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peaches-writes · 4 years

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penalty kick

description: maybe you got off on the wrong foot...actually, jisung did actually pushed you off the wrong foot. member: jisung / han genre: fluff, slice of life, coming of age, childhood frenemies / rivals to lovers au, idiots to lovers au, neighbor au, high school au, college au, lil dashes of soccer baseball musician & campus dj au bc jisung ace, female reader, off-season universe (mc from naturally is jeoyeon, mc from tumbles & turns is bora, and mc from off-season is kira hek) word count: 12k warnings: explicit language, alcohol (a tiny mention of underage drinking pls drink responsibly!), mentions of injuries, jisung issa lil dumb & a lil shit but issokay hes an adorable lil shit note: @crscendoforsung so i scraped the witch jisung au (but i’ll come back to it in the future maybe it’s still in my drafts lol) so here is dumbass jisung for now + im away on christmas day so here’s my gift a day in advanced lmao

Age four. Your neighbor and favorite playmate, Han Jisung, pushed you so hard on the swings at your neighbourhood playground that you literally flew out of your plastic curved seat and bruised your knees, elbows, and chin.

Maybe you did had it coming from continuously complaining that he ‘pushed like a sissy’ and even standing up on the swing set just to brag that you can balance all of your body weight on such flimsy material. Maybe your neighbor has always had a secret grudge on you finally enacted through this incident. Either way, the next thing you knew, a wide-eyed Jisung was on your side alternating between calling for adult help, crying over your bruises, and muttering curses he probably heard from his older brother under his breath.

“Shit, shit shit...” He squeaked out frantically in his tiny voice, gently moving you to a sitting position on the stone pavement and dusting the dirt off of your bleeding injuries despite your loud complaints that your entire body was hurting. Looking around your surroundings, his breath then got caught up in his throat at seeing your mother fast-approaching with a mix of furious and worried in her expression. “Auntie! Help!”

Your mother was hovering over you in an instant, examining your bruises with furrowed brows and clenched teeth. “Ah, dear God, what happened here?!” She exclaimed in a scolding tone, piercing gaze darting between your tearful eyes and Jisung’s panicked ones. “Jisung, did you do this?”

“It was an accident auntie!” The boy in question answered immediately as he shook his head nervously and scooted away with his hands up in defense. “It was an accident, I promise!”

However, with your back turned to him then, you naturally had a different impression of the incident as you quickly retorted, “He pushed me, mommy! He pushed me off of the swing!”

Your mother never made any clear indication that she believed you as she simply shook your head and lifted you by your shoulders and knees, carrying you to a nearby bench to treat your wounds.

Angered by your outburst, Jisung reluctantly followed you and your mother to the bench then glared at you until your injuries were cleaned and bandaged. With his arms crossed and a permanent frown bordering a pout on his lips, he stood next to you in his attempt at looking visibly angry for a puny five-year-old while you hissed and whined in pain the entire time.

What’s worse is that his own mother made him apologize by sending him off to the nearest convenience store to buy you apple juice and steamed buns. Because of this, you’ve been mortal enemies, rivals, each other’s designated future potential killer, whatever you want to call it ever since.

Age seven. Han Jisung helped perpetuate a wild rumour that you and the rest of the class’ female population had ‘cooties.’

It’s only natural for boys at this age to gravitate to similar actions, of course. After all, you’ve heard worse from boys in the other classes (read: Hwang Hyunjin crying and demanding to get sent home because a girl kissed him on the cheek on the first day of classes). It’s the fact that Jisung actually seemed to have to believed it for a brief period of time in your first grade, however, that completely threw you off.

He pulled on your braids during the time he sat behind you and kicked your shins while in line for P.E. class to ‘test your anger patience’ that was apparently fueled by cooties and occasionally stole your snacks for actual ‘DNA evidence’ of said cooties among other petty little things. It was nothing short of annoying and the very bane of your existence then.

“Han Jisung cut it out!” You yelled at him one day, hitting him on the shoulder with the curved end of your wooden broom during after-class cleaning time. In this particular incident, the boy managed to swiftly take one of your pigtails out while wiping the windows in an attempt to ‘examine’ the DNA in your hair.

“What?!” He snickered, taking a big step away from you and lifting up the blue scrunchie to examine it for miniscule strands of loose hair. “It’s for research!”

You groaned in annoyance, reaching forward to retrieve the scrunchie with one hand while the other instinctively ran through the messed up half of your hair. “Jisung, give it back, you weirdo!” You scolded through gritted teeth, rolling your eyes when he shakes his head stubbornly and takes another step back from your reach.

“Tell me the secret first!”

“Secret of what?!”

“Do you girls actually have cooties?” He quirked a genuinely suspicious eyebrow at you, raising the scrunchie above your heads after when you proceed lunge forward at him. “Does it actually make you guys this irritable all the time?”

Somehow, the questions struck some kind of nerve in you. You were tired from classes, cleaning, and having to put up with Jisung’s childish antics. Maybe 1st grade girls did have cooties but for tapping into unbridled anger. “I’m going to kill you!” With the broom in your hands and the dust pan you snatched from his in retaliation, you then proceeded on repeatedly hitting Jisung in the forearms and shoulders until he surrendered with his arms protectively over his head and your scrunchie finally within reach.

He also offered to fix your pigtail back for you but given the amount of distrust you already had for him, you simply smacked him one last time and went to the other end of the room to fix your hair.

Age nine. Maturing a little bit through summer camps and classes, you and Jisung redirected all of your energy from physical violence to outsmarting each other in class.

It started in English class when Mrs. Lee introduced the idea of recitations garnering students points and a fancy award at the end of the school year. Coming from the same piano class in the summer prior wherein you and Jisung also competed for your instructor’s attention, the two of you were quick to consider this as another one of your competitions.

You devoted most of your time to studying the lesson from the what’s, who’s, when’s, and where’s while Jisung thought that focusing more on the deeper why’s and how’s would somehow garner him better points no matter how many times Mrs. Lee reiterated that all recitation points are given in 1 point’s.

As the school year progressed, especially after the first semester report cards came out and the two of you were tied to first place in English to the very third decimal, the academic rivalry immediately extended to competing for the most amount of extra-curricular activities. You were more favored with the way you handled baby animals at the local shelter and competed in debates and quiz bees while Jisung was mainly noticed by the soccer and baseball coaches and the school choir’s moderator for his skills in sports and music.

Jisung’s mom, who always picked the two of you up from school in her minivan, obliviously thought it was cute.

“You know, instead of competing over everything all the time, you guys can take some notes from each other.” She pointed out one time after hearing your comment on Jisung ‘smelling like a polluted Pacific Ocean’ as he climbed in the backseat of the car. The sentiment almost went in one ear and came out of the other with the two of you, however, as Jisung proceeded on complaining that you smelled like ‘Cruella de Vil’s fake fur coat’ then hitting you on the head with his soccer ball. “Especially you, Sungie. You can learn a thing or two of keeping a goldfish alive for more than a week from Y/N.”

You laughed at Jisung’s immediate shocked reaction of wide eyes and gaping mouth at this, slapping his arm in amusement and toppling over the backseat in laughter. “Yeah, Sungie, you really need help from that department.” You stuck your tongue out at him teasingly, laughing even more when he groans and hits you back with a light punch to your own arm.

“Stop it.” He hissed at you before turning to his mother again, meeting her gaze through the rear view mirror. “Mom! You’re supposed to be on my side!”

Mrs. Han was also stifling her own laughs then, forcing herself to focus on the road ahead instead of checking for her son’s pouting expression and crossed arms through the mirror. “Okay, okay.” She chuckled playfully with a dismissive hand, catching your eye after with a giggle. “Y/N, you should learn how to commit to exercise more with Jisung, then. There? Happy?”

Satisfied, Jisung stuck his tongue out childishly at you as if completely forgetting the fact that he was attacked by his own mother first. “Bleh!”

You rolled your eyes at him with a light-hearted scoff of your own, laughing away the way he proceeded to exaggeratedly tease you. “You’re so childish, Sung.”

When your moms did seriously consider this idea later on, you were then forced to dedicated one weekend to taking each other to your respective extra-curricular activities. It was right before your final examinations and Jisung ended up getting scared over a golden retriever giving birth while you received severe cramps from the elementary soccer team’s rigorous conditioning training.

It was a recipe of disaster, basically, and it ultimately led you and Jisung to cram knowledge for your exams on Sunday night in his bedroom. When you stubbornly didn’t learn anything from going to each other’s favorite extra-curriculars, you unconsciously ended up learning from each other in the six hours you both stayed up trying to review your notes. Miraculously (as in the miracle of hot brewed Milo-induced sugar rushes), it went well and the two of you tied or were close in grades at the second release of report cards.

The only downside of it all was just the fact that the fancy recitation award in your English class that started it all somehow went to Hyunjin.

“Ah, this is so frustrating!” You exclaimed on the ride home from school. You had your report card in your hands like Jisung, looking back on it all the while stressing out about Hyunjin winning the award the two of you spent a whole school year competing for.

On the other side of his mom’s backseats, Jisung then turned to you and suggested, “Want to prank him? We’re playing soccer next week, you can swap his Cola for soy sauce.”

You glanced over at Jisung, your pout slowly turning into a mischievous grin at his raised brows. “You’re onto something...”

Age ten. You went on your first class field trip with a stuffed purple lunch bag of snacks.

Your mother specifically suggested that you share it with Jisung, thinking that the two of you would sit next to each other on the bus since he’s your only classmate she’s actually familiar with. But of course, when Jisung didn’t bring up any hints that he knew of this while waiting for the school bus to arrive, you immediately thought against it and planned out how you were going to hide your seemingly endless supply of snacks from him on the back-and-forth rides to Namsan Tower.

It was a well thought-out plan involving sitting near to the front and as far away from him as possible with your own group of friends then hiding the lunch bag under your seat until you caught Hyunjin not-so-discreetly trying to steal from you while he re-checked attendance after a stop-over.

“Jisung put you up to this, didn’t he?” You frowned, candy successfully retrieved from Hyunjin’s prying hands and popped into your mouth as the lanky boy scratched the back of his head in shame. “It’s okay, Hyunjin, I won’t kill you. It’s Jisung’s corpse I’m planning to roll down Namsan if he’s actually behind this.”

After a few more coaxing, Hyunjin eventually nodded sheepishly and admitted to Jisung convincing him to take a candy bar from you.

“Ya! Hyunjin!” Jisung whined from across the bus, peeking his head up from the identical red seats with balled up fists. “I told you not to rat me out!”

“Y/N was being scary!” Hyunjin argues back, sprinting back to his seat as soon as the the bus stopped at a streetlight. Hiding under the sea of seats, he then exclaimed, “You two take me out of your fights! Geez!”

Jisung pouted at you as soon as you lifted your own head up from your seat and turned around to face him, holding his hands out in front of him and then asking, “Can’t I really have candy?”

You shook your head stubbornly. “If I give you one, everyone’s going to ask me for it too.”

“But everyone’s basically asleep!”

“They could be fake-sleeping for all I know!” You hissed, popping another ball of candy in your mouth. “I don’t trust anyone in this class with food but myself.”

“Y/N!” He whined, only to get pulled down by force when the bus abruptly begins moving again. Scrambling up right after, he then continued pleading, “Please?”

“No.” You firmly concluded, sitting back down on your seat.

Jisung even tried staying behind to try and steal candy off of you while the entire class was piling outside to enter Namsan Tower, only to trip in surprise when you jumped on him from crouching under the seats. Poor boy almost hit his head on the seats in shock.

“I knew you’d pull this kind of shit.” You tsked in disapproval with a slight stutter towards cursing at such an age, smacking him over the head anyway before throwing the smallest piece of chocolate candy you had from your bag. Moving past him to the bus exit, you then added, “You don’t even do nice things for me.”

You only meant it half-heartedly, though. Whether Jisung actually wanted more candy or he did sincerely felt bad over what you said, either way, he paid for the expensive pink lock you and your friend wanted to hang at the very top of the tower later on but only if you promised to share your snacks.

Jisung received three packets of gummy bears and a bottle of banana milk from you in the end on the ride home.

Age twelve. The Hans temporarily moved to Malaysia in the summer before the seventh grade because of an assignment for Jisung’s father at work.

On the day before their flight, Mr. and Mrs. Han organized a farewell party in their house at the other end of the block and invited your entire class. Jisung tricked you into getting him a farewell present by telling you that everyone was planning to do the same thing as a surprise but he secretly found out thing.

He didn’t actually expect you to get him something, not with the way the two of you have always been at each other’s necks since you were kids, but you ended up surprising him in the middle of the lunch party by giving him a small notebook of useful Malaysian phrases you wrote down yourself. You don’t always agree with Jisung but you think of yourself as thoughtful and civil enough to buy something practical. Also, your parents insisted.

“O-Oh, you actually got me something?” He fumbled through an intense blush that matched the redness of his Supreme cap, almost tripping over nothing as you both stood on the steps leading down to the back of his house. It didn’t help that a few classmate passersby were glancing your way as well, either cooing or snickering at the awkward sight in the corner of all the socialization. “L-Like—like, this is actually for me?”

You raised a brow in confusion and reluctantly shrugged, releasing the red phrasebook from your grip as he held onto it by the other end. “Yeah, you said you’re getting presents so I...got you one.”

“I actually lied—“

“What?!” You exclaimed a little too loudly for your taste, earning you a sharp glare from your mother all the way across the backyard. Mouthing a quick apology to your her, you then quickly averted your glare back to Jisung who instinctively resorted to looking at anywhere but you. “But you said—“

“I thought for sure that no one would give me any farewell presents since it’s not a birthday or anything but I know you would if you’re like forced to or something so I thought...hehe...” He mustered up a sheepish grin, pressing his index fingers together in a comical shy gesture. When your glare intensifies, he then immediately held his hands up in defense and visibly winced, “Ya, don’t hit me!”

Every fiber in your being really wanted to hit him with the notebook then, maybe even push him down the stairs while no one was looking, but after a moment of thinking your way out of such violent thoughts, you resorted to exhaling a sigh and saying, “Whatever, just keep the notebook or something. I don’t care. It’s not expensive, anyway.”

You chanted to yourself that you’re mature, especially as Jisung’s eyes lit up and he immediately thanked you for both the gift and sparing his life that day.

Though he didn’t hear the end of the other teasing from Hyunjin after that, Jisung kept the notebook around anyway throughout his entire two-year stay in Malaysia. It was helpful but he’ll never admit that to your face.

“You kept it.” You pointed out one day, more as a statement than a question as you realized that the notebook he was using for exam reviewer notes was in the same color as the phrasebook you gave him. When Jisung came back in the summer before the ninth grade, the two of you met again in the same cram school wherein mostly everyone but you and the transfer student, Kim Seungmin, refused to help him keep up with the heavier than usual workload. “The phrasebook...”

“Yeah—well, I didn’t want to waste any of the pages you didn’t write on.” He pouted stubbornly as he flipped through the older pages to compare the amount of pages you used to the empty sheets. His tone actually sounded like he was convincing himself much more than he was trying with you but you missed it complete in the moment. “Be more eco-friendly, Y/N.”

You simply rolled your eyes at him. “Glad to know I kept you alive in another country somehow, then.”

Age fourteen. You went to a soccer game to see Jisung but only because one of your friends, Eunha, developed a crush on the striker and eventually hatched a plan to confess on the game before Valentine’s Day. Fortunately, Jisung barely noticed and didn’t tease you for it since it’s already an established fact that you’re always at his games with either Yang Jeongin or Seungmin to cheer on Hyunjin instead.

You really didn’t get it. Of course, fifteen was the time when some, if not all, parts of your day were starting to become dedicated to vanity and all the artificial things in life to attract kind of puppy love in school but at this point Jisung always wore the same green hoodie, red Supreme cap, and white ‘Eyez on You’ shirt to every school function that didn’t require wearing a uniform.

You understood how your classmates suddenly began fawning over Hyunjin right after the summer when he got his braces removed and then Seungmin for bringing a suit and tie one time for an inter-school debate but the hype over Jisung suddenly bringing in his guitar to class breaks everyday and re-emerging as a star soccer and baseball player throughout the school year is an absolute mystery to you. That or, maybe compared to your junior high peers, you’re just as used to him at this point than they all are. In your perspective, the only legitimate thing he has going on is how he always seems to beat you in most Arts subjects and how annoying it is that he always makes sure to rub that in your face.

“I’m pretty sure he still doesn’t shower properly right after training.” You shook your head disapprovingly at Eunha during the game. Soccer is an interesting sport for surprisingly bringing you up to stand and cheer at some moments, you’ll give it that, but watching Jisung get cocky and interact to the crowd whenever his team scored a point was somehow cringe-worthy to watch. “And I’m so sure he still doesn’t clean that soccer ball of his right after practice. You deserve better, sis.”

But no matter how much you talked shit about him throughout the entire game, Eunha still held onto the box of handmade candies she coerced you into picking up from Jisung’s favorite candy shop on the weekend prior and cheering him on with the slogan she made herself. It would’ve looked cute and sweet to you if it was some other guy but it’s Jisung—the guy who pushed you off a swing, pulled your hair, stole candy from you, and made all of your elementary after-school rides home an actual rollercoaster—and you would never wish his treatment of you to any other person ever.

“You said that was in elementary, Y/N.” Eunha chuckled softly, nudging your elbow before a sour expression could completely overtake your face. “Surely he’s outgrown that girls have cooties phase every boy had then.”

“No, it’s Jisung and I refuse to believe it.”

You really didn’t want to believe it with your natural instinct to see Jisung as the bane of your existence. What’s worse is that Eunha was right and Jisung shyly accepted the Saturday movie date at the mall that she came up with on the spot when he surprisingly received the candies well, a complete stretch from the Jisung who would’ve lied about being busy or tricked your friend into doing something else altogether. Suddenly, it was selfishly annoying that you’re the only one he actually tortures the life out of.

“Told you.” Eunha giggled throughout the drive back to your house. Your mother picked you up from school right after the soccer game for a sleepover you insisted was a must whether or not your friend scored her Valentine’s Day date. “Ah, I’m glad he accepted. I was a nervous wreck there! You don’t happen to know what kind of movie he likes, do you?”

You never heard the end of it from her for the remainder of the semester. The two were never official—middle school just didn’t have that solid idea of significant others, then—but they did went on numerous ‘dates’ almost every weekend that followed Valentine’s Day. Naturally, Eunha would tell you all about it.

“He’s so sweet and caring and thoughtful!” The girl endlessly gushed out to you so genuinely you would’ve been happy had you not been sincerely expecting a major fuck-up from Jisung. Nothing romantic really did come out of these dates, even Jisung surprisingly swears by it, but they did become really close friends after and as Jisung’s only other female friend at the time, you can clearly see a point of comparison between his different treatment of you. “Though, I’m gonna give it to you that he is annoying sometimes but he does know a lot of good places to hang out around town for someone who’s been away for two years!”

“He does the bare minimum for everything, Eunha. I could barely call it sweet.” You scoffed unamused.

Age sixteen. In the summer after the tenth grade, an upperclassman from school by the name of Lee Minho started volunteering at the same local shelter you’ve been under since elementary after surrendering a lost cat to you while he and Jisung were playing baseball at the nearby park.

He adopted Dori in the end but prior to finalizing the adoption papers, he actually made the effort to come in at your MWF schedule to help around and see the dark grey kitten. To you, it was endearing and thoughtful since you didn’t have much active co-workers at the shelter your age but to Jisung, it was slightly inconveniencing how Minho would cut off their play-time to see the cat. He even thought Minho had a crush on you and vice versa but you knew that Minho liked one of his own closer friends.

“Jeoyeon?” Minho scoffed, crouching down next to you one time as you watched over the new litterbox of kittens eating with Dori on your feet. Crossing his arms over his knees, he shook his head and chuckled, “They’re cool and we’ve been friends for a long time but I’m sure they have a big fat crush on Bang Chan. Something happened after their McDonald’s date after our prom, I’m telling you!”

“No, not Jeoyeon! I meant Bora!” You argued back with a laugh, picking up a white kitten that wanders off to your feet and lifts its body up cutely for a lift. Gingerly pressing the kitten to your shoulder, you then turned to Minho and continued, “The one who came by the other day to see Dori with you. Aren’t you guys rooming together in college?”

Minho clutched his chest dramatically at this, shaking his head with a comical conviction. “What?! How could you accuse me of that, Y/N? Bora’s from a different cheerdance team! That would be like sleeping with the enemy!”

You rolled your eyes, knocking him off of his balance by elbowing his sides. “Ya, I didn’t say that, you did!” You scoffed at him, sighing when he laughs off landing on his butt before sitting up in a crisscross position. “Anyway, don’t you like her?”

“If I don’t like her, we wouldn’t be making all these plans to move in together for college, stupid.” Minho snickered, earning him another elbow jab from you. “Well, what do you want me to say? You asked me if I like her, you didn’t ask me how exactly I like her.”

"Okay then, you wise wise person: how do you like Bora?” You sighed dryly, plopping down on the ground at feeling your ankles starting to ache from crouching. The kitten on your arm then jumped down to your lap, circling your legs a few times before finding a comfortable position to sleep in. “You know, the more you visit here with this kind of sarcasm, the more I’m starting to understand where Seungmin and Jisung are suddenly getting all of their newfound sassiness from.”

Minho chuckled next to you, picking up Dori for himself once he saw him finish eating before hugging the kitten gently to his cheek. “Bora’s...someone I’d probably punch a guy in the team for if they ever disrespect her. I mean, I’d punch a guy for Dahyun, Jeoyeon, and Jihyo, too, of course, but Bora’s in the same sport where she’s always getting lifted in the air and touched by who knows who and now that we won’t be in the same team, I feel even more responsible for keeping an eye out for her.” He shrugged casually, ignoring the way your jaw just dropped at how naturally he explained himself. “Plus, it took a lot of convincing to get her to be my roommate so I can’t really have her dying under my care in the next four years.”

“I—” You furrowed your brows in thought, pursing your lips in a pout. “Wow, I’m jealous.”

“Then get on my good side, Y/N.” Minho winked with a laugh, holding Dori in front of you. “Let me take this baby home at the end of the summer.”

You rolled your eyes again at this, shaking your head. “No, I mean...I hang out with Jeongin, Hyunjin, Seungmin, and Jisung and they aren’t really the most well-versed boys on treating girls properly.”

“That’s why you hang out with me. We all know that Hyunjin just can’t say no to anyone who offers him a slightly more expensive bouquet of flowers, Seungmin’s in a relationship with baseball and academics, and Jisung...Jisung’s just dumb in general.” Minho then pointed out with a somehow knowing tone, smirking when a familiar figure passes by the hallways right behind you. “Speaking of...”

Jisung joined you and Minho after, making sure to sit in between the two of you and drowning himself in as many kittens who wanted to sit on his lap as much as he can. “Dude, you shouldn’t have left early!” He scolded Minho with a pout and a slightly breathless tone from running all the way from the park. “Seungmin joined us today and he completely wiped out Sunwoo’s team!”

“Then even more reasons to come here early so you guys could play with Seungmin on your team.” Minho laughed, gently handing Dori over to you from across Jisung before standing up and dusting the lint off of his jeans. “Y/N needed help with feeding the cats and puppies today, anyway.”

Jisung frowned, turning to you after and asking, “Don’t you have any other co-workers around here?”

“Jeno has allergies so I don’t let him in here on most days.” You shrugged, handing Minho the empty pet bowls nearest to you as he proceeded to clean and collect them. “I can do it myself, you know. It’s just that Minho comes over and insists.”

“Then you should’ve just told him that so we can play longer.”

“Why is it a big deal? Do you like Minho?”

“Do you?” Jisung’s eyes widened, almost getting scratched by a random cat in the process. “Because...because that’d be gross, to be honest...”

At this moment, your eyes accidentally met Minho’s right behind Jisung and the older boy had the audacity to wink at you before sprinting out of the room with a thumbs up above his head.

In the end, you shrugged and answered, “I like him.”

“What?!” Jisung sat up so quickly he almost scared a bunch of kittens walking all over his chest into jumping away.

“I’d be a psychopath if I don’t like him but let him volunteer around here, dumbass.” You deadpanned, moving the kittens around him to a safer space on the floor. “Besides, you asked me if I like him, not how I like him.”

“What the fuck does that even mean?”

Minho had a whole laugh out of eavesdropping from this conversation that he felt bad and actually adjusted his schedule for volunteering and playing soccer better so ‘Jisung would have one less thing to whine about all the time.’

Age seventeen. You and Jisung tried convincing your respective parents that going to prom as a group is the more practical and actually trendy thing to do but your mothers wouldn’t have it. Ultimately, the two of you ended up lying that you’re going as each other’s dates.

You initially planned on begging to Seungmin until he pulled up balloons, roses, and a song number to his lab partner right on the lunch break that you planned on doing it and, of course, you had enough dignity to not fall in line with the countless of students that basically worshipped Hyunjin’s locker as if it were a shrine.

Jisung, with Eunha already set on going with someone else she started dating at the beginning of the 11th grade school year, was the convenient choice. Your parents knew each other, he knows someone (his older brother) who can drive, and he’s recently gotten over his Emo-Hypebeast wardrobe phase after joining the school’s radio club with Chan and Changbin. With some convincing (read: an elaborate PowerPoint Presentation he made you do on the spot during one of your lunch breaks), the two of you decided that you would take all the photos your respective mothers wanted, carpool to the hotel, then go on your separate ways until his brother picks the two of you up at the end of the night.

It was a simple and fool-proof plan, one that you almost forgot when you rented an emerald green and gold prom attire then Jisung’s mother told you right after about hearing her son trying to order a purple callalily boutonniere that clearly did not match your taste nor your colors (you sorted this out by cancelling the order and taking matters into your own hands). Then, the most awkward photo op at your house happened.

“Sungie, put your arm around Y/N!”

“Y/N, stop slouching, you’re going to wrinkle your outfit!”

You were never serious-looking in any photos that had Jisung in it as well, preferring to pose like the two of you planned on murdering each other right after the photos instead, but your respective moms were holding your Instax camera and the family film cameras across the living room in this particular situation and so you reluctantly kept it inside. Straightening up your shoulders and elbowing Jisung to at least wrap an arm over your shoulder, you held up smiles right next to your red rose corsage and boutonniere set until the two women were eventually satisfied with their photos.

“Aah, you two really make a cute couple!”

“Mom, we’re not a couple!” Jisung whined, glaring at you after which you immediately returned with the same expression.

“God, I’d sell all my limbs first before we actually become a couple.” You deadpanned back at him.

Fortunately, Jisung’s older brother allowed the two of you to basically try and throw each other out of the car windows on the thirty-minute ride to the hotel venue in compensation. You almost had him by the neck and he almost ruined your hair that you spent hours curling until Hyunjin pulled you back with a smack to your head and dragged the two of you away to help in the Prom Committee’s final preparations since Jisung was going to perform with Changbin and you were a part of the Prom’s Logistics team.

You mostly stayed out of each other’s hairs for most of the first part of the program as you were busy pulling everything together while Jisung was having the time of his life with the soccer and basebal teams. The next time you bumped into each other, you scolded him for running late to his and Changbin’s set after dinner.

“Where were you?!” You mostly hit him in the back with your clipboard, frantically passing him his already set up electric guitar and a microphone. First, one of your peers got drunk too early in the dinner to help out in the program, then one of the event’s award sashes briefly went missing and, not to mention, a lot of the people from the other committees somehow forgot about their event tasks when you asked in the main groupchat. You really weren’t having anyone’s antics at this point. “Geez, we already practiced this!”

“Ow, ow, ow! Stop hitting me! Why are you so on edge?” Appropriately, he whined in complaint and took a step back after receiving his equipment, holding his hands up in defense as he always does. “Cut me some slack, Y/N! It’s prom!”

“You’re so late when your table is literally right next to the side of the stage!”

“I was dancing with everyone else! You wouldn’t know since you wouldn’t even take a break!”

“Because I’m busy!”

“No, you’re just being more irritable than usual!”

“Fuck you, Han Jisung.” You rolled your eyes with an exasperated sigh, coldly directing him to the stage. “You’re on, get on the stage.”

You knew he didn’t mean it cruelly, especially when his pupils started to shake and his shoulders instinctively slumped as he glanced back at you right before reluctantly stepping up the star-filled stage, but you were too tired of having to run around and making the event perfect for most of the night to process anything, much less his usual jabs at you. Being in such a tired headspace, you couldn’t enjoy his songs no matter how undeniably great they were, much less meet his eyes when you knew how he kept glancing at you throughout the entire set.

He even covered your favorite song on the spot (which surprised Changbin and had Hyunjin running around backstage to inform everyone of the sudden extension) but you already sat down on your shared table with Hyunjin, Seungmin, Eunha, and their dates before he could even begin singing the chorus.

“Hey, you good?” Minjung, Eunha’s date, asked you with an offering of an extra shawl to cover your exposed shoulders from the nearby air-conditioning unit. Eunha had previously left to go to the bathroom after stopping by your shared table. “Y/N, I told you if you needed extra help with the program, you could’ve just told us. We just planned on dancing tonight, anyway.”

“I’m good.” You grumbled in a half-lie, resting your chin on your propped up hand tiredly, mumbling a small ‘thank you’ for the shawl as you fought away your tiredness. “I think I’ll just sit the rest of Prom out. Hyunjin can run the program on his own.”

Minjung frowned, sitting down next to you and fixing the loose strands on the haphazard ponytail you managed to pull up in the middle of the program. “Are you sure? Eunha and I can stay with you until you’re feeling better. Besides, the program’s still long, you deserve to enjoy your hard work later at least.”

Stubbornly, you simply scrunched up your nose and shook your head. “I think I’ve had enough of prom for one night. You should go and dance more, though. I’m okay as long as you guys are having fun.”

But equally as headstrong as you are, Minjung got Eunha in on convincing you to agreeing to one dance with them as soon as she came back from the bathroom, reasoning out that, “We can stay in the back and just dance silly! It’s prom!”

The pair proved themselves to be unstoppable in their joint persuasiveness when they got you to stand up and actually join them at the next set, right as Jisung was about to approach you to apologize. The poor boy ended up waiting the entire night until the two of you were alone instead, shivering right next to each other at the lobby while waiting for his brother to pick you two up.

“Why did you even pick out something off-shoulder? I get that it’s trendy these days but you picked the venue knowing it’s cold and didn’t even connect a few dots there.” He hissed lowly, contemplating on teasing you further or keeping it quiet until he can muster up a ‘sorry’ to you. Shrugging off his jacket, he then gently draped it over your shoulder and added, “Don’t catch a cold or something...your mom’s going to kill me.”

“Shut up.” You hissed back, crossing your arms further in over your chest as you spotted his brother’s car approaching the lobby’s driveway. You didn’t remove his coat from your back, though, clutching it tightly instead while convincing yourself that he willingly gave it to you so there’s no reason for you to throw it back at him when you really needed it. “ You don’t even do nice things for me.”

The familiar words visibly caught him off-guard, almost foiling his plan of opening the door for you as he freezes in his steps but he regains composure in time and almost trips ahead to swat your hand away from the car’s door handle. “I’m sorry.” He mumbled in the awkward silence, gulping down his fears of your death glare as he briefly averted his gaze away from you. With this, he missed the way your gaze softened. “There’s candies in the pockets.”

And there was, coincidentally enough the same brand he tried stealing from you on your school field trip.

“These aren’t expired, right?” You chuckled, popping a chocolate in your mouth anyway.

That was enough for Jisung to relax his shoulders and laugh along. “No, promise.” He held a hand up as if he was swearing by his words, easing you into another fit of laughs. “I ran all the way to the convenience store down the block to get you those tonight! I felt really bad...I didn’t mean it.”

He could be sweet if he wanted, you’d give him that.

“I’m sorry too.” You whispered to him at the end of the night, right after scoffing at him for insisting to walk you all the way to your doorstep of course. “I was so stressed with managing everything that I took it out on you.”

Standing awkwardly with you right in front of your house’s front door, the sheepish boy rubbed the nape of his neck and shrugged. “Nah, I think I deserve it. I do annoy you a lot, don’t I?” He chuckled, eyes trained to the ground. “I didn’t even ask you to one dance.”

“Not like you actually had to, we’re no—”

“But you were still technically my date and I don’t want to be a bad prom date, even to you!” He insisted anyway, only then looking up at you. “I’ll make it up to you in the distant future, okay? Reserve me your next dance in the distant future, no matter where it is!”

Before you could even retort, he was already running back to his brother’s car.

Age eighteen and a half. Jisung began dating a girl named Haneul whom he met in one of his general classes and didn’t have one single clue about baseball or soccer. Naturally, his entire friend group was concerned.

Though you’re much civil friends now, you still didn’t really care. Or maybe you didn’t want to out of spite (or a really really weird and displaced feeling of jealousy?), you weren’t sure. You just thought that Jisung can do whatever he wants even when it’s something that’s generally not advisable when you’re a freshman in college, but it seemed as if it was all Jeongin talked to you about whenever the two of you met up to study for one of your shared classes so naturally you forced yourself to take in all of the gossip. What’s worse is that Hyunjin would come over often to loiter around the library and gawk at the cute student librarian, ultimately encouraging the younger boy to talk about it more.

“You’re being unfair to her.” You always reminded the two, sometimes Seungmin when he would sit quietly in the middle of the topic and say nothing to defend Haneul. In this particular time, Jeongin took you to watch the baseball team’s Wednesday scrimmage after hours of studying your nursing notes together at the nearby library. “Like, look, I don’t even do any sports myself but you guys hang out with me.”

“But you’re different, you’re not dating any one of us.” Hyunjin snickered, hugging his helmet to his chest as he sat a step below you on the bleaches. When a thought then crossed his mind, he dramatically gasped over his gloves and added, “Wait, does that mean you have a crush on someone? Is it me?”

You smacked him in the head with your hand, rolling your eyes after. “You know what I mean.”

Next to you, Jeongin mustered up a shrug as he tried getting an injured Kira to sit back down on her seat. Your stubborn best friend, after playing at an underground derby game on the weekend prior, kept on moving around because sitting down with her injuries made her uncomfortable. “But at least you make an effort for us even if it’s just small.” He reasoned out, huffing tiredly when Kira finally sits down and promises not to move for the next five minutes. You would’ve helped him but personally you thought he deserved to suffer alone after letting her go out despite her injuries today. “Haneul got dragged by Jisung to watch last week’s scrimmage and didn’t even last a set. She just left in the middle of the game—literally!”

“He made Jisung skip on my derby game to too!” Kira pouted, waving her bandaged hands frantically in the air. “I’m personally offended, Y/N!”

“And she doesn’t seem to like talking to us in general.” Hyunjin shrugged in conclusion. “Like, sports aside, she’s a bit rude and nonchalant when she talks to us in general especially when Sung isn’t around. It’s a bit sus to me.”

“To be fair, Kira, I wouldn’t be going too if you and Yeji aren’t so insistent on it. It’s so worrying seeing the two of you get hurt.” You pointed out before averting your attention to Jeongin once more. “And Jeongin, you know the only reason I can’t leave baseball and soccer games these days is because you and Seungmin are usually my ride home.” You scoffed. “If I could, I’d be hanging out with Felix more and only going to Kira’s games. Ya, why is he even allowed to skip games and I’m not, anyway?”

“Because he’s taking classes and training with the cheerdance squad until 8 PM and as far as I’m concerned, you’re free after 12 noon like me!” Jeongin simply grinned at you, earning himself a glare. “Also, I need you here with me as the medic team. You know I’ll panic alone!”

Fortunately, no one ever actually gets injured at any of the games regardless if they were formal or not. By the time the game has finished, you were reminding Kira to rest more at her dorms and sprinting out of the baseball field to the samgyeopsal place the team promised to treating dinner at. You completely missed the boys’ conversation on Haneul in the process but you did get free food.

You really didn’t get it. The one time you met Haneul by chance, when you and Felix bumped into the two at the mall near the supermarket, she seemed a bit distant but she could be polite when she wanted to. Of course, it rubbed you the wrong way but you and Felix thought that it was none of your business anyway, given that neither of you are dating her.

“When the guys walked me out of the baseball field last Wednesday, they did mention something about Jisung aiming for the soccer national team but who knows if they’re exaggerating again or something.” Kira confided in you later that week when the two of you met up over lunch. “Either way, I’d understand. If I were in Jisung’s shoes, I’d feel a little disheartened if someone I really like doesn’t appreciate the things I’m passionate about!”

Still, you simply let your friends sort it out for themselves. “Jisung’s a grown-up, he can figure things out on his own at the end of the day.” You reasoned out.

Age eighteen and three-fourths. Jisung asked—practically begged—you to go to the movies with him because he and Haneul broke up the week before his birthday after opening up his worries to her. The other ticket was meant to be a surprise for his ex-girlfriend.

From what Jeongin and Felix have gossiped to you on two separate occasions, Haneul apparently didn’t like you and the rest of Jisung’s immediate friend group no matter how many times the boys tried warming up to her and getting to know her over the summer. She didn’t really support Jisung’s passion for sports, too, and mostly just stuck around for the ‘clout of it all’ or however Felix worded it to you.

“I’d ask Hyunjin but he has a date with that librarian!” Jisung frowned over the phone on the night before the scheduled screening of Weathering with You. Reminiscent of a similar time long ago, he sounded more like he was convincing himself than you. “And Seungmin’s taking care of Kira, Minho and Felix are training, Changbin’s doing God knows what with his finals, Chan has swim training and—and yeah, you know where I’m going with this!”

You sighed, rolling over on your back in your bed after submitting your online work. “You can ask the baseball team, the soccer team, your Introduction to Musical Theory class, the campus radio club, and—and yeah, you also know where I’m going with this.”

“Yeah but—but it’d be weird if I just went with anyone or something!” He mumbled under his breath, pausing on the other line to scratch his head in thought. “Come on, it’s not your midterms week yet, right? Can’t you come over and go to the movies with me?”

“You’ll probably strangle me in the dark or something.” You argued next.

“But it’s free tickets! At least you’re going to die with free tickets!”

“So you are planning to kill me! I knew it!” You snorted dryly, rolling your eyes. “Seriously, don’t you have anyone else to go with? Why me?”

Jisung took in a sharp breath in the longest pause you’ve ever heard from the usually rowdy boy. At that moment, only then did you notice the faint sounds of pre-recorded dialogues for soccer arcade games. He must’ve been at the one near his dorm then as he usually was when he was contemplating on something. “I just—honestly, I’m still processing all of this and I don’t want to open up to the guys...and Eunha’s abroad and I’m not that close to Kira or Bora so I thought of you.”

Now, it was your turn to be speechless.

“It’s silly, I know.” Jisung continued with an awkward laugh when he didn’t hear anything on your end. “But even when you’re annoying sometimes and you always get angry at me because you always misunderstand, you’ve known me the longest and I know you listen well and you’re always open-minded about things so I thought I’d vent to you, if it’s okay...”

You finally released a defeated sigh, sitting up properly on your bed as if he was actually in the same room as you. “God, you’re too good at making me feel guilty.” You mused out loud. “Fine, just text me the place and time and no funny business!”

You met up with Jisung at the nearest shopping center the following night, surprise paper bags of take-out and a mini cake for two to eat at the cinema.

“I’m only going to be nice to you this time because you just got dumped and it’s your birthday later.” You explained as serious as you can to a giggling and blushing Jisung, handing him the take-out paper bags. Once the dinner meals are in his hands, you then take out the blueberry mini cheesecake from its separate paper bag and set up the candle you brought along with it. “Now, make a wish and get it over with.”

Jisung’s eyes widened at the pink candle suddenly being pushed up to his face, distracting him from the passersby cooing and making comments at the two of you. “Really?”

You nodded impatiently, thrusting the cake further up his face. “Yes! Now, blow on your candles or I’ll do it myself and eat the whole thing!”

Jisung wasted no time blowing the single candle and taking the cake from you as well, jumping up and down in place as he closed the lid carefully and returned it to its paper bag. “Thank you!” He exclaimed gleefully, pulling you to a side hug. “Now, I feel a bit better.”

“You better.” You frowned back at him, biting down a small smile when his hug lingered on a second longer. “Now, let’s go or we’ll be late to the screening.”

Fortunately, Jisung didn’t actually tried strangling you in the dark while the movie played since he became busy with eating his dinner and cake as well as crying over the plot.

Age nineteen. Jisung took you to the arcade inside the shopping center after to vent while scoring kicks at the mini soccer game.

“Basically, she said—” Score. “—that she felt annoyed that Hyunjin, Minho, Jeongin, and Seungmin were mostly onto her for ‘seeming off’ whenever they met or interacted.” Another score. Standing outside the protective fence, your gaze darted quickly between Jisung and the small net across the long room. “So I said that’s just how those guys are: they’re very curious of new people and make a lot of effort over it so when they feel that the other person’s energy seems off or doesn’t match theirs in any way, they’d worry.”

You nodded along whenever he glanced over to you, agreeing halfheartedly. “Hm, those guys don’t take bullshit, of course...”

“Yeah, right...” Jisung kicked another ball, barely missing the goal as he thinks of what to say next. “Then she started accusing the guys that they don’t like her because she doesn’t do sports which doesn’t even make sense because I know it’s not superficial like that.” He sighed, scoring again. After this particular kick, he then stopped altogether and turned to you. “The guys just feel off that, as someone I’m dating, she doesn’t make enough effort to watch my games or be familiar with the sports I love. It’s not the same thing.”

“But does she make an effort to listen to your music?” You blurted out of nowhere, surprising not only Jisung but also yourself.

It just occurred you to on the spot. All this talk about Jisung’s passion for sports had you thinking if Haneul also disliked the one other thing that Jisung was absolutely passionate about: his music.

And it seemed to have caught him off-guard as it took the boy longer to contemplate on the question. “I—n-no? No...” He furrowed his brows in thought, walking over to you on his side of the chain link fence. “Come to think of it, she never told me what she thought of the songs I used to send her for feedback...”

You nodded, mumbling under your breath, “So much for defending her from everyone last summer...”

“Hm?”

“Like, I’d get it if your friends don’t immediately warm up to her because that really does happen in some relationships and it can be remedied over time but not appreciating the things you, the person she’s dating, are passionate about is another thing. If she doesn’t like the things you’re passionate about, then maybe she really isn’t the one you should be with.” You shrugged nonchalantly. “She could be all things nice but if she doesn’t support your own ambitions, other things that make you really happy, then everything else doesn’t mean anything.”

When he doesn’t speak, you allow yourself to continue. “Kira told me that you’re aiming for the national team in either baseball or soccer which is a bit surprising since I know you’re already being sought after for your music even at university so clearly those things are very important to you. Having someone around that doesn’t see that importance enough to make efforts is a bit meaningless in the long run, if you think about it. You...you deserve better, it’s what I’m trying to get at.”

Still, he wouldn’t speak after everything you said. Instead, the boy just gaped at you from the fence. It definitely unnerved you as time dragged on longer.

“I let you vent and made my own input on it like you wanted me here to and you just gape?” You tsked through your nervousness, crossing your arms teasingly and leaning over the fence on your side. “Ji, say something.”

“...thank you.” He finally breathed out before you could complain further, catching you off-guard this time. “I needed that.”

“What?”

“This whole thing just made me feel really conflicting feelings.” He confessed, voice lower than usual now as he mirrored your position. “Thank you for listening and telling me what you thought. They definitely made a lot of things clearer.”

You smiled, shoving him slightly through the fence separating the two of you. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it birthday boy?” You teased, laughing even more when he pouted at your teasing tone. “So? Feel better, then?”

“A bit, yeah.” He nodded, grinning widely now. “Thanks for tonight, Y/N.”

“You won’t admit it to my face but I know you’d do the same for me if I annoyed you into it enough.” You shrugged, standing up properly now and walking over to the entrance. “Now, would you let me play? You’ve been at it for twenty minutes, it’s getting tiring watching you.”

He laughed at this as you joined him in the arcade space, kicking a soccer ball towards you as soon as you came in through the chain entrance. “What? You think you can do better?”

“I had to watch you all the time after school back then because you were my ride home and Mrs. Han always picked us up late. I’m sure that could amount to something.”

Age nineteen and a half. For a mandatory community service class, all of your friends signed up to volunteer at an orphanage.

The majority vote was actually at the shelter you used to volunteer at but your old neighbourhood was too far from the university you were attending and so the most practical option, the orphanage just two blocks away, was the natural next best thing. And from this one semester’s worth of experience, you definitely learned a lot about your friends.

For one, Hyunjin, Felix, and Jeongin were only popular with kids but only for their looks (additionally, his baking skills for Felix). Whenever you passed by them during volunteer hours, you would often find the three buried underneath a pile of toddlers hitting them with all kinds of toys. Feeling bad, you actually got the orphanage’s matron to assign them to the older kids after a while.

Seungmin and Kira, on the other hand, were so awkward at first but naturally got into the groove of it. Maybe it’s because they only started dating then and everything was flustering but they surprised you the most with how much they got along with almost all of the kids regardless of age.

Then, there was Jisung whom almost all of the younger kids practically fought over to play with at the playground. As if it was an inside joke of some sort, it made you laugh the most how the kids would often ask him to push them at the swings.

“Careful now,” You reminded him once jokingly, elbowing his side as the two of you approached the swing set where the kids were already waiting to get pushed on their respective seats. “don’t want their knees to get scraped or something.”

He simply scoffed at you, shaking his head in disbelief. “I won’t let that happen, not at this age.”

“So if I asked you to push me on the swings later, you won’t try and kill me this time?” You asked next, waving hello to the children before going around the swing set to gently push them to momentum. Jisung followed suit, making a beeline to his favorite, a toddler named Ara who always asked to be pushed higher on the swings.

“That’s a trick question because we’re not actually allowed to play here.” He answered matter-of-factly, turning to Ara right after. “Isn’t that right, Ara? Y/N isn’t allowed to play here because she’s an adult, right?”

The two of you would sit on the swing set and take turns pushing each other when the orphanage staff weren’t looking anyway, giggling amongst yourselves while watching the kids migrate to the jungle gym.

“You were so annoying when we were kids!” You mostly complained, letting yourself laugh about it now as it was all in the distant past. “You had the ‘girls had cooties’ phase and everything.”

“Because the boys all said it was true!” Jisung was quick to say in his defense, twisting the chains on his swing around to make himself spin. “And I was seven so of course I’d believe them that easily!”

“What about when you pushed me from the swings?”

“We both know that was an accident.”

“You could’ve secretly held a grudge against me as early as that time! You were so mad when your mom made you buy me snacks!”

“Because you told your mom that I did it on purpose! I thought you hated me even before that too.”

“Well, I never hated you before that, just to set the record straight.” You shook your head immediately, turning your swings to the side to face him briefly. “You? Did you ever hate me?”

“Never.” He shook his head back at you in response, equally serious now. “You were annoying at times but that was because I was kinda annoying to you too.”

“What about now?” You asked next, voice unexpectedly wavering at asking such a question and even more when he chuckled at this.

“You were with me on my what was almost my worst birthday ever just three months ago. What do you think?” He scoffed playfully, returning to his spinning to ease his flustered face. “Besides, we’re like better less-trying to kill each other all the time friends now! We’re even studying together again these days.”

“We both know you’re only at the library since you’ve been trying to wingman Hyunjin with the librarian and dote on Jeongin like he’s your baby.”

“What? No, I’m there for you too! Moral support!”

Age nineteen and three-fourths. Jisung’s older brother invited you along with your parents to his wedding during the Spring break and Jisung immediately jumped on the chance to redeem himself as ‘the best dance partner you ever had.’

You didn’t even think he’d remember something he said himself back then. Personally, you thought it was just his guilt from pissing you off or sleepiness from dancing too much at prom that was talking then. But the moment the dance floor was opened at the rather extravagant cherry blossoms-themed wedding, the best man was by your side within seconds after sprinting from his table across the wedding hall.

“Y/N!” He called to you as he ran to your table shared with all of your friends, your parents, and a few people from your childhood neighbourhood; his obnoxiously loud voice against the jazz music and his hand raised up above his head to wave at you catching a few guests’ attention. “Y/N!”

Felix was about to ask you to dance after Seungmin and Kira as well as Hyunjin and Jeongin paired up, your hand already up in the air to accept his, but Jisung was quick to swat your hand away from the other boy as soon as he arrived. “Sorry, Lix, I’m afraid I’ll have to steal Y/N away!” He dramatically interrupted in between tired pants, flashing the confused Felix with a sheepish grin. “I owe Y/N a very important dance!”

“What dance?” You raised a brow, bringing your hand away from his and back to your lap.

“The one—t-the one I promised you that night a-at prom.” He sighed, finally catching his breath after. “I promised you then, remember?”

From the corner of your eye, Felix’s eyes lightened up in excitement as he clasped his hands together and cooed. “Aww!” He giggled, making you and Jisung turn to him after. “If that’s the case, then why should I stop you two? I’ll just see if Chan or Changbin aren’t dancing yet!”

“But Lix!”

The other boy’s quick to wave his hands to you snappily, shaking his head. “No buts, Y/N! You two go and do that cute promised dance thing you have going on! I’ll be fine!” He assured, much to your protests. “I knew something was going on!”

“Nothing’s going o—“

“Thanks, Lix! I owe you, dude.” Jisung pats Felix’s shoulder appreciatively, turning to you after and taking your hand once more to pull you up into a stand. “Now, come on! My brother said he has my songs on queue!”

He whisked you away before you could protest further, taking you to the dance floor just as the music slows down to his own song. “Right on time!” He even exclaimed happily before placing his other hand on your waist. You’ve heard this one before as the one he would always sing at the Open Mic Nights at university. “Now, to make it up to you...”

Jisung didn’t dance so bad. He was still playful, making it a game between the two of you on who can step on the other’s feet the most when the next songs became more upbeat, but he was serious when he wanted to, sheepishly apologizing that it took him long to make it up to you.

“I didn’t even remember it until you brought it up tonight.” You assured with a laugh as the song slowed down once more. Without even realizing it, you’ve danced all of the songs in the two-hour setlist with him. “I didn’t think it was important.”

“Well, it is to me.” He shrugged as nonchalantly as he can, visibly looking nervous towards the end. When you quietly asked him why, his only response was, “Because that night I really realized that even when I liked annoying you, I don’t like pissing you off so much to the point that you hate me.”

And at that moment you realized that Jisung has some way of catching you off-guard so randomly. “W-What? I mean—” You wanted to joke something along the lines of ‘wow, took you long enough,’ but the words ultimately never came out as Jisung chuckled at your baffled expression.

“I mean, trying to piss each other off, joking around, competing over studies—those are our things.” He confessed sincerely, unconsciously tightening his grip on your hand as the song progressed. “But I said something that night thinking of it as a joke and not really considering the thought that it would piss you off so much because you were so stressed already. I didn’t like pushing you on edge like that—”

“You already apologized and everything, it’s all g—”

“—But most importantly, I really wanted to dance with you then, regardless of the incident.” He breathed out before you could even finish your thought, rendering you speechless for the second time. “Maybe I’ve always liked you then, maybe even before that; either way, I really wanted to have one moment where we weren’t fighting or anything—and, surprisingly, even when we’ve started hanging out better, I still want one. I still like you.”

You immediately stopped dancing, bumping shoulders with a stranger behind you which Jisung instinctively responded to by pulling your frozen form to the side of the dance floor. You pursed your lips once to speak, only managing to fumble out, “Y-You...you liked me?”

“I said I like you. Present tense.” He cleared his throat awkwardly, hands dropping to his sides immediately at sensing how tense and awkward the atmosphere suddenly became. “And I like you the way Seungmin dotes on Kira and Minho’s always protective of Bora and Jeoyeon’s been helplessly pining over Chan, those kinds in case you’re going to pull that how exactly do I like you bullshit you learned from Minho before again.”

“I—r-really?” Was your only response as you tried your best to process this revelation. “You like me? W-Why—why me?”

He chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the nape of his neck. “Yes, Y/N, how many times do I have to repeat myself?” He teased as casually as he could muster with his growing nervousness. “And why you? I don’t know, either, but I think I can start remembering as far back as the time you teased me at the playground that I push like a sissy but didn’t look for another playmate anyway. I’ve always liked you...just a little bit more now that I’m much more sure of a lot of things.”

It was all so overwhelming, honestly, but you belatedly muster up a laugh as he recalled such a distant memory from you. “Y-You...God, Han Jisung, you’re insufferable!” You mumbled under your breath, hitting him by his arm with one hand while the other covered your mouth. “Why didn’t you say so?”

“So, does that mean you like me too?”

“I let you dance with me the entire night. What do you think?” You scoffed playfully, gaze softening as you looked up at his relieved smile and bright eyes. “You did push like a sissy at the playground when we were kids, though.”

Age twenty. When Minho bought his roommate flowers to their last cheerdance competition and asked her to be his girlfriend, Hyunjin dared you to one-up the upperclassman and wear Jisung’s jersey to his own final game of the year.

“Well, you did give him that talk over dating someone who appreciates the things he loves.” Eunha told you over video call with the rest of your friend group on the day Hyunjin brought up the idea. Before you could even protest and repeatedly assure that you do support everything Jisung does, she was quick to add, “Yeah, I know you do appreciate them but I just think it’s fitting now! He’s been making a lot of effort for you lately and didn’t you say you wanted to do something in return? Maybe you can finally ask him what you’ve been wanting to ask for a while now too...”

You hated how she was right and very convincing about it. Since the wedding earlier in the year, Jisung has been nothing short of nicer to you. From actually hanging out with you at the library now (and not just to wingman Hyunjin or dote on Jeongin), buying you food randomly, to letting you vent your own worries and unwind from school by playing soccer with you or playing you music with his guitar, he’s been ‘making it up to you’ with quality time and sweet gestures; the only catch is that he hasn’t officially asked you out like he would.

The two of you aren’t exactly the direct words type of people but it’s still nice to have some sort of affirmation.

With a few more coaxing on her part combined with Seungmin’s own persuasiveness nagging at you in real time, your friends eventually got Jeongin to steal one of Jisung’s spare soccer jerseys later that day to give to you for his game on the following Saturday.

To say that Jisung was flustered is an understatement to say the least. Quickly catching you at the very front of the bleachers before the game started, he waved at you and the rest of your cheering friend group shyly, approaching only when the coach gave him permission to.

“Hey, that’s mine.” He snickered with even more sheepishness at seeing you up close, holding the jersey he wears by its shoulders before gesturing to the identical one you wear. The two of you stand by the stairs leading down to the field, on the side where you aren’t in the way of passing players and staff. “The jersey—maybe the one wearing it too.”

You held up the bouquet of daisies in your hands close to your face, effectively hiding the heat rising up to your neck. “I bought your favorite flowers too.” You pointed out next before gesturing to your friends sitting around you. “Those smartasses dared me to outdo Minho’s stunt at the cheerdance competition which I still think is dumb since you were in on that one but, hey, it’s the thought that counts, isn’t it?”

“Just seeing you is already enough.” He added with a flirty wink, making you cringe teasingly. “The jersey’s a really big bonus, though. I think I can score everything on this one because of you.”

“You better or else this jerseys’ going to be mine now.”

“I don’t mind.” He shook his head immediately, pulling you closer by the waist in his now ritual good luck hug from you and placing the flowers back on your sides. “I don’t mind calling you mine too.”

The cheesy pick-up line makes the two of you laugh. Either way, you push yourself to not let go of him too soon. “...ew, Jisung!” You hit his back instead, heaving a sigh of relief anyway before finally pulling away from his hug to send him off. That’s enough confirmation now. “Now, go win this game and get it over with. We’re still on for movies later, right?”

“Yep.” He assured, patting your head affectionately before boldly leaning closer again for a kiss. “I’m looking forward to it!”

398 notes · View notes

murderousginger · 4 years

Text

Wrong Thing To The Right Girl

Esme's sister (Y/N) meets the newest Shelby man on a night out with Finn and Isaiah. Their first encounter leaves much to be desired.

Warnings: Sass. Alcohol. Drugs. They're criminals guys, they do bad things.

Word count: 3,055

"Ezzy, I'm going crazy here!" You yelled as you stomped through the house to meet your sister in the kitchen. Pouting where she could see your sad face always worked better when you begged your big sister for something.

"All I've been doing is taking care of little ones. ONE NIGHT IS ALL I ASK."

"Mom sent you to me to behave," Esme whined as she worked on making dinner for the children. "If you go wild here, I'll never hear the end of it. She'll send you to a convent and write me off from the family."

"She would never, not with all these rascals with Shelby blues running around," you scoffed as you cupped your sister's swollen belly. "It's one night. One night isn't going wild. It's barely a respite."

"John--"

"Is off with Tommy and Arthur doing God knows what," you finished for her as she shrugged your hand off.

"The bars don't serve ladies unaccompanied--"

"Which is why I'll go join Finn and Isaiah," you sang, "we've become friendly, we have. They'll let me for the night. With Blinders surrounding me I'll be plenty protected so you shouldn't worry a thing."

Esme sighed loudly, as she stirred the pot of stew in front of her. She eyed you carefully.

"You have an answer for everything, don't you?"

You smiled cheekily and wrapped your arm around your sister.

"One night," you repeated. "I'll help put the children to bed, pour you a nice glass of milk and a sweet and I'll be back before anyone's the wiser."

"One night," Esme warned with a sigh before her features melted into a wry smile and she nudged your shoulder. "Show them how much fun a Lee girl can be. You have been good since you've joined us. One night should be fine."

You smiled back and nodded before erupting into a squeal and let go of Esme to dance around the kitchen.

"Thank you!" You kissed her cheek and spun yourself to your room to pick out a dress.

You helped her feed the children, bathe them and get everyone tucked in like you promised before you dressed into your favorite dress and boots. You patted the smallest bit of lipstick onto your lips and packed it into your bag before you brought a glass of milk and Esme's favorite treat to her. You kissed her head and patted her stomach.

"I'll be off now, sister dear," you trilled and turned to the door.

"Be careful!" She yelled after you. "And come home if you can't find the boys!"

"Yes mum!" You laughed as you closed the door behind you and rushed up the street to The Garrison before she could change her mind.

You whistled happily to yourself as you walked through the night. What Esme didn't know was that you had already snuck out a few times to let loose some steam. Living in a house that never moved felt so restrictive and you craved freedom. When your sister brought you around the blinders for meetings and general gatherings, you had quickly become friends with the younger boys. Your age was somewhere between Finn's and Isaiah's and you easily fit between them and their antics at events. It was like having a bit of home and it allowed you to relax.

You had even found yourself in dark corners sharing kisses with Isaiah a few times. Nothing was expected between you; the kisses were in a haze of the night between raucous laughter and jokes. It never went farther and you held no ill will to the girls that he took home or caught his eye. Sometimes whiskey demanded a blissful kiss or warm touch and you were happy to have a friend that understood.

You and Finn were purely friends, goading each other and joking until the early morning light. Finn was quickly a close friend. You saw how his brothers underestimated him and it made you notice how smart and kind-hearted he was. His eyes weren't hard like his brothers were; he had grown up in the rubble of the war without ever having to be made a killer.

Between them both you always had to sneak back through your window, praying not to wake anyone up.

You saw The Garrison ahead and Isaiah smoking by it's doors, talking to someone you couldn't place. Possibly another Blinder that you had only seen in passing.

"Oy, 'saiah!" You yelled and raised your hand in greeting as you picked up the pace to reach them before they wandered inside.

"(Y/N)," Isaiah exhaled his smoke through his smile as he raised his arm to pull you into a side hug. "Got Esme to let you out this time? You're too dressed up for window hoppin'."

You giggled and instantly sank into his side, hugging him tightly before you caught a good look of his friend. The boy was around your age, possibly older than Isaiah but not by much. His hair was perfectly styled and his suit was pressed. His gray-blue eyes were stuck on you as he exhaled smoke only to have it escape his mouth and go back in through his nose. It reminded you of a dragon, and the amused look he was giving you did not help that thought.

"I got my dear sister to bend for one night," you finally said, turning to look up at Isaiah once again and fighting a shiver as you felt the boy's eyes still watching you. "As long as my gallant gentlemen friends can watch me."

Isaiah laughed as you tugged on his tie to loosen it and slipped it into his pocket. You reached and stole his cigarette, inhaling the smoke before turning back to his friend and eyeing him back. You stepped forward and took up the space between them. He was still quiet as you exhaled the smoke and your face broke into a Cheshire smile.

"Who's your quiet friend, 'Zay?" You asked as you dramatically looked him up and down. "He's awful stiff for a Blinder boy."

"He's a new boss man, (Y/N)," Isaiah laughed as he pulled you back to his side to form a circle again. "(Y/N) is Esme's sister. (Y/N), this is Michael."

"Polly's son," Michael said, explaining his place as he held out his hand. "Tommy put me to work."

You handed Isaiah back his cigarette and took Michael's hand.

"Pleasure."

"Same to you," he said.

"Right," Isaiah said, throwing his cigarette down and stepping on it. "Michael's new blood and freshly let off Polly's leash, so Finn and I are doing our best to break 'im in. His little church town didn't teach him the ways of bullets and whiskey."

Michael rolled his eyes and finished his cigarette.

"New can be fun," you said, looking over Michael again. "Let's get me a drink and see if we can find your Michael a girl."

"And me," Isaiah laughed as he guided you into the bar. "Work your magic to get me a girl tonight, too."

You took your coat off and hung your purse and coat over the small back of the barstool next to Finn.

"And shoot myself in the foot for the chance for a kiss in the dark, I think not," you jokingly scoffed as you placed your hands on the busy bar and slid into the seat. "Since you asked so nicely, I suppose I can."

"That's my girl," Isaiah laughed and sat beside you, nudging your shoulder with his.

You said your hellos to Finn and ordered a whiskey, playing with the ice cubes by twirling them with the mixing straws as you all carried conversations between each other.

Over the next stretch of time, you watched the younger girls at the bar and which of the boys you were with they watched. You played into it, carrying on and touching a shoulder here or laughing at something as the girls watched and turned green before you would lean into one of the boy's ears.

"The girl in the blue dress, Finny," you said into his ear when you leaned in to him. "She likes you. Just lean back and rebuff me. Make your eyes at her and go talk to her. She's willing."

You leaned back and laughed as Finn's eyes lit up and you pressed your hand to his chest. The corner of his lip curled as he politely grabbed your hand and placed it on your lap. You pouted as he leaned in just a tad.

"Thanks, (Y/N), you're the best."

Finn winked at you as he stood up and straightened his jacket, playing slow as he looked around the bar and found the girl you told him about. He smiled and was off. You faked a scoff and watched the girl grin as she looked from you to him in victory. You turned away to face the bar, rolled your eyes and nudged Isaiah beside you.

"One down," you laughed as you waved Harry over for another drink.

"Tell me (Y/N)," Isaiah teased, "is it gypsy magic that makes you so good at this?"

"It's just a woman's touch," you said. "If you can behave around me, you're safe enough to talk to. And women sometimes like a bit of competition. Makes them feel wanted."

You sipped the drink that appeared before you, already delightfully blurry. You looked over your shoulder to check on Finn. He was completely enthralled by the girl, laughing at a table and having a good old time.

"Are you sporting tonight?" You said as you turned back to him. "I've seen you eye a few. The one on the end has been glaring through me the entire night."

"Liza," Isaiah said as he scratched the back of his head, "yeah. We've a bit of history. I could see if she'd like a review of it."

Isaiah went to stand, but you stopped him as he rose.

"Wait," you said, putting your glass on the counter and facing him. "Before you go, can I have some Tokyo?"

Isaiah smiled down on you as he took off his coat and placed it on the chair.

"I have my last bit to the bird that turned me down earlier," he said as he trained his eyes on the form behind you. "Ask Michael, he might have some left."

"Right," you said and smoothed his shirt. "Off you go then. Can you walk me home tonight, or will you be otherwise occupied?"

"I can probably walk you home," he said, looking at you for a moment with a big smile. "Now wish me luck."

"Luck," you said as he strutted past you.

You looked across the empty seat to Michael, who had mostly talked to Isaiah because of the volume of the bar. You smiled and slid into the empty seat next to him.

"Looks like it's just us for a beat," you said.

"Looks like," he said as he swirled his glass in his hand.

"Is there a girl you've fancied tonight?" You asked, looking around. "Maybe I could help."

"Not tonight," he said, jaw clenched as he looked at the bar.

"Alright then," you said as you watched him curiously. "'Zay said you might have some Tokyo, can I have some?"

"Yeah," he said, finishing his drink and setting it down on the bar. "Let's go to the back, private like."

You shrugged and nodded, standing up with him to head to the back storage area. You nodded to Isaiah as you passed him, but otherwise no one paid any mind to a Peaky boy taking a girl off. When you reached the room with the shelves of alcohol, Michael lit a cigarette and took a breath before he rummaged through his pockets and handed you the small bottle.

You took it and smiled as you turned to a shelf slightly shorter than you and made a line. Before you could look up, Michael pushed a bill to your face, and you smiled a thanks as you rolled it up. You offered the first snort to him, but he chuckled an exhale of smoke and shook his head.

"You don't do it?" You asked, amused.

"Only carry it for pretty girls or selling," he said back.

"Well, then," you said and plugged your nose to snort the snow. The rush hit you before you could open your eyes. The jolt of energy surged through you and cut through the blur of the alcohol. You would be in a lovely state for the rest of the night and ready for the world.

"Thank you, Michael," you sighed and held the bill out for him to take. He waved you off.

"Keep it," he said with a smirk. "There are other ways to pay me back."

"Pay you back?" You asked as your brows knitted together. "I don't want your money, I just wanted a bit of fun in the snow."

"And I said you could keep the money and pay me back," Michael said evenly.

"I have no intention of paying you back at all," you scoffed. "You're lucky I offered to return your bill. Now I'm going back to the bar."

You moved to walk past him and out the door, but he grabbed you by the waist and pulled you back.

"I'm a Shelby," he said as he placed you in front of him. "And I say we aren't done here."

Your stomach dropped to your feet and you chilled at his tone. The snow and the booze kicked in and your anger grew hot just as fast. Too fast for your brain to catch up to.

"You're not used to being told no, are you?" You sneered. "You're used to being a pretty little boy from a nice village that gets his way. I'd wager you thought that coming here and picking up a gun made you a man. You thought that Tommy giving you a place meant you were a bad man that could get anything he wants. You aren't a man. You're just a little boy that joined into a world you will never understand. Now let me pass."

"Fucking gypsy bitch," he spit as his chest puffed as he looked down at you. "You don't know nothin'."

"I know your mother makes you gypsy blood, too," you spat back. "Your grandmother was a Boswell. And that makes you a hater of your own blood. You aren't better than those of us that weren't raised in your precious boring town. You aren't even smarter, with your schooling. Indeed, you're lacking knowledge that you're too proud to ever gain."

Michael's eyes were aflame and his jaw clenched as you threw his money at his face and shoved past him. You ran back into the safety of the public bar. You slowed your pace as you broke into the room and stomped back to your seat. Finn was back at his chair, taking a drink as you slid by him.

"Michael's a dick," you huffed, frantically waving Harry for another drink. When it appeared you drank it in one gulp.

"Don't I know it," Finn muttered under his breath. "The girl was fun, but I'm about done tonight. You?"

You stiffened as Michael appeared standing beside Finn, face stone.

"I think I am, too," you said, glaring at Michael. "Finn, walk me back? I think Zay's still off with Liza."

Finn rolled his eyes and nodded. You stood up, shooting a last glare at Michael before gathering your coat from the seat.

"I'll go along," Michael said to Finn. "Bar's getting a bit boring anyway."

Your stomach knotted but you didn't fight it. With Finn between you, you didn't think Michael would do anything else. He seemed to ignore you entirely, talking with Finn as you all made your way through the night. You quietly listened to them talk about sports and girls and snow, realization dawning on you that you had left your purse at the bar. You cursed yourself in your head. Luckily there wasn't much money to steal, but your prized lipstick would surely be missed. Too late now.

"Ey, (Y/N)," Finn said and cut you out of your thoughts. "It's not five minutes from John's. Is this close enough or do you need walked to the door?"

"Such gentlemen," you drawled as you rolled your eyes. "I'll be fine here, thank you. Goodnight boys!"

You took a few steps forward and turned around to bow theatrically at them before spinning and walking toward John's house. You took a dozen or more steps before you heard a voice call out behind you.

"(Y/N)," Michael yelled and you froze.

You heard him walk toward you and you spun in your boots to see him halfway to you, Finn waiting awkwardly behind.

"What, Michael?" You snipped, crossing your arms as he stopped in front of you.

"Thought you might want your bag," he said as he pulled it from under his coat.

You gasped, taking it from him slowly.

"Thank you," you said, mouth agape. He sighed and chewed at his cheek.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking away from you. "I was wrong about you."

"Damn right you were," you growled.

"I said I was wrong," he said as he squinted at you.

"And I agreed," you snipped. "Thank you for my purse, though. I suppose you aren't a complete asshole."

His jaw flexed as he looked to his feet.

"I guess that's fair," he said in a huff. "Have a good night, (Y/N)."

"You as well," you answered stiffly.

Michael awkwardly took a step back from you and slowly turned to return to Finn. You hugged your purse and slowly walked toward John's door, opening it and going inside before you allowed yourself to peek back at the boys. Michael had lit a smoke on his return to Finn, who was waiting with his hands in his pockets and his hat low. A trail of smoke rose above them as Finn raised his hand in a last goodbye and they both turned to walk away. You shut the door and locked it, letting a heavy sigh escape your lungs as you let all of your tension go.

Wrong, indeed.

Masterlist

#michael gray #isaiah jesus #finn shelby #peaky blinder fanfic #peaky blinders #fanfic #storytime with murderousginger

143 notes · View notes

wingsofkpop · 4 years

Text

Hiraeth - I.VII: Shattered Memories

pairing(s): Hybrid!Im Jaebeom x Reader, Witch!Mark Tuan x Reader, Werewolf!Jackson Wang x Reader, Vampire!Park Jinyoung x Reader, Supernatural!Got7 x Reader

genre: Supernatural!AU, Dark Magic!AU, Angst, Fluff, light Smut

warnings: Mature language, mentions of death and murder, mentions of trauma, brief depictions of sexual content, nudity, mentions of alcohol, some satanic themes, etc.

word count: 6,9k

synopsis: How far are you willing to go to find out the truth about Moon Dye Bay?…

chapter directory

Your eyes desperately survey the dim room, searching for a way to escape from this strange man who magically appeared in your bedroom. There’s no possibility of reaching the door without alerting him to your motives, nor is the window even an option since your apartment is almost nine stories up. You’ll need to come up with a different plan… Even if it means fighting your way out.

“Look, I know it’s hard to believe—”

You glare incredulously at the stranger, curling further into your bed to create more distance between your forms while hissing, “Jackson Wang died years ago, so unless you have some logical explanation or something, then I’m going to kindly ask you to get out of my fucking apartment before I call the police!”

“I do have a logical explanation!” The man insists as you take another glance at your surroundings. If you play your cards right, you might be able to grab the tea mug off your nightstand, throw it at the stranger, and while he’s distracted, make a break for the door. If anything, the noise will hopefully wake up Sana…

You snap out of your thoughts when you notice the man beginning to approach your safe perch. Deciding now is better than never, you lurch forward to grab the cup and heave it toward the stranger with all your might. However, the object merely soars straight through the man’s head and shatters against the opposite wall with a loud crash. He continues to stare at you as if nothing even happened.

A choked breath slips past your lips. “What… the fuck…”

“I tried to tell you.” The man raises his hands, as if to promise pacifism, and literally slides one arm inside the closed door of your closet, “I am Jackson Wang, and I am dead… but you’re still somehow able to see my spirit.”

“So you’re… a ghost?”

He nods.

You narrow your eyes, still suspicious. “If you’re Jackson, then how did you die?”

“I was killed.”

“By who?”

Jackson tilts his head, “Mark never told you…?”

Your shoulders slightly loosen at the mention of your witch best friend, but you still remain on your toes in case you have to grab and weaponize your lamp. “How do you know about Mark and I?”

“Because I’ve been watching you guys.” Jackson’s eyes widen. “Shit—that sounded really creepy. Think of it like… a guardian angel? Kind of?”

“What?”

He waves his hands as if expelling the idea before moving on, “If you’re a supernatural being, and you die, your spirit doesn’t really cross over like a mortal would. You’re kind of just… stuck in this place of limbo called the Other Side.”

“But how are you able to be here? And how can I see you?”

“Spirits can attach themselves to people or objects, and use their energy to stay in the land of the living.” Jackson shrugs, “As for how you can see me, I have no clue. I’m honestly just as surprised as you are.”

You bite your lip, trying to configure whether he’s telling the truth. If only you had asked Mark to describe Jackson back in the cave, then maybe you could have matched up his appearance. But all you have to go off of is this ghost’s words… which for the most part, seem genuine. And he hasn’t tried to hurt you—big props.

“Okay. Let’s just say I believe you for now,” You start before quickly raising a stern finger to point your companion, “but I have tons of questions. For starters, why the hell are you in my room?”

“I don’t really know.” Jackson grimaces, rubbing the back of his neck. “It sounds really weird, but it was like I was drawn to you…”

“Drawn to me? You mean like a magnetic pull or something?”

He nods. “Exactly. But I really don’t know why. Maybe it has to do with how you can see me.”

Feeling hot, you shove the heavy blankets from your body and embrace the newfound cold air against your bare skin. An exhausted, baffled sigh escapes as you bury your face in your palms, hoping to calm the throbbing in your head. Your thoughts are too wild though, and you end up meeting Jackson’s gaze in a matter of seconds.

“So am I supposed to play Ghost Whisperer and help you cross over…?”

“I don’t think so.” You fight off the urge to flinch as Jackson collapses onto the end of your bed with a deep huff, “But whatever it is, it’s really nice to have someone to talk to…”

“Are you alone? Like can you talk to other ghosts?”

“I can, but it doesn’t happen very often. A lot of people on the Other Side can be pretty… intense.”

To your dismay, your heart yearns for him. You grew up on your own after all, so you can understand what it feels like to be lonely.

“You never answered my question from before.” You say after a brief moment of silence, “...Who killed you?”

Jackson’s eyes are dark as he thinks over your question, almost hesitating to give you the answer. While he’s debating with himself, you take the time to study his features. Now that he’s sitting entirely in the light and you’re able to see everything.

You’re not surprised you mistook him as a human, because there’s literally no physical detail that reveals his ghastly nature. Unlike the ghost stories you’ve known, his skin is dark like honey and not transparent, while his lips are slightly chapped and hued the palest of pinks. His hair is a mocha-type brown with a couple sun-kissed caramel highlights, complimenting the sharpness of his handsome features.

In summary, he looked no less human than another man. Although probably a bit more on the attractive side.

“It’s honestly a long and complicated story.” Jackson says after a while, yanking your attention away from his well-defined jawline. Even so, you still continue to stare as he leans back to lay on your mattress, staring up at the ceiling with a blank expression. “I should really tell you everything from the beginning.”

“It’s not like I’m going anywhere at…” You peer at the clock above your closet, “3 AM. We’ve got plenty of time to talk.”

He shakes his head, “It’s not that easy. I can’t stay on this plane for too long, or else some of the witches on the Other Side will pull me back.”

“How long do you have?”

“Honestly… seconds.” The ghost forces himself back to a sitting position in order to better face you, “We’re technically not supposed to cross into the plane of the living. I’ve been caught a couple times before, so the witches have been keeping a close eye on me.”

You furrow your brows. “Why don’t the witches want you over here?”

“Because they’re afraid of upsetting the balance of nature. You’ve talked to Mark a little about that, right?”

“He mentioned it once or twice.” You watch as Jackson rises from your bed and begins to head back to the corner in which you first saw him. He catches your gaze when he turns back around, offering forth a small smile.

“Sorry for scaring you, by the way.” He chuckles.

You shrug, your own lips upturning slightly. “It’s not everyday you talk to a ghost.”

Jackson nods at your response before glancing toward the mounted clock. It’s subtle, but you manage to catch the slight flash of worry that overtakes his bright irises. When he turns his attention back to you, however, the concern is gone.

“I don’t know when I’ll be able to return, but in the meantime, I want you to go talk to my pack.” Unlike beforehand, Jackson’s tone is scarily serious. Though it still contains remnants of his unusual gentleness. “They’ll tell you the basics you need to know to start. And, (Y/N)?”

“Yeah?”

Jackson’s eyes soften. “I don’t want Mark to know anything about this, okay? You’ll understand better when you hear the story.”

“Of course.” You thumb at a loose thread along the seam of your pillowcase before shaking your head toward the ghost, “Before you go, can you at least tell me who killed you?”

“Like I told you, it’s complicated…” He sighs, “But if you have to know, the Prime Two had a hand in my death… specifically Jaebeom.”

You don’t know what you were expecting, but it certainly wasn’t the name of the ancient hybrid. Still, it surprises you, and it doesn’t. Given the tension all between Mark, the pack, and Jinyoung and Jaebeom, it actually kind of makes sense. But what about the conflict that Changbin hinted at? Or Jaebeom’s bitterness with Mark? What has everyone been keeping from you?

So many puzzles pieces, yet no clue how to fit them together.

“I have to go now, but I’ll come to you as soon as I can.” Jackson’s urge brings you back to reality. “Just do what I said and get as much info as you can, okay?”

You nod. “I’m on it. See you soon, I guess?”

Jackson smiles again. “See you soon, (Y/N).”

You open your mouth to say something further, but in the literal blink of an eye, Jackson is gone. Just vanished into thin air. If you didn’t know any better, you swear you hallucinated the entire conversation… but after all you’ve witnessed in Moon Dye Bay, you do unfortunately know better.

With a groan, you fall back into your pillows, although the exhaustion from before is long gone. You doubt you’ll be able to fall asleep anytime soon, so you rise from your bed and set out to clean up the broken pieces of the mug you threw at Jackson only minutes before.

Guess having tea before bed comes in handy sometimes.

☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾

Steam wafts through the tiled bathroom, gathering in a blanket of fog along the glass walls of the shower. Jaebeom releases a sigh of relief as the hot water beats against his bare back and shoulders, massaging the tension from his muscles and soaking the rest of his naked body. To gain better access to the stream, he leans forward and presses his hands against the fogged glass for support. Less he wants to slip and fall.

Jaebeom peers down to watch the water spill down the drain, tinted red from the blood decorating his skin—Jinyoung’s blood, to be more specific. His mind immediately rushes back to the memory of his brother calling out for help in such agony and pain. He wanted to ignore it. He tried not to care. But then Jinyoung called out his name… what else was he supposed to do?

Jinyoung deserved a lesson for getting involved in witch business again, but Jaebeom couldn’t just sit back and let him suffer through the hallucinations of their hell of a childhood. He curses himself for giving into such weakness and angrily scrubs away the patch of dried blood on his forearm.

Maybe if you hadn’t looked at him with those bright, horrified eyes of yours after he left the room… then maybe his inhumanity could have won the battle over his sanity.

Jaebeom continues to clean himself as his thoughts wander like the steam of the shower. Jinyoung’s fever broke earlier, so he should sleep much more soundly for the next few hours or so. His body will need time to heal, more so because of his stupid, anti-human diet. Maybe Jaebeom will be able to finally convince the pretentious prick to hunt with him after all these years. Or at the very least, drink from a blood bag.

A faint noise that sounds vaguely like footsteps awakens Jaebeom from his shower-thought reverie. He squints through the shower door, trying to see past the curtain of steam. The bathroom is vacant save for the blurred image of his own reflection. Even so, something still proceeds to urk at Jaebeom’s senses, like an itch he can’t scratch.

There’s someone here.

It only takes milliseconds for Jaebeom to corner the figure that sneakily crept inside the shower with him and press them against the tiled wall. A little, feminine giggle emerges from the intruder as the hybrid cages them between his arms and broad chest. His nerves immediately calm at the devious face that stares back at him, instead earning a loud sigh of annoyance.

“You’re lucky I didn’t rip your fucking head off.”

“Mhm. I know how… rough you like to be.”

Jaebeom provides the female an unamused expression. “What are you doing here, Tzuyu?”

“Come on. I know you’re happy to see me.” Tzuyu flashes Jaebeom a radiant smile that resembles one of a temptress. Because of their position underneath the showerhead, her dark brown hair is already soaked. He also quickly realizes that she is just as naked as him. “I can’t just drop by and see my most favorite person in the world?”

“You and I both know that’s a lie.”

Tzuyu smirks. “That you’re my favorite person in the world, or that you’re happy to see me?”

“What do you think?” He begins to pull away from the female vampire, but she stops him with a tight arm around his neck. Before he can blink, Tzuyu’s lips are pressed firmly against his own. Her sweet taste invades his brain like a parasite, and he can’t help but melt into the kiss, hungrily pushing his tongue past the seam of her mouth to find more of her delicacy.

When she pulls back, Jaebeom almost growls. He lowers his hands to tightly grasp her waist before pressing her even further into the wall with his own body. In an effort to make up for the loss, he busies himself by sucking and nibbling along the canvas of her throat. His pride swells when she moans at a particular nip.

“A little eager, aren’t we?” Tzuyu mocks, deviously brushing her knee against Jaebeom’s gradually swelling manhood. His body thrums at the brief contact, quickening his abuse against the patch where her jaw meets her neck.

“You’re the one who interrupted my shower, remember?” He abandons her throat to trail a hand up to her breast, roughly pinching at her taut nipple and smirking at the low groan that bubbles in her chest. “If anyone’s desperate here, it’s you.”

“Touche.” The vampire arches her back more into Jaebeom’s alluring touch. The hybrid welcomes the newfound access, dipping his head down to take one of her buds past his lips. Tzuyu releases a faint whimper before burying her fingers in his wet locks. When she harshly tugs against his scalp, Jaebeom responds with a warning growl.

He detaches from her nipple and chuckles darkly, “We also know that you are the one that likes it rough.”

“Maybe I do.” Tzuyu’s smile is dangerous. “So what’s the big, bad hybrid gonna do with a helpless damsel like me?”

Jaebeom relishes the squeal of surprise that flies from her lips as he lifts her body in the air, tying her legs around his waist with a smirk. “I can think of a couple things…”

Just as soon as the words are spoken, the muffled ring of the doorbell distracts Jaebeom from his lustful rendezvous. He releases a frustrated groan, carefully lowers Tzuyu back to the floor, then shuts off the water. The vampire follows him as he exits the shower, watching intensely as he towels off and slips into a loose pair of sweatpants.

“Stay here.” Jaebeom says before taking off, quickly making his way through his bedroom, downstairs until he reaches the front door. Shaking out his still rather wet hair, he opens the door, prepared to tear apart whoever interrupted his moment.

However, all his anger vanishes into thin air at the visitor on his doorstep.

His eyes widen to saucers. “(Y/N)?”

“Jaebeom.” The animosity along your features falters when you notice his bare chest. You clear your throat before locking your gaze with his own. “How’s Jinyoung?”

Jaebeom’s mood deflates. You’re here for Jinyoung. Not him.

“The worst is over.” He replies truthfully, “He should be back to full health in the next few hours or so.”

“I’m sure he could have been better a lot sooner, but whatever, right?” Jaebeom decides not to drop the fact that he actually did heal Jinyoung. Besides, even if he wanted to, your voice would have beaten him to it, “Anyway, I’m here because I need to know what happened to J…” Confusion invades his veins when your voice suddenly cuts out. He notices your gaze on something over his shoulder, internally cursing himself for already knowing what it is.

“Who’s this pretty, little thing?” Tzuyu sidles up beside Jaebeom, eyeing your speechless form from head to toe. Her hand slithers to lazily rest on his tricep, but the hybrid can spot a symbolism of claim anywhere. And judging by the strange look in your eyes, so can you.

“I thought I told you to stay upstairs.”

“And miss meeting your human pet? How could I ever?”

Jaebeom shoots the vampire a warning look. Tzuyu innocently bats her eyes.

“I was actually just leaving.” You say, tearing Jaebeom’s attention away from his devious companion. He wants to say something further, maybe ask you to stay a little longer, but you’re already tugging your bag further over your shoulder and backing away from the door. “Tell Jinyoung that I hope he feels better, ‘kay?”

Jaebeom shakes his head. “Sure, but (Y/N)—”

You’re already walking away before he has the chance to finish his sentence. Jaebeom watches your form until it disappears inside a car, and even then, he watches the car until it drives past the entrance gate of the estate and out of sight. A strange, empty feeling remains in his chest, as well as the beginnings of annoyance and rage.

Tzuyu leans forward to litter light pecks across his bare shoulder. “Should we… get back to where we left off?”

Jaebeom slams the front door shut with a pound before pushing past the vampire without so much as a response. Tzuyu’s sigh follows him as he makes his way into the living room where he heads straight for the liquor table. He begins to pour himself a drink while Tzuyu situates herself against the doorway. Even with his back to her, he can feel her piercing gaze staring into his soul.

“She seemed nice… (Y/N), was it?”

Jaebeom downs his first glass of bourbon before shaking his head, “Drop it, Tzuyu.”

“So I’m not allowed to learn about your other girlfriends? Though I have to say, I’m surprised you’d ever go for a human.”

“It’s not like that.” He answers, glaring at the pouting vampire from over his shoulder. “She’s a friend of Jinyoung. We’ve only met like twice.”

Tzuyu smiles. This time it doesn’t spark arousal through Jaebeom’s body. It strikes fear.

“I saw the way you looked at her, Beomie… I wasn’t lying when I said she’s a pretty thing.”

Her tone of voice sends warning bells through his chest.

Jaebeom hisses darkly, “Stay the fuck away from her, Tzuyu. I mean it.”

“I would never lay on hand on your fragile human, Beom.” Something about the way her eyes gleam leaves an uneasy feeling stirring through his chest. That, and the way she looks down to check her nails with a sinister smirk. “Though I’m sure it would be so easy to cut out that sweet tongue of her—”

“Tzuyu—”

“Just kidding.” The vampire leaps from her perch against the doorway to steal the drink from Jaebeom’s hand. He watches her warily as she skips toward the window, staring out on the estate courtyards as she sips at the alcohol. Though her back is turned, Jaebeom can practically feel the cogs turning inside her head.

He only hopes she keeps true to her words. For your sake.

☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾

The purr of the car engine blends with the hum of your cell phone receiver. With each ring that passes, the trees outside the window grow more and more abundant while the hope within your heart only becomes less and less. You sigh when the familiar monotone message clicks across the line. For a moment, you debate on whether or not to leave yet another voicemail… It’s not like she’s answered the dozens you’ve already recorded before.

The little hope that remains outweighs your logic. “Hey. It’s (Y/N) again. I don’t know if you’re not getting my messages or just ignoring me, but… I’m really worried about you, Jihyo.” You bite your lip, readjusting your grip on the steering wheel before steering the vehicle onto another branching, dirt road.

“Sana was really shaken up last night and things are just kind of screwed up right now—for fucksake, Ji, please just pick up your goddamn phone and call me!” You end the call with a lot more force than necessary, tossing your phone into your open bag resting on the passenger’s seat. In order to calm the frustration bubbling through your veins, you focus your attention on the winding road ahead.

After somehow managing to acquire the location of the werewolf pack’s hangout from Bambam, Sana agreed to lend you her car. She needs some time to cope, especially with Momo and Mina’s “sudden disappearance”, so she’s taking the next couple of days away from work at Moon Dye Bay’s local cafe.

You thought it would be wise not to drop the real bomb about her high school friends when she was already wrecked over Jihyo’s walk-out, and while you hate lying… what choice do you have? If you tell Sana the truth, then you’d have to also tell her how and why Momo and Mina died. And with that, you’d have to tell her about the bay’s secret society of witches, werewolves, vampires, etc.

Disgust filters through your body as you’re reminded of your less than awkward visit at the Project Estate. The fact that Jaebeom is able to fuck one out of probably very many of his pretty call-girls while his best friend endures the worst of all sicknesses right down the hall just rubs you all the wrong ways. Maybe that whole speech about his humanity from Jinyoung was one big hoax to get you to feel sorry for him, but you refuse to do so.

You also refuse to linger on how that woman you saw with Jaebeom was one of the most beautiful women you’ve ever seen… and how it settles an uncomfortable pit in the depths of your gut.

At the sight of the cabin, you push all thoughts from mind and maneuver the car to pull up in front of the large residence. It surprises you how abandoned and poorly-taken care of the outside of the cabin is, considering Bam said that everyone in the pack basically lives here. Then again, if one of your closest friends and packmate was killed out of the blue, you wouldn’t care much about appearances either.

After cutting out the engine and grabbing your bag, you exit the vehicle. Bird songs and the buzzing of mosquitoes welcome you as you make your way up to the front door. You almost trip over a loose board on the cabin’s wraparound deck, but you manage to catch yourself before you slam nose first into the wooden ground. Just as you’re about to lift your hand and rap your knuckles against the door, a familiar voice seizes your attention:

“(Y/N)? Is that you?” Dahyun emerges from around the side of the cabin, carrying a homemade, woven basket full of wet laundry. With a hand on her hip and a raise of her eyebrow, she continues, “You’re the last person I expected to see today… Did Mark send you?”

“No, no.” You shake your head, “I was actually hoping to talk to Chan, or maybe Yugyeom about something?”

Dahyun offers a sympathetic smile. “Sorry, hun. Everyone’s out today except me and some of the youngsters.” She pauses to support the basket against her hip. “Is there anything I can help you with? If you’d like, we can talk while I take care of these clothes?”

“That would be great actually.” You agree, returning Dahyun’s bright smile with a weak grin of your own. The werewolf nods and gestures for you to follow her with her free hand, which you do so without any complaint.

Once you turn the corner, your jaw almost drops at the sight of the backyard. Unlike the front of the cabin, which looks so unkempt and depressing, the back is the total opposite. It almost reminds you of a mini oasis, with the tiny pond full of flowered lily pads and the bushes of vivid, flourishing roses. Twinkling fairy lights hang from branches of trees, and you can only imagine how pretty it would appear at night.

You and Dahyun pass a couple of other strangers playing Uno at one of the few picnic tables stationed around the massive yard. One of them, a young dirty-blonde teen, looks up as you walk by and offers a kind smile, which you can’t resist to return.

Dahyun hums, “That’s Felix. Chan’s little brother.”

“Really? I didn’t know he had a brother.”

You take a seat on a mossy tree stump, watching as Dahyun sets down her basket and begins to hang the wet laundry along an already prepared clothesline. After staring for a few moments, you climb back to your feet and move to help the werewolf.

She grants you a grateful smile and shrugs, “Most don’t. Felix hasn’t triggered his gene yet.”

“His gene?” You repeat, pinning a large, black T-shirt onto the line.

“Oh right. You probably don’t know much about wolves yet.” Dahyun peels open a moist towel and continues, “Basically, we’re born with this gene that has to be ‘triggered’ in order for us to activate our werewolf abilities.”

“So the whole werewolf bite or scratch thing is a myth?”

“One hundred percent bullshit.” She laughs.

You chuckle as well, before inquiring further, “How do you trigger it?”

Dahyun’s laughter immediately cuts out. Thinking you said something wrong, you open your mouth to reconcile, but the wolf beats you to it. Her tone nowhere near as light-hearted as before:

“You have to… kill someone.”

Your stomach twists, butterflies of revulsion fluttering all the way up to your chest. You notice how Dahyun no longer tries to meet your eyes, instead fully investing her attention in wringing out the dripping wet mass of fabric before pinning the corners to the line.

“It’s usually an accident for most of us though.” She shrugs with a faraway expression, “Sometimes we just lose control of our emotions and things get out of hand… then somebody ends up dead, and you turn the next full moon. Whether you meant to or not.”

You reach over to place a comforting hand on her elbow. “I’m so sorry… That sounds horrible.”

“It’s just the world we live in.” Dahyun seems to snap out of her traumatized state and throws a slightly awkward smile in your direction, “Anyway, once your gene is triggered, you turn into a wolf every full moon for the rest of your life.”

“Do you have control when you turn?”

“Not exactly. Our werewolf form is like a totally different part of us.”

You nod in understanding. At her guidance, you begin to take down the clothes that had dried beforehand while she finishes hanging the last of the remaining laundry. Once the last garment is pinned to the clothesline, the werewolf takes a seat in the grass and moves to begin folding the dry batch. You do the same.

“Now with all that aside, what was it that you wanted to talk about?”

“Oh. Right.” You bite your lip, trying to come up with the best way to bring up a dead Jackson without striking a personal chord. After a moment of silence, Dahyun must notice your apprehension, as she drops the socks in her hands and leans forward to lightly pat at your calf with a patient smile.

Her kind facial expression alone is enough to evoke a slight wave of bravery from your soul:

“Well, I was wondering about… Jackson Wang.” You say carefully, keeping your eyes on Dahyun’s gradually faltering smile.

The werewolf leans back from you with a heavy sigh before releasing a soft chuckle, “It’s been a while since I’ve heard that name. Though I’m a little surprised… I thought Mark would have told you all about Jackson by now.”

You shake your head.

“Jackson was our first Alpha, before Chan took over. All of this actually belonged to his family—” She pauses to gesture to the cabin. “—but after his parents found out he triggered his curse, they gave it to him so he could have somewhere to get away. Eventually it became a sanctuary for the werewolves of Moon Dye Bay.”

“Mark told me Jackson was his best friend…”

Dahyun nods. “Ever since high school. Mark helped Jackson when he turned the first time, and Jackson was there for Mark when his mother died.”

Your heart warms at the thought of Mark having such a close, supportive relationship with someone. However, that same feeling falters when you remember Jackson’s mysterious, tragic death.

“So how did he die?” You ask quietly, peering over Dahyun’s shoulder to check the state of the other inhabitants in the backyard. Felix and his other friends are still engaged in their rather intense card game and are paying no mind to you nor Dahyun. The information lessens your anxiety, though only slightly.

You return your focus to your companion when she tosses a wrinkled shirt back inside the basket with a bitter glare. “The Primes killed him.”

“But why?” Dahyun turns at your inquiry. “There had to have been a reason? Right?”

“When the Primes first came back to town, about four years ago, Mark and Jackson came up with a plan to try to kill their ancient asses once and for all.”

“How? They’re invincible?”

“Mark was going to gather enough power to break the immortality curse that makes them untouchable.” She answers, “Once Mark took out their safeguard, Jackson would drive a stake through each of their hearts.”

You frown. “I’m guessing that didn’t go as planned?”

“Mark couldn’t get the magic in time, but Jackson was never one to back down from a fight.”

“What do you mean?”

Dahyun rolls her eyes. “Jackson was one of the best people I will ever know, but his ambition always went to that big-ass head of his. That night, he was going to kill the Prime Two or he was going to die trying…”

“So you’re saying it was… his fault he died?”

“Yes and no.” She hums with a shrug. “Like I said, Jackson was always that ride or die kind of person. He was passionate and driven, but he was also reckless and stubborn.”

You furrow your brow before leaning back on your palms. Puzzle pieces are slowly starting to fit together, especially concerning Mark and why he blames himself for Jackson’s death, but what doesn’t make sense is why Jackson died in the first place? If Jaebeom and Jinyoung couldn’t be killed then, and still can’t be killed now, what threat is a brash, pig-headed werewolf?... And why would Jackson be so driven to kill the Primes that he’d give up his own life doing so?

Before you can spill your concerns to the waiting werewolf, the buzz of your phone seizes your attention. You retract the device from your bag to check the text message, finding a thread of new messages from Sana, one of which asking when you’re going to return to the apartment. You shoot her a quick answer with a promise to also pick up some dinner before you turn back to Dahyun.

“I should probably get going. I have a couple errands to run before the sun goes down.”

She rises to her feet in synchronization with you. “Of course. I hope I helped at least a little.”

“You helped so much, Dahyun. Really. Thank you.”

“I’m glad.” The werewolf smiles. “It was really nice to see and talk to you, (Y/N). If you need anything else, please don’t hesitate to come visit me again.”

“I appreciate that more than you could know.” You lean in to give Dahyun a quick, easy hug before walking with her back toward the front of the cabin. In the midst of approaching Sana’s car, your mind shifts back to another important, yet crazy thought that occurred to you while in conversation with Jackson last night. Without thinking about the consequences, you pause and ask Dahyun one final question:

“Is it… possible to bring someone back from the dead?”

Judging by her tense shoulders and bewildered expression, your abrupt inquiry takes Dahyun by surprise. She merely stares at you with saucer-like eyes and parted lips for a moment, until she seems to regain her composure.

Even then, her words are muddled and full of confusion. “I-I mean, I don’t know anything about witchcraft myself, b-but I think so?” She narrows her eyes. “...Why?”

“Just wondering.” You play off her curiosity by pulling your keys from your bag and opening the driver’s door. With a weak smile and a nod, you bid the werewolf farewell. “Thanks again. I’ll see you around.”

You don’t wait for Dahyun’s response, too worried that she might somehow pick up on the plan slowly building inside your head. Without a second to spare, you switch on the engine, put the vehicle in proper gear and back out of the cabin’s driveway. Dahyun watches from the deck, and though you’re distant from one another, you can feel the intensity of her stare as you maneuver back onto the dirt, forest roads.

Once you’re a decent distance from the cabin, you find your cell phone, pull up a specific contact and balance the device on your shoulder. The line picks up after two rings, and you don’t wait for the usual chime of a greeting. Not when you’re so deep into everything now.

“Bam, I need everything you have on necromancy.” You say into the phone, squeezing the leather cover of the steering wheel in a mixture of anticipation and excitement. “And I also need you to promise not to say a word about this to anyone… Not even Yugyeom.”

☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾

Changbin is fuming. Absolutely fuming.

It feels like his entire body is made of electricity, coursing through his veins and boiling his blood red-hot. He can’t control the trembling of his hands. Not even when he stuffs them inside the pocket of his hoodie. The urge to break something is strong, but Changbin doesn’t want to break just anything… No—he wants to break someone. Hurt someone.

There was once a time he would have never thought these words. Then again, that was before the Primes came to town, and before Jackson was murdered. Everything changed after that. Everyone changed. When the pretentious, youngest asshole of a bloodsucker showed up to reveal that Jackson’s body couldn’t even be handed over, no one put up a fight. No one stood up for their Alpha. Life just went on, as if nothing had changed.

A hiss sounds through Changbin’s gritted teeth as he thinks back to his most recent argument with Chan and Yugyeom. Neither of them even cared when he told them that Dahyun was the one who came at him first. They didn’t listen… but why would they? Changbin is just the runt with the anger issues, right? Why would anything he have to say matter? Why should they give a damn about his perspective… about his pain?

No one understands how much Changbin misses Jackson, nor do they understand how much anger it brings him that his legacy still goes unavenged. For fucksake, no one is brave enough to say his goddamn name aloud anymore. And even when he’s mentioned, everyone pretends as if there isn’t one giant ass elephant in the room. It makes him sick. Furious.

Changbin is suddenly awoken from his racing thoughts when his shoulder slams into the body of another walking pedestrian. He reels around and regards the hooded stranger with a deep growl, “Watch where you’re fucking going, asshole! Unless you want me to break your fucking arm!”

“That won’t be necessary.” Changbin watches, unamused, as the stranger removes his jacket hood. His face is familiar, he realizes. Changbin feels his anger grow tenfold.

He pulls back his own tattered hood with another growl, “You better have a good fucking reason to be lurking in our territory, witch.”

“I came to talk to you.” The witch remains unphased by the wolf’s aggression, even when the latter stalks closer and closer to his lean form. “I think you’ll like what I have to say.”

“Oh yeah?” Although the male is slightly taller than him, Changbin doesn’t hesitate to get up in his face. “And what makes you think that?”

The witch doesn’t pull away, but merely shrugs. “Because we both want the same thing… Revenge.”

Changbin’s ears perk at that single word. His ferocity falters, prompting him to create distance between his and his companion’s bodies. After tucking his hands back inside his pockets, he doesn’t say a word, but nods for the former to continue.

The witch smirks.

“What would you say if there was a possibility to destroy the Prime Two?”

“I’d say you’re crazy.” The wolf bites his lips, “...but I’d also say I’m the slightest bit interested.”

“And if I told you there was also a possibility of hurting Mark Tuan in the process?”

This time, a mirroring smirk pulls along Changbin’s lips.

“I’d say I’m in.”

☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾

“Are you sure I don’t need to come over there?”

Youngjae rolls his eyes at Mark’s concerned tone, adjusting the phone on his shoulder to better his grip on the thick grimoire in his hands. “No, hyung. Jisung and Lia left hours ago, so it’s just me.”

“I can help you out.”

“I really don’t think I need your help for a plant revival spell.” He glances toward the array of wilting flowers and herbs, before releasing a chuckle into the phone. “Seriously, hyung. Take the time to rest… You had a long day yesterday.”

He can almost see Mark shaking his head over the line. “Trust me, I’m very well-rested. I slept close to sixteen hours last night.”

“Then sleep another sixteen. Satan knows you need it.”

Youngjae sets the grimoire down on the countertop beside a yellowing, potted basil. He lays his hand over the ancient book, feeling the electric rush of magic entering his body through his palm. Once he gathers a satisfactory amount, he removes his hand and instead points toward the dying plant.

“I just… hate not being productive, you know?”

Youngjae watches the leaves of the basil gradually lighten and shift from rotted to fresh, finally answering when the plant stands tall, proud and very, very green:

“You need to give yourself time, Mark-hyung. That’s the most productive thing you can do right now.”

“I… I guess you’re right.” Mark sighs, and even through the phone, Youngjae can pinpoint his friend’s exhaustion. He hums in response and turns to revive a drooping sunflower, making note to move the plant to a perch where it can reach the sunlight.

“By the way, have you heard from (Y/N)?”

“No. Not since last night.” Youngjae answers.

“I texted her this morning and this afternoon, but she hasn’t texted me back.” The siphoner doesn’t respond, focusing on ripening the cherries of the sick miniature fruit tree. “Jihyo apparently left town last night… You don’t think that’s something to be concerned about, right?”

Youngjae shakes his head. “She was probably spooked by an ex-boyfriend or something. And I’m sure (Y/N) is busy at the university. You know how hard she works.”

“Yeah, I know. I just wish she would at least text me back.”

“She probably needs time to process too, hyung.” He reasons with the head witch, glancing toward the front of the mausoleum when the knock sounds from the door. “I gotta go, but I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”

Mark hums in agreement. “Thanks, Youngjae.”

“Mhm. Get some more sleep.” Knowing Mark would retaliate with his command, Youngjae hangs up the phone before he can respond. The siphoner mumbles a quick illusion spell to hide any evidence of witchcraft to the mortal eye, then heads toward the front door, unsure of who would be visiting the mausoleum this late in the evening.

Who Youngjae certainly doesn’t expect to see behind the door is you, standing outside with a large mass of books cradled within your arms.

Youngjae’s eyes widen when he notices one of the titles of the books, as well as the flames of determination burning inside your eyes. He parts his lips to inquire further, but you beat him to it… and your words nearly knock all the air from his lungs:

“I need your help to bring Jackson Wang back from the dead.”

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thespianbooks · 4 years

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A Court of Nightmares and Starlight //Chapter 7//

(Chapter one) (Chapter two) (Chapter three) (Chapter four) (Chapter five) (Chapter six) (Chapter seven) (Chapter eight) (Chapter nine) (Chapter ten)

(tags: @thron3ofbooks, @df3ndyr, @courtofjurdan, @art-e-mis, @herondamnn , @the-third-me, @im-still-trying-here, @emikadreams, @paytin77, @mis-lil-red)

Two things were becoming increasingly apparent: the first being that Rhys wouldn’t be the only one to coddle me for the duration of my pregnancy, and the second being that my adverse symptoms wouldn’t be alleviating any time soon.

I had a full week of reprieve where I was beginning to gain back some of my energy, and I was able to fall into a new work routine with Rhys; one where he insisted we work together in my office so he wouldn’t have to leave my side, before the waves of nausea and extreme fatigue returned. My vivid and violent nightmares also reappeared with a vengeance, and there was a night I awoke with quite possibly the worst I have ever had and spent the rest of the night in the bathing room. The next day I couldn’t leave the bed or lift my head without being overcome with a terrible dizzying spell, and barely managed to hold down the broth Rhys tried feeding me.

It took hours of negotiation to convince him not to summon Madja after I insisted that this was all, unfortunately, part of early pregnancy I would have to endure for the time being. Seeing me in such a state left him feeling anxious for my health, and I knew the same was true for the rest of our family as well. When I had confined myself to our suite after my symptoms flared up, the Illyrian males would take turns poking their heads in the door to check on me before Rhys eventually shooed them away—trying his hardest not to snap at them. At one point, when Rhys had a meeting with a palace lord that he couldn’t reschedule and begrudgingly attended, Cassian was the one to hold my hair back and comfort me during a particularly brutal wave of nausea.

Even Mor and Amren wanted to ease my burdens; both going so far as to take over my paperwork duties. Their reasoning being that as my second and third in command, they could sort through “frivolous” desk work. Elain, aside from Rhys, fussed over me the most. She was up earlier than normal in the mornings, brewing plain broths and my prenatal herbal teas that Nuala and Cerridwen taught her to make in the kitchen. Throughout the day she delivered my meals to either my bedroom, which I couldn’t leave until the day before last, or my office—where I now worked exclusively from my loveseat. Once I had the energy to resume my work, Rhys rejoined me in my office; picking up on his own work he had abandoned in order to tend to me. There were times when even Nesta would join Elain on her frequent visits, sometimes just surveying me from the doorway. I didn’t mind her distance, however, and gratefully drank the anti-nausea teas she acquired for me from Madja’s clinic.

I sipped on it now as I lounged in my office with Rhys, both of us going over our annual reports as he ran a finger along my calves that I draped over his lap. Every few seconds I felt his glances over in my direction, checking my overall well-being and ready to nurse away any sudden ailment. After what seemed to be his hundredth glance, I finally set my stack of papers down.

“Rhys,” I warned.

“Yes, darling?” he asked innocently.

I rolled my eyes, “Will you stop? I’m fine. I actually feel a little better today,” I promised.

“That’s your second mug of that anti-nausea brew today, you’re not fine,” he said simply.

I sighed, settling back into the lounge pillows as I took another sip. “Just because I’m a little nauseous doesn’t mean I’m not alright,” I reasoned. “You don’t need to sit in here and babysit me.”

“I’m not babysitting you, I’m babysitting my son.” He said nonchalantly, a hand coming to sneak under my lightweight sweater in order to rest on my bare stomach.

“You can’t babysit a baby that hasn’t been born yet.” I deadpanned, only mildly annoyed.

“Are you trying to kick me out of your office, Feyre darling?” He teased.

“Maybe. This is my personal space, after all.”

“Ah, but you know what a fan I am of your personal space.”

I tried not to smile at his remark and set my mug and paperwork aside, relaxing again and inviting him to lay beside me—which he happily obliged to as he settled in beside me, placing his own work aside as his mighty wings curled over us easily. His hand resumed its position on my stomach, pushing my sweater up in order to admire the ghost of an outward curve that resembled more of a full belly than an actual baby bump.

I placed a hand on his cheek, but before I could say anything, he stiffened and growled darkly with his wings flared as we both heard a set of voices on the other side of my office door. Cassian had been about to knock on it when Nesta stopped him with a sharp slap on his hand.

“Don’t bother. She and that High Lord of yours have been in there since breakfast, she’s fine,” Nesta scolded.

“Ow! I just wanted to say hi,” Cassian complained.

“There’s no need. One insufferable Illyrian is enough for a pregnant female,” she retorted.

“You’re one to complain about insufferable Illyrians,” he taunted, and I could practically see the pompous grin on his face as Nesta shushed him fiercely.

I couldn’t hear her comeback as she presumably pushed him down the hall and away from my door. I returned my gaze back up to Rhys, who instantly started to relax as their voices drifted away.

“Mating bond chafing a bit, Rhys?” I teased, repeating the same words Cassian had taunted him with after we first mated.

He barked a laugh, despite being feral just seconds before. “I can’t help it, Feyre darling,” he admitted. “Just the thought of another male coming near you sets me off.”

I stroked the hard plane of his cheekbone with my thumb, “I know, but it wouldn’t hurt to release some of that aggression, like you’ve done before,” I suggested.

He shook his head, “I don’t want to be that kind of male; one who can’t control himself or his temper.”

I frowned, knowing who he was referring to and cupped both sides of his face, “You aren’t that kind of male Rhys. You never have been, and never will be. Working off some steam doesn’t mean you can’t control yourself,” I promised.

He further relaxed into my touch, his brow coming to rest against mine as he breathed in my new scent—the baby added the smell of jasmine to my normal lilac and pear that he previously described to me.

“I can’t bring myself to leave your side,” he said quietly. “Every second I’m away is agonizing. Not just in an intimate sense like before, but...I feel a sense of danger that grows stronger the longer I’m away.”

I kissed the tip of his nose, wrapping my arms around his neck loosely—silently reassuring him of my understanding. The mating bond was stretched tight for the both of us. Just as harrowing as it was for him every second we were apart, my own instincts left me completely and irrationally distraught. I made a mental note to mention it to Madja at our next appointment in a couple of days, but I chalked it up to our bond being hypersensitive thanks to the new life I was growing. That new life that also had every one of our friends and family doing their best to cater to my needs.

It was odd, but strangely comforting seeing their concern and their willingness to help. Apart from my sisters, I still worried that they only offered said help due to their sworn oaths to me as their High Lady and the child I was carrying.

“They’re not,” Rhys quietly interjected. I sighed, knowing my mental shields were left wide open again since I didn’t have the energy to build them back up. “They help and check on you because they genuinely care and worry about you, and the baby.”

I nodded, “You’re right. I guess I just know that even if they absolutely hated me, they still would.”

Rhys snorted, running a hand along my spine lightly as he contemplated. “I’m starting to worry, Feyre. I know Madja said to expect some nausea and fatigue, but your symptoms are well beyond that. I don’t know how much longer I can watch you suffer before I override your decision to call her,” he explained.

“I told you before, this is all a part of the process. If it makes you feel any better, we’ll bring it up to her at the next visit,” I reasoned.

He sighed deeply but reluctantly agreed, “We’ll wait until then, but if you try to underestimate any of your symptoms, I’ll be sure to set her straight. There must be something she can do.”

I giggled and nuzzled into him further, breathing in his salt-and-citrus scent as I closed my eyes, “Someone’s still being bossy,” I teased.

“Forgive me for not loving the sight of my pregnant mate hurling her guts up and having to take seven naps a day,” he retorted softly, still rubbing my back.

“But you said I’m cute when I’m sleeping,” I complained quietly, on the edge of unconsciousness.

“You’re even cuter when I’m assured that you and our son are healthy,” he said.

“You’re cute when you’re quiet and let me sleep,” I yawned.

A soft chuckle was his only response as he buried his nose in my hair, taking this opportunity to join me in a nap he rarely took. After a week of nightmares that left me restless at night, I knew he wasn’t getting any more sleep than I was. Any nap he took was just as well deserved as mine, and I relished in falling asleep to the sound of his even breaths.

“Your lingering fatigue and nausea are a bit concerning,” Madja began after her routine examination. I made good on my word and informed her of the extent of the symptoms I was experiencing. Despite feeling a little silly and worried that I would end up sounding like I was whining about the things she already warned me to expect, Rhys insisted we emphasize just how severely I was being impacted by them.

“In another two weeks, you’ll officially be in the second stage of your pregnancy—which is presumably when your early symptoms should be mitigating,” she continued. “That’s not to say they won’t, a lot can change in a couple of weeks, but most females tend to experience these symptoms until giving birth.”

I squeezed Rhys’s hand reassuringly, “See? I told you this is normal,” I said as I glanced up at him from my spot on our bed, and he helped me sit upright—noting my strain.

“Even the nightmares?” He asked with a frown.

The healer nodded, “Even the nightmares. I’m afraid pregnant females frequently experience more lively dreams—horrible as they may be.”

“I’m concerned with her stamina as well,” Rhys added. “She’s been practically bedridden this week.”

I sighed and reluctantly admitted, “I do get dizzy from regular activities now, like walking from one end of the estate to the other.”

Madja acquiesced, “That is common as well, and I assure you both that these are not signs of an unhealthy pregnancy, but rather a taxing one. You are both substantial high fae,” she said and motioned to Rhys and then to me respectfully, “As you are the most powerful High Lord in Prythian, and as you were resurrected with the combined abilities of all seven High Lords, your child will be a powerful high fae—perhaps more so than you both. It is likely that your developing youngling is draining your energy as your body attempts to keep up.”

“Is that dangerous?” I asked before Rhys had the chance to.

The healer shook her head, “No. In fact, this is a good sign. It means you are able to maintain a pregnancy this extraordinary. Odds are, as the youngling progresses into further stages of development, your body will continue to accommodate and you’ll begin to gain back some of your energy.”

I gulped, not exactly relieved. Rhys cleared his throat as he spoke up, his hand coming to rest on my back, “We don’t have anything to worry about then?”

“Not at all,” Madja reassured, touching my knee gently. “It will be a long journey, but you will carry to term and deliver a healthy baby. So long as you keep resting, eating well, and limit any stress on your physical and mental health I see no cause for concern. I will change some of the dosages in your prenatal and anti-nausea brews, so that you are able to stave off the queasiness better and hold down your meals. Hopefully, in the coming weeks, your desire to eat will increase.”

“Are there any other alarming symptoms we should be aware of? Any warning signs we need to look for?” Rhys asked.

“Of course, and I have created a list of normal and abnormal symptoms, some I’ve mentioned before and some yet to come as things progress,” the older female replied, handing my mate said list. “As of right now, I’m confident you and your youngling are both in top condition.”

I nodded, still a bit tense as I asked, “Should we be worried about our mating bond? Both of our instincts have been a little...intense.”

Madja chuckled, the skin at the corner of her eyes crinkling in amusement, “I did warn you the mating bond would heighten your instincts now with a little one to consider,” she said.

“It's normal then, to feel a sense of...panic, when we’re apart?” Rhys asked.

“And to feel overprotective, and desperate,” the healer said, as if she were reading my mates mind. “You two are soon going to be parents to a beautiful, strong, and healthy baby. Given this is your first child, and considering your positions of power, you are going to be anxious—rightfully so. I want you both to realize your anxieties are normal, so long as you don’t allow them to cause you to live in fear,” she explained, taking our hands and squeezing them warmly with her own small wrinkled ones.

Her short speech caused my eyes to burn and without warning I burst into tears, a sob tearing through my throat as Rhys instantly wrapped me in his arms to console me. “I’m guessing this reaction is normal as well?” He asked, albeit sympathetically as he rubbed my back soothingly.

A warm smile graced the healer’s wrinkled lips as she nodded, “Yes. Expect more changes in mood from your pregnant mate, my lord. If she wasn’t prone to tears before, happy or sad, she will be now.”

I sniffed as I composed myself, willing the tears to stop, “I’m just...grateful. You’ve assured us on every front, and eased our concerns, and I’m so grateful to you.” I said, sniffling a bit pathetically.

“That is what I’m here for, my lady. And for you as well, my lord.” She said to both of us.

Rhys nodded appreciatively, “Thank you.”

She bowed her head and began gathering her things as Rhys turned back to me, taking a step back to kneel in front of my spot on the bed. “You were right. This is all normal,” he said as his hands came to rest on either side of my thighs.

I nodded, wiping at my tears, “Just exhausting.”

We both nodded in earnest at Madja as she excused herself from the room; Rhys coming to sit beside me on the bed.

“Maybe it's time we hire an assistant, just to lighten your workload a little,” he suggested.

“I suggested an assistant for both of us, not just me.” I reminded him.

His returning grin was wicked as he shrugged casually, “I wouldn’t mind having an assistant.”

I sighed tiredly and moved my head to perch on his shoulder, a hand resting on the small curve of my stomach. It was barely noticeable through my wool sweater, further hidden by the leggings I wore around the estate, but since noticing the small swell in my abdomen, we both couldn’t resist caressing it.

“Having an assistant would give us more time together, especially when the baby comes,” I said.

Rhys’s hand came to cover mine, squeezing gently, but when I turned to smile at him, I was met with a furrowed brow as he stared at my stomach. “What’s wrong?” I asked hesitantly.

“So small and already giving his mother a hard time,” he said softly, and I could hear the concern laced behind his words.

“Well he is his father’s son,” I tried to joke in an attempt to ease back into our relief after Madja’s exam, but his frown remained.

“His power is going to surpass both of ours,” he said, a sense of alarm gathering behind those violet star-flecked eyes—the same I had experienced after the healer first confirmed my pregnancy.

“I once warned you what it meant to marry me, to carry my offspring. A life with a target on your back. I wasn’t worried so much about you because I knew how strong you were, especially once you came into your powers, but now—with our child…” his voice trailed off as I moved to straddle his hips, wrapping both my arms around him as my hands tangled in his hair. I brought his head to rest against my chest in an effort to calm him.

He sighed deeply, closing his eyes as he breathed in my scent, his own arms encircling my waist and relaxed as he kept his brow pressed between my breasts. “He’s going to be okay,” I whispered after a couple of minutes. “We have alliances with all but two courts now. Our world isn’t what it was before the war. Things have changed, even with the Mortal Lands,” I explained quietly as I stroked through his hair lightly.

I was glad that much was true. In the decade since the end of the war with Hybern, our alliances with the Summer, Winter, Day and Dawn Courts had solidified. As the years went by, we had been able to strengthen our relationships with Tarquin, Thesan and Kallias—more so with the latter since Viviane and I had developed a closer friendship. She was now the first High Lady of the Winter Court, just as much Kallias’s equal as I was Rhys’s, and we both held our heads high among the males surrounding us.

Once a year, we made a tradition of gathering all the High Lords—and Ladies, of Prythian as we had before the war began and met at the Dawn Court Palace. Lucien, Jurian and Vassa also attended those meetings; Vassa and Jurian representing and speaking on behalf of the Mortal Lands, with Vassa having taken over as the sole ruling Queen thanks to Jurian’s help at overthrowing the other traitorous queens. Collectively, we thought it best to let the human forces work together during that conflict—offering assistance if the humans needed it, but allowing them a chance at rallying their territory before we officially created a new alliance without the need for a wall.

At our new meetings, high fae and human finally together as one, we made it a point to keep each other in check—although no one had the urge to try and overthrow the other or expand their lands, but in recent years our main concerns were with the Autumn and Spring Court.

After his losses in the war, our alliance with Beron remained tentative, and it was Eris who appeared at our yearly meeting on behalf of the Autumn Court. Since he wasn’t a High Lord, however, and continued to have little sway on his father, the eldest son of the Autumn Court only attended to inform and assure us that Beron wasn’t making any advances on expanding into the Mortal Lands or staging any kind of uprising against the other courts. Still, with his cruel facade ever-present and his occasional visits to Keir in the Court of Nightmares, it was hard for the rest of us to completely trust him. Rhys, Mor and I made it a habit to pop into the Hewn City unannounced whenever Eris was there; making sure to send a clear message that we wouldn’t allow any secret negotiations to take place between the heir to the Autumn Court and the steward of our throne.

Tamlin was a separate issue. After reluctantly agreeing to allow Tarquin’s forces into his territory and reinforcing his borders, he was slowly able to rebuild his own army—some of his old sentries returning to serve him, appreciative of his assistance during the war and the attempts to bolster the Spring Court lands. The rest I wasn’t sure of, and the little I did know of had been gathered from what Lucien told us. It was no secret things were still, and would probably always be, strained with Tamlin and his court, and neither he nor any representative to speak on his behalf attended our meetings. At first, Rhys would occasionally visit on Tarquin’s behalf, checking on the warriors he supplied, but as the years went by and things seemingly improved, he stopped when Tamlin hadn’t bothered to greet him anymore.

However provisional things seemed to be with the Sprint and Autumn Courts, I knew our friends in the others would be happy to hear that we were expecting—especially Viviane and Kallias, who were also due to expect their first child in a couple of months. I made a mental note to contact Viviane and ask for advice on how she was coping with her pregnancy.

“Something isn’t sitting right with me,” Rhys finally admitted after a couple of minutes of silence passed between us.

I pulled back to meet his eyes, my hands coming to rest on his shoulders, “Tell me what’s on your mind.”

Just as he was about to speak, his shoulders tensed and his wings flared as a hard knock was heard on our door. It was Azriel’s voice that came from the other side as he said, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I have news from the Illryian war camps.”

I climbed off of Rhys as we both moved to stand, Rhys answering the door before I could reach it. “Kallon?” He asked Azriel, who nodded grimly in return.

Rhys swore under his breath, “Get Cassian. We’ll meet in my office in two minutes,” he ordered the shadowsinger. Azriel nodded and left to do as he was instructed.

I frowned, “This is more than just Kallon spreading dissent, isn’t it? What if he’s planning something, an uprising of some sort?” I asked.

It was a possibility we hadn’t wanted to face, but after Azriel began to gather more and more intel on the camp lord’s resistance since their presence at the Blood Rite, it was now something we couldn’t ignore.

“It’s likely. The bastard has always hated us, and this is something he would try to pull after years of silence,” Rhys growled as he went to the desk we held in the corner of our room, searching for Az’s previous reports.

“He wanted us to think he wasn’t a problem,” I said as I went to help him look.

He grabbed my hand gently, “Let me handle this, please. Madja said you shouldn’t be under any stress,” he pleaded.

I stared back at him, my eyes hard, “I am High Lady of the Night Court, that includes the Illyrians as well. We handle this together.”

He chuckled humorlessly and only nodded in return without a second thought. He found the reports and we left together to meet Cassian and Azriel in his office. The two Illyrian warriors were in a fierce conversation as we walked in and Cassian immediately turned to face us as he growled,

“The bastard is planning a coup.”

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reminiscing-writer · 5 years

Text

Unexpected Surprise

Prompt: Reid is a regular at his local bookstore, and also has a very good acquaintance with the young storekeeper there. When she turns down his date very last second, he finds a secret about her that can’t help but make him fall harder for her.

Warning: idk man I’m just tryna write fluff lmao I got hella carried awayyyy

We all deserve happy Reid

—————

The cold October air whizzed by, as Spencer walked into Pages And Pages, his local bookstore, with a large smile on his face, and two steaming coffees in hand. He’d made it a part of his schedule to try and drop by at least once a week. Sure, the books were very captivating, but so was the receptionist.

He thought, from the moment he laid eyes on her, that she was a beauty. Her hair was always loosely tied in a bun, her make up close to minimal, and her sense of style almost mirrored his- sweaters. Lots of sweaters.

He found it fairly easy to talk to her, because, although at first he stumbled with his words, her kind and soft spoken demeanor drew him into a safe space.

Y/n was very well aware of Spencer’s occupation. If he didn’t come by on his weekly visit, she’d figure he was out saving the world, as she liked to put it.

The little bell on the large oak door of the bookstore rang as Spencer entered, and headed straight for y/n’s desk. He was very punctual. 12:15 every Friday. Y/n didn’t even have to look up to know that the shadow covering her table was him.

She had a smile etched on her lips before she even looked up, “You realize I’m seeing you in less than 48 hours right?” She joked, taking the cup of coffee he handed to her.

“I do,” he smiled, just as stricken by her beauty as the last time he saw her, “but, I didn’t want to skip out on meeting with you today.” He tucked a strand of loose hair behind his ear.

She takes a sip of her drink, humming at the delightful taste, “Why won’t you just tell me what you order?” She has her eyes closed, having every taste bud tingle in happiness, “This is delicious.”

He laughs slightly at her happiness, “Becuase, if I told you, then you could get it yourself, anytime. And, I want these coffee meetings to be special.” He says, shyly shrugging.

Y/n’s cheeks filled with a rose blush, “Dr. Reid, you are over the top.” She laughed softly, shaking her head.

“Just wait until Sunday,” Spencer sips his own coffee, “I’ll pick you up from your place, by 8 o’clock, you said, right?” He double-checked. He didn’t need to double check. He had it memorized down to a T. Her address. The route. The time to pick her up. The restaurant he was planning on taking her too. The walk that he planned on them taking from said restaurant to a small ice cream parkour.

He didn’t need to double-check anything.

“Mm-hmm,” She hummed, sipping her drink this time, nodding slightly, “he should be down by then,” she mumbles to herself, quickly scribbling down something on paper, “I’ll be ready by 8, waiting for you.” She smiled.

“I’m so sorry.” Y/n apologied for the hundredth time. “I really feel awful. I promise, I’ll make it up to you.” She sniffled over the phone.

“No, I-its fine,” Spencer spoke into his cell, trying so hard to mask the disappointment that was dripping in his voice, “I understand.” He was pacing back and forth in the break room at the office, “We couldn’t possibly know you’d be getting down with bronchitis. It’s not your fault.” Spencer says, scratching the back of his neck.

Y/n had called Saturday afternoon, the day before the duos scheduled date. She had been coughing and sniffling, saying she went to the Urgent Care near her earlier that morning because she was feeling off, and they said she had came down with a pretty bad case of bronchitis.

She kept apologizing and saying she’d make it up to Spencer as soon as she felt better.

Spencer tried not to take the date-canceling to heart. Y/n really was sick, she wouldn’t lie about that- would she? No, of course not. She wasn’t like that.

“Listen, don’t worry about it.” Spencer stopped pacing, “Just rest. That’s what you’ll need to feel better quicker.”

He heard her giggle lightly, causing him to smile, “Thanks, Doc.” He snickered at the nickname, “Hey, Spence,” he hummed in response, “I really do like you.” She said, causing his stomach to turn, “Please, don’t think I’m turning you down or anything. I really was looking forward to our date. And, I really do mean it when I say we’ll go on another one.”

He smiled to himself, putting one hand in the pocket of his jeans and swaying slightly, side to side, “Promise?”

“I promise.”

It had to be the right address. Spencer checked his phone for y/n’s previous message and confirmed it for the third time. He held his breath for a second, and licking his lips, he rang the doorbell again.

He felt bad that y/n had gotten bronchitis that just didn’t seem to go away for almost 5 days now. His first priority of Wednesday morning was to stop at a small Chinese spot and grab some soup.

Surprising her would be a small little thing he was hoping would make her happy. So, there he was. At y/n’s doorstep, soup in hand, ringing her bell, awaiting for her to open up.

He checked his watch again, and shuffled his feet. His stomach fluttered as soon as he heard shuffling from behind the door.

“I’m coming!” He heard her voice from inside. He played with the box of soup in hand, and bit his bottom lip anxiously. That’s when he heard a faint cry. Not her cry, though. A cry that seemed to belong to a small child. A baby, maybe. Spencer furrowed his brows, confused. “Baby, please, you have to lie down.” He heard y/n’s voice from a distance.

After some more shuffling around, the door before him opened. Y/n distractedly looked up at Spencer just to do a double take, shocked. “S-Spence? What- What are you doing here?” She asked, barely in frame of the open door.

He looked at her, unable to speak for a second. She fully came into view of him. She adjusted a small sleeping baby in her arms, the child’s head resting on her shoulder.

“I-um, I came to see you.” He spoke slowly, and quietly, “I bought soup.” He held up the box in his hands.

Y/n smiled, and just as she opened her mouth to reply, the baby she was holding began stirring causing her eyes to widen, “Come on in.” She whispered hastily, nodding to Spencer before going into her abode.

Spencer followed behind her, unsure of what exactly was happening. Questions were running through his head, but it was as if his body was working before his mind could catch up.

Y/n went straight to a small couch, and sat down, pulling her legs up, and cuddling the small child in her arms, wrapping the both of them up with a nearby shawl. Spencer’s heart warmed up at the sight, and he unknowingly smiled to himself.

He slowly walked towards the two when he heard a small but gruel cough come from the baby’s mouth.

“You’re... not the one that’s... sick?” He slowly pieced together, sitting on a couch opposing from the one y/n was on.

Y/n sighed quietly and licked her lips. Shaking her head, she stroked the small child’s hair, “No,” she looked up at Spence, “I’m not. They’re calling it bronchilitis, because he’s so young. It should be gone in about a week total, so at least 2 to 3 days left.” She swallowed hard. “It’s the first time he’s ever gotten sick, and I couldn’t just leave him with a sitter, which is why I had to stay back on our date. Im sorry,” she apologized in the midst of her ramble, “I just...” she paused before breaking eye contact with Spencer, “we don’t have anyone but each other.”

Spencer stayed silent for a moment. He watched y/n hold the baby close and his heart felt all heavy. It was a sight he didn’t think could affect him at all. But, something about a girl he was already infatuated with, being so protective and loving made him fall even deeper for her.

He just couldn’t form any words to express this to her, so he stared at the mother-son silently. That is, until the baby started coughing again. Y/n cringed at the way her son shook as he forced the cough out of his small body.

“I understand if you want to leave,” y/n spoke up, feeling Spencer’s eyes on her, “I shouldn’t have hid the fact that I’m a mother. It’s just, I know that some people would have seen it as,” she shrugged, “extra baggage, so I just refrain from saying it at all. I apologize.”

“You apologize far too much.” Spencer spoke without thinking for once, shocking himself and y/n. He stood up from his seat, and wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans, “Does he, uh, drink soup?” Spencer asked nodding to the child.

Y/n cracked a small smile, “Adam,” she said, “and, yes, he actually is very fond of soup.”

Spencer nodded, before finding his way into the kitchen. As quietly as possible, he emptied the soup into a bowl, and plopped a decent looking spoon into it. Filling a small glass with water, he brought it out to y/n, who was now standing, pacing with a very upset looking Adam.

Spencer’s brows furrowed in worry.

“He’s fine,” y/n assured him, “just a little fussy. Don’t worry.”

“It’s tough, huh?” Spencer spoke, not sitting down until Adam had calmed, “Being a parent, I mean.”

Y/n had seated up the small one year-old next to her on the couch. She was slowly feeding him the soup, and although he was dozed off on meds, he slurped it up happily.

“Being a single parent is something I wasn’t ready for,” y/n admits, wiping some soup of Adams chin, “but, I love this monkey so much,” she scrunched her nose to her son, who gave a very sleepy smile in return, having Spencer laugh lightly, “I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Spencer answered the third FaceTime call he had received in the past 5 minutes, “Hey, sorry I was in a meeting with Hotch, is everyth-” he cut his sentence short when he saw his girlfriends face tearstreaked on screen. “Oh, my god,is everything okay? Are you hurt? Is Adam okay?” He quickly rambled, his mind thinking the worst.

Y/n sniffled, “I’m fine, we’re fine,” she quickly answered, “just, wait-“ she quickly runs into a different room and Spencer can hear Adam babbling in the background. He smiles hear the child’s voice. “Watch this.” Y/n tells Spencer. She pulls up a photo, and shows it to her boyfriend first.

It was of the two of them on New Years Eve, happily smiling. Spencer was holding a very giggly Adam, and had his free arm wrapped around y/n’s waist.

She turns the photo to Adam, “Sweetheart,” she tries to grab her sons attention, “hey, Adam,” He looks up to her wide eyed, “you know who this is, baby?” She points to herself.

Adam starts clapping and smiling, “Mama! Mama!” Y/n starts tearing up all over again.

“Yes!” Spencer encourages the child, “Hey, good job!” He gets shushed by y/n quickly.

She points to Spencer in the photo and asks Adam, yet again, “Okay, sweety, and who’s this?” She ask, already ready to cry again.

Adam starts laughing and jumping in place, “Dada! Is dada!”

Spencer gasps, covering his agape mouth with one hand. “Did you teach him that?” He asks a very ecstatic y/n who shakes her head.

“No, he just started to point to the picture all by himself and talk.” She sniffled, leaving the room her son was sitting in.

“Well, one things for sure,” a very smiley Spencer admits happily, “he’s smart, just like his Mama.” He attempts a wink, causing y/n to laugh.

It was early. Y/n could feel the December brisk air seeping into the apartment, making her pull her duvet up to cover herself further. She felt a tug, as her boyfriend pulled her covers back from her.

“Hey,” She grumbled, “no hogging.” She whined causing Spence to turn to face her and snicker sleepily.

The two heard their bedroom door open slowly, and the slight pitter patter of small feet tip toe in.

“He’s awake.” Spencer whispered to his girlfriend, peeping one eye open.

“Brace yourself.” Y/n groaned, just seconds before the three year old attacker jumped on the bed. He bounced and he jumped and he laughed loudly, inevitably causing him the grown ups in bed to groan and slowly sit up in bed.

“Mama, Daddy! It’s Critthy Time! It’s Critthy time, now!!” He pumped his tiny fists into the air.

Spencer smiles, still trying to open both eyes, “Did Santa even get you any gifts? You’ve been been pretty naughty lately.” Y/n groans, covering her head with a pillow.

“So many! Daddy, there’s like,” Adam puts up 3 fingers carefully, “this many boxes with my name!!”

Spencer fake gasps causing the child to have a giggle fit, “Honey, Adam has been such an angel, I’m sure all of the gifts under the tree are his.” Spence pulls the pillow off y/n’s face receiving a groan from her. “Long night?” He smirks to her, causing her to stick her tongue out. Her cheeks slightly blushed as she remembered the... eventful night the two shared.

“I’m exhausted.” She sighed, sitting up and rubbing her tired eyes. Adam jumps out of the bed and runs to the living room. Spencer can’t help but smile at the little ones pajamas.

They were a mom-dad-child set. So all three of them were wearing the same red plaid winter pajamas. Spencer and y/n had gone to sleep in just the pants of the set, so before they went out to the Christmas tree, they made sure to put on the shirts as well.

Y/n groggily made her way to the sofas, and sat by the foot of one. Spencer made his way to the kitchen to put the coffee on before he sat beside y/n, his arm draping around her shoulders, and her resting her head on his chest.

Adam came up to y/n, putting his face a mere centimeters from hers, as grabs her shoulders by his small hands. “Can I open, now? Please?” He pouted to his mother.

She laughed and kissed her nose, “Of course, monkey. Let’s see what Santa got my big boy.” Adam cheered before running to the small pile of boxes under the decently lit tree.

He help up a box, and took it to Spencer first, having him nod in indication that it does in fact have Adams name on it. Happily he plops down right in front of y/n and starts to tear open the wrapping paper. The smell of coffee starts to fill the apartment, and Spencer gives y/n a kiss on the forehead before getting up to go to the kitchen.

“Mama?” Adam whispers to his mother, who simply hums at him in response, “You know, Daddy opened presents not asking you.” He said to y/n innocently.

She furrowed her brows, ruffling his hair, “What are you talking about, Pumpkin?”

“Daddy,” he repeats, “he took a small box and hid it in his jacket. He don’t want you to know. So, you can’t get mad.” He explained, although causing more confusion to his already confused mother.

Y/n had suspicions for a few months now. She once overheard Spencer on the phone with his colleagues, saying something along the lines of yeah man, I knew she was the one a while ago. Any day now. I’m just deciding on when.

Then, she was borrowing his phone once when Adam has dropped hers down the toilet, and when she opened Safari, she saw 2 tabs open. One that had been searching for unique and special rings, and the other that was searching, children’s tuxes and suits.

But, what really put the icing on the cake for her, was when the three of them were coming home late after one Spencer’s teammates wedding. Y/n had been tired so she was resting her head, with her eyes closed. Adam was already fast asleep, snoring lightly. Spencer has put his hand on y/n’s thigh, and when her being to tired to respond, translated into she’s asleep for him, he said the words that had been tugging at y/n’s heart since then.

“I can’t wait to marry you.”

Y/n unfolds her legs, and slowly gets up, “Mama’s gonna go check on Daddy,” she informs her child, “I’ll be right back.” She kisses the top of his hair.

She goes into the kitchen to see two mugs with steaming coffee in them, but no Spencer in sight. She furrows her brows, and turns to head into the bedroom, looking for her boyfriend. Glancing over her room she fails to see him again. She frowns slightly, and turns around on her heels, almost falling over her own feet when she bumps into Spencer right behind her.

“You scared me.” She frightenedly giggles, putting a hand over her heart. “I was looking for- What... are you doing?” She narrows her eyes at him when he takes a step back, and gets down on one knee. She sees a paper and a small box in his hand.

Her breathing fastens, watching his every move, “I was planning on doing this on New Years, at Rossi’s house party,” Spencer started off, “but, my surprise seems to have been foiled.” He nervously laughs. “Y/n,” him saying her name causes her eyes to start tearing up, “You came into my life unexpectedly,” he says, “but, I decided a long time ago, that you were definitely the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.” He looked over his shoulder to Adam, then back to y/n, “Both of you.” He inhaled as y/n’s bottom lip trembled, “Y/n,” she whimpers in response, biting her bottom lip, “will you do me the honor of making me your husband, and the official father of Adam?”

Y/n in the midst of her crying, sniffles and cocks her head, confused. She walks closer to Spencer, pulling him to stand up. He hands her the piece of paper and opens the small box in his hands.

A beautiful ring shone brightly in Spencers hands, and adoption papers shook in y/n’s hands.

1 very cold wedding, 2 additional siblings to Adam and a kitten later; and still, Spencer refused to tell y/n what type of coffee he would get for her when they go out.

I kinda like this mmm we’ll see my opinion change in a few days lol

#spencer fluff #spencer reid fluff #spencer x reader #spencer reid imagines #criminal minds #pure fluff #fluffy fluff #im actually proud of this #hehe #daddy spence #dad!spencer #christmas #very long blurb lol #fluff #cute #single mom #thats not a trigger #right #lol

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luccislegs · 5 years

Note

i'm going to do it. ace/reader/vivi hcs maybe :lookingaway: poly relationship hcs.... bcs im love (w them and you mwah mwah)

ahhhh kizo im lov 2 w u 🥰🥰🥰

Vivi is a fashion designer, friends with you and Nami since highschool. She left to go abroad for an internship and was gone for a few years. In the meantime, you meet the brothers Ace, Sabo, and Luffy. Nami hits it off well with Luffy and you find yourself spending a lot of time with them.

Ace is a construction worker, mixing his off time with odd jobs here and there. He likes being active and in the sun, and he’s good at his job. He’s already attractive to you, all rippling muscles and tanned skin, and always smiling. So the more you get to know him and get to know his sweet, funny, and kind personality, it’s only natural you fall for him. The only problem is he’s a bit of a free spirit and doesn’t seem interested in a relationship. He’s always bringing other people home with him, and almost never the same person.

So you don’t bring it up. Except to Nami, who encourages you to bring it up with him. Luffy’s already told her that Ace talks about you all the time and that eases your worry a little, but you’re still unsure. You wouldn’t mind an open relationship or anything, but you don’t want to just be one of a parade of people he’s swinging through. It honestly isn’t until someone else asks you out on a date and you agree just for the sake doing something other than pining after Ace that something finally happens.

He knows the man, knows how terrible he is because he’s dated other women Ace knows, and is suddenly steaming jealous that you’re out with him. So he follows you, dragging Luffy along to make it seem less suspicious and when they show up and interrupt the date, you’re annoyed but also relieved because it’s going terrible. The man does nothing but talk about himself and his accomplishments and you’re bored. Ace and Luffy give you an out, and soon you’ve forgotten all about your date.

When you leave, Ace pulls you aside and half-heartedly apologizes, even though he’s wearing a bit of a smirk. He’s only sorry for being conniving, not for interrupting what he already knew was a terrible date. He asks you out after that, but you hesitate, asking if you can have time to think. Instead, and very surprisingly, he asks if it’s about the dating around. Again, you hesitate before nodding. You don’t want him to think you want him to change, but if you're just going to be another to him, then it isn’t going to work.

On the other hand, you’re a lot like him. You wouldn’t mind having another partner, and an open relationship isn’t off the table entirely. But free-floating through multiple partners at a time isn’t something you’re going to be okay with. You tell him all of that as best you can, anxiety tightening your throat and fogging your mind so that you’re unsure if you’re making sense or not. But at the end, he nods and takes your hand, promising to work it out.

Over the course of a few months, you and Ace grow closer and he isn’t seeing anyone else. You were worried at first that he thought he had to give up all of his other partners in order to make you happy, but when you brought it up he laughed you off. It isn’t that he feels he had to do it, he was only having fun with them. But he likes you and wants something real.

During that time, you find out Vivi intends to come back. Ace hadn’t yet met her, but the way you talked about her with a bright light in your eyes makes him like her already, and when she shows up, he’s instantly smitten. But then he remembers she’s one of your best friends and he’s already fallen head over heels for you, no way is he going to make any sort of move.

Meanwhile, you’re struggling yourself. Vivi has always been beautiful to you, and you won’t deny you used to have the biggest crush on her. You were sure you had gotten over it, but after 3 years apart it seemed it was back and stronger than ever. She looked more gorgeous than ever, sporting a beautiful tan and a new confidence that you hadn’t seen in her before.

When she runs into your arms, flinging hers around your neck and almost bowling you both over, your heart is in your throat as you lock eyes with Ace over her shoulder. He can see the emotions clear as day on your face, and he wonders if his own is reflected back at you. The whole day is spent in the company of your closest friends, and Vivi doesn’t leave your side for more than a few seconds at a time. Any time you look up, her eyes are on you and whenever they lock, she turns a faint pink and smile.

Ace isn’t oblivious to whatever is going on between you and Vivi, even if you’re unsure. The hug the two of you share at the end of the night is warm and lingers longer than any others you shared, almost as if you didn’t want to part. As you got into the passenger seat of his truck, he slung an arm around your shoulders. “So you and Vivi, huh? I can dig it.”

In the faint light from the streetlight, he can tell you’re blushing, averting your eyes to the side like you’re afraid to look at him. “I don’t know why. I thought I was over it but…” You don’t really know how to continue, instead picking at a loose thread on your jacket cuff. It felt weird, discussing your crush on your best friend with your other best friend and current partner. There was a disconnect of some kind going on, but you were also relieved you could talk so openly about it.

Ace smiled and pulled you closer, tucking you into his side. The seat belt around your waist cinched tighter, forcing you to adjust until you can comfortably lean against him. The warmth blowing out of the heater is nothing compared to the warmth he exuded, and you melt into it, nodding off on his shoulder as he drove.

As Vivi made her own way back to Nami’s apartment, where she was staying until she could find her own place, her thoughts kept drifting back to you. How had she never noticed how beautiful you were? No, that wasn’t it. She had always known, choosing instead to push it down and ignore it. You were friends, and she loved you dearly and didn’t want to push you away, so she refused to acknowledge it. But after a few years apart, it seemed like her emotions had flared even hotter, to the point where she couldn’t keep her eyes off of you all day. And you seemed to feel the same; everytime she looked up, she was locking eyes with you.

On the other hand, you were with Ace. She had never met him before, but she knew enough about him, and had studied the pictures you sent him, and she adored him for how he treated you. Somehow, however, meeting the real him was entirely different. The warmth and friendliness he exuded towards everyone made him more attractive than his picture could do, and there was a pang of guilt at the jealousy she felt over the two of you being so happy together, and over the fact that she would like to have the both of you.

Over the course of the next few weeks, the three of you were inseparable. It wasn’t a surprise to anyone, they were two of your best friends, but all three of you could feel something was different. The air between you was a strange combination of relaxed and friendly and tense, as if everyone was dancing around something unspoken. Everyone was hesitant about speaking in front of each other, afraid of their true feelings being revealed, and yet when you all stopped focusing on it, you got along like a house on fire.

Things really came to a head in the simplest way, when you were hanging out with Vivi at Nami’s one day. You were trying on one of her newly made outfits, one she was planning to use when she revealed her new fashion line to the public. It was still surreal to you that this sweet girl you had been friends with forever was now a rather famous fashion designer and was intending to launch her own line, but you were so happy for her. Her work was amazing and she was so good at it.

You stepped out from behind the screen divider, shyly looking at your feet as you waited for their reactions. The room was silent for a moment before the both of them blurted out at the same time.

“Oh, ___, you’re so beautiful.”

“Wow, gorgeous, babe.”

As soon as they realized they had done it, they looked at each other, their cheeks flushing pink as they locked eyes.

“Sorry,” Vivi murmured, looking at her feet. She had no reason to apologize, of course. It wasn’t uncommon for her to compliment her friends like that, but in her mind it didn’t mean the same thing. You were more than a friend to her, and that little stab of guilt hit her heart again.

“Nah, you’re right, ___ is beautiful,” Ace said, and there was a moment’s hesitation as he looked at you, took in your wide eyes, full of nervousness and hope, before he looked to VIvi again. “But so are you, Vivi.”

You could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed his statement, his heart racing in his chest as he waited. It was a gamble on his part, but he was pretty sure he was right. After a few moments of a mexican standoff, you met Vivi’s eye and nodded, just a little, and she licked her lips. “Are you guys...I mean…”

You gulped, balling the hem of your shirt in your fist. “I like you, Vivi. I’ve liked you for a long time. But would you be okay with-- with Ace and I too?”

Vivi hadn’t had a whole lot of time to get to know Ace, but in the limited time she had spent with him, she had fallen for his charms. It was a no brainer. “I’m more than okay with it. I actually like Ace too...if that doesn’t bother you, ___.”

It was like a collective sigh escaped all three of you and the tension that had been lingering over the last few weeks dissipated with it. There were timid smiles all around, except from Ace who slung his arms around each of you with a laugh. From across his chest, you and Vivi locked eyes, tentatively reaching out to intertwine your fingers together, sharing an exasperated smile.

#portgas d. ace #portgas d. ace x reader #nefertari vivi #nefertari vivi x reader #portgas d. ace x nefertari vivi #portgas d. ace x reader x nefertari vivi #one piece headcanons

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danurso · 5 years

Text

Taming a beast

Today was a good day, Weiss finally managed to unpack everything at her new home, placing all of her belongings on their new places. Winter was also coming to visit in just a few hours for dinner and Weiss had given herself the task of making Winter the best dinner she ever had. Weiss wasn't really a great cook but luckily for her, Jaune and Ren were, and they didn't hesitate to help her to hone her cooking skills.

So now she was standing in her new kitchen, checking the tray in the oven and hoping that what she was preparing for dinner could impress not only her sister, but her boyfriend as well.

Weiss: *sighs, taking off her kitchen gloves and wiping a few drops of sweat from her forehead* okay, i think a few more minutes is enough. Now all i have to do is wait. *takes off her apron and walks to the living room, sitting on the couch and pulling out her scroll.*

Weiss: *staring at her wallpaper, a picture of her in a light blue dress during yang and jaune's marriage, with her boyfriend on a suit holding her close* . . . *sighs* i wonder how long until you come home.

As if for a cue, she heard the door of her home opening and then being slammed shut, the sound was quickly followed by a few footsteps coming in the direction of the living room.

Weiss: *looks back at the doorway as a red haired man walks in* hi adam.

Adam: *ignores her with a scowl, walking to the table and putting down his bags*

Weiss: *gets up and walks to him* adam?

Adam: *finishes putting down his stuff, placing both hands on the table and taking a deep breath* hey.

Weiss: are you okay?

Adam: *rummaging through his stuff* yeah.

Weiss: what are you doing?

Adam: nothing. *pulls out his sword, walking to the door right after*

Weiss: *stands on his way with crossed arms*

Adam: get out of my way weiss.

Weiss: where are you going? And why do you need your sword?

Adam: it doesn't matter.

Weiss: i think it does, can you tell me?

Adam: *clenches jaw* you don't need to know, now get out of my way.

Weiss: yes i do need to now, now tell me or i'm not letting you through this door.

Adam: just get out of my way!!

Weiss: no.

Adam: and why not!? Do you think i'm gonna go after a group of innocent people too!? You think i'm gonna attack humans mindlessly!? You think i'm gonna go on a rampage like an wild angry animal like them!?

Weiss: *staring into his eyes* . . .you do know that's not what i'm thinking right?

Adam: *looks away, taking deep breaths*

Weiss: adam, what happened?

Adam: nothing, i just need to go out and hunt some grimm, that's all. Can you let me by now?

Weiss: only when you tell me what got you so angry.

Adam: im not angry.

Weiss: then why did you just shouted like that?

Adam: did someone already told you that you ask too many questions?

Weiss: try being ruby's partner for six years and you'll end up just like me. now, care to tell me what happened?

Adam: nothing, it's just been a rough week and i have a lot of steam to let out.

Weiss: does it has anything to do with the meeting?

Adam flinched as his jaw clenched, Weiss didn't needed an answer to know she was right.

It's been a tough road for adam since he turned to a new leaf, most humans hated him everything he did, as did most of the faunus. Nowadays he worked with blake, both to help Blake to archive equality and to show to the others that he isn't the same Adam from the past.

Unfortunately, most people didn't saw adam how weiss did, they didn't knew that he had changed since his killer days. Yes, most of his personality was the same and he sometimes gets as scary as his old self, but he doesn't kill anymore and now at least he's fighting on the good side, even if most people didn't wanted to see that.

Weiss: thought so. Care to tell me what happened there?

Adam: for the last time, nothing-

Weiss: if you don't tell me i'll call blake, or even better sun, you know how loose his tongue is, right?

Adam: . . .

Weiss: so, who's going to tell me what really happened?

Adam: . . . *sighs*

Weiss: so?

Adam: . . .they beat me. . .until i could barely hold myself on my feet.

Weiss: *eyes wide* what!? How!?

Adam: i went to the conference with blake, sun and ilia, it was the big day for us, all of our fighting finally gave results and on the next day we would sign the papers along with the council to make so every faunus had the exact same rights as humans, that was supposed to be a good thing but of course, to the humans it wasn't.

Weiss: . . .

Adam: *hands clenched into fists* from the moment we stepped out of the bullhead to the moment we got back to it, we were always surrounded by racist bastards who kept insulting us without a rest.

Weiss: i thought you didn't bothered with insults anymore.

Adam: and i don't, mostly, but apparently being me walking down that bullhead made things much worse, they kept throwing rocks at me, calling me a murderer, telling me to die and how they wanted to kill me. . .

Weiss: a-adam, i. . .

Adam: *jaw clenches* but that wasn't all of course, it would be too easy if it was.

Weiss: what happened?

Adam: at night, one day before signing the treaty, one of the council members called me for a private talk, but when i got there he along with other six people ambushed me. . .they kept beating me while throwing every insult they could think on.

Weiss: *shocked* a-and what did you do?

Adam: nothing, i just took the beating without fighting back.

Weiss: but why!?

Adam: because if i fought back and harmed not only humans but a member of the council, the treaty would probably be revoked and all we fought until now would be for nothing!!!

Weiss: . . .

Adam: *looking away with a scowl* i'm tired of these damn humans! All we're doing is fighting to be seen and treated as equals! But they insist that our place is under their damn boots! I try to change for the better and fight on the right side but the more i fight the more i see how pointless that is!! *grip tightens on his sword* in days like this all i can think about is to go after every single of those bastards and ki-

Weiss: adam!!

Adam: WHAT!?

Adam snapped back at weiss, staring directly her. He honestly expected her to be scared or disgusted with him, but all he could see in her eyes was worry and concern, she was giving him a serious look but her eyes still told him what she was really thinking.

Weiss: are you listening to what you're saying? You're not like that anymore adam.

Adam: how are you so sure of that!? I'm trying my best to change but by the end of the day i'll always be the same person everyone is afraid of! a murderer! a killer!! A DAMN MONSTER!!!

Weiss: you are not a monster.

Adam: why are you so sure!? Everyone sees me as a monster! For all i know i can wake up one day alone because you ran away from me! From this worthless monster everyone hates!!

Adam shouted once more, he was angry, after spending a whole week being target of hatred from humans weiss honestly could blame him, nor could she blame him for not being able to listen to her at the moment, yet, she needed to deliver her message, and if he wasn't going to listen her when she's talking, she would make him listen to her in a different way.

And so, weiss snatched adam's sword from his hand while ignoring his protests, he tried to take it back but she held his hand and dragged him to the couch.

Adam: what the hell are you doing!?

Weiss: just come with me and stop complaining.

Adam: weiss-

Weiss: if you don't wanna listen what i'm saying, at least try to listen to this. *sits down on the couch, pulling him along and resting his head on her lap.*

Adam: just what are you planning to do now? Just let me go already!

Weiss: . . . *slowly inhales and then exhales*

Adam: weiss?

Weiss: Hush your cries 🎶

Close your eyes

Stay with me

Let's just dream

Quietly

Of what might be

Calm your fear

I'll be near

To you, I'll cling

Rest, my friend

Time can mend

Many things 🎶

Adam: why are you singing all of a sudden?

Weiss: I don't know the answers 🎶

Tomorrow's still unknown

But I can make this promise

You won't be alone 🎶

Adam: weiss, what-

Weiss: *stroking his hair* I don't know where we should go 🎶

Just feeling farther from our goal

I don't know what path we will be shown

But I know that when I'm with you I'm at home

Yes, I know that when I'm with you I'm at home 🎶

Adam: *looks away* you're crazy.

Weiss: There's a quiet place 🎶

In my embrace

A haven of safety where

I'll dry your tears

Shelter here

In my care 🎶

Adam: *slowly looking back at her*

Weiss: But even when we stumble 🎶

And someday when we fall

What I will remember

That I had you through it all 🎶

Adam: . . .

Weiss: I don't know where we should go 🎶

Just feeling farther from our goal

I don't know what path we will be shown

But I know that when I'm with you I'm at home

Yes, I know that when I'm with you I'm at home. . . 🎶

Adam: *silently staring at her angelic face*

Weiss: Yes, I know that when I'm with you I'm at home. 🎶

At the end of the song, adam was still silently staring at her face. He might not have realized but while she sang to him his expression slowly softened, and the precious scowl he was carrying was nowhere to be seen anymore, all there was left now was a calm expression, with admiring eyes locked on the white haired angel stroking his hair.

Weiss: so, feeling better?

Adam: . . .maybe.

Weiss: *with a small smile* i think that's good enough for me.

*plim*

Weiss: now if you excuse me, i need to go see the oven. *gets up, walking to the kitchen.*

Adam: . . . *staring as she leaves*

. . .

Weiss: *humming while taking the tray out of the oven*

Adam: *walks in* . . .

Weiss: *with her back turned to him and putting some spices on the tray*

Adam: weiss?

Weiss: yes?

Adam: how. . .how did you do that?

Weiss: how did i do what?

Adam: you know what i'm talking about. Five minutes ago all i wanted was to pounce at the throat of the first human i saw but now i don't care about that anymore, i'm a lot calmer actually. How did you do that?

Weiss: well, i just saw somewhere that music can help to calm down wild animals.

Adam: *narrowing his eyes* . . .did you just called me an animal.

Weiss: *chuckles shortly while placing the tray back in the oven* i called you wild you dork.

Adam: . . .can't say anything about that.

Weiss: yeah, you can't, because you're a wild dork. I know a lot people keep saying bad things about you because they still see the old adam instead of the new one, but i'm not one of the peoples *turns back to him* they might see you as a monster but i know better, and as long as you need me i'll be here for you, so stop thinking about yourself as a monster, you're clearly not one anymore.

Adam: i know. . . *sigh* thank you weiss. And sorry for screaming at you earlier.

Weiss: its okay, no need to thank me, I'm in a great mood since winter is coming to visit.

Adam: . . .

Weiss: Oh, but just so you know, if you ever shout like that to me again. *with a scary smile* i'll show you what a real monster looks like, understood?

Adam: *shivers* y-yeah, understood.

Weiss: good, now come here and give it a taste.

Adam: okay *tasting her food* . . .it's good, when did you learned how to cook?

Weiss: i've been getting classes from jaune and ren, i can't always rely on you to cook for us, specially now that you're always so busier than normal.

Adam: you know i don't mind cooking for us, right?

Weiss: i know, *facing him again* but what's wrong with a girl wanting to cook for her sister and her boyfriend?

Adam: nothing. *with a small grin* you never cease to surprise me snowball.

Weiss: good to know that i don't bore you.

Adam: you never did, life is never boring with you around.

Weiss: i could say the same, although i'm not very fond of the excitement you usually bring me.

Adam: really? Because i can't remember you complaining about it that much, specially when we invaded your father's office just to have se-

Weiss: and thaaaaat's enough! Why don't we forget about the past for now and focus on the present? *turns around and goes back to cooking*

Adam: agreed. *walks closer and hugs her waist from behind* why focus on the past when i have you here right now?

Weiss: *pink* a-adam, now is not the time for thIS!

Adam: *kissing her neck*

Weiss: w-wait *breaks free and turns around* winter is going to arrive in one hour and i still-mhmn.

Adam: *pulls her into a kiss*

Weiss: *melting on his arms*

Adam: *lifts weiss, placing her on the table and breaking the kiss* cooking can wait, i've been out for a week and all i can think right now is making up for the lost time.

Weiss: *red* . . .f-fine, but lets do it quickly, okay?

Adam: not making any promises. *pulls her into another kiss*

Weiss: *wraps her arms around his neck and starts making out heatedly with him*

Bônus:

*an hour later*

Winter: *knocks on the door*

Weiss: h-hey, wait! Stop!

Winter: weiss?

Weiss: let me go! Stop!

Winter: *pulls out her saber and kicks door open* weiss! Are you okay-

Weiss: *naked with a towel around her torso and giggling*

Adam: *naked with a towel around his waist and holding weiss from behind while nibbling her neck*

Winter: . . .can someone tell me what is happening?

Weiss: *freezes* o-oh my god, winter!?

Adam: . . .

Weiss: i can explain!

Winter: . . .i'm not sure if i want or even need an explanation.

Weiss: w-we're just-

Adam: about to go for round four, so if you excuse us. *goes back to bitting weiss' neck*

Weiss: *red* a-adam!!

Winter: i understand, i'll be back in half an hour. *leaves*

Weiss: winter, w-wait!

Adam: you heard her, we still have half an hour left. *goes back to kissing her neck.

Weiss: w-wait, mhmn, stop it already you dork!

Adam: *grinning* no.

*outside*

Winter: *sigh* out of every single man in the world it had to be him, why did it had to be him?

*plim*

Winter: *pulls out her scroll and reads a message*

'after you're done with your sister i'll be waiting at your ap'

-Q

Winter: *taps on the attachment, opening a image of a grinning shirtless qrow who likely just came out of her bath.*

Winter: *red* damn you bad boys! why are you so effective on schnees!? damn you all!!

#rwby #adam taurus #adam x weiss #weiss schnee #frostbite #winter schnee #qrow branwen #qrow x winter #snowbird

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aka-indulgence · 5 years

Text

His Bark: Part 4

Herculanum could feel the intense fear rolling off of the girl in front of him. His grin widened. This was always his favorite part; the intimidation. He could always get a sense of what sort of person a human was, just by invading their personal space.

The girl began to shake visibly in front of him. She wouldn’t look him in the eye, though she kept giving him cautious looks. She wasn’t a complete coward, he could tell. But she was definitely afraid of him.

Good.

Herc looked her up and down. He had to admit, she was a cute little thing. He reached out his hand to touch her hair. He wanted to see how far she would let him go, before she fought back~

He felt her freeze at his contact. Her breath became more frantic and anxiety ridden.

Yes, she was very cute~

He began to slide his hand down her face, under her chin, down her neck, her shoulder, her-

“HERCULANUM!!”

In a instant the bigger skeleton was slammed against the back wall. His soul was visible and blue in front of his chest.

“HOW DARE YOU TREAT OUR GUEST WITH SUCH DISRESPECT!!”

Papyrus’ eye flared in anger.

“H-hey cuz! I was only talkin to her-“

Though Herc was bigger in size, he knew his magic was no match in strength compared to Papyrus.

“DO NOT LIE TO ME COUSIN! I KNOW WHAT YOU WERE “DOING”. LET IT BE CLEAR THAT THIS HUMAN IS UNDER MY WATCH AND THEREFORE MY PROTECTION! YOU WILL NOT ATTEMPT TO “TALK” WITH HER OR OTHERWISE AGAIN! UNDERSTOOD?”

The big skeleton was sweating bullets. He nodded grudgingly. Papyrus released his soul, dropping him to the floor. The bigger monster slowly got up and looked at the younger one with animosity. Papyrus’ eye began to glow again.

“LEAVE. NOW.”

Without another word, Herculanum exited the room.

Papyrus immediately turned his attention to the girl. She was sitting next to the bed hunched over into a ball again. As he listened more closely, he could hear her softly sobbing.

“Human? Are You-“

“I wanna go home!”

Papyrus was struck silent by her anguished cry. She lifted her head to reveal her tear streaked face.

“Please, I promise I won’t tell anyone about what I saw-I just wanna go home!”

She began to sob loudly, covering her face which had turned red from exertion. Her frame was still shaking.

Papyrus had an overwhelming urge to pick her up and comfort her; hold her close and tell her it would be ok and he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her again. Dry those tears and shush her until she finally melted into him.

The youngest skeleton felt another shiver go down his spine. He shook himself. Where did those feelings come from?

Wherever they came from, he knew those types of advances would only frighten the little human more. He needed a way he could make her relax.

He watched her silently, as her crying ebbed and flowed over and over.

....flowed?

“HUMAN, I UNDERSTAND YOUR DISTRESS AT YOUR SITUATION. UNFORTUNATELY I CANNOT LET YOU LEAVE UNTIL MY BROTHERS HAVE CONCLUDED WHAT YOU TOLD THEM ABOUT YOURSELF WAS THE TRUTH. UNTIL THEN I HAVE BEEN TASKED TO WATCH OVER YOU.”

The girl looked up at him, her tears subsiding momentarily.

“AS SUCH, I WILL DO EVERYTHING I CAN TO MAKE YOU COMFORTABLE-WITHIN REASON MIND YOU! THAT BEING SAID, I BELIEVE A HOT BATH WOULD HELP YOU TO CALM YOUR NERVES AND RELAX- EVEN IN THE SLIGHTEST.”

The girl gave him a worried and suspicious look. Papyrus sighed at the tedious nature of this conversation.

“THE DOOR LOCKS FROM THE INSIDE. THERE IS NO WAY FOR ME OR ANY OTHERS TO GET IN ONCE ITS LOCKED.”

The younger skeleton left out the part of them possibly using magic; no need to add to her distrust.

She turned to face him, softly wiping stray tears from her face.

“TOWELS ARE IN THE CABINET TO THE LEFT OF THE DOOR. SOAP AND BODY WASH ARE KEPT ORGANIZED IN THE SHOWER CADDY-PLEASE BE SURE TO RETURN EVERYTHING TO ITS PROPER PLACE! AS FOR YOUR CLOTHES; AFTER YOU HAVE CHANGED OUT OF THEM, LEAVE THEM OUTSIDE OF THE DOOR SO I CAN WASH THEM FOR YOU. NO DOUBT THEY ARE DIRTY FROM YOUR LONG DAY.”

The girls eyebrows knit together.

“B-but if you take my clothes, what will I wear when I get out of the shower?”

Papyrus paused. He had not thought of that. She probably wouldn’t want to linger in a towel after what had just happened. He turned to his drawers, sifting through them. Most of his everyday clothes were dress shirts and slacks, which he did not want to risk wrinkling. He kept searching, until he pulled out a sweater.

It was very rare he ever dressed down, but sometimes when he stayed at home, it was easier to just pull on a sweater. He brought it over to the girl.

Hesitantly she stood and took it from him. She held it up to her frame. As he expected, his monster sized clothes were extremely long compared to her tiny human body.

The thought of her wearing his clothes made his soul begin to thump. He cleared his throat to bring his mind back to its proper place. No more foolishness.

“I WILL BE BACK TO CHECK FOR YOUR CLOTHES IN 30 MINUTES. IF YOU DO NOT NEED ANYTHING ELSE, I WILL LEAVE YOU.”

The girl shook her head, clutching the sweater.

Papyrus nodded, exiting the room. As he walked down the hall, thoughts of the cute human being dressed in only his sweater sent chills down his spine. His soul started thumping again. He knew he needed to occupy himself with other things or those thoughts would make him do something he’d regret.

....

As she sat in the water watching the steam rise, she felt a weight begin to lift. Despite the fact that he had killed someone, Papyrus was turning out to be...kinder than expected. Of course he was still very straightforward and to the point. No nonsense and always organized. This was evidenced to her by the extremely well organized shower caddy hanging from the shower head. Everything was labeled and put in order of importance. Apparently he shared this room and bathroom with one of his brothers. Or maybe...that terrifying skeleton he had called his cousin.

She shuddered, trying to shake the memory of his touches. If Papyrus hadn’t stepped in...

She turned her thoughts back to the tall skeleton. Had he really meant what he’d said? That he would protect her?

She felt something in her heart flutter. She sank deeper into the water until her nose touched it. No one had ever wanted to protect her before....

Maybe staying here wouldn’t be so bad, all she had to do was wait for his brothers to check her story and-

Then what?

Would they really let her go? Would she just walk away from this and forget this ever happened? Life would be normal again...

Could it be that simple?

She sighed. No doubt it was more complicated than that. And what if they were just really good at lying? Was all this stuff with Papyrus just a sham until they figured out how to get rid of her?

She felt her heart sink again at that thought. Wouldn’t be the first time someone had gone back on their word with her; or used her...or hurt her.

She sighed and reached for the plug. In that moment, she kinda wished Papyrus would come back soon, so she wouldn’t have to relive those memories.

.....

As he suspected, the human’s clothes were filthy and in need of washing. She had left them in a pile outside the door, devoid of undergarments-which he was thankful for.

He couldn’t help but wonder what she would look like in his clothes. Of course, it would be a while before her clothes dried so he had no excuse to go see her again.

Papyrus shook himself. He didn’t need a reason to see her. It was HIS room and she was a prisoner after all, he had every right to check on her. A pang went through his soul at those thoughts. A prisoner...is that what she felt like?

He pushed that thought away. It did not matter what she felt like. His job was to keep an eye on her, nothing else.

He headed up the stairs, almost skipping steps on the way up. He paused at the door. What if she wasn’t dressed yet? He felt his soul leap. He shook his head and knocked on the door.

“HUMAN, IM COMING IN.”

He opened the door slowly. She was laying on her stomach on the bed, reading one of his books off the shelf. At his presence, she swung her feet over the side and sat up.

Papyrus stared, still holding onto the door handle. Even though it was large, his sweater fell right below her knees. Her arms were engulfed in fabric, which she kept pushing back every few seconds. The collar hung a little loose on her neck showing some of her chest. She looked like she was positively swimming in his shirt.

And he loved it~

His hand twitched with the urge to reach out and smooth her damp and wild hair.

“Papyrus?”

He pulled himself out of his trance and looked her in the eyes. It was then he realized he had been staring for an awkwardly long time. He felt his face turning red.

“I- CAME TO CHECK IF YOU NEEDED ANYTHING BEFORE I WENT TO BED.”

She stared at him for a moment, seemingly weighing out something in her mind.

“...Am I sleeping in here?”

Papyrus was confused by the question. Why was she asking him when it was obvious?

“YES. I DOUBT YOU WOULD WANT TO SLEEP ON THE COUCH AFTER THAT INCIDENT WITH MY COUSIN.”

She nodded in agreement. He was still confused by the nature of her question.

“Where are you going to sleep?”

He watched her silently. Why was she asking so many questions all of a sudden?

“MOST LIKELY ON THE COUCH. DO NOT WORRY, I WILL BE FINE.”

She nodded again, she his time looking a bit...forlorn. Papyrus sighed and turned to leave.

“GOOD NIGHT HUMAN.”

“W-wait!”

He paused and turned back to look at her. She was fidgeting and wouldn’t look at him.

“You-....You could stay in here.”

The tall skeleton’s eye ridge went up.

“I-I mean there’s another bed here so...you don’t have to sleep on the couch.”

Papyrus was silent. He watched as she fidgeted with the edge of the sweater. He saw red creeping into her cheeks. She was asking him to stay? He felt his soul leap, but his outward appearance didn’t falter.

“WHY?”

The girl looked up at him. The sweater in her hand was scrunched up in her nervous hands, showing just a bit more of her legs. Papyrus could feel something building up in him he had not felt before.

A need...a hunger~

“I-“ the girl looked down at the bunched up sweater again. She tried to talk again but couldn’t.

She was so cute~

“I don’t want to be alone again.”

Her voice finally came out in a embarrassed and terrified whisper. So that was it. She was afraid; afraid something might happen again. Afraid someone might try to come in again.

“HUMAN, WILL ME BEING HERE MAKE YOU FEEL SAFER?”

She sighed. He could see the weight of the entire day come down on her in that sigh. She was exhausted and though calmer, she was still terrified.

She nodded.

He felt his soul skip a beat. The cute human wanted him to stay with her? He wondered what she would look like; asleep in his bed-so small compared to everything on it.

Outwardly, the tall skeleton crossed his arms.

“I SUPPOSE IT WOULD BE WISE FOR ME TO MAKE SURE NO ONE ELSE TRYS ANYTHING DURING THE NIGHT. VERY WELL I ACCEPT YOUR OFFER. I WILL TAKE THE TOP BUNK, SINCE YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY ALREADY SETTLED ON THE BOTTOM.”

Truthfully, he wanted a birds eye view of her while she slept.

The girl nodded and laid back down; bedding herself down underneath the blankets.

He turned on the lamp on the bedside table, then turn out the lights.

She watched as he made his way over to his drawers and began to loosen his tie. Once it was off he carefully folded it and placed it back in its spot in the drawer. Then he stalked back over to the bunk bed and stared down at the human. She looked back up at him, this time not averting her gaze.

“GOOD NIGHT.”

“Good night.” She whispered back.

With a grunt of approval, Papyrus climbed the ladder to the top bunk and settled down.

“...Papyrus?”

Her voice was small but strong.

“YES?”

“Thanks.”

“...YOU’RE WELCOME.”

.........

@turtleskele

Thanks aka-indulgence for your help with this chapter and answering my midnight questions lol! Also for the suggestion to post on my AO3. I think I’ll do that soon, of course I’ll give you the credit for my inspiration :). My AO3 is Tismyname.

-----------

AKA-Indulgence talking here, awww, she has someone to keep her company ;U; Baby needs some comfort...

I’ll be waiting to see you post! Thanks for sharing this :>

#inspirationforcreation #bloomingromance #AMitS Papyrus #submission #His bark #by turtleskele #please give credit to them I did not write this!#I enjoy reading this a lot ;u;

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aswissgaywholivesinoz · 4 years

Text

THE FIRST SNOW

(A Michelle Gomez x Female Reader fan fiction)

"(Y/N) , come over here real quick, help me out in the kitchen" I ran over to Michelle, humming a tune. " What's up? " She explained what I had to do and I helped her the next hour. It was quiet. Too quiet.

A week ago I had traveled to Scotland with my best friend lena. My car broke down somewhere down the road, and whilst lena went looking for a phone cell, I stayed next to the car, holding up a thumb. Maybe someone was kind enough to help us out. with a battery. I rubbed my hands against my tights and blew out puffs of hot air that formed little clouds of dust. Lena came back but with no luck. "All I could find was this funny shaped twig." I looked at it , made a face at it and hugged Lena. "We will get out of here before nightfall, don't worry. We have some tea? I'll be back in a minute" Scattering around the car and opening the door, I filled us both a cup of tea. " And now? We wait. "

Three hours later and we were still waiting. Night had fallen an hour ago. "Lena I'm so sorry i-"" Shh! " "Look, I know I said wed be home before-" SHH! " " WHAT?! " I looked down the road and could hear the sounds of a motor. A little later we saw two headlights coming our way. "Quick, turn on all the lights we have! I'll turn on my blinker on the phone" The car came closer and closer as we lit up our car. And then, just like it had appeared, it drove past us. "Wellp, there goes our last battery energy." "We can sleep in the car, tomorrow we can walk the rest of the way, get some help later."

I was about to pull out my sleeping bag when Lena squeaked. "Gee, girl!!" " Look, (Y/N) , look! It came back! The car came back!! " I ran around the car and saw the second car from five minutes ago, pulling up opposite of us.

I ran over and waited for the driver to let their window down. But when they did, I wished that Lena stood next to me, and not the icy breeze of the night. "Girls! What are yous doing? " I held up my pointer finger and turned around. "LEENAA" I turned back around and gave a lame smile. Not today, Satan. As soon as Lena explained what had happened, The lady who drove the car offered us a ride home. Lena gladly accepted . I, on the other hand hesitated. I excused myself and ran back to my car, grabbed my phone and my sunglasses and just waited a moment to clear my senses.

MICHELLe. The Michelle Gomez was the one who stopped. The one who now waved me over. The one who opened the drivers seat door for me to hop in. The one to put a hand on my shoulder ,asking me if I needed a warm blanket. I could only nod. After a while I found myself again. " I am so sorry for my behavior. I guess I didn't dream that someone would actually stop, let alone you! And Yess, I know who you are but no, I won't do any of the creepy stuff fans do. Uhm... Why are we on the opposite way of your house, Lena? " Lena giggled and explained that whilst I was grabing phone, she told Michelle where we lived. But Michelle was too far away from that place and her house was closer in the end. By two hours.

"WAITT! WE ARE NOT GOING TO MICHELLE'S HOUSE?! erm.. Michelle.. I appreciate it so very much, but I couldn't accept that. Just drop us of at an inn?? " "Oh, don't be silly! You are staying at my house, and you don't have to be scared, I am quite nice! And tomorrow I'll drive you back to your car with a new battery. Now nap. You're stressed enough as you are. I'll wake yous up when we're home. " With that I leaned my head against the window and dozed off. I could still hear the gravel road underneath the tires, I could hear Michelle humming a song and talking on the phone to someone.

Eventually the car pulled up and I got out, opening the door for Lena. "Lena! Get out! " We got our handbags and waited for Michele to receive her stuff out of the back of the car. "Can I help with anything? " " Nah, you just follow me. Come along! " Michelle showed us around, told us where the bedrooms and the showers were. She prepared a short snack before we thanked her and went to our rooms.

I heard a nock on my door. I was still standing in the middle of the room, not quite believing that this was actually happening to me, that I was actually standing in Michelle's house. "Yes? " The door opened and Michelle came in. I backed away, slightly intimidated by her presence. "I just wanted to make sure that everything is ok. Do you need anything? "

A hug,I thought. "No, and...thank you, again" Was what I said. "Okay. Here, have my number, just in case I forget tomorrow. "

She handed me a piece of paper. Hesitantly I took it, careful as to not touch Michelle. I wouldn't be able to control myself if I did. "Th.. Thanks.. Uh.. Goodnight? " " Good night, (y/n) " .

An hour later and I was finally laying down. But I couldn't sleep. My car was stood somewhere in the middle of nowhere, unsafe, anyone could smash the windows, anything could happen. I got up and made my way to the couch in the living room. I gazed out the window, watching the snow fall. "Can't sleep? " I jumped and squeaked, turned around and almost died. There she stood. The woman I'd been dreaming about for the past year. The woman whom I had a massive crush on. But not just a crush. In fact, I believe I was in love with her. And now she stood there, a concerned look on her face, her hair messy from the bed, and her night gown, well. I recognized that anywhere. It was the same she wore when she played lillith in sabrina. "Eh.. Uh. Uhm.. No, no I don't think so.. My car... It's uhh.. All alone. " She smirked and stood next to me, gazing out the window. All I could notice was her scent. I can't describe it. But it was like the first rays of sunshine in the morning, kissing the grasshalms.

When I felt a nudge, I shook, and looked up into her eyes. "What? " "Do you want to go and see if it is alright? I would drive, of course. " I thanked her. "I will just have to wait. Is it okay if I stay up a while? I won't touch anything, promise!" Michele shook her head and turned around, saying "I'll fetch some tea for the both of us. Company is better. I'll be back in a minute."

I sat down on the couch and just closed my eyes. "I am so sorry, this is all a wee bit much for me." I leaned back and rested my head. Not long after, I felt the soft cushion of the couch sink beside me. "Here, have a sip." Thankful, I accepted the steaming mug of tea. " I just hope my car is alright. I can't loose it! " "And you won't! That road is not very popular, especially on a Saturday night. You won't loose it. It's gonna be fine. Come here." I looked at her confusedly. What was happening ? Before I could grab my mug, Michelle pulled me into her, so that my back rested against her chest and her chin on my shoulder.

"There. A hug always calms down the nerves." She wrapped her arm around me and with her other one handed me my tea. "Eh... " "Shh. Just relax. Sleep." I finished the tea and closed my eyes. I mumbled "you're dreaming, (y/n). Dreaming. " I realized that I wasn't, the same time Michelle pinched me and giggled amusedly. "I guess not, im affraid" I wanted to jump up and apologize for leaning on her, but she held me down, rocking me to sleep. But before I fell asleep I managed to say one more thing. "You stole that robe from the set. " "And you won't tell! "

I woke up by lena slamming the pillow in my face. "Fuck you! " "I'd rather not. C Mon, Michelle is waiting in the car already!" Lazily, but ever so confused, I lifted myself off of the couch. Where was I again? "Girls! " Was that? "Get up (y/n) ! Get! Up! " I followed Lena Who handed me a Travelers Cup of coffee out the door. There, in the Early Sun Rays, she stood. A Black Haired, Blue eyed, gorgeous Goddess. No, wait, that was Michelle. Wow. "It's too Early!! I can't think right! Lena help!! " But all I got was giggles. Eventually we all ended up in the Car. Michelles Beautiful Car. With it's Brown Leather seats. And it's Red Walls. "(Y/n)? Are you present? " I turned my Head, still very Sleepy, and just nodded. "Right. Ok lets go! "

I sipped on my coffee quietly as I listened to the humm of the engine. Lena seemed very preoccupied by the technology of Michelle's car and pushed all the buttons. Michelle. I still couldn't quite believe that I wasn't dreaming. I looked over. Studied her. How her hair bounced up and down, how her hands lay on the wheel and how her eyes would occasionally squint whenever she tried to see further ahead.

" What's up?" Startled, I looked back out of my window. "(Y/N) ? " I fidled with my hands. "Yes?" It felt unnatural to be adressed by this woman that I loved. Yes. I said it. I loved her. I knew from the beginning that it wasn't just a massive crush. " I know your lookin at me for a while now. What's wrong? " Caught in action. Shit. "Just worried about my car. " Jep, good one, (y/n),good one. "Oh. hey, look we have a battery with us, your car was locked, plus it's Sunday morning so there are nearly none other Cars coming. No one uses that road, really. So stop worrying, okay?"

A little later, we pulled up next to my car. "My Baby!" I pulled on the door handle in order to get out.

"Wait! you idiot! Put on a jacket and gloves!! It's a bloody snowstorm out the-" Lena couldn't finish her sentence before I was out of the car and running over to my sweetheart. "I missed you!". I began scraping down the snow that had built up overnight. I looked inside and was filled with joy that the windows didn't get smashed and we didn't get robbed. " IT'S ALL GOOD! " I yelled. Michelle and Lena carried the battery whilst I unlocked the car.

"Uh.. Bitch? We have a... Problem. ". Oh, no. What now? I came around and saw with horror that one of the tires popped and the paint was damaged. " Damn that'll take some time and money to fix... " I had just finished wiping the snow down and was ready for the battery to be replaced. "(Y/n) , stop, this isn't smart. We should call the service. Let me talk to them."

I talked to Lena whilst Michelle was on the phone. "So. What now? We have to get to your house somehow... It'll be hard in this storm, without a car. And I don't want her to drive us because one, I wouldn't be able to handle sitting so close to her. And seccond, she's done too much for us already. "

Lena wrapped her arm around my shoulder. " I'll call a taxi. It's gonae be a bit expensive but we can stop halfways and jump the train. Give me a minute. " She jumped off the hood and walked a way to get some quiet.

I remembered I had some tea in the thermos flask so I reached for the door, fell off the hood, scrambled up to get into the drivers seat and took the flask from its holder. I stepped back out, wiped some snow off of my clothes, rubbed my hands and opened the flask. I took a sip and- empty. Urgh. I turned it upside down, because that's what every idiot does, and watched the last droplet of cold tea hit the snow. Sigh.

"Nothing left? " I looked at Michelle with a shy smile. "Yeah... I hoped there was more tea! " Michelle chuckled sweetly. "Come here. This'll keep you warm." She pulled me towards her and rubbed her hands up and down my arms. "The service said they will be here in about an hour due to the heavy snowfall, so we have to wait here and signal for them. Let's wait in my car, yes? Call your friend over once she's done... Say, WHAT is she doing? " I looked over to lena and chuckled. " Oh, yes, that's mister Twig, we found him yesterday. She always pretends to talk to objects around her when she's on the phone. She's calling a taxi. To get us to the train station. " Michelle stopped rubbing my arms.

"(Y/n) , you know that that's not gonae happen right? I'm here, I've offered my help, and I won't let you go to a station with a stranger in heavy snowfall where I can't see and follow if he really drives you where you want to go. Nope, you're staying with me. "

Perplexed, not knowing how to react, I let a tear fall and wiggled myself out of her arms. I looked at her. Then I turned around, run to lena, took her phone and hung up. "Lena, pinch me. " She looked at me with a hint of annoyance. Uh-oh.

"(Y/N) , I AM SICK OF YOU! JUST BECAUSE YOU LOVE THAT WOMAN DOES NOT MEAN YOU CAN THROW MY PHONE INTO THE SNOW WHILST I AM TRYING TO RESCUE US!! YOU CAN'T FREAK OUT EVERY 5 SECONDS! SO GET OVER YOUR STUPID CRUSH AND PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER! ugh. Now I have to start from the beginning! " Turning bright red, I sat on the ground and stared into the distance. There is no way Michelle didn't hear that. "Lena, we don't need a taxi. She's refusimg to let us out of her sight. Please stop screaming. And THANKS A LOT FOR EXPOSING ME TO THE ONE WOMAN I NEVER WANTED TO BE EXPOSED TO!! " the last bit I yelled back at her, throwing snow at her too.

Slowly I got up, walked to my car, took out a coat and went over to Michelle. " Can I... Can I please just sit in your car? I don't want to talk to Lena. Or of what just happened. Please" Michelle looked at me with a soft, understanding smile. "Of course honey. But I told you yesterday, Company is better. So I'll sit with you. LENA! come inside my car! You don't have to wait in the cold! " We all ended up waiting in her car, listening to Smaltown boy.

#michelle gomez #fanfic #Michelle x Reader #winter #lesbian

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fantasyfandommaiden · 5 years

Text

ML Counsellor AU: Adrien Agreste’s Session

Carmine let out a low sigh as she reread her the purple file in front of her, sipping her tea.

‘Most likely male due to the voice, attacks happen throughout the day meaning he either doesn’t work, works from home or is freelance...’ she reread her notes from the multiple sessions she had done so far, as well as some proven facts from the Ladyblog. ‘No noticeable accent when speaking, so most likely a true Parisian. Also, most terrorist are middle aged, especially those who act alone.’

Carmine was stopped mid thought when she heard a timid knock at her door, causing her to blink and look at her watch. Class’s for the day would be finished in roughly 20 minutes and she didn’t have any appointments this afternoon.

She closed the file and placed it in a drawer “It’s open.” She called.

The door opened and revealed a student that Carmine had never spoke to but recognized instantly. It was hard not to with his face being all over Paris on billboards and buses.

Adrien gave her a small smile “Hello Mlle Regal.” He said “Do you have a few minutes to talk?”

Carmine gave the young man a warm smile before gesturing to one of the chairs in her office “Of course Adrien, have a seat. Would you like some tea?”

Adrien smiled kindly, sitting down “No thanks Mlle Regal, Im fine.” He said looking around in a nonchalant manner. “So, Nathalie says she has known you for a long time” he began, looking straight at her.

Carmine raised a brow, not sure where this conversation was going. Nathalie’s birthday wasn’t for a few months yet, and she had yet to be akumatized as far as she knew. “Yes, we were roommates in university.” She said sipping her tea “She was a business major and I was in a duel credit of development and applied psychology.”

“So... you knew her when she began to work for my parents?” He asks tentatively. Carmine looked at him curiously, beginning to see where this is going “Yes...”

“Did you ever... meet them?”

Carmine gave Adrien a small, sad smile “... unfortunately Adrien, I never got a chance to meet Emilie.”

Adrien noticeably slumped at the comment “O...oh.... I just though... well, Nathalie said that you were a close friend of hers, and if I needed someone to talk to about anything, including mom, that I should... I thought that maybe you might know her.”

Carmine looked at Adrien very carefully, taking as much information in as she possibly could. He wasn’t that skinny considering he was a model, however it wouldn’t hurt for him to gain a few pounds, and he has spoken very formally to her from the beginning. She recalled a conversation she had with Nino about how polite and reserved Adrien was, and how the young DJ was trying to get Adrien to break out of his shell.

“Have you spoken to anyone about your mother since her disappearance?” Carmine asked him softly, to which the young man shook his head “I mean, I tried to speak with father, but he has been... busy since the disappearance, and Nathalie and Gorilla aren’t really that personable.”

“Gorilla?” Carmine asked, looking very confused at the name. Nathalie never mentioned a worker named Gorilla.

“My driver and body guard... it’s a nickname I gave him, he doesn’t talk much.” Adrien said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous manner.

“Ah.” Carmine said simply, sipping her tea. “When you say busy, do you mean distant?” The counsellor asked him gently, and Adrien tensed up.

“N-no!” He exclaimed, “Father is just very busy, what with running the Gabriel line and being the lead designer.” He expressed.

“... Adrien, doesn’t your father work from home?” Carmine asked slowly “Surely you at least have meals with him?” The model remained silent, looking down at the ground. “When was the last time you had a conversation with him face to face?” She pressed gently.

“... he’s been busy, I guess... it’s discouraging sometimes, but I’m fine with it.” He was a terrible liar to the point where it hurt just to listen to it.

And now Carmine felt like she had to up hold her promise to Nathalie about taking the stick out of Gabriel’s ass and hitting him with it. She understood perfectly well he was missing his wife, quite possibly in denial about it or mourning himself, but he had a child to look after as well, he didn’t have the option to be like this nearly 16 months after Emilie Agreste’s disappearance.

“Well Adrien, if you want someone to talk to, my door is ALWAYS open.” Carmine told him in a matter of fact tone.

Adrien blinked slowly, looking at Carmine confused “But... there is nothing wrong with me. I mean, I miss my mom sure, but I don’t really have a right to complain. I’m fine, I mean, father just isn’t the best at showing he cares, but he’s the only one that seems to genuinely care about me in the house.”

“It’s not about whether you have a right or not to complain Adrien.” Carmine explained to him gently “Also, this isn’t complaining. If your upset, or happy or lonely, or even angry your allowed to express that, I’m sure someone in your house would listen, whether that is your father, Nathalie or Gorilla.” She insisted to him. He didn’t say anything, clearly not believing her.

“Father is busy, and Nathalie and Gorilla only ‘care’ before they work for him...” he said softly, looking down at the ground still.

Carmine began to remember back to a few moments earlier in the year with her friend Nathalie.

When Mrs. Agreste’s investigation into her disappearance began to loose steam and Nathalie asked if Carmine knew any grief counsellors that Adrien could talk to.

The first day of school, before Carmine was even hired, Nathalie had pleaded with her to give Nathalie any and all articles or thesis’s on the benefits of children being in a public school setting verse being home schooled.

When Carmine was first hired, Nathalie asked Carmine to look out for him discreetly and that if Adrien ever came to her, to help any way she could. All of this had been done off of company time, and Nathalie insisted she had to do what was best for Adrien, to get him out of the house, to have some friends, to have a life.

She had actually got a text message from Nathalie earlier that days, asking how much free time a teenager should have, had if Carmine had any articles she could read up on. Carmine guessed that Adrien’s schedule was beginning to become full again, and Nathalie was trying to find any excuse she could to help lighten his load.

“No matter what Nathalie’s surname may say about her.” Carmine said to Adrien gently, looking at him with a warm smile “She is the opposite of heartless Adrien. She actually cares a great deal, she just has to be professional well she is working, which means she has to balance a fine line between professionalisms and being too personal.” She informed him gently “I can’t say too much, but know she does care and she does listen, and I am sure ‘Gorilla’ cares about you a great deal as well.”

Adrien looked up at her, starring her straight in the eyes “... your not saying that just to be nice, right?” He asked gently. Carmine raised a brow, giving him a deadpanned stare.

“Adrien, I may be called the Human Lie Detector, but I try my best not to lie, and I am being truthful about this.” Carmine explained to him. The young blonde looked at Carmine for a long moment, before giving a soft, genuine smile.

Adrien sat there thinking for a long moment before nodding again.

“I guess,... I could try talking to father again. But if that doesn’t work, and I did need someone to talk to, not that I really do...” he looked at Carmine expectantly.

“Than my door is always open, like I said.” Carmine said to him, smiling. The smile fell however when both hers and Adrien’s phones began to buzz loudly. Carmine lifted her phone and let out a soft groan “Akuma sited near the down town.” She muttered softly.

Adrien bolted out of his seat, causing Carmine to jump slightly. Adrien gave her an apologetic smile “Sorry, my driver is probably worried about me and I should get going!” He said going to the door quickly, before turning around and looking at Carmine “By the way Mlle Regal, thanks for giving me the ‘royal’ treatment.” He said giving her a wink with some finger guns before running full blast out of her office.

All Carmine could do is blink, noting how fast the teen was, but wasn’t nervous when she mentioned the akuma, he looked excited almost, as well as determined.... another student she would have to keep an eye on it seems.

#ml au #ladybug au #counsellor au #adrien agreste #carmine regal #nathalie sancoeur

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romanosgirl1978 · 6 years

Text

Thunder Rolls

So thought of this while listening to one of my playlists and couldn't get it out of my head so here it is.

Warnings- Short af (Im so sorry lol), Hella angst (its bad guys), Mentions of cheating (its based around the episodes where he sleeps with Madani)

Word Count- 993 (Literally my shortest fic but I couldn't bring myself to push it any longer I think it would have felt too forced)

Enjoy the hurt

This song actually mostly goes along with the story (for me at least) but its a bit out of sync.

Dinner was finished and the table was set for two. With Billy working so much the past few weeks you hadn’t been able to spend much time with him. You smiled down at the set up and meal that had taken you an hour and a half to prepare before heading back to his room, checking yourself over in the mirror, running your hand over the fabric of the dress and smoothing back a few stray hairs that had come loose while you were making everything.

You headed back out and poured two glasses of wine, sitting on the couch and pulling out your phone, going through a few more contract proposals as you waited for him to show up.

Two hours and half a bottle of wine later and you had already cleaned up the food, not having touched any of it, and slid your heels off of your aching feet. Thunder boomed outside and you watch through the wall of windows as the rain pounds against the glass and the lightening streaks across the sky. You chew on your lower lip and turn your phone over in your hands, waiting for a text or call from him, telling you that he had something come up at work and that the storm was making traffic worse. Something to tell you that he was okay, that he was coming home to you soon.

Four hours and you had changed into one of his shirts and a pair of shorts, a steaming mug of coffee cradled in your hands to try and warm you. You’d perched yourself on the window sill and continued to watch the ever worsening storm that raged, mind racing over every possibility but hoping that none of them were right, that he’d decided to stay at the office and wait for the storm to pass.

You started going over all the memories of you and Billy from the past year. The cancelled dates that led to him showing up at your apartment at 2:30 in the morning with a tired smile, messed up hair, and a cheap bottle of scotch that he’d picked up from the corner store by your place. The slight nervousness that he’d shown when he gave you the key to his apartment. The nightmares that he tried to hide and keep from you but succeeded only in worrying you more. The bruises and cuts that he brushed off from work. A tear streaks down your cheeks as you think of all the arguments that the two of you had, accusing him of cheating, about you wanting to know more about his work, about your future together. Now all you could hope for was for a tomorrow, not knowing what might had happened to him last night.

The storm had started to dissipate by the time morning came around, the coffee mug still full but cold as your eyes started to focus back in, squinting at the small sliver of light before another cloud blocked it out.

You sigh and stretch, setting down the mug before you hear a car pull in to the driveway. Your ears perk up and you smile, sighing again in relief before rushing out of the front door to greet him.

Your smile widens as he steps out of the car and your go to throw your arms around him but you stop as the wind shifts.

Taking a deep breath your arms drop, your smile slowly disappears and tears start to form in the corners of your eyes.

Billy tenses the moment he sees you and his shoulders fall the second you stop.

He doesn’t smell like him, you think. This isn’t your Billy. Not anymore.

“(Y/N),” he whispers.

You shake your head and back away as the tears start to fall.

“Yo- tell me… Billy,” you whimper, hands covering your mouth to keep in a sob as your heart breaks.

“(Y/N), baby. Please… let me explain.”

You take a shaky breath and bite your lip harshly, your hands dropping to your sides.

His eyes widen when he sees you calming yourself down, knowing that you do this at work if you have to make a hard decision, if you have to do something that you know you won’t like. This is the calm that everyone sees from you right before someone else’s plan goes wrong and you know you’ll have to fix it.

“Please, it was for work. I had to-“

“No!” you yell rolling your neck before speaking again, this time softer. “No, William,” you ignore his flinch. “No, you didn’t have to do anything. You could have said no. You should have said no.”

You turn and walk back into his apartment to clean out the drawer with all of your clothes and the one in the bathroom with everything else, throwing it into a garbage bag since you didn’t have anything else.

He follows you in and tries to talk to you, to stop you, but with each glare you through him his heart breaks more and more, the guilt eating away at him.

Tying the bag closed you drop it by the door before turning to him. “I’ll drop your things off with your secretary.”

“(Y/N), please. Just give me one more chance. I promise that I’ll do better.”

You shake your head and swing the bag over your shoulder, digging through your purse and pulling out his key.

“Cheating is a one-time thing,” you tell him quietly as you set the key on the table by the door. “I told you that before we even started dating. So I really hope she, whoever she was, was worth it. Good-bye William.”

You pause in front of the door as it clicks shut behind you and take a deep breath, letting one last tear fall as you walk away, not looking back even when you hear glass shattering against the door that you just walked out of.

#billy #billy russo #billy x reader #billy russo x reader #billy x reader angst #billy russo x reader angst #angst #hella angst #the punisher #the punisher x reader #the punisher angst #the punisher x reader angst #billy x madani #billy russo x Dinah madani

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boogiewrites · 6 years

Text

Choking On Sapphires 20

Title & Song: No You Girls

Characters: Alfie Solomons x Genevieve (OFC)

Word Count: 5000+

Summary: Genevieve is a force to be reckoned with. An intelligent, independent and brutal businesswoman. She’s been intrigued by Alfie since she met him. But where will she draw the line between business and pleasure now that they are working so closely together? Alfie hires Gen to help him end the blackmailed politician’s pull in London. He’s promised her the bloody good fight she’s been itching for, will the evening deliver?

Warnings/Tags: Language. Fighting. Gore. Blood. Nameless character deaths. Seduction.

A/N: Every chapter of this story will have a song to work as the title and as a soundtrack. Chapter song is No You Girls by Franz Ferdinand.

Positive feedback is MUCH appreciated! Reblogs, likes and comments feed this artist to write more!

My Masterlist. (Includes Parts 1-19)

You had been invited out tonight for a hit on a club. When Alfie had asked you who you'd suggest hiring to help fight your way in, you could tell by the way his lip disappeared under his mustache when you said your Arthur and the Shelby's, that he wasn't exactly sold on the idea himself. But after telling him no one fought with you better, he reluctantly trusted your choice.

You were to be handsomely compensated for your skills which would be out in full form tonight. You'd been excited and nervous as the date approached for the job, but now that you were walking in through the back entrance of the club as it was closing, to sneak the door keys and bring them back and wait in the car for your targets to arrive, you felt back in your element.

The director of this group of painfully mediocre wannabes just so happened to be the man who had tried to fuck Alfie over that you had helped steal the blackmail for. Now you found yourself in a position of immunity from the blackmail working like a dream. He can't report the hit, Alfie gets the last word. Everyone who mattered was happy. Alfie still having bones left to pick with this man and since you were involved already, he brought you in as your addition would make the night go much more smoothly, he suggested. He was taking part in this fight, as it felt it was personal at this point. Saying that he needed the opportunity to blow off some steam as well, like old times.

You're slinking across the street in your long, off the shoulder dress. Hidden split up each thigh for ease of movement hugged your curves in thin, soft red fabric to accommodate the summer's heat. Your makeup, the usual dark eye, and red lip, your hair pulled back at the nape of your neck so it wouldn't interfere with your sight or movement. You were very much dressed to kill.

Tommy and Alfie are sitting in the second row of the benched back seats of the large Rolls Royce watching you walk away in the direction of the club.

Alfie's nose twitches, readjusting his grip on his cane. Tommy had lost count of how many times he'd done this. Solomons was moving enough to almost be deemed twitchy. Tommy looks back over to the newspaper he's been skimming while they wait for your return.

"Do you not trust her to do her job?" Tommy asks in his even, cool tone.

"Eh?" Alfie gruffs, looking over at Tommy with a furrowed brow. "I wouldn't've hired her if I dinnit." he says obviously, one hand moving off his cane to express himself.

"Then can you stop fidgeting?" Tommy hides a small half smile with a slight tilt of his head as Alfie leans away from him in a pout. "You've worked with her on jobs before, haven't you? Or are you always this nervous when it comes to her?" he doesn't hide the smirk on his face from his words.

"I 'ave but none this dangerous." he states, thumbing his nose.

"From that statement I take it you've not seen Gen fight before have you?" his eyebrow rising in interest.

"I saw 'er at The Garrison." he offers.

"No that wasn't a fight." Tommy shakes his head. "I mean in the sort of spot you'll find yourselves in tonight." he clarifies, slowly turning his head towards Alfie who's enjoyed the subtle puzzlement on his friends face.

"No." he says, his hand punctuating his sentence with a wag. "But I did see her come home after getting the shit beat out of her by two men a few weeks back." he says with a bad attitude. "So forgive me if I'm hesitant to let her loose on her own."

"Is she your's to let loose now?" he says with implication.

"Don't be fuckin' daft Tommy." he growls. "But I'm the one hirin' her ain't I? She wouldn't be back out doing this so soon if I hadn't asked her to." he elaborates.

"Gen knows her limits, she wouldn't take a job if she thought she couldn't deliver."

"I'd be inclined to believe that." he solemnly nods.

"How's living with her going?" he breaks the silence growing in the car.

"Well you know." he pauses for a moment, "Place is fuckin' huge, innit? She's lovely. Good girl, very hospitable." he says with a firm nod of his head, still looking out the window in the direction you should appear.

"She is." he nods, looking back to his paper.

"She's never boring is she?" he says in a tone that tells Tommy he's become well acquainted with your big personality.

"Not in the years I've known her," he says with a small smile. "I heard you took her out to the Opera?" his voice full of suggestion

"She asked me to," he says with a hint of defensiveness. "What was I gonna do? Say no?" he lets out a gruff laugh.

"So you weren't taking her out?" his question inflects with interest at the end.

"No, mate. Weren't nothin' like 'at." he shakes his head as the words groan out.

"Nothing like that?" he insists.

"If there is from her end, I'm not aware of it." he plainly states, motioning out with his hand. "That is if she is in fact as affectionate with her good friends as she says she is." he pauses, places his hand on the other man's knee, leaning towards him with a look that is supposed to signify he's being impressive, "Which apparently we are now. Just so ya know, mate." He nods as if in sympathy towards Tommy's defeat. "So she has said to me, yeah?" he returns back to his normal sitting position.

"Good friends, eh?" he says with a subdued expression of amusement that would have been visible if it hadn't been dark outside.

"But she ain't like 'at wif you? Is she?" he says, his finger pointing out at Tommy, side-eyeing him.

"She has never been," he says, his face back to indifferent. "She is that way with Arthur and John. Arthur specifically."

"Why not you?" wondering if he'd done something to make her not want to be as close to him.

Tommy swallows before he speaks. "I've always assumed it's because she was a friend of Grace's." he says, the usual micro-lilt of her name as he forces it out of his mouth.

"Ah." he nods in agreement. "Now that would make sense, yeah." he ponders it a moment before quickly moving back to his questions. "Her and Arthur seem strangely close what with how she talks about 'im, what's the story wif 'at 'n all?"

"They're not fucking if that's what you're asking." he says with a bit of a tired drag to the words.

"That's not what I said, Tommy." he says a bit with the hint of offense.

"No but it's what you meant, wasn't it?" he says knowingly. Alfie gives him a strong side eye after turning his head from his direction. After a few moments of Alfie's silent treatment, he continues, "I believe they talk about art mostly. They're both very good to have on your side in a fight and they're both also very emotional. Seems that makes a friendship these days." he says with a short sigh.

"Well that checks out, dunnit?" he mumbles, still looking out the window.

"Seein' as he's married 'n she's watchin' the kid 'n all." he clarifies to himself mostly. "She didn't seem like the type of woman who'd do that sorta fing." he says more quietly, his eyes narrowing in consideration.

"She isn't." he agrees flatly. "She's a good woman, Alfie." he adds with more sincerity, nodding his head as he looks over his paper.

"It's hard to believe she's as good as she is, Tommy." he admits, his voice not showy, his hands not moving. "Hard to believe there are any women left like 'at all."

Tommy's eyes slowly look up and forward, taking in his words and what they told him about how he felt. "It is very hard to believe." he quietly agrees. They both sat in silence with heavy thoughts about the women on their minds. ---------------------------------------- Tommy leaves the car, going to a street over to wait for John and Arthurs signal that all the men had all arrived. You're turned around in your seat, on your knees. Your forearms crossed on the back of the seat, facing Alfie.

"What's wrong with you tonight?" you ask, your eyes narrowing as he keeps his eyes on Tommy leaving. "You've been acting odd." you pry with a tilted head.

He turns his eyes your way for a moment, before moving them back out the window. "What are you on about?" he huffs out.

"I know you Alfie, I can tell when something's off." you hum at him, resting your chin on your arms. "What is it about me that's throwing you off tonight? Let's fix it before we get in there bc I don't want it distracting me." you insist with a nod of your head.

"Well you were beat all to hell not that long ago, weren't ya?" he bites a little too harshly at you, looking back at you. You give him an attitude-filled glare.

"So you think I shouldn't be doing this." you say with a slow nod, pursing your lips in disappointment. You sit back up, lifting your chin from your arms.

"Don't be puttin' words in me mouth." he says, shaking his finger at you. "That's not what I said now, was it?" he lets his shoulders fall as they'd tensed while he spoke.

"Fear born from worry, then?" your expression softens as you stop your attempt to turn away from him. Your eyes aren't defensive when he meets them again.

"Now I just told ya not to do that, dinnit I?" he looks back out the window. No longer revving up, his face was set in an angry sort of pout.

"I'm a big girl, I can handle it, Alfie. Don't worry about me. Worry about yourself." you say poking him in the chest, limp-wristed and playful. "Look on the bright side." you offer which a much more subdued and charming expression, "This is the only time you'll ever be nervous for me before a fight because once you see me in there, you'll apologize for having doubted me." you give a challenging grin.

"Now there. That." he points at you. "That's the woman I hired for this tonight. You. Now?" he taps your nose and you can't help but roll your eyes at him. "You. Stay." you commands gruffly and you smile at his playfulness.

"You'll get your money's worth out of me tonight, Solomons, don't worry." you say with a cutesy wink, throwing your head back in a laugh as you turned around in the seat. His eyes give a very slow blink your direction, his head shaking back and forth with a deadpan face at you before you've even turned. -------------------------------------------- The signals are cleared. Everything is in place. Now it's on you to make the first move. Arthur and John are clearing the front guards and the lobby. Alfie clears out the guard in the back. Tommy is the controller, watching outside and making sure no one leaves or enters during the fight. You'd snuck in from the roof. You take a very deep breath, feeling it move through every part of you. You initiate the distraction.

Your heels clack loudly in the most empty club. A large room with hanging chandeliers, huge columns separated a dance floor with an ornately designed ceiling above it. The boys, numbering around fifteen to twenty, all greased up are spread out around a few pushed together tables in the dance floor. Some notice you slink across the landing before your heel hits the stone of the first step, but after that, all eyes were on you. They don't speak for a few steps, you're prim and posh and have all things you hold in your charming arsenal of distraction at full volume. The hit of your metal tipped heels echoes across the cavernous room as they move slowly across the floor to the men. You hear the murmurs begin.

"I think you're in the wrong place, lady." one of them says, this is the one that's just put the target on his head. Lucky boy.

"Quite the contrary," your voice is smooth and velvety, your face set like you know a secret no one else does. "I believe I'm exactly in the right place." you-you laugh, moving one shoulder with the sound, one hand to your chest. The mood shifts slightly in the room. Bait set.

"Oh are ya sweetheart?" he chimes in. You stand between them, still turned away from the back exit.

"You're here aren't you?" you say with a wink as you put your hands on your hips. He gives you a dumb laugh in retort.

"Oh you here for me, doll?" he asks, leaning back in his seat.

"I greeted her first, she's mine." the original speaker almost growls at you, his hand rubbing up and down the back of your thigh.

"Oh I'm here for all of you, handsome." you give a cheeky grin, jutting your hip out in his direction. "Me and my friends were sent here to entertain you boys tonight." you say, putting your shawl around his shoulders. "But I happen to be the first to get here and I'm not one to keep a party from starting."

"That right? he says, looking you over and licking his lips.

"Something about a celebration I'm told? A little something," you shimmy your chest at him with the word, "for a job well done?" you say with warm praise.

"Told ya he wouldn't be mad." the second speaker adds in a defensive tone.

"Guess so." the boy with his hands on your thighs says. "What are you planning on entertaining us with tonight, baby doll?" his fingers grip into the soft flesh under your ass.

"I'm known for my dances." you purr at him.

"You reckon I could get the first one of those?" he suggests, leaning closer and smelling you.

"Thought you'd never ask." you whisper leaning in close, your prominent breasts in his face. "Turn this seat," you say with a kitten like delivery. He raises himself and does as you command. "Now, sit back, luv." you bat your lashes, your hand pushing him back into the chair.

You loom over him like a vulture, taking a moment to look for the men you'd come with tonight. You see Arthur and stretch, letting him know you've seen him. You don't see Alfie yet so, you continue. "You'll all get your chance tonight to dance," you announce to the group, you move back to the boy in the chair. "and I never disappoint." you coo as you push his knees together, standing on either side of them. "But it is much better one on one. Don't you think?" you tilt your head and ask almost innocently.

"Amyfing you say, darlin'." he says in a chuckle, hands already on your hips. You sink down on him, hands rising above you in and inhale, grinding against him on the exhale. You hitch up your dress, sliding your knife into your hand as you raise it. You look up to Arthur as you lean in close to the boy's ears. He gives a nod and raises a gun from his hiding spot. That was your signal that you were clear and lucky for you, these boys were unarmed. You assume their egos became quickly out of check when free alcohol was involved, and in their pissing contests, they would threaten each other with their guns and that character head boss of theirs couldn't have word getting out about things like that. So he made them start leaving their guns at the door, assuring they wouldn't use them on each other. Guess he didn't think that plan through.

You hold his face in one hand, running your hand over his neck and jaw and pushing his head back when you made your rounds of doing this, his eyes were closed, his life is literally in your hand and you felt the rush of knowing you were about to spill the first blood of the night. You take his chin into your hand and kiss him. He was terrible at it to no surprise, but not surprising in the least is that he's easily distracted. You stand over the boy, your hand holds his head up, looking like any other part of the dance. You hear the footsteps behind you. You tighten your grip on your largest brass knuckle knife. You didn't want to use guns tonight, but you did have yours to intimidate. You didn't need the attention on the place until you wanted it that way. Alfie had his brass knuckles, along with his hands, adorning crowns and his biggest rings, fists backed by strong arms and broad shoulders. The boys both had their hats. Arthur liked to use the environment instead of planned weapon if he wasn't using guns. He was currently holding a broken bottle. Typical Arthur. John preferred bare knuckles, as he was a powerhouse tank that knew how to take a man off his feet in an endless number of ways. You move your hand now holding your knife to your chest, acting as if you're going to grope yourself and move your occupied hand up his chest quickly. You retrieve your snubnose from your chest and hold the gun to the head of the man next to you as you slice the throat of the man under you. The blood flows down his chest as his hands reach up to his throat, you don't look away from the man in your crosshairs, and you rise off the dying man. The group is wide-eyed in their naivety and still, despite the whispers and curses you hear.

Alfie takes your right. Arthur circles to your left, John finishes the shifting square you've created. The orders were to keep it as quiet as possible and kill all the members of his wannabe gang. That's it. You had intentions on getting messy tonight. Thus the red dress. You needed desperately to work out your tension and that was your intention. Take out as many as possible. The room is quiet except for the gurgling and sputtering of the man who had fallen out of his chair and was now face down on the ground. His wet hands slapping against the intricately tiled mosaic floor as the blood spread out along the cracks mimicking their natural movement in the body like it was flowing through a different set of veins now.

"'Fraid you've made some very poor decisions that's led ya here tonight, boys." Alfie nods as his booming voice echoes around the room. "The worst bein' the decision to work for your bastard of an employer and that decision will be the fuckin' end of ya tonight." he states with a strong nod. "So say your fuckin' prayers to who the fuck ever and let's this get this over with, shall we?" he says with a charming grin, adjusting his grip slowly on the dusters in his hands.

They stay still, some standing in defiance but carrying those actions no further. These men really were pathetic.

"Are you just going to sit there like a bunch of fucking pigs waiting for slaughter or are ya gonna fucking fight?" you shout loudly, taking a few steps back, your arms out at your side in exaggeration.

You hear Arthur curse with impatience and the broken glass hits the mans face as his friend jumped to his defense and it went from there. You and Alfie picked them off from behind. You struck, stabbed and hit at temples, throats, noses and groins. Each leaving you with more and more blood on your person. The way these boys loomed over you in your fighting stance led to attack from above, making any throat slice, if deep enough, spurt out another gush of blood, dripping down your dress after soaking the upper half of your body, before you could get out of range.

They begin to notice you're picking them off and they start to move in numbers towards you and Alfie. Then it became a true brawl. You have your knife, it and the combination of the knuckle dusters were enough to temporarily disarm most in just a few well-placed hits. You see the lack of form these fellows have, lumbering and easily distracted. Your speed and knife to their panic, swinging chairs, and broken bottles wasn't the fairest fight to them but it allowed you to enjoy yourself. The more you take down, the more they seem to want to be the one to take you down.

You hear things crashing around the room, but you can't pay much attention as they start to swarm and you have to switch gears. You go low, taking their feet out from under them in kicks and hits, your legs striking high at chins and guts as your skirt flies out in a pleasing floral, fluid visual amongst the dark moving forms of men on the floor around you.

By the end you're underneath the last man who happened to be rather large, giving you a bit a fight to finish. You've got the knife pushed through the top layers of his body where his neck used to be, now just a deformed mess from the struggle as you shout in frustration and effort to shove him off of you. He'd had his hands around your throat, you'd matched this with the knife across his and a thumb in his eye. Once you see your boys standing and watching you, each look a bit predatory in its own unique way, you let your shoulders slump as you move to all fours to standing, in realization it was over. Arthur looks like the runner-up in being covered with the most blood, behind you who was literally sopping with it. You rise, moving your dress as it makes heavy wet squishing sounds as you do so.

As you stand and look down as you notice none of their eyes were meeting yours, you see the fabric of the dress really wasn't made to have gotten wet as it is leaving nothing to the imagination. Your nipples being hard from the blood coursing fast through your veins are painfully visible as they do look hard enough to cut with the way the fabric sucked to your skin as you moved. Your arms especially, caked in fresh and clotted blood are the same color as your already red, blood-soaked dress giving the illusion of not wearing anything at all, really. You let out a grunt of frustration as you fling the gore from your hands and move towards them slowly, especially thankful now for the previously concealed slits in the thighs of your dress as without them, walking would have been really damn difficult. The moisture in the fabric making it so heavy.

"You could've stepped in at any time on that last one ya wankers. Ruined my bloody dress." you grumble, you are met with silence. "I'm gonna start fuckin' charging all of you if you don't stop fuckin' gawkin' like some schoolboys." you bark at them, making them stand at attention. They were all wound up from their violence and you weren't actually mad. You were just annoyed at the shift in the mood around you like this, being bothered more by how it bothered others rather than the nudity itself. "Jesus Christ boys, pull yourselves together." you say in a higher pitched voice, pulling the off the shoulder dress up as it was starting to shift.

You looked like a statue carved from red marble by the most gifted artist known to man, he thought. Although this statue of a goddess was real and moving and breathing heavily, perfect proportions shown in their rhythmic movement that could steal your words from your mouth and make it go dry. He was still grunting and heaving, his fists just starting to remember how to unclench, wanting to act on the thoughts that formed in his mind at the sight of you that matched his animalistic current appearance. Your scolding tone snaps him out of his hungry gaze as he clears his throat and puts the brass he wore in his pockets, moving towards you.

"C'mon, boys," he groans, taking off his coat and wrapping it around your shoulders, his hands resting on your shoulders. "She'll make us pay for the gift of sight if we keep using it to look at her." he says with a chuckle, having taken out a lighter and cigarette as he spoke, he hands it off to you. You look him over, as he helps you, hair damp from sweat, just the least bit of blood on his white shirt. His hair flopped about before he wiped it back with this hand, you always found it charmingly boyish when you caught the rare chance to see it in its natural state.

You slide your arms into the oversized coat and accept it, lighting it between your fingers with narrowed eyes. Thinking this gesture felt like an odd sort of power move from him, although his eyes were passive as they turned from you. You couldn't help but notice Arthurs displeasure at Alfie being the one to do your post-fight aftercare he'd been used to handling.

You regroup swiftly, the brothers gone, leaving you and Alfie to depart together.

"You mind if I take a bottle, boss?" you say, hoisting up your dress as you walk towards the bar.

"You got all the liquor in the world at home, luv." he says, moving his hands back and forth, dismissing the idea but your back is already towards him.

"I know but I want it for the drive home. I prefer my hard liquor to be earned after a job nowadays." you say with a laugh, leaning over the bar and grabbing a bottle of whiskey and walking towards the back door. "That got us?"

"That's got you, you sneak on to the car and I'll be out after I sort this out." he says, shooing you off with his hand.

"Yes, sir." you say with faux enthusiasm, hoisting up your dress in your arms to make it easier to get to the car.

Once you settle in with a swig and your cig, letting out a loud, pleasurable exhale of a job well done, you wait for Alfie. As you sit in the dark, having spent all your energy inside, and having still been so close to recovering from your last fight, you found yourself absolutely exhausted.

You rouse as he slides into the car with a grunt. You yawn as he settles. "Good?" you ask with a stretch.

"Should be, yeah." he says with a nod as the car starts.

"That went pretty well I think." you say optimistically, settling your back against the seat, and into the coziness of his coat. Drinking from the bottle, looking miniature in the oversized coat and sleeves that hid your hands as they grasped at the bottle.

"Yeah it did." he says with an enthusiastic nod.

You nod in agreement, taking your shoes off and pulling your legs underneath you and your turn to face him, the side of your face on the back of the seat. "Alfie?" you ask, in that tone you know he recognizes.

"Yeah, luv?" he says with a half smile, voice holding amusement for your call of his name, reminding him of a cat meowing for treats.

"I'm completely fucking knackered." you admit with a lazy smile, your eyelids resting lower than usual.

He laughs at you. "Ya sleepy there little one?" he teases.

"Yeah, little ones sleepy." you say with a slow lazy chuckle, your head leaning back on the seat, you rest the bottle in the floor.

"Well ya earned your rest after that in there tonight," he says supportively. "I believe my personal apology is in order after that wonderful show you put on. I shouldn't have questioned your judgment on the matter." he expresses genuinely, you feel him moving, speaking with his hands despite your eyes being closed. "Since ya keep goin' on and bein' right even with the odds stacked against ya." he says, not hiding that tone of being impressed and confounded at your behavior. "You'd think I'd learn." he tsks himself playfully.

"Now's not the time for praising pillow talk, Solomons, I'm tired." you smile, your eyes staying closed with your tilted back head, a smug grin on your face. -- You wait until you're out of the city and away from the lights. "Safe to unbutton this coat now?" you ask, breaking the quiet of the cabin of the car.

"Yeah, take it off if ya want, we won't run into no trouble now." he says in a tone that tells you not to be silly, do what you want. You run with this unverified permission.

You unbutton all the buttons on the long jacket, feeling better as the air hits you, cooling you immediately. You fan it a few times until you shiver, scooting closer to him and putting your head on his shoulder.

"What's this now?" he says in a laugh. "Never had a business partner do this after a job." he teases.

"Well the jobs over." you state in a bratty tone. "And I'm very tired and it's a long drive." you explain in a small voice, invading his personal space.

"You're right. Jobs over, innit?" he says readjusting how he sits to accommodate you.

"You know if my doing this truly bothers you I'll stop. Just tell me." you say almost short with him. You were genuinely fighting to keep your eyes open.

"Go to sleep." he whispers in a gruff tone you reply with a short laugh and you curl up in the seat.

Pt 21 Stand By My Girl

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