#if youre being mildly annoying by just existing in my store and needing to be helped

[useful-boy]

The security guard at work keeps trying to tell me what a good job I'm doing, but like she helps me with cleaning stuff around the store (not that I ever ask her to, she just does it to be helpful), and I know for a fact the store wouldn't look as good without her on our busy weekend nights

Her: You've been doing really good lately!

Me: No I haven't, this store would be nothing without you

Her: That's not true, you've been trying hard. And you've been building a rapport with these customers

Me: I hate these customers

[whetstonefires]

spiral emoji and umbrella emoji for the ask game?

🌀Post the fic summary for a fic you haven't written/published yet. It can be hypothetical or something you really plan on releasing...

hmmm i have had another segment of that AU where Carrie Kelly is Tim's Robin mostly written for years, I keep fiddling with the ending. it's one of those fics i'm gonna summarize with an excerpt, I'm thinking this one:

Robin almost tripped over herself, stopping so hard, but she sorted her limbs out without actually falling down the roof, and dropped into a defensive stance. “Who are you?” she demanded. The stranger cocked his head. “I’m Batman,” he said. His voice was a little less deep than Tim’s, flatter and throatier, so that instead of making a pronouncement from on high, he came off as stating crushingly obvious fact. Robin glared. “You’re not.” “Am.” “I’m Robin! I know Batman. You’re not him.” This Batman’s mouth twitched with amusement, almost the same way Tim’s did. “Other Batman.”

☔Is there a fic concept you have that you'd like to just explain and share because you're not sure you'll ever write it? If so, what is it?

You know this is hard. I don't generally remember ideas existed if I don't write at least 2k of them down immediately ngl. And from my abandoned drafts there's so many....oh!

Okay here's one that I think is super funny but I can tell I'm never gonna finish. I was complaining in the groupchat that I'd just read a fic that asked me to believe modern AU Wei Wuxian dated Jin Zixun, got dumped by him, and was broken up about it. Impossible.

I was like, if you want to use an existing villain as a fuckboi ex, still why pick the guy who never once had the power to do anything to Wei Wuxian except annoy him? There's options! And then like. We've actually seen shitty boyfriend Wen Chao done, usually a coercion situation. Xue Yang is a semi-plausible abusive ex if you make them the same age and shift some other variables around, seen that.

You know what none of us had seen? Su She.

And it's weird people don't use Su She for this! He's pretty capable, he's a hard worker, he has to be decent looking if he was allowed to be a Lan disciple, he's not totally dumb. He's deeply selfish but in a mildly complicated way. He's dollar store option Lan Wangji, that's his whole bag!

If you're going to have wwx settling for shitty guys (which like I think that's really ooc because Wei Wuxian had no particular interest in having a love life before it turned out he was hip-deep in True Love and he's a brutal judge of character, but if that's your plot, maybe he's doing some queer version of comphet where you gotta be with someone or your identity isn't valid idk) Su She should be at the top of the list.

Now, for my money, with my fairly demanding standards wrt character motive, I can't see Su She successfully bagging wwx without being genuinely into him, because Wei Wuxian's nose for bullshit is superhumanly powerful. But that's not hard to set up.

All you need to justify Su She pursuing Wei Wuxian with genuine intent is for Wei Wuxian to validate Su She's feelings at a critical moment when they're young--say, coming across him directly following the Waterborne Abyss arc, when Su She was no doubt given the rough side of Lan Qiren's tongue at the very least, for losing his sword and being ungracious and so forth. And sympathizing with all his intense feelings of being hard-done-by and disrespected and so forth. (We will assume there was not outright treacherous behavior from Su She at this point.)

Su She will demonstrably follow you to the ends of the earth and through a river of blood for making him feel properly valued. I do wonder whether he's an orphan or just has shit parents. (I wonder this about Jin Zixun also lmao. His parents wouldn't actually need to be shitty, if they were just totally overruled by Jin Guangshan.)

A lot of what he admires in Jin Guangyao is also true of wwx; when they met wwx was on top of the world, making him a target of envy and resentment, but you could definitely reshuffle that if you started early and showed Su She the right background cards.

And Wei Wuxian does not usually decide he likes people who turn out not to deserve it, through a combination of strong insight, the fact that his faith in people typically inspires them to return that devotion, and that it's just not that kind of story. But he is strongly biased to keep liking someone once he starts, in a funny ADHD kinda way where he doesn't really think about you if you're not there but treats you like no time has passed when you come back, so if he decided this ridiculous sulky unLanish Lan was his friend it would take a lot to change his mind. Su She would remind him of both Jiang Cheng and Lan Zhan, which would help.

The other half of the brainstorming, that had a plot rather than just character setup, was a modern AU fic where (as I've seen done a couple of times) Lan Wangji was dating Mo Xuanyu in the attempt to get over Wei Wuxian, and Wei Wuxian was dating Su She, who unlike Lan Wangji actually like. Said something. Out loud with his mouth words lmao.

And then, probably by watching lwj watch wwx at a party or something, Su She figured out that Lan Wangji was pining for his boyfriend, and because of his intrinsic jealous shithead qualities he was ecstatic because he finally had something Lan Wangji wanted and couldn't have.

So he went out of his way to gloat and flaunt, and kind of lost track of the actual reasons he had sought out this relationship in the first place in favor of his weird Hanguang-jun complex.

And ultimately he destroys both relationships--poor Mo Xuanyu ah?--and fucks himself over, and you get a wangxian endgame.

I actually seriously considered really writing this, from Su She pov mostly, but the thing was the 'scenario for wwx to attract su she's loyalty' was grounded in the canon setup and the dating scenario required a low-homophobia modern setting, and just thinking about doing the worldbuilding to make them match made me tired and bored. I don't like modern AUs and their chief virtue is recontextualization in a familiar context, if I've gotta build some kinda smushworld then where's the value added?

And the idea, while very funny, just isn't my thing enough to dig in and work for. I'm not inspired by dating drama. If anyone wants to adopt it they're welcome!

Here's a bit (set in the smushworld) I wrote that I really liked, where su she and wwx are texting back and forth in their late teens:

>Jiang Cheng would never forgive me if I ran off. >Because he’s counting on you to run his Sect for him. >He absolutely is not. Jiang Cheng will work himself into the ground before he lets me do his job for him. He didn’t admit that of course the Sect Heir was counting on him, but he didn’t disagree, which was basically the same thing. Wei Wuxian worked very hard, for all it looked like he didn't, and was rewarded for it, but Su Minshan knew that even in Jiang the equal opportunity only went so far—he was the Sect Leader’s pet for personal reasons, not just on merit, and even so he could never rise to be the equal of the blood heir. It was infuriating sometimes how that didn’t bother him. Have more ambition! >You’re so lucky, Su Minshan wrote, because he was jealous, he was so so jealous. It was just hard to hate Wei Wuxian. >I am! <3 But let’s see, outside the main family how important can a person get in Lan Sect? You can make a plan. Weeks of effort did not produce any particularly good plans. The most realistic one took forty years to show results. >Maybe I should just kill Lan Wangji and use a spell to disguise myself and take his place, Su Minshan joked. >Haha! Minshan-xiong, I’m sorry, you couldn’t pull off being Lan Zhan. That hurt, an unexpected cold dagger to the ribs. Wei Wuxian was his friend! >Why not! he typed angrily. Was his playing too weak, his swordsmanship, his deportment? Would even Wei Wuxian tell him he was just not good enough? >Because you could never resist saying something bitchy when you had the chance, and he keeps all the bitching inside his head. Su Minshan put his head down and laughed until he thought he might cry.

[bougiebutchbitch]

Do you ever think Kakairu is more popular then Kakaguy because Iruka doesn’t have a bowl-cut and shippers like pairing their hot anime men with other conventionally attractive hot anime men.

Honestly, I think there are plenty of reasons why it's more popular! With that being one of them, and the fact that both Kakashi and Iruka are father figures to Naruto being another.

It's one of those ships that has very little canon content, but a lot of potential to be explored in fanfic, etc. Personally, that's not for me - I always prefer ships that build off of pre-existing strong canonical bonds! But I can 100% understand the appeal of kakairu if you prefer 'what if' type ships that give fan creators loads of leeway to let their imaginations run wild!

Plus, Iruka was a far more important character than Gai in the first few episodes of the anime/chapters of the manga. So, he's going to stick in people's minds, even if he's a relatively minor charater overall.

And he is, like you say, a total cutie!

If this is honesty hour, it will always mildly annoy me that this ship is so much more popular than Kakagai when it has very little canonical substance in comparison. BUT it also mildly annoys me that so many people like the cinnamon bagels at my local store, which means they rarely make the onion bagels that are MY favorite. That's just life, ya feel?

Personally, my aggravation is less about 'Kakairu is bad' and more about 'KAKAGAI IS SO CUTE AND DESERVES TO BE APPRECIATED BY EVERYONE EVEN IF GAI IS NOT CONVENTIONALLY ATTRACTIVE'. But that's my little shipper gripe to get over, ya feel? Ships don't need a strong canon basis to be valid, just like how ships don't need two hot anime men to bone to be appealing. Kakairu shippers are just doing their thing and living their life. Good for them!!

Find the content you love, block the content you don't (I'm sorry Iruka, I had to block your name because just blocking the ship name still didn't hide everything T^T) and be happy x

[sesshy380]

🧸, 🦷, 🌿, and 🦋 for the truth or dare ask!! ^^

🧸 ⇢ what's the fastest way to become your mutual?

Just start randomly chatting with me. If I don't reply right away, it's usually because I'm busy, but I will reply when I get the chance. If it's been a few days, throw me another rando message. It's entirely possible that my squirrel brain took a glance at it then got distracted and forgot (and without the notif dot, I won't think to check).

If we've been chatting on occasion, but then it's been a few days and you wanna reach out, do it! I am terrible at initiating things, because I brain tells me I am being annoying (I'm sure that's majority of the people here). If your brain does the same and keeps you from sending those rando messages to me, you're not. I have low energy days that sometimes limit my socialization, but it takes a lot for me to find someone annoying. Your competition for 'who is more annoying' is a 15yo that will walk into the room and recite John Cena speaking in Mandarin over and over and over and (that's him being mildly annoying)

🦷 ⇢ share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on

This one is for making mashed potatoes when you have low energy. It involves knowing ahead of time.

Figure out when your higher energy period is and get the prep work done. Peel, cube, rinse off dirt/excess starch (I do a double rinse), then put in a bowl or the pot you plan to use with cold salt water that covers and put in fridge for later. I've done mine the day before on occasion, and even had one time where something came up so it had to sit in the fridge for an extra day. I don't recommend 2 days in advance on a regular basis, but it can be stretched that far if needed (I suggest replacing the water in this instance before boiling).

When it comes to mashing, electric hand mixers work great. You get a nice creamy texture, though you can leave a few lumps if preferred.

Accidentally added too much liquid during the mashing process? If you have dry instant potato flakes, sprinkle and mix a little at a time until you get the desired consistency.

🌿 ⇢ give some advice on writer's block and low creativity

Don't beat yourself up (easier said than done, I know). Do something else for a bit. Your brain will scream on occasion to work on your stuff. Make the attempt to at least look. At one point something might just click.

Maybe you wanna write something, but it's not The Thing™. Do it. Write the randomness that appears. Get it out of your system. Maybe it's not your usual style. Maybe it's incoherent gibberish. Hide it away in a doc labeled 'Gibberish'.

Maybe you're stuck on a scene that you want to go a certain way, but the characters want to do something else. Let them. You can copy/paste everything that will still be relevant for the original plot and pick back up later.

Sometimes you get stuck trying to carry over from a previous chapter, then while cooking a grilled cheese you realize that chapter doesn't even have to be there. Don't delete it, just store it away. It might come in handy later. Sometimes that's the only reason the block existed in the first place. (That totally didn't happen to me)

🦋 ⇢ share something that has been on your heart and mind lately 

There are times I feel like I'm letting my readers down with not having any recent updates to TKB 2nd chance.

Add to it that my longfic has also become a 'I will post when I have something', and I'm afraid my longtime readers will think I've become another of those longfic authors that lost interest in their own story and will discontinue writing it.

That is absolutely, positively, not true.

I love my longfic. It's my baby. I'm just starting to get to the part where I feel some readers might start noping out. The tag is there, but it's worded in a way to avoid spoilers. The hints are also there, but I am having to consistently remind myself 'I'm writing for ME'. The end I have in mind is a bit of a cliche, and the dynamics between characters will not be any less string-board.

And I'm frustrated because I don't have anyone that I can discuss future chapter ideas with that has even a clue what's going on. It's one of those stories that you can't simply mention a character name and think you understand their dynamic with other characters, because despite being somewhat canon compliant, it's more parallel timeline with a whole different pre-history. It's the 'What if' of What-if's.

Ask Game here

[maddieinwonder]

Bait & Switch

Spencer Reid x GN!BAU!Reader

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: None, super fluffy 

Word Count: 3.5k words 

Plot: Reader reveals that they’re going to buy a Nintendo Switch so Spencer invites them to go together with him. In the process, some feelings reveal themselves.  

Author’s Note: My first time writing about Spencer, and actually, my first time writing a fic in a long time haha. Just imagine that this takes place in 2017, although you don’t have to know anything about the Switch in order to read this.

Masterlist

-------------- 

"What's got you in such a good mood, baby?" Derek asked, leaning over his chair. Even without looking up, you could feel the smirk that decorated his face. After almost a month at the BAU, you didn’t need to be a profiler to expect this much from Derek. "Got a date this weekend?"

You tried to focus on your paperwork before relenting, rolling your eyes. Still, you couldn't hide the smile in your voice when you shot back a reply. "With this job? You wish, Morgan."

"Give yourself some credit, beautiful. With your looks I'm sure you could score a good looking fellow for a night you won't forget."

"I'm sure you would know all about that," you replied, this time grinning from ear to ear.

Ever since you joined the BAU, your seat has always been across Derek Morgan. The guy was a terrible flirt but also one of the most trustworthy people you knew, so you couldn't keep up a sarcastic mood for long.

"Actually," you replied genuinely, "I'll be lining up this weekend to buy a Nintendo Switch." Out of the corner of your eye, you could sense Spencer stiffen in his chair next to you.

"A what switch?" Derek asked, his face scrunching up in confusion.

But before you could begin to reply him, Spencer rolled his chair over and opened his mouth. The both of you knew what was coming.

"The Nintendo Switch. A video game console developed by Japanese company Nintendo that's completely one-of-its-kind, on account of its console functioning like a tablet that can either be docked on a home console and linked to a TV, or used as a portable device with two wireless controllers so you can..."

Not being able to help yourself, you giggled at his info dump. You've always admired how much knowledge he could store in his big brain. But more importantly, you thought he was kind of cute like this. A fire would light in his eyes and it seemed like the world around him ceased to exist.

You only realised you were staring at Spencer when the last bits of his question registered in your mind. "...you going to?"

Blinking your eyes, you snapped to attention. Derek seemed to notice, because you felt his signature smirk return to his face.

"Which store are you going to?" Spencer repeated the question. Anybody else might be annoyed, but he only seemed mildly restless. A rare look for the unathletic genius.

"I'm going to the one three blocks down from here," you replied.

"So am I!" Spencer sat upright in his chair, beaming. You think that this is the most excitement he's expressed to you since you joined the BAU.

Then his confidence seemed to waver. He began tugging at the edge of his sleeve, eyes glancing to the side at nothing in particular when he asked, "W-would you like t-to go together?"

A smile spreads across your face before you can stop it. "Sure! Sounds like fun."

Spencer grinned back, and there was a moment of silence before Derek interrupted the conversation that he began. "Well, I'll leave you and lover boy to plan your date. I'm going to spend my Friday night at the bar."

Your heart thumped involuntarily at the word "date", while Derek turned to Emily. "Hey Prentiss, you want to grab a few drinks and dinner? I'm sure I can get the others to leave work for one night."

"Anything's better than this," Emily shrugged, lifting her mug of already-cold coffee.

Standing up to retrieve her bag, she smirked at you and Spencer, having heard more of the conversation than she let on. "Have a great weekend, you lovebirds. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

She and Derek shared a laugh as they moved towards the Batcave to retrieve Garcia next.

As you watched them go, you feel Spencer's eyes on you and a flush warming your cheeks. You knew they were just teasing you with the word "date", but the truth is you've liked the genius almost as soon as you met him.

You may not have an eidetic memory, but you could still remember the flutter of butterflies that exploded in your chest when you first laid eyes on Dr. Spencer Reid.

He had waved from a comfortable distance, the other hand tucked in the pocket of his dark slacks. He towered over you easily with curly locks that barely touched his sweater vest, and you swore you've never seen anybody more attractive in your life. His intelligence only added to your attraction. 

"Shall I pick you up at 7am tomorrow?"

You turned back to Spencer, who seemed even more nervous now that everybody in the bullpen had left. Yet what he was proposing was rather bold compared to his usual behaviour.

“Pick me up?” You repeated.

“It’ll be easier to find a parking spot that way, and the weather report predicts that tomorrow will be a sunny day, so I know you’d rather not walk three blocks to the store.” He rambled nervously.

“You know me well, Spencer.” A cheeky smile snuck onto your face, and in a moment of false bravado, you said what was on your mind. “7am. It’s a date, then.”

Spencer’s face turned beet red.

You didn’t wait to dwell on his reaction, dumping the last of your paperwork into a pile and picking up your bag. But as you walked to the elevator, you couldn’t help yourself from grinning ear to ear. It was a date. Kind of.

-------------- 

You couldn’t sleep. You had gotten home earlier than usual, but the extra time to plan for your “date” tomorrow proved to be a bad idea.

What would you wear? What would you talk about? Should you extend it to a meal, or dessert, or maybe coffee?

Although you were confident in the moment, you were beginning to regret teasing Spencer before you left. You’d known him long enough to know how he reacted to embarrassment, and there’s a good chance he might back away because of your forwardness.��

You groaned, trying to get these thoughts out of your head. The reality of the "date" was sinking in now. This would be the first time that you and Spencer would be alone in a non-work setting. To say that you were nervous was a gross understatement. 

But there was something worse than showing up nervous, which was showing up nervous and sleep-deprived, so you turned off your bedside lamp and tried to will yourself to sleep. That's when your phone began to buzz.

You were so on edge that the sound almost made you fall off your bed. Turning over your phone, your heart leapt to your throat.

Spencer, 2:03am: Sorry to disturb you when it's so late, but I realised I don’t have your address. Could you send it to me when you're awake?

You gulped. Just relax, just relax, you repeated in your head.

Me, 2:05am: It’s alright, you didn’t wake me up. I’ll attach my address below.

Spencer, 2:06am: Thanks. Having trouble sleeping?

Me, 2:07am: A little

Spencer, 2:08am: Me too.

What was I supposed to reply to that? You silently screamed. But it turned out you didn't have to figure it out.

Spencer, 2:11am: To be honest, I'm a little nervous about tomorrow.

Me, 2:13am: Why?

Spencer, 2:15am: I suppose it’s because we've never spent any time alone before.

Hearing the genius act so shy made you feel a little more brave.

Me, 2:16am: Well, I'm looking forward to the chance

Spencer, 2:17am: I am too.

Despite your nerves, you smiled at his small confession.

Spencer, 2:19am: We should get some sleep.

Me, 2:19am: I’ll see you tomorrow. Good night, Spence

Spencer, 2:20am: Sweet dreams.

Your anxieties were washed away and replaced with the biggest smile on your face. Without knowing it, Spencer’s words rippled a sense of calm over you, and you fell asleep shortly after. 

The next morning, you woke up with a newfound clarity. You knew what you were going to wear. 

-------------- 

Spencer couldn't stop tapping the edge of his steering wheel. He knew he was nervous, and admitting it to you last night didn't do much to stop that fact from eating away at him.

He texted you 3 minutes ago that he was waiting outside your apartment, but you hadn't replied. Although he knew that there were plenty of logical reasons why you might have missed his text, his hands didn't stop itching to call you and see if you were alright.

Then out of the corner of his eye, you emerged from the corridor and he felt his heart speed up.

You were wearing a blue flannel that he'd never seen you in before with a pair of dark jeans. Your hair, which you usually kept in a up-do at work, was let down in waves, touching your shoulders. And then there was the pièce de résistance, you were wearing a Doctor Who t-shirt with the TARDIS on it.

Hook, line, and sinker.

He didn't break his gaze on you the entire time you got into his car. Even when you beamed at him and wished him a good morning, a small yawn escaping your perfect lips, he was completely tongue-tied.

"Earth to Spencer," you called out, looking up at him curiously. "You there?"

Spencer shook his head suddenly, cursing himself internally for being such a doofus. "Sorry, uh, I was distracted. Good morning." He smiled sheepishly, tucking a stray hair strand behind his ear.

"Anyway," he cleared his throat. "I was thinking we could grab some coffee before we headed to the store? We can make it quick. I know there'll be some people already lining up."

He peeked at you rubbing your eyes and thought it was the cutest thing he's ever seen. “Looks like you might need it," he said without realising he'd just flirted with you.

You giggled, lowering your hands from your face. "Sounds great." 

-------------- 

Spencer wasn't lying when he said it'd be quick, although in truth you could have taken all the time in the world and you would still be happy. The initial awkwardness between you washed away almost immediately as you fell into a quiet conversation about your favourite Doctor Who episodes. 

You wanted to commit the sight of him driving in the morning to memory. The sun had just rose, lighting a gentle halo around Spencer’s messy hair and sculptured face. He was wearing a bigger sweater than usual, the sleeves hanging around his wrists loosely. While his eyes were focused on the road, his lips parted slightly as he softly bantered with you about David Tennant. 

You felt an overwhelming urge to reach out and kiss him despite the driving hazard. And despite the fact that you’ve never kissed him, of course. But you could hope. And hope you did. 

Your hope had grown when he parked in front of the coffee house you’d once mentioned was your favourite. Spencer made your coffee order perfectly and you had found yourself hoping that it was because he’d paid extra attention to you, and not because of his brilliant memory. 

And when you reached the video game store and he opened the door for you, you hoped it was because he wanted to make a good impression, not only because he was a gentleman. 

And when he stood between you and a video game rack in line, you hoped that he was trying to shield you from the other people in the store, and you hoped that he was thinking of pressing you against the rack and kissing the daylights out of you. 

You needed to get a hold of yourself. 

The conversation had swapped to the reason why you two were here in the first place, and you found yourself talking to Spencer about Breath of the Wild, a game that brought you back to fond memories of your childhood. 

“The Legend of Zelda was the first video game I ever played, on the first console I ever owned.” You shared, smiling fondly. “It was the video game that my brother and I bonded over, and we bought every game together since.”

Spencer nodded in rapt. You felt him leaning closer to you, although it may have been your imagination. 

“This is actually the first time I haven’t been with him for a new game,” you realised. “Due to our jobs, we haven’t seen each other in awhile, but we still text each other!” You tried to end on a lighter note, not wanting to bring the mood down on this “date”.

Spencer looked at you as if he wanted to say something, but he kept his lips shut. 

“What about you? What was your first video game?” You threw the question to him, trying to divert attention away from your sad-enough story. 

He blushed in response to your question and looked down at his black converse. You noticed he began touching his sleeve in a familiar motion and you looked at him suspiciously. “Spencer?”

“W-well, the t-truth is, I didn’t actually c-come here to buy a Switch, and I don’t play video games at all.“ The last part of his sentence came out rapidly. You might have missed it, if you weren’t already used to the tongue twisters he spit out on a daily basis.

“What?” You exclaimed a little too loudly, causing the other shoppers in line to glance at you weirdly. “Then... Then what are you doing here?” You said quieter this time. Your eyebrows furrowed as your mind scanned the possibilities. 

“W-well, I, uh, wanted to spend time with you,” he blurted out. He raised his eyes to meet yours, his face completely red.

It was your turn to be flustered now. Your voice was quiet and you could feel your hands shaking. “Is this a date, Spencer?” 

“Only if you want it to be, I mean, I want it to be but your opinion matters to me, and I wouldn’t want to bring you on a date if you didn’t want to. We can just hang out like friends if that’s more comfortable--” 

You grabbed his free hand, gently lowering it from where it was moving as he rambled, until your fingers were intertwined. 

“I would like it to be,” a large smile took over your face. You were a little teary despite how weird it was to confess your feelings for him in a video game store of all places. 

Spencer was quiet for a moment, squeezing your hand in return. “Would you like to go for lunch after this? As a date,” he clarified this time. 

"I would love that,” you beamed at him, “as a date.” 

-------------- 

Spencer had always imagined the kind of girl he would fall in love with. Caring, intelligent, had an appreciation for classic literature, maybe. But when he saw you for the first time, every expectation he held flew out of the window.  

You were beautiful. Wavy dark hair tied into a high ponytail, wearing a navy shirt, and funnily enough, a beige cardigan and black converse. Morgan joked that it was like meeting Spencer 2.0, but he disagreed: the two of you were worlds apart. 

You were incredibly tech savvy, although not as much as Garcia, but certainly more than the rest. You loved the smell and taste of coffee without sugar. You were happy to hug everybody you met, from colleagues to victims. You didn’t like paperback so you read everything on a Kindle. 

But the biggest difference between the two of you, was that you were emotionally intelligent. 

All of your brilliance, combined with your PhD in psychology - having worked as a psychiatrist affiliated with Sex Crimes before joining the BAU - you were able to pick out the team’s moods from a single glance. It’s what endeared everyone to you immediately, and what made you such a great profiler.   

But the way you treated him was different. You just, listened to him. While everyone else had gotten into the habit of cutting him off or simply ignoring him when he opened his mouth, your eyes would light up instead. 

He could always tell you were listening because you would look into his eyes when he spoke, and you would ask him questions after he was done. 

It made him feel like the world around him ceased to exist, except for you. 

So he started studying your interests to grab your attention, trying to throw in a few jokes hoping to see you smile. It only took one month for him to seize his chance. Still, never in his calculations did he think you would say yes. 

He smiled at the thought, stroking your hair gently as you cuddled on the couch together, watching you play Breath of the Wild. 

After a more than successful first date, you had asked him to come over the next day to spend more time together. A month ago, he would have politely declined with an excuse like needing to read a new academic journal, but when he arrived at your doorstep he allowed himself to be drawn into your arms, relishing the giggle he earned as a reward for being hugged. 

“Damn it,” you grumbled quietly as you ran out of stamina scaling a cliffside for the fifth time.

Spencer laughed. Without a second thought, he pulled you closer and kissed the top of your head. 

In the background Link fell off the cliff once again, the game playing a sound that he came to recognise as Link dying. But there were no curses this time, as you had turned to look at Spencer, nothing but adoration in your eyes. 

“That was our first kiss,” you said so quietly and sweetly that Spencer’s heart melted at the sound of it. 

“First?” He took his chance, leaning closer. “You know, the usage of the word ‘first’ almost always implies that there will be a ‘second’ and a ‘third’ and a...” 

His voice trailed off as your fingers left the controller to touch his lips. Your touch was intoxicating and he wanted more. 

“Oh, I’m sorry, Spence,” you started, lifting your finger from his lips. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you-” 

“Don’t be sorry,” he managed to get out in a hurry before capturing your lips in his. He felt your astonishment at first, but you quickly lost yourself in the kiss as he brought his hands up to cup the sides of your face, deepening the kiss further. 

You finally broke apart after awhile, both panting for air and smiling widely. Spencer never thought he could be so lucky. “That’s the second one,” he said quietly, bringing up two fingers to indicate the number. 

You looked at him with love in your eyes and abandoned your controller on the table before throwing yourself at him, flattening the two of you against your couch. 

“Ready for the third?”

-------------- 

Derek Morgan wasn’t an idiot. That’s why he could tell that something had changed over the weekend between his desk mate and boy genius. 

The two came into work together on Monday morning, which was weird in itself, but they also took every opportunity to stick to each other, from coffee breaks to disappearing for lunch and “asking” about paperwork. 

When they vanished for the umpteenth time that day for coffee, Derek leaned over Emily’s desk to confirm his theory. 

“It’s not just me. Pretty boy finally made a move, didn’t he?” He cocked an eyebrow. 

“Definitely. Those two are so obvious that even Hotch has picked up on it. From his office.” She quipped, grinning as her eyes moved to the scene behind Derek. “Speak of the devil.” 

Entering the conversation, Spencer did what he did best. “Did you know that ‘speak of the devil’ is the short form of the idiom ‘speak of the devil and he doth appear’? The phrase can be traced back to the 16th century when mentioning the devil was considered prohibited. In fact, when people were caught saying the phrase--” 

Derek caught your eyes drifting to look adoringly at Spencer. He couldn’t take this anymore. “So what happened between you two last weekend, huh?” he interrupted, smirking. 

Your reaction was better than he gambled. You turned a bright red and your eyes darted between Spencer and Derek in panic, truly flustered for the first time since he’s met you. But Spencer was strangely calm, his eyes travelling from his best friend to Emily in the background trying to stifle her laughter, while a small smile tugged at his lips. 

“We’re dating now,” he announced to the two a little triumphantly, while rubbing your shoulder as a peaceful gesture. 

Derek and Emily were stunned by their friend’s directness, only to be shocked out of it as Hotch walked by. “Finally,” he muttered, loud enough for them all to hear. 

You were the first to crack a smile, then the rest followed suit with laughs and congratulations. Hearing the uproar, Garcia and JJ peeked out of their rooms, joining in and demanding more details about this new but not entirely unexpected development. 

Amidst the chaos, Spencer laces his hands in yours and gives it a squeeze. For the first time in a long time, you feel unequivocally, unmistakably happy. 

[thebeautyoffanfics]

Hiya! I love your blog! Could I please request a platonic Akane x reader x Aoi where th reader is their best friend and they are a trio (Aoi finding reader to be one of the few people she can be herself with and also being a wingman (wingwoman? Wingperson?) for Akane) and the reader decides to make a raspberry pie for Aoi with Akane since she's been seeming down lately but none of them can't cook and reck everything so they get a mildly amused Aoi to help them despite wanting it to be a surprise

(platonic) akane aoi x gn!reader and x akane

a/n: hello hello!! Love these guys!! I can’t remember the last time i wrote for aoi, so that’s definitely fun!! Thank you so much for requesting, and thank you for the compliment!! <3

warnings:

word count: 1,583

Seeing Aoi feeling down was unusual. When you asked her about it, she told you she wasn’t sure why either. “I’m fine, (Y/N). It’s just one of those weeks, you know?”

Yes, you definitely knew. But, it didn’t make it any better. All you could do was be there for her, and rely on Akane to be the one to make her laugh- he’d be there as well, but his confessions always brought a smile to her face. When the smile she usually wore at one of his attempts was blatantly empty, Akane approached you as well.

“She’s feeling really out of it,” He sighed, looking at the school’s beauty from across the room. She was watering the plants, eyes slightly downcast, though she “cheered up” when someone took notice of her. No matter her smile and raised eyebrows, for you and Akane, it was easy to see through. All you could do was nod. He didn’t need to point it out- you both were aware. It was just him… noting it. Getting it off his chest?

“Say, Akane, do you have anything to do after school?”

“Technically, I have to do things for the student council. Teru usually takes my work load when I’m ‘not doing it properly’ or ‘getting on his nerves’, which entails simply existing, but- I can get out of duties, if you need me to.”

“I was thinking… Aoi likes sweets, yeah? What if we made her a pie or something? Dropped it by her house after we’re finished?”

Akane raised his eyebrows, nodding in agreement. “That’s actually a good idea. You know how to make pie?”

“Nnnno, but, there’s gotta be a recipe online, or in a cookbook somewhere. While you get your student council stuff done, I can run to the store quickly.”

He nodded again, telling you that it sounded like a plan.

If only that enthusiasm could have influenced the results-

“It can’t be too hard!” You had said, looking at the array of ingredients after washing your hands.

“For Ao-chan, it’ll be a piece of cake.”

“A piece of-”

“Please don’t-”

“Pie.”

Akane rolled his eyes, looking over the recipe. “Anyway, preheat the oven to 425.”

You walked over to the oven, preheating it, then feeling rather proud of yourself. One step down, only so many more to go! Easy-peasy!

Grabbing a pie plate, you reached for the pastry. “I’ll roll out the crust if you’ll work on the filling?”

“Alright… I just put everything in it?”

“Yeah. Measure the stuff and whatnot.”

Akane grabbed the ingredients, putting the necessary amount into a bowl, as you glanced at the recipe.

“Oh, but not the egg or water-”

“...(Y/N), I swear to-”

You tensed as Akane sighed in frustration, walking to the trashcan and pouring the combination of ingredients into it. He rinsed the bowl lightly, before taking the recipe and reading it over once more. After reading it, he began to make the mixture properly, not sparing you a slightly annoyed- though harmless- glance. He mixed, then pushed the bowl your way.

“I mixed, you put it in.”

It was your turn to roll your eyes, as you poured the mixture on top of the crust, then wet the outside of the crust lightly. Once that was finished, you reached for the rest of the pastry, setting a knife aside as you rolled it out.

“Are we gonna make it all criss-crossed?” Akane asked, walking over to you, and peering down as you took the knife.

“Yep, as best we- aH ouch, ouch,” You yelped, dropping the knife and bringing your hand to your mouth.

“Oi, don’t put your hand in your mouth- you’ve been touching the dough, wash it off first.”

You grumbled, walking to the sink and wincing as you washed your bleeding finger off. Luckily, it was nothing more than a knick, but it still hurt-

“You got blood in the dough,” Akane groaned, walking over to you and placing the knife and plate in the sink, then tossing the dough. He walked over to the counter, taking an extra thing of dough that he was now glad you bought, and rolling it out. He took it upon himself to slice the bits, telling you to mix the egg and water while he did so.

So, he placed the slices over the pie, and you lightly applied the egg-water mixture, smiling as he crimped the edges. You sprinkled a small amount of sugar over the top, then placed your hands on your hips proudly. Akane shoved the pie in your direction, then motioned to the oven.

“Cook for 15 minutes, then, once that’s over, we’ll lower the heat and cook it a little longer.”

“50? Isn’t that a little long?”

“15? Not really, no, not unless you have a plane to catch.”

You shrugged, placing the pie in the oven, then setting the time for 50 minutes. All that was left to do was wait.

You walked back over to Akane, then took a seat on the floor. He looked down at you, then followed your actions. “You think Ao-chan will like it?” He asked after a moment, causing you to shrug once more.

“I think so. Heartfelt things are supposed to mean more, right? Nothing gets more heartfelt than a homemade pie. Though store bought would have been easier, the trial and error just makes it better. At least, that’s what I hope-”

“That’s true. You’ve got the cut to prove it.”

“Shut it, four-eyes.”

Akane laughed, as the conversation continued lightly. Mainly talking about Aoi, drifting to how you hoped she’d feel better, drifting to how the pie smell was starting to get strong.

“I told you, Akane, I feel like 50 minutes is a little too long.”

“...HOW MUCH-”

“50?? Did you not say 50???”

“50? Five-zero?”

“Yes???”

“I SAID 15- ONE-FIVE, FREAKING-”

You both jumped up, running to the oven. You turned it off, while Akane grabbed the oven mitts, opening the oven and grabbing the pie. The brown, slightly smoking pie. The burn smell filled the room, but… at least it still smelled somewhat like raspberries…?

“(Y/N), we’re friends- but more importantly, you’re one of Ao-chan’s best friends- so I won’t say what I’m thinking. But I do want you to know, I have a few choice words that I’m keeping to myself.”

“Maybe you should enunciate-?! You’re top of the class, and for what???”

“Okay, first of all-”

“(Y/N)? Akane?”

“Ao-chan..” Akane muttered, in sync with your, ”Aoi...”

The purple-haired girl sniffed lightly, before her eyes landed on the pie resting in front of the two of you. Her expression was pure curiosity, practically asking the both of you “what’s going on?”

“Ah… Akane and I were just trying to… make a pie…”

“What for? You guys know I can cook, I would have helped.”

“Well- it was supposed to be for you, Ao-chan. We ran into… some misunderstandings though.”

Aoi’s surprised expression melted into genuine joy, which quickly melted into sweet laughter. You saw Akane’s face flush slightly from the corner of your eyes, and you couldn’t blame him- even platonically, her laugh really was purely… music. She was laughing at the two of you, you both knew that- but, the two of you made her laugh. For the first time that week, she was smiling, laughing. She was happy. You and Akane exchanged victorious glances, fist bumping underneath the counter.

“Ah, it can’t be helped then. (Y/N), Akane, are there extra ingredients?”

You nodded, grabbing the extra things of dough from a grocery bag, then motioning at the already-out ingredients.

“Great! Akane, preheat the oven please? 425 for now.”

Akane nodded, walking over to the oven and preheating it. While he did that, Aoi handed you the dough, and took over the ingredients for the filling. “Roll that out, please, (Y/N). I’ll take the filling- but, Akane, I’ll trust you to roll out the second thing of dough. I can cut it and apply it to the pie,” She ordered, placing the necessary ingredients into the bowl. The way she went about things was neat, showing off her perfectionist tendencies. Compared to the mess you and Akane had created earlier… she really was a diamond in the rough.

---

Time had passed, the pie finished and cooled off, though the sun was nearly gone. Aoi cut the pie, offering the both of you a slice, then taking one for herself. Cheerily, she took a bite, as you and Akane followed suit.

The sweet smell filled the room, so much nicer than the burning smell created earlier. The taste was just as lovely- accompanied with Aoi’s smiles, everything in the world suddenly felt right again.

“Even if it didn’t go as you two planned, I am really grateful for you both. I know the two of you wanted to try and cheer me up… I think this was a really sweet way of going about it. And, to be completely honest, I am feeling better.”

“Ao-chan… I love you so much…!”

“Hmm… 5 points! 3 bonuses for the pie.”

Akane sighed lightheartedly, taking another bite from the pie.

“Aoi, I love you so much,” You spoke, placing a hand on your chest and smiling at the girl. “Platonically, of course-”

“I love you too, (Y/N),” Aoi smiled, closing her eyes cutely.

“(Y/N), those choice words from earlier really are seeming very nice to share with you-”

[izzielizzie]

Rough on the Surface but You Cut Through Like a Knife

summary: When Bronwyn Rojas ends up next to the ever obnoxious Nate Macauley in Spanish class, she doesn’t really mean to hit him with a book. Well, she does, but she doesn’t expect to end up in the principal’s office with him. And she definitely doesn’t expect to find him amusing.

alternatively: Bronwyn hits Nate with a book and a long overdue conversation ensues (AU)

title from Willow by Taylor Swift

I’m about to drop into my regular seat in AP Spanish, my last class of the day, when Señora Trias calls “Don’t sit yet niños, we have some seat switching to do!”

I groan along with the rest of the class and catch Kate’s eye. We’ve sat together the entire year. I don’t even think I know anyone else in my class. She shrugs in a resigned sort of way. Señora Trias is a force to reckoned with, and we both know she’ll never let us stay in the same seats. We follow the teacher’s instructions, and I’m too busy trying to figure out the complicated dance we’re doing - row one to the left, row two to the right, front to back and back to front - that I don’t even notice that I’ve ended up next to a boy in a ratty leather jacket. 

Ugh. Nathaniel Macauley. The school’s notorious drug dealer/womanizer/delinquent/major headache. 

And this headache is smirking at me.

“Can I help you?” I ask.

“Nope, I’m all good… partner.”

I hate the way he says that word, it’s suggestive and disgusting and I suppress a shudder, turning instead to the front of the room, where we’re reviewing pluscuamperfecto. As a native Spanish speaker, I can confidently say I have no idea what the heck that is. 

“This is pointless,” Nate grumbles.

“Shhh,” I whisper back, taking a glance at his sharp jaw and deep blue eyes. I’ve known Nate from a distance my whole life, we’ve gone to the same schools since kindergarten, but this is the first time we’ve been so close - or exchanged words - in years.

I look back to the teacher, who’s now going over conjugations. I scribble them down in my notebook as Nate tips his chair back on two legs, rocking back and forth. 

“You’re going to kill yourself,” I inform him.

“Wow Rojas, I didn’t know you cared.”

I scoff and Señora Trias sends us a sharp look. “Señorita Rojas. Señor Macauley, no talking.”

I give Nate a sharp look. “Now look what you’ve done,” I hiss, feeling the reprimand as if it had been thrown at me. Nate just smirks. 

“You’ve never been in trouble have you?” he asks. I ignore him and he barks out a laugh, my silence serving as an answer. “Wow Rojas, I knew you were straight laced but I didn’t know you were that straight laced.”

And we all know you’re not I think, remembering the drug bust rumor Kate was whispering about last week. 

Nate clearly can tell I’m not interested in listening to him, so in the time it takes me to pull out the short novel we’re reading in class from my bag and read about a chapter, Nate doesn’t say a word. When I’m copying down the questions our teacher wrote on the board onto my notebook, he starts talking.

“What’s the answer to one?”

“Solo español por favor!” Señora Trias calls from the front of the class. I give Nate a triumphant look, expecting him to be unable to follow the teacher’s instruction of only talking in Spanish. Unfortunately this is Spanish class. And Nate’s not an idiot. He repeats the question in the correct language, and I decide that I’d be better off ignoring him. 

After a few moments, I can feel Nate leaning over my shoulder. I look over to see his eyes on my paper.  

“Stop that,” I whisper. 

“Spanish only,” he whispers back.

“That wasn’t even in Spanish!”

“Neither was that,” Nate points out. 

I huff and go back to my paper, flipping through my book to find the answer to my next question. 

“Help meeeee,” Nate whispers. 

“Shut up,” I say.

“Bronwynnnnnn.”

“Shhh.”

“Rrrrrrojas.”

My sister once told me about out of body experiences when we were children, and at the time I had scoffed because the supernatural does not exist. But when I close my book - marking my page with my finger because I’m not a philistine - and swing it straight into Nate’s face, I swear I’m not controlling myself at all.

“Would you shut up?” I snap as an unnatural silence overtakes the room. I look around for the first time, meeting stricken faces. Kate’s looking at me like she’s never met me before. 

“Bronwyn Rojas,” Señora Trias says dangerously. I risk a glance at Nate and feel a flash of sympathy when I see a red mark on his cheek. But he’s smirking at me so maybe he deserved it. 

I’m frozen, not quite sure what to say. Señora Trias points to the door. “Principal. Both of you.”

“Both!” Nate and I say at the same time.

“Yes, look at that you’re in sync, no use that rhythm to get to the office.” 

Not the best witty comment around, all things considered, but since Señora Trias looks like she’s ready to commit murder so I let it slide.

“So let me get this straight,” Principal Gupta says, staring at Nate and I, sitting side by side in the uncomfortable chairs in Gupta’s office. “You two were partnered in Spanish class, Bronwyn you were annoyed with Nathaniel, so you hit him with a book?”

Nate tips his chair back and I kick at his ankle. He kicks back. 

“Bronwyn.”

“Yes, sorry. This is correct,” I say. Principal Gupta stares at me. I’ve been getting a lot of stares lately. She opens her mouth to say something, but before she can, the secretary appears at the door.

“There’s a problem in the cafeteria,” she informs Gupta, who sighs. She looks sharply at us. 

“I am going to be gone for ten minutes tops. Please refrain from murdering each other.”

I nod vehemently while Nate tips his chair back farther, his smirk growing. I count backwards from fifty in my head just to make sure Gupta is really gone before wheeling back towards him. I push down on the arm of his chair with all my might. Nate crashes to the ground, a look of shock on his face.

“Jesus Bronwyn.”

“Stop tilting your gosh darn chair” I hiss, my face only a few inches away from his. I can see myself reflected back in his dark blue eyes. I look mildly deranged. He smirks again and I raise my hand. He flinches away. Ha. Take that. 

He holds up his hands in surrender, leaning away from me. “Would it make you feel better if I sat on the floor Rojas?”

“Yes, yes it would.” 

Nate slides to the ground, and before I can realize what’s happening, he’s pulling me down by the waist. “What the heck?” I ask.

Nate shrugs. “If I have to sit on the floor, then you do too.” He pauses for a beat. “And your legs look good in that skirt.

I slap his shoulder. “Jackass!”

Nate laughs. “She swears!” he announces to an audience of… no one. 

“Why is that notable?” I ask, self-consciously tucking my legs underneath myself, ignoring my tingling waist where Nate’s fingers ended up under my shirt. 

“Because a minute ago you said ‘gosh darn’ and not even grandmothers would say that Rojas.”

I can feel my face flush, but I cross my arms anyway. My little sister always teases me about how I don’t swear. Not that she swears either. “Is it really a bad thing?”

“Yes.”

I flush more, irritated at myself that Nate’s opinion matters this much to me. He senses that I’m done talking because he looks straight ahead at Gupta’s desk, where we can just make out a picture of her and her daughter.

“How’s your sister doing? Maeve, right?” Nate asks, and I turn to stare at him in shock. My sister Maeve left elementary school with cancer a long time ago. Nate was just starting to know her - they were on the same soccer team - and I don’t expect him to remember her, let alone her name.

“Yeah, it’s Maeve,” I say, my tone considerably softer. Nothing makes me happier than my sister. “She’s okay.”

“She’s in remission right?” 

I turn my body so I’m looking straight ahead at him, a concession maybe. My anger is ebbing, and I’m sort of guilty about that bruise on his face. “She is. Thank you for asking.” Not many people do. 

“You’re welcome.” What he says next surprises me so much I almost miss what he says: “Want to talk about it?”

I look at him for a moment, at his dark eyes and smattering of freckles and his closed off expression, and I can’t help the feeling that he’s being serious. And I don’t know why that’s so off putting.

I shrug, trying to figure out what to say. “It just sucks, you know?” I finally land on.

Nate nods. “I know.” I think back to his mother’s funeral, the dark, rainy morning where he stood in an old suit, his father too drunk to even show up. I kept thinking about Maeve, about how some day I might have to stand in the same place, shouldering the burden of a million worlds. 

I imagine that’s how it feels to lose someone.

I feel the need suddenly, to make those eyes light up so I shift slightly closer to him and pluck at the sleeve of his leather jacket. 

“Hey, remember when we were locked in that music room at St. Pi?” I ask.

Nate glances over at me through hooded eyes, his eyelashes unnaturally long. He nods, a half smile on his lips. “I remember. Sixth grade right?”

“Yeah.” I remember that day like it was yesterday. We had been arguing - much like today - in the middle of a music class, and our teacher sent us to the storeroom to sort flutes until we calmed down or something. But we - and the teacher - had forgotten that the door to the store room door locked from the outside. Nate and I were locked in for nearly an hour, which to twelve year olds, felt like forever.

“It was a pretty good day you know?”

“Really? I thought I threw a clarinet case at you.”

“Well you did,” Nate says. “But you know… it was nice. You’re nice.”

“Aww.”

“But you are violent.”

“Touché,” I admit.

He smiles at me, his eyes soft, and I smile back. I’m about to reach up to touch the bruise on his face when Gupta comes back, breezing through the door like she’s floating. She groans when she sees us. 

“Why are you on the floor?”

“Heat rises,” Nate says with a shrug.

“It’s November."

Nate and I just look at each other and smile. We climb back into our seats, and when he tips his chair back, I don’t say anything. And when I say “gosh” instead of “god” when I’m assuring Gupta that “I swear to gosh I didn’t mean to hit him I’m so sorry” Nate doesn’t even bat an eye.

Truce, I guess. 

Gupta spends ten minutes talking about pressure and how sometimes we cave but if Nate forgives me it’s okay before she lets us leave. Nate and I mockingly shake hands before we get up and it’s… nice. 

The bell has already rung, so we turn in opposite directions, me to physics and him to gosh knows where when he turns to me.

“Hey, want to go to the mall on Saturday? You can buy me a pretzel for my troubles.”

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll throw something at you?”

Nate grins his Macauley grin. “I think I’ll risk it, Rojas.”

My smile is his answer.

[nomazee]

Komorebi (3)

komorebi, p.3

synopsis: Tsukishima dislikes the amount of parallels there are with you and Hinata. He dislikes the way you're so energetic and exuberant when you want to be, and the way you can get along so well with people. He dislikes the way that people are naturally drawn to you, and the way you're so willing to put time into your dumb gifts and snacks and treats for a team of boys you barely know. 

But Tsukishima does not dislike you. And he supposes that's part of the problem.

series content: developing relationship, (sort of) ooc tsukishima, strangers to (sort of) friends to lovers, angst, fluff, slow burn

part one | part two | part three | part four | part five | part six (final)

(hi!!! heres the third chapter! school has been a bit crazy, i’m still trying to get into the swing of things, so sorry that this chapter took so long!! i’m hoping that once i start getting used to the rhythm of things i’ll figure out a more consistent writing schedule :)

for now, i hope you enjoy this chapter!! <3

also!!! i’m posting this from my ohone so sorry if the formatting is messed up and for not being able to add a cut! once i get back to my laptop i’ll fix it :))

☾.:°∗★.:☆:.★∗°:.☽

With how often you and Hinata chat around him, Tsukishima starts to find the name “Hinata” sounding more and more foreign.

You don’t call your ginger friend “Hinata.” You call him “Shouyo,” the syllables slipping so smoothly and ethereally off your tongue that Tsukishima momentarily remains content with the sound of that name before reverting back to mildly annoyed apathy.

He pauses at that thought. Since when did he start using “ethereal” in anything other than his writing class? Tsukishima clears his throat habitually, adjusts his glasses, and drowns out his inner conflicts with the music blaring through his headphones.

He’s been doing that a lot, and is painfully aware that when it happens, it’s usually because of you.

Tsukishima argues that it’s because you’re just that pesky—that loud in terms of volume and personality and style and habits, but there’s a distance pressure in his lungs that argue otherwise.

He occupies himself with volleyball to run from these things. He never thought much about using the sport as a safe haven, but desperate times call for desperate measures, with “desperate” equaling coming to practice ten minutes late, just when you leave the gym, and ignoring the look of concern that Yamaguchi and his upperclassmen send him.

It’s a worthwhile tactic until you make the executive decision to walk to the konbini with all the first years. A terrible decision, really, Tsukishima thinks.

The sky is a mix of colors by the time he and his teammates leave the gym, spreading like a pastel oil slick over the landscape of Miyagi. The silhouette of a sprinting girl appears, contrasting boldly against the airy hues and bringing with her a laugh that sounds like a bow being dragged against untuned cello strings.

Tsukishima flinches. Hinata’s— Shouyo’s face brightens with a grin. Tsukishima grimaces.

“Hey—! Shouyo, Tadashi, Tobio, Tsukishima, Hitoka—you guys are all here! That’s great!”

He thinks your repetition of everyone’s name is redundant, but his mind can’t help but cling onto how strange his family name sounds against everyone else’s given names. He thinks “Kei” would be much easier to say, and sound more like tuned strings on your voice. Tsu-ki-shi-ma—that’s four entire syllables, and are clumsy to fit into a sentence smoothly. It’s not like “To-bi-o” or “Shou-yo” or “Ta-da-shi” or “Hi-to-ka.” He’s just Tsu-ki-shi-ma to you.

Tsukishima Kei wonders if he’ll always just be Tsukishima for you.

His bone marrow feels cold at that thought. He doesn’t want a label for this feeling, and forces himself to tune into whatever you and Shouyo are talking about.

“Can I go with you guys? I wanted to pick up a few things anyway. I ran out of snacks at home.”

The first-years agree amiably, save for Tobio who nods wordlessly and, of course, Tsukishima, whose eyes find interest in the worn soles of his shoes.

Everyone else’s feet start moving. He follows suit, listening to Yamaguchi chatter until you fall back in step with them, coming loud with glittery eyes and warm cheeks and painted fingernails.

“Hey!” You greet. Tsukishima doesn’t miss the prolonged glance you send to him when Yamaguchi’s the only one responding, but he maintains his facade as you speak.

“What’re you guys going to buy when we get there?”

That’s a stupid question, Tsukishima thinks. A really stupid question, because who plans in detail what they’re going to get at a convenience store?

Yamaguchi, complacent with your redundant question, responds with an enthusiastic list of things he could afford with what leftover cash he has on him. Tsukishima clenches his jaw, molars grinding roughly against each other and causing a dull pain to rise in his temples. He doesn’t particularly know why a rising feeling of anger is coming up his throat, but he thinks it has something to do with the ring of your laugh and the way you close your eyes when you smile at Yamaguchi.

The word “ethereal” returns to him, and he clears his throat as if it would do anything to clear the persistent descriptor.

“What about you, Tsukishima?”

It’d be so much easier if you just called him Kei.

“Don’t know.” Though the curt response isn’t inherently uncharacteristic of him, Yamaguchi quirks an eyebrow at the lack of instigation in the blonde’s tone. There’s no sarcasm, no bite, no hostile lilt of his voice that’s usually present when he talks to anyone (minus his upperclassmen––he at least has some sense of respect when it comes to them).

You exhale deeply through your nose, and a swift glance at your expression lets Tsukishima know of your returning dejection at his monotone answers. You seem to find a new drive, though, spontaneously jerking back up and smiling at him with as much enthusiasm as you could muster.

“By the way, about the scarf––” He’s nauseous now. He hopes you can take the hint and stop talking about the scarf. He doesn’t want to think about how it's been folded neatly on your chair for the past week and how every time he looks at it he thinks of you and it’s getting on his nerves.

“––You have to handwash it. In a basin with cold or lukewarm water and detergent. If you put it in the washing machine, it’ll probably fall apart. And you have to let it lay out and dry by itself.”

Tsukishima thinks that if he tries opening his mouth and retorting some how, he’ll puke all over your lace-knit cardigan (which he thinks you knitted yourself judging by the awkwardly spaced stitches along the sleeves and the way the cuffs lay unevenly on your wrists) and he’d rather not face that public humiliation.

He settles for a curt nod and a flit of his eyes towards his laces, once again, and he tries to ignore how your eyes seem to trail on the way his hands grip his backpack strap just a little bit tighter.

You turn to Yamaguchi, give a light smile and a nod, and speed up your steps to fall in line with Kageyama, Hinata, and Yachi again.

Yamaguchi’s eyes linger on his best friend, which Tsukishima pointedly ignores. A heavy sigh escapes the shorter boy's lips as he gives off an exhausted smile and a shake of his head.

“Oh, Tsukishima.”

“Shut up.”

“Gotcha.”

Tsukishima is embarrassed. Humiliated, even. He didn’t even need to puke on your cardigan to feel this way. You just needed to exist, and he needed to keep being his stupid, apathetic, sarcastic self and hurt your feelings in order to make his stomach swirl and lungs tighten.

Tsukishima Kei is in deep. He knows that. He doesn’t want to say it out loud for everyone to hear, but by the knowing look that Yamaguchi keeps sending him, he’s been obvious enough about it to get someone as close as him to notice.

[rvmmm21]

. saviour .

summary : seungwan's walk to work is a dangerous one, joohyun knows that. she'll always be seungwan's hero. it's only to look out for her favourite secretary, after all.

small note : i was going to make this longer but my brain glitched, so it’s just here as a tentative one-shot.

tw : noncon, harrassment, physical intimidation.

[yandere!joyrene x secretary!wendy]

...

Her boss was her saviour.

…

It’s getting dark and she’s walking home from work, bundled up warm to keep out the winter chill. Her mind is on a nice, hot dinner and a relaxing bath after an incredibly stressful day. Gosh, it’s finally the weekend, and that means she’s taking full advantage of those forty-eight hours of ‘her’ time. Of course, that probably means binge-watching the latest episodes of her favourite drama with a tray of home baked ‘weekend muffins’ – strawberry shortcake! – and perhaps, if she’s feeling particularly tense, a short walk in the park. Playing secretary to the Chief Inspector attached to one of the busiest police stations in the city of Seoul is as hectic and draining as you’d imagine, and it often leaves her with little time to herself. So naturally, the highlight of everyday is the end of it, where she can actually sit and breathe.

Except, it’s a bit hard to even think about breathing now, because she’s ambushed just around the corner of the convenience store a few blocks away from her street.

“My, you are a pretty little thing, aren’t you?”

Seungwan isn’t sure when she started crying, but she’s beginning to curse herself for cracking at the first thing that came out of this stranger’s mouth. She really needs to learn not to look so weak. Especially not when she’s stuck with a woman who’s so tall, she has to look up at her while she’s pressed up against the wall of this perfectly deserted, perfectly claustrophobic alleyway.

No part of her wants to be stuck with any part of this… this villain, gorgeous as she is.

“Aw, don’t cry. What’s wrong, darling? You’re scared, huh...” The woman reaches up momentarily to wipe the tears streaming down her cheeks, leaning in a little too closely to do so. She has one arm against the wall beside Seungwan’s head, and the iniquitous laugh to top it all off.

Seungwan recognises her… vaguely. I mean everybody has eyes, a nose and a mouth, but the way they’re situated on the face in front of her just… she swears she’s seen that face somewhere, if only from hearing her boss rant about - oh no, oh my gosh. The posters, the meetings that were hastily wrapped up as soon as she opened the door to serve her superior her obligatory morning coffee. The woman holding her at knifepoint right now… is the felon Inspector Bae is currently gathering information on, trying to hunt down to keep behind bars.

This woman is top priority at the station. A criminal. Dangerous.

J-Julia?

Jay?

The name comes to her when a gloved hand reaches up to grab her jaw, forcing her chin up so she’s looking straight into glinting eyes.

Joy.

Seungwan tries her best not to make her terror known, but it’s a miserable failure. “Please,” she whispers hoarsely, too terrified to even beg at a normal pitch. “I’m just – I’m an assistant, I just bring the coffee, I don’t have anything important! They don’t tell me anything! I don’t know about the c-cases, Inspector Bae won’t even tell me her address, I have nothing you want, I – ach!”

A forearm across her throat stops her rambling. Hard bone digs into her windpipe, cutting off more than what she had originally wanted to say. Her hands reflexively shoot up to grasp at the appendage choking her, but she’s only shoved further into the stone whenever she tries to pry it away from her neck. “N-No… no i-information…” she weakly gurgles out, desperately trying to hit it home that she really isn’t of any use. “… h-have… nothing, p-please…”

“Shut up.” The woman threatens her before physically doing it, clamping tighter around Seungwan’s jaw and dissolving her verbal pleas into pleading whimpers. The smirk on those crimson lips is so much scarier than anything she’s said so far. “Silly girl, you have everything I want. I want to send a message. That’s what you’re for, isn’t it? What do you think, baby? Do you think your precious Inspector will stop bothering me if I send her cute little toy to work all messed up, hm?”

Seungwan doesn’t answer. She can’t, with how hard she’s sobbing, breathing still painfully restricted, and trying to curl further into herself. Kicking, punching and screaming for help crosses her mind all at once, but those thoughts are fizzled away by the reality of just dropping to her knees and begging this woman to have mercy on her. Tempting as those instincts are, however, she hasn’t time to act on any of them.

As soon as she’s sure she’s not leaving without at least one lovely, permanent scar, Joy is forcefully ripped away and thrown to the side. And as soon as Seungwan can take her first full breath of air, she’s bolting, instinctively getting as far away from that alley as she can. She only realises she’s been dragging her saviour along with her when two arms around her waist abruptly pull her backwards into a warm body. At this point, the poor girl is so confused that she just turns and buries her face into the front of whoever’s just answered her prayers.

A gentle hand comes up and strokes her hair as she shivers from the aftereffects of the ordeal. After a moment of silence, Seungwan dares to slowly glance up at her rescuer. When she meets those kind eyes, the tension almost immediately shreds away and it’s replaced with a small, fond sigh.

“I-Inspector B – ”

And then the voice corrects her with an awkward sternness. “I’m not in uniform, Ms. Son, please don’t address me like that. Joohyun is fine.”

Joohyun, right. The girl wants to correct her too, to tell her she’d much rather she be ‘Seungwan’ instead of ‘Ms. Son’, but she’s too busy being grateful to form any words other than the ‘thank you’ she thinks she’s repeated at least thirty times now.

“Oh dear, what’s this here?” The raven-haired woman brings a finger up to delicately brush Seungwan’s fringe to the side. The smaller girl can only stare at the shiny silver buttons on her black Burberry trench coat as she’s being inspected.

She winces and flinches back when a frigid draft brushes over the cut on her eyebrow, stinging it.

But Joohyun presses her closer. “No, no, it’s okay, let me see it. I can help.”

Obediently, Seungwan stills to allow her to assess the extent of the damage. A sigh of fatigue draws from her lips when Joohyun’s fingers trace over the small wound. The touch is light and comforting. Comforting enough for it to slip her mind that it’s very late at night and the leftovers sitting in her fridge are waiting to be reheated. That, and her direct superior is in front of her, holding her up while she studies her condition.

She shifts slightly to catch the other woman’s attention. “I’m fine… Joohyun, really.” The name sounds funny coming off like that. “We need to report this, I can come in tomorrow. That was – I think that was Joy – and if she’s in the area then you could be in dan – ”

The grip tightening around her waist is more than mildly inappropriate, but it’s successful in cutting her short. “Don’t worry about that, I’ll file the paperwork, you need to rest.”

Yet again, Seungwan tries to insist that reporting the incident sooner rather than later could be vital in capturing Joy, and that Joy’s arrest took precedence over a minor cut. But Joohyun remains resolute. “Come on,” she says, heaving one of Seungwan’s arms over her shoulder and curling the other around her waist, “I’ll walk you home, just tell me where to go. You could still be targeted. It’s not safe.”

The space between them is non-existent, and the room to compromise, even more so. Joohyun reaches over briefly to tuck Seungwan’s scarf back into her coat before they start walking, and the girl drops her gaze. The fright has worn off and it’s just now terribly embarrassing for her to even be in the presence of someone like Joohyun. I mean, she’s Chief Inspector Bae for god’s sake. She didn’t just get that title, all those gleaming medals and framed awards from twiddling her thumbs and sitting pretty at her desk all day.

It almost makes Seungwan feel like a liability.

If she can’t defend herself from one attacker, why is she even working as an assistant to a woman who hunts villains down for a living? How many times does she think Joohyun is going to be there to catch her when she falls?

But that’s just it.

She is so relieved at the fact she’s still alive, that she forgets to ask how her boss knew exactly where to find her.

…

Much later into the night, a familiar figure in a black trench coat re-enters the alleyway. It’s quiet, and empty. Even emptier than it had been when Seungwan was walking back earlier on, save for the dark, hooded silhouette on the far right, and the grating sound of steel against brick.

“Aaand she finally appears.” The hooded figure greets, sheathing her dagger. “Did your little secretary get home alright?”

Black trench coat scoffs, stepping into the darkness and doing her best not to seem offended. “Sooyoung, did you really have to be that rough? You gave our poor angel such a nasty looking cut. And you made her cry.”

This time, it’s Sooyoung’s turn to take a defensive tone, albeit slightly playful. “Hey, I followed the plan! Scare her, threaten a little… you know, all that bad-guy stuff.” She can’t help herself, she’s always like that with Joohyun: relentlessly teasing. The mockery in her voice alone should be enough for Joohyun to cuff her on the spot, but she knows she’ll never do it.

She’s learnt to tolerate every aspect of Sooyoung’s personality; endearingly annoying as they may be. Still, it doesn’t stop the sinister growl from her throat, despite the grin on her face. It gains the other woman’s full attention instantly.

“Aw, what’s the matter, Hyunnie? Afraid you won’t have any eye-candy at work for a while?” She slides over to her, casually poking the shorter woman in the ribs. There’s a beat of silence and then Sooyoung sticks her bottom lip out in a pout when she’s left hanging. “You think I took it too far, don’t you?”

Joohyun’s reply is a smile. The image of Seungwan trembling in her arms, looking up at her through those fluttering, innocent eyelashes after Sooyoung’s ‘ambush’ is reassurance enough that everything happened at the right time and at the right intensity. Seungwan had looked at her like her saviour. Sooyoung hadn’t overdone it.

Sooyoung takes a tentative step forward, even closer now. “Hyun…”

There’s a genuine gratitude in her voice when Joohyun speaks again. “Thank you, Sooyoung. Really, you did so good for me. For us.”

“No problem, unnie,” Sooyoung makes a show of giving her an exaggerated courtesy, the playful lilt surfacing once more. “It’s my duty, as your – ”

And she’s pulled into a kiss. Five fingers firmly twist into the lapels of her jacket and tug her down into a searing, passionate kiss against the same wall Seungwan was pinned to a few hours ago, where she cried her eyes out.

Joohyun pulls away roughly, lips swollen and tingling from the cold. She smirks when Sooyoung looks as glazed-over as she feels. Their heaving breaths create a thin, silvery fog between them, as Joohyun holds the taller woman’s gaze with ease.

“You are the best, Young-ah. I love you.”

[nsheetee]

Requested: 

Yangyang x Reader + Strangers to Friends to Lovers + Fluff

Summary: In which a very unhappy Yangyang is forced to pick up his little sister from daycare everyday, and you’re her daycare teacher

yangyang loves his little sister to bits and pieces

from the moment she was born and given to yangyang to hold in his tiny 11 year old arms

her little tufts of black hair sticking up and big doll eyes looking up at her older brother

he knew: he would probably do anything for this little angel

but now, 8 years later...

8 years of crying, nagging, hair-pulling, tattle tailing, and name calling

he thought he would finally be done

he thought his parents would lay off on all the responsibilities they’ve pushed onto him for the past 8 years due to the little angel that they named “joy”

he thought that once he started college, his parents would see how busy he is and finally relax off of him

but alas, yangyang was rewarded with a car of his own for his 19th birthday only under one condition: 

pick up joy from daycare at 4pm every weekday

so, a mildly irritated yangyang with a new set of wheels and just one more responsibility on his plate set out to his first day of college in his brand new chapter of life

you had a lot less to worry about, at least compared to yangyang

all you had to do was maintain a high GPA to keep your scholarship and a lot of your money problems were solved

but you still needed extra cash for yourself

which is why you got a job at a daycare

you would be in charge of a small group of 8 year old for around an hour every afternoon 

what you did with them for the hour was almost always up to you

so on the first day, your little group of five 8 year olds came into your daycare classroom- the first thing you did was go outside

the kids LOVE you

they boasted about being able to play on the playground when no one else got to- claiming they had “the awesome-est teacher EVER”

and when they got rid of all of their pent up energy from sitting on hard plastic seats at school for several hours, you managed to get them to introduce themselves to you and to one another

soon, the first day of daycare came to a close

parents arrived and greeted you, taking their kids and all their belongings with them as you wave good bye

only one girl from your group was left: joy

she sat under a shady tree, slouching as she picked at the grass next to her legs

“hey, joy. what’s up?” you ask and sit down next to her

“sorry my brother is late.” she looks guilty as she continues to pick at the grass

“it’s okay, joy. I’ll wait with you for however long it takes.” she nods, but you could tell she’s still apologetic.

“do you wanna make a flower crown?” you ask, trying to get the situation off her mind

“I don’t know how” 

“well, I'll teach you”

joy’s furrowed eyebrows slowly melts away as you hunt for flowers and a small smile blooms on her cheeks when she finally finishes her crown, gifting it to you

it was 4:47 when yangyang pulls up to the daycare, new wheels crunching on the gravel road and he pants as he gets out of the car

“yangie!” joy shrieks, running to her brother and encircling her tiny arms around his waist

“joy! I'm so sorry I'm late.” 

“I'm not the one who needs to hear that.” joy speaks matter of factly, and you don’t think you’ve ever heard an 8 year old sound more mature

as joy walks to the car, her older brother turns to you

you slowly take off the flower crown, eyebrows raised while waiting for the boy in front of you to say something

he’s so boyish it makes your heart melt

with curly hair that falls over his eyes and a smile that you know hides a lot of jokes and pranks for the future

you can’t help but feel a bit giddy at the sight of him

“I'm so sorry about this. I swear it won’t happen again.” he looks down apologetically and it reminds you of an older, boy version of joy

maybe it’s because you think he’s cute or maybe because his little sister is really fun

but you wave a dismissive hand

“it’s alright. joy is a pleasure to be around. I didn’t mind.”

he raises his head to see the sincerity in your eyes and relaxes 

“I’m yangyang, joy’s brother.” he finally introduces himself

“I'm y/n, joy’s daycare teacher” you reach forward to shake his hand

“aren’t you too young to be a teacher?” he asks

“I can give CPR and kids don’t hate me, that was enough for them to hire me” you shrug, “I go to the college” you wave your hand in the general direction of your school

“oh,” he looks surprised, “me too. maybe I'll see you around? o-or we can study.” yangyang curses himself at his stutter and feels heat crawl up his cheeks 

why is he blushing over an invitation to study?

maybe because he’s never been this straight forward with anyone else before

“yeah, sure” you don’t look affected and it makes yangyang more nervous

“yangie!” joy shouts from his car, looking annoyed and yangyang sighs

“right, we have to go home. I’ll see you... later.”

and you do see him later

he arrives to pick up joy (on time) every weekday

he would gather up joy’s backpack and jacket while intently looking at you as you explain what joy did at daycare that day

and after your spiel, yangyang would ask you how your day went and how your classes are going

yangyang enjoyed your small daily conversations so much that he started coming 5 minutes early to pick up joy to have some extra time to speak to you

and then he started coming 10 minutes earlier 

and then 15

and then 20

and then you just decided to invite yangyang to join your class

“w-what?” he laughed nervously when you asked

he thought you were just kidding

why would you want him to join your class of 8 year olds?

“well you’re here for almost half of the time anyway. just join us tomorrow!”

yangyang wasn’t going to- he would tell you that he had other plans:

he needed to study, he had to get his car washed, he had to walk his dog

literally ANY excuse he could think of

but he knew he couldn’t lie to that sweet smile you always gave him when you see him

so that’s how yangyang ended up sitting criss-cross apple sauce in the circle of your group of kids at daycare the next day

he had that light dusting of pink on his cheeks as he tried to fit between joy and another boy in the group on the carpeted floor

but when you introduced him and all the little kids said “hi, yangyang” in unison

he felt more comfortable

having yangyang with the group of kids was fun... really fun

one day he showed the kids his mad soccer skills

another day he played the piano to lull them into nap-time

you think he might steal your position of being “the awesom-est teacher EVER”

and of course, joy had to tell her parents one night over dinner about what was happening at daycare

“yangyang is part of my daycare group now” joy said during a lull in conversation 

yangyang kicked her chair under the table and sent her a pointed glare

“yangyang, we asked you to pick up joy from daycare. not join her at daycare” his mother sighs and puts her fork down

“oh no, mom. it’s a lot of fun with yangyang and y/n” joy defends

“y/n...” yangyang’s father ponders, “you know, we should invite them over for dinner.” 

“YEAH!”

“absolutely not”

joy and yangyang glare at each other from across the dinner table at each other’s opposing answers

“kids...” their mother warns and looks back at her husband, “I think that’s a good idea. we hear so much about them, why not invite them over?”

and that’s how you end up ringing the Liu’s doorbell promptly at 6pm the next Friday night

you made a batch of cookies to share (you refuse to show up empty handed, especially since it’s yangyang’s parents that you’re meeting) and you wear your nice clothes that you usually keep stored away in the back of your closet

yangyang opens the door and he immediately becomes 1000x more nervous

that smile hits him again, the kind smile that he doesn’t see you give to anyone else but him

it makes his heartbeat speed up and his cheeks tinge with pink no matter how hard he grips the door frame

“y/n, hi”

“hi,” you both stand in your spots, not moving or speaking... just looking at each other, “can I come in or...?”

“right, right. sorry” yangyang moves awkwardly to let you slide past him through the doorway

the smell of your fabric softener is so familiar that yangyang almost calms down in this situation

he’s been stressed this entire week leading up to this dinner

not only are you about to meet his parents, you’re about to witness what his family is actually like

and yangyang is scared that even if you had a small part of you that liked him

it’ll be non-existent by the end of this dinner

but surprisingly

dinner goes better than he expected

it seemed like you fit in perfectly, a fifth chair pulled up to the table made the atmosphere more cozy and your laughter mixing in with the rest of his family’s was something yangyang didn’t know he needed

he had a moment where he had to sit back and wonder when you got to be such an important part of his life

maybe it’s because joy already likes you so much

and yangyang knows that no matter how many times joy tattle tales, nags, or cries at yangyang

he’ll always be her big brother 

and it seems just a little too perfect for you to be an element that was added into the mixture that is his crazy life

but yangyang, despite his doubts, decides he’ll take this small but perfect thing that life handed to him and run with it

so after dinner, he walks you to your car in the driveway

the sun has just set and the leftover rays cast a purple hue over the sky and over your skin, making Yangyang fall just a little deeper into his feelings

when you say good night, you really hope he stops you 

you really hope he doesn’t let you get into your car

you really hope he doesn’t let you close the door

but he does, and you think you may be receiving mixed signals from him for the past few weeks 

until he knocks on the window of your car

you roll it down, confusion apparent on your face

“yangyang, what’s wrong?”

“uh, n-nothing just... don’t move” he says

he grips the frame of the car with all his might to steady himself, physically and mentally, and leans down through the window 

he places a gentle kiss on your cheek and pulls back to see your reaction

you’re a bit surprised but you quickly bite your lip to keep yourself from smiling too hard

and you signal at him to come back to you

you return a kiss on his rosy cheek, mumbling a shy goodnight before rolling up your window and driving away

he touches the small part of his cheek where your lips just were, smiling dumbly as he walks back into the house

he’ll have to thank joy for bringing you to him later

[minserenity]

Impossible Possibilities

Pairings: reader x idol!Chan (featuring the rest of Stray Kids)

Genre: fluff, humour, a little bit of angst later on

Synopsis: You have always been the kind of girl who follows rules and behaves according to them, always being a good daughter and a model student, helping others as much as possible and trying your best to make everyone around you happy. But what happens when a single rule gets in the way of your own happiness? Will you still follow it?

 Warnings: none

Chapter 7: Do You Know Stray Kids?

“Do you know Stray Kids?”

The question catches you off guard. What are you supposed to say? That yes, you are well aware of their existence but you only found out a few days ago so you actually - and with much shame - have no idea what kind of artists they are, yet you basically are so close to falling for one of them, but you are not supposed to because of your job? Is he even supposed to introduce himself so carelessly to anyone? Shouldn’t he be keeping a low profile since he’s an idol? Your thoughts are running wild.

You clear your throat, “to be honest no, sorry,” you lie, drops of cold sweat forming on your forehead, “but I’d like to listen to some songs, it will be the first thing I will do once I get home.”

You can see a slight expression of disappointment forming on his face.

“Oh I see… Well you have to listen to our songs, we’re pretty good!”

You can’t help but chuckle at the young boy’s confidence.

“Do you work here?” he asks.

“I work around here, yeah, I just moved a month ago.”

“That’s cool! Have you visited Lotte World yet?”

“Yes! I had a lot of fun.”

“I have been so busy I haven’t been able to go there for a long time… I miss it,” he says with a wistful look in his eyes.

Your bus arrives right on time and you reluctantly have to leave your new acquaintance behind. Despite that little moment of panic, talking to him was very refreshing. You truly needed that.

***

Coming back home, you throw yourself on the couch exhausted from the day. Taking your phone out of your back pocket, you start searching for Stray Kids songs on YouTube. You click on the first music video that pops up: God’s Menu. Looks like it’s a new one.

A few second in, you already spot him, a familiar knot forming in the pit of your stomach. He looks so good even with makeup on… So stunning. And his voice… Maybe this was a mistake, maybe you should have stayed in the dark. It would have been easier. Shaking your head, you keep on watching the video and notice a boy you haven’t met yet and someone you believe it’s Jeongin, even though he looks nothing like the cute boy you met earlier.

You spend 20 whole minutes latched on to the screen bewitched by the eight boys’ captivating dance moves, heavenly vocals and powerful raps. Jeongin was right, they really are pretty good.

Your stomach growls begging to be fed, as it has been empty since lunch. Annoyed, you decide for your sanity to just stop what you are doing and take a shower. You’re gonna think about food later.

Coming out from your rejuvenating shower, you are greeted by an overwhelming garlic smell and your roommate fumbling with pans and spatulas.

“Hey Iz, I didn’t hear you get back. What are you making?” you ask, noticing how much effort she is putting in her recipe.

“Garlic butter chicken.” That explains the stench.

“Where did you see that? The smell by the way… I’m sure vampires would never dare coming nowhere near this house.”

“You don’t appreciate gourmet cuisine, it’s a delicacy,” she answers, sprinkling the chicken with what you believe is parsley.

“I’m sure it is, you just didn’t have to put in the whole garlic bulb!”

“Stop criticizing everything I cook! I do my best!”

“And I know that, but annoying you it’s just too funny,” you giggle, hugging her from behind. Since you’re not sure you can handle those chicken breasts from hell, you decide to quickly make some rice. After setting up the table and sitting down, you start telling your friend about your crappy day and how you managed to make everyone uneasy.

“I’m sure you’re making a bigger deal out of this than it really is.” Izzy tries to reassure you, but with poor results.

“I’m telling you, that was so pathetic.”

“I don’t believe they think you know anyway.”

“But I met Jeongin! He told me!” you point out.

“Okay but he doesn’t know you work for the company, let alone that you know Chris.” “It’s only a matter of time before he finds out.”

“Well, he better find out soon then,” Izzy leans forward to fill her glass with water.

“What? No! Do you want me to panic to death?”

“Listen Y/N, I think you should just keep on doing what you always do, I’m sure he’ll tell you when he’s ready. You’ll be like ‘oh, I actually figured it out before’ and you’ll all laugh about this, so don’t stress too much okay?”

“Easy to say… what if he thinks I played him all this time?” you ponder.

“You’re being totally unreasonable right now and you just met this guy a few days ago! It’s not like you’re gonna marry him.”

You can’t deny it, she actually has a point and it makes so much sense too. To shut you up and shake you from your thoughts, Izzy feeds you a mouthful of her self-proclaimed gourmet dish, making you gag almost immediately. Once you finish the last desperate spoon of rice, trying to erase that atrocious taste from your mouth, you head to your bedroom and get ready to go to sleep.

***

Saying that your night was restless is putting it mildly. Blame it on the garlic that tormented your stomach, or on you mulling over the past day’s events, you couldn’t sleep a wink and you know oh-so-well that a single cup of coffee is not going to solve anything. Every single thing about you speaks I’m tired and sleep deprived, from the dark circles you miserably failed to cover, to your mismatched socks. But some people wear mismatched socks on purpose, so it shouldn’t be that much of a deal, right?

As soon as you finish gulping the third cup of coffee of the day, you open the break room door to go back to work and bump into a sturdy figure. Looking up to apologize, you get startled.

“We always bump into each other in this room, it must be destiny,” Chris says, your heart skipping a beat.

“I don’t think it’s destiny… Are you following me, sir?” you say jokingly.

“I was really hoping to see you. You run off so fast yesterday, you didn’t even give me the time to say goodbye properly,” he frowns, tilting his head, “are you trying to avoid me?”

“I am not… I was busy… Sorry for running away like that.”

“It’s okay, I was just joking…” he lets out an awkward laugh.

You feel guilty about the way you’ve acted in the past few ways, you feel this pressing need to do something in return for his patience and kindness.

“Are you busy today? you finally ask and suggest to go somewhere since you owe him a sandwich anyway. Chris seems a little uncertain, but accepts as long as he gets to choose the place.

He takes you to a small convenience store where you’re welcomed by a lovely old lady. Despite the store being rather cramped, the atmosphere feels cozy and familiar. On the way here, Chris has been going on and on about how delicious here ramen is, setting your expectations quite high. He escorts you to the back of the store where a small veranda is located, then he goes back inside to prepare the ramen.

Your eyes wander around: old-fashioned chairs, chipped tiles, a rusty railing… This place is a bit dated, but totally your style. It’s like a little gem unaffected by time.

“For you, m’lady,” Chris says, placing a cup of ramen in front of you with a dramatic bow.

“I’m much obliged, my lord,” you say, bringing your right hand to your chest.

Chris sits down and starts mixing his noodles. “You look quite tired today,” he observes concerned.

“You’re like the twentieth person I’ve heard that from,” you answer, copying his action.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“No, it’s okay, I just haven’t slept much.”

“Yeah, I know how it feels,” he says, bringing his cup close to his mouth.

“This ramen is delicious, by the way,” you comment, swallowing another bite, “I’ve never tasted anything like this.”

Chris smiles proudly. “I know this place is not really appropriate for a date,” he mutters, now looking more serious, “but it’s quite and I like coming here.”

You understand what he’s hinting at: nobody would probably ever come to this place, so it’s safe for him to stop here and bring you too.

“This was so not a date,” you argue, trying to keep things light, “I said I owed you a sandwich and we got ramen, so it’s on me.”

“I can’t let you pay,” he complains.

“Why not? Because I’m a girl?” you notice him visibly struggling at your question, “It’s fine Chris, let me pay just this once, I feel bad for running off like that yesterday.”

“Fine,” he gives in, “but I owe you a real date.”

“Are you keeping count?”

“Absolutely.”

Previous ⇄ Next

[astarinthevalley]

It Was Bound To Happen

Siblings get mad at each other, it happens. Siblings fight for silly reasons, it happens. Things can get out of hand, it happens.

Sebastian glanced at the clock on his computer and blinked a couple of times. Was it really 9:45 PM? It was only 4:30 PM a couple of minutes ago.

He pushed his chair away from his screen and looked around his abyss of a room, barely being able to make any piece of furniture out. He’d usually turn on the small TV by his bed for background noise and a source of light--one not too intense, but not too dim either--since he despised getting up and traveling across his room just to flip a light switch.

Sebastian stretched his arms high over his head, listening to the clicks his wrists made as he rotated them. He turned his head and his neck released a loud, satisfying crack.

He got up and heard his feet land on what remained of his lunch: empty, crumbled bags of chips. When did he eat those again? 11 AM? He should be hungry, his stomach should feel like it’s being ripped to shreds like it always does when he forgets to eat, but he felt fine. ‘I should eat something anyways.’ He thought to himself. His mom, Maru, and Demetrius probably already had dinner together, and had stored the leftovers in the microwave for him as they always do whenever he couldn’t--or didn’t--join them.

Sebastian began maneuvering his way through the dark room, shuffling his feet across the floor so he wouldn’t risk stepping on whatever trash he had tossed and forgotten about. He kept his eyes focused on the spot where his door stood and reached his hand out. The moment his fingers came into contact with the cold metal of the knob, he wrapped his hand around it, swung the door open, and was immediately blinded. Why were the house’s lights still on? His mom always turned them off at 9:30.

He walked up the stairs, hand on the railing, as his eyes adjusted to the sudden shift in brightness. As he ascended the stairs, he could hear his step-sister, Maru, talking aloud with the occasional giggle in between her pauses. She must be on the phone.

He reached the hallway and took a right, journeying straight to the kitchen, not interested in whatever Maru was blabbering about. Unfortunately for him, Maru also decided she wanted to spend some of her time in the kitchen. She was sitting on top of their kitchen table, wrinkling the pink cloth covering it that mom had washed today, phone pressed against her ear, and a big, stupid, punchable smile on her face.

Whoever was on the other side was taking their time talking, so Sebastian decided to ask “Where’s mom?”

Maru peeked at him and whispered a ‘Hold on’ to her friend. “They’re at the saloon, and hello to you too.” She said in a tone not nearly as enthusiastic as it was a moment ago.

His mom would always pop into his room to let him know she was heading off somewhere, why didn’t she this time? Or maybe she did and he had forgotten about it.

He brought himself to the microwave and opened it to see a bowl of pesto pasta sitting in the center. ‘Warm it up for a minute, stir, then cook again for another minute.’ His mom’s instructions rang through his head.

He shut the microwave again, set the timer up, got a fork from a drawer, then stood and watched the bowl rotate while listening to the low buzzing and the tiny pops coming from his dinner.

Sebastian always found the noise rather calming in a strange sense--that is until time had run out and his trance would be disrupted by the blaring beeps--but Maru’s rambling was impossible to block out.

“... And I got a letter from another college today--Yeah, yeah! I didn’t expect so many to be interested, I’m really overwhelmed!”

Sebastian couldn’t hold back his groan. She was bragging about her damn robot again. Normally he’d be mildly annoyed but understanding when it came to bragging about accomplishments, he was guilty of doing so himself, but to constantly hear someone praise themselves for well over a month would start to drive anyone insane. Maru had built a robot--with the help of Demetrius--that was about the size of a small dog. It was able to pick up certain objects, respond to commands, and write. She showed off it’s abilities to the whole town, and everyone, even Sebastian, was impressed with what she had created.

“... My dad said he was going to help me with future projects, but I need to be more independent.”

He expected the never-ending praise from his parents, and had prepared himself for the constant compliments Maru would receive throughout this month and the many months after. She could mop the floor and they’d shower her in affection for the whole week, it was something they were both used to. But what he wasn’t prepared for was everyone to constantly talk about Maru and her invention. Maru makes a dingy droid and you might as well have told everyone the second coming of Christ was happening in this very valley. Sure, they lived in a small town, and when anything slightly out of the ordinary popped up, it was bound to be talked about for a couple of weeks, but conversations about Maru have barely dwindled.

“... I still need to make some improvements on the little droid.”

The continuous praise at home was exhausting enough, so to hear her name in every passing conversation was a nightmare. He liked to leave his house to get away from her, to get away from his parents gushing, but now it felt like there was no escape. Even his best friends, Sam and Abigail, had mentioned both Maru and her machine during their nights at the saloon.

Three loud, obnoxious beeps finally escaped the microwave. That had to have been the longest minute of his life.

He took out the dish and stirred the contents recklessly, his fork clashing against the sides of the bowl and scraping the bottom, before placing it back in and setting the timer for another minute.

The second the dish is done, he’ll snatch it up, and rush back into the basement away from Maru. He wouldn’t care if the scalding ceramic would melt his fingers off, he couldn’t stand being in the kitchen with her for a second longer.

“... That’s the problem, I don’t know if I want to move out yet! I really love it here, and I know my parents would support me no matter what I choose, but…”

Is she capable of talking about anything besides herself? Everything has to be about her, her inventions, how her parents can’t get over her, her problems, her success, her feelings, her. Her. Her.

Sebastian hated it. When he stayed up countless nights programming with no help whatsoever, fueled by several cans of energy drinks and stress, all he’d receive were lectures. ‘Stop spending so much time on the computer’, ‘Stop playing games’, ‘Stop browsing the web’, ‘Staying in here for so long is unhealthy’, shut up. Shut up. Shut up.

Then when he was given the chance to share what he was doing, explaining how he tests and develops software with enthusiasm and bright eyes, he could see his parents’ lack of interest in their dull eyes. Their amazement and fascination was all used on whatever Maru had been doing that day, and all that was left for him was boredom and exhaustion. Even on the days he went outside to work on his motorcycle, Demetrius wouldn’t hesitate to bicker about how much noise he was making, how he was distracting Maru from her work, how he was making a mess. The man was impossible to satisfy.

“... Yeah, I’ll be able to come over tomorrow!”

Sebastian stared at the timer. There were 10 seconds left.

“... I was thinking of bringing some gadgets over--Oh! We could try…” He hated her. Perhaps that was a strong word, but it was the truth. Nothing good had ever come from Maru.

9 seconds.

“... I don’t mind what we do, I just hate being cooped up in my room all day…” He hated the bragging, he hated the never-ending praise, he hated how the moment she was born their parents shoved everything he had into the basement.

8 seconds.

“... My parents don’t mind…” He hated how she always acted so high and mighty.

7 seconds.

“... As long as I’m home before it gets dark…” He hated how Demetrius would treat him every time he was near her.

6 seconds.

“... I need a break anyways…” He hated how he was always blamed for any argument or feud that came between them.

5 seconds.

“... My wrists have been killing me…” It was never her fault. Maru can’t do anything wrong, it’s always Sebastian.

“... I swear, my projects will be the death of me...” He hated the mere sight of her.

4 seconds.

“... Oh, did I tell you about what I’m currently working on?” He hated her voice.

3 seconds.

“... I’ve been making these blueprints…” He hated her.

2 seconds.

“... For a new robot…” He hated her.

1 second.

“... And I’m hoping it’ll be able to do even more than my first--”

Without his command, his legs took him straight to Maru. He tore the phone from her hand and held it with a crushing grip.

Maru’s mouth hung open, processing what had just happened in those mere, few seconds.

“Please.” Sebastian started in a frigid hush, “Shut. Up.”

Maru blinked a couple of times and stared at him, dumbfounded.

She shook off her surprise and reached for the phone, “I was talking with somebody!”

Sebastian pulled it away and hung up on whoever she was speaking with, “Not anymore. You can call them another time.”

Sebastian turned back to the counter, ready to grab his dinner and leave. He threw her phone aside and heard it land with a gratifying ‘crack’.

Maru scrambled to pick it up, checking the screen to make sure it hadn’t been ruined, then looked back at Sebastian.

“What is your problem?!” She raised her voice, face tinting red.

Sebastian ignored her as he opened the microwave.

She placed the phone on the table and stood up, snapping her fingers to get her step-brother’s attention.

“Hey, hey! You can’t just treat me like garbage one second then pretend I don’t exist the next!”

“I said shut up.” Sebastian repeated coldly, facing away from the girl.

“No, I won’t!” Maru stepped closer, “I can deal with you acting like this most of the time, but these past few weeks you have been really, really--” She scrunched her face, struggling to come up with a word to perfectly describe his recent, foul behavior. “--Vile!” She finished, pointing a finger at him.

“Sorry I’m not kissing your ass like everyone else.” He rolled his eyes as he grabbed the hot dish. He set it on the counter and scanned the kitchen for napkins.

Maru watched him search for a minute, then the gears in her head started turning.

Her eyes widened, “It’s because of my robot, isn’t it--”

“No, that damned robot isn’t the issue,” He clutched the edge of the counter, “it’s you! That’s my problem, it’s always been you!” He growled.

A genuinely hurt expression flashed across Maru’s face before it was replaced with anger. Her hands curled into fists.

“I haven’t done anything wrong.” She muttered, her voice was shaky. “You’re… You’re just…” She hated these moments with Sebastian. She hated how often they’d come. No matter what she did, no matter what she said, the two of them always ended up arguing. She’d always lose. She’d always be given a repulsed look and grumbled cusses as he’d walk away. Sometimes her parents would intervene and defend her, but they weren’t here right now.

She can’t keep letting herself get stepped on.

“Because you’re jealous, aren’t you?” She finally said, her voice still unsteady.

Sebastian’s body stiffened.

“Because you’re in your basement all day, staring at your--your stupid computer, pretending everyone doesn’t exist…” She breathed in, “And while you were sitting around, being angry, I was out there doing something. I’m actually getting somewhere! I actually have the chance for a successful future, I have potential, and you--you--y…”

The confidence she was finally building up had been shattered into millions of pieces as she watched Sebastian reach over to the knife block. When his fingers curled around and held the grip of the nearest knife, she felt her blood drain from her face.

The world had stopped. Maru had stopped. She couldn’t move. She only stood and waited, hoping Sebastian would let go, tell her he’s kidding, or for him to go outside to smoke, anything. Anything.

Sebastian began to turn his head in her direction, the hatred in his eyes burned greater than the flames in the depths of Hell. The more he kept turning his head, the louder her heart banged in her ears. Her horrifying hypnotic heartbeat was soon overtaken by a single thought booming in her head: He’s going to kill me.

Maru made a dash to the hallway, hearing her step-brother’s footsteps right on her tail as he started shouting a slew of curses and threats. She had never heard Sebastian shout in such a terrible tone in her entire life. Even during their absolute worst fights, his raised voice would sound pissed at most. But here? Now? He was screaming. There were moments where his voice would strain as he swung the knife she barely avoided, threatening to hack her head off. Whatever restraint he had built up over the years, whatever had kept him sane throughout the entirety of their relationship had been thrown out. All that remained was a man who looked like her step-brother screaming bloody murder, fueled by pure hatred, and wanting nothing more than to see her bleed.

Maru saw the door to her parents room on the right and instantly ran inside. She locked the door and took lungfuls of air, hot tears running down her face as she almost choked on her own spit.

The knob began to wriggle faster and faster until Sebastian resorted to banging and kicking. He’d slam his body against it, causing the door to budge and Maru’s life to flash before her eyes.

“OPEN THIS DOOR!” She heard him scream, “OPEN THIS DOOR, OPEN THIS DOOR! I’LL KILL YOU. I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU.”

He kept shouting those words and other horrible threats at her. She needed to get out.

She whipped her head around, hoping to find any possible escape route, but a pit began to form in her stomach as she realized she had trapped herself in her parents’ room. This wasn’t like her bedroom, there wasn’t another door that led outside, and the only window in here wasn’t big enough for her to crawl through.

The banging on the door grew louder, so did Sebastian’s yelling.

“YOU BITCH.” Sebastian threw himself against the door again.

She couldn’t think straight. She couldn’t think straight. Block the door. She needs to block the door.

She saw two wooden chairs beside her parents’ bed that sat in the center of the room and grabbed one. She wedged the back of the chair underneath the doorknob, praying it’d be enough to hold back Sebastian.

She suddenly saw the blade of the knife jab through the crack of the door and watched it dragg up and down before being pulled back in. Whatever Sebastian was attempting to do didn’t go as planned; he resorted to charging against the door again, shouting, and now sporadically stabbing the door itself.

Maru would watch in horror as the blade made its way through the other side of the door with every other stab. She couldn’t tear her eyes off the door. She wanted to throw up.

“I HATE YOU.”

As Sebastian’s screaming and thrashing grew more and more voluminous, Maru backed herself against the wall, sat down, and brought her knees to her chest. She covered her ears, tears clouding her vision, as horrid thoughts and questions filled her mind. She remembered watching so many documentaries about serial killers with Penny, fascinated with how sick people could be. She never imagined her own step-brother would be the end of her.

“DO YOU HEAR ME?”

She wondered what it’d be like to have a knife plunged into her chest. Would it feel like a quick sting? Would it burn? Would her adrenaline prevent her from feeling anything at all, and she’d be stuck staring into her step-brother’s wild eyes? Would he drag out her demise? Or would he end her life as fast as possible?

“I HATE YOU.”

Maybe she deserves this. Maybe she should have treated him better. Maybe she could’ve tried harder. She should’ve kept her stupid mouth shut. She shouldn’t have said anything. None of this would’ve happened. Sebastian feels this way because of her. She deserves this. She deserves this. She’s going to die. She’s going to die.

She suddenly heard the front door open through Sebastian’s banging. Footsteps and muffled voices, which soon turned into shouting, grew near.

“Sebastian? Sebastian--oh my God, what are DOING!?” She heard her mom shout. Sebastian was rather too consumed with wanting to kill Maru, or no longer cared about the consequences, as his screaming and thrashing became more severe.

Demetrius’ shouting started clashing with Sebastian’s, and another, quieter male voice could be heard as well.

Sebastian’s ruckus came to an abrupt stop. He must’ve been pulled away from the door. She could hear his yelling, his legs kicking about, and--somehow--his knife swinging wildly.

Someone knocked on the door. “Maru, honey, are you in there?” Maru heard her mother ask through Sebastian and Demetrius’ shouting.

“It’s safe to come out,” Her mom said, “Dr. Harvey called the police. You’re going to be okay.”

Maru slowly got up and pulled the chair away. She cautiously unlocked the door and listened to the yelling grow louder as she opened the door more and more.

Maru was hoping seeing her mother would cause a wave of relief and security to wash over her, but Robin wore a false smile in a poor attempt to mask her fear, making Maru feel sicker.

Robin pulled her in for a tight hug and placed her hand on her head, whispering to Maru that they’re going to be okay, everything will be fine, it’s all over now.

Maru forced her head to the right and saw an enraged Demetrius and a terrified Harvey restraining both of Sebastian’s arms.

Sebastian had finally stopped shouting. He was sitting on the floor, panting through gritted teeth, tears running down his face, and staring at her with those horrible, loathsome eyes that wished to see nothing more than Maru’s demise.

[yespleasefandomtrash]

of cats and curses

“I’ve only seen these cats get so excited about someone sitting outside a pet store with one other person in my entire life,” a warm and almost suffocatingly kind voice said, snapping Catra out of her thoughts. “And he had that same disgruntled expression that you do. Poor kitties try to make friends with the very people who don’t want to be made friends with.”

(Catradora meets Kyoru. As you might expect, chaos ensues.)

~*~

Catra had been more than willing to let Adora do most of the talking. She was normally more eager to learn about the new planets they were exploring, but that day… Ugh. She really wasn’t sure what was making her mood so foul. Or she couldn’t pinpoint a singular cause, anyways. It was probably some God-awful combination of the pittering drizzle of rain falling from the gray sky around her, the fact that the miserable planet ‘Earth’ she was on seemed to have no traces of magic whatsoever, and the immediate reality that Adora was no longer by her side. Which was the main downfall of Adora doing all of the talking - Catra was left behind. At her own request, of course, so she could only blame herself, but still. She wanted to stew in her misery for a bit.

This ‘Earth’ was their last stop before they’d be flying back to Bright Moon. Catra never thought she’d be relieved to be returning there, but times had changed, she supposed. During their numerous quests to restore magic to the universe, day-trips and monthly adventures alike, they’d come to learn that some planets had never had magic in the first place. Even rarer, select places did not want magic returned to their world. In other words, the Best Friend Squad - she still didn’t know how she felt about that name - had taken to asking around amongst the locals to first determine the magic status of planets before they actually began the restoration process.

So now Adora was schmoozing with the locals - probably badly, because her acting skills left much to be desired - in some place called a pet store, while Catra sat on an uncomfortable metal bench outside while silently wishing she had an umbrella. She could raise her bag above her head, but she had a feeling it wouldn’t do much. Also it had their communications pads in it, and she figured unduly exposing them to freezing rain was not a good thing.

Ugh. She should have sucked it up and gone inside with Adora.

Catra yelped as the bracelet projecting her holographic disguise suddenly shocked her, and she lifted her wrist to figure out why, exactly, it had done that. She couldn’t see anything wrong with it… Uh oh. Maybe it wasn’t waterproof. She probably should have asked Entrapta about that.

Oops. Too late?

Even more annoying than her bracelet that was now randomly spazzing out were the stupid cats in the pet store behind her that kept clamoring and scratching on the glass! Sure, she was grateful for that wall of glass because it stopped them from physically getting to her, but it was nowhere close to soundproof, meaning their yowls were barely dulled down. And most of the cats were just saying hello, but she didn’t want to turn around and acknowledge that, because she was pretty sure most people on Earth could not understand animals. She didn’t care that there was no else around - she wasn’t taking any chances. Which just meant the cats would think she was rude, but she’d rather live with that than become Earth’s resident crazy cat lady by striking up a conversation with the Siamese or the Persians in a pet store.

Huh. Could the cats see through Entrapta’s disguise? Surely not. Catra tapped her bracelet to make sure the hologram was still active, wincing as another jolt of electricity shot through her arm. Definitely still active. So maybe the cats could just… feel that she was like them. A gut instinct. Or something.

Really, there was no use thinking about it. Where the hell was Adora?

“I’ve only seen these cats get so excited about someone sitting outside a pet store with one other person, in my entire life,” a warm and almost suffocatingly kind voice said, snapping Catra out of her thoughts. “And he had that same disgruntled expression that you do. Poor kitties try to make friends with the very people who don’t want to be made friends with.”

Catra looked up to see a brown-haired girl standing in front of her, a bright smile on her face and a navy blue umbrella in her hand. She appeared way too cheerful for someone walking outside in a minor rainstorm. Catra also vaguely recognized that the language the girl was speaking was not one she understood, but Entrapta’s translator appeared to be doing the trick. Now hopefully it would continue to work in reverse.

“Ah… yeah,” she finally managed to say. “Cats… like me. Too much.”

The girl laughed. “You sound so much like Kyo!” She offered Catra her hand. “My name is Tohru. It’s lovely to meet you, Miss…?”

Catra scrambled to remember her cover name that they’d hastily made up when they learned ‘Catra’ was not a normal name on Earth. “I - uh, I’m Catrina,” she said, shaking the girl’s hand, though she remained on the bench. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

“So what has you sitting outside in the rain?” the girl - Tohru - asked curiously, giving her a look of concern. “Are you okay? Do you need a place to stay for the night?”

Catra fought to ignore the cats still meowing behind her. Their chant had shifted to a collective FEED ME, which she obviously couldn’t do because she was not inside, but apparently they hadn’t figured that out yet. “No, I’m - I’m fine,” she stammered, wincing halfway through her sentence as Entrapta’s disguise-bracelet suddenly shocked her again. Ouch. “Just waiting for someone.”

Tohru frowned. “In the rain? Without any cover?” She immediately thrust her umbrella in Catra’s direction. “Take this, Miss Catrina. I only live about five minutes away up the road, and I feel you are in far more need of it than I.”

And now the light on Entrapta’s bracelet was flickering on and off. Ugh, that couldn’t be good. Catra did not want to accidentally give this random and kind of annoyingly nice girl a heart attack by suddenly looking… er, not like a human. “No, I’m really fine,” she insisted, jumping to her feet. “But I appreciate the offer.”

Tohru’s frown deepened. “Are you sure? I don’t want you to get hypothermia, miss.”

Catra instinctively covered her bracelet with her free hand when she noticed sparks flying off of it in her peripheral vision. “I’m sure,” she said, trying to sound as sincere as possible. “In fact, I should probably -” She cut herself off with a yelp as lightning flashed and a loud crack of thunder boomed through the air, sudden enough to make the fur on her tail stand on end as she violently reached up to cover her ears, shoulders hunching over in the process.

Apparently the sudden motion was too much for the barely-functioning bracelet to take, the bracelet that was admittedly already worse for the wear after she’d had an encounter with some kind of slime monster on a planet called Tamaran, as it snapped off her wrist before falling to the ground, now broken in half. And with that, her disguise vanished.

Catra had never bit her tongue so hard to avoid letting out a string of frustrated curses. She was pretty sure it was bleeding now.

The girl’s - no, Tohru’s, she had a name - eyes widened as she watched the series of unfortunate events unfold. “You’re… you have cat… ears? A tail?”

Dammit. Now she was going to have to hear an annoying lecture from Sparkles and probably Arrow Boy about jeopardizing the mission, though she really didn’t think this was her fault. “Uh…” Catra said, frantically trying to come up with an excuse, “would you believe me if I told you this was an elaborate costu-”

“Are you cursed, too?” Tohru interrupted, kneeling down to pick up the pieces of the bracelet from the ground. “I mean, your transformation is not quite like the Sohma’s, but I suppose it would be rash of me to presume the zodiac curse is the only one to exist in the world, wouldn’t it? Perhaps there is something else -”

Catra sneezed, accidentally cutting her off. Which she mildly regretted, because she had no freaking clue what the girl was going on about. A curse? So-ma? The hell was going on with this planet?

And most importantly, where on Earth was Adora?

“Oh my goodness, you’re freezing!” Tohru exclaimed, horrified, as she stood up. “I am so sorry, I was being incredibly inconsiderate! You poor thing, you’re not even dressed for rainy weather!”

Now that she mentioned it, Catra realized that she was shivering. Ugh. Stupid fur. It was so hard to warm up after it got wet.

“Let’s go to Shigure’s house,” Tohru said, taking Catra’s hand and pulling her away towards a dirt path, doing her best to hold her umbrella over the both of them. “We can warm you up, get you a towel and a change of clothes, and I’ll do my best to help you repair your bracelet, though it’s not similar to Kyo’s at all so I don’t know if I’ll be much use. While we do that you can explain the details of your curse to me! But only if you’re okay with talking about it, of course.” She shook her head, a mixture of shock and curiosity in her eyes. “I wonder if Kyo and Yuki were aware that other families could have a curse similar to the zodiac?”

Catra still had no idea what all this curse nonsense was, but she was both surprised and grateful that the girl hadn’t freaked out and run away upon seeing her… er, true form, as it were. However, the main problem was that she was currently being taken away from Adora, which was stressful because Catra needed Adora and also because Adora would undoubtedly freak out the moment she realized Catra was missing and cause havoc by turning into She-Ra or something. “Actually, I kind of have to stay here -”

“I promise, there’s no need to be nervous!” Tohru reassured her, and her voice was so gentle and sincere that Catra found herself struggling to not believe her. “If you stay here, someone might run into you who won’t understand what’s going on. They could even try to hurt you! I promise that I’m taking you to a safe place where there are people… where there are people struggling with a - a similar issue to what you have.”

Catra seriously doubted that. She was pretty sure that Earth had never had successful contact with other planets, meaning the chances of there being Etherians in this girl’s house were almost zero, much less Etherians like her. Still, the thought of going somewhere warm and dry with this pseudo-Perfuma who hadn’t lost her shit upon seeing that Catra was definitely not human was… well, rather appealing.

But Adora. Adora. She at least needed to let her know where she was going.

“When we… er, get to wherever you’re taking me, can I… send a message to the person I was waiting for?” Wow. She sounded so timid it was downright mortifying. “Just to let her know where I am.”

“Of course!” Tohru said as they turned a corner on the dirt pathway. “Your friend is absolutely welcome to join us. Is she cursed, too?”

Was She-Ra considered a curse? It sure felt that way sometimes. But Catra was still completely lost on what the whole ‘curse’ thing was, especially how it related to her being part cat. “Er, I don’t think so -” And she promptly cut herself off with another sneeze. Ugh. She was going to catch a cold.

“Don’t worry, we’re almost there!” Tohru said, pulling her slightly faster. True to her word, Catra could see a warmly lit house at the end of the road. “I’m so sorry we have to walk through the rain like this. But I’m going to make you some hot tea and give you a fluffy blanket and turn up the heat and just whatever you need to warm up and get comfortable, okay?”

And the girl did exactly that. She gave Catra a towel to dry off with as well as a set of clean clothing to change into before she practically swaddled her with a blanket and placed a steaming mug of tea on the low table in front of her. Really, her personality was the absolute epitome of Scorpia and Perfuma combined. Catra had also made sure to send Adora a message about her location while Tohru had been preparing everything, or else she knew she’d forget to do it entirely.

“Is everything okay? Would you like something to eat? There’s not a lot in the fridge, but I’m sure I can whip something up pretty quickly -”

“No, no, everything is fine,” Catra interrupted, still feeling kind of awkward around Tohru but also still relieved that the girl hadn’t - hadn’t fainted or anything. “I’m almost back to normal, uh, body-warmth already.” Ugh, that was horrendously phrased. Oh well. C’est la vie, or whatever Sparkles had taken to saying after visiting Flance. Finance? She really didn’t know what the country was called. Regardless, the girl either hadn’t noticed or hadn’t cared.

Tohru nodded, kneeling down on the side of the table opposite Catra. She placed Entrapta’s bracelet - or the pieces of it - down in front of her. “I was hoping I could repair this for you, but it’s not the same… er, anti-curse material that I’ve seen before. It seems to be technologically-based, and unfortunately I’m terrible with tech. I’m so sorry I couldn’t be of more help!”

Right. The ‘curse’. “Don’t worry about it,” Catra said, waving her hand dismissively. “I have a friend who can fix it.”

Tohru didn’t appear satisfied by her reassurance. “Are you certain? I can ask the person I know who’s in - who’s kind of… like you, so to speak, if he’ll take a look at it and see if he -”

Catra held up a hand to silence the girl, ears twitching. She could have sworn she heard footsteps from above them. “Tohru…” Weird. She was pretty sure that was the first time she’d addressed the girl by name. “Are we the only ones here right now?”

Tohru frowned. “I - I believe so. Why?”

Catra’s ears craned to catch the sound. The footsteps - they’d moved. Moved towards… “Because someone is about to come down those stairs,” she growled, lowering her voice to a whisper as she untangled herself from the blanket and vaulted across the table to land in front of Tohru, claws bared. “Stay behind me.”

“Okay,” Tohru squeaked, and Catra wasn’t sure if she was more afraid of the thought of an intruder or of Catra herself. Hopefully not the latter.

A tall boy with carrot-orange hair arrived at the foot of the stairs. “Tohru, are you bac-”

Catra’s tail flicked, and she launched herself at the boy. Damn, she couldn’t believe only a few months at Bright Moon - and numerous sessions with Perfuma - had turned her into someone who’d defend a stranger at a moment’s notice. Though she supposed Tohru wasn’t quite a stranger at this point.

Catra easily tackled the guy to the floor, her forearm lying across his throat with hopefully just enough pressure to keep him pinned down without her having to get on top of him. Her other hand loomed in a threatening manner above his face, claws still out. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?” she demanded.

“Miss Catrina, wait -” Tohru started to protest frantically, but she was soon cut off.

“What the hell?!” the guy snapped. “I could ask the same about you!” In the blink of an eye, he flipped Catra over his head with expertise she found begrudgingly impressive even as her back was slammed painfully onto the ground.

Shit. Now he had her in the same position she’d used on him. But damn, that was a good move on his part.

“So who the hell are you?” he growled, and Catra felt a chill run down her spine because she’d only heard that type of guttural noise twice before in her life - from Melog, and from… herself. “And why the fuck are you in our house?” She noticed the way his pupils had thinned in an… almost catlike manner. And - And it looked like he had fangs? Plus, now that her mind had set sail on that boat, she realized he smelled like a cat, too, in the way only another cat or, er, cat-person would know.

Oh, this was so weird. She never wanted to come back to this planet.

“Kyo, please stop!”

“Did she hurt you, Tohru?”

“No! She’s - She’s a friend! Sort of. She’s very nice, and she was just trying to protect me because I didn’t know you were home already, and - and I think she might be cursed, too!”

“What?” The boy - Kyo? - looked down at Catra, as if taking in her… well, unusual appearance - by this planet’s standards, at least - for the first time. The pressure against her neck lessened. “She’s… Wait.” He turned to look at Tohru, though he noticeably did not remove his arm from her neck entirely. “You’re telling me that the zodiacs aren’t the only -”

He was interrupted by the sliding door to the home being slammed open, with a familiar panicked voice filtering in. “Catra, are you -”

Crap. Adora, whom she loved with her entire being, always managed to have the worst timing.

Adora’s eyes widened as she took in the situation, then narrowed with a burning intensity Catra had only seen a few times before. Her girlfriend began to glow with a blue aura, her eyes shining with that same blinding light, though thankfully she stopped short of fully transforming into She-Ra. Glowing was easier to pass off as a trick of the light compared to suddenly growing three and a half feet taller, at least according to Glimmer. Catra was inclined to agree.

Adora’s protective nature was undeniably attractive, but Catra really didn’t want her girlfriend to have some poor guy’s murder on her conscience once everything got straightened out. “Adora, wait -”

“Get your hands off of her!” Adora snapped, grabbing the boy by the back of his shirt and slamming him against the wall.

The anxiety written all over Tohru’s face as she rushed over to the boy’s side indicated to Catra that there was clearly a massive misunderstanding going on. She pushed herself up into a sitting position. “Adora, stop -”

At the sound of Catra’s voice, Adora immediately dropped to her side, blue light fading as she pulled her into a bone-crushing hug, burying her face in her girlfriend’s shoulder. “Catra, don’t you dare run off on a strange planet ever again.”

The fear in Adora’s voice chillingly reminded her of their time on Horde Prime’s ship, and she had to blink back tears as she returned the hug. “Okay. I promise.”

Those words seemed to do the trick, as Adora relaxed before gently releasing her from the hug, pulling back to frantically look over her. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Do I need to -”

“I’m fine,” Catra interrupted, grabbing her girlfriend’s hands and giving them a reassuring squeeze. “Honest.”

Her insistence didn’t stop Adora from standing up and turning around with a lethal look in her eyes, her gaze narrowing as she focused on the boy, who had just managed to sit up with the help of Tohru and was now grimacing as he rubbed the back of his head. “What the hell were you doing with your hands on my girlfriend?!”

The boy glared at her in response, similarly getting to his feet as he did so, though noticeably more unbalanced than Adora had been. “Your girlfriend attacked me! I was trying to defend myself and protect Tohru!”

“So your idea of self-defense is to have her in a position that could be fatal? Sorry, but I have my doubts.”

“I have self-restraint, you dumbass! What the hell would I have to gain from killing her?!”

“Oh, sure, you say that now -”

“Enough!” Tohru shouted, jumping in front of the boy with her arms out and startling Adora to the point where she actually took a step back. Catra noticed that the girl was trembling, but she stood her ground. “Please. Stop arguing. Don’t - Don’t hurt him.”

Oh.

Oh.

The way her voice wavered. The way she’d immediately rushed to his side. The way she was clearly terrified but had still thrown herself in front of the boy to protect him. Hell, the way the boy had demanded to know if she had hurt Tohru before he’d even thought about himself.

There was something between them. Maybe they weren’t together, but Catra suspected it was only a matter of time.

Tohru took a deep breath, her body still visibly shaking. “I think there is a misunderstanding going on here, and that we all need to - to calm down for a moment. And talk.”

Catra nodded as she stood up, her hip slightly sore from the awkward angle that she’d been flipped onto the ground earlier. “Tohru’s right.” She slipped her hand back into Adora’s. “I did lash out first, because I thought Carrot Boy over there had broken into Tohru’s house, and even though we’d just met, Tohru had been really nice to me and I didn’t want her to get hurt. So I was just… trying to protect her.” Adora sent her a look that said I am so proud of you, which Catra pointedly ignored. “But that might have been a teeny bit of a hasty assumption for me.”

“Yeah, it was,” the guy snapped, though his expression softened slightly as Tohru placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a worried look. “Listen. I live here, too, okay?”

Catra winced. “Er… Sorry?”

The boy didn’t respond, simply crossing his arms over his chest. He still smelled like a cat to her. Were there pets in this house somewhere that Catra couldn’t see?

“And we of course accept your apology,” Tohru said kindly, clasping her hands together. “Now, why don’t we properly introduce ourselves before we try to figure out the nitty-gritty details of what’s going on? My name is - ahh!” As she was stepping forward to offer her hand to Adora, her foot caught in the blanket Catra had previously been bundled up in, and she seemed to fall towards the floor in slow motion. Both Catra and Adora instinctively jumped to catch her, but the guy beat them to it, looping an arm around Tohru’s waist and pulling her backwards into his chest.

He helped stabilize her, their faces noticeably both cherry red, before giving a resigned sigh. Seconds later, he disappeared in an orange cloud of smoke, leaving a pile of clothes on the floor in his wake as well as an annoyed-looking cat the same color as the cloud sitting on top of his t-shirt.

As much as that made no sense to Catra, at least she could now conclude that he smelled like a cat and looked like a cat and acted like a cat because he… was a cat? Kind of?

“You know,” Adora said after a long pause, moving her arm to wrap around her girlfriend’s waist, “I thought this planet didn’t have any magic, but now… I’m pretty sure I was wrong.”

Catra sighed. “Great observation, babe.”

Explanations were definitely needed. On all sides.

~*~

Tohru thought the strangest day of her life would always be the first time she accidentally transformed Kyo, Yuki, and Shigure into their zodiac forms.

That day had now quite possibly been bumped down to second place.

“So you’re… from another planet?” Tohru repeated, the thought almost dizzying. “And you came to Earth to see if we - if we needed magic brought back to our world?”

Catrina - no, Catra, she chastised herself - nodded. There was a certain sympathy to her eyes. “Yes. I’m sure this is pretty overwhelming for you.”

That was putting it lightly. But Tohru shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I think I’m understanding it all now.” Though it was definitely a lot to take in. A small frown creased her lips, and she tilted her head slightly in confusion. “So then… You aren’t cursed?”

Catra snickered. “Cursed to be with this idiot, maybe,” she said teasingly, giving the blonde girl beside her - Adora - a fond look, who lightly elbowed her in response. “But no, I’m not cursed. This is my… true form, I guess.”

Tohru could feel her face pale at the girl’s words, and she didn’t miss the way Kyo flinched, either. “I see.”

There was an awkward pause, and Tohru had no idea how to break it. Normally she’d offer food or something to drink, but the two girls had already refused. Or rather, Catra had refused, much to what had looked like Adora’s silent dismay. Oh, she felt like a terrible hostess.

“So… you can transform into a giant warrior princess?” Kyo asked slowly, gesturing to Adora. “Which is why you got all glowy earlier? Like some magical girl anime?”

“I have no clue what that means, but yes. I can transform into She-Ra.” Adora gave him an apologetic smile. “And again, I’m really sorry for throwing you into the wall. I just saw you on top of Catra and completely freaked out.” She pressed a kiss to Catra’s temple, who blushed furiously at the action but made no move to get away, instead not-very-subtly scooting even closer to her. They were very cute, in Tohru’s opinion.

She noticed Kyo’s face soften as he watched their interaction. She loved that rare, gentle expression on him. “No,” he said quietly, eyes flickering over to Tohru before immediately dropping to the table. “I understand.”

Tohru could feel her face reddening at his words, brief as his glance towards her had been. If Adora and Catra noticed, they didn’t comment, for which she was silently grateful.

“Anyways,” Adora continued, “after asking around and getting stared at like a crazy person many, many times, I’d come to the conclusion that this planet was magic-free and always had been.” She pointed at Kyo. “And then you turned into a cat. Which I’ve only seen happen, like, one other time.” She glanced at Catra. “But Melog’s technically a shapeshifter, right? So it’s not the same thing.” She shook her head when Catra shrugged. “Not my point. So how did you do that, sir?”

Kyo picked at his fingernail, still not making eye contact with them. “Trust me,” he said, his voice low. “There was nothing magical about that.”

Catra raised an eyebrow, and she locked her gaze with Tohru’s. “Right. You kept talking about a curse.”

Tohru flinched, and she glanced at Kyo. “Ah, am I allowed to…?” She felt bad for mentioning it so many times earlier, but Catra had looked like a normal human and then her bracelet fell off and she’d suddenly had a dozen catlike features… she’d gotten such a chilling sense of déjà vu that a curse had felt like the most logical conclusion at the time.

Kyo sighed. “I mean, they’re from another planet. It’s not like they’re going to run into Akito. So why not?”

Tohru nodded, smoothing her skirt as she returned her attention to their guests. “A long time ago, there was a banquet hosted by God.” She tucked her hair behind her ear. The ribbon that normally held it back had fallen out amidst all the earlier chaos. “God invited 13 animals to join them at this feast. 12 attended. Eventually, all 13 animals vowed to remain by God’s side. Forever. This… bond has been recreated every generation through - through the Sohma family. If they are hugged by someone of the opposite sex, they turn into their zodiac form.” She hoped she wasn’t leaving out too much. There were just some things she wasn’t sure she should reveal.

Adora nodded, a thoughtful expression on her face. “I think I remember George and Lance talking about the zodiac when we were getting a crash course on Earth’s culture.” She frowned, seemingly puzzled. “But I don’t remember a family curse. Or a cat.”

“You wouldn’t.” Kyo’s gaze had hardened. “The curse is a secret. And the cat isn’t a part of the zodiac. Not in the same way.” He was fingering his bracelet, and Tohru desperately wished she could give him a comforting hug. Instead, she reached out and placed a hand on his knee. She could feel him relax at her touch - only slightly, but still a victory.

Tohru hadn’t missed the way Catra’s eyes had steadfastly remained on Kyo for much of the conversation. Maybe it was… a cat thing?

“So it seems like this zodiac curse might be an exception to Earth’s ‘no magic’ rule,” Catra finally said. “If it’s magic at all.”

“Is there a way to break this curse?” Adora asked. “I have - I have these sort of healing powers, as She-Ra, so maybe… I could help?”

Tohru couldn’t stop the hope bubbling in her chest at the thought. After learning that Kyo would be - would be… imprisoned after graduation, she was willing to do anything to prevent that from happening. “Kyo, do you think -”

“No.” His tone was flat, and Tohru flinched. He noticed her reaction, and grimaced apologetically. “Sorry. I just mean…” His fist clenched. “We’re… the Sohmas aren’t the kind of broken that your magic powers, or whatever, can heal. But thanks.” He managed a half-hearted smile. “I appreciate the offer.”

There was a pause. But for perhaps the first time since they’d all been in one room together, the silence had a certain tranquility to it, rather than an awkward tension. Which Tohru considered to be a sign of improvement.

“I guess we’ll need to get going soon,” Catra finally said. “Sparkles and Arrow Boy are going to wonder where we disappeared to.”

Adora chuckled. “You mean they’re going to smother us when we get back because they’ll have been stressed out of their minds.”

Wait, they had people waiting for them?! “I’m so sorry!” Tohru exclaimed, jumping to her feet. “Oh, your friends are going to be so worried about you!” She pushed her hair out of her face. “Would you like some - some food, or anything, for your trip back? I can pull something together in no time!”

Adora’s eyes lit up, but Catra beat her to it. “No, we’re fine,” she said with a small smile before shooting Adora a disapproving look. “You’ve already given us plenty of hospitality. We’ve overstayed our welcome.”

Adora appeared slightly disappointed but didn’t comment, instead standing up and pulling Catra to her feet beside her. Tohru noticed neither let go of the other’s hand. “Well, it was nice meeting you guys. And Kyo, again, I really am sorry I threw you into the wall. I hope we can move past that and be friends.”

A small smile formed on Kyo’s lips, and Tohru felt warmth blossom in her chest. “I’d say we’ve moved past it already. And for the record, your super-strength and glowy powers are pretty badass. Less so when I’m the one they’re directed at, but still cool.”

Adora laughed. “Thanks. I appreciate that.”

“I am also sorry for attacking you because I thought you were some creep,” Catra added. “I promise not to do it again. Cats are usually pretty solitary creatures, but that doesn’t mean we have to be enemies, right?”

Kyo laughed as he stood up, and Tohru felt her own smile widen further. “Agreed. But that’s not even the first time that’s happened to me, you know. Tohru also attacked me early on when we met because she thought I was a creep. Tried to knock me out with her school bag. So don’t feel too bad. I think I just have bad luck.”

Tohru buried her face in her hands, aware she was blushing up to her ears. “Kyo!” That was one of the most embarrassing moments of her life. She still felt terrible about it.

Catra snickered. “Oh, I wish I had time to stay and hear that story.”

“It’s a good one.” Kyo then shook his head. “I’m still not sure if this day has been real or if it’s just a weird dream from Yuki decking me and giving me a concussion, but if it is real, it was… interesting to meet you guys. Weird, but in a good way.”

Catra laughed, too. “Yep, that pretty much sums it up.”

“Is there any way we can stay in contact with you guys?” Tohru blurted out. She wasn’t entirely sure what compelled her to ask, but she knew a part of her would soon need proof that she hadn’t imagined their entire encounter. Also… They were her friends now. And she liked keeping in touch with her friends.

Adora frowned, turning to look at Catra. “We have a spare communications pad, don’t we? We could give it to her and just tell Bow we lost it.”

“You mean I will tell Bow we lost it,” Catra corrected as she swung her backpack around to her front and began fishing through it. “Because you’re a terrible liar and he wouldn’t believe you for a second.”

“Exactly. You know me so well.”

Catra rolled her eyes, but Tohru didn’t miss the soft smile that formed on her lips. It was the same smile her mother used to wear when she spoke about her father.

“Aha!” Catra then exclaimed triumphantly, pulling a weirdly-shaped tablet out of her bag and handing it to Tohru. “You can use this to contact us whenever you want. Although we’ll probably have to figure out what the time difference is between Etheria and Earth.”

Tohru accepted the tablet, holding it close to her chest. “Thank you,” she said sincerely. “I hope your quest to restore magic to the universe continues to be successful!”

They exchanged simple goodbyes - making sure to first give Tohru a rundown on how to use the communications pad, for which she was infinitely grateful - and then they left, hand in hand.

Tohru quickly ran to stash the tablet in her bedroom before returning downstairs, walking into the kitchen to see Kyo looking through the fridge. “Would you like me to cook something?” she offered, moving next to him to see what ingredients she’d have to work with.

Kyo lightly knocked her head. “I’ll cook. You can go rest. You’ve had a stressful day.”

“You have, too!” she protested, tucking her hair behind her ears. She was not backing down on this, and she tried to show her determination by squaring her shoulders and staring him down.

She had a feeling it came off as more silly than anything else, at least based on the amused - if fond - smile Kyo gave her.

“Okay, fine. How about we cook together?” he suggested. “Is that an acceptable compromise?”

Tohru beamed at him. “That sounds wonderful!” She clasped her hands together, eyes practically sparkling in excitement.  “Oh, we can make something for Yuki and Shigure! They’ll be back soon.” Yuki had been dealing with Student Council business all afternoon, and Shigure had been at the main Sohma estate the entire day. She was certain they’d appreciate coming home to a warm dinner on the table.

Kyo rolled his eyes. “You’re way too considerate of those bastards.”

“And you are too harsh on them,” Tohru chastised, shaking her head. The movement caused her hair to fall in her face again, and she promptly pushed it right back behind her ears. Hmm. Maybe she needed to consider getting it cut?

Apparently Kyo had noticed her struggle, as he left the kitchen for a moment before returning with her ribbon. She started to thank him and reach for it, but he shook his head. “Turn around.”

Tohru blinked, then did as instructed. At first she was rather stiff, but she soon found herself relaxing as Kyo’s hands gently moved through her hair, pulling it up into a ponytail.

“There,” he said after he finished. “Now it should stop getting in your way.”

Tohru instinctively reached up to touch her hair, almost surprised by how secure it felt. “That’s amazing, Kyo! I didn’t know you knew how to do hair.”

Kyo flushed. “It’s nothing fancy. Kagura made me do her hair all the time when we were kids. I remember the basics.”

Tohru couldn’t help but smile softly at the thought of young Kyo brushing and braiding a young Kagura’s hair. “That’s so sweet.” She beamed at him. “And thank you. I love it.”

Kyo’s blush deepened, and he looked away. “Seriously. It’s no big deal.” He paused, as if something had occurred to him. “Oh. Also.” He pulled a small silver bracelet out of his pocket and handed it to her. “I found this on the table. I think one of the girls might have left it.”

Tohru’s eyes widened, recognizing the bracelet as the object that had generated Catra’s human disguise. “Oh, this is Catra’s!” she said frantically, accepting the bracelet from him. “We have to get it back to her! It’s not too late to catch up to them, is it?”

Kyo grabbed her wrist as she started to dash towards the door. “Slow down, dummy,” he said, pulling her back into the kitchen. “They’re long gone.”

He was right. She knew he was right, but - “I feel like we need to return it to her! Somehow.”

“Maybe. But surely she wouldn’t have left it if it was that important.”

Tohru hesitated, glancing down at the broken bracelet cradled in her palms. “Okay,” she finally agreed, relaxing slightly. “That does make sense.” She tucked the bracelet into the pocket of her skirt.

Maybe one day she’d be able to fix it. Maybe one day she could ask them how to fix it by contacting them through the tablet they’d given her. Maybe one day they’d even return in person to pick it up themselves.

No matter what… She would see them again. She was sure of it.

Tohru turned to Kyo, giving him a brilliant smile. “Let’s get cooking!”

~*~

“And you’re sure you’re not hurt -”

“Adora! I told you that I’m fine.” Catra rolled her eyes. “Seriously. You worry too much.”

“You’re my girlfriend. It’s my job to worry about you.” Adora sighed, her arms moving from being crossed over her chest to clutching her own shoulders as she hugged herself tightly. “That was terrifying, Catra. Walking in to see some random guy leaning angrily over you with his arm against your throat?” She shuddered. “Ugh. I’m going to have nightmares about that one.”

Catra could feel her expression softening, and she walked across their room on Mara’s ship to place her hands on Adora’s shoulders. “I’m sorry I scared you. But I promise that I’m okay. I honestly don’t think Kyo had any intention to hurt me, anyways.”

Adora’s arms fell to her sides, her hands coming to rest on Catra’s waist. “What makes you say that?”

“You mean besides the fact that he’s actually a nice person?” Catra shrugged. “I just had a feeling, I guess.” Something about the look in his eyes. Fear, panic, desperation. All overshadowed by concern. A willingness to do anything for that one person.

It had been like looking in a mirror.

She pulled Adora into a hug, burying her face into her girlfriend’s shoulder. “I love you.”

Adora didn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around her in response. “I love you, too.”

They stayed like that for a while. Catra eventually lifted her head, turning to face a direction where she could see out the window, out into the infinite void of space. They’d long since flown away from Earth. But still…

Catra had a feeling they’d see them again. Tohru and Kyo.

She was sure of it.

(After all, they’d have to go pick up her bracelet one day.)

~*~

tagging the two people who said they’d be interested in reading lol: @akeera13​ and @timefrozen-waterstreams

[manggojooz]

Cross the Line

pairing: Jungkook x reader

word count: 1,363

genre: one shot; fluff

warnings: none

note: it’s TGIF again, had some alcohol again, round two of alcohol-fueled writing again... and not edited coz it’s 3.30am and i’m gonna go sleeppppp 

“Are you not going to give it to me?”, a very upset Jungkook whined.  

You stuffed your tightly-closed fist into your jacket pocket, standing up to walk away, knowing fully well that this is going to annoy him more.  

---

The bar was bustling with people as usual, you didn’t quite enjoy having to squeeze through the narrow aisles to get to the table that just called for a waitress.  

“Could you get us another five soju bombs, please”, the male customer politely requested. He wore a black suit, tie slightly untangled, hair still neatly set by whatever wax he used.  

“Sure, just one minute”, you responded.  

You returned carrying his order on a round tray, unloading the drinks onto their table. You took the opportunity to collect some of the empty glasses but as you were about to leave, the well-mannered man slips a piece of paper onto the tray. 

You looked at him sharply, did he just...? He smiles warmly at you, “It’s my number. I've seen you a few times and …”, he wasn’t able to finish his sentence before someone picks up the slip of paper and tosses it back onto the table.  

“She doesn’t want your number.” Jungkook, your fellow part-timer at the bar and also your friend from school, sternly told the patron.  

The man smiles mildly, not engaging Jungkook, instead turning to ask you, “Your boyfriend?”  

“No... just friend, and I’m sorry I can’t take your number”, you gently slid the piece of paper across the table.  

“You can’t... doesn’t mean you don’t want to”, he picks up the paper and puts it into your pocket gingerly.  

Jungkook was gawking at his audacity and was prepared to pounce by now. After all these years of knowing him you could sense it way too easily. He almost lunges forward, you raised your arms just in time to block him at his torso.  

You picked up the tray again and turned to drag Jungkook away from the table.  

---

It was almost closing time, you were counting down the minutes in anticipation. You were just putting away some empty glasses you had just collected when you heard a loud crashing noise.

“Stop it! Stop it!”, a woman’s shrill voice was clearly audible.  

You walked out from behind the bar counter in shock. Jungkook was in the middle of the chaos, a few chairs had toppled over and a few people were trying to restrain the visibly drunken man.  

The manager walked past you hastily while sighing, “again...”, he sighs.  

Again indeed, somehow Jungkook always manages to get into trouble for just existing.  

“Sir, sir, please calm down”, your manager firmly tried to get the customer to back down.  

“How am I supposed to calm down? Do you not train your employees?! How dare he come over and flirt with my friend and ask for her number?”  

Jungkook deadpans the manager, shaking his head in denial.  

“Shut up, Bryan! I gave him my number! You are obviously drunk, will you just stop this shit?!”, the same shrill voice continues yelling into the stuffy air.  

“Why? Am I a joke to you? You would rather hook up with a bar waiter than go out with me!??”, the man shouted desperately.  

That must be one of the most desperate and awkward confessions you have witnessed in a long time. You quickly rushed over, extracting Jungkook from the situation.  

---

Nobody was sure exactly how but Jungkook suffered a scratch on his left cheekbone. You were annoyed as you applied the ointment onto the scratch with a cotton bud outside the convenient store.

This wasn’t the first time Jungkook has been involved in a brawl at the bar and you really wanted him to stop working there. It clearly wasn’t a place for him, and you were pretty sure he wasn’t in need of the money either.  

“Will you just quit already?”, you demanded.  

“Are you quitting?”, he asks.  

“You know I need the money for my tuition fees and this is the part-time job with the best rate”, you replied.  

“Then why are you asking me to quit?”  

“You keep getting into trouble there!”, you blurted out.  

He folded his arms and leaned back into the plastic chair he sat in, narrowing his eyes. “Are you trying to chase me away?”

“Yes! For your own good! Honestly you don’t need the money, and you are obviously too... attention attracting for the job. Doesn't it bother you every time when you get into a fight with someone over something like this?”, you berated him.  

“It bothers me more that you are working there, that sleazy people are slipping their numbers to you, that you never know when any of them might take advantage of you...”, he maintained his defensive position.  

“Not everyone’s sleazy. Maybe this guy’s good material”, you took out the folded slip of paper from your pocket and waved it in the air.  

“You haven’t gotten rid of it? He's obviously sleazy, hand it over...”, Jungkook stretches out his palm.  

He’s been like this for a while now; a little too concerned to be a friend, but not yet crossing the line of becoming your boyfriend.  

“Are you not going to give it to me?”, a very upset Jungkook whined.  

You stuffed your tightly-closed fist into your jacket pocket, standing up to walk away, knowing fully well that this is going to annoy him more.

He paused for two beats, confused that you just up and left like that. When he got back to his senses, he immediately ran after you, catching your arm and spinning you around.  

“Are you actually thinking about calling that guy?”

“Why do you care?”, you jabbed.  

“I’m trying to protect you, Y/N!”, he glowered.  

“And I’m trying to tell you to just say that you will be my boyfriend already!”  

He was so taken aback he didn’t even dare to move, not rejecting it but not accepting either.  

“You don’t want to? I thought that was what you wanted with the way you were acting... never mind then...”, you winced a tad in embarrassment and tried to gloss over it as best as you could. You turned to walk off again but you were cut off by him jumping in front of you.  

“No no... I want to... I just thought you wouldn’t want to...”, his ears were flushed a dark shade of red by now.  

Although your smile was mostly out of happiness, there was also a relief that you finally managed to push him to cross that line.  

“So you are quitting the job right?”, you questioned.  

“Huh??? Why??” Your smile widened from seeing his reaction, he always has the cutest bewildered face in the world.  

“You want me to watch my boyfriend being hit on by random girls at the bar all the time and then occasionally getting into fights because of that??”, you took one step closer towards him.  

“And you want me to not be there to do anything when my girlfriend is being hit on by sleazy men?”

You confidently nodded, “If anyone tries to hit on me, I will just show them a photo of my boyfriend and I'm sure they will back off... right?”, you teased him.  

He turns his head to the side, clearly beaming from what you just said. You took another step closer to him, craning your neck to give him a small peck on his cheek.  

His smile turns to a bashful shock expression. But as he faces you again, he watches your eyes reflecting the mixture of streetlight and moonlight. He puts his hands into the pockets on each side of your jacket, his left hand finds and wrestles the paper he wanted so badly from your relenting fingers. He crushes it and with his hands holding yours inside your pockets, he pulls you towards him, bringing his lips to meet yours.  

You never experienced anything more satisfying than this kiss, he felt needy like he was all the while waiting to finally cross this line, but at the same time, it was soft like he always is when he touches you.  

[rookieinbflat]

Ours

Ethan x MC (Levin Stern)

WC: ~1700

Tags: @writerapprentice @vickypoochoices

Summary: you guys apparently love the domestic fluff so I’m going to be doing a little mini series about some Mini Ramseys

Levin can barely contain her excitement as she walks down the halls of Edenbrook, towards Ethan’s office. She’s basically running at this point, manoeuvring her way through the patients with a huge smile, the sort of smile that hurts your cheeks. Levin and Sienna had done the blood tests yesterday and the results just came back in. Curling her fingers into a loose fist, she raps her knuckles on the door to his office gently. He calls out for her to enter and when she opens the door, he looks up at her over the lenses of his glasses, he looks so hot in his glasses, she thinks to herself silently, though she’s said it to him out loud numerous times.

He smiles softly, her beauty never failing to impress him, “To what do I owe the pleasure?” She smirks at him, walking over to his desk and preaching herself by his left side, the skirt she’s wearing rides up over her legs and Ethan has to remind himself that they’re in the workplace. Ethan’s desk is littered with papers and medical journals, he’s writing his new book and the research seems almost endless, if only he could pull out of the contract with the publisher.

“I have some test results I wanted you to look over, the patient has been complaining of lower back pain, abdominal cramps and occasional nausea,” Levin hands him the stack of papers, printed in black and white.

Ethan looks over the blood tests, “Hm, I can't see anything wrong,” he murmurs, “except for here, c’mon Rookie, these are hCG positive,” he shakes his head, surprised she missed such obvious results, his eyes scan up to the corner of the page and looks at the patient name and age.

Stern, L E 17/09/1992

Levin braces herself as he puts the pieces together, his brows furrow and then he shoots out of his chair, gathering her in his arms and spinning the young doctor around his office. Levin squeals loud enough for the entire hospital to hear, but she doesn’t care, she’s excited and full of love. Ethan places her back down on the floor and holds her by the hips, “We’re gonna have a baby?” He asks with a twinkle in his blue eyes, the last time she saw this exact look was their wedding day.

“Actually, Dr Ramsey, I think you missed something in these results,” she smirks and picks up the results from the large oak desk, showing him the paper and pointing out numbers from the blood tests.

A small whisper escapes from his lips, “Twins?” Ethan is shellshocked, a baby was one thing but twins, my god, they were going to need to move, not to mention the cost of baby supplies and getting them on a waiting list for a good daycare, had Levin been taking prenatal supplements? She’s going to need a new car with a higher safety rating and cut back on the caffeine.

Levin looked up at him in awe, her gorgeous husband had been in this hospital since he was twenty-six and had rarely let his guard down, until now. Levin reaches up and places her soft hands on his cheeks, gently caressing them with her thumbs, “Babe, we're gonna get through this,” she reassures him with kind eyes, her voice is calm and soothing and Ethan feels like they’re the only two people in the universe, “together,” he lets out a breath he didn't realise he was holding and leans down to kiss her softly, his stubble tickling her lips.

He sighs, “We're going to have a family,” he says the words like he almost doesn’t believe them, “how far along?” He queries, his gorgeous wife looking up at him with chocolate brown eyes.

“About three months, we’ll need to ultrasound to confirm twins, but they run in my family so I’ve got a pretty good idea,” she chuckles and he throws the paper over his shoulder and all but drags her to obstetrics, plants her in a chair and boots up the ultrasound machine.

The gel he spreads across her torso is cold and she shivers, but when two little blobs start to show up on the ultrasound screen, she’s struggling to hold back tears. The increased hormones haven’t really helped the fact that Levin cries at just about anything, from a cute dog on the sidewalk, to mildly sad stories she sees on the internet. These babies were going to change their life, Levin has wanted this since the day they started going steady, after growing up in a big family, she’d always dreamed of starting her own and now here they were - at the beginning of that journey.

Ethan reaches over to take her hand in his and he squeezes it hard like she’s the only thing keeping holding him to Earth, “Ours.”

—————

The months that follow are a blur and Ethan has launched into full doctor mode - it's endearingly annoying. Levin sighs and rolls out of bed, it's a little past five am and even though she has a day off today, she can't bring herself to sleep in. She sits on the edge of the bed and stretches out of arms and shoulders before standing up to look in the mirror on the vanity. She’s showing now, her belly is round and stretch marks are littered across her hips, she’s had to buy maternity bras which probably run the same price as their utility bill. Levin runs her hands across the skin there, picturing the two little babies growing inside of her. Pregnancy has been both a miracle and a really weird experience. No one prepared her for the feeling of having twins do somersaults in her body, kicking and moving all the time.

Seven months down, two to go.

Levin used to cry a lot - sad movies, cute dogs, adoption videos, you name it and she’s probably cried over it, but since the ultrasound, she hasn’t cried once. Ethan jokes that the pregnancy hormones were better than any anti-anxieties he could prescribe. Ethan has cut back on work, he only goes in five days a week now, he leaves early in the morning and is always home by seven, usually six. They spend their weekends in the park or wandering around the city, looking at boutique baby stores and figuring out what they want their future life as a family to look like. He comes home with sorbet a lot, draws her baths and massages the tension out of her shoulder. They day he tells Naveen the news is the best day of his life, Naveen looks between the two of them with stars in his eyes, his dream of seeing his mentee living his life to the fullest more rewarding that any case he’s ever solved.

Levin attempts to pull her robe around her and walks out to the kitchen where Ethan is preparing breakfast. He does this every morning, no matter what time he has to be at the hospital and he's back every night for dinner. Levin thinks he's more nervous about the pregnancy than her, he spends all his spare time reading parenting books, medical journals on parenting, talking to obstetricians at the top of their field, childhood behavioural analysts. She knows that he's worried about being a good dad, but Levin has no doubts at all. She wouldn’t have gotten this far if she wasn’t completely and utterly sure of the fact that he was going to be the best dad for their children. Levin smiles and turns down the radio slightly, its Mozart and just a little bit loud for five am. She walks over to where he’s cooking eggs on the stovetop and wraps her arms around him, despite the obvious protrusion coming off of her torso.

“Morning,” she sighs lazily and he turns the heat off on the eggs so he can turn around to face her, kissing her softly.

“Morning Rookie, sleep alright?” Ethan brushes stray hairs out of her face and watches her with blue eyes that make her weak at the knees, “sorry if I woke you,”

“No, my body clock is still running on early morning wake-ups,” She shuffles him out of the way and places two eggs on her plate, along with a side of veggies and baked tofu. Ethan hands her a capful of the three different prenatal vitamins he's got her on and she washes them down with some water, “Thanks for making breakfast,” his smile could light up the city, she’s sure of it.

They sit down at the table and Ethan is flicking through his emails when something catches his eye, “Lev,” he lifts his chin, asking her to join him on the other side of the table, “the realtor just sent me this,” he turns the iPad so she can see and her eyes light up.

She gasps softly, “Oh my god, Ethan, it's beautiful,” she tells him, her smile is stretched bright across her face. They’ve been looking for houses since they found out she was pregnant but they’ve struggled to find the perfect place. Everything was too small, or too big, too far out of town or not enough space. Great real estate in Boston was not an easy thing to come by, and when it did come around it often didn't stay on the market for long.

Ethan feels anxiety bubble in his gut - it's getting closer and closer to go time. They were talking about baby names, nursery colours, preschools to send them to. He’s wracked with nerves but then he glances at Levin from the corner of his eye and he sees that smile that gives him a reason. If angels exist, she’s got to be one of them, Ethan is sure of it.

He wraps an arm around her and uses his other hand to navigate the webpage, “They have a viewing on Saturday,” he points out the dates and times, “I’m supposed to be at work but I’m sure I can swing an hour or so off to go with you,” he's smiling now too.

“If you can't make it I’m sure Sienna would come with me, it's not a huge problem,” before she can argue anymore he cuts her off with a kiss, his eyes soft.

“I’ll be there.” He says it with no room for protest so she relents, leans in slowly and tells him she loves him.

[minnochu]

Lustrous (pt. 5)

Hybrid!Kook x Reader AU

Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3 | Pt 4 | Pt 5 | Pt 6 | Pt 7 | Pt 8 | Pt 9 | Pt 10 | Pt 11 | Pt 12 | Pt 13 | Pt 14 | Pt 15 | Pt 16 | Pt 17 | Pt 18 | Pt 19

A/n: Oof 

It’s dark and decrepit, nothing able to be made out except for the fact that there’s two figures within the space. Their presence is ominous and emit strange auras that arouse sensations of fear and helplessness from just the feel of it.

They speak in hush muffled voices, almost static-like and undecipherable until it’s loud and clear as if they were now within arms length.

“That little mutant has almost come of age father.”

There’s a resounding grunt in response, not at all happy with the bitter comment.

“It’s almost time,” the voice continues, “the bloodsucker’s tale of the future is almost here.”

“So it is…” The second finally grumbles out. A voice so blood chilling, it seems to reverberate throughout the darkness of the room. If there were objects, they’d visibly quake in fear on the spot.

“It might be time to find that little roach and squash her for good.”

When you come to, you’re welcomed by an unfamiliar ceiling, a warm light coming from the bedside lamp to the side of the bed you’re lying on. You don’t dare to move, or you can’t really when everything aches - especially the right side of your head, your left arm, and your hips. Were you dead?

“Is this heaven?” you rasp, throat dry and scratchy as you turn your head towards the right to see Jungkook attempting to sneak out of the room. Ebony hair dripping wet, there’s only a towel hanging from around his hips with clothes suffocating in his tight grasps when he flinches and realizes you’re finally awake. Despite your grogginess, you take that split second to mildly admire his glistening caramel skin tight on lean muscle that tenses at your sudden consciousness.

“Fuck I’m in hell,” you groan, yelping when he throws a shirt at your face in embarrassment.

You hear a plethora of rustling before he takes the shirt off your face and puts it on over his rather toned body. The towel is left abandoned on the floor, joggers replacing them on his lower body.

He frowns, face flushed red as he flicks your forehead, “Shut it.”

“What’d you think was gonna happen anyways huh? I was gonna wake up sooner or later idiot,” you point out haughtily, at which he flicks you again.

Shrugging, he takes a seat at the side of his bed, looking over your form silently, “How… how you feeling?”

The question is shy and almost inaudible but you hear it and it does nothing to stop the oncoming rush of blood that heats up the apples of your cheeks.

You ponder over the question, disregarding your injuries and instead shivering when you remember the chilling voice in your dream. There’s a certain sense of fear and dread the sinister voice instills inside you. It’s just a dream, you suppose, or perhaps a dream demon preying on your fear.

“Hey,” Jungkook reiterates his question a second time with furrowed brows, this time tapping your temple lightly. The mere touch of his index finger is blazing on your head and it shocks you out of your reverie.

“Huh wha-? Oh! Yeah I’m a bit sore but I’m alive I guess..” you stammer embarrassed, “Thank you for saving me…” Gosh you’re so awkward, why were you so damn awkward around him? For one, you’ve never been in a boy’s room before, and two, you both haven’t actually spoken to each other for the past week or so. It was incredibly awkward now being face to face with him and not knowing what to make of it when he’s been so adamant on ignoring your existence for whatever “safety precaution” he’s spouting.

His lips purse and he glances towards the door expectantly as it eventually opens and a brunette with noticeably broad shoulders walks in holding a tray of food. Jungkook takes this as his cue to leave and stands promptly, tilting his head ti appraise you once more, “It was nothing… you’re so prone to danger it’s annoying.”

“Now now, Kookie-ah!” The older chides, “How can you say that to her, it’s not her fault!”

The former snorts and stomps out of the room wordlessly.

“I’m sorry about him…” the male sighs, approaching before setting the tray on your lap. His plump lips move, whispering underneath his breath an incantation you recognize that makes the tray rise and sprout legs much like a table, lifting it off your lap.

Warlock? You suppose, remembering Hyejin mentioning the diversity of their pack including one of those.

.

His eyes flashed aqua in fury, attempting to calm his rage as he sprints to the source of your screams. He’d sensed it, oddly even from far away that you were in danger. He cursed himself for not being there to walk you home. You, a weak human, walking home by yourself with monsters lurking the streets for dinner.

Sniffing the air, he snarled almost automatically at the scent of wendigos. He knew he should’ve disposed of that little shit the first night he’d come after you, no mercy, how much more worse could his hue get for killing another? This time, not innocent however.

He’d gotten there just as the female grabs the side of your head and smashes it into the wall beside you both. Fury boils his blood, he’s unsure where all this anger and protectiveness comes from, but he’s already ripping a kick into the male’s rib cage, sending him flying backwards and toppled over, just enough time to wrap his claws around the other’s neck. Tightening his grip around her windpipe, he slowly raised her off the ground until her feet dangled, kicking as her own claws scratched at his hand but to no avail.

Her cloudy eyes glared, teeth gritted and beared at him but looked no more than that of a chihuahuas snarl.

In the midst of her struggle, she cackled, gritting out, “Wo-would you look at t-that.. who would’ve thought.. you have specks of-“

“I’d choose your words wisely,” he growls, sinking his claws further into the flesh of her neck.

“You.. you’re not normal.”

Not having any of it, he launches her head first into the wall, snapping his head to the side just in time to see the brother has recovered and throws her now unconscious body at him.

He glanced down at your form on the ground, and his anger simmered slightly. The brunette exhaled before shaking his head, he had to be better.

Just as the wendigo was pushing his sibling off of him, he glanced up just as Jungkook towered over his menacingly.

“Touch this human again and I’ll tear you to pieces,” his voice, low and brimming with disgust, whispered, “I’ll do you a favor, next time I’ll have no mercy.”

The wendigo focused on the wolf’s hand and sulked at the call history, the most recent outgoing call being the police.

“You’re more soft-hearted than you look, dog.”

He shook his head as he crouched beside your body, sucking in a bated breath at the bite on your arm, blood no longer gushing out but still dripping with a significant amount. Your uniform was soaked around the waist area, the other having gone through the fabric to sink her claws into your sides, and the side of your head was still damp with blood from hitting the wall so hard.

The scent made him dizzy. His eyes flickered but he managed to force the urge down. He’d almost forgotten his surroundings when the police showed up and took the two into custody and asked if she needed an ambulance.

By now his wolf features have reverted to normal and he declines, picking her up and bringing her to the only place he could think to at such a late time at night.

“Kookie you’re home! How could you just leave us at the store like that?!”

He pushes passed Jimin who gasps at you in his arms, head cradled into the crook of the younger’s neck.

“Wendigos,” he grits.

Jimin stops him, “Hey let me handle it from here, you look like you’re in more pain than she is right now.”

Jungkook hadn’t realized his nostrils were flaring and his breath was heavy, but he turned away with you in his arms defensively. A murderous tilt in his eyes glowed that radiant blue.

“Don’t touch her,” he seethed.

“Sit boy,” a voice jokes from the side monotonously, “He’s doing you a favor.”

Yoongi’s head is pushed back off the armrest of the couch, the rest of his body hidden by the backside. His amber hair is messy from sleep, eyes barely open as he yawns, “Stop being stubborn you little turd.”

Shooting the elder a brief look, the youngest sighs and gives in, there’s an unknown twinge in his chest as he lifts you in Jimin’s arms. He knows once everyone else sees her, he’s going to get an ear full for bringing a human girl here.

“Who is she by the way?” Yoongi asks finally, breaking the silence as Jungkook decides to wait in the living room where Yoongi still lies.

He glances at him before shrugging, “Just a classmate.”

The other chortled, sitting up and regarding the boy with keen eye, “A human girl, you can’t seriously buy me with that bullshit. I thought you swore to never mingle with them after.. what’s her name—“

“Don’t you speak of her name here!” Jungkook snarled furiously.

Snorting, the elder put his hands up in defense, “My bad. This girl though, you seem so protective of her, you didn’t…” He motioned with his hands briefly, “Did you?”

“Do what?”

Jimin has come in by this time, leaning against the frame of the archway leading to the kitchen. “He’s asking if you imprinted on her you fool.”

Jungkook’s nose scrunches at the word but he knows he felt it. There’s no denying the gravitational shift that pulled at his body and filled him with a warm, fire-like sensation when he looked at her in the cafeteria for the first time. The world pulled at his feet, and he fought that feeling no matter what. Why did it have to happen then? Why her? Why— a human? A race he never wanted to deal with no longer.

“You did didn’t you?” Jimin scrutinizes, “No wonder you’re so attracted to her when you keep trying to push her away!”

“You can’t help it, gravity has changed and she’s become priority to you, no matter how much you try to push her away, you’re bound to doing whatever to protect or fulfill her every need.”

Yoongi snorts at this, “Like a whipped mutt.”

“You shut up,” Jungkook glares weakly in embarrassment.

Before anyone else can speak, Seokjin appears in the doorway leading you by the hand. He smiles but all the werewolves in the room can sense the fury in the youngest at the way the warlock holds your hand.

‘He’s whipped alright.’