#i remember that last update i had woken up at like 6 AM | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

littlemisslipbalm · 2 years

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green is a magical color

Josh Kiszka x Fem!reader

Summary: With a special outfit for her college's biggest party of the year, Y/N has strangers coming up to her all morning. When one particular stranger invites her to a house show later, she feels like her life is about to change.

pls that fucking gif lmao, like I don't picture this era of josh but it's probably more accurate to the time period it kind of seems to be taking place in

ok so I wrote this whole thing ab this story and an update on stuff and now I'm annoyed bc Tumblr fucking deleted it and so I don't have much to say but I hope you enjoy this fun little silly piece I wrote based on my weekend last week and it's supposed to be silly! More long serious stuff is on the way and I'm super excited about all of it.

Word Count: 6.5k | Warnings: smut (not graphic, 18+ still), swearing, drinking, weed, idk college!au kind of idk how to explain it

“Y/N!!” Her friends screamed in unison as she walked out of the bathroom. She had just finished getting ready and did a little twirl for them.

Her St. Fratty’s outfit consisted of a green and white floral patterned swimsuit and green jeans that were unbuttons and rolled down to show off the bottoms of the swimsuit. To finish it off, she had on a green bob wig, fun green eye makeup and glitter all over her skin that wasn’t covered i.e. her face, chest, neck, arms, stomach and entire back.

A white claw was already in her hand as she walked out and smiled at everyone, her eyes sparkling despite how early it was.

On St. Fratty’s, the Saturday before actual St. Patrick’s day, the entire college campus woke up at 5 am or earlier to begin pregaming and simply gaming for the day. Y/N had woken up at 5:20 and began drinking by 5:40 am. It was the earliest she had ever gotten completely ready for an event and began drinking before the sun even started to rise. It was exhilarating – and not to mention only a few hours after she had gotten home from a semi-formal dance for a club she was in on campus. But that's besides the point.

Her and her friends pregamed with the sounds of loud music to trick their bodies into not thinking about just how early and absurd it was to be up right now. They laughed and took pictures, easily sliding into a drunken state.

At 6:45, they felt significantly drunk enough to make their way to one of the many parties they had heard about going on already. The earliest one they had been invited to had started at 6 am and they were only just a little late, but 6:45…that’s still plent early.

They walked past the school funded booths with water and snacks for the unruly students, like her and her friends. The cops were already out and about, but they had just brough yerba mate tea to drink to keep them feeling awake. While her roommate had complained about the early wake up time, Y/Nhadn’t even let herself think about how early it was – she just turned on the lights and the music and got to work – makeup, wig (and braiding underneath) and clothes and alcohol.

The street that the party was on was a sea of people in green so there was no point in even trying to get to the house. The party had moved into the street and the sea of people was happily drunk and smoking cigarettes every so often. The music wasn’t very loud, but the crowds talking to one another made it go unnoticed. They took some pictures and began to recognize people in the crowd. She talked to this guy who was in a band she had seen last weekend who wasn’t all that great and she complimented him. His name was Dylan and he gave her a hug, but she didn’t think he’d even remember her despite the green wig – he seemed out of it. They saw their good friend from first year, Jason, who hugged her and made her no longer feel like an icicle out in the high 40 degree weather in California in a swimsuit. She had committed but she was cold no matter how much she had drank.

The majority of that crowd was a blur. Random people came up to Y/N asking to add her on Snapchat and get a picture with her, complimenting her outfit and telling her how they loved her whole vibe, how they had wanted to meet her. She laughed and thanked them and told them how great they looked too, how she hoped they had a great day. It was confusing and fun, but confusing.

Just as they were getting ready to run back to the apartment, because one of her friend’s had to pee, someone got her attention. His hair was curly and brown and in the morning sun it looked like a golden halo around his head. He had gold glitter streaked over his cheeks and eyelids, but just a plain white shirt and some dark green pants. She raised her brows at him expectantly and licked her lips, confused as the alcohol began to wear off why someone random was talking to her – as if it hadn’t happened all morning.

“I just had to say ‘hi’,” He starts, a smile on his glossy lips, “You look absolutely awesome. Like you’re gorgeous and you just went all out, I love it.”

She laughs sweetly, once again, realizing he was just another drunk stranger obsessed with her wig. “Thank you – what’s your name?”

“Joshua.”

“Thank you, Joshua,” She repeats with his name. “I’m Y/N, I hope you have a great day! But my friends are going home for a little while so I should probably go with them.” She wasn’t sure why she used her full name, but something about Joshua made her want to say her full name rather than her nickname for him

“Oh, yeah,” His face fell and she would’ve missed it if she had been as drunk as she was ten minutes ago, but she caught it. “You should come to this concert on Albert, it’s not till 10, $5 at the door, but just say you know Joshua.”

She looked down at her watch and said that it was only just 8 am. 10 am was hours from now and it made her smile.

“Oh really?” She giggles at his confidence that he could get her into a house show for free in this college town. The house shows were always charging at the door and it bothered her to no end because whenever she visited her friends at other colleges house shows were free – like normal. It was just this particular college town. “What, are you like, the lead singer or something?”

“Or something,” He smiles and then looks over her shoulder, hearing someone else call her name.

The green wig turns over her shoulder, following his gaze. Her friends were at the corner of the street and wanting to turn, but not wanting to leave her behind.

“Alright, well, I’ll try,” She turns back and grins at him, which makes him smile back wider. “Good luck if I don’t see you…”

She’s about to turn away, but then she stops herself because another question comes to mind, “Joshua, do you go here?”

He laughs and looks around at the partying crowd around them, “I sure wish I did, but we’re just passing through.”

She nods in understanding and turns to run towards her friends. Her hands went up to her breasts, barely covered by her swimsuit top as she ran, trying to make sure she didn’t have a slip while she ran. With her friends, they laugh and shriek about who Y/N had been talking to.

“Who was that?!” One of them, Jordan, asked loudly.

“He was short.” Another one, Paige, notes.

Y/N rolls her eyes and shoves at her friend’s shoulder, “Shut up, he was hot, but he was just some guy. He was complimenting my look and told me about some house show at 10.”

“Oh my god,” Kira said. “You’re so in the know, it’s so awesome.”

Y/N laughs softly, “No, no, no. He was just being nice or maybe he just wanted to look at me more. It’s not that serious.”

“It’s cool, though,” Kira insists.

Y/N relents and lets it slide as the group shifts focus to Paige having to pee. Joshua stays on her mind for the rest of the walk/jog back to their apartment. She drinks some more and smokes a bit of weed while they re-up on their pregaming to get back out there. As she drinks and thinks about Joshua, she swears she’s seen him before, but he had said he didn’t go to her college, so it was very confusing.

“Was the last guy who came up to me at all familiar?” She finally questions aloud, when the thought won’t stop nagging at her mind.

“I didn’t see him that up close,” Jen said, “He just seemed short and had curly hair and some questionable facial hair. That could be a lot of men at this school”

“You love mustaches,” Y/N shoots back. “And he said he doesn’t go here, he also seemed older.”

“That’s true, I do love them…I don’t know then, if he doesn’t go here,” Jen laughs, but offers nothing else.

A fresh haze of alcohol and weed settles over Y/N, as they walk back out onto the street. It was still cold as it approached 9 am, but she barely noticed it anymore.

They passed through the hoard of people in the road into a frat house that they barely knew anyone in. It was St. Fratty’s, it would have been remiss not to attend at least one. Thankfully, it was a good one. The DJs were hot and spinning good music that they actually mixed well and she was living her best life. With her head lifted to the sky, sunglasses over her eyes and her hands running over her body, she felt completely alive. This was the moment she’d look back on and say that was a college party. It was a fun moment and she felt all her worries fade away for that early hour in the morning. Screw the interal drama that constantly swam through her mind, her issues with her roommate, issues with herself, issues with her major, issues with life. None of it mattered as she danced drunkenly in the backyard of the frat – which might sound stupid, but it was fun and why couldn’t girls just have fun.

At 9:45, Joshua was still at the back of her mind and she looked to her friends who were all around her and asked if they wanted to try to get into the show.

“I don’t want to go if we have to pay,” Jen said, “I’m sick of paying for house shows.”

She said it and Y/N could understand, she was the original proponent of saying that house shows should be free. Jen was Y/N’s roommate though and she kind of thought she was always jealous of Y/N, so it kind of seemed like she just didn’t want Y/N to meet back up with Joshua.

“Josh said we could get in free if we told them that we knew him,” Y/N insisted.

“He told that to you,” Jen points out, “Do you think they’ll let all five of us in for free?”

“We can try,” Jordan tries to help.

Y/N could tell the other girls wanted to go, but they also were very into keeping the peace. She didn’t want to back down, often bending to Jen’s will all-too-often for no reason. Y/N was a very go with the flow type of person so most of the time there was no reason to go against what Jen wanted because Y/N genuinely didn’t have an opinion, but today she did.

Jen was stubborn and selfish, but Y/N wasn’t going to let that get in the way of possibly seeing this intriguing guy again.

“Yeah, let’s just try,” Paige chimes in, “If all else fails, I’ll pay and go in with you, so you don’t have to go alone.” She says the last part directly to Y/N.

“Thanks, love,” Y/N says, patting Paige on the arm. At least someone was on her side.

They walk a few blocks through the neighborhood that was alive with music, alcohol and drunk students towards Albert Dr., where the concert was allegedly going to be. The guy hadn’t really been specific on which house or what cross street the house show was supposed to be at. By the looks of it, it could be at about five different houses on Albert. She settled on guessing one over the rest since they had set up a table and two men were sitting at it with a lock box and a little venmo code scanner.

She crosses to the house and out of the street. It was five till and she was hoping she could still get her and her friends in for free.

“Hi,” She starts, slightly nervous about what she was about to ask.

“Hey,” One of them responds boisterously, with a Coors light in his hand, clearly looking her and her friends over with his eyes. They scan around and then come back to Y/N, looking at her breasts once more and then back to her face.

“How are you ladies doing this morning?” The other guy asks, his green trucker hat turned around on his head.

“Grand,” She quips, annoyed at the first’s wandering eyes.

“Are y’all here to see the band?”

“Yeah,” She nods and looks around coolly. “We know Joshua.”

“Joshua…” the guy with the wandering eyes repeated, understanding washing over him. “All of you?”

“Yep,” Y/N nods affirmatively before anyone else can mess it up. “He invited us, so can we just?”

“Uh, yeah,” The green trucker hat guy said, believing her lie.

They walk up the pathway to the gated front yard of this cute house and it ends up being bigger than what it looked like initially. The band hasn’t started yet but she still searches for Joshua among the people, hoping to see him since she still assumed he was just the band’s manager or something of that sort, not actually in the band.

She is proven wrong when chatter among the crowd begins to grow frenzied, a tell-tale sign that the band is about to come on stage – or what was the stage, a platform just a half inch above the standing area the entire crowd was in. The drum kit had a name written across it “Greta Van Fleet” and once more she is annoyed with herself at why it seems familiar but she can’t place why.

The chatter grows and she looks at her friends who are all near her within the crowd as they stand at the front but on the left side of the crowd. She’s right by a speaker so she keeps trying to push right, but the people next to her aren’t interested in moving for her.

The drummer, bassist and guitarist begin to file onto the stage in order from a door that was connected to the house this show was at. The door stays open after the guitarist hustles out with his red battered electric guitar – it looked well-worn with a piece of silver duct tape holding a part of it together.

She’s watching the way the guitarist fiddles with his strap and plugs in to his set up, but then a voice interrupts her. A familiar voice.

“Sorry, folks, for the delay. I couldn’t find any green for the festivities.”

Joshua saunters onto the stage, shirtless with some shiny gold pants that were completely different from the masculine green pants he was wearing earlier. These were flared and hung low on his hips and hugged his figure tightly, leaving little to the imagination – not that she was complaining.

He swings his arm in a flourishing gesture towards his pants now that he is center stage, “I hope these can make up for it, if not, feel free to pinch me after the show.” He winks as his voice drops to a far lower register for his last comment.

She feels herself heat up in her cheeks as his eyes cast around the crowd. She hopes he’ll remember her, but she’s forgotten how she is dressed and immediately thinks he won’t notice her at all or really care that she came – maybe he had just been promoting the band that he was the frontman of.

When his eyes scan over her green wig, though, he stops to make sure to make eye contact with her, her presumption doesn’t seem to hold any weight. His eyes light up when she meets them with hers and a grin pulls onto his face.

They open with their first song when the guitarist, Jake – as Joshua (now Josh, upon his introduction to the crowd), begins to play over his brother (another thing she learned from Josh’s opening) and all of his talking. The crowd cheers because immediately the music is enthralling. It’s fast and loud and good – something that wasn’t always true for bands that did house shows in her college town. She begins to dance along to the beat as Josh hits incredible notes that she had never heard done before her.

During a guitar solo and instrumental part, Josh is dancing around the stage and seems to be having the time of his life. Every now and then he looks over at her and smiles a little wider, but when she tries to say something to him he comes over since he knows he’s free from singing for a while.

He leans down to try and hear her, presenting his ear-plugged ear to her. They were loud.

“Do you want my wig? Then no one will have to pinch you after the show,” She offers, pointing at her wig.

He laughs whole-heartedly, but shakes his head. “You keep it, I spent hours on this,” He says pointing to his own head of hair. “But I’d like nothing more than for you to be the one to pinch me after the show.”

She laughs and the smile on her face is rather devious, but only Josh can really see it. “Why don’t you take these at least?” She pulls the silly green swirly glasses that were tucked into her waistband and hands them to him so that he can have some green on that won’t mess up his hair.

He obliges and places them on in a funny way, unbending and then placing them on his face slowly and dramatically, just in time for the instrumentals to end and for him to walk the one foot back to center stage and begin singing again.

He laughs with the audience and his band members in between songs for the next hour or so. He sends her winks and she dances exquisitely to the music, smiling at him and telling him he’s doing great every so often.

Her friends all are whispering in each other’s ears, including hers, trying to talk about what was going on without garnering Josh’s attention. The other people in the crowd were certainly looking at her now, but with curiosity and awe rather than solely the admiration of her outfit for the day.

Their set ends and the crowd disperses a little. Different people go up to the different members of the band, similar to how it was after most house shows, people going up to the members they know, but this was a little different. Y/N didn’t think anyone really knew these guys since they were certainly not from around here, Josh’s accent made that clear.

Josh makes a beeline for her and she is happy to wait for him. He smiles at her lazily and she raises her brows with a soft smile on her lips – the buzz from the alcohol had dimmed severely since their arrival, but the effects of the weed were certainly still in her system.

“You…” She pauses, “Actually are the lead singer, what the fuck?!”

He laughs and shuts his eyes in a smile, “Yeah, but it’s fun that it was a mystery, wasn’t it?”

“Sure,” She laughs along with him. “It certainly wasn’t what I was expecting, but you guys rocked…kind of Zeppelin-esque.”

Josh nods in agreement and thanks. “Yeah, we’ve heard that a good deal. I feel like it’s not exactly accurate.”

She nods, feeling embarrassed. “No, I guess not. You’ve just got killer vocals and guitar and drums…and bass. Shit, you guys have really got it all, why are you just doing college house shows?”

Josh grins even wider, “We’re not. We’ve got an EP out and an album coming out this year.”

“Wow,” She is amazed and once more embarrassed. Josh never makes her feel silly for anything she says, he just guides her to the correct answer. “But still, why a house show on St. Patrick’s Day?”

“Favor for a friend,” A new voice says, Jake, Josh’s twin. He slings his arm over his brother’s naked shoulders. “The money made is for a charity, I think. Plus, free alcohol.”

She nods solemnly.

“Nice wig,” Jake adds after appraising her outfit.

“This is Jake, Jake this is Y/N,” Josh interjects before she can say her thanks.

“Cool,” They say in unison before Jake gets called away by their other brother, Sammy.

They find themselves off in the corner of the yard for the next hour or so. Talking about nothing and everything. People come and go. Her friends and Josh’s brothers check in every now and then, but for the most part they are left to their own devices. Josh gets them some beers, Coors banquet, of course.

“College kids don’t have Guinness for today?” Josh asks after taking a sip.

She rolls her eyes playfully from beside him on the shitty outdoor couch they were perched on the back of.

“Please, you’re lucky it’s not Miller Lite.”

“Hey,” Josh sounds quickly and a little indignantly. “I like Miller Lite.”

“Oh my god, that is disgusting.”

“It’s what I grew up on in the basements of Michigan.”

She raises her brows at him and he cracks a smile and shuts his eyes in a blissed out expression, telling her he was both serious but also messing with her somehow simultaneously.

They continue to banter and converse for what seems like hours. A few people come up to them eventually who neither of them know and gush over the pair of them. About her wig and his curls, how they look famous beside each other, and how great of a singer Josh was. They are gracious and thankful before sending the people off, moreso wanting to just hang out with each other.

At a lull in their conversation, she finds herself stuck on something and she can’t stop herself from asking.

“Where did you find those fucking pants?”

“Goodwill,” He grins triumphantly. “Aren’t they just the best things you’ve ever seen?”

Her eyes scan his pants and can’t help from snagging on his bulge, it was impossible not to look at in the tight shiny pants that left almost nothing to the imagination.

“We are dressed like sluts, no wonder people keep coming up to us,” She laughs.

His head falls forward as he laughs heartily which makes her watch his joy. When he raises his head, it’s much closer to hers.

“I’m glad I met you,” He says her name, as he looks deeply into her eyes.

For a moment, she��s sure he’ll lean in and kiss her, but with a quirk of his brow he’s retreating back and just smiling shyly at her. Her head quirks in slight confusion, but is cut off by someone else interrupting them.

Sammy says, “Hate to break up this lovefest, but we’re loading the Greta Van and while we know your mic stand is easy to carry, Danny could use some help with his kit.”

Josh exaggerates the sigh he breathes before shooting her an apologetic smile, “You wouldn’t want to carry my tambourine by any chance?”

“First groupie, now roadie, and we’ve just met this morning, what’s next?” She smiles and stands up beside him, following him over to their set up that was slowly being taken down.

“You called that being a groupie?”

“Well you got me in for free so I’d say that’s groupie enough, especially these days.”

Josh nods and chuckles to himself.

After the packing of their van finishes, she lets Josh take his tambourine from her hand where she had been rattling it around for the last ten minutes off and on. He placed it in a bag and shut the back doors.

“So,” She starts.

He smiles knowingly and doesn’t let her continue. “We’re staying the night but we’re on our way to LA in the morning.”

She nods and looks off in the distance, trying not to think about how this was just going to be a today thing. She probably would never see this guy again. But he was so pretty and bright. He had seen her and wanted to know her. She had shown up to his show and he had been so happy. He had made her feel wanted in a way no one else had done today, despite how many compliments she had gotten from strangers. Compared to Josh, everyone else felt hollow and insincere. They said they loved her but they couldn’t possibly. Josh had initially started out like that, but then he had talked to her for hours, sharing his life with her and listening to her share hers. It felt good, it felt new and it felt like the start of something, but his last sentence reminded her that it couldn’t be.

They were just passing through. Tomorrow he will be gone. This would be just a memory.

Maybe that’s what pushed her to say her next words with little hesitation.

“Do you want to come over and see my place? We can smoke and we have a couch and a cot that are probably going to be more comfortable than the floor you’d be likely sleeping on in there.” She gestures to the house they had just performed at and Josh nodded. They both knew the people who lived there somehow and knew that the interior was small and cramped – not that her apartment wasn’t cramped, but only two people lived there instead of five.

He agrees easily and enthusiastically. She tells him he can invite the rest of his band if he wants and he shakes his head no in a slightly mischevious way. He tells her he needs to grab a shirt and a change of pants before they left, if she didn’t mind. Of course she didn’t mind.

Back at her apartment, it’s a bit of a mess and she grins with embarrassment.

“Sorry, we pregamed here,” She says, gesturing to the empty cups and cans on her countertop and a box of St. Patrick’s day themed donuts she had picked up the day before to go along with their festivities.

Josh smiles back, understanding and happy to see wher she made her life.

“It’s alright,” He waves her off, “Can I have a donut though?”

“Please,” She responds, encouraging him to take one while she sets up a new bowl in the bong.

It’s domestically quiet for a moment as Josh looks over his options for donuts and she packs the bowl. She glances over at him leaned over the table every so often while she picks at the flower and places it in the grinder. He picks out a matcha sprinkle one and she smiles to herself before looking back down at the weed. After finishing packing the bowl she asks if he wants to smoke in her room so they could listen to some of her vinyls.

“Why didn’t you lead with records?! I would’ve been looking through them this whole time!” He lights up even further and tries to go ahead of her to her room despite him not knowing which bedroom was hers.

She laughs softly and tells him to turn left.

“My collection is pretty small, most of my records stay at my parents house,” She explains, shutting the door behind them now that they’re in her room.

He glances around and again she apologizes for the mess and he insists it isn’t messy since there were only a few articles of clothing lying about from when she was getting dressed at 5 this morning. Her hand around the bong extends a finger to point him in the direction of her record collection, sitting in a milk crate in the corner of her room. She busies herself with lifting the player’s lid and turning it on for when Josh decides on a record to play.

Then she steps to the other end of her dresser and takes a stick of incense and lights it, placing it in the vase burner she loved so much. Josh complimented the smell without raising his head from his perusing of her collection. She apologizes for the lack of seating with her bed taking up the majority of the room and the pallets it rested upon.

He waves her off again, looking over his shoulder at her. “You apologize way too much, this is your home. It’s perfect just the way it is,” He insists.

She mumbles a thanks before kneeling onto her bed and opening up the window to get some air flow into the room. As her hand slides it open, Josh straightens from his crouched position on the floor with a few records in hand. So Far, a compilation album by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel; Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player by Elton John; and The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd.

“Planning on being here awhile?” She smiles when he presents them to her.

He shuts one eye while looking at her, “You said I could stay the night. Plus I wanted to give you options for which to start with.”

She takes a step closer as if examining the records a little closer, but she looks up into Josh’s perfect brown eyes. “They’re mine, I like them all.”

“C’mon, choose,” He demands in a way that brings a subtle shiver over her body.

“Pink Floyd seems most appropriate for getting high. Then, maybe So Far, Bridge and then Elton.”

He grins before walking past her to the player a few steps behind where they were standing.

“I didn’t say you got to pick the entire lineup,” He says playfully as he pulls the record from its sleeve. “But, I did have the same idea.”

The first chords of “Speak to Me” begin to sound out of the speakers and Josh’s fingers fiddle with the volume knob before turning back to the bed that Y/N was now sitting on.

“You go first,” Josh says, seeing her waiting for him to start smoking. “It’s your weed afterall.”

“I got it for free, but thanks,” She says before obliging and taking the first hit.

He inquires as to how she got it for free and she responds after a moment. They take turns taking hits and steadily get high. The smell of the weed mixes with the incense burning in the cool breeze of the March air filtering through her window. They find themselves laying head to head on her bed with Josh closest to the foot of the bed, getting up to flip the records when the time calls for it. Her feet are up on her wall as she stares at the ceiling. Josh compliments her decor and she laughs, saying it took her forever to even get what she got up on the walls at all. She admits to being in a rut when she moved in and not feeling creative enough to decorate. He listens and responds and they grow silent for a while, just listening to the music wash over them.

At some point their fingers get interlocked and their heads are turned to face one another.

“I feel like I’ve known you my whole life, Josh,” She admits in a quiet voice.

He nods slowly, his eyes blinking even slower. “Yeah,” He breathes. “I felt that too. I like it.”

She sighs and shuts her eyes, feeling hazily overwhelmed by his gaze on her face so close up. She had taken off the green wig a while back and changed into a huge sweatshirt and green boxers to keep up the festivities but be more comfortable in her apartment. Josh had followed suit so they were plenty comfy, but she thought about her extravagant makeup and worried how smudged it might be now.

“Would you kiss me?” She asks after taking a deep breath, weighing her options on whether tomorrow would hurt more or less with this. Her mind switches immediately after asking and she begins to ramble, averting her gaze from his. “I don’t know if this was just a friendly thing and if it is, don’t worry. You don’t need to kiss me, because I could also platonically feel like I’ve known you my whole life, like that’s fine especially because I don’t want to mess this up –”

He stops her rambling with his lips pressed to hers. He smiles when she squeaks a noise of surprise. She leans into the kiss after the initial surprise though and they kiss softly, sweetly, before pulling back to look at one another.

His eyes look a shade darker now, but maybe it’s just from the sun moving out of sight of her window. The second side of So Far is playing and “Our House” is just beginning to fade in.

“It’s not a platonic thing,” He reassures and maneuvers himself to a seated position and extends a hand to help her sit up as well.

They lean in again to one another and try the kiss once more. It’s less awkward than the almost upside down position they were in before. Their breathing is soft at first as they experiment with kissing one another. Each other’s lips were a completely new experience for them. It grew heavier as the kisses grew more confident and their arousal grew. The weed heightened everything and she felt like she was floating and on fire at the same time. Josh’s hands were on her neck and in her hair and she was putty in his hands.

He pushed her back gently and she lay back down, but this time with him crawling on top of her. A small whimper leaves her throat when he tugs his teeth against her lower lip and he smiles down at her in response. She closes her eyes in a small shyness, but his pointer goes to her chin and tilts up her head, signalling for her to look at him.

She reopens her eyes and he stares into them.

“Can I feel you?” He asks.

She takes a deep breath and replies with a soft yes. He nods in response and dives back into her lips, more vigor in his movements as he trails a hand down her body, gently touching her breasts, stomach and thighs. Her breathing grows more labored as his hand snakes to her center that had grown wet from Josh’s hot and firm body hovering against hers for the entirety of their makeout session.

They progress, exploring each other’s bodies with kisses, licks and fingertips caressing carefully. Josh is just about to line himself up to enter her when the record ends and his head falls to hang between their bodies with a breathless chuckle.

“Of course.”

She giggles back as one of her hands caresses his bare shoulder that was soft and warm but firm beneath her touch. He tucks himself back into his boxers and quickly pads over to the record player and looks at the two he had pulled but they hadn’t listened to yet. She watches from the bed with her head tilted to the side. He ponders which was more right for this moment and she knows the answer.

“The price we pay to enjoy the level of pretentiousness we operate on is unmatched,” He mumbles, still perplexed on which was better for the moment.

“Grab the Beach House record from the bin, love. It’ll be better.”

Josh looks over his shoulder and smiles sweetly, almost innocently, back at her, despite both their states of undress and what they were about to do. They had only met this morning but this felt unbelievably intimate. Precious.

He hops over to the collection and plucks out the Beach House record with dexterity before shuffling back to the player and placing it on.

He returns to the bed and pecks her lips, “Where were we?”

She kisses him once more, deeper than the peck and they’re right back to where they were. The pause hadn’t killed the mood. If anything, the fact that Josh was the kind of person to want to put the music she wanted on rather than just get to the sex so badly that he didn’t care meant a lot to her.

Soon enough, but not too soon, Josh is breathing harder into the crook of her neck as she whines out his name and writhes beneath him. He makes sure she cums first and she lets him cum inside her. He stutters when she tells him it’s okay and he lets go, mumbling a mix of curses, her name, and praises of the ultimate sweetness into her neck. He thrusts a few more times as he comes down and begs her to relax as she clenches him too well. She giggles and strokes down his spine as he comes to a halt.

They are still and unified for a silent moment before he kisses her neck and then her jaw and then her lips once more before rolling off. They lay there for a moment after she tells him it’s alright that they don’t clean up immediately. She had extra sheets. He nods as stares at the ceiling.

“Do you believe in love at first sight?” His voice is quieter and more unsure that she had heard all day.

All day. God. It dawned on her that she had met him only today, once more.

“Not before today.”

“Yeah, I had always hoped that it was real, but I didn’t have proof till now,” He sounds like he’s smiling as he says it and when she turns her head she is proved correct.

“So this isn’t a one time thing?”

“Absolutely not,” He laughs afterwards, incredulous she’d even say that after today.

“But you leave tomorrow?”

“We’ll make it work,” He promises before leaning over to kiss her forehead and stand up to clean them up and get some water.

Josh leaves the room once he’s pulled on his boxers and hands her her sheet to pull over her body despite her knowing her roommate wasn’t home. He calls from her kitchen, inquiring about where her cups were and she directs him as best she can while visualizing the cabinets from her bed and in the post-sex and post-weed haze.

He returns with water and a towel and sits beside her. “Nothing like this has ever happened to me before,” He starts.

She goes to speak up, but he continues.

“And it all happened because of that fucking wig. I love it.”

lmk what y'all think, it's kind of silly but hey it's a magical day

#josh kiszka x you #josh kiszka fluff #josh kiszka x reader #josh kiszka fanfiction #josh kiszka smut #josh kiszka fic #josh kiszka fan fic #josh kiszka x yn #josh kiszka x y/n #greta van fleet fluff #greta van fleet fan fiction #greta van fleet smut #greta van fleet #greta van fleet imagine #Greta Van Fleet fic

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neonacity · 3 years

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LUCID | NCT DREAM ‘00 LINE X READER | CH.6

LUCID DREAMS - A TYPE OF DREAM WHEREIN THE PERSON IS AWARE THAT THEY ARE CAUGHT IN A DREAM WORLD.

Summary: It was supposed to be a harmless, professional transaction. You were to tutor a group of boys, get your pay at the end of the day, and go home to your loving fiance. Kids aren’t supposed to be dangerous, right? So why, then, are you caught up in a web of madness that slowly makes you feel like you’re in a living nightmare?

NOTE:This is a yandere plot featuring NCT Dream ‘00 line which means there will be mature themes in the story as well as obsessive, toxic behavior. If you’re a minor, please refrain from interacting. If this isn’t your thing, then just scroll and skip. In no way am I condoning anything written here— this is not love, this is obsession—nor do I think that any of the people mentioned here will act any way like in this story. This is purely a work of fiction.

Genre: yandere, horror, suspense

TW: abuse, obsessive behavior, toxic relationships, suggestive scenes, stalking, possible kidnapping, mental health. Age gap–though nothing dramatic. Everyone is of legal age, drugs, slight smut for this chapter but nothing graphic, questionable consent (?) I guess? Creepy, creepy, creepy! This will be updated as the story goes along.

CHAPTER 1 | CHAPTER 2 | CHAPTER 3 | CHAPTER 4 | CHAPTER 5

“EVERYONE HAS A DARKER NATURE. EVERYONE. GOOD MEN FEAR IT, AND EVIL MEN EMBRACE IT.” - JAMES ISLINGTON

The silent hum of the air conditioning filled the space like a foreboding chant. Nothing else but the sound of the hospital machinery and random noises outside pierced the stillness of the room as you stared, unseeing, at the green and orange numbers that blinked on the monitor above the bed.

You barely have any recollection of how you managed to find yourself in the hospital, but you do remember brief memories of Taeyong picking you up from the floor you found yourself crumpled on after you got the call. You remember seeing Jaehyun's parents at a brightly lit corridor and his mother pulling you into a hug as she broke down and his father telling you how his son hasn't woken up since he was brought to the emergency room.

You remember your heart breaking in shock, mind too numb from the godforsaken pills you have been taking and your own injury. So many times you wondered to yourself if you were still caught in one of your nightmares, but every time you tried to break free from it, you're slapped back with the reality of how all of this is real.

Your fingers gently tightened on Jaehyun's hands now as your gaze landed on his face. He looked so peaceful, like he's just sleeping, that you almost wanted to bend over and try to kiss him awake. You don't even have any idea what time and day it is already, but you have barely left his side since you were brought to him. The nightmares and sleeplessness? They're barely a problem for you anymore because right now, you're entirely not resting at all unless your body forces you to crash from physical exhaustion. Even then, you usually only sleep for about two to three hours at best to make sure that you never miss a moment with your fiance.

"Severe traumatic head injury. He was lucky enough that the airbag shielded him from the worst of the impact."

The words of his attending doctor echoed in your head again like a faraway voice. You could only remember bits and pieces of what he said to his parents back then as he reported his findings, but you caught enough context for you to draw a picture of the situation. You remember Jaehyun's mother asking the chances of her son waking up again, her voice barely holding up from her emotions.

"I cannot promise anything, Ma'm. I'd say he has a 60 percent chance. He's fighting."

And he is. You know Jaehyun inside out. He might be unconscious now, but there is no way he is giving up. Not from something like this.

"Keep fighting baby…" you whispered in the stillness of the room as you lifted his hand gently to your lips to kiss. "I'll wait for you. We still have a wedding to do."

The slight creaking of the door barely made you look away from his sleeping face. You only did at the gentle sound of a throat clearing, your eyes slightly widening as you recognized the man who just walked inside the room. Taeil had the same mildly shocked look on him as he stopped on the other side of the bed across from you.

"You…"

"Are you a relative of the patient?" He asked now as he tucked his clipboard under his arm. You simply nodded, watching him quickly glance at the numbers on the monitor before his eyes settled on you again.

"I'm his fiancee."

That made him raise his brows slightly. He pulled a pen now from the pocket of his coat to quickly write something on his file. "What a coincidence. Not a good one obviously. I'm sorry to hear about him. Mr. Jung, right?"

You swallowed. You didn't want to acknowledge anything that he just said so you tried to divert the conversation instead.

"You're not his doctor. Why are you…"

"Oh. He was turned over to me today. I am one of the resident neurologists here but he had to be moved to me because his first doctor has too much in his plate already. Don't worry, I was briefed properly about his case."

Your gaze followed Taeil as he bent over to check Jaehyun's oxygen level as well as the other wires attached to him. You don't know what to feel about him taking over, but at least you already know him previously.

"Are there any changes? Positive ones?" You asked in a frail voice that Taeil definitely didn't miss. You told yourself to not act silly and ask questions that probably do not have answers yet, but you couldn't help yourself now. The man seemed to think over his words first, noticing your state, before calmly giving his reply.

"No particular ones, but the fact that there are no negative developments is… something. I will have to request for some tests to be done on him again tomorrow so we can see if there are positive changes in his brain."

Neutral. Not good, but at least it's not bad either.

"How are you? I was about to check on you again. Is your head okay?"

You were still thinking over his words that you barely caught his question. Looking up, you tried to scramble for an answer to give. To be honest, you haven't given proper attention to your own injury since this happened. You would even only remember to take your medications on your clearest, less anxious moments, which, honestly, isn’t a lot.

"I'm uh… the wound has closed. But the headaches. They're still there."

He simply nodded. "Any other side effects?"

You didn't immediately answer. You didn't want to sound whiny, but it's not like you're going to lose anything by telling him the uglier parts of your recovery. You swallowed to try and dislodge the slight blockage in your throat.

"Nightmares…" you said now, voice soft. You briefly remembered the last one you had back in the manor before you woke up to the bad news and you felt your stomach turn again. "Lots of them. Hallucinations sometimes…"

The doctor watched you carefully and you know he is trying to compute things in his mind despite his face remaining calm.

"Have you been keeping to your schedule with your medications? Are you taking too much?"

You firmly shook your head no to his last question.

"No, I haven't been overdosing. But… I've been skipping my pills the last few days because of...because of this."

"How have you been feeling since you started missing your dosages then? Do you remember?"

That made you actually stop and think about it for a moment. Now that you are paying attention, you did notice how the nightmares have calmed down slightly. Even the hallucinations are almost gone. You frowned slightly to yourself.

"A bit… better actually."

Taeil took his time to observe you a bit more before writing something on a new page of his clipboard.

"You must have had severe reactions to the mixture of pills I gave you. I'm going to prescribe you new ones and ask the nurses to pick them up and bring them to you here. Can you promise that you'll try and take them though? You really need them to fully heal."

You nodded and gave him a slightly sheepish look.

"I will, thank you very much."

Taeil dug his hands into the pockets of his coat and gave you a gentle smile.

"Well, that's it for today. I'll come back tomorrow to give you updates about Mr. Jung." He had already turned and started walking away when he suddenly stopped to look at you again.

"Oh, and another thing. Please try and get some sleep. Recover… and then focus on helping your fiance."

******* You didn't really know what woke you up. Stirring from your sleep, the first thing that registered to you was the sound of distant traffic mixed with the gentle chirping of the morning birds from outside the window. A warm feeling radiated on your cheek and made the back of your eyelids glow red.

You flickered your eyes open and immediately rolled away to escape the ray of sunshine that slipped from the open curtains and shone directly at your face. You easily evaded it as you moved over to the other side of the bed which was empty and cold from the night before.

That was when you finally remembered that you were back in your home, in the same bedroom you share with Jaehyun. The day before, his mother offered to take the responsibility of watching over him so there was a sudden change of plans that finally gave you the reason to check back into your apartment after so long. If it were you, you would have preferred not leaving your boyfriend’s side until he wakes up, but you also knew that your future mother-in-law wanted to spend time with him so you relented.

Of course you weren't thrilled to be home alone, especially with Jaehyun not being there, but the comfort that a real mattress provided—over the small couch you used to sleep in back at the hospital—is definitely a welcome change for your body. You even tried to take your medicine properly, the new ones that Taeil had provided, in the hopes of getting knocked down fast. Your adrenaline and anxiety had been fueling you in the past days, but you know from the way your heart thumped and your hands shook that you need a solid rest.

And you got it. You still feel a little groggy now but your body is definitely lighter and your head clearer. The nightmares didn't even come, and while they were replaced by total darkness or dreams in white that still made you anxious, you are willing to take those anytime over the graphic ones that you used to have.

You gently sat back against the headrest of the bed now and reached out for your phone to check the time. It's barely 7AM but as expected, Jaehyun's mom has already provided you with updates from the hospital. He’ll have some tests taken today as Taeil advised and then they’ll hear more about his progress. From the looks of it, she seems still set on watching over her son, which means you still have at least today free to yourself.

You quickly typed a reply to her and sighed. You’re thankful that even though you weren’t related by blood, his parents have always treated you as if you were their own. Having a family is not something you’ve really experienced in your childhood, so that’s something you’ve always appreciated about them. That is also the reason why you wish for the best out of this situation, because you also couldn’t bear seeing your fiance’s mother and father heartbroken. He’s their only son, after all.

A quick look around your room left you feeling empty. The last week has been so hard that it felt longer and now you’re struggling to find your normal pace again. In an effort to bring yourself to focus, you decided to pick up your phone once more and started flipping through your calendar to check your schedule. It didn’t take long for you to frown when you realized the upcoming dates there. You’ve plotted important academic schedules in advance and one quick look at it told you how much you’ve obviously missed in the past week. You’ve been so lost in the mess of everything that has happened that you’ve entirely forgotten about your job at the manor. You realized that they didn’t even call you once to ask about your absence, probably because they also know about the situation, but even that is not enough excuse for you to entirely fall off the radar.

Biting your lip, you quickly scrolled through your contacts now to look for the number you need. Your thumb hovered over the call button momentarily, but you eventually pressed it anyway. Your eyes wandered towards the clock on the wall, hoping silently to yourself that it wasn’t too early for you to call.

“Rosewood Manor, how can I help you?”

You straightened on your seat.

“Hey, Taeyong. It’s me. Sorry if I called so early.”

The other boy seemed to have been taken slightly by surprise by the way he fell silent at the other end of the line. You tapped your finger against your knee, waiting for him to speak again.

“Hi. No, it’s fine. Work started for me about an hour ago. Are you okay? How’s things on your end?”

You nibbled guiltily on your lower lip and finally got off your bed to walk over to the window. You pushed the curtains open and stared at the slight snowfall that had started falling on the ground. You’ve missed so many days of reporting to them but the first thing he does is to check if you’re fine.

“I um—things are still the same. My boyfriend’s still at the hospital.”

“Oh… I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“Look, I want to apologize. I haven’t really reported to work and I didn’t even call about it. It’s just that—things have been so crazy lately, but still that isn’t an excuse for me to just not show up.”

Taeyong, however, was understanding as always. You were about to go off for another round of apologies when he gently cut you off.

“Hey, it’s fine. We know you’ve been dealing with a lot lately so we also weren't expecting anything. Don’t worry too much about it.”

“But, the boys’ examinations and portfolio review is happening in three days and I haven’t really checked in with them. How are they doing now?”

“Oh...that. Well, we actually tried looking for a temporary tutor to help out but I...uh… I think he isn't really cutting it. Maybe because he isn’t the one who started the program with them. But he’s a big help still.”

“Oh god, I’m so sorry about that. I should have at least—look, I can drop by today and just try to fix things.”

“Are you sure? You really don’t have to. Don’t you need to be at the hospital?”

You started going around your room now, trying to gather the scattered papers and files that you’ll need. It’s a good thing you woke up early so you still have time to prepare for work. “My boyfriend’s mother is the one watching over him today so I have the day off.”

“And your injury? How is it?”

Your eyes landed on the new bottles of medicine sitting on your bedside table.

“Better. I’m feeling so much better.”

You heard Taeyong sigh in relief over the phone. “Thank god. We were so worried about that. Well, you really don’t need to go, but if you have time, I guess doing it today won’t hurt. It will help us a lot.”

A small smile tugged at your lips now and you switched the phone over to your other ear as you started arranging your bag. “Thank you so much for being understanding. I need a distraction anyway. I’d rather work than stay home alone… Thanks for not firing me.”

That made him laugh a little. “I’ll tell the boys that you’re coming over. Oh, and be careful on your drive here. The roads are a little bit slippery today because of the snow.”

“I will, thank you. I’ll be there by 9.”

******* “Noona!”

You have barely finished arranging your materials on your desk when the door to the room burst open and ushered an anxious-looking Jisung inside. You looked up quickly at him, only barely catching Chenle wobbling with his crutch before your vision of the entrance was blocked by Jisung’s tall frame. His hair looked swept up as if he ran and there was a slight flush staining his cheeks. He stopped right in front of you, stopping just in time for him not to topple you over.

“Hey, Jisung how are—” You tried to give him a smile but he was quick enough to grab your hands between his.

“Are you back? Are you really back for real?” He pressed now, eyes wide as he tried to bend over to look closely at you. He looked like a puppy, the only missing thing being a wagging tail to complete the look. You couldn’t help the brief laugh that passed over you as you tried to calm him down.

“I am. For the day, yes. Sorry I missed so many of your sessions.”

“We thought you left us,” Jisung continued, his lower lip protruding just a bit. Just then, Chenle had finally reached the two of you, a slightly embarrassed look on his face. This is actually the first time you saw him again since the day the two of you had your accident and you’re glad to see him healthy despite his broken leg.

“Hi, Chenle. How are you?”

The boy scratched the back of his head and looked away slightly. “Fine… I’m sorry, noona. I wasn’t able to visit you when you stayed with us. I’m really really sorry about what happened in the forest.”

You tried to give him a reassuring smile and freed one of your hands from Jisung’s hold to ruffle his hair. The action seemed to have calmed him down a little because he finally looked at you again, a small apologetic smile on his own lips.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault. But be careful next time, okay?”

“Are you going to be our tutor again, noona?” Jisung pressed once more and you turned your attention back to him. To be honest, you’re still not sure how your schedule will turn out after this, but you couldn’t really bear to break the poor boy’s heart at the moment.

“Yes… I’m here to teach your big brothers today for their tests though. We’ll have to schedule you and Chenle’s lessons again. Is that alright?”

A brief look of disappointment flashed on his face but he was quick enough to pick it up. Jisung smiled and gave your hand a squeeze.

“Okay. We can wait. It’s good you are back, Jaemin-hyung was so—”

“Yah, don’t hog her by yourself. You’ll scare her away.”

A new voice made the three of you look back to the doorway. Haechan smiled at your little group as he strolled casually into the room followed by Jeno and Jaemin. The three of them joined your crowd and you felt Jisung finally let go of your hand as he stepped away to go over to his brothers’ side.

“Hi. Sorry, I only returned now. Taeyong told me that you—”

You weren’t able to finish what you wanted to say as Haechan gently stopped you mid-sentence. He leaned his head to the side, eyes briefly scanning you from head to toe. Unlike Jisung, he looked calm and only barely excited.

“It’s fine. We knew you’ll come back. How are you?”

“Oh… I’m good. My head is better. I haven’t had the chance to thank all of you for taking care of me when I was here.”

“How about your boyfriend?” It was Jeno who asked this time and you quickly turned to him to address his question. Your eyes briefly slipped to Jaemin who was standing behind him before you could even speak though, and for a moment you had the impression that Jeno was shielding him—or blocking him from you. You blinked a little bit in confusion, wondering if it was just your imagination that was making you think that way.

“He’s still… still unconscious,” your smile dropped a little but you tried your best to keep your voice casual. “We’re getting more tests for him. His doctor said that he isn’t showing bad signs at least.”

“I’m so sorry to hear about him,” Haechan said with compassion and you gave him a grateful look. Your gaze settled on Jaemin again, however, who for some reason had barely looked at you since he came into the room. You know that he can be quiet and reserved at times, but there is something in the air around him that makes you slightly worried. He’s so still, but the way he carries himself makes it seem like he’s so strung up at the same time. It also doesn’t help that Jeno seems to be almost pushing him back from view.

“Hi Jaemin… How are you?” You tried to gently ask him to make sure that he is okay. He didn’t look at you at first, but when he finally did, you felt yourself freeze a little. His eyes looked dark and almost emotionless when he met yours and there were shadows under them as if he hadn't slept properly for days. He didn’t even answer and just simply stared, his gaze blank and accusing at the same time.

Haechan casually glanced over his brother and chuckled. “Our Jaeminie here has been sick for the past couple of days so he’s a little out of it. But he’s going to be fine now,” he put a hand over the other’s shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze as if to calm him down. “Right, Jaemin? We’ll try our best to go to class today since noona is finally back, hmm?”

Jaemin, however, didn’t even seem to hear him. He continued staring at you the same way that kept you pinned on your spot.

“Are you leaving again?” he finally asked and you almost felt goosebumps rise on your skin. It didn’t sound like a question… but more of a threat. You swallowed.

“I’m going to have to arrange my schedule till things get better…” you answered carefully, as if you’re navigating dark waters. That didn’t seem to cut it for him, unfortunately.

“So you’re not leaving. Forever?”

You blinked. To be honest, you’ve been thinking of quitting and just finishing the rest of the month if things didn’t improve, but you don’t think that’s the right answer to give at the moment.

“No… not for now,” you finally managed to say. You watched as Jaemin seemed to visibly relax, his stiff shoulders loosening under Haechan’s grip. He didn’t say anything after that, but he at least looked away, seemingly more satisfied with your words.

“Great. I think we should get to work,” Haechan broke the silence and looked around the room as if the tension you were feeling was just something only you could feel. He nodded towards Chenle and Jisung then. “You guys go back to your own classes. You’ll have your share of noona once it’s your turn.” He then glanced at you, smile still in place. “Should we start then?”

You nodded. “Is Renjun still not back?”

“Not yet. He’s going to be here tomorrow though,” Jeno answered as he took his seat on one of the desks.

“I see…”

Haechan also found his spot, but not before you’ve noticed him urging Jaemin to do the same. Playfully, he took the pencil you’ve arranged on the desk and started tapping it against the wood of the table.

“Don’t worry. We’ll tell him you’re back. I’m sure he can’t wait to have his lessons again~”

******* You looked over the window for the third time in the last fifteen minutes and sighed. The day had been busy with you trying to catch up on the boys’ lessons that you barely even noticed the state of the weather outside. When you finally did, it took you by surprise when you saw how much of the ground was covered by snow—one look at it told you that it is at least a feet deep by now. Your first instinct was to try and maneuver your car out of the lot before your tires get entirely buried in it, but then you remembered that you promised to wait for Taeyong to come back before leaving the manor. The butler requested for you to temporarily watch over the manor while he tries to do some last minute errands back in the city, but it’s been two hours since he originally promised to come back. You eyes glanced at your watch now, then back at the quickly darkening view outside.

“...severe snowstorm has blocked some of the main roads in the city at the moment. Expect heavy traffic and don’t forget to drive safely.”

You turned to the television now to catch the last of the rambling dialogue of the reporter about the weather. You’ve been debating on whether to call Taeyong or not to check on him, but you didn’t want to seem impatient to go home when you only really wanted to make sure if he’s safe. From the looks of it, he’s stuck somewhere because of the hale, too.

You were on your way to get your phone from your bag to at least try to shoot him a message when you suddenly heard it ring. Getting it just in time, you almost sighed in relief when you saw his number there. You quickly took it and went over to the window to answer it to make sure you get some proper signal.

“Hello? Taeyong?”

“Hey. Finally. I’ve been trying to call you for the last hour, thank god it finally connected.”

“Oh, sorry, my phone’s in my bag. I think the signal’s getting bad because of the snowstorm. Where are you? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, about that, I’m still stuck in town. The traffic’s so bad here because a section of the main road is blocked. Road maintenance is supposed to come thirty minutes ago but I think there’s a delay because there are other roads they are working on.”

Your gaze drifted back to the television where scenes of the same blocked avenues were being flashed. “Yeah… the news says the same. Are you safe though?”

“I am. I’m really sorry for making you wait. I’d tell you to drive back and not wait for me anymore but I don’t think you’ll also make it home in time with all this traffic going on. I don’t think it’s going to be safe. Do you mind waiting for a little bit more? I’ll tell you once the roads are better.”

You thought it over quickly, a frown settling on your face. You really want to go home, but he’s right. There’s no point in trying to drive back if you’ll only find yourself stuck in the roads for hours. Not being a big fan of night driving yourself, you can already imagine the stress waiting for you if you add a snowstorm to the mix. As much as you wanted to leave, you’re left with no choice, at least for the moment.

“I can… I’ll just wait for you, I guess. Do you want me to do anything here while you’re gone? Dinner for the boys?”

“Oh no, no, you don’t need to do that, that’s not part of your job,” Taeyong sounded abashed when he said that. You stepped away from the window then and took a seat by the fireplace that Jeno started earlier. Half of your concentration was on the news which has now shifted to a different set of reports also caused by the snowstorm. “They’ll know when to go down and eat. Don’t worry about them. Where are they right now?”

“Ah, I think they went back to their rooms? I did tell them earlier that I’ll try to wait for you.”

“I see. Yes, I think that’s better. Don’t worry, I’ll keep you updated. If things don’t get better, I think I’ll have no other choice but find a hostel here and wait for the weather to calm down. You can stay there and just ask for help from any of them. You can stay in the same room just in case.”

You didn’t quickly react to the offer. Instead, your eyes flickered to the doorway of the room before refocusing your attention back to the conversation. It’s not like you have anything against spending the night again at the manor—you’ve done it before, after all—but it’s honestly not really something you’re comfortable to do again. Maybe it’s because you’ve never really been okay with overstaying at strangers’ houses but your gut feel is also telling you right now that it shouldn’t be your top option regardless of the situation you are in.

Still, you didn’t want to come off rude to Taeyong, not when he is only being kind to offer you temporary shelter while being stuck in the middle of nowhere himself. So instead, you went against your initial doubts and offered him your thanks in return. It’s just Plan B that he’s proposing after all.

“I will. Keep me updated though if you need anything you think I can help with.”

“Thank you and I will. I have to go now though. Please make yourself at home. I’ll try to call again after an hour.”

“Okay. Take care.”

You put your phone down now with a worried frown as you heard the line drop. You couldn’t believe this is happening the first day you got back to work but it’s not like you can really blame anyone for it. The only good thing is that you’re sure Jaehyun is being taken care of right now so that is at least one thing off your shoulders. You didn’t really need to rush anywhere, not especially to a vacant home. Leaning back against your seat, you tried your best to relax as your gaze travelled around the room once again. You deliberated on sending a text to your mother-in-law to tell her about your situation but decided against it, not wanting to worry her more. You sighed. For now, you guess you didn’t have any other choice but to wait.

You did try to distract yourself by watching the news for a few more minutes before finally giving up on it. With resignation, you picked yourself up from your seat again and turned the television off. For a moment you simply stood in the middle of the room, trying to figure out what to do with your time when your gaze settled on the door again. Everyone retreated to their own rooms after they finished with their lessons so it means the house is pretty much yours for exploring if you wanted to. You toyed with the idea for a little bit, before finally resigning yourself to it. It’s not like there really is anything else left for you to do, and Taeyong did say you can make yourself feel at home if you wanted to. With a sigh, you finally turned on your heels to leave the room and peered silently into the hallway. It was deserted as expected, but still your eyes travelled left and right to check if there’s anyone out and about at this hour. It was only after you made sure that you were alone when you finally allowed yourself to step into the corridor.

Of course, you have a plan. You’re pretty much sure that checking out the rooms on the first floor is acceptable since it’s where you’ve been rotating your classes so you’re going to stick to those areas. You remember finding a library there once and you focused on finding your way to it to maybe check out some of the books in the collection.

It did take you about five minutes to finally find the place you were looking for. For some reason, the sections in the manor always confuse you no matter how many times you try to memorize each one, probably because of how big and similar-looking they are on the outside. You’ve already tried four doors when you were finally welcomed by the familiar-looking bookshelves at the fifth one. You sighed and gave one quick look around the room before slipping yourself inside after making sure that you’re alone.

There will probably never be a time when you won’t find yourself fascinated by anything in this grand home. If the architecture of the mansion is not enough to convince anyone how rich the family is, their book collection is enough to assure that at the very least. You’ve only ever taken a quick glimpse of it once during one of your lessons with the boys, but one look of the titles in their shelves is enough to make any literature major excited. You looked at the floor to ceiling collection now, your fingers gently running over the spines of the books you could reach with a small smile on your face.

You were about to check out the rest of the collection on the other side of the wall when something in the middle of the room caught your attention. You didn’t really catch it at first because of the shadows that concealed it when you first came in, but you could pretty much discern the outline of a blanket covered standee now from where you stood. You frowned. Taking careful steps, you closed the distance towards it to try and figure out what exactly it is that you’re seeing.

A closer look revealed it to be an easel covered with white cloth. You could see the outline of the canvas where the blanket falls over it while shadows of colors peeked out into the thin fabric from the surface it was covering. How odd… you knew that Renjun had a different art room for his paintings so to see this now here in the middle of the library seems uncanny.

You didn’t know how long you remained standing in front of it, too. You know you should have walked away—after all, the white cloth hiding it away from plain view means whatever is on that canvas is not meant for everyone’s eyes to see, but you simply couldn’t tear yourself away from it. It’s as if there was a silent force asking you to pull that cloth to reveal what’s underneath, the inclination so strong that you could almost hear its voice breathing down next to your ear, unrelenting until you do what it says.

The next thing you know, you had your hand attached to one end of the fabric. You stared at it now, wondering last minute if you should go ahead or not. You swallowed and glanced around one last time around the room. If you’re alone… it wouldn’t hurt if you could take a peek, right? Nobody will know. You just have to see, then cover it back again. Before you could even think about it too much, your arm was finally moving on its own as it gently tugged at the covering. You watched as it fell gently on the floor, like a bodiless ghost melting into the shadows on the ground.

Your eyes couldn’t make out what you were seeing at first. The dim lighting of the room wasn’t helping at all, but you were sure that it was a woman’s silhouette that was staring back at you from the canvas. Colors swirled around her, like some unknown mass trying to drag her back into unknown depths. Shapes and tones jumped from the picture, but her form stood out from the rest, gracefully twisted as if she was in the middle of trying to fight and succumb to it at the same time. You frowned. Taking a step closer towards it, you tried to study its details under what little illumination the lamps above afforded you.

That’s when it all happened simultaneously. Your heart stopped beating the same time your eyes widened as they finally focused on what’s in front of them. It’s as if the ground suddenly vanished from underneath your feet and you were falling, falling, deep into the abyss despite your body being frozen in fear and shock.

You know this painting. You’ve seen it before. It was the same one by Renjun, the one that you saw on your first day working in the manor.

But it was different now. Instead of the unfinished state that caught your attention before, everything about the picture now is in sharp focus. The lines on the woman’s nude body, the hands—which you thought were simply dark swirls dragging her back—and her face twisted beautifully in pleasure and madness stared back at you like a nightmare.

But it was not those which truly shook you to your core. It’s the realization that it was your own face in the portrait that was staring back at you, silently screaming for you to run away.

You stumbled back in shock. Your chest felt tight as you tried to grasp for air while your hands fumbled to find something to hold on to keep you from crashing on the ground. Before you could even take another step, however, something hard hit your back and you felt strong arms wrap around your waist like a vice. You have barely realized what was happening when you felt someone lean over your shoulder, lips pressing against the shell of your ear.

“Isn’t it beautiful? You’re the perfect muse, don’t you think?” Renjun asked softly as he pressed a gentle kiss to your temple.

******* You didn’t know how long you stayed frozen in his embrace. For a brief moment you thought you were dreaming again until you felt his arms slowly tighten around your waist. As if a jolt of electricity shocked you, you immediately turned to push him away as you scrambled to put some distance between the two of you.

Renjun didn’t seem the least bothered when your eyes finally focused on him. He remained on his spot, his gaze on you unwavering. You, meanwhile, were shaking from head to toe, the vision of the painting still branded vividly in your head.

“Renjun—what’s this?” you managed to stutter as you pointed at the artwork in the middle of the room. You couldn’t even spare to look at it again while he merely gave it a casual glance.

“It’s you. I’ve been working on it for a long time. I was about to show it to you but it seems like you couldn’t wait for it yourself.”

You felt nauseous. A part of your rational mind was slowly losing it as you tried to process his answer. Something's not right. Something is so terribly wrong.

“Why—why did you do this?”

Renjun simply stared at you and leaned his head a little bit to the side as if he was only mildly curious of your reaction. Your stomach turned even before hearing his answer.

“You said it’s beautiful.”

“This is not right—!”

“I came home because they said you were leaving for good,” he continued speaking softly, effectively cutting you from what you were about to say. The hairs on the back of your neck stood on end and you took another step back as you watched him get close to his artwork. You watched in horror as his thin fingers lovingly ran over the corners of the canvas. “Jaemin almost lost it… It’s a good thing I got here on time.”

And just like that, everything seemed to have clicked into place. The glances, the touches, the words that seemed to have a different undercurrent under them… they weren’t just fragments of your imagination. Every little thing that has gnawed at you from the inside came into crystal clear focus and you felt your knees go weak from the weight of it all. It took every fiber of your being to try and keep yourself steady now, your legs moving on their own as they took small backward steps away from the boy staring at you now with dead eyes. You couldn’t breathe, but it was the last words he told you that finally snapped you to run.

“I don’t think you’ve realized it yet. But no, you cannot leave. Ever.”

You didn’t know where you got the energy for it but in seconds you were flying out of that room and running blindly down the darkened corridors. Your blood pumped noisily in your ears and your chest felt like it was going to split from the sudden exertion you put on it, but you didn’t stop, not even looking back as you tried to put as much distance between you and the library. You didn’t even know where you were going. All you’re focused on is to find the exit and leave the house as soon as possible.

A loud bang that sounded off to your right startled you and you screamed, the force of your shock making you whip around and almost lose your balance. Before you could even hit the floor, however, a pair of hands caught you and you immediately turned, grasping at the chest of your rescuer.

You froze. Haechan smiled down at you as he tried to steady you on your feet.

“Haechan,” you gasped as you took fistfuls of his shirt and tried to shake him in your panic. “Renjun—he’s—please, help me. He’s after me—” you gasped out, almost out of your wits. You’re on the verge of a total breakdown that it almost escaped you, the way he simply smiled down on your shaking form. It was only when you felt one of his hands gently caress the top of your head that reality slapped you in the face again. You suddenly stopped struggling in his hold, pupils shaking as you watched him study your features lovingly.

“Shh… it’s fine. I got you,” he whispered and you could swear ice pricked you from the inside. A slight movement to the right made you turn your head and you saw Jaemin lean casually against the banister of the stairs, his face serene. He gave you one quick look before a gentle smile finally lit up his features.

“Has it started?” he asked and you felt Haechan’s hold on you tighten.

“It has.”

You didn’t struggle. It was as if any trace of fight you had left you in that moment and you let your hands fall limply on your sides. Haechan also loosened his grip on you and you stared at the two boys blankly, your chest heaving as if fighting for air. They didn’t move from their spots and simply followed you with their eyes as if relishing the fear and realization flashing in your face.

Trapped.

You’re trapped.

You’ve always been.

You didn’t even realize that your legs had started moving again on their own as the pieces of the puzzle started to fall together in your mind. You were only shaken from it when your back finally hit the front door, the cold metal of the knob pressing against your spine. Jaemin and Haechan remained on their spots still, even as you blindly reached out for it from behind.

You were expecting it to be locked, so you were a little bit surprised when you felt it give way under your hand when you tried to turn it open. Just before you could even entertain the idea of escaping, however, any trace of hope you had quickly died as you turned and came face to face with Jeno standing right in front of the entrance. He didn’t look the least surprised seeing you there, as if he was waiting for you in the first place.

You eyes took in his calm countenance before slowly moving to stare downwards at what he was holding by his side. Your gaze locked on it in fear, and that’s when the flight response in you flared up again.

Jeno’s hunting rifle shone dully in the light of the entryway, his pale fingers wrapped on its handle.

“There’s really only one place you can run, noona, but I won’t advise it,” he said evenly and you felt your blood freeze in your veins.

“After all, no matter where you hide, I’ll still find you in that forest.”

It happened all at once. You broke into a run, your body screaming at you to go faster as you heard gunshots pierce the air.

---

CHAPTER 7

A/N: Good lord, I wasn’t expecting I’d finish this today but I got one large iced coffee and well... things happened. Anyway, enjoy! Let’s hope the format won’t mess up this time. T.T Finally, all hell broke loose~ <3

Tag list!

@negincho, @jhornytrash, @jaeminhyuckiii, @jungwoosswhore, @jsturkey, @aj-7, @pukupukupawpau, @tomiesgirlfren, @vsszn, @those-winternights, @xsnelly, @lihyuck, @laheyspizza, @miyeux27, @haoshitt, @mindofthescattered, @huangberryyy, @d1nne, @choppedupcactus, @neokat, @yutasnabi

#nct dream yandere au #nct dream yandere #nct dream yandere fic #jaemin x reader #jeno x reader #renjun x reader #haechan x reader #nct dream 00 line fic #nct dream 00 line x reader #nct horror au #nct dream yandere imagines #jaehyun x reader #yandere!nct dream #yandere!jaemin #yandere!jeno #yandere!renjun #yandere!haechan #nct-writers #yandere!nct dream 00 line

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syubub · 3 years

Text

ENERGY CHECKUP: YOONGI (again)

Now, I know I've already done an energy check up on yoon but I wanted to see how he was doing now that he's gotten his shoulder surgery!

Disclaimer time: tarot is not to be takes as fact and is my interpretation if the cards :) entertainment purposes only~

SHIT IS STRANGE (it is Yoongi though so I'm not too shocked)

So. For starters, his energy is pretty calm and chill. He's also a bit more quiet?

I wrote a note that tomorrow is exciting... idk I wrote it down and I'm not sure if its exciting for him or for us? Maybe its just a general like, "tomorrow is a good day" type thing.

Now. 11... I wrote this down and I'm not sure why though I believe that he might be seeing 11:11 on the clock or possibly that something exciting is happening for him at 11:11 (I just checked and thats in like an hour and a half from when I'm writing this down(( update i just finished writing the whole post and it is about 11 minutes away)) idk. I make no promises but I wrote it down so there you go.

I also kept seeing plants and I'm not sure if people got him flowers or plants as a "get well" type thing or maybe he's stressing bc someone has to water his plants lol

Okay. Okay. Hear me out. Black bean noodles. It popped into my head and I was told to write it down but I'm also really hungry so take that with a grain of fucking salt. (I even pictured a nice elaborate bowl that was red as well as the take out container. Yum. Send me noodles)

MOVING ON

Here's the actual reading lol. He is bored.

Thats all. Thank you for coming.

I joke. The cards give me a kind of frazzled feeling? Its the struggle of knowing hes done something good but it comes at a cost. Yoongi works. A lot. All the goddamn time. So what now? He's having this shake up thats forcing him to deal with stuff. Him having this surgery also may have brought back some less than favorable memories/ feelings that hes being forced to deal with now. Over all though he feels like its good. The 6 of wands makes me think that he's thinking of our response when he comes back. Its like he's gonna be so much more confident in himself and his dancing and he can finally move on from the car accident? It happed so long ago but he literally carried this burden with him. Its good. The wheel of fortune and is about a change and the 8 of swords is about self imposed restriction, imprisonment and over all bad/ negative feelings. I pulled the wheel of fortune first and asked what was changing and that was the 8 of swords. This surgery is helping to free him from this restricting, painful thing that may have been reminding him of the past! YES HEALING

Now. For this section I just kinda asked "whats up?" And got, easy does it, divine life purpose l, balancing masculine and feminine energies and uplift your thoughts. He may be resting but he's got his mind working on 3,000 my dude. Its the regular "yoongi is woke af" bullshit but damn. The cards say what they say. He's preparing. I'll come back to this.

Now the 7 of cups and the 3 of swords. I asked how he felt about missing out on promoting. He's heart broken with the 3 of swords. It genuinely pains him. And with the 7 of cups he might feel like there's a lot of ways this can play out and he's considered a lot of options.

I was curious how he felt about me coming into his energy so I asked him what he thought of me. Lol. These each came out separately. We got, 2 of cups, four of wands, the empress, justice, the magician, the sun and the lovers. Ha

So. To add to the mood setting my guide said "he's a drama queen" lol yeah he is.

So so so so so. I was confused? Still am a little confused but I'm like 80.9% sure that he isn't bothered by me poking around in his energy n shit. In fact my theory is that he's using this connection to his advantage? Lol sounds dumb but my best guess is that home boy sees my energy/ what I'm doing as a way to figure out his own shit? Idk maybe he thinks I'm his energetic therapist. Maybe even a matchmaker (I mean... I have been putting a lot of energy and work into finding/ connecting with his soulmate so maybe he's letting me do all the dirty work) I really don't understand but I got no further explanation.

Oki oki oki. Now. I was drawn to 2 books. The kybalion and the prophet. I asked yoon if there was any messages that we wanted to point out through the books and I got a number for each book so I took it as page numbers. 28 for the prophet and 54 for the kybalion

Take what you will from these if it calls to you. I haven't read these since I was around 13? The sentiments for each felt important to me so I'm curious what you all might think/ feel when reading these? ( I also get the feeling that Yoongi has read the prophet idk why)

Okay. At this point I was like cool, let's wrap this up but I need to talk about his pjs? Green/grey? Plaid pj bottoms don't ask me don't ask me don't ask me I don't know but It wouldn't go away so I had write it down? Help.

I had written yoongis brother down too. Theres something about him? I'm not sure what but thats all I got lol

I was very strongly told that I needed to remember 7, that its important. Got it. Worth it down.

Oki. As I was going back to the platform blah blah blah the string turned blue too. The cord is usually white or silver but it was blue so that was a fun thing and then I was like "nice. Cool. Thanks. This was awesome, get healthy blah blah" and go to leave/ end the connection but the cord wouldn't go away.

???

What.

Then the string (idk if I said but that string shit is like on the third eye? Its connected to my forehead and his too.) Kind tightens.

I'm like, "oh shit."

Listen. Usually everything is smooth and nice and I just leave.

All is well though bc my guide is like, "stop being a little bitch" so I just let it happen.

Yoon shoves me back off the edge of the platform. Why he gotta be like that?

Now. This is strange. I had dropped down into a library.

Y'ALL

I almost shit my fucking pants. Dear god.

THE AKASHIC RECORDS MY DUDE

He started walking me around until he found a blue book. His mother fucking book.

Home boy brought me to his fucking Akashic fucking blue fucking book.

I was big mad. "YOU LITTLE FUCKER! YOUVE KNOWN ABIUT THIS SHIT?" And he was like, "duh"

I've never felt more disrespect lol

Also the way the library was presented was way way way different from how it looks to me. So thats an interesting note. Looking at his book, on the base of the spine is a number 7...

Oki. Cool. I asked if I could look and he said, "Sure, when you can find your way back."

This mother fucker threw me out of a meditative state. Have you ever woken up just before you hit the ground in one of those falling dreams? THAT WAS THE FEELING.

?? I'm not sure what the fuck just happened or if it holds actual significance.

Anyway. After cursing the fuck out of yoobi I started thinking what else 7 ment.

I was specifically told to remember 7 and it was on his book. Then It popped into my head (I want to say its because I'm smart and thought of it all by myself but I think that was my guide wanting me to keep my last brain cell safe). What is yoongis life path number?

Now I don't know shot about life path numbers but imma read up on them tonight. I used a life path calculator on Google. HIS LIFE PATH NUMBER IS 7 Y'ALL.

Maybe I'm dumb as fuck but yoobi never disappoints.

Conclusion: Yoon is fine. Hes just being a yoongi and a yoongi does.

⬆️Me after this reading⬆️

⬆️ Yoongi rn playing 12D chess⬆️

#bts #bts tarot #bts reactions #bts imagines #bts rm #namjoon imagine #jin #kim seokjin #yoongi #yoongi imagine #min suga #min yoongi #hoseok #jhope #bts jimin #taehyung #jungkook #jk

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elliemarchetti · 3 years

Note

Do you plan to update your red queen fanfics anytime soon?

I take the opportunity of this ask to publish the update of Pride and Prejudice AU but apart from this story, which I intend to finish as soon as possible, I am not sure that I will continue the others, as long as I no longer receive feedback and some requests on how to continue. I hope you enjoy this chapter and quench your thirst for new Red Queen fanfiction! @lilyharvord I must also apologize to you for the very long wait, but life has definitely come between me and my interests

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Words: 2450

After breakfast, the girls took a walk in the village to find out if Mr. Maven was back, and to complain about his absence at the ball. He joined them as soon as they entered the city and he and Mr. Thomas took them home, a double advantage, as Mare could spend time with him undisturbed and the opportunity was propitious to present him to her father and mother. Immediately upon returning home, Miss Skonos was delivered a letter which was immediately opened: the envelope contained an elegant sheet of satin filled paper with beautiful, flowing feminine handwriting, which however changed her expression as she read it. It was from Evangeline Samos, and what it contained surprised her greatly, as the whole party had left the Stilts, with no intention of returning. When, later, Mare too was able to read it, she looked at the high-sounding expressions used with all the indifference of suspicion and, although surprised by the rapidity of that departure, she saw nothing really worrying: there was nothing to suggest that their absence would also prevent Mr. Samos from returning, and about the loss of their company, she was convinced that Wren would’ve certainly stopped worrying about it, being able to enjoy his. Sure it was unfortunate that she hadn't been able to see her friends again before they left the countryside, and that none of them were willing to return that winter, but wasn't that the reason why those who could afford it owned two houses?

"But you don't know everything. I'll read you the passage that particularly hurt me, since I don't want to hide anything from you," added her friend, and finally Mare noticed the second sheet she was holding in her hands.

"I am truly convinced that my dear friend, Lady Elane Haven, has no equal in terms of beauty, elegance and quality, and I don't think I'm at fault if I take it for granted that you agree with me. The affection she has inspired me for years is intensified by something even more significant, namely the hope of soon being able to call her my sister-in-law. I don't know if I have ever told you my feelings about it, but I won’t leave without trusting you, and I believe you won’t find them unreasonable. My brother already admires her very much, all her relatives desire this union for her as much as we do, and I don't think I am deceived by the partiality of a sister if I say that Ptolemus is certainly capable of winning the heart of any woman. With all these circumstances in favour of a bond and none that can prevent it, I am perhaps wrong to indulge in the hope of an event that will ensure the happiness of this many people?"

Mare was stunned. So this was the plan, it wasn't a marriage already orchestrated between Miss Samos and the General, but between her friend and her brother! Wren, however, didn’t want to believe her, and her words about the undeniable affection he felt for her seemed to do nothing but further hurt her broken heart as upstream they didn’t think the same about the letter's emissary, for not to mention that she was convinced that she wouldn’t be able to derive any joy from a marriage to a man whose friends and relatives hoped he would marry another woman.

"You must be the one to decide," said Mare, "and if after mature reflection you discover that the pain of doing a rudeness to his sister is greater than the happiness of being his wife, I certainly recommend you to refuse.”

These words brought Wren a smile, as they both knew perfectly well that she wouldn’t hesitate to accept his proposal, but the shadow of the possibility that he wouldn’t return in six months continued to cast a dark shadow on the general mood, to the point that only Diana’s invitation, addressed to both of them, managed to dispel that constant thought a little, replacing it with genuine curiosity, since she and Wren were by no means intimate enough for such a proposal. The answer to all their questions, however, came the next day when the Colonel's daughter told them that she needed female help, and that Mare was too involved to be the only opinion she would hear. From anyone else, this would’ve been an intolerable rudeness, but Mare knew her friend well, and if it was about romance, an assumption that soon turned out to be correct, she didn't want to be wrong and analyzed every single detail to the point of making the least gesture the most rational. The summary of the matter, however, was that Mr. Jesper had woken up early the previous morning, and unannounced, had gone under her window to ask her for a clandestine meeting. Diana accepted, and he, very awkwardly, revealed his interest in her, as well as his intention to marry her, if she accepted. The entire Farley family would’ve been thrilled with the event, but she had asked him for time to think about it, although she was already certain that she wouldn’t come to any conclusion alone, so she had bestowed that invitation. Wren, who was good-natured, greatly appreciated the gesture, and considered it an unspoken compliment to her sensibility and handling of the matter with Mr. Samos, so she quickly got busy, and all the years they had spent politely ignoring each other were recovered within an afternoon. Mare, however, wasn’t so well disposed towards the idea: she appreciated that Diana had asked for more help to reach the most favourable of conclusions, but she would’ve preferred that she had talked about it with her brother, as Shade had been silently courting her for years, and watched her from afar become the only woman he certainly wanted to marry; the prospect that she might want another man had bothered him and not a little, Mare had noticed, although she hadn't said anything, too absorbed in her own problems, but the real possibility that she might decide to marry another man would certainly have prompted him to declare himself, and everyone knew that those two were meant for each other, something that she wanted to remind to her friend.

"Mr. Jesper is smart and pleasant, and it’s certainly inviting for a woman to be the only one who can put a man at ease, not to say reassuring, even if he doesn’t seem like that kind of person. On the other hand, I can already see the blame on your face, Mare, and I want you to remember that your friendship is the thing I care about most in the world and even if I know how you feel, remember I too would behave differently if my perspectives were different, but they’re not, so I’m just asking you to be happy for me if I accept.”

"I will be," Mare assured her, though she wasn't sure she would ever be able to rejoice in her brother's unhappiness, "I just ask you to tell Shade before making any decisions. Do you think you can?"

To the affirmative answer of the other, Mare waited a time that she considered reasonable and took leave, followed by Wren, who asked her if she wanted to be accompanied home, which Mare refused, determined to be left alone with her considerations. It took her time before she could reconcile herself with the idea of such an inappropriate union as she never imagined that, once called to decide, her friend would sacrifice all her best feelings. The next day, Mare was sitting with her mother and sister when Colonel Farley appeared and requested an audience with Mr. Barrow. Terrified of what might have happened, Mare remained tense the entire time they spent in the library, but the tones never rose, and when he left, the Colonel looked as calm as when he arrived. Mare waited a while before reaching her father and asking him what had happened, fearing a reproach for her advice to her friend, which could’ve broken the relationship between the two families, if the situation between Diana and Shade had been from her misunderstood, but he replied very calmly, saying he was happy and satisfied that Miss Farley, whom he had always thought fairly intelligent, wasn’t as foolish as his wife or daughter Gisa. Although this didn’t gave an explicit answer to her question, it reassured Mare, who was convinced that she could get more direct answers once her brother, who had gone out with Bree and Tramy, returned, as she didn’t want to be pressing with Diana, who could also have took offense at how things went the last time they met. At first, Shade seemed a little surprised by all that attention, but when he realized that Mare’s wasn’t just a fervent desire to know some new gossip but real concern, he told her not to worry, and that everything would turn out right in due time, a time that however established a reserve between the two friend that became a silence so heavy that convinced Mare their confidence was stained forever. Furthermore, these gloomy feelings certainly didn’t help Wren's mood, who hadn’t heard from Mr. Samos for a week and hadn’t even received an answer to her letter for his sister. Even Mare was beginning to have fears, not so much that Mr. Samos was indifferent, but that his sister could keep him far. Reluctant as she was to admit such a devastating idea to the happiness of the only friend she had left, and so dishonourable about the constancy of her love, she couldn't help but think about it often. The united efforts of two insensitive women and a friend so influential, favoured by the charm and amusement of Archeon, might’ve proved to be too much, so she feared, for strength of his affection. As for Wren, her anxiety about that uncertainty was, of course, more painful than Mare's, but whatever she felt she just wanted to hide it, and therefore between her and her friend there were never any allusions to that subject. The mother, on the other hand, wasn’t held back by such delicacy and hardly an hour passed without speaking of Mr. Samos, expressing the impatience for his return, or even asking her daughter to admit that if he didn't come back she would feel treated very bad. It took all of Wren's mild steadfastness to endure those attacks with acceptable tranquillity, which diminished, however, upon the arrival of Miss Samos' letter of reply, which removed any doubt about their winter accommodation, they would have settled in the General's residence, and, according to Wren, also regarding the feelings of Mr. Samos towards Lady Haven. Mare paid no attention to those speculations, she hadn’t seen, in fact, any warmth between the two in the time they had spent at the Hall of the Sun, but the fact that Evangeline was so evil she could take pleasure in the idea of undermine her own brother’s happiness, and in such a mean way, filled her with indignation and resentment, equal only to the concern she felt for her friend, who had fallen in love with a man of such lightness of character, a slave to intriguing friend, willing to sacrifice his own happiness at the whim of their desires. If, however, it was only his happiness

that was sacrificed, he could play with it as he wanted, but it was also Wren's that was involved and she believed he should be aware of it. In short, it was a topic that could’ve been thought about for a long time, even if, perhaps, to no avail, but she could do nothing else, and whether Mr. Samos's affection had really died down or had been suffocated by the interference of his friends, whether he had been aware of Wren's feelings or they had escaped his observation, in any case, even if the judgment would’ve been concretely influenced in the different hypotheses, the situation remained the same, and the peace of the girl equally wounded. It was a couple of days after, that Wren found the courage to talk about her feelings with Mare, but in the end, left alone by Mrs. Skonos, after a longer than usual rant on the Hall of the Sun and his owner, she said: "Oh! If my dear mother controlled herself more, she has no idea how much pain her constant considerations about him give me. But I don't want to complain, since it won't last long. He will be forgotten, and we will all be as before."

Mare looked at her friend with affectionate disbelief, but said nothing, although the doubt about those words could be read on her face like lines from an open book. Wren blushed: she knew that this man, who had been so lovable to her, would live forever in her memory, but that was all. If she had something to hope, fear, or even blame him for, the situation would’ve been different, and time would’ve done nothing but make the pain greater, but in that case she had the immediate comfort that it was nothing more than an error of her imagination, which had hurt no one but herself. If she had said those words aloud, Mare would’ve told her she was too good, and she would’ve attributed ethereal adjectives to her sweetness and impartiality, but it wasn't praise for her character that she needed to hear at the moment, only how much she was loved, words that not even her mother seemed willing to give. Even her father considered it only a mere disappointment, and indeed, he seemed inclined to joke about it when the Barrows went to visit them, inciting Mare to have her own heartbreak with Mr. Maven, who seemed a very nice and stylish man. Regarding him, it can be said that his company helped to dispel the melancholy into which the last, unfortunate events had thrown the two friends, who saw him often and had been able to add to the long list of his qualities the total absence of reserve, as the whole story already exposed to Mare soon became public, and everyone was satisfied thinking about how much they had always thought the General unpleasant before coming to knowledge of the whole matter. The only one who could imagine that there could be some extenuating circumstance in the matter was Miss Skonos, whose mild and firm candour always put forward justifications, and insisted on the possibility that there were misunderstandings, but by all the others the General had been labelled like the worst of men.

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minghaocouture · 4 years

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Fearless: Chapter 12

Pairing: Werewolf!Jeon Wonwoo x Vampire!Reader Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Non-Idol Au WC: 3.5k+ Warning: Language, Mild Violence, Gun Usage AU Lore: Vampire Coven Info/Wolf Pack Info/Lore Info Tag List: @moon-asia @uglychildd @skjdln @darkacrimson @woozisnoots @hwangjangmi @rjsmochii @fluffyhyeju @svtjuniverse @karmacqre @dwcljh

Unable to tag: @Unbaeknownst @peachescherryheart

A/N: Again thank you guys for being patient with me <3, I’ll try to be better about updating this lol. I did in fact finish this chapter during a four hour road trip lol. Also i’d just like to put this out there, fight scenes are hard to write. I am not any good at them ^^;; this was my best attempt lol.

Chapter List: Chapter 1/Chapter 2/Chapter 3/Chapter 4/Chapter 5/Chapter 6/Chapter 7/Chapter 8/Chapter 9/Chapter 10/Chapter 11/Chapter 12/Chapter 13/Chapter 14

If you were being honest, you couldn't remember the last time you had slept so well. So you were pretty peeved to wake up to the sounds of snickering and a the sound of a camera shutter.

"Dude I told you to turn off the sound, they're gonna wake up." You heard a hushed whisper fill the silence of the room, followed by more soft snickering.

"It's fine, we came to wake them up anyway. It's their own fault that we caught them all cuddly." That voice you distinctly recognized as Mingyu, and you were almost certain that the other voice belonged to Vernon. A light sense of irritation swelled in your chest. Almost on instinct you began to pull away from Wonwoo, only for the arm around your waist to pull you closer.

"Do you think if we stay quiet they'll go away?" he muttered, his voice so soft and laced with husky sound that had been lacking this morning. Which made you curious how long he had been awake before you had woken up. You were more than a little embarrassed to be caught like this. Soft moments like this definitely weren’t something you were used to letting others see.

"I doubt it, they're annoying," you retorted, loud enough for your guests to hear. Which earned a irritated exclamation of denial from Mingyu, and a laugh from Vernon. "Besides, we need to get up. We have to get set up for tonight." Despite saying this, you didn't bother moving, after all that would mean you would have to move his arm from you...and you weren't quite ready for that yet. The feeling of his arm around your waist made you feel warm, in fact his whole presence did as well. You had honestly forgotten how wonderful it felt to feel warm. It hadn’t really bothered you before, you had gotten used to not retaining any kind of warmth, so feeling this even if it would only be for a little while, it was...a nice reprieve.

Sadly, Wonwoo agreed with your statement far too quickly for your liking, and pulled his arm away so that he could stretch out. Which caused you to unconsciously grumble out of irritation at the lack of contact.

"You guys are so gross." Vernon complained, while Mingyu fake gagged next to him.

Rolling your eyes, you sat up and followed Wonwoo’s lead. Stretching a bit to work the muscles that had gotten stiff from sleep. “I mean, you two were the ones who interrupted us. So this is on you.”

"Ugh, we were told to wake you up.” Mingyu began, thankfully done with his ridiculous display of disgust. “Your vampire friends came back with your leader guy, so whenever you two are done...being gross."

"We'll be down there in a bit." Wonwoo yawned out the words, just wanting to just get the males out of the room, which worked. They gave a few more teasing looks of disgust before leaving together, taking their future black mail materiel with them. You'd have to steal his phone and delete those photos before Hyunjin saw them. You did not need that boy taunting you about this, especially since he wasn't exactly aware of what was going on between Wonwoo and yourself. Hell, you weren't exactly sure what you wanted to call this either, but that was a thought for another day. Right now, you needed to be focused, if any of you were off tonight then that could mess up the whole plan and put Minah in even more danger.

As the boys left the room, you felt Wonwoo’s hand reach out and lightly grip your shoulder. Turning to face him, you couldn’t exactly describe the look on his face. It looks like a cross between comforting and admiration but you couldn’t be sure. All you knew was that it brought that previous warmth and placed it inside your chest, as opposed to being something physical you felt. You honestly weren’t sure how he managed to do this, if you didn’t know any better you would think he was a witch. But it was common knowledge that Wolves couldn’t produce magic.

“Don’t worry so much.”

“How do you know I’m worried?” Seriously, magic. It was almost ridiculous how well he could read you.

A soft laugh left his lips and shook his head. “You’re not as straight faced as you think you are.”

With a small grumble of irritation, you pushed his hand off of your shoulder with a small pout on your lips. This prompted another laugh from the male as he watched you quickly leave the room.

***

As soon as you entered the living room, you were taken back by how noisy the room was. It seemed like everyone who was involved tonight had arrived. You were also pretty surprised to see that those gathered hadn’t separated themselves by species. Maybe things would change after all this was over. As your eyes scaned the room, you noticed that the only one missing was Minghao. Which caused a bit of anxiety to swirl in your gut, but you didn’t have time to think about it as you heard the loud voice of Soonyoung greet you.

"My baby bat!" he exclaimed, rushing over to pull you into a crushing hug. This was always how it was when you saw him again after one of his long trips. You honestly couldn't even remember how long it had been since you had seen, or hell even heard from him. You were also pretty grateful that he wasn’t yelling at you again, that was something you really hoped didn’t happen again soon.

"What did I tell you about calling me that, Hamster man." You groaned, returning the embrace. Despite your hatred of the nickname, you knew it came from a place of love. He was the only reason you were still here, and you owed him a lot but you would never admit that out loud to him.

"I'm not a hamster! I'm a tiger!!" Obviously offended at your title, and pulled away much quicker than he normally would. You heard the familiar laugh of Kevin ring out through the room, calling out that Soonyoung was definitely more like a hamster than a Tiger. It was an ongoing 'fight' in the coven, everyone would tease him about being a hamster and he would always argue back that he was a tiger. Personally, all you were sure of was that he was a furry.

You heard a throat clear, and your eyes met with Seungcheol. A serious look on his face which cleared the air of any previous humor. A hush seemed to fall over the room and all eyes were on the three of you, waiting for Seungcheol to speak.

"It's about 5, sundown should be starting soon. We should probably leave in our smaller groups and not all at once." He advised, crossing his arms over his chest as he continued. “We should probably send out the fourth grouping first.”

He was absolutely right, it would take them a bit longer to get to their position while remaining inconspicuous. The only problem was that you still weren’t sure where Minghao was. So you nodded to show your agreement, but turned your attention to Soonyoung.

“I’d feel more comfortable sending people out if I knew where Minghao was.” Sure he a part of the first group, so he would leave last but it was still a small concern. His group was already one of the smaller ones, consisting of only himself, Wonwoo and Minhyuk.

“What, you think I can’t handle the group with the little wolf boy?” Speaking of Minhyuk, he called out with a grin on his face. Which definitely didn’t fit the mood of the room, but that was just how Minhyuk was.

“I don’t think you could handle a paper bag, Hyuk.” You retorted, and the male laughed at your joking nature. You didn’t...hate Minhyuk but he was definitely a lot to deal with at times. You decided to ignore his comment about Wonwoo, but found your eyes straying to him. To your surprise you felt...worried, if there were only two members in that team it would be easier for them to be overpowered. They would be more likely to get hurt.

You heard a small snort from Hyunjin, who had decided to stick by Kevin. Soonyoung also couldn’t seem to stop himself from chuckling at your antics with the eldest Vampire, before he returned to the situation at hand.

"He decided to stay back with Minah. He said it would be better to have someone trailing her from a distance." It wasn’t a bad idea but it definitely left the teams severely unbalanced now. You also wished that he would have told you about it before hand.

Taking a moment to think about the rest of the other team compositions, you let out a small sigh. The best option would be to send either Soonyoung or Vernon. Since Minghao had decided to change the plan on his own, you'd have to bitch about that to him later when everything is done. Ruined a perfectly good plan.

"Soonie, you're gonna go with team one now, you can blame Hao later,”

"Since when were you calling the shots?" Honestly, it was a pretty damn good question since leadership wasn’t exactly your specialty, but the cheeky grin on his face made you a little bit irritated. You knew he wasn’t questioning your decision but that he wanted to give one last jab to you before everything went down. A very Soonyoung move.

"Since you decided that vanishing acts would be your secret skill."

***

The alley way was dark, and cold. The snow was coming down quickly tonight, making visibility a bit lower than you would have liked. Taking a look at your team, you were outnumbered one vampire to three wolves, but you knew you could trust them. Or...at least you hoped. They wanted this to end so you would have to hope that they would watch your back.

“Anything yet?” You questioned, phone in hand as you waited for a response from the first team. It had been decided that each team would have one of the Wolves keep watch, since even in their human forms their sight was definitely better than a Vampires. Being the technical leader of the second group you were trying to keep your hands on all part of the stake out. At the end of the alley was Vernon, his eyes peeled as he watched for Minah to travel down your designated stretch of road. Yubin stood closest to him, crouched and ready to run out at a seconds notice. You were standing closest to Hyunwoo, who while obviously tensed, definitely seemed more relaxed than the rest of you

"Nothing yet," he confessed, eyes not leaving the street as he answered. “Not even stragglers from the bars. It’s just...empty.” It was...definitely strange. It was as if the world could tell that something was off tonight. You attention was then taken by the silent vibrations of your phone going off. Glancing over the message you then relayed it to the rest of your team.

"Minghao says he hasn’t seen anything yet. No one has even approached her." That didn’t make you feel any better, a small sense of dread was pooling in your gut as your phone buzzed once more. Backing out you went to check the other message.

"Soonyoung said that she just passed them, but it’s basically just what Minghao reported. There was no one near her, Wonwoo couldn’t even see Mingao following her." You heard a small noise of amazement from the younger male, obviously not used to hearing about Minghao’s skills. You were about to make a mention of that being a regular occurrence when you noticed Vernon lift his index finger to his lips. The action being followed by the familiar sound of footsteps in the snow.

The air around your group grew still, yet almost painfully loud. You forced your ears to focus on the steps you had heard instead of the rapid beating of hearts that belonged to the wolves. They were far too loud and were definitely setting your nerves on edge.

It felt like forever as you waited, eyes never leaving Vernon as you clutched your phone in your hand. Your messenger was opened and you were ready to send a report to Kevin, just in case something happened in your area they would need to know instantly.

As the footsteps grew closer, you could see Minah for a brief moment through as she passed by the alleyway where you were hiding. Thankfully, she was unaware of where everyone was stationed so she wouldn’t accidentally give away your position.

The plan had been for her to appear to be heading home, make her seem more vulnerable. It had been a perfect plan, but so far was yielding no results. Your eyes trained to her form as a small sneeze escaped her, she quickly rubbed a gloved hand against her nose to try warming it up even if just slightly.

You waited with bated breath for her to exit safely from your area, listening intently for Vernon’s queue for you to send the message to the next team. After what felt like an eternity, Vernon’s posture dropped and his eyes finally left the street. He turned back to the group and shrugged a bit.

A part of your was grateful that nothing had happened but the other part was still tense with anxiety. Quickly typing and sending your report to Kevin, you glanced back up at Yubin and Hyunwoo.

“I want you two,” you gestured to the fastest and strongest members of your team “to head to the fourth group and be prepared to help them out when you get there. Vernon and I are gonna check in on the third group. Make sure you keep as hidden as you can, we don’t need the stray catching on if he does see you.”

At your words, Hyunwoo and Yubin nodded and both dashed to the other end of the alley way, taking a sharp left in the direction of the last grouping of members. It was definitely strange being the leader, it was not a job that you ever wanted again. You'd have to ask Junhui how the hell he did this all the time. It was exhausting, and stressful to be in charge of others.

As the two finished their reports to the other groups, you began the trek towards the fourth group, Vernon following close by you as you kept to the alleyways as much as you could. Doing your best to keep as inconspicuous as possible. This street didn’t seem as deserted as the one Minah had been walking down, lingering species from all walks seemed to be wandering down the sidewalk. This caused that small lingering dread to grow as you picked up the pace, taking quicker steps towards your destination. Feeling the familiar vibrations of your phone. Your heart dropped into your stomach as you read the message from Kevin.

“Fuck, they’ve got her! ”

***

Wonwoo felt his heart beating rapidly against his chest as he dashed around the corner, following the perp and Minah, alongside Jacob and the female Vampire who he believed was named Gahyeon. Despite her small stature she was quite quick and was a good head in front of the two wolves. It made sense to him now why you had been so adamant about her being one of the powerhouses of the Coven, but that was a thought for another time.

He had just made it to the third grouping when Minah had been ambushed. From what Jacob had said while they were running, there had been only one assailant, he hadn’t been able to catch any distinct features but he had seen the man grab Minah and drag her into an alley just a bit away from where the third group had been stationed. Just like you had anticipated, he would have to commend you on that later. Once this was settled.

To his surprise, not only was the assailant in the alley but so was another male. For a moment he was worried that you had been right about their numbers as well, but that worry was quelled as Gahyeon rushed to the second male’s side. He could only assume that this was Minghao and hope for the best.

“If you let her go then things will go a lot better for you.” Minghao (?) declared, his posture seemed almost too relaxed, but Wonwoo noticed that his eyes never once left Minah’s trembling frame. The captured female looked terrified, her hands gripped tightly against her captor’s arms that had wrapped themselves around her body. He didn’t bother to try and hold her hands back, knowing that there would be no way that a simple human could over power a vampire. It was sad but true, and it seemed like Minah had also realized this.

The unfamiliar vampire rolled his eyes, one arm seemed to tighten around her waist while the other reached up and grasped her throat. He forcefully jerked her head to the side, not hard enough to kill her but just enough to make her uncomfortable. Wonwoo could see tears begin to spill from the young woman’s eyes, too scared to even attempt fighting back. This action seemed to set Minghao off, his seemingly casual posture dropped as he took a threatening step forward. The rest of the group following his lead, only to be stopped as the Stray let out a soft chuckle.

“You know, if you get any closer I could easily snap her neck. Dead or alive, I’m still getting fed, and her blood just smells...wonderful.” He said, making a large show of burying his nose into Minah’s neck. A small terrified whimper left the young woman, her eyes clenching shut. The tension in the air could practically be cut with a knife. “Is this little human worth all this fuss? Surely Soonyoung has better things to do than deal with, little old me?”

Minghao didn’t dignify him with an answer, simply staring him down but refusing to move as long as Minah was directly in danger. It seemed as if time had stopped, completely frozen inside the cold winter’s night.

As quickly as time froze it seemed to restart again, almost as if someone had hit the play button on a tv remote. The Stray’s head was roughly pulled back, the surprise of the attack threw him off and caused him to release Minah. Before she could hit the ground, Minghao had rushed forward to grab her.

Everything seemed to move so fast, Wonwoo hadn’t seen who had attacked the Stray but as soon as Minah was secured he felt his body move forward on pure instinct. Heart throbbing in his chest as he aimed a punch towards the Stray’s head, which he dodged by just a hair, only for him to be tackled by the small frame of Gahyeon. They rolled for a moment and it looked like she had the upper hand, until a shot rang out, followed by a growl of pain from the woman. She recoiled, jumping off of the stray and looking around wilding for where the shot came from.

Just as there had once been more of them than the stray, now the small group was surrounded by people from all walks of life as they waited for their backup. From the brief glance, Wonwoo could see a plethora of Fae, wolves, vampires, and even a human. They were outnumbered 8 to 5, with a disadvantage because Minghao was attempting to protect Minah as well as fight. It didn’t look good.

Wonwoo tried to keep his eyes out for his teammates as he fended off a summer fae, small flecks of fire sparked off of her hands anytime she got close, in hopes of burning the wolf. She didn’t pack as much of a punch as he was expecting, but she was quick and practically running circles around him. It made it harder for him to land a punch much less catch the Fae woman. She was careless though, leaving holes in her defense which Wonwoo was more than happy to take advantage of. At his neck chance, his hand shot out and quickly gripped her neck and slammed her smaller frame into the wall of the alleyway. Vaguely he heard the shout of an unfamiliar name, once again followed by a gunshot.

A gunshot that he felt. Another growl of pain rang through the air, except this time from him. The pain was enough for him to drop the Fae woman in shock.

Trying to keep himself on his feet as the Fae began a fresh assault on him, his mind enveloped in the pain of the bullet wound. Which was honestly hurting a lot more than he thought it should. For a split second he wondered if the bullet had been a silver one, but the thought was ripped from his mind as the woman took advantage of his distraction, grabbing his face and soon all he could feel was fire.

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krsnbgirl · 3 years

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Fly High! || Kageyama x Fem!Reader || Part 11

Summary: You wake up to find Kageyama delivering the food that the rest of the managers reserved for you. While eating, you get to see the rare side of soft Kageyama and the small time frame you have with each other, it shows that both of your walls are slowly coming down. Then after having a late start to the day, the boys show how much they’ve missed you and as the day goes on, some priceless moments are finally captured through your infamous Polaroid.

Pairing: Kageyama Tobio x Fem!Reader

Genre: Rom-Com, Slice of Life, Sports, Fluff

Warnings: Light Cursing

Word Count: ~2.9k

Taglist: @misnmatchedsox @monviemoo @love-beyond-words @bbecc-a @live-2-fangirl @2busyfangirling @ifeelblueming @tobiosbbyghorl @vanillakylee

Author’s Notes: Happy December everyone! Sorry for the late update, I wanted to spend some time away from social media and completely be immersed in spending time with my family over the holidays. But now that Thanksgiving is over, it’s back to regular weekly updates until Christmas comes around, hahaha This week’s chapter feels like a filler and a bit on the shorter side. I just wanted to get something out for y’all because I noticed it’s been maybe two weeks since the last update? ^^; Sorry about that~ As always, the story is crossposted/updated on AO3! Hope all of you lovelies have been staying safe and taking care of yourselves, love you guys! Taglist is still open <3

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4 || Part 5 || Part 5.5 || Part 6 || Part 7 || Part 8 || Part 9 || Part 10 || Part 11 || Part 12 || Masterlist

Kageyama sighed as he eyed the bento box in his hand. It was packed and given to him by Shimizu once he followed her, Sugawara, and Daichi into the kitchen when everyone parted ways. After the food was ready to be delivered, the boys slapped his shoulders in encouragement and he watched the third years leave him to fetch the laundry baskets. ‘I...somehow feel...as if everyone was in on this…’ He thought to himself as he entered the girls’ building and towards the classroom that had its door slightly ajar.

“Sorry for the intrusion…” he said softly as he slid the door open and made his way inside.

He scanned the room and noticed the small bundle of blankets in the corner across from him. Making his way over, his gaze softened once he stopped next to the sleeping figure. You were curled up in a small ball with your arms tucked into your chest. Your phone was next to you with one of your playlists on its screen and he quietly kneeled down next to you. Without knowing, he began to admire your features. Kageyama thought you looked more peaceful with your face relaxed. You looked more innocent compared to your usual expression with your eyebrows scrunched up in focus or the permanent scowl you directed at them during games. He reached out and touched your forehead, sighing in relief to find out that you didn’t have any temperature.

Setting your meal next to him, he frowned as he tried to figure out the best way to wake you up. Nishinoya warned that if you didn’t get enough rest, you’d be cranky and probably lash out at him. If he was too soft on you, then you wouldn’t feel a thing because you were a heavy sleeper. With a sigh, he followed his gut and leaned over you. He didn’t know how to deal with waking up a girl so Kageyama decided to go with the soft approach. His mind flashed to your exhausted look on your face from the night before and pursed his lips. With the chance to sleep in, he hoped that it helped you feel a lot better after taking care of the team. Sitting on his knees, he rested his weight on his left arm and gently shook your shoulder with his right hand.

“(Y/N), it’s time to wake up. Shimizu-senpai asked me to bring you food.”

He waited for a couple of seconds for you to respond, but without any movement, he decided to shake you a little harder.

“Oi, you shorty. Wake up,” he said louder.

You groaned and swatted his hand away from you. “Five more minutes mom, I don’t feel good…”

“This girl-Oi, little miss sleepy head. Wake up or else I’m going to kill you.” Kageyama hissed as his patience wore thin when he saw you turn over and hug the blanket tighter. With a blank expression, he gave up trying to be gentle and began to relentlessly shake your shoulder.

“Hnng…wha…?” you murmured sleepily and now aware of someone shaking you awake. “What in the…”

Kageyama paused and watched you sleepily rub your eyes. It was a rare sight to see you with your walls down while he waited for you to fully wake up. With your hair slightly disheveled and a small pout on your lips, Kageyama quickly sat back on his knees and looked away. ‘Am I even allowed to see her like this?’

You mentally tried to gather your thoughts as your surroundings became more clear to you. Annoyance started to bubble up inside you from being woken up so harshly. There was still a light ache in your head and mentally decided to lash out at whoever decided to disturb your peace. Pushing yourself up to your elbows, you glared at the person and Kageyama immediately gulped when he met your gaze. He immediately shifted his gaze elsewhere and waited for you to say something. You were surprised to find that it was Kageyama next to you rather than Nishinoya and immediately relaxed your features.

“Tobio?” you asked sleepily.

He turned back to you and you sat up, mentally cheering that your body didn’t feel as heavy as before. You turned your body to face him and raised an eyebrow at him.

“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at training right now?” you asked tiredly and reached for your water bottle.

“I would be, but someone took too long to wake up,” he grumbled and shoved the bento box into your lap.

You choked on your water and smiled sheepishly when you put down the bottle. “Sorry, waking up is pretty hard for me if I don’t have a set time to be up.”

“Shimizu-senpai told me to give that to you.” he nodded towards the food sitting in your lap.

You smiled when you opened it and let out a happy sound. “She remembered that I liked my rice with egg. It’s always my go-to for breakfast.”

He watched as you quickly added the soy sauce and furikake seasoning on top before mixing the raw egg and its toppings with the rice. As he watched you dig into the food, he relaxed when he noticed that your energy was slowly coming back.

“Are you feeling better?” he asked.

You swallowed the food you were eating and looked up in thought. “A little better, I might try to freshen myself up to see if that helps.”

“...so you’re not going to be there today?” Kageyama asked as he changed his sitting position. He leaned against his hands behind him and his legs were crisscrossed in front of him. He thoughtfully looked at you and tried to imagine what training would be like without you there to give him critiques or yell at the rest of the team.

You shrugged and said, “We’ll see. I might rest until you guys finish lunch. Then by the afternoon, if I’m feeling better, I’ll see you guys at the gym...hopefully.”

He sighed then glanced at the clock and you smiled at him, thankful that he took some time to check up on you. Your gaze followed his and realized that the practice matches were about to start.

“You better hurry or else Coach Ukai will yell at you.”

Kageyama grunted and stood up from his position. Straightening out his practice clothes, he lightly bonked you on the head before making his way towards the door. You watched as he lazily waved at you.

“Says the one that’s currently sick. Take better care of yourself, baka.”

With a laugh, you nodded and he walked away. Your gaze softened and smiled to yourself while biting the tip of your chopsticks. It surprised you that Kageyama was the one to bring you the meal you missed and was probably forced to. Even if that was the case, you were glad to see that he didn’t seem as closed off as before. As you finished up your food, you knew that one more nap and a shower would bring you back to normal. So once you put the bento to the side, you chugged the rest of your water then grabbed what you needed before heading towards the showers to finally kick start your day.

“(Y/N)-chan, welcome back!” Kaori greeted you when you walked into the kitchen.

You smiled at the managers who were finishing up with cutting watermelons for all the boys at the camp. The other girls were happy to see that you were back to being your energetic self after seeing the drastic change in your personality just a couple hours prior.

“I hope there wasn’t too much chaos while I was gone for the first half.” you said and bowed to them before straightening back up and sheepishly rubbed your neck.

“Nah, but your boys have been losing. Although, their spirits don’t seem to die either way.” One of the managers from Shinzen informed you.

You shrugged and walked to where Shimizu and Yachi were cutting some and immediately began to help them out.

“It was to be expected, haha. We’re trying a lot of new and different things so it’s just a matter of getting it in their bodies.”

“How are you feeling, (Y/N)-chan?” Shimizu asked.

“I feel better. The food was amazing this morning, by the way. I’ve been drinking a lot of water and sports drinks once I was completely awake too.” you chirped and gave her a cheeky smile.

“That’s good, the boys were worried about you this morning.” Yachi chimed in.

“Eh? Really?”

Shimizu nodded and passed you a tray that was filled with the last of the watermelon. “They were down at first, but they wanted to train even harder today to show you that they’ve been working hard.”

“I’m assuming they’re doing it for some extra praise?” you smirked.

The others nodded and the three of you laughed while you made your way towards the gym. You giggled behind the rest of the girls as the manager from Ubugawa announced that they’ll be given watermelon during their break. You peeked behind Shimizu’s shoulders to find the Karasuno boys out of breath. A part of you was worried because of how many times they’ve been running up the hill, but another part was glad to see that they were pushing themselves to be at their very best. All of the boys made their way outside as the managers stood by the door so they could take one on their way out. You stood at the end of the line and waited to see who would spot you first.

“EH?! (Y/N)-CHAN!” Hinata exclaimed when his eyes landed on you.

With that saying, the rest of the boys zeroed in on you and before you knew it, they were racing towards you with bright smiles.

“We missed you!” Daichi said and ruffled your hair before grabbing a slice.

“It was a little quiet without you reprimanding Kageyama and Hinata for their antics during breakfast this morning.” Sugawara chuckled.

“I’m glad to see you’re feeling better, (Y/N)-chan.” Asahi smiled.

After the three boys left, Nishinoya, Tanaka, Ennoshita, and the rest of the second years went up to you for their share.

“Glad to see you’re up and running, (Y/N)-chan.” Nishinoya grinned and squeezed your cheek.

“What can I say? You know how I can be sometimes and hey- stop that hurts y’know?” you huffed and swatted his hand away as he laughed and grabbed his slice before walking away to find a spot to sit.

“Did you enjoy your little breakfast delivery?” Tanaka snickered and wriggled his eyebrows at you.

With a slight kick at his ankle, he winced and you smiled innocently. “Did you know that Shimizu-senpai is out of your league? Don’t test me today, Ryu-nii.”

He laughed and turned towards Nishinoya before walking off. “Oi, she totally enjoyed her morning!” Turning back to you, he clicked his tongue and pointed finger guns at you, “Don’t worry about that, I’m completely aware of that kid. I’m gonna make her fall in love with me either way.”

“I’m sorry for that, (Y/N)-chan. But we are glad to see that you’re doing okay.” Ennoshita said.

“Of course, I can’t let Shimizu-senpai and Yachi-chan do all the work when it comes to you guys.” you smiled and you immediately rolled your eyes when you saw who was next.

“Oh, so you didn’t die?” Tsukishima snickered while he grabbed one before immediately walking away.

You raised your fist at him and mentally cursed him in your mind for being such a smartass. ’Just you wait until I beat your ass when I get a chance to spike a ball past you, you salty prick.’

“Why this mother-”

“Don’t mind him, (Y/N)-chan. But I hope you’re feeling better.” Yamaguchi said hurriedly with a sheepish smile before getting his slice, trying to catch up to the blonde.

“Glad to see you’re doing a lot better. I missed seeing you this morning.” Hinata smiled before making his way towards Kenma and Lev on the hill after being pushed out of the way when he made your presence known.

“Are you sure you should be doing this?” Kageyama asked as he took the last slice and bit into it.

You shrugged and held the tray to your side. “I mean I feel fine and if it makes you relax, I’ll take it easy today.”

He narrowed his eyes at you and you held out your pinky in response. “Pinky promise.”

With a sigh, he reluctantly linked his pinky with yours, still doubting that you were at your best. You simply gave him a playful salute and smirked. “I won’t let you down.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever.” he grumbled before walking off.

‘It’s like he’s trying his hardest not to show that he cares.’ You laughed to yourself before walking back to the kitchen to refill your tray with more watermelon.

“Oh? You brought it out, huh?” Yachi smiled when her eyes landed on the Polaroid camera you brought along to one of the practice matches later in the day.

You smiled as you set it down beside your things on the bench. You quickly put your hair up in a bun and began to fill it with a new packet of film.

“I figured I could show the boys how hard they’ve been looking with some action shots.”

“It’s true, this is the most motivated I’ve seen them. It’s quite scary because collisions like the one that happened yesterday could happen again. If that happens, then those types of accidents can lead to major injuries if they’re not careful.” Shimizu added while looking over their notes to summarize their current statistics.

You hummed in agreement and as the boys filed out of the gym for their punishment, you knew it was the perfect time to get some candids of the boys. You stood by the door as they stretched their legs and took one of the third years together. Then when the boys reached the top, you took one of all their silhouettes standing together. And once they slowly made their way down the hill, you smiled to yourself as you managed to get one of Nishinoya jumping onto Tanaka’s back. The flash took them by surprise and Nishinoya smiled widely.

“You brought the camera!” he grinned and jumped off of Tanaka.

Walking up to you, he snatched it from you and smiled cheekily while playfully shaking it. “My turn to take some pictures.”

Without getting a word out from you, he ran away and you could only sigh in disbelief. ‘He really never runs out of energy, huh?’

You looked back towards the hill to see that most of them were about to come back and hurriedly picked up the bottles of water Shimizu set against the wall near the entrance. Grabbing as many as you could, you began to hand it out to the rest of the boys.

“Good work today, you guys!” you cheered as they grabbed their bottles and tried to catch their breath..

A chorus of ‘thank you’ surrounded you and you pouted once Daichi ruffled your hair.

“What do I always say about the hair?” you whined.

“Not to touch it, but we still do because of that reaction of yours” Asahi chuckled and smiled in thanks as he grabbed his bottle from you.

You turned around as they walked past you, slowly making their way into the gym, and someone tapped your on the shoulder. You smiled to see that it was Kageyama. He tiredly wiped his face with his towel and you held out his water bottle.

“Good job today, Tobio.” you said while he wrapped his towel around his neck.

“Thanks.” he murmured and grabbed the other end of his bottle. You rocked on your heels as you waited for him to compose himself and took a sip of his water.

“Do you mind if we practice after dinner?” he asked as he looked down at you with a hint of a smile on his face.

You shook your head and said, “I don’t mind as long as you’re down for a rematch.”

He raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Oh? Someone doesn’t like to lose.”

With a cheeky smile, you shoved his bottle towards his chest and said, “I need to get my revenge on the prodigy y’know?”

“AHAHA I GOT IT! TANAKA I REALLY I GOT THAT!” Nishinoya exclaimed.

The two of you snapped your heads to the right to find Nishinoya holding your Polaroid in his hands with Tanaka standing behind him, laughing his head off. Kageyama just blinked, still trying to process what happened, as you stomped over to them. Snatching the camera out of their hands, you plucked whatever pictures Nishinoya took out of his hands.

“Stop fooling around, you shitheads!” you yelled and jabbed both of them in the stomach.

They fell to the ground in pain but burst out laughing once more. “It was too cute not to capture! We never get to see soft Kageyama!”

“Shut up right now Yu-nii.” you hissed.

“C’mon you can’t deny it once you see the photo.” Tanaka added.

Sugawara called out for them to come back inside and you sighed to yourself as you shuffled through the photos. Tanaka and Nishinoya nudged your sides when they passed you, still trying to tease you as much as they could. You snickered when Sugawara slapped the back of their heads before turning your attention back to the photos in your hands. One was a selca of Nishinoya and Tanaka, another was of Tsukishima flipping off the camera with Yamaguchi simply not knowing what to do in the background, another was of the third years smiling widely at the camera, the second to last one was of Hinata flashing a wide smile and holding up a ‘V,’ and the last one was of you and Kageyama.

You bit your lip while you tried to stop yourself from smiling so widely. Nishinoya had caught the moment of you and Kageyama smirking and smiling at each other. Kageyama’s facial expression was the closest anyone would see to him for smiling and there was a joyful look in his eyes. Meanwhile you were looking up at him with your dimple showing and you knew you had let your emotions show too quickly. ‘I guess Yu-nii can be useful with that camera sometimes.’ you thought to yourself before putting all of the pictures into your bag and made your way towards the kitchen to help with dinner.

#fly high!#haikyuu!!#haikyuu #Haikyu!!#haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu series #kageyama #kageyama tobio #kageyama x reader #kageyama x fem!reader #kageyama x you #kageyama x y/n #kageyama series #kageyama fluff

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what-is-your-plan-today · 4 years

Text

Riding On Ch10: When 3 Became 4

Summary: Baby Bean makes his arrival and Frank and his mother reach a significant turning point in their relationship as a result. Well, they always say that births, deaths and marriages are the 3 things that can bring a family together, right?

Warnings: Bad Language words.

Pairing: Frank Adler x Fliss Gallagher

A/N: Ok, so not gonna lie, I made myself cry with this one. It’s ridiculous, if anyone could have seen me I’d have been sectioned. Just a note, I’ve never had a kid before but been there when both my god children were born so I hope this is as realistic as it could be! Love to hear your thoughts an comments. Chapter Song: Blue Eyes by Elton John

Series Masterlist // WIYPT Masterlist

Blue eyes laughing in the sun, laughing in the rain. Baby's got blue eyes, and I am home, and I am home again

Once Frank's initial mad 30 seconds had finished, the panic turned to excitement as he dressed and quietly carried Fliss' hospital bag down to the truck. When he came back Fliss was out of bed and dressed in a pair of sweats and a t-shirt

"You OK?" He asked, she looked at him and nodded. "Just a little uncomfortable." "Do you wanna stay up here or..." She shook her head "No, it’s supposed to help if I can move around." Frank nodded "Alright, let's head downstairs." Together they made their way slowly to the living area, Frank making sure Fliss was comfortable before he set about making them a drink, only to be cut short when he heart Fliss let out a little groan. He stopped what he was doing and headed straight over to the sofa, kneeling in front of her as she was bent over. He softly ran his hands up and down the outside of her thighs as she breathed through the latest contraction. "Ok that one was the worst yet." she mumbled and Frank smiled sympathetically. They sat together, vigilantly timing the contractions, the world outside growing light as they did and when it got to half 6 some 3 hours after they had woken up, Fliss decided she needed to pee. Frank watched her make her way to the bathroom, leaving her to it at her request until 5 minutes later she gave a yell. He jumped up, running down the hall to see her stood in the doorway. "My waters just went. Well, I think. I don't know, I was peeing and..." "Hey...calm down." He said gently "Do you need to change?" She shook her head. "Alright, let's get you sat down and then I'll go wake mother and we'll head in, ok?" "What's going on?" A sleepy voice said and they both looked up to see Mary padding down the stairs, rubbing her eyes. She stopped and looked at them both, understanding flooding her little face and she beamed "is he on his way?" "Sure is." Frank nodded. "Can you keep Lissy company for a moment whilst I just grab Evelyn?" Mary nodded eagerly and jumped down the last 3 steps, slipping her hand into Fliss' as they headed back into the living room. Frank jogged over to the garage, up the steps at the side and banged his fist against the door to the guest apartment. It took his mother a few moments but she appeared in a robe and looked at him, arching an eyebrow. "Lissy's waters have broke." He said, unable to stop the grin spreading on his face. She smiled at him. "I told you that appointment wouldn't be needed. Give me 5 minutes to dress and I'll be over." He bounded down the stairs and hurried back inside. Fliss was stood by the island in the kitchen, both hands flat on the surface, breathing through another contraction as Mary sat on the stool besides her. Frank gently moved towards her so he could rub her back and she turned to him, clutching at his blue and white plaid button down, pressing her head to his collar bone. "Fuck it hurts..." "I know honey." He gently soothed "but we'll be on our way in soon and when we get to the hospital they can get you more comfortable" A few minutes later Evelyn entered the kitchen and glanced at Fliss, giving her a soft smile. "I won't insult you by asking if you're OK." She said and Fliss gave a soft chuckle. "Ok, can we go now?" Mary asked hopping down from the stool. "You're staying here." Frank said softly and Mary stopped, looking at him. "Why?" "Mary, once he is born you won't be able to go in and see him for a while." Evelyn jumped in "the doctors have all sorts of things to do, and Fliss might not feel ready for visitors for a few hours." "But I want to be in the waiting room." She looked at Evelyn then to Frank then to Fliss "like we did that time, remember?"

Frank and Fliss exchanged a look How could they forget? "I wanna be there when you come out and tell everyone he's arrived" she whispered, her eyes brimming with tears. "And you can be honey.” Fliss nodded as Frank crouched down in front of her.

“You don't need to be there just yet. It could take hours. You and Grandmother can have some breakfast and then Poppa Bill and Nanny V will pick you up a little later ok? Then you can come and wait." "'Kay..." she mumbled a little as Frank rose to his feet. "Go." Evelyn looked at him, her hand dropping to Mary's shoulder "We'll be fine." He nodded, gave Mary one last hug and a kiss on her head before he looked at Fliss and the pair of them made their way outside.

Once he had helped Fliss in and made sure her belt was fastened he jogged to the driver’s side and jumped in. "Ready?" He looked at Fliss. She turned to him and shook her head. "No, not at all." "Me neither." He said aa he started the truck up with a grin. "I’m excited though." Fliss smiled softly "yeah, me too." **** They called Fliss' parents on the way, Verity's sleepy voice laced with excitement as soon as she answered the phone. She promised Frank they would bring Mary and his mother up in a few hours and after he also promised to keep them updated on progress, Frank hit the button on the steering wheel and cut the call. Fliss had gone quiet again, and she bent forward slightly, breathing deeply. He moved his spare hand over to take hers and she gripped his fingers, as she let out a low groan through grit teeth, her head falling back against the head rest.

“Jesus…” she eventually mumbled once she could speak again “I don’t like this labour bollocks.” Frank chuckled “Ok, I’m sorry honey.” “So you should be.” She glared at him “You did this to me.” “Yeah, and I would say I’m sorry but that would be a lie.” He grinned, raising her hand to his lips, brushing his mouth over his knuckles.

“Ass hole.” she said, before she smiled a little and looked out of the window.

“Does it feel any different?”

“Does what feel different?”

“Just it, you know, everything in general, once you’re a parent I mean?”

Frank took a deep breath “I don’t-“

Fliss shot him a glare and he cut himself off from his protest, taking a deep breath. She was right, he did know. In a way anyway.

“Well, yeah, ok when I took charge of Mary, everything changed. Suddenly it wasn’t just me to look after. I had this tiny, little person that needed me every single minute of the day. My entire outlook on life changed, what was important paled into insignificance because that little person became my world. It’s hard work, but so worth it.” Frank glanced at her and smiled “But you already know that too.”

“Well, not really…I mean, yeah, ok I love Mary like she is my own..”

“She is yours as much as she is mine.”

“…but she’s not a baby and…”

“She’s harder work now than when she was a baby, trust me.” Frank chuckled and Fliss smiled.

“It’s kind of a big deal.” She said after a little while.

“Huge deal.” Frank agreed.

“I mean I’ve known that this was gonna happen, that one day he would actually be here but I guess for the last 6 months or so I’ve never really thought about what that means.”

“You’re already a great mom to Mary and you will be to Bean.” He said gently “Don’t worry about that, not one bit.” Fliss shook her head, “I swear to God at times you can read my mind.” “No, I just know you inside out.” He replied, kissing her hand again. After 20 minutes or so they arrived at the hospital and were settled in the room quite quickly where Frank helped Fliss change into a gown. From then on it was an hour and a half or so of the contractions progressing, each one seemingly getting longer in duration and more painful. Fliss was managing reasonably well on the gas and air, and some point offering Frank some so he could "join the party" so to speak which he declined with a chuckle.

“Remind me again why we thought this was a good idea?” Fliss moaned after another contraction had finally subsided.

“I don’t remember there being much thinking at the time he was made.” Frank quipped and she looked at him, raising an eyebrow as she crunched down on some of the ice chips she had in the cup in front of her.

“OK, so that’s true…” she grinned.

“And I also don’t remember us actually planning it either.” He said. “But I wouldn’t change it for the world.” “Hmmmm.” Fliss looked at him. He let out a chuckle and shook his head.

“And neither would you.”

She smiled and shook her head “No. He’ll be worth it.”

“That said, next time we go to Boston, maybe you need to remember to take your pill.”

Fliss rolled her eyes “I’m getting an IUD fitted as soon as he’s out. Or maybe we just don’t have sex again. Ever.”

Frank shook his head “Yeah, not gonna happen.”

“Silly me, of course, Frankie has needs…well I got news for you mate.” she pointed at him as he raised his eyebrows “It’s gonna be a very long time before you get anywhere near me again.”

Frank snorted and shrugged “Suppose I best get re-acquainted with my hand.”

Fliss let out a bark of a laugh “You’re rank.”

He shrugged, “Hey, look, you nearly bust my balls when I came back from Vegas…”

“You deserved that.” She narrowed her eyes.

“I didn’t say otherwise, was jut pointing out a fact.” She opened her mouth to shoot back a reply but instead her face contorted with pain once more and she took a huge inhale of the gas and air, gripping Frank’s hand as another contraction washed over her. Frank waited with her, as her grip became almost painful but he wouldn’t have dared comment on it. Frankly he’d rather let her break every finger of his hand than suggest she was hurting him because at that moment in time he was convinced she’d find something to beat him to death with if he did. At roughly 10 am, 6 hours after she had woken Frank up, the contractions were coming roughly 5 minutes apart and Fliss finally gave in and asked for an epidural. The midwife examined her, recording her at 4cm dilated and then headed off to call the anaesthetist. He arrived some 30 minutes later and explained to Fliss what he was going to do. Once the formalities were over, Frank helped Fliss to sit up, and she shuffled to the edge of the bed ready for the epidural when all of a sudden she squeezed Frank's hand tightly and looked at him, her eyes wide. "Oh...God, Frankie I need to push." "That's impossible." A junior midwife cut in with an air of ridicule "You were only 4cm half an hour ago. There's no way you could have gone so far so fast..." Fliss let out another cry, this one panicked and Frank felt a surge of anger at the fact she was being dismissed. "Listen..." he glared at the woman straightening up as he kept hold of Fliss hand. "If she's saying she needs to push then she clearly does. She's hardly gonna be fucking making it up now is she?" Thankfully the more senior Midwife took over and looked at Fliss kindly. "Ok Miss Gallagher, lay back and we'll take a look." Frank helped her move back to the middle of the bed as she gave another cry out and the midwife moved to examine her. After a moment she straightened up, nodding. "Yep, we're fully engaged." She turned to the anaesthetist "It’s too late. She's gonna have to manage on the entonox" "What?" Fliss looked around as Frank gently shushed her, his hand running over her hair. "It’s OK." He said softly "it's just over the last half hour things have progressed faster than they thought so they can't give you the epidural." "Well they best give me something because I swear to fucking God..." her voice trailed off as she grabbed the mouthpiece to the gas and took a huge breath in, gripping Frank's hand as another contraction washed over her. "Ok, Fliss..." the midwife looked at her "next time you feel the urge to push I want you to go with it ok? Nice and gentle, do what your body is telling you. Can you do that?" Fliss nodded, swallowing slightly. Frank smiled at her, encouragingly. "You got this baby." He said, kissing her hand. "You got this." After 20 minutes of pushing, Fliss was convinced she had anything but got this. She was on all fours as this was the comfiest position she could get into. Laying on her back was excruciating, so when this had been suggested to her as an alternative by the midwife she had gladly tried it. Frank was stood by her head, his hand softly rubbing her back, giving her all the encouragement he could as she gripped at his arm, her face pressed into his shoulder. She felt another wave, and the Midwife looked up at Frank with a smile "he's crowning. Fliss, you're almost there..." "Hear that?" He crouched down, looking at her, smiling "nearly done sweetheart." "You are never doing this to me again..." she said from between grit teeth. He smiled "Well we got 2 now so I'm OK with that. Least you didn't say I couldn't ever touch you again." "Don't tempt me..." she said, before she grew silent and let out another loud groan, gripping Frank's bicep so hard he almost winced. After a monumental effort she sagged forward a little and the midwife called out. "Ok, his head is out. One more Fliss, good girl." At that Frank took his cue. "Hear that? One last time honey." He said, still crouching, her hand in his. "I’m so tired Frank." She looked at him, sobbing "I can't..." "Yes you can." He said calmly, smoothing her hair back. "One more and you're there. You've done so well sweetheart." 30 seconds later, after digging as deep as she could, Fliss' screams were joined by a high pitch crying and her entire body succumbed to exhaustion and she slipped forward slightly. "Lissy, you did it..." Frank felt the tears stinging his eyes as he and the junior midwife helped Fliss to lay back down. He could see from her face she was dazed and exhausted as she lay her head against the pillow, her breathing deep. "Is he OK?" She gasped, as her baby's piercing screams rang out round the room. "He's absolutely fine..." the midwife said, as their baby was placed on her chest and they both got a first look at their little Boston Bean. "Hey baby..." Fliss gasped, through her tears as she held him close, his cries softening slightly. "Look at him Frank." "I am." He swallowed, his voice cracking "I can't take my eyes off him. Oh God, Lissy, I'm so proud of you." He stuttered, pressing a kiss to her head as he gently ran a finger over his baby son's cheek. A perfect little nose, round little cheeks, a spattering of dark hair, two tiny hands and tiny feet...he was the most beautiful baby boy Frank had ever laid eyes on and he felt his heart swelling so much he thought it might burst from his chest. "He looks like you." Fliss glanced at Frank who tore his eyes off his son to look at her. "You think?" He asked, looking back down. "Yeah..." she said "same nose, cheeks, eye shape...he's an Adler alright." As the various medical staff bustled around, neither of them paid any attention to them at all, both wrapped up in their previous little bundle, who, after a few minutes, opened his eyes, blinking a little. Frank smiled as those sparkling little globes flickered around at his surroundings. The lump in his throat seemed to be growing by the second and he rest his head against Fliss' the pair of them mesmerised by those baby blues until she nudged him and told him to take a few photos. With a shaky hand he did as he was told, until a doctor apologetically said that then needed to take him for his scores and what not. "Take him?" Fliss asked, instinctively clutching him closer. "He won't be gone long." Frank looked at her. "They told us about this, remember? And Mary was gone 10 minutes, tops." "Actually we can do it here Mr Adler" the doctor smiled "we have the facilities in the room so he will literally be right over there. And we can get you cleaned up properly Miss Gallagher" That placated Fliss a little, but she was still reluctant to hand him over. Frank followed his son a little, hovering as he was examined and given a vitamin shot before he was tenderly cleaned a little. "Does he have a name yet?" The doctor looked up. Frank swallowed thickly. "Alexander William..." "No..." Fliss spoke and Frank turned to her, wondering if she was still slightly out of it. "Honey?" He frowned, "What-" "His name." She said sitting up slightly "Alexander Francis William." Frank blinked “I don’t…we didn’t discuss that?”

And they hadn’t, but it had come to Fliss the moment she had held him in her arms. It just felt right.

"He's the most important boy in our lives Frank." She smiled, sniffing a little "I want him named after the best man in mine." Frank felt the tears prick his eyes at her words and he hastily blinked them away, smiling and giving her a nod to say he understood. He turned back to watch as a tiny tag was attached to Alex's right wrist sporting his name and an identity number before he was wrapped in the little white blanket they had bought which was decorated in stars. "Ready for a hold dad?" The doctor looked at him and Frank nodded, swallowing. "Ok, are you doing skin to skin or..." "Yeah..." Frank nodded again, loosening the top 4 buttons of his pale blue shirt before Alex was handed to him, the doctor helping Frank to gently arrange the blanket so his son's chest was pressed to his. "Hey Bean…” he whispered softly, his eyes misting over. "How you doing?" Alex burrowed his face slightly into his chest, his eyes wide as Frank's hands tenderly held him close, one on his back, the other underneath him. He walked over towards the bed as the midwives finished cleaning her up, and carefully sat down, looking at his girl as she watched them both, smiling softly. "I fuckin' love you." He blurted out, this time not bothering to even try and hold his tears back as a few fell down his cheeks "Look what you gave me." Fliss gave a little splutter of a happy sob as Frank gently moved one hand to tighten around hers, his other keeping his son secure to his chest. "You curve balled me on the name." He said, smiling. Fliss shrugged and reached out to gently smooth over Alex's head. "I mean it." She looked up at him, her eyes swimming "You are. You fixed me Frank, you took those last broken pieces and..." "Liss…” Frank struggled to keep his composure as his fingers tightened around hers. "…and you showed me, just what..." she stuttered a little, her breathing ragged through her sobs "...what a normal love with a kind and gentle man is, what it's like to be with someone who would do anything to prevent me from being hurt instead of..." she swallowed, her eyes looking deep into his which were now spilling tears " I can't even begin to explain how much I love you." Frank took a huge, shuddering breath, conscious his son was still clutched to his chest as he leaned forward, tears pouring down his face as he pressed his head to Fliss', running his nose against hers, catching her lips softly with his. "You gave me everything I didn't know I needed." He sniffed, and she smiled, glancing down at their baby "You fixed me too, when I didn't even know I was broken." Fliss smiled, gently reaching up to cup his cheek, but their moment was interrupted as Alex began to fuss. "Think he might be hungry." Frank smiled down at him. Fliss sat up as Frank handed him over and with a little help from the midwife and a few missed attempts soon he was latched on and suckling happily, his little hand curling into a fist, resting by his cheek. Frank sat still on the bed, watching Fliss nurse him for a while before he leaned over and kissed her head. "Suppose I best go tell them all he is here." He smiled. Flias grinned before her face stilled a little. "I err...I don't really want them in just yet. I’m tired and I wanna get cleaned up and changed and..." she trailed off "But Mary could come I suppose if she is starts to get upset." The fact she was still putting Mary's feelings before her own made Frank's chest warm and he shook his head, cutting her off. "She'll be fine" Frank assured her. "Leave her to me."

With a last glance down he kissed Fliss’ head, then Alex’s before he jumped off the bed and headed down the corridor. In the elevator down to the waiting room he caught a glimpse of his reflection. His eyes were red from all the tears and his hair was stuck up on end as well from the amount of times his hand had run through it. Hastily flattening it down he turned and then strode a bit further down before he pushed open the door into the room.

He instantly spotted Bill, Verity and Mary waiting, but not his mother. Mary glanced up and gave a yell, running across the floor to him, grinning ear to ear. He picked her up, hugging her tight as she kissed his cheek before he moved her onto his hip, grinning around as Bill and Verity reached him.

“He’s here!” Frank spluttered, “ He arrived about 30 minutes ago. 7lb 4 and, shit guys, he's perfect!”

He dropped Mary down to the floor and pulled his phone out, scanning through to a photo. He handed it to Mary whilst Verity pulled him in for a hug, before Bill shook his hand furiously before yanking him towards him, slapping his back.

“Congratulations, lad. How's my little girl?”

“She’s great, just tired.” Frank said “He arrived a little too fast for an epidural but, man, she did so well. I’m so fahkin proud of her.” “You gone all Boston again!” Mary teased, as Verity took the phone to have a look at her grandson, her hand flying to her mouth before she showed it to Bill whose own eyes started to water.

“Where's my mother?” Frank asked.

“She’s at home.” Verity looked at him “She says she didn't want to crowd you” Reading between the lines Frank knew that to mean she wasn't sure she was wanted or welcome. She hadn't been at Mary's birth, in fact she hadn't laid eyes on Mary until she was 7, and he knew that would be playing on her mind, wondering if she had a right to be here after everything. But they were past that now, or so he had thought anyway. In his mind this certainly wasn’t the time for bad blood or raking over old ground. It was time for her to step up and make the amends like she claimed to be so keen to.

“I’ll drop her a message.” Frank said after a moment’s pause. Verity smiled. “When can we see him?” Mary demanded. “In a little while Stack” Frank’s hand dropped to her head “Fliss is feeding him now and then she needs to clean up properly and get settled, maybe take a nap because she's exhausted.” “Why don’t we go for some lunch?” Bill suggested and Frank could have kissed him “Then Frank can call when they’re ready for us to come back?”

Mary looked around for a moment, pondering the idea before she nodded “Ok, can we go to the Shack?” “We can go wherever you want.” Bill beamed.

"If she decides to come up once I’ve spoken to her, could you swing by and grab Evelyn too if it’s not too much trouble?" Frank asked. "Course." Bill assured him with a wink and Frank nodded mouthing thank you. “Can I tell them his name yet?” Mary demanded Frank hesitated. He hadn't asked Fliss that, but as he thought about it he knew she would want to be there when they found out so he shook his head. "Not yet. We can do that together later, ok?"

“Ok.” She nodded.

He gave her another hug and then promised to call them as soon as Fliss was feeling up to it before he turned and headed back to his girl and his son.

His son...

When he reached the room, Alex had finished feeding and Fliss had him held up over her shoulder, gently rubbing at his back. She looked over to him, smiling as he crossed the room.

“How’s he doing?”

“Fine.” She smiled “He’s fed…seems a little sleepy now.”

“You should take advantage.” One of the midwives spoke. “Put him down for a nap, eat that sandwich and rest yourself.” “Sounds like a good idea.” Frank said, then he cheekily added “I’m whacked.”

“You’re whacked?” Fliss glared at him.

“Well you woke me up early!”

“God you’re an ass hole.” She shook her head, snorting as he laughed.

“Love you.” He grinned, pressing a kiss to her cheek as he looked down at Alex whose eyes were definitely growing heavy.

“Can we dress him now?” Fliss asked and the midwife smiled.

“Absolutely” she said, “You can do whatever you want now. I’m officially heading out of your hair, unless there’s anything you need?”

Frank looked at Fliss who shook her head “No, we can manage, thank you.”

“Well then, if you do need anything someone will be in the office. I’ll be back in a couple of hours to check on you both.”

“Oh, err, can I take a shower or…”

The midwife nodded “Absolutely, as long as Mr Adler is here.” “Yeah, I will be.” “In that case then I suggest a nice hot bath, then a change into your pyjamas and relax.” She smiled “Honestly, when I had both my kids, there was no better feeling.I’ll have a drink and a sandwich sent down for you Miss Gallagher, otherwise I’ll see you a little later on.”

With that she gave them another small smile before she left the room.

“Can you pop him in the basinet?” Fliss looked up at Frank.

“Course.” He smiled, reaching out and gently picking his son up. He gave his head a soft kiss before he gently placed him down and then moved to help Fliss stand up. She was a little shaky at first but after a few steps she seemed to be fairly steady. With a grin Fliss selected the baby grow they had bought the day of their first scan and Frank chuckled as she gently popped the studs down the front. Frank watched as she tenderly dressed him, smiling to himself as she picked him up again, holding him to her front.

“I don’t want to put him down.” She said, smiling.

“Then you don’t hafta.” He chuckled

“But what if I make him clingy…” “Lissy, he’s like an hour old.” Franks smiled “And I hate to break it to you, babies are fucking clingy. Why don’t you sit down and hold him for a bit whilst I draw you a bath?”

“Ok.” She nodded. Frank dropped a kiss to her head before he turned and walked into the bathroom.

Once her bath was ready he asked if she needed a hand getting in. She shook her head and with an almost wistful look handed Alex over to his dad and disappeared into the bathroom. Frank held his son close, looking down at him as he slept contentedly in his arms. He wandered over to the window, looking out over the bay, smiling to himself.

“I’ll take you out there as soon as I can.” He said, looking down at his baby “You’ll love it. Wind in your hair, spot a few dolphins…”

After a moment or two of gently rocking him as he stood watching the day outside, he turned and gently placed him down again, making sure he was covered by his blanket before he grabbed the bag and pulled out the pale blue lounge set Fliss had packed. It had been a gift from Roberta, pattered with tiny little stars and was a button down for ease. Mary had a matching pair as well, not one to miss out.

Checking Alex once more he pulled out his phone, snapped another quick photo before he fired it off to the Circle of Truth WhatsApp group along with the photos he had taken before. As the messages of congratulations began to flood in, he suddenly remembered that he had someone else he needed to speak to.

His mother answered after 2 rings “Frank?”

“Hey, so…er…he’s here!” he grinned “Safe and sound. Fliss is ok, she’s in the bath so…” “Oh, that’s…” his mother took a breath “That’s great, I’m really pleased.” “You weren’t in the waiting room before.” “I know, I didn’t want to crowd you.” “Well, they’re coming back later to meet him.” He said gently “You should too.”

Evelyn paused before she spoke again, her voice cracking slightly “Are you sure?” “Mom, you’re his grandmother.” He said gently “Look, I know what you’ll be thinking, all sorts of shit about Diane and Mary but, none of us can change the past.” He took a breath “This is your chance. Step up. Enjoy the moments you missed last time.” He heard her sniff a little, and he was surprised to feel himself becoming a little emotional. “You ok?”

“Yeah, fine. I err…just…” she took a deep breath “I’d love to come meet him. Let me know when and I’ll organise a car…” “No need.” He said gently “Just give Bill a call. He said he’d bring you.”

“Thanks.” She said gently. “Did you take any photos yet?”

“Yeah…I’ll send you one.” “Thanks, I’ll see you later I guess.” “Sure.”

“Give my love to Fliss.” “Will do.”

He cut the call and once he’d sent the photo to her he put his phone back in his pocket and smoothed down the blanket to take a look at Alex again, his conversation with his mother rattling through his brain as his son gently curled his tine fist around his finger. He’d been right, she was feeling guilty. Guilty at how she was here for Alex but hadn’t been there for Mary or Diane for that matter. But he had meant what he said, none of them could change the past, it was how they moved forward that counted, how she took the second chance she had been given.

Frank knew his relationship with his mother was as good as it was probably going to ever get. After Boston last year they’d both made the effort to put all the anger and hurt behind them. It wasn’t a close relationship by any standards, but it was more than it had been and more to the point, he could live with what it was, dare he say, he actually kind of liked it if he was honest. She was still far way enough not to piss him off on a daily basis, or try and interfere, but she visited regularly enough and when she did it was easier than he had ever anticipated. She’d certainly upheld her side of the bargain with Mary and if she did the same thing with Alex, he’d be happy. She was his grandmother after all, just like he’d told her.

“Mom, you’re his grandmother.”

As he recalled his words he felt his breath catch and his eyes mist over once more when he realised he’d called her mom, and for the first time in his entire life she hadn’t corrected him.

***** After her bath Fliss had emerged to see find Frank still quite emotional. He had explained to her about his conversation with his mother and she’d listened as they lay on the bed, her head lay on his chest. Eventually the pair of them had drifted off and managed a few hours sleep before Alex had woken them both crying. He fed again and then Fliss smiled at Frank and told him she wanted to see everyone. With a nod he headed off to find a midwife to see if everyone was allowed into the room at once, and she had suggested that instead of doing it that way they did it in the family room and took Alex to see them.

“We can do that?” “Of course.” The woman smiled at him. “In fact we encourage everyone to use the room as soon as they feel up to it. It's designed to give new moms a space away from the recovery room, like they would have at home.”

“And Fliss is ok to walk down there?”

“Sure, in fact her being a little active and walking around is the best thing. All helps with her recovery and psychologically she'll feel like she has done something other than sit or lay down if that makes sense?”

Frank smiled and headed back to the room telling Fliss what the nurse had said.

“You up to that?” he asked and Fiss nodded eagerly.

“God, yes.” She grinned “I know it’s only been a few hours but I’m getting twitchy.”

Frank smiled, he should have known. She wasn’t the best at sitting still and had been active right up until going into labour.

“Ok, well I’ll call everyone, get them in.”

“I think we should let Mary in here to see him first.”

Frank beamed at her, dropping a kiss to her cheek “Yeah, I’d like that.”

30 minutes or so later Bill called to say they had arrived and Frank gave them directions up to the room having already booked them in. Fliss stood up and he held out her robe so she could shrug it on over her lounge set, before she shoved her feet into her flip flops.

“Ready?” he asked and she nodded, picking Alex up.

Frank headed off to the lounge, opening the door. He smiled round at his family before he held his hand out. “Come on Stack.”

She jumped up and slipped her hand into his and after promising everyone else he’d be back shortly he led her down the corridor.

“Now you need to be quiet ok?” he said and Mary nodded as he pushed the door open to the room.

“Hi!” Fliss grinned as Mary stopped dead, looking at the baby in her arms as she perched on the side of the bed “You ok?”

“Yeah…” Mary breathed, her eyes focussed on Alex as she walked towards him. She peered down at his face and then grinned up at Frank.

“He has your nose.” “So I’m told.” He smiled “You wanna hold him?” “Can I?” “Course you can.” Fliss nodded.

She hopped up onto the bed, Frank settling besides her and he showed her how to position her arms as Fliss placed Alex down into them. Frank moved so his left arm was curled round Mary, his hand gently supporting her left elbow as she peered down at Alex. He heard her give a soft sniff and he looked at Fliss before he turned to Mary.

“You ok?”

“Yeah, I’m just so happy” she said, her voice wobbling slightly and Frank felt his own eyes watering for what felt like the 300th time that day. No one said anything else, just let Mary have her little moment before Fliss softly suggested it was time they went to introduce him properly to everyone.

“You helped do the gender reveal.” She looked at Mary “You wanna tell everyone his name?”

She thought about it for a moment before she shook her head “I think that should be yours and Frank’s job.”

Fliss leaned down to give Mary’s head a kiss before she gently stood up and took Alex from her, Frank also standing as Mary jumped down from the bed and slipped her hand into his. He curled his other arm around Fliss waist and the three of them made their way down the corridor. Mary opened the door to the large lounge area and they were met with everyone turning to face them.

“Hey guys!” Fliss smiled as her mum hurried towards her.

“Oh honey…” Verity cupped her face “You look great…” “Not sure I’d go that far.” She smiled, before she glanced down at Alex in her arms as Verity gently reached out to trail a finger down his cheek.

“Oh Bill…look at him.” She breathed out as Bill moved to take the first glance at his grandson.

“He looks like you Frank.” He said, his eyes not moving from the baby as he smiled down at him, Alex peering up with bright blue eyes.

“Here nanna…” Fliss smiled, passing Alex over to Verity who took him, letting out another soft gasp before she began to coo over him.

“Steve said he’ll pop up tomorrow.” Bill looked at Fliss “He thought this would be enough to cope with today. Says if its ok he can swing by on his way to the airport before he drops Sian and the kids off.2

Fliss nodded and then watched as Verity offered Alex to Evelyn who took him gently, peering down at his face.

“He does look like you.” Evelyn said gently, looking up at Frank. “And I’ve got the photos to prove it.”

“I’m sure you do.” Frank looked at her as she smiled, glancing down at the baby and he didn’t miss the tears that were pooling in her eyes.

“I’m glad you came.” Frank looked at her and she raised her face to meet his eyes, swallowed and nodded.

“Me too.”

“Did you call Roberta?” Mary asked.

“No, but I sent her a photo.” Frank assured her. “She sent me back a load of heart eye emojis and a photo of a mojito, said she was toasting the new arrival over at her sister’s place.”

“Now THAT sounds like a great idea.” Verity said, looking at Evelyn “What do you say we all go back to ours later for a party?” “No fair!” Fliss folded her arms.

“We can have another one later…” Verity waved her away as Evelyn chuckled slightly.

“Sounds great.” She agreed, before she turned to Bill. “I believe it’s your turn to hold the baby so to speak…” “Yeah, come on…” Bill said, gently taking him, a huge smile crossing his face “So what is his name? We can’t keep calling him bean…” Fliss looked at Frank who smiled at her and she turned to her dad.

“It’s Alexander Francis William. Alex for short.” "What?" Bill breathed out softly, glancing down at the baby in his arms. "You named him after..." "Your dad, my dad, and his." Fliss looked at Bill, as his eyes filled with tears. “The best men I’ve ever known”

As the room began to chatter about what a nice name it was, along with a few more tears being shed as the pure love and emotion shared between the family, Frank looked down as Mary pulled on the bottom of his shirt.

He picked her up, perching her on his hip.

"You added Francis?" she asked and he looked at her, smiling. "Fliss did." Mary blinked before she shook her head, snorting. "Poor kid."

#riding on #frank adler x ofc #frank adler #gifted fan fic #gifted

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bowensbyrams · 4 years

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the canada dream {02}

n/a: hey, guys! Here’s part 2 of TCD, as promised. I’m sorry it took me so long to update, my classes are back and last week was kinda hard, but here we go! Please let me know what you think <3

Pairing: Pierre-Luc Dubois x reader

Warnings: a little bit of angst at the beginning, mentions of abusive/toxic relationship

Word counting: 2,1k

Ps: part 1 can be found here: https://royaltyofhockeylosers.tumblr.com/post/627737248109133824/the-canada-dream-01

I realize there's something wrong the moment I find myself opening the door to my old apartment in Boston. As far as I remember, I moved to Montreal and am living with my best friend Anna... Or was it just a dream? I wouldn't be surprised, I've been dreaming on moving to Canada for a while now. I enter the living room and drop my bag on the couch, heading to my room but a noise stops me. No, not a noise. A moan. A woman's moan. I live with my boyfriend, Thomas, and as far as I know, we don't share the apartment with another girl. My heart fasten with every step I take until I'm facing the white door that leads to my room. Our room. "Faster, Tommy" I hear the girl say and my boyfriend groans, making my skin shiver "Yes just like that" "God you're so hot, baby" Thomas' voice is like a fist to my stomach and the tears start rolling down my face. Not again, please. I open the door and the scene in front of me breaks my heart into a million pieces. My boyfriend is buried into a blonde's pussy and keeps thrusting in and out of her as he sees me. "Hello, princess. Do you want to join us?" his smile is almost wicked and I can't move, I can't breath as I watch him fucking her the way he used to make love to me. The tears never stop coming down and my sobbing seems to make him want to go deeper and faster until the girl screams his name.

~~ I sit on my bed, tears running on my cheeks and my heart racing like a horse. My entire body hurts as I'm forced to remember every single scene from that damn day, unable to erase the overwhelming feeling for good. My phone pings and I reach out to check it. When my eyes catch the clock and I realize it's almost 1 p.m, my heart skips a beat. I've never woken up this late, but I guess the adventures from last night and the anxiety of moving to another country to restart my life got the best of me. Unlocking the screen, I check the message app before anything else. There are 2 texts from Tyler and 6 from Logan, so I decide to open the latter thread. L: Hey Y/N, it's Logan L: I'm sorry for last night, I hope Anna is okay L: Tyler said he invited you two to the barbecue, cool! L: Here's the address and don't worry about anything, just bring whatever you guys wanna drink L: We reeeeeally want you to come, Luc is excited to meet you two I smile at the last text which is formed by at least 10 different types of emojis. I reply saying I need to ask Anna if she wants to come and lock the screen again, leaving my bed and going to Anna's room. My best friend is sleeping like a baby, so I decide to go make something for us to eat. When I'm almost done with the spaghetti, Anna appears in the kitchen with a pout on the lips and her brows furrowed. "Good morning, sunshine" I sing and my friend groans, sitting on one of the benches by the marble island in the middle of the kitchen. “I’m not feeling sunshiny today. I feel like I’ve been ran over by a truck. Multiple times” “That’s called tequila hungover and I’m not saying I told you so...” “Nah shut up” she shushes me waiving her hand “Can you get me a pill that’ll make this go away?” Anna points at her own head and I hold back a laugh, opening one of the cabinets where she showed me the medicines were. Handing her an Aspirin and a cup of water, I go back to the stove and turn it down, taking the pan to the island. Anna takes the pill and sighs, looking at the food. "Is this a dream?" my best friend asks when I put a plate in front of her and lets out a small moan when she takes the first bite "Honestly, if I had known you could cook like this, I would've invited you to move in with me way earlier" "Oh, don't get to used to it. My cooking knowledge is resumed to spaghetti, lasagna and burgers" "Who said we need more than that to survive?" Anna looks at me with an offended look making me laugh. We're half way through our meal until I decided to tell her about the barbecue. "So Logan and the other boys are hosting a barbecue today and they want us to come. It'll be just us, them, Tyler's girlfriend and that other guy they were telling us about yesterday. You in?" "As long as Logan keeps his alcohol to himself, I see no problem" she replies and I can't hold back my laugh. "Hey you're the one who suggested you guys should see who could get more shots in less time" "I never thought he'd say yes! That guy is crazy!" she snaps back and I laugh even harder. "Okay so we're going?" "Yeah, I guess so..." "Cool, I'll let him know then" * "What's up?" Anna asks as we're getting ready to leave. She's in my room, laying down on my bed as I finish putting some make up on. I'm wearing a long sleeved shirt with a jeans skirt and snickers since the weather gods decided to send a chill night to break the living hell temperatures of the day. Me and An spent the entire day laying on the floor and drinking an absurd amount of water while watching the latest episodes from The 100. "What?" I ask and look at her through the mirror. "You have a worried look on your face. What's wrong?" "Nothing... I just have a weird feeling that I should know something but I don't" I reply and focus on applying my mascara. "You're weird, Y/N. Are all americans like this?" "Hey!" I throw a pillow at her, making her laugh. As I finish everything and grab the beer packs we're taking, we're all settle to go. On our way to go, I open my Instagram and start scrolling through my feed - which is the most diverse thing in the world. It’s the perfect balance of hockey, singers, food, friends and family. I look at some of the posts before heading to the Story part. I slide through a couple until one catches my attention. It’s the same bar I was yesterday and I can see Anna in her white and red dress in the corner. I check the user and my heart skips a beat when I realize who it is. Pierre-Luc Dubois, one of the few hockey players I follow on Instagram. He plays centre for the Columbus Blue Jackets, my ex's home team, and my heart aches a little when a memory gets me. "Hey, I just saw you follow PLD on Instagram" Thomas' voice reaches me before he appears on our room. "Yeah, I've been following him for a while now, Tom" I say and go back folding the clean clothes. "Why?" he asks, making me look at him a little confused. "Why what?" "Why are you following him?" "Why not? He's a hockey player and I like him. What's wrong?" "Oh you like him? What, do you think he's gonna fuck you if you ever meet?" his aggressive tone makes me blush and my heart fasten. "Why are you saying this? I'll never meet him, Thomas, he's like super famous and lives in Ohio" "Exactly, so stop following him. I don't approve it and I don't like the fact that you're following these hockey guys. They're all assholes" my boyfriend says before storming out of our apartment, leaving me to try and understand what the hell just happened. I never stopped following Pierre's profile, but that was never needed since I caught Thomas in bed with another girl just two weeks after his little scene. That was three months ago and now I was living in Montreal with my best friend, trying to rebuild my life after what he did to me. I look at Pierre's story again and can't help the weird feeling that takes over my body. I knew he was French-Canadian, but I definitely did not know he lived in Montreal during the off season. I guess I never took the time to check on any player's personal lives. I mean, expect for Mitch Marner's but that's just because I really wish we were best friends but anyways. "Hey, you're on Pierre-Luc Dubois' Insta Story" I says and Anna almost throws the car out of the road. "I'M WHAT?!" Definitely should've waited until we got to the house. "Yeah, he was at the same bar as we yesterday and posted a photo of the dance floor. You appeared in the corner" "Wait... You're telling me that that fucking greek god was at the same bar as we and none of us saw it? Are you kidding me?" she says and the annoyance in her voice makes me laugh. "Yep, that's what I'm saying. What are the odds?" "I mean, they're high since his parents live here, but still.. We weren't even at the best bar of the city" "Maybe he is low key and was trying to avoid the crowds" "Yeah, probably" she agrees and changes focus. I observe the streets, filled with big houses with even bigger yards. "I guess Pierre is not the only rich who prefers underground bars..." I comment and Anna snorts, looking at the mansions. “Should’ve guessed he had money when you told me the neighborhood we were heading to, but damn” Anna says and all I can do is nod in agreement.

I was worried we would be late, but when we get to the house, Tyler and his girlfriend, Kate, are the only ones waiting for us. "Hey, guys" Ty greets us and takes the beer packs from me "Logan went to buy more beer, Jesse backed down and Luc is late as always" he leads the path to the backyard and I have to keep myself from dropping my jaw. The house is huge but the backyard is unbelievable. There's a deck where the grill is, a pool with a pool house and a soccer court. "This is my girlfriend Kate. Kate, these are the girls we told you about, Anna and Y/N" "Hi!" the curly haired and green eyed girl says and we down by her side. A couple of minutes go by and we're all getting along pretty well until Anna looks at her phone and sees that it's dying. "I think i have a charger in the car, I'll be right back" She leaves and only two minutes later my phone pings. A: don't freak out and act normal but i just bumped into logan outside Y/N: so what? A: pierre is with him My eyes go wild and before I can process what I just read, Logan's voice reaches me. “Look who I just found outside!” I look up asking God for Anna to be messing with me, but she's not. Pierre-Luc fucking Dubois is standing between Logan and my best friend, how's acting like there's nothing wrong. I try my best to do the same and I guess it worked since no one is looking at me with funny looks. "Luc, this is Y/N and Y/N, this is Luc" Tyler introduces us and Pierre shakes my hand with a small smile. "Cool, now you two know each other. Can we eat? I'm starving!" Logan says heading to the grill. “We’ve known each other for less than a day and I’ve already noticed that’s a constant mood of yours” Anna snaps back following him with Pierre right after her, leaving me, Kate and Tyler behind. "You look like you just saw a ghost" Tyler says getting my attention. "I'm just thinking why none of you bothered to tell me that your friend looked like that" I snap back, making Kate laugh. I decide not to mention the fact that I'm a hockey fan and know the NHL player that has just walked past us. "Nah, the minute he opens his mouth you'll see he's a dork" Kate says and heads to the area where the rest is. I follow her with Tyler right by my side and asking God to help me out here.

#the canada dream #pierre luc dubois #pld #pld fic #columbus blue jackets #cbj #nhl #nhl fic #nhl imagine #hockey fic #hockey imagine #hockey boys #nhl hockey players

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queenk00k · 4 years

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but what if we were pure gold all along? jj maybank (chapter 3)

Summary: After the assumed death of their best friend, the Pogues are falling apart at the seams. With Pope and Kiara getting closer and JJ left with nowhere to go, he finds himself left to his own devices. Feeling lost and rejected, his luck seems to turn when he meets Scarlett - a Kook who doesn’t treat him like shit and has an affinity for partying. JJ gets sucked into her world as she promises to help him forget.

How much longer can he keep running from his demons? And what happens when he starts sharing a bed with one?

Warnings: graphic depictions of violence, child abuse, angst, sexual content, drug use, underage drinking.

Author’s note: Hi all, this is my multi-chapter fic I’ve been working on. My oneshots & Rafe series have taken off so I thought it was time to share this one too. Let me know what you think!

Word count: 2K

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

the one where JJ throws caution to the wind (but when was he ever cautious anyway?)

JJ has woken up in pretty strange locations before. The porch steps of the Chateau, the hull of the HMS Pogue, the Boneyard. Nothing was stranger than waking up on a couch in a Kook’s bedroom, who he’d really only spoken to twice. The couch was surprisingly soft, and JJ finds that he actually had one of the best sleeps he’s had in, well, he can’t quite remember how long.

That doesn’t erase how completely fucking weird it is that he not only went home with a Kook but spent the whole night there.

JJ sits up and is quietly thankful Scarlett appears to have been awake for a while; she’s dressed and perched on the end of her bed in a similar position to the night before. She’s also biting her fingernails, chipping away the black nail polish with her teeth. This brings JJ some comfort – she’s clearly feeling as unsettled as he is.

He clears his throat and Scarlett turns to look at him, smiling cautiously. “Hey,” she says. “You feeling okay?”

JJ nods and stands up. “Yeah, yeah I’m good thanks.”

“Sleep alright?”

“Mmmhmm.”

An awkward pause.

“Listen,” JJ says as he moves towards the door. “I really appreciate what you did for me and all but I gotta go. Honestly, I don’t understand why you let me stay on your couch-”

Scarlett scoffs. “You really think that low of me? You crashed your motorbike in the middle of the night and looked another blow from death. What was I going to do? Leave you on the side of the road?”

JJ is taken aback; he didn’t expect her to answer like that.

“You’re a Kook, I’m a Pogue…you know how it is.” JJ shrugs.

Scarlett rolls her deep brown eyes. “That shit is so stupid. We’re not all that bad.”

JJ opens his mouth to reply something along the lines of “well, in all of my experiences-” but the sound of tires screeching on gravel outside diverts his attention.

Scarlett’s eyes widen and she grabs JJ’s arm tightly. He clenches his jaw and forces himself not to wince; she grabbed one of his darker bruises. He gently removes his arm from her grip and Scarlett looks at him apologetically.

“Sorry, sorry, it’s just my parents are home. You gotta go, now! Go out the window, quick quick,” Scarlett says as she frantically ushers JJ to the window. JJ’s startled by the sudden change in pace but honestly, he’s pretty thankful for an excuse to get out of there. He’s never felt comfortable around Kooks.

You can hardly blame him.

Scarlett helps JJ push the window up far enough for him to climb through (his arm is feeling pretty busted from the events of the previous night) and he doesn’t hesitate in sticking a leg through to climb out onto the roof.

“Wait, wait,” Scarlett says. “Is that it? You’re just gonna leave?”

JJ looks at her quizzically. “I mean, yeah. What were you hoping for? A goodbye kiss?” He taunts.

Scarlett makes a face at him. JJ can’t tell if it’s disgust or disappointment.

“No. Can I at least give you this?” She reaches into her bedside drawer and pulls out a wad of cash; JJ estimates it to be at least $200.

“And why would you give me that?”

“You seem like you need it,” Scarlett replies, shrugging.

Wrong thing to say.

JJ narrows his eyes and replies, “I’m not your charity case.”

Without giving Scarlett a chance to reply (JJ has an old habit of needing the last word), he scoots out of the window and down the gabled roof of her stupid fucking mansion.

He thinks he’d be content with never seeing her again.

JJ eventually manages to drag himself to his bike and take off towards the Chateau slowly, his bones aching (but not before kicking down the realtor’s sign – if the Camerons have more to worry about then he figured they won’t care if Rose’s frozen smile was kicked in). He’s being more careful on the ride over this time, not willing to repeat the spill from the night before. JJ is lost deep in thought on the way back to the Chateau and before he knows it, he’s riding up the driveway, the bike’s tires kicking up dirt as he skids to a stop.

JJ hates that for a second, he expects John B to emerge on the patio, smiling and holding out a Coors Light, like he’d done so many other times before.

JJ clears his throat and shakes his head, willing the thought of his friend to dissipate. He steps off his bike, wincing, and makes his way up to the house. JJ has every intention of making it all the way inside, but he stops at the steps, lump forming in his throat, and sits down.

Eyes brimming with tears that are close to spilling over, JJ sighs and puts his head in his hands, taking off his cap and throwing it into the dirt.

Where the hell are Pope and Kiara? JJ thinks. It’s been well over a day and a half since he stormed out of the Heyward backyard and gee, fuck him for assuming his friends might come looking for him or something drastic like that.

JJ pulls his outdated iPhone 6 (a hand-me-down from Kiara when hers got updated – pity it didn’t come with her unlimited data plan) with its smashed screen and broken home button.

No texts, no missed calls.

JJ presses the lock-button, so he doesn’t have to look at the Pogues’ smiling faces in his wallpaper, and tries to reason with himself.

Pope told you he was going to be busy with his interview, you shouldn’t be mad at him. That’s fair enough, he warned you.

Nah dude fuck that, he lied to you! He was sneaking off and banging Kiara.

Speaking of Kie, why doesn’t she want to see me? I thought better of her, I thought we were supposed to be best friends.

Her parents have her on lockdown-

When has that stopped her before?

JJ grunts in frustration and picks his hat back up off the ground, jamming it onto his head over his sweaty blonde hair. He clearly wasn’t going to solve anything sitting here.

JJ’s new habit seems to be wandering around the island like a lost boy, as he finds himself walking along the beach, kicking up sand with the toes of his work boots.

He’s not sure what his plan is – maybe he’ll run into Kie or Pope or fuck, literally anyone he knows. What JJ does know is that there’s no chance he’ll run into any Kooks on this side of the island, so at least he won’t have to deal with their pompous asses.

Or so he thinks.

JJ makes it halfway down the stretch of beach before he suddenly hears a sweet, but hoarse voice behind him.

“And here I was thinking I’d never see you again.”

JJ whips his head around and fails to suppress his groan at seeing Scarlett in front of him, dressed this time in a red crop-top and cut-off denim shorts. He resists the urge to run his eyes over her – he’s only human after all, and a teenage boy at that.

“Are you stalking me now?” He asks bitterly but makes no attempt to walk away from her.

Scarlett crosses her arms over her chest and narrows her eyes. “You wish, Maybank.”

“What are you doing here then?”

Scarlett sighs and sits down on a sand dune, motioning JJ to sit down next to her. He briefly considers telling her she’s dreaming but hey, once again she’s giving him attention and being nice and honestly that’s all he needs right now. Some company that’s not going to make him feel shittier about his life. So, he relents and sits down beside her in the warm sand.

Scarlett leans back on one elbow and moves her sunglasses to the top of her head as she replies, “less chance of running into Kooks here.”

“But they’re your-

“-my people?” Scarlett scoffs. “Hardly. Only thing I have in common with them is our family money, everything else is completely at odds.”

JJ smiles, the corners of his eyes crinkling. It feels nice.

“I’ve heard this story before,” he says. “I’m not much of a reader but “rich girl who’s actually bad ass” sounds pretty familiar.”

Scarlett waves her hand. “Yeah yeah, it’s all true! I even have a dark back story – I’d make a great main character.”

“Let me guess, you’re adopted, and your real family was murdered by some unknown killer.”

“My younger sister died in a car accident, and I was never the favourite child. My parents shipped me off to boarding school, so they didn’t have to deal with me,” Scarlett replies, looking directly at JJ.

It seems an inappropriate time for him to be distracted by how beautiful Scarlett’s dark brown eyes look in the sun.

And yet.

JJ’s eyes widen. “Wait, you’re serious? Fuuuuck, I am so sorry…I had no idea,” he says, grimacing. He’s annoyed at himself – he was just trying to banter, but it’s all fun and games until someone drops a bomb like that.

Scarlett smiles and touches his arm delicately. JJ first notices how cool her hand is, despite the humid day, and then notices she has a fresh coat of dark red polish on her nails.

He tenses, not used to someone being so blatantly touchy like this, least of all a Kook. Scarlett notices and moves her hand back onto the sand, looking at him like she’s about to ask him what the problem is but clearly decides against it.

“It’s fine, honestly. Happened a long time ago and they leave me to my own devices a lot, which makes it easier to do whatever I want.”

JJ nods in understanding. “I get that.”

There’s a comfortable pause before Scarlett abruptly stands up, dusting the sand off her denim shorts. JJ looks at her questioningly but stands up too.

“Enough of this emotional shit,” Scarlett says. “I wanted to talk to you to a) apologise for my behaviour this morning-”

“-it’s fine-”

“-and b) invite you out tonight.”

“Out?” JJ asks.

Scarlett nods. “I think we’re both in need of some fun and some company. Why don’t you come to mine tonight? My parents are out again, and they’ve got a pretty sweet liquor cabinet.”

JJ can’t believe he’s saying this, but he says, “I’ll think about it.”

Scarlett shrugs. “Close enough. See you tonight, or not,” she says and blows him a kiss before turning and walking away down the beach.

JJ stands there stunned for a moment (definitely because of the sheer absurdity of the situation and not because he checked out her ass as she walked away) and thinks over his options.

He’s not sure he wants to willingly wander back into Kook territory for the second night in a row, never mind go into one of their houses.

Although, he thinks to himself. Where’s the harm in spending time with Scarlett for the time being until Pope and Kie come around? Because they will, right?

Besides, Scarlett’s pretty nice, pretty hot and she’s willing to hang out with him and give him free booze. What could go wrong?

JJ’s made up his mind and, perhaps against his better judgement (which was truly shaky to begin with), he finds himself on the roof of Scarlett’s mansion again that night, tapping on her bedroom window.

He starts to worry he got the wrong room or, even worse, the wrong house, when she doesn’t answer straight away but all of a sudden the curtains are pulled back and Scarlett’s excited face appears on the other side of the glass.

She yanks open the window rather haphazardly (JJ suspects she’s gotten into her parents’ grog early), the cool glow of the moonlight making her teeth an iridescent white as she grins widely up at JJ.

“So glad you could make it, Maybank. Let’s get this party started.”

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amaya-chwan · 3 years

Text

Takeaways from Therapy Game: Restart Chapter 10

Hello all! We’re back at it again with chapter 10! That’s right, 10 chapters of pure Shizuma and Minato goodness! My gosh, it’s gone by so fast! ❤️💛

Hinohara-sensei left us with quite the cliffhanger in the last chapter, but it wraps up BEAUTIFULLY in this one! 🥰

As always, here are our takeaways for this chapter:

AHHH POOR MINATO! So patient and so strong, I’m proud of you! 😭

I am pleasantly surprised that he has a sweet tooth for some strange reason? 🤔🤣

SHIZUMA! YOU FINISHED YOUR FIRST MAJOR SURGERY! I’m also proud of you! 😍

Onodera really has some problems of her own, and honestly they’re really relatable. I hope she continues to grow as a person because she deserves some happiness!

Shizuma, you really are a “super darling”! ❤️

MINATO, YOU SWEET CHILD, YOU DESERVE A HAPPY LIFE AFTER ALL YOU WENT THROUGH AS A CHILD! 😭

Honestly, I love how much Minato has grown and tries to understand what Shizuma goes through. It’s so refreshing to see, and I love that Shizuma reciprocates it in kind. Wholesome relationship goals!

THESE DORKS OMFG THEY WILL BE THE END OF ME! 🤣😍🥰❤️💛

And that’s it for this chapter’s takeaways! For a more detailed breakdown/summary of this chapter, please continue after the cut! I tried to make it a little easier to read, so the summary might be a little different than usual. As always, I promise there is a little surprise (or 2, or more?) in these summaries! 😉✨

Our chapter begins with a flashback from Minato’s childhood. He overhears and sees his mother, who is all dressed up prepared to go out, talking to her husband on the phone. She is upset that he is once again not coming home on time/is late, but tells him she understands since it’s work and that can’t be helped sometimes. She keeps telling him “It’s okay, don’t worry. I’ll be waiting for you. Good luck with work. It’s okay, it’s fine...” while grasping onto her clothes tightly.

Back to the present, Minato is woken up from this dream by the cafe staff member. Minato is told it’s 6:30pm, 4.5 hours after he was supposed to meet up with Shizuma. Visibly annoyed and unable to smoke in the cafe to calm down, he orders a parfait and a cup of coffee.

While eating his food, he curses at Shizuma, saying Shizuma’s got some nerve to break his promise and not make it for the house tour after suggesting and persuading Minato to live together and getting him (Minato) all excited for it.

When he’s about to give up on the idea of living with Shizuma, Minato overhears the couple behind him. The man apologises to the woman for being late as his train was delayed. She tells him she thought he wouldn’t be coming to meet her, but now that he’s there, she excitedly tells him they should hurry to the movie theatre.

Minato, who is still annoyed, relaxes a little and becomes more visibly upset, wondering what his “liar” of a boyfriend is doing. Knowing Shizuma wouldn’t break his promise and be late for no reason (especially since he works at the clinic and has crazy work hours), Minato still can’t help but feel a bit down. He then looks up if there have been any traffic accidents near by, worried that Shizuma might have gotten into an accident.

As he frantically scrolls through the news, Minato continues to remember what happened to his mother (see Therapy Game for that info), and sighs, knowing Shizuma wouldn’t disappear like his mother did. He then blames his dream AND Shizuma (who broke his promise) for his current feelings. Minato thinks to himself that he’s in a good place now and doesn’t want all these memories coming back to haunt him again.

The cafe owner approaches Minato again, asking if he’s waiting for his girlfriend and if he’d like another cup of coffee while he waits. Looking at the now closed real estate agency, he refuses and says he’ll be leaving.

We change scenes to Shizuma’s workplace where he’s now giving an update on Hana-chan’s operation to her owners. In short, the 2nd and 3rd puppies couldn’t be delivered naturally, so Hana-chan had to have a caesarean. It was successful and she’s now still a little loopy on the anaesthetic. She can produce her own milk, feed her babies, and can be discharged in 3 days. Overjoyed, the owners thanks Shizuma profusely, even though he tells them it was because of Onodera.

As Shizuma goes to the locker room to change out of his scrubs, he is very relieved that the surgery went well, but he also realises he’s super late for his appointment with Minato, afraid that Minato will give up on the idea all together. He is afraid to check his phone.

Onodera then enters the room and thanks Shizuma for working outside of his work hours, saying she couldn’t have done it without him. She also thanks Shizuma for showing her a how to interact with people since he was able to calm the owners down and help them. Shizuma, being very humble and modest, said he stepped out of line speaking like that as he only wanted to change their minds about Onodera performing the surgery.

Onodera goes on say that she lacks the ability to converse and interact with humans as she just doesn’t have the skills for social interaction, which then affects her ability to help her animal patients despite having the medical skills and qualifications to do so.

She continues to talk about how people can’t “read” what she’s thinking or feeling and that she wouldn’t have been a vet if it wasn’t a request from her father, but is interupted when the microwave isn’t working. She apologises to Shizuma for a downer of a conversation, but he tells her that he made the right choice working with her. He goes on the tell her that he’s been able to help out at the clinic now and for her to use him more.

Shizuma gives her a bit of a pep talk, telling her that she’s got her awkward and unfriendly colleagues as well as Shizuma by her side if people won’t trust in her abilities and work. He also says compared to her colleagues, he finds Onodera to be more adorable/endearing.

Shizuma fixes the microwave--the button just needed to be pushed a little harder. Just as he does that, Onodera’s brother comes in and apologises for being late. Shizuma informs him of everything that’s happened, and Onodera praises Shizuma, telling her brother to let him help out more. Shizuma is surprised by this sudden praise, and Onodera’s brother is thankful for the extra set of hands to help him out!

During this conversation, Onodera called Shizuma “Iijima-sensei” once again, but this time Shizuma corrects her, telling her that the first step to building a good relationship with others is to remember their name. Shizuma then excuses himself and leaves.

Onodera and her brother talk. We find out that Onodera’s brother is Shizuma’s professor and seems to have placed Shizuma at her clinic since he is a “go-getting” and very motivated student, the type Onodera doesn’t seem to get on with. However, things seemed to have worked out this time and Onodera’s brother is glad he introduced Shizuma to her. Their scene ends with her brother telling her that she should see their father, and that she’d probably be told off for her hair again. She tells him he’s spoiled the mood.

We then see Shizuma walking the streets in the rain, checking his phone. Surprised that Minato hasn’t contacted him, he fears Minato is infuriated with him. As he tries to call Minato, he thinks to himself and isn’t surprised that Minato would be mad, especially since he persuaded Minato into living together. Wondering if Minato is at the cafe or has gone home, Shizuma is adament on seeing Minato today, even if Minato doesn’t want to see him. Just as Shizuma thinks that, Minato picks up the phone and responds to Shizuma with just a simple “what.”

Frantically trying to find out where Minato is, Shizuma bumps into a pedestrian and apologises profusely while Minato is still on the call. Minato tells Shizuma not to worry and that hurrying to see him wouldn’t change anything anyway since the real estate agency is already closed. Shizuma keeps asking Minato where he is because Shizuma still wants to see him. Minato keeps telling him not to hurry. Just as Shizuma reaches the parking lot to go to his car, we see that Minato is already waiting for him there.

Minato, with his nose a little red and looking slightly annoyed, tells a very surprised Shizuma that he is very late.

Completely flabbergasted, Shizuma asks Minato why he’s waiting at his (Shizuma’s) car since he though Minato would have gone home already. Minato tells him that he wouldn’t be able to sleep if he didn’t get to hit Shizuma, but then proceeds to sneeze. Worried, Shizuma cups his palm on Minato’s cold face and asks how long he’s been waiting in the rain. Shizuma also tells Minato that he could’ve waited at the cafe or the hospital instead. Minato, shifting his gaze away from Shizuma, tells him he’s being too noisy and that guys who break their promises are the worst. Minato holds onto Shizuma’s hand and closes his eyes. Seeing and hearing this, Shizuma embraces Minato under his (Minato’s) umbrella.

Shizuma agrees with what Minato said and apologises for breaking his promise, saying “it must’ve been cold (waiting for me in the rain).” Minato then falls deeper into the embrace, saying it’s (now) warm. He then says he’s relieved that Shizuma is alive (after having worried earlier in the chapter). Since the rain drowned out what Minato was saying, Shizuma doesn’t hear it and asks him to repeat what he said. Minato looks at Shizuma and smiles, saying it’s wasn’t anything important anyway, and that it’s okay.

And that’s it for this chapter! It wrapped up really nicely! AHHHHHH my feelings! There’s something about resolutions in the rain that really get me right in the heart. 🥰😭

I hope you enjoyed the manga panels integrated in the summary--I think it helps visualise the story a little better. Let me know what you think about this! 😊

Again, THANK YOU FOR READING THIS FAR! 💜 📢 As always, please support Hinohara-sensei by purchasing her books and CDs! 📢 Just another reminder that this issue did have a Therapy Game Mini Drama CD, and might I just say, it was very adorable! Worth purchasing, I promise!

There won’t be a new chapter in the next issue of Dear+ BUT there will be a special interview with the cast regarding the release of the Therapy Game+ Play More Drama CD! 🎉 🎉

I may or may not get around to translating that, but in any case, I shall see you next time for our next set of takeaways. As always, stay safe during these turbulent times and look out for each other and for your loved ones! 💜

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spooks-and-tea · 4 years

Text

Entangled (Spencer Reid x femReader) [Ch.8]

Summary: You don’t know how it happened. One moment you were watching Criminal Minds, and the next moment you were literally in the show. Can Spencer be the key to helping you find your way back home?

Warnings: minor character death, mentions of su*cide, bad explanations of quantum mechanics, bad words, sexual situations (some non-con), the usual criminal minds-type content

A/N: Here I am doing a half-assed essay on quantum mechanics. I’m an artist you guys, literally no clue what I’m talking about. I just read the wikipedia info. Never felt so dumb. Anyways, here’s a chapter to extend your heartbreak.

Word Count: 3,175

Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Chapter 4. Chapter 5. Chapter 6. Chapter 7. Chapter 8. Chapter 9. Chapter 10. Chapter 11.

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Y/N You can't say how long you sat on the floor of your apartment, trying to figure out if any of this was real. You would've concluded that your night with Spencer Reid was a dream if it wasn't for his shirt that you still wore. Your tears had stopped long ago and now you just stared; you watched the television, you watched the tv-Spencer solve crimes. There was no way, you knew, no way for you to get back. You weren't sure how you got to his reality in the first place.

Your mind cruelly replayed the last moments you remembered spending with him.

———————————- "Tonight was perfect, Spencer," you whispered against his chest.

"It was." He agreed, playing with your hair.

"How am I supposed to keep my hands to myself at work tomorrow when I know what you're capable of?" You happily traced his skin. Spencer laughed, his chest rumbling under you.

"Hey, at least you don't have an eidetic memory. I can picture every second, clear as day." He mumbled, brushing his fingers along your neck.

"Mmm, as long as I'm not the only one that has to suffer tomorrow." You yawned, growing tired.

"No, I promise you, we'll both have to suffer tomorrow." ———————————-

You had the pleasure of knowing and loving Spencer for 4 whole weeks, but you didn't have his eidetic memory. Today, it was fresh in your mind, the sun was just rising. By tonight, you would remember him a little less. By tomorrow, less. You would always have his physical image in the show, but the details; the way he looked at you, the way he whispered he loved you. You would forget it all.

The magnetic pull in your chest was back, it buzzed and ached for something that it could no longer have.

Your mind tried and tried, but it just couldn't process the reality of losing Spencer Reid, forever.

************************************************************************

Spencer Spencer woke up cold.

He groaned. His limbs were sore, not used to the exercise.

He reached out, wanting to pull you close, but you weren't there. Had you already woken up?

This wasn't like you, he was the one to wake you up every morning. And not to boost his ego or anything, but he did properly exhaust you last night.

He stretched out, yawning. He rested his head on his arms and listened for your usual morning noises. He had them memorized, of course. Shower, appearance, breakfast. Without fail, that was your routine.

Silence.

His apartment was dead silent, he frowned. Did you break your routine? Did you leave to buy breakfast? You weren't supposed to be alone with that stalker still on the loose.

Growing worried, Spencer pulled himself out of bed. He first checked the main living room and kitchen. Your discarded clothes from last night were still scattered around his apartment, as well as the little things you had started scattering as you grew more settled with living with him.

"Y/N?" he called out.

Silence.

He circled back to the bathroom, nothing was out of place.

Now very worried, he jogged to the couch and fished his phone out of his jacket. He dialed your contact and listened for the ring; tapping his fingers on the cell.

His hand fell to his side as he heard a ringing coming from your purse just next to him. He opened it, finding your cell, keys, and wallet. You wouldn't have gone anywhere without these things, you knew you were under his protection. You wouldn't have left Spencer's side.

Sirens went off in his head. This couldn't be happening, not again. Another girl he loved and he couldn't protect her. He promised he would protect her.

He started to hyperventilate, his hands shaking as he phoned the only people that could help.

"Reid."

"Hotch, I-I need help." Spencer's voice cracked. His back slid down the nearest wall.

"What's wrong?"

"It's Y/N. She's been taken. I-It must have happened at night when we were asleep."

"You're sure she hasn't gone anywhere of her own accord?"

"I'm positive. She was taken. All of her things are here; her phone, her wallet, her keys." Spencer let out a sob, covering it with his free hand. When Hotch heard it, he knew this was serious.

"We'll be there in 20." He stated before hanging up.

Spencer dropped the phone and grasped his hair in his hands; pushing it back. He tried to still his breathing, but his throat felt constricted. His tears slowly fell. A buzzing, magnetic pull, ached in his chest.

JJ was the first to find him.

"Spence, what happened?" She tried to comfort him, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"We were sleeping in the bedroom and, in the middle of the night, he took her." Spencer mumbled.

Hotch and Morgan scoped out the apartment. The activities Spencer and Y/N had gotten up to that night were obvious, with clothes strewn all about; they decided not to bring that up. Derek, biting back an especially long list of quips.

The position of the bed sheets is what gave them the most information.

"Spencer, honey, which side of the bed do you sleep on?" JJ asked for them. Her kind, motherly voice was the only thing keeping him calm right now.

"The right side."

JJ turned and nodded at Morgan. He returned to the bedroom to look over the left side of the room.

"No sign of a struggle." Morgan observed.

"No, Spencer would have heard." Hotch narrowed his eyes. He pointed to the bed. "Look at his side, see the way the sheets are turned over? He got out of bed normally, flipping the sheets off. Now look at Y/N's side. Her sheets are pooled in a near-perfect pile. She was lifted up without a struggle."

Morgan nodded. "Do you think she was drugged?"

"No, but judging from the clothes around us, she and Spencer were exhausted. She may have thought it was Spencer and just gone back to sleep." Hotch made a point to speak softly.

"Shit. The kid's a wreck." Morgan whispered. He knew how attached Spencer was to you; they all did. He was asleep just next to you when it happened. You were under his care; he was bound to feel guilty.

Morgan returned to see Spencer spaced out, his knees pulled up to his chest. He knelt in front of him, placing his hand on Spencer's other shoulder.

"Hey Kid, we need to go back to the station so we can start trying to find her. The local police have been informed to keep a look out. You need to get dressed and bring her wallet and cell phone with you. This is the first 48 hours, you know how important this first 48 are. We need your big brain alert for this one. She needs you."

Morgan's words got through to him. He lifted his head, finally clearly seeing his friends and co-workers. He took a deep breath and nodded. Morgan helped him stand, pulling him in for a quick hug. "We're going to find her." He pat his back.

Spencer left to his room to get dressed, avoiding looking at where he had last seen her in his bed. He tunnel visioned, grabbing her things and leaving with his BAU family.

———-

That was 1 month, 3 days, 5 hours, 2 minutes, and 34 seconds ago.

There was still no sign of you, it was as if you had just vanished off the face of the planet. Only Spencer knew just how true that saying was. You were gone, he knew. The probability of you ending up back in his reality was one of the least probable things he could thing of.

Every night he stayed at his desk late and stared at your desk, willing you to show up as you did the first time.

He cleaned his apartment, packing your things away in his closet; on his most desperate nights he would open your suitcase and feel the fabric of your clothes between his fingers. You were officially presumed dead, your huge apartment, assets, and money were all signed away. There was a will that he was sure you didn't write; it was here when you arrived. That will gave everything to charity. You wouldn't have minded.

Spencer knew that everything after you woke up at the BAU was real, but the rest of the BAU didn't. They had 2 years worth of memories with you.

Some nights he couldn't bring himself to sleep in his bed. He spent many nights on the couch.

Of course, he blamed himself. Why didn't he hear something? Did he forget to lock the entry door? How did he not feel you move out of his arms? These questions ate away at his mind. The team filed your case. Whenever they weren't working on another case, they were working on yours.

The problem was, he knew you were never coming back and he wasn't even sure if they could physically catch the unsub that caused it. It was hopeless.

Then, one day, 2 months, 4 hours, 32 minutes, and 14 seconds after you disappeared, they found something.

"Reid we have an update on Y/N's case." Hotch stood next to Spencer's desk.

Spencer sat a bit straighter, his eyes going wide.

"What is it?"

"A lead based on the description of the man she saw behind the warehouse. He was spotted about a week ago near an abandoned house. I'm giving you permission to put the Missouri case on hold so you can go scope this place out with Morgan today. The rest of us will stay here and continue working on the Missouri case." Hotch gave him the location.

Spencer stood almost too quickly, bumping the pile of books in front of him over.

************************************************************************

The house didn't look like much on the outside. It was unowned and abandoned, so Morgan and Spencer were able to walk in without a warrant. They cleared the 1 story home within minutes seeing nothing but a crumbling frame and missing appliances.

Spencer's heart dropped until Morgan opened the basement door. Spencer followed him down, guns and flashlights drawn.He found a light switch, but he knew the long-abandoned house wouldn't have electricity.

Spencer's flashlight illuminated a table full of science lab equipment, some of it, Spencer knew, you had to know the right people to get. Papers were scattered about, some illegible from stains or burns. Spencer looked them over, recognizing the content as equations. One page, he recognized, was Schrödinger's equation. These were quantum equations.

The unsub was messing with the very science that brought you here.

"Kid, get a load of this." Morgan called. Spencer turned around, following Morgan's beam of light. He illuminated a generator and a dark impression next to it on the floor, as if a large object had once sat there. The shape of it made a circle in the middle with a square border. Like a platform with a cylinder in the center. There was no way the unsub could have brought you here, it was too far from Spencer's home. You would've put up enough of a fight to get noticed by someone, or even escaped, yourself, knowing how headstrong you were.

"The dust hasn't settled yet, all of this is recent." Spencer observed, directing his light all around the dingy basement.

"What the hell was this guy up to?" Morgan wondered out loud.

Spencer had a vague idea.

************************************************************************

Pictures and evidence were collected and brought back to the BAU. Spencer hung all of it up and Hotch called everyone into the roundtable room. Spencer, as usual, tried his best not to look for you sitting in your usual chair every time he turned around.

"So let me get this straight, this guy is some mad-scientist who has somehow managed to run a scientific lab under an abandoned house without anyone's knowledge, for months?" JJ asked.

"Correct," Spencer answered.

"These papers we found, they're all full of equations?" Morgan flipped through the photocopies.

"Actually, it's technically all one big equation. I've been able to single out a few sections that are well-known quantum equations. Our unsub is an advanced physicist, probably someone who has studied it his entire life. Judging by this equation, he was testing something. I'm talking Nobel prize-winning mechanic knowledge here," Spencer explained.

"I'll have Garcia check the university databases for anyone with the unsub's description who has studied or taught advanced quantum mechanics classes," Hotch stated.

"So he does science experiments in dingy houses. What I don't get is why would he want to kidnap Y/N?" Rossi asked.

"Maybe our initial profile still checks out. Maybe he has an unhealthy obsession and he acted out through stalking and kidnapping," Morgan remarked.

"What we need to find," Spencer pointed to the photo of the mark on the floor. "Is where this machine is located."

"Probably wherever Y/N and our unsub are," JJ suggested.

"Is this machine dangerous?" Hotch asked.

"We don't know yet." Spencer fiddled with his pencil.

"And we still have no sign of Y/N," JJ held up the last picture they had of you, it was all of you in the bullpen; a group photo.

"No. We don't," Spencer sighed.

Hotch dialed Garcia, she picked up right away. He recited the unsub's profile and asked her to check the university databases. She agreed, getting right to work on it.

Spencer stared at the floor, looking defeated.

"Don't worry, pretty boy, we'll find her." Morgan tried to give him hope.

"It's been 2 months, 8 hours, 3 minutes, and 25 seconds since I last saw her. I've worked on enough cases to know that, if we do find her, she won't be found alive," Spencer mumbled.

"Don't think that kid, she wouldn't want you shutting down like this." Rossi tried.

"We don't know that. We wouldn't know what she'd want because she's not here. She's not here and it's all my fault." Spencer gathered the case file papers, holding them to his chest. "I'll get started on solving the missing parts of the equation."

************************************************************************

Y/N (1 week after the BAU's new lead on your case)

"Thank you Jim, always nice seeing you." You smiled, though it never quite reached your eyes nowadays.

You marked Jim's order on a coffee cup and handed it over to your co-worker. You were on the cash register today, and that meant putting on a smiling face and pleasing customers.

You still didn't feel ready to be working again.

Somehow, in the weeks you had been gone, no one noticed your absence. It was as if you just never existed in those 4 weeks. When you came back, suddenly, it was as if you never left. Everyday you felt that aching in your chest. You knew eventually, Spencer would want you to move on, but you were sure that would take a millennia.

Your life had returned to its normal routine. You knew without a routine, you would fall into some form of depression and shut yourself in. Spencer wouldn't want that.

You wondered if he was going through something similar. It pained you to think of how he reacted to Maeve's death; did he blame himself? When he woke up from your perfect night together, did he call out for you to an empty apartment? Did he think about you as much as you still thought about him?

At least he had Morgan and the rest of his team to help him get through it. You had no one. Your co-workers were too young for you to get along with and you never had time to go out and meet new people when you were booking auditions.

Your Criminal Minds audition had long since passed. You still couldn't bring yourself to watch the show since that first day back. The memories with Spencer were still too fresh, too painful; even after 2 months. You wondered when it would get easier. You wondered when you would stop seeing him in every similar-looking man that walked into the coffee shop.

"Hello?" A hand waved in front of your face, bringing you back to reality, or at least partly.

You blinked. You were staring at someone who looked exactly like Spencer, although his hair was slightly longer.

"Spencer?" You breathed, wide eyed. It couldn't be, how did he find you?

"Umm yeah. Are you a fan of Criminal Minds?" He smiled.

Your jaw dropped. Holy shit. It couldn't be- It wasn't-

"I-I am, yeah. I missed out on my audition nearly 3 months ago. It-It's nice to meet you Matthew." You held out your hand. He shook it politely. It was almost too much like your Spencer's.

"It's nice to meet you too. That's too bad! I'm sorry that happened. You have a very distinct look. I think it'd be awesome to have you on the show." He replied, politely.

"I haven't heard about any casting calls, unfortunately."

"I can take your number and give it to casting if you'd like. I honestly think you'd be perfect for this upcoming part."

"Yeah! That would be great actually, thank you." You answered without thinking.

"No problem."

You wrote your number down on a sticky note and handed it to him. He folded it and put it in his pocket.

"So, what kind of coffee would you like Mr. Gubler?" You smiled, this time a little more genuine because he had your Spencer's face.

************************************************************************

Spencer (2 weeks later) Spencer found himself ignoring his friends, his BAU family. He shut himself off. His desk was filled with papers of scribbled down equations. Piles of physics books were stacked on his desk. He was constantly drinking coffee for his drooping eyes and headaches.

He was able to organize the papers they found at the scene; to determine which part of the equation went where. He just couldn't decipher the missing pieces, the burnt and stained pages.

Sometimes he would stay at work late into the night and his body would force him to sleep for 1 or 2 hours at a time.

Hotch would order him to take a break and work on another case soon. He couldn't let this precious work time go to waste. A thought repeated in his mind, that if he solved this equation he would be one step closer to finding out what happened to you. Even if it couldn't possibly bring you back, he had to know that you were safe.

Plenty of families never get that closure when a loved one goes missing. Sometimes they say they wish their loved one had passed on by now because that eases their pain of not knowing.

But it was Spencer's job to catch these unsubs and find these missing people. It was his job and still he couldn't do shit all to help you, like he should have.

Spencer stood up from the desk and harshly knocked over the pile of books he had just read. Luckily no one was in the bullpen to see his major depressive episode.

He was known as a genius he had the IQ and degrees to prove it. Yet he couldn't solve this equation. He was letting you down all over again.

Next Chapter

#spencer reid #spencer reid fic #spencer reid fanfiction #cm #criminal minds #criminal minds fic #criminal minds fanfiction #fanfiction #drama #romance #mgg #matthew gray gubler

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peachywise · 4 years

Text

nullify

an umbrella academy fanfiction // klaus hargreeves x reader

- part 6: the beginning of understandings || part i ⋆ part ii ⋆ part iii ⋆ part iv ⋆ part v ⋆ more to be released

- synopsis: It was finally time to meet the bringer of the apocalypse– a petite girl wrapped up in a blanket drinking tea. Totally chill. Nothing unusual about the situation at all. At least Klaus was consistent with his irritating commentary.

- note: my bad sorry i haven’t updated in so long!! but i’m back! and since season 2 is now out, please just note that this story is my own continuation of the story after season 1. also, i am no longer doing a tag list. honestly i just can’t be bothered, and i’m sure most of the blogs have changed since the last one for this series. i post on ao3, so you can subscribe to the story there!!

link on ao3

_______________________________________

Okay. So you were going to face the person who allegedly caused the apocalypse. No big deal. This was just a normal day, and she was just a girl. Albeit one who had undergone pretty severe trauma in her life, but hey. Nothing you couldn’t handle with a pleasant smile and a cup of tea, right?

Maybe the tea was a bad idea. But you felt like you needed a peace offering. Something to break the ice before asking someone who was relatively a complete stranger, “I think I can contain your powers, so why don’t we try? Also, why don’t you move into my apartment for the time being? I promise the occasional cockroach that comes out the drain won’t do any harm. It would be nice if he paid rent, but I can’t complain.”

Yeah. Just a normal day.

An abrupt tap on your shoulder and Klaus’s breath tickling the side of your neck forced your eyes away from your previous stare down with the white bedroom door, and any and all courage you’d built up to walk in quickly dissipated.

“Hey, you think if this whole—” his voice caught on a sharp intake of breath as he tried to find his words, his hands rolling, “trying to convince my sister to not start the second apocalypse by moving in with you thing doesn’t work out, I can still crash there? You can’t begin to imagine just how stifling it is here. I don’t even think Five has changed out of his little uniform in a week, let alone had a shower. You smell so much better. Like vanilla with a bit of stale coffee and deep-seated cynicism.”

Turning your face fully towards his, your noses almost touching by how close he had leaned in, you kept your expression passive. And then you tipped your hand to let half of the scalding tea fall over the lip of the cup and on his bare feet.

As Klaus jumped back, hopping between his feet and hollering a string of “ow, ow, ow,” you took a small step back and replied with a drab and mocking, “that has to hurt.”

Klaus gave a curt laugh that was almost lost, given his teeth were clenched in pain. “You know, I don’t know if I like your violent style of foreplay.”

“You’re making it very clear why Vanya destroyed the world in the first place, Klaus,” you responded, voice raised. “You haven’t even experienced just how sadistic I can be. I can turn around right now and just let her cause the second apocalypse again.”

“How original of you, threatening to leave. What is it, the tenth time already? Maybe if we’re all lucky, you can get a couple more in before dinner!”

“You know what’s original? Your desperate need for attention because you never got any from daddy as a kid. I’ve never seen that before-“

The door opened in front of you, and someone’s soft cough had you and Klaus both turning in their direction.

Allison Hargreeves.

“Are you guys done?” She questioned, a tight impatient look crossed on her features. At a loss for words, partly embarrassed now that you’d raised your voice, you tried to find anywhere to look but her eyes. Your gaze ultimately got caught on her neck, and the healed, puffy scar raised on her skin. Right. They’d mentioned Vanya had injured Allison. Pretty horribly at that. You remembered what you were nervous about in the first place.

“Allison, this is Y/N, though they will reply to trouble or travel-sized Satan just as well,” Klaus offered, slipping past his sister, who stood fully in the frame of the doorway.

Reaching behind to scratch your neck, you forced a timid smile on your face and gave a small wave with your free hand. “Hey. Nice, uh… place you got here.” Totally casual. “Very clean.” Not awkward at all.

Allison snorted. “Uh-huh. Nice to meet you. Let’s see if this was all worth it, shall we?”

Straight to the point. You could respect that. Nodding, you kept the nervous smile on your face as you walked past her after she sidestepped away from the door. You didn’t really know what you were expecting. Part of you thought the room was going to be some weird pit of despair. Dark and broody, like it was supposed to set the scene for some comic book character about to delve into their villain origin story.

But nope. It was just a standard bedroom, very well lit, white linen, clean carpet. The only thing that really stood out was the sunny yellow blanket wrapped tightly around a petite frame huddled on the single bed, a sky blue polka dot teacup clutched in both of her hands.

Well, now you didn’t feel so bad that you’d poured out basically all the tea you were going to give Vanya on Klaus.

“I’m guessing you’re Vanya?”

No shit, she was Vanya. You literally knew what she looked like.

You shuffled your feet awkwardly as the girl’s eyes flickered up to you. You still had the teacup in your hand.

“I brought you this, but I… spilled a little,” you commented off-handily, moving over to set it on a small side table.

Klaus made a notably shocked look. “Is that what you call a little?”

Vanya nodded her head once, her tone quietly gruff as she added, “we could hear you through the door.”

Allison offered a very helpful, “I’m sure the whole apartment floor heard them.”

Klaus, unable to contain himself from continuing this rally of comments, added, “well, it’s not the only time my screams have woken up someone next door. Certainly won’t be the last, God hoping the world doesn’t explode again.”

All three of you groaned. Good to know you weren’t the only one exhausted.

“It’s nice to meet you, Vanya. Did they explain to you why I’m here?” You asked, moving closer to the girl in question.

Vanya’s eyes glanced quickly over to Allison, who nodded her head in encouragement. She then turned to look at you once more and gave a slight jerk of her head in affirmation. Despite what had happened between Vanya and Allison, you could see the trust between the sisters. You might have gotten the story of what happened three months prior, but obviously they had worked out some stuff. At least a little bit. “Yeah. Yeah, Five uhm, gave me the gist of it,” Vanya replied, her voice still quiet with an edge of hesitance.

“It really works,” Klaus stated, looking at you with a joyful look. “Not seeing Ben’s ugly mug for once…” he pressed his hands to his heart and contentedly sighed, “it was the biggest blessing one could have given me.” His serene mood quickly dissipated as he looked to an empty corner and bit out a tight, “zip it, ghoul boy.”

“I don’t know,” Vanya carried on, as Klaus and presumably Ben continued to have an argument in the back. “Our powers are different. I don’t know if I want to take the risk of using it again in case it doesn’t work.”

You sighed, and Allison brought her hand up to nervously to chew on a nail. Moving to sit on the edge of the bed, you tried your best to settle the situation. Yeah, the money you would get for this would be nice, but you could tell this all went beyond that. It was important. You knew they wouldn’t have just let you into their inner circle if it wasn’t.

“I get it. What happened was awful, but you aren’t in that place anymore, right? Panic makes you do stupid shit. You aren’t you when you’re in such a crisis. That doesn’t mean you don’t take accountability for those actions, but the you sitting here isn’t actively trying to blow up the moon and cause the end of the world.” Peering over to Klaus, who stood grumpily off to the side, you asked, “it was the moon, right?”

His attention quickly fixed on you as he replied back, “oh yeah,” making a sudden explosion movement with his hands and horrible sound effects to go with it.

Allison’s blunt, “Klaus,” was enough to quickly shut him up.

“But I could panic again,” Vanya pleaded, her hazel eyes cutting in their pain. As stable and as comfortable as she appeared now, you could recognize that constant fear that must have lived in her. You knew too much about regret. You could see that in her eyes.

“And that’s where I come in. I can stop that. But we have to try first to see if it can work.” Reaching out a hesitant hand, you placed it on her knee still covered with the blanket and offered, “this power is inside you whether you like it or not. I don’t have perfect control over mine. I wish there were things I had done differently.” People you could have saved. People who you accidentally hurt. “You tried suppressing it, but that only made it explosive once it was actually let out. We can try to make it so you can live with it. Even if you don’t use it, at least you can control it.”

Vanya bit her lip and drooped her head, her hair falling in curtains around her face. You were curious about what her thoughts were. The furrow between her brows tensed and untensed in a way you knew her answer to the proposition was continually changing.

“Vanya, I’ve gone the self-destructive route to try and drown the voices out,” Klaus chirped up in the silence, his compassionate tone odd to your ears. From the corner, he strolled past you and rested a hand on his sister’s shoulder. “But I’ve never experienced quiet so fully until they put their field around me.” Soft eyes met yours as he added, “I never thought it was possible. It’s all I ever wanted.”

Holding his look for a moment, you weren’t quite sure what to say. You’d never really been… praised for your gift. Whenever you tried to use it to help someone else, you’d get called a freak or something worse. Any other time, it accidentally (well, purposefully sometimes) harmed someone. You could tell Klaus was sincere. Listening to the voices of the dead so much must be harrowing. You never really gave much thought about spirits and their presence, but for all you know, there could be multiple in the room with him at any moment. Always in pain. Always sharing that with him.

All you could manage to offer in response was a gentle smile before you tipped your head back to look at Vanya. “You don’t know me. I can’t ask you to trust me to do this. But why don’t you stay with me for a bit anyway? Klaus will be there, and you can come and go as you want, the others too. I’ll show you a couple of things I can do with the force field, and when you’re ready to test it out, we will. This is in your hands, Vanya. You’re in control.”

That’s all people like us could ever want. Control. Certainty—

Understanding.

“I already called sharing the bed with Trouble, just so you know,” Klaus said.

Although, it seemed your understanding clearly had its limits.

“If you did that, I would have to burn my bed so I didn’t get fleas. How about I get you a nice doggy bed instead?”

That got a grin out of Vanya, and when Allison added, “I think a flea repellent collar would be a wise investment as well,” her smile grew a little more comfortable.

“very funny, really, ” Klaus muttered.

“Okay. I’ll come with you,” Vanya finally conceded, reaching over to set her cup on the nightstand. “I’m— I don’t think I’m ready to try it out yet, but I guess if I do lose control again, having you there will be a good safety net?”

“We’ll all be your safety net this time.” Allison’s tone was earnest, remorse and care wrapped up on one. “I promise.” She sat on the bed and Vanya gently rested her head on her shoulder.

Whatever had gone on with this family, whatever tragedy had occurred in the past or with the current ordeal, seemed to be mending. You were kind of in awe staring at the scene. You had never known this kind of support since your father, and even then, you were so young that your memories of those feelings of comfort had faded. You lived alone. Didn’t really have any lasting friendships. You had the old couple across the hall who you played cards with at least once a week— though you were pretty sure they cheated every single time— but that wasn’t even close to what the Hargreeves had.

Family.

Standing back up, you heaved in a heavy breath. “I’ll leave you to pack,” you offered with your best shot at a cheery smile despite the sudden growing muck (jealousy, sadness, regret) festering through your veins. “Would you mind if I use the bathroom?”

Allison started to talk, offering you directions before Klaus interjected, “I’ll show you where it is.”

You were going to argue that you were perfectly capable of managing directions in the single apartment, but he placed his hand on your back and was quickly ushering you out of the door and down the rest of the hall.

“You really okay with doing this?” His questioned jarred you, eyes widening as you stepped away from his touch.

“Klaus, are you kidding?” You shot back, your exhaustion entrapping your exasperation in one low, breathy air. “I didn’t see you caring about that when I had originally said no multiple times.”

“You didn’t have that,” he stalled, struggling to come up with words as he haphazardly waved his hands in front of your face, “that look before. You looked sad when Vanya said she would come.”

Ah. You thought you’d shielded your face away from what you had felt. Strange that he would pick up on it. “It’s fine, Klaus. I want to help.”

Klaus didn’t look so sure, but he was also resigned enough to accept that answer. It was the truth anyway. It was a brief second of allowing yourself to feel bad. We all had those. A desire for something else someone has, for love, for care. But maybe this situation would help. Helping someone else, someone relatively similar to you, given the fucked up freak birth that messed up all their lives, would give you a sense of purpose.

“Can I ask you something, though?” You said, biting the inside of your cheek in a sort of nervous gesture.

“Yeah, sure,” Klaus prompted, curiosity lowing his eyebrows as he slightly tilted his head.

“Did you mean what you said in there? Did my blocking your power really help you that much?” You just needed to know. He looked so earnest, almost… desperate to experience it again. You felt seized by a sudden warmth. You just wanted to experience that again, whatever that was. To feel like you had done right.

“Trouble, you have no idea how much that helped. I meant what I said,” his tone turned almost affectionate, his eyes almost pleading with you to believe, “It really is all I ever wanted.”

And suddenly, the warmth that you hoped would have a growing familiarity in your body came back. However, there was something else there, nagging at the back of your consciousness, that you couldn’t quite grasp. It almost felt like concern or empathy, but there was something more. Despite Klaus’s kind words, there was an undercurrent of sadness to them. The man in front of you, who sometimes seemed so much younger and fragile than what he was, had been through hurt. You could recognize it. You had the moment you had met him and all the Hargreeves. But you were finally beginning to fully comprehend what his particular sadness was.

“It’s horrible to have been forced with a burden that could probably do so much good, but we just haven’t been able to see it.” You murmured, speaking your thoughts out loud without really meaning to. “All of you guys were forced to do good with your powers. Be the good guys, get the bad ones. That in itself was another burden just on top of it. You were kids. You never got to experience normal lives and have your powers adjusted to fit normalcy. I guess I’m lucky in that regard.”

You didn’t really know what you were saying. Just looking at Klaus’s face and the emotions you couldn’t read had you spewing words so freely that surely he must have thought you to be the erratic one now and not him.

“Sorry,” you laughed lightly, trying to break the tension. “I guess I’m just trying to say, if my power can do good by helping you guys out, then I’m happy. Whenever things get too noisy, just let me know and I’ll try and drown it out for you. Maybe just… living for a while, not stressing about your next plans, will help too.” You could try to provide some sort of normalcy in your shitty little apartment, with shitty cable, and an even shittier view.

“I’ll do that,” Klaus’s voice was so quiet you barely caught what he had said. “Thank you.”

Averting your gaze to the floor, you rubbed the tip of your nose with the back of your hand and stood in silence for a few moments.

“So uhm. Where’s that bathroom?”

“Oh, shit! Ah, yeah, just down the hall and to the right off the kitchen,” Klaus laughed, tension easing.

“What, not going to lead to it?” You teased.

“No, I think you can manage pretty well,” he smirked, before walking off into one of the adjacent rooms, probably to go pack.

What a shame. You’d probably have to burn all his clothes before they touched your carpets, now that you thought about it. You know, because of the fleas and all that.

#klaus hargreeves #klaus hargreeves fanfic #klaus hargreeves fanfiction #nullify #tua #tua fanfic #tua fanfiction #vanya hargreeves #the umbrella academy #the umbrella academy fanfic #the umbrella academy fanfiction #klaus hargreeves x reader #klaus hargreeves imagine #robert sheehan

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pangzi · 4 years

Text

Otome gay [Nielan] - Chapter 9 (END)

word count: 6096 other chapters: INTRO - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 [AO3]

Two weeks since he had heard from Xichen. Six days since Meng Yao had revealed himself to Xichen as the rat he is. Two days since Xichen had promised Huaisang to reach out. Mingjue was going crazy, all he wanted to do was call Xichen and make sure he was all right. He knew, though, that Xichen just wasn’t ready yet, and he had to respect that. Huaisang had told him what they had talked about, after art class, and it had both broken his heart and given him hope.

It had also made him more impatient, constantly waiting for his phone to light up. He hated the disappointment that washed over him every time he received a call or message and it wasn’t Xichen.

He had been working overtime today, nearly nine when he finally finished the last piece of paperwork for the week. Absolutely exhausted he made his way home, picking up a roujiamo at a little food stand somewhere.

As he walked into his street, he saw someone pacing in front of his building. “One last time, otherwise I go home”, he heard the person tell himself as he got closer. Mingjue abruptly stopping in his tracks as he recognised them. They pressed one of the doorbells and waited, turning around to leave after waiting for a moment.

“Xichen”, Mingjue called as he watched him walk away. It was the other man’s turn to abruptly stop walking now. He waited a moment before turning around, giving Mingjue a quick moment to comb his fingers through his own hair in the hope to soothe the mess it was a bit.

As Xichen turned around, Mingjue’s heart broke a bit at the way he looked. He had clearly lost a lot of weight, he looked exhausted and most of all cold. “Mingjue”, Xichen sighed, his eyes shining with tears of relief. “Could we talk?”

Mingjue took off the thin jacket he was wearing and threw it over Xichen’s shoulders. It wouldn’t help much against the unusual cold wind tonight, but the other man seemed to appreciate the gesture dearly, pulling the big jacket closer around him. “Lets go inside, it’s cold”, Mingjue answered, patting his pants’ pockets for his keys, only to foolishly remember he put them in his jacket in the morning. With a sheepish smile, he carefully took reached for his jacket and took them out of the pocket.

He let Xichen go inside first, who relaxed a bit more as he felt how warm the hallway of the building was. Mingjue led him to the elevator in silence. The entire time, Xichen stared at the floor, clutching the jacket around his shoulders tightly.

“Have you been waiting long?” Mingjue asked quietly, still startling Xichen who looked up at him with big eyes.

“For a few hours”, Xichen replied with a small voice, shivering once again. Mingjue was immediately overcome with worry, wanting to wrap his arms around him to warm him up, but this wasn’t the time yet. He should get Xichen inside and warmed up, hopefully he wouldn’t get sick from waiting for him in the cold.

He sighed softly. “You should’ve called, or messaged me. I would’ve come home immediately” Xichen just shook his head.

They arrived at the right floor, Mingjue leading them to his apartment once again in silence. The first thing he did, coming in was making sure Xichen could warm up, telling him to sit on the couch as he took his jacket back from him only to replace it with a soft blanket.

“Do you want something to drink? I have that tea you recommended a while ago” Xichen seemed to hesitate for a moment, clear on his face that he wanted to reject the offer, before nodding slowly. “Get comfortable, warm up, I’ll be right back”, Mingjue said, he needed Xichen to feel safe and welcome before they could really talk, scared that otherwise he might not say what he really wanted to say.

As he came back with the tea, Xichen was staring at the floor again, pulling the blanket around him as if it was some sort of shield. “Have you eaten?” He asked him as he put the tea down. “I could make you something?”

“I have, thank you”, Xichen whispered, still not moving his eyes away from the floor.

Mingjue sat down next to him on the couch, turning towards him, ready to talk. He didn’t say anything, though. Xichen clearly not completely ready yet, reaching out to his cup of tea and taking a careful sip.

A deep breath and then he finally spoke. “I’m so sorry, Mingjue” His voice cracked. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you, I should’ve heard you out, I- I had-” He started to tear up, frustrated that he couldn’t find the right words to say.

“Hey”, Mingjue shushed him, “It’s not your fault, I completely understand…” Carefully he reached out to take Xichen’s hand. “Even if you’d heard me out, there was nothing I could’ve said to make you believe me and Meng Yao knew that. I cannot blame you for believing a friend of many years over someone you barely know”

Xichen just stared at him, eyes still full of guilt, almost even frustrated at how understanding Mingjue was. “Still, I shouldn’t have doubted you, I should’ve followed my gut feeling. Deep inside I knew you weren’t that kind of person and I still believed Meng Yao”

With a warm smile, Mingjue wiped away one of Xichen’s tears, the sight of it alone already made him want to cry too. “He wasn’t even my friend and he almost convinced me I should give up, that you’d never be interested in me. He was very convincing, I can’t imagine how convincing he must’ve sounded if his words had always been proven correct” He shuffled a bit closer to Xichen. “And I have to say, he was right about one thing, I am not the best when it comes to this whole dating thing”

“Shut”, Xichen mumbled, “had Meng Yao not gotten it in my head that you were yet another player, I wouldn’t have doubted you for a second” He squeezed Mingjue’s hand softly.

“Let me make it clear, once and for all then”, Mingjue said, looking Xichen straight in the eye, “I like you, Lan Xichen, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since the day I met you. I have never felt about anyone the way I do about you and I don’t think I ever will”

“I feel the exact same”, Xichen sniffled.

Mingjue wiped another tear before coming a bit closer once again. “I know it’ll probably be hard for you to trust someone again”, he whispered, “but would you let me take you on another, better first date? We can take it as slow as you need, I’ll prove to you that you can trust me, that I’ll treat you right.” He let go of his hand to wrap it around Xichen’s shoulders. “I won’t give up on you”

Xichen allowed himself to lean into Mingjue, a soft sob escaping from his throat. Mingjue finally let his own tears go as well, as he felt Xichen nod against his shoulder. “I’d like that”, Xichen mumbled.

Finally, Mingjue could wrap both his arms around Xichen as he had wanted to for so long, pulling him close to his chest. Both of them letting out a deep breath, as if a heavy weight fell from both their shoulders at the same time. The exhaustion he had felt leaving work, washing over him again as he cried. He relaxed into the couch, pulling Xichen’s legs over his, readjusting the blanket to cover them both.

“Is this okay?”, he asked, as Xichen shuffled around a bit to find the most comfortable position, eventually settling for using Mingjue’s chest as his pillow.

“Hm”, he answered, “your heart is beating so fast”

Mingjue laughed at that. “I think that has something to do with you” He combed his fingers through Xichen’s hair before pressing a kiss to his head. “I can’t even think of you without my heart beating out of control” He felt Xichen smile against his chest, which made his heartbeat speed up a little bit more. He wished this moment would never end.

“Do you want to watch something?” He asked, reaching for the tv remote. Unsure whether or not Xichen found the silence as comfortable as he did.

“Hm, okay”, Xichen murmured, blinking slowly, before moving around a bit so he could see the television. Mingjue zapped through the tv-channels for a bit, eventually just going for some movie that was only just starting, before completely relaxing into the couch again, pulling the man leaning on him a bit closer once more.

It was only then, Mingjue realised Xichen must be exhausted, as it was passed his usual bedtime already. He was about to ask him if he wanted Mingjue to take him home, but Xichen seemed to have already drifted off, peacefully sleeping against Mingjue.

Mingjue woke up with Xichen still tightly attached to him, his back and neck ached but it was definitely worth it. Carefully he combed through Xichen’s hair, just enjoying having the other man close to him, until… he heard an annoying buzzing sound. That’s why he woke up! It wasn’t coming from the tv, sound too low to make a sound that annoying. There it was again… It was the doorbell! He decided to ignore it for now, nobody was supposed to be coming over nor had he ordered anything, so whoever it was could wait. It rang a few more times, obnoxiously long for the last two. Mingjue was surprised Xichen hadn’t woken up from it, but he was also glad, he had looked like he needed to catch up on a lot of sleep. Mingjue was almost dozing off himself again when someone started knocking on the door loudly. With an annoyed huff he untangled himself from Xichen carefully, hoping he wouldn’t wake up from whoever was beating up his front door.

“Dage, finally! I’ve been trying to get in forever!” Huaisang complained loudly as Mingjue opened the door.

“Not so loud”, Mingjue shushed him, “You have a key, why are you being so noisy?”

Huaisang smiled innocently. “Forgot it, I was too hurried” He pushed his brother aside and made his way inside, kicking off his shoes.

“Did you forget something at home?” Mingjue asked, steering his brother towards the kitchen.

“No, I came to bring you an update of our game!” Huaisang exclaimed, turning around to make himself a drink. The volume of his voice made Mingjue flinch. His morning mood combined with not wanting to wake Xichen making him quite easily annoyed at the moment.

Suddenly someone crawled underneath Mingjue’s arm and attached himself to his side sleepily. “What game?” Xichen asked with a yawn, clearly still half asleep. Mingjue was quite surprised by his shameless display of affection in front of Huaisang, but he decided to blame it on his current state of awakeness. He also couldn’t help but not mind it, he was happy to have Xichen close again, and judging from the way the other man was purring, he was quite content as well.

“The otome game of course”, Huaisang replied, before turning around in shock. “Xichen!” he exclaimed. “Xichen is here!”

“I know”, Mingjue replied.

Huaisang clapped his hands in excitement. “Did he sleep over? Wait, no I don’t need to know what you two did to make up! I’m so happy for you two, now we can finally go on double dates, I’m so excited!” Mingjue rolled his eyes at his brother’s rambling, but it also warmed his heart to see how happy his brother was for him. “You two are going to make each other so happy! Xichen-ge, if dage is as good as a boyfriend as he is a brother, I have no doubt you have won the jackpot!” That was it for Mingjue, if he didn’t hug his brother now he would cry, so he signaled for Huaisang to come to him and pulled him tightly to his side for a moment.

“The otome game you put me in?” Xichen murmured, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes cutely. Mingjue immediately felt his face heat up, damn Huaisang!

Huaisang nodded, going back to making himself some tea. “I brought an update for dage”, he said, “and I hoped dage would make me some breakfast in return”

Mingjue sighed, untangling himself from Xichen to start making breakfast, but the other seemed reluctant to let go. “Let me make you breakfast”, Mingjue hummed, pressing a kiss to his forehead, trying to ignore the entire otome game topic. With an unhappy huff, Xichen let go of him, sitting down at the kitchen island. “Huaisang, make Xichen some tea too”

“Mingjue has played it?” Xichen then asked Huaisang.

“Yes, he hasn’t told you?” Huaisang gave Mingjue a judgemental look. “He was quite addicted to it, to be honest.” Xichen giggled softly at that. “He didn’t seem to like that we made you undateable in the game, he tried for ages!”

Pushing his brother aside with a huff, Mingjue tried to stop his brother from embarrassing him. “I’m still mad at you for making me waste my time like that for so long”, he grumbled which made the other two laugh. "And why exactly did you make his character undateable?"

Serving Xichen his tea, Huaisang sat down next to him at the kitchen island with a shrug. "Wangji gave us the idea, he said we could put Xichen in, but that he was probably too good for anyone who would play the game. Wuxian and I agreed and decided to not give him a positive ending."

Xichen laughed. "Really? Quite ironic then that I eventually ended up dating one of the first players of the game" Mingjue grumbled softly, preparing breakfast quietly. “He’s quite grumpy in the morning, isn’t he?”

“Just until he’s had his first cup of coffee of the day”, Huaisang giggled, “Although I’m sure you might come up with different methods to put a smile on his face in the mornings” Mingjue could almost hear his brother wiggling his eyebrow.

“Nie Huaisang”, he hissed, which only seemed to entertain the other two even more. He couldn’t believe Xichen was apparently as much as a gremlin his little brother was.

“I think I could come up with something” Xichen joked. “Although, I think grumpy Mingjue is absolutely adorable” And with that, two arms wrapped around Mingjue’s waist, who contently hummed, squeezing one of the arms softly. He could get used to this. “Do you need help with anything?” Xichen murmured against his back, Mingjue shook his head. He prepared the entire breakfast with Xichen attached to him, not that he minded, although it did slow things down a bit.

They ate breakfast in silence, after Huaisang was done boasting about how great a cook his brother was, of course. The rest of Mingjue’s morning mood melting away with every sip of coffee he drank.

“Dage, let me install the update!” Huaisang said after stuffing the last bite of his breakfast in his mouth. “We made some improvements you’ll really like”

“Computer is on the coffee table”, Mingjue said, leaning back in his chair lazily. Huaisang disappeared to the other room.

Xichen reached out to caress the back of Mingjue’s neck, who happily leaned into him. “Why didn’t you tell me you were playing the game?” Xichen asked him quietly.

“Embarrassed”, Mingjue replied, melting more and more into the touch with every caress, “was scared you’d think it was weird”

His fingers traveled over his shoulder to his face, softly caressing his cheek before sliding underneath his chin, forcing Mingjue to look at him as he leans closer. “Was I your favourite character?”

The way Xichen’s thumb was stroking his chin now was driving Mingjue crazy, he was so close, but not allowed to go closer. “Of course”, he replied, completely entranced by the way Xichen was looking at him. “From the moment Huaisang introduced me to your character”

“Hm. Good”, Xichen said, pecking him on the lips quickly before sitting back again with a grin, leaving Mingjue wanting more.

Just when he was move forward and ask for what he wanted, Huaisang came back into the kitchen. “All ready to play! Promise to play Xichen’s route first, okay?”, he exclaimed, “I should go, though, promised A-Cheng a date this afternoon!” Typical Huaisang, coming for a meal and then leaving before they’d cleaned up, not that Mingjue really minded that much as cleaning wasn’t his younger brother’s strong suit. Xichen, however, seemed to be quite the perfectionist when it came to cleaning the dishes, demanding to be the one who washed them and inspecting everything thoroughly before giving it to Mingjue to be dried. It took longer than when Mingjue washed them himself, but he didn’t mind, as it meant spending more time together.

When everything was cleaned, he had kind of expected Xichen to want to go home, he still looked drop-dead tired, but instead he just grabbed Mingjue’s hand and pulled him back to the living room, dropping down on the couch.

“I want to play the game with you”, he said, pulling Mingjue to sit down next to him.

With a soft sigh, Mingjue sat down. Yet another pair of puppy dog eyes he won’t ever be able to say no to, not that he really minded. Taking his laptop onto his lap, he wrapped an arm around Xichen’s shoulders, who just hummed as he cuddled closer.

Mingjue chose to start a new game, filling in his name as he always did. “Whose route should we play?”

Xichen gasped, slightly offended at the question. “Mine, of course”, he said with a frown, “I’m not going to watch you date someone else!”

Heart filling with endearment, Mingjue pressed a kiss to Xichen’s forehead, before looking for his character in the game. Playing together was fun, squabbling about what to reply or what to do, Xichen often trying to out compliment a character whenever they tried to flirt with Mingjue. The only thing Mingjue didn’t like was the way Xichen flinched whenever Meng Yao’s character appeared, which was quite often in the route they were playing. Mingjue making a mental note to force Huaisang to change that. As they neared the end of Xichen’s route, Mingjue was ready to get the typical friendzoning message. He wasn’t prepared at all to suddenly be asked out by the character on screen. Xichen himself also sitting up in confusion for a moment.

“I thought I was undateable in the game?”

Mingjue shrugged. “I guess it’s the update?”

They were shown a short progression of their in-game date in some fancy restaurant, Xichen’s character smiling adorably the entire time. As the screen went black, Mingjue expected the credits to roll up as for any other route but instead Xichen and Mingjue lived happily ever after appeared on screen, with below it in a barely readable font Don’t give up, dage. You’re the only one worthy. Mingjue felt a pang in his chest, tears already welling up in his eyes. Part of him was definitely just relieved he was finally done with this damn game, but he was just mostly filled with so much love towards his little brother.

Xichen sat up, smiling kindly at the sight of Mingjue’s emotional expression. “It’s true”, he whispered, “You’re the only one I want” The soft kiss he pressed to Mingjue’s cheek after was enough to really trigger the waterworks.

Putting his laptop to the side, he wrapped Xichen in his arms tightly. “You have no idea how happy I am to have you with me. I cannot wait to take you on another date, I cannot wait to spend more time with you”

Cupping his cheek tenderly, Xichen pressed a kiss to Mingjue’s lips. “Me too, Mingjue”

With a heavy heart they said goodbye to each other later that day, but not before finding the soonest possible date they could see each other again. Xichen insisting to take Mingjue to the best restaurant in town, as it was his turn to take Mingjue out apparently. Who was Mingjue to reject? As long as he got to spend time with Xichen he was happy.

He got to see Xichen a lot earlier, though. The next day already getting several whiny voice messages from him, begging Mingjue to come over. As expected, he couldn’t say no to that tone of voice. Getting in his car immediately after work to drive over there.

Xichen opened his door in some soft blue, silk pyjamas, a blanket thrown over his shoulders and his hair slightly messy. He looked pale and still exhausted.

“You’re sick”, Mingjue deducted, he shouldn’t be surprised, the state he had been in waiting outside his apartment in the cold for a few hours, there was only a small chance he wouldn’t get sick. Xichen whined in response. “Let me take you to the hospital, you should see a doctor”

The sick man shook his head, leading Mingjue towards the living room. “You take care of me”, he pouted, “I’ll be fine without a doctor, is just a cold”

Mingjue stopped him, pressing his hand to Xichen’s forehead to take his temperature. “You have a fever, Xichen”, he said, only to be ignored. He knew he couldn’t force Xichen to see a doctor, but he could take care of him. So, he followed Xichen to the living room, where he tucked him in with the blanket. Then, he searched for the kitchen, getting some hot water. “Here, drink some hot water. Have you eaten yet?” Xichen shook his head. “Then let me cook you dinner.”

Quickly he threw a simple meal together, which the other happily ate. Afterwards, Mingjue made Xichen get in bed, once again tucking him in tightly with his tiger plushie, before going back to clean up the kitchen, ignoring the other’s pleas for cuddles. Not that he didn’t want to cuddle with him, he just knew that if he didn’t clean up now he probably wouldn’t any time soon. When everything was cleaned up and put away, he happily sat in the bed next to Xichen, who put his head in his lap with a happy purr that only got louder when Mingjue started playing with his hair.

Both of them content just staying like that for a while. Mingjue was almost sure Xichen had fallen asleep until he rolled over on his back, reaching out to Mingjue’s face, softly stroking his cheek, his moustache and booping his nose softly.

“You’re so handsome”, he murmured sleepily. “The moment I saw your thighs…” He sighed deeply, closing his eyes. “I mean eyes… I fell for you so hard” With his eyes still closed he reached for Mingjue’s hand, pressing it against his cheek and nuzzling his face against it. “And then I got to know you, and figured out you have great tits… I mean wits too.” Another deep but content sigh.

Mingjue pinched his cheek softly. “I think you should rest, Xichen”

“Hm, I might have a fever.” Xichen moved away from Mingjue’s lap, rolling on his side with his back to Mingjue. “Hold me” Once wrapped tightly against a warm chest, Xichen fell asleep easily.

Mingjue could get used to waking up here, everything smelled like Xichen and he had never felt sheets this soft. It would’ve been better had Xichen still been next to him, though. He had woken up at the sound of him closing the door to the ensuite.

Stretching out, rubbing the sleep from his eyes he checked the time. 8AM, a nice time to wake up, happy he had this mornings off so he didn’t have to hurry to get to work. Xichen came back to bed soon after, he had the worst bedhead Mingjue had ever seen and it was probably also the most endearing thing he had ever seen. He was absolutely whipped for this man.

“How are you feeling?” He asked as Xichen crawled underneath the blankets again, pulling his tiger plushie tightly against his chest.

“A bit better, my head still hurts but I think the fever is gone”

Mingjue smiled, pressing his hand against Xichen’s forehead again. He was indeed not burning up anymore like yesterday. “Good, it got pretty bad yesterday”, he laughed.

Hiding his face in his pillow, Xichen groaned. “Did I say anything stupid?”

“Only that I have nice thighs and tits”, Mingjue teased, “also something about my eyes and wit but that didn’t sound as sincere”

Xichen laughed into the pillow. “That’s just the truth, though, not that I’d ever expected to say that out loud though. At least not this early on…”

“I’ll say it this early on too, then”, Mingjue said, which made Xichen peak up from his pillow in surprise. “You have great tits and thighs too, and a great ass for that matter” The confession made Xichen laugh, which made Mingjue’s heart swell. He never wanted to leave this moment. “Now we’re even” Xichen kept giggling for a while, Mingjue just staring at him, completely entranced by the beauty in front of him.

“Thank you”, Xichen giggled, “I appreciate both the gesture and the compliments”

Mingjue nodded dutifully in reply before getting up. “I’m going to make you breakfast, rest some more” Xichen whined in complaint, before bunching up all the sheets in his arms and snuggling into them.

After an extensive breakfast in bed, it was time for Mingjue to head home already if he wanted to change before work and still be on time. Once again he left with a heavy heart.

He called Xichen as soon as he stepped out of the gym at the end of the day, asking whether he wanted him to come over again. Mingjue had promised to take care of him while he was sick, and he wasn’t completely better yet.

“Uncle is coming over tonight”, Xichen replied. Mingjue was slightly disappointed at the reply, but he also understood that they weren’t at that point yet. “See you Friday?”

“See you Friday”, he replied, trying his best not to sound too sulky. “Can’t wait to see you again”

Friday couldn’t come fast enough. Mingjue really felt like some teen in love for the first time again. They spent even more time than before talking to each other, Xichen falling asleep on the phone with him every night. With everything he learned about him, he fell for him harder and harder, probably in so deep already that there was absolutely no way of ever getting out again. Not that he’d ever want to.

The evening of the date, Xichen seemed just as excited. Texting Mingjue about it all through the day, letting him know when he left and arriving exactly on time. Part of Mingjue had expected Xichen’s favourite restaurant to be something super fancy, instead he was led to a small restaurant. The owner seemed familiar with Xichen, immediately starting a conversation with him.

“Xichen! It’s been a while, how are you? How is Wangji?” She exclaimed, grabbing Xichen’s arm excitedly to lead him to a table.

“It has indeed been a while, auntie”, Xichen replied politely, “Wangji and I are doing wonderful, how are you? How are the grandkids?”

She ushered both of them to sit down, smiling so happily at the both of them. “We’re all doing well, Xiaodi is taking his university entrance exam soon, so exciting! Who is the handsome man you brought with you today? Your boyfriend?”

Xichen’s entire face turned red at that, but he nodded shyly anyway, which almost made Mingjue fall from his chair. “Wish him the best of luck, auntie, it’s a stressful time”, Xichen said, “This is Mingjue! Mingjue, this is auntie Sun, the owner of this fine establishment.”

“I will!” She replied happily. “It’s so nice to meet you, Mingjue!” She held her hand out for Mingjue to shake awkwardly. “I will leave you two alone then, you will be ordering the regular I assume?” With a nod from Xichen, who was still fighting off his blush, she disappeared to the kitchen.

“So, boyfriend, huh?” Mingjue murmured teasingly, only worsening Xichen’s blush.

“Are you okay with me calling you my boyfriend”, Xichen asked quietly, nervously playing with the napkin in front of him “She wouldn’t have believed me otherwise, anyway”

Mingjue put his hand over Xichen’s nervous ones. “I’m one hundred percent okay with that”, he replied, which made the other’s entire face light up. “So how does my boyfriend know the owners?”

Xichen’s blush renewed. “Wangji and I used to come here every other week, it’s a bit far from university, though so…” So they started coming here less. Mingjue understood that, it was the same with one of the restaurants he and Huaisang visited regularly, going there alone just wasn’t the same. “I’m glad I could take you here, the food is absolutely delicious!” As if on cue, the table started getting filled with food, every dish looking and smelling more delicious than the previous one, all of it as delicious as promised.

Somewhere through the dinner, in the middle of Mingjue telling Xichen about the time Huaisang ate a crayon and then cried about losing his favourite crayon, Xichen’s cell phone started buzzing and wouldn’t stop. He checked the caller ID once, before ending the call as soon as it started buzzing every time.

“You can take that if you want, it seems urgent”, Mingjue said after the third time.

But Xichen shook his head. “It’s not.” The way Mingjue tilted his head in confusion seemed to amuse him for a moment, before his face fell a bit with a deep sigh. “It’s Meng Yao, he’s been calling me a lot lately… He just won’t get it, I’ve tried everything but he just keeps finding a way to contact me”

“Hire Huaisang to be your bodyguard, I’m sure he’ll stay away then”, Mingjue joked, trying to lighten the mood a bit. It seemed to work, as Xichen chuckled softly, after which he turned his phone off.

After dinner they took a walk through a nearby park. Holding hands with Xichen in a public park, illuminated by the moonlight, things couldn’t be more perfect. Then they passed a little band, playing a slow song, surrounded by elderly couples slow dancing. It made everything just that more cheesy, but Mingjue couldn’t help asking Xichen for a dance, pulling him tightly against his chest just like last time. They danced for a few songs, foreheads pressed together, stealing a kiss from the other whenever the emotions ran a bit too high, which was quite often. Mingjue had never felt happier, every moment with Xichen was a moment he wished would never end.

They walked all through the park, until it was way past Xichen’s bedtime and he was yawning every other minute, yet he kept claiming he wasn’t tired. Mingjue got it though, he, too, did not want this evening to end.

“Let me take you home”, Mingjue whispered as Xichen yawned again.

“But that means we have to say goodbye”, Xichen pouted, wrapping his arms around Mingjue tightly. “Also I drove us here, I should take you home”

Softly rubbing his back, Mingjue pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I don’t want to say goodbye either, and you shouldn’t drive when you’re this tired.”

“Let's go back to your place then”, Xichen murmured.

Mingjue gasped dramatically. “You want to sleep over on our second first date”, he said absolutely scandalized, which made both of them laugh. He received a soft poke in the chest for his lame reaction.

Xichen refused to let go of his hand, even as they drove home, even as he drifted off to sleep in the car seat. After parking the car, Mingjue was conflicted about whether or not to wake up Xichen as he slowly freed his hand from the tight grip it was in.

The loss of touch made Xichen clearly unhappy, as he slowly opened his eyes with a frown and soft grumble. “Are we here yet?”

“Hm”, Mingjue replied, getting out of the car, “Let’s get you to bed”

Xichen nodded with a tired sigh before getting out of the car as well. Clinging to Mingjue the entire way up to the apartment. He told Xichen to choose whatever he wanted to sleep in from his closet before disappearing into the bathroom, putting a fresh toothbrush out for Xichen to use.

He put on a fresh, simple with t-shirt himself to sleep in, feeling a bit weird to sleep in only his underwear as he usually did. Xichen had chosen one of his thin but soft sweaters, which somehow looked huge on him even though Xichen was almost as tall as him, only slightly less muscular. Mingjue was absolutely endeared and wanted to see him in more of his clothing.

As they got in bed, Xichen immediately latched himself to Mingjue’s side, pressing sleepy kisses to his jaw, moving up to his lips as he used his hand to slowly turn his face. They shared a lazy kiss for a while, until Xichen’s hands went on an adventure again, sliding down Mingjue’s chest as they’d done last time, pressing their lips together a bit needier. He slipped his tongue past Mingjue’s lips at the same time as his hands moved underneath his shirt, pushing it up.

Mingjue allowed his hands to move under Xichen’s top as well, feeling all over his muscular back, groaning softly as he felt teeth biting his bottom lip softly. Xichen pushed himself up, leaning over his boyfriend, hands pushing the shirt a bit more urgently. “Off”, he grumbled, sitting on his knees.

“Xichen”, Mingjue said trying to make it sound like a warning, even though it wasn’t. He’d be all for this if Xichen wasn’t so tired.

“Off”, Xichen demanded with a pout, before claiming another kiss, hands running over the bare skin, leaving goosebumps wherever they went. Mingjue pushed Xichen back, only to pull his shirt off and throw it to the side, before pulling him back for another kiss. They both smiled into the kiss, Xichen clearly proud that he succeeded in getting Mingjue to bare his chest.

With one last peck on the lips, Xichen allowed himself another adventure down Mingjue’s body. Kissing down his neck, nipping softly every now and then when he felt like he wasn’t getting enough of a reaction from Mingjue, who couldn’t help but lay there and let Xichen punch soft pants and groans out of him with every kiss and nip. He felt himself get hard as Xichen kissed down his chest, biting his pecs and pressing a kiss to each one of his abs lovingly.

“Xichen”, Mingjue warned again, although it sounded more as a moan. “You’re tired” He wanted everything Xichen had to give him, but he didn’t want Xichen to fall asleep halfway through their first time or something.

Xichen giggled softly against this stomach, kissing up softly again. “Sorry”, he murmured against Mingjue’s cheek as he draped himself all over him, “Just wanted to get your shirt off, got a bit carried away”

Mingjue turned his face to the side, pressing it against Xichen’s, who happily rubbed their faces together with a soft giggle as he felt the moustache rub his cheek.

“Never get rid of this”, he said, stroking his fingers over Mingjue’s moustache. “I love how it feels, looks so handsome too”

Anything for you, Mingjue thought, pressing a kiss to his face again as he pulled the blankets over them with a hum.

“Was this date better than the one in the otome game?” Xichen asked.

Mingjue couldn’t help but laugh softly at that question. “Of course it was, Xichen”, he replied, “Nothing can beat the real you”

“Good”, Xichen murmured, already drifting off to sleep again, face pressed in the crook if Mingjue’s neck.

Pulling him tighter, Mingjue couldn’t help but smile. He’d been smiling so much today his cheeks hurt. He could definitely get used to this. He felt happy and so incredibly happy having won Xichen’s heart not only in game but also in real life. And really, no game, no movie, not even his own imagination could beat the feeling of having Xichen by his side.

#otome gay #nielan #nie mingjue #lan xichen #mirf writes #the untamed #cql #mo dao zu shi #THE END #AAAAA #I CAN'T BELIEVE I FINISHED THE STORY #I ONCE AGAIN want to thank nori for being the best #for giving me so many amazing ideas for this #for always supporting me with everything #and always being excited to read what i've written #love u nori

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kittinoir · 4 years

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Marinette Dupain-Cheng blinked slowly as she woke to the chirping of birds on her balcony. She yawned, stretching as she rolled onto her side. She let her eyes drift closed again as she chased the remnants of a dream, but the more she pursued them, the harder they seemed to recall.

Mentally shrugging, Marinette let it fade.

“I can’t remember the last time I slept so well,” she murmured. Outside, the birds fell silent. A flutter of anticipation danced through her chest, but then, like her dream, it was gone, slipping through her fingers before she’d even really realized she’d been waiting for a response.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Marinette reached for her phone. It lit up as she tilted the screen. Three notifications were displayed just below the time. 6:47 am. She sat up as she read the time, then double checked it was am and not pm. Her alarm wasn’t due to go off for almost another 45 minutes. She frowned. Mornings were usually spent rushing, but she just…didn’t feel tired.

A small smile lit her features as she turned her attention to the notifications.

Reminder: Adrien photoshoot this afternoon at 2 pm

Reminder: Four months to Adrien’s birthday

Reminder: Let the kwamis out to play

Marinette frowned as she read the last notification, and read it again.

“…Kwa…mi…?” The word felt unfamiliar on her tongue. She selected the notification and opened it up. It was set every day for seven pm, right after dinner, but had no additional notes. She didn’t remember setting it. Maybe it was an inside joke between her and Alya, slang for taking a break and remembering to have a little fun. Maybe it was a reminder that constantly got buried under the Adrien reminders. She blushed as she read it again. It would hardly be the first time it happened.

Her thumb hovered over the delete button, but she hesitated. Let the kwamis out to play. Was being the class representative really so stressful she needed a constant reminder to relax?

Marinette saved the notification and locked the phone. Maybe it was.

She stretched one more time, and then slipped down the ladder to her room. She grinned to herself as she got out fresh towels and headed to the shower, letting day dreams of stumbling into Adrien run through her mind as she got ready to face the day.

***

Marinette had been surprised when she had woken early, but it was hard not to be a little stung when Alya did a double, then triple take as she arrived fifteen minutes before the first bell. Was it really so hard to believe she could be on time? She only lived across the street.

Of course, her teachers had been making that point for years.

“I must still be asleep,” Alya said with a grin, “Because I know I must be dreaming this.”

“Very funny,” Marinette said with a small giggle. “I dunno, I just woke up. Waiting for Nino?”

Alya blushed, averting her eyes. “Lila, actually. She agreed to do another interview for the Ladyblog.”

Frustration, confusion, anger, sorrow, loneliness. They all swirled through Marinette, coalescing into a storm that threatened to overwhelm her. She knew Lila lied, that she had threatened her, but this felt so much worse. She’d never believed Lila could do it, but today the possibility felt all too real, the outrage seemingly without just cause. After all, Marinette had started it…hadn’t she?

Marinette reached out blindly for the one thing she could control, could get an answer for. “The…Ladyblog…?”

“I know you don’t like her, Marinette, but I really hoped you’d be supportive,” Alya said, flicking the charm on her phone nervously. “News outlets are just starting to take me seriously and you know Nadja offered me that internship this summer. Lila’s really helped me out.”

The Ladyblog. Alya’s blog about… Marinette frowned, scouring her brain, but she couldn’t remember. The name rang a bell, but she was coming up empty otherwise.

“Marinette, please,” Alya begged, misinterpreting her frown. “Don’t make me choose.”

“I would never, Alya,” Marinette said, softening as the storm of conflicting emotions finally settled. “I just…Lila’s not what she seems. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Alya finally cracked a small smile. “You had the same reaction to Kagami at first, you know. Maybe you should give Lila a second chance. Stay for the interview.”

Marinette forced a small smile of her own. “Sorry, Al. Remember to double check your sources.”

Alya rolled her eyes but the smile stayed as Marinette slipped away. Her emotions swirled again, but she was ready for them and had an iron grasp on them this time. She shoved them down as she headed for the school and pulled out her phone. She opened the browser and was only a little surprised to find the blog locked in as her home page. A crease appeared between her brows. Why wouldn’t she remember something like…

The thought drifted away, incomplete as the page finished loading. Marinette could feel her fingers tingling as as stared at the picture on the front page of the blog. Alya had pinned it to the top of the page, but the date was several months old. The image depicted a young girl in a red and black suit, her arm stretched out as she seemed to fly across the night sky, the Eiffel Tower in the background.

Ladybug to the rescue!

Marinette became aware of her heart pounding painfully as she read the caption. Her knuckles had gone white around her phone. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t -

“Hey, Marinette!”

Marinette felt the phone slip through her fingers and clatter against the floor as she whipped around. “A-Adrien.”

Adrien frowned, those impossibly green eyes searching her face as he stooped and collected her phone, handing it back to her. “Are you…ok?”

“Uh, yeah,” Marinette said, taking the phone back. “I was just…reading the latest article on the Ladyblog. It kind of freaked me out?” Was that right? Should it freak her out? She held her breath as she watched for Adrien’s reaction.

He cracked her favourite smile, one she could tell was real and not because some photographer had demanded it. Marinette felt herself melting.

“I get it,” he said, reaching out to give her arm a squeeze. “Hawk Moth has been getting worse, and I know Ladybug and Chat Noir had a close call the other night, but they saved the day. They always do.”

Marinette thought she saw something else flash across his face, something like panic or pain, but it was gone before she could be sure. “Lucky for us,” she said, scrambling again for the right words. “It’s just…hard not to worry sometimes.”

“Hey.” The hand on her arm slid up to her shoulder. Marinette tried not to shiver at the warmth she could feel through her jacket. “They would never let anything happen to you, Marinette.”

“You’re right,” Marinette said, forcing a smile. “I’m worrying about nothing. Um. Are you excited about the photoshoot this afternoon?”

Adrien bit his lip as he dropped his hand. Marinette tried not to let her disappointment show as he rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously and leaned in as though they were co-conspiritors. “Would I be letting you down if I said no?”

“Letting me down?”

“I know you’re a fan,” he elaborated, “But…I don’t know, I guess I’d rather be here with you guys. Besides, between you and me, this latest collection isn’t the most exciting.”

“I could go with you,” Marinette blurted. She almost slapped a hand over her mouth, but she decided doing that would be the only thing worse than what she’d already said. “If that would make it better.”

“I don’t want you to miss class for me,” Adrien said. The disappointment in her voice almost broke her heart. “I’ll be fine.”

“I have study hall last period,” Marinette said, “So I wouldn’t really be missing anything, but if you’d rather I didn’t - ”

“No!” Adrien interrupted. “I’d love to have you there, Marinette. Are you…really sure? I won’t lie to you, it’s pretty boring.”

“An inside perspective on the industry would be amazing,” Marinette said, nearly bouncing. “I would just you - IT! I would just love it.”

Adrien laughed, and Marinette wished she could have bottled the sound. “I’ll meet you out here at 2 pm then?”

“2 pm,” Marinette echoed, “Ok.”

“See you in class,” Adrien said with a wave. Marinette watched him disappear down the hall, her heart pounding. Had she been too pushy? Did she sound like a pyscho stalker? Did he think she liked him? Like LIKE liked him? She’d practically invited herself to his shoot; was her cover totally blown?

Marinette blinked, surprised by the familiarity of the feeling and the anxiety it brought with it. Sure, she wanted to tell Adrien on her own terms, when she finally felt it was the right time, but…why did her secret feel like life or death?

Taking a deep breath, Marinette fired off a quick text to Alya to update her on her success. She bit back a smile as she typed, the reality of the afternoon settling in. Did it count as a date if he was working?

Marinette turned to face the school, ready to face the day. It was already a win; nothing else mattered. She snapped open her purse and dropped her phone inside, but paused when she heard it crunch. She frowned, pulling the purse up to her face to peer inside.

A lone macaron sat in the bottom of the bag, broken into two pieces beneath her phone. Marinette frowned as she pulled out the pieces and examined them. The macaron was from her family’s bakery, but it wasn’t wrapped or contained in anything. One of the outer edges had begun to crumble, and Marinette felt her skin crawl, wondering how long it had been in there. She shivered once and tossed the stale dessert in a near by garbage bin, promising to double check her purse more often before bugs or mice found their way to the forgotten food.

#Echoes of You #writing #wip

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