#my mom ran long distance when she was younger and unlike me my parents both really love sports and biking etc.

[yoonia]

About Time // Part 20.5

➬ Character | Jungkook x reader / Jimin x reader (feat. BTS) 

↳ Type/Genre/words | Angst, Fluff, Alternate Universe (Time Travel!au/Time Leap!au, Soulmate!au), Eventual Smut / 9,2k words

↳ Prompts | “What if you find your soulmate… at the wrong time?” - Lauren Kate, Passion

↳ Summary | Be careful for what you wish for, because you may never know how to deal with them once it comes true. What would you do when your wish for a second chance actually came true? But was it really a fulfilled wish? Too many questions lie when it actually happened. Were they real memories? Or perhaps a part of a past life? Was it only a dream all along? Will everything be different this time?

↳ Ratings | Mature/+18 and up

↳ Warnings | LGBT+ conversations, mentions of fighting and alcohol consumption

↳ ⤎ Previous Chapter | Series Index: About Time | Next Chapter ⇢

(Taehyung’s POV)

Song Companion: Teflon Sega - No Turning Back

—First life, year 2005—

My parents loved to take me on car rides ever since I was a little boy.

They had always said it was one of the easiest ways they had found that could calm me down from what they called as ‘one of my moods’—whatever that meant.

In a way, car rides had always felt comforting. It was better to be stuck in a car instead of staying at home, where it felt stuffy and lonely, even if my parents would only drive around the neighbourhood instead of taking me anywhere far. It was still better because looking out the car window allowed me to see everything—the trees we passed by, the land around us and the mountains in the distance—and they were all still better to look at compared to the sight that I could see out my bedroom window. Nothing but the neighbours’ rusty walls and the empty lot behind our house that neighbourhood kids would use to hangout at. Sometimes, my parents would even drive all the way to the next town. Or even further to the next, in which we would stay a bit longer at instead of heading back to where we had taken off from earlier that same morning.

It wasn’t until when I was a bit older when I finally understood what it had truly meant to be driving so far and why my parents would pack up various boxes when we were off to travel somewhere. That sometimes when my father said, “Let’s go for a drive,” it would not always mean that he was talking about driving around the neighbourhood to go sightseeing.

Sometimes, I would pay enough attention to notice when we were not going to return to the same home once the drive ended. Just like how this car ride had felt different compared to the last times I sat there in the backseat of my Dad’s car.

Looking out the window, I immediately knew that this was not one of those rides where my father would be driving me around the block or down to the rice fields and farmlands around where we lived at the time. I already knew which kind of drive this was when it had included my Mom packing most of our things into the car and when I could see the moving truck following us close behind when I looked over the rear window.

It had been a while since we had gotten on a long trip that I thought we would never be taking off again. We had left before the sunrise, and hours had passed but we were still going, passing the villages and small towns, then the long highway. We only stopped a few times to eat and to use the bathroom. Sometimes I would fall asleep and wake up at a new place, but it seemed like we would be on the road for a long time.

I kept my eyes out on the road with my head pressed against the car window, watching the trees flashing by, the old houses and the stores turning into hills before we were passing through more buildings. Then I must have dozed off a bit longer at some point because it was almost dark when we finally stopped.

Really stopped.

I jumped on my seat when the sound of the car doors opening and closing woke me up, then I looked around to see that my Dad had parked the car in front of a house.

“We’re here!” I heard my Mom said, opening the backseat’s door to get me. “Come on, Tae. Let’s take a look at the new house.”

I was still feeling sleepy when I finally stepped out of the car. My legs were heavy and my back was hurting, but I followed my Mom as she walked around the car, rubbing my eyes all the way down from the car. I stopped before we could step onto the porch, looking at the house that looked old, but a lot bigger than the one we used to live in. The walls were made of red bricks, and we had a front yard too with green grass on it, unlike the dry patches we had at the old house.

“Taehyung, come in. Let me show you your new room,” I heard my Mom calling me from the front door. I took one last look at the house before I ran to her, excited and scared at the same time as I walked up the porch and followed her into the house.

Our new home.

“Where are we going?”

“We’re going on a playdate.”

We had been in this new town for a week. My Dad had been busy with his new job, but both me and my Mom had been staying home, unpacking all the boxes and cleaning up the new house. The only times I had seen my Mom not doing anything at the house was when a few neighbours came to visit or when she went out to do some groceries. This was the first time she finally took me out. Her hand was holding mine as we walked side by side on the sidewalk, heading somewhere at the end of the street.

“A what?”

“A playdate.”

“What’s that?”

My Mom reached out to brush my hair with her fingers while she kept the other hand still holding mine. Both of us knew that whatever she did on my hair wouldn’t help much and I would probably get them all messy again in a minute, but maybe she needed to keep herself busy because she seemed more nervous than I was and maybe she figured she could try to keep my hair look tidy and decent before we got to where she wanted us to go to.

“It means you get to play with a new friend while I get to know our new neighbours,” she said, looking almost distractedly when she spoke. I looked up and that was when I confirmed how nervous she was. Back at our old home, we rarely became friends with the neighbours living close by. Most of the people we knew were older people, and some of my Mom’s friends lived a bit far from home, making it hard for her to see them regularly. “You’re going to start school in a week, and yesterday, Mrs Jung from down the street told me that her children are going to the same school as you are. She invited us to visit so that you can get to know them and make friends with them so you can have someone to play with.”

“I had friends,” I said, scrunching my nose. It made my Mom stop, and she kneeled down next to me with a rueful smile.

“I know, honey,” she said, sighing, once again reaching up to brush my hair back again after a breeze made a few strands fall over my face. “I know that it sucks to move away again, but I promise you, you can have many new friends and a lot of fun. Just like how we used to.”

Mom gave me another smile before she stood back up, already continuing the walk. I said nothing as I walked with her, not even to explain that it wasn’t just about making new friends that I was worried about. “Why did we move here?”

“We told you. Your Dad got a new job here,” she said to me while glancing sideways at me.

“What’s wrong with the old one?”

This time, my Mom laughed a little. “Nothing wrong with that one,” she sneered, sighing the same way she would when she was trying not to get angry. I remembered how she kept telling my Dad how much she hated his old job. Because he went away a lot and he was always tired and cranky whenever he came home from work. “Your Dad got himself a better job in this town and there was no way we could have stayed in that old town we lived in. He won’t be away too much now like he did when he was working in that factory since he’s going to be sitting behind the desk more. Our house is also bigger, isn’t it? And the school is going to be better.”

My Mom was getting more excited the more she spoke, and all I did was give her a nod. “Okay.”

Soon, we were standing on the front porch of a house that looked a bit similar to our new house. Except that the front yard had more bushes and flowers and the grass was trimmed and looked fresh, unlike the ones we had in ours, and the walls were painted white. The door was opened only a few minutes after my Mom rang the bell and a woman appeared to welcome us. She looked about the same age as Mom, with a wide smile that looked friendly and it made me feel less nervous about being here. They chatted for a moment before the woman turned to me.

“And this must be Taehyung. Oh, it looks like you’re about the same age as my kids. I heard that you’re going to be at the same school with them, so I hope you kids can be good friends. My son is a bit older, but I think you can get along with him just fine. I know that boys can have a hard time getting along with girls, though I have no doubt that you can get along with my daughter. She’s always good at adjusting to new friends, even if she’s a bit younger. She skipped a year and got into school early because she got bored in kindergarten.”

We walked in with my Mom still holding my hand. I was not completely sure if she was doing that to stop me from running or if she was still nervous about being here. Meanwhile, Mrs Jung continued to talk about her children as she led us all the way to the back of the house.

“Here we are,” Mrs Jung said as we entered the dining room. There was a girl who looked a bit younger than me sitting at the dining table while drawing with crayons, and Mrs Jung immediately called for her attention. “Honey, come here. We have a new friend. Maybe you want to say hi and play with him for a while while I have a chat with Mrs Kim?”

The girl looked up to us and jumped out of her chair. She didn’t even seem nervous when she was walking over to us. I couldn’t remember having any girl as a friend in my old school. Most of them had always stayed away from the boys at school and I had no trouble doing the same. But when she came to me, she showed no sign of turning away or looking at me funny just like other girls did.

All she did was look at me with wide curious eyes, and it really felt like we had known each other already when she raised her hand to me. “Hi, my name is _________. What’s yours?”

School started a few months ago. Overall, I thought it was okay.

Everything was different compared to my old school. Just like everything else in this town compared to the small town we moved out from, the school was much bigger than the one I went to. Most of the students in my class had already formed their groups—another thing that the old school certainly did not have, because, with smaller classes, nobody had any problem getting close to each other. I still made a few friends, though. Not a lot, but it wasn’t like I really needed a lot of friends either.

It was lunchtime when I sat at the edge of the playground, eating the sandwich and handmade kimbab that my Mom made for me. I was glad not to be sitting alone, as I had my new friend sitting beside me. The playdate that my Mom took me to after we moved here had turned out to be a lot of fun. ________ was fun to play with and we would have continued playing on that first day we met if only my Mom didn’t come to call me in for dinner.

After that day, we had gone into a couple more playdates before school started. I was also introduced to her brother, Hoseok, and the three of us would play and hang out together whenever my Mom would take me to visit their house on the weekends. At school, _____ and I shared the same class, and although we didn’t sit together in class, we would always eat together at lunchtime.

“Why aren’t you playing with them?” she asked me while we were watching the boys from our class playing dodge ball in the playground.

I only shrugged after looking over to the field, watching them throwing the ball at each other. “I don’t play ball.”

She snickered. “Yeah, you do. You played ball with Hoseok last week,” she argued, her brows were pinched the same way she would when she grew curious or annoyed.

I scrunched my nose at her. “That’s different. That was football,” I told her, and she shrugged at me in return.

“Still a ball,” she sassed while rolling her eyes at me.

“Whatever,” I said. “Besides, I don’t really get along with the boys from our class.”

“So you’re more okay sitting with a girl,” she said, more like making a statement instead of questioning me.

“What’s wrong with that?”

She looked away for a moment. “I don’t know. The other boys seem to make it a big deal.”

“That’s silly,” I scoffed at her. I didn’t really care about what people think. It never mattered to me anyway because I didn’t even care about what they did around me either. And I never liked forcing myself to get along with people that didn’t like me. “Besides, I like you better.”

She suddenly laughed when she heard me. It was the kind of laugh that made her head fall back, which was actually pretty adorable. “I thought you like my brother a lot more.”

Grinning at her, I just shrugged and bit my sandwich. “So I like both you and Hoseok. Playing with you and your brother is more fun.”

“Right. Of course, it is,” she said, giggling while nudging at my side. “You’re okay if people think you’re weird for hanging out with me instead of the boys?”

“I don’t care,” I told her, shaking my head. “How about you?”

______ looked around before smiling at me and said, “Me neither.”

We continued to eat for a moment before I thought of something. “What if you’re my girlfriend?”

“What?”

I shrugged, but kept my eyes away from her. “Maybe if we become boyfriend and girlfriend it won’t look weird for us to sit together like this.”

She had her nose scrunched when I took a glance at her. “Kids don’t become boyfriends and girlfriends.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, they do. You just don’t know about it yet.”

She pinched her brows again, thinking seriously about it. “Is it because you’re older than everyone else in class?”

“What do you mean?”

“My Mom said that you were supposed to be one grade above me, not share the same class,” she said. Despite what she just told me, she just didn’t realise that she always sounded like an older girl when she spoke like that. “Is that why everyone looks at you weird sometimes?”

I didn’t say a thing. She was not wrong, though. With my parents moving so much and having to change schools each time it happened, it was hard for me to catch up with classes. After constantly going to new places, making new friends, new adjustments, then the last school I went to insisted that I stayed a year behind to catch up on what I had missed. “I don’t know. Maybe. I don’t really care,” I said. And I really didn’t. After a while, I had stopped caring about all the moving and what it did. But some kids always made it a big deal when this older kid joined their class in the middle of the term. Not at the previous school I went to, though. They seemed to think I was cool because I knew a lot more than they did.

“Do you care if I’m older?” I asked her.

I had expected her to at least consider her answer for a moment, but all she said was, “No, I like having older friends.” Then she scrunched her nose as if she had just realised something. “But not too old. Hoseok’s friends are weird.”

A bite of the sandwich almost got caught in my throat when I laughed. After swallowing it down with the cold juice I brought with me from home, I turned to her and grinned. “Fine, if you don’t want to be my girlfriend, then—” I cleared my throat and offered her my pinky finger. That was one of the things I learned from her since we became friends, and I figured it would be the best option to gain her approval when I made the offer, “How about best friends?”

Her smile grew. She seemed confused at first, but she managed to realise that I was serious and gave me her pinky to link it to mine. “The bestest friends!”

I snickered. “That’s not even a word!”

“It is now!”

—First life, year 2017—

There was something about being in the library that I enjoyed most.

The calm and serene air. The scent of books. Then there was some kind of warmth that I couldn’t find anywhere else whenever I was there.

It was fall, and the library had been pretty much packed with students that were trying to catch up with readings and assignments as the midterm was coming closer. Sitting among the students, I had chosen a reading booth on the far corner of the library, and I had my best friend, _______, sitting with me. She wasn’t too big on libraries. She never even truly cared about studying either. But after wasting her freshman year partying and enjoying life on campus, and then getting too focused on her relationship with the prick from one of the campus’ frat house all through sophomore year, she needed to catch up a lot on her studying and I was the one responsible in making sure that she did.

But that day, our agenda was not only about getting her to finish reading her textbooks or finding the materials needed for our midterms.

That day, we were scouting.

“That’s him,” I pointed out across the room just as he passed by, and _____ perked up, her gaze following the direction where I was pointing at until she saw him. I only knew she did when her eyes grow wide with a hint of amusement and appreciation. He really did have that kind of effect on people, whether it was male or female. “His name is Kim Namjoon. A senior of mine on my social study class,” I explained to her, mentioning the class I had taken last semester for my minor.

“Wow—you do have a taste there. He’s hot,” she said as she leaned closer, whispering to me while giving him another look. “—and a bit too handsome as someone who is going to be cutting through people’s brains,” she also added.

I snickered. “Yeah, right,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I thought you like pretty boys better.” I said that because compared to the guy she was dating, Namjoon was the complete opposite. Jungkook was good looking, hence the popularity he had gained all through college. With the kind of smile that girls found cute and a pair of doe eyes that would always make it hard for my best friend to say no to. But Namjoon was tall, with broad shoulders and nice-looking hair. His sharp gaze showed just how smart he was and there was this confidence that he had that could make people look up to him in awe.

The same way I did ever since the first day I met him.

He didn’t seem to work out a lot, but his arms still looked like a tight fit beneath the sleeves of his sweater. And then there were those dimples, that would always show up each time he smiled, making people swoon for him without him trying too much.

“I still have eyes and I can still admit it when I see a handsome man,” I heard her say, before she turned to me. Sure enough, she caught me just as I was looking at Namjoon, again, more appreciatively.

“What?” I looked at her with a frown when she seemed to be looking at me too closely. “Don’t look at me like that,” I whispered at her, but then I noticed the funny looking gleam in her eyes, as if she was seeing something intriguing while looking at me. And whatever she saw seemed to please her. “As a matter of fact, why are you looking at me like that?”

“I don’t know, I just—” She shrugged. “I’m happy whenever you are happy, Taehyung.”

Narrowing my eyes on her, I studied her face, trying to understand just where this was leading to. My suspicion was answered when I saw a hint of guilt in her eyes in place of the curiosity and mischief that she had earlier. “You’re still thinking about my stupid confession, are you?”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s not stupid. It never was and it never is.”

“It was childish.”

“There is nothing childish with love.”

I scoffed. “It would be when I was a 10-year-old thinking that I was falling in love with my best friend,” I told her, lowering my voice and making a sneer as I said this.

Many years ago, when I was only a 10-year-old boy trying to adjust to a new life in the big town and getting into a new school, I had jokingly asked her to be my girlfriend and she had told me no. But then we got even closer after we decided to be best friends and spent more time together, and I started to feel things. All fuzzy feelings that I had seen in the movies or TV shows as something that was called a crush, or perhaps love, where I would feel all tingly inside whenever she was near. So I asked her to be my girlfriend. Again. And then again. Having my request rejected each time because she only wanted to be my friend and she hated to think that she could lose her best friend if she should ever say yes.

That, and also because we were both kids who knew nothing about crushes and love and heartbreaks.

“Taehyung—”

Sighing dramatically, I placed a hand over my chest and acted like I was hurting and I told her, “It wasn’t your fault either that I got my heart broken so early in life. But I’ll never break my promise about staying with you as a friend and take care of you.”

My theatrics had her giggling, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I just hate that she would overthink things sometimes, even when she remembered that period in life. As if she was responsible for how I had turned out to be. It had taken her a little while to be able to cope with it. Not because she couldn’t accept me for who I was, but only because she had been terribly concerned about me after I had told her the truth.

“I know you won’t, and I promise to be in your life as your best friend for as long as you need me,” she told me, giving me a small smile which I returned with my own when I knew how true her words were. How she had proven it many times before, especially during the period of time I had needed her support the most.

I could easily recall how she had been by my side when I came out about my—’preferences’.

It all happened not too long before we graduated high school, and I was outed by force by someone who I had once grown close to, who I had trusted enough to confide in and let them know about my secrets. But then things fell south when it was clear that my ‘friend’ couldn’t stomach the idea that I was interested in both male and female, and that I had dated both all through high school. My best friend, ______, was the one who stood by me, to accept me for everything that I was and had fought together with me tooth and nail. She had opposed to the idea of me telling people about it openly, preferring that I would just stay silent until the rumours would fade so that the spotlight would not fall on me. But I could no longer hide who I was, and I had gained even more courage when Hoseok and his friends came to me with a promise to defend me if anyone would start messing with me the minute I came forward about it.

Both siblings had been my rocks, all solid and true, loyal to the core even when my own family had come close to disown me after I came to them with the truth.

Reaching over the table, she held my hands and gripped them tightly in hers. “And I’m glad you’re still here. And that you are willing enough to be so honest with me about you being—well, you. And that you are falling in love with Kim Namjoon.”

Pulling my hand from her, I rolled my eyes. “I’m not ’in love’ with him, it’s just—” I frowned, trying to figure out what I really felt. Aside from sharing a class, there was no secret that Namjoon had been terribly kind to me. He would come to talk to me after classes, and he had invited me for coffee a few times, though he had never made his intentions clear except that he wanted to get to know me better. I did feel something fuzzy in my belly when he talked to me, but I wasn’t sure if there was anything deep in what I felt for him aside from my admiration for an upperclassman and the fact that I enjoyed the attention he was giving me.

“—a crush, maybe. That’s all. And he’s nice to me.”

She raised her brows and gave me a knowing smile. “Oh, he’s ’nice’, hmm? Yeah, that’s always how it starts.”

I scoffed at her, knowing that it was also how her boyfriend managed to get under her skin. And, apparently, in a whole lot more as well, judging how crazy she was over him. But I was not about to talk about that prick. “Whatever, weirdo.”

After catching the sight of Namjoon walking out of the library with a wink at my way, we both fell into a long talk about things. We had been out of the loop with the party scene on campus, being all caught up in studying and all, but it didn’t stop us from hearing things through our classmates. Instead of comparing notes about our study session, we started comparing notes on the rumours that had been spreading around us. We were talking about her former flatmate who had begun dating a pre-med student, someone who was completely the opposite of the frat boys she had normally hung out and sometimes hooked up with, when I was reminded of something that I heard from one of her ex-flings.

“Oh, speaking about—” I lowered my voice and leaned closer, making sure that nobody would be able to listen in on us. “Have you heard the rumours that came from your boyfriend’s circle of friends?”

“What rumour?”

“A frat boy was caught kissing another dude. Nobody ever got to find out who he was or who the other boy was, since the witness only saw shadows kissing at the back of the frat house without seeing their faces. It happened in the middle of a party which they held so it could be anyone, and nobody has come clean about it yet.”

Judging by the way her lips were twitching downward, it was clear that she was not happy. And it was no doubt that she was pissed for the same reason that I was—that people were trying to prod into things that weren’t really their business. “But does it really matter who they were? They can’t exactly force someone to come out, right?”

I shrugged. “I guess not, but some people are curious, and you know about people on this campus, they all love to gossip.” Once again, her face pinched. Despite living in the flats off campus, she knew all too well about those lousy gossips. “I’m just thinking that if you or Jungkook ever find out—you guys won’t say a thing, right?”

She frowned at my request at first, but then her eyes softened. “Why would you be so worried about someone you barely know?” she asked me with the concerned tone that she always had when it came to me. “Besides, there’s nothing for you to worry about. Haven’t we both been keeping your secrets from everyone?”

“Well, yeah—that’s actually the only reason why I had to get along with him, remember?”

This time, my sneer drew a smile from her. “If he can understand your situation, wouldn’t he be more understanding when it comes to his friend?” she questioned me, though neither of us really had an answer to that question. Then, suddenly, as if she was seeing something on my face, she tilted her head and whispered, “You’re actually worried about them.”

Giving her a resigned sigh, I answered her with a nod. “I’ve been there, you know? Getting weird looks from people, girls having doubts about me actually being interested in them just because I’m also attracted to guys. I hate to imagine someone else going through something like I did. Especially if it’s someone from one of those houses, since most of them are famous for being around girls.” Looking down at my hands, I wasn’t sure if I should tell her about the things that I had been hearing. But I just couldn’t keep it to myself. “It’s just—some rumours said it was Min Yoongi with some junior TA in Music. He denied it, of course, so nobody knows.”

When I looked at her again, there was a concerned look in her eyes, something that was becoming more familiar in the years I had known her. “Do you know why I always get so worried about you?”

I had a feeling that I might know the answer to that. But I asked her anyway. “Why?”

“Because you have always had such a big heart. It might take a while for you to open up to other people, but the moment you let someone into your life, you always care for them a lot. Maybe too much. Hell, look at you worrying about some frat boy you barely know.” There was a fond smile on her face that I had no choice but to return with mine. I bit my tongue to stop myself from saying a thing and let her continue, and she took my hands in hers again. “I’m worried that someone might one day be using that kindness of yours and get you hurt. I’d really hate to see that.”

Little did she knew then, that I had been worried about the same thing for her. She had always been so fragile, so naive, and there was only one reason why I had never been able to get close to that boyfriend of hers. There was something about him that made it hard for me to trust him. Not with her heart. But I had kept it to myself, having no reason to actually point fingers. Yet. So I said nothing, and tried my best to reassure her that everything would be alright.

“I won’t worry about it, especially when I know you’ll have my back.”

She grinned. “You know I will.”

As we exchanged knowing gazes, I felt so sure that I would still have her by my side no matter what. Nothing could easily set us apart. Nothing could beat the years of friendship and trust that we had built.

At least, that was what I had truly believed.

But life had always been such a bitch. And nothing could stop it from derailing everything we had known and all that we had built together, leaving nothing behind but crumbles of dust.

—First life, year 2018—

My head was spinning. Worse yet, it felt like it was splitting in two.

Where was I? What the hell happened?”

I was pretty sure I blacked out. Or maybe I was in shock. It took a moment before everything began to clear up, though it didn’t actually make it okay when the pounding in my head stopped only to allow me to hear all the noises around me.

“Hey, buddy. Are you okay?” I felt someone gripping at my shoulder while I was stumbling out of the crowded room. I felt people’s eyes on me, but I ignored them all and turned to the person who was leading me out to a hallway right outside the room. That was when I turned and looked around, and everything sort of came back to me.

It was a frat party. I had heard that Sigma Phi was having this rave at their house and some people from my class had spotted Jungkook and his friends here. They had been sending me intel after I had spent the whole day searching for him after leaving ________’s flat.

After hearing how that bastard of a coward ran out of her place after finding out that she was pregnant.

And just like what my intel had informed me, he was hiding here with a fucking groupie who had been hanging out on Sigma to get lucky. Apparently, she lucked out to find that coward needing some distraction. But he wasn’t as lucky, as I found him easily, completely unguarded, and I managed to get a few hits to ruin his pretty face before he retaliated and knocked me on the head.

I flinched the moment I recalled the hit he gave me. It wasn’t hard, as he was pretty much drunk and my punches had probably left him disoriented, but he did put the blow at the right exact spot. And that spot was still pounding.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I grunted at my saviour. My fuzzy memory remembered his voice as the one who had stopped our fight and kicked Jungkook out of the house, and he had probably saved me from further humiliation by pulling me out of the dance floor.

“You need some ice on that. Come on, let me get you some,” he said, pulling my attention back to him just as all the party crowd went back to what they were doing before the interruption. Back to partying like drunken monkeys.

I was going to say no to his offer and leave. But it was obvious that he was not taking any kind of refusal for an answer when he simply turned away from me, already leading me towards the kitchen area at the back.

“Hey, Yoongi. Good to see you back. How was your trip?” Some guy greeted him as we passed a group of people coming down from upstairs. The man turned to me once Yoongi greeted him back with a low grunt, obviously not a man of many words. Just like what the rumours had said about him. The man who greeted Yoongi turned to me and frowned. “Damn, what happened to you?”

I winced when I reached up to touch my face, no doubt already bruising badly if everyone could already see it. “It’s nothing,” I said, and I thought I could see a bit of pity mixing with concern on Yoongi’s face when he turned to look at me.

“One of the bastards from Kappa Sigma hit him,” Yoongi explained, answering him for me. There was no doubt that he had witnessed everything that happened as he was the one who pulled us apart right after that bastard had put his fist on me, but I was glad that he wasn’t about to bring it up. Though knowing Jungkook’s reputation, pretty sure the rumours would start spreading in the morning. And I was quite sure that Jungkook must have been on his way back to her already, probably spitting out lies to protect himself. I really hoped that he would be grovelling on the ground she was standing on before she would take him back in her arms. Just the thought of them reconciling made me feel like there was a cold fist closing in around my heart. I hated knowing why he was here, hated that I had seen him and caught him red-handed. I wished I had beaten him up even worse, enough to stop him from running back to her, just like how he deserved it.

Just like how cowards like him deserved it.

“Don’t worry, man. I’m taking him back so I could put some ice on it,” I heard Yoongi’s voice talking to the other guy, snapping me back to present, and it was clear that I had missed out half of their conversation about my lousy fate. Only then did I realise that one of the girls from the group he was with was standing next to me, looking at the bruise curiously.

“Oh, you poor thing,” she said, holding back from touching my bruise and started rubbing her hand up and down my arm instead.

I forced a smile and held back another wince when the small gesture was enough to hurt. “Nothing a piece of ice couldn't fix. Though I’m sure that my pride took a lot more bruises from that,” I tried to joke, raising my hand that was clutching at my glasses, which had been broken no thanks to Jungkook’s fist. “And my glasses, apparently.”

I heard a few of the people from the group chuckling at my joke, while the girl began shaking her head while giving me a smile. I had heard things about the boys from Sigma Phi and nothing about them had ever been bad. Words spread around campus kept telling me that these boys were more decent than the boys from Jungkook’s house. Damn, even their groupies were decent girls. Just like the girl who was by my side, as I recognised her easily as someone who had frequented the library to study just as often as I usually would.

Unlike all those players in Kappa Sigma house who would rotate the girls they hooked up with according to months, sometimes weeks. Not to mention their fan club, the girls who spent nearly all their college years doing nothing but partying and hooking up with the popular kids on campus.

Why couldn’t she find someone from this house to fall for and date instead?

“Fuck, that’s messed up. Alright then, I’ll leave you to Yoongi’s capable hands. Hey, if you need a ride to the hospital or something to have some fixing, give me a holler, alright?” the guy whose name I couldn’t even remember offered me just when I was about to follow Yoongi, and all I could do was nod.

“Thanks, man,” I muttered, not sure if he could hear me through the loud music, but the girl did give me another smile and a peck on my cheek before she followed him out the back.

“Here you go,” Yoongi said to me as we sat around the kitchen counter, handing me a bag of ice that he pulled out of a beer cooler.

“Thanks,” I said, taking the bag from him and pressed it on my templed, immediately wincing at the pain. “Ow, fuck.”

He snorted at my reaction, though it didn’t exactly erase the concerned look in his eyes. “Take it easy.”

Sighing, I nodded my head stiffly and kept the ice pressed onto my face. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

He nodded and pursed his lips, looking thoughtful for a second before speaking, “You’re her friend, aren’t you? Jungkook’s girl?”

My jaw twitched. “Yeah. We’ve been friends since we were kids.”

He began shaking his head. “You know, even if I don’t know her that well. I wouldn’t have to be her childhood friend to lay one on Jungkook. I fucking hate cheaters,” he said, looking disgusted.

“Doesn’t seem like the others think the same way as you do.”

Yoongi looked down, releasing a sigh. “I really don’t understand these people. They’d rather cover up some fucker cheating behind their girls and do nothing to those who really need some real help.”

I wanted to say something about it, but I couldn’t. I wasn’t even his friend, anyway. So we only sat there in silence with the music from the party still banging in the background. He turned to grab a bottle of beer from the cooler, offering one to me, then we continued to sit there while drinking our beers in silence. The rumours that I had heard about him over the past year came back to me just as I looked at his resigned face, and the words were hanging right at the tip of my tongue. Though I wasn’t completely sure what I was going to say if I wanted to bring it up in our conversation.

Would it be proper for me to ask if those rumours were true? Only minutes after he helped me?

Just when I opened my mouth to try and speak, to talk about anything, just to break this awkwardness between us, he looked up over my shoulders and out the windows overlooking the front yard as something coming in front of the house caught his attention.

“Hey, you need a ride back or something? I’m heading out, so—”

I began considering it, not exactly sure if I was ready to part ways yet. But again, we were not friends. Just because he had saved me from being humiliated in the middle of a party and by giving me some ice, didn’t mean we became instant best friends either. “Uh, no. But thanks. I’ll find my own ride somehow.”

He nodded. “Right. Take care then.”

“You too.”

I watched him leave the room. My eyes couldn’t look away from his retreating back as he ran out of the house and off to the sidewalk, riding a black SUV that didn’t exactly fit the scene on campus. There was something inside me that kept nagging me about letting him go without saying a thing or asking for his number, but I was too tired, too sore, and completely pissed at how this night had turned out to care about making friends.

Tossing the bag of ice into the sink, I walked out of the house through the side porch where he had exited the house from earlier and pulled out my phone. My heart was beating like crazy when I dialled his number, but that immediately passed when I heard his voice from the other side of the phone call.

“Hello?”

I bit my lips. Something inside my gut was telling me that I might be doing something stupid. But right now, I really had nobody else to turn to. “Namjoon, hi. It’s me, Taehyung. I’m sorry for bothering you so late, but I think I’m going to need a ride home.”

“There’s nothing for you to apologise for. You know that I’m always here for you. I’ll be there in ten. Wait for me.”

—First life, year 2020—

How did it come to this?

Standing at the back of the seated guests while wearing a tight monkey suit, I looked around with a mixed feeling in my chest. I had thought that I wouldn’t feel much about being here, but there was a feeling of disdain as I stood there, taking in all these guests. For a wedding ceremony, there were not a lot of people who came in. Just close relatives and friends, perhaps. But even as I looked over to see her parents sitting close to my mine, reminding me how our lives had been connected for as long as we knew each other, I still felt like a complete stranger.

I had no idea how she managed to find me. After I left college early to join Namjoon’s charity mission, I never had any contact with her. The only people I had kept in touch with had been my parents, sometimes Hoseok, but I had convinced them not to tell her where I was as I moved around with Namjoon and his crew.

So when I came home to the lodge where Namjoon and I had been staying in during our trip to find him handing me the invitation, needless to say, I was completely floored. There was no reason for me to be here. I guess the only reason why I had flown across the world was only to make sure that this was really happening and not her playing a sick joke on me.

Everything around me had shown me that this was real. That she was actually getting married. And right there, standing at the end of the aisle was the man himself.

Jeon fucking Jungkook.

He was talking with his brother when I looked over at him. As if he could feel my gaze on him, he suddenly turned to see me. His eyes hardened when he recognised me, but he only nodded at me instead of looking at me with hostility before returning to his chat.

I looked away just as my Dad left his seat and walked towards me. Giving me a pat on my shoulder, he whispered to me, “Glad to see you make it here, Son.”

We chatted for a bit with him telling me that he was finally able to convince _______’s Dad to walk her down the aisle, and he left just as both her parents and mine moved towards the bride side of the seats in the front. While they were moving, stealing everyone’s attention, I slipped away towards the rooms hidden on the other side of the Wedding Hall to find the bride’s room.

It didn’t take much convincing on the bridesmaids standing guard at her door to let me in so I could see her, though it was clear to me that she had not been expecting to see me dropping by right before she was about to exchange vows.

“You came,” she said, completely stunned to see me standing there. Neither of us made a move to come closer or hug each other the way we used to, as I stood closer to the door with my hands tucked inside my pockets and her trembling hands clutching on her flower bouquet. I noticed her favourite flowers, white roses and daisies, looking just as bright and glorious as her white wedding dress looked.

When I looked at her again, there was sadness in her gaze, and a bit of hope. But I knew I crushed the latter when I said, “I only came because I had too many questions. And I suppose I needed to be here just to see that this is actually going down.”

She gave me a grim smile. “As you can see, this is happening. I’m getting married,” she said, and her voice cracked for a second before she cleared her throat to hide it. “So—what questions do you have?”

She looked up at me expectantly and all the questions that had been circling inside my head since the moment I held the invitation she sent me in my hands became all jumbled together. The only thing that came right out of my mouth was—

“Why?”

She blinked, clearly not expecting that. So I simply continued, “Why, after everything that he had put you through, would you still marry him?”

Her eyes softened, though there was a hint of doubt in them when she spoke. “He’s been with me the entire time. He has helped me heal and helped me with the grief of losing our—” She stopped before she could even try to say the word ’baby,’ obvious that she had yet to get over the grief of losing her pregnancy. The fact that she had not only forgiven him for causing the event but also for getting back together with him had been the reason why I left a couple of years ago.

I had no idea that she was still having trouble with it and that she was still grieving, all because I was not here for her. And apparently, he had been the one to fill that empty spot that I left behind on my departure.

“Why so soon? You still have yet to finish college, have you?” From the little communication I had kept with Hoseok since the day I left, I had known that she had been having trouble catching up with classes. The accident and the treatments that she had to go through made her fall back almost a year, and catching up must have been hard when most of her friends had excelled and when she was still haunted with everything that had happened, all the things she had lost, and the fact that she had to face all the people who knew about it.

Shaking her head, she began to admit the troubles she had been facing on campus, before letting me know that Jungkook had been going through the opposite. In his effort to show her that he was able to change, Jungkook had spent the past few years throwing himself into his study, making it possible for him to finish college early and for him to take a position in a company that belonged to one of his father’s business partner before he would take his place in his own family business like his brother did.

“He promised to take care of me,” she said after while smiling softly.

“And you still believe in him?”

She looked straight into my eyes and said, “I do. And he hasn’t failed me since to give me a reason not to believe in him.” I still had my doubts despite the way she seemed so sure about it, yet I said nothing, knowing that she would never listen to me anyway. Even if she would, it would only be much too late. Releasing a deep sigh, she repeated the same words she had given me then, “It’s not like it was an easy decision to make either, but—everyone deserves a second chance, Taehyung.”

’Not everyone,’ I wanted so badly to tell her, but I kept them to myself. Only because there was nothing good that could come out of it if I had said something to stop her. And judging by the looks of it, nothing could stop this from going on.

“And your parents? What did they have to say about this?”

“Obviously, neither my Dad nor Hoseok was happy about it,” she said dryly, and I remembered seeing her Dad fuming in his seat as he waited for the ceremony to begin, before my Dad seemed to be able to somehow change his mind. “But Mom had given me a chance to make the choice. Though I doubt that we’ll be invited home for the holidays as long as my Dad still refuses to give us his blessings. She could barely convince them to come. I think they only came today initially because she hasn’t been feeling well lately and both my Dad and my brother had been worried about letting her go out of the house on her own.”

I looked down and resisted the urge to shake my head. Now I understood why her parents had been sitting close to the exit, no doubt all because her Dad was so ready to walk out of the ceremony instead of staying to support her. And honestly, being away from her had yet to change what I had thought about Jungkook.

“He doesn’t deserve you.”

The words that I gave her the last time we met came back to me. I still had no regrets ever voicing my thoughts and opinions about Jungkook, but I regretted that she was too stubborn to even consider taking her time before she would give him another chance and open her arms to welcome him back. And now, she was marrying him, completely tying the knot to make it last even longer. Perhaps forever.

“Taehyung?”

As I looked at her again, there was an expectation in her gaze that pulled at my heart. It was then when I realised that sending me the invitation was her act of lending me an olive branch. To give us another chance in friendship and have me back in her life again.

The same way she gave a chance to Jungkook.

But it was too late. Looking at things now, it was obvious that we were no longer walking on the same path. We had parted ways on a crossroad years ago, choosing different directions which had led us to who we were today.

Before she could say anything, I took a few steps closer to her and kissed her on the forehead. The move must have surprised her because she stiffened at my touch for a moment before relaxing against me, though I gave her no chance to dwell on it when I whispered,

“Be happy.”

Without looking back at her, I quickly left the room, leaving her behind with her own thoughts. Less than fifteen minutes later, I was right back where I was standing earlier, right at the far back in the Wedding Hall, witnessing her moody father walking her down the aisle to where Jungkook was waiting for her. Both of them shared big smiles on their faces as they were joined together at the altar, though her eyes showed sadness when she glanced back at the guests to find me, knowing that it would be the last time she would ever see me.

I stood there in silence as the ceremony continued. As they held hands, staring into each other’s eyes as they exchanged vows to be together until death would do them part. It was like adding salt to my wounds, but it was enough to make me see the reality of our relationship, that I had been replaced.

“He promised to take care of me.”

And there was really no need for me to stay, whether to prove myself wrong and watch him actually make her happy or to witness her regretting her decisions when he would hurt her again one day the way he had the last time she gave him her trust.

The moment I heard her say, “I do,” I didn’t stay long enough to wait for the ceremony to end and turned away, making my way out of the Wedding Hall and out of her life, where I was no longer needed.

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[aiorevelations]

A Number, Not a Name: part 17!

In the words of Connie “You better buckle your seatbelt. It’s gonna be a strange ride.” Though strange may not be the most “accurate” word. Lol.

Present-day:

Liana sat on the edge of her bed, utterly exhausted. She placed her clutch on her nightstand and then reached down and slipped off her black heels. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It had been a very long and tiring evening. On nights like tonight, it was easy for doubt to try and take over her mind. The past five years had been long and exhausting but in a few more days it would all be worth it. At least that’s what she told herself. She sat up from the bed and reached the closet. After sliding the closet door open, she started untying the bow in the back of her dress. She stopped as she eyed her bracelet, thinking back to a time nearly two decades before. Her eyes then landed on the jewelry box tucked in the corner of the closet shelf. Memories flooded her mind as she combed through its contents. Finally, she found it. Her mother’s charm bracelet.

She let out a shaky breath as she held the piece of jewelry in her hand. She remembered her sister’s gentle smile. The tender look in her eyes when she gave her the bracelet. To Neptune and Back. Forever. That’s what they had promised each other. How easily promises could be broken. It had nearly killed her inside, seeing Milena these past few weeks yet not being able to talk to her face to face. Right now they were on opposing sides of the spectrum. For both their sakes it was best to stay out of each other’s lives. The only thing they'd probably agree on would be their hatred for Dalmar. Beyond that, there wasn’t anything to bind them together.

A tear escaped Liana’s eye. She had hoped her and Milena’s love for one another would be enough but in the end, tragedy had torn them apart. 

…..

Tasha lay back in bed; she had to admit, it was rather nice to feel a soft mattress beneath her after all the hours she’d spent on her feet, never mind her argument with Jason.

Only one more day. Thank goodness. She turned over, sinking her head into the pillow. 

She found himself thinking about home, not her place in D.C., but the home she shared with her mom and dad, who had died a couple of years ago. It had been the best of times growing up. Being an only child one could say her parents spoiled her. Dolls, dresses, coloring books. Every gift imaginable they had given their little girl. Yet they had instilled in her a sense of responsibility and hard work. Told her to never quit on a job or task but to see it through to the end. She supposed that was why she was always determined to make sure all her assignments were a success. If only her parents could see her now. Her life as an NSA agent. She severely doubted this was the life they had had in mind for their daughter, considering how protective they had been over her. Every fall or tumble they’d be there by her side. As a girl, she’d sometimes be a little annoyed by their constant babying of her. Being such a free independent spirit all she wanted was to spread her wings and fly. Now what she wouldn’t give for them to fuss over her again. To talk to them just one more time. 

Tasha turned on her side and wiped a tear streaming down her cheek. She wasn’t one to dwell on or show her feelings. She’d push them to the side and keep on going, it was easier that way. To those on the outside, it seemed like she was unaffected or even cold and distant. Like nothing affected her. As if she didn’t feel anything. But the truth was she did feel deeply. Love. Loss. Joy. Pain. Every emotion tugged at her heart. For her, especially in this line of work, it seemed better to try to forget them. It was easier not to open up. To stay closed off. Not many people could get past her walls. She’d supposed it’d stay that way. 

Perhaps that’s what makes me a good agent. My ability to not let my emotions impact my decisions…unlike other people. Tasha shut her eyes and shook her head. Just forget it. Soon enough he’ll be someone else’s headache. She chuckled and glanced at the clock on her nightstand. 4:30. I really need to get some sleep. Tasha closed her eyes and tried to block out the city noises in the distance. 

Suddenly she felt a sharp, almost stabbing, pain in her arm and a hand cover her mouth. Her eyes shot open. She told herself to stay calm. The worst thing she could do was panic. A strong hand grabbed her right arm and dragged her out of the warm bed. As her feet touched the cold floor, Tasha stepped her right foot back behind her and twisted to the right. She found herself standing in front of an older muscular man. Tasha quickly brought her arms down and wrapped them around his legs. She leaned forward and tackled the man to the ground. She flipped over him and brought a swift hard punch to his face, sending him collapsing to the floor.

Glancing up she saw a younger brawny gentleman lunging toward her. Tasha sprang in his direction and jumped on his left leg thigh. She placed her hands on his shoulders and swung around him. She placed her right leg around his neck and then hooked it under the man’s right arm. She put her left leg under the man’s right arm, grappling it. She leaned back behind the man’s back and twisted her body to the left around the man’s arm. The movement sent him flying to the floor as she landed upright on her feet. Seeing no one else in the room Tasha quickly darted for the door. In the darkness, she couldn’t tell if they were some of Dalmar’s men or not. Right now she didn’t care.

…..

Jason brought his fist to the man’s jaw which caused him to stagger backward. The previous man he’d fought had been a lot easier to subdue. He had hoped he and Tasha would have been able to make it back D.C. without any “incidents.” I should have known this was too easy. The man brought his hand to his bloodied face and wiped away some of the blood from his mouth. His eyes were filled with rage. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. The two men faced each other silently for a moment. The man rushed toward Jason. Jason grabbed the man’s arm with his left hand and pulled it as far as he could to the left side of his body. Jason then raised the man’s arm above his head as he brought his right fist to his chest several times. The man dropped the knife and doubled over in pain. Jason grabbed the pen on his nightstand and ran as fast as he could to his room’s door. His heart was pounding and all his senses were on high alert. Capture was not an option. As he stepped outside the door he ran into someone. Instinctively he brought his fist up to the person’s face but realized it was Tasha. He could tell by the look on her face that she was just as relieved to see him as he was to see her. 

“Thank God. It’s you.” Jason sighed. “I have the pen” he held it in front of her.

“We have to get out of here!” Tasha started down the hall.

“Right behind you!”

 Whatever other guests were on this level Tasha and Jason were quite sure they were awake by all the noise. The thing they couldn’t afford was innocent civilians getting caught up in whatever situation they were in. The shouts of “Be quiet.” and “We’re trying to sleep.” confirmed their suspicions. Jason and Tasha had nearly reached the stairs when they saw two men holding tasers by the door leading to the stairwell.

“There’s another staircase at the other end of the hall!” Tasha yelled. They ran toward the other end of the corridor. However, they found themselves cornered as they spotted the same men they’d taken down in their suites coming towards them.

“Where to now?” Jason asked. 

“Um...um” Tasha frantically looked around. Behind them, the men they’d seen by the staircase were coming closer. Things were quickly spiraling out of control, anyone could see that. Tasha spotted a passageway branching off of the main hall just beyond them. “Down that side hall.”

The two of them ran to the hall’s end. To the side, there was a large air vent. Jason quickly ripped the cover off and peered through the opening. “Looks like there’s a vertical shaft up ahead about ten yards.”

 “Terrific. Vertical shafts are my favorite.” Tasha scrambled into the shaft and started making her way up. Jason clambered in after her on his elbows and knees. The shaft was dark and dank. Sharp edges of sheet metal scraped and cut against their exposed skin.

“It’s sure tight in here,” Jason muttered under his breath. “Good thing I’ve been working out.”

“Really. I hadn’t noticed.” 

“Which part? How tight it is here or how I’ve been working out?”

Tasha rolled her eyes as she came to a bend in the shaft. “Do you have to use humor in every situation?”

“It’s how I cope,” Jason took a breath.“So is this how all your other missions go?”

“If you’re asking if I’ve ever had to climb in an air vent in my pajamas. The answer is no.”

“I should have figured.”

“I see some light up ahead. I think it’s the end of the shaft.”

“Good.”

Tasha winced. “Ow.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I cut my leg again on the side of the shaft.” Tasha reached the top of the vent. “We made it to the next floor.” She pressed up against the vent cover and pushed it to the side. She slid through the opening and stood up. Jason quickly exited the air vent. They each looked around, expecting any moment for their pursuers to turn up. The floor level remained all clear and eerily silent. Except for their heavy breathing, not another sound was discernible on the third story. They each eyed the staircase for a few seconds. Seeing no one they gave the other a knowing look and nod and raced to the stairs. Down the winding staircase, they went. The clattering of their footsteps resounded through the building. They were going so fast they nearly tripped on a few occasions. Tasha and Jason had reached the last landing before the ground floor when Jason felt a tingling sensation in his leg. In a split second, it turned into a searing burning pain, like an electrical current flowing through his body. Every inch of his body was in excruciating pain. He felt his legs begin to give way and he collapsed to the floor. He could hear a muffled sound. The sound of Tasha calling out to him yet he was too dazed to make out the words. 

Tasha saw standing in front of her the younger gentleman she’d taken down earlier. Holding a taser in her direction. The left side of his face was still splattered in blood from the punch she’d given him earlier. “Looks like this is the end of the line” he snarled.

Tasha hurled herself at the man. The man fired off his taser gun just as Tasha reached him. The shot fired off at the ceiling. Tasha sent the man flying back into the wall behind him. The man brought his hand up Tasha’s throat. She struggled to breathe as the man’s fingers closed tighter around her neck. She brought her leg up and kicked the side of the man’s head. He released his grasp and slumped to the floor. 

Tasha whipped her head around and saw two other men coming at her. She crouched down to the ground and kicked and spun her leg out toward one of the men, taking his legs out. Tasha flipped over to her feet and delivered a kick to the other man’s abdomen. The man stayed on his feet and grabbed Tasha from behind. He desperately tried to pin her arms behind her back. Before he could Tasha elbowed him in his face and placed her hand firmly behind his neck. She brought her legs to her chest and then down again to the ground, flipping the man over her head as she fell to the ground. She quickly placed her hands behind her head, lifted her legs into the air, and pushed herself back on her feet into a squat. She straightened herself up and rushed to Jason’s side.

She brought her hand to his face. “Jason, are you okay?” 

He struggled to sit up. “I’m fine,” he grimaced.

“Here let me help you up.” Tasha gave him a hand and helped him to his feet.

“Thank you.” He took a breath. “Nice job by the way.”

 “Thanks.” Tasha scanned their surroundings and the stairwell exit making sure it was clear. “Can you walk?” 

Jason took a step forward. It was painful but nothing he couldn’t stand. “Yeah. I’ve had worse.”

“Let’s get out of here.”

…..

“White Falcon have you acquired the targets yet?” Red Sparrow’s voice came through the man’s earpiece as he ran down the hall.

“Negative” the man replied, out of breath. “Acquiring them has proved more difficult than I anticipated. Fortunately, though…” he paused to try to catch his breath “I have several...backup plans.”

“You better.” she snapped. “I’m not paying you all this money to screw this up. Understand?!”

“Completely,” he muttered in response. 

…..

Tasha and Jason ran out under the portes-cochère of the hotel. Overhead the sky was still pitch black with visible stars dotting the night here and there. Two black SUVs with tinted windows were parked by the curb out front. The cars appeared unoccupied. By appearances, all the men had entered the hotel. One thing was for sure they weren’t sticking around. From behind the vehicles, a man suddenly appeared with a taser gun. Tasha and Jason ducked to the ground as he pulled the trigger. They walked crouched to the side of one of the cars and pressed against it. They quickly made their way around to the back of the SUV while the man walked around it as well. Every second felt like an eternity passing. The man appeared in front of him. Jason brought his fist square to the man’s face catching him off guard. He hit him repeatedly in the stomach and flipped him over. The man almost immediately regained his footing. Jason was still experiencing the effects of being tased earlier and could feel himself quickly losing strength. His opponent sensed this as well and punched Jason multiple times in the jaw and stomach, causing him to stumble to the ground. Tasha’s opened the trunk of the car, looking for anything useful. Inside she spotted a tire iron which she grabbed. Seeing the man’s back to her Tasha firmly gripped the tire iron and hit him as hard as she could across the head. The man fell forward to the ground, blood spewing from the gash across his head.

Jason stood up. “He’ll have a nasty headache tomorrow,” he commented as Tasha began to search the unconscious man’s pockets. Inside one of them, she found the keys to the SUV. “Got the keys.”

Tasha jumped in the driver’s seat while Jason climbed into the passenger seat beside her. She twisted the key in the ignition. The car rumbled to life. Tasha backed the car up and drove forward into the street. A shout from the entrance of The Chardell filled the air. Through the car windows, Tasha and Jason could see the rest of the men running outside and scrambling into the other SUV. Tasha spun the car on the asphalt and headed down a side road. She floored the accelerator. Cars beeped and honked. Dust filled the air as Jason and Tasha raced down the street, weaving through traffic. They could make out the car following them at full speed.

Tasha knew at higher speeds the risk of an accident astronomically increased. One could easily spin out of control or slam into another vehicle. However, that was a risk she had to take, she reasoned. She flattened the accelerator as much as she could. The reading on the speedometer went up with every passing moment. 80 mph. 90. 95. 100. The sound of guns firing filled the air. The rear window shattered, sending glass flying in every direction. Their pursuers, whoever they were, were getting desperate.

 “Get down!” Tasha yelled. Jason and Tasha crouched down in their seats. More gunshots pierced the air. Glass rattled and flew every which way. On the floor. The dashboard. The leather seats. Toward their faces. Jason didn’t even want to imagine what would happen if they got caught.

…..

“What the heck are you doing?!” the man screamed.  “We need them alive!”

“We are aiming for the tires! Besides you were the one going on about how we need to take them out fast!” one of the men responded as he fired his gun. 

“Just hold the fire, we don’t need it!” he barked at them. He looked down at the clock located on the car dashboard. “It won’t be long now.”

…..

“What's our next step?!” Jason asked.

Tasha glanced at Jason. Panic gripped her eyes. “Try to get to a secure location. After that, I’ll try to contact Headman. He’ll either send a helicopter for us to an extraction point or try to come up with some rescue plan if we’re taken in. Though I can’t promise it’ll be successful.” Tasha looked back at the winding road ahead. “We knew the risks aft…” Tasha trailed off. Her mind felt suddenly clouded and a wave of sleepiness washed off her. She shook her head trying to shake it off. “After…after all.”

Jason put his hand on her shoulder. His eyes filled with worry and panic. “Tasha! Tasha, are you okay?!”

Tasha felt a pounding in her head and her vision blurred. She squinted her eyes desperately trying to see the road, but it was no use. A nauseous feeling came over her and she found it difficult to breathe. Every passing second she felt worse and worse. 

“Jason…” Tasha struggled to speak. Jason was at a loss of what to do. They were caught in some hellish grave nightmare and there was no escaping. He pulled the pen out he had carried in his pocket. He knew they couldn’t afford for its information to be in the wrong hands. It was basic training. When facing imminent capture, discard any evidence. He quickly pressed down on the black button of the pen which was located below the two metal buttons. He held it down for five seconds. The seconds he counted down in his head. One by one the images it contained were permanently erased. Jason then glanced at Tasha. Desperation and pain were etched on her face. He could tell how hard she was trying to hold on yet she was failing.

“Here let me drive.” Jason sat up from his chair and started to move to the driver’s seat. Suddenly a wave of pain washed over him too, sending him back down. There was no mistake he’d been drugged as well. In his blurred vision, he could make out saw Tasha’s darkened form slump onto the steering wheel. Dear God…help us. He prayed as he slipped into unconsciousness. 

[tardytothepardy]

Fruits Basket - Vol.13

So this one started off pretty emotionally turbulent. I did not like the energies created in this studio today whatsoever. Yuki's mom is not that great.

Right off the bat, this book continues with the parent-teacher conferences, specifically with Yuki. He's been anxious about his for a while, because of the way his mom behaves. Up until this book, I don't remember there being much depth into why he has a bad relationship with his mom, but now it's very clear: she decides things for him, and willfully ignores him. When he fights back, she takes it as a personal insult, "how dare you do/say such a thing, I'm your mother! I've done so much for you!", but you've never once listened to what I wanted. That's the sort of dynamic that Yuki and his mother have. Personally, I don't blame him in the slightest for not wanting to be around her. And I also don't blame him for struggling to say anything against her, even as she's blatantly insulting and degrading him in front of the teacher. That shit's really hard, and you get pretty used to keeping all those thoughts in your head, because only trouble comes if you respond. Because, of course, it's not a response, it's "talking back", which will end up with you being in even bigger trouble, and something tells me that happened a lot to Yuki when he was younger.

There were a few glimpses into a few of their interactions, and it was made obvious that she really doesn't care about his well-being, she cares about hers. She forced him to be around Akito, despite him repeatedly saying that he doesn't like Akito. Her logic seemed to be that Akito is the most powerful person here, if you're in his good graces, how could you possibly be unhappy?

She also doesn't seem to have the best relationship with Ayame, who burst into the meeting fashionably late. He managed to steal the attention away from Yuki long enough for Yuki to collect his thoughts better, but his mother was so riled up by the both of them that she stormed out of the room. Yuki was able to tell his mother that he doesn't want her deciding what he should do with his life, that those are important that he will make on his own, which honestly, good for him, man. I doubt I could have that kind of strength.

After the meeting, Yuki is whisked away into the crazed shenanigans of the student council, where many conflicting personalities seem to explode against each other constantly. The guy who chose all these people clearly did not choose well, as far as how they would all work together. The white board that Kimi managed to snag from one of the teachers quickly got covered in meaningless color-coordinated titles that Kakeru came up with, as if they're all a part of the Power Rangers or something. Yuki says that, as members of the student council, it is their job to meet with the other clubs and access thingies with them, but Kakeru doesn't really see the point. They're all the head honchos, or something, so shouldn't people come to them? Ooh, disagreements. Surely this, with the additional stress and strain of the conference, won't lead to an outburst??

An outburst totally happens. Despite being the class president or whatever, Yuki feels he remains in the shadows, especially with a person as bubbly and energetic like Kakeru running the show. And given Kakeru's tendency to sort of pop labels on things, he says that Yuki seems "kinda unhappy". This falls ever so neatly into Yuki's problem with people talking over him or deciding for themselves how he is, and so he gets properly riled up. It calms down quickly, but he's still caught up in his own thoughts, which make it very easy to lead him to thinking that he should give up, and go back to the way he was before, reclusive and quiet.

In the end, it seems that Yuki might be able to have a friend in Kakeru, which is great. We all know how much the world loves the dynamic of "loud eccentric extroverted person" being friends with "quiet soft spoken(or softer spoken, at least) introverted person". That dynamic is the shit, and we live for it. I live on it, anyway. It's a classic.

After that, we see Tohru standing at the gates of the Sohma estate, and hooo boy is she noirvous. She's there to confirm that the Kureno that Uotani liked is the same Kureno that she met while at the summer house. It's difficult though, because Akito really didn't make it seem that Tohru would be welcome, given what he said to her last they talked. So while Tohru paced and fretted, she ran into a little girl who turned out to be Momiji's younger sister. She was standing outside the gate, listening to the violin music that Momiji was making. She tells Tohru that she knows that Momiji is her older brother (both Momiji and Tohru thought that since their mom doesn't remember Momiji as her son, Momo wouldn't remember Momiji as being her older brother), and that she even took up violin in hopes that she could play with Momiji. She helped Tohru sneak into the estate to visit Momiji, where Tohru told Momiji all that had happened. This made Momiji very excited, because he really wanted to be close with Momo, but never has been able because their father distances them. He also says that he would like to get better at playing the violin, so that one day he can hold a small concert for his family. It's overall a very touching scene, and I liked it a lot.

Tohru then tells Momiji that she was looking for Kureno, and, after following a map Momiji made, kinda found him. She asked him about Uotani, and whether he had any intention of seeking her out again (personally, I'm against it, given the fact that she's a high school student, and he's like,, at least 23 years old. It feels icky to me, idk), but he said that he wouldn't. He didn't really explain, and honestly I don't really feel like he had to. It's his own business, never mind the fact that he's usually pretty close to Akito, and since he's Juunishi, Akito has that extra hold over him. I wouldn't want something bad to happen to Uotani just because Akito's being a whiny baby.

A little while after that, there's a school field trip that Tohru, Hanajima, Uotani, Kyo, Yuki, and others go on, and there seems to be a weird expectation for love confessions to pop up? Shigure mentioned it before they left, but you'd kinda figure that's just Shigure being Shigure, right? Apparently not. Tohru feels bad for Uotani, to be seeing all these people grouping up, but Uotani says for her to not worry about it. She's decided to not tell Uotani that she found Kureno and talked to him, because she figured that could do more harm than good.

In the meantime though, it seems that Kyo was pulled aside, and a girl basically asked him to be her boyfriend, despite him not knowing who she is at all. She says that they can get to know each other during the relationship, but in general, that seems like a bad idea. If it were me, I'd like to get to know the person before then, but I suppose there's a chance I'd be locked away forever in the friendzone (which honestly I'd be fine with, because at least I'd have a friend lmao ;-;), but maybe that's just me.

Kyo rejects her pretty roughly, which makes sense for two reasons: we already know that he loves Tohru, and so in that respect, it's a done deal, but there's also that whole "he'd change into a cat if they hugged" thing, which would be,,, awkward, to say the least.

(It still doesn't fail to crack me up that the girl was like "I like you a lot, and think we should be together 🥺🥰" and he's literally like that one vine, "Wait a minute, who are you??")

Tohru doesn't really catch wind of the whole thing, but I think she pieced something together? Idk. She was preoccupied by thinking of souvenirs (just say gift shop shit that's all it is ahhh), and she didn't seem to be there in the first place.

When they all come home, we find out that Yuki got a leaf for the one chick in the student council who seems really quiet and is talked over constantly, and that Tohru is making her own little set of the zodiac animals, not unlike the set that she first saw alllllll the way back in the first book, except this time, it looks as if she's making a cat. Now, idk about you, but that's some cute shit. A tiny cat statue. I love it. I love tiny cat statues, but mostly all they make me want to do is pet one of my cats. Cats are great. Absolutely the best. You could fight me on it, I might cry, but I'll still think cats are great. This has nothing to do with Fruits Basket at all anymore lmao.

oh yeah I think Kyo saw the cat statue. And, if you'll remember back to that first book, where Tohru's mom was telling Tohru about the zodiac story, Tohru said that she wanted to be a cat, so, this isn't completely out of nowhere.

[zahra-kha]

Slights

When Zahra turned ten, she stopped calling herself a Kouris. It had been a sudden declaration for her parents, watching their daughter burst into their home - bruises all over and with a slowly swelling right eye as she snapped out that she wanted to be known as a Kha from here on in. Trotting slowly behind her was Cahil, her tiny brother with his head down and trying to hide his sniffling.

While Zahra wouldn’t open up about what had occurred, even to her father, it didn’t take much to figure out what had transpired after speaking with Cahil. After Zahra had been mended and Cahil cleaned up, Cetin sat down with the lad in his bedroom that night, hoping some time to cool down would let the child open up.

Cetin pulled the boy awkwardly in his arms. Even at six, Cahil was smaller than most children his age, looking more around the age of four. While the miqo’te man was by no means large, he oft felt as if he were going to break the poor child due to how thin and frail he felt.

Thankfully, there’d been no injuries on Cahil, so whatever had happened, it hadn’t affected the boy physically. Cetin ran his hands through his son’s fluffy dark blue hair, his gruff features melting into a smile as he got a giggle out of the boy.

“You wanna tell your old man what happened?” Cahil’s smile evaporated at his father’s question and he looked down, squirming uncomfortably in his father’s arms. With a low hum, Cetin leaned in and gave Cahil a small nudge, lightly bumping their foreheads affectionately. “Hey. I only bite the bad guys, remember?” he let out a mock growl and playfully snapped his teeth, earning him another giggle from his child.

His playful demeanor appeared to soothe Cahil as he lightly pushed his father’s face away with a laugh. “The other kids...said things about us today.” the boy shifted, snuggling close to his father as he began to recount the events of the day.

----

“Why do we have to have the babies on our team though?” a young hyur boy demanded. He picked up the red kickball they were going to play with and tucked it under his arm. “If you dummies wanna pull them in so bad have them on your team then! Me and Cyrus can play on our own team!”

“Eh~ I don’t really care either way...” Cyrus commented, putting his hands behind his head and turning away. Another young hyur a little over Zahra’s age, he looked completely disinterested in the argument breaking out. “I just wanna play, Amir.”

“We have enough to keep it even, Amir!” a young girl who looked almost identical to Amir crossed her arms, scowling heavily at him. “There’s no reason not to let them play. We all wanna have fun.”

The small group of six were arguing out at a local park. There weren’t many, and while this one wasn’t one for children to play in and was more for the locals to enjoy its beauty, it was also large enough for the local authorities to turn a blind eye to a few kids wanting to have a good time. So long as no one complained about them being an eyesore. Most of these children had the privilege of being from well to do families, so it was unlikely anyone would come to scold them anytime soon.

Zahra decided to step in and support the young girl arguing with Amir. “Sura is right. There’s no need to force the little ones to go play something else when we can all just play the game together and have fun. Try to be more reasonable, Amir.”

Amir seemed to have decided he was the leader of their little group, and was displeased that the others wanted to force him to include the younger children in his kickball team (or in the game at all). His attention snapped to Zahra and his expression darkened. 

“Shut up, Zahra. You’re just trying to have a dog in this fight because of Cahil. Otherwise, you wouldn’t even take my sister’s side.” he sneered at her, his irritation rising with how he felt everyone was ganging up on him. Not even Cyrus was backing him up. It wasn’t like he was the bad guy here for not wanting to include the babies. “You know I’ve been wondering, you two even real siblings or does your mom really get around like everyone says?”

“Amir!” his sister all but screeched at him, but the words had been spoken and it was too late to back down now. He shrugged her off when she grabbed at his arm to stop him from saying more. The kickball fell to the ground and he crossed his arms, looking down at the stunned xaela girl.

“What? Everyone’s mom talks about it. Their mom leaves high society to marry their bum of a dad and then suddenly they have a lizard kid? Who’s the dad? At least Cahil makes sense, even if he looks like a-”

WHAM!

In two steps Zahra closed the distance and slammed her fist squarely into Amir’s face with as much force as she could muster. Her face was flushed with rage, fists balled at her sides as she panted. Behind her one of the younger children began to wail.

“I’m adopted, you arse!” Zahra shouted it as loudly as she could. “I’m not their child, I was born in the Steppes from the Kha clan! Both of my parents were xaela! Tell your shitty mothers that!”

---

“...and then Sura slapped Zahra for hitting her brother and calling her mother a bad name and it turned into a big fight until Cyrus pulled them off each other and made Sura take Amir home. We think his nose is broken.”

“Haaah.” Cetin let out a heavy sigh to keep from laughing. “I see. How do you feel, Cahil? We never hid the fact that Zahra isn’t your biological sister, but we never tried to raise you two as if you weren’t siblings. You’re both our children and we love you very much. I’m sorry you had to hear a lot of bad things today. Your friend was repeating things he’d heard from his mother, and unfortunately, your mother and I have a past that isn’t agreeable with some people.”

There was a long pause, and for a moment Cetin had to lean back and look down to see if the boy had fallen asleep. But the little bundle eventually shifted again, peering up at him with wide blue eyes full of confusion and pain. “Papa, do I...is there something weird with me?”

He was referring to his appearance. At first glance, Cahil looked like a normal four year old miqo’te, although he was six. Perhaps he was a bit thin for his age, but that was about it. He had large blue eyes, slitted pupils. Even his little tail was growing out nicely. What made him distinctly different from the others were his ears. Instead of soft furry ears protruding from the top of his head, instead he had small tapered ears that one would find on an elezen child. This was the first time he’d heard anyone actively give his son grief about his mixed heritage, but it was unlikely to be the last.

“You’re a handsome boy, Cahil.” he ran his fingers through his son’s hair, smiling warmly as the child’s eyes began to droop. “And you’re smart. You know that, right? Do you know what Zahra did?”

“Mm.” he let out a tiny yawn. “I don’t like it. Those mean ladies won’t stop saying bad things. They already knew sister was adopted.”

Of course they knew. Zahra had been adopted just before Cahil had been born. There was at least a four year gap between Zahra and Cahil if they had guessed her age correctly. They’d only been married for two years at that point and Theria had lived with her family up until they had eloped. Even they weren’t that stupid to think Zahra was Theria’s bastard child. It was just trash talk to ruin her already damaged reputation in society’s eyes.

“Remember the slights done to you, Cahil. You don’t have to respond to them right away. But remember how people react when it happens. Remember the people who do nothing, and remember those who do. Remember those who protect you, like your sister, and think on how that makes you feel. And when you have the strength and power to do something about it - decide for yourself what you want to do.” he continued to run his hand through his son’s thick hair. “That’ll determine the man you’ll become.”

“What kind of man did you decide to become, papa?”

Cetin chuckled, giving his son’s nose a little boop. “A complicated one. Maybe grow up to be less like your old man, hm?”

[auronevardell]

Crossed Swords: Chapter 1

Merry Christmas @beatricemontague.  Hope you enjoy the fic.  I didn’t quite get finished writing it, sorry.  Here is the first chapter and I should have the rest done within the week.  @owarinosecretsanta

Fandom: Seraph of the end; Owari no Seraph

Pairing:  Mika/Yuu

Rating:  Mature for angsty situations and language

Tags: original character death, car accident, soulmate AU; alternative universe, angst; soulmate AU identifying marks. 

Note:  In this world when you touch your soulmate for the first time the matching marks on your wrist color and you must be in constant contact with your soulmate for 24 hours.  If you lose contact, then both of you will be in extreme pain. After the bonding is completed, you still can’t be very far apart from your soulmate although the distance increases with time.

Chapter 1:  Friends

Mikaela’s mother smiled as she watch a blonde head disappear down the hallway followed closely by a dark one. Laughter rang through the halls of the house.

It’s good that Mika finally found a friend.  He was such a sullen boy before.

She called, “Boys, it’s time for dinner.  Come wash your hands.”

The two boys can running into the kitchen.  Mika let Yuu wash his hands first since he was company.  After they got cleaned up, Mika’s mother handed them each a plate of food and they sat down at the dinner table with Mika’s father and mother.

His father asked, “How was school today?”

Mika replied, “Good.”

“Did you finish your homework?”

Yuu answered, “Yes, sir.  We did. First thing when we got back from school.”

Mika’s father replied, “Good.”

When the boys finished their dinner, they asked to be excused from the table.

Mika’s mother said, “You may be excused, but Yuu will have to go home in about an hour.  It is a school night, after all.”

Mika said sadly, “Yes, mother.”

Yuu asked, “Wanna play video games until I have to go?”

Mika, perking up, replied, “Sure.  Race you to my room.”

The boys took off running towards Mika’s room.

An hour later Mika’s mom came to Mika’s room.  

She said, “It’s time to go, Yuu.  I’ll walk you home.”

Yuu replied, “Yes, ma’am.”

Mika said, “I want to go, too.”

His mother laughed, “Okay.  It’s not like you won’t see him tomorrow.”

Mika and his mother walked Yuu to his house.  They knocked on the front door and Yuu’s mother answered.

She asked, “Did he behave today?”

Mika’s mother answered, “He was fine.  He finished his homework and has had dinner.”

Yuu’s mother said, “Yuu, you’d better say thank you.”

Yuu said, “Thank you for letting come over.”

Mika’s mother said, “You are more than welcome.  See you both later.”

Yuu’s mother nodded and they went inside.  Mika and his mother walked back to their house which was only a couple of houses down from Yuu’s family’s home.

***

The Next Day

Yuu’s father dropped his son off at school like normal.  Mika was waiting out front for his friend to arrive.  Once Yuu was out of the car, the boys ran off to the playground to wait for school to start. Yuu’s father smiled as he pulled away from the curb.

Several hours later. . .

Yuu was nervous when they called him out of class.  He had been instructed to go to the director’s office.  

Am I in trouble?  I can’t remember Mika and I doing anything that would get us in trouble.  And I have been bringing my grades up with Mika’s help.

Yuu took a deep breath as he reached for the handle of the door to the office. When he entered the office he saw his uncle, Guren, standing there.  

Why is he here?  Where is my mom and dad?

When Yuu entered the office Guren looked at 10 year old Yuu and said, “Yuu, there has been an accident.”

Yuu, scared, asked, “Are Mom and Dad okay?”

Guren shook his head and said, “I’m sorry, son.  They died in the accident.”

Yuu looked stunned for a moment and then burst into tears. Guren picked the boy up and held him until his tears subsided.

I don’t know how to do this.  I am no good with kids.  But there is no one else.  His mother had no relatives.  I am all the family that he has.  Poor kid.  Somehow we’ll survive this.  I hate to move him, especially now, but I can’t move here and still work.

Guren said, “You are going to come and live with me. I came to get you, to take you back to where I live.”

Yuu nodded but asked, “Why can’t we stay here?  I have friends.”

Guren said, “I know, son, you can write them.  I can’t move here because of my work.”

Guren sighed as Yuu started crying again. He signed the boy out of school and made the necessary arrangements for his paperwork to be transferred to the school where Guren lived.  Guren took Yuu to his car and buckled the boy into the backseat.  When they started driving, Yuu very quickly realized that they were not going to his house.

Yuu asked, “Where are we going, Uncle Guren?”

Guren replied, “To my house.”

Yuu asked, “But what about my stuff?”

Guren replied, “I am having someone pack it up and bring it to my house.  I can’t be away from my job long enough for us to do it.  I went there earlier and grabbed some of your clothes.”

Yuu said, “Oh.”

But I didn’t get to say goodbye to Mika.  I am going to miss him.  How am I . . . What is he going to think?  Will I ever see him again?

***

Mika watched as a moving truck pulled up to Yuu’s house.

Mika asked his mother, “Is Yuu moving?”

His mother answered, “He has gone to live with his Uncle.”

Mika, confused, asked, “Why?”

His mother replied, “His parents were in an accident.”

Mika said, “Oh.”

But he didn’t even say goodbye.  I thought we were friends. I can’t believe he is never coming back.  What will I do without my friend?

****

Mika looked into the mailbox disappointedly.

I had hoped he would write me.  We were friends, right?  At least I thought so.  Why doesn’t he write me? Or call?  I miss my friend.

Mika’s mother watched the dejected boy come in from checking the mail.  He drug his feet up to his room and was silent at dinner.

He has become so sad and closed off.  I wish Yuu would write him or something.  It would make a real difference to Mika.  I don’t know what to do for him.  This is just a bad situation all the way around.

That night she heard Mika crying in his room.

My poor baby.

Eight Years Later. . .

Mika looked disbelievingly across the quad at the dark haired boy with green eyes.

Is that?  It can’t be, can it?  After all these years, who would have thought we would have attended the same military college?

He scowled in the direction of his childhood friend.

He never even wrote me after he left.

Yuu suddenly looked up and green eyes met blue. Mika blinked and rapidly looked down.

I will not let him get to me.  

Yuu’s friend, Yoichi, noticed the strange interaction.

Yoichi asked, “Do you know him?”

Yuu replied, “I used to.  We were childhood friends.”

Yoichi asked, “What happened?

Shiho said, “I am sure it was Yuu’s fault, whatever it was.”

Yuu scowled at Shiho but said, “This time you are right. It is my fault that we are not friends anymore.”

Yoichi asked, “What happened?”

Yuu sighed and replied, “My parents died in a car accident and I had to move in with my uncle.”

Yoichi said, “But that couldn’t be helped.”

Yuu said, “Yes, but I never wrote him after I left.”

Yoichi asked, “Were you two close?”

Yuu nodded.

Shiho asked, “Then why didn’t you write to him, you dumbass?”

Yuu stuttered, “I. . . don’t know.  At first I was just trying to catch up with what was happening and then it had been so long. . .”

Shiho rolled his eyes and said, “You probably should apologize or something if you want to get along with him.  Otherwise classes are going to be awkward.”

Yuu said, “You’re right.”

He walked over to where Mika was standing with his friends.  Yuu’s eyes flicked over to the red-headed boy who was standing next to Mika.

I don’t have any right to be jealous.  It’s my fault that we are no longer friends.

Mika looked at Yuu as he approached.

Is he really going to come over and talk to me? That takes a lot of gall.

Yuu cleared his throat and said, “Mika?”

Mika said, “Say whatever you have to say and then leave.”

Yuu was taken aback by Mika’s attitude.

He is so unlike the boy I knew.  Is this my fault?

Yuu said, “I just wanted. . .”

Mika said, “You wanted what?”

Yuu continued, “to apologize for when we were young.”

Mika just looked at Yuu.

Crowley stepped in and said, “Well, apologize and then go.”

Yuu stammered, “I am really sorry, Mika.”

Mika was speechless.

This is not how I thought . . .

Crowley said, “Ok, well you have apologized, so go.”

Yuu nodded and walked back to his friends.

Crowley looked at Mika, concerned, and asked, “Are you okay?”

Mika said, “No, not really. I didn’t expect him to apologize.  I expected him to be an ass and not care.”

Crowley said, “There could have been a legit reason why he did whatever he did when you guys were younger.”

Mika said, “Whatever it is, it isn’t good enough.”

Crowley nodded.

***

As luck would have it, Mika and Yuu were in many of the same classes. Which made it very difficult for Mika to avoid Yuu.  

Why?  Why does he still bother me?

They were in strategies class. The instructor entered the classroom and the class settled down.

The professor said, “Today we are going to apply some of what you have learned in class.  I am going to split up the class into two sections and we are going to play capture the flag.”

The class erupted into cheers.

The professor said, “Just so you take this seriously, it is part of your grade.  You will be graded for how well your team works together.  And who wins will be taken into account as well.”

The students nodded as the professor assigned the two teams.  The class headed out to the training field.  

Luckily Yuu and I are on different teams.  I don’t know how I would be able to work with him.  I am going to make damn sure that my teams wins.

Once they were on the field, the professor reviewed the rules.

He said, “Whoever captures the other team’s flag first is the winner.  You will each be assigned a base with your flag. I will then give you fifteen minutes to talk strategy with your classmates before the game begins.  No permanent injuries. Any questions?”

The boys shook their head.  The professor took Yuu’s group to their base while a TA, who would be helping score the match, took Mika’s group to their base. Mika’s group’s base was on a little rise. Their flag was red. It was snapping smartly in the wind.

Mika turned to his group and said, “We need to decide on a group to advance to the other base and be on the offense. And another group to be our defense protecting the flag.”

Crowley nodded and said, “That makes sense. I’ll lead the offense, if that is okay.  The other students quickly agreed.

Mika said, “Then I will stay here and lead the defense.”

Each boy picked other members of the group to help them. The defense found the best possible spots for them to protect the flag. While the offense, talked about their plan to attack the other base. They finally heard a whistle which indicated the training exercise had begun. The TA found a position that let him watch the red team’s base. He noted how quickly and efficiently the boys had figured out their game plan and put it into motion.  Mika kept careful watch for members of the other team.  

They are not taking our flag.

Just about the time that Mika was beginning to get bored he saw a familiar dark head appear on the horizon.

Of course he would be on the offense. I am not letting him of all people take our flag.

When Yuu passed close to Mika’s hiding place, Mika jump out to capture him. But because of the adrenaline, he hit Yuu harder than he meant to.  They rolled to the edge of the rise.  

The boys started grappling, with Mika trying capture Yuu and Yuu trying to get away.

Yuu thought He’s serious about this.  If I push him too far, he might hurt me.

During the scuffle, Yuu grabbed Mika’s gloved hand.  Mika slipped his hand out of the glove to escape capture. Mika reached out to grab Yuu’s wrists.  He was nearly in contact with Yuu when Mika realized he no longer had a glove on his hand.

It shouldn’t matter.  There is no way we are soulmates, right?

Mika clasped his hand around Yuu’s wrist to restrain his hands and felt the shock run up his arm as soon as he touched Yuu’s skin.

No way.  Fuck.

Yuu jerked back from the sensation and fell down the rise.

Both boys started screaming in pain.  

[i-write-shakespeare-not-disney]

When You Smiled- A Hidge/Punk one shot

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14193522

Click the OP if the READ MORE link doesn’t show. This is just a repost since some people said ao3 doesn’t work for them. 

A cute little Hidge fluff falling in love story :) This is basically the story of how my grandparents first met and a little tweak on how they fell in love because I wrote this on their anniversary.

Or- A one shot in which Hunk falls in love at first sight, but Pidge can't stand the stupid baker guy butting in everywhere. And then they fall for each other. Also Matt and Lance are face palming half the time. Sam Holt is the ultimate Punk/Hidge shipper.

There was an air of excitement about everyone today. It was the first birthday Sam Holt was having back with his family after being gone for so long, and the backyard was filled with family and friends all excited to welcome him back. That was another fun thing; everyone had spent the night at the house in preparation for the party because everyone had flown in or driven up to the Holt residence.

That’s how much Sam Holt mattered to everyone. The fact made Pidge’s heart swell with pride.

She was still getting ready, putting curlers in her hair and still dressed in a shirt three sizes too big with stains from breakfast and ratty old pajama pants. She wanted to wait to put on her new dress so as to minimize the risk of the little ones running into her with soda or something. And her mom was going to help with her makeup.

“The cakes are here!” Matt called up. “Pidge, hurry up, the stereo won’t work and I have to set up the cakes.”

“I’m coming!” she called. She clambered down the steps, not feeling too self-conscious because half her family was also in the middle of getting ready as they ran around making some last minute additions and setting up food and running after children.

“Pidge, sweetheart, come here I need your input,” her mother grabbing her mid-step and turning her. “The peridot earrings or the amethyst ones?”

“Which dress are you wearing?”

“The blue one with fake diamonds along the waist.”

Pidge smiled and turned both earrings away. “Wear the sapphire ones Gramma got you on your wedding day.” Her mother nodded and kissed her cheek before running off.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the lawn, Hunk was balancing a three tier cake among the many awed children wanting to steal a taste.

“Lance!” he called.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” his friend snapped, setting up the table with Matt. “Alright kiddos, scram or you get no cake. And trust me, these are slices of heaven.” The kids giggled and ran off. “Matt, is the whole table for the cakes or are there more desserts?”

“There’s a few others, but the cake can take up the table, it’s cool. Lance, seriously thanks for this, I owe you big time.”

“Nah,” he answered, patting Hunk’s shoulder as he helped him put the cake on the table. “I was just lucky enough to know this great guy.”

“I should be thanking you,” Hunk said, carefully setting up a few smaller cakes around the tower. “The bakery I run with my uncle doesn’t get big orders like this, usually. We usually do bread and smaller cakes for kids.”

“Oh the sweet bread,” Lance said dreamily. “Anyway, it’s Dr. Holt’s big day. He deserves the best, and Hunk is the best.”

Matt laughed and excused himself to go set up a bouncy castle for the kids who were starting to eye the cakes a little too greedily. Lance left to get him and Hunk a few sodas to beat the heat and Hunk busied himself with looking around.

It was incredible to see this many people gathered for one person. Hunk had heard of Dr. Holt, of all the incredible things he’d done in research and the federal mission he’d been on that was so top secret not even his wife really knew what had happened or where he’d been. They were all just happy he was back.

As he looked around, his eyes fell on a girl with a head full of rollers dressed in a stained oversized shirt that made her look even smaller than she was. But there was something in her smile, in her eyes which even from this distance, Hunk could see gleamed in the sun, that told him she was older than she looked. Her arms were hooked between two other girls who were in different stages of getting ready, and they said something to make her laugh, causing her to tilt her head back and making her eyes squint adorably.

“Here you go, buddy. Hunk? Hunk!”

Hunk blinked and blindly grabbed the soda. “Lance, do you know who that is?” he asked, trying to gesture discreetly to the pretty girl that seemed so at ease even with a million rollers in her hair and barefoot in the grass.

“Pidge? That’s Matt’s sister. Dr. Holt’s daughter.” He paused and eyed Hunk with a smirk. “Why?”

Hunk shook his head and let his eyes drift back to her. “She’s magnificent.”

Her eyes flickered over to the table when one of the girls gestured, and her eyes lit up with excitement at the sight of the cakes, but Hunk was turning away, trying to catch his breath. His entire body felt tense and nervous, and his heart was pounding even though she hadn’t even looked at him, she looked at the cakes, but she was so beautiful, Hunk had no idea what to do if she did look at him.

“Oh my God, Hunk,” Lance laughed, trying to hide his smirk in his soda. “She’s pretty chill. Just go say hi.”

“Yeah, then what? I can barely hold a conversation on a regular day, how am I supposed to do that with her?”

“She’s a person.”

“She’s the prettiest person I’ve ever seen,” he corrected.

Lance furrowed his eyebrows. “You realize she’s in one her dad’s old shirts and that her hair looks like those wine moms on old TV sitcoms, right?”

Hunk rolled his eyes and peeked back at her where she was fixing one of the younger kids’ suit with a kind smile. “Yeah. But look at her smile.”

“Ho-ooh-kay, buddy,” Lance said, shaking his head and laughing.

Once Matt had set up the bouncy house, the kids flocked to it and seemed to give everyone else a head start on the rest of the preparations and getting ready. Pidge went over to the stereo to see what was wrong with it which she should have done a while ago if her cousins hadn’t pulled her away to ask about school and give her the latest update on their cousin Emma who was off in Europe.

She went back into the house to get the manual for the stereo in hopes of figuring out what exactly was wrong with it. The sound was all garbled and the volume wasn’t working, but Pidge hoped it was something she could fix, and not because they needed a new one. They rarely used that stereo, so she didn’t see why it’d be so messed up.

“Pidge, honey, you have to get ready soon,” her mother said when she saw Pidge digging through the drawers.

“I know, Mom. I’m just gonna reboot the stereo and start getting ready.”

“Did you see the cakes? Aren’t they beautiful?”

She smiled and nodded. “Yeah I saw them getting set up. They’re really nice, Dad’s gonna love them.”

“Could you thank Lance for finding us a bakery so last-minute?” Pidge huffed and rolled her eyes, looking over at her mom as she poked at Pidge’s hair nonchalantly. “Such a sweet boy he is.”

“Yeah, and he’s like an annoying older brother, Mom,” she reminded. “It’s not happening.”

She laughed and tightened one of the rollers that had come loose. “You never know, Pidge. You can fall in love at the most unlikely times. You know how I met your father?”

“Modulating arguments,” she said with a smile. “I loved when Dad told me that story before bed.”

Her mother smiled and bopped her nose with a gentle finger. “I never thought for a second that the same guy who’d been driving me nuts would be the same one I’d be marrying and having a family with. Keep an open mind.”

“Alright, Mom,” she resigned, smiling. Her mother had always liked Lance for her, but Pidge never saw him as anything more than Matt’s friend and a possible second older brother. She liked playing video games with the guy, and he was usually there after their classes at the Garrison Tech Institute every day, so she saw him plenty. There was just never anything more, despite her mom’s insistence.

She found her pamphlet and waved it around victoriously. “I’ll be back. Wear the silver shoes!” she said as she ducked back out.

She went to the stereo and started checking each cord to be sure everything was plugged in correctly. She was aware of a shadow and looked over to see Lance. “What are you doing, Elizabeth James?”

“Elizabeth James?” she questioned.

“Yeah, that lady from the Parent Trap. When she was drunk and had rollers in her hair?” Pidge rolled her eyes and flipped him off. “Ouch, Pidge.” He laughed and leaned over, looking at the pamphlet in her hands. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to figure out why this won’t work. If you tell me to turn it off and back on, I will punch you.”

Lance laughed and heaved a sigh. “Well, my buddy is pretty good with wires and stuff. He’s the top engineer at the Garrison.” Pidge raised an eyebrow and Lance waved over the guy who’d brought the cakes.

“Your baker friend is an engineer?” she asked, unamused as the guy walked over, looking at Lance warily.

“Yep! Hunk, buddy, Pidge here needs help fixing the stereo. Easy work for you, right?”

“I don’t need help,” Pidge muttered, clenching her jaw.

The baker, Hunk, looked at her nervously and smiled. “Hi. Um, I can fix it for you if you want-”

“I can do it myself,” she said, not wanting a couple of guys trying to mansplain equipment to her just because they were Garrison students. She’d be there too next year. She was a Holt for crying out loud.

“Pidge, be nice,” Lance said, an amused smile on his face. “He’s just trying to help.”

“Right,” she muttered. Hunk pointed at the pamphlet and she handed it over.

He looked at the stereo and seemed to zone out for a second, fiddling with something Pidge couldn’t see because he hunched over his work. She looked at Lance with a raised eyebrow, but he just shrugged and looked back at Hunk. “There you go,” he said, suddenly standing back. “Try it now.”

Pidge pressed play as an old Elvis Presley song came on, crystal clear and loud enough to scare one of her aunts who was walking by.

“Nice job, Hunk!” Lance praised.

“Yeah, thanks,” Pidge said, looking at the baker. “I have to go get ready.” She turned away, feeling oddly miffed about the fact that Lance and his friend had just pranced in and taken over. She was perfectly capable of figuring things out herself, and she didn’t want some guy with a pretentious attitude under a kind smile trying to coddle her.

She went back to her room and let her hair down from her rollers, combing through until her hair fell in gentle light brown waves just under her shoulders and she slipped into her dress, a light green with a white ribbon around her waist which fit snugly and fell to her knees in little ruffles that spread when she twirled. She put on her favorite flats with yellow flowers and pinned one side of her hair up with a hairpin her father had given her at her last birthday she was able to spend with him. It was a nice emerald color and was shaped like a small lily flower.

Suddenly, she heard a lot of excited yells downstairs, and her heart jumped. Her father was back. She raced downstairs and smiled when she saw her mother in the arms of her father. They were hugging so tightly, Pidge wondered if they’d ever let go, but she didn’t mind.

When they did pull apart her father kissed her mother, making her laugh through happy tears as his moustache tickled her.

“Dad!” Matt ran in from the backyard and hugged him tightly. Pidge was surprised with the way Matt seemed to be just a smidge taller than him now.

“Where’s my girl?” her dad asked, looking around until his eyes landed on Pidge. His eyes crinkled and she ran toward him, tackling him into a hug she never wanted to let go. “Oh look at you!” he cried, holding her tightly. “You’re wearing the pin.”

“You’re back,” she whispered, taking in the familiar scent of his Old Spice cologne. It had been a long time since Pidge smelled that in the house. “Happy birthday, Dad,” she sniffed, kissing his cheek before pulling away.

As Sam Holt greeted the rest of the family that had gathered for him, Pidge let her mom whisk her away to help her with a touch of mascara, a swipe of gloss, and the lightest tint of blush. The two of them went to the backyard where everyone was gathered and waiting to take pictures of the reunited family before eating.

Once the pictures were taken, more music flooded the yard and everyone lined up to serve themselves. Pidge noticed Hunk was still there, talking with Matt and Lance. She was a little annoyed since he hadn’t exactly been invited, he’d just brought the cakes, but she knew better than to be rude and say something about it. Besides, it looked like he was friends with her brother and Lance.

She sat down to eat, catching her father up on her school days and telling him about how she was planning on applying to the Garrison the next year. He talked to her about the things he could tell her about his time away, like the different foods he ate and the little shops he’d visit without giving away a location.

Somewhere in the middle of talking, Matt walked over and introduced his baker friend. “Hey Dad, this is Hunk. He made all of the cakes and stuff. He’s friends with Lance and he goes to the Garrison too.”

“It’s an honor to meet you, sir, I’ve heard so much about your work,” Hunk said, looking flustered as he shook his hand.

Pidge rolled her eyes and poked at the piece of bread left on her plate while her father indulged in meeting his new fan.

Then she heard, “I was actually wondering if I could steal Pidge away for a dance?” She blinked and looked over at Hunk. “Pidge, would you… like to dance?”

She looked at her parents who were smiling encouragingly, but something kept her rooted to her seat. “Um, I’m with my parents right now,” she said awkwardly.

He looked like he was going to leave her alone, but then her mom said, “Oh, honey, it’s okay! One dance won’t hurt, we have all day to catch up. Besides, I think I want a dance too. Sam?” Her father chuckled and stood up with her, whisking her away to dance.

Matt raised an eyebrow and slunk away, leaving Pidge with a very uneasy looking baker. “Alright then,” she muttered, standing up. He smiled at her and she let him take her hand as they walked to the open space left for dancing. He placed his other hands just under her ribs, which Pidge was grateful for. The last thing she needed was this guy trying to let his hand slip.

“You look… amazing, by the way,” he said as he began to lead Pidge through a dance to a happy tune.

“Thanks,” she answered. She would’ve complimented him back if he wasn’t still wearing the uniform from the bakery he worked at. He obviously hadn’t planned on staying.

“I mean it,” he said. “Even before the dress and the makeup.”

Pidge felt her cheeks heat up and she looked down at her feet. “Um. Thank you. That’s really sweet.” It had completely slipped her mind that he’d seen her in hair rollers and a ratty shirt. “So… you made all the cakes yourself?”

“Yeah. Um, I run the bakery with my uncle. I learned from my mom and I sort fell in love with baking.”

“Well, they’re really nice. And I’ll bet they taste even better.” She gave him a tense smile and he blushed.

“Thanks. I hope they’re not disappointing.” There was an awkward little silence before Hunk added, “Matt says you’re applying to the Garrison.”

“Yep. I’m waiting on the letter back. If it goes well, I’ll be there next year.”

“Good. They need more girls. The disparity is ridiculous.” She smiled at that. “It’s a great school. I sometimes freak out about the work, but it’s actually pretty manageable. I just procrastinate a lot.”

She snorted and nodded. “Story of my life. Sometimes I procrastinate because something seems so easy, but sometimes it’s because it’s so complicated. Either way, I’m losing sleep.” Hunk smiled and nodded in understanding. The song ended and the two of them stood awkwardly staring at each other. Then Pidge pulled away and gave him a smile. “Thanks for the dance. Enjoy the party.”

He watched as she walked back to her seat where her parents were also going back to, laughing and holding hands. She smiled at them, and Hunk felt like he couldn’t breathe. Suddenly a pair of hands pulled him away.

“So how’d it go?” Lance asked with a smile.

“She has freckles,” he breathed. “Really cute freckles and she smiled at me. Her laugh is so cute, I just wanna make her laugh all the time-”

“Is he going on about my sister?” Matt asked, tossing back a soda. “Did you ask her out?”

“No! I don’t know how to do that, how do I do that, what if she says no?”

“Then you move on, bud,” Lance said with a shrug.

“Or,” Matt said, giving Lance a glare, “You could do all the cute mushy stuff girls like to convince her to go on a date with you. You’re not asking her to marry you, it’s not that huge a deal. It’s just a date.”

“She makes me nervous.”

“Hunk, a can of Bush’s baked beans make you nervous,” Lance pointed out. Hunk glared at him and tipped his soda back enough for it to dribble down the sides onto his suit. “Hunk! Aw man.”

Matt laughed and shook his head. “Trust me, my sister is just a normal girl. Don’t overthink it. I gotta go, I promised my aunt Cassie I’d dance with her.” He patted Hunk’s shoulder and walked away to an elderly aunt who lit up when he offered his hand.

Hunk sat down and ignored Lance mumbling about his suit.

The things he felt when he looked at Pidge felt like something out of a romance novel. He’d had crushes before, and he’s seen girls that are so pretty, they made him trip and nearly fall on his face. But something about Pidge was different. More intense.

He’d seen her without the pretty dress and she still took his breath away. Her voice was so… nice, it just made him wish he could be interesting enough to keep her talking to him. And when she smiled, Hunk literally held his breath because all he could do was focus on her. On the way her eyes lit up, the way her freckles disappeared under the flustered laughter, the way she half-covered her mouth as her head titled back. He wished he could be more like Lance, funny enough to keep her laughing so he could hear it, see it every time. The way she looked at him…. It was so calculated. Hunk could get lost in those amber eyes. It was unreal how pretty they were.

Hunk has had crushes before, but he’s never experienced the intense inability to breathe or think around someone before. He’d never felt time stop just because someone looked at him or wished it would stay frozen before his time was up. When she smiled, Hunk could actually see more with her. He could see late nights under covers, whispering and laughing, movie nights where she’d fall asleep on him, study dates where they stopped studying and ended up sharing funny pictures with each other, he could see arguments that got fixed with a soft apology and hugs.

He had such an intense urge to just kiss her when she looked at him, and that scared him because it took every ounce of self restraint not to do something that stupid. It felt right, it felt like… like they were made for each other. And maybe she didn’t feel that way, but Hunk couldn’t bring himself to let this go when he felt so sure and so unsure at the same time. He had never felt this before.

But he didn’t want to let it slip through his fingers.

He stood by his cakes, helping serve when the family lined up and smiled as they complimented the design. His eye flickered over to Pidge who seemed more than happy to stay where she was, talking to her father.

Hunk was well aware that he was probably the farthest thing from her mind. She was beautiful, and she was smart. She had better things to do than worry about a baker who’d fallen for her at first glance. Especially one that looked like him.

People didn’t think guys felt self-conscious usually, but Hunk knew better. He knew the way even someone as flirtatious as Lance could panic behind closed doors about bad skin, the wrong outfit, a bad hair day. And he didn’t usually fret over it himself. He knew he was a big guy, but he was nice enough that people hadn’t bullied him much for it through high school. Besides, most of his weight was muscle that he’d gotten from going to the gym and the amount of protein he ate. What could he say, he loved red meat. He was a healthy guy, and he knew that.

But times like this, he did wish he was thinner, less awkward, just overall attractive enough to have a girl blushing when he looked at her.

He watched as Pidge danced with cousins, danced with her father, watched as she took off her flats and twirled around completely at ease and happy with having her father back. Looking at her like that, Hunk found his own worries taking a backseat. He really liked seeing her so happy.

As the night came to an end, he saw Pidge helping her mother with cleaning up as family members said their goodbyes and slowly dwindled away. Sam Holt was sitting in a hammock, looking up at the stars with a calm smile.

Hunk saw Pidge toting a trash bag and walked over to her. “Do you need any help?” he asked softly.

She jumped and looked over at him. “You’re still here,” she noted, a hint of confusion. Hunk bit his lip. “Um… yeah, this one’s pretty full. I need to go get another.”

“I can take that,” he said, taking the bag from her hands, gulping when the tips of her fingers brushed against his. “I’ll be right back.” He walked away and threw the trash in the trash bin before going back to where Pidge was fanning out a new bag. He walked with her, helping her collect stray soda cans and napkins. Matt was deflating the bouncy house. Lance was wiping down the table the cake had been at.

“Hey, the cake was really good. You’re a good baker,” she said, bundling up the torn plastic table cloth they’d taped to the tables. She stuffed it into the bag. “Thanks for helping us out.”

“Yeah, of course, it wasn’t a problem at all. Um… I’m really glad your dad’s back.”

She smiled and chuckled softly. “Thanks. I’m gonna go take a shower and go to bed, it’s been a busy day. Thanks again, Hunk.”

She took the trash bag and threw it away before walking into the house. Hunk stood there a little dumbfounded because she’d said his name for the first time and hearing it from her made him feel all jittery and short of breath.

“Baker boy,” he heard someone call. He turned and saw Dr. Holt sitting in his hammock, waving him over. “Hunk, right?” he asked as Hunk walked over. He nodded and Dr. Holt patted the space beside him. “Your cake was wonderful. Very tasty in case you couldn’t tell by how quickly everyone ate it.” Hunk laughed and thanked him. “Will you be coming around more often? I’d love to meet more of Matt’s friends.”

“I could. I’m closer to Lance, but Matt and I have a class together on Tuesdays and Thursdays.” Dr. Holt nodded pensively. “I’m usually taking earlier classes so I can get to the bakery before rush hour.”

“And what time is that?”

“Around four.”

“Oh. Pidge gets out of school around three. Her mother told me she always walks, but that always made me uneasy.” Hunk furrowed his eyebrows, not sure what to respond to that. “Would it be a lot to ask you to walk her home for us, Hunk? Matt’s in class at the time, and I’d feel so much better knowing she’s not walking alone.”

“Um, sure. I could do that. It’s on the way.” It actually wasn’t, but this man was a legend and honestly, it gave Hunk a reason to spend a little time with Pidge.

“Thank you,” he said with a smile. “It’s really nice to be home. Did you enjoy the party?”

“Oh, yes, it was very nice,” Hunk answered.

Dr. Holt smiled. Before he could say something else, Lance walked over to them and nudged Hunk. “Bud, I gotta get home. My mom’s real strict about me getting home before one in the morning.”

“Oh, okay, yeah, we should go.”

“Bye, Dr. Holt! It’s good to see you back home,” Lance said, giving him a hug before rushing off to the truck. Hunk gave him an awkward one armed hug before going to the truck and driving Lance home.

That Monday, Hunk found himself waiting outside the high school Matt told him Pidge went to. Hunk had gone to a different one, a smaller one, and it was pretty cool seeing the variety and the amount of people leaving this one. He saw Pidge walking out onto the sidewalk, her hair in a low ponytail as she hefted her backpack.

He cleared his throat and asked, “Do you want some help with that?” Pidge faltered and turned back, confused at first, then suspicious. “Hi.”

“Are you… following me?” she asked, taking a step back.

“Oh, no! God, no. Your dad asked me to walk you home after school before I left the party the other night.” She frowned and looked at Hunk uneasily. “Honest. He said he was worried about you walking alone.”

“I’ve been doing this for years,” she mumbled. He shrugged and she rolled her eyes. “Alright, well… let’s go, I guess.”

Hunk hurried to her side and walked, placing a decent amount of space between them to help her ease up. He pulled out a bag of chips he’d gotten before leaving the Garrison and offered her some. She smiled and took a few, munching on them as she walked.

“So how was school?” he asked.

“It was fine. I had a test in my physics C class and it was a piece of cake.”

He raised an eyebrow and hummed. “Physics C… that’s senior year?” She nodded. “I’m a college sophomore.”

“Yeah, I figured since you’re friends with Matt and Lance. It’s a little weird that you haven’t been over before.”

“Yeah, well, I’m more of Lance’s friend than Matt’s. Lance just told me about Matt needing a cake, and I figured I could help.” She nodded. “How long have you known Lance?”

“Since middle school,” she said. “He’s been friends with my brother for forever. My mom keeps saying we’ll end up together, and it’s driving me nuts. I can’t be within two feet of the guy without her starting on wedding plans.”

Hunk grimaced and focused on his chips. “Do you not like Lance?”

“Oh, no, I love him. He’s like my brother. But my mom insists on it becoming more, and that’s just not happening.” Hunk nodded and chewed carefully. “She just keeps pushing this idea on me that I’ll fall in love like she did. With the last person I’d expect. Which, I guess would be Lance, but….” She trailed off and shrugged.

“Your mom didn’t think she’d end up with Dr. Holt? But they’re so….”

“Perfect together?” she finished with a smile that had Hunk short-circuiting. “That’s the big love story,” she said. “My mom hated my dad when they met. My mom swears that’s….” She gulped and looked at the sidewalk. “She swears it’s gonna happen to me too.”

Hunk hummed, trying not to feel too uneasy. “Then I guess keep an eye out for people you hate on sight.”

She laughed, maybe a little nervously, but a laugh nonetheless. It was quiet for a while, the only sound being the scrape of their shoes against the pavement. “How were classes for you?” she asked.

“Pretty good. I had to modulate this frequency today, and my professor was being really whiny about it.”

“Well, did you double modulate?” she asked.

He groaned and rolled his eyes. “Really? You too? What is the point of-”

“It’s just how it is, man! You gotta double modulate, who single modulates?”

“Uh, me,” he said. “It’s efficient and-”

“Efficient until everything fucks up and you gotta do everything all over again.” She smirked and Hunk scoffed.

“Oh come on. It’s a waste of a keystroke.”

“What, you can’t spare like a fraction of a second to make the keystroke?” she teased. Hunk felt his face get warm. “Ah-ha! I’m right.”

“No,” he insisted. “I’m just saying, it’s not necessary even if it isn’t that much time. I can get all the work done by single modulating, why double modulate?”

“Ask my dad, he’ll tell you. Always start by double-modulating,” she said. Then her face turned red and she cleared her throat. “But you know, if you got the answers you needed I guess it doesn’t matter.” Hunk frowned and looked at her, but she seemed to be thinking over a math problem in her head or something. He offered her more chips and she accepted.

As they reached her house, Hunk found himself biting his lip nervously and clearing his throat too much. “Uh, Pidge?” She looked up at him with wide eyes and Hunk felt his words catch in his throat.

She tucked her hair behind her ear and waited patiently. “Yeah?” she prodded.

He cleared his throat again and chuckled nervously. “Make sure to ask your dad about the modulating thing,” he said. She chuckled and nodded, turning away to go into her home. “Um, wait.” She turned back and tilted her head. “Did you… want me to walk with you tomorrow?”

She bit her lip and thought it over. It was nice having someone to talk to on the walk. But she also didn’t want to be babied and walked every single day like a kid. She shrugged and shifted her backpack. “It’s up to you. I don’t mind. Thanks for today.”

“Oh, o-okay,” he said. She smiled and waved as she went into her house.

She felt weird. Nervous. She hated the guy during the party. He’d seemed so pretentious and he’d annoyed her by intervening, consistently offering help like he thought she couldn’t do things for herself. Except in retrospect, that’s probably not how he meant it. He seemed quiet, shy even. He genuinely wanted to help, and that was all. And that stupid modulating thing. She couldn’t keep her parents’ voices out of her head.

Whatever. Whatever, it didn’t matter. He was just a nice guy, a baker, and one of Matt’s friends. Sure, he seemed interested, but Pidge had to focus on school. She had to keep her GPA up if she wanted to get into the Garrison the next year.

She ignored her parents’ asking about her walk, mumbling that it was fine and she had homework, but she knew by the gleam in their eyes. They were plotting. And frankly Pidge didn’t like it.

Still, the next day when she got out of school, she couldn’t help but let her eyes wander, wondering if Hunk would still be there to walk with her. She saw him leaning against the fence fixing the bandana he wore around his head. She walked up to him and tilted her head.

“Is this your cool guy stance?”

He gasped and jumped away from the fence, making her laugh. “Whoa! Hello. Hi.”

“Hey,” she greeted.

“Oh! Uh, I got you these.” He rustled through his messenger back and gave her a bag of the chips they’d been sharing the day before. “You seemed to like them.”

She smiled and took them. “Thanks.” She opened them and smirked when he pulled out another bag for himself. “So how was your Tuesday?”

“It started way too early and it’ll be ending way too late.”

“Busy day?”

“Yep. But it’s okay. I get my break by walking with you.” She blushed and looked at the sidewalk as she chewed. “Uh, so no tests today?”

“Nope. No shitty single modulating today?”

“Oh my God,” he said with a laugh. He had a nice laugh. Deep and full, and his whole face seemed to light up. “Leave my modulating alone,” he said with a shake of his head. “Wanna hear a funny story?”

“Sure.”

“Okay. So Lance has a crush on this girl named Jenni. I forget her last name. But anyway, he also kind of has a crush on this other student, he just refuses to admit it.”

“Typical,” she said with a shake of her head.

“Right?” She giggled. “Anyway, so Lance finally got a chance to talk to Jenni, and he was being his usual smooth self, you know doing the leaning over thing he does.”

“Oh no,” Pidge said, already laughing into her chips.

Hunk held up a hand, indicating it wasn’t the worst part. “So I’m standing there, listening because as a wingman, I gotta back him up if he fucks up.” Pidge nodded. “And he’s dropping all these one liners, making her laugh, but I’m not sure if she was laughing at him or with him.” Pidge snorted. “But then he goes in for the full effect. Like he’s practiced this countless times, how to ask her out and stuff. But then the other student walks by, and I guess it threw Lance off because then he looks at Jenni and goes, ‘So, Keith do you wannna maybe go out sometime?’”

Pidge gasped and covered her mouth. “No!” Hunk nodded. “Oh my God. He called her a guy’s name? Wait…. He’s crushing on a guy?”

“He swears he’s not, but he totally is. So Jenni got all mad and left, but Lance was just standing there with his mouth covered mumbling about Keith ruining his life, and the guy is literally just two tables over eating a granola bar and reading a book.”

“Oh my God, that’s…. That’s so painful to hear, I shouldn’t be laughing, but oh my God,” she said between fits of laughter. She covered her mouth, trying desperately to control her laughter.

“Why are you doing that?” he asked, a ghost of a smile on his lips.

“I don’t like my laugh,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s loud and if I laugh too long, I snort.”

“Really?” Hunk asked with a smile. “I need to hear that.”

“No, you really don’t,” she said.

“No worries. I got loads of funny stories. I’ll hear it eventually.”

She rolled her eyes and felt her smile falter when she saw her house come into view. “Thanks for walking me home again,” she said.

“Of course. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

She bit her lip and nodded. She went inside then peeked out the curtain as Hunk walked back the way they came. She frowned and watched as he walked away from view. Was he going out of his way just to walk her?

“Pidge, how was the walk home?” her mother asked. She jumped and shut the curtain, catching her breath. “Pidge, you okay?”

“Yep! Got homework! Gotta go!” She dashed up the stairs and went to her room.

The next day had started out perfectly sunny. Pidge hadn’t thought to check the weather until she heard the rumble of thunderclouds on her way to her last class. By the time school was let out, it was pouring heavily and Pidge only had a sweater for protection. She bit her lip and headed out, figuring she’d be getting wet either way.

“Pidge!” She looked up and saw Hunk rushing over to her with a huge umbrella. “What are you doing without an umbrella?” he asked.

“I didn’t check the weather,” she said, half-shouting over the rain. He shook his head and took her backpack for her, ushering her under the safety of the umbrella. “Why are you…? What are you doing here?”

“Walking you home?” he answered uncertainly.

“But… don’t you head back down that way?” she asked as they walked.

He turned red and shrugged. “Yeah, so?”

“So why are you walking me home in this weather when you have to go the opposite way?”

He looked at her, confused and seemingly a little frustrated. “I’m not letting you walk in the rain by yourself,” he said. “Besides, I like walking with you. I don’t mind walking a little more.” She stared at him dumbly for a few seconds before hugging herself and fixating on the wet sidewalk.

They walked, not talking as much with the rain and the cold, but Pidge didn’t mind. Hunk was warm and with him walking carefully behind her, the cold wasn’t that bad. He walked her to the door, and gave her a smile before leaving the way he’d come.

The next day, it stayed sunny. When Pidge saw Hunk, she smiled as he held up a bag of chips for her. “You’re really dedicated, I’ll give you that,” she said when she saw him.

“Thanks, I think?” he answered. “I also made you this.”

He pulled out a little green paper and pushed it together so it popped out as a little origami lily. Pidge stared at it as he presented it to her. It was folded carefully with two types of paper, and it had little details drawn out in pen. “Thank you,” she whispered, reaching out for it. She had to refrain from trying to sniff it because it was her first instinct, but she also knew it was a paper, not a real flower. “This is… really sweet.”

Hunk smiled and walked beside her as she twirled the lily gingerly between her fingers. “So, when do you get your response from the Garrison?”

Pidge bit her lip and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Hopefully by next week. I’m really nervous.” She couldn’t stop thinking that Hunk must have been thinking about her while he made this flower. She wondered what made him think of her. If he ignored a lecture in favor of creating this and imagining giving it to her. And it gave her butterflies.

“I’m sure you’ll get in. You’re a Holt after all.” She smiled at that and tried to keep the blush in her cheeks under control.

He walked her for the rest of the week, and the next week after that. On Friday the second week, Pidge checked the mail and saw a response from the Garrison. She froze and stared at it dumbly, feeling like the response would make or break her.

“I can’t open this in front of them,” she choked out. “If I didn’t get in…. But what if I did? Oh God, I don’t know what to do.”

Hunk sat her down on the steps of her house and sat beside her. “Open it now then. I won’t look.” He covered his eyes like a kid playing hide and seek, and it made Pidge smile. It relieved a small ounce of the nervousness she felt was swallowing her up.

She bit her lip and tore the side of the envelope away to pull out the letter. Her heart was hammering in her chest, making her feel like she was going to puke. Her hands shook as she read the letter, trying desperately to steady her breaths.

Hunk heard a sob, and he peeked from in between his fingers to see Pidge with a hand at her mouth, staring at the letter. She touched his arm and he gasped softly as he turned to look at her.

“I got in,” she cried, her honey eyes bright with tears and a smile spreading on her lips. “I got in!”

She tackled him into a hug which he wasn’t expecting. He reacted automatically, hugging her tightly around the waist as she threw her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder. His heart beat as quickly as a hummingbird’s wings.

But he realized he wasn’t breathing when Pidge pulled away to stare at him in shock, obviously not having expected to tackle him into a hug either. Her eyes were blown wide, her face so close he could count every little freckle on her face.

He turned his face away and chuckled nervously, and she scrambled back, muttering apologies. “No, it’s okay,” he assured. “I’m so happy for you, Pidge, I knew you could do it.” She smiled and hugged him again, more calmly. “Go tell them! You have to tell them!”

“Oh, right! Right! Thank you for walking me. And… thank you,” she laughed and hugged the letter close. “Thanks for believing in me.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” he said with a smile. She chuckled and wiped her eyes, giving him one more teary eyed smile before going into her home. He could hear her shouting even as he walked away.

Before he knew it, it was summer and Hunk didn’t have to walk Pidge home anymore. But he still visited on weekends with freshly baked sweet bread from the bakery for the Holt siblings. And he started getting invited to video game nights which mostly consisted of Pidge and Lance yelling at each other while competing.

Until one night, Hunk was leaving after a particularly long match of Super Smash Bros only to be stopped by Lance as they went downstairs.

“Dude. Are you seriously going to keep this up?” he asked.

“What?”

Lance sighed and gestured upstairs where he could hear the Holt siblings bickering over what team had won. “I mean, you guys have gotten super close and you haven’t asked her out. What gives?”

“I just…. Don’t want to mess up our friendship. I like hanging out with her. I don’t want to make it weird if she doesn’t want more than that.”

Lance groaned and hit his palm to his face. “Hunk! Of course she likes you! She has a corkboard full of those little origami flowers you’re always making. And she lights up when you get here. Trust me, I’ve known Pidge for years, she doesn’t do that with everyone.” Hunk bit his lip and grumbled as he walked out, Lance trailing behind him with a quick goodbye to the Holt parents. “Dude, what’s going on?”

“It’s just…. Ever since I saw her for the first time, I’ve been... practically in love with her. I love spending time with her and making her laugh and everything, but… I don’t know what to do if she says no and then decides it’s too awkward to stay friends.”

Lance sighed and squeezed his shoulders. “Hunk, trust me. It’s better to try and mess up a bit than to spend your life wondering what could’ve happened. Unless you want her to slip and end up with some douchebag that nobody likes, you need to make your move. She likes you. I know it.” Hunk bit his lip. “Just consider it, okay?”

And he did. It was practically the only thing he thought about for the rest of the week.

Finally, he went to find Pidge, this time holding a small bouquet of real flowers. He knocked and froze up when Matt opened the door. He looked at the flowers then back at Hunk, looking surprised.

“Oh, Hunk for me?” he said. Hunk rolled his eyes and Matt laughed. “Pidge! Someone’s at the door for you.” He walked away and heard Pidge bounding over to the door.

“Ye- Oh Hunk! Oh- oh my God. Hunk.” She stared at the flowers and looked up at him, curious and surprised.

“Hi, Pidge. Um…. Listen, I… I really like you. And I have since I first saw you.” She turned red and covered her mouth. “I know that we’re really great friends, but I’d… like a chance to take you out on a date. And maybe see if… you’d like to be more than friends. If that’s something you want to do.” He gulped and took a deep breath as stared at him.

The silence was freaking him out and he was struggling to breathe. But then reached out for the flowers with a beautiful smile looked at him. “I’d like that,” she whispered.

“Really?” he asked with a relieved sigh. She nodded, smiling up at him with the happiest look in her eyes. “Can I pick you up at seven tomorrow?” She nodded, sniffing her flowers happily. “Great! Awesome!” He chuckled nervously. “I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“Okay,” she said, blushing all over again. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay. Okay, cool.” He stepped back and kept smiling at her until she closed the door. He laughed to himself and raised his arms in victory. She said yes!

The next day, Hunk went over to pick Pidge up at ten till seven and knocked on the door. Mrs. Holt answered the door and smiled at him, inviting him in to sit on the couch. Dr. Holt was sitting with a mug of coffee and happy little smile when he saw him.

“Pidge will be right down.”

He could hear Pidge and Matt arguing over something upstairs and then a little bit later, Matt was downstairs. He smiled at Hunk and called up for his sister to come down.

“I’m coming!” she said. “Are you sure these shoes- oh! Hunk! Hi! Nobody told me you were here,” she said, looking at her family.

“I thought you heard the door!” her mother said indignantly.

“Have her back by ten, Hunk,” Dr. Holt said, with a snarky smile as he drank his coffee.

“Y-yes sir,” he answered.

“Keep your hands to yourself, and if she comes home crying, I’m kicking your ass,” Matt said with a wide smile. “Other than that, it’s great to see you, buddy!”

“Matt!” Pidge groaned. “Um. We should go.”

She ushered him out of the door, ignoring Matt’s teasing and the way her mother was about to insist on pictures. He laughed and stopped at the corner of the street where they were far enough away from the house. “You look beautiful,” he said softly, as the setting sunlight danced in her hair. She was wearing the same pin from the day he’d met her.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “I’m really excited to spend time with you,” she said with a smile. “Where are we going?”

“How do you feel about ice cream?” She smiled and Hunk took her hand and walked with her to a nearby ice cream shop. Aside from the obvious fact that this was their first date, this felt pretty normal.

Being with Pidge was still a rush. It still made his heart soar when she laughed, and he still did his best to make her laugh so hard she snorted. She hit his shoulder each time she did, but Hunk considered it a personal victory to make her laugh so much. They got a few looks from people who came in for ice cream, but they seemed to be curious rather than annoyed. It didn’t matter though because everything else melted away except for Pidge and her sundae and Hunk and his chocolate shake.

Pidge had a cute little habit of resting her cheek on her fist and biting her lip as she smiled. And she smiled a lot. It made Hunk feel nice to know that she was so happy spending time with him.

“Can I tell you a secret?” she asked as they walked around a park once they’d both finished their snacks. Hunk nodded. “I didn’t like you when I first met you. Everyone was going on about how you were so sweet and the cakes and this and that, but… you annoyed me.”

“What? Why!”

She laughed and squeezed his forearm which she’d looped her arm with. “I don’t know. You came off as a bit of a know-it-all to me and… it bugged me. Then you just kept showing up.”

“So when did that change?” he asked gently.

She smiled and leaned against him as they walked. “I think it was the day you walked me home in the rain for the first time. I’d realized the day before that you were going out of your way just to walk me. I think part of me thought you wouldn’t bother that day since it was raining. And I got really happy when I saw you were still there.”

Hunk mentally slapped himself. She’d liked him back since then, and he only just now got the guts to ask her on a date? “I have a secret too,” he said. She hummed and looked over at him. He sat her down at a bench under a lamplight and took her hand as he sat beside her. “I liked you from the second I first saw you. And I remember it exactly. It was around three-thirty in the afternoon and you were wearing an old, oversized Looney Toons shirt and faded plaid pajama bottoms. Your hair was up in bright pink curlers and you didn’t have any makeup on.”

Pidge groaned and hid her face in her hands. “That’s your first memory of me? God, that’s so embarrassing. How could you have possibly liked me then?” she asked.

Hunk smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear, letting his hand linger on her cheek. “I saw you smile. And your eyes were all excited, looking around. Then you laughed and… I was done for. You were the one I wanted to be with from that very moment.” She blushed and ducked her head shyly. “You know, I wasn’t supposed to stay. I was just supposed to drop the cakes off then leave. But I saw you and… I wanted to stay so I could see you smile again and again.”

“Hunk,” she said with a beautiful blushing smile.

Hunk looked at her and smiled.

“It’s almost ten, I should get you home.” She sighed and stood up with him, their hands tangling together as they walked back to her house. Hunk made up stories with the stars, making her laugh and smile as he told the story of a baker and girl made of lilies falling for each other. When they reached her house, Hunk walked her up to the door and looked at their hands.

Hers was so small in his, and yet they fit together perfectly.

“Pidge?”

“Yes?”

He looked at her and bit his lip. “Would you… like to be my girlfriend?”

She smiled and pretended to ponder it. “I dunno. Would you like to be my boyfriend?”

He laughed and squeezed her hand. “I really would.”

She smiled up at him and nodded. “I’d like it too. So… yes.”

Hunk smiled and tilted her chin up just the slightest with his forefinger. He leaned down slowly, pressing his lips to hers ever so gently. Her lips were soft like flower petals. He pulled back and saw the way her cheeks were dusted red, the way she smiled serenely at him.

He bit back the words I’m in love with you, knowing it was far too early to say them. But he thought them. Because he felt they were true, and he’d never believed in love at first sight until he saw Pidge. His feelings had never faltered, and he could feel in his bones that this was the girl he was meant to be with. He knew with every fiber of his being that one day he’d be asking Pidge to marry him, that one day he’d watch her walk down the aisle, that there would be more kisses to come and plenty of dates and many more walks. There would be plenty of opportunities to tell her he loved her.

In the meantime he would show her with every paper flower, with every smile, with every gentle kiss.

“Goodnight, Pidge.”

“Goodnight, Hunk,” she whispered, coming up on her toes to kiss his cheek lightly.

She opened the door and shut it gently, seeing Hunk’s smile so fresh in her mind. Her parents were watching TV, and they looked at her curiously, but she could only smile wider and bid them goodnight as she went up to her room. She looked at her corkboard, covered in colorful origami flowers.

It really was funny the way things played out. The way she’d disliked Hunk so much at first, the modulating arguments, everything her parents told her would happen before she found the love of her life. And Pidge was very much a person who like data, and cold hard facts and numbers. Something as flimsy an emotion as love? It was terrifying.

But when she was with Hunk, it wasn’t so scary. And she very much believed Hunk would be the person she fell completely in love with. And it was exciting.

[mei-totoro]

love my bones (i)

✄ love my bones (i)

✄ pairing: anya (narrator) x wonho, anya x jungkook

✄ genre/warnings: angst, mature language, graphic content, futuristic, fantasy and slight romance

✄ summary: In the world Ulia, there live Holders and non-Holders. Holders are born with the ability to control one of the four elements in nature: water, earth, air, and fire. After years at the Academy of Holders, Anya has not yet unlocked her element. However, one day - after a series of unpredicted events - she unlocks her element and finds out the secret behind her family’s death.

✄ words: 2.6k

♔ prelude

“Honey, my baby, I love you much. Don’t forget who you are, the blood that runs through your veins and secret of your ancestors.” My mother took off her necklace and hung it around my neck. “Now be a good girl and get out of the house, I’ll get your brother and meet you in the front!” She screamed at me in the midst of the burning chaos. The heat of the fire threatened to burn my young tender skin, the smog crawled into my lungs, the dry heat created hot tears as I grabbed my coat and ran out of the burning house. Panting, I stopped in the front yard waiting for my parents to come out with my brother. From the loud cracking noises and the sounds of sirens in the distance, I heard a baby’s cry. It was a cry of pain, fear, and sadness.

“Mom?! Dad?!” I screamed helplessly at the burning house.

The sounds of cracking became louder, the flames engulfing the wooden posts of the house grew larger, the smoke spread more violently, the cries turned to shrieks. I covered my face in my hands to wipe away the tears. But the moment I looked up: the house collapsed.

I gasped, sitting upright while grabbing a fistful of my blanket. Another flask back. Sweat rolled from my forehead down my neck as I gulped audibly in the dead of the night. Flipping my sheets over, I rolled out of the bed. My feet grazing the icy cold floor sending chills down my spine. I snuck my way out of the dorm room and downstairs to the common room. Grabbing one of the blankets and pouring a glass of water, I curled up on the sofa and looked out the tall glass window. The moon shone on the sleeping woods, where even wolves slept soundly and the lake which acted as the moon’s mirror at night by reflecting its elegant and beautiful features.

I laughed to myself - the moon never fought with the sun for its power, because it was content with its beauty, the sun was never jealous of the moon’s beauty because it had power. Why couldn’t people live like the sun and the moon? They balance the world, bring peace, and are content with what they have. If people were not so cruel, maybe I’d be living happily with my parents and younger brother…

- ~ -

The sound of the sliding door woke me up. The infamous languid authoritarian footsteps of the Dean echoed in the empty room. He snickered, shaking his head, “Tsk. When will she learn that the common room is not her room. Right, the poor orphan was probably never educated properly. If she wasn’t a Holders, she would probably be rotting with the commoners.” He proceeded by walking up the stairs to wake the others up. ‘If that asshole wasn’t the Dean, I would have already thrown him over the wall to feed the wolves.’ I kicked the blanket off and hurried upstairs to change and prepare for class.

The girls in my dorm room were already up getting ready for the day. Slipping into suits before securing the buckles of the armor, they headed out of the room - some fixing their hair while others applied discrete colors to their lips. The hexagonal plates on their sternums lit in all colors: blue for Water, red for Fire, white for Air and green for Earth. Those were the four divisions at the Academy, and the only ones left in Ulia. Apparently centuries ago, there used to be Holders from hundreds of different division in the world. However, when people were poisoned by greed and corruption, the world fell into a huge bloody mess during the fight for survival. Ultimately, only the masters of the four divisions remained to rebuild the world and reintroduce peace. Of course, I don’t know how much of it is true, but that’s what every citizen is taught in Ulia - Holder or non-Holder.

I changed into my suit before braiding my hair. As usual, my plate didn’t light up. It never has, and I never know whether it will ever light up… Am I really a Holder? Did the Lynx of Ulia read my blood incorrectly? What if I really don’t have powers to unlock? Sighing, I tuck my mother’s necklace into my suit and head towards the field.

- ~ -

“Hut, two, three, four - hut, two, three, four… c’mon, run along! No one is going to wait for you to finish your fucking laps. Run along.” Mr. Duff, on of the academies oldest professors yelled at us. The old man was a sixty year old, bony, grumpy, divorced man with no children who had probably gone through tens of midlife crises; yet he never failed to muster the energy to whack a lagger with his “magic stick.” Anyone hit by this “magic stick” will be graced with weeks of beautiful purple and blue bruises. After yelling at us, he turned away to sit inside the cool shed in the shade.

“The old man is fucking insane.” I heard a voice behind me say, “I can’t wait till he retires.”

We continued to run around the field, greeting the rising sun every time we completed a lap. The calm of the morning was disturbed when an Earth Holder, Edgar, in front of me accidently bumped into a Fire Holder, Wilson, causing him to trip.

“Watch where you are going, clumsy troll.” Wilson yelled mockingly joined my laughter of other Fire Holders.

“How the fuck was it my fault? You were running into my space!” Edgar hollered back venomously back up by other Earth Holders.

“Ha, how dare you accuse me of such immaturity and clumsiness. Unlike your type, Fire Holders are known for their agility. Watch me light up your sorry ass.” The nimble Fire Holder sent a blast of fire towards the Earth Holder who blocked it by creating a wall of earth. Sparks of scorched dirt rolled around, causing the crowd of students to back away.

“Hell, now you are asking for this. Don’t blame me if you end up a chunk of dirt in your foil mouth!” Then, the fight broke out. Edgar stomped four boulders from the ground and sent them flying to Wilson, who whipped out a ring of fire - blasting the boulders to pieces. Some students fled far away to avoid the chunks of soil and sparks of flames dancing in the sky while others watched the fight - egging them on.

Shortly, several professor, the Dean and Mr. Duff rushed to the scene. An expression of anger and disappointment painted on their faces.

“Edgar and Wilson!” The Dean cried. “Stop this childish quarrel right now or I will sentence you both to 2 months of bathroom cleaning duty!” The field quickly died to complete silence. The two Holders lowered their head in shame. “Now if you two gentlemen are ready to behave, follow me to my office. We have a few things to discuss.” The Dean said before turning his heels, whipping around his long coat and walking away.

The teachers, dispersed the crowd and told everyone to head to their morning classes.

- ~ -

Out of the many useless things the Academy taught us, one of them was “Weather Reading.” It was considered one of the oldest forms of art in Ulia and its traditions had to be passed down. The administrators claimed that as Holders, we were a part of nature and that also included being able to understand the environment around us and weather changes. On top of the utter uselessness of the class, it was also one of the hardest classes at the Academy. The different shapes of the clouds, the speed of the wind, the humidity, the shape of the moon and the intensity of the sun were all the little miniscule details one had to learn about to pass the class. Despite its difficulty, I chose the class because it is one of the only classes that allows Holders to leave the academy and enter the depths of the woods.

“Anya!” One of my close friends Thatiana called, “Do you know what the humidity of the soil is?” I knelt down to dig up a handful of the soil, feeling it in my hand before it fell apart through the cracks of my fingers to the ground.

“Hmm I think it is around 70 to 80% humidity, the soil must be near a body of water since it is impossible to reach that humidity with the recent dry weather.” I concluded as I let Thatiana record the numbers on the tablet. “Hey,” I stopped and turned to her, “you are a Water Holder - shouldn’t you be the one to decide that? Why do you make the non-Holder do it?” I stated lightheartedly.

“Hey! I may be a Water Holder but I’m no fan of digging my hands into dirty soil - it will get my nails dirty. And also who says you are a non-Holder! You are… but maybe your element is just a little stubborn … like your personality!” She retorted while laughing.

“Ah!” I hit her shoulder. “How can I possibly be more stubborn than you!?” I said teasingly while running away from her.

“Hey, you two! Get back to work, you have to finished taking all the measurement by the end of the hour.” Professor Whum hollered our way. “I know reading the weather is fascinating but don’t get too distracted.” She winked at us before skipping towards another group. Professor Whum was one of the weirder teachers at the Academy. She wore a pair of round glasses that resembled goggles, always had dirt on her face or in her hair and wore mismatched boots everyday. She was a simple representation of a blatant mess.

“Yes Professor Whum,” I reassured her with an artificial smile.

“Don’t worry,” Thatiana snickered, “We don’t have too much fun looking at the clouds.”

I headed further into the woods until I felt a raindrop on my nose. I looked up at the forming clouds, but my vision was limited due to tangled branches of the dense forest.

“Thatiana, wait here. I’ll climb a little higher to get a better view of the sky.” I said before hiking up the steep hill to the rocks. A large dark gray mass of clouds precipitated ominously towards our direction, expanding widely and rapidly.

A strike of thunder roared loudly from afar. The light drops of rain grew in number. A sense of fear and uncertainty washed over me. Screams erupted from below, as my classmates gathered their materials and fled back towards the school. Professor Whum hurried everyone to return to the Academy and back into its gates. I turned back to the sky. ‘Why is there suddenly a thunderstorm? We had been closely watching the weather for the past few weeks and Ulia’s Weather Reading masters have never been wrong - today was supposed to be a sunny day. What in the world is going on?’ Another strike of thunder interrupted my train of thoughts as I flinched.

“Anya! Anya! Where are you? We have to go back now!” Thaliana voice laced with terror rang from below. Rain began to pour more violently, soaking my hair completely. Beyond the overwhelming fear that sent sparkles coursing through my limbs, there was something about the way the rolling opaque gray clouds picked up speed, engulfing more and more of the forest in darkness. As if darkness was suffocating the last rays of light, I reached my hand into the light, watching the cloud’s shadow roll over my hand. I turned around to watch the darkness approach the gates of the Academy as small figures rushed through shielding their heads from the rain.

A source of warmth blossomed in my gut. A type of energy that was unexplainably nostalgic yet foreign - almost like the feeling of home and belonging. I raised my hand to cup a few drops of rain - ‘Was is the rain?’ The warmth grew and filled the whole expanse of my chest. I exhaled the breath I held for too long - a zap. I fixed my attention to my fingers. Zap. Crack. A dedicated thread of electricity formed between my thumb and index. The warmth traveled down my arms and spread through my hands. More sparks. Breathing deeply again, a tingling feeling flourished from my palm - creating threads of electricity between my fingers and across my palm. At every breath and contraction of my diaphragm, the energy multiplied.

From a distance, I sensed a growing bundle of energy in core of the clouds. In a split second, strike of thunder bolted down towards me - striking me. As if the clock had slowed down, I watched the lively shifting bolt approach and lung towards me. My palms caught the wild and heavy impact of the thunder as I watched the electricity spiral and encircle my arms and body. The heat became stronger and stronger. My arms and legs were covered in fluorescent white threads. The zaps multiplied by the second, getting louder and louder. I concentrated on my breath and brought my fists together. The electricity began to weave a sort of dome over my head. My body suddenly felt light, as if my body had forgotten the whole notion of gravity. The soles of my feet left the rock. The web of electricity wrapped further down to my hip and legs. The sphere wrapped neatly underneath my feet shutting me in.

I had created a force field of electricity around my body - protecting my body from the rain and the wind.

Sparks of electricity dance around my body as I floated higher and higher off the ground. For the first time, I felt free and invincible. While I watched my classmates through blazes of fire across the training room and soak each with whole tubs of water - I stood by the side patiently waiting for the day I would be able to unlock my element. Happiness coursed joyfully through my body. I was a Holder! I really was! I don’t know what kind but if I can control something - I am a Holder. I played in the force field, enjoying the new lightness of my body. Touching the bubble of electricity sent literal sparks through my arm. I closed my eyes and relished the warmth of the electricity prickling and tickling my skin.

As I floated higher and higher into the sky, I failed to realize another strike of thunder building up. When I saw a crack of light form in the distance darkness: I panicked. I raised my arms to cover my head but the thunder hit the force field, cracking it open instantly. The power of the bolt flung me violently across the woods. As if gravity finally woke up, my body turned heavy and was pulled downwards. Fuck. I flailed my arms in order to slow down my fall but all efforts were in vain. I fell on the thick branches of a big tree because falling flat on the hard ground.

“Anya! She is over here!” Thatiana screamed from a distance. As I laid completely limp and lifeless on the dirt, ropes of electricity spiraled around my body zapping periodically. After several violent zaps, my vision turned black.

a/n: idk if anyone will actually read this BUT im just putting this out here ha. since I got nothing to do in my spare time, I think im going to write again hehe c: idk when chapter 1 will be out but look forward to it :3 Jungkook and wonho will come in next chapter sorry haha 

[n3rdybird]

Like Fathers, Like Son

Like Fathers, Like Son

Sons of Anarchy

Reader x Chibs/Tig x Venus Family fluff.

Growing up SAMCRO, you knew the club was family, albeit sometimes dysfunctional family.

Even when a fling with Alexander “Tig” Trager ended up with you knocked up, your dysfunctional family stepped up in every way they could.

Tig was a great father. No one would have pegged him to be excited to be a dad again, and at first he didn’t know what he felt. But the day he found out he was going to have a son was one of the happiest days of his life. That moment was trumped only when Leonard Trager-(Y/L/N) came wailing into the world. He had the same wild dark hair as his dad, and your eyes.

Co-parenting with Tig had its ups and downs, but you made it work. Although you were now parents, you both decided staying friends and focusing on your son was the best plan of action. Besides, a copious amount of alcohol and one night stand doesn’t make a functioning relationship.

Gemma was an amazing help especially since your own mother had died when you were younger. Leo also had a multitude of uncles to help out and spoil the newest “member” of SAMCRO. Each one of the men kept a close eye on you and Leo.

Especially a certain sexy Scotsmen. Filip ‘Chibs’ Telford. He was always quick to help when Tig wasn’t available, running errands and generally just being there for you and your son. It was only a matter of time before the late night conversations led to feelings of the romantic kind.

When the two of you grew closer, Tig watched with a smile on his face. It was clear that Chibs was falling for you and vice versa. He was quick to give his blessing to his baby mama and long term friend.

*********

You were having coffee with Venus when your cellphone rang.

You answered with a smile, in the middle of laughing about something Venus was telling you.

Within seconds, your smile disappeared as you listened to the voice on the other end of the conversation. Venus picked up on your mood change, her face mirroring yours in concern.

You hung up the phone and rubbed the bridge of your nose with a sigh.

“What’s wrong hun?” Venus asked.

“That was the school. Leo was in an “altercation”,” you said mimicking the principal’s words.

Venus gasped, her hand covering her mouth.

“No way, not our Leo,” she said in disbelief.

You shook your head, also having a hard time believing it. Regardless of who he grew up with, Leo had never been in a fight before.

“Either way, I have to go to the school. Can you call Tig and Filip while I drive?”

Venus smiled and nodded.

“Of course hun, whatever you need.”

She gave you a hug, and the two of you tossed your coffee cups on the way to your car.

**********

Two voice mails later, the two of you entered Leo’s elementary school main office.

Leo was sitting on a bench alone, kicking his legs. He looked up to see you and his Auntie Venus. You gave your son a smile to show you weren’t angry, and Venus flitted to her nephew, fussing over him. She brushed his hair away from his face, checking for bruises or cuts.

Unlike the bruised and bloodied boy sitting across the hall, Leo was relatively unscathed. The only signs of him being in a fight was his red eyes and slightly red knuckles.

Venus sat next to Leo and you knelt in front of him, kissing his forehead.

“Hey baby, what happened?” you asked softly.

“What happened is your unruly monster attacked my poor Donnie,” a woman snarled as she stalked up to her son. She pulled out a handful of tissues, dabbing at her son’s broken nose.

“Monster-” you started, your rage starting to boil, but Venus put her hand on your arm to keep from snapping at the Stepford PTA mom. Brenda Decker was the same uptight hag from high school.

The door next to them opened, and Principal Carter waved the parents into his office. He looked to you and tilted his head in confusion.

“Will Mr. Trager be joining us?”

“I’ve called both Filip and Alex, but they are working. This is Venus Van Dam. She’s one of Leo’s emergency contacts.”

He nodded and sat down at his desk, gesturing for the rest of the group to follow suit. When they settled, Principal Carter steepled his fingers.

“Leonard and Donnie were involved in an altercation this afternoon. Both have refused to say what caused the fight.”

“There is no way my sweet Donnie would ever start a fight,” Brenda interrupted. She sniffed haughtily at you and your son, her nose high in the air.

“Clearly he was just defending himself,” she said.

You held back a snort. Donnie looked terrible compared to Leo.

“He did a shit job defending then,” you muttered. Venus heard you and had to hold back a laugh.

Principal Carter cleared his throat.

“I’d like to ask again what happened. Leonard?”

You ran your fingers through your son’s hair.

“What happened baby? I promise I won’t be mad.”

Leo glared at the other boy.

“Donnie said my family was bad. That daddy and pop are bad guys. And that Auntie Venus was a…” He paused.

“He called Auntie Venus a bad word. And I said he was wrong. And he pushed me. And I hit him.”

You sighed. Charming would always be small town with small minds.

“While I’m glad you stood up for your family baby; we don’t hit,” you said proudly but firmly.

Brenda tsked.

“Well there you have it. What are you going to do about this? He needs to be punished.”

“We have a no tolerance rule for fighting, and normally Leonard would be expelled. However, since it is his first offense, he will be suspended for a week.”

Brenda looked outraged and all you wanted to do was smack her. Which would not solve anything.

“Suspended? And have my Donnie back with his attacker?”

Principal Carter leveled his gaze at Mrs. Decker.

“This is not the first time I’ve heard that Donnie was bullying another student. We also have zero tolerance for bullying. So Donnie will be suspended for two days.”

Brenda tried to argue, but the unflappable principal held up his hand.

“My decision is final.”

**********

You and Venus walked out of the building, Leo swinging between your hands.

Brenda rushed past you, bumping your shoulder as she drug her kid behind her.

“You better keep an eye on your son. Pretty soon he’ll be in jail just like his father,” she sneered.

You stilled.

“I’d keep walking if I were you,” you said evenly. This woman was working your last nerve.

“Or what? You and that tranny-”

You snapped, letting go of your son and closed the distance to Brenda. Her nose exploded in a gush of blood.

“You shut your damn mouth. Venus is a classier lady than you’ll ever be. So you can take your busted fake nose and your close minded cunt rag of a son, and get the fuck out of here,” you growled out.

Brenda paled and all but shoved Donnie into their minivan.

You shook out your fist and turned to Venus who had covered Leo’s ears when you started your rant. You kneeled in front of your son, feeling like you failed him.

“That was wrong of me. To hit Donnie’s mom.”

“To hell with that, that was the sexiest thing I’ve seen,” Tig called out. He and Chibs were sitting on their bikes a few spaces away.

They duo sauntered over to you. Chibs slapped you on the ass.

“Nicely done lass,” he whispered against your neck, giving you a kiss.

You blushed.

“Brenda Decker is such a bitch,” you mumbled.

“I’m such a bad influence on you, I love it,” Tig said wrapping his arm around Venus, who popped him in the stomach.

“While I admit that woman was a nightmare, you didn’t have to do that honey. She wasn’t the first or the last to talk about me,” Venus said.

“No way was I gonna let her talk shit about our family.”

Venus smiled, tearing up a bit at your declaration. Tig took this moment to kneel next to his son.

“So it looked like you won bud,” he said proudly. He held up his fist and Leo bumped it proudly.

“That’s our boy,” Chibs said laughing. You and Venus shared an exasperated look.

That was your men, rough and sometimes crude. And you loved them all the same.

[yg-got7scenarios]

Infinity Part 14

**GIF NOT MINE 

Mini-Masterlist

Characters:  Mark Tuan (GOT7), You (Reader/OC), Park Jinyoung (GOT7), GOT7 members, Mark’s parents, Marika (Your friend), and other surprise characters

Genre:  Slow Build, Mainly Angst, Minor Fluff, Smut (on previous and future chapters)

Warning/s:  Angsty as usual, but no other warnings… I guess

Length:     3,967 words

Plot:  You have always believed the line from your favorite book that some infinities are larger or smaller than other infinities. You always wonder if you even have an infinity that you get to spend with someone or you will be forever alone?

A/N: I AM BAAAAAAAAAAAACK. Sorry for the long wait everyone! I am thinking this series will only have a few chapters left.  But then again I am not certain, but it looks like it at this moment.  LOL.  Don’t mind me.

  Bambam walked his way out of the campus slowly after he handed over some reports to his professor.  It is almost the end of the semester, and he will be graduating soon. He was able to earn enough hours for his Internship class and had completed majority of his thesis, thanks to his favorite friends.

Jackson had talked to him a few days ago about what had happened; and he was so sad for Mark, and he feels like he needs to do something.  However, he doesn’t know what and how.  Marika is not his tutor anymore since Professor Shin is back from her vacation. Jackson also said that he was already in touch with the brunette, and they were just advised the same thing; to give it some more time.

Bambam haven’t even realized that he just arrived in front of his house – he must’ve walked that long already.

“I’m home!” He shouted as soon as he enters the house. Normally, he would see his Mom on the living room watching some drama – or in the kitchen preparing something. Though it was mid-afternoon, so he is sure that lunch is already prepared, and it’s too early for dinner.

She might be upstairs…

Bambam takes off his shoes and coat before climbing up the stairs.  His steps increased when he heard muffled cries – and he quickly aims for the door of his mother and step-father’s bedroom.

“Mom?”  He closes the door behind him and his Mom quickly drops the picture frame and the repository that contains his sister’s ashes on her side before wiping her tears with her hands; standing up to meet her son’s gaze.

“Mom, are you crying?”  Bambam looks at her worriedly and Martha just smiled.

“Y-yeah – I was – but don’t worry about it, son. Have you eaten yet?  I’ve prepared lunch, come on, let me heat it up for y–“

“Mom, do you miss my sister?”  He gently grabs his mother’s shoulders before dropping his head to meet his Mom’s eyes.  Martha’s body went limp and she lets out a shuddering breath, her hands that are holding her son’s arms falling to her sides.

“I –“  she chokes on her sob.  “I – do, Bam, so, so much.”  She bows her head so that her son won’t see her crying; but she knows that she cannot hide what she feels forever.

“Do you still blame yourself for her death?  It’s not your fault, it was Dad’s, right?”  He cradles his Mom’s face before wiping her tears with his thumbs.

“If I didn’t leave her behind; she should still be alive… Bam…”  She cries out loud and he hugs his mother tight, cradling her face against his chest, caressing her back by smooth touches.

“It’s not your fault, Mom, you were left with no choice – and you did try coming back for her, right?  You’ve done your part.  There’s nothing much that you could have done…”  He whispers against her hair and Martha hugs his son back, her arms tightening their hold around his middle while she continues to cry – hoping that it would give a bit of relief for the pain and guilt that will surely hunt her forever.

“Hey, Martha, Bam – are you he –“

Junhyung pushes the open door gently and he stopped on his tracks when he sees his son and wife inside their shared room hugging each other, his wife sobbing against his son’s chest.  His eyes drifted to the repository and a picture frame on the bed; clearly understanding the reason why his wife is crying.

Bambam turned to look at his stepfather with his soft eyes and Junhyung nodded – stepping out of the room slowly, giving enough space for them.

As he walks down the stairs, a feeling of extreme guilt and remorse shook him to the core.  This is not the first time that he had seen his wife cry over the loss of her daughter – the one who she left in her home country because he refused to. He refused because he wasn’t a child of his, unlike her other child.

How he had met Martha was purely on accident.  He was on a business trip in (Y/C/O) when he saw her – and he was pretty smitten.  She was one of the staffs for the company where he is contracting for and his heart may or may not broke when he found out that she was already married with one child.  

He tried to keep his distance, but it seems like the woman has some gravitational pull towards him.  They were at a company gathering – everyone was having fun, drinking, dancing, and all.  He cannot clearly remember how it happened, but he slept with her – it was a fantastic night for him, but when he woke up the next day – the woman left a note, apologizing, and that she should not see him again.  Hence, when he went back to work – Martha had resigned over the weekend and he hasn’t seen her again after his contract ended and he needed to go back to Korea.

Fate seemed to have brought them back together after a few years when he needed to back to (Y/C/O) for another project.  He sees her again and he cannot deny that he was still in love with her.  When their eyes met for the first time in a long time – he was surprised that there were tears in both of their eyes.  That was when the woman told him about everything – her loving him despite her being married to someone else, which was the reason why she walked away before. She had also talked about her husband being an alcoholic, being physically and emotionally abusive to both her and her children and–

“Also, there’s one thing that you need to know, Junhyung… I am sorry if I didn’t tell you this before…”

“What is it? You can tell me anything…”

“My youngest child… Bambam… He is yours…  He-he’s not my husband’s…”

Two weeks.

It has been two weeks since the incident with Mark and Jinyoung happened.  For those days that passed, you tried to bury yourself at work.  You had worked over time and came to work early to make your mind wither from the past events.  Looks like fate is at your side this time because you were assigned to a new project – which demands a lot of your time and effort, and you cannot be thankful enough for the distraction.

Your shift is almost over and you are just wrapping up some reports when you had remembered the last part of the conversation you had with Mari when the chaos happened at your home.

“Oh, yeah. Bambam – he is the student that Professor Shin had handed over to me when she was out on vacation!”  Mari exclaimed and you just listened to her. “He was Mark’s other friend!”

“O-oh, okay. I-I remember Mark telling me about him wh-when we initially met…”

“Actually…” Mari trails as she puts on her shoes and coat.  “I’ve been meaning to bring something up about him earlier, but I guess I kind of skipped that part.  But I will tell you later when I get home, okay?”  She smiles and you bit your lower lip – wanting to know what she’s about to say now but you know that you cannot keep your best friend for too long.

“A-Alright. I’ll wait for you.  Keep safe.”  You smiled at her and she bumps her cheek against yours, and she was out.

Since Mari left, you were restless, checking the clock from time to time until your best friend arrives.  When she finally arrived, you immediately dragged her to the dining room and Mari’s eyebrows are crunched in confusion.

“Ok, ok, woman, relax, okay?  Why are you like this?” She raises an eyebrow at you and you didn’t answer; you waited for her to sit down on the chair on front of you.

“_______, is there something that I need to know?”  She says with worry masked in her face.  You closed your eyes before gaping at her.

“Mari–“ Your lips pursed together and one of your best friend’s eyebrows raised in question.

“My brother’s name is Bambam. He has a longer name though, but that’s what we call him. Remember when I ran away from Mark? I didn’t tell you this but when I was on my way home; I saw someone who looks like my brother, I mean at least how I remember how he looks like.  I followed that guy – then I saw him with Mark and another guy, which I think was Jackson…”

“I – I just… I am still not sure if the Bambam friend that Mark talked to me about is the same boy that I followed and was with them, but– “

“I KNEW IT!” Mari cut you off with a delighted shriek and your eyes widened.

“When I saw the name on the form that Professor Shin had handed to me, I thought that I had heard that name before, _____.  And if you said that he looks like your brother – then it means that he kind of looks like you, right?” She asks and you nodded, but your face is crunched with confusion.

“Uhm – I – I guess, why’d you ask?”

Mari smiles and shakes her head in amusement.  “This guy, my student, and Mark’s friend, when I saw him, he kind of resembles you, ______.”  Your mouth went agape and Mari looks at you, shaking her head lightly.

“R-Resembles me?”

“Yes. He does resemble you at some point. But when I saw his Mom; damn, ______, I thought I saw how you’re gonna look like 20 years from now.”  She mumbles and your head hung low; your hands gripping your pajama pants underneath the table.

“Then, somehow, I remembered you saying that you have a younger brother and your Mom took him with her when she left… So – I kind of asked Bambam subtly where he and, of course, his Mom were from, and… And they said they’re from (Y/C/O)…”  You met Mari’s equally hopeful gaze and you haven’t realized that your legs are trembling.  You want to say something, but your throat seems to have been constricted; disabling you from speaking.

Mari sighed before continuing.  “After that, I did ask Bambam as well if he has, well, a sibling, or a sister… Since, you know… and…”

A chill ran down your spine and you are looking at Mari with hopeful eyes – could they be…

“He said that he had one older sister back in (Y/C/O)…”

“C-could it be?”

“Yeah… I know – ______, I also thought about that…  I mean, they look like you, his name is similar to your brother’s, and it was almost accurate… but…”  Mari trailed off and she seems to look appalled.

“A-almost?”

“Yeah… Almost… Because…”

“Because?”

“Bambam told me that… her older sister was already dead…”

“Oh.” Your misty eyes blinked several times and you slumped on your seat, fiddling with the chopsticks you have in hand.

Mari bit her lip as she looked at your disappointed form.  “He told me that… His Mom went back to (Y/C/O) and when she returned, her sister’s ashes were already with her… It is also at one of the altars at the 2nd floor of their house.”  She grabs your hand when she sees you blinking away disheartened tears.

“I’m sorry, ______.  I also thought that maybe… Maybe they are-“

“My Mom and my younger brother, right, I get what you mean.”  You cleared your throat before wiping your eyes.

“I’m sorry, still.”  She grips your hand harder and you shook your head.

“Don’t be, it’s not your fault.  A-at least I don’t need to expect anything anymore. I guess… it’s not them.”  You said and Mari nods in understanding.  You pulled your hands away from her grip before standing up and Mari looks up to you.

“I – I’m going to bed, Mari.  I-I’m sorry – it’s just too much.  I think I need to rest.”

“Please.  Go ahead; don’t worry about me.”  Mari stood up before hugging you, and you went to your room and did your best to sleep the hurtful thoughts away.

You heaved out another sigh of frustration upon remembering those days; you never bring up the topic again and Mari was the same; sensing that you might not want to talk about it anymore.

It had been pretty difficult for you.  Your hope of seeing your Mom and your brother as well as seeing Mark again, and most likely Dorine, had all faded and flew away from a very distant place.  However you are still thankful that you are alive and pretty much still surviving, just disregard the love life aside.

Career-wise you are pretty much satisfied and despite the personal problems, you are doing really, really well at work and your bosses and colleagues are pretty much in awe because of your hard work.

Mari is still always there as usual along with a few more friends at work and back in college.  You asked her about how her relationship with Jackson is going but she just brushes you off every time you bring the topic up.  You blame yourself a bit on that part, thinking that Mari is avoiding Jackson because of what happened to you and Mark.  When you tried telling her exactly that, she just said that Jackson hasn’t reached out to her and it is not a big deal.  You have no choice but to believe her.

Jinyoung also didn’t try bothering you the past few weeks, though he would send you random text messages, mostly just to greet you good morning, or good night, and you haven’t responded to any of those, hoping that your ex-boyfriend would understand why.

Speaking of the devil, your phone suddenly vibrated when you have managed to zip your bag after stuffing it with some documents you’ve decided to review at home. Jinyoung.  Jinyoung is actually… calling you?

You just stared at your phone as it vibrates in your hand, blinking multiple times before you have decided to swipe the green button to the right, placing the speaker on your ear.

“H-hello?”  You mumbled silently, wondering why your voice turned out shakily.

“Hey, are you still at work?”  He asks all of a sudden and your eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

“Y-yeah – why’d you ask?”

“I’m actually at the ground floor of your building right now…”

What?

“…and I actually wanted to take you out for dinner, only if you’re not busy or if you don’t have plans…”  He says in those soft, hopeful voice of his and you were dumbstruck for a few minutes, the wheels in your brain reeling, conflicted whether or not you should take the offer of going out with your ex.

“J-Jinyoung-ah…” Was the only word you were able to let out after a few seconds (or maybe minutes, you’re not sure) of thinking. You heard Jinyoung’s soft laugh on the other line and you cannot deny that you felt a little guilty.

“D-don’t worry if you – you can’t or don’t want to, _____, it’s fine.  I can just leave, maybe some other ti–“

“N-no, Jinyoung, i-it’s fine, w-we can go out… for dinner.  I am actually at the lobby right now, I’m just waiting for the elevator.  Just give me a few minutes, okay?”

When you walked towards the exit of the building, you saw your ex half-sitting on the hood of his car, both of his hands are inside the pocket of his slacks as he looks at the other side of the street, tapping his foot slightly against the concrete floor.

“Hey.”  You called out for him when you were a few meters away and your ex-boyfriend’s handsome face came into view.  He smiles at you dearly, the familiar wrinkles at the corner of his eyes and you cannot help but return it.

“Hey, _____.”  He walks in front of you and you looked at your feet.

“I – I’m sorry if I haven’t responded to your messages… Work has been really hectic and busy, an–“

“You don’t owe me an explanation, ______.  And as I have said, I understand.  I am not rushing or demanding anything from you.” He rubs the back of his neck with his shaky hand.  

“After what happened…. that day, I pretty much already expected that you won’t.  Actually I didn’t expect for you to say yes tonight as well so…”  He chuckles slightly and you’ve noticed that his cheeks are tinting into a light shade of pink and he looks adorable.

“I’m happy that you did…”  He looks up to you with his soft eyes and you met his gaze – however, another person’s image came into view.  A man with equally beautiful set of brown orbs, tall nose, pouty lips, and blonde hair.  Mark.  You blinked the image away before biting on your lower lip, feeling disappointed with yourself because you’ve been thinking about that man more than what you admit.

“S-sorry, ______, are you okay?”  Jinyoung stepped in closer, his hand landing on your shoulder. You look up to him, shaking your head.

“Ye-yes, of course… So, where should we go?”  You smiled at him and Jinyoung sensed that something is bothering you but he didn’t ask, so he just nodded and told you that he discovered a new place in downtown that he wanted to try.  You nodded and he guided you towards the passenger seat before opening the door.  You were about to step inside, Jinyoung’s hand resting on top of your head, when you heard a hardly recognizable voice calling out for you.

You and Jinyoung quickly turn your heads back and you felt as if the world stopped spinning.  Your hand coming up to cover your mouth while the other is gripping the side of the car door.  You can feel your knees buckling and tears started to form beneath your lids.

“______, is that you?”

Junhyung sat on the sofa, his head throbbing. Should he tell his wife what happened? However, if he did, for sure she would despise him and he might lose her.  However, he cannot let her suffer like this forever.  His wife thinks that she was the reason why her poor daughter was dead, because she had left her with her abusive ex-husband – and it was his fault.  If he just stopped being an unreasonable man 10 years ago, his wife could have been happy.  Moreover, when he had the chance to have her and her daughter meet again, he had planned on something that would most likely be the worst thing that he ever did in his entire life.

When he finally allowed his wife to go to (Y/C/O) to take her daughter, he had researched about her and his ex-husband first. He had found out that his wife’s ex-husband has been put to jail and his wife’s daughter was badly beaten and had to be taken to the hospital – where she was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, whereas, eventually, slowly healed and was advised to be discharged from the hospital, and, to his panic, was sent to South Korea by a generous family and is now in the hands of one of the largest international orphanage in Busan.

He knows that his wife is longing for her only daughter, but Junhyung was totally blinded by his jealousy and hate towards Martha’s ex-husband, so he thinks that if he’ll see his wife’s daughter, he may not love her the way he loves Bambam.  So he immediately called the hospital’s Director, who happened to be a good friend of his when he was still in (Y/C/O), to have his wife’s daughter’s medical records be exchanged to the other girl who was brought in to the hospital on the same day – and eventually died a few days after.

When Martha came home with the ashes of her daughter and a few documents, he instantly regretted the decision that he made, but, what should he do now?  He already did what he had done and he guesses that it should be best for all of them, especially Martha.  However, he cannot help but feel guilty and conflicted, seeing the look on his wife’s face whenever she remembers her beloved daughter.

He runs his hands on his face and let out a loud sigh; what would he do now?

Just like you, Mark had spent the past few days burying his face on his desk or in front of his laptop at work.  He had tried his best to not think about what happened between the two of you; since he would always feel fresh tears brimming at his eyelids at the memory.

Jackson and Bambam have been constantly worried about him, but they didn’t talk to him about it, knowing that the older will just be sad and disappointed.  Good thing they had managed to convince him to at least have a haircut – though the older had dyed his hair a dark brown as well, saying that he doesn’t want to look like Jackson from afar, which made the younger whine, though it was good to see their boss and eldest friend joking and laughing around with them.

Almost two weeks after the last time he had seen you, when Mark was all alone in his apartment, with two empty bottles of soju on the bed side table, lying on the bed where he had taken you to sleep the first time he had seen you, he felt as though all of the memories of you, starting from your painful childhood, your heartbreak, and the times he had spent with you, came crashing down on him and he felt his chest swell with pain.  He wanted to talk to his friends about what he really feels, but they cannot worry them any further, he knows that they are already worried about him even without him saying anything.  He is the oldest among them and also the owner of the small company where his two other best friends work as well, so he cannot show that he was this emotionally unstable.

So he just kept everything to himself.  He is honestly tired, he doesn’t know when is the right time that Jackson had mentioned a week ago for him to talk to you. He wanted to do so so badly, but he remembers how angry and hurt you look like when you threw him out of the house, making him let out a groan of frustration, mostly to himself.

Mark grabs the picture frame from his bed side table, it was a photo of you that he was able to get from his Mom’s album of yours – the one that is most recent.  He smiled despite the tears that are threatening to fall from his eyes, questioning himself why he was so stupid that night, why in hell did he become so afraid of things that he was not even sure if would happen?  Now, there is a possibility that he might lose you… forever.

Mark sat up from his bed and he is slightly tipsy, but he knows that he is not drunk yet and another advantage of owning a company, is that he is not required to go to work early the next day.  Therefore, he grabbed one of his favorite hoodies from the closet before putting on some decent pants.  He grabs his car keys and wallet before storming down the stairs, to his front door, to his car which is parked in front of his porch.

As he drives along the busy roads of Seoul, he makes his way towards a very familiar road leading to his parent’s house.

Part 15

[7deadlycinderellas]

The New Earth, ch 2

(why yes, I AM continuing a two year old fic, what of it?)

AO3 link

The first thing Clarke remembers upon opening her eyes on the ground is a great amount of green.

The landing had been far rougher than anticipated. Large pieces of the dropship were missing, torn and thrown asunder. Apparently she had not been the only one to pass out on descent, and Wells was to her left, shaking her gently and unhooking her harness to help her to her feet.

 The green outside the wreckage of the ships is almost overwhelming, the light- the sun! It must be the sun, so unlike anything she's ever seen! filtering through, casting shadows long and deep.

 Around her, there is chaos. There are people crying, others yelling and rejoicing. Wells touches her on the shoulder and asks.

 "Want to take your first steps onto Earth?"

 And Clarke sucks up her strength and nods.

 The green grass under her feet is softer than Clarke expected, used to the unforgiving metal floors of the Ark. The area they landed in is surrounded by trees, huge ones. Vines, covered in purple and yellow flowers, weave in and out of the trees, up the branches and along the ground.

��And off in the distance, Clarke swears she could hear a birdsong.

 Wells gently lays an arm on her shoulder. When she turns to look at him, his eyes are turned upward towards the sky.

 "Your mom's still up there Clarke, my dad too. They're not dead, there's still hope."

 Clarke's heart lightens a bit, and she lets herself smile.

 The hopeful moment is interrupted by the girl sitting next to Clarke- Raven?- running up to the two.

 "Clarke right? You're the healer's apprentice right? Kane asked me to come and find you, there were some people hurt, and he wanted to see if you could help".

 Clarke steels herself, and nods.

 Councillor Kane is a friend of her mother’s, but not one Clarke knew at all well. She remembers him as being a bit of a stuffed shirt, really uptight. Right now he just looks haggard, frazzled. He pulls her to the edge of a console, where he's set up the meager set of medical supplies they had.

 "It's mostly minor injuries, cuts and scrapes, minor burns, but there's a couple broken bones..."

 "I'll do what I can". Clarke has her adult face on now, one that always convinces them.

 Kane casts his eyes down to the ground.

 "Your mother was supposed to-"

 "I know".

 Clarke silently splints breaks and cleans wounds. There's a lot of kids in the group, the word must have gone out to the station the school was on first. Adults who stayed back to get things ready, and let the children touch the ground first. One of her patients is a boy a little younger than her with dark hair. He has a cut over his eye.

 "This might sting a minute" she says before dabbing the wound with a cloth dipped in ointment.

 He winces before commenting "At least being back on Earth should mean an end to that stuff".

 "What do you mean".

 "I'm Monty, my family ran the herb garden on the Ark. Whatever could have been saved from before the cataclysm? Most of it went to medicine, but there are so many things, plants, technology that we completely lost any access to. Better antibiotics, acupuncture, so much".

 Clarke closes the bottle. "It's been a long time. How do we even know what's the same?"

 "Either way, there's a whole world to explore. Every thing we had in space was categorized, organized, known. The unknown, my mom always said, that's where the true breakthroughs are".

 A pale boy wearing a bizarre set of goggles breaks in, punching the other boy in the arm.

 "I heard there's this cactus, that if you cut it open and drink it, will make you high as a kite".

 The two cheer and bump fists, and Clarke rolls her eyes and moves on.

 Her last two patients are a girl about sixteen and a boy a little older than Clarke. The girl has minor burns on her hands and arms from hitting the hot metal during landing. The boy seems unharmed, but is hovering. Clarke surmises that they must be siblings, and wonders where their parents are.

 Clarke cleans the burna and wraps them. The girl winces a little.

 "I know it hurts, you have to keep them clean. What's your name?"

 "Octavia" the girl says, "This is my brother Bellamy".

 Clarke's mind clicks. The Blake siblings. Everyone knew them. Aurora Blake had been gravely injured in a power main explosion, and Octavia had had to be cut from her mother's body before she died. Abby had said it was the most horrifying thing she had ever seen. None of this changed the fact that they had no family to take care of them. They had been reluctantly fostered by several different families aboard section 17. Extra children, an extra strain on rations. Not to mention that their mother had been a laborer and left them with next to nothing. Octavia had been so small when she was born that she had been seriously ill for years after. Everyone talked about what a pity it was, but still nobody wanted them. Siblings had become quite rare in recent years, with increased pressure to limit population growth, and the two clung to each other as their only family.

 Right now, Clarke tries not to resent the two.

 "How did you two find out about the launch?" Section 17 was one of areas farthest from the launch zone. It was purely residential too, no personnel likely to be around before suppertime.

 "We were still in the school labs, I got held after to finish my work, and he came by to see what happened" Octavia said, "We heard someone telling one of the teachers that the ship was filling up and we both bolted. We almost didn't make, but one of the women in front of us pushed us ahead of her".

 Clarke bites her tongue. She's suddenly filled with anger, but she can't let it out. Neither of them had any way of knowing.

 This gets interrupted when Kane comes back around.

 "The plan was for the drop ship to land back on the outskirts of Ba Sing Se, but the descent was...messy. As far as I can tell, we landed somewhere in the Earth Kingdom forest. Our best bet is to start walking towards there, try to find somewhere defensible, to set up shelter and try to get in communication with the rest of the Ark. I've helped everyone gather all the supplies up. Is there anyone too injured to come with us?"

 Clarke shakes her head "All walking wounded."

 "Then help me get everyone together, and we walk until nightfall."

 Clarke finds Wells again, and they guide the others outside of the metal confines of the Ark for the first time. There's maybe a hundred of them, as many young people as Clarke had noticed before, following Kane and a couple members of the Guard.

 Getting everyone to follow Kane's lead is difficult. None of them have ever seen anything like this before. The only plant life on the ark had been potted and hydroponically grown, carefully cultivated and marked for food and medicinal use. Flowers were only found in books, trees a distant memory of someone's very aged grandmother.

 Wells was the one who first pointed out the birds. Up high in the trees, none of them could see them very well, but they all still stopped to stare in amazement. Clarke squints up at it in the high branches. Something looks off, and she can't tell what.

 After an hour or so of walking, the group finds a small stream. Clarke is frozen in amazement. Water was extremely precious on the Ark; rationed closely and only used for necessities. The stories from the Earth, whole streams, lakes and oceans of it, seemed a dream. She glances around, and it's clearly not just her.

 Octavia is the first to break out of the reverie and races for the shore, strips off the shorts she was wearing and wades in.

 Kane makes a move to stop her, but others have already followed suit, some jumping in as enthusiastically, others taking off their shoes and socks and wading gingerly.

 When Clarke notices Wells peeling off his socks, she says,

 "We don't even know what's in there".

 Wells shrugs and keeps going. "This is the first good thing that's happened today, I say we take it."

 Clarke stares as Wells enters the water, Kane comes up behind her.

 "It would be a good idea to fill our canteens anyway. The filters in the caps should get rid of any contamination. We can't be sure if we'll still be able to keep following it for long".

 And so Clarke takes a breath, takes off her shoes and rolls up her pants.

 "You're the one who's going to have to get us all out. Hope everyone here listens to you".

 But even Clarke becomes borderline giddy when she steps into the stream. The water is cool on her skin, but not cold, and walking in it is a sensation like she had never felt. Her limbs felt cushioned, and lifted up at the same time, as every little movement causes the water to flow and swirl. Her serenity is interrupted by Raven choosing that moment to splash her.

 A half hour or so later and Kane finally dragged all of them all out of the water to continue their trek.

 Later in the afternoon, Bellamy (who had been marching with the Guard in front) fell back by Clarke and Wells, and commented.

 "Do you see that huts?"

 "The what?" Clarke looks around, trying to find what he's talking about.

 He gestures up into the trees.

 "The people who lived in this part of the Earth Kingdom lived in huts built in the trees. They were easy to defend from animals, and soldiers during times of war".

 "You know your history" Wells comments.

 Bellamy shrugs, "I did okay in class. These ones look pretty dried out and run down, I'm surprised they're still here".

 Clarke doesn't say anything, but she sees them again and again along the path. And further into the forest they get, the less rundown the huts look. Once she would have sworn she saw something move in one of them. But it must have just been a bird.

 As the day continues on, some of the others complain of fatigue, and hunger. The sun is starting to set, casting the forest in gold.

 Then finally, after what seems like forever, Wells notices a downed sign on the side of the path. It's faded with age, covered in dirt, but one of the guards brush it off, and it can be read.

 "Path to Ba Sing Se, continue around the Great Divide, then through the Serpent's Path".

 They're all relieved. This is proof they heading in the proper direction.

 Kane and the others say that they should set up camp for the night. The packs contain collapsible rods and waterproof sheets to make makeshift tents, and blankets. The night is warm, and for that they are lucky.

 "We will need to find more permanent shelter as soon as possible. The weather this time of year is unpredictable, and we will be exposed if a storm comes".

 Clarke tosses and turns under her blanket, unable to let herself drift away, mind still with her mother and everyone else up on the Ark. How would they get through the atmosphere, as far as Clarke knew there was only one dropship, or they would have had more people on the ground already, there were at least 300 more people up on the Ark, no way of knowing if any of them were alive...

 Clarke threw the blanket off. She should get some air.

 When she climbs outside the tent, Clarke is surprised to see a figure kneeling by one of the trees.

 A step or two closer, and Clarke realizes it's Octavia. She's holding...something in between the palms of her hands.

 She steps on a twig, and the snap makes Octavia jump.

 "It's OK, it's just me".

 Octavia has her hands tucked back behind her back now.

 "Don't scare me like, god."

 "Why are you out here".

 Octavia looks guilty for a minute, straightens.

 "Don't tell anyone, alright? I figured out how to do this earlier".

 She reaches out in front of her, takes a deep breath and blows.

 The air between her palms gathers, and swirls in a barely-visible ball, resembling nothing more than a small moving cloud, before splitting and slipping out between her fingers.

 Clarke's speechless. None of them had ever seen any kind of bending before, if watching Octavia was any sign, the stories could barely touch the reality.

 “How did you-”

 “I don’t know! I was in the water earlier, and could feel the breeze all around me, and it was like it all just...came up on me, like it was something I was meant to know.”

 “Was your family from the new air nation? Before we left?”

 Octavia shakes her head.

 “I have no idea. We have no family, me and Bell- we don’t know where we came from. But doing this? It feels right.”

 Clarke watches for a while, the swirling air blowing Octavia’s hair around her face.

 “Aren’t you going to show anyone? This is kind of huge for us, proof that coming back to Earth is bringing us back to who we used to be.”

 “I will! But I kind of want to keep it to myself for a little while.”

 Clarke is a bit concerned, but keeps quiet, and eventually urges Octavia to come back to the tents for the night.

 She lays awake for a while, contemplating.

 The borderline serenity is violently broken when she is awoken by yelling.

 Clarke bolts awake at the sound, the other’s seemingly doing the same. Kane and the few guards are nowhere to be found.

 “Nowhere” turns out to be in the clearing, hands behind their heads, surrounded by people with spears and arrows, and yelling words Clarke can’t make out.  More of them have marched behind the tents, forcing the rest of them out. The ground underneath them shakes, and Clarke and several others stumble.

 The circle of people part, and a girl about Bellamy’s age steps forward. She has long, light brown hair and streaks of black paint down her face. She is barefoot, and when she stomps the ground, it shakes again and more people fall to the ground.

 “Tell us who you are, and why you’ve come here”.