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angel-riki · 3 years

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Dazed & Dreaming {Ch. 2}

summary: Y/N's life was always quite normal, some may even consider it boring. However, Y/N enjoyed her simple life and the little pleasures it brought. Unfortunately, that all changed the day she found out her best friend's biggest secret. Her discovery leads her down a rabbit hole of a new and confusing world she never knew existed. She must now navigate this new life filled with love, fear, and the supernatural. What awaits her down this path?

pairing: enhypen x reader (vampire au)

warnings: light swearing

word count: 1,569

chapters: [Ch.1] [Ch.3] [Ch.4]

~~~~~~~~~~

You bit into your second piece of toast of the morning as your phone buzzed in your pocket. After rummaging around for a few seconds, you retrieved your phone. You smiled at the notification, it was from Jake.

Jake: "We're here :)"

You quickly typed out and sent your reply as you hurried to finish the rest of your breakfast,

Y/N: "Ok, omw!"

One huge bite of toast and a painful swallow later, you were gathering your things and scurrying out the front door. You half-jogged down your driveway until you reached the car, greeting the boys like usual,

"Good morning," you said cheerfully as you climbed into the back seat.

Heeseung had been giving you rides every morning now for a couple of weeks, it had become your daily routine. And even though you insisted that you could walk, the two boys wouldn't take no for an answer. You eventually accepted their generosity, however you still felt a bit guilty. Fortunately, this new routine had allowed you and Heeseung to grow much closer over the past weeks. Now, you considered him a friend instead of a mere acquaintance. This was a relief as you had gotten much more comfortable around him. Although, Heeseung was just good at making everybody feel comfortable. He was just so charming and kind. This made it a lot easier for you to manage your nerves, but a lot harder for you to keep your crush on him from growing.

*****

The bell rang, signaling that it was time for lunch. Relief washed over all of the students' faces as they were freed from a horrendously boring lecture. You shared that relief as you packed up your stuff and strolled out of the classroom. You made a quick pit stop at your locker before heading down to the cafeteria.

After grabbing your food, you walked into the bustling dining space. Gosh it's so crowded, where are they? You scanned the tables until you noticed someone waving at you rather enthusiastically. Shocker, it was Jake. Heeseung was beside him, smiling and waving at you as well. You waved back before heading over to where they were sat. You set your food on the table and pulled out the chair in front of you. As you sat down, you noticed that Heeseung didn't have any food. How strange, you thought.

"Heeseung, where's your lunch?" You asked, knowing there had not been enough time for him to have already finished eating.

"Oh, I'm just not hungry today is all," he said awkwardly.

"Are you sure? You can have some of mine if you'd like," You offered.

"That's okay, thank you though," he smiled.

Something was odd about his demeanor after you brought it up, but you couldn't put your finger on it. You decided to stop interrogating him as you turned to Jake,

"How was that math test you had earlier?" You asked.

"Good! Aaand I may or may not have written down that one formula I can never remember on the inside of my hand..." he replied.

"Smart move," you giggled.

"I know," he said, grinning proudly.

You rolled your eyes as you began eating your lunch. Your school lunches were mediocre at best, but it could be worse. Another day, another stale pb&j. As you ate, the two boys started rambling about their after school plans. Apparently, there were a few other boys that they hung out with quite often. You had never met them, although Jake had mentioned them here and there. Listening to their conversation, you suddenly felt a slight sadness come over you. It wasn't that you were jealous, you were just afraid that one day they would get sick of you and leave you behind. They had other friends, but you didn't. Jake and Heeseung were all you had. You shook your head as you tried to expel the negative thoughts. Why am I getting upset over something that hasn't even happened? They would never do that anyway, you reassured yourself.

Before you knew it, lunch was over and you were running late for your next class. You were speed walking down the hall when you turned a corner and ran directly into something. Or some one, rather. You looked up to see who you had just harshly collided with. You recognized him from your english class, yet you had never spoken to him before. You realized you didn't even know his name.

"Ah, I'm really sorry!" You apologized, feeling your face heat up in embarrassment.

Seeing him up close like this made you wonder how you hadn't paid more attention to him. You had never noticed how handsome he was. He had a very sharp jawline and thick black hair that dangled just above his eyes. You also noticed there was a beauty mark on the side of his nose. Wow, his nose is like, perfect.

"It's alright. It's not every day that I run into a cute girl," he replied coolly.

You thought you were flustered before? Well now you were REALLY flustered. You opened your mouth to respond but before you could speak, he cut you off,

"Your lip is bleeding," he said, his face suddenly full of concern. His skin seemed to be growing paler.

"Oh, I didn't notice," you said, reaching up to wipe your mouth. You must have slightly busted your lip when you ran into him. You looked down and noticed a little trail of blood on the back of your hand. Thankfully, it was only a small amount so you weren't too worried. You looked back up at the boy and you noticed he was staring at your mouth rather intensely, almost as if he was in a trance.

"Uh...well I better get to class. Sorry, again." You apologized one last time before hurrying off down the hall.

Weird.

*****

Your class seemed to go by faster than usual today. Maybe it was because you ended up being almost 10 minutes late after your little incident in the hallway. Or maybe, it was because you couldn't stop thinking about that strange boy. Either way, you were relieved that class was over. However, that relief quickly left you once you realized what your next class was; English. You really didn't want to see that boy again after your previous meeting. You were still quite embarrassed and his reaction just made you even more uncomfortable. You sighed as you reluctantly accepted the inevitable.

Once you were seated at your usual spot, you pulled out your notebook and a pencil. You scanned over yesterday's notes as your teacher began the lesson. Everything was fine for a bit, until you began feeling eyes on you. Maybe you were just paranoid, but you could've sworn you saw that boy from earlier staring at you every so often. You attempted to pay attention to the lesson, but you couldn't. He was making you incredibly on edge. You put your head down in frustration. God, can't this day just end?

*****

You tapped your temple with the end of your pencil as you tried to make sense of your chemistry textbook. Although you were reading the words on the page, you weren't absorbing or internalizing any of it. You sighed and defeatedly closed your textbook as you decided to call it a night. You had been at the library studying for hours, you hadn't even noticed how dark it had gotten outside. You packed up your belongings and threw on your coat and scarf before heading out of the library. A shiver passed through your body as you entered the cold evening air. You began walking at a faster pace than usual, trying to get back to some warmth as soon as possible.

After a couple of minutes of walking, you could feel your cheeks stinging and you could see your breath in front of you. I need to get home faster, I'm freezing. You thought while looking around for a shortcut. You found a path down the edge of the forest that seemed to be the quickest route home. You sighed as you hurried down the deserted trail. As you continued on your way, you started to get an eerie feeling. Perhaps it was just the setting you were in, but you were considerably creeped out. You never liked walking alone at night, I mean, who does? Suddenly, as if on cue, you heard something behind you. You whipped your head around as you scanned the area for any potential danger. You didn't see anything but you could've sworn you heard another set of footsteps following close behind you. Maybe you were just being paranoid again. You turned back around, sufficiently scared at this point as you anxiously jogged the rest of the way. You sighed with relief as you made it to your house safely. You opened the front door and locked it behind you, not daring to look back out into the night. After shaking off your uneasiness, you headed upstairs and changed into your fuzziest pajamas before crawling into your warm bed. You quickly melted into the soft blankets as you drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ooooh, spooky ending! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter which was full of foreshadowing ;). I know it's taking a while to get all the boys introduced but I promise it'll happen soon! Thank you for reading! I’m also uploading this series on wattpad if you’d like to support it over there!

~Elle <3

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love-fireflysong · 3 years

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yIt's done. It took me waaaay to long to write this piece out but between June and my computer apparently deciding to kick me in the teeth this month, the fact I made it to 5 full squares completed anyways I will gladly take as a victory! And, just fyi, this WILL be the last piece for this month. I know that there is still another four days left of June, but I am sick and tired of dealing with my keyboard so this is the last fic you're gonna see from me until I get a new laptop hopefully fairly soon. (Unless I decide that I'm desperate enough to try and write things out on my tablet of course...)

Anyways, the First Date trope was specifically requested by @jesus-hotsauce-christmas-cake when I let her know that the one she did guess (road trip) was going to be a second chapter of a twoshot. Which you still might get because I'm very likely going to be sharing the short little summary blurbs I had written down for each trope so people can very easily bully me into writing them anyways if people still wanted to read them. And even though it would be like months and months late, still post them under this bingo board because I can and I had a cool idea for what I was doing with the colours and layout before life decided to say 'NO!' in a very firm voice. (Unless of course the three lovely ladies that came up with this idea in the first place say no obviously)

Rambling over though now I promise. Chocolate Covered Confessions can be read over and AO3 of course, with the full fic also under the readmore as well.

Chocolate Covered Confessions

Trope: First Date Fandom: Until Dawn Characters: Ashley Brown, Chris Hartley Words: 8214 Rating: General (though reader beware there is some almost scandalous hand holding and a couple of scandalously public kisses. You have been warned...) Authors Notes: Oh look, more chrashley fluff. Who da thunk it? Pride month? What pride month? This is just me apparently figuring out how many different ways I can get Chris and Ash to confess their feelings. Because you only read like three of them, I still have another two waiting in the wings. Plus at least three others if you count climbing chrash lol.

Something was...weird. It wasn't something that Ashley could put her finger on just yet, but something was definitely off that was for sure. The problem of course was that she didn't even know where to start looking in the first place, because for the most part her day had been extraordinarily ordinary.

She, Chris, and Josh had planned to go and see a movie Saturday morning a few days back and then hang out the rest of the day. But seeing as they were, you know, best friends that certainly wasn't the issue. Not even close. They always made plans to do stuff like that together. And yeah, okay, so maybe Josh had 'coincidentally' texted them just before the movie started to let them know that something unavoidable had come up and he wasn't going to be able to meet up with them. And when her and Chris had brought up just waiting until a later showing when he was free, he had immediately been quick to affirm that nope, he was going to be busy the whole rest of the day actually. So the two of them could continue with their original plans and they could make it up to him another time.

While certainly suspicious, that wasn't what was wrong though. Josh had been flaking out on their plans more and more, especially when it was plans that took up an entire day. Ashley Brown wasn't stupid. No siree Bob she was not! She knew exactly what Josh was trying to do by leaving her to spend the day with Chris. Alone . And she appreciated it (she really did!), but if Chris was going to make a move then he would have done it ages and ages ago, because she sure as hell wasn't going to do it! Ashley Brown wasn't stupid, but she also wasn't exactly what you would call brave either.

Not that Chris had seemed to notice what Josh was pulling though, he had just sighed and rolled his eyes with a grumbled "fucking typical", and then the two of them had entered the theater to watch the movie. And as per their usual shtick when Josh wasn't there with them, Chris paid for the tickets while she paid for the food and drinks. Or, at least, that was how it normally went. Instead, when she had decided to take a run to the bathroom while he held their spot in the long concession line, she had come back to Chris waiting for her with the pop and popcorn already in hand. After brushing off her flustered apologies, he had explained that shortly after she had left, another cashier had popped on till so the line had gone down in half the time either had expected. And it seemed like a dick move to just wait there until she came back so he had just decided to get the food instead.

She still felt a little guilty about it honestly, even after swearing that she would get both the tickets and food next time.

And, to be completely fair to Josh, he hadn't exactly been missing out on a lot by skipping out on the movie. It wasn't a horror flick (he would never even think of skipping out on that after all) so it wasn't one that he would feel the need to make the two of them watch again with him. Which was more than fine honestly, because if she was to describe the movie in a single word, well, that word would definitely have been 'dreadful'. If she was given a few more words, then she would have easily elaborated and stated that it was 'a boring, plot-hole driven mess, with only extremely over-the-top action scenes and explosions every five minutes to carry any semblance of the extremely loosely written plot'. In other words, she had lost interest in the movie barely half an hour in, and considering that Chris had started scrolling through his phone bored, she wasn't alone in this boat either.

Still, Ashley had resolved herself to sit through this over-budgeted explosion fest if only because movie tickets were horribly expensive. Not to mention the fact that Chris had shelled out money for both the movie and the food. But then he had turned to her, asked if she was as bored to tears as he was, and once he got that confirmation, asked if she wanted to just ditch the movie entirely. And she did—she really, really did—but didn't want Chris to waste the money he had spent more. And then yet another explosion...exploded on screen, and she realized that she was wasting precious hours of her life that could be used to do something more fun and less mind-numbingly boring.

Like watching paint dry. That at least had a semi-cohesive plot.

And so the two of them had walked out, continuing to share the extra buttered popcorn between them (the movie may have been awful, but the popcorn certainly wasn't) as they left the movie theater behind and wandered into the nearby mall. That wasn't the strange thing either. The mall and subsequent window shopping had absolutely been part of their day plans after, even if those had been unexpectedly pushed forward a couple of hours.

Admittedly the art show that the mall was running in one of the empty storefronts was unexpected, but it had been simply a nice surprise and a great way to kill time. So after paying the $2 entrance fee, the two of them had continued to share the popcorn as they looked at some of the paintings and sculptures that had been on display, giggling childishly at most of them. And okay, so one of the curators had been glaring at them( or rather, at their greasy, butter-covered fingers) the whole time, but that had just been a little rude and insulting. Not strange. And that had stopped almost the moment they had run out of popcorn, Ashley nudging him in the stomach with her elbow as she licked her fingers clean, and the two of them laughing under their breaths at the curator who had looked exceptionally much more at ease once Chris had crumpled the empty bag into a ball.

The rest of their day in the mall had just been spent following the rest of their day's plan, wandering from shop to shop and browsing at all the things that caught their eyes, and then taking a break after a few hours to have a late lunch in the food court. The two of them checked out another couple of stores, these ones to try and get some ideas for Josh's birthday in another month, before moving onto the small arcade on the top floor. As part of their deal and agreement since it had just been Josh and Chris (Ashey not joining the duo until five years later), Chris bought the tokens needed while she scouted out the various games for an empty console and claimed it until he could join her in another couple of minutes.

They spent the next hour in there, trying to beat each other or work together depending on the game in question. They almost never played a game twice before moving onto the next one, in hopes to both try as many games as possible before their self imposed hour ended and to see if they could beat their previous high scores or make it onto the leaderboard in only a single try. But as the hour came to a close, they both made their way over to their final game: one of the racing simulators scattered around the arcade. And as had been done for ten years now, played to determine which of them would be paying for the tokens next time they came.

And once the race ended, with Ashley winning by photo finish for the third time in a row (and celebrating her winning streak by maturely sticking out her tongue and doing an awkward little shimmy dance in the seat while Chris jokingly sulked and pouted), they had finally left the mall altogether and got into Chris's truck. There, he had surprised Ashley with the novel she had been eyeing in the bookstore (or at least, eyeing closer than all the rest she had picked up) and that he had somehow been able to buy without her noticing. And that certainly hadn't been weird, because it had been so exceptionally sweet of him, sweet enough that Ashley had so badly wished that she could thank him properly. But as mentioned before, Ashley Brown was a coward pure and simple, so she had just clutched the book to her chest and beamed at Chris in heartfelt thanks instead.

He may have said something in reply, but Ashley had already settled into the passenger seat and opened to the first page of the book, so she was already long gone. A fact that Chris had anticipated, if the light chuckle he had let out before starting the truck meant anything. And no, Ashley reading a book while Chris drove them to their usual game store across town was not the strange thing either. If Chris hadn't wanted her to read on the drive over and talk to him, then he never would have given her the book now of all times. He would have waited until he had dropped her off home, or not even bought the book in the first place. After over a half a decade of friendship, if anyone knew what would happen after giving Ashley Brown a new book, it was Chris Hartley.

The drive over is done quicker then she had expected, and even then Chris still hadn't let her know that they had arrived until she had finished her chapter. Yes he had certainly teased her about it the entire time, joking about how she would never find someone as understanding of her reading habits then him (he didn't know how right he was, that she didn't want to find anyone else), but the fact that he had just continued to let the music play in the truck and distracted himself on his phone was so unbearably sweet that she decided to let it lie.

The fact that Ashley and Chris hung around in the game shop comparing dice and looking at new books while wincing over the prices for nearly two hours wasn't what was off either. Hell, if anything the fact that they only spent a couple of hours there before leaving was weird! Her, Chris, and Josh could easily spend almost half a day in there flipping through comics and rolling dice to test them out, only leaving because a tired employee was forced to ask them to leave for making too much noise and taking up a table when they weren't playing anything, especially when there was a group that had been waiting for a table for close to an hour now.

Which brought Ashley to where she was right now, sitting at a sticky plastic table under the shade of a cheap umbrella while Chris had run off to get them some ice cream before dropping her off at home. Her new book was open in front of her, the pages crisp white even in the umbrella's shade, but her mind wasn't on the book anymore. A random line had a character mentioning that something had been feeling off all day ever since they woke up ('like everything had been moved three centimeters to the left, so while it all looked normal, nothing felt right anymore'), and Ashley had also realized that hey, wait a second, her day was also feeling just a little wonky too! But no matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was. Today had just been a normal day hanging out with Chris after all. They went to see (and bailed) a movie, spent hours hanging out in the mall and at the game store, and now they were each going back home. Nothing unusual had happened, so why did it feel like something hugely monumental had been going on all day?

"Oi. Earth to Ash, you okay in there?"

A light flick to the center of Ashley's forehead has her blink in surprise, and she finds herself back into the present once again. Chris is standing next to her, carefully balancing the two cones in his right hand and his left ready to flick again if needed, and a bemused smile on his face.

"Oh, uh, sorry Chris. Got a little too into the book I think." She closes the book, not wanting to get melting ice cream all over its crisp white pages (and she really hasn't absorbed a single word for nearly ten minutes now), but Chris doesn't hand her the cone just yet.

"Yeah, I'm not buying that," Chris says as he snorts in disbelief. "I know your 'praise be to books' look, and that was not it. That was your 'head full, too many thoughts' look."

"Excuse me? What? I do not have a reading look! Or a thinking look for that matter!"

"Oh you do. You really, really do. Trust me. You may have been staring at that book but there was no way that you were reading, I would bet my own ice cream here on it." Chris brandishes his double chocolate cone at her, then seems to reconsider and switches to show off her own dipped soft serve that he still has yet to actually let her eat. "Actually, you know what? I would eat your dipped monstrosity if I'm wrong."

Ashley sighs, but she can't keep the smile from her face. "It's not that bad this time, oh my god. It's chocolate ice cream dipped in blueberry syrup. This is actually a normal combination for people who go out of their way to order more exciting cones then two scoops of chocolate." She leans forward and places her elbows on the table to support her head in her hands. "But I wanna see you do it anyway, so tell me exactly why you're so convinced that I wasn't reading."

Chris opens his mouth, but immediately closes it a second later, as though he didn't realize exactly what he had signed himself up for here until now. Ashley of course takes it as a sign of victory. "I knew it. So let's see this Chris, I wanna see you eat something that isn't—"

"When you read you get, like, super attentive." Chris's face is pink, and not looking at her but at the book on the table as he bashfully continues. "You become so drawn in to whatever you're reading that you ignore everything going on around you, because all of your attention is now on that book. Pretty sure a bomb could go off right next to you and you wouldn't even notice sometimes. And it's always so easy to tell what's happening in the book when you're reading too, cause your face is always so expressive. Like your eyes get big when something exciting or surprising happens, and when you're really enjoying whatever it is you're reading, you start giggling like a loon."

Ashley is too stunned and, quite frankly, her heart is beating too fast for her to even think of a proper response to that . She manages to squeak out a quiet little "oh, um" but Chris doesn't notice. Not when he's still babbling and not looking at her at all.

"But when you get deep in thought, you're not like that at all. All of your attention goes inward, and everything around you disappears cause all the important stuff is going on inside your head right now. Your mouth falls open just a little, sort of like you're gaping at all the information in front of you. And-and sometimes you'll mouth out what's going on inside your head as you try to fit the pieces of everything together so it's neat and tidy like a puzzle. And even though you have the, like, blankest stare imaginable, it's not empty at all if that makes any sense. Cause your eyes narrow and your forehead scrunches just the tiniest amount so you have a small little wrinkle form like right here—" with his unoccupied hand Chris points at the bridge of his nose right between his eyes "—and it's weirdly, insanely cute? But when you finally figure out the puzzle in your head, your face lights up like a kid on christmas morning and...and..." He lets his words trail off and stops awkwardly there, as though finally realizing exactly what he's been saying this entire time.

His face is almost beet red now, and Ashley is pretty sure hers is too. "Oh, uh, wow. I-I didn't realize you paid any attention to me when I was like that..."

Somehow his face only gets redder, and though he mumbles the words under his breath, Ashley can still make them out. "I'm always paying attention to you."

But not close enough attention it seems, she thinks sadly. If you did then you would have noticed something way more obvious than that. But she doesn't want to embarrass him anymore than he already is (then she already is), and she isn't sure what else she could possibly say that wouldn't be her blurting out that she likes him, so instead she pretends that she hadn't heard a single thing and wordlessly accepts the ice cream that he hands to her, accepting her defeat as she takes a small bite of the blueberry covered chocolate soft serve.

...The blueberry covered chocolate soft serve that he had bought for her. Or, you know, the ice cream he had paid for himself. Just like he had paid for everything today. Kind of like it was almost a, uh, date. Like he had taken her on a date.

Oh .

"Oh boy, let me guess: I was right and your ice cream really is a crime against taste buds?"

Ashley comes crashing back down to reality to see Chris, his face still a little red but the playful smile back on his face as he teased her. And yet, that only makes it worse as she can't help but feel the usual gymnastics routine the butterflies in her stomach perform at that particular smile, only they're a thousand times worse now that's she's realized exactly why today had felt so strange. And she can't help thinking how much everyone else would classify what was just a day hanging out with her best friend as a date. And how much she really, really wished it was one.

"Nope," she unfortunately squeaks out, and clears her throat so she can continue in a more normal tone of voice. "Nope, sorry to disappoint Chris, but the ice cream tastes fine." She takes another bite for proof (and to her credit she's not lying, it tastes more than fine). "Just, uh, realized something funny that's all." And the moment the words leave her mouth she realizes just how badly she's screwed everything up, because there is no way in any world that Chris Hartley is just going to let that comment lie.

"Funny? Oho, well now I'm interested. You mind sharing your glorious epiphany with the rest of the class Miss Brown?"

Taking another small taste of her ice cream, Ashley averts her gaze as she gives what she is kicking herself for is obviously an extremely forced laugh. "Did I say funny? I meant boring, just super boring actually."

"Well now I just want to hear it more."

"No, you don't. Trust me, you really, really don't."

Chris's brows furrow in concern. "Ash? You okay?"

She isn't, of course she isn't. She's now realized exactly what a date with Chris would be like, and it would be exactly like this. With them going to all the same place and doing the same things but she's allowed to hold his hand and kiss him when he does stupid sweet things like buying her the book she's been eyeing and talking about all day. She's never wanted something to be so true so badly in her life. And it's likely this thought in her mind that causes her to blurt out "A date." before she even realizes what she's said.

That only makes the confusion on Chris's face go deeper, which is appropriate considering she's sinking deeper and deeper into her chair in a futile effort to hide or escape as well. "What? Are you saying that you just remember what date it is today? Or that you had something you were supposed to do today instead? I'm not really following you right now Ash..."

This is perfect. It's the perfect excuse, she could laugh and say that she totally forgot what day it was and that she had an essay due pretty soon, or that she was supposed to babysit for a neighbour tonight. Anything really, the sky was quite literally the limit. And instead she just bit her lip and stared at the ice cream melting in her hand before weakly admitting "No, a, uh, date. As in, the romantic kind. I realized that today probably looks like a date to anyone else. Funny, huh?"

She's not sure how Chris would react to that. Maybe a startled laugh, and hand wave as he brushes her off. A scoff as he assures her that this definitely isn't a date, cause they're just friends and that's all they'll ever be. Whatever the reaction she expected, it was certainly not the fumbling for his ice cream as he nearly drops it in his shock, and how absolutely flustered he sounds as he trips over his own tongue. "W-what? I-I-I, uh—I mean, th-this obviously isn't—Who would even—? Wh-what would even give you the idea that we could um, possibly be on a date?"

Ashley shrugs weakly. "Isn't it obvious Chris?" She ignores his even more flustered babbling that no, he absolutely did not see what was so obvious as she continued on, still too nervous to look him in the eyes. "You've kind of paid for everything today."

"I wha—? I mean, no I haven't!"

"You kind of have, Chris. The theater?"

"You know I always pay for the tickets, and it would have just been really rude to make the line even longer!"

"The art show?"

"It was just a couple of toonies! And you saw the face of the worker there, they would have kicked us right out if they'd had to break a twenty. It was just easier."

"Lunch?"

"They-they'd had a special on for a two-person meal at that stall in the food court, and they wouldn't let each of us pay half..." he neglected to point out that Ashley could have easily paid for their lunch, and probably should have, but before she had been able to offer he'd already been swiping his debit card.

"The arcade?"

"Okay, that was my turn to buy the tokens, you know that. That one doesn't even count."

Ashley lifted her eyes from the ice cream to the book that sat menacingly and innocently all at one at the center of the table, it's pristine cover mocking her. "The book?"

"T-that was just a gift! You seemed really into it at the store and friends buy each other gifts all the time—"

There was no describing how soft and nervous her voice got as she asked the question that would put the final nail in the coffin. "The ice cream?"

"I, uh, it was just—um..." Chris let out a breath in a weak chuckle. "Shit, I guess I kind of did, huh?"

Ashley doesn't say anything, and neither does Chris, as the table goes silent. She's bracing herself for when Chris inevitably shoots her down and confirms that it doesn't matter. That the two of them will never be anything more then friends and that she never should have hoped for anything more and by revealing this she's ruined their friendship for good—

"Hey, uh, Ash?" He sounds so nervous that it immediately takes Ashley out of her anxiety driven thoughts of doom and gloom, but she can't do anything more than just shakily nod to let him continue. "It's, uh, probably like a really, really, really stupid question but—" he takes a nervous breath "—did you want this to be a date?"

Her head immediately shoots up as she stares at him with wide eyes, her breath caught somewhere in her throat where her heart is currently lodged. She frantically rakes her eyes over Chris's face looking for any hint that he's mocking her, or playing some cruel joke on her and her feelings, but all she sees is just nervousness all over a pale, shaking face with what she thinks ( prays ) is a glimmer of undisguised hope. But it's still too much uncertainty, and she's too scared to risk it all on a mere glimmer that she is likely only imagining because she wants it so badly to be real, so she throws the question back at him instead.

"...would you have been opposed if this was actually a date?"

"Nuh uh, I asked you first."

Ashley realizes that he's just as scared at what the answer might be as she is. She wants to tell him, has wanted to tell him for years and years and years. And maybe this is the chance she's been waiting for her whole life. The two of them sitting at a sticky plastic table under the early evening sun, long forgotten ice cream melting in their hands, and she can finally tell him that she's had such a huge crush on him since she was twelve.

"Yeah." The word is less choked out than it is released. Like it's a breath of fresh air and she feels simultaneously lighter and heavier for it. "I-I think I would have liked that. I would have liked that alot."

Chris snaps his gaze up to meet hers, and the glimmer of hope that she had seen earlier has now nearly taken over his face at the disbelieving smile that's threatening to crack his face in two. "Really? I-I mean, uh, I would have been alright with the idea too. More than alright actually."

She can feel her own smile start to nervously match his, and then the first giggle breaks out. His own ecstatic laughter quickly follows her own until the two of them are both giddily laughing at the table, but too embarrassed and bashful to even look at each other now. The giggling abruptly cuts off when Chris lets out a yelp of surprise when he realizes how much of his ice cream has melted onto his hand and Ashley joins him in trying to finish off their ice cream before it's melted entirely. But there's definitely a change in the atmosphere around them now. The contentness and laid back ease that always formed between them whenever they hung out was still there, but there is a charge that hadn't been there before either. An excited anticipation that only surges higher and higher whenever Ashley shyly glances in Chris's direction to find he's looking at her with the same disbelieving smile beaming on his face.

They never say anything more about it as they both finish off the ice cream, but Ashley knows. With that little agreement, the entire day had changed. This wasn't just them hanging out as friends anymore, this was an actual, factual date now, pure and simple. So when Chris hands her a couple of extra napkins to clean herself off, she may have let her fingers brush against his for just a moment. The resulting blush and dumbstruck smile on his face when he cautiously took his hand back so he could clean up the rest of the mess on the table was oh so worth it. And when he returned from his trip to the garbage can and held out his hand as an offer to help her up from the chair, she accepted it readily.

Once she's back on her feet, the two of them drop their eyes to stare at their still clasped hands, realizing that they could easily hold hands the entire short walk back to Chris's truck if they wanted. And she does want that—horribly in fact—but it seems it's still a little too early for either of them to make that teeny tiny but monumental jump to hand holding so they let go awkwardly and slowly, letting their fingers linger against the others before letting go completely. As though giving themselves a taste of what may yet actually come to pass in the (hopefully) very near future.

The short walk back to the truck is filled with both anticipation and dread alike, but unusually silent. Ashley knows it's because she's now a buzzing ball of nervous energy, terrified that saying anything at all will shatter this dream that's apparently coming true before her eyes, but Chris is different. He looks more like he's trying to work up the courage to say or ask something, and is spending all his energy on that alone. So when he reaches out to open up the passenger side door for her, Ashley can feel her heart pick up speed when he stops with his hand on the door handle and looks at her nervously. His mouth opens and shuts a couple of times as he tries to work up the courage to say whatever it is he wants to say, and all she can do is stare at him expectantly as she struggles to hold back an excited smile.

"Hey, Ash, ca—nevermind. It's, it's stupid. Don't worry about it." A second later, he has the door opened for her and the moment she can't see his face, she lets her smile fall crestfallen. But only for a second before a polite one replaces it as thanks when he closes the door for her and continues to his side of the truck. It's fine, she supposes as she buckles herself in, while the two of them have been hanging out all day, it's only been an actual date now for barely ten minutes. And once he drops her off home in just another few short minutes it's going to be over. The fact that she even managed to get this far is franky mind blowing, so expecting anything more from her dreams would just be extremely selfish. She can't have everything she wants all at once, no matter how long she's been waiting for it.

The drive back to her place is also quiet, filled with only the droning of the radio playing in the background. Ashley's returned back to her book, but she knows that Chris knows that she's not absorbing a single word, hasn't turned a single page even. She keeps glancing at him out of the corner of her eye as he nervously taps at the steering wheel, and then tightening his grasp when it looks like he's going to say something, only to return to the nervous tapping when he inevitably backs out at the last second and returns to the frantic pep talk he's likely giving himself. The air that fills the vehicle is heavy and thick with anticipation and it's taking almost everything in Ashley to not start shaking the question out of Chris at every red light they stop at.

But, eventually, they pull up in front of her place and Chris stops the truck. There's a moment where the two of them just sit there, not wanting to leave because leaving means the end, and Ashley schools her face into a cheery smile in an effort to hide as much of the disappointment as she can when she turns to face him and bid him farewell, only to have it fall to confusion when he starts fumbling at his own seatbelt.

"Chris? What are you doing?"

He struggles further at it, frustrated that the buckle's apparently decided that now is the perfect time for it to stick once again. "Trying to get this fucking thing off."

"Yeah, I figured that much. But why are you trying to take it off, you're just gonna leave right away again anyway."

He slows his fumbling as cheeks start darkening in embarrassment. "I, uh, I just thought that was something you were supposed to do after a date, walk them to their door to stay goodnight. I mean, at least I think this is a date now? And, and only if you're okay with it! I can stay in here instead if you don't want me to. I was just hoping..."

The once forced cheery smile on her face is certainly not being forced any longer, if anything she's trying not to show how much the idea of Chris walking her to her door thrills her. "N-no!" Well, so much for trying not to show how desperately she wants that. The startled look he gives her at the unexpected outburst had her trying to control her voice into something less desperate, but considering she doesn't think she's ever going tame the frantic butterflies that have been flapping around non-stop in her stomach ever since the ice cream realization, she's probably doing a terrible job of it. "I-I mean if you want to, it's completely up to you after all..."

"Cool. Cool cool cool. Just, just give me a second." He continues to struggle with his seatbelt buckle, letting out more and more agitated curses escape the longer the thing continues to stick, and Ashley is getting the feeling that if he was able, Chris would have ripped the entire thing straight out of the seat by now. Broken safety laws and ensuing repair costs be damned. The moment he finally manages to unstick the traitorous buckle it's with a cry of victory and relief so exuberant that Ashley finds herself laughing in disbelief and awe that he had wanted to walk her the short ten or so feet to her front door that badly. Thankfully, for both of them, her seatbelt unclicks easily and much more quickly in comparison, only taking another couple of seconds to grab her bag from the footwell and joining him.

The far too short walk up to her door is over before either of them realize it. One second the two of them had been standing awkwardly and nervously by the truck as she fought the urge to reach out and grab his hand, and the next they're standing just as awkwardly and nervously (if not moreso) in front of the front door. Both of them waiting for the other to say or do something to break the tension, but cleanly aware that doing so would signal the very final end of the day, and the date. In fact, just knowing that Chris doesn't want this to end just as badly as her, is what gives her the courage to look at him with a surprisingly heartfelt and soft smile.

"Today was fun."

Chris lifts his eyes from where they had been staring at the dried leaves on the doorstep to match her smile. "Yeah. It was."

"And thanks. For the movie, and everything else." Ashley raises her hand to give the new and still shiny paperback a small wave. "And, you know, the book too. Of course."

"Yeah, it was no problem. Anytime." There's something with how he says the last bit—not really emphasizing it but making it clear all the same that he means 'anytime'—that causes her face to flush giddily as she pulls her lower lip in between her teeth in a weak effort to fight back against the ecstatic smile that forms anyway. And when she sees his eyes lower just a smidge to follow the motion and the way his shoulders stiffen in reaction, Ashley very quickly also finds she's trying (much more successfully) to hold herself back from just saying 'to hell with it' and throwing her arms around Chris so she can finally kiss him silly and until they're both breathless. But considering that she's too much of a coward to initiate something as innocent as hand holding apparently, there is absolutely no way that something as...as scandalous as kissing him on her doorstep is ever going to happen. Clearly.

And yet, she gives Chris another few seconds to try and work past that blockade in his throat, but when he still can't muster a single word, she decides to just put the both of them out of their misery. Or further into it. It's probably just the same thing really. "I guess I'll see you next time. I'll talk to you later, okay?" She turns away and puts her hand on the doorknob, and tucks the book under her arm so she can dig into her bag for keys, but is stopped when Chris's hand abruptly snakes out and wraps itself firmly around her wrist before she can reach into the bag. And it works—boy does it ever —turning back to him and the hand wrapped around her wrist as excitement just starts to bubble up inside of her.

A second later though, his brain has apparently caught up with the movement he clearly hadn't intended to make, because his face goes beet-red and he's dropped her hand so he can shove both into the pockets of his jeans. He averts his eyes so he's back to staring at the loose gravel and dried leaves under their feet.

"Oh, uh, sorry about that. I didn't mean to..."

"It's fine, Chris." Ashley tries to smile softly at him in reassurance, but it's considering she's gripping the doorknob in an almost vice-like grip in anticipation, it's likely far more eager than she would like. "What is it?"

Somehow, his face goes even redder and he blurts out the question so fast that it may as well have been one word. "CanIkissyou?!"

Immediately, Ashley's gaping at him wide-eyed and her mouth open in shock as her heart's beating so fast that she's pretty sure it's ready to burst out of her chest at any moment. "Wha—"

"I-I mean goodnight. Can I kiss you goodnight? That's what people are supposed to do on dates, right? A-a-a-and I think we agreed that this is a date now, or at least I really, really hope we did. Cause I've wanted to go on a date with you for the longest time and-and-and I didn't want Saundra or-or-or any of your neighbours to see cause I know that would just really embarrass you and me but I've been trying to ask you for the past thirty minutes now cause I've wanted to kiss you since forever but I was scared about how you would react cause I really, really, really like you Ash and I just wanna to kiss you so fucking bad right now you have no idea and—"

Ashley would like to believe that she's brave enough to throw her arms around Chris and drag him down into that searing kiss she's been dreaming about forever and ever, but she doesn't. Even with a confession that is everything she's ever wanted to hear and more. That's not to say that she doesn't want to do it—god does she want to do it—but she's so frozen in place from shock that she physically can't. So instead she just continues to gape at him as he (adorably) rambles on and on, and giggles out an elated little "okay".

His nervous rambling stops dead in its tracks, and he finally looks back up at her, nervous relief evident all over his face. "Really? I mean, are you sure? I'd understand if you didn't want to—"

" Chris ."

That immediately shifts the relief to a different kind of nervousness entirely, one of excited disbelief, but even then neither move to actually initiate this promised kiss for several seconds. Instead just staring at each other waiting for the other to be the first to move, Chris with his hands still in his jeans pockets and Ashley glued to the doorknob with her other hand frozen as it hovers over her bag. Finally, Chris is the first to slowly bend down to meet her awkwardly half turned body, and she unsteadily tries to rock herself onto the tips of her toes without losing her balance completely and falling over. And still, they both pause about an inch away from each other's faces, though whether to give the other an out if needed or just to work through the logistics of how to do this exactly without their foreheads or noses smashing into each other or Chris's glasses getting in the way is anyone's guess.

But finally, mainly due to the fact that Ashley can't lean forward anymore without falling completely on her face, Chris closes that final bit of distance and kisses her. It's a nervous brush of the lips really—a quick peck at best —but they jolt back from each other so quickly that the single action may as well have activated some hidden magnetic repel function that neither had been aware of until this moment. Both of them are staring at each other wide-eyed and breathless as the magnitude of what they had both finally managed to accomplish hit them. The kinda-sort confession and the almost hand holding meant absolutely nothing in comparison to this. Those she could have (and would most likely have) brushed off as her reading too much into innocent statements and gestures when she thought over everything that had happened today in the safety of her room later tonight. But this? This was physical proof .

Looking back, Ashley's not sure which of them moved first. One second they had been staring at each other in disbelief, stuck in the same awkward bent and leaning stature from before, and the next it's as if the magnetic attraction between them reverses its flow entirely. Chris is cupping her cheek with one hand as he kisses her in the way she always dreamed he would, his other hand slowly skating across the back of her neck so he can pull her up closer to him. The book that had once been clutched protectively under her arm was completely forgotten about—fallen to the ground with a sharp crunch as it crushed the dried leaves beneath their feet—as her arms wrapped possessively around his shoulders as she props herself as high as the tips her toes will allow her. She can still taste a hint of the chocolate from earlier on his lips, and the small part of her that isn't being blown away by all of this is wondering if he can taste the blueberry and chocolate on hers as well.

She's not sure how long the two of them stood there on her doorstep, kissing for all the world to see, but she does know that they still separate much, much too soon for her liking. Not that they fully separate of course. She may be back on the soles of her feet, but neither of them have removed themselves from the embrace itself. And with the way that Chris is lightly brushing his thumb over her cheekbone as he just stares at her with the same stupidly giddy grin she's got, Ashley would be perfectly fine if they could just stay standing like this forever.

"So..." she starts, and stops to take a moment to giggle when Chris bumps his nose into hers. "I think that was a perfectly acceptable first date if you ask me."

Chris doesn't let go of her when he leans back to consider her, the comically raised eyebrows in shock doing nothing to take away from the absolutely thrilled beam of his smile. " First date? Why Miss Brown, are you perhaps asking me out for a second one already?"

"I mean, if it's not too presumptuous of me, I suppose I am. I-if you're not opposed to it of course." She can't help the way her nervousness starts to bleed through with that last sentence, already panicking that she's somehow completely misread everything that's just happened and that maybe that kiss didn't mean as much to him as it did to her after all.

His next words completely derail those fears entirely. "Of course I'm not, I would love nothing more than to go on a second date with you. Followed by a third and fourth and even a fifth if you have the time for it."

"I mean, I'm a pretty busy girl but I think I can open up as many days in my schedule as it takes if I need to."

Before she knows it, the two of them are leaning in for another kiss when the sound of pot being dropped in the nearby kitchen through the open window jarringly brings them back to reality and the two of them let go of each other red faced and embarrassed. Oh no, how much of this had her mother heard? Or worse, saw? She wants to leave the doorstep (which is rapidly becoming her favourite place in the whole entire world) even less now, but the longer she takes the worse the excited interrogation from Saundra will be so she starts digging back into her bag to try and find her keys once again.

"I'll text you later, okay? And, maybe, we can talk some more about that second date...?"

The reply from Chris is flustered but eager. "Yeah, totally. I-I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Cool. And um, the next one's one me. The date that is. It's only fair after all."

"Yeah, right. Only fair. Totally. And, uh, your book..."

She finally finds her keys from where they had sunk to the bottom of her bag, and looks up at him and the paperback book that had fallen during their, uh, intimate embrace. "Oh! Uh, right. Thanks." She could easily leave it at that, but the last few minutes have made her bold so when she reaches out to take the book back from him, Ashley curls her fingers over his and bounces onto the balls of her feet so she can give him one last kiss on his cheek—almost the corner of his mouth really—before finally stepping back with the book and keys in her hand. "I mean it. Thanks . For everything."

"Yeah. No problem. It was my pleasure."

She lets herself have one last glimpse of the stupefied grin on his face just as he turns to walk just a little unsteadily down the path back to his truck. The only sounds being the leaves crushing underfoot and the jangle of metal as she sticks her keys into the door to finally unlock it. A sound that it quickly interrupted by not only the click of the door unlocking, but a muffled shout.

Alarmed, she turns quickly expecting to see Chris having accidentally shut his coat into the door as he is sometimes known to do when the weather gets colder, but instead watches in elated shock as he continues to keep energetically flapping his arms and fist pumping into the air and screaming what she can vaguely make out as 'yesyesyesyesYESYESYES' over and over again.

Suddenly it hits her. Despite the shy confession over ice cream, and then the much more rushed and rambled one only minutes ago, and followed by the kiss(es) that are still sending her heart into rapid fire, Ashley still hadn't believed what all the evidence had been saying. Chris liked her. He really, really liked her. Possibly as much as she liked him even! This wasn't just a one-off event that would now make things awkward between them for the rest of their lives. This was happening. They'd just had a first(!!!!) date and after Chris had kissed her goodbye, she had asked him out for a second one.

And he had accepted .

Ashley fumbled with the door and the moment she was in the house, slammed the door behind her, not even bothering to lock it. She let her bag fall from her shoulder to the floor with a soft thump and slowly slid down the door until she was sitting against it with her eyes wide and breathless. She ignored the surprised clatter coming from the kitchen as Saundra immediately dropped whatever it was she had been doing in and held up the book so she could stare at the once innocuous cover in amazement.

He had bought her this book and the ice cream because he liked her and he had gladly and excitedly accepted to go out on another date with her. And even more if he had been serious about that third date and beyond line.

And not that either would ever know it, Ashley mirrored Chris at that exact moment by placing her head into her hands and screaming as the built up joy and bliss finally exploded out of her.

#pride month prompt challenge #my writing #until dawn #chris hartley #ashley brown #chrashley #take two of trying post this stupid thing!#tumblr deleted the last one >:(#but this one actually copied over the italics so that saves me a shit ton of time if im being honest

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themadauthorshatter · 4 years

Text

It's been a long time since I made a Toppat!Charles Part.

I'm not really going to add a recap from the last part this time, sorry.

I'll add the links though:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

This part will have elements of this video, which I recommend watching before reading this part:

youtube

We start off in the CCC this time, with one a chaos reader biting her nails as Bill Bullet approaches.

"Any problems here?"

"It's the chaos readings, sir," she explains. "Since the Toppats left Earth, we've been seeing a steady increase in chaos around the globe from unpredictable weather patterns to more reports of crime rate."

"What were the numbers before?"

"7.4."

"Now?"

"11.8."

Bullet tears his glasses off as he notices a blinking red spot on a large monitor the workers use as a reference. It's close to the U.S, but Bill hones in on the location to see it's in the middle of the desert, where the government and Toppats once fought. In this location, the mumbers increase from 11.8 to 12.3, so Bill gulps as he takes a step back.

"Orders, sir? Do we need any protocols?"

Bullet is silent and notices one of those line graphs where it goes up or down dependong on the variable over time and sees the name of the person being monitored: H. Stickmin (Suave).

He takes this as he replies, "Not yet. If things get out of hand, you know what button to press."

The entire room gasps at their corporal.

"Sir, you can't mean it. He's one of our most valuable subjects!"

"If things get out of hand, and those numbers keep going up, DO NOT HESITATE TO PUSH THAT DAMN BUTTON! UNDERSTAND!?"

Everyone collectively locks eyes with the woman with readings, who gulps as she nods. "Y-yes, sir."

"Good. Back to work."

Another readings worker speaks up, "But, Sir? What about Henry Stickmin?"

Bill Bullet is silent as he walks out of the room, mentally praying that Henry knows what he's doing.

SPEAKING OF WHICH, let's check in on them😁

Just as Charles fires his gun, Henry darts forward and tackles his friend down, causing the bullet to stray from its path and trim off a bit of Reginald's mustache.

The two scuffle on the ground, only it's much more violent than the sapphire heist because now Heney is focused and Charles has officially snapped. There's punching and shouting from Charles as he and Henry fight over the gun.

"GET BACK!" Henry shouts as he points the gun skyward and toward the ground, shooting both times before Charles headbutts him and smacks him across the brow with the gun.

Henry shakes off the hit and wipes off some blood as he mutters, "Just like training."

Charles and Right meet eyes and Charles prepares to aim again as Right pushes Reginald behind him and transforms his cybernetic hand into a sword.

Henry grabs Charles around the middle and pulls him back down, grabbing his hand and making him waste another bullet.

Terrence winces at the sudden itch in his neck before realizing what's just been triggered and backing away from the group. Ellie, however, SEES this.

"You selfish prick!"

"Not now, Red, just keep your distance."

"How can you leave your son like this!? He needs you!"

Charles and Galeforce hear this and it just makes Charles PISSED.

The former pilot flips Henry onto his back, holds him fown by his hair, and starts using the gun as more of a hammer, holding it by the barrel and trying to hit Henry with where the ammunition goes. I say trying because Henry keeps wriggling and tossing and turning away as much as he can. He eventually catches Charles's hand and pushes it up so Charles basically hits himself and knocks the gun out of Charles's hand.

Charles grabs Henry by the sides of his head, by the hair, and starts slamming him into the ground as hard as he can.

"Why are you all the same!?" He shouts. "When you want me around, it's just so you can use me, but when you're done with me, you'll just throw me away! First the government, then you and Ellie, now THEM!?"

Henry sees stars as he is left hearing Charles breakdown further.

"Is that how you all see me!? Am I just some damned TOOL to you!? ANSWER ME! TELL ME THE TRUTH! WHAT AM I TO YOU!?"

Reg takes advantage of the diversion and grabs a small device that fell from Charles's top hat when Henry first tackled him: a little earpiece that is used to communicate with Burt or anyone else on the Station.

"Boss? Are you alright? I heard gunshots!"

"Sven, please be a dear and send us back now!"

"Sir Reginald? You're alive!"

Charles notices lets go of Henry, and grabs the gun as fast as he can. "NO!"

"Sven, BEAM US UP NOW!" Right shouts.

Charles races toward them as he shoots, hitting Reginald in the leg before both are beamed up to safety.

Charles drops to his knees, shaking as he weepsto himself, "They're gone. They got away... again. They left without me."

Henry crawls over to Charles and sits next to him, slowly taking the gun away from him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

Charles slowly and almost twitchingly turns to Henry, eyes wide with shock and adrenaline. Then they narrow with anger.

"You ruined everything."

It hits Henry almost as hard as the left hook Charles sends into his face.

"You made me lose my job, my home, my helicopter, MY OWN DAMN MIND! AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

Charles slashes at Henry with a knife he's hidden in his coat, just cutting the jacket Henry's wearing and giving a small cut on the belly.

Their fight now becomes a game of crazy cat with a knife and mouse with multiverse powers, even though Henry still gets some punches in.

He makes the mistake of getting too close and Charles grabs his hair like before from when he tried to hit Henry with the gun.

They fall and Henry catches Charles hand when he goes for a stab. Even though he's weaker, Charles puts as much weight can on Henry, because he's over bend at this point, and Henry yells as he's pricked by the tip of the knife.

With a jerk, he rips himself free, resulting in some hair loss, and throws Charles off of him.

The two have a stand off and stare down, bloodied, bruised, and tired.

"You're not going to stop, are you?"

Henry shakes his head.

Charles drop his knife and slyly picks the gun bsck up as he gives Henry a tired smile.

"You shouldn't have tried so hard."

Just as Charles raises the gun again, Galeforce shoots. He hits Charles in the hand, well, more like he almost shoots off Charles's thumb and puts a hole in his hand.

Charles screams out and holds his hand as Henry grabs and holds him from behind. He stomps on his foot and tries to run, but stumbles and falls down.

"Don't make me shoot you again, Charlie!" Galeforce shouts as he points his gun at him, tears in his eyes. "Don't make me, son!"

Charles is frozen on the ground, trembling as his breathing goes ragged.

He collapses on the ground, passing out right there.

Henry does what I call the hero-ship-half-dead pick up and picks up Charles to see if he's alright.

Ellie sort of limps in but crouches next to Henry to also check on him.

"Don't worry, you two. He just passed out."

Terrence feels the itch in his neck go away and takes a breath as he gets a little closer.

Galeforce joins Henry and Ellie and brushes some hair out of Charles's face. "Don't worry, Charlie. You're home now."

He turns to Henry and Ellie, and Terrence. "Let's get back to the base."

Henry picks up Charles and carries him to the truck they used; Reg got motion sick in the helicopter and Terrence was dangerously close to the door.

As Ellie loads up with Terrence's help, she stops for a second. "Um, General? What about the Toppat Clan? They both got away."

Galeforce looks up at the station and shakes his head. "We'll worry about them later. For now, let's just take care of Charlie."

Henry climbs in and keeps holding onto his friend, not letting him go when medics tend to them both.

Back with the CCC, the chaos readings decrease from 13.9 to 9.4 and dropping.

Bill sighs before looking back at the line graph he's been reading.

After Henry's escape from the Wall with Ellie, courtesy of Charles, the chaos reads were as low as 5.2. That number was maintained or lowered until the Toppat Clan went into space, which started off the increase of chaos.

With a very dad-like groan, Bill rests his elbows on his knees and holds his face in his hand, contemplating his decision to take Henry into the CCC.

AMD THAT IS PART 9!!!!! CHARLES IS FINALLY HOME, THANK GOODNESS!! I mean, it's not good Right and Reginald got away, but fuck it. WE GOT OUR FAVORITE PILOT BACK! HE'S HOOOOOOOME!

Thank you so much for your patience with this one. The later half of 2020 and beginning of 2021 have not been easy for me mentally, especially with recent events in my personal life, but things will hopefully be changing soon, I'm praying so hard for it to be the case.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this part and thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart for sticking around and being patient!!

AND HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!!!

#henry stickmin #toppat!charles #completing the mission #ellie rose #right hand man #reginald copperbottom #terrence suave #hubert galeforce #violence tw #blood tw #HUGE angst tw

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neoarchipelago · 5 years

Text

Bridegroom's Oak Tree (John Wick x Reader part one)

AN: so this was a detailed request so there will be two parts to it, here's the first part guys! A bit of a AU here !

Request: "Hi, could you write one where John wick is a mafia lord falling in love at first sight with a teacher who is shy and doesn't know he is a mafia.And recently I read about this tree in Australia which has its own mailbox. People who are single write letters to the tree and anyone can pick any and respond to them. So far the tree is responsible for 100 marriages. So maybe you can write one where John wick, the mafia.. Writes a letter and finds it responded by the teacher. They both remain anonymous. But he falls for her. He is also kind of afraid as to how she might react when she finds out... All that" request by: @cynic-spirit

Word count : 2 306

Warnings: none

_______________________________

Klaus Ackerman was a nice old man. He had worked at the dodauer forst forest for the past 45 years. He knew everything single path and tree that covered the forest. He also had been a guardian of the Bridegroom's oak tree for just as long. He had seen so many young, and old people come to the tree to find love.

The tree's story was after all, a bit like a fairy tale. The name of the tree came from a very old story that everyone knew. The daughter of the head forester and the son of a chocolate maker were in love but her father disapproved. They exchanged letters secretly by leaving them in the whole in the tree trunk. Eventually they ended up getting married under the same tree not long after the father of the maiden had given in.

The beautiful story eventually led people to think that the tree attracted the soulmate of the person who would write a letter and place it in the hole in the tree. Klaus had seen many letters being answered to, people finding their other half, getting married and then coming back to thank the tree with various offerings during their honeymoon. Unfortunately he had also seen many letters still waiting for someone to answer to them. One in particular, from a young man still lingered there waiting for someone to pick it up.

Klaus remembered the man quite clearly. It wasn't particularly the way he looked, standing at the bottom the tree looking up, in his perfectly clean three piece black suit. It's not the way he looked absolutely unshakable with his hair gelled back, his beard tamed and his dark eyes, that made him remember the man even after all those years. It was the way he kindly smiled at him and spoke to him with his raspy yet soft voice.

Klaus had been through a rough time. His only daughter was sick, and the two jobs he was accumulating wasn't enough to pay for all the bills he had. He was a tired man, and the black suit man saw it. John Wick, he had introduced himself. Klaus had politely introduced himself as well. The conversation had gone by effortlessly, the calming aura of the man eventually leading Klaus to tell him the problems he was going through.

Klaus was shocked when the man pulled out a heavy amount of money and offered it to him. He couldn't possibly accept it, no. He would never be able to pay it back. But the man had insisted, claiming he didn't need that money as much as Klaus. Klaus was still reluctant to accept the god given money but Mr Wick had finally found a way for him to accept.

"How about you take the money, and in exchange, I want you to watch over the letter I wrote. I put it in the tree hole, but I'm not from here. I won't be able to know if one day someone answers. I want you to send me the answer if it ever comes, to this address. Give me your word, that until your last day here, you will do that."

Klaus had looked down at the small paper with the address that the man was giving him, and finally accepted breaking down into thankful tears. And so he had been doing exactly that. The man was gone, leaving for New York again. The worn out piece of paper was still in Klaus's pocket. Waiting for the letter in the tree to finally be picked up. But many years had gone by and no one ever seemed to be interested in the small letter, with the blue lettering.

Today was another sunny day, and Klaus had started his afternoon shift. He trailed along his usual path, his old legs not going as fast as he used to. He'd soon have to retire, but the he wished he could fulfill the man's wish.

Finally reaching the Bridegroom's Oak, he noticed not so many people were there today. It was sunny, yet a bit cold, and the wind brushed the trees making them sing. He approached the ladder that reached the hole in the tree and watched as the postman who usually came around at this hour stepped down.

"Ay, good afternoon Mr Ackermann."

"Good afternoon Nevil. How are things up there?" Klaus asked with a small smile.

"Many letters as usual! But hey! That letter you're always asking about, it's finally gone!"

Klaus blinked. Gone? But it was there yesterday! Shaking off the panic he felt, he smiled at the postman. It had to be picked up, that was the point. Now he only had to wait and see who would come and put her answer into the tree.

Klaus waited near the tree all day. He watched as people passed on by, climbing the ladder and putting their letters into the tree hole. He watched closely every letter being dropped off, trying to find something that would make him recognize Mr Wick's letter.

The evening drawing near, he sighed, looking up at the burning sky as the sun began to set. He tiredly watched people walk on by when his eyes fell on a small letter, in blue lettering, held by a young woman. Klaus jumped up walking towards the lady, who strangely, stood at the bottom of the tree, looking at it.

"Excuse me miss?" Klaus's shaky voice rang.

The young lady turned around, looking at him with her beautiful (e/c) eyes.

"Hello, do you need anything?" She asked in a sweet voice, a kind smile on her lips.

"That letter, did you answer to it?" He asked.

"Oh, yes. I don't really think it'll lead to anything though. I'm not from Germany so. It's a bit of shot in the dark." She said looking down at the Mr wick's letter.

"Where are you from, If I may ask?" Klaus asked.

"From New York. In the United States. I'm here on a small vacation."

Klaus smiled. Maybe the tree was really magic?

"Would you allow me miss?" He asked. Earning a confused look from the lady.

"You see, it is my last day working here. I am old, and getting retired. I have been waiting for a long time for this letter to be answered. It isn't mine, do not fear. It's… a friend's. Would you allow me to put it in the tree? As a last act of duty."

She shyly smiled at him and gave him her letter.

"Of course, it'll be a pleasure. I have to go in anyway, my plane won't be waiting for me and my friends either. Thank you sir."

Klaus took the letter in his hand. A simple folded letter, in black lettering, the handwriting was smooth and perfectly clean. He smiled at the lady as she turned and walked away. Klaus smiled to himself. Finally he could fulfill his word, and retire as well. He had grandchildren to play with, but first, he had a letter to post.

__________

Back in New York, things had changed for John since his trip to Germany. He had become the head of the Mafia here in New York, earning his place at the High table. The baba yaga was a feared man, strict, dangerous and everyone knew it. It had taken him focus, commitment and sheer will so finally be the man he was today. Many years had passed, he wasn't as young as when he put the letter in the tree. He had lived a lonely life, but somehow had gotten used to it.

Today's High table meeting ended, as everyone excused themselves. John stood up and walked out. He didn't like to stay too long near the other members of the High table. He preferred his house. Reaching his car he got in the back seat as his driver greeted him. John greeted him politely and leaned back in his seat. The car started as John sighed. It had been lonely years yes. People he knew had found that perfect love and had now many children running around. He wished he had that kind of happiness as well but perhaps he wasn't made for it.

John looked up at his driver as the car rang, through the Bluetooth of the car. John nodded as the driver looked for approval in the rear view mirror. Answering the call John sighed.

"Yes?" John asked in a deep voice.

"Pardon me Mr Wick, but a letter has arrived for you." The voice rang.

"Alright, and why are you calling for a letter Jack?" John asked slightly annoyed.

"Well it was sent by Klaus Ackermann, and you specifically asked to be informed of any correspondence from this person."

John stared at the car seat in front of him. Had he heard correctly? Did someone answer his letter? After all these years, impossible. Klaus probably sent a letter to tell him he was retiring and no one answered his letter. John shook himself back to reality.

"Put in on my desk, thank you Jack."

With a final 'Yes sir' the call was ended. John looked at out of his window, deep in thoughts. He wasn't expecting anything else at all from Klaus, not after so many years. He felt curious and a bit hopeful, but at the same time stupid for putting such expectations in a letter he wrote so many years ago. He sighed. No point in wrecking his mind now. He'd get home soon enough and see what was the letter all about.

____________

You watched over your class as time passed. Today you had decided to make a simple test, just to make sure your students have been learning correctly your class. It wasn't a big deal and you had warned them there would be one so you were expecting good results.

You had been a teacher in a high school for only 4 years, but you enjoyed it. You were young, and a bit shy, but your students were all nice to you and you were pretty glad of it. New York was a welcoming home to you, but you felt lonely. You recently got home from a travel to Europe where you ended up on a road trip with a friend for the past week, ending up in Germany. Your friends had taken you to the Bridegroom's oak tree, where they had insisted that you take a letter to answer to because Magic would be the solution to your loneliness.

You had complied, being tired of their jokes, and had picked up a beautiful letter with perfectly handwritten blue lettering. You had read the letter as you visited the city with your friends, not really paying attention to the landscape but getting lost in the paragraphs that seemed to build cities just for you. You were almost pained, knowing that there was little chances that the man who wrote the letter would answer to you. You had written your letter, finding some beautiful paper and a black ink pen, to write a letter as beautiful as the one you had picked.

You had thought about it all afternoon before finally deciding to bring the letter back to the Oak tree. You had stopped to admire the tree, taking a last thought on your action before being approached by a worker of the Forest. You had smiled to the old man and talked to him. Lastly he had asked to take care of your letter and in a last gush of hope and magic you let the old man do his last act of duty.

Falling back into reality you looked around at the classroom. "Five minutes left everyone" you said in a soft voice, earning a few groans.

You smiled softly. You had given up on the idea of your letter ever finding the man who it was destined to. You remembered the words inked in the little letter that now rested in one of your favorite notebooks, the one that never left your side. You sighed. Hope tends to breed eternal misery.

You looked at your watch again. Two minutes left and your day would be over. You had to grade the tests and then you could take a bath and probably order some food. You were waiting just for that. The bell rang you smiled at your students.

"Time's up guys! Please leave your tests on your tables, have a nice evening guys, and Don't forget your homework!"

You earned a 'yes miss' from running students, making you chuckle. You sighed, looking at your now, empty classroom, and stood up to pick up the tests. You hummed a soft tune, as you walked through the rows of seats and tables. A knock on the door made you jump, spinning around.

You blushed at the man who stared at you with dark eyes. He was tall, wearing a black suit. You looked away feeling intimidated by this man, who looked handsome and who had just heard you sing in your small classroom.

"I..hum.. hello…" you tried to say.

"Hello." He answered, smirking at you.

You felt tiny for a second as he walked closer to you, making you realize how tall he really was. You tried to keep eye contact with his beautiful dark eyes, but it only made you even more intimidated.

"May I help you...Sir?" You said in a low voice, but with a smile.

"You can, indeed. After all, you answered to my letter Miss (y/l/n)." He spoke in a deep voice.

You froze. Impossible. You looked down to see the man hold a letter, in black lettering. You shot your head back up drowning in the man's eyes.

"It's you…" you let out in a whisper.

_____

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