and you saw it 

yourself 

your whole entire body alive awake and walking telling your damn parents a see you later since you’re off to school

but the hell do you care whoever that lil insect is that swarmed inside your body and became the host,, you continued your lil mini adventure to your school bc whats more fun than seeing your fake self havin fun with your friends??

“oh hello there”

then a tall grey haired boy you forgot the name of stepped in front of you and crouched to your level

“woAH agHAASHI LOOK AT THIS LITTLE THING’S EYES”

he looked closer to the cat’s face

“ᵗʰᵉʸ'ʳᵉ ˢᵒ ᵖʳᵉᵗᵗʸ“

maybe a bit too close for the cat’s discomfort 

he called you thing

then you realize this person was Bokuto Kotarou from your school’s vball team,,, how could you not have guessed from the hair alone silly you

Bokuto then patted you a little more after being told by Akaashi that he can’t be distracted by a cat at this moment since they’re about to go for practice

so they left you there

but you bein a cat that can slither everywhere they wish to be, thought it would be fun to stalk the vball team since its so early in the morning yk and you rly wanna know whats happening with your actual body

you don’t even know why your body was in school this early,,,

anyway so volleyball right

it donned onto you that you had a crush on Bokuto when you were a freshman,, you remember there was something gratifying about his personality that made you like him better than the rest of the boys in your school bc other men are trash but we dont talk about that

you found him sorta special 

however, despite finding him very special, a person like him was too far-fetched for you to become close with bc you two were polar opposites of each other,,, he was too excited and happy every time you see him while you are,,, well

a bit too down

but you werent always down

just that you had every reason to be down yk

im not helping but anyways-

so you were watching them practice,, you had no idea why you were watching since you werent rly into sports whatever and it usually bores you,, and sends your mind flying elsewhere

then you saw Bokuto leaping up from the back and slamming the ball straight past the other player’s blocks 

𝓌𝑜𝓌

fr that was impressive and the way he accurately hit the ball right next to the line was insane

okay, mayhaps you were slowly gathering feelings for him again and this time for his talents as well oho

so you took your time watching this lad in awe while resting on the gym’s window sill, only God knows how you got there, and just admired the players doin their thing

but yk with a lot of Bokuto you perv

ofc Bokuto sees the cat while they were on break and kinda squished his face on the window to get ur attention bc you were sorta falling asleep on there

he was yellin things like theres a cute kitty on the window aaaAAAAA and the other players just wanted him to stop so they kinda invited you inside

they busted a big uwu at how cute the cat was, scared of the new environment it has been forced into

mostly Bokuto

he was beYOND HAPPY to see a small animal within his vicinity and Akaashi was delighted to see him calm at least for once

Bokuto was really gentle at holding the little feline in his arms and his heart might have melted when it relaxed into his hold and rested its little head against his chest

the other players were hella jealous

but Bokuto gettin all the attention from a cat was better than anything else 

until we remember that the guys don’t always stay for practice and that they had classes to attend too, they are at school for a reason

henceforth Bokuto was sad to let the cat go bc the cat isn’t his it’s just a stray cat,, nobody knows where it came from

“i’ll come back for you later okay?”

ahaha yes i am s*ft

while waiting for his promise of coming back, you spent the time to idle around the campus until lunch break came and you once again saw your original body that is now lived by a different host

the fake you turned to your direction and smirked?? what the heck was that for??

but you had Bokuto to comfort you anyway lmao you attention wh*re

then you figured it didn’t feel right to be hogging the lad’s attention like this when you aren’t actually a cat,,, at least not until midnight strikes,,,

you did have a choice whether or not you still wanted to remain as a cat for the rest of your life but that price is selling your soul to that cat

besides all that, i just wanna mention that Bokuto grew fond of the cat that keeps playing with him all day and he lit thought of bringing it with him home bc he was worried like what if it doesn’t have a home to go to and becomes all alone and starving and like get hit by a car 

he was genuinely concerned for your well-being and you felt eVEN BAD NOW and just wanna go over and tell him you’re not an actual cat you’re just a stalker of his that somehow had the chance to turn into a pussy

but he did bring you home

not even Akaashi could stop him when he secretly snuck you inside his bag when they were about to go home from practice

no lie you lit wanted to flee

time was running out and you were wasting it to clown Bokuto into thinking you truly were a cat but not unless you wished to remain a cat

do you deserve that doe?

you thought you did after Bokuto pampering you a lot, showing you to his mom, being cleaned and fed kinda clumsily but its the thought that counts for the night and even tucking you beside him on his bed like s*ft omg

you definitely wanted to leave but like if you left its gonna break his heart but once he finds out you’re an actual human person what the hell is that going to make you

obviously you were in a terrible rut

“now you can stay in my house if you have no where to be, kitty. i can be here with you”

tears came rushing up to your eyes and you just wanted to strangle that creepy ass cat you met last night and bring back what he stole from you

the words he said was enough to have you break down, his kindness and his sincerity was too pure that you just wanted this to stop

especially when it came from someone special to you

you decided life wasn’t so bad if there’s someone you can lean on

stay tuned for more! :>

[kissjane]

ANIMAL COMPANY / (Not so) Short fic

#13 from this prompt list

Guys! That’s it! This is the last one from the list! I did it! The file for these is 64.5k words, and I did them all in two months. It was super fun, but not gonna lie, I’m glad to be done with it. And as promised to a certain evil mastermind, “Mouse AU” is the last one posted. 

Both going to grab the same thing and touching hands, then making eye contact

For all Lucas’ lamenting about wanting to live alone, so he could walk around naked, eat pizza at every hour of the day, and never have to listen to any of his roommates get it on ever again, now that he actually was living out that long-desired dream, he was… lonely, for lack of a better word.

When he had realized he was talking to himself, and replying, he had figured he needed something alive to keep him company.

And so he had decided to go to the pet store, to see if he could actually commit to the immense job of keeping an innocent animal happy, healthy and alive.

It was, however, not an easy task. He’d had a staring contest with a black-and-white cat, and he’d been playing for a while with a cute Pomeranian, but he hadn’t fallen in love. The birds had been entertaining for a while, and he actually felt a connection with this yellow puff that kept flying into the cage and seemed to love taking baths and ruffling its feathers, but when the store clerk had started explaining about shells to sharpen their claws and different grain mixes and fake eggs for the bird to breed on, he’d given up.

The fish were pretty, but boring, and the tortoises had a temper. Lucas didn’t feel like sharing his flat with a snappy, mean animal – he was perfectly fine filling out that slot all by himself, thank you.

He had tried to find the walking sticks between the non-walking ones, and given up after a few minutes. The ant farm reminded him too much of a middle school science project. A chicken sounded good in theory – a fresh egg daily was a big boon – but the idea of a chicken in a flat was preposterous. And while he was all for recycling and taking care of the environment, a worm composting station just sounded dirty.

So he was getting a bit desperate, wandering further down the aisles. He turned a corner, and suddenly found himself in front of a cage with one single white mouse in it.

The animal was sitting up on its haunches, looking at Lucas, its whiskers trembling as it sniffed. It looked kinda cute, and Lucas wanted to pet it, to see if maybe he could take this tiny thing home. He opened the cage and reached out for the tiny animal, when suddenly a large hand, with silver rings on multiple fingers, carefully grabbed the mouse right before Lucas could.

“Hey!”, Lucas protested without thinking, turning towards the intruder. “I was going to pet him!”

“Well, I guess…”, a male voice replied, and the hand was extended towards Lucas, not letting go of the mouse.

Lucas gingerly extended a finger towards the animal’s fur, and touched it, trying hard to stroke the frightened little thing, who was now squeaking loudly. However, the hand of the guy was kinda in the way, and so Lucas looked up, and – promptly forgot all about the mouse.

The hand with all the silver rings appeared to belong to some sort of ethereal creature right out of Lucas’ gayest fantasies.

“So did you pet him enough?”, the god in front of him said, but Lucas suddenly had difficulty understanding French.

“Huh?”, he croaked out, undignified, sounding rather like the frogs he had given wide berth earlier.

The guy laughed, and fuck, if it wasn’t like the sun broke through the clouds and lit up the whole store.

“Did that satisfy your urge to pet him? I mean, I don’t mind if you want to do it again, but I promised Brian a mouse soon, so, yeah…”

His voice died off apologetically, and Lucas swallowed back a lump.

It was stupid, really, to get disappointed. Men like this weren’t put on earth for Lucas, as much as he might wish it to be otherwise. Of course this guy had better things to do than stand in a pet store with a mouse in his goddamn sexy hands, being drooled over by a total stranger.

“Oh! Oh, uh, yeah,” he said, praying his cheeks weren’t as red as they felt. “Sorry, uh, yeah, sure. Wouldn’t want to keep Brian waiting.” He chuckled in embarrassment.

The guy nodded emphatically.

“Yeah, my baby boy gets a bit impatient sometimes, so…”

Oh. Lucas hadn’t given too much thought as to who or what Brian might be, but it made sense. He pictured a cute toddler with the same messy hair and grey eyes as his dad – fucking adorable, there was no other word for it, waiting anxiously for its new pet. His vivid imagination played the scene out with full-colour detail – a spacious flat somewhere in Paris, a pretty wife holding on to Brian, the guy stepping through the door with the mouse in a small cage, Brian escaping his mom’s hold and hugging his dad’s legs, jumping up and down in excitement.

He had to swallow down another lump.

“Oh, yeah, I understand,” he said, while stepping aside so the guy could pass him on his way to the register. “Does he like mice, your son?”

“They’re his favourite,” the guy said, putting the mouse in a small box and moving past Lucas. “And it’s been two weeks, so you can imagine he’s pretty hungry. Have a nice day!”

Wait. What? The scene in front of Lucas’ eyes changed screeched to a halt, and then picked up again, this time with a creepy toddler biting into the mouse, blood smeared around the corners of his mouth, while the pretty mom wiped the back of her hand around her own lips, stained red, as the guy looked on proudly.

“He’s gonna… eat… that mouse?”, Lucas squealed in horror. The guy, who had almost turned the corner, slowed down and looked over his shoulder at Lucas.

“What else would he do with it?”

Lucas’ mouth fell open. He pinched himself, convinced he somehow entered a fucked-up horror dream, but he flinched at the pinch, so he must be awake.

“What… fucking parent lets his kid eat mice?”

The guy stared at him for a long beat, and then suddenly, that sunshine smile broke through again. He stepped closer to Lucas, who recoiled in disgust.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!”, the guy said as Lucas kept backing away from him. “I guess I did call him my baby, didn’t I? Brian is not my son, though, he’s my pet snake!”

Lucas’ head spun.

“First of all,” he spluttered, “who the fuck calls his snake Brian? What kind of a name is that?”

The guy shrugged.

“It suits him. If you saw him, you’d know.”

Lucas shivered visibly.

“Oh, come on,” the other man said. “Don’t tell me you don’t like snakes. Brian is cute, I swear.”

Lucas wasn’t convinced.

“If you say so… But anyway, more importantly, you can’t just let that tiny mouse be eaten by a snake! Look at him!”

The guy did look at the mouse, and then back at Lucas.

“But Brian needs to eat.”

“But I wanted to buy that mouse! I wanted a pet!”

It was a lie, because Lucas had in no way committed to the wretched thing, but he couldn’t just let it be taken to an early, gruesome death.

“Ah.”

The guy seemed to understand the issue, as he looked from Lucas to the mouse with his piercing eyes, biting his bottom lip. Dammit, Lucas really couldn’t look too closely at that, because he felt his resolve weaken. He might just agree to be fed to Brian himself, if only to keep the guy’s eyes on him.

“What if I helped you find another pet?”

Fuck. Suddenly Lucas didn’t give a damn about the fate of the poor little mouse – it seemed to look at him with hurtful eyes now, upset at Lucas’ betrayal – if the alternative was staying close to this guy while they wandered through the pet store together, discussing the pros and cons of each animal.

“Uh… well, I would have to warn you. That mouse was kinda my last hope.”

“I will take the risk. For Brian.”

Lucas dithered for only a few seconds, in which the mouse didn’t deign him worthy of another look, before he caved.

“I guess.”

“Okay, let’s go then! I’m Eliott, by the way. Brian’s dad.”

He laughed, and the sound of it made a shiver roll deliciously slow over Lucas’ spine. He managed to keep himself mostly in check though, rolling his eyes as he extended a hand.

“Lucas.”

And they set forth on another tour of the aisles, Eliott trying to emphasize all the advantages of the creatures they came across, and Lucas nixing them all with a sad shake of his head. Eliott had to agree with lots of Lucas’ arguments – spiders were too creepy to keep willingly in the house, hamsters were smelly, and chameleons sounded cool, but all they did was lounge around under a heat lamp.

So when they found themselves back where they started out, they both looked at the small box in Eliott’s hand.

“I mean, maybe Brian could wait another day to eat… He did seem very hungry but I’m reasonably sure it wouldn’t kill him…”

Eliott looked at Lucas with a pout and honest-to-God puppy dog eyes, and Lucas couldn’t help but laugh.

“I guess I can survive without a pet, too… It might be a close call, though.”

“Yeah,” Eliott nodded, suddenly serious. “Not a risk I’d be willing to take, though.”

Lucas’ breath hitched. Eliott was watching him intently, and Lucas was pretty sure this time he wasn’t succeeding at keeping the blush off his cheeks.

Suddenly though, Eliott jumped.

“Oh, Lucas! I know! I know exactly what you need!”

He grabbed Lucas’ hand, and for a dizzying second, Lucas was too distracted by the contact to move. But Eliott tugged, and Lucas had no choice to follow him, and before he knew it, Eliott was showing him an enclosure with a grand flourishing gesture.

“What’s that?”

Lucas peered in, and then –

“A rabbit! It’s perfect, Lucas!”

Inside the cage was a tiny grey rabbit with floppy ears, and Lucas felt his heart melt.

“Oooh, you’re cute! Look, Eliott, he’s so fucking cute!”

“He is,” Eliott said, his voice low, and Lucas looked over his shoulder to see if anything was wrong, but Eliott just smiled, his eyes sparkling.

“What do you think, then? Worthy alternative for a mouse?”

Lucas pondered for a minute.

“Yeah. Come on, help me flag down an attendant so I can take him home.”

Together, they listened to a tired-looking clerk enumerating the important points in rabbit care, and loading their arms with the necessary equipment and food before finally taking them to the register where Eliott paid for his mouse and Lucas for the rabbit and all its accessories.

“So,” Eliott said, as they stepped outside. “What are you going to name him?”

“I don’t know yet,” Lucas truthfully replied, looking at the ball of grey fur. “But it’ll be better than Brian, I know that. I’m a way better pet dad than you.”

Eliott laughed brightly.

“I feel like I’m kinda his dad, too. I mean, I helped pick out his house and his toys and everything.”

Lucas was inclined to agree, but sadly, this was as far as things were going to go. Eliott would go home and feed Brian the mouse, and Lucas would pour all his affection into his new roomie.

“Maybe, uh…”

Eliott hesitated.

“What?”, Lucas asked curiously.

“Maybe I could come visit him sometime? And you, too, obviously.”

Lucas whipped his head up in surprise.

“And, you could come see Brian, too, I mean, if you wanted…”

Lucas smiled widely.

“Is this your way of asking my number?”

Eliott mirrored Lucas’ smile.

“Yeah. After all, don’t you think our pets would be better off with two dads?”

And as he punched in his number into Eliott’s phone, Lucas’ imagination got kickstarted again, showing him vividly another flat somewhere in Paris, with a rabbit enclosure next to a glass aquarium in which Brian was leisurely devouring a mouse, and two boys cuddled up in front of them, kissing each other. It beat living alone, for sure. 

[glitterportrait]

hamish dream drabble thing

In the dream he hears Alice calling to him on the shore.

He barely recalls what it looks like, the beach nearest Kirkwall. He’d been so young the last time he left it, and green-cheeked at the mere prospect of boarding another ship. But in the dream he knows she’s waiting there for him, sitting on the rocks with sand in her skirts, leashed impatience in her face.

Come down, Hamish, and I’ll tell you a story.

He’d always liked her stories. She would respin the old islanders’ yarns, adding her own distinctive flourish, as careful to pronounce the Orcadian names in her hard-won English accent as he. She had a fine voice for storytelling, Alice, unexpectedly fine; the richness of it issuing from her bird-boned frame surprised you, put you in mind of a practiced orator at his podium. In Yvon’s dedicated efforts to read to him Hamish often hears the echo of Alice’s cadence, though he will never say so.

You like the gruesome ones best, I know. So I shall tell you of the Nuckelavee.

What was the Nuckelavee? It’s been so many years since he heard that one, he can’t remember. Something with a horse, he thinks, one of those preposterous water-dwelling fairy equines that the Scottish seem so fond of. Well, he will let her tell it, for old times’ sake.

He tries to walk down to the beach, but the walls of Wobik loom in his path. The gate is closed, and leaning against the spear-sharpened planks, fleur-de-lis wilting over his head, Elisha Cooke greets him.

“You won’t find what you came from in there.”

Cooke is soaking wet, as though he’d tumbled straight out of the sea. To Hamish he always appears damp around the edges, with his pale eyes penetrating yet watered down, hair unnaturally slick at the temples. But now he’s sodden through and through, his beard a bedraggled fisher-cat’s tail, dripping down his embroidered waistcoat.

“But you’ve been there,” Hamish corrects him. “You know what it’s like.”

“No indeed, Mr. Goames,” Cooke replies, his chuckle so soft it’s more like a gasp. “I was never there, not really. Surely you know that? But if you must try for it, don’t forget to bring that in with you.”

Cooke points to Hamish’s feet, and glancing down he sees a fox, lying there with paws tucked under its chest. Though it doesn’t look quite right—it’s made of old rags, stuffed and stitched together, with whiskers and ears drawn on in charcoal—

He turns back to Cooke, but he’s vanished. Bill Selby stands in his place, and he’s sopping not with saltwater, but with gore. Bits of viscera slide down his flushed cheeks; he grins at Hamish as the gate swings wide behind him.

“Watch thee step un’r the black sun, lad!” It isn’t Gay Bill’s broad Glaswegian he hears, but a rarer and scarce-recollected lilt, the sound of his father’s tongue.

He pushes past Selby, squinting at the sky (the black sun overhead is still bright, bright enough to stab and scrape beneath your eyelids if you’re not careful) and finds himself on the shore. Only it’s the river before him, not the ocean: the vast and martyred Saint Laurent, though he hears the pounding of ocean waves clear as though he looked upon the North Sea’s face.

“It’s just the sound of what’s coming,” Yvon says, ambling up from the riverbank, braid unraveling, blood in his nostril from the blow Bill landed, still bruised and burst-prune violet as the moment he last saw him—

my God I am sorry I am sorry for it

—leaving with the girl.

“I know you are no great cavalryman, no more than I.” Yvon’s lips quirk in amusement. He raises an open palm as if to take hold of Hamish’s shoulder, though he does not.

“But listen again.”

And Hamish does, and he realizes that the pounding, the rhythmic slam and strike, is the sound of galloping hooves.

“Is that what I came from, then?” He tries to focus on Yvon’s face, but it blurs into unfamiliarity, and from there into nothingness; there is no one to walk with him, no one but the ragdoll fox.

It is watching him from a little ways up the beach, and he does not remember its face being so sooty, so stained about the mouth before. The cloth lips drawn back from its teeth, and its creaking voice unspools like string, tautening in the gusts of sea-wind: Savedyourskinsavedyourskin. The words all run together, but he discerns it when they change again: Askinforaskinforaskin.

There’s a pain beneath his ribs, a pain like what he imagines an apple’s flesh might feel under the edge of Yvon’s coring knife. When he looks down he sees the fox’s head gnawing at his side, burrowing into the wound with exultant glee, muzzle soft as a babe’s plaything and bright as a bloodied hand—

He slaps the fox away, moaning, shouting, though no sound comes out.

Hamish! Would you hear the tale or not?

He follows Alice’s voice, ever onward, until he finds her silhouette against the waterline. Obsidian sunlight glances off and into his unblinking eyes, so that looking hurts almost as much as his side; and when she faces him he isn’t in the least taken aback to see her gaze is as black as Cross claimed.

“The Nuckelavee is both ridden and the thing that rides. It is the plague of our blood, and only the Mither of the Sea can check it. I’ve told you this many times. But you forgot to bring the sea with you.”

That is right, Hamish realizes. He has always forgotten. In his ears the hoofbeats have grown louder, a roar that lodges in the mind, that blights all hope of future quiet.

“Do I have to go back?”

Of course it is Yvon who answers, materializing by his bleeding side, his warm seamed skin splitting with a smile.

“You don’t have to go back. You just have to turn around. But do not worry overmuch, Hamish. There are hardly any horses in Paradise Lost.”

Yvon would know, he thinks, so he turns around.

And he sees it, riding and being ridden beneath the black sun. The Nuckelavee, its four-legged form fused with the two-legged thing astride it, an abomination of horse and man melded together like carcasses conjoined. Its entire shape is skinless, as a kill just freshly stripped of hide, all gleaming fat and twitching muscle and red red red—

I DROWNED ME IN THE RIVER, it bellows out of two mouths, in a voice at once like Randall Cross’s and like the wet scream of a strangled colt. Somewhere in the distance there’s the din of pistol shot, but it dwindles to mere popping beneath the Nuckelavee’s words. 

Hamish Goames wants nothing more than to wake up; he would set every hectare of Rupert’s Land ablaze, he would murder Randall all over again, if only he could wake.

IN THE RIVER IN THE RIVER IN THE RIVER

He does not wake.

[thistleclaws-hatred]

Five Creatures - Chapter One

Allegiances       Allegiances W/References       Next Chapter

Squirrelstar sat near the lakebed, staring blankly across the water’s surface. Her ginger fur was fluffed up to block out to last cool breezes of leaf-bare. Her green eyes looked down at her own reflection. She looked gaunt, her fur dull and scruffy, and her eyes lacked the normal blaze that she so often saw.

“Squirrelstar?” A gentle voice aired behind her.

The ThunderClan leader turned her head, making eye contact with the blue eyes of her deputy. “Ah, Fawngaze, how can I help you?”

“Just checking up on you. Alderheart told me that you lost another life,” the cream she-cat sat next to Squirrelstar.

“Yes, although I’m not quite sure what took it,” Squirrelstar sighed, looking back at the dark water.

“These have been strange times, no one can deny that,” Fawngaze inched closer to the frail leader. “But, the weather is warming and prey is running. Our clan may be small, but we are strong.”

“How strong can we be after that leaf-bare? We lost so many, and so many are close to starvation.”

“Badgerpaw and Adderpaw are both shaping up to be fine hunters, and in just one moon we will have three more apprentices to help aid in strengthening the clan,” Fawngaze responded.

“I’m surprised those kits even lasted through leaf-bare. Happy, but surprised,” Squirrelstar flicked her ear,

“I doubt that Creekwing would’ve let anything bad happen to them. She would’ve starved before she let them die. Harescar too,” her deputy mused. “I also doubt that we were the only clan to be affected by this past leaf-bare.”

“I suppose we shall see in a few days,” Squirrelstar looked up at the moon, noticing its nearly full shape.

          Squirrelstar walked beside Blazejaw, the dark ginger giving a running commentary for his apprentice, Badgerpaw. She glanced sideways at the black-and-white tom, his eyes were bright and full of admiration for his mentor.

“Blazejaw, if I may?”

The warrior looked at Squirrelstar and nodded, “Be my guest.”

“Badgerpaw, when hunting, you’re going to have to get closer to your prey than almost any other warrior,” she commented.

“Because of my tail,” the apprentice’s deep voice meowed, a hint of sadness underlying his tone.

Squirrelstar flicked her tail in annoyance. She was brought back to when the kit had left the nursery and ran into a badger while exploring the woods. Luckily Lionblaze had been out to save him from losing his life, but Badgerpaw did lose his tail.

“Do you ever wish your name hadn’t been changed?” Blazejaw asked, stopping in front of his apprentice.

Badgerpaw, although not born with that name, shook his head, “Not at all. Badgerpaw is a way cooler name than Patchpaw.”

Squirrelstar glanced at Blazejaw, the pair twitching their whiskers with amusement. “Of course, my mistake.” Blazejaw laughed.

“Show me your hunting skills,” Squirrelstar directed Badgerpaw towards a thick patch of oak trees due north of them.

Badgerpaw nodded and headed off, his pawsteps light and face determined. Squirrelstar sat next to Blazejaw, the two ginger warriors watching Badgerpaw with keen eyes.

Badgerpaw froze, his ears perking and rotating towards a noise. The apprentice crouched low to the ground, his dark fur blending in with the still-barren forest. He crept forward slowly and bunched the muscles in his hips before leaping forward in a wonderful display of power. He lifted his head, a vole dangling from his jowls.

“Excellent catch!” Blazejaw purred.

“Beautiful technique,” Squirrelstar commented, smiling at the apprentice as he trotted over with his kill.

“I almost didn’t catch its scent. There was something over there I couldn’t identify,” Badgerpaw said, kicking dirt over the vole.

Squirrelstar immediately got to her paws, unsheathing her claws and walking over to where the vole had been caught. She sniffed around, trying to pinpoint the scent Badgerpaw spoke about. A faint scent wafted over her. Not badger, not fox...Definitely a cat. 

“It’s probably just a loner walking through, but I’ll be sure to let Fawngaze know so the patrols can look out for them,” she reassured the apprentice.

Blazejaw flashed a questioning glance towards his leader but did not comment. Squirrelstar motioned for the pair of toms to follow her, “Let’s continue hunting.”

           Squirrelstar was surprised by how much fresh-kill Badgerpaw had managed to catch. The apprentice had caught two mice in addition to the vole. Blazejaw and her had also been successful in their hunting.

“Successful day?” Fawngaze asked sarcastically, taking one of Squirrelstar’s squirrels from her.

“Very much so. You were right about Badgerpaw,” Squirrelstar purred.

“The fresh-kill pile hasn’t been this stocked in a long time, you should be sure to enjoy some along with the rest of us,” Fawngaze nudged her leader with a shoulder.

“I’ll eat once everyone else has.”

Squirrelstar saw Adderpaw coming out of the elders’ den, tufts of moss clinging to his thin pelt. 

“Adderpaw! If you’re done cleaning the elders’ den, then you can eat,” Honeyspeck, a light ginger she-cat and Adderpaw’s mentor, called from across the clearing.

The pale tom nodded and headed over to the fresh-kill pile, taking a mouse for himself and settling next to Badgerpaw. Harescar was coming out of the nursery, his eyes brimming with happiness and his three kits following after him. Squirrelstar took this moment to appreciate her clan, how strong it was even after a tough leaf-bare.

“Have you decided who’s going to mentor them?” Fawngaze asked, her eyes looking at the three kits as they tackled their father.

“I only know that Dogpelt will be getting Firekit. StarClan knows that Firekit needs someone strong-willed and patient,” Squirrelstar meowed.

“Couldn’t agree more. Between you and me, I think Foxdust would be a great mentor for Acornkit,” Fawngaze commented.

Squirrelstar blinked at her deputy. Why hadn’t she thought of that? Foxdust’s outgoing personality and bravery could hopefully help Acornkit out of his shell. “Excellent idea.”

As Fawngaze turned to leave, the ThunderClan leader was struck with the scent of the loner once more, “Oh, Fawngaze. I forgot to mention, Badgerpaw scented a loner near the SkyClan border, make sure the patrols are on high alert.”

“Will do, Squirrelstar,” the pale she-cat responded, curling her tail high over her back.

          As the moon rose above the ThunderClan camp, Squirrelstar finally allowed herself a mouse from the fresh-kill pile. Fawngaze smirked at her leader as she walked into the warriors’ den. Squirrelstar rolled her eyes and laid down to eat her mouse. She savored every bite, finally realizing how hungry she truly was.

She could hear the three kits inside the nursery, no doubt it was Firekit and Hawkkit trying to persuade Acornkit to do something stupid. She sighed fondly, remembering her own time in the nursery. But, by now her kits were no longer kits. Alderheart was a fully-fledged medicine cat and Sparkpelt, unfortunately, had passed this past new-leaf when a dog got loose from its twoleg.

And, of course, Squirrelflight missed her mate dearly. Another sigh escaped her when she thought of Bramblestar, the previous leader of ThunderClan. His dark tabby pelt often filled her dreams, saddening as it was for her to think of his passing.

“Enjoying a meal all alone?” Alderheart asked, looking down at his mother.

“Finally allowing myself a meal,” she corrected, sitting up and looking at her son.

Alderheart sat next to her, his fur was soft against her prickly coat. He followed her gaze to the nursery and connected the dots, “Do you wish you had more?”

“More kits?” Squirrelstar asked, twitching her ear, “Sometimes. But I know that neither Bramblestar or I could’ve taken on that responsibility during our downfall.”

“During ThunderClan’s downfall, I presume?” Alderheart asked, his thick tail wrapping around his paws.

“Yes, it was an unfortunate time for this clan. During Bramblestar’s last few lives, who could’ve seen SkyClan rising up against us? And our enemies with WindClan didn’t help either,” Squirrelstar lamented.

“Bramblestar spent his entire last life trying to smooth things over with both clans, and now, so many seasons later, I fear that no clan is strong enough to even think of an uprising or attack,” Alderheart hesitated.

“I suppose you’re right Alderheart. You’ve always been the wisest in our family,” she said to her son playfully, “But you didn’t hear that from me.” She finished as she headed back towards her den, whisking her tail across his nose as she left.

As she laid down to finally rest, she could feel the age seeping through her bones and joints. With a huff, she flopped onto her side to give her legs some rest. She would never tell her clanmates, but even her hunt today with Badgerpaw and Blazejaw exhausted her more than she ever thought was possible.

When she drifted off to sleep that night, the familiar stench of blood filled her nose, but she was far too exhausted to make herself stay awake. When her vision went black, a sharp pair of fangs dripping in blood flooded the darkness.

[mandareeboo]

Unfinished Work #13

I was scrounging around, looking for that Tinyfeather thing to post, when I remembered I actually wrote out the beginnings of my Medicine Cat Fireheart AU. It was gonna be like a drabble-based series as he did his thing, but I lost interest pretty quick.

Rusty had never been allowed the feeling of the breeze in his fur, the scents of the forest in his nose. The burn in his legs felt amazing, even if his lungs were tightening from no oxygen, and he wondered belatedly if he might run like this forever. If only for this alone he’d be more than willing to leave his nest forever, no matter the sadness that bit into his stomach as he thought of his housefolk. They could always get a new cat.

“We should take a rest,” Whitestorm meowed finally, coming to a clean stop. Rusty was scrambling not to run into him. “It looks like the kittypet needs it.”

Panting, Rusty fell back on his haunches, eyes glowing. He didn’t look the least bit apologetic. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. You need to be put together for when you meet the Clan.” Lionheart flicked an ear dismissively and sat down, watching his reactions intently. Rusty wondered if this were a test- and, if it was, if he’d already failed it. “How are you liking the forest?”

“It’s perfect!” he found himself saying, then put a tamper down on his excitement. “I wish I could stay here forever. It’s so much better than my dreams.”

“Dreams, huh?” Whitestorm mused, craning his head down to clean his back paw. “I suppose all kittypets must dream of escaping once or twice.”

“I never dreamed about escaping,” he meowed. Rusty found himself self-consciously scratching at his collar. Some wild cat he was turning out to be; he’d never even dreamt of leaving! “It was always about hunting. There was a really big tree, once, but that’s about it?”

“Tree?”

“Yeah. It was tall, and the roots went on forever.”

Whitestorm and Lionheart were both staring at him now. Lionheart’s whiskers twitched nervously, while his companion gave no sign of movement. Rusty shrunk under their combined look. “Sorry. Did I say something wrong?”

“We have a tree like that in our territory,” Lionheart rumbled, “it’s called the Great Sycamore.”

“The Great Sycamore?” The words felt right on his tongue. Rusty found himself nodding, voice drifting off like he were in a daze. “Yes, that sounds about right. I think it was the Great Sycamore. Thanks for telling me, Lionheart.”

Whitestorm bolted to his paws, yellow eyes molten with an emotion Rusty couldn’t place. “Enough time on break. We need to get you to Bluestar.”

“Bluestar? I thought we were going to the camp?”

“We are, but we’re taking you straight to Bluestar.” The white warrior nudged him to his paws. “She’ll want to hear of this.”

Fear roiled in his gut. “Did I do something bad?”

“Keep up,” Lionheart growled, then plunged into the undergrowth. The thrill of the run no longer surged through Rusty as he followed.

Rusty was given very little chance to look through the camp before being ushered towards the den at the bottom of a large stone. Cat scent overwhelmed him, making it hard to pick apart anything familiar. Was that Graypaw on the breeze, or was he just being hopeful?

One tabby tom dared get closer to speak with them, but Whitestorm cut him off with a simple, “Not now, Runningwind.”

Rusty flinched. Whitestorm had been a patient with him so far, and the ginger tom was certain this was the closest he ever got to snapping at a fellow warrior. The two warriors pushed on regardless, Lionheart entering the den under the rock first with Whitestorm close behind. Rusty hesitated before following.

Bluestar, who had been about to meet them in the clearing, was forced to back up, eyes wide with confusion and perhaps a little embarrassment. No matter what the case, she obviously didn’t seem very happy with being pushed around. “What’s gotten into you? This is no way for a warrior to behave.”

“Apologies, Bluestar,” Whitestorm meowed, then shoved Rusty forward with a paw. “Tell her what you told us.”

“Am I in trouble?”

“No. Tell her.”

Rusty looked at Bluestar. The gray-blue she-cat blinked at him. He thought she really didn’t seem to be going for any emotion in particular; a careful neutrality he supposed every leader had to master. “I had dreams about the forest.”

“Not just the forest,” Lionheart broke in. “He knew what the Great Sycamore looked like, Bluestar.”

Bluestar’s gaze sharped. “Have you been inside our territory before, Rusty?”

“No, Bluestar.”

“You’re not lying to me, are you?”

“No, Bluestar,” he shuffled his paws, “I’m just really confused. Doesn’t every cat dream?”

“Not of things they’ve never seen before,” she twitched her tail. “Lionheart, go get Spottedleaf. She needs to meet him.”

Lionheart dipped his head and exited from whence he’d come.

“Whitestorm,” Bluestar prompted.

“I’ll go keep cats busy,” he agreed, then slipped back into the clearing himself. Rusty found himself alone with the wise leader, her blue eyes trained on his with unbridled curiosity. And was that… was that respect? It couldn’t be. There was no reason for her to respect him yet.

“Bluestar, I don’t understand…”

“I know, Rusty,” she responded, then gestured with her tail for him to sit. “In the Clans, there are two types of cats. We have warriors, like Lionheart and Whitestorm, and we have medicine cats. Medicine cats do their best to keep us healthy and repair our wounds after a battle.”

Rusty nodded to show he recognized what she was saying. “They’re like the vet, then. Only they don’t have all those weird pebbles.”

“Pebbles?” Bluestar blinked at him bemusedly, then reluctantly nodded. “I suppose so. More importantly, however, is that medicine cats commune with StarClan. Our ancestors give us guidance and prophecies, and it’s the job of medicine cats to keep their secrets and help us survive. Almost all of this happens in the realm of sleep.”

“Dreams?” Rusty’s mind had begun to spin. “You think StarClan sent me dreams?”

“I know so. I also know that, provided Spottedleaf agrees, your destiny is not a warrior,” Bluestar lowered her head so they were at eye level, the blue orbs bright with awe. “I think StarClan has brought you to ThunderClan to be a medicine cat.”

Rusty had no response to that. After all, why him? Why not any of the multitude of cats in ThunderClan? Surely they would make a better conduit between the living and the fallen then some random house pet who wanted to catch a mouse?

A sweet scent hit his nostrils, and Rusty turned to see a tortoiseshell she-cat delicately pad into Bluestar’s den. Her fur was dappled, and wisdom shone in her gaze. Lionheart awkwardly shuffled in after, unsure if he should guard the entrance or if he was welcome inside.

“Are you Rusty?” she asked. “You must be. Lionheart told me all about you. Gave him a good scare, from what he’s said.”

“Me? Scare Lionheart?” He glanced at the impressive-looking golden tom. “I don’t think that’s possible.”

“What do you think, Spottedleaf?” Bluestar dipped her head respectfully to the she-cat. “Is he apprentice material?”

“That’s for StarClan to decide.”

“Then you’ll take him to the Moonstone?”

“Tomorrow,” she promised. “He’ll need to rest first.”

“The Clan won’t wait to meet him until tomorrow,” Lionheart interject with a frown.

Spottedleaf shrugged, wrapping a protective tail across Rusty’s shoulders. “If StarClan can accept him into their ranks, so can ThunderClan.”

“Wise words.” Bluestar got to her paws. “I’ll gather the Clan.”

“Rusty, turn around,” Spottedleaf instructed. Rusty did so, and immediately felt a tugging at his neck. “Things will go badly enough without this.”

“Oh,” he meowed, surprised. “My collar. I forgot I was wearing it.”

“In a few moments you’ll never have to wear it again,” she promised. “Lionheart, help me bite through.”

Lionheart hunkered down behind him. The tugging grew more insistent, until finally Rusty felt his collar slip free from him. It clattered to the den floor without preamble, out of place and unwelcome in the wild.

Rusty felt the breeze buffet his scruff for the first time in perhaps his entire life. His shoulders and spine straightened. A change was already beginning to go through him; he couldn’t imagine having that thing around him ever again, choking and owning him. He kicked it away, then thought better of it and buried it in the bushes right outside the curtain that blocked Bluestar’s den from the elements.

Lionheart nudged him, a friendly twitch to his whiskers. Did he recognize the freedom Rusty felt? Had he always had it? Lucky him. “Just you wait. If all goes well, tomorrow you won’t even have that silly kittypet name.”

“Yeah,” Rusty realized suddenly. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

Moss will probably never be as comfortable as his Twoleg-made nest, but Rusty nevertheless slept like a stone amongst its brothers that night, untroubled by dreams. Spottedleaf had been so kind as to have a nest made in her den, and while Graypaw was the only apprentice who helped, it felt like it was full of friendly feelings.

After the little ‘incident’ in the clearing, Rusty figured he deserved some comfort.

Truthfully, he wasn’t sure what had come over him. He’d been angry, yes; angry at how the other cats had reacted, angry at how they’d called him the ruin of ThunderClan, angry that no one had defended him. But Rusty was never prone to violence before, having lived a cushy life and having only Smudge to play-wrestle with (and, even then, Smudge had never been a fan), it had shocked everyone, Rusty especially, when he tackled that pale tom. When his claws ripped his ear.

It’d only made things stranger when no one but the tabby’s friends had been angry with him. Rusty thought he might have seen pride in Bluestar’s eyes as she announced that he had the heart of any Clan cat. Spottedleaf merely led the warrior- Longtail, Graypaw whispered to him- to the medicine den for a quick look over.

“Come on, up and at ‘em.” Spottedleaf nudged his side with a purr. “Time to get going.”

Rusty stood and stretched. His fur stuck up in random places, and he tasted grit as he washed it. “Can medicine cats always go see StarClan whenever they want?”

“Usually we only go on special occasions, or during the half-moon, but I’m sure StarClan will understand. I don’t think you want to be introduced to the other Clans with a kittypet name,” she responded, pushing a bundle of leaves over. “Eat this. You need energy.”

Spottedleaf led the way out of camp with only a quick nod to Bluestar. Rusty glanced around, trying to find Graypaw’s familiar fluffy pelt, but he was already gone. He felt a bit discouraged, but it wasn’t the apprentice’s fault he couldn’t see them on their way.

“Where are we headed?”

“The big rocks,” she meowed bluntly, jerking her nose in the direction of the structure far in the distance. “We call them Highstones.”

Rusty boggled at the thought of journeying that far. “Can we even make that in one day?”

“We can if we hurry.”

Spottedleaf led them to sneak carefully across the edge of WindClan territory, unwilling to have a run-in with a patrol for fear they’d ask for Rusty’s name. From there they crossed the Thunderpath, which was shockingly free of monsters, then hiked it up the rest of the way.

“Rusty’s not that bad a name,” he grumbled. “Not really.”

“That doesn’t matter.” A dappled tail whisked across his nose. “The Clans would call you by that name the rest of your life. Wouldn’t you rather not let them have that ammo against you?”

“I guess. Couldn’t Bluestar have given me a name before we left?”

“Yes. Things aren’t that simple with you, though. She needs all of StarClan to be on your side before officially naming you the next medicine cat. Look, we’re almost there.”

Rusty lashed his tail and followed. Again, he pondered, should StarClan truly exist and truly be looking for an apprentice for Spottedleaf, why not a Clan cat? Why not Ravenpaw, or even one of the elders, if it came down to it? Why him?

Maybe it was because he could hear the whispers as Spottedleaf led him down the dark cave that led to the Moonstone she’d spoken so highly of. The brush of pelts that weren’t there. If that were the case, then fair enough.

Finally, they reached a cavern. Damp air settled in around his neckline. Rusty fluffed out his pelt and crouched, waiting for Spottedleaf’s instructions, but the she-cat simply settled in beside him.

The ginger tom was beginning to doze off when suddenly a bright light illuminated the room. He jumped to his eyes, green eyes screaming as they attempted to readjust to the glow. The Moonstone glittered unapologetically, the eyes of StarClan trained on him. Spottedleaf had moved to stand before it while he floundered, dappled fur bleached with the light.

“Even in this light, your fur is like fire,” she murmured. “Rusty, step forward.”

Rusty pulled himself to his paws and self-consciously stumbled forward. Did almost falling asleep put him on StarClan’s bad side? Was StarClan even real? If this was some sort of prank, it was an incredibly in-depth one.

“Rusty, is it your wish to enter the mysteries of StarClan as a medicine cat?”

He swallowed. “Yes?”

She nodded. “Warriors of StarClan, I present you with this apprentice. He has chosen the path of a medicine cat. Grant him your wisdom and insight so that he may understand your ways and heal his Clan in accordance with your will. I strip him of his kittypet name so he may be reborn as my student. Hereafter he will never be known by Rusty, but by Firepaw, for his pelt.”

Firepaw. The name tingled through him. He was free. Well and truly free. Never again would he be able to go back to his housefolk, or call when beckoned. Those days were behind him forever.

“Touch the stone with your nose, Firepaw,” Spottedleaf whispered. “It’s time for you to meet your ancestors.”

The first thing Firepaw saw was the stars, then the trees. It didn’t look like ThunderClan, but he hadn’t exactly gotten the most in-depth tour, either, so it could really go either way. He sat up and looked around, freezing when the bushes rustled, but it was a kit that slunk into the flat, grassy area.

“Hello,” he called. The kit waved its tail as it approached- she was gray and black, with the same tapered ears of Bluestar. “Shouldn’t you be in the camp?”

“It’s safe here,” she meowed, pressing her nose to Firepaw’s arm. “In StarClan. I don’t have to hide away like a normal kit.”

Firepaw crouched, lowering his nose to the dirt. His heart pounded in his ears. Is this real, or is this all a dream? “I’m sorry if I offended you.”

“I’m not offended,” the kit assured him. “My name is Mosskit.”

Another shape came out of the bushes- a lithe white she-cat. “And I’m Snowfur. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Firepaw.”

[pikapikaprecure]

Pikapika☆Precure Under The Big Top episode 3- Merchandise saves the day!? Return of Takura’s robots!

“Félicité Bow!“ Jubilee summoned her weapon, and fired her arrows, being careful not to get hit by anything. She stepped back, and held her weapon in the air, as did Carnival, Cheer and Parade. “Pretty Cure Cirque Charge!”

The enemy had been defeated, or so the girls thought.

“Miss Adachi! Miss Adachi!”

It was Suzume’s math teacher, Mrs. Kagabu. “Will you answer this question please?” 

“Oh! uhhh,” Suzume looked to her notes “forty-nine.”

“Correct.”

Suzume had never been a daydreamer, but lately this Pretty Cure thing had been taking up a lot of her mind lately. She was constantly thinking about who would attack next. It really stressed her out, but at least she could vent to Ellie. Just not in school. She would have to wait until she got home, and that she did.

As soon as she stepped into her house, Suzume ran into her room, and unattached Ellie from her backpack. “I’m nervous,” she said, without hesitation.

“About what-oh. That’s completely normal. Any Earthling would be.” 

“I mean, I think we’re gonna win, but what if we all die?”

“You won’t die, I promise.”

“You better fucking mean that.”

“I do.”

“Good.”

No more than a minute later, Emica burst into the room, sitting on her bed. “Suzu! Suzu! Suzu! Suzu!”

Suzume let out an exasperated sigh. “Whaaaaat?”

“I promised my friend Kaede I would come to her house today! She got toys for the new Precure team, and I wanna see!”

“Is it really that important to you?”

“Yes!!! Please?”

“Ugh, fine. Get out of uniform first, though.”

“No! I want to go NOW!”

“Fine, then. Let’s go NOW. Come on, come on, come on.” Suzume picked up her sister and brought her downstairs. Then, she pushed her out the door, slamming it behind her. “We’re gonna walk to Kaede’s now, let’s go.” 

Luckily, Kaede’s house was just two blocks away. Kaede was already sitting on the porch, that crappy merchandise in a pile on her lap. Suzume always hated Precure merch, but now that she was the one being commercialized off of, she despised it even more. “Yeah, have fun,” she told her sister, walking off to go back home. 

“Boo!”

Suzume turned around. Tamiko was right behind her. 

“Were you following me?”

“No, just found you. I live right across the street. Wanna hang out at my place for a little while? Or we could go to the rink or something.”

Suzume was shocked. Did this girl, who hated her for a pretty long time, just invite her over? “Is this some sort of practical joke?”

“Nope!”

“But I thought you hated me...”

Tamiko started cracking up. “You seriously fell for that?”

“For what?”

“Me hating you! It’s all just for attention! Now that we’re not in public, we can be friends!”

“I’m not even that popular, you made me so mad I called you a-”

“If I went for anyone more popular, everyone would hate me.”

Suzume was not having it, so she continued on her walk home, too angry to notice Tamiko’s visible disappointment. 

When Suzume got home, she immediately went to her room to check on Ellie, who was fast asleep until the door was opened. “Suzume!” Ellie squealed. “Wanna go to the circus and practice your magic?”

“Um, why the hell not? Should we get the others?”

“Of course! You know where they live?”

“Well I worked on a project with Airi once, so I know where she lives. None of the others, though.”

“Well let’s go to Airi’s.” And that they did. When the pair got to her front door, Airi’s mother answered. “Uhh, hey...” Suzume told her, strategically hiding Ellie, who forgot to go to keychain form, behind her back. “I’m Suzume, from Airi’s class. We’re working on something together, uhh, I don’t know if she told you but we need to go survey people all over Horitori for a study. You know where she is?” 

“Yep! She’s in her room. Want me to grab you girls some to go snacks?”

“That would be so nice of you! Please do!”

Not more than a minute later, Airi was downstairs, with a bag of cookies. She closed the door, immediately addressing Suzume. “What is this town survey and why haven’t I been told about it?”

Suzume gestured to the compact peeking out of Airi’s purse.

“Oh,” Airi replied. “I know where Aina lives, she’s just up the block. Should we go get her?”

“Of course!” Ellie answered. 

So, the trio went to Aina’s house, only to be stopped by Aina herself. “Yeah, I figured you’d be around here, let’s go.”

“Are you psychic?” Airi asked.

“Nope! Just got a good sense of what’s going on. Where’s Noa?”

“No idea,” Suzume answered.

“We’ll probably find her,” Aina said. “Let’s get going.”

Airi hesitated. “Are you so sure we should just-”

“Yep.” Aina replied. “Are we going or not?”

Aina was right. Noa was found outside the park on the way over. The group made their way to the circus, where Stripe and Whiskers were waiting for them, weapons in hand. Airi was about to put her key in her compact. 

“Not yet!” Stripe yelled. “First, you must familiarize yourself with your weapons.” Whisker handed the weapons to their respective owners.

“Alright Aina, you first.” 

Aina held up the Bonheur Wand.

“Pikapika Dream Blast!!”

Aina repeated.

Meanwhile, Airi and Noa were working with Stripe to learn spells with the Chanceux Sword and the Fête Ribbon.

On the other side of the tent, Ellie was having a hard time teaching Suzume how to use the Félicité Bow. Suzume was also confused, she seemed to do good with it the other day. Maybe she needed to be transformed? Now that Suzume thought of it, she didn’t fire too much, it was mostly used for that group attack. Either way, she was having a hard time. Ellie painted a target onto a nearby prop to see if that would help with aim. It didn’t. Both of them were frustrated.

“Alright Suzume,” Ellie said. “I didn’t think you would have such a hard time. Try again.”

Suzume tried again, and for the tenth time, the arrow landed on the floor. “I quit.”

“No! Don’t quit! Keep trying. Here, I’ll give you some tips. See all those stars?” Ellie gestured to the star pattern on the bow’s handle. Those will give you better grip. Try holding the bow from those.”

Suzume did so.

“Stand with your feet apart. Be very careful near the arrow. Take a deep breath, and fire!”

Suzume followed Ellie’s instructions. She prepared to fire, but there was a sudden, loud rip in the circus tent. Suzume ran to see what caused the rip, and the fairies followed her. It was Indigo, along with two other, identical robots.

Same pale white metal, same small, bright red eyes, same otherworldly vibe. Suzume just assumed that all of Takura’s robots are the same, the only difference was power, because aren’t the bad guys supposed to get more powerful? At least that’s what Emica and her friends say.

The three robots grabbed onto Airi, Aina, and Noa. Luckily, there wasn’t another to grab Suzume, so she helped push them out so the four girls could transform together.

“Magic circus jubilee change!“

“Magic circus carnival change!” 

“Magic circus parade change!”

“Magic circus cheer change!”

“For the happiness of the world! The Pretty Cure of beauty and grace! Cure Jubilee!”

“For the happiness of the world! The Pretty Cure of bravery and friendship! Cure Carnival!“

“For the happiness of the world! The Pretty Cure of creativity and love! Cure Parade!”

“For the happiness of the world! The Pretty Cure of peace and hope! Cure Cheer!”

The Cures begun to chase the robots, until they were in the middle of the street. They kept on going until they were right by Kaede’s house. Jubilee would have kept going but she saw Kaede on her balcony, cheering. She went inside and came out with Emica. “Hey, look, we’ve got fans!” Carnival whispered to the others. Jubilee knew that to Emica, seeing this fight live would be amazing. “I think we’ll stop here,” she told the rest of the group. Carnival ran over to the three robots, and repeatedly kicked them one by one. Jubilee joined in. When Parade also decided to join in, each girl took one robot. Cheer sat out for a minute, but eventually summoned her ribbon. “Pikapika golden tangle!” She called, which extended the ribbon to the robots and tied it around the three of them, with just enough time for the Cures to escape.

Indigo lifted his arm over the ribbon. It looked like he was going to do something, but he didn’t. He just waited. 

Meanwhile, the girls decided it would be best to perform an attack.

“Chanceux Sword!”

“Bonheur Wand!” 

“Félicité Bow!”

The four girls held their weapons in the air. 

“Pretty Cure Cirque Cha-”

Indigo moved his hand, and moved the weapons into his possession.

“H-how...” Cheer stuttered.

Jubilee had a sudden realization. Emica said that Kaede had a lot of merchandise for “the new Precure team”, obviously referring to Jubilee and her teammates. These weapons might not be magical, but they could be what they need.  “Hey!” Jubilee shouted up at the balcony. “You got any merch?”

“Yep!” Kaede responded. 

“She has all the merch!!!” Emica exclaimed.

“Toss it down here!” Jubilee told the younger girls.

Kaede and Emica threw it all down.

“What are you doing?” Parade asked Jubilee.

“Just watch.” Jubilee grabbed the replica of her bow. 

Cheer, catching on, grabbed the merchandise of her ribbon and tied it on Indigo’s hand and the traces of her real weapon.

Jubilee remembered what Ellie told her before.

“Stand with your feet apart. Be very careful near the arrow. Take a deep breath, and fire!”

Being very careful, Jubilee separated her feet and straightened her back. She held the arrow right by the star pattern on the handle, and fired! 

That cheap plastic arrow seemed to have done the trick. It broke the invisible barrier keeping the weapons away from the Cures, and they could finally attack.

“Pretty Cure Cirque Charge!”

As soon as they spoke those words, all that was left of the robots was a pile of scrap metal. The girls gasped. They had defeated their first enemies.

Kaede and Emica came down to grab their merchandise, and with a lot of persuasion, got them to sign it. Much to Carnival’s pleasure and Jubilee’s dismay, a few selfies were also involved. 

Emica looked up at the girls and smiled. “There’s a reason I love Precure so much.”

“And what would that be?” Parade asked.

“Moments like this! You guys always win, and defeat the bad guys! You keep our world safe! I wanna be like you one day.”

“And maybe one day you will,” Ellie said. “Thanks for your help.”

When Suzume got home, she was mor than happy to let Emica show off all the selfies she got, including a video of the Cures saying “Hi Suzume!” (That one was awkward.) Normally she would be annoyed, but, although Emica didn’t know it, she made her happy today. There was no better feeling than that.

[justbarrymawonga]

THE TRUE FABLE OF O’NE

There once was a man. 

The assumption that man has always been holds truth in our most basic view of time. 

We don’t know why but we know that there has always once been a man. This particular man lived in a time when stories and fables were nothing more than yesterday’s happenings. 

This man’s name was O’ne he was the son of Baree who was the son of Ah’me who was a direct descendant of the great and most feared warrior Ma’tu.O’ne lived outside of the village, near the forest of Truths with his two sons, Ma’tu Ru and Ma’tu Nu and the mother of his two sons El’na. 

Ma’tu Ru was the oldest and the strongest but both sons were built very big with muscles and had long locks of black hair that reached their backs. They lived outside the village and close to the forest because they were hunters. In the land of Zamu taking the life of an animal was taboo but not against any law. 

In fact there were only but three Laws in Zamu.

Do not kill, without just cause.

Do not lie, to cause harm.

And the most important law of all three the one that all follow and none break.

Do not steal.

O’ne became a hunter when he was but a boy. He killed a serpent that swallowed his mother as they slept for the night. When they awoke and found the serpent lying there, having had its fill, O’ne’s father did nothing. He said Oa knew what they were doing. 

O’ne boiled with fury and rage and grabbed his father’s wood cutting stone and chopped the head off the beast. His mother’s limp body fell out of the dead serpent. 

O’ne cried out in pain because it was too late his mother was died. In anguish and pain he let out seven shouts of pain and on the seventh shout lightning struck O’ne and his mother. It is said that the lightning struck O’ne because he had committed a taboo by killing an animal but even worse by killing one of the many faces that Oa wears the ‘serpent’.

And in the epicenter of the lighting strike something happened to O’ne, what that something is no spirit or person can actually say.As the smoldering embers around O’ne and his mother died out the woman took a deep breath and for the first time since the birth of O’ne, his father showed real emotion and started to roll on in the dirt tearing off his clothes. 

When the dust settle Baree carried his other into their bed leaving O’ne to burn the serpent and to throw away the ashes deep inside the Innocent forest, named so because man rarely ventured there. And for those that do they are never to return. 

O’ne took the serpent and carried it on his back with his stone axe in his hand and water in his coconut container.O’ne travelled for five days and four nights before he reached a large clearing deep in the Innocent forest, he placed the serpent’s body down and went to gather dead wood for the fire just beyond the clearing.

Just as O’ne stepped out of the clearing a big cat creature pounced on him had it not been for the shrubbery in the cats path the cat would have liberated O’ne’s head form his body. O’ne tumbled back into the clearing the cat followed with a slow stalk. 

O’ne was still on the ground clenching his stone axe and still inching back to where he laid the serpents body. The cat did not follow, it stop when O’ne reached the serpents body. He didn’t understand why the cat did not kill him on the spot. 

The cat just stared at him and O’ne stared back, eventually the cat felt that this was tedious and crawled up into a ball and fell asleep. O’ne was shocked here was an opportunity to kill a threat to his life. 

His enemy was asleep. All he had to do was, was to pick up his father’s stone axe and bring its head down on his sleeping enemy, but was the cat really asleep? 

O’ne could not with full certainty know so he stared at the sleeping cat.But before long O’ne himself was beset upon by his own deep weariness and sleep over took and consumed him. 

He had restless dreams that night. Dreams of being chased by flying serpents, dreams of meeting a man with a golden face a face so bright that if you looked at the man your face would melt and without knowing how he knew he tried his best not to look at the man.

O’ne’s resolve was wearing thin and the temptation to look at the man was just too great to ignore for much longer and just as he was about to look he was pulled back out of his dream and into life with a terror so strong. He for a second forgot how to breathe. After a small examination O'ne realized that nothing was a miss.The cat was awake now and staring amused at him.

O’ne released a sigh of relief, and started to chuckle to himself in that moment he was happy to be alive. He forgot all his worries and smiled as he looked at the roof of the forest canopy there was a tiny bit of moonlight penetrating the top, he couldn't see the stars dancing in the sky, but he could hear them dancing their twinkling rhythm.But just than he heard movement from the cat in front of him. 

O'ne quickly looked down into the clearing and saw nothing different at first, he almost sighed of relief again but then he saw it. The big cat had moved closer, not by much but it indeed had moved.Closer.

O’ne stared at the cat. Its big green eyes stared back, it looked like it knew something that O’ne did in fact know but for some reason could not recall on command. The cat’s breathing started to pick up pace. It was as if the cat was inhaling air to make itself appear even bigger than it already was. The green of its eyes started to glow. The glow was intense jade. O’ne was captivated by the glow. He was unaware, maybe uncaring to the fact that the cat was moving closer to him.

O’ne dropped his stone axe.

The light was beautiful. The light was the truth. The light was Oa. It was all the faces of Oa.

O’ne embraced his destiny and surrendered wholly and holy to the jade light. The boy was at peace.Somewhere in the conscious part of his brain he saw the cat leap for him but O’ne had given into his sub-conscious.The light was filling his entire body with a freedom no man before him had ever experienced and very few since.The serpent.The serpent hissed so loud. 

The trees in the forest of Innocence started to tremble at the terrifying echoes that came from the dead serpent.The mesmerizing spell of the jade glow was broken. O’ne was back to his scared self. He picked the stone axe up and without forethought, without reflection he charged the now leaping cat. This sudden burst of randomness stunned the cat perhaps more than the hissing of the dead snake.For the first time since the glowing started O’ne had control of his own consciousness.The eyes. The eyes, go for the eyes.

O’ne leapt into the sky with a power and a will he did not know he possessed.Freedom.This was pure freedom. Being able to be conscious and still see outside of oneself.

O’ne plunged the stone axe in the right eye of the cat while holding on to its right ear with his left hand.There was a connection between the two as he clung on top the cat's ear. Their roles were now and forever reversed. O’ne was the hunter, O’ne was the cat. He felt the cat’s fear surging through his left hand.The cat groaned and moaned and shook its head so violently and so hard that O’ne was flunged high in the air. He had some of the cats whiskers in his left hand and as he plunged back to the hard earth. O’ne saw the cat run back into the forest of Innocence. Somehow O’ne landed on his feet.

Unhurt.

O’ne was still holding the cat’s whiskers in his left hand and the now bloody stone axe in his right. The blood on the axe burnt hot. So hot that the stone axe was scorched black and turned into a black crystal and so were parts of his right hand. But he felt no pain. He felt strength from both the burn on his right hand and the whiskers in his left hand.

O’ne dropped the stone axe not because it was heavy to hold but because he had no use for the weapon anymore. He knew without knowing that no animal in this forest would dare to attack him.

O’ne stood in the dark clearing. It felt brighter to him now than it had when he woke from his dream. Yet there was no light source. Except for the faint glow of the now displace jade eye of the cat and the penetrating moonlight. He walked to the jade eye and he picked it up.

O’ne stared into the eye and he could see Oa as they stared back at him. O’ne ate the eye as if it were an apple. It was his final rebellion against Oa. Still chewing and eating the eye, O'ne walked to the dead serpent and stood in front of it. O’ne finished his jade eye apple and tied the whiskers around his waist like a belt. He sat down in front of the serpent.‘Speak’ O’ne insisted to the dead serpent. Moments had passed without him moving or without the serpent speaking.How many moments?

Only Oa knew.

O’ne got up from his seated position and went a few steps back to pick up his stone axe. This time he looked at the transformed stone axe it wasn’t stone anymore it was crystal like and so sharp that it cut O’ne’s finger as he  ran it across the crystal blade.

O’ne was amazed.He went back to the headless serpent and started to skin the serpent. He knew what he was doing even though he did not know why.

O’ne consumed the serpents body for seven days and for seven night. Each time he would prepare a meal he would say these words-‘I consume you to make me stronger’Once O’ne’s feasting came to an end. He put out his fires and collected his serpents skin in a bundle and headed back to his village.

The trip back only took him a day this time because he had no dead serpent to weigh him down and because he had no reason to fear the forest anymore. When he reached the homestead of his father O’ne was met with fright because they thought him to be dead in the forest of Innocence never to return. Instead here stood a boy who now resembled a fierce and powerful man. 

O’ne’s clothes did not fit him anymore it is as if he had grown years in a matter of weeks.

Baree tried to stop O’ne from entering the house but the man O'ne had grown up to fear and respect seemed like a bothersome fly to him now. O’ne found his mother sleeping and he woke her and at first she did not recognize him to be her son but after a few silent moments she realized that it was O’ne her son.‘How long was I asleep?’ She asked trying to understand why the boy looked like a man.‘I do not know the answer to that question mother.’ O’ne could see the confusion dancing in her eyes, but he was unsympathetic to it.‘You, woman you owe me your life.’ There was silence.

O’ne unwrapped the bundle of serpents skin that he had tied with one of the seven whiskers from the cat he had and gave it to his confused mother with all the whiskers and said ‘Make me new clothes with these, and make them fast. I do not want to be here when the sunsets.’The woman looked at the skins in awe and said ‘This will be the finest clothe my hands shall ever make.’O’ne stayed in the room as his mother made the clothes. 

He stared at his hand, his now blacken right hand. It felt heavy like stone and it was a shiny black the kind of black that light dance off of, he clenched and unclenched his right fist. 

All the while his mother worked and sang songs of mourning as if her son had died.The new clothe fit O’ne like a glove. She had made him shoes, trousers, two leathery shirts, a hat and even a quiver.

 Exactly what O’ne wanted she knew this without knowing it, she  felt it. 

There was even enough left to make him a water skin and a knapsack and some leftover that he put into the knapsack.That was the last time he saw either of his parents.He went back into the forest of Innocence and would only return many years after the death of his parents to seek out a wife. 

No one knows what O’ne went to do in the forest for so many years but all they knew is that since he killed the serpent life has never been the same.

Boys and Girls all around Zamu upon hearing his tale started to explore more.They started to question more.It was a new age and O’ne was directly responsible for it.

   THE END

[katlady13]

Put Your Back Into It

I literally can’t find my old posts on this. Go figure. 

Part 1

Put Your Back Into It

Katniss never thought that she’d be back. Not after everything that had happened, after everything she’d lost. When she left years ago, she’d never looked back, she wouldn’t let herself. But when she got the call two days ago that her uncle was in danger of being evicted, his house condemned, she knew she had to help. Now that he’s the only family she’s got left, she feels more than obligated to return, and do what she can.

She has no idea how bad the situation is when she leaves the hotel. She called him to let him know she’d be there early this morning, and had taken his answering grunt as confirmation that he understood. When she parks her rental, and slips out of her car to walk up to the house, she feels light headed for a moment. This is not the home she remembers, in any way.

She feels her eyes widen and her jaw drop slowly as she shuffles up the sidewalk leading to his porch.

The entire house should be burned to the ground, along with everything in it.

She’ll never voice that out loud, but she definitely agrees with the city that Haymitch can’t live here. It can’t be safe...or sanitary.

The house is in disrepair, it looks like a hail storm had done some damage to the paint job, and it was never redone. The driveway has three separate vehicles in it, all with mismatching parts and rusted finish; she assumes none of them will ever run again. There is a pile of tires to her right, rims and even a stray car door in the middle of the front yard. The grass is knee-high and full of weeds. An old oak, the one that used to hold her favorite swing as a child, still stands tall, but several branches have died, and frayed ropes dangle sadly from one.

She keeps walking to the front door, and pulls her mask of indifference around her like a shroud, ignoring how the steps dip and creak under her meager weight. There is no storm door anymore, only a wooden one, which she knocks on loudly, after trying the bell.

It takes a few minutes, but finally she hears some shuffling, and then muffled cursing, when finally the locks disengage and the door creaks open slightly. Wide enough for her to, at least, make out Haymitch’s unshaven face, complete with stringy hair and bloodshot eyes.

“Thought I’d seen the last of you, sweetheart. What the hell are you doing here?”

She forgot how much him calling her sweetheart rankled, but she brushes it off and narrows her eyes, “Don’t start Haymitch. You knew damn well I was coming.”

He almost smiles, she can still tell, even through all the whiskers obscuring his expression. Then he shoves the door back, and sweeps his arm behind him, inviting her into his home.

Oh god, the smell. What the hell is that?

She doesn’t flinch outwardly as she surreptitiously looks around her. There are piles of junk everywhere, there isn’t even a floor anymore. Clothes, books, old newspapers, trinkets and just...trash. They have more of a pathway to follow in between the towering garbage. She makes her way through it, glad that she’s in her work jeans and an old tee, with her hair back in a braid.

She moves as quickly as she can, trying to use her hands as little as possible, back to the kitchen. She has to get that cleared, as well as a bedroom and the bathroom, in order for Haymitch to get an extension for the rest. And she has four days to do it.

Through the living room, and what used to be the dining room, she comes to what should be the kitchen.

Okay, well at least I know where the smell is coming from now.

It’s more disgusting than she had ever dreamed of. She knows that something, probably more than one honestly, has died in this room and it’s rotting carcass is still here. She cannot see the floor here either, though she knows it used to be a beautiful tile. The counters are also obscured in here, by more garbage, spoiled and rotten food lay everywhere.

Haymitch grunts again behind her, and she doesn’t even have to look at him to know he’s frowning, “They can’t make me get out.”

Katniss, still in a state of shock answers in a hollow voice, “Yes, Haymitch, they can and they will. This is a serious problem. We’ve got to get this cleaned up.” She has no idea how they’re going to accomplish that though. It’s too much, far too much for the two of them, and she suspects Haymitch will lock himself away somewhere with a bottle and she won’t see him again until nightfall.

So really it’s all on her. Again.

She can feel herself starting to hyperventilate so she forces herself to take deep breaths in through her nose, even though the smell is so acrid it burns. She crosses her arms to hide her shaking hands and closes her eyes for a moment, to recite the mantra she’s used for the last five years to regain control.

My name is Katniss Everdeen.

I am 23 years old.

I had a sister, but she’s gone.

I had a mother, but she’s gone.

My only family left is Haymitch.

I am back in District 12 to help him.

He’s grumbling behind her, starting to get agitated, “It’s not even that bad!”

Her eyes snap open incredulously and she gapes at him, gesturing to where the stove should be, “Haymitch, how do you even cook your food? You can’t get to the oven! It’s buried under too many health violations to use!”

He looks at her, shocked for a moment, before shoving her to the side and wading his way passed her. He shuffles some things around and pulls out a hot plate, balancing it on top of way too many flammable things, “I use this whenever I need to heat something up, but most of the time I don’t even need it. I can eat just about anything cold.”

It’s at that moment that Katniss starts to realize the messy part isn’t the house, it’s him. He’s delusional, he’s sick. Not in the same way that her mother was, but similar. Somehow, that changes things. Somehow, she understands a little better. She can relate, after all.

She softens her voice, “I know you can, Haymitch, but it isn’t safe. Some foods you have to warm up to eat, and in this kitchen it isn’t safe to warm up anything right now. Let’s just work on this room today, okay?”

She can hear herself sounding like her sister, practically feel her presence there now, and for once it doesn’t only bring pain. She’s a little comforted, and she knows Prim would be proud.

Haymitch doesn’t say anything, so she takes that as his agreement. She has to make a few calls, and doesn’t want to do it where he can hear her, plus she’s gonna need some things to make any kind of difference. Internally she starts making a list of what she’ll need to pick up, and tells Haymitch she’ll be right back.

She moves back through the heaping mess to the front door, wedges it open with her shoulder and slips back outside, and pulls her phone out of her pocket. Now that she is moving, a plan starting to form, she feels much better. The complete shock of the squalor Haymitch is living in made her feel worthless and guilty, but she forces those emotions down and focuses on the task at hand, no matter how hopeless she knows it is.

About an hour later, she’s pulling back up to the house, her car laden down with lots of bleach, a shovel, brooms and mops, plenty of rags and scrubbing pads, boxes of industrial strength trash bags, gloves and anything else she thought might help.

There’s another car there, though. It’s nice, a pleasing shade of green, and very well taken care of. She feels panic clawing up her throat as she heaves her first load of supplies into her arms, and hurries up to the house. Now that she knows how bad the entire situation is, she is legitimately afraid Haymitch will be homeless before she leaves, and they may try and evaluate his mental state..

What if it’s someone from the city? They said we had four more days!

When she rushes in the door, she immediately wants to turn around and run. It isn’t someone from the city, or any kind of government official at all. No doctor there to evaluate anyone.

No, it’s someone much, much worse. It’s the one person she was convinced she’d never see again

“Hello Katniss. I’m surprised to see you here.”

It’s Peeta Mellark.

[thunder-the-ranger-wolf]

Prologue

Chapter One

One of these days, I'm going to catch that mouse! 

Rusty was annoyed. He'd awoken in the same stifling, airless kitchen he's had for the last few months. Instead of the tantalizing scent of mouse, his bland, dusty kibble filled his nostrils. 

At least they could put some gravy on it.

He'd had gravy at Smudge’s house before, and it tasted wonderful! Apparently, he wasn't so lucky here. 

To add insult to injury, Rusty's been having the same hunting dream every night for the past week! Seven days is a long time to be taunted with failed hopes.

Perhaps going outside will do me some good… 

One thing was for sure. He wouldn't be eating that dry, tasteless kibble for another night! 

Outside, the moon was bright and the light rain washed away all hope of a scent. Rusty stalked through the garden, following the starlit gravel path, feeling the stones cold and sharp beneath his paws. He made dirt beneath a large bush with glossy green leaves and heavy purple flowers. Their sickly sweet scent cloyed the damp air around him, and he curled his lip to drive the smell out of his nostrils.

Afterward, Rusty settled down on top of one of the posts in the fence that marked the limits of his garden. It was a favorite spot of his. It let him see right into the neighboring gardens as well as the dense green forest on the other side of the fence. The rain had stopped. Behind him, the close-cropped lawn was bathed in moonlight, but beyond his fence, the woods were full of shadows. Rusty stretched his head forward to take a sniff of the damp air. His skin was warm and dry under his thick coat, but he could feel the weight of the raindrops that sparkled on his ginger fur. 

Suddenly the fur on his spine prickled. 

Is something moving out there? Is something watching me?

Rusty stared ahead, but it was impossible to see or smell anything in the dark, tree-scented air. He lifted his chin boldly, stood up, and stretched; one paw gripped each corner of the fencepost as he straightened his legs and arched his back. He closed his eyes and breathed in the smell of the woods once more. It seemed to promise him something, tempting him onward into the whispering shadows. Tensing his muscles, he crouched for a moment. Then he leaped lightly down into the rough grass on the other side of the garden fence. As he landed, the bell on his collar rang out through the still night air.

No! Rusty wanted to wail. Just like in his dream, the bell of his blasted collar hindered his efforts.

“Where are you off to, Rusty?” meowed a familiar voice behind him. 

The ginger tom glanced up, annoyed, to find his friend Smudge attempting to balance on the fence. 

“Get down before you hurt yourself.” Rusty scowled. 

“But you're on the other side of the fence! We both know if I fall down that I'm not getting back up.” The black and white tom mewed balefully. “Besides, you still haven't told me where you're going.” 

“Out.” Rusty scoffed. 

“Out? We're already out! Unless you mean…”

“The forest, yeah.”

“Why'd you do a crazy thing like that?! Don't you know they'll eat us house cats for breakfast?!”

“You've been listening to Henry again. I keep telling you that he's never gone into the woods. He's only trying to scare you.”

“Well, it's working.” Smudge yelped as he joined his friend on the ground. 

“I thought you didn't want to fall.” Rusty snickered.

“If you're going to go into the woods, I have to get my goodbyes in while I can.” Smudge insisted.

“I might come back out.” Rusty protested.

“You won't.” Smudge informed his friend. Rusty deflated.

“I might not.” He admitted soberly. “I keep having this dream about a mouse I can never catch. I feel like maybe if I go in the forest, I'll stop having the dream.” 

Whatever makes sense to you works for me.” Smudge offered. “Just… be careful, okay? We're probably not all that impressive to those wildcats.” 

The two toms touched noses and Rusty bounded into the forest. Whatever he found, he was sure to never have that dream again!

Instinct made him drop into a low crouch. With one slow paw after another, he drew his body forward through the undergrowth. Ears pricked, nostrils flared, eyes unblinking, he moved toward the animal. He could see it clearly now, sitting up among the barbed branches, nibbling on a large seed held between its paws. 

It was a mouse, just like in his dream! 

Rusty rocked his haunches from side to side, preparing to leap. He held his breath in case his bell rang again. Excitement coursed through him, making his heart pound. This was even better than his dreams! Then a sudden noise of cracking twigs and crunching leaves made him jump. His bell jangled treacherously, and the mouse darted away into the thickest tangle of the bramble bush. 

“Grrrhaaaaa!” Rusty spat, frustrated. At this point he'd keep having that dream for the rest of his life! 

A noise made Rusty freeze in his tracks. The ginger tomcat went completely still and looked around. He could see the white tip of a red bushy tail trailing through a clump of tall ferns up ahead. He smelled a strong, strange scent. It was definitely a meat-eater, but neither cat nor dog. Distracted, Rusty forgot about the mouse and watched the red tail curiously, hoping for a better look. All of Rusty’s senses strained as he prowled forward, careful not to shake his collar too much.

Suddenly, Rusty stopped. Twitched his ears. Another noise. It came from behind, but sounded muted and distant. He swiveled his head backward to hear it better. 

Pawsteps? He wondered, keeping his eyes fixed on the strange red fur up ahead, and continuing to creep onward.

It was only when the faint rustling behind him became a loud and fast-approaching leaf-crackle that Rusty realized he might actually be in trouble.

The creature hit him like an explosion, and Rusty barely managed to turn around before he was thrown sideways into a clump of nettles. Twisting and hissing, he tried to throw off the attacker that had fastened itself to his back. It was gripping him with incredibly sharp claws. Rusty could feel spiked teeth pricking at his neck. He writhed and squirmed from whisker to tail, but he couldn’t free himself. 

For a second he felt helpless; then he froze. Thinking fast, he flipped over onto his back. He knew instinctively how dangerous it was to expose his soft belly, but it was his only chance. 

He was lucky that the other tom fell for such a trick. He felt a rush of hot air on his neck as the breath was knocked out of his attacker. Only one problem: he hadn’t counted on his collar getting caught, so now the enemy had him by the throat!. Thrashing fiercely, Rusty managed to wriggle free of both his attacker and the collar.

Without looking back he sprinted deeper into the forest. Behind him, a rush of pawsteps told Rusty his attacker was giving chase.

Even though the pain from his scratches stung beneath his fur, Rusty decided he would rather turn and fight than let himself be jumped on again. 

He skidded to a stop, spun around, and faced his pursuer. It was an older cat, with a thick coat of shaggy grey fur, strong legs, and a broad face. In a heartbeat, Rusty smelled that it was a tom, and sensed the power in the sturdy shoulders underneath the soft coat.

Then the tom crashed into Rusty at full pelt. Taken by surprise by Rusty’s turnabout, it fell back into a dazed heap. The impact knocked the breath out of Rusty, and he staggered. He quickly found his footing and arched his back, puffing out his orange fur and ready to spring onto the larger tom. But his attacker simply sat up and began to lick a forepaw, all signs of aggression gone.

Rusty narrowed his eyes. 

“Hi there, kittypet! You put up quite the fight for a tame kitty.” 

Rusty huffed and rolled his eyes. Clearly he wasn't as tame as this cat thought. Had Rusty been anything more like Smudge, he would have run.

I came here to stop having these weird dreams, but… am I in over my head?!

“You must think you're something special, don't you?” Rusty sneered.

One time, an older cat said that after Rusty clawed his nose for messing with Smudge. Rusty wasn't special, but he got the cat to back off. 

“Sure do. I'm going to be a warrior of ThunderClan!” The grey tom boasted. “You're just a kittypet from the Twolegplace.”

“So how's it feel to get beaten by a kittypet?” Rusty taunted. The insult felt strange on his tongue, and while he didn't know what it meant, he knew that his words were making the other cat mad. 

“You think you've beaten me? I could hold you down with one paw and not strain a muscle! I could pick you up by the scruff and I bet you wouldn't even weigh a thing!” 

“Try it!” Rusty scoffed. “Since I'm just a kittypet and you're a big, brave warrior.” 

“What, and kill you in the process? I don't think so. Warriors can't kill in battle. It's one of our rules.” 

“Then what's the point of all your training? If you're not going to do anything, I can actually catch a mouse this time. You ruined that, thanks.” 

“You shouldn't even be in the forest. Go home, kittypet. This isn't your world.” 

Rusty knew exactly what those words meant. One time, when he'd gone too far past his gate and into the city, he ran into an alley cat who told him about the same thing this dumb tom was trying to now. 

Like you have a clue what my world looks like!” Rusty snapped. “If you're such a big bad cat, then what are you doing out here? You've got the entire forest to roam around. Why'd you come bother me, huh?” 

“Because you're in our territory, young one.” 

The voice that floated to his ears sounded far warmer than this tom’s. 

“We do have the forest, but this is part of it. Why should we tolerate outsiders like you entering our home and taking our food without permission?” 

“It's just a mouse!” Rusty scowled. “You'd think your precious warriors wouldn't be so picky about it. Don't you eat bigger things than me for breakfast?”

“Myth.” The motherly voice chuckled. “And not a very good one. We are cats, after all.” 

[warriorssunandfire]

Chapter 1

It was very dark. Rusty could sense something was near. The young tomcat’s eyes opened wide as he scanned the dense undergrowth. This place was unfamiliar, but the strange scents drew him onward, deeper into the shadows. His stomach growled, reminding him of his hunger. He opened his jaws slightly to let the warm smells of the forest reach the scent glands on the roof of his mouth. Musty odors of leaf mold mingled with the tempting aroma of a small furry creature.

Suddenly a flash of gray raced past him. Rusty stopped still, listening. It was hiding in the leaves less than two tail-lengths away. Rusty knew it was a mouse—he could feel the rapid pulsing of a tiny heart deep within his ear fur. He swallowed, stifling his rumbling stomach. Soon his hunger would be satisfied.

Slowly he lowered his body into position, crouching for the attack. He was downwind of the mouse. He knew it was not aware of him. With one final check on his prey’s position, Rusty pushed back hard on his haunches and sprang, kicking up leaves on the forest floor as he rose.

The mouse dived for cover, heading toward a hole in the ground. But Rusty was already on top of it. He scooped it into the air, hooking the helpless creature with his thorn-sharp claws, flinging it up in a high arc onto the leaf-covered ground. The mouse landed dazed, but alive. It tried to run, but Rusty snatched it up again. He tossed the mouse once more, this time a little farther away. The mouse managed to scramble a few paces before Rusty caught up with it.

Suddenly a noise roared nearby. Rusty looked around, and as he did so, the mouse was able to pull away from his claws. When Rusty turned back he saw it dart into the darkness among the tangled roots of a tree.

Angry, Rusty gave up the hunt. He spun around, his green eyes glaring, intent on searching out the noise that had cost him his kill. The sound rattled on, becoming more familiar. Rusty blinked open his eyes.

The forest had disappeared. He was inside a hot and airless kitchen, curled in his bed. Moonlight filtered through the window, casting shadows on the smooth, hard floor. The noise had been the rattle of hard, dried pellets of food as they were tipped into his dish. Rusty had been dreaming.

Lifting his head, he rested his chin on the side of his bed. His collar rubbed uncomfortably around his neck. In his dream he had felt fresh air ruffling the soft fur where the collar usually pinched. Rusty rolled onto his back, savoring the dream for a few more moments. He could still smell mouse. It was the third time since the full moon that he’d had the dream, and every time the mouse had escaped his grasp. Nearby, in a fluffy bed, laid his brother Filou.

He licked his lips. From his bed he could smell the bland odor of their food. Their owners always refilled the dishes before they went to bed. The dusty smell chased away the warm scents of his dream. But the hunger rumbled on in his stomach, so Rusty stretched the sleep out of his limbs and padded across the kitchen floor to his dinner.

“Filou, dinner.” Rusty called over to his lighter colored little brother. Filou’s eyes stretched open, hazel colors revealing themselves. He did a similar stretch and padded over to the bowl.

“Rusty, I had this cool dream,” Rusty’s ears perked up, interested in this dream, “I was in this forest, I had no collar and I was walking with these cats. I didn’t recognize them but they felt familiar.” Filou opened his mouth to eat but cringed when tasting it. Rusty related with that action on an unbelievable level.

Rusty turned away and pushed his way through the cat flap, hoping that the smell of the garden would bring back the feelings from his dream. Outside, the moon was bright. It was raining lightly. Rusty stalked down the tidy garden, following the starlit gravel path, feeling the stones cold and sharp beneath his paws. He made his dirt beneath a large bush with glossy green leaves and heavy purple flowers. Their sickly sweet scent cloyed the damp air around him, and he curled his lip to drive the smell out of his nostrils.

His ears trembled as the sound of the flap clacked again, Filou had come outside for the first time. Rusty had settled down on top of one of the posts in the fence that marked the limits of his garden. It was a favorite spot of his, as he could see right into the neighboring gardens as well as into the dense green forest on the other side of the garden fence.

The rain had stopped. Behind him, the close-cropped lawn was bathed in moonlight, but beyond his fence the woods were full of shadows. Rusty stretched his head forward to take a sniff of the damp air. His skin was warm and dry under his thick coat, but he could feel the weight of the raindrops that sparkled on his ginger fur. Filou curiously leapt beside him.

“Rusty, what are we doing up here?” He heard their owners giving them one last call from the back door. If he went to them now, they would greet him and Filou with gentle words and caresses and welcome them onto their bed, where they would curl, purring, warm in the crook of a bent knee.

But this time Rusty ignored his owners’ voices and turned his gaze back to the forest. The crisp smell of the woods had grown fresher after the rain.

“I like to sit here, the forest is so intriguing.” He replied to his brother.

Suddenly the fur on his spine prickled. Was something moving out there? Was something watching him? Rusty stared ahead, but it was impossible to see or smell anything in the dark, tree-scented air. He lifted his chin boldly, stood up, and stretched, one paw gripping each corner of the fencepost as he straightened his legs and arched his back. He closed his eyes and breathed in the smell of the woods once more. It seemed to promise him something, tempting him onward into the whispering shadows. Tensing his muscles, he crouched for a moment. Then he leaped lightly down into the rough grass on the other side of the garden fence. As he landed, the bell on his collar rang out through the still night air.

“Rusty! Where are you going?” The sound of his brother’s voice called out into the night air. He heard the crunch of the grass as Filou jumped down, but Rusty was focused on something else.

Another sound rattled out as another cat came towards them.

“Where are you off to, Rusty?” meowed a familiar voice behind him.

Rusty looked up. A young black-and-white cat was balancing ungracefully on the fence.

“Hello, Smudge,” Rusty replied.

“You’re not going to go into the woods, are you?” Smudge’s amber eyes were huge.

“Just for a look,” Rusty promised, shifting uncomfortably.

“You wouldn’t get me in there. It’s dangerous!” Smudge wrinkled his black nose with distaste.

“Henry said he went into the woods once.” The cat lifted his head and gestured with his nose over the rows of fences toward the garden where Henry lived.

“That fat old tabby never went into the woods!” Rusty scoffed. “He’s hardly been beyond his own garden since his trip to the vet. All he wants to do is eat and sleep.”

“No, really. He caught a robin there!” Smudge insisted.

“Well, if he did, then it was before the vet. Now he complains about birds because they disturb his dozing.”

“Well, anyway,” Smudge went on, ignoring the scorn in Rusty’s mew, “Henry told me there are all sorts of dangerous animals out there. Huge wildcats who eat live rabbits for breakfast and sharpen their claws on old bones!”

“I’m only going for a look around,” Rusty meowed. “I won’t stay long.”

“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you!” purred Smudge. The black-and-white cat turned and plunged off the fence into his own garden.

Little Filou came out of hiding.

“Are there r-really huge wildcats?” His voice shook. Rusty let out a small laugh and shook his head.

“Probably not,” Rusty grinned and took his gaze away from Filou.

Suddenly the movement of a tiny creature caught his eye. He watched it scuttle under some brambles.

Instinct made him drop into a low crouch. With one slow paw after another he drew his body forward through the undergrowth. Ears pricked, nostrils flared, eyes unblinking, he moved toward the animal. He could see it clearly now, sitting up among the barbed branches, nibbling on a large seed held between its paws. It was a mouse.

Rusty rocked his haunches from side to side, preparing to leap. He held his breath in case his bell rang again. Excitement coursed through him, making his heart pound. This was even better than his dreams! Then a sudden noise of cracking twigs and crunching leaves made him jump. His bell jangled treacherously, and the mouse darted away into the thickest tangle of the bramble bush.

Rusty stood very still and looked around. He could see the white tip of a red bushy tail trailing through a clump of tall ferns up ahead. He smelled a strong, strange scent, definitely a meat-eater, but neither cat nor dog. Distracted, Rusty forgot about the mouse and watched the red tail curiously. He wanted a better look.

“What is it Rusty?” Filou whispered. Rusty shrugged.

All of Rusty’s senses strained ahead as he prowled forward. Then he detected another noise. It came from behind, but sounded muted and distant. He swiveled his ears backward to hear it better. Pawsteps? he wondered, but he kept his eyes fixed on the strange red fur up ahead, and continued to creep onward. It was only when the faint rustling behind him became a loud and fast-approaching leaf-crackle that Rusty realized he was in danger.

The creature hit him like an explosion and Rusty was thrown sideways into a clump of nettles. Twisting and yowling, he tried to throw off the attacker that had fastened itself to his back. It was gripping him with incredibly sharp claws. Rusty could feel spiked teeth pricking at his neck. He writhed and squirmed from whisker to tail, but he couldn’t free himself. For a second he felt helpless; then he froze. Thinking fast, he flipped over onto his back. He knew instinctively how dangerous it was to expose his soft belly, but it was his only chance.

He was lucky—the ploy seemed to work. He heard a “hhuuffff” beneath him as the breath was knocked out of his attacker. Thrashing fiercely, Rusty managed to wriggle free. Without looking back he sprinted toward his home.

Behind him, a rush of pawsteps told Rusty his attacker was giving chase. Even though the pain from his scratches stung beneath his fur, Rusty decided he would rather turn and fight than let himself be jumped on again.

He skidded to a stop, spun around, and faced his pursuer.

It was another kitten, with a thick coat of shaggy gray fur, strong legs, and a broad face. In a heartbeat, Rusty smelled that it was a tom, and sensed the power in the sturdy shoulders underneath the soft coat. The kitten didn’t fall for this, and cornered Rusty. He shook, waiting for his fate when— Filou crashed into the kitten.

“OohhmfFF” Filou bounced beside Rusty, but when Rusty looked up, his attacker simply sat up and began to lick a forepaw, all signs of aggression gone.

Rusty felt strangely disappointed. Every part of him was tense, ready for battle.

“Hi there, kittypets!” meowed the gray tom cheerily. “You guys put up a good fight for tame kitties!” Rusty remained on tiptoe for a second, wondering whether to attack anyway. Then he remembered the strength he had felt in this kitten’s paws when he had pinned him to the ground. He dropped onto his pads, loosened his muscles, and let his spine unbend. “And I’ll fight you again if I have to,” he growled. Filou cowered behind him.

“I’m Graypaw, by the way,” the gray kitten went on, ignoring Rusty’s threat. “I’m training to be a ThunderClan warrior.”

Rusty remained silent. He didn’t understand what this Graywhatsit was meowing about, but he sensed the threat had passed. He hid his confusion by leaning down to lick his ruffled chest.

“What are some kittypets like you doing out in the woods? Don’t you know it’s dangerous?” asked Graypaw. “If you’re the most dangerous thing the woods has to offer, then I think we can handle it,” Rusty bluffed, Filou sneezed behind him.

Graypaw looked up at him for a moment, narrowing his big yellow eyes. “Oh, I’m far from the most dangerous. If I were even half a warrior, I’d have given an intruder like you some real wounds to think about.” Rusty felt a thrill of fear at these ominous words. What did this cat mean by “intruder”?

“Anyway,” meowed Graypaw, using his sharp teeth to tug a clump of grass from between his claws, “I didn’t think it was worth hurting you. You’re obviously not from one of the other Clans.”

“Other Clans?” Rusty echoed, confused.

Graypaw let out an impatient hiss. “You must have heard of the four warrior Clans that hunt around here! I belong to ThunderClan. The other Clans are always trying to steal prey from our territory, especially ShadowClan. They’re so fierce they would have ripped you to shreds, no questions asked.”

Graypaw paused to spit angrily and continued: “They come to take prey that is rightfully ours. It’s the job of the ThunderClan warriors to keep them out of our territory. When I’ve finished my training, I’ll be so dangerous, I’ll have the other Clans shaking in their flea-bitten skins. They won’t dare come near us then!”

Rusty narrowed his eyes. This must be one of the wildcats Smudge had warned him about! Living rough in the woods, hunting and fighting each other for every last scrap of food. Yet Rusty didn’t feel scared. In fact, it was hard not to admire this confident kitten.

“I knew it,” Filou whispered softly,

“So you’re not a warrior yet?” Rusty asked.

“Why? Did you think I was?” Graypaw purred proudly; then he shook his wide, furry head. “I won’t be a real warrior for ages. I have to go through the training first. Kits have to be six moons old before they even begin training. Tonight is my first night out as an apprentice.”

“Why don’t you find yourself an owner with a nice cozy house instead? Your life would be much easier,” Rusty meowed. “There are plenty of housefolk who’d take in a kitten like you. All you have to do is sit where they can see you and look hungry for a couple of days—”

“And they’d feed me pellets that look like rabbit droppings and soft slop!” Graypaw interrupted. “No way! I can’t think of anything worse than being a kittypet! They’re nothing but Twoleg toys! Eating stuff that doesn’t look like food, making dirt in a box of gravel, sticking their noses outside only when the Twolegs allow them? That’s no life! Out here it’s wild, and it’s free. We come and go as we please.” He finished his speech with a proud spit, then meowed mischievously, “Until you’ve tasted a fresh-killed mouse, you haven’t lived. Have you ever even tasted a mouse?”

“No,” Rusty admitted, a little defensively. Filou echoed this as well. “Not yet.”

“I guess you two’ll never understand.” Graypaw sighed. “You guys weren’t born wild. It makes a big difference. You need to be born with warrior blood in your veins, or the feel of the wind in your whiskers. Kitties born into Twoleg nests could never feel the same way.”

Rusty remembered the way he had felt in his dream, and Filou’s dream as well. “That’s not true!” he mewed indignantly.

Graypaw did not reply. He suddenly stiffened midlick, one paw still raised, and sniffed the air. “I smell cats from my Clan,” he hissed. “You two should go. They won’t be pleased to find you hunting in our territory!”

Rusty looked around, wondering how Graypaw knew any cat was approaching. He couldn’t smell anything different on the leaf-scented breeze. But his fur stood on end at the note of urgency in Graypaw’s voice.

“Quick!” hissed Graypaw again. “Run!”

Rusty prepared to spring into the bushes, not knowing which way was safe to jump.

He was too late. A voice meowed behind him, firm and menacing. “What’s going on here?”

Rusty turned to see a large gray she-cat strolling majestically out from the undergrowth. She was magnificent. White hairs streaked her muzzle, and an ugly scar parted the fur across her shoulders, but her smooth gray coat shone like silver in the moonlight.

“Bluestar!” Beside Rusty, Graypaw crouched down and narrowed his eyes. He crouched even lower when a second cat—a handsome, golden tabby—followed the gray cat into the clearing.

“You shouldn’t be so near Twolegplace, Graypaw!” growled the golden tabby angrily, narrowing his green eyes.

“I know, Lionheart, I’m sorry.” Graypaw looked down at his paws.

Rusty copied Graypaw and crouched low to the forest floor, his ears twitching nervously. These cats had an air of strength he had never seen in any of his garden friends. Poking the paralyzed Filou, he watched his brother crouch too. Maybe what Smudge had warned him about was true.

“Who are they?” asked the she-cat.

Rusty and Filou flinched as she turned her gaze on them. Her piercing blue eyes made him feel even more vulnerable.

“They’re no threat,” mewed Graypaw quickly. “They’re not another Clan, just Twoleg pets from beyond our territories.”

Just Twoleg pets! The words inflamed Rusty, but he held his tongue. The warning look in Bluestar’s stare told him that she had observed the anger in his eyes, and he looked away at his brother, who was frozen looking at Bluestar.

“This is Bluestar; she’s leader of my Clan!” Graypaw hissed to Rusty and Filou under his breath. “And Lionheart. He’s my mentor, which means he’s training me to be a warrior.”

“Thank you for the introduction, Graypaw,” meowed Lionheart coolly.

Bluestar was still staring at Rusty and his little brother. “You fight well for Twoleg pets,” she meowed.

Rusty, Filou, and Graypaw exchanged confused glances. How could she know?

“We have been watching you all,” Bluestar went on, as if she had read their thoughts. “We wondered how you would deal with an intruder, Graypaw. You attacked them bravely.”

Graypaw looked pleased at Bluestar’s praise.

“Sit up now, all of you!” Bluestar looked at Rusty and Filou. “You too, kittypets.” He sat up immediately, Filou doing it a moment later, and held Bluestar’s gaze evenly as she addressed them.

“You reacted well to the attack, kittypet. Graypaw is stronger than you, but you used your wits to defend yourself. And you turned to face him when he chased you. I’ve not seen a kittypet do that before. And you,” she turned to Filou, “you bravely burst out at Graypaw when he wasn’t looking.”

Rusty and Filou managed to nod their thanks, taken aback by such unexpected praise. Her next words surprised them even more.

“I have been wondering how you would perform out here, beyond the Twolegplace. We patrol this border frequently, so I have often seen you sitting on your boundary, staring out into the forest. And now, at last, you have dared to place your paws here.” Bluestar stared at Rusty thoughtfully. “You do seem to have a natural hunting ability. Sharp eyes. You would have caught that mouse if you had not hesitated so long.”

“R-really?” Rusty stammered.

Lionheart spoke now. His deep meow was respectful but insistent. “Bluestar, these are kittypets. They should not be hunting in ThunderClan territory. Send them home to their Twolegs!”

Rusty prickled at Lionheart’s dismissive words. “Send me home?” he mewed impatiently. Bluestar’s words had made him glow with pride. She had noticed him; she had been impressed by him. “But I’ve only come here to hunt for a mouse or two. I’m sure there’s enough to go around.”

Bluestar had turned her head to acknowledge Lionheart’s words. Now her gaze snapped back to Rusty. Her blue eyes were blazing with anger. “There’s never enough to go around,” she spat. “If you didn’t live such a soft, overfed life, you would know that!”

Rusty was confused by Bluestar’s sudden rage, but one glance at the horrified look on Graypaw’s face was enough to tell him he had spoken too freely. Lionheart stepped to his leader’s side. Both warriors loomed over him now. Rusty looked into Bluestar’s threatening stare and his pride dissolved. Filou was tearing up with fear. These were not cozy fireside cats he was dealing with—they were mean, hungry cats who were probably going to finish what Graypaw had started.

[duallygirl178]

Dearest O'Malley Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Natalie and Nathan had their first date  of romance shared with me. I liked Natalie because she was careful and had this angel's touch. I squeezed the seatbelt tight on her because I didn't want her to leave my side. We drove to a car show that was happening at the MaGee park at Sunray park and Casino. I got to hear the tale where Natalie once worked at a horse station and almost thought about applying for a stable hand job at Sunray once. When we parked, there was a lot of people there with tons of cars. They walked together while they looked at each car. But they'll never find something spectacular like me. No matter how much each classic car sparkled with paint, I was still as original as the song "Green Onions" in 1962. Hours later after the car show, we drove into town a little bit.

Later in May, I began to enjoy getting belly rubs and gentle tootle rubs in the house. That was when it became a habit. Natalie would  rub for 30 to 45 minutes while I lay flat on the carpet. What followed later on that night, was shower time. I started feeling cleaner when I joined the two love birds and I began to get in the habit of begging Natalie to give me a belly rub. She would rub for 30 to 45 minutes while I lay flat-relaxed. What also followed along was shower time. I started feeling cleaner when I joined them because I'd get a washing well done and getting a thorough scrub. I felt like I was at a car wash and then afterwards Natalie, Nathan, and I went into Nathan's bedroom to watch TV and dry off. We watched a few episodes on Velocity so I could enjoy watching the last bit of Garage Squad, just before Chasing Claasic Cars came next. I didn't pay much much else attention to what Natalie and Nathan were doing behind me and didn't  care. The last of Garage Squad intriged me because it was a 1967 Chevelle SS dedicated  to a person who owned it with a V8 motor in it and the loved ones wanted it restored in original blue and white. I once was going to have a V8 motor installed inside me years ago because Randy had an idea to make me stronger when I  liked being a mellow straight 6 engine, I was old and retired from "showing off my powerful engine" although it wasn't bad to dream that I had a V8 motor like the rest of the Chevelle muscle cars; by watching one on TV. In the episode, that car reminded me of my cousin that lives down the treet. He was just as lazy as Ol' Reliable when there's no clouds in the sky. No matter how many times I've tried to scedule a visit, my cousin sits in the yard and tells me that he forgot and he'll make it up to me, but it never really happens. So I gave up on trying to socialize with him since he's my only family member I had in Farmington New Mexico. I still go through the same thing with Ol' Reliable when he it's his turn to be driven. If he won't get up, I'd simply threaten him that if he wasn't up and out of my nerve in 10 seconds, I was going to drag his prat out and whip him with the thinnest branch outside. Ol' Reliable and I both knew we didn't like each other sometimes. If I want a break from town, I'll get my way even when I have to get mean and tough. This way, I can take time to relax and take a nap or watch Velocity. Whatever I chose, I was determined to keep my well-being in order.

Later the next day, I was out driving to stores in town with Jan, Nathan and Natalie when I spotted some classic cars on the road. They were out and about too. They were rusty and rough looking, but some were in mint condition and I thought to myself "that's why some people don't see other classic cars out and active much. On Velocity, those kinds of cars undergo a substantial amount of  surgury to get going inside garages.

On some days, I would be taken into town whenever Jan got home. It would be McDonald's, Taco Bell, Family Dollar, and sometimes Wal-Mart or Safeway. Often it would be a stop at Little Cesear's Pizza. Whatever the case, if I didn't feel like going into town, I'd make Ol' Reliable or Tiny; Nathan's 1993 Ford explorer go into town. I knew Ol' Reliable was lazy but it would do him good to go out and be active like he used to in 1980. I was almost 50 years old. I would be a year older than Herbie, the love bug. I needed rest now and then to get off my shocks and body frame. Being the boss had its ups and downs these days of forcing Ol' Reliable off his prat when I don't like to be gruff. Today, was my relax day and this time it took me 8 minutes to get him moving after refusing to get up three times.  I had to sit on him when he refused the fourth time. It was unbearably droll-funny to see him squirm as he tried to get free, but I held my weight down. I held Ol' Reliable for three minutes  and asked him if he was ready to cooperate and do what I told him. He agreed with a weak response and I got up. I told him if he refused to me again, I'd sit  on him for an hour until he couldn't breathe. He couldn't get my body stench off him for a week. I knew he didn't want that. On some days he and I hated each other and other days, we wouldn't even see each other on and off, but wouldn't hate each other because we kept to ourselves. I would go up and see Ozzie when Ol' Reliable was in town for a few hours just to talk and hang out with Joe. After that, I'd head back home, slip into the house and wait for them to pull in the driveway. By the time, they were finished unloading groceries, Natalie would sit down on the couch. I'd sit on Natalie's feet until I had my hind quarters rubbed every four nights a week, she'd massage my undercarriage that'd send tingles all over my body because it felt good to get massages while Ol' Reliable waited his turn, in Randy's chair. Then it would be hs turn to get a massage after I had taken a seat to nap in. I was so relaxed that I let the rest of the nerves absorb the serenity into my body. When the two of us had an equal attention, Nathan was posting photos of Tiny; his new he bought from FaceBook. He bought him a week before Nathan  meet Natalie in March. I wasn't aware that Nathan took a picture of me sleeping. I usually didn't like it when he did that.

When I woke up, Nathan was on his laptop chacking his email. Natalie was wearing a tri colored alien necklace and it brought me back in time to wonder. What breed of alien that was chasing Impa, Gonzo and me? Natalie knew a lot about aliens and I dared to ask her on what she knew about aliens. After Nathan qas done with the laptop, Natalie pulled up a YouTube video about extraterrestrials. I had asked for this and I had demanded too much of the truth and now I recognized the alien that chased the three of us boys in the woods was a disturbing Grey alien from outer space. Among other planets, who knew where it came from nor what it wanted. All that was beyond me. Natalie had mentioned that Greys were aggressive for being 3 meters tall and they liked to torment people with tools and chemicals they invented. That would just shake the Skittles out of me as I got the chills from.  Natalie told me how to identify the differences between the greys and the much bigger aliens in the images. I understood that the much bigger aliens were some kind of strange planetary outer space name that I never heard of; the Zeta Recuili and they were known as non-aggressive. Thinking back to that incident, made my oil churn. I didn't want to see anymore alien pictures nor did I want to find the interest of studying them. It was a mystery on where that alien that I saw many years ago, came from and why it was in the woods. I laid back down after throwing Candy off the chair and taking the seat for enjoyment. I wouldn't let her get back on even though she kept trying, I'd push her off and finally Candy sat somewhere else. This made me remember something that happened. It was when Impa and I were hanging out together. I was napping during our hang out time in the shade one summer and Impa was being annoying. I pushed him away and he flew 5 feet away from the curb. Candy had a retarded look on her face as if she didn't know what just happened. I laughed inside of myself after seeing that.

Later when Jan came home from work that evening, the four of us; Natalie, Jan, Nathan and I went into town to get something to drink as usual. While I was whistling "Jukebox Baby" by Perry Como on the way, I encountered Robin, the red and white 1967 Chevrolet  Impala. a friend I met a few car shows back in 2013. He was in town too and still baring that "horseless Carriage" on his plate. We got caught up talking at the McDonald's drive thru on what's been going on in our lives. There was a long line at McDonald's and what better time to talk while I waited for someone to take my order. When you've bumped into a friend somewhere, it makes a perfect day.

Robin was a son of a whisker goat that informed everyone of events coming up even before they hit fliers mailed out. I first met Robin in the summer of 2012 at the Elk's Lodge just before the month of the 3rd car show, that year. I was singing "Rockin Robin" on my way to my parking spot on the grass, when a Chevrolet Impala said to me that was his name and his favorite song. I had no idea I was calling it nor did I know I was going to be parked next to him. Robin and I started out as strangers too becoming fast friends. Ever since Impa was gone, Robin made me realize that when I start dating, I would end up with an Chevrolet Impala, because I was an Impala guy...preferring Chevrolet Impala cars only. I just knew it. The rascally tin-road rodder had his personality following his perspective. It was almost like seeing a 1960s fun-animated and uptown television show come to life. He and I had almost everything in common beside the fact that he was a player with a few extra groove-and-cruise that looked good on him for being a lady-magnet. He was missing something in which he lacked that I knew best. I told him if he showed ladies what was all good under the hood, he'd be soaring into hearts of every one of them. After I had told him all that, the judges were all interested in Robin when I didn't mean for that advice to go to his head. Robin became the apple to everyone's eye and I was chop liver. I was a tiny bit disappointed in Robin for letting it all go to his head.

But I got over the disappointment, knowing Robin had not a single idea I was in a movie teaser trailer that was taken out for collateral reasons, so it was okay. It wasn't that good and I didn't want to be recognized for it such as being on T-Shirts, toys, and accessories. Robin however was getting prepared for the car show in July and asked if I was going to be in it this year since he was out for a stroll. I announced that I was taking the summer off from car shows. I wanted to go for summer cruises and enjoy the season to re-align myself after the chaos that passed. However, Robin was disappointment but he told me good luck and have a nice summer year. He wished I was in more car shows just like this one in July. I told him it was a blessing to see his mug again. He was delighted to see me again and hoped to encounter me next year.

As the traffic line reduced to a small number as my thoughts returned to the McDonald's drive thru. It was busy for a weekday, but I had a nice chat with Robin. We went to Family Dollar to get paper plates and ciggs that Jan needed. She needed cigarettes almost every day because she was frequently stressed out by never ending kids misbehaving at work. Especially the big kids because they had problems at home. Obviously, it had to be a sign of disprobation results of hating their own selves and taking their misery out on others. When we turned into Taco Bell that afternoon. It was a long line of SUVs, trucks, and sedans. I didn't have to wait again and Nathan didn't either just for a large Mountain Dew. We went to a gas station instead and it had been a priority that whenever there was a long line, there was a gas station that sells fountain drinks for less.

Next, we headed to Family Dollar and Jan got her things and we went home to relax. I rested a little because when night time came and I knew we'd go out again. I had a seat on the couch and let my gears relax before running again at 8 pm. It was a run-on schedule night after night that Nathan, Natalie and Jan all go into town, get drinks, run into WalMart or Safeway or Walgreens, then head to Family Dollar again and be home by 2 hours later around 9 pm or 10 pm.

When Jack visited over, we'd go out, get drinks, go shopping for the kid and get more Mountain Breezes from Safeway. Technically, Erik used to come in and check on Jack and feed him, but now he stopped caring except for coming in to play with him a few hours once in a blue moon. Jan took over and asked Jack if he got fed. As usual, it was always be a "no" and Jan would cook him a fried burrito or Ramen Noodle soups. I wished Natalie could feed Jack just to be thoughtful that way, there could be something to rub in Erik's face if there was a yelling fit, One of these days, Natalie would...one of these days.

In an hour later that night, Jan, Natalie and Nathan all went into town once more as I took them to the stores. Before starting up fast, I'd tease Nathan by cutting off power for a short 3 seconds before Nathan started me up again. It would be my game of start and stop. Once the ignition got turned on, I'd  idle for  5 seconds and shut off and start again. I had been around the age of 49 years old and still enjoyed playing that game with Nathan for 8 years. Inside, I laughed a little as Nathan backed me up and zoomed out of the drive way. The first stop was as always, McDonald's to get drinks. Natalie didn't used to get small water. It would be either Coca Cola or Dr. Pepper which was horrid. Shay used to get those, but I was happy to know that Natalie ordering a water so she could slim down a bit. I'd overhear that she was disgusted in obese people and I don't think she wanted to be one of them. I didn't blame her. After encountering Shay, I didn't want her to look like Shay. Apparently, Natalie worked hard to keep her weight down.She ordered small waters and tried to keep her snacking down. She would chew gum, smoke her vaper, and drink water. I tell her if she does good on getting water for a few weeks, she can have a soda pop. While we're in town, our stop was always Taco Bell for the same old thing...a large Mountain Dew. This time, there wasn't much of a line and it turned out on my agenda, We started to go to Conoco gas station to grt Mountain Dew and drinks because Nathan got one where it was all watered down when it was fresh from the fountain. He's gotten a few that tasted like Diet Mountain Dew before and I had it, I was taking him to the gas station to get a Mountain Dew. It was a few dollars cheaper and then the usual places. Every two weeks, Jan needed something from Walgreens and we would go there. Other days, it'd be O'Rieley's for a part for Ozzy or the blue Chevy Tracker, but tonight it was safeway to get a few packs of Mountain Breezes so I didn't have to fear of traveling far because The safeway we go to was the little one a few miles from where I lived.

When we got home that night, Natalie would again try to carry all of the groceries inside so it didn't turn out to be two trips. She's carry 3 bags of groceries in one arm, 3 soda pop packages in the other. It would worry me that she'd trip and fall with a load in her arms. Nathan told her not to be doing that, but she does it anyway. She'd joke and tease me that she was falling with groceries in her arms when she had them all under control. It would worry Nathan too in the same way, but Natalie was was determined to carry a bunch of groceries in her arms like a professional. At least Nathan would get the door for her. A little later, it was back to relaxing time and as always I'd beg Natalie to give me a rub down on my chassis since I wanted something different than a belly rub or a front bumper massage while she was watching TV. She worked her toes as I laid in front of her. Her big toe worked in a systematic pattern and then, rubbing in one spot, she rubbed counterclockwise for 10 minutes. It was good to let my gears fall in the right place after a day's trip into town. I was old and needed to stay at the top pf my well-being for a classic car my type. It was once a while that my shocks would be sore from going into town. For a human, that would be like having sore knees, if walked on far more than 2 hours. I quickly fell asleep an hour later and it was already 11:30 pm when I woke up. Well son of a whisker goat! I didn't want to fall asleep again but who does when they're enjoying a massage?

I realized how exhausted I was and so I had a seat on the couch to return back to bed. My poor aching body was like old jello and not very steady either. They were weary too and I needed a day off so badly that I could hold myself up. I hoped tomorrow, I could get Ol' Reliable to take the three of them out to town so I could rest. But that next morning, it was Monday and Jan's car still wasn't working. She needed to get to work and I thought this would be the day that I would break my gears off. I was terrified. Nathan told her she could borrow me and he forked over the keys to Jan so she could go to work. Jan took a pillow to sit on and then we were off. I haven't been to Aztec in a long time and the minute the kids saw me again, I was complimented on when Jan got out. I was a cool looking car but Jan told them I belonged to Nathan. Although, I was as happy as Elvis Persley's hair combed back. I was going to perdict that I was going to have a good day. For the morning through the afternoon, I got to relax and watch the kids play and scream like  a bunch of deranged monkeys fighting over a single banana. It was like a zoo but with little kids in the fence. Then 3 o'clock came around, I suddenly had a change of mind, I wanted to come back tomorrow at "Just Us Kids" in Aztec at the same time to be surrounded by the trees. I was still a scary car for Jan to ride in when she drove me, but at least when Nathan drove me, Jan enjoyed the ride with a lit cigarette and relax in the backseat. Again that night, we did our nighttime errands to get drinks and shopping. I got to relax today and I didn't have to travel anywhere. I felt it deep in my gears when I was enjoying the shade of the trees of that summer.

The next day, it was Tuesday and Jan took me again to work again. I realized I was temporarily going to be Jan's car for a few weeks because her car was still out of order. I got a lot of eye-popping looks from people walking by and driving in and out. I was still the original handsome, sexy gentleman in the parking lot. I got respect and got to have the shade all to myself. I did have my spontaneous thoughts all gathered up including being prepared to give Nathan a hard time with starting up, zooming to get drinks and going to the dollar store.

After 5 pm, Jan got off work finally. She had a field trip day to drive the bus with kids to the places they had in mind. Today, they got to go the swimming pool. Jan and I came to a halt on the way home at McDonnie's; as I like to call the McDonald's restaurant. We got a sweet tea to enjoy for the road. About 30 minutes later, we got home at long last. I had a seat next to Natalie on the couch. I had a good day and I felt how it was my day to be treated like a senior citizen for a grandparents' day. There wasn't much of an activity going on for  the summer. All there was for the little ankle-biters to do were swimming, visit the museum, go to the Aztec ruins, visit the park and basically go back to the kids center.

On Wednesday, I parked close up to the center and watched Jan drive the bus away to the Aztec ruins. I picked up some apricots from the trees and decided to have some fun  by throwing them at cars going by. So many people honked in anger on who the cheeseburgers did that. I was well hidden behind the trees where no one saw. I laughed as I threw a good shot at a KIA Soul zooming by. I sling-shit some more apricots at some more cars passing me by and five of them hit two cars that honked and swerved left and right on the highway. No one knew where those flying apricots came from nor who was throwing them. It was like watching TV only better and then I chucked four more apricots  and hit one car on the windshield. Direct hit! Oh, it was just too good! All four apricots rained down hard on the car like falling starfruit splattering from three hundred feet down. I chucked another apricot at a truck and it smashed in a splat right on the driver side door, causing the truck driver to honk a few times. It was fun and I never got caught.

When I got home, I sat next to Natalie proudly. She asked me how did my day go and what did I do. I looked up with a face that read "I threw some apricots at cars and got away with it" with a quirky eyebrow twerk and a big smile. It was indeed a good Wednesday...a total Chevy day afternoon.