#man am i having a stress crash these past few days

[lilbittymonster]

It's been a hell of a week. Have an Aymeric.

[bitchimasnake-sss]

tryin' his best ft. roronoa zoro!

i am once again thinking about zoro as a clueless boyfriend, completely new to the dating scene. no imagine, just imagine with me 😳😳

[modern au; zoro is a martial artist]

dont talk to me, im too busy thinking about the roronoa zoro as a confused husband boyfriend🤭 like can you imagine? the greatest martial artist of all time, the beast, the demon, the lord of the underworld. and yet, when you say, "i'm so tired, babe", he stands in all his 5'11 ft glory and goes blank. blank.

roronoa zoro was the sweetest man alive but holy fucking shit he was such an idiot clueless. for the past few days or so, the man had witnessed first hand how tired you were. your eyes were puffy, face dull and spirit broken. all those meetings at work; the relentless late-night calls, stay-backs and what nots had left you a mere husk of the woman you usually were. and so, he had decided to try his best to make sure his failing actions could comfort you when his words couldn't. and that started the chronicles of roronoa zoro's day of fuck-ups.

💚 zoro can't cook for shit. he knows that, you know that and your neighbour sanji (who is a chef by profession) knows that too. and yet one of these mornings, while the dew still clung helplessly onto the green leaves, he had gotten up and slipped into the kitchen. his plan was to surprise you with some breakfast. nothing too extravagant, maybe some easy mix pancakes? but all those plans came burning down when you were awoken with a shrill crash. hair knotted, face puffy, shirt slipping off of your shoulders and the first thing you see in the morning is zoro standing with flour on his chest and on the floor. and there lay an upside down steel bowl on the floor at the edge of his feet. "zoro?" you mumbled sleepily, assessing the damage, "what are you even upto? it's seven on a sunday." "yn- uh, you go back to sleep-i'll deal with this mess." if he was trying to appear nonchalant, he was failing. his eyes were blown out, forehead creased, lips pursed as if he had committed the worst atrocity mankind had witnessed. in a way, he had. he knew it was a sunday. he also knew it was your only day off so you should have been sleeping in instead of picking after his dumbass in the kitchen. "zoro?" you asked again but he refused to say anything more. when you gave him a look of steel, the moss-head carefully avoided your gaze before sheepishly admitting, "sorry. i was trying to figure out how to make you some pancakes." your gaze softened, "were you? that's so sweet of you, zo." you walked towards him, careful as to not step on the mess. your casual touched dusted off the flour from his navy shirt that had he slept in. once you were satisfied with the state of the shirt, you had resorted to an honest smile, "come on, let's clean this up first, yeah?" "but you should sleep-" "babe- with all due respect- if i leave you to clean this, i think you will set the kitchen on fire"

💚 on his next attempt to cheer you up in the afternoon, he planned on giving you a massage. you both had been dating a good few months and he had certainly touched you in more ways than just hand-holding but... this was new. he had never really done this for anyone before and so, what if you hated it or he did it wrong? but the man had put all his wayward thoughts aside. maybe his hands could knead away the stress from your aching muscles where his words failed to comfort you? and so, the bed dipped next to you as he came and sat down. you were lying on your stomach, scrolling on your phone. his fingers lightly skimmed your back and you jolted involuntarily at the intrusive touch. looking back, you muttered, "zoro? baby?" "just um, try to relax okay?" his palm flattened against your back. he applied some force, moving his hands up and down against your tank top, kneading the flesh underneath. you seemed to melt under his earnest touches, allowing your muscles to go slack under him. dropping your phone on the bed, you carefully had tucked your head under your arms and then, you yelped, "zoRO-" "yeah?!" he stopped all movements, panicked at your sudden reaction. "it hurt." you gave him a pained look before sighing, "you put too much force, babe." "did i? sorry" he chewed on the inside of his cheek, "sorry, really. do you want me to try again?" you gave him a kind smile before tucking your head back in under your arms and stuffing your face against the pillow. "it's okay, i am just gonna lay down for a while okay?"

💚 as truly a last resort, he called up nami and told her his problem (all grumbling and shit). after the red-head had laughed for five minutes at the martial artist's inculpabilities, she finally decided to help. she pondered for a second, staring at the screen intensely before saying "i dunno? me and vivi usually get like our favourite take out and just re-watch a comfort movie. it's pretty cozy and an easy way to deal with the general stress of life, you know?" "should i do that?" zoro mumbled, resting his head against the headrest of his car. he sighed, "did she tell you anything else if it's been bothering her? other than work i mean?" "she didn't say it out loud but having you as a boyfriend must be a pain in the ass anyways." "has anyone told you you're a royal bitch?" the words were harsh but his lips were pressed into a easy smile. "hah, yeah they have. but anyways, aren't you her boyfriend?" nami snapped back although she sported a smile of her own, "shouldn't you know what you should be doing to cheer her up? honestly she doesn't deserve an idiot like you." "hey, i've had a rough day okay? lay off of me." zoro bit back. "fine, whatever. just surprise her. i am sure she'd like it."

💚 and so, roronoa zoro's final mission had begun. he had picked up your favourite food from the chinese restaurant that you always ordered from. he had picked up a huge bouquet of flowers. and he had picked up a chocolate cake as desert. on the ride back home, he had even thought about what movie you both would watch. yes. yes. there's no way he could fuck it up now. he was ready to do his best. he opened the door with a wobbling right hand while his left held onto all the things. the cake carton was perched on his fingers, the takeout on another two fingers, the bouquet tucked between his bicep and chest. he wouldn't lie. it was a struggle to get everything in in one trip (especially with his level of patience when it comes to small, annoying things like this.) but it was all for you, so, it had to be worth it. tumbling in, he set everything on the coffee table in front of your tv. and then, he walked into the bedroom where you lay sleeping in the same position he had left you in the afternoon. it had been over three hours and you hadn't stirred even one inch. god, how tired were you? slowly closing the door behind him, he stepped back into the living room.

💚 your eyes were hazy and throat unusually dry when you stepped into the living room. your muscles were somehow even more tired and you were sure your body, mind and soul were incapable of doing anything but curling up and falling asleep again. on instinct, you searched for your boyfriend. "zoro?" you squinted at the man in front of you as he was in the process of setting down food on the table. and looking around, you noticed the huge bouquet perched on the sofa. "hey-" he turned towards you wide-eyed as if you had caught him doing something wrong, "uh- hi? hey? you're up already?" "whatcha doing? what's that?" you mumbled as you walked over to him, still not processing reality. as you stared down at the table, you wondered aloud, "food?" he sighed, defeated, "yeah." your brain fog cleared up and you looked up at his blushing face wide-eyed, "wait! you bought me food?" you turned on your heel to look at the bouquet and picked it up, "and this?" rubbing the back of his neck, he looked away from you, "it was actually meant to be a surprise cause i thought you were sleeping. but-" "zoroo!!" you practically lunged at him. your hands closed in around him as you rested your head against his well-built chest. hearing his quickened heart-beat, you eased even more against his familiar, scorching skin. you buried your face even deeper against him, "thank you!" his fingers danced over your scalp. his husky voiced was accompanied by calculated strumming of his finger over your hair, "i am sorry, it was meant to be a surprise, really." you pulled away from him to look at him in disbelief, "why are you sorry?!" he swallowed thickly, eyes scattering away from yours, "because- i dunno, i suck as a boyfriend?" he winced at his admission but continued nonetheless, "i tried making you breakfast, ruined it. i tried giving you a massage, ruined that too. i tried to set up a surprise date and fucked that shit up too." "zo." your fingers are delicate against his cheek, bringing his eyes back to yours. you gave him a small smile, "you tried. for me. that's what matters." although a smile blossomed on his lips, he washed it away with another sigh, "you're just saying that 'cause you don't wanna admit i'm a fuck-up in the boyfriend category." you pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, "i am saying this because i love you. and you make me feel loved." "really?" you laughed, "i mean your massaging skills can use a bit of work but... yeah, other than that you're good. really." "i'm glad me being an idiot is endearing to you." he gave you a grin, "so, wanna eat? i'm kinda hungry." "yesss!!" you mirrored his smile. you paused for a second then wondered aloud, "you know what? i think i'm gonna call in sick tomorrow. we can hang out, just you and me." "oh, really?" he scrunched his nose up as if in deep thought, "then we gotta celebrate. you know there's cake in the fridge." "OMG I LOVE YOU!!" so, yeah, roronoa zoro might be kind of an idiot. but he was your idiot.

i wanna take domestic zoro and trap him in a bottle. i wanna just keep him like that. i really liked how this turned out lol. hope you guys did too <3

[bahablastplz]

All in | Chapter 10

pairing: Lee Felix x f!reader (mafia au)

summary: You didn't know what you were getting yourself into when you started dating Yang Jungwon, notorious mafia boss. Your life gets flipped upside down when you're found beaten and bloody by SKZ, the rival mafia group, and you're quickly integrated into their lives. What will happen when you try to leave your old life behind and start anew?

chapter summary: you're finally back at the house and you need to find yourself a new normal again. you take this time to get better acquainted with the others and make sense of what you know

warnings: please see series masterlist for all warnings

series masterlist ~~ series taglist ~~ main masterlist

When you arrive back at the house, you start to feel sick. 

You’re not sure if it’s nerves or stress, but in reality it’s probably the events of the last few days finally starting to catch up to you. You immediately excuse yourself to your room and crash onto your bed, fighting back the urge to vomit. 

Someone knocks on your door. You tell them to go away and they do; that’s how you know it isn’t Chan. The night comes and goes and you sleep your way through it. You sleep into the morning. Well into the morning, in fact, that you miss both breakfast and lunch. 

You wake up finally, drenched in sweat and completely sore all over your body. It’s the sound of yelling outside of your door that rouses you from your sleep, your door slamming open causing you to cower under your covers. 

“Get up,” Chan says. His voice does not allow room for argument. 

“Chan, you should leave her–” 

“Changbin, I don’t fucking need you to tell me what to do right now. Y/N, get up. You’re eating dinner with us. You’re not skipping another meal,” he says. Tears prick at your eyes but you’re successful at holding them back. You are not going to cry. Not in front of Chan. 

“I don’t feel good,” you say. 

“That’s bullshit,” he says, nearly cutting you off as if he anticipated your answer. “I know I have put you through a lot these past few days, but like Hell am I going to let you wither away in my house.” You let out a squeal as you feel the covers get yanked off of your body, leaving you feeling bare. The cold air pricks at your sweat covered skin and immediately you get goosebumps from the sensation. When you look up you see him standing over the mattress with his arms crossed, his gaze boring into your features, and you roll out of bed with a sigh. You feel nauseous as you follow him to the dining room but you don’t argue. However, the blood in your skin does start to boil. 

Who the fuck is he to tell you what you can and can’t do? He’s already locked you up in this house, killed someone in front of you, and controlled just about every movement since you’ve ended up here. Is he going to dictate your whole meal plan too? God, you’re seething. 

But you also know he’s right. That’s what infuriates you. Your physical ailments are just a manifestation of your trauma and your psyche, and maybe you have been letting them consume you for the past 24-hours, but that is your absolute right to do so. It chills you that he pays close attention to your each and every movement. 

You think back to your conversation with Woojin in the warehouse. “Chan doesn’t like in the way that normal people like. He gets infatuated. He becomes obsessed and controlling and people end up dead.” You suppress the urge to shudder. You’re not sure you want to be loved or even liked by Chan. He was a passionate, attentive lover. You can only imagine being with Chan being like that, but tenfold. 

On the other hand, you didn’t quite want to be disliked by Chan. 

Besides the lack of food in your stomach from the past day, something else makes you nauseous when you sit at the table. Felix. You shoot him a smile and despise the way that your heart squeezes when he grins back at you. At this point, you can’t deny that you feel something towards the man. You shouldn’t. You absolutely fucking shouldn’t. Despite his kind treatment, he is still in the mafia, just like everyone else here. You’ve just allowed yourself to lean into your delusion that you could be something more, that maybe there’s more behind his kind actions that meets the eye. 

You pick at your food at first. You realize it’s the first time that everyone has been here at dinner since before Woojin left. That feels like such a long time ago. Now, Lee Know is finally back, and you notice that the dynamic feels just a little bit more complete. Despite the last few days being absolutely wild, dinner conversation is just about as normal as it would be. You find yourself smiling subconsciously when jokes are cracked. And before you know it, you've eaten your whole plate. You really were hungrier than you realized. 

As you clean your plate and slide it into the trash, you run right into Felix. Literally. His warm hands find their way to your waist to steady you and you don't meet his eye. Your face warms up at the action and you turn away from him, suddenly nervous. 

“Hey,” he says, voice laced with surprise. “I haven’t seen you in a bit. You doing okay?” 

“I’m… better now, I guess. Thanks. The past few days were just…” 

“A lot?” 

“Yeah,” you reply, daring a gaze to his softening eyes, a warm brown hue. “A lot.” 

“If you’re feeling up to it, we could train some more?” he asks. His eyes are searching your face as if to confirm that you’re in a well-enough state to do so. You hope he doesn’t notice the blush that spreads over your features just from talking to him. You think back to the motel, and how his lips had gotten dangerously close to brushing against yours. You could feel his warm breath on yours, and if you had moved even just a centimeter closer you would have kissed, and there 

would have been no coming back from that. Can you trust yourself  to train with him? To not allow yourself to develop further feelings, or to act and cross that unreturnable line?

“No thanks,” you tell him as politely as you can muster. “I’m… still not feeling too well, physically. Still kind of nauseous, you know? Raincheck?” 

“Yeah, of course!” he says. It’s at this moment when you realize his hands are still on your waist from when he steadied you from your near-fall. If your face wasn’t red before, it certainly is now. Great. As if he’s realized this too, his hands fall from their place on your body and he rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. “I hope you feel better! Let me know if you need anything, yeah?” 

Felix is too polite and heartfelt for his own good, you think. It’s the quality of his that catches you the most off guard, the one that makes you forget so easily that he’s supposed to be dangerous. 

As you walk back to your room, his touch a hot remnant on your waist, you try to remind yourself of all the times that Felix has proven himself to be more dangerous than he lets on. The night you escaped, for example, he threatened the men that had cornered you with a gun. Felix punching Woojin in the nose after he touched you, another example. Then there’s the night he brought you to the hotel. He had shown up with blood covering his white stained suit, though you had never asked about it. So yes, he has proven himself to be a dangerous, strong man. Why hasn’t that deterred your heart from yearning after him, though?

You sigh once you’ve returned to your room. You realize that you will need to get a new book from Hyunjin. You decide to put that off for now, however, and opt to leave the room. You know you will need to shower the sweat off of your clammy skin from your excessive sleep anyway, so you might as well go to the gym while you’re at it. Without Felix, this time. You almost feel bad that you lied and decided to go to the gym without him, but it’s not for lack of a good reason. You pick out a pair of clothes from your wardrobe that are loosely-fitting, easy for movement, and throw your hair up into a ponytail. 

On your way to the gym, however, you realize there’s something that doesn’t feel right. A nagging feeling in your stomach. It’s at this time that you find yourself seeking out Chan, walking to his room for the first time since you moved in. There’s much you need to talk about, and it’s probably best to do so alone. 

The door at the very end of the hall. It’s the only one besides Chan’s office that is characterized with a big metal deadbolt, almost comical in nature. Before you can plant a seed of doubt in yourself, you’re rapping on the door three times, hard. You don’t realize that it’s already late to begin with, so you hadn’t considered the option that he might be asleep until you’re met with silence. Hesitantly you turn around putting pressure on the balls of your feet to walk away before you hear a click, the door creaking open. Your heart beats fast for a second, and you’re met with the sight of Chan before you can consider running away. 

He looks at you, confused. He obviously was not expecting you to be on the other side of the door. You wonder if he was expecting Hyunjin instead. You notice that he’s freshly showered, his dark hair falling in messy curls around his head and this kind of throws you off guard. In front of you, Chan has only ever looked neat and put-together, hair straightened and meticulous in his appearance. Even when he found you in the abandoned warehouse, he looked the embodiment of perfection, still in his suit from the gala. To see him in something so casual, sweats and a loose t-shirt after dinner… You almost forget for a second that the man in front of you is Bang Chan, one of the most dangerous men in the country, leader of the mafia. Almost. 

You clear your throat. “We need to talk,” you say. You feel triumphant for once, that you’re the one taking him by surprise, that you’re the one with the upperhand, but that’s all forgotten when he opens his door wider and invites you into his room. 

Well. You weren’t exactly expecting that. But you clear your throat and follow him inside. 

The first thing you notice about Chan’s room is how large it is. It makes sense, really, that the leader of the mafia would have the largest room in his own house. You’re sure there’s a reason why it was deadbolted shut, that there’s things in here that aren’t meant for just anyone to see. 

His bed is king-sized, placed in the middle of the room thoughtfully with a black duvet. The whole room matches, really, dark mahogany hardwood floors and black furniture. Even the walls, though sleek and elegant in feel, give a more gloomy yet modern feel. It’s very minimalist, you notice, no picture frames or paintings hung on the walls, though that feels very on brand for the man in front of you. 

Chan motions for you to sit on his bed. You do, trying to hide your hesitation, crossing your legs as you watch the man cross the room. He stands in front of you, arms crossed and looking down at you where you sit. Mindlessly, you smooth your hands over the duvet, neatly made and cold to the touch and probably more expensive than anything you’ve ever owned. 

“Yes?” He asks. He has a blank expression on his face and you curse yourself momentarily for being unable to identify what he’s thinking, but then you remember why you’re here. 

“Right,” you say. “I wanted to talk.” You take a deep breath and try to calm your nerves. 

He makes a noncommittal gesture with his hand, as if to say ‘so talk, then. What are you waiting for?’ 

“The gala,” you gulp. “That was… um, a lot, obviously. It’s just…” you try to think about where to even start and how to phrase what you had to say without offending him. As much as you want to curse him out, then and there, offending the man that is currently guaranteeing your safety probably isn’t the most wise decision. “Before we went inside, I told you about how nervous I was to see Jungwon. And you said… you promised that nothing was going to happen to me. I just can’t help but wonder, Chan. Was it a lie? Did you hand me over to them as a tactic? I know I don’t mean much to you guys, and at the end of the day you really have no reason to protect me. I just… I don’t want to think that you lied, but–”

“That’s enough.” When you meet his gaze you see how utterly pissed off he is. Shit. The words had spilled out of your mouth faster than you intended, but to be fair you had the right to know. Had he intentionally put your life in danger for the sake of getting his revenge on Jungwon? It really hadn’t come to your mind until now, but once the thought infiltrated your brain you couldn’t get it to leave. “I don’t fucking lie, Y/N,” he practically spits at you. “I thought you would know by now that I value honesty and loyalty above all else. What happened at the gala, as much as I hate to admit it, was out of my control. We should have prepared for it, but when we saw Woojin was there things got out of hand fast. The safety of one of my team members was in danger, so my priority was ensuring Minho’s safety. I hate feeling powerless. I fucking hate it, that they had the upper hand on us, but I thought that I made it perfectly clear after you got taken that they were going to pay for what they did to you.” 

You nod your head, solemnly. “I’m sorry, I just–”

He shushes you sharply. You can tell he’s not finished speaking and he’s still full of irritation so you let him continue. “I don’t want to hear you say that we have no reason to protect you. That’s bullshit and we both know it. Sure, at first, the only reason you were allowed to stay with us was so we had the upper hand on Yang Jungwon. But I think you and I both realize that you’re something more to us now. Something more to me,” he says. “Jungwon is dead now. I protected you. Give me a chance to protect you again, Y/N. Let me kill Lee Heeseung and show you that you’re safe, and that you belong here. Nobody will ever hurt you again,” he ensures. 

His words send a shiver down your spine. His words are so blunt and to the point, and if you weren’t listening carefully you would have almost missed the confession laced between his words. It scares you, this overprotective and controlling aspect of the man in front of you, the one who watches your every move. Chan, who makes sure you’re eating and taking care of yourself, Chan who loves too deeply, Chan who will make sure that nobody will ever lay a hand on you again. 

You don’t know what to say. It’s overwhelming, and unease settles in your gut. “He’s dead,” is what you settle on, surprising even yourself. 

“He is,” Chan agrees. “I’m not going to apologize for it.” 

“I didn’t ask for you to,” you reply. “It’s just… does it get any easier?” 

“Seeing the dead bodies?” he clarifies. You shake your head. 

“Losing the people that you love,” you say just above a whisper. You know he hears you. He grimaces. 

“I don’t know,” he confesses. “I haven’t… I haven’t loved in a very long time. And I don’t intend to lose anybody anytime soon.” 

The two of you sit in silence for a moment. His words sit heavy in the air, swirling around before falling heavily upon your shoulders. You look at him with a grimace to match. 

“I’ve been having nightmares,” you admit. 

“You’ll be okay.” He reaches his hand out to guide you up, off of the bed. You take it, standing, trying not to think about how he invalidated your statement. You’re not sure what you expected from him but it leaves a sour taste in your mouth. Your brain flashes to Felix, a day or two prior that comforted you in the motel bed as sobs racked through your body. Felix, who let you lay your head on his chest as he soothed you to sleep and actually made you feel like everything would be okay. You shake the thought from your head. Chan is not Felix. 

With a small smile you acknowledge the man and thank him. He surprises you when he brings you in for a hug, your head resting on his shoulder. He smells vaguely of rain, you think, though you think the man is more befitting of a storm, angry and all-consuming. You push yourself weakly out of his grasp, muttering a small ‘goodnight’ as you leave the room. 

You can hear the deadbolt click behind you and you let out a shuddering breath. You can’t help the way your skin pricks up at Chan’s every touch, though the man also leaves you feeling uneasy. 

It’s time for you to go to the gym. 

With an exasperated sigh, that’s where you end up. It’s late at night now, so you don’t expect anybody to be here when you arrive but someone is. You hear them grunting and breathing heavy before you see them, and you almost turn around and head back to your room before you change your mind. 

You need to relieve your stress right now. 

You never thought you would be the person to say that, let alone use working out as an outlet for your stress, but here you are. The last few weeks of your life would bring most people to the brink of madness, after all, so if going to the gym and finally becoming strong was your new coping mechanism, fuck it. 

You swing open the door and try not to make eye contact. Please don’t be Felix, you think. I don’t think I can emotionally deal with that situation right now. 

It seems luck is in your favor, for once, as Changbin is the one that turns around when you enter. You give him a small smile, as you are feeling pretty relieved to see him. 

You don’t spare him a second glance, however, as you turn on the treadmill and start running. You wish you had a phone in moments like these, a way that you could listen to music so that you could just turn your brain off. Felix would always play music off his phone when you went to the gym together. Fuck! If your brain could stop thinking about Felix for one moment, his flowery-yet-musky smell and his beautiful, fair hair and fae-like features, things would be so much easier for you. 

“Dude,” you hear. “You good?” 

You almost stumble on the treadmill, slamming the stop button to turn around and glare at the man behind you. 

“What?” you say, more venomous than deserved. 

“You okay?” he repeats himself. A thick layer of sweat coats his skin, and you notice the ridiculous amount of weight he has set on the barbell. Makes sense. As the bodyguard of the group, he is ridiculously in shape. You must be stupid or blind to not admire the muscles he has likely put a lot of time into. “You’re like, slamming your feet into the treadmill and you’ve been sprinting for a good 15 minutes.” He’s right. You hadn’t even noticed how effortlessly you had run almost two miles. 

“I’m fine,” you sigh. Neither of you seem convinced. 

“You seem pissed,” he points out. 

“I am pissed,” you finally agree. So much for being elusive and shoving away your feelings. It doesn’t take much for you to cave. “It’s been a long couple of days.” 

“I can imagine,” he sympathizes. “What can I do to help?” His words take you by surprise, as he seems genuine in offering his help. You ponder his question as you try and catch your breath. 

“Spar with me?” You ask, finally. You’re not too sure you want to go to Felix about this anymore. 

“I can do that,” he replies with a smile. 

After wrapping your hands up and getting ready, you take a defensive stance. Changbin looks like he’s been taken by surprise. 

“What?” you question, confused by his reaction. 

“Nothing,” he answers quickly. “It’s just… your form is good! I thought I would have to teach you some of the basics.” 

You preen a little at the compliment. Your form is actually good? That means your hard work is paying off! “I’ve been practicing with Felix,” you admit. 

A look of realization flashes over him. “Ohhhhh,” is all he says in response. “Are you ready?” You grunt in approval. 

Changbin does not go easy on you, to your surprise. He immediately goes on the offense, attacking with hit after hit. He’s not using his full strength, thankfully as you probably can’t take it just yet, but the man is fast. It’s also interesting to see how different his fighting style is from Felix’s, though you notice some similarities. 

Like how he plants his feet firmly after each right hook. Like how he leaves his left side open and unprotected after he bends his leg to connect his knee to your abdomen. He isn’t expecting your kick or the force behind it and it knocks him backwards. He regains his balance quickly and doesn’t completely fall, much to your chagrin, though the look of shock that crosses his features tells you all you need to know. You’re starting to get good. 

“You’re observant,” he points out. “That’s really good. That will make up for your lack of strength. Fighting is equal parts brain and brawn, you know. You’re good at using your brain to your advantage.” You remember that Changbin is one of the best fighters in the house other than Felix so you don’t take his praise for granted. 

“Thanks,” you say. “You’re strong, you know.” 

“So I’ve been told,” he laughs. “It’s a part of the job. I haven’t always been like this, though.” You try to think about a younger Changbin, weak and scrawny and you almost laugh at the thought. There’s no way. 

“Any reason why you decided to bulk up? Besides the job, obviously. It’s just, your physique isn’t something that someone would get for the sake of a job,” you smile. 

“What can I say,” he shrugs. “I had people to protect. I was weak and people took advantage of that, so I became strong. I wanted to become feared, let people know not to mess with me or the people I love, and what better way to do that than to look the muscular, intimidating part?” You ponder his words, not missing it when he said he had people to protect. You wonder where they are now. You wonder how he got here, even, but you don’t ask. You think there’s a lot more to Changbin that meets the eye. “Are you done already?” He asks after a beat. 

“No, I don’t think so,” you say, changing the subject. “Felix was starting to work with me on self-defense tactics to get out of a restrictive hold. Can you help me?” He quirks his brow in surprise. “Shouldn’t Felix help you, then?” 

You shrug your shoulders. “I’m not here with Felix right now, I’m here with you.” 

“Fair enough,” he mutters. You give him a small grin. Somehow, your stress has melted off of you in waves and you’ve almost forgotten what has gotten you so worked up in the first place. Changbin does a good job of making sure your focus is entirely on him, no distractions evident when he pulls you into a chokehold from behind. It’s not tight or malicious, but effective in its purpose as a demonstration. “This is one of the most common restrictive holds,” he explains. “Tell me, when I pull you in from behind and my hands are wrapped around your neck, what is your first instinct?” 

“To try to pry your hands away from my neck,” you respond. 

“Good,” he praises. “That’s what you want to avoid. Think about my body, behind you right now. What do you have open? What do I have open that you can attack?”

You mull his words over for a second, becoming hyper-aware of his body behind you. If both of his arms are around your neck, that means his torso is free. You could easily swing an elbow back and try to make contact with his ribs. Thinking about a previous lesson with Felix, you consider the more vulnerable areas of the body. The face, the neck, and the groin. 

“My legs are free,” you answer. “I could swing up a leg from behind and hit you in the groin.”

“That’s right,” he says. “Anything else?” 

“Your face? If I swing my head back hard enough, I should be able to smack you right in the nose. That’s enough to throw anyone off guard.” 

“Are you sure you even need me to show you how it’s done?” he teases. “Let’s practice now.” 

You’re not sure how long you and Changbin spend in the gym, but you feel thoroughly spent by the time you’re through. Your muscles ache, you’re dripping with sweat, and you’re out of breath so you decide to call it a night. As you leave, you have a lingering question you decide to share with Changbin. 

“What do you know about knives?” you ask. 

“Knives?” he questions, his brows furrowing and causing a crease to form on his forehead. 

“Yeah, knives,” you respond. “Daggers, blades, stabbing–” 

“I know what you’re talking about, smartass,” he interrupts. “Just… why?” 

“I’ve been thinking about learning how to use a weapon,” you explain. 

“Yeah, I don’t think knives or blades are a good idea, then,” he tells you. 

“What? Why not?” you all but shout. “I thought I was making some serious progress!” 

“I’m not denying that,” he argues. “Your skill definitely exceeds what I would consider a beginner, and that’s amazing given how little time you’ve had. It’s just that knives make for a horrible beginner weapon. For one, you need to get close and personal with your target. That’s not ideal; if you hesitate, they can easily overpower you and stab you instead. Second, stabbings are messy. You can’t half-ass shoving a knife into someone–you have to do it with as much force as you can and into a vital spot. If you’re using a knife to protect yourself, you need to do it with the intent to kill. Best case-scenario, you’ll need to stab them multiple times in order to really do some damage. Not to doubt your capabilities, but do you really think you can do that?”

You blanche. You suppose he does have a point there. 

“You’re better off learning how to use a gun. Sure, if you’re really in a pinch a knife will do the trick, but you’re better off shooting and giving yourself the opportunity to run. That stamina you’ve been building up doesn’t have to be for show, you know.” 

“So you’ll teach me how to use a gun?” you question, trying not to seem too hopeful. 

“Me? God no,” he laughs a little too loudly. “I prefer to use these as my weapons,” he says, flexing his biceps and kissing them to further prove his point. You can’t help the laugh that escapes your chest at his actions. “If you want to talk to someone who knows guns and weapons, you’re probably better off talking to Jisung about them. He knows a little bit about everything. Plus, he definitely has the best aim. He’s your man,” he tells you, closing the door to the gym behind him. He wishes you a goodnight and leaves you in the hallway. You decide it’s too late to talk to Jisung about it now, and instead decide to grab a cup of water from the kitchen. 

As you reach the cabinet to grab a glass, you see a shadowy figure that nearly has you dropping the glass and jumping out of your skin. 

“Fuck!” you whisper-shout, clutching your chest. As your eyes adjust to the light switch that has just been flipped on, you’re met face-to-face with Seungmin. 

“Hey,” he greets nonchalantly. 

“You scared me,” you accuse. He shrugs his shoulders as if to say, ‘whatever, not my fault.’ You’re reminded of the fact that you haven’t exactly had ample opportunity to talk to the man. He’s just sort of been around. 

You turn on the faucet and fill up your cup, trying to even out your breathing. 

“He’s going to be upset, you know,” he says. He sips on his own cup of water, staring at the floor and for a second you’re sure you misheard. Did he actually just speak to you?

“Who?” you question. 

“Felix,” he answers without missing a beat, like it’s obvious. 

“What? Why would Felix be mad?” The stress and anxiety has already come back, bubbling inside your chest. 

“You went to the gym without him,” he says. “With someone else, actually.” Confusion spreads across your features. So… not only does he know that you were just at the gym with Changbin, but he’s also aware of the fact that you’ve been practicing with Felix? How does he know so much!? You scoff and turn around, water in hand as you pay him no mind.  

“Felix can be quite jealous,” he adds as you leave the room. You roll your eyes. 

The world seems to be plotting your demise, you think. Of course you run into Felix on your way back to your room, spilling your water on him in the process. 

“Shit,” you cry, face flushing up in the process. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to–”

“It’s fine,” he says. “No worries.” You don’t look at him and push past politely, trying to open your bedroom door when he calls after you. 

“You went to the gym,” he says. It’s not a question, merely a statement that he has observed. 

“I did,” you confirm. You think about Seungmin’s words and consider leaving it at that, but you decide to try to confirm his statement. “Changbin was just helping me spar.”

You hide a smirk when you notice Felix freeze. “You went… with Changbin?” he asks, distaste laced in his voice. 

“Yes,” you say, deciding to push him further. “Is there a problem with that?” 

“Not at all,” he says, feigning a smile. “I’ll take it you’re feeling better, then?” 

Right. You had told him that you were still feeling ill, so it probably comes across as rude to turn around and immediately go with someone else. 

“I tried to rest,” you tell him. “Sorry. I was feeling antsy and didn’t want to bother you. Changbin just happened to be there.” You don’t want to tell him that you really didn’t want to spar because the thought of close proximity to Felix made your heart flutter against your better judgment. 

“I see,” he nods his head in affirmation. “Next time, feel free to come and get me. You know where my room is, right?” You realize you don’t know where his room is, and he must recognize your hesitation. “Look–I’m three doors down. Do you see that white door on the right side of the hall? That’s me, so next time make sure you come and get me, okay?” You confirm that you will and you close your door, slumping up against it as it shuts. 

He did get jealous. Maybe Seungmin is more observant than you had realized. 

You fall asleep quite fast after your shower. That ugly feeling you worked so hard to work off earlier remains stagnant in your gut but you do a good job of ignoring it. You sleep through the night, body sore but full of food and content with the progress you’ve been making. You don’t have any nightmares, though your sleep is interrupted in the morning by a rapping on the door. 

It’s daytime by now, evident by the light shining through your windows but you still groan nonetheless, swinging your legs over the bed and letting your body carry you to the door. Swinging it open, you’re surprised to see Jisung standing on the other end of the door. Wearing a blue and brown striped sweater with large, thick-rimmed glasses, he looks very domestic which catches you off guard. 

“Morning,” he says with a smile. 

“Morning…?” you answer back, stretching into a yawn and rubbing sleep from your eyes. 

“I came to get you for breakfast,” he says. “Chan sent me.”

“Of course, Chan sent you,” you say with a sigh. “Give me one moment.” You close the door behind you, getting ready by changing into more presentable clothes and washing your face. You brush your hair back and suppress a yawn, thinking that coffee might do you some good. Opening the door again, you see that Jisung has waited for you. 

Walking to the kitchen together, you decide to talk to the man. “I have been meaning to ask you something,” you tell him. 

“Oh?” he asks, eyes shooting open and mouth widening into a small ‘o’ shape. He looks reminiscent of a chipmunk and it’s quite endearing–you find yourself wanting to run your fingers through the curly locks on his head that further drives the image. 

“Yes, Changbin was telling me that you might be able to show me how to use a gun?” you ask, trying not to sound too hopeful. 

“Absolutely,” he says. You try not to look too surprised–that’s it? He’s not going to ask why or what for? “Want to stop by my room after breakfast?” 

“It might be closer to lunch, but that would be great!” you tell him. You actually have a busy morning planned out: a meeting with Hyunjin to pick out a new book, and training with Felix. You feel hopeful now, though, that on top of all this strength and stamina you’ve been building up, you won’t be so defenseless after all. 

─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──

Your plans get foiled pretty quickly, as Felix tells you he can’t help you train today. He’s getting sent out with Hyunjin and Seungmin for a mission, one that he can’t fully disclose to him. You don’t give him any signal that you’re slightly relieved, unsure how to deal with all the tension that’s been building up. 

But that also means that you won’t get a chance to visit Hyunjin for your book. So, Jisung it is. After breakfast he’s kind enough to lead you to his room, seeing as you weren’t exactly sure where it was anyway. 

You’re not super surprised to see that his room is messy, as you sort of get that vibe from him that it would be. Piles of clothes are strewn about, some water bottles and dishes piled on his bedside table. He opens up a large wooden armoire with no clothes in it, instead filled with a large metal safe. He takes a moment to make sure you aren’t looking before inputting a code, the metal door whirring and swinging open. 

Guns. Lots of them, though you probably couldn’t identify which kinds there are, there are many of varying lengths and sizes. Some look more expensive while others are covered in grime and rust. 

You sit and watch as Jisung explains the very basics of even using a gun, including how to load it, how to hold it, and what not to do with it. He tells you to always act like a gun is loaded, even if you know it isn’t; you should also never aim it at someone unless you’re doing so with the intent to shoot at them. He talks for a bit about basic shooting techniques, as well as how to handle the recoil of a gun after shooting it with a good-enough stance. You honestly feel like your head is about to explode from this overload of information but you’re grateful for it nonetheless; you definitely feel like you know more than enough about how to shoot after your conversation with him. 

“You’re smart,” you tell him. “You know so much about guns. That’s awesome.” 

He blinks at you owlishly. “I guess so! I wouldn’t call myself smart. I’m useful. Minho’s always been the smart one,” he laughs. “When you have nothing good going for ya, you kind of have to find a way to the top. Make yourself useful somehow. I’m not book-smart, so this? This is what I’m good at. It’s all I’m good at.”  The statement settles uneasily in your stomach. This is all he thinks he’s good for? Nobody has ever told him otherwise? That can’t be right. That’s probably how he ended up here and your heart squeezes, but before you can pry further or refute his claims, he’s speaking again. “So, did I do a good job? You think you sort of understand what you’re working with now?” 

“I’m more of a hands-on learner,” you explain to him. “Is there any way I can practice shooting?” 

“Oh yeah, for sure!” Jisung exclaims. The two of you walk outside and you see the makeshift shooting range he has set up. He sets up a stack of cans on a table and guides you to stand about twenty feet back. 

He presses the gun into your hands, cold and foreign to you even though you just sat through his entire demonstration. You have half the mind to think he’s far too trusting of you, but you know realistically he could disarm you faster than you have the mind to aim and pull the trigger at him. 

He walks through the basics with you again, showing you exactly how to stand and posture yourself. He makes you unload and reload the gun a few times as well, that way you’re comfortable and familiar with the mechanics of it. 

You miss the first few times. Maybe the first twenty times you shoot. But Jisung is surprisingly a really good teacher–constantly correcting you or giving you helpful feedback. The first time you hit a metal can, you practically shriek with joy. 

You hang out with Jisung for a few hours. By the end of it, your ears are ringing despite the earplugs he encouraged you to wear, and your arms are worse for wear after holding the weapon. 

You take a nap at about 4pm but wake up in time for dinner. You’re hungry due to the exertion of the day and you decide to indulge yourself at dinner, eating more than your share. If Chan notices he doesn’t say anything. 

That night you hear when Seungmin and Hyunjin return from their mission. You listen for the low timbre of Felix’s voice but you don’t hear it. You want to see him, you decide, only for your peace of mind. You come up with the excuse of wanting to train despite it being a bit late and your body still sore from your earlier activities, but your body carries you down the hall to the white door only three doors down. Your knuckles wrap softly against the wood and you shift nervously from side to side waiting for his answer. 

When Felix opens the door you find yourself blinking and ogling. His hair is sweaty against his skin, pulled up into a messy half-up half-down ponytail. He dons a white tank top, showing off his beautifully well-built arms. 

“Y/N?” he questions. He leans against the doorframe, tilting his head to the side to look at you. “What’s up?”

“I… uh, I was wondering if you wanted to train? Me? Train with me?” you say, stumbling over your words. He cracks a small grin. 

“I’m not feeling the best at the moment and I was hoping I could rest for a bit, if that’s okay. Rain check our rain check?” You nod, looking him up and down before you realize something–he’s clutching his side. 

Felix moves his body slightly out of sight so that you can’t see but you push into his room. He doesn’t stop you. 

“Felix, what’s wrong? Show me,” you demand. Sighing in defeat, he lifts his hand away from the spot on his side. You notice the blood seeping through the fabric, staining his hand when he pulls it away. “Felix, what the fuck? Is that your blood?” 

“Don’t freak out… but I may or may not have gotten stabbed.” 

─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──

a/n: next mini-member chapter this wednesday, and it's one of my favorite ones so far hehe (sorry about the cliffhanger)

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[saphiraarts]

Chapter 3 Since when was my Godfather half dead?

For the past few weeks essentially Danny Fenton has been a nervous wreck with countless accidents at home and at school. He was banned from handling any fragile school property now and he sighed as he walked home that friday. He just wanted to curl up in his room where no one could see him and get dinner that night. He perked up hearing voices in the kitchen and walked closer and he smiled.

“Vlad!” He called happily, seeing the man at the table.

“Danny,” Vlad said warmly, standing and opening his arms and he rushed over and gave his godfather a hug.

“Where have you been?! You missed the start of the school year!” Danny called.

Jazz sat across the table drinking some tea after a day at school and she smiled seeing her brother so happy noticing how stressed he had been. She thought he had been stressed about starting high school but she wasn’t sure how to approach him just yet. She had been a bit short with him lately especially at the end of her sophomore year and finals. Vlad wrapped his arms around him and gave him a gentle squeeze.

“Sorry I was at a conference. I could not reschedule it no matter how much I tried,” Vlad said with a gentle tone as he pulled away.

Danny settled into a seat setting down his bag. Well he tried to but his bag fell to the floor and Vlad’s eyes widened seeing his arm vanish from sight. Danny sighed, sounding tired as he sat down and just did his best to smile.

“New year jitters my boy?” Vlad asked.

“I guess so,” Danny said with a nervous laugh but sighed. “I think I should lay down in my room.” He stood his smile fading, not wanting to face his sister or Vlad right now.

He grabbed his bag and went upstairs. He heard footsteps but he shook his head and he gripped his pants just in case. When he reached his door his arm phased through the door as he went to grab it and he waited for it to become solid again before he entered his room and flopped onto his bed. He didn’t even feel motivated to hang out with Sam and Tucker; he was one freak accident away from becoming the local freak. There was a knock and Danny buried his head under his pillow which just phased through his head and he panicked when he went through his bed and yelped when he crashed to the floor under it.

“Daniel?! You alright?” Vlad called.

Oh crud. Danny said, “Yeah!” He crawled out from under his bed covered in dust. “Uh come in!” It would cause more concern and problems if he turned Vlad away.

Vlad opened the door and shut it behind him and he saw him covered in dust and confirmed what he needed to know without having to see it. That incident he saw was no trick of light Daniel was half ghost.

“So uh what brings you here?” Danny asked, rubbing his arm praying he didn’t do anything as he sat down on his bed.

Vlad took a seat at his desk pulling the chair up and he said, “I will just be upfront. There is no gentle way to go about this.” He held up his hand and pink energy wrapped around it and he shut the curtains of Danny’s room and turned on his desk lamp.

Danny jumped tensed seeing it gripping the bed and his eyes widened when black rings wrapped around Vlad washing over him. Vlad went from a pale toned man to a well built green skinned vampiric looking ghost with black hair with solid red eyes.

“I am half ghost as well. It seems that your transformation or should I say partial death happened recently,” Vlad said.

Danny was in shock, “Si-Since when were you h-half ghost?!” He called. He yelped as he phased through the bed again. Vlad flew over and turned intangible, grabbing Danny and helping him back up onto the bed.

“Twenty years ago this year, senior year of college,” Vlad explained calmly as he flew away. “I understand why you've been so nervous now I would be in your shoes in a house of ghost hunters who speak of tearing ghosts apart.” He floated back to the chair, settling back in it.

Danny was breathing a bit heavily as he took this all in that his godfather was half ghost like what?! He ran a hand through his hair as he sat there and Vlad gave him this silence letting him come to terms. Danny looked up to him and he drew in a breath and focused. The ring of light appeared at his waist washing over him. He appeared in the inverted fenton jumpsuit and his white hair covered his face.

“I can help train you but not here. Too many risks. How about you stay the weekend at my manor?” Vlad asked him. “We could work on the basics so you don’t have so many incidents.”

“You would help me?!” Danny called as he stood.

“Of course. I know too well what it is like to have no guide,” Vlad said smiling. “Let’s cover the basics now while we have some time.”

Danny stood at attention waiting for instruction, unable to believe how lucky he was that he found a mentor in the form of his own godfather. There was solace in the fact he wasn’t alone. To Sam and Tucker this was just something that made him stand out and they didn’t seem to truly understand his fears.

“Your ghost powers respond to your emotion and that they are still unknown to you. You are still learning how they feel. It is like awakening to a new sense so to speak and you have to recognize its triggers and be able to temper it,” Vlad explained as he stood.

“Okay so how will I know what it feels like?” Danny asked.

“Well from what I gathered it is different per ghost based on something called an elemental core,” Vlad replied. “We need to determine your element. Mine is fire so my powers felt like a burning sensation flaring up and intensifying at times. The emotions they respond to most often are fear and anxiety.”

“Oh great,” Danny said after hearing that part sighing, running a hand through his hair. “How can I not be scared or anxious?!” He asked him throwing his arms out. “I am half dead now! My parents want to hunt me and do who knows what to me!”

“I don’t know how they would react to this knowledge so it is understandable to be fearful,” Vlad said which didn’t comfort Danny that he didn’t even know how his parents would react. “But know that if the worst does occur and that is if, I will protect you.”

Vlad approached and placed a hand on Danny’s shoulder and gave him a smile and Danny wrapped his arms around him feeling tears form. He let it out the tears he had been holding in and cried into Vlad’s chest. Vlad pulled him close, wrapping him in his cloak and letting him cry it out. He remembered how he was like after he fully transformed after the slow and painful partial death from ecto acne. He was a nervous wreck breaking down in the dead of night where no one could comfort him. He was alone in figuring it out and spent those years living in fear before he gained control then he channeled that fear into anger and then regret. Vlad changed back and produced a handkerchief from his breast pocket and knelt down and held it out to Danny who took it and wiped his green tinted tears away.

“I know it doesn’t seem like it Daniel, but you will be okay. You don’t have to endure this alone. If you need me message me I am an email away,” Vlad told him. “So chin up. You will learn control. Even if there are a lot of unknowns I can do what I can to help you.”

Danny smiled but blinked when the rings of light washed over him shifting to his human appearance, “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“We’ll figure that out,” Vlad said, chuckling as he stood. “I went through similar phases.”

He held his hand out for his handkerchief and Danny handed it to him and blinked when he set it aflame and turned it to ashes. He walked over to the trash can and deposited it.

“Don’t want your parents suspecting anything. Let’s go down to dinner,” Vlad said and Danny nodded, feeling better with Vlad there.

Danny was packed for his weekend at Vlad’s but it wasn’t just normal time with Vlad it was training. It took convincing but Sam and Tucker were allowed to stop by if they wanted as they knew his secret being there for his accident. He knew they were hiding it but what happened traumatized them. Tucker recoils slightly everytime he sees a bright flash and Sam has been weary of electricity and appliances that use it. She says it is a part of her counterculture views but it didn’t start happening before his accident. He also noticed some nights that they don’t get much sleep with bags under their eyes. He still has nightmares of the accident so he was glad for some time out of the house. It was hard being in the lab with everything that happened. He walked outside and looked at his parents.

“Have fun sweetie!” Maddy purred hugging him.

“Have a great time with V-man!” Jack called patting him on the shoulder.

“Th-thanks see you guys Monday,” Danny said and he rushed to the car where Vlad was waiting.

He climbed into the passenger seat and Vlad gave him a smile and he waved goodbye to the Fentons and he pulled away.

“Are you sure you are ready to train right away?” Vlad asked him.

“I wanna get a handle on this as soon as possible,” Danny said, looking at his hands. “I need to. Ghosts have been entering the house…” Danny admitted.

“I see they haven’t figured out a gate lock yet. Then again it doesn’t work the same way as you would think,” Vlad said as he drove. “You have to have a reinforced lock with a passcode made from a material that is hard for ghosts to manipulate which is difficult to come by. I can give your parents the supply. Maddy and Jack aren't fond of my manner of help when I have figured things out they haven’t.”

“You are a pushy fruit loop,” Danny said, the nickname being one of endearment he had from when he was a child.

“Hey,” Vlad said, narrowing his eyes at Danny before chuckling knowing he was right and focusing back on the road.

Danny laughed and Vlad cracked a smile and they finally reached his manor and he climbed out and so did Danny grabbing his bag from the backseat. He walked with Vlad inside the garage door closing and he was used to his godfather’s extravagant tastes. It still made him feel out of place even though he was at his godfather’s home and been here throughout his life.

“Did you make sure to have a lot of protein?” Vlad asked and Danny nodded with Vlad transforming. “Alright let’s begin. We will work on mastering flight, intangibility, and invisibility.”

Danny transformed into his ghost form ready for training and the pair would spend the day training trying to master the basics and he made headway. It wasn’t perfect but Vlad called it for the day and began to prepare dinner. It always surprised Danny that Vlad made his own meals and didn’t have a 100 staff members. Then again Vlad was half ghost so it made a lot of sense now. Danny was laying on the couch in the living room when his phone went off and he pulled it out. He hadn’t been able to convince Vlad to let him tell Sam and Tucker over the fun.

OnlyTechUnderstandsMe0101: Heyo still up for us stopping by Vlad’s?

TheOneGothGirl42: Were you able to keep things all hidden?

SpaceTraveler60: Uh yeah come on by! Vlad’s making dinner

TheOneGothGirl42: You’re keeping things from us you better spill when we get there let’s go tucker!

TheOneGothGirl42 Signed off

OnlyTechUnderstandsMe0101: See ya then dude better spill when we get there lol

OnlyTechUnderstandsMe0101 Signed off

Danny sighed as he stood walking to the kitchen, “Sam and Tucker are coming by. Will you tell them you're training me?” He asked.

Vlad looked back at him, “Yes I will. You asked me to tell them and be honest with them. I hope they both are trustworthy.”

“I know they are,” Danny said firmly. He knew his friends were some of the more trustworthy people he knew.

“I trust your judgment Daniel, just be cautious. The government has been slowly building up the agency that hunts the supernatural like us. It started with Witch Hunters in the colonial days before more knowledge had been gained to form an organization known as Supernatural Elimination and Containment Agency or SECA. Fortunately funding has been reduced for those government dogs but they have enough to be ready and all Congress needs is a reason. So be cautious of who knows your secret. The government just needs a miniscule excuse to spend taxpayer dollars on anything military over actually useful programs,” Vlad explained as he knew that tone.

Danny listened to Vlad’s explanation and he had no idea a government organization like that existed and he looked to him. Vlad sounded scared almost even though he tried to hide it. It sounded like they weren’t bad for now but he would try to avoid them if Vlad recommended it. While he didn’t outwardly say it he knew and if they had been around so long there had to have been old methods his parents tested before switching to more advanced tools.

“You will recognize members by their cologne. It is made from Blood Blossoms,” Vlad explained.

“What’s blood blossoms?” Danny asked.

“It’s a rare species of rose that has been cultivated by those that hunt the paranormal and government agencies due to its ability to repel and weaken ghosts. A bundle of Blood Blossoms is more effective than the strongest ghost weapons but fortunately it became endangered. The government has been focused on building up the species so they are only able to have a cologne made from the extract of the rose,” Vlad explained. “It smells overwhelming. Sicking almost. Sickeningly sweet and bitter like being trapped in a room you have sprayed air freshener in but also with hints of rosemary. The pain it causes is one of the worst I have experienced.”

“I see,” Danny shuddered hearing its description. It was terrifying that a plant could do that.

Vlad finished dinner and the two were eating when there was a knock at the door. Vlad went to the door insisting Danny eat after today and he brought Sam with her arms crossed and Tucker fiddling with his shirt to the table.

“There is plenty more if you want some Tucker,” Danny said gesturing to the kitchen. Vlad had made a japanese style curry with white rice. He knew Sam couldn’t eat it due to her diet.

“I already ate before I left,” Tucker said.

“I ate too,” Sam said.

Silence consumed the dinner making it awkward and when the pair stopped eating Vlad stood with the dishes to clean and let Danny tell his friends.

“So how have you been hiding your powers?” Sam asked, leaning forward.

“I haven’t needed to. Vlad is half ghost too,” Danny said simply.

“What?!” Tucker called. “Vlad Masters head of Vladco is half ghost?!” He hissed, being much quieter now.

“Woah didn’t see that coming,” Sam said.

“I know right?! He has been training me and I made progress! After this weekend I shouldn’t have any more accidents at home or school! Or at least not too many,” Danny sighed at the reminder Vlad gave him to not put his hopes that one weekend will perfectly give him mastery.

“Hey that’s great man!” Tucker called.

“How did Vlad become one?” Sam asked.

“Something called Ectoacne which he compared to cancer,” Danny said frowning.

“Well that’s dark,” Sam said, blinking at the response Danny gave.

“For real!” Tucker called.

“Hey Sam? Could you look into something for me?” Danny asked.

“Shoot,” Sam replied.

“Something called Blood Blossoms,” Danny explained.

“I didn’t know you were into botany,” Tucker said.

“I am not! It’s a flower that can repel and even hurt ghosts,” Danny sighed. “We need to know all we can about it.”

“I can find that info for you,” Sam said, seeing his worry. “But who uses it that has got you worked up?”

“Government ghost hunters known as SECA for short,” Danny sighed. “With the ghost portal at home they are bound to show up eventually.”

“I’ll look into those guys too and sulk around the forums,” Sam said.

Danny sighed resting his hand on the table and Sam stood placing a hand on his shoulder and Tucker reached over and placed his hand on his arm.

“Hey dude we got ya!” Tucker called.

“Yeah you have people to support you. You aren’t alone,” Sam echoed, smiling.

Vlad stood in the doorway smiling seeing the three. Maybe he was wrong to judge them so harshly as Daniel seemed to have good friends at his side.

----

I am not sure how to continue this fic. I have ideas for how my au will go like how Dani will come to be and how Dan would still exist but I am not sure how to write it from here as he will face still similar threats just Vlad at his side. The government is the one that creates Dani due to how active he is fighting the Guys in White and they learn his secret early. It will be broadcast still against Freakshow when he has the reality guantlet. And Danny makes the guys in white forget he is half ghost, forget ever making dani, forget vlad, and ignore all of them as threats before destroying the reality gauntlet. So consider this the ending!

[ask-missparker]

These hands to let it go free and this love came back to me / OUAT FanFic AU ⚔️

Pairing: Charming!Nikolai & Snow!Amelia

Summary: What happens when your brother crashes your wedding with an unexpected gift that made you question your love and worth? A curse.

Characters mentioned : Ben Barnes as The Dark Prince, Liane, Cole, Ethan, Cassandra, Jeremy, Cherik and etc

Note: There was a time when the couple was on the run hiding from the royal forces, going as Nicholas & Amara

—-

The wedding bells were ringing in the heavenly lit castle with guests from all over cheering as the couple dressed in whites and browns smiled being newly announced as husband and wife.

Snow in her pure feather dress with red edges to give it an accent as Charming was dressed in browns and blacks, his captain hat styled with a deep green feather attached to the inside.

Just then, the doors banged open and in swung the dark prince of crime, a king of shadows you can say holding up a playful fireball as he giggled. The crowd gasped, some yelled and others knights raced in protection as the prince with a flick of his wrist threw the guards back then glared at the couple.

“How cute. Didn’t think of inviting your brother to the wedding?” Yelled the dark prince of crime.

Charming held his wife closed and pointed his sword as he spat, “Get out!”

“Relax, brother. I’m here to offer you a gift for your precious little wedding and you’ll like it.”

“I don’t want it! Get out, Alexander. Your not king anyone, only a mere prince.”

“Oh hush, you never let me finish. Here’s my gift, this whole day will be a peaceful one, I’ll even give you the week. But starting Sunday at the tip of midnight, I will destroy your happiness, if it’s the last thing I do.”

Charming ordered the guards to get up and lock the castle, as he threw shadow sword straight at his brother, in a cloud of smoke older man disappeared. But he left with a cut on his right arm as the shallow sword dropped.

———

Weeks—months past as Charming and Snow, also known as Nicholas and Amara when on the run, have gotten that news with their friends and found family. As they tried to all search for the prince, regroup and find a way to stop whatever cursed plan that is coming their way.

Nikolai was searching one night, stressing about it in the king’s office of their castle as he spoke with Marlene and Melissa about it. Princess Liane, sat down trying to figure out how it can play out.

His wife stole him for a moment, telling everyone else to rest as she stood in the castle’s kitchen making him a sandwich as he sat down listening to her words. He adored that she was always supportive and there to ease his emotions with a couple of smoothing words, even when he felt he had the entire weight of world on his shoulder.

She placed the sandwich on the table telling him to eat as she listened to his worries and rubbed his shoulders, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“My heart, you’re in need to sleep and regroup later. You’ve been practicing your sword fighting all week and if not, you’re scouting with Marlene..” She said with a sigh, “He’s just trying to get into your head.”

“He’s not. He once held me captive in his chambers underneath the castle because he thought I was a better sword man than him. Poison me with a stupid apple and gave you a sleeping a curse..” He replied taking a bite out of the sandwich humming.

“If he hasn’t inactive since the wedding, he won’t be now. He’s petty and narrating a path that will lead him to more hate towards you. He wants to get in your head and not feel worthy of your title.”

“Am i worthy of this?”

“You married a farm girl, who was thrust into a world of royalty. You showed me and others kindness despite all you faced, so yes. Your worthy. And our child will see that to be true.”

He pressed a hand to her belly and rubbed small circles at catch their little prince or princess attention. He whispered a few sweet nothings to her belly and smiled getting a small kick in return.

Then he thought of something and smirked, “Your child. I want to ensure their safety if it’s the last thing I do..and will have to ask Cassandra to do so.”

She gave him a confused look with slight fear, “I-is that asking of too much? What if she says something that isn’t true?”

“It will be. We can resting knowing they will be alright, protecting them from my brother and his dark plans will be worth it. She can see the future!”

“If she says I’m twins I’m gonna be freak out.”

With that he laughed and pressed a kiss to her cheek. He always planned on day having at least 3 children with her, especially knowing that she will be an amazing mother.

Within 48, Cassandra they arrived at the castle after guarding her flowers and spells to tell them all the truth behind the plans. Her eyes turned white and held up a finger with a odd look on her face.

She sat at the round table and spoke softly, “..The dark prince is casting a curse to spend us all to a land without magic, helpful dreams will never arrive. It will take over as much land as possible. He is teaming up with..the prince of mischief and Shaw to help with his spell.”

Those words caught Erik and Charles attention, as they sat the round table with their children Cole, Meira and Ethan. Erik grunted and looked at his husband who sighed already thinking of what can be done to protect their young.

Liane sighed looking at Ethan and then Nikolai, as she heard Cassandra speak softly what she can see. 3 villains all in one go, but the main one was Alexander who caused the grand curse as to destroy everyone at play. She wanted to protect her soon niece or nephew from all of this just as much as the parents did, hell she wanted to protect her found family along with herself. Alongside her crush, that was Ethan.

Cassandra opened her eyes as if her flashes were over as she said, “I didn’t see much but we all don’t survive this smoking dark curse. But we can save ourselves once it’s hit.”

Nikolai groaned pinching the bridge of his nose as he shared a look with Cole, and asked, “How? My child is a stake here, Cass! My brother will be..”

“Relax! We can send a few into the curse with knowledge of it all.”

“I’m not risking that. Erik come on, our friends likes are at stake and we only half will know.”

Erik sighed and grunted, “You think I like this? I don’t. But if we can go with Cassandra’s plan find a safe spot and do a few thing, it will work.”

Cole scoffed, “Yeah, sure dad, with what?”

“The Enchanted Forest is filled with trees of all kind, if we crave one with elements of magical escape, we can send all of that.”

Liane asked, “You can’t be serious. What? Are we gonna make a wardrobe out of a tree?”

“She’s onto something. Yes that can work! Melissa can help carve it.” Ethan added as Meira nodding knowing where to find such tree.

Cole and her disappeared in a cloud of smoke with Erik to go search for it with a second to spear. Amelia was quiet the entire meeting, rubbing her husband arm as she leaned into her chair. Liane noticed wondering what exactly she is thinking as she noticing her friend look at her husband with worry. Melissa share a look with the other girls.

“Mia relax. It’s gonna be fine..” Liane spoke, fixing her tiara with a smile, “I heard stress is bad for the baby.”

She sighed, “I have not given up hope..but who will go through the wardrobe is my worry..”

“Depends on the magic it can hold. My heard my father say it sometimes take up to 3 people or more..”

Nikolai looked down at his wife and kissed her cheek, “I got everything under control. And if we can’t find one, we will still find each other.”

“And your brother? Honey, you got bags under your eyes..we all do.” She asked with so much concern for him and their friends.

“If he shows up, I’ll let him know that he will have to wish he never enacted the curse in the first place.”

“Cole will try to kill him along with you…”

————

3 trees were found, as Melissa and Cole’s husband Jeremy carved it in the at the man’s workshop. Jeremy was a pirate first, builder second as he grinned.

The idea that wardrobe might protect memories and because children are most likely to believe in fairytales, they will remember once the reach the land. The adults might not remember every single thing, or so they think.

Rick, Roch and Luna planned on bringing their kids into one.

Bruce and Natasha suggest it would be for the best. Everyone single of them had their own plans and businesses to take care of that they kept a secret from each other.

Cole being the wiser one of the crew, knew if he didn’t make it into any wardrobe he would remember and know everything, by hearing the sound of any one of the kids names he will snap out of the trance and enact his murder to Alexander. He may not like Nikolai too much but Amelia was like a sister to him.

Beside that, Cole and Alexander had their own problems together in the past before he even knew that he was Nikolai’s older brother.

Suddenly the curse hit as cloud of smoke started to wash over the land as the crew started to fight for their lives, bringing any children to safety to the crafted wardrobes. At one of the castles, knights were coming as Erik was fighting them off with Ethan as he out of his own reasons, pushed his son into one of wardrobes closing it knocking him out cold.

Let’s just say Ethan arrived to the real world due to being knocked out cold without as many memories of his past near the woods of a city. It was rather fuzzy for him but he was fine, going on his merry way. Creating a bit of trouble that will come to bit in him the ass later on, in the future being a daughter named Belladonna.

The kids however arrived at the real world as well but somewhere else as the curse it them, waking up in their beds within a town. Where their parents there with them of course, but given cursed memories of not being fairytale characters.

———

Meanwhile in the Enchanted Forest, as the curse was slowly washing over the woods into the rest of the land, Amelia was panicking a bit more than she thought she would. Not as much as Nikolai, who was preparing himself for a possible war with Cole, if any arm came to anyone in the castle.

Amelia placed a hand over the belly, looking at the small bassinet nearby that was meant to their son. She looked over at her husband, not feeling like a princess but a little farm girl in worry as she said, “I’m ready to leave you..”

Nikolai placed his sword on the table and cupped her face, “You won’t be alone, my brother will pay for this.”

She sighed, “I know he will. But Cass and Cole predicted we will see everyone again on his 18 birthday..the closest thing is 16th. He will need his father.”

“And he will, tell him tales about me. How I slayed a dragon on my first try or how I became my time sailing a ship with Captain Hook.”

“You are so confident in this whole thing aren’t you?”

“I have courage and compassion, I learned that from you. Mainly, i have my wit, my charm and my powers..”

He about to say something else when he sensed a pressure in the air, then sudden his wife gripped his hand tightly muttering that they had bigger things to deal with it.

They were about to have a small surprise.

A few short moments later, Amelia was on the bed screaming in pain and cursing out how she can’t have the baby now. Nikolai held her hand trying to hush his wife’s worries, yelling for the doctor to do something.

The whole castle was abuzz with chaos. Liane fighting against the evil guards outside, Marlene flying about trying to give her wife time with any additional stuff to the wardrobe. Cole was on the rooftop of the castle with a murderous glare as Alexander and his curse reached closer than ever, trying any protective shield.

That was when Jeremy raced into the bedroom, with sword in hand telling Nikolai that the final wardrobe was ready, about to help get his friends to the nursery. Nikolai about to carry his wife and move her out to the wardrobe when the doctor told him to not take any chances, as their son was about to be born now.

Alexander reached to castle with his guards surrounding the place on the rooftop fighting Cole as Nikolai’s chuckled softly at his son being born and placed into his wife’s arms.

The curse is here, they basically failed. He was leaning towards the two pressing a gentle hand on his head hushing his cries as Amelia smiled with tears in her eyes humming a tone.

He was so small yet so beautiful, wiggling and whispering a little as his cries calmed down.

“Hey Joshua..our little love..” Amelia whispered smiling.

Nikolai used the back of his finger rubbing his child’s cheek and smiled, “..welcome to world, you couldn’t wait a few more hours could you sweetheart?”

“We failed..that’s okay..”

“But at least we’re together.”

Amelia paused for a moment and sighed wishing her husband’s strong wit and clever beliefs didn’t rub off on her but it did. She looked at him and said, “Go fight your brother..”

“What?” Nikolai said, holding his son in arms now fixing his baby blanket to keep him warm.

“..take him to the wardrobe with Jeremy and go help Cole..”

“No. Darling, no I can’t leave you like this right now. And not our son!“

“You said it yourself! We need to have courage and believe we will be okay, he will come back to us. It’s a risk, I know…”

“But we have to take it. We have to give him his best chance no matter what it takes. I hate it when I’m right.”

She pressed a kiss to her son’s forehead, telling Joshua to be a trooper for his daddy as Nikolai smiled softly hearing her, kissed his wife quickly grabbing his sword and rushed out. He joined Jeremy in the hallway who was fighting his brother’s knights and raced down the hall, defeating them to fight more keeping Joshua relaxed in his arms.

Jeremy lead the way to the nursery, as he rushed off to kill some guards that were coming to Amelia’s room to find Melissa trying to wake their friend up but she was knocked out cold.

Nikolai raced into the nursery, stabbing a knight and dropped his sword to create a shadow to knock a few other guardsmen out cold, hell he made sure they were dead.

With a flick of his wrist, he flung open the wardrobe’s doors and placed his son inside safety pressing a kiss to his forehead telling him to have courage and find them soon as he closed the doors.

Just as he did, in a cloud of green and black smoke appeared Alexander and Cole neck and neck trying to kill one another. Nikolai stood up with a shadowy smile and glared blasting his brother to a wall, as Cole pinned the man to the wall shouting at him.

Two verse one, as the 3 of them fought and as the smoking clouds from the curse becoming a storm, that rip off the top of the ceiling as Nikolai gasped pinning his brother to the ground holding up a shadow in his a hand.

Cole was behind him, trying to block the storm and yelled, “Where are we going?”

“Somewhere horrible.” Alexander said smiling with a glare.

“No shit dipshit.”

“In a few moments you won’t remember you were fighting me.”

“Very specific.”

Nikolai with a last minute stitch to leave a mark, pulling his sword in front of him and cut his brother in the same place he did months ago during his wedding day. A way for his brother to remember, that matter what happens he will never fully destroy his spirt. Alexander shouted in pain and pushed his brother away, causing him to storm back then attack Cole with a blast.

That was when cloudy spoke louder, engulfed the whole castle sending everyone to a town called Fighter-town, Maine.

Thanks for reading! What did you think of it? Yes I was watching season 1 OUAT pilot shhh 🤫

Fun fact! 🖋 Josh Dallas who plays Prince Charming in Once Upon A Time, played Fandral in Thor (2011)

Tags: @missstrawbs2001 @purpleprincessonfyre @meiramel @gcthvile @rickb-chaos @gaminggirlsstuff @wizzzardofoz @mallowbee4 @thechoooooosenone @luna-d-marsh @rooster-84 @thecavalrywife and etc

[mllemaenad]

The Magnus Protocol: Putting Down Roots

Well, Colin is the most interesting character. It might just be because I've done IT. Never mind the supernatural. That error does not mean anything. You're seeing that error because it's the last thing that failed, but it only failed because nine other things failed before it. The first thing that failed is the actual problem, but you don't know what that is because you currently can't get to the top of the log file because of all the other things that crashed. So what the hell is wrong with you, you stupid machine?

It's all very relatable.

That said, a ".jmj error" does seem likely to be the text-to-speech programs crashing, so it probably is a supernatural error and it probably does mean something.

For the moment, it still seems most reasonable to speak as though "Norris" is Martin. It may not be, of course. It could be a disembodied voice with no personality attached to it at all – but what do you do with that, until the narrative makes something of it? It could be somebody else entirely, but in that case I know nothing about them or their motives so there's nothing useful to say until they reveal themselves.

So for now: Occam's razor. It sounds like Martin and it came into being after the conclusion of The Magnus Archives, so the simplest guess is that it is Martin. If and when useful evidence to the contrary surfaces, I will change my mind.

Also: Norris told a story about a man who killed his love and then lost himself so badly that he turned into a tree like bloody Harold from the Fallout series. It also dealt very much with feelings of being forgotten and unnoticed:

Norris/Samuel Webber I can’t go home. Not for a few days at least. And I’ll have to avoid the usual haunts until they forget about me again. That won’t be difficult. What’s one more stressed doctor. Just a grey man in the crowd, unnoticed until I’m useful. The Magnus Protocol: Putting Down Roots

That's a problem from Martin's past, but also a problem he might reasonably said to be having now, if he's explaining the horrors of the world to people and nobody (with the possible exception of Sam) is listening.

If that isn't Martin, it is something doing an uncannily good job of explaining why Martin might not be having a great year.

And, while this is evidence of nothing, for the moment I am much amused by the idea that a ".jmj" error is the cast of The Magnus Archives continuing their longstanding tradition of complaining about statements. One of those creepy messages comes in and Martin just wails "Again? Seriously?" and the whole system blue-screen-of-deaths. It may not be true, but it's funny in my head.

I do note that the new format gives a much greater capacity for bad or ambiguous endings to the tales. There's a thing John says in season four that sticks with me:

Archivist One thing that always strikes me when I read statements like this is… the bias of survivorship. With one or two notable exceptions, the only statements the Institute receives are those where the witness has successfully escaped whatever terrible place or being has marked them for a victim. I wonder how many don’t make it out. How many of those shapes in the water were once just like Mr. Shakya. – The Magnus Archives: Submerged

And he's right: there are a few instances of letters-to-be-read-in-the-event-of-my-death, and a few cases where a person who is clearly still being pursued by something stops in to tell their story before being run down, but most of the stories end in an escape. They aren't exactly happy, but they do tend toward the hopeful: by luck, tenacity or skill you may survive. Even the cavalcade of horrors in season five has finally has something you could call a happy ending: you can assume most of those people lived, and even went home.

If you compare the first four stories of The Magnus Archives with the first four stories of The Magnus Protocol, you get a very different pattern.

The Magnus Archives:

Nathan Watts of Anglerfish outwitted the titular monster – he spotted that the voice did not come from the figure's mouth, and got away.

Joshua Gillespie of Do Not Open outlasted the coffin, using music ice, and apparently an iron will to resist its siren song.

Across the Street is the odd one out: while Amy Patel seems to have survived the experience unscathed, the story is clearly about Graham Folger, and the monster very definitely got him.

Dominic Swain of Page Turner was rescued by Gerard Keay.

But in The Magnus Protocol, because the stories are harvested, they can just end – and so far, they do:

Harriet Winstead's fate in First Shift is unclear: did she escape, or was she killed or taken? She is last seen in fear for her life and seeking shelter.

Likewise, in the episode's second story, RedCanary's fate is somewhat unclear, although only in the sense that there isn't a definitive ending: there's a clear implication that their explorations had permanent consequences. More than that, while it is uncertain if Harriet got help, it is certain that RedCanary did not. Due to the anonymous nature of the forum, they were warned and banned when their behaviour began to reflect the peculiar things that were happening to them. Nobody went to help.

Daria of Tweaking lived (at least so far), but is afflicted and changed by whatever the tattoo artist did to her, and the most distressing thing is that she seemed largely unaware of that fact. She knew that the tattooing itself was weird and invasive, but did not seem to find her persistent self-mutilation odd, and is merely awaiting further "inspiration" to continue the process.

Samuel Webber of Putting Down Roots turned into a tree, and while it is not completely clear if that means he died, he's definitely gone – his belongings simply found among the roots.

There has not, so far, been a story that matches the general pattern of The Magnus Archives, in which a person who is at least broadly fine describes the weirdest thing that ever happened to them. People here ... they disappear.

Everything feels much worse in this universe.

In terms of the overarching plot, Alice's plot against Colin seems unnecessarily petty, and also weird. I've turned her logic over in my head a few times, and I do not believe it. There might indeed be occasions where a bigger IT department would be better at troubleshooting problems than the one local guy, but those occasions probably do not include a scenario where you're running 30-year-old proprietary German software that is mysteriously haunted by text-to-speech programs that should not be there. Colin freely admits he does not understand the system – but it is highly doubtful that anyone else does either.

She also says this:

Alice All I’m saying is that Colin tinkers with this system all the time and I don’t see any oversight. If you queried upstairs asking about it, all bambi-eyed and innocent, some alarms might go off. They might even come down and do a refresh or reboot or whatever. – The Magnus Protocol: Putting Down Roots

This contradicts a lot of what was said in First Shift, in which Colin was indicated to be essential personnel who might not be allowed to quit, and that he was being leaned on by a minister to accomplish ... something. Now, granted, Alice may simply mean that a senior IT person isn't monitoring him – but it does seem that the people "upstairs" are aware of Colin's activities, and seem to be in contact with him about them. And her insistence on a "refresh or a reboot", aka "turning it off and back on again" is interesting in light of the earlier conversation:

Colin Do you have any idea what will happen if this thing finally managed to extinct itself? Alice We’d go home early? – The Magnus Protocol: Putting Down Roots

Calling in IT only makes sense in the context of killing the system: shutting down whatever they are using and migrating to something consistent with what everyone else is using. Then they could be supported the same way everyone else is, and have their software updates managed at an enterprise level. And what would that do? Stop the voices? Unleash indescribable horrors on the world? Couldn't say.

But the core of the episode is a small-scale power struggle over the stark difference between Colin and Alice's attitudes to their work.

Colin seems overworked, highly stressed and oddly dedicated: he learned German to help his crappy IT job, for a start. He is suspicious of the system and what it is recording, and disinclined to be "friends" with it, but also seems to regard its failure as potentially catastrophic. He is under some kind of pressure from above that indicates that someone regards his work as critical, but does not seem to have clearly stated what that means to anybody – or if he has, they weren't listening.

Alice is committed to the idea that their work is meaningless, and engages with it as little as possible – she sticks around while Colin is fixing her workstation, but exits to make coffee the moment Norris starts talking again. She's stated previously that she believes they only exist as a forgotten department and is unmoved by the thought of their programs finally biting the dust.

Sam, as the new guy, is caught between them: he's naturally more engaged with the stories than Alice is, and has clearly been looking into the history of The Magnus Institute, but he's also closer with Alice than with Colin and being mentored by her.

The plot goes nowhere, because Sam declines to participate. It's impossible to say who is right and who is wrong, or if both characters are just screwing around because their jobs are awful – but it is interesting that this ideological difference escalated so early.

Something strange is happening. Do we care, or do we not?

Of course, it's also fair to note that the characters themselves may be unreliable. John continued to pretend to disbelieve the statements in The Magnus Archives long after he'd worked out the correlation between the ones that required the tapes and the ones that were true – because he believed that was the prudent thing to do. It may be that Alice is deeply invested in everything that is happening here and simply refusing to say. But you can't know these things until the characters crack so, for now: Alice is committed to not caring, and Colin is committed to finding things out, and this is becoming a problem.

The story ends with a minor spat between Gwen and Alice, which is interesting because it sheds a bit of light on Gwen's past. Her surname is Bouchard, which makes it easy to make assumptions – but it's hard to tell what is still true in an alternate universe. Apparently The Shining and A Nightmare on Elm Street still got made, but The Magnus Institute is in Manchester so all bets are off.

In this instance, however, there seems to be a pattern: Gwen, like Elias, seems to have come from money.

Alice Let me guess, fancy gowns, champagne, bathing in the blood of the poor – that sort of thing? Gwen You know we make the same, Alice. An old friend just made partner at her law firm. She wants to celebrate. Alice You sound thrilled. Gwen Oh I can’t wait to catch up and tell them I’m still working in the same cesspit I was last time they asked. – The Magnus Protocol: Putting Down Roots

Elias, however, was something of a feckless stoner whose most notable trait was an utter lack of a defence mechanism for dealing with the supernatural. I would not describe Gwen as feckless at all, and while Elias was picked as a means for an immortal to hold on to life and power, and thus ostensibly rose quickly to the top of The Magnus Institute, Lena seems to be actively stymieing Gwen's career.

But it creates an interesting pattern. The OIAR is implied to be a place with a high turnover rate and little security – and it's a bastard of a job that no one enjoys and seems to be accomplishing little. It's easy to wave your hand at Sam: he's here because of whatever weirdness has led him to research The Magnus Institute.

But. It's him, but not just him. Sam is overqualified for the job. Gwen has connections, which usually lead to better prospects. No idea what Alice has been doing with her life, but ...

Alice Fine. Yes, I’m working that night. I’m working every night. I was born down here and I’ll die down here. Happy? – The Magnus Protocol: Putting Down Roots

So why are these people still here?

[marmorafarms]

The Phone Call pt 1 Sebastian x cis female reader

Hello all! This is my first Stardew fic ever! It's going to be a three part fic, so if you enjoy it keep a look out for the next parts!

18+ ONLY

Summary: Sebastian is getting high and jerking off after a rough day. He gets a phone call from you, and things slowly get out of hand. He jerks off to the sound of your voice. You won't find out...right?

Warnings: Weed use, masturbation, cis female reader, Maru x Harvey mention

Enjoy!

He didn't mean for it to happen.

Really, he didn't! If he had known you were going to call, he wouldn't have put himself in such a compromising position. Sebastian respected you, and felt incredibly lucky you had deemed him worthy of friendship. But he knew that if you had any idea of what had just went down, you would never speak to him again.

The day had been rough. He was building a website for a client who kept changing his mind about what he wanted. It seemed like every day there was a new change, and today said client was upset that Sebastian was going to charge him extra for the logo he was demanding that he also design. Hell, his client had actually called him, which Sebastian had forbidden unless it was an emergency.

This was not an emergency.

And to top it off, Demetrius (who Sebastian referred to as "My mother's husband") had cornered him to give a lecture on how Sebastian should start "pulling his weight." What he meant by that was that Sebastian was going to have to start paying rent soon.

"Maru will too, right? She's also an adult with a job," Sebastian had spat out.

"She's applying for med school to become a doctor," Demetrius had said, eyes narrowed. "If she needs to live here rent free because she's saving up to start a worthwhile career, she can. You on the other hand–"

"My work is plenty worthwhile," Sebastian snarled. "At least I AM working. You're lucky my mom lets you sit around doing science experiments that are purely for your own amusement. I'll pay the rent because clearly this family is struggling for cash because you don't care enough to even attempt to get a job."

Demetrius looked about ready to blow, but Sebastian couldn't give less of a shit. He knew his mom would give him the "I'm not mad, just disappointed," speech later, and suggest they try out family counseling. Neither Sebastian or Demetrius was interested in this idea, but that didn't stop her from trying.

So now, Sebastian was in his room, door locked and with a towel stuffed underneath it. He was going to smoke his stress away, and didn't need anyone to smell his weed. Especially not Demetrius. His ugly ass would just call him a delinquent and tell him to follow Maru's example. Oh what Sebastian wouldn't give to tell him that Maru has been banging her boss in the back room meant for patients. His precious perfect daughter getting her guts rearranged by her superior who was 10 years her senior.

But for all the shit he talked about her, he would never snitch on Maru. Sure she was a pain, but she was still his sister. She was still the girl who would sneak to his room, cheeks stained with tears, asking if she could crash on his couch because her nightmares were keeping her awake. She was still the girl who had covered for him without being asked, when he had gone to Zuzu City for a concert and didn't come home until the next morning.

So yeah, he wasn't going to snitch.

He exhaled slowly, smoke leaving his lungs in a satisfying puff. His high was hitting him, which could only mean one thing. He was horny as fuck. Weed always made him horny, and tonight was no exception. He found his mind wandering, and it settled on you.

Typically it settled on Abigail, the girl he'd been pining for since high school. But for the past few months, you had taken her place. Your beautiful eyes, your sweet smile…your banging body.

God he could wax poetic about your body. He was an ass man all the way, and when he first caught sight of yours? He almost passed out on the spot. And that was just the beginning. For awhile, he'd only ever seen you in your work shirts. Sure he may have taken a peek at your chest, but what person into chicks wouldn't?

But then you showed up to the saloon. Abby had asked you to come play pool so you could meet her friends properly. And what had you decided to wear? A goddamn low cut crop top. It showed off exactly what Sebastian liked to see. He had actually lost the game of pool, since he was so distracted by your tits and midriff.

Your legs weren't half bad either and oh shit he was hard. But how could he not be when visions of you stripping your clothes off just for him were clouding his mind?

And it wasn't just you stripping that was in his mind. It wasn't the first time he had wondered what it would be like to fuck you, and it wouldn't be the last.

Sebastian wondered if you'd be submissive, squirming under his touch and panting his name, letting him do whatever he wanted. Or would you be the opposite? Pinning him to the bed, holding his wrists down while your hips moved against him. Getting on top, using him for your own pleasure and whoop that idea went directly to his dick.

He fumbled for the lube under his bed and pulled his cock out. No time to get his pants fully off, he needed this now. Somehow he had managed to snuff out his joint and put it in the ashtray, but couldn't recall when that had happened. Whatever, it wasn't important.

Sebastian slicked himself up, taking his time getting off. Tonight he wanted it slow, wanted to tease himself, wanted to–

Buzz buzz

Buzz Buzz

Buzz Buzz

Who the fuck was calling him? He checked the caller ID and whoa! It was you! He frowned. You knew he didn't like phone calls. This must be important.

"Hey, everything good?" Sebastian asked as soon as he answered the call.

"Hmm? Oh! Yeah, everything is good. Something kind of weird happened, and I wanted to talk about it."

"Uhhh…okay," Sebastian said. For some reason his hand was still in his pants. And for some reason, he was still hard.

"So, I decided to go to the saloon today to pick on Shane," you said. "You know how we are, it's all in good fun. Anyway, Shane stopped our conversation to say that Clint was looking at me. Like, checking me out."

"Clint?" Sebastian asked. Clint usually only had eyes for Emily. You must've been wearing something hot for him to look. Without really thinking about it, Sebastian's hand began to move along his cock.

"Yeah!" You said, sounding shocked. "But that's not the end. I was heading home and Clint came up to me. He told me I looked really nice."

"Oh yeah?" Sebastian asked. "What were you wearing?"

As the words left his mouth, Sebastian suddenly realized what he was doing. He was jacking off thinking about you, while on the phone with you. Fuck! This was like, twelve types of not okay. You weren't aware of what he was doing! Zero consent. But as you continued to speak, he found he couldn't stop.

"Well, I was wearing those tiny shorts that Abby keeps insisting I wear. She says I look great in them but they show off a lot," You say shyly.

Sebastian gulps. Your ass probably looks amazing in them. If you bent over, would the bottom of your cheeks spill out a little? He shoves his hand into his mouth to mask his moan as he imagines it, hand flying fast over his cock. Fuck teasing himself, you were talking about wearing a skimpy outfit! And holy shit, your voice was hot.

"Mmm," Sebastian says, indicating he had heard you when he realized it was his turn to speak. "A-and your shirt?"

"You know that sparkly black crop top I have?"

Yes, he did know. It was low cut and skin tight. He could barely be around you when you wore it.

"Mmm yep," he choked out. You must've looked amazing. Body on display like that, he didn't blame Clint for being interested.

"Okay, I was wearing that. I also had on some heels that I haven't worn since I lived in Zuzu City."

Sweat was forming on his brow, and he couldn't believe you hadn't noticed his ragged breathing. The picture you were painting was so amazing. He could feel heat pooling in his groin, and he knew he was going to cum soon.

"So um, what did you say to Clint?"

"I said thanks, and then he asked if I had any other plans that night. Dude, he took a step closer to me, and was giving me bedroom eyes. Like the dumbass I am, I said no, and he invited me over."

"Wow," Sebastian breathed. He would've done the same honestly.

There was a pause.

"Is everything okay?" You asked, sounding concerned. "You've sounded a little strange tonight."

"I'm good, it's cool no worries," Sebastian said a little too fast. "You can keep talking."

"Well…okay." You said awkwardly. "I told him no thanks and practically ran away."

"You didn't want to…to get it on with him?"

"No," you said, and made a fake gagging sound. "I get the sense he's a stick it in and not take care of me kinda guy."

"How um, how would you want to be taken care of?" Sebastian asked. Fucking hell he was a pervert. Would you really even answer that?

"I'd want head for sure," you said casually. "But I bet he wouldn't know where the clit even is."

Yeah but I would, Sebastian thought. He'd treat you right. Head between your thighs, licking your clit with the flat of his tongue while thrusting his fingers in and out. You'd cry his name out and–

Sebastian's phone clattered to the floor as he came, stifling his cries as best he could. He could hear you calling his name out, clearly concerned. After a few moments, he shakily picked up his phone.

"Dropped my phone," he slurred out.

"You scared me!" You said in an accusing tone.

"Sorry," Sebastian said, coming down from his orgasm high. "I didn't mean to."

You sigh dramatically. "It's fine. But um, Clint said my axe would be ready tomorrow, and I really don't want to go to his place by myself after what just happened. Would you mind coming with me?"

"No problem," Sebastian said sleepily. "Come over whenever."

"Sweet," you said. "I'm going to bed now. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Sebastian said, and hung up. Suddenly it dawned on him what just happened, and a wave of shame washed over him. How the hell was he going to be able to look you in the eye?

That would be a problem for future Sebastian, he thought blearily. He'd figure something out. Hopefully.

[letmereadherbertwestfics]

Combstober Day 8

Prompt: Campfire

Character: Mr. Brooks (I Still Know What You Did Last Summer)

Warnings: None

You had never understood why people liked to travel alone. Really, the idea terrified you. Being in an unfamiliar place with nobody else to share the experience with? What was so great about that?

But that was before this trip. 

At the last minute, your friend got a violent case of food poisoning and had to cancel your trip to The Bahamas. While your friend had no choice but to not go, you couldn't afford to pay the fee it took to cancel your flight, and had been looking forward to the trip for so long that you couldn't bring yourself to cancel it. So, leaving your friend behind, you took the trip by yourself. And you had a fantastic time.

You still did everything that you and your friend had planned to do together, except without the stress and annoyance of having to drag someone else along with you. Sure, it was scary being alone at first, but after a night of hanging out at a poolside bar and then not having a wasted friend to drag back to your hotel room, your fears quieted down a bit. 

And now it was your second to last night at the resort, and you were dreading the journey home. Not only because of all of the packing and preparation and the god awful boat and plane rides back to back, but just because you didn't want to leave. Not when you still hadn't gotten to talk to the mystery man behind the check in desk. 

He was a few years older than you, cold and slightly rude, from what you could tell he was your average 'manager who hates his job but still runs the establishment like it's the Navy' types. And his name tag read Jay Brooks. And in your week and a half here, that was all the information you got out of him. 

The two of you had exchanged nothing but casualties and a room key when you checked in, aside from his brief questioning of why the booking was listed as for two and you were only one, and whenever you smiled at him on your way to the pool he would react with either a dismissive stare or even an eye roll. But that didn't sway your interest in him in the slightest. If anything it only encouraged you to keep being pleasant towards him. Maybe before you left he would crack a smile. Or maybe not. Either way, you weren't going to be giving up. 

Today the hotel had banners and fliers put up all over, advertising a bonfire out on the beach. There was going to be music, sparklers, and free drinks. It sounded like the perfect opportunity to waste an hour or two before heading back to your room, so you decided to go. 

When you got to the beach you were only half surprised to see that it was thirty minutes past when the bonfire was supposed to happen and nobody had shown up. If there was one thing you noticed about the guests at this resort, it was that they kept to themselves. The karaoke machine at the bar remained untouched, and the pool was almost as silent as a library aside from the occasional drunk or unruly child. Finding out nobody else had decided to attend this party wasn't too surprising when you thought about it. 

You were about to turn around and head back to your room when you realized there was someone sitting by the bonfire. And it only took a few more seconds for you to recognize the suffocatingly neat dress shirt and tie, and the annoyed scowl of Jay Brooks. This realization made your heart skip a beat, and you approached the bonfire a bit faster than before.

"Am I late to the party?" You asked, immediately cringing at how your voice sounded. Brooks looked up at the sound of a voice, looking you up and down before his gaze returned to the fire. 

"Can't be late when there isn't an event." He said bluntly. You slowly lowered yourself onto the log across from Brooks, the bonfire separating the two of you. 

There was an awkward yet slightly serene silence, the only sounds being the crackling of the fire and the crash of the waves. Brooks continued to stare into the fire while you stared at him, thinking you were going unnoticed until he interrupted your thoughts with a stern look in your direction.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer."

Though Brooks didn't look like he was joking when he said this, you couldn't help but crack a smile. You shifted your gaze to the sand, tucking your hands in your pockets. 

"Sorry." You muttered. Brooks sighed, unsurprisingly going back to looking at the flaming logs. 

"You're the one staying in the Junior Suite?" Brooks asked suddenly, making your head snap up. Before you could ask him how he remembered, he gave you a nervous, almost shy smile and explained without being questioned. "You're the first guest to smile at me in weeks. That made you memorable."

His words made your smile widen. Was Brooks, the mysteriously cold resort manager, actually being nice to you? He actually noticed your acknowledgement instead of brushing you off? The realization that you had read him all wrong made your heart beat just a bit faster. 

Relax, Y/N. You don't even know the guy. 

But you wanted to. That was enough to get you to push any anxiety or insecurity out of your mind and get you to move one log over, closer to Brooks. Once the two of you were sitting directly across from each other, you held out your hand. 

[polyjuicedpadfoot]

Em’s December Delivery!

Hello friends, I am super excited to announce that November has been a very productive and creative month for me, just in time for the winter holidays! 

There were a few things I can thank for my inspiration. The first being The Adult Fandom Project’s holiday challenge! I wrote 4 one shots for the challenge, all of which I will be posting this month!

The second is my Secret Santa gift for the lovely @carlav-blogs. Six parts, one fic. Two words: Professor AU ;)

The third being a Christmas gift for my love @siriuslythatbitch. Again, six parts, one fic. Two words: Hockey AU ;)

I will be posting approximately every second day of December, starting today on December 1st going all the way until December 31st! 

If anyone is interested in what I will be posting and when, the schedule is below the cut. But for now, all I have to say is Happy Holidays everyone and enjoy the last month of 2022! 

Coming at Christmas (Jegulus, E, 6k)

Description: James meets a man named Reg at a charity ball and can't stop thinking of him for months. Fast forward to the Pure-blood Ball where he just so happens to meet Regulus Black once again.

Posting: December 1st

❄︎ ❄︎ ❄︎

Learning to Trust Again (Wolfstar, E, ~30k)

Description: Thirteen years after Sirius' life changed forever, he's learned to survive, he's learned to manage and he's learned to raise Harry. Now, going back to Hogwarts to teach while Harry goes back for his third year, Sirius finds his life changing once again, throwing him back into the past with no idea how to deal with it all over again.

Posting: December 3rd, 7th, 12th, 16th, 21th, and 25rd

❄︎ ❄︎ ❄︎

Golden Goal (Wolfstar, E, ~30k)

Description: When Remus gets selected to play on Team Canada in the 2022 Winter Olympics, nothing can bring him down...nothing except being forced to play with his old teammate, Sirius Black, once again. Thrown together on the same team, Remus tries to navigate his past with Sirius while refusing to believe that he's changed...but oh, how Sirius has changed.

Posting: December 5th, 9th, 14th, 19th, 23st, and 25th

❄︎ ❄︎ ❄︎

Latkes and Love Confessions (Wolfstar, T, 1.7k)

Description: Remus walks in on his boyfriend and his mother bonding.

Posting: December 27th

❄︎ ❄︎ ❄︎

Loosening Up (Rosekiller, E, 4.7k)

Description: Barty tags along with Evan to his company Christmas party only to watch Evan crash and burn from the stress. So, like the good friend he is, Barty offers to help Evan relax and nothing relaxes Evan like a blowjob.

Posting: December 29th

❄︎ ❄︎ ❄︎

Letters to You (Pandalily, M, ~7k)

Description: Twelve letters exchanged between Lily and Pandora between December 1979 and October 1981.

Posting: December 31st

[strawberry-lemonade-kisses]

(2)

Trigger Warnings - Suicidal Ideation, Suicidal mention, suicidal tendencies, self harm, mentions of self harm, mentions of abuse, abuse, child abuse, domestic assault, rape, victimization, talk of drug abuse, drug abuse, addiction, talk of murder, assault.

Prev. Part, Masterlist, Next Part

The room was way too bright and positive for you. It was all annoying to look at. Why were you here? You shouldn't be here? This was all stupid, and pointless. The obnoxious positive affirmations that were scribbled into the white brick and the happy cat posters placed beside bulletproof glass for safety. There were a variety of other young adults in the room, bodies draped across the various couches and chairs in the room. No one said anything, occasionally glancing among themselves before looking back at their laps or turning towards the tv that silently played episodes of 'catfish’. You blamed your sour mood on the lack of sleep the night before. You had crashed after the events from the past few days but continued to wake up throughout the night, plagued by thoughts and stresses. You had been lied to, the promise of outpatient care had been so nice, and it had sounded like a school day but instead of learning math and science, you were learning how to handle your stress and anxiety. It was frustrating, you were being removed from your home and placed in such a stale environment. The halls smelled of bleach, the constant white noise scratching in the background was irritating and the bright fluorescent lights mimicked being outside while stuck in a windowless brick building. The world was your enemy and you were powerless against it. The only good thing is that your parents had dropped off a bag of clothes for you very early in the morning, leaving you with your most comfortable pajamas and even 2 books. ‘the count of monte cristo’ and ‘Ruth’s bake shop’ two classics and loved by you. The door opened with various beeps, pulling your attention back to earth. "Good morning everyone, I apologize for my tardiness, I just had to grab a file I had missed on my desk" God, even the doctor was way too enthusiastic. "Welcome to day two! I know it's been overwhelming for some of you, I'm sure, even annoying, sad, maybe happy. But I promise by the end of this week, all those feelings will change" Removing the white doctor's coat from herself, the doctor laid it on the back of the chair, bright pink scrubs on display as she sat down, a thick stack of files on her lap. "Before we begin, why don't we start with introductions? I want everyone to introduce themselves and say why we are here. Let's get to know each other, we can help each other heal" Her smile was bright, and the curiosity that glinted in her eyes was possibly even brighter. "I'll start! My name is Dr. Gotouge and I am here because I want to help people, I have seen much suffering and I want to help end that for people" She gestured towards the man to her left, the shaggy black hair on his head covered most of his eyes, making it almost impossible to see where he was looking, the red sweatshirt he wore was tattered, tearing at the ends of his sleeves as he pulled them. He cowered under her curious gaze, seemingly shrinking in on himself as he nervously fiddled with his shirt sleeves. "I am, my name is. I'm-" "Jesus Christ, what's your fucking name" The snow-haired male on your left sat up straight, frustration painting his scared features as he let out an annoyed sigh. "Sanemi. Remember what we talked about, if you feel annoyed towards someone ask yourself why are you responding this way before you speak up" Dr. Gotouge turned back to the timid boy, urging him forward with a slight shake of her hand. "Please continue, you got this!" She cheered. "My name is Tomioka Giyuu. I'm here because I tried to hang myself" he didn't look up as he finally got the words out. "Very good Giyuu thank you for sharing that. It's a pleasure to meet you." "I like your sweatshirt Giyu, it's a very pretty color on you" The bubbly girl next to him leaned close, her braided dual-toned hair draped over his chair. He mumbled incoherently, leaning away until she finally backed away. "My name is Mitsuri Kanroji and I am here because I tried to kill myself!" She was way too happy about it. You tried hard to suppress the shudder at her bright personality. "I'm Kocho Shinobu, I'm here because I tried to kill myself." The girl next to her spoke up, short purple and black hair moving as she leaned back in her chair, unfeeling purple eyes scanning over the people sitting around the grey room. "Thank you, Kanroji, and Shinobu! Thank you for being here on your first steps to recovery" the white-haired male, sanemi scoffed again. "Shinazugawa Sanemi, I'm here because my dad's a pussy and I destroyed his kitchen." "What the fuck" You couldn't stop the words from coming out of your mouth as you looked at the male next to you, his unblinking eyes starting to meet your own. "I'm sorry, I thought we were here with real problems, not just being an idiot" If looks could kill. "Excuse me bitch, I have better places to be I didn't choose to be here." "Sanemi! Y/N! That's enough. Everyone has problems. These are just introductions; we are getting to know everyone right now. We can discuss more after this. Please, let's finish these introductions" The doctor smiled again, and you sighed. "I'm y/n, they tell me I tried to kill myself but that’s not what I was doing” sucking in a deep breath to ease the nausea you felt at the thought. “I was just trying to get the pain to stop” The confession left a lot of people confused. “Why are you here?” Shinobu piped up from her chair, feet barely touching the floor as she leaned forward. "I don't know, everyone else said I had to be here, not like we have a choice. We have a minimum of 4 days here" The thought alone exhausted you, 4 whole days of this. "Hello! I am Rengoku Kyojuro! My father did this to me, but they asked me to come here in case!" The man next to you was shouting, unbothered by the booming sound of his voice as he moved the collar of his turtleneck, showing off the darkened bruises around his neck. You could distinctly make out the silhouette of fingers, purple and black against the man's tanned skin. "A very flamboyant look Kyojuro! You hide the bruises well! Uzui Tengen. I'm here because I am an addict" bulging muscles practically ripped through the skintight long sleeve of the silver-haired male, his dark maroon eyes shining under the fluorescent hospital lights. Another person way too happy to be here.   "Himejima Gyomei, I self-harm" he didn't look anywhere besides straight ahead, clouded eyes welling with tears as he sat, still as a rock. The male next to him seemed like a dwarf compared to Gyomei his smaller and frailer figure hunched in his chair, the white facemask unmoving as he glared around the room, heterochromatic eyes meeting yours momentarily before moving on. "Obanai, self-harm" he offered nothing further, but it satisfied the doctor who clapped her hands together. "Thank you all for sharing yourselves with us. The 9 of you have been brought here today all under very different circumstances and lead very different lives. I got to know and speak with all of you yesterday on your first day with us at haven hill hospital. You all make up our teen unit, the unit that ranges from ages 15 to 20. In the hallway adjacent to us is our pre-teen unit and then we have a children's unit and an adult unit alongside an addiction recovery unit. You all transferred from different hospitals to our mental health facility here and we commend you for taking that step toward healing" The doctor leaned back, smiling as she looked at each of the figures in the room, analyzing everyone she had taken the time to get to know the day before, during their first day on the unit. “Our days will start like this, group therapy and then a group activity, after that, you have the day to yourself, but we must stay in this room. There is plenty to do here, puzzles, coloring, games, getting to know one another, and relating to one another. But let's start with group therapy, does anyone have anything on their mind?” Everyone avoided the doctor's gaze this time, sticking to themselves as she looked for anyone to start, anyone to share. “Okay then, Sanemi, why don’t you share what happened to lead you here?” The man scoffed, leaning forward in his chair. “Sure, why the fuck not. My father is a piece of shit, truly deserves to die in the worst way possible. But I’m not a murderer. He abuses my mom and she's an idiot who stays and continues to raise their children like a champ. She protects us, she stays strong, and this useless piece of shit continues to treat her like she's nothing. He hit her again and left her with a black eye while I was out with my younger brother Genya. He hit her while I was gone because he’s a pussy and knew I wouldn't sit there and watch like a bitch.” He paused, feeling the anger bubble in him at the thought of his poor angel of a mother cowering under his pathetic father. “Stupid bastard didn’t even see it coming when I left and came back with the hammer, he thought I was going after him but I’m not that nice. I’d like to see that useless bastard try to clean up the mess I made. I had Genya get my mom and siblings out of the house and set them up at a neighbor's house while I took care of ours. He was so angry because you can't raise kids in a house that has no kitchen and no doors.” He cackled, throwing his head back in utter delight at the thought of the chaos he left his house in. “Anyways, he called the cops, and they deemed me a threat and threw me here, all while that bastard goes back to abusing my mom and is deemed not a threat” He shrugged, slouching in the armchair. “You're a hero then” You looked at the large man with excessive eye makeup, the red spots that surrounded his eye highlighted with a bright purple eyeshadow, it was flashy, a statement look. “What?” “a hero, you may have potentially saved your family from your father, if the system doesn’t fail. It probably will though, unfortunately,” Sanemi sat back, unblinking eyes boring holes into the man's head as he processed what was just said. “Your dad sounds like he's friends with my father!” Kyojuro let out a boisterous laugh at the thought, just the image of his own father being friends with another sick-abusive individual was enough to get him chuckling. It wouldn’t surprise him either. “My father wasn’t always abusive. He was good to me and my brother as children. My mom got sick when we were young, cancer that was too far along to stop or even slow down. After she passed e started drinking and then with that he started hitting and throwing things. It's gotten worse, I try to shield my brother and keep him out as much as I can, but I can’t do much when I’m only 16.” Kyojuro was solemn as he retold his story, eyes distant as he thought of his childhood, one that was so happy. “You two have been through a lot. Two completely different people from two different sides of town, but similar stories. There’s a lot to relate to.” Dr. Gotouge looked between the two men, waiting for them to respond. “My mom doesn’t hurt me, but I don’t think she likes me anymore” Shinobu piped up from next to the doctor, her hands picking at the strings of her pants, the hole in her knee fraying “She was there when I tried to die. We were on the freeway and I just” she hesitated, eyes flitting around the room before looking at the Doctor. “I didn’t want to be here anymore. I figured jumping out would be quick, over in an instant type of thing. When I unbuckled and tried to open the door my mom started to scream, she was holding my arm and she kept saying ‘What are you doing Shinobu!’ I don’t want to hear her yell like that again. It really scared me, so I sat back and put my seatbelt on. Once I sat back, she was still yelling. She dropped me off at the hospital and then I got sent here. She probably hates me now. I’ve always been a burden, my sister has always been so easy, and I come along with all these problems. She’s not going to let me home now, going to leave me here.” Shinobu was teary as she finished talking, head bowed with a defeated slump. “She doesn’t hate you Shinobu. I’m sure of that. She’s your mom at the end of the day. I’m sure you just scared her. I got into a fight with my parents when things happened, when they found things out. They were so mad, and it was only because they were scared.” You spoke up, wanting to offer comfort to her as she finally let tears fall, puddling onto the backs of her hands. She looked so small sitting in her chair, dwarfed by the angry-looking man next to her. “You have an optimistic outlook for someone who doesn’t know my mom. She is probably just sick of me at this point. After all the doctors’ appointments and therapy, she’s finally rid of me.” “Did she make it obvious that she didn’t want you back?” You asked, “no…” Shinobu was conflicted, the inner battle obvious in her features as she retreated into herself, visibly scrunching. “She loves you, she's your mother and they will always love you. People show it in different ways, unfortunately. But she brought you here to get help, which means she wants to help you, right?” You pressed on “I-I think so. I hope so. She hasn’t done anything wrong. I just burden her so much with things. I feel awful. I wish. I wish I wasn’t like this.” “I also wish things were different. Life would be easier, and kinder to us. We shouldn’t have to suffer this way when were so young. People always say that life gets better, it’ll get easier, but when is that? After my third suicide attempt? When I finally succeed? When does it get easier? Because I’ve tried everything?” the words seemed to have a mind of their own as you spoke, all your internal feelings pouring out. “But that’s why we’re here huh? To get better? We're here to try and we're here to change something, anything to make it easier.” Dr. Gotouge was nodding along as you spoke, all eyes on you. “The first step in any mental health recovery journey is accepting you need help and receiving the help. You have all taken that first step by being here. This is what this is about. Sanemi May I ask? What made you decide to go destroy the kitchen?” Sanemi looked unphased at the question, almost expecting it in a way. “To teach the old man a lesson. Child protective services would frown upon a house in such a state. It was all I could think of at that moment, what else can I do? No one listens to me, we’ve tried to get out. I have 6 siblings all younger than me. Their kids and they deserve better, they deserve more than this. Our mother deserves more than this. But he has all of us in a tight grip, when we were visited by the protective services before he made us all lie or he threatened to do worse than he has. He’s going to kill one of us or all of us. There's no other way” Everyone was shocked at the confession from the brash white-haired male. He wasn’t like that for no reason, his personality was molded into what it is now, hardened into this to protect what he loves most. “I understand your fear. Somedays it's wondering how much your body can take and other days it's fighting to breathe. You can’t rest and you can’t let it go.” Kyojuro was smiling, leaning close to look closer at Sanemi. “We can get out. I know we can, it will just be suffering until then” The laugh he let out lacked gumption, the actual humor sucked out of him. The Doctor was silent besides the scratching of her pen. “Obanai? Giyuu? Gyomei? Anything to add to the discussion?” Dr. Gotouge addressed the three silent men but her gaze lingered on Giyuu who was shifting uncomfortably in his seat. She was met with silence from all three of them. “That’s alright, we can always try again later. You will all proceed to breakfast and then it’s free time. You will have individual therapy with me later as well as some of you will have daily check-ups with our doctor. Have a wonderful breakfast you guys!” As the doctor stood you finally noticed the nurses standing in the doorway, probably there to escort you to breakfast. “Alright everyone if you’ll follow us we’ll be taking you down to the cafeteria.” Holding the door open one nurse led while the other stayed at the back, making sure everyone was in line and no one was straying off, escaping the nurses.

Breakfast was an uneventful affair, the dry and flavorless hospital food didn’t seem to change in any medical facility even for mental wellbeing. The nurses ate alongside you, making small talk with some of you. The other people in your unit seemed more comfortable around each other after the morning group therapy, already talking amongst themselves. You found Shinobu and Kyojuro easy to talk to. Kyojuro was laid back, seeing his stay here as a vacation rather than a forced treatment. He told you about his younger brother Senjuro who was in the pre-teen unit for his safety as well. Tengen was quite lively, managing to get a conversation going with Gyomei, talking about working out and maintaining a hard physique the two of them had. They were both bigger than what you assumed their ages were, with bulging muscles and hardened bodies. Even their casual clothes couldn’t hide their hard work. Obanai and Giyuu remained quiet, Obanai’s glare never easing up. As you were led back to the day room Kyojuro talked animatedly about his childhood. About his mother and her presence in his life and the effect she had on him and his younger brother. “I have 5 siblings as well! They are lovely. I hope they stay safe as they grow, I hope they continue to live happily after me” There was a pause as everyone sat around the day room. No one mentioned the ‘after me’ that ended KAnroji’s words moving on with the conversation. Shinobu had seated herself next to you, curling up in the armchair. "I really appreciate what you said earlier. It was nice to think that I wasn't a burden for a bit. To believe they loved me. Your right, in a way. I think I did scare her, I would be scared if she did it." Her purple eyes were shining with unshed tears, her chin resting on her knees as she drew them into her chest. "I believe everyone has a love for their family. Deep down. But you wouldn't be here without their help, without their push." She nodded "Yeah, your right. Thanks, Y/N" You gave her a small smile, leaning back and enjoying the conversations around you. The day passed by slowly, with small conversations as everyone got to know each other, meals shared in a bland cafeteria, and a few words spoken by Obanai. It wasn’t anything to write home about. As you settled onto the mattress pad, shuffling around for comfort you thought about this morning’s therapy session. You really didn’t belong here.

[grampstaxidermy87]

Release Me

Request: @welcome-to-the-emo-world

‘How about a reader x aro fic. the reader being a human who is mated to aro but doesn’t feel the bond so they don’t like aro, in fact they despise him for taking them away from their friends and family. maybe a fight between the two? or the reader running away from aro only to be caught?’

An: Sorry for the wait darling, took a few tries but I’m happy with how this turned out. Hope you enjoy Lovelies!

Pairing: Aro Volturi x GN!Reader

“How are they?” The raven-haired man asked once reaching the door to his chambers, glancing to the man he appointed to watch over the human currently residing inside.

“They are no longer crying; I believe they tired themselves out and fell asleep a little over an hour ago.” The taller man relayed, not hiding the pity he held towards the mortal.

Aro sighed, "So nothing has changed since yesterday, nor the past month since they’ve arrived.” Felix merely shrugged, "At least they have stopped screaming.” Aro said before entering the room.

As quiet as a mouse he shut the door behind him and looked over the pile of expensive silk blankets bunched together in the middle of the bed, the smallest tuff of hair popping out to show that someone was in there.

A fond smile pulled at his lips before realization struck,his poor human was probably chilled to the bone. Why else would they bury themselves like this?

Speeding over to the fireplace he shed his suit jacket and tossed it onto a nearby chair before prepping a fire,in his concentrated actions he didn’t pay any mind to the slight motion on the bed.

“What are you doing in here..?” A small meek voice asked with a slight tremble.

Aro knew not to move too fast now that they were aware of his presence, reaping the consequences of that in the past.

“Starting a fire, I noticed that you seemed cold darling.” He spoke evenly keeping his eyes on the growing flames, trying his best not to throw them into another fit.

“Don’t call me that. I’m not your darling, say my name right or don’t refer to me at all, Vampire.” He couldn’t help but wince at the pure malice in their words. Their hatred for him shown with no hesitation.

“Right,how inconsiderate of me. I apologize, (Y/n).” The human shrunk back when he turned to face them,still just as terrified of the bloodthirsty king as they were the day he dragged them here.

“If you were truly sorry then you would let me go. So don’t give me apologies that don’t mean shit.” He had to hold back his rising impatience as they turned away and slipped out of bed,walking over to the balcony and looking out into the dark night sky.

“If you felt the way I do then you would not wish to go, your human heart is preventing you from seeing how truly meant to be we are...But I am willing to wait, I have for this long. What’s another year or two.” He said sadly as he slowly rounded the bed and leaned against one of it’s dark wooden beams on the corner.

“You are worth waiting an eternity for.” They clenched their fists around their sleepwear as they hugged themselves, shaking…but not from the cold.

“You don’t know me…You stole me from my family...my home...my life! YOU ARE A MONSTER!” He actually stepped back as they exploded, grabbing a vase from a nearby table and throwing at him.

Easily ducking away as it crashed on the floor behind him, he held up is hands. “Cara- (Y/n) Please! Let us discuss this-“

A book went flying this time,but instead of moving out of the way he allowed for it to hit him right in the chest,hoping it would give them the relief they needed if they let out all of their stress and anger on him.

“I hate you! I hate that you brought me here! I wish you would just kill me already and get it over with instead of torturing me like this!!” They screamed to the point that their voice cracked painfully, tears streaming down their face in pure rage and resentment.

His own showed one of hurt,”No..No I could never hurt you (Y/n). You are my heart,my soul, my very reason of existence. I would rather be thrown into the cruelest and deepest parts of the underworld than even dream of harming a hair on your head without your consent.”

They stepped forward,dropping the book in their hands to the floor with a heavy thud. “Then you have my consent,I want you to end this torment. Kill me,and make it quick so that I never have to look into the eyes of a monster like you ever again.”

Even a monster like him has their breaking point.

“Enough!” They jumped at the pure anger in his tone,so used to the cheerful and soft tones of his voice.

“You have made your hatred for me very clear from the moment you arrived, and I have taken it all with stride because I know you are scared. I have thrown you into a world you know nothing about all because you are my true mate, but I can not take this anymore. Even a monster like me has feelings..even if it doesn’t beat I still have a heart.”

They watched in shock as Aro fell to his knees before them,venom pooling in his ruby eyes. “What must I do to get you to give me a chance,let me show you that I can give you the very life you’ve dreamed of. You will never wish for anything,I can get you anything your heart desires!”

He crawled forward until he was knelt at their feet,taking their hands as he buried his face in them and breathing in their addicting scent. “Just please let me love you.”

They were frozen in their spot,unable to move a muscle as their body fought over whether they should push him away…or bring him closer.

They’ve never seen him so vulnerable before,this new side of him was almost…human?

They had every right to be upset..to hate him…so why did their chest squeeze with the urge to comfort him.

What was this feeling building in their chest?

Aro visibly melted when their hand moved to cup his cheek,burying his nose into the skin of their palm and kissing the flesh.

Clenching their eyes shut they gritted their teeth,trying with all their might to fight back these terrifying new emotions that threatened to take over,”I..I need to be alone.” Aro’s shoulders fell as they pulled away and looked everywhere but him.

“I understand...you need time. Please take all the time you need, I meant what I said when I told you I’d wait however long it takes." He stood up and slowly retreated back towards the door, pausing just as his hand touched the handle, he looked back towards them.

"I wish you pleasant dreams, (Y/n)." While he didn't expect an answer it still hurt to not receive one, instead watching as they turned away and hugged themself.

Their body shook in a way that made his body yearn to comfort them, but it was not the time...he would have to keep his word and be patient.

Opening the door he slipped through and shut it behind him, letting out a sigh as he leaned back against it.

"They will come around master, perhaps you should bring them dinner. I could hear them mumbling about their hunger earlier." Felix informed trying not to let his king get discouraged.

Aro perked up, his guards comment causing an avalanche of ideas to form in his mind. "Ah! What a brilliant idea, Perhaps I should make..." he drifted off down the hallway trying to think of what his mate could possibly like.

Felix waited for his king to be out of ear shot before knocking on the door, "It's clear."

The door cracked open as (Y/n)'s head peaked through the crack, "Are you sure?" Felix nodded and watched as they let out a relieved sigh and opened the door wider. Now wearing a robe and some shoes they hugged their middle and looked up at the giant.

“Thank you for doing this Felix,I know you could get in trouble.” He merely waved them off, Aro would definitely be pissed but unlike the rest of his coven Felix still held an appreciation for human life.

He knew and understood why (Y/n) was upset,and while he couldn’t let them go, he could make their stay here a bit more tolerable.

“There is no need to thank me, I needed some fresh air as well.” They gave him the smallest hint of a smile,the most they would allow themselves to show.

Leading the human down the halls they reached the door that led to the private garden, smaller than the main but held far more privacy.

No one other than the kings and elite guard were allowed back here, so as they settled he decided to speak his mind.

“Aro means well, he loves you.” Felix started while they sat on a stone bench in front of the fountain, listening to the peaceful noises of water flowing as crickets chirped around them.

“He has a funny way of showing it, keeping me trapped here like some pet. As if I’m not a living being who has their own life…family and friends who love me..and are probably worried sick for me.” (Y/n) hissed, hugging themselves as tears pooled in their (e/c) eyes.

Felix stayed silent for a moment,looking over his shoulder to see the dark shadow watching them.

“I know you miss them,but even if Aro allowed you to see them again the risk would be far too great. Your family and friends would be in danger, the kings have a lot of enemies…enemies that would use a weakness like that against him…and you.”

The slouch of their shoulders as they stared at the ground assured Felix that they understood even if they didn’t want to believe it.

“I didn’t ask for this…why me?” Their voice was but a whisper,filled with heartbreaking sadness as the tears finally fell.

He went to speak only for the shadow to approach, the giant quietly stood and allowed for them to take his place, leaving them to allow their privacy.

“Fate works in mysterious ways, if the choice were up to me cara Mia I would not have dragged you into this life.” They tensed when they heard Aro’s voice,hating how their body calmed now that he was sat so close.

(Y/n)’s eyes slowly drifted up to his face but he was calmly watching the fountain,simply enjoying sitting in their presence.

“I know you are afraid…this has all been so rushed. And for that I do apologize, If you would allow it…I would like to have the chance to start over. To get to know the real (Y/n) as you get to know the real Aro… no titles,no bonds, just two people getting to know each other.”

His ruby red eyes met theirs, so soft and full of hope as they stared at him for any signs of cruel amusement or lies.

For the first time since they were dragged here they faltered, their mind screaming for them to laugh in his face and go back to their room.

But looking so deep into his very soul,if vampires even had one, they found that their heart was begging them to say yes.

Letting out a low sigh they looked away, making Aro’s hopeful smile drop.

“Don’t make me regret this…Aro.” His entire being lit up with more joy than he thought possible, they had called him Aro.

Not monster,or vampire, but Aro.

A bright smile crossed his lips as he forced himself to calm down, “Perhaps we could start with having dinner together, I had the chef make (f/m) for you.”

A small smile tugged at their lips, and when he stood up and offered his arm he felt everything had finally fallen into place when they took it.

“I’d like that very much.”

[caffeinatedmoth]

Ok preface I know that possessive behavior is a red flag but uh. I saw that your requests were open and I was wondering if I could please get some Lobo being a lil jealous and possessive over the reader.

Lobo x Reader

tw: swearing, alcohol, smoking, suggestive implications

a/n: love this prompt so i might be a walking red flag myself lol

“God, you cannot be serious.” you groan with disdain.

Before you was a run-of-the-mill bar, brimmed with noise and an odor that was downright foul. The large burly mass behind you places his hands on your shoulders, “Aw, c’mon, you’ve never been to this one.” Lobo takes a drag of his cigar before haphazardly flicking it out of sight and blowing a cloud of smoke into the air. Just as those words left his mouth a crash emits from the entrance of a bar. One of the drunks had stumbled out to pour his guts out onto the pavement.

You groan once more in protest, “Is that really supposed to convince me? I think the stench alone is a safety hazard.” you whine softly before covering your mouth and nose in your hands.

Lobo cackles, “You get used to it.” he begins to confidently stride past you, “Plus, has the Main Man ever steered you wrong?”

Begrudgingly you catch up to his heel and huff in response. “I could fill a room with how many terrible ideas you’ve had.” With a glint in his daring red eyes and wide grin, he reaches behind himself to pull you in front of him. Lobo then proceeds to throw you over his shoulder to sit, perched; a well practiced habit that you grew accustomed to.

“Argue all y’want, sugar. Y’know what that usually leads to…” 

His mischievous chuckle earns a frustrated sound and a tug of his hair, “Lobo!”

“Relax, babes, at least I’m payin’.” the large man is completely unfazed by your halfhearted attempts to hurt him as he continues to wear his wide grin.

You only grumble to yourself when you finally reach the bar. As crowded as it was Lobo manages to squeeze you two into seats furthest from the bathroom. The barstool was so worn out it groaned beneath the added weight. You made a mental note to burn these clothes later. In the corner of your eyes you spot a sea of creeps. However, you were quick to find comfort in the fact that they were clearly wary of who was in your company. Returning your focus to the barkeep you hear Lobo ordering himself something you assumed was whiskey. He turns to you and nudges your arm. You usually got something light, but tonight was different. Lobo only brought you out here for drinks because you had a terribly rough day at work.

You pick something that is sure to boost your confidence and get this party started. This doesn’t go unnoticed by your loud mouth boy toy. “That bad, huh?” 

The bartender is quick to return with your orders. “You have no idea. I am so calling in tomorrow. I’m doing way more than what I’m paid for and they know it! I mean this morning,” you begin retelling your horrible day to Lobo who was uncharacteristically listening without a word. If anything, he was watching you transition from a bundle of stress to a rather friendly little thing. It was somehow relieving to him to see you loosen up so much more than usual. Not that he would ever admit it, but he hated it when you would be so full of burden and barely allow him a windows view of your problems. Now you were suddenly telling him anything without much shame or thought for that matter.

“And that was the worst party I had ever gone to.” you take a swig of your drink, hardly tasting it anymore. Lobo throws his head back to laugh, “Haw! No wonder you quit tequila!”

A few stories and a few drinks later, you notice that you were well passed tipsy. Not that you minded at the time. Just as you were about to start another story, something catches your attention. It was a familiar rythme. The second it hits you, you gasp and turn to Lobo. “Holy shit I love this song!” Although you were slurring your words, you jumped right in. With caution to the wind you even leap onto the bar. It was much to his surprise, but he enjoyed your enthusiasm.

Your choreography was incredibly improvised and frankly, embarrassing. Regardless, everyone in the bar loved it and some even began to cheer for you. Involuntarily, Lobo mentally catalogs this song for later. For now he decides to enjoy the show and cheer you on as well. At some point the fun begins to end when a drunk pulls on your arm by your wrist and into his lap. Red eyes widen at your playful attitude as you respond by caressing their cheek and continuing to sing and laugh. As the song ends the bar erupts in laughter and euphoria. 

“And what’s your name, mister.” 

“You can call me daddy.” he winks at you, “How’s about you and I get outta here, sugar lips.”

You dizzily giggle at him, “Where’re we goin’?”

“A fraggin’ morgue if you don’t get yer paws off my things.” there was a noticeable path between the crowd that led to you both.

Lobo stood in front of you two, not the least bit impressed. In fact, his brows furrowed and he held a disgusted snarl. “Ha ha awkward.” you giggled despite the tension. Perhaps next time he'll just bring the drinks to your place. “Listen, ass-face, if I gotta repeat myself, I’m gonna mess you up so bad I’m gonna be scrapin’ yer veins from my fingernails for a week.”

The bar is silent as Lobo uses his size to loom over the drunk who began to visually shake. “Woah-!” you have to catch yourself on the floor as you are quickly pushed off of your cushion-y seat. The drunk nervously laughs, “My bad, man, didn’t know you had dibs.” he holds his hands up defensively. This did nothing to please the main man as his blood was still boiling. He probably wouldn’t be so upset had you been in your right mind. He knows you would have socked this scumbag in the face before calling to him if you were sober. Thankfully he knew he couldn’t really blame you for any of this no matter how much he wanted to. Didn’t stop him from taking his anger out on this dweeb however.

That said, Lobo uppercuts the guy through the ceiling. His ears twitch at the sickening crack upon impact. Nobody complains and nobody bats an eye. Like a hivemind, they go about their business, even as blood drips from the ceiling.

That was somewhat satisfying, he decided. Returning his sights back on you he's quick to lift you to your feet and into his arms. Considering you were still struggling to get up he figured this would be easier than waiting for you to sober up enough to walk. He was glad he could help you relax, but whatever had happened just then was not ideal. You two may not have been dating but in his eyes you were exclusive. He made sure you knew that with how many secret admirers he had to scare off these past few months. 

Lobo grumbles as he looks down at your flushed gaze. “Th-thanks, Big Guy.” you gently pat his bicep, exhausted, “Tonight was really fun.”

It relaxes him to see the tired smile on your face. His playful bad boy attitude returns, “Yer gonna pay for that lil show back there. Don’t go thinkin’ yer off the hook yet, sweetie bits.” He pays the tab and begins to head towards the door.

You snort at him, “Don’t tell me yer jealous.”

“I don’t like anyone touchin’ my stuff.” he retorts before throwing you over his shoulder and smacking your backside, as is tradition when you give him a headache. “Hm, dunno if I like bein’ called “stuff”.” 

“You’ll get over it.” You chuckle in agreement to that.

On the way home you manage to fall asleep before you even get to your street. Lobo puts you to bed and before his commitment issues make him leave, he takes a second to look at you. Only you would have the courage to fall asleep on the most dangerous bounty hunter in the cosmos. Something about that made him smirk to himself. Lobo leaves with a mental note to bother you in the morning.

[hansolmates]

remote learning (m)

summary; working remote sucks, and you would love a little relief. after buying a new toy to blow off some steam, you’re baffled when you can’t cum. however, jungkook thinks you’re doing it wrong, and shows you a thing or two. pairing; neighbor!jungkook x (f) reader genre/warnings; fluff, humor, slightly insecure mc, this is pure FILTH—use of a remote controlled vibrator, do not and i repeat DO NOT try foreplay during a zoom call in the event u get fired im not responsible, phone sex, jungkook’s a meanie in control, cum eating, doggy, and topping it off with some sweet missionary bc jk has purty eyes, unprotected (wrap the pickle before u tickle folks) excessive use of the petname [redacted] w/c; 5.7k a/n; this fic manifested bc of work. and i!! am!! frustrated!! i think we all need a lil jk relief so here it goes! as always ty to @chillingtae​ / @eerieedits​ for this FANTASTIC fic banner, please go check vivi out if u have taste okok part 2: distance learning drabbles; 01

if u like this fic pls consider giving it a like and a share💕💕💕💕

“Tomorrow morning, same time at 9AM. Remember to have your reports alphabetized and itemized,” your supervisor says, but the only thing you can focus on is the abnormal amount of bonsai plants in his living room. 

“Alright now it’s time for the union to talk COVID protocol,” you frown when Mr. Kim moves ownership of the Zoom call to your union rep, who pulls up a Powerpoint. You feel your eyes burn at the sight: an itinerary containing over thirty-eight slides. 

“For fuck’s sake—” 

You so desperately want to turn off the camera and flop in your bed. Since working remotely you haven’t been operating in the most ideal of workspaces. You live in a one-room apartment with a communal kitchen downstairs, so you really only have four square meters to stretch your limbs around between breaks. You’ve pushed your bed aside and shoved an office chair between the bed and the wall, leaving you to squirm between ten centimeters of space. You have no desk because well, the little rectangle space is prioritized for your portable stove and meals. 

The meeting drones on for another hour, until your brain melts to liquid and your limbs feel like Jell-O. Furthering your anxiety as they talk about protocol that never ends up happening, delays that continue to pile up, and the anger that’s been bubbling between the higher ups and little goldfish employees like you. 

When you finally shut off the camera and fling your laptop under the bed, you still feel unsettled. Probably because your work life and home life have merged together, and it’s hard for you to separate work and pleasure. 

Speaking of pleasure. 

Your hand blindly reaches under your bed, looking for the pretty pink oval you purchased last week. Cleaned and ready to use, the little remote-controlled vibrator sits plainly in your palm. 

Needless to stay you’ve been in a bit of a dry spot these past few months. With a fear to go out and meet someone new, you’ve been left with yourself and your fantasies. That’s fine, but lately your old vibrator isn’t cutting it. It’s unfortunate, you think you’re messing up your libido by buying toy after toy, but you’re horny and lonely. 

Linking your phone’s app to the remote, you ignore the messages that have been beeping your feed since early morning. 

[11:21] Jeon: let’s do lunch! 

[11:23] Jeon: hehe i feel like i belong in mean girls. Do lunch💁🏻‍♀️💁🏻‍♀️💁🏻‍♀️

[2:20] Jeon: u loozer. Come eat dinner with us upstairs @6

[2:24] Jeon: dropping off a snack for u 

Another element of feeling horny and lonely? Jeon Jungkook. 

You two shouldn’t have even met each other. You live off crumbs on the first floor while he and his roommates are livin’ it up on top in the penthouse. One day a few months ago he crashed into you while working out, having run up and down the whole flight of stairs at least three times before deciding to collapse on you between the second and first floor. 

Despite the black mask that hugged his sharp jawline, you had felt nothing but attractiveness ooze off of him. Under his hoodie was nothing but curved muscle. He smelled so soft and sweet despite the fact that he was damp with sweat. 

The rest is history. After that day he seemed to show up everywhere, jogging more prominently on your floor and doing exercises at your level’s gym. He says he likes you, likes your company. He’s wormed his way intermittently, whether he’s seeing you struggle with an armful of groceries or when he hears you screaming over an Among Us match (according to Jungkook, the walls are thinner on the bottom floors.) 

The idea of Jungkook doting on you doubly frustrates you. He seemingly appears as the perfect man, unaffected by the stresses of the world. Jungkook’s job lets him work from home anyway, and he definitely had enough room in the penthouse for his own office. He works out, probably has a girlfriend and enough friends for you to gradually phase out of this weird neighbor interest. 

So you ignore his seemingly harmless messages, focusing on getting the settings right on the vibrator. You feel your pussy jolt a little in excitement, watching the silver and pearl pink oval shake in your grasp. You smile a bit to yourself, immediately finding your iPad for your favorite videos and some pillows to support your back. 

Half an hour later however, that excitement soon goes sour. 

“Fuck,” you bite your lip, frustrated tears streaming down your face, “fuck fuck fuck!” 

This isn’t a set of explicatives out of pleasure, unfortunately. 

No matter what you do, you won’t cum. You can’t cum. Barely wet, hardly a drop glossing your folds. You don’t even want to bother getting out the lube at this point because you are so disappointed. 

The vibrator is going at the highest setting, one that your neighbors can probably hear if they were home at this time of the day. You cease to care at this point, because the job is undone because you haven’t come undone. 

You don’t know why this is happening. Maybe it’s because you’ve had the liberty to touch yourself in complete silence, now that your neighbors have been confined to their homes indefinitely. Maybe it’s because it’s been so long since you’ve relied only on your touch, that your body is tired of the monotony and needs more.

You bang the heels of your feet against your flimsy mattress, feeling whiny and utterly dissatisfied. Pulling the vibrator from your clit, you glare at the infuriating toy.

“You’re supposed to be helping me out of my dry spell,” you chastise, throwing the toy across the bed, sliding onto the carpet, “I get you’re not Jeon’s dick, but you gotta help a sister out.” 

With a sigh, you fall into a bout of exhaustion. Not from a round of orgasms, but from the week’s stress and no way to let it out. 

You wake up bleary and disoriented, practically melding through the mattress. The sky is pink and blue, washed in a sea of corals and purples. It comes from the incessant banging. 

“Stop it,” you whine more to yourself than whoever dares to disturb your sleep, pulling up your panties and a pair of navy dolphin-trim shorts. “Whoever you are I’m comin’ so stop!” 

Swinging the door open in two strides you’re met with a chipper Jeon Jungkook; looking all cute and sweet in his big hoodie and smelling like a rosebud. 

“It’s 6:30,” he narrows his eyes playfully at you, “dinner’s in the oven.” 

“You left your oven on,” you deadpan, turning around to grimace at the mess that’s your one-room apartment. 

“Yes, so we have exactly ten minutes before my kitchen explodes in flames,” Jungkook chirps, closing the door behind you. 

You don’t even bother to tell him to excuse the mess, ignore the pile of bras hanging on your vanity and the unpacked groceries that sit at the edge of your mini-fridge. It’s far too late to salvage your dignity and Jungkook’s too damn polite to call you out on your state of slob. Although, as you pull out a bottle of wine tucked in the back of your fridge you blurt, “I can hear your fingers tingling to clean up my mess.” 

When you turn around Jungkook stuffs his hands in the kangaroo pocket of his hoodie, supposedly to stop himself from cleaning up. With a pout he says, “Can’t help it, Jimin says I’m currently manifesting a strong display of Virgo energy this month. Whatever that means.” 

Jabbing your feet in a pair of slides you follow Jungkook out the door. The hallways are quiet and barren, yet the silence isn’t suffocating as you two pile into the elevator. Jungkook opens the keypad underneath the regular boring buttons, revealing a sleek little set of light-up buttons that have the code to the penthouse. Faaaannnnccy. 

“Tryna look?” he jokes, cupping his hands to block your vision. 

You scoff, “I’m sure it’s something easy like 0000.” 

“You’re wrong. It’s 1234,” he replies cheekily. 

The door dings open and you’re met with yet another door. Jungkook presses his thumb to the biometric scanner, and a pleasant ringer tings in response. 

The penthouse smells like a mix of tonight’s dinner, savory, combined with a cinnamon apple candle. Jungkook is a fan of scented candles, ever since he got a whiff of your lavender vanilla burner. 

“Where’s Taehyung?” you ask, more out of your own anxiousness than anything. Taehyung’s  your buffer, the hyper roommate being someone to distract you from Jungkook’s incessant aura. 

“Dunno,” he shrugs, flicking on the oven light to peer inside. You see the telltale signs of a mean lasagna, the shredded cheese on top crisping to a delicious-looking golden brown, “anyway, you’re my friend first.” 

As grotesque as it sounds, Jungkook always finds his way to worm his way under your skin and find homage there. “Possessive much?” you quirk a brow, folding your arms over your chest even though there’s nothing to hide. 

“What can I say,” Jungkook’s legs stretch out as he squats down to your level, “I really fell for you.” 

“Gross,” you try to convince yourself, ignoring the thudding in your chest, “you technically fell on me, weirdo.” 

Dinner is a quick affair. He cuts slices of lasagna and brings it to the couch, where you’re pouring glasses of wine in crystal glasses. They’re so clean and shiny you can see your reflection in the gold liquid. You grimace at the bottle, normally this would be poured in a mug or your sippy cup, tonight your liquid’s getting a high-end pour. 

You two pull up an old anime to fill up the room, but most of it is spent in playful banter. Jungkook prattles on about his day, showing you all the cool updates he’s achieved during work. An app developer. A very on-brand, lucrative job for him. You love your job but it isn’t nearly as exciting as Jungkook’s, so you just let yourself be supportive and ask questions when needed. 

When the subject of you comes up, you shake your head and stuff your face with another cut of al dente pasta.

“Not interestin’ Jeon,” you mumble, groaning at how delicious his cooking is. What can’t he do? “Is this oregano? Is the secret ingredient toasted oregano—” 

“You’re deflecting.” 

Your shoulders slump, “I’m not very interesting, I tell you everything I do during the week and nothing has changed since March.” 

“Oh, not everything,” Jungkook mutters under his breath. You furrow your brows as his hands stuff themselves in his hoodie pocket. Is he upset you won’t tell him about your work stress? “And you’re very interesting, I’ll have you know.” 

“Yeah?” a small smile tugs on your lips. You sink further into his cottonball of a couch, feeling utterly soft and meldable at his words.

“Very,” Jungkook gets up from the couch, looking down at you, “want something sweet?” 

The prospect of dessert has you excited. Jungkook really is the perfect man, so kind and knows exactly when you’re craving something for your sweet tooth. You move to get up, only for you to sink further between the two large cushions of the loveseat. “Help me, ’m stuck,” you pout.

Jungkook giggles, and holds out his palm, “Hand,” he says simply.

You immediately reach for his larger palm, and you gasp when you feel something cold and soft touch your palm. As if you’ve been burned, you tug your hand back. But Jungkook’s hand is massive, the large ink-painted palm curling around your own, and it’s almost painful the way he clutches your hand so fiercely. 

When he’s sure you’re not going to drop it, he releases your hand. 

Nestled in your palm, is the new vibrator you left on the carpet this afternoon.

“Jeon,” you laugh tonelessly, hating the way Jungkook’s neutral expression mocks you, “you found my USB? Thanks, I know—” 

“Know that you’re having a hard time coming?” Carefully extracting your plate from your lap, he places it on the coffee table before Jungkook cages you between the couch. You shrink further into the plush seat, “I tried being a good neighbor, but you didn’t answer my texts. I heard you when I tried dropping off some snacks before dinner. Didn’t know you were into toys.” 

“Oh, c’mon Jeon. It’s 2020 and we’re confined,” well, in this scenario you’re confined, “everyone has a sex toy.” 

“Hm, I don’t have one,” Jungkook bites the inside of his cheek, pretending to be deep in thought, “so, can you be my toy?” 

Fuck. 

It’s then that you feel the tell-tale signs of arousal. Your eyes widen, innocently surprised at the fact that Jeon Jungkook contained so much power in so few words. You snap your legs shut immediately, sealing any possibility of you dripping down your panties. 

“I heard how disappointed you were, doll,” his arms have no problems as he bends down so he’s eye-level with your crotch, “it was pathetic, really. You couldn’t even cum on your own? You need someone to help you?” 

“N-no,” you cross your arms defensively, frowning, “you–you’re being mean, Jeon.”

“And what, you’re gonna cry about it?” Jungkook smirks, now sitting on his knees. His hands run over the velvety fabric of the couch, making a beeline for your thighs. Gooseflesh rises to the surface, and he immediately presses down to iron out the little bumps that travel across your skin, “I do wanna make you cry, but not because you can’t cum. You’ll cry because of how good I’m gonna make you feel.” 

You gape, clutching the vibrator in your hand. 

A little bit of your sweet, cute Jungkook resurfaces, softening when he notices your lack of response, “If you’ll let me, of course.” 

You finally drag the words from your throat, “I-it’s been a long time since I’ve… been with someone.” 

He tilts his head, “Same here. I just figured we could break that spell together.” 

What are you going to say? No? A dishonor to your sexuality, that would be. Jungkook’s offering himself up on a silver platter, and even though you do wish it was a little more you’ll take the sex. 

You nod, forgetting to speak again. Jungkook chuckles. 

“I want to hear you say it, doll.” 

Doll. Like you’re his little fucktoy, malleable and bendable to all his whims. Fuck, why is that so hot to you? “Yes, I want to have sex with you,” you declare, your voice sounding more breathy than confident, “a-and, you can be mean. If you want.” 

His thumbs press little light indents in your skin, over and over as if fascinated by the way your skin is so soft and gummy in his grip. “Okay,” Jungkook doesn’t hesitate to pull out his phone, jabbing a few things that you don’t see, “let’s do a little test drive, then.” 

In seconds, the little egg vibrates in your touch. He puts it on the lowest setting, a soft buzz echoing in the large living room, then at a bruising pace that forces you to curl your fingers around it otherwise it’d fall. Your eyes flicker over to Jungkook’s, who’s focusing entirely on the way the pink and silver egg moves, dilated in interest. 

“Fuck, and you thought this thing was broken?” he asks, taking it out of your palm and turning off the app. 

“Maybe I’m the broken one,” you admit softly, wringing your shirt. 

Silence seeps. Jungkook looks at you, brows furrowed as if he’s annoyed. “Don’t ever say that,” when you don’t respond, he grabs your chin, and you gasp when he forces you to look at him, “you’re not broken, doll. Everyone’s body is different, and we’re going to discover yours together. Got it?” 

“Y-yes,” you reply immediately, mesmerized by his seriousness. 

“Good,” he slaps the vibrator back in your palm, “and in case you’re wondering, this goes inside.” 

“I know how it works,” you scowl, “but won’t you show me, just in case?” 

“You would like that, wouldn’t you?” Jungkook gets up for good, piling the dishes in his arms and walking to the sink. You immediately miss his warmth, “but I think patience is a virtue. I have a developer meeting with some clients in America a little bit, actually. So just wait for my call, yeah?” 

You frown, looking down at the vibrator in your hands. How much longer would you have to wait? 

It happens at exactly three in the afternoon the next day, at the start of your staff meeting. You’re so tired of the same information being thrown back and forth, coupled with Brian and Jae having to fight over some mundane subject in the itinerary that no one cares about. For goodness sake, it’s Friday! What else would you possibly need to be meeting about? 

You’re wearing a button-down dress shirt on top, no pants on the bottom. Your bare feet slap against the hardwood floor, antsy. It’s been a long day at work and your back hurts, you’re half tempted to dip out of this meeting and hope no one notices. 

Your phone buzzes on your bed, and you blanch. 

[3:01] Jeon: thanks for waiting, doll. It’s time 

[3:01] Jeon: put it in

Shamelessly, your vibrator sits next to your phone, cleaned and ready to go. 

[3:02] Jeon: need help? Answer my call

Making sure that your Zoom call is muted, you quickly answer the incoming phone call. Jungkook and you say nothing at first, waiting. The phone just ticks with the amount of time passing, one minute, two minutes, and so on. 

Mr. Kim drones unknowingly, “So when we do return to live instruction, expect a strict process when returning. PPE must be enforced so our response team will—” 

“How wet were you last night when you went home?” Jungkook asks languidly, speaking over your boss’ voice. 

Your eyes widen, flickering back and forth between the phone and the camera displaying Mr. Kim’s boring speech. 

“Doll, are you hard of hearing?” 

“N-no,” your lips barely move, eyes glued to the camera and plastering an expressionless face, “I heard you.” 

“Then give me an answer,” he says patiently, “how wet were you?” 

“Very wet.”

“Little more detail.” 

“Soaking wet,” you flush, thankful that your work laptop can only stream in 360p. “I haven’t gotten that wet in such—such a long time. My pussy was practically clinging to my underwear when I washed up that night.” 

A heady, heavy groan resonates through your phone. You feel that voice straight into your panties, jolting the nerves awake. 

“Fuck, you have a way with words, don’t you?” Jungkook chuckles breathlessly, “c’mon, touch yourself for me. Swirl your fingers around your clit, slowly.” 

It takes a second for you to position yourself, spreading your legs in a way that your coworkers don’t question why you’re moving so much. A quick scan over all the tired faces says that you’re okay. Shyly, you press your fingers against your clit, doing as he says. 

“Oh,” you say more to yourself than him, feeling the wetness already coating your fingers. This is earlier than usual. 

“What?” 

“I’m already wet,” you say, amazed, “I haven’t gotten wet this quickly in a long time.” 

He scoffs, “If you’re so wet now, shove it in.” 

You frown. You did tell him to be mean. But the idea of him telling you what to do, giving you all the porn-worthy experiences to accomplish has you relenting. Discreetly grabbing the egg from the bed, you bring it down to your panties. Swirling the cold metal around your clit, you coat it in your juices. 

It’s still a little too early to be putting anything in, but you can take it. Slowly relaxing, you slip the little egg in your pussy, wiggling it a little to make sure it’s secure. It’s a strange sort of pressure, and it pokes against your clit from the inside, but you enjoy the stretch. 

“It’s in,” you reply softly. 

“Good.” 

You wait. You listen to Jae make yet another speech about the importance of masks and gloves, and then Brian has to interject and say that gloves are literally useless because they spread germs around no matter what. Even though everyone else is muted, you can practically feel the misery seeping through the screen. For a second you almost forget about Jungkook on the line. Why isn’t Mr. Kim stopping them? This is the thin line stopping you from the weekend, unbelievable! 

“Eep!” you jolt in your cheap seat, the egg buzzing in your pussy. Your hands fly out, gripping the edges of your computer. 

It hits different when Jungkook is in control. Knowing that with a flick of his thumb he can have you careening, whining for more or less depending on how hard he wants you go. Your folds hug the egg, nestling it a fleshy grip as it brushes against your clit the more you squirm. 

“You look so pretty, trying so hard to hold in your moans,” Jungkook says wondrously from the other line. 

“W-what?” you frown, “you can see me?” 

And immediately, you go to your trackpad to fish between the hundred-and-one employees also in this call. At the very end, you see a very simple name with no mic or camera: Jeon JK. He’s here. 

“Worked in IT, doll. Know a thing or two,” he says, “now, tell me. What are you thinking about right now?” 

“Y-you,” you mumble shyly. 

“So,” Mr. Kim finally ends that part of the meeting, thank goodness, “what’s everyone’s plans this weekend? I’m going apple picking with a couple of my friends from college. Hoseok is a bright bean who loves to take long walks—”

What the hell. You squirm uncomfortably in your seat, hyperaware that Jungkook’s watching your every move. You make glossy, stubborn eyes at the camera, trying not to move when he jacks up the vibrator to a higher setting. 

Jae’s of course the next employee to unmute his microphone, “Well, me and the bae are going house hunting…” 

“Fuck!” you cry, moving the computer to the left so you can pretend you’re picking up something. But in fact you're leaning your head against your mattress, frustrated. “I don’t fucking care about your weekend plans, Jae! Shut the fuck up! You wanna know my weekend plans?” Jungkook’s laughing at you from the other line, but it only spurs you on, “my plans are fucking my super hot neighbor! He’s a hundred times more interesting than you and he’s going to make me come a hundred times this weekend—oh fuck!” 

Your fingers latch onto your panties, drawing random squiggles and letters between the fabric. You’re damp, soaked to the core. You need some sort of friction, a reprieve from this hellish week.

“You flatter me, doll,” Jungkook is definitely grinning through the phone, you can practically hear his shit-eating grin, “I think you deserve a reward. As soon as you put the camera back on your pretty face.” 

Quickly, you sit up to put the camera on you again. Once again, the employees are in a daze, listening to whatever the next person gabs about their weekend. Even though you can’t really see it, you’re sure Jungkook has a 1080p camera upstairs that shows off your blotchy face. You moan a little bit, lips closed as the egg buzzes against your pussy lips. 

“You’re so cute, doll,” Jungkook praises, “you look so professional, holding it in. What could I do to make you unravel? Hm, what if you imagined the taste of my cock on your lips? Fuck, I’d love to slap your cute little face with my cock, baby doll–”

“y/n?” Mr. Kim calls your name, and you freeze, “what about you? Any plans this weekend?” 

Jungkook doesn’t sound angry that your boss has inadvertently cut him off. “Answer him, doll. Be a good little employee.” 

Like a zombie, you move towards the unmute button. “I–I uh,” you shake your head, trying to formulate a coherent response, “I’m going on a date this weekend.” 

Jungkook jacks up the vibrator to high, and your legs are shaking. 

“Awh, a date!” Mr. Park unmutes himself, practically shoving the camera in his face, “how much do you like the lucky lad or lady?�� 

“I like him uh—ah—” you pretend to think, covering a hand over your mouth to hide the fact that you feel your orgasm fast approaching, “I like him a lot!” you finally blurt, “I’m, uh, really excited to see him.” 

“Best of luck to you,” Mr. Kim says brightly, “so Jimin, any news on those investors you had dinner with this weekend? I heard a lot of positive things…”

You immediately mute your mic, and pretend to lag as you fumble around with the camera. Shoving the laptop to the side once more you groan into your sheets, “Fuck—fuck yes—” you moan, shaking your head as you dip your fingers into your panties. The vibrator still continues at its bruising pace, spurring you to a high you haven’t peaked to in months.

“Good job,” Jungkook says simply, “could barely notice that you have a little helper fiddling around your dripping pussy.”

“J-Jeon,” you cry, “I’m, ’m gonna cum.” 

“Yeah?” Jungkook eggs you on, “you’re gonna cum around that cute little vibrator? Gonna soak it in your juices?” 

“W-wish it was your cock I was soaking,” you whisper truthfully, letting your orgasm take you at the thought. Your folds flutter around the vibrator, bringing you to a level of sensitivity you’ve only dreamt of, “Ah, yes, Jeon. It feels s-so good!” 

“Yes baby,” Jungkook groans through the line, “feels good, huh?” 

Mr. Kim interrupts for the last time, “And with that, I think our meeting is adjourned. Have a wonderful weekend! Stay safe and—” 

You slam the laptop shut, grabbing your phone and keys. “I’m going up,” you mutter impatiently, already jabbing your feet in a pair of slippers and locking the door to your apartment behind you. 

“I’m waiting,” he replies, eagerness trimming his voice. 

“Password?” you ask quickly, jabbing the elevator door shut once you step inside. Thank goodness you’re alone, you think as you pull your dress shirt further down your ass. 

“Did you forget already?” he teases, “I told you, it’s 1234.” 

Thankfully, the doors zip you up straight to the penthouse. The connection is always a little spotty in elevators, and you sigh longingly when you feel the buzz jolt and leave it’s momentum, quickly losing its rhythm between your dripping folds. Once you get to the top and the elevator doors open the second door immediately swings open, revealing a soft but aroused-looking Jungkook. He looks fresh from the shower, absolutely radiant and delicious looking. 

You don’t hesitate to run up to him, and Jungkook immediately cups his face in your hands, pressing his lips to yours. 

You’re practically on your tippy-toes, and you squeak against his lips when he hooks his arms around your shoulders, immediately lifting you up. You wrap your legs around his trim waist, not wanting to stop kissing him. He’s like the sweetest ambrosia, a taste you can’t get enough of. 

The connection to your vibrator has resumed, and you can’t help but grind helplessly under Jungkook’s clothed abs as he carries the both of you to his bedroom.

“N-need you to fuck me,” you bury your head in the crook of his neck, pressing quick kisses to his jawline, “I want you s-so badly.” 

“Hello to you too,” he husks, shutting the bedroom door with his foot. 

Jungkook drops you unceremoniously, and your limbs splay out on the fresh bedsheets of his feather-soft mattress.

“You look gorgeous like this, doll.” he sighs longingly, a hand going under your buttondown to press against your soaked panties. His hand lingers on the way your pussy moves in tandem with the vibrator. 

“J-Jeon please I can’t take it—” 

“Stop calling me that,” he snaps, hands leaving your skin.

You whine at the loss of contact, “Jeon, no. Jungkook. Kook, my Kook. Please, I need you.” 

That gets him going. His pretty chocolate brown eyes zero in on you, and he immediately shucks off his shirt and sweatpants, “How much do you need me?” he asks, pulling out his phone and pressing some buttons, “how much do you need your Kook?” 

The vibrator stops. You cry out in frustration, unsure if it’s because it’s off or because Jungkook’s taking too damn long. “I need you so much, Kook,” you warble with a pout, moving to undo the top buttons of your dress shirt to reveal your cleavage, “honey, you can have me all you want later today. I want you to slap my face with your dick, edge me until I cry, anything. I’m all yours, I’m your little doll. But please for now, I need to feel you inside me.” 

“Say no more,” his lips latch onto your neck, and you sigh at the skin-to-skin contact. His hand fiddles under your shirt, clutching a breast and slapping it so hard it bounces back and forth, “fuck, you’re so pretty.” 

His hand moves to your plain cotton panties, immediately shucking them off, “doll, you really are dripping,” he’s impressed, surprised when he has to untack the fabric from your glossy legs. He hangs the panties on his wooden headboard, a little ornament for him to jack off to later. 

His fingers brush over your folds, wasting no time to slip the vibrator out. He holds it between your faces, forcing you to stare at the pearly substance that coats the entirety of the egg. “Mm, tasty tasty,” he cooes, pink tongue darting out to lick a long strip across the oval. 

You tug him closer, pressing his lips to yours. He tastes a mixture of his own saliva and your arousal, and you grind helplessly against him. You feel how big his cock is, rock-hard and trying very diligently not to bust. He must have a crazy amount of control, and it drives you nuts. 

“Kook,” you frown, bumping your crotch with his.

“Impatient, good thing I am too,” he shucks off his boxers while you unbutton the rest of your shirt, “knees and hands, doll.” 

You don’t care how or what way he’ll take you. Fuck, he could bend you into an Auntie Anne’s pretzel and you’d comply. 

Arching your back so your ass is in the air, you wiggle around, hoping he’ll take the bait. That’s when you sigh, feeling the tip of his dick brush against your wetness.

“Soaking my cock already, baby,” he says, “you’re so good to me.” 

And finally, finally, he slips in. You don’t even care that it stretches you a little too far and too long, it’s been too damn long since you’ve had decent dick and Jungkooks far more than decent. 

He goes at a quick pace, finally showing how impatient he’s been all this time. Your moans and groans fill the room, a symphony of pleasure and pain as he stretches your walls to the brim. You hold a pillow to your chest, feeling woozy at the way his fat cock stretches you out. 

“F-fuck yeah,” the pace is hard, you practically feel it in your belly, and you love it. “You feel so fucking tight, baby,” he’s all up in your ear, kissing the lobe briefly, “I love the way you suck my cock back in.” 

“Kook,” you press your ass back, “harder, please. I’m your little doll, right? Y-you can fuck me however you want, as hard as you want! Please, ah—! Use me!” 

You cry out when he slips from your folds, immediately flipping you on your back. He wastes no time to wet his dick, lifting one leg over his shoulder to have you deeper. This position is far more intimate, and your noses are practically touching as he thrusts into you. 

You can’t believe you’re in bed with Jeon Jungkook. This must be a dream, a really great, really long wet dream. You crumble in his grip, and you lift a shaky hand to run through his thick black strands. 

“Why’d you make me wait so long?” you cry, staring right into his glittering eyes, “why couldn’t you come for me after your call last night?” 

“Why’d I make you wait?” he grits, crushing the flesh between your hip bones so he can have more leverage to pound into you, “why did you make me wait? Since March, I’ve wanted you. I told you I liked you, told you I fell for you.” 

“T-thought it was a joke,” you warble pathetically, breasts bouncing at his relentless rhythm.

“You think th-this is a joke?” for further emphasis, he glides slower, making you feel just how large and thick he is against your folds, “I want you, doll. Y-yeah, fu-fuck. Want to feed you every day, feed you lasagna, feed you with my cum, make you happy.” 

“I—I want that too, Kook,” you’re a pile of pink mush, and you feel your eyes prick from the overwhelming emotions that have washed over both of you. “Sh-shit, Kook. I think, I think I’m gon’ cum again.” 

“Good, you first,” his hand plays figure 8s with your precious pearl, seeping with arousal and coating his cock in delicious lubrication. 

It doesn’t take long for you to cum. You’re holding him as tight as you can, nails digging into his shoulders as you clench around his cock. Jungkook cums shortly after, and you keen at the sensitivity when his hot cum coats your walls. “Baby doll,” he exhales, thrusting lazily. The both of you feel your combined arousal drip between the two of you, onto your skin and onto his sheets, “y-you’re amazing.” 

His softened cock slips out of you, and his hands immediately reach over to swirl around the heady cream over your engorged pussy. You moan when he brings his fingers to your lips, “Open, doll.” 

It tastes salty yet sweet, and you suckle around his finger with a cute little pop. Jungkook grins brightly, feeling like he won the lottery. 

“Are my walls that thin?” you pout, pressing closer to him when he pulls the blankets to your chest. 

“Very,” Jungkook nods with a chuckle, tucking the two of you in, “now get some rest, doll. You presented a lot of offers to me earlier, and I intend to go through with them.” 

You smile into his chest, melty and feeling utterly sated. 

[wannabe-fic-writer]

WandaNat x Reader : Inhale pt. 2

Summary: She never ceases to surprise you.

Warning: Smoking, Cursing, One Suggestive Joke

Word Count: 1,998

Part 1

* * * * * *

The white paint stares back at you as you lay on your bed. Your view of the ceiling is obscured by the red ball you toss up into the air. It gets slightly smaller as it moves away from you, then larger as it falls back down. 

Your hand catches it and throws it back up into the air, repeating the same process as the tv plays on monotonously from the corner of the room.

Boredom has been washed over you for the past few days. Your girlfriends went on a mission last week. You were able to pass the time during the first week, keeping yourself distracted by hanging around the team, training with Steve, going for a run every time your fingers twitched towards the cigarettes you had hidden in your closet. All of that was failing to work right now.

It seems, though, that you don’t have to suffer through it much longer. F.R.I.D.A.Y chimes up after hours of quiet with an alert that Natasha and Wanda were back and heading to the room. 

You instantly perk up, pushing yourself to a sitting position on the bed and glancing at the door frequently, ready for your girls to walk in. Except they don’t.

The gleeful, happy to be home, response you were expecting is replaced by their clearly upset demeanors. A frown sits on Wanda’s face like you’ve never seen and Natasha’s expression remains neutral. 

They don’t acknowledge you save for a glance in your direction. Both of them go into the closet and quickly change into more comfortable clothes. In an instant afterwards they’re leaving out. And you’re left beyond confused.

With the possible reasons for their behavior and clear attitudes in your head, you don’t take offense to it. You give them some time to cool off, going back to tossing your ball in the air and catching it as you watch tv. 

Around an hour or two later you decide they’re fine now, or at least fine enough to talk to. So you get up, heading first to the kitchen to grab a bottle of cold water and then to the general training room. 

The sound of familiar huffs and the pounding of fists against a leather bag let’s you know your assumption was right. Your redheaded love is off to the fair side of the gym, headphones in her ears as she beats on the punching bag. 

You smirk at the sight of her. Not only do her yoga pants and sports bra look great on her, you always find her focused and slightly aggressive expression kind of hot. She glances at you as you approach and you know she can hear you despite her headphones.

Stopping behind the bag, you lean on it, showing off your smirk to the woman.“ If you really want to work off your frustrations I can think of a good way to do so.” Natasha grunts, rolling her eyes and focusing on punching the bag. 

With a sigh, you move to her side, gently taking her taped up hands and moving in front of her. Forest green eyes look into yours and you give her your best encouraging smile. She knows what your silent question is and sighs.

“The mission went south. We suffered a civilian casualty and others got hurt.” Her expression and tone remain neutral but obviously she’s upset about this. It isn’t her first time dealing with this kind of thing from a mission but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t hate every bit of it. 

“I’m sorry to hear that baby.” You raise your hands to her arms and gently rub them, squeezing a little in between.

Natasha’s heart warms at your soft comforts.“ I’ll be okay. Wan is more torn up than I am. She-” The woman shakes her head,“ she blames herself.” 

You frown, prepared to ask for more details. Then you figure you can ask the girlfriend who’s more deeply affected by it. 

“I’ll go talk to her.” Natasha nods at your words.“ You gonna be okay?” A teasing smile forms on your lips.“ I know you’re my super tough ex-assassin but I’m here if you want to talk.”

Her lips tug up in the corner at your teasing words, but it quickly becomes a sincere smile when you offer your ear. Slowly reaching up, she runs the pad of her thumb along the apple of your cheek.“ I’m okay detka. I’ll let you know if I need to talk. Or your other services.” 

You chuckle softly and nod. Leaning forward, you press a soft, quick kiss to her lips and part, heading off to find your other girlfriend. The not so tough witchy one you love just as much. 

Finding the woman proved to be a little harder than you thought it would be. She wasn’t in any of the places you thought she would be in: the library, the theater, the common room. You wrack your brain for ideas as to where she is and when the last place pops into mind, you can’t believe you hadn’t thought of it first.

It’s a quick jog to the elevator and an even shorter ride up to the top floor. From there you take the stairs up to the roof. 

She’d stolen this spot from you a few months after you started dating. She and Natasha found you up there smoking once and through the year and a half she would find you up here, sometimes sneaking a smoke when you shouldn’t be. 

Her long brown tresses fall down her back freely, the rest of her beauty hidden as she faces away from you. Though you still find her insanely cute that she’s in your hoodie and some stretch pants. 

The long slow straightening of her form clues you in on her deep breath, her body relaxing as she lets it go. You only get a little confused when she pauses and does it again. A thought that you’re unsure of, but the physical cues make you curious. The familiar movement of her arm, the deep breath, the pause. 

“Wan?” You call with an indescribable look on your face. 

Your brunette girlfriend’s shoulders drop and she turns to you. Immediately your eyes focus on the small cylinder in between her fingers, watching as it rises and rests between her lips. 

She takes a quick pull, pauses, let’s a little smoke go, then it all comes out in a straight shot that disperses in the air. It’s such a smooth combination of actions that leaves you wondering if she’d done this before. 

Deciding to hold your comment on that until after she’s completely calm, you take a different route. Approaching her still pacing form, you cross your arms and ask,“ was it that bad?” 

A snort leaves her lips and she takes another drag.“ Worse.” 

“Tell me.” Your hand reaches for her free one and you pull her towards you as you sit on the ledge of the roof. 

Her hand squeezes yours. Your eyes drop from her green ones to her lips as they wrap around the cylinder again, cheeks caving a little, then her lips puckering slightly as she pushes the smoke out. 

“I heard Natasha get hurt,” she starts, fingers once again tightening around yours,“ I looked away for a split second and he got away. We caught him but not until after he shot the tires out on a car. It flipped and crashed into another one.” Her jaw clenches, eyes glossing with tears.“ He hurt a man and his son and- and killed a woman.”

A heavy sigh leaves your lips and you stand, pulling her a little closer to your form. You’d been down this road a number of times. Being on the Avengers team since the beginning almost, you know exactly what it’s like to make a mistake and have others pay for it. It was a deep hole that never ceased to make you hate yourself. But you didn’t want Wanda feeling that way. 

“Hey,” you reach a hand up to cup her cheek, looking into her eyes,“ I know that it hurts. And it’s easy to blame yourself. But it’s not your fault. He made the choices that resulted in that woman losing her life, not you.” 

“But I’m supposed to be the hero. I’m supposed to save people. And I didn’t.” Her accent thickens as she gets choked up, eyes glossing over.

You sigh, taking the cigarette from her hand and putting it out on the ledge, then pull her into your arms. Her head rests on your shoulder and her hands slip up to your shoulder blades.“ You are a hero. A great hero. However, you’re not a perfect one. None of us are. It sucks in situations like this but you can’t save everyone no matter how much we want to. It doesn’t make you a bad person or any less of a hero.”

From the flicker of emotions in her eyes, you can tell it’s still going to take some time for her to cope with this. Still though you see a glimpse of that soft look and you can also see that she believes you to a certain extent.

Raising your hand, you gently push the corner of her lips up. She whines and turns her head away, noncommittally pushing at your side. It makes you laugh and she presses her forehead against your chest.

“Wanna tell me where you got that cigarette from?” You ask. 

She pulls away, producing a pack of cigarettes. Brows furrowing, you flip the top up and count the cigarettes inside. There were four missing.

“Did you smoke four whole cigarettes before I got up here?” An incredulous tone laces your words, disbelief flooding your system. 

Has your habit rubbed off on her? You know she and Nat found it attractive but did that lead Wanda to try it? It’s a terribly unhealthy habit, which is why your girlfriends wanted you to stop, and you certainly didn’t want Wanda getting into it.

“No, I didn’t smoke four. I got these from your boot in the closet,” she tells you.“ Which means you smoked them.”

“I-” you try to think of what to say.“ That was over the course of a few weeks. I haven’t had one in months though.” You know you didn’t need to give her an explanation but you wanted her to know you were still doing well. 

Wanda and Natasha were very well aware of your progression towards quitting. They could even tell the difference in your behavior. Both women were incredibly proud and admittedly you were proud of yourself as well. You had confidence you would be able to completely quit in the fairly near future. 

The younger woman smiles softly at you,“ I know you haven’t. And you don’t have to worry about me starting. It’s actually very nasty and I didn’t feel it did anything for my stress.” 

“Good. I don’t want you forming an addiction and I don’t want to die if Nat found out you’d started by smoking my cigarettes.” 

“She knows now.” 

Nearly jumping a foot in the air, you turn around to see your other girlfriend smirking a little at you. A nervous chuckle leaves your lips and you scratch the back of your neck. 

Rolling her eyes, Natasha steps to the side to stand beside you and Wanda. Her hand slipping into yours, the other held up towards Wanda. 

Wanda sighs and places the pack of cigarettes in Natasha’s hand. The redhead pockets them then takes the younger woman’s hand.“ Neither of you smoke again.” She states plainly. 

Looking at Wanda, you both nod.“ Never again Miss Romanoff.” You and Wanda say simultaneously, bright smiles shown to Natasha.

It’d be harder than that for you but not impossible. Especially not with the support and encouragement of the two women you loved and needed the most.

* * * * * *

Taglist: @owloftheshadows​ @natasha-danvers​ @blackxwidowsxwife​ @yumusak-yastik​ @b-5by5​ @fayhar​ @lostandsearching​ @iliketozoneout​ @ecruzsalaz

[baroquebucky]

one and only

a/n: hi guys !! this one shot is inspired by this song by cuco ! I hope u all enjoy,, I went overboard again,, pls tell me what u think :] lyrics are in bold !

in which bucky slowly but surely falls for you

word count: 1.9k

masterlist

I hope that you wanna get to know me

Bucky smiled at you from across the coffee shop, both of you stealing glances at each other for the past hour. Finally mustering up some courage and walking to your booth.

"hi" he had breathed out, a smile on his face as you looked at him with wide eyes, a smile quickly breaking across your face.

"hi" you smiled, extending your hand out for him to shake, "y/n."

Bucky shook your hand quickly, pink dusting his cheeks, "I'm bucky."

"do you wanna sit? I can move some stuff so you have some room" you spoke quickly, fumbling as you moved all your homework and notebooks to the side, stacking them on top of each other.

Bucky slid into the booth with a soft smile, quickly striking up a conversation, flirting with you the whole time.

"I have to go soon" you frowned, putting all your stuff away as bucky got up from the booth. He held a hand out, helping you up and paying for both of your drinks and snacks.

"I had a really nice time" bucky flashed you a smile, your ears heating up.

"I- uh yeah I did too" you replied, looking at your feet as the two of you walked out of the coffee shop.

The two of you exchanged numbers, a bashful grin on both of your faces as you parted ways.

"text me when you get home" you had told him out of habit, blushing when you realized you had only met him today.

"I mean you don't have to" you added, fumbling with the string on your backpack.

"only if you do the same" he replied, a smirk on his face as your mouth formed an 'o' shape.

Bucky had texted you first, making your heart flutter. exchanging a few texts that night, bucky decided to get real brave.

I hope we can hang out again soon :)

And sure enough you did, meeting up at his favorite coffee shop only three days later. Getting to know each others interests.

As time passed you and bucky became closer, getting lunch together, texting each other often, having late phone calls almost everyday.

baby hit me up if you get lonely

You and bucky never really opened up to each other, even after one month of your little coffee and lunch dates. And so there you were, staring at your bedroom ceiling with an empty heart, dried tears on your face.

Your phone vibrated next to you, lighting up the room. You let it ring, not having enough energy to pick it up.

Bucky grew worried, you never just left him hanging like that, you always replied with why you didnt pick up within minutes. It had been an hour already.

everything okay ?

your phone buzzed and you looked over, seeing his missed call and texts. Sighing you replied, not wanting to bother him.

yea, just tired

Bucky frowned, his stomach twisting as he read your reply. Thinking for a moment before he texted you once again.

im here if you need me or need anything

Your bottom lip quivered, fresh tears streaming down your face.

do you think you can come over

your heart was heavy, you were stressed, tired and you wanted someone to tell you it was gonna be okay, instead you were alone in the dark, in an empty apartment with only the sounds of the city keeping you company.

on my way

Bucky was sweet. Bucky was caring and he was everything good in the world. Listening to you as you cried, dumping all your worries out into the air, rubbing your back and handing you tissues, getting you water.

He listened, he reassured you and he helped you through it, never being pushy and always reminding you that you were strong enough to get through it.

"and if im not?" you had whispered, looking at the floor with teary eyes.

"then im here to fight for you."

I know im not confused, my feelings here are true

Bucky opened up to you a few nights later, after ignoring your texts all day you showed up at his apartment, snacks in one hand and coffee in the other.

You listened to him vent, letting out all he had bottled up, all his guilt, his regret, his pain, everything.

You didnt judge him, you just got up, sat closer to him and hugged him, holding him tightly. Bucky relaxed in your arms, burying his face in your shoulder and letting himself cry, allowing himself to be vulnerable for once.

You woke up in each others arms the next morning, blushing when you both realized.

Bucky was red, you were about to start sweating, telling him you were gonna head home and would text him when you arrived.

After that he found himself more nervous around you, butterflies when he saw you. For the first time in decades he found himself styling his hair more and putting effort into his outfits.

on gloomy days like these wishing you were next to me

You sat on your couch alone, rain hitting your window steadily. You sent a text to bucky, asking him when he would be back from a mission he got dragged along. He replied quicker than you expected, your heart beating a little faster.

just a couple more days :)

okay hurry back safe I miss u :/

Bucky choked on his own spit at your text, Sam looking at him as if he was insane. Bucky ignored him, replying to your message

I miss you too dollface

You read the text over, squealing and jumping around at the pet name, face hot and stomach fluttering.

when im feeling puzzled, you put me back together

Bucky frowned, barely listening to you explaining a documentary you watched the other day.

"buck?" you asked, setting down your phone and looking at the super soldier, worry in your eyes.

"sorry I- what about the jungle?" he questioned, trying to push away his thoughts.

"talk to me James" you pleaded, hands moving to hold his own.

A few moments passed, quiet as bucky gathered his thoughts, tears welling in his eyes before he blinked them away and began talking.

"what if a part of him is still there? what if im not who Steve thought I was? what if im not what people want me to be?" bucky looked at you, teary eyed and broken.

"you're free bucky" you told him, scooting closer to him and he nodded.

"Steve would be proud of you, I mean look at you, you have a furnished apartment, you have friends, you're working with sam, you're building your life" you spoke, smiling at him.

"you shouldn't care what others want you to be, be who you want to be. Be who you are now" you squeezed his hands, letting him gather his thought as you stopped talking.

"am I good?" he mumbled, a small frown on his face.

"you are" you replied without hesitation.

"you like me as who I am now?" you nodded.

"me too" he smiled, leaning his head on your shoulder, your fingers brushing through his hair.

I wanna be your one and only

Bucky finally introduced you to sam, you were excited, having heard so much about him.

"what if he hates me" you worried, stopping in your tracks as you paced buckys living room.

"he'll love you doll" bucky reassured you, a knock at the door making your heart thump in your ribcage as you waited for bucky to open it.

And love you Sam did, talking your ear off and chatting with you all night. You struggled to catch your breath between his jokes, stomach hurting as he continued.

bucky hated it. only he had made you laugh that hard, the crinkles by your eyes were reserved for him and his bad jokes. bucky got up quietly and went to grab a cup of water, sam quickly excusing himself and following him into his kitchen.

"you are down bad" sam laughed and bucky rolled his eyes at him, gulping down his water, setting the cup down, eyes softening as he saw you on his couch, replying to some texts.

"you should ask her out soon, or else I will" sam teased, knowing it would push the super soldiers button.

"sam is actually leaving right now!" bucky smiled, sam rolled his eyes before playing along.

"aw, it was just getting good" you smiled, getting up and going to give sam a hug, wishing him a good night before he left.

You and bucky sat on the couch, the sounds from the movie filling the room.

"green isn't your color" you smirked, bucks eyes went wide.

"what?" he questioned, heart racing.

"cmon im not stupid, you were cranky the whole time sam was cracking jokes" you shrugged your shoulders, eyeing bucky.

Bucky was quiet, Sams words ringing in his ears.

"I like you y/n and I've liked you for a while and I-" he stopped himself, not wanting to say something he would regret. You let him think, heartbeat ringing in your ears as his confession rattled around in your brain.

"I want to be the one making you laugh, I want to spend rainy days with you and I want to go to the park with you on sunny days" bucky spoke, looking at you.

"I wanna be your one and only" bucky ended, eyes searching your face as he finished, worried about what you were thinking.

You had the biggest smile on your face, fidgeting with your fingers. Looking up your eyes met his blue ones, stomach in knots and heart skipping a beat.

"ask me then" you stated, never breaking eye contact.

"will you be mine y/n?" he spoke, voice trembling, he fidgeted with his fingers.

"of course" you replied, crashing your lips onto his, smiling into the kiss, breaking out into giggles when he pulled away and peppered kisses all over your face.

and if never is forever, then lets always be together

Sam pat bucky on the back, giving him a reassuring smile.

"Steve would be so happy for you" he whispered to him, a smile breaking onto his face, nodding to sam and looking up.

The whole team was there, sam standing behind him as his best man, your family with bright faces as the music began and everyone looked back.

The doors opened and it felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. His mouth fell open at the sight of you. His cheeks hurt from smiling so hard but he didn't care, tears falling from his face as you smiled brightly at him.

You spent the whole ceremony the same way you had met. Stealing glances at each other and blushing deeply when you caught each other, holding back giggles and brushing it off as clearing your throat.

You were marrying the light of your life, the person who was there for you when you couldn't see the light, the one who always supported you and fought for you when you couldn't. Helping you grow into the person you wanted to become.

He was marrying the light of his life, the person who was his sun during his worst times, shining brightly for him and picking him up when he was upset. Helping him become the person he was meant to be.

[andreafmn]

Choices - Part 1

Word Count: 3,913

Requested: by me; inspired by a TikTok POV

Story Description: After the snap (Y/N) and Steve decided to shift their friendship into a romantic relationship. After the Battle of Earth, and Thanos’s ultimate defeat, Steve had to travel back in time to return the stones, but what (Y/N) doesn’t know is he’s not returning. The man leaves to his best friend the hard task to break the news to his lover. But what will happen if Steve returns in an unexpected manner? 

Pairings: Steve Rogers x Reader, Bucky Barnes x Reader

Part: 1/3

A/N: I just gotta say I only have spoiled knowledge of what happens in Endgame because I refuse to acknowledge its existence and I’ll never watch it. Anything I write that is not cannon, whoops. But this one-shot is inspired by a POV I stumbled upon in TikTok and I just needed to write. Had to divide it into two parts because it was getting too long.

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                                                        ***

 It had taken 6 years and losing almost everyone we loved for Steve and me to admit our feelings for each other. After seeing our closest friends dissipate into fine dust we decided life was too short to wait for the right time. 

That was 5 years ago. Our relationship had been solidified as the years went on and the loss of Nat and Tony in the Battle of Earth only bringing us closer.

But something had changed. These past few days Steve had grown distant and quiet, only acknowledging me when we were in our bedroom or stuck in training. All I could attribute it to was that he was nervous about traveling to return the stones. Normally, he would talk to me about what was clouding his mind but nowadays he was acting as if we were strangers. 

Thankfully, I had a friend to occupy my time with. Bucky and I had developed a close friendship since meeting him back when he still was the Winter Soldier. Being part of his recovery was the catalyst to the relationship we have today. Losing him in the blip was horribly heartbreaking but it brought me and Steve closer. Now that he was back, I was able to have someone I could confide in the understood the Captain’s brain. 

“Hey, Buck,” I announced my arrival as I saw Bucky getting some water in the kitchen. “Couldn’t sleep?” 

“Not really,” he sighed. “The nightmares, you know?” 

He was right, I did know. Although I wasn’t blipped I had my own demons I was still battling with. “Yeah, I get it. I’m making grilled cheese, do you want some?” 

“Grilled cheese? At 3 am?” He chuckled. “What’s wrong?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Come on, (Y/N). You only eat grilled cheese at this time when you’re worried about something.”

“You know me too well,” I sighed. “It’s Steve. He’s been really weird this past few days.” 

“Weird how?”

“He’s been kinda avoiding me lately and I don’t know why.” A few tears were threatening to spill, but I did my best to dry them before they fell. “It’s like nothing I do is good enough, like he’d rather be anywhere but close to me. Does he hate me? Is it something I did?” 

Bucky got up from the chair he was sat in and wrapped me in a hug. I couldn’t hold off the tears this time. “There’s nothing you could do that would make that man hate you, he’s probably just in his head about traveling in time.” 

“I thought so, but why wouldn’t he talk to me about it. There’s not a single thing we haven’t been able to talk about up to ‘til now. What’s so important about this that he can’t talk to me about it.” 

“Don’t stress yourself over this, doll. I’m sure after tomorrow everything would go back to how it was.”

Bucky’s POV

And at that time I did believe it. Knowing Steve I really thought he was just nervous about the journey he had to take in the morning. That was until he said he needed to talk with me. 

“What is it, punk? You too nervous?” I chuckled until I saw the serious face he held. 

“I need a favor from you, Buck, and you might not like it.” 

“You’re scaring me, Steve. What’s wrong?” I couldn’t help but think that this had to do with why he was avoiding (Y/N). 

“When I go back today, I’m not coming back in 5 seconds.” 

“What are you talking about, Steve?” 

“I’m going to stay back and have a life with Peggy. This is my last chance to be with her and I’m taking it,” he ran his hands through his face. He knew what he was asking of me and he knew it wasn’t fair. “I need you to tell (Y/N) for me once I’m gone. She’s gonna need someone to lean on and I need it to be you.” 

“You can’t do that, Rogers. It’s not fair to me and it’s definitely not fair to her. (Y/N) loves you with her whole being. This is going to crush her.” He had been ignoring her out of guilt and he was leaving all these feelings behind in a couple of hours, leaving me to deal with the aftermath. “You know, she’s been beating herself over you avoiding her and I thought it was just nerves. But this is a new low; the Steve I know would never do this.” 

“Bucky, I’m sorry. I just think it’ll go over quicker if it comes from you.” 

“What you’re doing is cleaning your hands of a mess you’re making.” The anger was boiling inside of me by now. (Y/N) did not deserve this ending, she did not deserve to have her heart broken in such a cowardly way. 

“Please, Bucky. I don’t think I could tell her face to face.” He took a paper out of his back pocket. “I wrote her this letter, hopefully, it’ll help things to smooth over. Please, Buck, please. You have to believe me when I tell you the last thing I want to do is hurt her.”

I snatched the letter from his hands and guarded it in my jacket pocket. “I’ll do it only because I owe you my life and she’ll need someone once I break her heart for you. But, I get it.” 

“Thanks, bud. I know that for now, it must seem like a horrible thing to do but hopefully in time you’ll see my point of view.” I accepted the hug he offered. Although my head was telling me to be loyal to Steve, my heart was breaking at the thought of breaking (Y/N)’s. 

Before I knew it, Sam, Bruce, (Y/N), Steve, and I were standing in front of the machine that would be the catalyst of inevitable heartbreak. 

3rd person’s POV

“Well, this is it,” Steve whispered. They were standing to the right as Banner made sure everything was ready for Steve’s trip. 

“You know, it’s not too late to back out,” (Y/N)’s hands traveled to his chest. “We can have someone else go.” 

“It has to be me, (Y/N). But I’ll be back before you know it, doll.” His head lowered and left a deep kiss on her lips. They lingered for longer than usual, and she couldn’t help but imagine that there was an underlying message to it. “You know I love you, right? And I would never do anything to purposely hurt you, right?”

“Of course, Steve. I love you, too.” (Y/N) smiled and kissed him once more, allowing him to engulf her in a tight hug. “Be careful, okay? I can’t lose you too.” 

“I will,” he smiled. “Now, I’ve gotta go.”

“I know, be safe.” She smiled once more as she watched Steve get on the machine. She made her way over to Bucky, his arm circling her shoulders. “It’s just 5 seconds, right?” 

“Yup,” he smiled, ignoring the burning sensation coming from the paper inside his jacket. “Just five seconds.”

“Ready, Cap?” asked Bruce from behind the control panel. Steve nodded, one hand on Mjolnir and another on the case that held the Infinity Stones. “Alright, we’ll meet you back here, okay?” 

“You bet,” he responded. Two of the people present knew that it was a lie, but no one else had picked up on it yet. His head was encircled by the helmet and he stared at the two people that meant the most to him in this lifetime. Hurting them was the hardest thing he had to do, but he had been living for everyone else for too long. He decided that it was time to do something for himself. 

“Going quantum in 3, 2, 1,” Bruce announced. A breath hitched in (Y/N)’s throat as the time went down, all she had to do was brace herself for five seconds. Banner hit the button and (Y/N) had to blink various times to fully grasp the disappearance of the man she loved. He had vanished as quick as a thought, one second there and the next just a memory. “And returning in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1....”

Nothing. Bruce clicked the button and nothing happened. The body of Captain America was nowhere in sight. 

“Bruce, what the hell is going on?” (Y/N) spoke up, but she wasn’t sure if her voice was heard. Her mind raced a million miles an hour and she could feel her legs giving out. Had it not been for Bucky’s left arm, she would have crashed to the floor. Bruce stammered with his words, not knowing what to say. “Bucky, where is he, Bucky? Where’s Steve?” 

Bucky knew it would hurt to see her cry, but this was shattering his heart. Her body was falling limp in his arms and the tears were streaming out of her eyes faster than he could dry them. Her words were slurred but he understood the gist of it. She was hurt; she was betrayed; she was beyond heartbroken. 

“Come on, let’s sit down.” Bucky led her to the tent that was propped up behind them. “There’s something you should know.” 

“What is it, Buck?” She sobbed. 

“Please don’t hate me, but Steve is not coming back.” The girl looked up at her friend, not know what emotion she was feeling in the moment. Her tears stopped momentarily, needing to hear the words that would spill from Bucky’s mouth. “Steve decided to go back in time and have a life with Peggy. He needed you to know that he didn’t want to hurt you. He also left you this note.” 

Her shaky hands extended to take hold of the piece of paper Bucky handed her. She dried away the tears that were clouding her eyes and began reading. 

My dearest doll,

 If you are reading this letter, you know I am not coming back. I decided to take hold of the chance to have the life I would’ve had if I stayed in the 40s. I can’t imagine how you’re feeling in this moment, and I’m sorry for all the hurt I know I’m causing you. I need you to know that I never knew I could love someone after Peggy and I’m thankful for all the years we had together. I was in love with you and I still am, but I could not continue on knowing I have a chance to answer one of my biggest ‘what if’s. I could not go on in our life with the weight of my past on our shoulders, you deserve better than that. I hope you can pardon how big of a coward I am being in the moment, I knew I couldn’t do this face-to-face and you deserve at least a worded explanation of why I left. You are strong, amazing, beautiful, and deserving of all the love in the world; I’m sorry I couldn’t provide it. I want you to promise me that you’ll move on and be happy, even if it’s not with me. I also hope you don’t hate Bucky for being the bearer of bad news, he didn’t know until today and I gave him no other choice thant to tell you. If there’s someone that can understand what you are feeling right now, it is him.

I hope one day you will forgive me for this,

I love you until the end of the line.

Steve

She folded the paper back up and broke down once again. Bucky engulfed her in a hug and held her as she shook. “He’s gone, Buck. He went back to be with Peggy. I wasn’t enough for him.” 

“Oh, doll, I’m so sorry.” 

“Guys, we’ve got to head back,” Sam peeked his head through the tent, heartbroken by the view in front of him. “I’ve got her, Buck. Go get the truck started.” 

Bucky released (Y/N) into the arms of Sam Wilson, and left to start the car to head back to the tower. Sam ran his hands over the sobbing girl’s hair trying his best to soothe her. Even though he didn’t fully understand the situation she was in, he got the jist of it. After everything was packed back up, (Y/N) had fallen asleep in Sam’s arms, so he picked her up and laid her on his lap to not wake her. She would be needing all the rest she could get. 

“You guys good back there?” Bucky asked.  

“Yeah, she’s out like a light,” Sam whispered. 

“Good, she’s gonna need all the energy she can get to recover.”

“What happened?” 

“Steve decided to stay back and be with Peggy; left me to tell her the news.” Busky gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles were pale white, his anger building up inside him. 

“Wow, I never expected that from the Cap. I don’t think it’ll be easy for her to move on from this.” He looked down at the sleeping figure in his lap, wiping away the few tears that had slipped out in her slumber. “She might be physically strong, but she’s very sensitive and rarely gets attached.”

“I still don’t understand why he chose to do it this way. The little punk.”

The duo waited until Banner was inside the truck before leaving the spot they were in and back home. Unbeknownst to them, behind the trees, a figure stared at the scene in front of him with a broken heart.

                                                           ***

It had been almost three weeks of robotic movements from (Y/N). She would wake up, sometimes eat, sit in front of a window and stare down the New York skyline; other times she would lay in bed wearing one of Steve’s shirts and sprayed the room with his cologne as she sobbed into his pillow. There were the nights that she drowned her sorrows in a bottle of whatever liquor she could find, until the other members started hiding the bottles. But that didn’t stop her from stashing a couple of bottles in her closet. Nighttime was always the hardest. (Y/N) had grown used to falling asleep in Steve’s arms and being engulfed in his warmth. Now, she thrashed around in a bed that was too big, too cold, and too uncomfortable.

The rest of the team had tried their best to lift her spirits, but nothing seemed to work too well. Sam tried his best to make her favorite meals, which she gave thanks for but rarely ate, pushing the food around in the plate; Bucky tried to entice some emotion by asking her to join him in clearing his list of movies to watch to catch up on the times, but she would zone out for most of the movie; Bruce would ask her to join him in his afternoon reading sessions, but every time she picked up a book she re-read the same page over and over not retaining a single word; Wanda would try her best to get her to partake in normal hygiene practices, which the girl had held off on for a couple of days, only getting her to shower every other day.

(Y/N) was a walking zombie, doing the bare minimum to survive.

But today she had woken up differently, her heart hurting a little less than the other days. She got into the shower, brushed her teeth, and even got dressed in her own clothes. It was three in the afternoon, but she was up. She was detangling her hair when her bedroom door opened.

“You’re awake?” Bucky said, startled to see a clean and awake (Y/N) in front of him. “Don’t mean to sound so surprised, but I came in here with the intention to startle you awake once again.”

The girl chuckled and continued her brushing. “Thought it was time to do something by myself.”

“Here, let me.” Bucky took the brush from her hands and started brushing through her damp hair. It finally smelled of her normal shampoo and conditioner, and not a mix of her hair oils and Steve’s cologne. The smell of strawberries and vanilla emanated from her head and Bucky couldn’t help but breathe in deep. His left hand ran the hairbrush through her hair as his right hand smoothed it down. (Y/N) leaned into his touch and smiled at the comforting strokes he was providing. Unknowingly, Bucky started humming a lullaby under his breath.

“What are you humming?”

“It’s a Russian lullaby I overheard one night while under HYDRAs hold. There’s not much I like to remember from those times, but this I don’t mind.”

“I like it,” she rocked to the movements of his hands and smiled as she listened intently to his humming. She couldn’t see him, but the veteran was smiling at her. It had been the first time she had shown any kind of emotion in the time that had elapsed. He finished her hair in a sloppy braid, not fully understanding the mechanics of the three-strand braid. “Thank you, Buck.”

“How’re you feeling today, (Y/N)?” He finally asked.

“I’m feeling better, don’t know how long it will take to get me to 100% but I’m feeling like a 45% today.”

“That’s good to hear, you know. It’s better than where we started.” He wrapped his arms around her from behind and she leaned into him, enjoying the warmth his body emanated. “So, what do you want to do today?”

“Have not gotten up to that point.”

“Well, Sam’s already cooking up something in the kitchen and I’m on the second movie of The Lord of the Rings, so we can watch that one.”

“Okay, that sounds good.” She smiled at the man that was next to her as they exited her room.

The rest of the team had gathered in the kitchen, working on ways to cheer (Y/N) up when they saw her emerge from the hallway with a small smile on her face. Everyone’s jaw fell open when they saw the girl looking partly human and with a spark of energy. It had been a while since she had resembled the (Y/N) they knew and loved.

“Guys, please pick up your mouths off the floor, your eyes do not deceive you.” (Y/N) joked.

“Glad to see you’re alive, (Y/N),” Sam spoke. “Come have some food.” 

She smiled at her friend and sat next to Wanda as Sam placed a plate of chocolate chip pancakes in front of her. Bucky served himself and her a cup of coffee and added the cream and sugar she enjoyed with her drink. She happily munched on the food as the people around her stared in astonishment.

Thankfully, the staring didn’t last long. Wanda and Sam had a quick recon mission and Bruce had some work to finish in the lab, leaving Bucky and (Y/N) to enjoy The Two Towers in peace. Bucky had the curtains drawn and the movie all set up as (Y/N) took out blankets and made a hole between all the pillows that adorned the couch. The duo settled into their spot and bundled themselves in the blankets, settling in for the 226 minutes of the extended version of the movie.

She wasn’t sure at what point in the movie she fell asleep, but she was woken up by Bucky softly shaking her awake. She mumbled something she didn’t even understand, so Bucky decided to carry her to her bed. (Y/N) had burned too much energy by being around too many people too fast. It didn’t seem like a lot but being around the whole team had taken a toll on her. The sun had started to set and so were the last slivers of happiness she had felt.

Bucky set her down on her bed, tucking the blankets around her. He turned to leave when a small hand wrapped around his right wrist. He looked down and saw a teary-eyed (Y/N) looking up at him.

“Stay, please.” Her voice was barely a whisper and it trembled slightly. She was the vision of the heartbreaking scene that had hurt him three weeks ago.

He smiled softly at the girl and went around the bed to climb in. “Today was hard, huh?”

“Yeah, I thought I was ready to go back to normal, but it took too much out of me. I feel so useless.”

“You are far from useless, doll. You’re hurting, darling, we all understand.” He pulled her in close and laid her head on his chest, the thin layer becoming wet with her tears. “It’ll get better someday, that’s the only thing I’m sure of.”

“How do you know?” 

“Because we all do, after a while we all get better.”

“I wish we knew how long a while was. Everything would be easier.” 

“I know, doll, but let’s take it all one day at a time. Just remember you’re not alone. You have me – and the rest of the team.” He cleared his throat trying to disguise the importance she held in his life. Bucky would have never said anything, but he had fallen for the girl. He held her already in high regard for the care she had given to his best friend, but his feelings had started to shift when she started caring for him while they were on the run.

“Thank you, Buck. I don’t know where I would be without you.” She laid a kiss on his chest and drifted to sleep with Bucky’s arm rubbing circles on her back.

One more week had gone by and (Y/N) had grown used to having Bucky sleep with her at night. He had helped her pack away all the things Steve had left in the room – specifically the cologne that still hunted her, – he started waking her up earlier and making sure she got at least two full meals a days before she went to bed, and he made sure that she didn’t spend her nights crying for a man he called his best friend.

All of Bucky’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed. The remaining Avengers had noticed how the ex-assassin cared for the broken girl, going further than the rest of them did. And his feelings for the girl did not fly by the mind-reading witch that currently stared at him preparing lunch for (Y/N).

“When will you tell her how you feel?” The redhead spoke, casually sipping on a cup of coffee.

“What do you mean, Wanda?” 

“What she means is that you’ve been in love with that girl for far too long and it’s time you confess already,” Sam jeered. “Nothing’s stopping you now.”

“Except for the fact that she’s still reeling from my best friend breaking her heart by going back in time and leaving her to be with someone else. I’m sure she’ll be jumping with joy if I confess right now,” he mocked. “Anyways, how did you know?” 

“You’re not very secretive about it,’’ Sam laughed. “You’re always in a sour mood but magically when you’re with her you become someone else. The White Wolf become (Y/N)’s puppy real quick!’’

“I am not that obvious with it.”

“Okay, lil’ pup.”

“Whatever. Anyways, it’s not the right time for that.”

“When will it be the right time then, Bucky?” Wanda inquired.

“I don’t know. But it’s not right now.”  He plated what he was cooking and headed to (Y/N)’s room. The last thing she needed at the moment was a new relationship, even if that’s all Bucky wanted.