#only the basics of eating and cleaning myself (somewhat) but i went out today to get a charger for my weed pen or to buy another pen | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mostlycompetentwriter · 4 years

Text

Domesticated

M/F Pairing: Y/N x Bang Chan (Stray Kids)

Genre: Married Life AU

Warnings: Smut, language, some mentions of cheating (but not with the main pairing)

Word Count: 19,922 (I might break this up later on)

Summary: Marriage was something Y/N had been dreaming about since she was a little girl. But now, ten years later, she’s married to her college sweetheart, but their relationship isn’t entirely perfect. There’s the issue of her new boss, aka her ex-boyfriend Seo Changbin, and Chan’s younger brother Felix who insists on calling her Medusa. Yet, through it all, Y/N is positive she wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

Notes: Y'all are really out here sleeping on husband Bang Chan and I won’t allow it anymore. Because Chan is 100% husband goals.

“Where do you see yourself in five years?”

I slowly exhaled after disregarding my somewhat passable resume, courtesy of one of those sketchy website builders, to look at the interviewer who waited for my response, pen poised over his expensive notebook. I swallowed hard as I struggled to compose myself under pressure. Because there was a professional answer somewhere in the back of my useless brain, but a dozen other responses, far more honest than his expectations, were waiting on the tip of my tongue.

Such as:

Waiting at home for my husband because all I do is stare at the clock, counting down the minutes until he walks through the door. I kinda miss when we were in college and could see each other sporadically between long lectures, grabbing lunch at the Wendy’s on South Campus. Now, the most exciting thing that happens is the occasional blow job before we pass out on the worn mattress in our master bedroom.

Sometimes Chan will host dinner parties at the house for his expensive doctor friends. He won’t spare me a single glance while I rush to fill glasses with rich-tasting wine, keeping an eye on Han Jisung because he can’t take more than three refills before he’s trying to dismantle the house. I’ll also have to ignore the really old surgeon who Chan admires because he likes to touch my ass when I pass through the living room. Maybe I was suited to be a sugar baby in another life.

On the rare occasion when Chan actually uses his cock, he’ll pant in my ear the entire time because he’s worn out from long hours at the hospital. Chan will cum before me most of the time and I’m lucky if he’s cognizant enough to eat me out so that I can finally fall asleep from my post-orgasmic haze. Heck, I’ll even take his fingers on my clit if it means an assured eight hours of sleep.

Shit, I miss being young.

I cleared my throat, deciding on the professional answer because I highly doubt Seo Enterprises wanted to hire a desperate housewife.

I was sprawled out on the couch in our living room when Chan came home that evening. I barely acknowledged his rushed greeting, watching through narrowed eyes as he ran into the kitchen. “Babe,” came his anticipated whine. “There’s no leftovers?”

“I didn’t feel like cooking,” I said, turning over to bury my face in the throw pillows decorating the cushions. It really wasn’t that comfortable since Chan insisted we get the stiff, fancy leather futon as opposed to the appealing sectional that could actually recline.

“You didn’t cook?”

Chan’s voice was closer this time but I still ignored him, sensing an impending headache. “I had an interview.”

“That was hours ago,” Chan pouted.

I sighed loudly. “The interview went great, honey, thanks for asking.”

“I’ve been at the hospital since 5 this morning,” Chan went on, weight dipping beneath the couch at the opposite end. “I didn’t even have time for lunch because Jisung almost fucked up a patient’s IV.”

“Remind me again why he still has a job.”

“Because he somehow graduated from nursing school and has a license claiming he’s qualified,” Chan said. “Plus, he’s my friend.”

“You have shit taste in friends,” I said, protesting when his hand landed a firm smack against my ass.

“Minho tried to wreck the Corvette when he ran out of cigarettes.��

“Minho is loyal.”

“He still wants to fuck you,” Chan grumped. “Ten years after college and he’s trailing after your ass.”

“Darling, you don’t have to be jealous when I’m wearing your ugly ring on my finger 24/7.”

“It was my mother’s!”

“Oh for fuck’s sake, Bang Chan,” I snapped while grabbing one of my support pillows from beneath my weight, launching it at my husband’s head. Sadly, Chan dodged at the last minute, much to my chagrin, smirking as he dug his fingers into my sides, forcing loud, high-pitched giggles as we both unceremoniously fell into the spotlessly clean floor. “Channie,” I groaned as he rolled on top of me, pinning my hands above my head before deciding to offer me a sloppy kiss with far too much tongue. “You’re fucking gross,” I said, biting at his lower lip in revenge.

“Yeah? Well, you’re fucking sexy,” Chan purred, nuzzling his head between my breasts.

“Stop it, you oaf!” I grumbled. “My period starts tomorrow. My tits have been sore all day.”

“Maybe I should have a look,” Chan teased, a free hand working loose one of the buttons on my shirt.

“And what good will that do?”

“Well, I am a doctor.”

“You just want to see my tits so you have something to jerk off to in the shower tonight.”

“Shower with me then,” Chan suggested. “I’ll fuck you against the wall.”

“Will you have the stamina?” I questioned. “You poor thing, how can you get it up when you haven’t eaten all day?”

Chan frowned at my mocking tone. “Are you turning down my cock?”

“You’re only half-hard,” I said, lifting my thigh against the tight bulge of his scrubs.

Chan let out a sigh, but his smile was endearing. “What if I order takeout? Then we can fuck in the shower.”

“Channie,” I cooed. “You always know how to talk dirty to me.”

I stand by my belief that email was now an archaic form of communication, but the number of big businesses that forced their employees to make an account @ their company name was ridiculous. But if I wanted to find a job in this big ass city, then I needed to play by the rules. Surprisingly, my most recent application was progressing with far more success than I could have anticipated, and I had read over the new email from Seo Enterprises at least half a dozen times:

Dear Mrs. Bang,

Thank you for taking the time to interview with our staff yesterday afternoon. After carefully reviewing your file with our CEO, he has asked us to schedule one last consultation. Please let us know your earliest convenience.

“That must be a good thing,” Minho remarked, digging his spoon into my ice cream since his bowl was empty and I wasn’t in the mood to argue with him.

“I guess,” I said, formulating a quick reply because I really wanted this fancy, high-paying Secretary job. I mean, sitting at home all day was definitely not high on my list of accomplishments.

“What’s the hurry anyway?” Minho asked as he licked his spoon clean. “Bang has enough money that you could just smooch off him for the rest of your life.”

“That’s not fair,” I said. “I want us to be equals.”

“Wasn’t that the point of marrying a doctor, Y/N?” Minho asked. “Otherwise, you could still be screwing around with me.”

“Except we aren’t 18 anymore,” I pointed out, frowning in his direction. “And says the guy who works part-time at his sister’s pet shop.”

“Hey!” Minho protested, shoving his spoon in my face. “I’m helping the strays. Population control and shit.”

“So what? You’re snipping some dog penises, good for you.”

Minho sat back with a disgruntled sigh. “What do you want to do after this?”

“I’ll bring Chan some lunch since he didn’t get a chance to eat yesterday,” I said. “Interested in accompanying an old friend?”

“Not really,” Minho said. “But I don’t have anything better to do.”

I maintained a long list of places that I truly despised and the hospital was number one. I always tried desperately not to let it show when I visited Chan because it wasn’t really his fault. I had a bad history when it came to hospitals and the memories lingered like the permanent smell of alcohol that Chan brought home with him on his scrubs.

“Did you see that guy in the waiting room?” Minho asked after I checked us in at the front desk. “He was seconds away from bleeding out on the floor.”

“Don’t talk about blood,” I shivered, hurrying to the elevator while frantically hitting the corresponding floor number.

“This reminding you of Freshman year?” Minho asked since he was a total airhead and missed out on the memo where I specifically told him to keep his mouth shut about that stupid Frat Party.

“There are five reasons why I hate hospitals,” I said, holding up my hand in front of his stupid face. “Don’t make me spell it out for you.”

“Is Freshman year one of them?”

“Shut the hell up, Minho.”

A quiet chuckle resounded through the empty elevator while I impatiently waited for our stop. “You’re feisty today,” Minho remarked once the doors reopened.

I ignored the nasty linoleum floors, heels clicking with every step I took in the direction of Chan’s office. “I’m eating with Chan and then we’re never coming here again.”

“Agreed,” Minho said, keeping pace with me while cringing at the gurneys being pushed through the hallways at an alarming rate.

We had almost made it to the end of the floor when I heard a lazy voice call out my name from one of the surrounding rooms. I closed my eyes because I could recognize that voice anywhere since it basically haunted my worst nightmares. He might not know it yet, but Han Jisung was the last person I wanted to run into because maybe, just maybe, he was one of the five reasons why I hated this place.

“Guys!” Jisung gushed, smiling brilliantly. “I’d hug you but I just finished cleaning piss off the floor.”

“Jesus, Han,” I said, wrinkling my nose against the overpowering smell of ammonia. “Is Chan in his office?”

“He was supposed to meet with our new superintendent,” Jisung said, grinning like a complete idiot when he shoved his gloved hands towards Minho who now looked a few beats away from losing his ice cream.

“You’re really pushing your luck today,” Minho growled at him.

“The meeting room is the last room on the right,” Jisung said, finally proving to be useful for once in his life.

I grabbed Minho’s arm because he was close to decking Jisung in the face and I didn’t need the security guards to tell Chan that I let my best friend attack one of his nurses. “Come on,” I said, urging him away from the potential crime scene.

“He’s this close to finding himself with a bloody nose,” Minho complained. “You know what’s funny? I’m pretty sure Han Jisung wouldn’t even know how to help himself.”

“You’re probably right,” I agreed, straightening the collar of my blouse as I peeked in through the tight blinds obscuring the glass wall of the room Jisung had indicated. “There’s Chan...” I started, trailing off when I noticed that he was engrossed in deep conversation with an unfamiliar woman.

“Oh, she’s really hot,” Minho remarked, wincing when I shoved my elbow into his chest.

“Commentary is not necessary,” I said, folding my arms across my chest as I tapped my foot against the floor. Who the hell did this bitch think she was?

“Jealousy isn’t a good look on you,” Minho teased and I swallowed my pride, trying to ignore the way she reached out to touch Chan’s arm.

Thankfully, Chan finally noticed me outside, offering me a cheesy wave which I refused to reciprocate as he said something to the woman. I waited outside the door, attempting my best stern expression even if Chan completely ignored my efforts, encasing me in his powerful arms. “Y/N,” he cooed.

“Chan,” I choked out, struggling against his strength.

Minho snorted at the display. “I’m going to find the cafeteria. Text me when you wanna leave, Y/N.”

I waved him off once Chan eventually released me. I sucked in a few grateful breaths while holding up the takeout bag I had brought. “Is there somewhere we can go?”

Chan nodded, reaching for my hand. “Sorry I took so long, I was meeting with the new superintendent.”

I pursed my lips at that revelation. “She doesn’t look old enough to be a superintendent.”

“She’s around my age,” Chan said and I frowned because that just made everything worse.

The hospital’s staff room was small, the smell of coffee heavy in the air as Chan closed the door behind us. “Nobody should come in.”

“Good,” I said, choosing the only table that looked halfway clean before sitting down with a sigh. “I brought you lunch.”

“Thanks, sweetie,” Chan said, gratefully accepting the bag from me while he sat down on the remaining chair. I glared at him from across the table, watching as he dug into the cheap Japanese like it was his last meal on earth. “Is something wrong?” he asked over a mouthful of noodles. Something college Chan would have never done when we first started dating, but I suppose that’s what you get with marriage.

“I saw you were pretty close with your new superintendent,” I said.

“Oh yeah,” Chan replied cheerfully, stuffing even more food into his impossibly wide mouth. “She’s super smart. Like, Harvard graduate smart.”

“Of course she is,” I murmured. “Do you like her?”

“As a boss I guess,” Chan said, still horribly naive to the real problem. I cathartically drummed my fingernails against the surface of the table.

“Are you coming home early tonight?” I asked him. “I’ll fix your favorite.”

Chan’s eyes lit up because, despite the food sitting right in front of him, he always got excited at the prospect of another meal. “Really?”

I nodded. “I’ll put the good whiskey on ice.”

Chan sat back with a dramatic groan. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack? Where is all this coming from?”

“I’m just being a good wife,” I said, taking on a dismissive tone.

Chan grinned. “Do you want something, sweetheart? You know I’ll buy you anything.”

“No reason,” I chirped. “I just want you to remember how good am I to you.”

“Of course I know that,” Chan said, reaching across the table to squeeze one of my hands. “I didn’t just marry you for your beautiful face.”

“That’s not what you said when we first met,” I reminded him cheekily, enjoying the way his ears grew red. “Should I do a reenactment?”

“That’s not necessary,” Chan said, quickly dismissing the topic. “Did you hear back from your interview?”

“Oh I did,” I said. “They want me to come in and meet the CEO.”

“What for?” Chan scoffed, returning back to his meal.

“Well, I am taking on the secretary position,” I said. “Maybe he wants to make sure I have good phone etiquette.”

“Yeah?” Chan grumbled. “Or, he wants to make sure you look pretty for him so he has something nice to look at all day.”

“And what’s wrong with that?” I asked him because I loved it when Chan got possessive.

“I don’t want some rich bastard drooling over my wife,” Chan said, chopsticks clenched tightly between his fingers.

“Yeah? Well, it works both ways, you know.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh come on, Chan,” I sighed. “Your superintendent was totally flirting with you.”

Chan put down his chopsticks, eyeing me cluelessly. “No, she wasn’t.”

“Yes, she was,” I immediately countered, reaching down for my purse. “I watched her the entire time.”

“Were you spying on me?” Chan asked with a smirk.

“Minho’s probably waiting for me,” I replied instead, smoothing down my skirt as I stood up from the table.

“Don’t you think that’s too short?” Chan asked, pointing at my lower section as if personally offended.

“Work hard, honey,” I grinned, leaning over the table to peck him once on the lips, offering a cheeky wave on my way out the door.

My palms were sweaty and, despite my repeated attempts to wipe off the nasty residue on my skirt, the condition persisted. Hyperhidrosis, Chan might tell me, nerdy glasses falling down his nose. I grinned at a distant memory, one of the first dates I ever had with Chan. A younger, less confident version of my husband, frantically peeling his suit jacket from his body, complaining about the heat in the restaurant, only to cower moments later when he realized his armpits were totally drenched.

“Mrs. Bang?”

I looked up at the young man bowing in front of me. “Mr. Seo will see you now.”

I nodded, holding my tongue before I let the intern know that he sounded just like a passage from Fifty Shades of Gray. Oh, shit, what if I was about to meet Christian Gray in the flesh? Some sort of young, hot billionaire with the world at his feet, buying up other companies like they meant absolutely nothing.

It was a believable scenario, and I don’t know how I managed to get my feet to work, but I followed the intern with exaggerated steps. “The boss has been looking forward to this,” the intern told me, pausing outside the office door.

“He has?” I wondered, glancing around the grandiose lobby. Did I really make that much of an impression?

“You can go in now,” the intern smiled, politely holding the door for me as I wordlessly walked inside.

Of course, I was expecting something extravagant, considering the layout of the lobby, but I was still deeply impressed by the spacious, but oddly cozy interior. Could you really call this room an office? Considering how massive it was in size. I mean, was it really necessary to basically live in an apartment when you arrived to work every day? Complete with stylish hardwood floors that looked like something out of an edition of House and Home magazine. I’d bet my entire life’s savings that the CEO hired some kind of fancy architect to design the place because those engravings on the mahogany walls were quite difficult to achieve. “It’s nice isn’t it?” a disarmingly familiar voice asked, and I found the dark figure leaning against the desk in the center of the room, sleeves rolled up to show off his impressive arms. “I was surprised to see your application, Y/N.”

Fuck, Christian Grey would have been way better.

“Changbin?”

He met me halfway across the room, now completely visible beneath the low hanging lights, tan skin washed with a comfortable glow. “Shocked?”

“You could say that,” I said, suddenly feeling like I was 18 again in college, lusting after the object of my affections.

“Have a seat,” Changbin offered kindly, extending his arm towards the matching armchairs neatly tucked around the electric fireplace.

“Okay,” I nodded, unable to take my eyes off Seo Changbin as I stumbled over my heels like a complete lovestruck teenager meeting her musician idol for the very first time.

But, holy fuck, Changbin looked good. Why the hell did he not age or turn prematurely gray? I held back a whimper, eyes looking everywhere around the room except at Seo Changbin. How did I not put two and two together when I first got the notification for the Secretary position at Seo Enterprises? I mean, what are the chances that this Seo is my Seo...Or, at least, he used to be my Seo.

“Y/N,” Changbin said, flipping through my file with lazy movements. Where did he get those pants from? They fit him sinfully good, hugging his thighs and if I look close enough, the outline of his...“How are you?”

I startled at the question, drawing my eyes up to meet Changbin’s familiar gaze. “Oh, I’m uh..” I trailed off anxiously, trying to put meaningful words together because he was making the English language harder than it needed to be. “I’ve been alright.”

Changbin smiled and I crossed my legs because that kind of smile could literally drench a girl if he wasn’t careful. “I was really happy to see your name on my list.”

“Were you?” I asked, fingers digging into the cushion of my chair.

“I’m always happy to see a familiar face,” Changbin said. “It’s been a while.”

“College,” I choked out, completely out of mind with anxiety, like the time Minho stole my phone and made me think someone had stolen it, even encouraging me to call the number only for him to hang up every time.

“You’re still beautiful.”

“Changbin...”

“I know,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s all in the past.”

“That’s right,” I said, wondering if now would be an appropriate time to snatch my resume out of Changbin’s veiny hands and flee the premises.

“And you’ve married Bang,” Changbin said, pointing to my wedding band. “Which isn’t surprising.”

“Five years,” I said, trying my best to think about Chan and only Chan despite the literal embodiment of my every erotic high school fantasy sitting right in front of me.

“This would be strictly professional,” Changbin said, holding up my resume. “You were our best applicant, but I thought you should know everything about this place before taking the position. Including me.”

“Is that so?” was all I could think to say in return to his unexpectedly thoughtful comment.

Changbin lowered my resume slowly. “The job is yours, Y/N.”

“I’d still have to talk to Chan first,” I said because there’s no way I could just start working for Changbin without Chan knowing everything about the situation. Unfortunately, I could just about anticipate Chan’s response.

“That’s fine,” Changbin agreed. “You can call us tomorrow.”

I allowed a shaky nod, wondering if Changbin knew how much of an effect he still had on me all these years later.

Chan might be one of the smartest men I know, but he was, at his core, just a man who was quite whipped for his wife. Like all men, he was a sucker for lingerie, which is why I slipped on my best matching set, squeezing myself in the little black dress that I knew he really loved.

The hem barely touched the middle of my thighs.

I was also cooking his favorite meal, the smell filling the kitchen pleasantly as I stood at the stove. My plan was quite simple: dress pretty for Chan and surprise him with his favorite food to soften him up. Maybe then he wouldn’t have a complete meltdown when I broke the news to him about my newest employer.

But I still shivered when I heard the door open. “Y/N!”

“I’m in the kitchen,” I called back to him, attempting several meditative breaths to try and keep myself together.

“Holy shit,” he cursed, freezing in the doorway as he undoubtedly took in the sight of his wife wrapped in a tight black number.

“I’m making dinner,” I said, flashing him an arrogant smile, amused by the way he openly gaped at me while still wearing his oversized doctor’s coat. A result of an excited, freshly employed Chan filling out his form request with sloppy handwriting.

“You look hot,” Chan told me bluntly, eyes glued to my body as he eliminated the space between us with a few quick-paced steps.

“I got the job,” I said, letting out a nervous giggle as I continued to push around the searing bulgogi with a shaky hand. “Consider this a celebration.”

“That’s great, sweetie,” Chan said, standing behind me to wrap his arms around my middle, pressing soft kisses to the back of my neck, roaming hands feeling my body. “I guess the CEO liked you.”

A hellish double entendre. “Yeah, he was really nice.”

“I’m glad it worked out,” Chan said, voice next to my ear. “I didn’t want you to feel pressured to get a job or anything. I’m proud of you no matter what.”

Was it his intention to make me feel guilty? “Channie,” I sighed, turning around in his arms. “I have to tell you something.”

Chan cocked a brow. “What is it?”

“The company I’m working for...”

“Yeah?”

“The CEO is someone we know.”

“Is that it?” Chan chuckled, accent thick as those adorable dimples filled out his smile. “Who is it, babe?”

“He used to go to school with us,” I tried, hoping that maybe Chan could just learn how to read my mind and save me the effort of mustering some kind of courage.

“Minho?” Chan teased.

“We’re not exactly friendly with him,” I said.

“Well, I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention, but I’m not exactly friendly with Minho.”

“You jerk,” I huffed, half-heartedly pushing against his chest. “You really, really don’t like this person.”

“There aren’t many people I really, really don’t like,” Chan said. “Come on, Y/N, just tell me who it is. Are you afraid I’ll be upset with you?”

I swallowed hard. “Yes.”

Chan’s smile vanished in a minute. “Y/N.”

“Seo Enterprises,” I said. “The company name.”

Realization dawned across Chan’s face. “Are you saying...”

“Changbin,” I murmured, looking down at my feet. “He’s my new boss.”

Chan let out a rough exhale because he knew exactly who Seo Changbin was and I’m pretty sure he associated the name with deep hatred. “Are you fucking serious?”

I winced at Chan’s tone because he had quickly shifted from sweet, caring husband to angry, sinister Mr. Bang in the blink of an eye. “Yes?”

“The Seo Changbin,” Chan reiterated. “The guy you fucked for like six months Freshman year?”

“That would be the one,” I said, forcing myself to meet his gaze before immediately regretting the decision.

“Why the hell would you take a job as his Secretary?” Chan demanded, crossing his arms over his chest. Normally, I would admire the sight of Chan’s arms stretching the thin fabric of his t-shirt, but now I was just intimidated.

“Because I really wanted the job,” I said. “And I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.”

“Oh, it’s a huge fucking deal,” Chan said, glaring down at me. “You think I’m okay with the idea of you working for someone you once told me you were, and I quote, definitely gonna marry?”

“But I’m married to you,” I tried, attempting a sugary-sweet tone that usually broke Chan’s resolve.

Except for tonight.

“Yeah,” Chan nodded, “You are, and I told you I would take care of you. I have enough money to support both of us, you don’t need to work at all.”

“Chan, you know I’m not comfortable sitting at home,” I said.

“I get that, Y/N, but Seo Changbin? I could get you a Secretary job at the hospital.”

“Channie, this is a position at Seo Enterprises. One of their biggest assets is New York Publishers! It’s like the perfect opportunity to get my foot in the door.”

“Y/N,” Chan groaned. “I can’t stand the thought of you working for Changbin under any circumstances.”

“I get it, Chan,” I said. “But it’s different than college. I’m married now, and Changbin is nothing more than my boss.”

“Does he really get that?” Chan asked. “I’m putting my foot down, Y/N. I don’t want you working for him, okay? You can call them tomorrow and say you’ve got something better.”

“But Channie!”

“No, Y/N,” Chan growled. “You can look for something else.”

I frowned once I realized Chan wasn’t going to back down. It didn’t matter that I wanted the job or that I had dressed up and cooked for him. For the first time since we met, Chan was refusing to give me what I wanted. “Chan, you really don’t have the right to tell me what to do.”

“I’m your husband,” Chan said, justifying his unfair demands with such patriarchal reasoning.

“Fine,” I muttered darkly, ignoring the way his hand reached out for mine.

“Don’t be this way,” Chan said, following me as I marched to our bedroom, slamming the door closed behind me. “Y/N!” Chan shouted against the door, knocking loudly on the wood. “This is my room too!”

“Not tonight,” I informed him tersely, opening the door only to harshly shove a spare blanket and pillow at his chest. “Goodnight, darling.”

“This is Y/N,” I said into the phone. “I’m calling about-”

“One moment, Mrs. Bang, we can transfer you to Mr. Seo right away.”

“But you don’t understand...”

“Hello?”

“Changbin!” I squealed loudly into the phone, wincing at my shrill tone.

“Y/N,” Changbin said pleasantly, voice as deep and gravelly as I remembered. “Is this the phone call I’ve been waiting for?”

“I’m not sure,” I said, making myself comfortable at the kitchen counter since I was a notorious pacer when it came to difficult conversations. “It depends on what you’re expecting.”

“I’m expecting to hear a confirmation,” Changbin said. “This is a perfect position for someone with your qualifications.”

“I know,” I groaned. “But I’m calling because I can’t take the job.”

“Really?” Changbin asked. “Can I ask why?”

“Chan isn’t comfortable with the idea,” I said.

“Is that so?” Changbin inquired, innocently enough. “I hope it isn’t because of college.”

“T-that’s not entirely why,” I stuttered because Changbin was apparently intuitive now that he owned some big, fancy company.

“I hope not,” Changbin said. “It wouldn’t be fair of Chan to keep you from a potential opportunity because of something like that.”

“It’s just a lot right now,” I said. “I haven’t had a job in a year. My last position was really good, but the company went bankrupt and I was laid off, so I’m just trying to be careful.”

“You wouldn’t have to worry about anything like that here, Y/N,” Changbin said. “This is a great opportunity for someone looking for a fresh start.”

Did he read my Facebook bio?

“I’m sure it is, Changbin, but I can’t do something that would make Chan uncomfortable.”

“But he’s not the one taking the position,” Changbin pointed out. “I can assure you, Y/N, you won’t find another position like this.”

“God, you’re good at negotiating.”

“Take the job, Y/N. I promise you won’t regret it.”

I could blame it on my desperation later, but I actually really liked the position. It promised a lot, especially considering the publishing company attached to Seo Enterprises. That would be my ultimate goal, to spend my days reading promising manuscripts while sipping expensive Starbucks coffee.

“I guess I can’t say no.”

“Then I’ll see you on Monday.”

Message to Channie

I took the job. I’m sorry but the opportunity was hard to pass up.

It only took a few seconds for Chan’s contact name to flash across my screen with an incoming call. I muted the sound like a coward, ignoring him completely while I started the ignition to the Corvette. A one-year anniversary present from Chan who was somehow more excited than I was when he first handed me the car key.

I drove to Minho’s apartment because I didn’t want to go home and I really had nowhere else to go. Plus, at least Minho was a reliable friend who really didn’t care if I crashed on his couch while he shoved cheap wine down my throat. In fact, Minho might be glad to see me since he was constantly complaining about his new hours at the shop.

“You look like shit,” Minho commented when he answered the door, standing aside to invite me inside. I shrugged off my coat, tossing it against the wall before slumping down onto the cheap sofa in Minho’s living room. The only piece of furniture he could afford in his ridiculously small New York apartment. “What happened?”

“I took the job with Changbin.”

Minho’s eyes widened in surprise. “You did? I can only assume Chan is lying somewhere on his deathbed.”

“No,” I snorted. “I took the job even though Chan asked me not to.”

“Savage,” Minho exhaled and I rolled my eyes at him.

“It’s a great opportunity!”

“When do you start?” Minho asked, feet propped up in my lap as he made himself more than comfortable next to me.

“Monday morning,” I said, mindlessly taking the remote to scroll through his limited TV channels.

“And Chan is mad?” Minho repeated, glancing at me for confirmation. “Can you really blame him though?”

“Why?” I frowned.

“I mean, Chan’s been in love with you since high school. He used to trail after you all the time, but you only talked about Seo Changbin.”

“You’re not being a good friend right now,” I said, remembering with perfect clarity the image of a sixteen-year-old Chan, hair untamed and clothes mismatched. Chan was a constant presence in my life, even if I preened after another boy who certainly had no intention of remaining faithful.

“Go home to him, Y/N,” Minho said with far more seriousness than I was used to hearing from my still immature best friend. The same Minho who couldn’t find work for an entire year after graduation because he was too busy sleeping with any woman that walked on two legs, living with various girlfriends while slowly draining his savings account.

“Since when are you the voice of reason?” I grumbled.

“Well, we all have to grow up one day.”

I hated the rare occasions when he was right.

The house was eerily silent when I unlocked the door, spotlessly clean just as I had left it which made me feel bad because it meant Chan didn’t even try to eat anything. “You always make me worry,” I muttered, toeing off my shoes as I decided to check the bedroom.

When Chan had first bought the house, he wanted it to look as close as possible to the random design I had pointed out at the local fair when we were Sophomore students. The plaque had deemed it the “house of the future” and I was enamored with the idea of the future back when my whole life was waiting right in front of me. A big dreamer who was already making wedding plans the moment Chan got down on one knee and proposed with his mother’s wedding ring.

“Channie,” I whispered into the darkness, cautiously tiptoeing my way to the side of the bed where Chan was facing away from me, sheets tucked in around his waist to leave his chest exposed. “I’m sorry.”

Chan let out a sigh. “What are you sorry for, Y/N?”

“I hurt you,” I said, choosing my words carefully. “I took the job with Changbin and I didn’t think about how it would affect you.”

“I fucking hate him,” Chan said, tone bitter and laced with venom. “I hate what he did to you Freshman year and I hate that he was the first person you loved.”

“Chan,” I sighed, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “I was really young and stupid back then. I should have never slept with Changbin. But he was just a fantasy, even when we were together, and I certainly never really loved him.” I leaned in closer, brushing his hair away from his forehead. “I’ve always loved you first. You mean the world to me and I’m sorry that I went behind your back to work for Changbin. But he’s definitely nothing more than a mistake from a past full of them. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Chan shifted from next to me, rolling onto his back. His eyes were looking at me like I was literally his entire world. “I’ll always worry, sweetie. You drive me insane these days.”

I grinned at the use of his pet name for me, reaching out to run a soothing hand along the defined lines of his stomach. “Don’t worry about me, darling, when you’re the one with a supermodel for a boss.”

“Fuck, we’re both screwed,” Chan said. “Does she drive you mad with jealousy?”

“Of course she does,” I said. “She has bigger tits than me.”

“Well, I like your tits,” Chan insisted. “Don’t even think about bringing up plastic surgery again.”

“It would be to your benefit,” I pointed out.

“And the detriment to my savings account. Plus, I don’t want some old bastard fondling your tits while he pumps silicone in your chest.”

“Of all the things to worry about,” I sighed. “Does this mean we’re okay again?”

“You could probably step on me and I would still thank you for it, sweetie.”

“What if I sit on it instead?” I asked, moving my hand down to squeeze his flaccid cock.

“Makeup sex?” Chan gasped. “You don’t have to sell yourself out like this, babe.”

“Yeah? Well, I want to,” I said while proceeding to straddle his waist, smirking when Chan’s hands instantly moved to my hips. It was almost like a magnet, the reaction automatic after years of marriage. “You’re already hard,” I teased, reaching back to palm him over the sheets.

Chan always slept in boxers which I certainly appreciated because it made the rare nights of our passionate lovemaking even more accessible. Chan lifted my shirt, groaning low when he saw that I was wearing nothing but a pair of satin panties. “This is why I’m already hard.”

“You don’t see me walking around the house in underwear,” I quipped playfully.

“It’s comfortable,” Chan whimpered, moaning when my hand found the smooth velvety head of his cock.

“Something you never did when we were dating,” I said. “I spent weekends with you in the apartment.”

“Wanted to make a good impression,” Chan grumbled, eyes closed as he rolled his hips in time with my careful strokes.

“So you don’t have to impress me anymore,” I said, glancing back at his cock, hot and heavy in my hand. “But I guess you still do.”

Chan moaned even louder at my words, fingers tightening in my wrinkled shirt. “Don’t make me cum yet.”

“Why not, darling?” I asked him cheekily, twisting my wrist just right, watching as a stuttered gasp fell from between his gorgeous pout.

“Wanna cum inside,” he said, biceps straining as he pulled me closer, kissing me with a desperation that only demonstrated just how gone he really was.

“Yeah?” I smirked, tongue tracing the ridges of his full lips. “I guess you deserve it after putting up with my bullshit all day.”

Chan nodded fervently and the sight was oddly endearing. It reminded me of when Chan and I first met in high school, a nerdy sixteen-year-old boy who had just transferred schools all the way from Australia. He had a thick accent, foreign and rich, just like the untamed mass of curls covering his deep brown eyes. Chan wore thick-rimmed glasses and he had a light dusting of freckles like the main character from Freckle Juice, one of my favorite childhood novels. He was nerdy and shy, sitting alone in the cafeteria at lunch and walking between classes with his shoulders hunched like he was afraid one of those horrible jocks would try to steal his bag again.

“Y/N!” he whined loudly, forcing me out of the memory.

“Alright, Channie, you want inside?”

I sat up on my knees to work down my panties, ignoring the way Chan’s fingers tried to interfere, pulling at the fabric like he could possibly make them disappear any faster. I grabbed the hem of his boxer shorts, teasingly pulling them down his thighs before brushing a kiss across the weeping tip of his cock, precum bitter on my tongue. For a moment, I admired his thick erection, remembering how nervous Chan was the very first time we had sex back before we were even old enough to drink alcohol.

I held his cock as I positioned myself over his lap. “I’ll do all the work tonight,” I said, listening to Chan’s sweet moans the entire time I slowly lowered myself onto his cock, enjoying the way he always filled me so deeply.

“Oh yeah, sweetie,” Chan grunted, hips moving messily as he tried to find a rhythm. “I’m gonna make you feel so good.”

“Really?” I asked, swallowing down a moan when Chan hit just right, movements growing more and more confident as I returned every thrust. “I thought I was in charge tonight.”

Chan’s hands gripped my waist firmly, eyes wide open as he focused on where we were connected. “I’m always in charge.”

“Definitely,” I said, bracing my hands against his firm chest for balance because I was weak for this version of Chan. A complete contradiction to the one I first started dating, sweetly doting as he did everything in his power to make me happy. An image of a beautifully innocent Chan looking up from his position between my thighs. “It’s good?”

“So good,” I whispered aloud, peppering kisses across the pale expanse of Chan’s creamy skin, laving my tongue against a sensitive nipple which forced a temporary break from his regular tempo.

“Don’t play dirty, sweetie,” Chan said, giving me no warning before he was pushing me onto my back, hovering over me with his irresistible bedroom eyes. His hands spread my thighs wide, giving himself more room to fuck inside, movements growing faster with every step closer to what was beginning to feel like an intense orgasm. I’m talking about the kind that I could feel between my legs for days after I tried to walk straight again. “Do I need to touch you?”

“Fuck, I think you’re doing just fine,” I said. “Where the hell did this come from?”

“You woke up my competitive side,” Chan said, hitting deep like we were suddenly 20-years-old again sneaking quickies between lectures. Back then, Chan could literally fuck me against a wall, my legs wrapped around his gorgeous hips while he knocked the breath out of my lungs. Thank god, Chan decided that college would be his glory years, working out aggressively in the gym until he had muscles filling out the places where he had previously been soft. But I would always miss his pudgy stomach, even if his ass was now something out of a porn magazine.

“Well fuck,” I moaned. “I’ll have to do this more often.”

“I’d do it all the time if I wasn’t working until 3 in the morning at the hospital,” Chan said.

“Good point, should I come in at lunch then? You can lock us in one of the empty rooms.”

“Oh shit, sweetie, you shouldn’t talk that way,” Chan growled and it was one of the sexiest sounds I had ever heard.

“I’m close,” I warned him, digging my fingers in his scalp as his teeth teased against my collarbone.

“Me too,” he said, breaths uneven as he punctuated his words with a series of harsh ruts that sent my eyes rolling into the back of my skull. His fingers found my clit, thumb pressing down hard enough to trigger one of the best orgasms I had experienced in a long time.

I tightened around his stuttering cock, moaning when I could feel his cum deep inside, warm and wet. “Shit, you’re so good at that.”

Chan pulled out slowly, eyes growing wide at the sight of his cum leaking down my ass. “Left a fucking mess though.”

“We can shower later,” I said, grabbing his arm to encourage him to lie down next to me, burying my face against his chest, scarlet-red from the exertion.

“Was the dick that good?” Chan teased, running his fingers soothingly along my spine.

“Your dick is that good,” I replied. “The genetics are strong.”

“I’ll be sure to tell my parents,” Chan said, giggling as I shot him a warning glare. “I love you, sweetie.”

“Mmm, I love you more.”

1 Week Later

Lee Felix is the spawn of the devil and nobody could convince me otherwise. Because ever since we first met, when Chan invited me over to his house for a project, Felix had decided that I was his number one enemy, deeming me “Medusa” because he was enamored with Greek Mythology. But the unfortunate nickname had stuck throughout the years, even when Felix visited our college between breaks, forcing me to sleep on the couch while he shared the bed with his step-brother.

Recently, Felix had just finished his Master’s program for some kind of fancy Philosophy degree that would probably do him absolutely no good in the real world. But Chan was proud of his baby brother, inviting him to stay with us after graduation until Felix could stand on his own two feet. The decision was met by my instantaneous protest leading to an argument that I inevitably lost because Chan was still using Changbin as a winning point. However, even before my employment with Seo Enterprises, Felix was the cause of at least 95% of our arguments and I was not exaggerating in the slightest.

The sound of the doorbell ringing was suddenly a lot louder than I remember. “Death is here,” I said solemnly, ignoring the way Chan scoffed at my claim. I followed behind him somberly as he opened the door, letting out an excited cheer when he saw Felix waiting on the other side. Felix dropped his bag and practically screamed, which would likely wake up the entire neighborhood, jumping into his brother’s arm as the two embraced right in the middle of my foyer.

“Could you be any louder?” I snarled at the younger Bang.

“Maybe I could, Medusa,” Felix shot back, eyes narrowed as he picked up his bag.

“Come on, Felix,” Chan said, nodding at the kitchen. “I bet you’re hungry.”

Felix nodded, putting on his best smile for his ignorant brother, shoving his bag harshly at my chest as he walked by. “You can take care of that for me, right Medusa?”

“You little bitch,” I muttered, meeting his glare with one of my own.

The only thing worse than going out with Felix was including Han Jisung in the equation. For whatever reason, Jisung and Felix always riled each other up, chugging down alcohol like it was fucking water or something. However, Felix wanted to see Jisung again and Chan never said no to his little brother. This is why I was currently seated next to Chan at a cheesy bar in downtown Harlem, listening to Felix and Jisung try to talk over one another as Chan looked on with fond eyes. The only good part of the night was the fact that even Chan had allowed himself to get a little tipsy which meant he was doing his absolute best to feel me up in public. I always found it amusing, knocking his hand away when his eager fingers started to trail up my skirt.

“Felix,” Jisung whined. “How can you say that?”

“Oi, there’s no way you can put Nickleback and Green Day in the same fucking category.”

I rolled my eyes at the stupid argument, smacking Chan’s hand when he started to finger the waistband of my skirt. “Chan!” Jisung pouted. “Tell him that he’s wrong.”

“Tell the philosophy major that he’s wrong?” Chan asked, accent on full display as he reached out to playfully ruffle Felix’s hair. “You can’t even answer the phone at the receptionist’s desk.”

Felix loved the attention and I hated it when he came over only to occupy Chan’s every waking hour with his never-ending thirst for affection. But I wasn’t going to let him get away with it tonight. I cleared my throat, stretching my arms back behind my head because I knew how good it would make my breasts look in the rather low-cut shirt I had chosen for tonight’s affair. I glanced over at Chan, smiling victoriously when I saw the way his eyes had glued themselves to my chest. Even Han Jisung was looking, which would normally annoy me to no end, but I was putting on my best behavior tonight. “Chan!” Felix shouted, trying to regain his brother’s attention. “Did you hear that I scored the highest honors on my research project?”

And just like that, Chan’s attention was redirected to Satan, eyes glowing with pride. “That’s amazing, Felix!”

“I can tell you all about it,” Felix said arrogantly, tossing me a cocky smile which left me absolutely incensed. “The board was so impressed, they offered to publish my results in the University’s magazine.”

“Are you serious, Felix?” Jisung asked which was an even bigger blow because the only two things occupying Jisung’s thoughts were women and alcohol.

So I decided to push my luck, tugging down my skirt before shifting over in the booth to plant myself directly on Chan’s lap, wrapping my arms around his neck before nuzzling into his warm chest. “Channie,” I cooed while glaring at Felix from the corner of my eye.

“Do you want something, sweetie?” Chan asked, smile blinding as one hand wrapped around my waist, leaving the other to tease the bare skin of my thighs.

I reached for Chan’s beer, shoving the glass at him because nothing made Chan hornier than thighs and alcohol. “Should I come to see you at work tomorrow? Like we talked about before?”

Chan’s eyes lit with recognition and I smirked victoriously when I felt him grow hard in his tight jeans. “I’d really like that.”

And to seal my victory, I leaned forward to kiss my intoxicated husband, ignoring the sloppy way he reciprocated, breath musty with the taste of beer. Felix growled lowly from across the booth and Jisung let out a wolf whistle at our blatant display. But I was on cloud nine, satisfied to have won Chan’s attention because it meant Felix was going to be quite unhappy for the rest of the night.

“Medusa, aren’t you going to make me breakfast?”

I groaned as I glanced over at the alarm clock which informed me that it was only 9:00 AM. “Fuck, Felix, go back to sleep.”

“But I’m hungry,” he whined, reaching across the bed to tug on my arm.

“It’s Saturday,” I hissed, barely clinging to the wonderful promise of more sleep which would do wonders for my hungover state.

“Chan wouldn’t be happy with you,” Felix reminded me. “Should I call him at work?”

“Get out of here you little maggot,” I snapped. “I’ll fix you some damn breakfast.”

“Now!” Felix ordered like he had every right to make demands of me, but I didn’t want Felix to say anything to Chan because that would only lead to another needless argument.

“You’re a fucking menace,” I said, throwing off my bedsheets while briefly mourning the loss of my precious sleep. But I don’t want anyone to ever say that I was a bad wife, especially when I put up with Lee Felix just to make Chan happy.

Felix was already seated at the counter when I finally drug myself out of my bedroom, groggily reaching for a clean pan from the cabinet. “You get eggs and bacon,” I told him. “I’m not a gourmet chef.”

“Whatever,” Felix said, ignoring me completely in exchange for his cell phone. Which Chan was now paying for to help “lessen Felix’s financial burden.”

“Chan,” I remember telling him. “You’ll spoil him if you keep doing things like that. He’ll never want to leave!”

“What’s wrong with that?” Chan had shot back as if the idea of living with his younger brother for the rest of our married life was perfectly acceptable.

“A million things,” I muttered now, cracking one of the eggs against the side of the pan.

“I hear you’re working for Seo Changbin,” Felix abruptly spoke up, and I could practically feel his eyes on me. “He cheated on you, right?”

“It’s really none of your business,” I informed him brusquely, grabbing a spatula while wondering if I could teach Felix a lesson if I hit him a few times.

“My brother isn’t happy,” Felix continued as if my warning meant nothing to him. Probably because it didn’t. “I think it’s a bad idea, but your satisfaction always comes first, right?”

“Why the fuck did Chan tell you this?” I gritted out while aggressively slamming the fridge closed, pack of bacon gripped tightly in my hand.

“He tells me everything,” Felix said smartly. “Because he trusts me.”

“Good for you,” I huffed over my shoulder. “I’m glad you have such a close relationship with your brother.”

“Jealous?” Felix taunted, expression smug when I roughly placed down a glass in front of him.

“Is orange juice, okay?” I asked him in a faux sweet voice.

“It’s fine,” Felix shrugged. “But whatever is most inconvenient for you.”

“What a sweet little boy you are,” I said, pouring him a generous amount. “How long do you plan on staying here?”

“Chan says I can stay for as long as I want,” Felix said, narrowing his eyes. “You don’t have a problem with that, do you?”

“Of course not,” I muttered. “Two Bangs are better than one.”

“That’s right,” Felix said brightly, taking a sip from his glass. “Ugh, does this have pulp in it?”

“Drink your fucking orange juice, Felix!”

The invention of video games was a godsend because they could occupy Felix’s attention for hours, leaving me in relative peace as I tried not to let him destroy every last bit of my resolve. I was currently having a bath alone in the sanctity of my bathroom, shoulder-deep in soothing bath salts which I kept well-stocked in the cabinet underneath the sink. The aroma was pleasant, sending me to a place somewhere far away to where Felix’s were strictly prohibited.

For the entirety of the day, Felix had been doing his best to get on my nerves. I cooked him breakfast and lunch, cleaned his disgusting laundry, and even held my tongue when he requested I drive him to the mattress store because the guest bedroom was unsatisfactory. But it had always been like this between us, ever since the day I first met Felix and tried my best to make a good impression. Unfortunately, Felix idolized his older brother, deeming any girl unworthy of his time and efforts, including myself. Of course, above anyone else, Felix thought I was the worst possible choice, reminding me every second that his brother deserved someone smarter, richer, and prettier.

Suddenly, my phone vibrated loudly on the edge of the bathtub and I hesitantly glanced at the screen, half-expecting to see Felix’s name displayed like a caution sign. Surprisingly, it was Chan who had sent me a message to ask where I was, which meant Felix had lied through his teeth and said I’d gone somewhere.

To Channie

Bathroom.

It was only a moment or two later when the door opened and Chan stuck his head inside, offering me a pleasant smile as he locked the door behind him. “You’re home early,” I remarked, vacantly staring up at the ceiling.

“It’s Saturday night,” Chan reminded me. “I thought the three of us could go out to eat.”

I groaned in protest. “What about takeout?”

“You love going out,” Chan said. “I’ll even let you pick the restaurant.”

“I have way too many problems right now,” I said. “I’m avoiding them by staying in the water for as long as I can.”

“Sweetie,” Chan said, taking a step closer. “You should’ve waited for me.”

“Why?” I asked him airily. “You’re one of those problems.”

“Me?” Chan asked, choosing to sit down on the edge of the tub. “What did I do wrong?”

“No arguments tonight,” I said, letting out a deep sigh. “This is the most relaxed I’ve been all day.”

“Aren’t you being overdramatic?” Chan asked, reaching down to flick a trail of water in my direction. “I was in surgery for 6 hours today.”

“Yeah? Well, I’ve dealt with Felix since 9 this morning.”

“Ah,” Chan sighed. “I figured it had something to do with my brother.”

“Just forget it,” I whined. “You know we don’t get along.”

“I do know that,” Chan said. “But I wish you both made a better effort. We’re family after all.”

I shivered at the idea of Felix belonging to any family of mine. “You can keep him on your side, then. I grew up as an only child, look at how much better I turned out for it.”

“You told me you had imaginary friends growing up because you were so lonely,” Chan teased.

“Asshole,” I muttered. “That’s sensitive information that I told you in confidentiality. You should know all about patient-doctor confidentiality. Didn’t you have a whole lecture on it?”

“Y/N,” Chan lightly chastised, reaching for a towel on the rack next to the counter. “Get dressed, we’re leaving in an hour.”

“You’ve condemned me to death,” I complained, watching through lidded eyes as he stretched out his arms.

“I’m serious, Y/N, at least try to get along for my sake.”

“That’s all I ever do,” I muttered to his retreating form.

Hwang Hyunjin is a willing accomplice to the devil himself who never misses an opportunity to throw out some lascivious comments about my appearance. He was Felix’s best friend and partner in crime, sharing his goal of making my life as miserable as possible. He was also coming out to eat with us tonight and no matter how much I whined to Chan, he remained adamant that Felix should spend some time with his friends. “He’s only young once,” Chan told me, ignoring the way I glared at him with every ounce of hostility that I could muster.

“Did you paint those pants on, Y/N?” Hyunjin asked the minute he sat down in the backseat next to Felix.

“I did, actually, thanks for the unnecessary observation,” I told him shortly, still focused on the staring contest I was having with Felix in the rearview mirror.

“Don’t mind her, she’s probably on her period,” Felix said and I took in a deep breath because I was very close to turning around in my seat to choke the life out of Felix’s pencil neck.

“How have you been, Hyunjin?” Chan asked, one hand on the steering wheel as he calmly navigated us through the permanent traffic of New York.

“I applied for a job with Amazon,” Hyunjin replied. “I don’t wanna brag, but I definitely nailed the interview.”

“Yeah right,” I muttered under my breath. Hyunjin had the worst people skills in the history of mankind. He was almost as incompetent as Han Jisung, but ten times worse because of his sarcastic attitude.

“You’ll get me Amazon Prime for free, right bro?” Felix giggled and I resisted the urge to mock the sound.

“I’m proud of you, Hyunjin,” Chan said. “I know you worked hard.”

“It wasn’t a big deal,” Hyunjin said. “But the chick who interviewed me was really hot and I think I appropriately swept her off her feet.”

“Big tits?” Felix asked because that’s all those stupid boys cared about.

“Of course,” Hyunjin said. “But I’m still waiting for you, Y/N, whenever you’re ready.”

Felix scoffed. “You could do better than Medusa.”

“How about some music?” I snapped loudly, reaching down for the radio knob to block out the sounds of Felix and Hyunjin’s voices.

Monday mornings were the worst thing to ever happen to mankind next to Lee Felix. I was sipping at my morning coffee, cold now because Felix had spent way too much time ordering me around the kitchen before I left home. But it was better than nothing and I desperately needed caffeine to get through the day. “Morning, Y/N,” Changbin greeted me smoothly, suit well-pressed and fitted to hug his arms and thighs just right.

“Sure,” I said in reply, trudging to my chair in slow motion.

“Are you always this lively in the mornings?” Changbin remarked, leaning against my desk as he looked through his mail.

“Just on Mondays,” I said, booting up my computer so that I could answer the dozens of emails likely waiting for me, most of which would come from annoying sponsors who wanted Changbin to be on their dumb podcast.

“Well, you still look gorgeous,” Changbin said.

My cheeks flushed at his comment. “You still need to call Mr. Kim back, he’s left another voicemail.”

“Just one call?” Changbin smirked, eyes dancing dangerously. “Have you been scaring everyone off, Y/N?”

“I did just as you asked, sir.”

“You don’t have to call me sir,” Changbin chuckled, carefully engrossed in his cell phone now as he graciously returned to his own office.

I shivered as I glanced at my computer screen. Changbin was still as notoriously flirtatious as he had been when we were younger. In fact, it might be worse now that he had finally grown into his sharper features which made him look ridiculously attractive. “I love Chan, I love Chan,” I quietly repeated to myself, even as a distant memory suddenly forced itself back into consciousness.

An 18-year-old Seo Changbin walking inside my lecture hall wearing a dark button-up tucked into the tightest pair of skinny jeans he probably owned. Every eye in that lecture room had suddenly turned to him because he was an irresistible force, impossible to ignore. “Y/N?”

Be cool Y/N, I softly chastised myself as I offered him a friendly smile. “Hi, Changbin.”

It was purely coincidental that Changbin had ended up at the same University as me, but that didn’t stop my fragile teenage heart from declaring it as something akin to fate. “It’s been a while,” Changbin said, pulling out the chair next to mine.

I swallowed hard because my mouth was as dry as a desert. “I didn’t know you were enrolled here.”

“It was my first pick,” Changbin said. “My father is an alumnus.”

“Really?” I asked, ignoring the arrival of the professor in exchange for mapping out every single one of Changbin’s gorgeous features.

“This class is just for gen ed,” Changbin said, pushing a hand through his neatly styled black hair.

“Oh, same for me,” I nodded. “I heard it was pretty easy.”

“Is that right?” Changbin asked while flashing me an award-winning smile. Roll out the red carpets because this boy was cool enough to be in an action film co-starring Tom Holland and Ancel Elgort.

But what were we talking about? “I’m majoring in English.”

“Political Science,” Changbin returned. “And Business.”

I deflated a little because, in comparison to my lousy arts degree, Changbin seemed like a certified genius. He would be educated in the art of entrepreneurship and big money while I struggled to comprehend the meaning of Great Expectations. “Have you met anyone else from high school?”

“Not yet,” Changbin said. “What about you?”

“Well, Bang Chan’s enrolled here too...” I started, only to trail off when I realized that Changbin probably had no idea who Chan was since he never paid attention to him in high school. Actually, Changbin would have been more likely to join the football jocks who liked to steal Chan’s stuff only to tie his underwear to the flagpole outside the gym.

“The nerdy Australian kid?” Changbin chuckled. “That sucks.”

“Oh,” was all I could manage since Changbin obviously didn’t know that Chan and I were friends.

“You don’t hang out with him, do you?” Changbin asked, peering at me closely like I was seconds away from losing the honor of his company.

“We have lunch sometimes,” I said, which was only partially true since I did like to meet up with Chan in the dining hall around 2:00 because it was never crowded. But Changbin didn’t need to know that I had spent the night in Chan’s apartment listening to him record one of his mixtapes because Chan had a newfound interest in music.

“You could do better,” Changbin sighed. “Hang out with me instead. I’ll treat you to the nicest fast food joint on campus.”

My heart was racing, palms clammy as I nodded my head rapidly. “Lunch?”

“Whatever you want, love,” Changbin said, close proximity knocking every rational thought clean out of my head.

It was like my best fantasy coming to life right before my very eyes, and after our lecture ended I asked Changbin to wait for me while I made a phone call to Chan. “Y/N!” came his cheerful voice from the other end. “Guess who got to dissect a liver today?”

I wrinkled my nose at the nasty image. Chan was studying to enter the medical program which meant a lot of his daily life centered around the human body and all sorts of things that could go wrong with it. “Chan,” I whined. “You’re talking to someone who can’t stand the sight of blood.”

“I know,” Chan sniggered. “Does this mean you’re not gonna want to eat lunch with me today? You know I’ll pay, of course, I got a raise at the cafe.”

“Well,” I started, desperately searching for the right words. “I actually have to meet with my professor for this essay I’ve been having trouble with.”

“No problem,” Chan said. “I’ll bring you takeout for dinner. Doesn’t your roommate have practice tonight?”

I glanced back at Changbin with a guilty conscience. Why did Chan have to be so sweet all the time? “Yeah, that’s fine.”

“No liver talk, I promise,” Chan giggled and I hung up the phone before he could make me feel even worse than I already did.

“You want to get some lunch?” Changbin asked with his hands dug inside his pockets as he stood in front of my desk.

“Like, with me?” I asked warily because I wasn’t sure where the line stood on professionalism when it involves eating with an ex-boyfriend.

“Who else?” Changbin said. “I figured we could use a break from the phone calls.”

“I don’t know...” I answered hesitantly because Chan would probably lose his shit if he discovered I went out anywhere with Changbin.

“It’s not a big deal, Y/N,” Changbin said. “My job is to make sure my employees are well taken care of.”

“I guess,” I sighed, reaching down for my purse on the floor. “One lunch together won’t hurt anything.”

But Changbin seemed awfully smug, patiently waiting for me to gather my belongings, stuffing my phone with an unanswered text from Chan inside my side pocket. It’s almost like the universe was conspiring against me, doing its very best to try and force me into the worst situations possible. Here’s an irrational thought: what if Chan happened to decide to go out for lunch today? He might find me with Changbin and I couldn’t think of a worse scenario. Of course, I suppose it doesn’t necessarily have to be Chan who finds us. For example, if his younger step-brother was to suddenly wander in the building at this very moment...

“Medusa!”

Curse you, universe!

“Felix?”

“I brought us lunch!” Felix chirped brightly, holding up a picnic basket as he waltzed right up to my desk with far more confidence than necessary.

I blinked my eyes rapidly, unable to process the idea that Felix was standing in the middle of the company’s lobby. “Is it poisoned?” I asked, trying not to alert him to any possible wrongdoing.

Felix ignored me, turning around to face Changbin with a critical gaze. “Seo? Is that you?”

“Felix,” Changbin acknowledged, frowning as if he was the last person on earth he wanted to see, and I could share the sentiment.

“Fuck,” Felix cursed, taking a step back. “You still look really young. I was surprised when Y/N told me you were her new boss.”

“I didn’t tell you that,” I said, opening the flaps of the basket only to let out a disgruntled sigh when I realized he had only brought a bag of chips and a tray of cookies.

“And what are you doing these days?” Changbin asked.

“Freelance work, mostly,” Felix replied as if he really needed to lie to Changbin about his lack of a suitable occupation.

“I forgot what you majored in,” Changbin said. “It was hard to keep up since you changed your concentration like a dozen times.”

I couldn’t hold back my laugh, even when Felix sneered in my direction. “Philosophy.”

“Interesting,” Changbin said, nodding his head. “I’m actually surprised to hear that. You never settled on anything.”

Seo Changbin needed to be careful because his charm points were dramatically increasing the more he mocked my husband’s step-brother. “I actually just finished my Masters.”

“Really?” Changbin said. “This coming from the same boy who used to party with Hwang Hyunjin at all the Fraternities, even if they were on a different campus.”

“It was just Freshman year,” Felix defended himself.

“Well,” Changbin started, “I’m glad to hear about your graduation. Y/N and I were actually just about to head out to lunch.”

I winced at his words, withering under Felix’s accusing watch. “Is that so?”

Changbin carefully studied the two of us. “I’ll be waiting in my car, Y/N.”

I grabbed my bag while pushing the picnic basket back in Felix’s direction. “I swear to god if you tell Chan about this, I’ll castrate you in your sleep.”

“We’ll see about that,” Felix growled, and that was the moment I realized that I was treading very dangerous waters.

Changbin drove us to a charming restaurant about two blocks away from the main company building. He pulled right up to the sidewalk, handing his keys to the waiting carhop as if he had done this about a thousand times. But I guess that was pretty likely considering just how well-off he was ten years later. “Impressive,” I remarked to him, reluctantly accepting his outstretched hand as he helped me out of his car.

“Yeah?” Changbin said, offering me a wink. “Maybe I’m trying to impress you.”

“You’re a dangerous man, Seo Changbin,” I told him, bowing slightly to the waiting doorman who kindly ushered us inside.

This was why the pretty girls always lusted after Changbin. When we were both still in high school, Changbin epitomized the phrase #BoyfriendGoals because he was super attractive, incredibly smart, and athletic enough to earn himself a shining record after an impressive baseball season. And I was just as mindless as the rest of the zombies chasing him down in the parking lot at school or squealing his name in the hallways between classes.

“I eat here all the time,” Changbin assured me, flashing the hostess a dazzling smile while handing her his card.

“Right this way, Mr. Seo,” the hostess curtsied, ignoring the long line of waiting patrons who apparently didn’t matter as much as my new boss as she led us to a private table. “Your waitress will be with you shortly.”

“Thank you,” I said politely, eyes wide as I took in the gorgeous chandelier dropping from the high-domed ceiling.

“Close your mouth, Y/N,” Changbin said. “You act like you’ve never been somewhere like this before.”

“Not exactly,” I said because the nicest place Chan had ever taken me was an Olive Garden and that had ended poorly after Chan accidentally knocked his shoulder against a poor server on his way back to the table causing an avalanche of salad and breadsticks.

“Bang should be taking you to places like this all the time,” Changbin commented, perhaps a casual observation to anyone else.

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. “Chan and I prefer to keep things low-key.”

“Should I have taken you to Applebees instead?”

“How funny.”

“I’m kidding, Y/N,” Changbin said, reaching down to adjust the buttons on his coat sleeve. “You’ve changed a lot since college.”

“Since we dated you mean?” I asked with an arched brow.

“Well,” Changbin started, “if you want to think of it like that.”

“Hmmm,” I briefly meditated, studying Changbin’s expression carefully. “How else should I think about it.”

Changbin tsked, raising a hand to signal for a nearby waiter. “I don’t mean to suggest anything.”

The waiter approached our table with purposed steps. “How may I help you, sir?”

“A wine menu?” Changbin asked, nodding generously when the waiter returned with his requested selection.

“You make a beautiful couple,” the waiter gushed while he pulled out a thick leather wallet, flipping to a fresh page.

“Oh! We’re not-”

“-A bottle of pinot noir, please,” Changbin said, returning the menu without bothering to correct the waiter’s observation.

“Right away, sir,” the waiter agreed.

I held my tongue until he was further away, bothering an older couple who were probably complaining about something to do with their food. “Changbin,” I warned him. “You should be careful.”

“It was a harmless mistake,” Changbin said. “How can I possibly come between you and Bang?”

I worried my bottom lip between my teeth because it sounded less like a dismissal and more like a challenge.

The sun was already setting by the time I returned home thanks to one of Changbin’s business partners who refused to leave the office building until they had a chance to speak to him. I was low on patience, tired from an exhausting day of dealing with telemarketers insisting our company needed the latest software for our clientele. There was only a limited number of times I could tell somebody to fuck off before inevitably shouting into the other end that I was in no way interested in whatever useless product they were trying to shove down my throat, complete with some kind of scammy discount and an opportunity to be represented on their website.

To make matters worse, my feet were blistered from wearing heels all day and my shoulders ached from slouching over my computer to answer emails and monitor the progress of Changbin’s latest project. My only saving grace was the message Chan had sent me earlier telling me that he had already clocked out at work, which meant I could probably guilt him into giving me one of his trademarked messages. I mean, all I wanted to do was curl up next to Chan in bed and sleep for the rest of the day.

But it looked like my desires would have to wait because as soon as I unlocked the door to the house, I could immediately sense that something was wrong. Taking a deep breath, I cautiously walked into the living room to find Chan and Felix busy with some kind of video game on our HD TV, volume high until I walked in the room. Chan waited until I called his name, reaching for the remote to mute the TV before tossing his controller onto the coffee table. From across the room, Felix’s eyes were alight with mischief.

“How was work today?” Chan asked with a tone that I only ever heard when my husband was feeling particularly pissed off about something, and I had a sneaking suspicion it involved me in some capacity.

“It was fine,” I said, deciding to play it safe while I kept my complaints to myself.

Felix smirked in my direction, whistling to himself as he reached for his game controller. “Felix told me something interesting today.”

“Oh did he?” I asked, wondering just how much pain Felix could tolerate if I marched over to him right now and hit him with an umbrella.

“He said he tried to have lunch with you.”

“I was busy.”

“With Seo Changbin?”

Felix was definitely going to die tonight. That little snitch deserved every ounce of punishment I was starting to formulate inside my head. “He invited me out instead.”

“I got that,” Chan snapped and I knew my husband was in a foul mood. I’m talking about the kind of mood that usually sent me scampering for the safety of the bunkers. Like the time some drunk asshole rear-ended Chan’s precious convertible while we were sitting in downtown traffic. Or the time when we were Freshmen in college and Chan confronted Changbin after finding out that he had been cheating on me.

But this time the problem was me which meant I couldn’t just hide from Chan and wait for things to go back to normal. “Honey,” I attempted to reassure him. “It was just lunch.”

“Yeah? But that doesn’t seem like keeping things strictly professional to me, Y/N.”

“He’s my boss now, I can’t just tell him no.”

“Actually, you can,” Chan disagreed, now refusing to look at me. “How would you like it if I ate with my new superintendent?”

“Depends on if she offered to pay or not.”

“Y/N.”

“Chan,” I pouted. “I’m really sorry! He just surprised me.”

“It makes me wonder what else you might be doing with him,” Chan snarked.

Meanwhile, Felix calmly continued to play his video game while wearing the biggest shit-eating grin. “Are you accusing me of having an affair?”

“Why not?” Chan shrugged. “Since we’re keeping secrets from each other.”

“It was just one lunch,” I shouted. “He’s never done anything like this before. Most of the time I’m alone in the lobby taking his stupid phone calls.”

“And that’s all I should ever hear about,” Chan growled.

“You’re making this into a bigger deal than it needs to be,” I scoffed, rolling my eyes before remembering just how much Chan hated it when I did that to him.

“Y/N,” Chan addressed me sternly, deciding to abandon his seat on the couch to crowd me in the foyer. “If this was anyone else, I wouldn’t make it into a bigger deal, but this is someone you used to fuck while running around campus bragging about it to everyone who would listen...which was usually me!”

“He doesn’t mean anything to me,” I said. “I already told you that!”

“You’ve said a lot of things recently,” Chan said. “I’m not sure what to believe anymore.”

“Yeah? Well, it’s your brother’s fault since he’s always looking to cause a fight between us,” I said, glaring at Felix while he continued to play the part of the perfect little angel that Chan always considered him.

“Don’t drag Felix into this, he has nothing to do with anything!”

“Oh, don’t be stupid, Chan,” I huffed. “We fight more about Felix than we do about Changbin.”

“Stupid?!”

Oh, Jesus, Y/N, when are you going to learn to watch your big mouth? “Channie, I’m tired of fighting all the time. I feel like we’re always fighting.”

“Yeah? Well, you give me a lot of reasons to stay mad at you.”

“For fuck’s sake,” I groaned. “We never fought this much when we were dating.”

“Is that so? You think our marriage is the problem?”

I froze at his implications. At this point, Felix might as well drag out a bucket of popcorn because this was probably the most interesting drama he had watched all year. “Chan, you can’t honestly believe that.”

“I don’t know what to believe anymore,” Chan said, shaking his head. “But maybe I’ll give you some time to think about it.”

“Chan!” I whined, fighting back tears as I watched him turn his back on me. For the first time since we had met, Chan was leaving an argument unresolved, choosing to lock himself away in our bedroom while I struggled to keep myself together in the middle of our foyer.

“Goodbye, Y/N,” Felix whispered into the silent room, waving his fingers at me because he had gotten exactly what he wanted.

Felix’s birthday often turned into a multiple-day affair because he always wanted the best that money could buy. Since Chan and I still weren’t speaking to one another, Chan was taking the brunt of party preparations which meant Felix was practically over the moon with excitement. And why shouldn’t he be? He hit the metaphorical jackpot because he somehow got me in the doghouse while he soaked up all of Chan’s attention.

“Y/N,” Felix whined. “My toast is burnt!”

“Sorry,” I murmured softly, taking his plate even though the bread looked perfectly fine. Meanwhile, Chan chose not to say a word, heavily engrossed in his laptop and doing his absolute best to pretend I was invisible.

“What about this, Felix?” he asked, tilting his laptop screen so that his brother could see whatever it was that probably cost hundreds of dollars. On the other hand, I couldn’t even find the courage to ask Chan for his credit card so that I could replace the broken stool at our counter.

“That’s perfect, Channie!” Felix grinned, hanging off his brother’s shoulder like the little pest he was.

Our Amazon shopping cart was steadily filling with Felix’s party supplies. But I guess it was just Chan’s account now since he had changed the password without telling me. I tried to order a new curtain for the bathroom, only to repeatedly watch the warning screen pop-up with every refresh of the page. “Who do you want at your party?” Chan asked Felix.

“Hyunjin, Jisung...” Felix started, listing out each name while I winced every time because our house would probably end up completely trashed at this rate.

“Whatever you want,” Chan said, apparently forgetting the last time Jisung came over only to break one of my grandmother’s expensive vases. Since it was my stuff, he probably didn’t care. “I have to leave soon,” Chan said, wordlessly clicking on the ‘place your order ’ button before logging off.

“Will you be gone all day again?” Felix pouted, jutting out his bottom lip and offering his very best puppy dog eyes.

23-years-old my ass.

“I’ll do my best,” Chan promised his brother. “Do you need anything while I’m out.”

“More chocolate cereal?”

10-years-old more likely.

“I’ll see you tonight,” Chan cooed to Felix, ruffling his hair before snatching his coat from my outstretched hand, refusing to even acknowledge my existence.

Felix waited until Chan was gone to lean in across the counter. “You two are so cute, Medusa.”

“I fucking hate you,” I said, aggressively attacking the grease stain on the stainless steel pot I was currently washing.

“Whatever,” Felix shrugged. “Will you ask Minho to come to my birthday party?”

“There’s not a fucking chance in hell that I’m asking him,” I snapped.

“Why?” Felix posed the question as if he felt absolutely no shame. “I like Minho and I want him to be there.”

“Fuck off,” I retorted, drying my hands against the rough texture of the dishtowel.

Felix sniffled, reaching for his phone and holding it up to his ear. “Channie? Yeah, Y/N was being really mean to me-”

“-Jesus, fine, I’ll ask him,” I quickly interrupted the little Devil. “How old are you turning again?”

“24!” Felix grinned.

“Then act like it,” I muttered while dialing Minho’s number.

There were only two rings before he answered. “It’s too early on Saturday for this bullshit, Y/N,” came Minho’s pleasant voice from the other end.

“You sleep too much anyway,” I returned. “I have something to ask you.”

“It better be pretty fucking important.”

“Will you come to Felix’s stupid birthday party this Friday?” I asked him, ignoring Felix’s bright smile as he tried to listen in on our conversation.

“Did you buy booze?”

“I’m sure Chan will buy the little bastard all the booze he wants,” I said, pushing Felix out of the way.

“What time?” Minho asked. “I’m a very busy man, Y/N.”

“The hell you are,” I snorted. “9:00 PM. Don’t be late! I’ll be the pathetic piece of trash sitting on the couch alone.”

“It’s about time you learn, Y/N,” Felix remarked, giggling when I threw the dishtowel at him.

“Still in trouble with hubby?” Minho asked. “I hear you have to stay separated for a year before the courts grant divorces these days.”

“You’re an asshole,” I said. “Should I put you down on the guest list?”

“Of course,” Minho said. “Underlined because I’m a VIP”

I hung up on him before he could dig his grave any deeper.

“Don’t burn that,” Felix scolded me, hovering by my side to play the part of Gordon Ramsay while I sweated my ass off to cook everything on his stupid party menu.

“It’s not burnt,” I grumbled.

“I hope you’re not wearing that to my party,” Felix said, casting a critical eye over my outfit.

I reached down to adjust the waistband of my skirt. “What’s wrong with it?”

“This is a classy party, Y/N, and you look like a hooker.”

“Go help your brother or something,” I said, doing my best to be nice since it was Felix’s birthday. I could manage some form of kindness even if he didn’t deserve it.

“Chan’s fine,” Felix waved me off even though I was certain I saw Chan struggling to hang up lights on the balcony just moments ago when I went to change my clothes.

I glanced at the clock above the stove. “Your fellow party animals will be here soon.”

“You’re not cool enough for those references,” Felix told me as he straightened his tie.

“I wasn’t trying to be,” I said, wiping my forehead with a nearby towel. My makeup was probably smeared but I didn’t care. Who was I hoping to impress anyway? The only person I dressed up for was Chan and he could care less about my appearance.

And it was only a few minutes later when the doorbell started to ring. I took a deep breath to try and reassure myself that I could make it through tonight without another Advil. “Someone’s here!” Felix squeaked, knocking his shoulder against mine in his haste to answer the door.

“No matter who it is, I’ll still be in hell,” I muttered, closing my eyes when I recognized Hyunjin’s voice mixing with Felix’s.

“Y/N!” Hyunjin sang, poking his head in the kitchen as if he owned the place. “There you are! Looking all pretty for us.”

“That was the goal,” I half-heartedly quipped back, turning off the stove once I declared Felix’s stupid Tteok-bokki cooked enough.

“Your legs look good,” Hyunjin said, abruptly leaning in closer. “Are you even wearing anything under that skirt?”

“Hyunjin!” Felix shouted his friend’s name from the living room. “Come check out the decorations.”

Hyujin blew a kiss in my direction, tossing me a poor excuse for a wink. “Bye, Y/N!”

Maybe one more Advil wouldn’t hurt.

The party was in full swing by the time Minho finally arrived, greeting Felix with some kind of cheesy handshake. It was too late for me and I had already resigned myself to the futon of isolation in the living room, mourning the loss of one of my good dishes thanks to Han Jisung deciding to request something fancier than our regular set. “Sorry, Y/N,” Jisung had apologized. “I’m sure you can easily replace it.”

“Yeah, I’m sure my dead grandmother has another lying around somewhere,” I snarled in his direction, ignoring his wide-eyed look of disbelief as I searched for the broom.

Minho eventually finished his conversation with Felix, offering me a sympathetic look while occupying the last remaining chair. “Y/N?”

“Oh, I’m doing just fine,” I told him.

“You look miserable,” Minho informed me, throwing up his feet on my glass coffee table even though I had told him countless times before to keep his dirty socks on the floor.

“Chan hates me,” I said. “Felix is happy.”

“Ah,” Minho nodded. “Trouble in paradise?”

“It’s all Felix’s fault,” I sniped. “He found out I went to lunch with Changbin and told Chan because he knew it would lead to an argument.”

“He still doesn’t like you?” Minho snorted as if the idea were amusing.

“Felix has hated me since the beginning of time. He was brought to this Earth to cause me misery.”

“I’m sure that’s an exaggeration,” Minho said. “Where is Chan, anyway?”

“I don’t know,” I sighed. “If he wasn’t with Felix, then you might want to check the balcony. I think I saw him sneaking the Advil bottle out there earlier.”

Minho snickered. “You don’t even realize it, but you two are grossly similar. I’m sure Chan would have preferred a quiet dinner out somewhere.”

“Well, Felix always gets what he wants,” I said. “It’s been this way since high school.”

Minho considered me for a moment. “In his defense, Chan has always been Felix’s best friend. They’ve been attached at the hip since they were kids, but then you came into the picture. Suddenly, Chan isn’t as interested in spending all his time with Felix any more.”

“Are you saying I need to find Felix a girlfriend?”

“Y/N,” Minho said softly. “I’m just saying, maybe you need to think about things from Felix’s perspective for once. You were an only child, so you can’t understand what it means to share a close relationship with a brother.”

“Hmm, well you’re like a brother to me,” I teased him.

“Ugh,” Minho gagged. “You’ve had my dick in your mouth before, Y/N, please never say that again.”

“I was trying to be sweet,” I said. “But you ruined it.”

“Did I?” Minho smirked, glancing up at something behind me. “Are you having a good time, Felix?”

“We’re out of beer,” Felix interrupted, face suddenly mere inches from mine.

“You shouldn’t drink like a fish.”

“Medusa,” Felix tried again, holding out a ring of car keys. “Make yourself useful and buy us some more beer.”

I rolled my eyes but acquiesced. “Whatever you want, your majesty.”

I hated winter in New York City because the sidewalks were icy all the time and I was constantly in danger of rolling my ankle. Nevertheless, I tolerated the snow and wind by trading my heels for rain boots and wrapping my body in the thickest coat I owned. Normally, I might consider walking to the convenience store, but tonight I knew my fingers would be nothing but frozen icicles if I attempted that perilous journey.

Thankfully, the traffic was fairly light this late at night which allowed a relatively quick drive to the store, parking my corvette at the sidewalk. I walked inside with a muffled greeting to the store attendant, searching down the aisle to where the beer was stocked in the freezers. “He didn’t even tell me what he wanted,” I scoffed, deciding on the expensive Corona from the bottom shelf since Felix always liked things more when they cost a lot of money.

“Having a party?” the store attendant joked, accepting my debit card after ringing up the cases.

“Something like that,” I said, wondering if that was always his assumption if someone bought more than one bottle of the nasty smelling beverage.

Meanwhile, it had started snowing again when I walked back outside, popping the trunk to store the beer until I finally returned home. I switched on the ignition and turned on the heat to its fullest setting before sitting back in my seat to wrap my arms around myself, fighting off a series of chills. The action reminded me of Junior Year when Chan and I used to make late-night trips to the gas station near his apartment complex. We’d buy all sorts of unnecessary snacks, driving back together because we had planned a movie marathon of Harry Potter. Chan always complained about the films I liked, but he watched them anyway because he knew I enjoyed them.

I came to a stop at a red light, frowning when I noticed that nobody was coming in either direction. “Change already,” I ordered the traffic light as if it could possibly accommodate my request.

“I’ll teach you patience, Y/N,” Chan once told me after we waited nearly an hour in a heavy downpour outside the comic book shop because he just had to have some kind of rare edition figurine.

The traffic light eventually turned green and I rolled out into the intersection, never noticing the reckless SUV until mere seconds before it crashed into the side of my car.

I had the worst luck in the world when it came to relationships. First, there was my tired rendezvous with Minho in high school, blowing my best friend in the bathroom because he’d always fuck me with his fingers afterward. Then, there was that slimy bastard Seo Changbin who I willingly gave my virginity to, thinking he was the love of my life. That was before I found out he was cheating on me with some sleazy cheerleader thanks to a couple of photos surfacing on Facebook. My heart was instantly broken, pride in shambles as I spent an entire week hiding out in my dormitory ignoring all phone calls and text messages as I cried over a boy who never deserved my attention in the first place.

I plucked a few strands of grass from the ground next to my feet, savoring the first taste of sunlight I had allowed myself since that unfortunate discovery. Who the hell did Seo Changbin think he was anyway? Playing with my heart like that as if it meant absolutely nothing to him.

At least I wasn’t sad anymore, having spent enough time crying over the destructive boy. Now, all I could think about was smacking that stupid smug grin off his face while thoroughly purging my built-up frustrations...“Y/N?”

I turned around quickly at the sound of Chan’s voice, rising to my feet to brush the loose grass and dirt from my jeans. “Channie,” I said, nervously wringing my hands in front of me. Chan was probably mad at me since I had been ignoring him all week.

“Are you okay?” he asked instead, tone surprisingly gentle as he stopped in front of me.

“Not really,” I told him honestly.

“I didn’t think so,” Chan said, features hardening. “I’ll beat the shit out of Seo for you.”

I shook my head. “That won’t do any good.”

“But if it makes you feel better,” Chan said, reaching out to delicately swipe his thumb under my eyes. “You aren’t sleeping.”

It was more of a statement rather than a question, but I still felt the need to reassure him. “I promise that I’m okay.”

“You don’t have to lie to me,” Chan said, offering me a kind smile. “I can tell, you know?”

“Yeah you’re good at that,” I groused.

“I’m pretty good at a lot of things when it comes to you,” Chan admitted, eyes holding a pure kind of affection as they appraised me.

“I’m glad I have you,” I said, letting out a sigh as I allowed my head to rest against the center of his chest. “You don’t think I’m stupid for trying things out with Changbin?”

“You’ve always liked him,” Chan said with a bitter tone that sounded more like a jealous lover rather than a friend.

I chose not to say anything. “I hope the two of them make each other miserable.”

Chan chuckled. “Is this your form of revenge?”

“I don’t think it’ll work out in my favor,” I said, pressing myself even closer to Chan, pausing when my hand drug across his stomach. “Holy shit, Channie, you weren’t kidding about the gym.”

“Did you not believe me?”

“Who are you trying to impress?” I grinned, propping my chin against his sternum to make it easier to look into his eyes.

“It’s always been the same person,” Chan said vaguely, dimples on display as he considered me. “I hope Seo didn’t destroy your faith in relationships.”

“It wouldn’t be entirely his fault,” I sighed. “All my relationships have been complete failures.

“Y/N,” Chan whispered, brushing a light kiss across my forehead. “Maybe it’s because you’ve never tried the right guy.”

The memory was laced with something warm, an association that stood in stark contradiction to my current condition, slowly opening my eyes to a pulsing room, somehow much too bright for my pupils to adjust. Was I alive? I wondered because I couldn’t really feel anything which was certainly disarming. But then there was a familiar smell, rancid and burning, and it made me feel like I was definitely not in any sort of happy afterlife. There was also the problem of the blurry figure slowly coming into focus next to me, fiddling with an array of wires twisting together with the sounds of a machine distantly clicking in the background. I watched through hooded eyes as the now perceivable person in question handled an impressively large needle, pinching my skin painfully at the juncture of my elbow.

“Han Jisung,” I began, startling him from where he was checking the IV. “Just put a fucking needle into my arm. What hellish realm have I descended into?”

“Y/N!” Jisung squealed loudly, leaning down to press a sloppy kiss against my forehead.

“What the hell was that for?”

“For not dying,” Jisung sighed in relief. “When you came in, there was nothing but blood and glass everywhere!... Oh, and Chan may or may not have a fine against him for beating the living shit out of the asshole that hit you.”

“Why are you so loud?” I groaned, palming my forehead because the room was still swimming into focus. “What happened?”

“You probably don’t remember,” Jisung said. “It was a pretty bad concussion, but you were in a car accident.”

“I was?” I questioned, struggling to recall anything past a few minutes ago when I first realized that incompetent Han Jisung was sticking pointy objects into my veins.

“Chan was so upset,” Jisung said. “He wanted to do the surgery, but the superintendent wouldn’t let him.”

“Surgery?” I repeated. “I had surgery?”

“Cuz’ of your ribs,” Jisung said quietly as if finally realizing that he probably shouldn’t be saying all this to me at once, especially if the persistent beeping of the heart monitor was something to be concerned about.

“What’s wrong with my ribs?” I asked, somewhat panicking as I felt down my chest, noticing the thick bandage wrapped around my upper body.

“Chill, Y/N,” Jisung placated, reaching around me to adjust the monitor. “Now I can’t get an accurate reading!”

“So sorry to inconvenience you,” I said with a hoarse voice, reaching up to quickly wrap my hand around my throat. “Is there something wrong with my voice?”

“Well, you’ve been out for three days so...”

“Three days!”

Now I was definitely panicking, full-on hysteria as the heart monitor loudly detected the irregular contraction of the muscle thundering aggressively against my chest. It was enough to alert the doctor on duty, walking into my room to check on his patient, scolding Jisung harshly as he filled a syringe with a clear liquid. “Don’t worry, Y/N,” he said kindly, injecting the fluid into my IV. “Just relax.”

My eyelids fluttered closed, overwhelmed by a disjointed sense of calm that gradually pulled me back under the current of drug-induced bliss.

“Sweetie.”

My eyes flew open at the sound of his voice, the best wake-up call in the whole world. I slowly turned my head to the side, taking in the sight of my disheveled husband, eyes blood-shot with heavy dark bags haunting tight circles against his pale skin. “Channie?”

“I’m so sorry, Y/N,” Chan sniffled, fresh tears swelling his cheeks as he leaned in closer to grip tightly to my hand. “It’s all my fault.”

I considered him closely, wondering what he could possibly mean by accepting blame for whatever was causing him obvious pain. I faintly remember Jisung telling me about am accident, but it was difficult to really think back any further, like a wall had enclosed around my brain, refusing to allow anything else to come into consciousness. But Chan didn’t need to cry, he was usually the best part of my life, waking up in bed together to share sweet kisses or eagerly waiting for him to come home and swoon over my newest K-Drama obsession. “Why are you sad?” I asked him, reaching out to do my best and wipe away those nasty tears.

“You wouldn’t answer your phone,” Chan cried, heart-wrenching sobs that broke my heart with every heavy inhale. “I didn’t know where you were.”

“Is that why you’re upset?” I asked, wiping away a few mischievous curls that had wandered into his eyes.

“I found you in the intersection,” Chan whispered. “And the car...” he trailed off with a choking gasp as if the details were too horrific to describe.

“I’m here now, Channie,” I said, desperate to relieve his sadness. “I didn’t go anywhere.”

Chan nodded furiously, pressing a wet kiss to the back of my hand. “I can’t lose you like that, sweetie.”

“Well, I plan to stick around for a while,” I said, earning me a half-smile in return. “Channie,” I whispered, glancing around the room conspiratorially. “Is there anything good to eat in this place?”

This time Chan did laugh and it was the best medicine I could possibly have.

“Vitals?” Chan asked, lingering around the poor nurse who clearly wasn’t expecting this much attention over one patient when she clocked in this morning.

“I already checked them,” the nurse informed him, writing down something on the chart clipped to the edge of my bed. I sipped my water as I watched the two of them, wondering if Chan had been this overbearing the entire time.

“Temperature?”

“98 degrees.”

“Blood pressure?”

“122/75”

“Respiration?”

“Chan,” I whispered softly, immediately drawing my husband’s attention who was at my side in an instant. “I think the nurse knows how to do her job.”

The poor woman shot me a grateful smile as she re-clipped my chart, hurrying out of the room as if she couldn’t possibly escape fast enough. “Sorry,” Chan said, taking his seat next to me. “I’m just worried.”

“I get discharged tomorrow,” I told him. “Pretty sure that means I’m just fine.”

“But your leg,” Chan whined, fussily messing with the large cast, tucking the blankets in securely.

“It’ll heal,” I said, frowning as I picked at the squishy jello the nursing staff had brought in earlier. “Isn’t there anything else to eat?”

Chan tsked. “That’s good for you, Y/N. It’s full of necessary vitamins.”

I should have known better than to ask my doctor husband if I could possibly have something that actually had flavor to eat. No matter how much I begged and pleaded, Chan refused to waver from the nasty daily meals I was brought, much to my disappointment. “I’d kill for a burger.”

“Too much fat,” Chan said, turning down the idea before I could possibly try to negotiate.

“It physically hurts me to eat,” I tried. “I think they’re secretly plotting my death.”

“Y/N,” Chan scolded lightly. “There’s a reason why we serve this to patients, alright?”

I frowned at him but shoved a spoonful of the nasty substance in my mouth, earning me a pleased smile in response. “Happy?”

“You can have better food tomorrow,” Chan said, pausing as he reached down to check his phone notifications. “Minho is here,” he grumbled. “I guess I’ll go get him from the lobby before he gets lost.”

“Thank you, darling,” I chirped, accepting his brief kiss.

“I’ve seen worse,” Minho declared, ignoring Chan’s disbelieving scoff.

“You obviously weren’t here when she was first brought in,” Chan growled to him.

“How are you feeling, Y/N?” Minho asked, disregarding Chan who had gone back to check the dozens of machines somehow monitoring my every possible bodily function.

“Hungry,” I grimaced, pointing to my discarded container.

Minho lifted it curiously, bringing it his nose before he let out an unattractive grunt. “Is this garbage?”

“Don’t encourage her,” Chan said, reaching for my chart for the millionth time that day. “I’ll be right back, Y/N.”

“Okay,” I said, rolling my eyes once his back was turned.

I waited until Chan was gone before desperately reaching out for Minho. “You’ve got to help me, Minho! I can’t stand another day of jello and mashed potatoes. Get me a Big Mac and I’ll give you the number of one of my work acquaintances.”

Minho raised an interested brow. “Scale?”

“Oh, she’s definitely an 8...please!”

“That’s impossible to turn down, Y/N,” Minho grinned. “Give me ten minutes.”

I snatched his sleeve before he could walk away. “Make sure Chan doesn’t see.”

“So ask Han Jisung to fuck something up, got it.”

“You’re my best friend in the entire world. The rest of my life will be spent in your servitude.”

Minho offered me a brief salute and I solemnly nodded my head while ignoring the way my stomach growled.

It was growing dark outside and I’m pretty sure Jisung had accidentally given me too much of whatever pain medicine I had been prescribed. I could barely keep my eyes open as Chan settled next to me on his chair. “Y/N,” he said softly, picking at an invisible string on his suit pants. “I want to talk to you about the fight we had.”

My exhaustion vanished in a flash. “Okay,” I said, even though I had been hoping Chan would just forget that the fight even happened.

“I owe you an apology,” Chan said. “For acting like a jealous prick. I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that.”

“It’s my fault too,” I said. “I know how you feel about him, but I still went out anyway.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Chan said, swallowing down the lie even though I could always read him like a book. “But every time I think about Seo Changbin, I can’t help but remember Freshman year.”

“You act like he broke your heart instead,” I tried to joke, but Chan was everything but amused.

“Yeah, he did break your heart, Y/N, and I’ll never forgive him for it. He was an arrogant bastard back then, and I’m sure that hasn’t changed much.”

“Not really,” I agreed, recalling our prior lunch arrangement.

“And I’ll never be okay with the fact that you work with your ex-boyfriend, but since you love the job so much, I can’t possibly fight with you anymore,” Chan said. “I should trust you as my wife.”

“I’m not remotely interested in Changbin,” I said. “It just sucks that he’s got good connections.”

“But if he tries anything on you...”

“Don’t worry,” I reassured him. “I would never do anything to hurt you, even if his thighs look super good these days.”

“Y/N.”

“I know, Channie,” I giggled, reaching for his hand. “Trust me, alright? I don’t plan to work there forever. Fingers crossed for a promotion to the publisher.”

“I’ll pray every night if I have to,” Chan said. “As for Felix...”

“Don’t worry about him,” I said. “I know that I should try harder to get along with Felix.”

“It’s a two-way street,” Chan countered. “I’ve spoken to him about everything.”

“You have?” I wavered. “What did he say?”

“Well, he feels really bad about the accident,” Chan said. “I think he realizes how much better things would be if you guys were on friendlier terms.”

“He really looks up to you,” I said, recalling Minho’s words from before. “I hope he doesn’t feel like I’m trying to steal you away.”

“Felix and I have always been close,” Chan said. “We both had a hard time moving here from Australia. But at the end of the day, we could rely on each other..”

“High school wasn’t very good to either of you,” I said.

“Well, except for you of course,” Chan said, attempting a smile.

“They were mean to you, Channie,” I said, “and you didn’t deserve any of it.”

“I’ve gotten over that,” Chan insisted. “But Felix always took everything harder than me. He wasn’t very social until college.”

“He should have stuck to being an introvert,” I said. “Look at the kind of friends he ended up with.”

“Are you saying Hyunjin is a bad influence?”

“Have you been around for our interactions?

“I’ve definitely noticed, Y/N. Remember what happened that one time when we went camping-”

“Anyways,” I loudly interrupted. “It seems like we both have a lot of things to work on.”

“But that’s why we talk about it,” Chan said, pressing a soothing kiss to the wrinkled crease of my forehead. “That’s what married couples do, right?”

“Ah, Channie, when did you become a walking cliche?”

“Should I be more serious, then?”

“You’re getting there with the doctor’s jacket.”

“Really?” Chan asked, sitting back in his chair. “Is this your way of asking us to try some kind of kinky roleplay?”

“I don’t know, but it might be interesting. Can I call you Dr. Bang?”

Chan was positively beaming. “You can always call me Daddy instead.”

“Darling, I think they accidentally gave you my prescription of morphine.”

If anyone were to ever ask me, then I’d tell them that signing hospital discharge papers was about as difficult as applying for a loan. “How many more are there?” I wondered, scribbling a messy signature at the bottom of the last sheet Jisung had brought for me to sign.

“I think that’s it.”

“You think?” I snorted, watching Jisung sort through each page carefully like he really had no idea what he was holding.

“Each year they add more shit for the patients,” Jisung explained. “I’m pretty sure they do it just to confuse me.”

“Everything confuses you, Jisung,” I said, patting his arm sympathetically. “Has Chan come in yet?”

“He’s on his way with Felix.”

“Goodie,” I grumbled. “Are you working late today?”

“Someone has to help since Chan insists on taking the day off,” Jisung said.

“I hope they aren’t planning on letting you do the surgeries.”

“Would that be such a bad thing?”

I kept my mouth shut, deciding to let Jisung live in his deluded fantasy world where he could somehow manage to cure patients of their ailments as opposed to causing them. Unsurprisingly, since the moment I had first met him, Jisung had always been completely sure of himself even if he was whole-heartedly wrong. For example, when we were all seniors in college, Chan refused to speak to Jisung for an entire week after the two of them received an F on their group project. Apparently, Jisung forgot to submit the lab report on time and waited an additional week before approaching the professor to politely ask if he could still bring it to her after class.

“Channie,” I tried to console him. “You know Jisung didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Yeah, but my GPA will still suffer the consequences,” Chan had sulked, whining about how difficult it was to maintain a friendship with Han Jisung.

Yet, when Chan was first hired by the hospital, Chan sent in a very persuasive reference for Jisung, encouraging the higher-ups to offer him a nursing position. The three of us went out to celebrate Jisung’s new job offer, nursing shots of bad vodka while eating rather terrible sushi. “Chan,” a very tipsy Jisung had said. “I love you so much, man.”

“Oi, keep your hands to yourself,” Chan had grouched despite wearing the biggest grin on his face...

“Y/N,” Jisung interrupted my recollection. “I think Chan just got here.”

“Finally,” I sighed. “I thought I would never be able to get the smell of alcohol out of my nose.”

“Thank God you’re here,” I said the moment Chan and Felix walked into my hospital room. “I’m pretty sure I had to sign my life away to leave this place, but it’s totally worth it.”

Chan rolled his eyes playfully. “I see you’re feeling better this morning.”

“I’ve been better for days,” I said. “But my doctor wouldn’t allow me to so much as breathe the wrong way.”

“Is that so?” Chan asked, reaching down for my discarded bag. “Your doctor sounds like a real asshole.”

“Yeah, but he’s pretty hot. I’d totally fuck him if I wasn’t already married.”

“It sounds like you have a thing for doctors?” Chan asked. “Does this husband of yours know that?”

“He probably does,” I said. “But I feel like he’ll probably leave me to masturbate on my own for months because of this dumb cast.”

“Y/N,” Chan scoffed. “It’s important for you to heal properly.”

I groaned loudly. “Why are you so responsible?”

Chan carefully handed me my bag. “Make sure you have everything. I’m going to talk to your surgeon one more time before we leave.”

It was difficult to prevent myself from protesting, finally realizing just how quiet it was with just me and Felix in the room. “Hi, Felix,” I said, awkwardly adjusting my blankets once Chan had disappeared from sight.

“Y/N,” Felix said, gaze focused on some unidentifiable point on the floor.

“What have you been up to?” I asked, trying to sound cheery because I didn’t like the look of despondence on Felix’s normally bright visage.

“I owe you an apology, Y/N,” Felix said with a vulnerable tone I had never heard from him before. “It’s because of me that you got hurt.”

“Felix,” I hesitated because this was uncharted territory for the both of us, a distant cry from our usual taunting banter. “You don’t need to do that. Everything’s fine now.”

“Your leg,” Felix whispered as an unexpected tear slid down the side of his face.

“It’s just a fracture,” I shrugged. “I’ll be just fine in a few months.”

“Just a fracture,” Felix parroted back, voice thick with emotion. “Why aren’t you mad at me? Because you should be. I’m always getting in your way.”

“Is that what you think?” I asked, surprised to hear Felix’s true feelings. “Felix, you aren’t in anybody’s way. You know I don’t really care that you’re staying with us, especially after you just graduated. I just wish you’d be a little bit more respectful.”

“Because I’ve always been jealous of you, Y/N,” Felix said. “Especially since Chan likes you more than me.”

“Felix, you know that Chan loves you. He would do anything in the world to make you happy.”

“He’s always chosen you over me,” Felix said. “He stopped hanging out with me on weekends in high school, and he even went to the same college as you even though he was accepted into Harvard and Yale.”

I was shocked by Felix’s true feelings, a rare moment of vulnerability that he was choosing to share with me. “Lixie,” I said. “Why have you never said anything before?”

Felix shivered at my use of his nickname. “I didn’t want to. You guys are so happy together and I didn’t want to hurt Chan.”

“Ya! Felix,” I frowned, “your feelings matter too. And if you really feel that way, then we need to talk about it together.”

“I’m just a burden,” Felix gruffed.

“No, you aren’t,” I insisted. “You’re part of our family, and if you’re ever feeling uncomfortable, then you deserve to be heard.”

“You don’t really mean that do you, Y/N?” Felix asked with glistening eyes. “I don’t want you to say these things just to make me feel better.”

“Felix, when have you ever seen me lying to someone just to protect their feelings?” I asked. “I always speak my mind, and this time I’m putting my foot down. When we get home, we’re having a movie marathon, just the three of us. And this weekend, you and Chan can go somewhere together out of town. I’ll have Minho stay with me instead.”

“Really?” Felix asked, swiping a sleeve under his bright red nose.

“We’re in-laws you know,” I said. “That means we look out for one another.”

“Y/N,” Felix giggled and, for once, I didn’t feel the slightest bit annoyed.

“Lee Felix, don’t you ever let me catch you crying like this again, understand?”

Felix nodded, smiling so brilliantly that I was reminded of when we were much younger and he was just an innocent little boy who idolized his older brother.

“Careful,” Chan said, holding the door wide with one hand while keeping a firm grip around my waist.

“I’m not gonna break,” I grumbled, pausing in the doorway as I let out a grateful sigh. It was a huge relief to be back at home and not stuck in that hospital room surrounded by questionable smells.

Chan carefully led me into the living room and I gave him my crutches before collapsing on the futon, ignoring the rigid fabric because I had never been happier to hug one of the matching throw pillows. “Comfortable?” Chan asked, helping me prop my leg up on the coffee table. Meanwhile, Felix lingered in the doorway, grasping my bag tightly between his hands.

“Come join us, Felix,” I said. “You’ll let out all the heat.”

Felix nodded, eyes wide as he locked the door behind him. Chan sent me a curious look as if he wasn’t sure what I was hoping to accomplish by inviting his younger brother into the same room. “I have something for you.”

I clapped my hands together eagerly. “Is it something loaded with carbohydrates and fat?”

“Not quite,” he said, handing me my cell phone. “Seo Enterprises called earlier today. I already contacted them about the accident, but I guess they need to hear from you.”

“Great,” I grimaced, dialing the number from memory. It rang for a few moments, and Chan and Felix were both messing around with the TV, probably trying to figure out what to watch. Because the only thing the two brothers argued about was whether action movies were better than romance.

“Seo Enterprises, this is Eliza speaking how can I help you today?”

“Hi,” I immediately cringed, wondering how many cool points I could possibly lose in one day. “This is Y/N, can I speak to Mr. Seo please?”

“I can transfer you right away,” Eliza spoke promptly as if she had already been prepared to receive my call.

“Y/N!” Changbin’s voice now answered. “I’m glad to hear from you.”

“Yeah, I’ve been having a lot of bad luck recently,” I said. “I guess you know about the accident.”

“I heard,” Changbin said. “How are you?”

“I’m alright,” I said. “But I might need some time away from the company. Apparently, a broken leg is a pretty big deal.”

“Take as much time as you need, Y/N,” Changbin said. “I’ve hired a temporary secretary until you’re ready to come back.”

“I don’t know, Changbin,” I said. “It might take several weeks. Maybe you should just hire a replacement.”

“There’s no need for that, Y/N,” Changbin countered. “I still believe you’re the best person for the job.”

“Well, if you’re sure...” I trailed off, shaking my head furiously at Chan when he held up our used copy of The Notebook.

“I’m definitely sure,” Changbin said. “Call me when you want to come back. We still have a lot of things I want to do together in the future.”

“You’re too indecisive,” Chan said, finally taking a well-deserved seat next to me on the futon.

“And you have terrible taste in cinema,” Felix retorted.

“Yeah? Well maybe we should just let Y/N pick,” Chan suggested, mouthing a sweet kiss against my temple.

“I think Felix should decide,” I said, cuddling up closer to Chan’s side.

“Really?” Felix asked, appearing entirely surprised that I would allow him such freedom.

“Why not?” I sighed happily. “I’ll even watch that weird anime movie if you want.”

Felix scoffed but a faint smile remained as he grabbed the remote. Chan chuckled and leaned down to press another kiss to the top of my forehead. “I’m proud of you, sweetie,” he whispered.

“It’s only because I love you so much,” I said while shrugging indifferently, but Chan could always read through me.

“Hmm, well I love you more,” he said, brushing his fingers through my hair as the opening credits rolled across the screen.

#stray kids #stray kids fanfic #bang chan #chan #chan fanfic #bang chan fanfic #chris bang #chan smut #bang chan smut

2K notes · View notes

arilie · 4 years

Text

CYBER SEX

Hawks x Popstar!Reader

Rating: Somewhat NSFW

Summary: Y/n was part of a two woman band with her sister that traveled the world touring and performing. A certain Japanese hero had caught your attention, and you his. The night you perform in Japan, he’s there to witness just how good you can be on stage.

A/N: This is my first fic on this account and I vowed never to return to the dark side but here I am. Hell is hot. Please don’t repost my work without proper credit. Likes, reblogs, and feedback are greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading! Part 2 coming soon...

IMPORTANT: When you see the symbol *** please play this song

-> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDr9hRJqPX4

The arena was grand, so much so that you felt like it would swallow you whole. The pressure to perform a clean show was always on your shoulders, and these arenas didn’t make the weight any lighter. You sighed as you made your way to the room reserved for the artists performing. You and your sister were a two girl band; mostly known for being loud and proud of your bodies and sexual appeal. You both started this about two years ago and quickly blew up in the United States. Your skimpy attire and lewd songs made the world turn to you in either awe or disgust.

Your sister was sitting in the room when you arrived. It was nicely decorated: white sofas with plants scattered around the room and autographed vinyls on the walls. The table in the middle of the room was low on the ground, something common in Japan. You smiled when you saw that typical American snacks were placed on the table. You dropped your bag and ripped open some chips.

“Don’t eat so much or else you’ll throw up from nerves before we go on.” Your sister said. You rolled your eyes.

“I’m hungry, I haven’t eaten since we got on the plane and it took over eleven hours to get here from Los Angeles. I only had some salad that our manager packed.”

“Y/n then go and look for some actual food. I don’t want you to be sick before the show.” Y/s/n said.

Your retort was cut short when your manager opened the door to the room you were both in. She looked composed as always with her hair in a tight bun and a crisp suit adorning her small frame. “Okay girls, we have five hours before the show starts. Get settled in and I want you on stage to rehearse in the next hour and a half. Y/n please eat some food. I’ll be talking to the arena manager. If you need anything call me.” After she finished giving her instructions she turned and left.

“I’m going to go outside for some fresh air and to stretch my legs. That flight ruined me.” You said.

Your sister mumbled before she hugged one of the sofa’s pillows to her chest and fell asleep. You shook your head and smiled. Closing the door slowly, you left the room in search of something to eat. You debated on ordering something and having it delivered, but you didn’t know what there was. Tokyo was a large city and Japanese cuisine wasn’t something you were knowledgeable about. As you scrolled through the delivery app for restaurants, you made it outside. The city was truly magnificent, and you were excited to explore it after your shows. A gasp broke you from your thoughts and you whirled around to see someone beside you.

“So it is true! I heard the iconic sister duo would be here to perform, and I just had to come out here to see for myself. You must be y/n!” The girl said. She was blonde and her hair was put into two messy buns on the side of her head. Bangs dangled in front of her eyes and she was dressed in a school uniform with an oversize beige vest. She was clearly Japanese from the accent that accompanied her perfect English.

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you.” You smiled and slightly bowed, suddenly remembering the customs of the country you were in.

The girl smiled and for someone so small, the grin sent a chill down your spine. It was cold and eerie which made you uneasy. “You’re even polite too. You’re the whole package, you’re so pretty and your quirk is unique. Your singing makes people feel euphoric and happy, the perfect drug. Your sister’s makes people’s hearts beat faster and adrenaline rush in their bodies. The both of you performing together are unstoppable. What I’d do to be able to be you.” The girl licked her lips and giggled.

“Thank you for the compliments. I should get going now, I need to rehearse soon. It was nice meeting you.” You smiled and bowed again before you quickly walked to the door of the arena. You felt more safe once inside, but that girl had unsettled you for some reason. Her attire and face were familiar, but you didn’t have time to sit and think about it. You decided to talk to your manager and team about it after the concert.

You ordered some basic fast food to be delivered as you walked back to the room. A quick nap while the food arrived didn’t sound like a bad idea. You were getting settled in the couch across from your sister when your phone vibrated.

HawksOfficial: hi song bird, I hope your flight went well and you got to the arena safely. Sorry again for not being able to attend your shows, having to patrol this week is a pain in my ass. Get back to me when you can.

Your cheeks flushed as you saw who messaged you. Your eyes looked up to make sure that your sibling was still asleep and not witnessing you blush like a schoolgirl. After going viral and gaining the attention of the world, many well known people had followed you and your sister. It was no surprise that some heroes were included in the mix. You remember the day when Japan’s number two hero followed you. You had been a wreck all day debating on whether or not to message him. Your agony came to an end when he was the first to reach out. The both of you hit it off well and have been talking for months. You finally felt comfortable calling him and video chatting him after the first month. He flirted shamelessly and thrived in making you feel hot. You snapped out of your trance and quickly typed a response.

Me: It’s okay I already told you that I understand. Your hero work is very important, I’d rather have you keeping people safe.

HawksOfficial: This is why you’re my favorite. Let me know when you’re free so we can schedule a time to go out. I’m anxious to meet and see your pretty face in person for the first time.

Your stomach filled with the fluttering of butterflies as you thought about meeting Hawks for the first time. You didn’t have a chance to answer back when your phone went off letting you know your food had arrived. The nap would have to be postponed. You locked your phone and went on your way, Hawk’s face still occupying your thoughts.

The rehearsal was brutal like always, but you were conditioned into being used to doing it so often. You were now in your dressing room again in the middle of makeup artists and hair stylists. Your eyelids sported a smokey eye shadow that lined your eye in black and feathered out into a light pink shade. Rhinestones dripped from the corner of your eye as if you were crying diamonds, and your lips were painted a pink nude. Your outfit was stunning like always. A black corset one piece hugged your body. It had a pink ribbon that was tied through the corset in the back and into a pretty bow, holding your figure. You were shaped like an hourglass, and the corset did wonders in pushing up the eye catchers on your chest. Your legs were sporting pink fishnets which color matched the lace on your back. Finally, thigh high shiny leather boots were fitted onto your feet. You always felt like a different person when you performed. The confidence oozed from you. Your sister sported a similar outfit, but her clothes were the opposite color of yours.

“My girls, you look stunning as always. I have some last minute news to tell you before you go on. The League of Villains was spotted earlier today in the area. As a precaution, the arena manager asked for the top heroes to be present here to patrol during the concert. Some will be outside while others will keep an eye on things in here. We’re safe but it’s just an extra precaution. You have ten minutes until you go on stage.” Your manager turned and answered her phone. You stared at the back of her head in horror.

“Y/n don’t freak out. Oh my god how could she drop this on us!” Your sister said. She tugged on her pink corset and looked at you.

“Hawks is going to be here. He said he was patrolling today but now he’s going to patrol the arena! I didn’t think I’d have to perform for him today!” You wrung your hands nervously as you heart beat out of your chest.

“It’s okay, he clearly already likes you. Especially with what you both do late at night when you think no one can hear you.” Your sister rose her eyebrow as a costume assistant tied the black ribbon on her back.

“You know about that?! Why didn’t you tell me!” You said nearly shrieking.

“It was none of my business since you didn’t tell me about it. But that isn’t the point; the point is that he’s completely infatuated with you and will be even deeper when he sees you on stage. Take a deep breath, you got this.” You slowly breathed in and out and took her words into consideration. She was right, tonight you show Hawks what you were like in person. He no longer had to watch through the screen of his phone.

“Okay, let’s do this.”

The platform you stood on was sturdy and would elevate when you were announced. Your nerves didn’t let you send a message to Hawks asking if he was at the arena. He hadn’t sent you one letting you know he was either. A woman’s voice rang out through the large speakers of the arena. She spoke in Japanese and you knew she was presenting you and your sister. She grabbed your hand and gave it a squeeze, breaking you from your thoughts. She gave you a smirk and something inside you flipped. Your stage persona surfaced and your nerves calmed. Your eyes drooped and your mouth turned into a flirty smile.

The platform started to rise and you and your sister rose your joined hands. The lights were blinding, but you learned to squint and look at the ground to avoid them blinding you. The music blared through the speakers and you set list began. Song after song your eyes scanned each section of the arena. Thousands of people were watching you and cheering you on, but only one person mattered. It wasn’t until towards the end of the set did you spot him. Standing in his beige jacket and cargo pants was the number two hero. His wings spread wide when you made eye contact, and your breath hitched when you realized what song was next.

***

You slipped back into your persona quickly. Not breaking eye contact, you slowly squatted as you ran you free hand down your thighs and opened your mouth to sing,

“I wanna touch on you,

You see me in my room

Wish you were here right now

All of the things I’d do”

Flashes of what you and Hawks do late at night popped into your mind as your sister rapped her verse. His wings spread out behind him as he moaned into his phone, desperately trying to imagine what it would be like to be with you in person. You danced erotically with the background dancers. When your next verse is coming up, you put two fingers to your mouth and stitch your tongue through them. The obscene gesture was caught by the camera crew, and you knew Hawks was seeing your tongue piercing gleaming on the big screens next to the stage.

“Is you into that?

Let’s break the internet

We do it the best when we have cyber sex”

You spun around and peered around your shoulder. Hawks was still looking directly at you, his body now tense and wings fluffed out. You smirked as you bit your lip and slowly descended to the ground. You grinded on the floor and stuck your ass into the air. You loved to tease him, and you remembered the nights when you would pleasure yourself in front of the camera for him, but you didn’t allow him to touch himself. Remembering the way he whined as you came on your fingers saying his name was what spurred on your last verse,

“I wanna get freaky on camera

I love when we get freaky on camera…”

The song finished and concluded your set. You were buzzing from the adrenaline in your veins. He was still looking intensely, and you winked when you stood back up from your bow. The stage went dark and the crowd’s cheers made the stairs leading off of the stage dark. In your dressing room, you turned to your sister and screamed.

“I can’t believe I did that! We always act like that during our performances, but doing it for someone was completely different. I’m going to combust.”

Your sister laughed at your rambling and kicked off her boots. She rummaged through a bag on the table and pulled out a bottle of champagne. She also pulled out two glasses and poured some of the bubbly substance for the both of you. You took the glass from her hand and giggled when she wiggled her eyebrows.

“To you getting laid and ruined by the number two hero of Japan!” She said. You smacked her arm as she tipped her head back and drank the entire glass. You shook your head and did the same thing. A knock sounded as you were putting down your glass. Your sister gave you a curious look before going to open the door.

“Hi, is y/n here? I had some time before I had to go back to the agency.” Your eyes widened as you recognized the voice.

“Of course! I was just leaving to look for our manager.” Your sister said. She turned to look at you and gave you a suggestive look. She stepped to the side so the guest could come in. Crimson wings fitted through the door and the sight of Hawks right in front of you made your knees weak. His hair was ruffled into his signature hairstyle, and his eyes were lowered giving you a sultry and hungry look.

“I’ll leave you guys to it.” Your sister said before leaving and closing the door behind you.

Hawks slowly walked up to you and caged you in with his wings. He smelled amazing, and your mouth practically watered at finally finding out what he smelled like up close. He trailed his hand up your neck until it rested on the back of your head. His other hand wrapped around your waist pulling you close. His kohl lined eyes were impossibly dark, and you felt like you were drawing in his gaze.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, baby bird. Especially after a performance like that.”

His voice was husky and his chest rumbled against yours. In that moment you knew you were in deep trouble, and you couldn’t wait to be destroyed.

#hawks #pro hero hawks #hawks x y/n #hawks/reader #hawks fanfiction #hawks fic #my hero academia #mha fanfiction #mha x reader #mha #hawks smut

108 notes · View notes

project-rosewood-476 · 3 years

Text

Chapter 2 part 1 Of Every Rose Has Its Thorns is out now! the AU and some of the ideas and characters belong to @creepypasta-shtick and Maplehood Creek, Rosewood, and Tabby Anderson belong to me.

TW: character death, mentions of blood and gore

Tabby was always an early bird due to her stepdad getting her up at 5 in the morning. Also with Rosewood starting at 7:45 am. But she slept through until 7-8 in the morning. Tabby woke up and stretched and winced at her bruises. She slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes confused. This wasn't her house. This wasn't her room...then last nights events came rushing back to her

"So it wasn't a dream after all... and I'm alive...I survived my first night in this strange new world. One day down and another one to go" she said in thought. she grinned as the new reality set in.

"I'm free...of my stepdad, Rosewood, and Horacio!" She said in thought also she let out a quiet giggle to herself.

She got out of the bed and put her knives on the nightstand for now. She took a good look at herself in the mirror. Her red-brown hair turned into a messy low ponytail with a couple of wavy strands that were out. That was due to the tossing and turning in her sleep. She still had dark circles under her eyes and they still appeared to be sunken back slightly. But they had that spark of life back in them again. But you can never catch up on lost sleep. She fell asleep in her clothes from yesterday but she'll change today. She really had no use for PJs she only used them on occasion. Her older bruises were almost completely faded away and her new ones started the healing process. Pretty soon all there would be was the scars from her old life and new bruises and cuts from training and missions and stuff. Hopefully less than what she has now.

She quickly got dressed in a long-sleeved white shirt and blue jeans to cover up the scars and bruises. She was more clear-minded than she was last night. No one else needed to see her bruises and scars and think that she's weak and sickly. She put on her shoes and went out of her bedroom and into the kitchen.

Toby has done a lot for her in one night. It was only fair to return the favor. The least she could do is cook him breakfast. She looked in the fridge and saw some eggs. She took out the carton and put it on the counter. She saw some bread laying about too and saw a toaster.

"Perfect!" She thought to herself.

She looked around for a frying pan, plates, and utensils. It took her a while to find the stuff in the kitchen but she made her way around and made very little noise as possible. And was humming a song that she knew to herself. She put the two pieces of bread in the toaster and started making the eggs for herself first.

Toby was still kind of groggy but he pulled himself up and yawned. It took him a little while to get used to being awake so he waited for a bit before turning off his radio. He went up to go to the bathroom. He had several wounds he needed to make sure stayed clean after all. After cleaning himself up, he figured he should go out and get the newspaper or something. He knew that after a couple of weeks he would have a huge mission that would involve putting on a fake identity and infiltrating a school, which he was not looking forward to. He was incredibly anxious about it. From the bathroom, he could hear a knock on the front door. Oh right. He had locked it. It was probably Jane and she had probably finished Tabby's mask that night.

Tabby put her eggs and toast on a plate and went to answer the front door. She unlocked it and opened the door a little bit. warily and cautiously.

Jane had left the box on the front door. It was a nice-looking box. It could be easily opened. She had stayed up all night doing the mask.

Tabby opened the door wider and cautiously picked up the box. She eyed it suspiciously. She decided to leave it on the table and decided to wait for Toby to come out so she wouldn't be alone while opening it just in case it could be a trap.

Tabby began to eat her breakfast. She kept eyeing the box in a mixture of suspicion and curiosity. She wanted to open it badly but decided that she knew better than to open it by herself as Jane's words echoed through her head from last night.

'Don't trust gifts that are given to you even if they're given by people you know, there are a lot of backstabbers here'.

She continued to wait patiently.

Toby came outside the bathroom and headed towards the kitchen. He saw Tabby and the box.

"Oh. That looks like the box Jane uses to deliver masks." He stared plainly.

He went to the fridge and began rifling through it. Jane's boxes always looked distinct to show that they carried masks that she had made her own.

"Oh you don't have to rummage through the fridge," she said in between bites "I was going to make you some eggs as a sort of a thank you. But then I realized that I don't know how you like your eggs...or even if you like eggs...I also didn't know if you were like me in needing to watch your food being made to make sure it's not poisoned. So I waited before I did anything."

"But if you do like eggs how do you like them? I could make you some..." she said a little shyly as she looked down and went to open the box.

She opened the box slowly and warily. She took out the mask and inspected it. It was a pretty teal with golden spirals branching out from one another and at some angles, the gold glittered in the light. She checked the inside of the mask and smiled to herself when she saw the names of the people she lost engraved inside. She put it on and looked at Toby.

"Oh, it's okay. I'm the type of person who likes taking care of myself." Toby explained.

"Oh, that looks great. Does it feel okay? Natural?" He asked. He got out some leftover breakfast from the day before and went to heat it up.

"Fair enough," she said.

She understood not wanting to rely on others since she has been neglected since she was 4 so she had to learn how to do the basics of taking care of herself.

"It feels weird at first but I'll get used to it" she put the mask in her box and went to pick up the eggs and put them back in the fridge.

She finished up the last bit of her egg sandwich that she made and went to do up her little bit of dishes. She unwrapped her left hand so the bandages can stay clean and dry. You could see the surgical incisions that were made to get the glass out. The scars were in that in-between stage of old and fresh. Her hand was healed but you can tell that the doctors didn't set it right as it looked out of place.

Toby nodded.

"It will feel weird at first but soon you'll freak out seeing yourself without it."

He wanted to make the transition into this new life as painless as possible. He remembered being incredibly freaked out at the beginning. He noticed her hand. Oh, man. EJ would lose his shit 'seeing' the work done on that hand. Toby thanked her for doing her dishes.

"By the way, you said you wanted to go to the library today?" Toby said. "While we're out, I could sort of show you around if you want. A lot of your first missions will be fetch and deliver, so it's nice to know where to go." He was finishing up his breakfast.

"Yeah I did say that and it would be nice to know my way around. I mean I'm going to be on my own at some point so yeah"

She dried off her hands and notice that he was looking at her damaged hand.

"Yeah I know it's not a pretty picture. Reason number 1025 of why I hate and don't trust doctors. They can't do their damn jobs right" she gave him a bitter smile.

"So your mission was fairly riskless huh?" She raised an eyebrow as she nodded towards his injuries "I do hope you took care of them properly" she gently re-wrapped her hand in the bandages.

Toby nodded.

"Yeah, you will be. Once you finish training, the boss will give you a new place." He said. "I'll show you around, introduce you to a few people." He said.

"I understand the sentiment about doctors though, but for me it's therapists. My therapist knew I was abused and, as a mandated reporter, didn't call CPS for me." He said.

He knew there were competent doctors and therapists, but that didn't change his experiences.

At her comment, he nodded. "They're just small cuts and bruises. Come from running through the woods." He said.

"Same. I hated therapists too. I've been through 7 psychiatrists. My parents believed that I was delusional and paranoid because they didn't believe me about my horror stories at Rosewood. My therapists didn't believe anything I said about Rosewood or about how my stepdad abused me but left the rest of my family out of it" she gave him the finger guns and another bitter smile but she looked like she just wanted to die.

Toby nodded. "I got a therapist after my sister died. I still remember her. She was this older woman, about the same age as my mom and she always had this fake, vacant smile. It used to piss me off." He said.

He understood.

"They used my mental illness to totally discredit what I saw and what I said happened to me. She tried to have me involuntarily committed."

Toby shrugged a bit while clearing his dishes.

"I've thought about killing her, honestly, but I figured it wasn't really worth it." He said, starting the water

"But they did manage to diagnose me correctly on OCD, Anxiety, PTSD, and Paranoia which all had to do with Rosewood and my stepdad but not for the reasons that they thought. We're probably missing a few others since they can't diagnose me fully correctly", stated Tabby.

"I understand," Toby said.

He finished cleaning up his dishes. He already was dressed for the day and was still wearing his mouth guard and goggles. He put on his gloves.

"You ready to go in a bit?" He asked.

"Honestly they're just doing it to get paid and not caring how they do it" "I've thought about killing my stepdad and I would have if it was just my mom and not...someone else involved...", she trailed off and looked away.

"Well, I killed my dad," Toby said with a shrug.

"And I let my mom find the body." He put his dishes away.

"I feel like my life would be so much different if I had actually had a decent therapist. I know they're out there and I'm just so pissed that I got a shitty one. If I had one that actually cared, I probably would still be human."

"Lucky you. I would have done the same but I never had the luxury to be selfish. This is the first time I actually put myself first"

She knew that wasn't entirely true either. She would have gladly let masky and hoodie kill her. She wouldn't even have had to put up a fight. But toby was the one who spared her life and he did it for a reason. She promised herself that she would stay alive for him so his efforts wouldn't go in vain. It wouldn't be fair to him if she died. On top of her promises to kill Horacio and avenge her friends. But he doesn't need to know that.

"Yeah I'll be ready to go in a few minutes I just need to brush my hair and teeth real quick." She said not ignoring his previous statement.

Tabby went to her room to get her things and went into the bathroom to do her thing. She came out with a neater-looking ponytail. She grabbed the box and headed back to her room to put her things away. She then came back out wearing her thick red plaid jacket that she always wore with her gray hood up and put her new mask on.

"I'm ready to go"

Toby nodded. "Alright. Let's go." He said. He was in his usual attire. It was worn, but clean.

"Do you want to go to the library first, or would you like me to show you around first?"

"I would like to go to the library first please if that's okay. Afterward, it will give us time for you to show me around and meet a few people", said Tabby.

"Okay, that works. There are some things that you'll want to know about the library through." Toby explained.

Tabby paused for a minute "Which are?" She trailed off.

"Well, the librarians are all disgraced proxies and monsters as well as retired proxies," Toby said.

"And usually you're not supposed to talk to the librarians unless it's for something strictly about the library. However, the librarians are very smart and have very large comprehensive knowledge over things."

Tabby nodded slowly in understanding "okay I got it. I don't usually talk to anyone in general"

"If you get on their good side, they'll defend you though," Toby said. "A lot of stuff can go down at the library."

She snorted "doesn't surprise me"

She had a mini flashback to the library at Rosewood. She was a bookworm and the library was the least sinister place in the school. Even though it too carried its own dark secrets of Rosewood. Libraries were considered sacred and neutral ground at Rosewood.

Toby knew of a proxy who had gotten beaten to death in the library. The library was usually quiet but sometimes could get very messy. He held the door for her. It was good practice to say goodbye to the desk lady before they left.

"Is that all?" She asked.

"Yeah, pretty much. Would you like me to stay there with you?", he asked.

"Yes, please. Two is better than one right?"

She mentally cursed herself for saying yes. She had to prove to him at some point that she could take care of herself and hold her own. But she didn't want to be left in this strange new world that was day 2 for her. Especially around strangers who wouldn't hesitate to kill her if given the chance. If she had someone with her the chances of that happening would be slim to none. And she was taught from a young age that you never go anywhere alone. Especially in Maplehood unless you had to.

"Survival reasons", she told him to justify herself, "I'm fresh meat as it is and curiosity about the new girl is inevitable. I'm crippled and small and I would be alone which means it would be easy for someone to kill me without a second thought. I'm young, not stupid so it's better to go with someone and only go alone if I absolutely have to".

She babbled on her reasoning to him and she was getting defensive about it because she didn't want him to think that she was a little bitch that can't take care of herself.

Toby understood. She didn't need to justify herself to him, he understood.

"Hey, it really is okay. I'll just sit nearby and maybe chat to a few people." Toby was decently popular.

"Okay… can we go now?" She asked.

"Yeah," Toby said. He moved to let her out of the apartment.

11 notes · View notes

jyvurentropyblog · 3 years

Text

How To Choose a POV?

One of my writer friends asked me to write something about POV. She didn’t have a specific question, but basically asked if I might cover the different types of POVs and which ones work better in certain circumstances.

Well, like I told her, this is going to be a VERY biased post. I am incredibly partial to third limited. I choose third limited almost every story I write.

Let me start by explaining the different POVs.

First Person: Uses the pronoun I

“I went to the store.”

Second Person: Uses the pronoun You

“First you need to go to the store, get some eggs and vanilla extract.”

Second person is rare in fiction. It is most often used in non-fiction books that include instructions, or recipes, or other how-to guides.

Every once in awhile, a writer will be really artsy-fartsy and use second person in fiction.

Second person in fiction would look like this:

“You go to the store. You see a long line of people. You sigh and shuffle down the aisle.”

One notable example of second person in non-artsy-fartsy fiction would be the choose your own adventure books.

Third Person: Uses third-person pronouns such as “She/He/They/Ze/etc

“Ze went to the store.”

But within third-person you have two options:

Third Limited or Third Omniscient

With third limited, readers are privy to the thoughts and feelings of only one character per chapter or scene. A story can still have multiple POVs, but within a scene or chapter, the POV remains only with one character.

In my novel ‘Desire and Destruction’, I alternate POVs every other chapter. So it goes one chapter in Cole’s POV and one chapter in Ingrid’s POV. When we’re in a Cole chapter, we can see what Ingrid does, but not what she thinks or feels. We can not see into her head. And the reverse is true when we’re in an Ingrid chapter.

With third omniscient, there is a god-like narrator who is looking into the minds of ALL the characters. This narrator is often somewhat detached and may look down on certain characters and praise other characters. Basically, it isn’t that deep-third that we get with third-limited. The narrator often has their own personality and way of viewing the characters. Within any scene, the narrator can relate the thoughts, feelings, or backstory of any character.

I do not recommend third omniscient. As I covered in my last post, very few people have the skill to know when to use it AND how to pull it off effectively. Most stories are not enhanced by third omniscient. I’m not saying you should never use it, but don’t jump in and give it a whirl just because a lot of the old classics use this style.

Remember the time period that was hard AF for third-limited also experimented with narrative style to the point that Frankenstein is told via letters by someone who has nothing to do with the story and just happened to meet Dr. Frankenstein out in the wilderness. It’s a summary of a summary. Wuthering Heights is told exclusively in conversations between the housekeeper and a tenant, neither of whom are main characters. Look.....the classics of the Romantic and Victorian era were....on some real other shit. Writing like the classics isn’t always a solid plan.

So that’s my extreme cautioning against third omniscient. I just don’t think it adds anything to most stories and is far too likely to jar or confuse readers and come across as head-hopping.

But third-limited on the other hand....

I ADORE third-limited. Let me explain why I like it.

You get all the perks of first person AND all the perks of third-person. You can be somewhat detached, but you still get a front row seat to the thoughts and feelings of one character at a time. When you really pull off a nice deep-third, you’re fully immersed in the character’s inner world, but there’s still a bit of a buffer. You still aren’t writing AS the character.

Here is a section of my book ‘Combustion’ in third-limited where I was going for deep-third.

~The flame birthed itself at the end of the match. It danced, red and orange, against the backdrop of the still night. Rachel opened her mouth as wide as she could, until the corners of her lips were stretched as far as they would go. She made sure that her mouth was a wide, round circle. Just like the man on fire. Probably just like Mary Reeser had done. She was going to spontaneously combust. She would do it now.

And she could stop waiting for it to happen. She was never going to have to be afraid of it happening again. It was all about to be over. Rachel watched the flame slide down lower, burning away at the wood of the match. It was going to reach her hand soon, so she had to do this fast. Spontaneous Human Combustion started inside the body.

Rachel understood why the man on fire had his mouth wide open.

There wasn't any time left.

Rachel took the match and placed it into her open mouth.~

It’s in third-person, but it’s still written in a way where we can feel her fear, her confusion, her dissociation. We can see her reasoning. Of course, her reasoning is flawed. She should not be trying to make herself spontaneously combust JUST so that she can stop being afraid of it happening.

So how do you know if you should choose third-limited or first? (because third omniscient and second person should rarely be used). Well, I’m biased, and I believe third-limited works well for most stories.

That being said, I have chosen first person for two of my stories. One is my now shelved manuscript ‘Femcel’ which I will eventually be rewriting and it will be retitled ‘Pick Me.’ The other is my collab story with Emily Hurricane ‘When The Darkness Takes Us.’

For ‘When The Darkness Takes Us’ I had a very specific reason for choosing first person. This character is a self-insert. It’s a fictionalized account of something very difficult I went through semi-recently.

So I suppose I’d say, when it’s a really emotional story with strong voice, first person may be a better choice. When it’s a very personal story, first person may be a better choice. When you’re writing a character who rants and raves and switches gears mid-thought-stream so quickly that a third-person narrator wouldn’t do it justice-it would only slow the stream-of-consiousness down.

I also chose first person for my book ‘Femcel’ which is not currently online, because I need to make some changes to it.

Here is an excerpt from ‘Femcel.’

~If every single day was a day off from work with Sailor Moon dvds and an entire pickle pizza all to myself, well, then I think life would be a-okay. Today has been great. I cleaned my room and then I pulled out my trusty Sailor Moon box set. Auntie and Mom-mom are both at work, so nobody to bug me about what I'm eating. I ordered a large pizza and I got the owner on the phone when the new guy didn't understand that they can put pickles on a pizza. It isn't on the menu, but they do it for me all the time.

I told him, "You charge me for a pepperoni pizza and tell the guy cooking it to put on pickles. Ask Jim. He always does it." But the guy still thought I was full of it.

Eventually they sorted it out though. And yeah, I know it's bad to eat an entire large pizza myself. Don't go thinking I'm a total pig. I only eat like this when I watch anime.

Usually I don't eat enough. Mom-mom says I'm too thin and she isn't wrong. If I lay on my stomach too long at night, my ribs start to hurt. I'm the only woman in my family with a stick body. Everybody else has nice curves. I barely have boobs and my butt is flat. I tried doing squats for awhile, but when nothing much happened, I figured it was probably all nonsense. You know? A placebo.

It's only four in the afternoon, but already it's getting dark. I hate winter. Especially once Christmas is over. I feel so upset and anxious every day in that long dead span of winter, January through March, when there's nothing to look forward to and it feels like the world just dead ass stopped. Sludge in every parking lot. Everything is cold and wet. Kek. And it's the middle of January. Top kek. (I mean that sarcastically. Obviously).~

I chose first for Ana’s story, because I imagined her as this very voicey character with this sweet and sarcastic personality. She’s also incredibly immature (which does make sense since she’s in her very early 20s) and I felt that youth and naiveté would across more strongly in first person.

So....what’s the hard and fast rule for deciding between third-limited and first?

I....uh....

I wish I could tell you lol

Like my last post about balancing dialogue with other storytelling elements, I have to say, I just play it by ear.

I will say, I think every writer should figure out early on which POV they prefer to write in. Try them all out. Try writing the same scenes in first and third and see which one you like better.

I did this while I was getting my B.A in Creative Writing and after several rounds of playing with third-limited and first, I discovered I’m incredibly partial to third-limited.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t any room for first. Like I said, I realized first was the better choice for two of my WIPs. But knowing that third-limited is my default style, I always have a starting point. I start most stories in third-limited and it’s only when third-limited starts to feel....well...limiting that I give first a whirl.

In the end, it’s about what YOU as the writer are most comfortable with. Some people say it depends on the story you want to tell, and I agree to an extent, but at the same time, if you hate writing in first person and you try to force it, the story may suffer for it. For years, I wrote exclusively in third-limited before I was comfortable enough to test out first person.

Third-limited and first both accomplish different things. First person has more voice and immediacy, while third-person allows a writer to be more poetic and detached.

Which POV do you like best? When you experiment with both POVs, which allows your story to come to life more?

There’s no real rule of thumb.

Like everything with writing, it’s all a matter of intuition; following your gut and looking at every story as a unique experience.

I know that was wishy-washy, but it’s the best I can do while still being honest!

There just aren’t any true absolutes with writing.

Good luck fellow writers <3

#writingadvice #writing #pov #second person pov #first person pov #thirdperson #thirdlimited #omniscient reader's viewpoint #self-insert #femcels

14 notes · View notes

your-1up-girl · 4 years

Text

Working on Weapons (Cindy Aurum x Fem!Reader)

Author’s Note: I love Cindy. This is my first time writing smut. I hate it. Please enjoy :)

Word Count: 4756

Link to AO3

Ever since you and the guys first showed up at the garage and you saw her walk towards the car with a smile that seemed to taunt you and a sway in her hips that spoke a language of their own, you knew that you stood no chance against this woman’s spell.

Every so often when you had to make a visit for supplies or do a task for her, you would do your best to turn on the charm. You weren’t bad at flirting, hell one time when you were at a bar, you and Gladio made a bet to see who could get the most numbers by the end of the night. Long story short, you had him beat and had an amazing night with one of those numbers.

The problem with flirting with Cindy was that she just seemed so used to it that it felt like nothing you did even phased her. Much to your dismay (and Gladio’s utmost entertainment) all of your subtle and not so subtle advances had no effect on her. The winks, cute nicknames that you reserved only for her, lingering touches, soft eyes and smiles that seemed to convey both innocence and hidden suggestive messages. Absolutely nothing. It was driving you crazy. It was at the point that even poor Prompto was rooting for you (“I have to live vicariously through you so you better make this happen,” It was a joke, one followed by a playful shove and a wink).

Just when you were at that point of giving up, it finally happened one afternoon. You all were returning from picking up headlights from that Gods forsaken sewer system. The whole party was exhausted and you wanted nothing more than to take a shower in the caravan.

“Hey Cin!” You called out catching her attention from another hunter who, from the look of dejection, struck out with her. “We got it.”

Cindy took the headlights from you but not before giving you elevator eyes, your appearance was intoxicating to her. Perfectly disheveled hair, a tank top that clung deliciously against your chest and hips, small bruises perfectly stamping your skin (some, she made note of, appeared to be about the size of her mouth), and a light sheen of sweat on your skin. If she hadn’t known why you were gone, she may have just gotten other ideas in her head about your look. Not that you noticed of course, Gladio convinced the others to take a hunt that was also in that sewer system. It took far too long to find and kill; with the exhaustion setting in you hadn’t noticed how the tables were turned and the woman of your dreams was now unapologetically checking you out.

“Didn’t realize these little ol’ things would be such trouble.” You smiled at her, combing your hair back with your fingers causing Cindy to flush ever so slightly.

“Don’t worry about it, we’re back and no one got too hurt other than Noct’s pride. But I’m letting you know now, if you want us to go back there for anything else, I’m gonna have to tell you to go fuck yourself.” Cindy laughed. It was a joke and she knew it, the smirk on your beautiful lips and the playful glint in your eye told her that.

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind darlin’,” Turing, she saw that Ignis had put the car in her garage to prepare for the lights modification. “Looks like I got to get back to the ol’ girl. She’s gon be shinin’ so bright that the stars’ll wanna take notes.”

“If they wanna learn so badly they should just look into your eyes.” Gods that was corny even her face scrunched up on that one, but she still had that sweet, weak-in-the-knees smile so you assumed she somewhat enjoyed it? Thought it was cute at least?

“Anyways, to save myself from further embarrassment, I'm gonna go. Got a nice cold shower and a hot meal with my name on it.” You turned on your heel thinking the conversation would just end at that but what Cindy said next would forever stay in your mind.

“I thought I was the only hot meal you wanted to eat baby girl?”

...

Did you just hear that correctly? You tripped on your own two feet and barely had the nerve to turn around to see the beautiful mechanic giving you a small smile with slightly parted lips and half lidded eyes. She looked you up and down once more and licked her lips with a subtly that almost went missed by you. You knew that she was practically undressing you with her eyes because you had done the same on many occasions. Wondering if she was thinking about the same lewd thoughts made you unconsciously rub your thighs together. Opening and closing your mouth trying to think of something to say, Cindy just shook her head smiling at the ground before leaving you with, “Have a nice cold shower hun.”

Later in the evening, after you and the boys had cleaned up, and Ignis was making something in the caravan because no matter how late it was Ignis always wanted to make sure everyone was fed. You sat outside reading with Gladio, Noctis and Prompto as they played rounds of King’s Knight. But couldn’t care less about whatever they were doing or about what you were doing for that matter. You read the same page about 20 times now, but you just couldn’t get that interaction out of your head. Had all your flirting finally worked? Or was she just playing you?

“How y’all doing?” Speak of the gorgeous devil. All heads turned as Cindy approached the caravan. She wore black skin tight leggings, a loose gray crop top that hung off her left shoulder, and of course her signature cowgirl boots. It was nice to see her in casual clothes. The domestic look was one that suited her nicely you thought. You loved it when she wore her work attire but seeing her so relaxed, it made you imagine a possible future with her.

“You look comfortable Cindy. Done for the day? Thought you never close up shop.” Gladio asked.

“Yeah just about wanted to finish early today; the Regalia looks real nice now that she’s got new lights on ‘er. And you don’t gotta worry about those damn daemons either.”

Prompto gave out a happy shout at both the no more daemons news and for winning the match.

“What would we do without you Cindy.” Noctis relayed the gratitude with a slight pout.

“Aw don’t give me too much credit now. I just connect some wires and do some modifications. Speaking of, (Y/N).” Your head snapped so quickly to her she giggled making you blush, “My reason for closin’ early was so I would use you as my guinea pig.” She paused on purpose, wanting to get your reaction at her choice of words. She approached you to where you were, sitting on the table with a tilt of her head and a sly smile she continued. “Well, your weapons that is. See, with Paw-Paw modin’ things for the Prince, figured why not throw my hat in the ring too. If everything goes well, I could fix up equipment for other hunters as well.” Cindy crossed one leg over the other bouncing the top leg lightly as she spoke giving you an eye full of her calves. And dammit, you could not help yourself as your eyes wandered up to her thighs to the curve of her ass. Up her hips and exposed waist and to where the shirt peaked from her breasts, the soft skin of her neck just waiting to be bitten and finally to her face where a knowing smirk and lecherous eyes watched you take in her appearance.

She had you now more than ever. To think, you had been flirting with her on every occasion you could. All of a sudden she struts over here and says the right words, acts a certain way and you become putty in her hands. “So (Y/N) what’d ya say?” Prompto had to kick you lightly under the table to get you out of your shocked state.

Stuttering you gave an answer, “I yeah-yes, of course you can use me—My weapons! You can use- fix them if you want to.” Gods just kill me now! Face beat read you could hear Gladio and Noctis containing their snickers at you making an utter fool of yourself in front of Cindy. She didn’t seem to mind however, just turned that smirk into a smile and hopped off the table and began to walk towards the garage. She was about half way there and you were still glued to your seat like an idiot when someone spoke from the door of the caravan.

“I don’t think you should keep her waiting (Y/N).” Ignis took a sip of Ebony.

“Wha-? Weren’t you cooking-? How long have you been-”

“Long enough to know that you won’t be joining us for dinner. Now, you have much better things to attend to than staying here with me and The Three Stooges.” He was right, you got up from your seat already noting how you felt a bit of slickness at your core as you began to walk over to the garage. “Oh and (Y/N),” Turning to Iggy you saw the smirk as he took another sip of coffee, “Have fun.”

You didn’t say anything and just made your way to the garage. Taking the back entrance seeing that the large main door was closed early for the afternoon. Once inside you saw Cindy working on something at the workbench biting her bottom lip in concentration. She looked up at you when she heard the door shut, “Hey doll come ‘er.” You approached her as she told you to place your weapons off to the far right of the bench. Doing as you're told, you summoned your short sword and placed it on the bench. You turned around but as you did Cindy came up to you and kissed you. She had her arms on either side of you, effectively trapping. The kiss was one with a fever that you made your whole body tense and heat go straight to your core. That feeling bubbled so pleasantly within you.

However, you were in such a state of shock because Cindy Aurum was basically making out with you that you had yet to return the kiss. Cindy stopped to look at you with a hint of fear in her eyes.

“Have I overstepped my boundaries? I’m so sorry hun’ I just, you were always flirtin’ with me, so I took that as an opportunity to- You can leave if I made ya uncomfort-”

“No.” It was soft, you didn’t want to scare her any more that she clearly was. “It’s just that-” You dragged your hands across the exposed sink of her waist and brought her closer to you. Taking your time to feel just how soft it was. Your left hand played with the shirt hem and your right drew small infinity signs on the small of her back. “In all the ways I’ve had this dream play out, that’s all it ever was. A dream.”

It looked like that relaxed Cindy because next thing you knew she placed her lips on yours once more and pulled you close as well. Thank the Gods that your brain returned to a functional state as you kissed her back. Making sure to match the force and passion behind it.

“Let me tell you baby girl, I am very,” Cindy grabbed your hand, “Much.” Open palm she allowed it to ghost over her breast. “Real.” A quick glance down and a nod was all you need to knead the soft flesh in your hand. The sigh that fell from her lips sent shivers throughout your entire body.

“You're not wearing a bra?”

“Oh? I guess I ain’t.” She bit her bottom lip and laughed. “Honestly (Y/N), I’m surprised you just noticed. Just so you know, I ain’t wearing a thong either darlin’.” A whine escaped you and you leaned forward to kiss her again moving in tandem with her as you gave the other breast some attention as well. Her arms found their way around your waist and down to your ass, giving it a squeeze. Every moment that passed you expected one of the boys to shake you awake but the way Cindy felt, her breasts and hands, her dangerously addicting mouth, it all felt too real to be anything but reality. And thank the Astrals for that.

With caution, you allowed your fingers to graze over the nipple, already, it began to harden under the shirt at your touch. The kiss broke only for a moment as Cindy whispered in your ear, “Pinch it darlin’.”

And that is exactly what you did. Tweaking and twisting the small bud between your index finger and thumb. The action rewarded you the most intoxicating sound as Cindy moaned softly in your ear. In a bold move on her part, she brought one leg in between yours. The moan was one so sinful you didn’t even realize that you were capable of making such a noise.

That noise gave fuel to Cindy as she applied more pressure to your core with her leg. More sounds escaped both your mouths and you grinned into her thigh, mentally wishing you wore something much thinner than skinny jeans.

“Want to take this somewhere more private?” The infatuation in both hers and your eyes were apparent and Cindy laughed.

“We have a whole garage to ourselves, that not enough privacy for you?”

“Well, as hot as it would be to eat you out on the hood of the Regalia, I feel that if Noctis found out then he would literally behead us.”

Cindy smiled at you, with a peck on the lips and said, “I don’t think he’ll mind. What he don’t know won’t kill him, right? But, a bed is always good.” With your hand in yours, she led you to a side upstairs part of the garage. Opening up the door at the top of the side staircase revealed a quaint, rustic studio apartment of sorts. One central open area that had a small kitchen and dining area. There were some built in bookshelves that contained various books and pictures. A small love-seat with two pink pillows located near a door which you assumed was the bathroom. And on a more raised part of the room was a small dresser and her full sized mattress, adorned with pillows and a gray, chunky knit throw blanket.

On said mattress was the woman of your dreams. Seated on her haunches, leaning forward ever so slightly to accentuate her breasts and hair tousled from your hands moments before, she beckoned you to the bed. Wasting no time, you all but ran to her, crashing your lips against her and laid her gently against the soft duvet covers. Her hands were on your hips again, fingers finding their way to the button of your jeans. You smiled into the kiss and helped her out undoing it yourself and shimmying out of the article.

“What were you thinking about over there when you came in hun'?” The small circles being rubbed on your clit made it differently to answer but you did.

"Ahhh, just thinking that you got a real nice place. I guess it kind of surprised me." Deciding to return the favor and give an eye for an eye, you lifted her shirt off and tossed it. Taking in her beautiful upper body; chest of full display and nipples harden from when you played with them. Further grinding into her fingers you took one nipple into your mouth and began to suck and flick your tongue across the skin. Cindy arched her back at the sudden stimulation and momentarily stopped the rubbing.

"Oh God's (Y/N) that feels…" She couldn't finish as you moved to the next breast but still played with the other with your expert hands. "Ah! Based on how much attention you give my boobs, I take it that you're a tit girl then?"

You released from her with a pop, “When it comes to you, I just adore everything.” and began to attack her neck and collar bone. Kissing and nipping at the sun-kissed skin. She held you close running fingers desperately through your hair and leaving scratches along you back, your shirt discarded a long time ago.

"Keep doing that and I'll have to wear an actual shirt tomorrow hun'." The smirk on her lips was evident that she would do nothing of the sort. The thought of her working tomorrow with the bruises, bites and hickeys exposed for all the world to see made the fire in your core burn even hotter.

"Something tells me you'll be fine. And if you can still form sentences then I'm clearly not doing a good enough job." You started at the valley of her breasts and left a trail of kisses and worked your way down to where her leggings laid just above her pelvic bone.

"My my my, aren't you all worked up." The comment acknowledged the prominent wet spot on her leggings. You looked Cindy dead in the eyes, hers were a bit furrowed.

"Oh please darlin', don't act all high and mighty like you aren't as wet as- AH!" You rubbed your fingers on that mark and Cindy moaned so beautifully that it grew a smirk on your face.

You positioned yourself between her legs and licked your tongue across her sex. Cindy threw her head back against the pillows and begged you to do that again. Her thighs found homes on your shoulders and your hands on her abdomen to pin her down.

You licked her through her leggings knowing that the fabric both gave a good feeling but also was a frustrating barrier. Sucking on her clit one more time, it was time that you took off her leggings. She got the queue and lifted her hips to help you and threw them off the bed.

Just to even the playing field, you took off your panties and unhooked your bra. Your boobs bounced out of the lacey prison and Cindy didn't even try to hide how she stared.

Legs spread wide, her clit wet from her own arousal and your mouth you added one finger and watched as she arched up from the bed. The perfect arch of her back made her look like a sculpture at the Citadel. Along with a gorgeous "O" forming on her mouth.

Your finger moved back and forth. Cindy's grip on the messed up duvet below her tightened. You took this as an opportunity to add not only a second finger but also your mouth to the party. Your other unoccupied hand found and held hers as you continued.

Some instructions were given, A little to the... Yeah there. Curl your fingers (Y/N). No, that’s more like scratchin’. Oh! That’s perfect. Now, if ya can… go deeper. Ah. Ahh! AH! Yes darlin' right there!

You devoured not only her but every moan, gasp, shudder, and sigh that left her mouth. You sent your fingers deeper, down to your knuckles and Cindy screamed out. “AH! YES! YES! YES! Oh sweet ASTRALS baby girl! Keep going! AH!!” Hands took desperate hold of your hair pushing your face further into her wanton sex. You could feel her walls tighten around your fingers; it encouraged you to go faster but then Cindy called out.

“WAit… wait (Y/N).” There was a hard tug on your hair that lifted you from her slick center. You took a deep breath mouth wet from her arousal and took your fingers out of her.

“Did I do something wrong?” It took a moment for Cindy to respond. It was obvious that she missed your feeling already, what with her flushed face, blown out pupils and the sheen of sweat on her body.

“Naw baby girl… you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Then?”

“It ain’t fair for me to be the one getting all the attention.” The mechanic found strength to give you some attention, her hand rubbing against your sex, she took your moan to memory and held nothing back as she gave you much needed friction to your core. Cindy was more rough with you. Even when she took one nipple in her mouth, she sucked and flicked the bud with force. Teeth were used to lightly tug and twist, her ultimate goal was to bring the soft bud to peak.

Breaths began to shudder at the stimulation you were receiving. Cindy turned you around so you could lay against some pillows at the head of the bed. Her fingers entered you with ease, you slick with arousal as you held her close. Minimal assistance was given on your part, what with your brain practically shutdown from her actions but Cindy knew how to read you. Noticed little movements, subtle gasps or even when your face scrunched slightly telling her to try a different spot. The ragged breaths that came from both your bodies and the squelching noises that were produced from her working your mercilessly were the only things heard in the studio room. She worked her way up from your breasts and to your neck, leaving the same, if not more marks against your skin that would be a bitch to cover in the morning.

She gave you a heated kiss and you could feel the smile on her lips as she danced with you. Your bottom lip earned a small bite when you snaked your arms up her back and clawed your way down. When she released your lips, the smile was more present than ever and Cindy licked her own.

“You never told me that I tasted so good darlin’.” A small peck on the lips. “You wanna find out how you taste?” Her fingers left your core and you whined at the emptiness but it was cut short when she put her two fingers in your mouth. You sucked them letting your tongue rub against the pads of her digits. When pulled out she laughed at the face you made.

“Kinda bitter, but I’m not surprised. Noct has been taking more hunts at night and coffee is the only thing keeping me awake.”

She hummed and you barely caught the whisper of, “Mind if I try?” Before she put her two fingers back in and massaged you. Fingers curled in just the right way, the slow pumps along with her thumb rubbing your clit. Not breaking her gaze at you as your head fell back against the wall with a soft thud at the languid pace she kept. The blonde woman placed a small pillow behind your head to keep you from hurting yourself.

“Gods! Cindy! Please!” Fingers were removed and placed into her mouth, self-satisfied smile at the flush ever present on your face. Legs on either side of you in a straddle, she put her fingers back in you, catching your neck with her mouth as you bucked at the insertion. “I think you taste divine baby girl.” Whispered against sensitive skin, it formed goosebumps all along your body.

Finally, you put your fingers back into her. Your breaths mixed beautifully with her moans against your skin. Cindy took your nipple in her mouth again. Deft fingers worked you so well that when you finally climaxed, you stopped working Cindy for just a moment. The way you called out her name as your orgasm washed over you was music to her ears. “AH! CI-CINDY! Don’t stop! AH-AHH! OH GODS!” How she was able to get you so loud, you would never know. Normally, you were a quiet love maker but with Cindy it seemed she could turn you into a pornstar. Giving you one last pump she took in her work. Your chest was heaving, mouth slightly parted, pupils dilated and hair an absolute mess; you looked like sin in your post orgasm state.

Cindy didn’t blame you for being so worn out but she was impressed when you still pumped your fingers into her. She took mercy on you and began to ride your fingers but not before removing hers from you and placing them back in her mouth lapping up the release you left on her. Her bundle of nerves got stimulation from your thumb. You just enjoyed the sights and sounds of her breasts bouncing, whimpers from sucking her own fingers clean of you, and the soft wet slaps of her grinding, as she took her own release on your fingers.

One final desperate shout escaped her as she fell forward against your equally exhausted body. Both parties laid on the bed and tried to catch their breaths. Cindy sat up against and kissed you, this time it was soft, meaningful and somewhat fleeting.

“I think we ruined your duvet…”

“Aw don’t worry ‘bout it darlin.’ Nothin’ a quick wash won’t fix. How ‘bout you get this off the bed and I’ll get us a warm towel to clean us off.” You nodded and she hopped off you and to the kitchen to wet a towel with warm water as you made quick work of the duvet and throw pillows. Cindy came back, pulled the sheets back and motioned for you to get into bed with her. Gently you cleaned each other up and placed the towel on the nightstand near her bed once finished. That was also when you noticed that it was so late into the night and you hadn’t eaten anything. Stomach catching up with your mind it made a loud rumbling noise that you both laughed at.

“I totally forgot that I skipped dinner.”

“It was worth it though right?”

You caressed her chin and guided her to a small kiss. “Oh absolutely. But Ignis’ll flip if he finds out I didn’t eat.”

“Well (Y/N) you kinda did eat.” Cindy sat on her haunches with her legs just barely spread. “I’d say you had yourself a full course meal.” A playful tackle to the bed wiped that smirk off her face as laughter filled the room. You blew against her stomach and she tried, in vain, to push you off. “Okay okay! How ‘bout this: You get yourself to the bathroom if you need to I’ll leave you a shirt of mine and get started on makin’ us something proper to eat? May not be like the Prince’s Advisor, but I consider myself a good cook at times.”

“Sounds like a plan.” To the bathroom you went and did what you had to do there, and true to her word, Cindy left you one of her shirts. The soft fabric was gentle on your skin, it was much larger than you expected it to be, just going past the curve of your butt, and it had the smell of Jasmine, vanilla, and motor oil. When you met Cindy at the stove she already began to warm up what appeared to be a breakfast like dish. She asked you to watch the food as she went to the bathroom herself.

Maybe five minutes passed. You hummed a tune as you cooked the food. Cindy wrapped her arms around your waist, she too wearing an over-sized shirt.

“You look nice like this.” It was whispered against soft fabric and love-bitten skin.

“Like how? In one of your shirts?”

“That, and here with me.” One kiss was barely pressed on your shoulder. “I could get used to late night or, I should say early mornin’, meals with you. Waking up with you. Being able to call you my girl.” The food sizzled on the stove as Cindy all but confessed to you. “That is… if you’ll want to. Don’t wanna force you or anything but, having you here with me has made me more happy than you could now.”

You turned and kissed her. The answer to the request, your hands grazing up and down her back while hers gripped tightly to the shirt you wore. Both of you were smiling before, during and after the kiss. Your foreheads rested against one another as you happily whispered, “Cindy, nothing would make me happier.”

#cindy aurum x reader #female reader #cindy aurum x female reader #cindy aurum x fem!reader #noctis lucis caelum #gladio amiticia #prompto argentum #ignis scientia #smut fic #please enjoy #1up-writes #spencer writes

43 notes · View notes

eykidswantsomefanfiction · 4 years

Text

Flower Crown

(Prince!Shoto Todoroki x Male!Bodyguard!Reader)

“My prince!” Y/n shouted at the wooden barrier and huffed. Why do they both have to do this every single day and how does he himself still put up with this? He huffed again and knocked even harder with his knuckles, his other hand skillfully holding a tray of breakfast for two. Right, apparently being the personal bodyguard for the prince also meant being his personal servant. But, Y/n would admit, he doesn’t mind that much.

A muffled groan could be heard from the other side of the door. “...five more minutes.”

Y/n groaned alongside Todoroki. “You have to wake up sooner or later.” He knocked some more on the door. “I won’t stop either, so could you please open the door at least?” And he added another please just in case. “....please?”

Shuffling was heard from the other side and then, the door opened, revealing the tired and adorably sleepy person behind it.

Todoroki’s eyes were half closed, his hair was a mess with red and white strands intertwining together, and his pajamas were wrinkled. But he couldn’t look any cuter.

“Mmm.” Was all Todoroki could say.

Y/n grinned brightly. “Good morning to you too!” Todoroki stared at him sleepily for a second before reaching his hand out and grabbed at his sleeve, pulling him inside his bedroom. Y/n laughed. “Hold on, I’m going to drop the breakfast.” Todoroki let out a hum and wrapped his arms around Y/n’s torso just as the door shut closed behind them both.

They did this every morning too. Apparently, a sleepy Todoroki means a cuddly Todoroki too. But Y/n doesn’t mind and nuzzles his cheek against Todoroki’s messy hair.

“Come on Shoto, freshen up and we’ll eat together.” Todoroki nodded slowly against his chest and pulled away, shuffling to the bathroom. Y/n chuckled and set the tray down at Todoroki’s table.

“Fu yu bwanna go to te garrden?” Y/n asked Todoroki through a mouthful of food.

“Manners Y/n.” He reminded him. “And yes, you know I always want to....with you at least.” Y/n gave Todoroki that lopsided smile that he was always weak to.

“Oh! I also learned how to make a flower crown!” Y/n happily said.

“Really? How?”

“Mina taught me!” Y/n said proudly and paused in his eating. “Though it’s not as good looking as hers.”

“I’m sure yours look just as great.” Y/n beamed brightly at that, almost as bright as the sunrise behind him through the window. Todoroki thinks to himself he might go blind someday.

“Aaand there! It should be done.” Y/n finally finished what he was doing and turned back around to Todoroki. “Tada!” And showed him the flower crown. “What do you think?”

Lopsided, messy, uneven. “It’s....pretty.”

Y/n held the crown as gently he can and lifted it to Todoroki’s head, letting the crown drop and rest there, adjusting it so it looks somewhat nice and secure. “There, that looks better than the crown your dad makes you wear sometimes.”

“Maybe I should wear it from now on.” Todoroki mused. Y/n eyes lit up.

“Really? That would be awesome!” Y/n faltered. “I mean, if you’re okay with it...”

“I am....it makes me happy.” He hopes he doesn’t sound too weird. Though, judging by the grin Y/n sent his way, he’s guessing it didn’t come out as weird as he thought it did.

They both continued walking through the garden. Y/n would (not so smoothly) brushed his knuckles against Todoroki’s occasionally, but stopped once the prince gave him a sharp look. They couldn’t been seen together. Or, at least, romantically. Luckily though, he and him are basically by each other’s side all day, so it’s not hard to slip in a few gentle touches and kisses.

Though there is one place they both could do whatever they want.

A beautiful tree stood tall at the corner of the garden, with long hanging branches that sway back and forth from the winds and leaves that can hide just about anything from prying eyes. It’s a place where he and Todoroki can relax and do whatever they want, including making out. Though today doesn’t feel like that kind of day, so they both settled on sitting on the ground and leaning against the tree, admiring the sounds of the birds chirping and branches swaying.

“Oh, it’s almost lunchtime isn’t it?” Y/n suddenly spoke up, looking at Todoroki for confirmation. Todoroki nodded his head against Y/n’s shoulder quietly, but his arms that were wrapped around his tightened.

“I’m not hungry, let’s eat later.” He said. Right after that, his stomach growled loudly. Y/n rolled his eyes.

“Shoto, please don’t starve yourself.” Y/n patted his head before peeling Todoroki off of him and standing up. “And since I know you won’t eat if I don’t make you, I’ll get lunch myself, for the both of us.” Todoroki pouted, and Y/n felt him smile at the sight. It’s too cute. “Come on Sho, you’re a big boy so I’m sure you can handle being by yourself.” Upon hearing that, Todoroki pouted even more, looking at him with his big heterochromic eyes. Y/n couldn’t help himself when he leaned down and moved Todoroki’s bangs aside to kiss his forehead. Todoroki felt himself smile a bit when Y/n parted his bangs unevenly, somehow.

“Alright, I know what you’re trying to do.” Y/n chuckled and stood up, starting to walk to the kitchens. “But not today!”

Todoroki felt himself grumble. Some days it work, some days it doesn’t. And today’s the latter. He crosses his arms and leaned his back against the tree again. Something shifted above his head while doing so, and he remembers he’s still wearing the flower crown. Curious, he took it off to observe it closely since he didn’t get the chance to before Y/n had put it atop his head.

Y/n’s hands are used to fighting, they’re rough and are usually handling strong forces. So it isn’t a surprise the flower crown he made is on the verge of just, collapsing. Todoroki pokes a yellow pedal and watched as it straight up falls off of the crown and landed onto his lap. Looking back up, he could see the whole crown was a mess. It’s lopsided, the stems of the flowers were bent at awlward places, the pattern of the crown is uneven, the pedals were almost falling off and everything was messy.

“Hey Sato- oooh, you’re making cookies??” Y/n stopped in his tracks and craned his neck to check out the oven baked goods when he passed by Sato in the kitchen, holding his and Todoroki’s tray of lunch.

Sato nodded. “Just chocolate.” Y/n lips pulled to the side in thought and before he could ask, Sato interrupted him. “No.”

Y/n sulked the whole way back to Todoroki.

Y/n wiped at his brow and held out a hand, panting and out of breath. “Alright, I think that’s enough for today.”

Todoroki’s shoulders sagged, his hands that were holding the sword falling by his side, the weapon now held in one of his hands loosely. He was also panting, his posture not as straight as it usually is.

Y/n ran a hand through his sticky hair and walked over to where he kept his water. Opening the canister up, he drank from it greedily, feeling his sweat run down his face. Whew, the prince can pack a punch....er technically a swing of a sword- ah whatever.

Todoroki watched the bodyguard drink the water, only coughing and averting his gaze when e/c eyes slid over to him. Y/n finished his water, holding it out to the prince. “Want some?” Todoroki nodded mutely, taking the canister of water from him with a small ‘thanks’. After a few moments, Todoroki looked back up only to snicker quietly upon noticing the h/c’s messy hair.

They both cleaned up the training grounds quickly (which was just a part of the garden that was devoid of any plants) and went back to inside the castle, as the sun was already setting.

“It’s about dinner time, go and clean up and I’ll bring up your dinner.” Y/n said, wiping his sweaty and sticky hair with a towel. Todoroki observed the h/c, a small smile resting on his lips. He leaned up, pressing a quick kiss to Y/n’s cheek before murmuring, “Love you.”

Y/n’s face exploded into a blush, his hands pausing from his wiping. Blinking with the blush still very visible on his face, he looked around quickly, and then threw the towel around the back of Todoroki’s neck, holding both ends of the towel.

Todoroki tilted his head. “What-”

Y/n pulled on the towel, causing Todoroki to lean forward. He felt his lips crash into the h/c’s, and immediately, he closed his eyes, savoring the kiss. After a few moments, they both pulled away and Y/n smiled brightly at his prince, whispering. “Love you too.”

The sky outside is dark. Todoroki sat on his bed, patiently waiting for Y/n. The bodyguard had insisted to wait for him, saying he had a surprise. Sitting in his quiet room, he could hear his own heartbeat. It was beating unusually fast.

His door opened and a head of h/c hair poked in. Todoroki looked up from where he was staring at his feet.Y/n had a big smile over his face, and was shaking. Probably with excitement, since he had to bite his lip to keep his smile from widening so much as it already had. He was hiding something behind him as well, which made Todoroki curious.

“Hey Shoto, I got something from the kitchen!” Y/n exclaimed happily and walked into the room, closing the door behind him with his foot. He walked on over to Todoroki, who was tilting his head, curious.

Y/n thrust his hands out, smiling. “I got us cookies!” Y/n plopped down next to Todoroki, giving him a cookie while he already started to eat his own. “I got it form Sato. I was about to get that for lunch earlier today but,” Y/n let out a laugh. “Hehe, he didn’t let me.”

Todoroki snickered. “That’s why you were a little sad after getting the lunch.” Y/n only shyly laughed some more, feeling embarrassed.

“Yeah.”

The two quietly ate their cookies, but both enjoyed the silence. Y/n’s eyes drifted towards his lover, but then behind him and noticed the flower crown he made earlier today.

“Hey, is that my flower crown? Why is it here?” Y/n asked. Todoroki jumped, startled at the noise of his voice suddenly speaking in the quiet room. Turning towards where Y/n was pointing, Todoroki could see what he was pointing at.

“Ah, I put it there earlier. If I wore it even more it would’ve fallen apart.” Todoroki said, gently picking up the crown to gaze at it. “I wish I could’ve worn it longer though.” And to be better put together but he won’t say that.

Y/n stared at him for several (long) moments. Just as he was about to ask the h/c what he was doing, Y/n shot up to his feet, a determined look on his face. “I’ll be right back, stay here!” Y/n almost tripped when rushing out of Todoroki’s room, but made it out none the less.

What was Y/n doing?

After about five minutes, Y/n scrambled back in through the door, holding a brand new flower crown in his hands.

“Here! I made you a brand new one!” Y/n exclaimed happily. Stopping just in front of the him, Y/n gently placed the new crown onto his head. “There, a brand new one to wear!”

“You do know that I am about to sleep.” Todoroki spoke up in amusement, watching as Y/n’s face fell into a pout.

“Aww, I just made you a brand new one though.” Y/n whined.

“And you can always make me a brand new one tomorrow.” He said. Y/n’s eyes lit up and he scratched his head sheepishly.

“Oh yeah.” Y/n shuffled closer to him, bending down just slightly to place a kiss upon his forehead. “Okay, first thing in the morning tomorrow I’ll make you a brand new one. Plus it helps me sharpen my flower crown making skills!”

Todoroki smiled and kissed the h/c. “Alright, now go to sleep before I have to kick you out.”

Y/n grinned brightly and sneaked in one more kiss before standing up. “Goodnight, Shoto.” He said right as he stopped by the door, a smile resting on his lips. Todoroki smiled back.

“Goodnight Y/n.” The door closed gently, leaving Todoroki alone in his room. Gently picking up the crown on his head and looking down at it, he could tell this crown wasn’t any better than the one Y/n made earlier. It was still clumsily made, lopsided, messy, and still uneven. But he realized something that he didn’t realize before.

It was so Y/n.

Meaning he absolutely loves it.

I FINALLY GOT A LAPTOP :D

#x male reader #todoroki shoto #x male reader insert #my hero academia #fanfiction

121 notes · View notes

the-ship-maker-2 · 3 years

Text

Chapter 2 Of Every Rose Has Its Thorns is out now! the AU and some of the ideas and characters belong to @creepypasta-shtick and Maplehood Creek, Rosewood and Tabby Anderson belongs to me.

TW: character death, mentions of blood and gore

Chapter 2

Tabby was always an early bird due to her step dad getting her up at 5 in the morning. Also with Rosewood starting at 7:45 am. But she slept through until 7-8 in the morning. Tabby woke up and stretched and winced at her bruises. She slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes confused. This wasn't her house. This wasn't her room...then last nights events came rushing back to her.

"So it wasn't a dream after all... and I'm alive...I survived my first night in this strange new world. One day down and another one to go" she said in thought. she grinned as the new reality set in. "I'm free...of my step dad, Rosewood and Horacio!" She said in thought also she let out a quiet giggle to herself.

She got out of the bed and put her knives on the night stand for now. She took a good look at herself in the mirror. Her red brown hair turned into a messy low ponytail with a couple of wavy strands that were out. That was due to the tossing and turning in her sleep. She still had dark circles under her eyes and they still appeared to be sunken back slightly. But they had that spark of life back in them again. But you can never catch up on lost sleep. She fell asleep in her clothes from yesterday but she'll change today. She really had no use for pjs she only used them on occasion. Her older bruises were almost completely faded away and her new ones started the healing process. Pretty soon all there would be was the scars from her old life and new bruises and cuts from training and missions and stuff. Hopefully less than what she has now.

She quickly got dressed in a long sleeved white shirt and blue jeans to cover up the scars and bruises. She was more clear minded than she was last night. No one else needed to see her bruises and scars and think that she's weak and sickly. She put on her shoes and went out of her bedroom and into the kitchen.

"Perfect!" She thought to herself.

She put the two pieces of bread in the toaster and started making the eggs for herself first.

Jane had left the box on the front door. It was a nice looking box. It could be easily opened. She had stayed up all night doing the mask

'Don't trust gifts that are given to you even if they're given by people you know, there are a lot of backstabbers here'.

She continued to wait patiently.

Toby came outside the bathroom and headed towards the kitchen. He saw Tabby and the box.

"Oh. That looks like the box Jane uses to deliver masks." He stared plainly.

He went to the fridge and began rifling through it. Jane's boxes always looked distinct to show that they carried masks that she had made her own.

"Oh you don't have to rummage through the fridge" she said in between bites "I was going to make you some eggs as a sort of a thank you. But then I realized that I don't know how you like your eggs...or even if you like eggs...I also didn't know if you were like me in needing to watch your food being made to make sure it's not poisoned. So I waited before I did anything."

"But if you do like eggs how do you like them? I could make you some..." she said a little shyly as she looked down and went to open the box.

She opened the box slowly and warily. She took out the mask and inspected it. It was a pretty teal with golden spirals branching out from one another and at some angles the gold glittered in the light. She checked the inside of the mask and smiled to herself when she saw the names of the people she lost engraved inside. She put it on and looked at Toby.

"Oh, it's okay. I'm the type of person who likes taking care of myself." Toby explained.

He had needed to make his own breakfast since he was 8, and a change from routine would just feel somewhat alien. He thanked her for her offer though. He turned when he felt the air somewhat shift and saw that she had put on her mask. "Oh, that looks great. Does it feel okay? Natural?" He asked. He got out some leftover breakfast from the day before and went to heat it up.

"Fair enough" she said.

She understood not wanting to rely on others since she has been neglected since she was 4 so she had to learn how to do the basics of taking care of herself.

"It feels weird at first but I'll get used to it" she put the mask in her box and went to pick up the eggs and put them back in the fridge.

She finished up the last bit of her egg sandwich that she made and went to do up her little bit of dishes. She unwrapped her left hand so the bandages can stay clean and dry. You could see the surgical incisions that was made to get the glass out. The scars were in that in between stage of old and fresh. Her hand was healed but you can tell that the doctors didn't set it right as it looked out of place.

Toby nodded.

"It will feel weird at first but soon you'll freak out seeing yourself without it."

He wanted to make the transition into this new life as painless as possible. He remembered being incredibly freaked out at the beginning. He noticed her hand. Oh man. EJ would lose his shit 'seeing' the work done on that hand. Toby thanked her for doing her dishes.

"Yeah I did say that and it would be nice to know my way around. I mean I'm going to be on my own at some point so yeah"

She dried off her hands and notice that he was looking at her damaged hand.

"Yeah I know it's not a pretty picture. Reason number 1025 of why I hate and don't trust doctors. They can't do their damn jobs right" she gave him a bitter smile.

"So your mission was fairly riskless huh?" She raised an eyebrow as she nodded towards his injuries "I do hope you took care of them properly" she gently re wrapped her hand in the bandages.

Toby nodded.

"Yeah, you will be. Once you finish training, the boss will give you a new place." He said. "I'll show you around, introduce you to a few people." He said.

"I understand the sentiment about doctors though, but for me it's therapists. My therapist knew I was abused and, as a mandated reporter, didn't call CPS for me." He said.

He knew there were competent doctors and therapists, but that didn't change his experiences.

At her comment, he nodded. "They're just small cuts and bruises. Come from running through the woods." He said.

"Same. I hated therapists too. I've been through 7 psychiatrists. My parents believed that I was delusional and paranoid because they didn't believe me about my horror stories at Rosewood. My therapists didn't believe anything I said about Rosewood or about how my step dad abused me but left the rest of my family out of it" she gave him the finger guns and another bitter smile but she looked like she just wanted to die.

He understood.

"They used my mental illness to totally discredit what I saw and what I said happened to me. She tried to have me involuntarily committed."

Toby shrugged a bit while clearing his dishes.

"I've thought about killing her, honestly, but I figured it wasn't really worth it." He said, starting the water

"But they did manage to diagnose me correctly on OCD, Anxiety, PTSD and Paranoia which all had to do with Rosewood and my step dad but not for the reasons that they thought. We're probably missing a few others since they can't diagnose me fully correctly", stated Tabby.

"I understand." Toby said.

He finished cleaning up his dishes. He already was dressed for the day and was still wearing his mouth guard and goggles. He put on his gloves.

"You ready to go in a bit?" He asked.

"Honestly they're just doing it to get paid and not caring how they do it" "I've thought about killing my step dad and I would have if it was just my mom and not...someone else involved...", she trailed off and looked away.

"Well, I killed my dad." Toby said with a shrug.

"And I let my mom find the body." He put his dishes away.

"Lucky you. I would have done the same but I never had the luxury to be selfish. This is the first time I actually put myself first"

"Yeah I'll be ready to go in a few minutes I just need to brush my hair and teeth real quick." She said not ignoring his previous statement.

Tabby went to her room to get her things and went into the bathroom to do her thing. She came out with a neater looking ponytail. She grabbed the box and headed back to her room to put her things away. She then came back out wearing her thick red plaid jacket that she always wore with her gray hood up and put her new mask on.

"I'm ready to go"

Toby nodded. "Alright. Let's go." He said. He was in his usual attire. It was worn, but clean.

"Do you want to go to the library first, or would you like me to show you around first?"

"I would like to go the library first please if that's okay. Afterwards it will give us time for you to show me around and meet a few people", said Tabby.

"Okay, that works. There are some things that you'll want to know about the library through." Toby explained.

Tabby paused for a minute "which are?" She trailed off.

"Well, the librarians are all disgraced proxies and monsters as well as retired proxies." Toby said.

Tabby nodded slowly in understanding "okay I got it. I don't usually talk to anyone in general"

"If you get on their good side, they'll defend you though." Toby said. "A lot of stuff can go down at the library."

She snorted "doesn't surprise me"

She had a mini flashback to the library at Rosewood. She was a bookworm and the library was the least sinister place in the school. Even though it too carried it's own dark secrets of Rosewood. Libraries were considered sacred and neutral ground at Rosewood.

"Is that all?" She asked.

"Yeah, pretty much. Would you like me to stay there with you?", he asked.

"Yes please. Two is better than one right?"

"Survival reasons", she told him to justify herself, "I'm fresh meat as it is and curiosity about the new girl is inevitable. I'm crippled and small and I would be alone which means it would be easy for someone to kill me without second thought. I'm young not stupid so it's better to go with someone and only go alone if I absolutely have too".

She babbled on her reasoning to him and she was getting defensive about it because she didn't want him to think that she was a little bitch that can't take care of herself.

Toby understood. She didn't need to justify herself to him, he understood.

"Hey, it really is okay. I'll just sit nearby and maybe chat to a few people." Toby was decently popular.

"Okay… can we go now?" She asked.

"Yeah." Toby said. He moved to let her out of the apartment.

She walked out the front door and waited for Toby. Toby followed her out and led her out of the building. Tabby followed him out of the building and she kept her head down low and her hands in her pockets. She didn't dare make any eye contact for too long and she was quiet. There were already a lot of people outside. Toby heard something.

"Go after that human!"

Toby looked around and saw a small figure darting through the crowd as more and more monsters gathered to watch.

"KILL IT!" Another monster shrieked.

Toby saw the figure dart into an ally and watched a harassed looking proxy going after the human. Ah. A runt being made to chase the human down. Hm.

Tabby snapped her head up and her eyes were wide alert. Toby was facing her so she turned around and got into a fighting stance to attempt to protect him and herself. She was about ready to grab her knives that she had on her. But once she realized that it wasn't for her she let out a quiet sigh in relief. And dropped her defensive posture. But she was still alert just in case.

Toby watched the young proxy attempt to capture the human, then the crowd blocked his view. He shrugged.

"We might as well just go." He said to Tabby. "The library is a couple blocks away from here." He said. He had no interest in trying to watch.

She nodded not saying anything. It was none of her business and curiosity does indeed kill the cat from Tabby's life experiences so far. She went back to keeping her head down and putting her hands in her pockets. She quickly walked away to keep up with Toby and to get away from the scene.

Toby heard whoops in the distance, then groans. Seems like that will take awhile. He sighed.

"Humans sometimes accidentally find portals down here." He explained.

"Makes sense", she said quietly, still not looking up.

That just added on to her anxieties. What if her little brother were to accidentally show up? He was only 7. He would never survive this place nor would she want him to know what she and the others do here for a living.

Toby nodded. They soon arrived at a very tall, somewhat circular building. The door seemed somewhat disproportionate to the size of the building. Toby began to climb up the stairs. This was the library.

Tabby let out a quiet "oh" in awe. She quickly climbed up the stairs.

Toby opened the door for her. The inside of the library was cold, and it was somewhat dark.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

She scurried inside and felt a little more relaxed once the cool air hit her. She took in a deep breath and smelled the familiar smell of a library. She let out a sigh of nostalgia as her eyes got used to the darkness. She saw circular shelves of books one outside another. And they were so high that there was a ladder for those that can't reach the top. Toby followed behind her. The library was blissfully quiet. He saw a few people scattered around but none of them were bothering anyone. Secretly she was fangirling inside as this is what her dream library would be basically. She began to look around for the plant books. Looking up and around at everything practically almost breaking her neck in doing so. Toby let her look around. He saw an old friend of his so he went to go chat with him. A librarian was nearby, quietly hovering by a bookshelf. Tabby grabbed a couple of each. She grabbed two books on edible and poisonous plants. That would be good if she had missions that left her stranded in the woods somewhere. And a couple of books on the plants here and their medical uses which would be good for her since she doesn't trust doctors and would have to take care of her own serious wounds if she got injured. Then she explored a little more avoiding the people like they are the plague. There were a couple of human authors here that she liked and there were other books that she made a mental note of that she might like that she didn't know of. But she wasn't sure how many books she could take out at once. So she just stuck with the books that she planned to take out.

Toby sat next to his friend. EJ glanced up, sensing him here.

"Oh, good morning, Toby."

"Hey Jack. Whatcha up to?"

"Oh, I'm just taking a break from my work. I got Kate to cover my wing of the medbay today so I could spend some time in here."

"How are you reading the books with no eyes?" Toby asked curiously.

"I can just...feel the letters." EJ said.

Toby shook his head with a smile.

"You were always kind of weird."

"Why thank you." EJ said with a laugh.

The two continued to chat. EJ was telling him about another malus that he knew that was opening up a restaurant nearby.

Once Tabby was done looking around she went to what she assumed to be a check out counter and waited patiently. She quickly looked up to make sure that Toby didn't leave her. She saw him near by and saw that he was talking to a guy in a blue mask that appeared to have no eyes. She quickly looked down. Toby and EJ continued to chat. Toby had fond memories of EJ. EJ had been doing what he did since childhood. As a malus, he was raised in this world. EJ had taken a bit of care with Toby when Toby was new. He had shown Toby the ropes and taught him different ways to stalk people and how to get around in the pitch black effectively. He was a good dude. A tall librarian passed them, heading towards Tabby. Tabby stood up straight and shifted her weight uncomfortably. She looked up but not for too long. The librarian stopped in front of her, and pointed her to the self checkout line. You didn't need a card here. You could use your fingerprint or leave something as collateral. Tabby let out a silent 'oh'. She nodded her head and said a quiet 'thank you' to the librarian and went to try to figure out this process. She mentally cringed at herself at how godawful awkward she was being in front of Toby and his friend. It didn't matter if this was her first time it was still cringey and awkward. She figured out the process and used her fingerprint as she was now registered in the library. She held her books close to her chest and continued to look down and walked over towards Toby. Toby didn't care. He knew that it was awkward learning how to do things here. He knew other would've made fun of her but he saw no point in it. As for EJ, he was totally blind. He had no idea. Toby saw her approaching and smiled.

"Oh, hi Tabby. This is Eyeless Jack. EJ for short."

"Just Jack also works." EJ said.

"Hello. It's nice to meet you" she said politely.

She turned to Toby. "I got the books I needed"

EJ nodded and turned back to feeling the book with his fingers.

Toby smiled. "Awesome." He said.

He got up. "You probably want to leave now?"

"You can still do whatever you're doing I can wait" she said looking down.

She was referring to letting Toby finish up his conversation with EJ.

Toby thanked her, and sat back down to continue chatting with EJ.

Tabby sat down a couple of benches over not wanting to be rude and eavesdrop on the conversation. She began to read one of her books. Toby learned that EJ was about to he sent out on a largely lucrative mission. He would be set for awhile. It sounded very tempting too. It was going to be a group thing. Tabby lost herself in the book. She's always been book smart because she loved to learn everything and anything that she could that wouldn't get herself killed. Toby noted that she was pretty engrossed so he just let her read. EJ let slip that the boss was looking for a group of proxies to do it with him, since part of it was infiltrating a school and he obviously couldn't do that. Tabby continued reading. She was in her favorite reading position. Back against the corner, leaning against the wall and having her legs curled up. Toby eventually finished up his conversation and headed over to Tabby to ask if she still wanted to be shown around. Tabby nodded and closed her book and got up. Toby grinned.

"Awesome." He said.

He was honestly a little excited to show her around.

Tabby was smiling stupidly at Toby being excited but thank god he couldn't see under her mask. She followed behind him and said goodbye to the desk person and walked out the door. Toby led her out towardsTabby was honestly excited. This was the first time she's had total freedom before. Sure she was still suspicious and wary of everyone and everything around her. And she was still concerned with surviving another day in this new world. But with Toby leading her and she herself looking around her surroundings. She realized that she was having some sort of fun. And it brought a sense of peace for now. It's been a while since she's had either. The street. Just ahead of them on the other side was what seemed to be some sort of marketplace. Toby knew that she would probably be okay as she had a mask on. No one really messed with proxies, at least, not in this public of a setting. He led her across the street and to the market place.

"This is sort of like what humans would call a farmer's market." Toby explained to Tabby.

One old, squat green woman was next to a cart of strange, berry-like orbs that pulsated and glowed. A tall creature with hulking claws and sharp teeth was next to a booth where Toby could hear meowing and barking. A proxy woman with a pale blue mask was standing next to a cart with jewelry displayed. Toby knew that woman was a member of the WPA and that that jewelry probably wasn't all that it seemed. A man with pointy ears and a long tail was obviously some type of snack vendor. There were even more booths and carts than Toby could see.

She looked at Toby. Although he did spare her life and was so nice to her. She wanted to start trusting him little by little and maybe just maybe have him considered as...a friend. She looked away and shook her head. There's no way that she could possibly move on. Not when she still has to avenge her friends and moving on equates to forgetting to her. And she promised herself that she wouldn't forget. Besides he was a killer he really shouldn't be trusted. He could easily kill her at anytime. She looked at him as he was explaining the supermarket to her. Perhaps under different circumstances and in another place in time. They would have been the best of friends. Definitely would have tied for first place with Autumn.

She nodded her head eagerly in understanding.

"it's definitely livelier than the human ones. Sometimes my mom would take me to them in the summer and falls. Since that's when they're open. She liked to look around and attempts to cook with fresh foods. I accidentally got free food from there once", Tabby explained a little excitedly.

Toby nodded and smiled. He had never been to a farmer's market as a human but Hoodie had told him what it was like. Toby continued to lead her through the stalls, pointing out things he knew. He pointed at the squat woman with the orbs. "She's selling Tethered, which are kind of pets? I think they're more similar to familiars but I'm not sure. They're really good for neutralizing anxiety and also some will kill people who threaten you. Jeff has one named Smile”.

He pointed at another creature.

"He sells pets. Mainly just cats and dogs but I think he has a few birds. Mostly pigeons though."

They passed by the woman with the jewelry, where another sign said 'CONCEALED WEAPONRY. ASK FOR DETALS'. The snack vendor was selling some odd looking food. Toby grimaced. The monster was probably a cannibal. They passed someone selling dried plants and herbs. They passed Bloody Painter selling his art. There were tricks and laughter and even some games being played. One booth sold cursed items. Another sold weapons, but not just standard knives. One woman was selling psychic services. There were so many things to do. Toby was a little overwhelmed with it all but he did his best not to show it.

"There's clothes too I think."

Tabby looked around her anxiety was picking up. She occasionally fidgeted with her shirt before catching herself and smoothening it out before picking back up on the habit again. There was just too many people there for both of their tastes. She could tell he was getting a little anxious too since she is the queen of anxiety. There was somethings she would have liked to try and buy but she didn't want to bother Toby so she stayed silent for awhile

"There's a lot of things to do here...I can't wait until I get my own money".

She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a water color painting by the bloody painter. It started out as a campfire then the embers turned into birds and then the birds turned into stars in the galaxy looking sky. Transitional paintings as Autumn would call them. What made her stopped dead in her tracks was that it was Autumns favorite medium to work with and that was exactly the tattoo she described that she wanted when she turned 18. She died before then. Tabbys eyes showed a mixture of sadness, pain and nostalgia.

Toby turned to check on her and could see that she was hurt. He decided to not push it as it was probably personal. He decided to try to just talk to her about something else.

"Jack was telling me about a long mission that he was going to go on, and that he needed proxies to go with him." He said with a shrug. "I was thinking of volunteering. Would you like to go too? It would be field training, very good pay, and a way to get to know other proxies you may work with in the future."

Tabby shook her head to get rid of the memories. She looked at Toby with a confused expression for a moment before processing what he just said. She looked at him unsurely.

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea...but training has to start somewhere I guess...I won't get anywhere if I do nothing..."

"What's the mission exactly?" She looked at him suspiciously.

"It's an infiltration mission." Toby explained.

"Infiltrating a school." He said.

"It would be for about a half a year or so? But we would be given an allowance and a house to stay in while we're there. Since you and I look young, we would be the infiltrators. If we go, Masky and Hoodie probably would too. I think they might pretend to be married and our parents." Toby smiled. That would be fun.

Tabby gave him a funny weird look.

"That would make siblings...for the mission I mean" she giggled.

"I never had a decent older brother before...you'd be much better than my other one" she stopped abruptly and mentally cursed herself again that she gave out too much information. She wouldn't drag her family into this, especially her little brother Adam. She had a more serious look to her. Wait which school?..." she hoped that it wasn't what she thought it was.

Toby smiled at her.

"I'll do my best to be a decent brother." He joked.

He thought for a bit and realized he didn't necessarily know which school it was, only that there was a target within the school.

She laughed.

"I'll think about it" she said thoughtfully.

"If the school was Rosewood or the Maplehood Creek school system. I really can't go back there as I've been missing for two days now so people are probably looking. Courtesy from the police. And that would put the team at risk and I'm not having that. However I can tell you the best ways to sneak in and out. And pointers on what to do and who you should stay away from. Even though he's a measly human compare to you I don't want to take any chances he has a way of getting into your head", she said and became more quiet after mentioning Horacio.

She really wouldn't mind if Horacio was the target. Finally the bastard has what's coming to him. All she would ask for is let her do the kill. However what if it's not? What if it's a child? Specifically her little brother. That thought spiked her anxiety as she picked back up the habit of fidgeting with her shirt again "Hey I got a few questions".

"Well, if it is in that school district, then I'm sure we could find a way to disguise you. We have our ways." Toby smiled.

"Monsters who don't want to work with proxies have these pills that allows them to change their appearance." Toby explained.

"Though it really only works on non-mali monsters, so EJ can't use em." Toby knew EJ sold those pills however. Toby continued to walk.

"Hm?" He would answer any question to the best of his ability.

"Would it be possible to set up a bank account in the human world? Anonymously of course. Since we're getting paid for these missions. I promised myself that I would get this person out of Maplehood when they're old enough. But I'm here now so idk how that would work out and I don't want to be in trouble or drag them into my own mess. Also, would we get in trouble for killing someone on a mission when we're not ordered too? Because if it is Rosewood I know exactly who I need to go for”.

Toby looked a little confused.

"We have no real need for human money here. We earn our own currency here." He said.

"If we did, then this world would be flooded by international currencies and business is so much harder to do." He said.

"There are ways to get human money, but usually we trade in for it at our bank or we just steal cash from victims." He said.

"And no, we wouldn't get in trouble for killing if not ordered to. He said. "A lot of us go out killing for fun. It shouldn't be a problem."

"Ohh.." she said a little sadly at the first part. Then she'll just have to rely on Adam making the right choices then. "Good" she said at the second part.

"But in all actual seriousness if it is Rosewood. Stay away from Horacio at all costs if you can. Don't take anything from him, don't give anything to him, don't talk to him, and don't believe a word he says either. I don't care if he's human it's best to not take any chances. Rosewood isn't exactly a great place to be. It's a place to break your spirit and to become more broken than what a person is now." She spoke frantically but she stopped herself and took a couple of deep breaths to calm down.

Her tone became more cold and harsh "if he is the target all I ask is to leave him to me. I'll take care of him" there was like a cold anger, vicious, darker feel around her. "However on a different note" her tone gradually left the coldness and harsher bite to it "and these are all ifs. I could show you which backroads to use to sneak around town and which spots are excellent hideouts" she added.

Toby nodded. He knew better than to fall for any sort of human nonsense. But then again. They had no idea if that school would even be Rosewood. He hoped it wouldn't be, though he assumed the school would be in a similar area. He was somewhat excited. He let EJ know over phone to contact Masky and see if they should do this mission. He never really experienced high school and would honestly love to. Tabby stayed quiet for some time. Just having time to mull over her thoughts. She took the time to observe Toby. It made her smile to see him excited about something even if it was subtle. She thought about it from his perspective. He told her that he's been homeschooled so for someone who's never been in a social school setting before she could understand why it would be exciting to him. Autumn would have loved having him around. He would have made a great addition to the dysfunctional family she used to have.

She finally spoke up "but whatever school it is. We'll figure out together as a team right?"

She sounded much more confident than she ever did or felt. And her tone had a hint of hope and optimism in it.

"Since Jane told me that proxies work in groups and it's normally with people that they work well with or semi trust" she added quickly and looked down and went back to being quiet.

"I just don't want to see you hurt and broken more than what you are...especially if it's Rosewood" she mumbled that was barely audible.

Toby nodded, eyes shining.

"Yeah! As a team." He said with a bright smile.

He liked that idea. He also figured the boss would put Tabby with their group anyways. He hadn't heard what she had mumbled. He saw a group of monster children playing on some sort of metal spiderweb. Toby suddenly felt a little anxious. Oh god. Going back to school. Would be be made fun of again? Would he be bullied again? His mind began to travel further and further down that path until he felt a sense of incredible calm wash over him. He saw, holding onto his wrist, a warm golden rope. Thread. Whatever. Seeing that he calmed down, the tendril loosened and pulled away. Toby looked around and saw The Puppeteer nearby. Ah. That was probably it.

Tabby laughed at his childishness. For a moment she had a mini flashback to when she and autumn were alone. Whether it was after school before she had to go home or when they would sneak out at night together. Tabby would go on her rants of stupidly hopeful optimistic childishness stuff. Autumn would smile and listened to her. Only with her and Toby the roles were in reverse. Tabby was playing the part of Autumn and Toby was playing the part of a younger and more hopeful version of Tabby.

She won't admit it to anyone ever especially to Toby. But her entire past and heart just melted away when he said 'yeah like a team'. The only team that she had was her friend group. She hasn't had that in a long time. Strangely enough she felt at peace with him and she had a glimmer of a future. Perhaps one with him in it?. She made another promise to herself that she would stay alive long enough to protect Toby from getting bullied at school for the mission. At whatever cost. For a moment and she made sure no one was looking she looked at him like he was the best thing in this world.

She looked over to where he was looking and saw a ghostly figure with golden strings. She then put two and two together "so that's the puppeteer" she said in thought in realization "maybe I'll go talk to him and see what's he about" she also said in thought

She spoke up after coming back from being lost in her thoughts "who was that guy with the golden strings?"

Toby smiled.

"That is The Puppeteer." He said.

The Puppeteer was pretty decent to know. Since he was a ghost, he didn't really have a home and he stayed with people, took away their negative feelings, and he was usually welcome. Toby would often see him around Bria- Hoodie. But at the moment, he was hanging around a short girl with a pale, crusty-looking mask. Oh. Kate. Kate wasn't wearing her med mask so she wasn't working. They seemed to be chatting with each other. Toby told Tabby about Kate.

"That's Kate, or the Chaser. She is a really good medic." He said. Kate was a brilliant proxy and a brilliant medic. She is one of the more prominent medics, specially trained by EJ. She keeps secrets well." He had great respect for Kate. She helped a friend of his out with a very...awkward situation.

"Interesting..." she mused to herself

"Although the idea is tempting I think I just have too much emotional baggage too the point where he can't take away all of it" she looked at Toby then at Kate distrustfully

"But I don't like doctors"

"Oh you'd be surprised how much he could take." Toby said with a laugh.

"And I know, I know. Kate doesn't treat people unless they ask or need it." Kate would refuse service too if people were assholes about it.

She gave a bitter chuckle "you don't know the half of what I've been through"

She gave a thoughtful look over to Kate "well that's good I guess"

Toby sighed.

"Pretty much everyone here who used to be human has been through some sort of hell here." He assured her.

Toby remembered a time when some monster was ranting to Kate, in her own medbay, about how useless she was. Kate had just stood up, and told him to get the hell out. Kate was very no-nonsense.

Tabby sighed and continued walking with him. The market place was getting busier and she didn't want to be left behind so she sped up her pace to catch up with him. Toby led her past carts with clothes and other things. Toby wondered if he should get some things, maybe a new coat or something. There were some things that he could use. Tabby saw and liked a lot of things but she didn't want to bother him and waste his own money. There were also free samples of food being given out. Tabby wanted to try some due to her curiosity but between her anxiety, paranoia and not knowing if the food was poisonous or not. She decided against it. Toby would have purchased her things if she would have asked. He was a good proxy after all; he wasn't broke or anything. He saw a juice sample being offered for free and thought it looked interesting so he got a free sample of it and sipped it. It was pretty good.

"Can I have a sample?", She asked shyly, "if it's not poisoned that is"

"Sure." Toby said.

He went and got her a sample as well.

"Poisons aren't really all that popular here but you can get something to test food for poison." He said.

"You can never be too safe", she said as she took the juice she sniffed it just to be sure.

"Smells good" she said in thought.

She took a sip "mmmm" she had a big smile on her face. It tasted like apples and berries.

"What is this exactly? And where can I get the food tester thing?".

Toby smiled.

"I think Nat makes the juice." He stated, finishing his sample.

"This is just juice. Non-alcoholic." He said.

"You can get the food testers at stores and some restaurants have single use ones." He said.

"This is good" she finished up the last of the juice.

"Let's go" she said excitedly ready to continue this adventure.

Toby smiled.

"Okay! Do you want to stay here or go somewhere else?" He asked.

"Let's try somewhere else", she said.

"Okay!" Toby continued to lead her along.

He was going to show her around a downtown area. Tabby stayed close to him so she wouldn't get lost. There was still enough personal space between them but with the occasional arm brushing up against the other's arm. Toby understood. It was whatever. The downtown area was much less crowded. It was very nice. There were shops, restaurants, and other places. They passed a pet shop. Tabby stopped dead in her tracks as she saw a black, white and orange kitten with a little tear in its ear. She immediately were up to the glass like she was drawn to it. The kitten was play fighting with the other kittens and then it came to playfully attack Tabby through the window but it bounced off and tumbled backwards a little. Tabby giggled. Toby smiled and let her stay and watch the cat. It was pretty cute. He knew this place treated the pets well. This place also was a vet place. He got Nugget's shots there.

She turned to him.

"I used to have an orange cat back where I used to live. Well he wasn't really mine he was a stray but he did follow me home a couple of times. But my apartment didn't allow pets. So after school I would spend time with him if my friends were too busy. His name is Mac which is short for mac and cheese."

For just a moment her eyes were full of child like wonder instead of there usual haunted, knowing, and troubled look that they usually had. For a moment she looked young and hopeful instead of her usual mature tough girl look.

Toby smiled.

"You want to go in and see the rest of the cats?" He offered.

They might as well. He knew Masky picked up shifts there when he wasn't busy. It was a nice place with decent staff and of course, lots of cute animals.

Tabby nodded excitedly "yeah!"

"That kitten in there is a rough and tumble troublemaker" she grinned.

Toby grinned, and led her inside. The place was loud, with the sounds of cats, dogs, birds, and other animals occupying the space. Tabby played and petted the puppies in their cages and talking to them before the said kitten jumped out of the display cage and padded over towards Tabby and headbutted her from behind to get her attention. She turned around "why hello there again troublemaker" she cooed at the kitten and picked it up and pet it with one hand and the puppies with the other. She was sitting down and was frantically trying to give each animal equal love and affection. Toby let her do so. He smiled. It was very nice to see her happy. He went to go check in the back where he found the old monster who ran this shop. He was a wrinkled grey creature with stringy silver hair. He had a cage with him and was examining a cat on the table. The old monster had specially made glasses for all six of his eyes. The lenses were thick. The cat was sleek and black, and seemed to be very chubby. The monster, who people just called Ed, was muttering to himself in a nasally voice as he looked over the cat. But in the end she had all of the cats on her as she was being smothered in kitty affection. She sighed in defeat.

Toby came over to check on her just as Ed brought out the new cat to put in a separate enclosure. Tabby was laying in defeat on the floors the herd of kittens were all over her. She looked up at Toby.

"I was ambushed".

Toby laughed.

"You were overwhelmed. There were too many of them."

"There's no such thing as too many. The problem here is that I don't have enough limbs"

She gently shook the kittens to get them off of her. She gently put them back in their display cage by the window.

"We could change that." Toby joked.

Ed was totally ignoring the two of them.

"You know, you could always work here between missions." He said. "For a little side cash, you know."

Tabby laughed.

"It would make multitasking easier" she joked back.

She tilted her head to the side, "I think I would like that".

Toby laughed.

"We can cut off some random human's arms and have EJ attach em to you." He joked some more. "The only time I'll let any doctors near me" she joked back.

Toby laughed.

"Fair enough." He said.

"Where are we going now?", she asked.

"Hm. We could finish the downtown tour. I could take you to Nat's- sorry I mean Clockwork's- bar.".

"I'm old enough here to drink?" She tilted her head to the left as she often did when she was confused

"Then again I've been sneaking alcohol and playing bartender to the people I lived with since I was 12. I know how to mix drinks quite well".

Toby looked at her and laughed.

"This is literally a haven of killers, and you think there's a drinking age here?" He said.

"If you're under ten you can drink if your parents are with you, but that's the only restriction I've seen."

Tabby laughed and looked down.

"Fair enough" she shrugged her shoulders as she walked with Toby.

Toby led her down the street. It was pretty hot out. Tabby looked around at her surroundings. Although it was pretty hot out she didn't complain. Toby knew the bar was a couple of blocks down. He began to lead the way. Tabby stuck close to Toby. She kept her head down to avoid the other people. Toby understood. They passed by an alley and Toby heard the unmistakable sounds of someone getting beat up. Tabby heard the sounds too. She sucked in a breath as she physically cringed deeper into her jacket as she remembered her own beatings by her step dad and her fist fights with Horacio and others at Rosewood. Her entire body jerked as she felt the phantom pains of her past beatings. She walked quicker. Toby ignored it. This happened if you got too cocky. That was why it was good to have friends here. Masky told him to make sure everyone liked him so they wouldn't beat him. That's what Masky did and it worked. It took a couple of minutes before the phantom pain died down and a couple of more minutes for her to uncoil from her jacket and then pretended like nothing happened.

Toby soon saw the lights of the bar. Thank god. He made a beeline for the place. It was crowded but never uncomfortably so. Tabby followed him. She saw the lights and how crowded it is. She gulped as her social anxiety kicked in. It was pretty tame at the moment. Nat was tending to the bar. Others sat and talked amongst themselves. Tabby quietly looked around at her surroundings. There was still a lot of people but not as much as Tabby was expecting so her anxiety died down a little. The situation around her was pretty mellow so she didn't have to worry about either one of them getting into some sort of trouble. She relaxed a little. Toby asked her if she wanted to get a non-alcoholic drink. He figured that since it was so early, drinking alcohol wouldn't feel good. Sure some people day drank, but he didn't peg Tabby as the type to really want to. Quite a few of the patrons at the bar were drinking non-alcoholic drinks, or drinks with just a small amount.

"I'll have an alcoholic drink thank you very much", said Tabby.

Toby shrugged. Alrighty. That was fine with him. Tabby ordered some coconut rum mixed with coca-cola. Toby just got a soda. He didn't feel like drinking and never really drank a lot. Because Tabby is short her legs dangled off the ground as she was sitting on her bar stool. She looked around at the other people but was careful not to look for too long. Some looked normal, and others looked absolutely freakish. Their drinks were set in front of them. Toby sipped his soda. Tabby casually sipped her drink as she felt the familiar warmth rushing to her cheeks and ears. She hummed quietly as she felt somewhat content with having her a drink that reminded her of home somewhat. Toby did his best to limit his consumption of alcohol. He didn't want to end up like his dad. Nat was cleaning glasses behind the bar.

"So what do you normally do when you're not on missions and showing the new person around?", asked Tabby.

She cringed at herself internally at how awkward she was at conversation starters.

"Uh...well, I train, honestly. You really never stop learning. But when I have time for myself I do a lot of social stuff. Like come here.", said Toby awkwardly.

She tilted her head "makes sense. I like to learn a lot too. A wise person once told me that the more you know the less you have something to be afraid of. After all you can't be afraid of something if you know what that thing is" she said thoughtfully.

Toby smiled.

"Yeah, that's a good way of thinking about it." He said.

He took another sip of his drink right when his phone buzzed. Proxies had really crappy phones, usually burners, but Toby could receive texts. It was from Masky, saying that the Slenderman confirmed they could go on this mission and that they would leave in a couple of days. It would be good practice for Tabby. Tabby looked at his phone in a mixture of confusion and curiosity. Toby explained that they had been confirmed on the mission.

"So we're going then?" She asked.

She looked at herself weird "it's been awhile since I've used 'we' and 'us' terms. It's a nice change"

"Yeah, we are!" Toby said. "And I'm guessing that since you're coming, the boss wants us in a group together." Toby seemed pretty excited at the concept.

Tabby genuinely smiled which gave a lopsided grin and gave her dimples and crinkles underneath her eyes.

"Better now than never I guess!" She was done with her drink.

Toby finished his up. He smiled. He then told her the name of the school.

"The school is called Greengrove High. It's near Rosewood, but it's not in either school district. It's a public school but has a small attendance rate."

She sighed in relief.

"Thank thy fucking lord. I know where that is, it's in Maplehood still. I'm told it's a lot like Rosewood but it's not a prestigious school. So no rich folks only problematic and semi intelligent people".

She was still thinking, "I can still show you the best ways to sneak around town and I can still get my revenge hopefully" she looked more visibly relaxed now that she thought she didn't have to protect him from Horacio.

However she still planned to keep her silent promise to protect him from bullies since she knew there were bound to be some.

She realized something.

"Hey! I don't have to wear school uniforms anymore... jesus it's been 8 years since I've been in a public school"

"Yeah! You know a lot more about the towns than we do- well I think Hoodie is pretty familiar with the town actually. I think his brother lives there. Anyways, we can meet up with them and EJ later. I think preparations are being made for us to live in a building close to the school." He said.

He laughed about the uniforms comment. "Yeah! And I won't have to wear a mask. And I can go to classes...and meet people my age..."

"But he's a doctor....I don't like doctors why are we going to see him?" she said slowly.

Some would notice and some would not but once Toby said 'meet people my age' there was a flash of jealousy on her face that quickly dissipated.

"Because he's the one who got the mission first." Toby said.

"If you tell him to back off, he will." He assured her. Toby didn't notice. He was too caught up in his excitement. Real people! His age! And he maybe won't even have to kill them!

Tabby sighed "fair enough"

She then became more relaxed once again and spoke more softly.

"I'll be back in familiar territory again. I'll be up against people my own age who are give or take in intelligence and strength. So maybe my anxiety won't skyrocket and maybe I won't have to fight to survive another day as much"

Toby nodded.

"I don't think it will be so bad!" He sounded very optimistic about the whole situation. He couldn't wait.

Tabby gave him the same genuine lopsided grin. She absolutely adored his optimism.

Toby was excited for the whole thing.

"Plus this mission will pay super well. You would be able to afford almost anything. And...I bet the boss would pay in human cash if you wanted...".

Tabby nodded thoughtfully.

"That would definitely help me fulfill one of my promises that I made".

Toby nodded and smiled. He decided to just get a water. The soda he had gotten was already a big deviation from his regular diet. Tabby didn't order anything else one drink was enough for the day. She just quietly observed everything around her and tried to discreetly look at Toby more without making herself look more like a creep and blatantly staring. Toby finished his water. He paid for their drinks.

"So! Should we continue the tour?" He asked with a happy smile. His stomach had settled from the soda. He usually didn't drink that.

Tabby nodded her head eagerly with a smile "I'd like that very much" she slid off her bar stool to go follow him.

Toby waved bye to other people at the bar, avoiding looking at Clockwork as he led Tabby out. Tabby noticed that he avoided talking or looking at clockwork like the plague. But she quickly decided that it wasn't her place to ask questions and be privy to other people's personal information. But she made a mental note of it. She followed Toby out of the bar and into the streets. Toby led her past a couple of buildings and told her what they were.

"Oh, that's Bloody Painter's art studio. The one next to it is a medbay. The building past that is monster's only, so don't even worry about it. Next to that is BEN's 'office' area. A few shops. There's the Eastern Main Mission Center. Thankfully we're proxies so we don't use that that much. Oh, there's a training gym. You might want to head there later. It does more than train you how to fight. It's pretty cool."

She listened thoughtfully. She looked at the bloody painter's art studio. She sucked in a breath as the nostalgia of Autumn kicked in hard. Autumn would have gotten on well with the bloody painter since they were both artistic. She shook her head to clear her head.

"That's good to know. I can gain more skills and take down Horacio once and for all. The more I know and able to do the better off I am".

Toby nodded.

"Yeah! They teach you some pretty cool stuff there." He said.

"Like I learned some neat tracking tricks there."

He looked around the area. A few monsters mulled around but there were barely any proxies. Toby knew that they were close to monster territory but knew better than to take Tabby there. She tilted her head to the right as she often did when she was being thoughtful

"That could be useful"

She noticed that there were less of...them and more of the monsters.

"I see there's less of us as we keep walking" "Yeah, we're close to some monsters only territory." Toby said, continuing to walk and starting to speed up.

Tabby sped up with him. She kept her head down and she started to fidget with the bottom of her shirt again. She prayed that they wouldn't get into any kind of trouble. You could visibly see that she was uneasy.

"You'll be fine." Toby had noticed her unease.

"They usually don't go for proxies unless you actually step into the monsters only area. Oh look, there's Masky."

Masky was standing off to the side, chatting and laughing with some monster that Toby didn't know.

She eyed Toby suspiciously. She didn't really trust him for her own protection but she decided that her chances of survival would be better if she still stuck with him. She stood up straight and carried an emotionless expression and straightened out her shirt as she narrowed her eyes at Masky.

"Ah, the man who was about to kill me last night".

"Uh, yeah. And your new team leader." Toby said awkwardly.

They really shouldn't have any problems here as long as Tabby kept her mouth shut, which she was probably going to do until they were in a safer area. She probably knew that there wasn't much he could do if she decided to pick a fight. It would make them both seem cowardly if he intervened on her behalf again.

"Are you serious?" She said in disbelief but she kept her voice low.

She paused for a minute to asses the situation that was about to come up. Tabby was taught at a young age to know her place and keep her mouth shut. She really couldn't fight Masky since he was older and more experienced plus he had another person with him so she would be out numbered. She didn't want to drag Toby into her fights. As she specifically told him not to fight her battles for her. So she'll take the shit that Masky gives her. Tabby looked pissed but she gave Toby a look that was full of resignation and that she'll back off.

Toby nodded.

"Yeah, really." He said.

He knew that she'd be surprised when she actually talked to him later. When Masky isn't trying to kill someone, he's a really pleasant dude. He's so pleasant that sometimes Toby forgets that he's a bloodthirsty proxy.

"He'll be part of training you." Toby told her.

"And I'm sure Hoodie will help as well." He smiled awkwardly under his mouthguard.

Tabby huffed but she kept her mouth shut and crossed her arms in a defensive manner. If anything she's more passive to people that she hates that she can't beat.

"I'll learn what I can and I'll work with them but outside of that I want nothing to do with them".

"Yeah, good luck with that." Toby said with a laugh. He continued on.

"It's not funny! I'm serious!" She hissed as she ran after him to catch up.

Toby raised his eyebrows.

"It is. Just a little bit." He said good-naturedly. He slowed down a bit.

She playfully hit his arm and caught up with him. She was just fake mad at him. Toby laughed. He knew she was just teasing, and it didn't hurt anyways. Tabby was in a slightly better mood after that. So she could deal with Maskys shit a little bit easier. Toby laughed. They passed the monster's only area and were in a much safer place now. Tabby's defensiveness died down somewhat and she was semi relaxed.Toby smiled. They passed by a weird warehouse looking place. Tabby looked at the warehouse with curiosity. She realized that they have been walking for a long time now. But she didn't mind it since she was always on her feet for hours on end. Which is why she can't feel a thing the heels of her feet.

"Oh, that's where a bunch of...um...stuff goes down. You don't need to worry about it. I wouldn't advise going in there though." Toby said.

He didn't even go in there. He knew proxies who went in there and never came out.

Tabby nodded

"Well I don't plan on going in there anytime soon...or ever..." she went disturbingly quiet after that.

Toby nodded. They passed what looked like a daycare. Toby smiled a bit. He could see out in the yard. Little monster kids playing on a playground. Tabby stopped for a moment she gave a soft smile. It reminded her of when she and Adam used to go to daycare. But because Tabby was one of the older kids she would help out with the younger kids. And at the end of the day she would push Adam in his stroller on their way home if their mom was still working and if her step dad was too lazy to get them. But she didn't mind it though she enjoys taking care of Adam. Because it proves to herself that she's not a bad person contrary to what her step dad tells her. Her eyes were once again filled with a sense of nostalgia and I daresay a little bit of homesickness. Despite it not really being a good place. Toby smiled. He remembered when he first came here. He was surprised that people like them could have families here. He was under the impression that most, if not all of them, were created by their bosses. But then he learned more and learned that most proxies were born here and raised here and trained here. It was...weirdly sweet. Tabby realized that she missed her little brother and she hoped that he wouldn't be dragged into her new fucked up lifestyle. She also hoped that he would be okay without her. Well he was going to have to be whether he liked it or not. In order to take care of him she needed to take care of herself. She deemed it as a form of tough love.

"Hey Toby I have another question", she piped up.

"Yeah, what's up?" Toby asked as they passed by the daycare.

They passed a few places that looked like houses and a park-like area. He glanced around. Basically no one was outside. That was great.

"I know that relationships with other humans is ....prohibited...but would it be okay if every now and then if I were to go up to the human world and just periodically check up on...this person...just stalking in a distance no interactions whatsoever?", she asked.

Toby seemed to stare off into the distance for a bit. He looked...sad.

"Yeah...I suppose it's okay, but only if you don't tell anyone. Especially your boss."

Toby seemed to be lost in thought. In reality he was thinking about his mother.

Tabby nodded.

"Well I don't plan on telling anyone else...so yeah"

She realized that Toby was deep in thought because she does the exact same thing he does when she is deep in thought.

"Hey, are you okay?" She said slowly.

"Huh?" Toby seemed to snap out of it.

"Oh yeah, yeah I'm fine." He said. He tried to give her a reassuring smile as he checked his watch.

"Oh, damn. It's a lot later than I thought it was."

She gave him a look that said 'I don't believe you' but she let it go. She learned that in order to keep a friend you don't push shit.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No." Toby said. He furrowed his brows.

"We probably should eat something. But only if you're hungry. If you're not, we could try some training or something."

"I'm not hungry yet. We could try some training. It's either now or never" she said eagerly.

Toby looked sort of excited.

"Okay. To preface this I can't teach you everything. There's some stuff I don't know how to do. You'll have to get either Masky or Hoodie to teach you those things, okay?"

He turned and began making his way back to the gym. They could train there. Unless Tabby wanted to stay outside where it was hot enough to fry an egg on the pavement.

"Fair enough" she followed Toby to the gym.

Toby was quick, so he got there a little before Tabby did. He was kind of excited. Tabby ran to meet him there. She was actually very fast and wasn't out of breath when she caught up to him at the gym entrance. Toby opened the door for her. Air conditioning blasted through the door way. The gym smelled like a combination of heavy air freshener, sweat, and blood.

"This smells like the gym at Rosewood" said Tabby out of nowhere.

Toby laughed. "Well I mean I figure all gyms smell the same."

Tabby tilted her head to the right

"Well the gym at Maplehood elementary school smelled like fresh lemons and dirty gym socks".

"Gross." Toby wrinkled his nose but smiled.

He led her past the check in desk. That was only for if they wanted the higher tech training things or if they wanted to sign up for a class. He led her into the main room. There were quite a few people, all of whom were training. There was a small arena off to the side where two men were fighting each other rather aggressively with knives. There was a station near the middle with what seemed like flashcards and little trays of things. There was a rope course up on the ceiling, with the only access point being a climbing rope. There were weights, training dummies, and human-shaped cutouts that served as targets, all in various states of disrepair. Toby knew the better training gym was about two hours from this location, but it was still decent. If they wanted the better stuff, they had to sign in.

"So where do you want to start?" She said as she took off her jacket and set on a near by bench and tightened up her ponytail.

"Hm. Well, I'm not too good at long distance stuff. You'll have to ask Hoodie for that." Toby mused. He glanced at the rock wall, but figured that with her messed up hand, that wouldn't be too nice. A female proxy was working at the station near the middle.

"Oh, you said you wanted to learn plant stuff, right?"

Tabby nodded her head eagerly "yeah I did why?"

Toby led her to the middle station. In the little containers were different kinds of plants from the human world and from the monster world. It was a type of memory game. Tabby is awful at memory but she did recognize all of the plants from the human world due to books and growing up in the woods. She recognized a few plants from here from the book that she was currently reading. But in time she learned what the majority of plants were and their uses. After 5-6 tries. Tabby was getting quicker and better at the memory game after an hour. Toby was happy about that. He wasn't all too good with this sort of plant stuff. Tabby was satisfied when she got the hang of it and went back over to Toby.

Toby smiled.

"Cool! Er, you can choose what you want to learn next, okay?" He was new to the whole training thing.

"Well...I'm pretty good close range fighting...Although I don't really have any grace...my skills are pretty unorthodox....I'm good with weapons but they're harder to control than fists...", she was self analyzing herself.

"Well, we can work on that!" Toby said happily.

"I think I will be able to help you clean up your moves and whatnot." Toby seemed pretty excited.

"Also one of the trainers here is missing an arm. He could show you some cool stuff that I probably couldn't."

"Use every body part if you can in a fight or any blunt object you can get your hands on if it turned into that" she said with a shrug.

"Yeah, that's pretty good advice." Toby said. He had no idea where to start.

"Well at Rosewood I was a known fighter and straight A student. Other kids always tried to pick fights with me once they knew I could make Horacio turn tail. Often times it started out as fist fights, then weapons and then just dirty unfair fighting. So I learned quickly to be well rounded"

She nodded her head and turned to look at Toby.

"I know how to break someone's arm in 3 different places with one move. I could show it to you if you want" she said excitedly. Toby laughed. "Maybe later. And not on me, please. Just because I can't feel any pain doesn't mean that I can't be messed up." He grinned. He glanced over at a knife throwing station. He saw an older proxy there, a tall, very buff woman with lots of tattoos. He watched. She nailed each target with deadly accuracy. Her curly light brown, almost blonde hair was in a tight ponytail.

Tabby quickly "oh no no I'm not actually going to break your arm but I can walk you through the motions"

She looked confused when he said he couldn't feel pain

"How and why?"

"It's fine! Maybe later." Toby had responded. He didn't really feel like explaining CIPA at the moment so he just said that that was what he had and he couldn't feel pain because of it,

Tabby nodded slowly and gave him an unsure look "alrighty then" she decided to change the subject "So who's that lady over there?" She pointed to the one throwing knives.

"That's Laura." Toby said.

"She's one of the older proxies. She's sort of like a cool aunt. She is also incredibly deadly so I wouldn't mess with her. She's pretty chill though."

"She's sounds cool" said Tabby tilted her head in thought.

"I have pretty good precision when it comes to throwing things Although my accuracy is a hit or miss more times than not"

"Nice. Laura does a lot of work with people regarding accuracy with knives and guns. She was the one that trained Hoodie on it."

She nodded and paused for a minute "would it be okay if I asked her to help me practice better?" She looked warily at the stranger.

"Yeah, it would!" Toby knew Laura was pretty decent. She had a good reputation of only beating up people who deserved it.

She gave Toby a look that said "I don't really trust you with this" she looked at the stranger with the same look. But if she wanted to learn which she did then she was going to have to push away her social anxiety and seek out the help herself. She gave Toby a curt nod and recompose herself. She stood up straight and kept her neutral expression which was a bored, slightly put upon expression. She walked up to Laura. She cleared her throat.

"Excuse me?" She said in a polite tone but still assertive enough to catch her attention. She held her breath and prayed that she wouldn't hit her or attack her in any way.

Laura turned, and glanced at her. She had the same level of suspicion, but then noticed the certain look Tabby had. A new proxy. She could tell just by looking at her and the way she stood. Her distrustful posture eased away and she offered her a smile.

"Oh. Hey. You need something?" It was instinctual. She couldn't help it.

Tabby shifted uncomfortably but still stood her ground. Her suspicion and defensive posture dropped a little as Laura's suspicion dropped too. She gave a small polite smile in return.

"Hello. My name is Tabby, I saw that you were good at throwing knives with good precision and and accuracy. I'm pretty good myself my precision is good but my accuracy is a hit or miss more often than not. I was wondering if you could give me some pointers" she looked down waiting for the rejection of 'get lost kid you're not worth my time'. She still proceeded with wary and caution during the interaction.

"Sure thing, kid." Laura said with an indulging look in her eyes.

She stepped back.

"First, let me see you throw." She said. Her voice was rough but not aggressive. Her tattoos seemed to ripple and move even when she stood perfectly still. She wasn't the type to tell people to get lost. If they were respectful, she would teach them. She handed Tabby some throwing knives.

Tabby took the knife into her right hand. She held it in the correct way to throw. She turned her head a little to get better aim. She adjusted her arm and threw the knife with a flick of her wrist. It it the bullseye due to the centripetal force from the flick of her wrist. Her voice reminded her of her mom with her gruff exterior. For a moment she had a flash of homesickness. She looked at Laura expectantly waiting for some crtitque. Tabby threw a few more using the same motions and her wide stance for foundation. One landed way outside of the bullseye and the other landed a couple of rings over to the left of the bullseye. She looked back a Laura apologetically.

Laura nodded slowly. She saw her problems.

"The wide stance only works if you're facing your target head on. That's why you missed the ones off to the side."

Laura then got into her own stance.

"Try this one. It's more versatile and it also allows you to react quicker to threats not coming after you head on." Laura was smiling softly.

Tabby reminded her of- no. There could be someone who could read her thoughts here. She mustn't think about that.

"Oh so you're saying if I shortened my stance a little it would work better? Like this?" She shortened her stance and threw one of the knives with a flick of her wrist. And it hit the bullseye straight on. She copied Laura's stance.

"Mhm." Laura nodded.

"It also makes it easier to do something like this-"

She pulled out a throwing knife and whipped around. The knife stabbed someone's apple, shot it out of their hands and impaled it into the wall. Laura grinned. That was a teammate of hers and they always messed around like that. He laughed, then flipped Laura off, which Laura returned before turning back to Tabby.

Tabby grinned and laughed "I'm good but I don't think I have enough coordination for that".

"You can get there. Coordination is mostly training anyways, only a bit of it is natural ability." Laura smiled at Tabby.

"Anything else?"

"Good to know" she smiled and thought about it "I think I'm good for right now. But if I think of anything else I'll let you know"

Laura nodded. She understood. She gave the girl a smile and turned back to the targets. She was glad to help. Tabby walked back over to Toby with a satisfied grin.

Toby smiled.

"Well, that went well." He said.

Tabby nodded excitedly "yeah who knew that it was all in the stance".

"Yeah! A lot of it is. Laura is also really good at showing people how to do it because she's trained a lot of people."

"Well that's good".

"I think I had enough training for now and I'm kinda hungry".

"Okay! We can go get something to eat." Toby said

Tabby nodded and began to walk out of the gym with Toby. Toby was feeling a bit peckish as well. He figured there were a few restaurants nearby. Tabby was looking around at her surroundings more being lost in thought. Toby thought he noticed someone in the shadows but ignored it. Tabby had the felt like she was being watched from someone or something in the shadows. She wasn't sure if it was her paranoia, being delusional from lack of sleep, or just the darkness of Rosewood following her. She chalked it up a mixture of all 3. However Tabby was a little more on edge as her Intuition was screaming at her to watch out. Toby felt out, feeling with his mind, trying to sense if it was another proxy as the shadow was humanoid. Proxies, for the most part, knew when other proxies were in the area. They were all connected in a sort of hivemind. When a proxy was in danger, everyone tuning in knew about it. Most experienced proxies were able to tune it out, but Toby still wasn't able to. The presence didn't feel like a proxy. Tabby quickened her pace.

"Maybe if I ignore it and out speed it. It would go away" she said in thought.

She had her arms to carry her books and her hands in opposite pockets. She had both knives in the correct position in her hands just in case.

Despite the figure keeping close to the shadows, Toby noticed that it was trying to keep out of sight. It was scared. It seemed to be shuffling, like it was hurt. But the figure wasnt heading anywhere towards a medbay. Toby remembered the scene from earlier with the human who had gotten down into this place. What if…

Tabby's paranoia was skyrocketing. She was a little bit tense and jumpy. Even though her eyes were on the ground they were darting all over the place. She didn't say anything and kept up the fast pace.

"Whoever it is is just as scared as you." Toby mumbled to Tabby.

Jane passed them on the other side of the street, an arm filled with groceries. She too looked into the alleyway, and quickly went in.

Toby sighed. "She's got it."

She snapped her head up to the point where you heard her neck crack and it probably sounded painful. She winced for a moment before narrowing her eyes at him and sounding defensive

"I'm not scared. I'm cautious there's a difference".

Toby raised his eyebrows and said nothing.

"Come on. Let's go." He said, just leading her along. There was no point in lingering.

She looked back down and continued walking. Toby knew he would ask Jane about it later. She made it a point to stay closer to him just in case. But not enough to be obnoxious about it.

"We could go back to Clockwork's bar for something or maybe go somewhere else to eat”.

"We can go somewhere else. I mean it's not like we have anything better to do" she shrugged.

Toby nodded. "I have a strict diet I need to stick to though."

"Fair enough"

Toby thought for a bit about places they could go to. Meanwhile tabby was lost in her own thoughts. On top of processing what tf happened last night, figuring out what her next move would me, surviving today, planning Horacio's death, missing her friends, mom, and little brother. She was thinking about something that she never thought that she could have. A future. Tabby was good at thinking long term for her choices. But not when it comes to herself. But looking around and seeing other establishments and older people. It made her realize that maybe she can live long enough to maybe perhaps open up her own restaurant per say. Food has always been her passion and she has experience and joy in working in a kitchen. Or maybe to just live out the rest of her life. If she lived long enough. That thought put a little seed of hope in her head and gave her a tiny bit of her will to live back.Tabby looked like she was zoned out which means that she was in deep thought. Toby found a restaurant nearby and led Tabby in. It was some random hole in the wall ran by a couple monsters. Tabby looked around at her surroundings she had a warm smile on her face from nostalgia. It reminded her of the restuarant she used to work at. Even though she was in the back of the kitchen. She always enjoyed the praise of customers when they like the food that she made. It was nice to be back in a familiar surrounding. The place smelled nice, and it was warm. The tables were somewhat crowded together and in a bit of a disarray. You would seat yourself here. Toby found a small table near the corner where they could sit. Tabby sat in the corner with her back facing the wall. That way there was no chance of anyone attacking her from behind and she can see what everyone else is doing.

"This is nice. It reminds me of where I used to work".

"Oh, cool!" Toby said with a smile. He had gotten them both menus.

Tabby nodded and looked on the menu to figure out what she wanted. Toby would probably get a salad and a water. He didn't trust much of the meat here. Especially since there was a cannibal section. Tabby would get a salad too since she really didn't trust food being made by other people unless she was watching them or if she was making it herself. But she figured that nothing can really go wrong with a salad. The place was crowded so Toby highly doubted the food would be poisoned. He also got a water and had one of the single use poison detectors with him to use just in case. He had picked one up as he got a menu. Tabby got a water too and she was quite happy to see the single use poison detectors. Toby glanced around. No one was paying much attention to them except for a little monster boy in a highchair. He was a chubby little thing with a round face and tiny nubby horns. Tabby smiled softly at the monster baby. It reminded her of her little brother who was a chubby little thing when he was born. Now he has more of a stocky build but he still has a little baby fat left. The little monster baby was babbling to what appeared to be his mother. He had a toy giraffe in his hand, or what used to look like a giraffe. It had been chewed so much. Tabby giggled and looked away. She didn't want to cause too much trouble. She was looking out the window now.

A waiter soon came to take their order. It was a ghost. Which made sense. A lot of ghosts wanted to spend eternity not being bored so a lot of em got jobs. Tabby ordered a chicken salad and a water. Toby ordered what he had planned on ordering. Tabby realized that it was a ghost as she's always been able to see the whole range of paranormal shit. She then looked sad and in thought. She knew ghosts were real. And she knew damn well that the majority of her friends didn't pass over yet since they all died a brutal death. So how come none of them tried to make contact with her to let her know that at least some of them were okay. Especially Autumn. She was sure that she would find a way to contact her. Anyway at all. But it's been a month and nothing. Tabby had her legs crossed and had her hands neatly in her lap as her leg was casually bouncing from being anxious and she was looking out the window. Toby was deep in thought. He looked out the window. He saw Jane hurriedly leading someone along. They had a placeholder mask on, which was weird because Toby could sense that they weren't a proxy.

Tabby said quietly, "isn't that the guy who was following us?".

"I think so”.

She tilted her head to the right thinking "they must be just as nerve racked as I was yesterday when I came here".

"But then again I'm always nerve racked".

Toby nodded. He had suspicions and he voiced them to Tabby. "I think whoever it is might be a human who got in here."

"What makes you say that? And why are they still here then? Can't Jane and them get into trouble?"

"Because I can't sense them. And yes, they could. They both could be killed, which is why we gotta shut up and ask them in private."

Tabby immediately closed her mouth and nodded. She looked down at her lap.

Toby nodded. "We can ask her later."

"Okay" she said quietly.

Soon their food arrived at their table. Toby tested his food and water. No poison. Awesome. Tabby waited for her turn. She eyed her food and water suspiciously. She smelled it first just in case if she could tell if something was off with the food.

Toby handed her a testing stick. "Oh-here”.

It took Tabby a couple of tries and inspecting the thing weirdly and letting out a few quiet 'oh...oh that's how it works' when her eyes light up with realization as she was figuring out how it works. Her food wasn't poisoned thank god so she was happily munching down on the salad. Toby ate his pretty quickly. He was pretty hungry honestly. As he sipped his water, he looked around. He saw the family with the little monster baby. He saw what was obviously a group of proxies about to start a mission. He saw an awkward first date. Tabby saw the same thing. Tabby scarfed down her food like she wouldn't see food ever again like a ravenous animal. Tabby realized that this is something that people would do on a first date like what she would read about and see on tv. They would go out to eat and make small talk. Which means that would make Toby her first date. She stopped functioning for a minute as she blushed a little at the thought. She held her cheek in her hand with her elbow propped onto the table as she looked out the window to hide the blush that was spreading to her ears. Tabby was done with her salad and was drinking the water in an attempt to stop her blush. Toby didn't notice. He honestly hadn't thought of it that way. He didn't watch that much TV, or even movies. He simply finished his water. Her blush died down a lot. She finished her water.

"Are you done with your food. Because I am".

"Oh yeah, I am. I just need to pay and we can leave." Toby said.

"Okay" she said quietly as she picked everything up and put it in a neat, organized pile so that way it would be easier for the servers to pick up.

Toby got up to go to the front to pay. A server came by and picked up all the plates. Tabby thanked them and walked with Toby out the door. Toby felt a lot better after eating. He was still a little curious about what had been going on earlier. He wanted to ask Jane. Tabby kept to herself and walked quietly with him. She really didn't see the point in talking unless she was spoken too or if she was really interested in something. She looked over at Toby trying to be discreet about it taking in all of his features. Toby was deep in thought. It was hard to see his face as he was wearing his mouthguard and goggles. If Jane had saved a human's life, she would be risking her own. Tabby was spacing out. Her head was empty for once. Which meant some peace and quiet for her for a little while at least. Finally. Toby had found his way back to the apartment. He was just about to open the door for them both when he noticed he had a message waiting for him. Tabby walked in and looked at the note curiously but didn't pry too much. Toby read it. It was from Masky, setting a time for when they would meet up the next day.

Tabby raised an eyebrow "does it say anything important?".

"It's just when and where we're meeting up with the rest of the group tomorrow." Toby said.

"The group being Masky, Hoodie, you, EJ, and anyone else put on this mission with us."

Tabby nodded and sighed and groaned when she heard Maskys name "ugh...him? I hate him...." She went to her room to put away her books and came back out.

Toby laughed a bit. "You might want to give him a second chance. He's actually kind of decent. A bit of a dork, actually, but don't tell him I said that."

She gave him a small smile "don't worry I ain't a snitch. Your secret is safe with me"

Toby laughed a bit. Then sighed. It was nice to be in the air conditioning.

"So now what?" She asked as she rubbed her arm awkwardly.

"Well, we could go out again and find something to do, we could go do something in the human world, or we could just chill here."

"I don't really care it's up to you".

"I got what I wanted out of today so I'm good".

"Okay, fair enough. Well if you don't care, I'm going to go talk to Jane about what we saw earlier. You can come if you want but if you don't, that's chill."

"I'll go I'm curious as well"

"Okay, awesome." Toby said.

Tabby re tightened her ponytail. "Let's go”

Toby made his way to the door. Tabby followed suit. Toby opened the door. Tabby walked out and waited for him since she really didn't know where she was going. Toby led her to the door right next to theirs and knocked. He heard footsteps and the sound of someone moving so they could peak through the eye hole. Then the door opened a crack.

"Hi guys-"

Tabby gave a small wave with her left hand. Jane opened the door and let them in with a furtive look. Tabby entered cautiously. Taking in her surroundings. Jane's apartment looked pretty nice, though it was filled with masks. Something was cooking slowly in a crockpot, which smelled amazing. Jane offered them a weak smile. Tabby took note of the look and smile. She knows Jane is hiding something because she gives the same look that Tabby gives her step dad when he confronts her on the stuff she's being sneaky about. The smell of something cooking in the crockpot made her stomach growl loudly. She crossed her arms over her stomach with a look of embarrassment.

"So! What brings you here-" Jane started to ask.

Toby put a hand up.

"You're hiding something."

Jane looked taken aback.

"Hiding something? What would I be hiding-?"

"It's okay, Jane. Neither of us will tell anyone. We promise. We both saw you with that person. We both know they're not a proxy, but they're wearing a mask. Please...you can tell us."

"it's okay" Tabby gave a smile of reassurance.

She held her arms behind her back. Jane nodded slowly, then took a shuddering breath.

"I'll hold you both to this, you know. If anyone finds out, you can expect me to not react kindly." She got up, and went to a closed door. She opened it. Toby could just make out "Kayla, you can come out. They won't hurt you."

Toby watched as Jane led a human out of the room. The human was a girl, short with dark, heavy eyes, a dark complexion, and long cornrows. She dressed very nicely, in a cream-colored sundress that was now covered with dirt and blood. She had various injuries of varying degrees of severity, each of which were treated, but not professionally. "She accidentally found her way down here with her friends...".

Tabby felt a pang of sympathy for her. She looked just like her when the boys found her in the woods. She noted her injuries.

"I'm Tabby"

She looked over at Jane

"Isn't there any way to return her back?"

"I'm going to take her. Tonight. But I need to see if I can find any of her friends." Jane said. Kayla looked shaky and terrified. She avoided looking at them.

"Hey...Kayla listen...I know what it's like being terrified....but we are the few good people...we'll be able to help you....where did you see your other friends last? Did you all fall together?" She looked over at Toby with an expression that says 'i know us being good people isn't true but please just go with it'

Kayla shook her head.

"We went different ways after we landed, trying to find a way out. I don't know how we got in-" She was shaky and looked like she wanted fo cry.

"I don't know where they are-"

Jane patted her shoulder gently. Kayla winced. Jane retracted her hand quickly.

"Who all is with you?"

"Me and my four friends...Kyle, Nico, Angelina, and Erica..." Kayla buried her face in her hands. Her voice was shaky. "I don't know if they're-if they're still-"

Tabby took a deep breath.

"If they're still alive?" She sighed "honestly that could be a 50/50" "but we'll try to help in any way we can".

Toby nodded. "In return for us returning you to safety with your friends, you may not tell anyone about this place or what's in it. Understand? If you do, we can't help you."

Kayla nodded. "Okay, just please-"

"Where would your friends most likely go? Based on what they like. Normally people have preferred hiding places or places that they would go to hide or get away from everything in the human world. Maybe they would be in similar places here or close to it", asked Tabby.

"Erica is fast...she wouldn't hide. She would keep moving and never be in one place. Angelina would hide as far away from others as she could, so somewhere out in the woods. Nico...god, Nico would try to blend in. He would hide in plain sight if he could. He would listen in and figure out what was going on and mask himself. Kyle...Kyle would hide in a large building if he could. A large place with a lot of hidey holes.", said Kayla.

"Alrighty well... Erica and Nico would be a challenge....but I'm sure we can find Angelina and Kyle..." she said thinking out loud.

She turned to Toby "are there any most likely places that match those descriptions?"

Toby nodded. "Yeah. I can try to find Erica and Nico. I can sense them. You try to find Angelina and Kyle. Check the library and big buildings like that. Jane will help you."

"Alrighty then let's go. I just hope we don't get caught", said Tabby.

"Isn't there anything to like mask her as a proxy just temporarily?"

Jane thought for a bit.

"Well, the mask usually does the trick. Most people dont use their sensing abilities when they see the mask." Jane said.

"Toby's just extra sensitive to that sort of stuff. I could get some charms and wards and whatnot to mask her even further but a malus would easily be able to smell her."

"Well I'd rather take extra precautions. Better to be safe than sorry. In order to increase her chances of survival and to increase our chances of not getting caught"

Tabby has good interpersonal leadership skills when she's not being shy and anti social.Shes always been known as the unofficial ringleader of her group when they were alive unknowingly. And she unknowingly did what she does best. Taking the reigns of any situation.

"I actually don't think it would be safe for her to go out at all." Jane mused.

"She would still be a target because no one would recognize her." Toby had a bad feeling about helping her but knew that it was the right thing to do. This stuff happened a lot. Just usually the humans would die within the hour of them getting here.

"Well then why doesn't someone stay here with her while we look for her friends...or what's left of them.....and like meet up at a secret place or something like that?"

Tabby shifted uncomfortably. Her intuition was screaming at her to be extremely careful about this.

"Our resources would he stretched too thin if we left someone here. We have to scour an entire city without help." Toby said. Kayla was staring at her hands.

"Well do you have any ideas?" She asked the both of them.

"We could leave her here. As long as the door is locked and she doesn't leave, she'll be okay." "Okay...so are we still going to look for her friends?"

"Absolutely."

"Okay then. Let's go"

Jane led Kayla back to the room.

"Whatever you do, don't open the door if someone knocks. I have my own key. The doors to the bedroom and bathroom lock as well. The windows have bars on them. No one can get in through there. If you smell sulphur, hide."

Tabby was fidgeting with the bottom of her shirt again. It wasn't getting into trouble that bothered her. She knew how to take severe punishments. It was just the fear of getting caught that bothered her. She just got this crazy second chance at life and she was already committing high treason. She wasn't sure what the punishments would entail coming from the Slenderman but she knew it wasn't going to be a pretty picture. Death at best. However her intuition and conscience were telling her to help. She always believed in giving others what she couldn't have if she can help it. In Kayla's case it was a chance at going back to a normal life and to have her friends back. She didn't like to having to make difficult decisions but she was also taught to do what she thought was right no matter the cost. And that will out weigh everything always. Toby knew this was wrong. He knew that no human deserved to live. He had been taught that humans were worthless ever since he joined this life. He should be wanting to kill this girl and her friends. But...he didn't. There was no point in it. He was having a bit of a crisis. Why didn't he want to kill her? Why did he want her to get to live as well as her friends? He was taught never to disobey the Slenderman, that his word was law and there was nothing he could do about it. Oh...well, as long as he didn't get caught. Right? Tabby's anxiety was growing. She couldn't disobey a direct order. Her step dad taught her that from a young age or else she got beaten. Same thing goes for the Slenderman only if she disobeyed she was pretty sure she would get a fate a lot worse than a beating and death. Her step dad also taught her that you have to be manipulative, cruel, mean, and selfish. No one else's life matters except your own. And if you have to use people for your own survival including death then so be it. But yet that's not her. Sure she was mean and harsh and lacks a conscious but that's just more of a coping mechanism. But her intuition said otherwise. She knew deep down that it was the right thing to do. And she was good at being sneaky so she shouldn't get caught. She cleared her throat and pushed away her step dad's teachings and stood up straight smoothening out her shirt with her hands shakily at her sides. "So are we going or not?"

Jane nodded. She helped Kayla back to the room. She figured that Kayla should sleep now. Once Kayla was in the bed and dozing off, Jane went to her closet and began to load up on some weapons and some placeholder masks. She doubted these people were alive. But maybe with luck they would find at least one. Tabby tried to neutralize her anxiety by taking a couple of shallow deep breaths but it just made her more nauseous and she had a hard time swallowing. She still showed no emotion though. Jane was also nervous. The chances of finding her friends alive was very small, and the chances of getting them all out alive were even smaller. Tabby waited for everyone else. Her left eye twitched a little due to anxiety. Jane and Toby were ready to go. Jane had made sure Kayla was comfortable. Tabby followed them out the door. Toby said his goodbyes and immediately set off to try to find them. She said goodbye to Toby not really wanting to be left without him. She looked over at Jane.

"Now it's just the two of us"

Toby waved as he left. Jane nodded.

"Hopefully we can find them...alive I mean.".

Tabby gave him a small wave back. She turned to Jane faking the confidence to get rid of her anxiety.

"I hope so too...hopefully none of us get caught...let's go" she lead the way heading towards the library first.

Tabby gave him a small wave back. She turned to Jane faking the confidence to get rid of her anxiety. "I hope so too...hopefully none of us get caught...let's go" she lead the way heading towards the library first.

"Hopefully" she agreed.

They needed to find Angelina and Kyle. She looked for landmarks that she saw earlier when Toby was showing her around since she was awful at street names. She kept her hands in her pockets and kept her head down to avoid any attention drawn to them. Jane continued to walk, a little uneasy. Tabby was a lot less safe with her than she was with Toby, mainly because people disliked Jane. Tabby was pretty confident that she could hold her own for a good 20 minutes in a given fightand even protect Jane if she had to. If she died then she dies and that's that. Although she was pretty sure that Jane could hold her own as well for the most part. She walked with a mixture of confidence and lack of self confidence all at the same time. Jane was a very capable person. She was good at what she did. She could easily protect them both but it would get her into trouble. She was disgraced, so her attempting to defend herself from other highly ranked proxies was a no go. Kayla had given them a picture to work off of. Kyle was a sandy blonde with a nice smile. Angelina was a very pretty Korean girl with twinkly eyes, a playful smile, and a large tattoo of a devil on her thigh. Erica was a girl of middle eastern descent, with black hair pulled into a pony tail and a slim physique. Nico was a tall kid with wavy dark hair and a dark complexion. He had a cheeky smile and looked like a very friendly person. They got to the library. Tabby was wringing out her shirt since her anxiety was sky high again. She marched right up the library steps and headed inside and waited for Jane. Jane followed her inside. The cool air sent goosebumps up her arms. She saw the librarians on edge. Tabby took note of the librarians uneasyness to the back of the library. She assumed that not a lot of people go to the way back and she assumed that there would be plenty of hidden places for others to hide in there. If they looked hard enough.

Jane turned and saw one of the librarians right behind her.

"Are you here for the special package?" The librarian asked.

"I beg your pardon?" Jane was a little confused.

"The special package." The librarian stated, pointing at one of Jane's pockets. The pocket the photo was in.

"...I might be. Is..." She whispered the last part. "Is he here?"

The librarian nodded slowly.

Tabby breath a visible sigh of relief and gave a small smile to Jane.

"We got one alive so far. So far so good" she whispered.

Jane wasn't too sure. She wouldn't call him alive until she saw him. The librarian led them to a room further in the back. It was much colder back there.

"He is sedated." The librarian said.

"We are not allowed to kill. That is for you to do."

Jane, thinking quickly, replied, "We won't do it in the library. It will be done in private. You don't have to clean up our mess."

The librarian nodded. Tabby nodded too going along with the situation.

"We'll take it from here" Tabby said faking the confidence that was in her voice.

The librarian led them to a locked room. They unlocked it. Kyle was huddled in the corner, tied up and gagged but seemingly unharmed.

Tabby nodded at the librarian "thank you very much we got our jobs from here on out".

The librarian nodded and slunk out of the room. Kyle looked up at them with fear in his wide eyes. His face was bruised. He looked like he had been through a lot.

Tabby bent down to his level.

"Hey we're not going to hurt you in fact we're going to get you out of here with your friends and try to send you guys back home tonight. Do you understand?" She whispered.

She looked over at Jane.

"Where are we bringing him exactly?" She whispered.

"We take him home. Or I can while you search for the others. Maybe Toby's there with one of the others." Jane whispered back to her.

Kyle was still trembling, but looked hopeful.

"I'll go with you. I mean two is better than one" she helped Kyle up.

In reality she didn't want to be left alone when it's only day 2 in this new life for her. She didn't trust that she would be safe enough by herself. And she certainly didn't want to have the chance of getting caught by herself or worse for Jane to be by herself if they got caught. Jane nodded. She was a little worried that something would happen if either one of them were alone. She waited for a bit before untying his ropes. Tabby helped. She was a master at tying and untying things since she has tiny hands so she can undo any knot and she went through a phase when she was 4 when she would tie her stuffed animals up like they were being captured and then untie them. Soon Kyle was freed up. Jane found something on the floor.

Kyle pointed to it, and said "That's my hearing aid."

Jane handed it to him quickly, looking around. Kyle spoke very loudly. After he had put them back in, he spoke in a whisper.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome" she whispered back. "Now let's get you out of here. We have kayla she's safe. And we're trying to find the others"

"Oh god..." Kyle seemed incredibly stressed out. "At least you have Kayla-I think Erica might have her phone on her. I could try to call her but I don't want to put her into any trouble-"

"I wouldn't recommend that" Tabby whispered quickly "technically we're not supposed to be doing this. We could get caught and be in serious trouble. It would be easier if you just let us look for them okay?".

Kyle nodded. He understood but was so frustrated that he couldn't help.

Jane handed him a mask.

"Put that on. When we walk, act like you belong here."

"Also keep you head down low,keep your hands in your pockets and don't make too much eye contact".

Kyle nodded again. He wished he could go out looking for his friends but understood that by protesting, he would be endangering their lives. Tabby nodded and turned to Jane

"So where are we going from here?"

"Let's take him back to the apartment. Unless you want to risk taking him with us."

"Apartment is better. Less risky”

"You're right." Jane said.

Kyle looked a little unhappy at the idea of not being able to see the action and try to help, so Jane said.

"Kayla needs someone right now. She would be delighted to know that you were okay."

Kyle's face softened, and he nodded.

"Yeah she seemed really worried about you and the rest of your friends", said Tabby,

"Kayla's like that." Kyle said with a small smile.

Jane smiled at him.

"Alright let's go" she whispered with a mischievous smile.

Jane nodded and led them out. Kyle did his best to look cool and confident as they walked through the library and out the door. On the inside, he was looking around, praying to see one of his friends. God...what would Nico do? He was good at this stuff...

Tabby kept sauntering forward and kept her head low and her hands in her pockets. Jane essentially powerwalked them home. They didn't get any weird glances. Tabby kept checking behind her to make sure that Kyle was still with them and to make sure that no one else was following them. She kept her mind blank too so that no one could read her mind as someone could walk by. Jane kept them clear of areas where there were a lot of mali, or even monsters that had a strong sense of smell. They managed to get to the home without a hitch.

She breath a sigh of relief.

"That wasn't so bad. We actually make a great team".

Jane smiled slightly.

"I suppose we do."

She got to the apartment and unlocked it. Toby wasn't back yet but that didn't mean anything.

"Okay. Kayla is in Jane's room sleeping just stay here and hide and we'll be back with Angelina hopefully. That's the goal here", said Tabby.

Kyle nodded.

"What about Erica and Nico?" He asked quietly.

"Our other....teammate is working on it. Since Erica is on the run always it would be hard to pin point her down for where she is. As for Nico since he likes to try to hide in plain sight it would be hard for us to pick him out. Our other....teammate is good at tracking and picking out people like that" Tabby explained.

She hesitated on what to call Toby since he was Jane's friend but she didn't consider him a friend just yet. He needed to earn her trust more for to be considered that. She just considered him as an acquaintance that she feels like she owes. Kyle nodded. He remained hopeful that his friends were alive. He sat down on the couch right when there was a knock on the door. Kyle almost jumped out of his skin. Jane quickly ushered him into the bathroom and closed the door behind him before going to the door and peeking outside. Tabby felt the familiar adrenaline coursing through her full blast in overtime and felt the familiar dread in her stomach. She tensed up and stood in a defensive potential fighting stance ready to grab her knives out if needed. Her anxiety spiked up again. Jane gave her a look to tell her to put the knives away. She opened the door a crack. An unfamiliar proxy was at the door. He was tall and muscular, and honestly rather good looking, with neatly groomed red hair and grey eyes.

"I'm here for my teammate's mask." He snapped at Jane.

Jane nodded and forced a smile. "Of course. For Styx, yes?"

The man nodded, looking past Jane into the apartment. Tabby quickly put them away and gave a sheepish apologetic look. She looked at him with a hint of nostalgia and sadness. He looked like a male version of her best friend Autumn. With her Auburn hair and her stormy gray eyes. Jane went to go get the mask. The unfamiliar man came inside the apartment and sat down on one of the couches while he waited. He glanced at Tabby. She gave a shy smile and a small wave with her bandaged left hand. The man gave her a small, somewhat approving nod.

"You new?" He asked in his somewhat stern voice.

It wasn't like he tried to sound that way. He just did.

"Yeah my life turned into this last night", She said awkwardly as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Ah, I see." The man said.

He was the leader of his own group of five, and he had been a proxy for about 20 years. He had been turned at just 12 years old, so this was the only life he knew. He understood that Tabby was probably stressing about it. Usually he didn't care; she would learn. But he was training a new proxy in his own group so he was feeling much more sympathetic than usual. She fidgeted with her shirt slightly looking down. She wasn't good at keeping conversation with strangers.

The man looked away for a bit.

"My name's R." He told her plainly.

"Are you waiting here for a mask, or has Jane not told you what she is?".

She looked up quickly "my name is Tabby. No I already have my own mask. She's just keeping me company until my mentor for lack of better words to come back" which was sort of true. The only form of lying she can do is lying by omission. She looked down.

"Ah, I see. That's kind of her." R said, looking away from Tabby. Jane soon came out of another room with the mask in a box.

Tabby nodded still not looking up. Jane handed R the box. He thanked her and stood up to leave. Tabby said a quick goodbye. R nodded at her and left. Jane closed the door behind him with a big sigh of relief. Tabby also gave a big sigh of relief too as well now that her anxiety died down. She let kyle out of the bathroom. Kyle was physically shaking from nerves. He sunk onto the couch, holding his shaking hands.

"You're okay now" she understood.

When anxiety is sky high it makes her too wound up to the point of attacking every little thing that moves sometimes. Other days it's really bad to the point of where she throws up or dry heaves. Jane got Kyle some water to settle him down. She checked in on Kayla. She was out like a light, snuggled into the blankets. Jane checked to make sure she was still breathing and whatnot due to how peaceful she looked. Kyle looked so relieved to see his friend okay. Jane glanced at Tabby.

"We should probably go..."

Tabby nodded "You're right" she looked over at Kyle "you sure you're going to be okay here by yourself?"

Kyle nodded. "Yeah-I will be." He said, sipping his water.

"Alright...." she said a little unsure she looked like she didn't believe him but left it alone. She looked over at Jane "Let's go".

Jane nodded.

"If you see a man with goggles and a mouthguard at the door, let him in. If it's anyone else, pretend that no one's home. If you smell sulphur, hide. If worst comes to worst, every door in this house locks."

Tabby nodded and waited for Jane. Jane left and closed the door behind her. She could have sworn she heard footsteps. Tabby followed her still keeping her head down and keeping her hands in her pockets as to not draw attention to herself. Just as they were about to leave, Toby came straggling up the stairs, holding someone in his arms. Both Toby and the figure were covered in blood. Jane could tell that the figure was a girl, and assumed it was Erica. Toby looked very pale. Neither he nor Jane knew anything more than basic first aid and it was clear the girl needed more than that. Tabby was frantic when she saw the sight of Toby.

"What happened? are you okay?" She saw the the state of the girl.

Tabby knew what to do somewhat she knew slightly more than basic first aid since her mom used to work at a hospital as a CNA before she got fired. So she taught Tabby what she knew when she had the time. The rest was research and figuring it out to patch herself and her friends up after fights. She become more calm and took charge of the situation.

"Alright lay her down. I'm going to need some sort of cloth, water to put pressure on the wounds to stop the bleeding and clean up the blood so we can see just how much damage there is. Possibly some bandages too please".

Toby didnt feel any pain but that didn't mean he wasn't injured. He had come across a malus just about to take a bite of the girl after overpowering her. The girl had multiple deep lacerations on her head and body, multiple deep bite marks, claw marks, a couple stab wounds, and probably even more that Toby couldn't see. Jane opened the door to her apartment and ordered Kyle to go wait with Kayla. Toby laid the girl on the couch and went to go get some water and cloth. Jane took one look at the girl, and left the apartment to go get someone with actual medical training. She knew Tabby would be able to help a lot, but she also knew a medic could ensure the girl's survival. She knew Kate would do it and keep her mouth shut about it. Tabby knelled by the girl's side. She gulped as the sight made her have flashbacks to when her friends jumped and the state of their bodies after. So much blood, and cracked skulls and contortions that wasn't normal for a body to make. Ones that told you that they were most certainly dead. This girl looked worse than them. Her stomach was doing flip flops and she felt like she was going to throw up. her tan skin looked pale and clammy. Toby began wiping some of the blood off. He noticed Erica's breathing was shallow. Cleaning the wounds revealed how deep they were, but thankfully the head wounds were only sort of surface level. Head wounds just tended to bleed a lot. Jane soon came back with Kate, who glanced at both Tabby and Toby, and sort of gestured for them to move so she could get to Erica. She had her medical bag with her. Tabby was helping too getting some of the blood on her hands and clothes. They actually managed to clean up half of the blood. There wasn't so much blood as she started out with. When Kate and Jane got there she moved out of the way along with Toby. She turned to Toby, "Sit down and try not to move too much. I'm going to clean you up. And don't say that you can do it yourself. just because you can't feel pain doesn't stop the damage from happening" She said it in a way that said that it wouldn't be wise to argue with her.

Kate immediately got to work helping Erica. Thankfully, it looked like she would be okay. Nothing was deep enough to get to any organs and no arteries or veins were cut. All of her wounds looked like self defense wounds. Toby didn't protest. He didn't know if he was wounded or not. He had killed the malus that had attacked Erica, mainly so there were no witnesses. Hopefully no one would find the body until his scent was gone from the scene. Jane was helping both Tabby and Kate. Kate was silent for awhile, before speaking.

"Why are you trying to save the human?" She asked plainly. Just because Kate didn't agree didn't mean that she was doing a bad job on Erica.

Tabby was gentle with cleaning Toby. Her bandaged hand was dirty and bloodied and her hands were rough and calloused in general. But that's from fights and working in a kitchen. She and Jane cleaned up most of the blood. He only had a few deep lacerations but nothing fatal. If he could feel pain he would just be sore for a couple of days. She answered Kate while helping Jane Bandaged Toby up. Taking the blame for the both of them.

"It was my idea to begin with. She could potentially have what I couldn't have which was a real family and friends. I recently lost the only people I considered family in one fell swoop. I-I don't know. I guess it was an attempt to make sure that no one else has to go through what I went through the best I can in the circumstances that I'm given" she said quietly.

Which was true that's why she wanted to help Jane in the first place. Not only because it was what she thought was the right thing to do but she saw it as a chance to make sure that they could have what she can't have. Their friends all together, alive and in one piece. Doesn't help that she has has a weird form of a hero complex that she got from her step dad. so she also saw it as a chance to attempt to be some form of a hero in a small sense.

Kate gave her a little nod. She was quiet as she stitched up the girl's wounds, being very neat and tidy with her work. After she finished, she began to apply bandages. As she did, she spoke.

"I understand why you did this, but just know that you can never do this for a human again, alright? " Erica was still barely conscious.

Jane gulped a bit.

"You won't tell anyone, will you?"

"No, of course not. But I won't lie for you either.", said Kate.

Kate finished patching up Erica.

"Jane, do you have any room you can put her in? A bed of some sort?" "I can put her in my own room. The guest room is being used." Jane said, looking down at Erica with a curious look in her eyes.

Toby massaged his bandaged arm, also glancing at Erica, then at Tabby. Tabby looked down and look everywhere but at the people. some of the color came back to her she was less pale now but she still looked like she was about ready to throw up. She massaged her left hand making sure that there wasn't anymore damage to it. She winced as she felt the phantom cramping pain in her hand. Jane and Kate moved Erica to Jane's room. It would be comfortable in there. They came back out. Jane's living area was covered in blood, but they could clean it later. Toby looked a little uneasy, but at the same time unbothered. Tabby was fidgeting with her left hand and shifting uncomfortably. Kate left soon after. Toby sighed.

"I would have come back with Nico but...but he's dead." He said quietly. "He was the human that was murdered earlier. The one we overheard."

Tabby had that look of dawning realization like an "ohh" moment.

She nodded.

"Well no one said life had to fight fair. At least we got 3 out of 4, That ain't bad" She sounded harsh, tired and indifferent all at the same time.

"Three out of the five. We still need to find Angelina. Alive or dead." Toby reminded them.

"Right sorry" she looked at them with tired eyes and a small apologetic smile.

"Kayla said that Angelina would hide out in the woods somewhere. The logical places to hide there are in the shrubs or in the trees"

Toby got up to start towards the door, but Jane pulled him down.

"You need to stay here and rest. Look after the apartment for me?".

"She's right. You're in rough shape. I'll go with her" Tabby gave him a soft reassuring small smile.

Toby sighed.

"Alright, fine."

He seemed a little dejected about being left out of the action, almost like a little kid. Jane hid her grin behind her mask, but her eyes twinkled.

"You being here will be beneficial, I think. You can start asking these kids where they live and whatnot. So we can figure out how to get them home”.

Tabby hid her giggle in the guise of a cough. She couldn't help but squeal internally in her head at how adorable Toby was being. Thank god there was no one here that could read her mind. She shook her head to focus. She wouldn not and could not afford to get attached or care. She promised herself that she wouldn't forget her friends and moving on means forgetting. She cleared her throat and became more serious

"we should get going".

Jane nodded.

"Of course." She hoped the girl was alive, but wasn't too hopeful. They had been much too lucky lately. Toby went to go let Kyle out of the bathroom.

She gave one last look at Toby before disappearing out the door with Jane.

Jane sighed.

"You ready to do this again?" She asked.

Jane looked very tired. She checked to make sure Tabby had her mask on.

Tabby had her mask on. Tabby also sounded tired but resigned at the same time

"I'm going to have to be. I've made my choice to help and I'm sticking by it regardless of what the consequences might be".

I mean the poor kid has never made a good decision in her life why start now?

Jane nodded.

"As long as we're not caught, it's fine." She assured Tabby with a smile.

They walked out of the apartment building. Tabby nodded and had her usual walking position and began to humming the prologue song from into the woods since that's where they were heading anyways. Jane didn't know the reference. She didn't ask, however. They soon ducked into the large expanse of woods and began to walk. Tabby relaxed a little since the woods were like her natural habitat. but not by much. Her town was surrounded by woods and at Rosewood in the way back like behind the boarding section of Rosewood there was a semi hidden clearing in the woods where she and Autumn would spend time together ranging from 10 minutes to 2 hours after school together on most days. It was a place where they could be themselves and speak their minds and just relax for a short time. Jane was much more on edge. The woods were where the non-humanoid monsters lived. Large and small, and all aggressive. She knew The Rake lived close by here. She hoped and prayed that Angelina was still alive but her hope slowly dwindled as they got deeper into the woods. Tabby was on high alert at her surroundings. She was looking everywhere. Up at the trees, down and around. Not only looking for Angelina but also keeping an eye out for other dangers that could be sneaking up on them. Jane heard a low groan, and creaking among the trees. She heard the rustling of leaves and the crunching of grass. The forest loved to play tricks on them. Tabby jumped a little and was ready to jump in front of Jane in a fighting stance to protect her. She just continued walking ignoring the forest tricks. Jane heard whispering and crying from deeper in the forest. She ignored it, knowing how the forest worked. It was easy to get lost. By chance, she looked at the ground, and saw footprints.

"Should we follow them?", asked Tabby.

"Well, we have no other leads.", said Jane.

Tabby slowly and cautiously followed to where the footprints lead to. Jane did as well, humming tonelessly under her breath. The footprints led deep into the woods. Honestly with the way the shadows were in the forest. They covered Tabby really well she actually blended in with the forest. Jane soon smelled smoke, which she found was odd. The aura of the part of the forest they were in now was very eerie. Something was seriously wrong in these parts. The trees were twisted and groaned with every breeze. The grass was a sick, almost peach color. The trees' bark was light in patches, suggesting some sort of corruption. Tabby was familiar with the dark aura considering she had one from the darkness of Rosewood following her around. On top of her own raw personal darkness that's just barely beneath the surface. But this....this was different....it was close to the dark, powerful, suffocating aura that the entity who gave her more knowledge on the supernatural had 13 years ago. But not quite it since she could tell it was something else beyond that. She was fighting to keep that flashback from happening. She was more on edge and uneasy. The footsteps seemed to disappear little by little until they became scarce.

"Are you sure we should keep going this way? I mean the footsteps seems to stop right around this area anyways...." , trailed off Tabby.

Jane pointed to the distance. She could smell smoke. And in the distance she could have sworn she saw a small figure, wrapped in a coat, sitting next to the fire. It really did look like Angelina from a distance.

"Should we approach it?".

"I don't see why not..."

Tabby took a deep breath and walked forward. Jane joined her. One of them stepped on a twig and it made a loud crack. The figure turned and looked at them. She didn't flee. Tabby froze and gave a small wave. Jane slowly approached closer. Tabby continued to walk closer. Jane soon saw a girl who looked a lot like Angelina. But something was...wrong with her. Tabby noticed something was wrong too. She stopped walking. Her intuition was screaming at her that to stop and run. But she didn't raise herself to be a coward and it was beaten into her not to be one. So she just froze. She gave Jane a look that said "are you sure that we should continue?". Jane frowned softly. She decided to call out to the girl. "Angelina?" The girl looked up at them. She had some weird markings on her hands that were definitely not on the photo that Kayla had shown them, but otherwise she was a dead ringer.

"Are you Angelina? Because we can get you out of here and somewhere safe" Jane finally said.

Angelina nodded. She turned away a bit and coughed into her elbow before offering them a small smile.

"Let's get you out of here" Tabby offered her right hand to help her up and to show her that they weren't going to hurt her.

Angelina took her hand. Her hands felt very cold. Jane noted the marks and felt a little uneasy. Tabby helped her up and eyed her to see if she had injuries. She began to walk with her. Angelina didn't look injured. Just a bit off. She walked with Jane and Angelina. Making sure that she was still with them. Jane looked at Angelina's hands.

"How long has that been going on, hon?" She asked politely.

"About two days." Angelina responded.

Tabby listened intently. Jane was just chatting to Angelina to calm her down, and get her to open up. Tabby paid attention to her surroundings to make sure that they weren't going to be attacked. Jane learned that Angelina had never met her father, that her mother was a principal at a high school, and that she had a little sister named Amanda. Tabby was making comparisons from Angelina's life and her old life in her head. Tabby had two brothers. One older and one younger she is the middle child. Mother worked a lot so she never really saw her. Real dad died and her step dad was an abusive stay at home dad. Jane could tell by the way Angelina talked and spoke about her life and the events within them that she was a hybrid. There was no question about it. She would be a lot safer there than any of her other friends. Tabby continued to say nothing as she listened and kept walking. They soon got to the entrance of the woods, almost like the forest was trying to spit them out.

"Ah finally it's good to be out".

Jane nodded. Angelina looked at the ground and avoided Tabby's face. Tabby looked at Angelina curiously. Wondering why she was avoiding her gaze. But she assumed it was just a nervous thing. After all she did the same thing with Toby at first. She didn't say anything on it so she dropped it. ane felt a weird aura coming off of Angelina.

"Are my friends okay?" She asked Jane quietly.

Jane nodded.

"Well most of them are....Nico is well....dead" Tabby put it bluntly and she shifted uncomfortably and looked down.

Jane expected Angelina to break down in tears. To cry. But she didn't. She just kept her eyes on the ground. "It's my fault." She whispered softly.

"Hey listen it wasn't your fault. You didn't know. From what Kayla told us you kinda all went separate ways after you all landed. How could you have anything to do with his death. He's the one who got himself killed. Not you", Tabby said softly.

"No, you don't understand." Angelina said quietly. "It was my fault-" She stopped talking and looked at the ground.

Tabby nodded.

"You can tell us later once we get somewhere semi safer. Let's keep going".

Jane nodded. They would be much safer with Angelina if she was correct in her assumption that she was a hybrid. Tabby sighed and rubbed her face. Her insomnia was wearing off and it wasn't until now how she realized how tired she was. She kept walking forward. Jane saw the apartment building in the distance. Tabby continued walking, making sure that Jane and Angelina were right behind her. Jane caught up with Tabby.

"Do you see the marks on her hands?" She whispered to Tabby.

Tabby nodded and whispered "yeah but I didn't say anything about it".

"It looks a lot like the corruption of the woods now that I think about it."

"Why would the woods be corrupted by that though?".

“No, that's not it. I think the woods are starting to corrupt her."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't think she's telling us the full truth.".

"Well once we get into your apartment we'll ask her again since we're not going to be out in the open"

Jane nodded. They soon got to the apartment building entry. Jane pulled the doors open. A couple of proxies were hanging by the front desk. Tabby stood up straight and kept an emotionless expression and just stared straight ahead not giving any of the proxies any attention. Jane did the same, and Angelina followed suit awkwardly, also ignoring the group. They were picking on a younger proxy. Tabby gave a quick pitiful look at the younger proxy who was being picked on but quickly looked away deciding not to do anything as she had bigger fish to fry with Jane and Angelina. Jane sighed and just quickly ushered them along. Angelina kept her head down. Jane noticed how tired she was, and how frayed she must have been for the whole day. Tabby sighed in relief as it was good to be back somewhere familiar. Jane opened the door to the apartment. Toby was talking to Kyle softly. It looked like Kyle had been crying. Erica had gotten out of bed and was settled on the couch with Kayla, who had also been crying. Tabby sighed and sounded tired.

"What happened?"

Toby sighed.

"I told them the news about Nico. Kid was really popular." He muttered to Tabby.

Tabby rolled her eyes. Which made her look insensitive. Death happens all the time. To her they were acting really sensitive. They should just get over it. In fact they should be goddamn lucky that they only lost one friend and not all of them like she did. Then she gave a guilty apologetic look because she knew better. She understands what it's like to lose a friend. She cleared her throat.

"We've found Angelina. Have you found out where they all live yet?" She said quietly after awhile.

Erica was really the only one who noticed Tabby's eye roll. The rest were too busy in their own grief. Erica drew further into herself, eyebrows furrowed. Angelina didn't go to talk to her friends. She just lingered by the door.

"I have." Toby said. "They live pretty close to Rosewood actually.".

Tabby palled at the mention of her old school.

"Well that's convenient. I know where that is. How do we get them back?".

Toby sighed.

"I'll take them. Don't worry about it."

He wanted this over and done with.

"You sure?" She leaned against the door.

If she took one more step then she would collapse onto the floor and her body would shut down to get the sleep that she desperately needed.

Toby nodded.

"Yeah. You should rest." He said.

He was tired too, but Jane and Tabby had done a lot of heavy lifting that day.

"I'm not tired" but that was a bullshit lie.

Toby saw straight through it.

"Uh huh." He said. "Just stay here until I get back."

"Fine" she said like an annoyed child reluctantly giving in at being told what to do.

Toby sighed, and smiled at Tabby. Jane looked exhausted as well. She wished Toby luck.

"Hey try not to die, okay?", said Tabby,

"I can't make any promises." Toby joked a bit.

"That's why the key word here is 'try'" she said with a slightly annoyed tone but it was more playful and she managed to give him a small smile.

Toby laughed. "I will."

He looked at Erica.

"Can you walk?" He asked her.

She nodded.

"The rest of you good?"

He got nods. Angelina stood near a corner, away from her friends. Tabby looked at all of them and wish them luck. Kayla thanked her softly. Kyle nodded to her. Erica was remembering her eyeroll, it seemed, and just glanced at her with a slight nod. Angelina thanked her quietly but didn't look at her. Tabby gave them all a slight nod back. Toby led the group of teens out.

Tabby was going about Jane's apartment helping to clean up the blood. She felt like she was going to drop from exhaustion and go into a coma for a week like she normally does when her insomnia wears off. She willed herself to stay awake but it was clear that she was struggling. Jane had gotten most of it. The apartment was soon pretty clean. Jane was exhausted. Her feet and body were sore from the long day. It was hot, so she turned on the ac and took off her wig to put it away. Since Tabby was here she would keep her mask on, but when she left she'd take it off. Tabby finished the last bit of it. She stood back up. She swayed back and forth a little. The adrenaline wore off and her anxiety was gone now that it was done and they wouldn't get caught. Tabby felt herself collapsing on the floor. Her breathing was shallow and her mind retreated further into the dark dreamless void that she called sleep. She was out. ane sighed. Poor girl. She gently picked her up and brought her to the guest room. Toby could bring her back to her actual room when he got back. She tucked Tabby into the comfortable blankets and kept the lights soothingly dim but not all the way off. Jane was tired, but she would wait for Toby to get back. Satisfied that Tabby was alright, she went back out to the living area and took her mask off. Tabby was in her natural sleeping position. Her knees were brought up to her stomach, her arms were crisscrossed across her chest with her hands covering the back of her neck, and her back against a corner of the wall and bed so no one could even have the chance of getting to her vital areas while she slept. Because once she actually gets to sleep she's dead weight she can't hear or feel a thing. Which is dangerous to her in the state that she's in. Jane relaxed in the living room for about an hour. Toby still wasnt back yet. She knew the portal closest to those kid's houses was a while away but she was still a little worried for Toby. Toby had only been doing this for at the most two years. He was still, by their society's standards, new. Tabby was still dead asleep she was slightly more relaxed and let a little slack in her sleeping position. She was still curled up in her protective position but she wasn't as tense about it. If you really paid attention you can hear her snoring quietly. About three hours later, Toby came back. He looked absolutely exhausted. He was unharmed thankfully. Jane hurriedly put her mask on and led him inside the apartment. Tabby wasn't aware of anything that was going on. Tabby was still unconscious. Toby looked tired and annoyed with everything. He sat and talked with Jane for awhile about what had gone on, and then offered to take Tabby back to the room. Tabby was still out. She's going to hate herself in the morning more than what she already does. She hates the vulnerability that she showed and was about to show Toby. She's going to have to explain how her sleeping process works when her body finally gives out. In the meantime she was unsuspecting of anything. Jane offered to help Toby take Tabby back to the room, but Toby could do this alone. Tabby was still curled up and she was dead weight when she was dead asleep. But she's generally light for the most part so it should be easier for him to carry her. Toby picked her up quickly to help her to her room. Tabby rested her cheek against his chest and hung on to him him for dear life. It was a weird form of cuddling almost that she was unaware of. You could hear her snoring gently.

Toby smiled to himself. She reminded him a little bit of a little kid at the moment. He set her down in her bed and tucked her in. Tabby still clung onto his hoody, practically pulling him into her bed. "Stay...please....Autumn....don't....don't leave me again..." she whimpered in her sleep.

It would be cute if it wasn't so sad. She sounded like a hurt lost puppy. Toby let out a surprised squeak, now very confused. But he could tell Tabby wasn't doing okay. He let her hold onto his hoodie as he slowly moved to slip out of it. As soon as Toby was out of his hoodie. Tabby shifted her sleeping position to where she wrapped herself around his body. Or vice versa? But she was cuddling with it and had her cheek to his hood semi breathing in his scent. She actually calmed down a little and her breathing went back to taking rythemetic shallow breaths. Toby decided to let her hold onto the hoodie while she slept. There was no harm in it. The real harm would be if they were caught in a compromising situation. Proxies could have relationships, sure, but they had to be approved. Tabby continued to sleep and was more relaxed after her nightmare had passed. Toby went to go to sleep himself. Tabby would stay asleep for awhile. Normally when her body eventually gives out it's a solid 3 day coma before it's just regular sleeping as much as she can for that week and maybe possibly get into a sleep routine until another bout of insomnia comes up. Toby would check on her in the morning. He figured she was exhausted. He understood that. When he first came here, he rarely slept. If anything needed to be done tomorrow then Toby would have to wake her up himself. If not then its comatose for a week with her to catch up on sleep. Toby would wake her up the next day for the meeting then let her sleep more if she needed to. Tabby was nuzzling Toby's hoody and holding onto it. Almost like a security blanket. Toby let her do so. He was pretty tired himself. He went to his own room and flopped on the bed. The moment Tabby collapsed on the floor of Jane's apartment is the moment that she blacked out. So there's going to be a lot of explaining to do on both parts. Her head and body is going to hurt tomorrow morning from how hard she hit the floor but she'll deal with that tomorrow. Toby hadn't known she'd fallen, but wanted to leave her to sleep. He began to doze off into sleep. He felt...vaguely rewarded helping them. While Tabby was still knocked tf out. For the first time in forever she felt at peace with herself for doing what she thought was right. At least she could give those kids what she couldn't have. The majority of their friends/family back and in one peice. In a sense it made her feel like the hero she once was and not a god awful person that just about everyone else including herself thought of her as. And in a little vague sense she was making it up to Autumn just a fraction. Toby eventually was about to fall fast asleep. But then he heard a knock on the door. Swearing a little, he got up to go answer the door, rubbing his eyes. It was Hoodie. Tabby was not aware of anything that was going on. Hoodie looked Toby up and down.

"You look like a mess. Can I come in?".

Toby wordlessly moved so Hoodie could enter the apartment.

Tabby was vaguely awake. She knew something was going on but didn't care enough about it. She quickly fell back to sleep. She shifted so she could hide Toby's hoody under neath the covers more. So they wouldn't get into trouble..

Hoodie looked at Toby.

"We have a little mission to do before we do the long mission with EJ."

Tabby was still asleep but everything was entering her head subconsciously. Hoodie explained that there was a family that needed executing in the human realm. Tabby hoped that it wasn't hers. Or Horacio's for that matter. She needed to kill him herself. Although she would be grateful to whomever killed him she would be pissed because that was the whole point for her taking this second chance at life. If someone else did it then it wouldn't be her fulfilling her promises that she made. But it would be someone else doing it for her. It wasn't hers. It was a random family. They had specific instructions. The family was five people. A father, aged 36. A mother, 34. A boy aged 12, a girl aged 9, and a newborn. The father and mother were to be killed. The boy would be trained as a proxy. The older girl would be given a trial period to see if she could be a proxy as well, and if not, she would be taken to The Valence Institution. The two men knew what was meant by that so they didn't go into details. The baby was to be taken to the boss himself. At least she didn't have to die. They would be doing it tomorrow before leaving on their other mission. The plus side is it would give them a bit of cash. Tabby hoped that she wouldn't be involved. With the first mission.

Toby looked at Hoodie.

"Anything else?"

"The boss wants Tabby to carry out the killings."

Toby shook his head.

"No. It's too early. I'll do it." Tabby slept on not knowing about the horrendous things they planned for her to do. Hoodie and Toby argued for awhile, but eventually Toby was just too tired to argue anymore. Hoodie was on the verge of hitting the boy. He may not be new...but he was still young and stupid for a proxy.

"We leave to go in 12 hours. Be ready by then.".

Oh. Poor Tabby. The many more hard choices that she'll have to make come tomorrow.

#tw character death #tw blood #tw gore #creepypasta #creepypasta fandom #tabbyanderson #tabby #Orginal character #fanfic #au #Toby #Toby Rogers #ticci toby #jane arkensaw #jane the killer #original characters #hoodie #Brian Thomas #Every Rose Has Its Thorn

2 notes · View notes

justaghostingon · 4 years

Text

Merfolk are Overrated

Chapter 4: To The Shore

Kodya’s class takes a fieldtrip, and it goes about as well as can be expected when you let three curious mermaids loose in a general store.

Read on ao3 here https://archiveofourown.org/works/25041904/chapters/62957779

Or below the cut

As the weeks rolled by, a pattern began to emerge. Kodya would wake up early and go out fishing, just like before. Only now three bright-colored heads would rise from the water to greet him as soon as he cut the engine, the Kid at the forefront with some small gift to appease Kodya. He would still set out the nets, like always. But now a mermaid or two would be there to try and help. Occasionally one, usually Red, would get stuck and need to be cut out. Kodya would still eat his lunches out on the water like always, but now those lunches would be shared by three mermaids chattering and snacking themselves. Even Fluffy would mime out an opinion or two. Then after lunch, Kodya would start teaching.

Gyrus was, by far, the best student Kodya had ever seen. It took him almost no time to learn basic math, and soon he was calculating faster and with greater accuracy than Kodya himself could. Kodya had once tried to explain how budgeting worked to illustrate why his nets were so important, and by that evening Gyrus had completely reorganized his budget to the point where he was saving more money than he’d thought was possible. In all honesty, Kodya was pretty sure Gyrus was some kind of super genius, and found he was rapidly running out of things to teach him.

If he’d only known the Kid, Kodya is pretty sure that he would have chalked up Gyrus’ super-intelligence to just a siren thing. But alas, it appeared that great age did not translate to skill with numbers, as both Fluffy and Red were leagues behind. Not that they were terrible, Kodya begrudgingly noted that if they had been to elementary school together they both have had higher grades than he did. But they needed a slower pace, and often Kodya found he had to slow down the lesson to accommodate them.

If teaching them all math had been their only goal, Kodya would have tried giving Fluffy and Red more class hours while sending the Kid off to do homework or something. But neither Fluffy or Red showed any particular interest in putting extra work into improving their own skills. They’d put up a show to support Gyrus of course, but Fluffy’s constant fidgeting and Red’s frustrated growls made it very clear they did not really want to be there. This in turn made Gyrus get distracted trying to explain and keep them interested, meaning he didn’t advance either. Eventually Kodya just got tired of it and told them to go out and help fish every other afternoon, while he focused on more advanced material with Gyrus.

This they happily accepted, only attending class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and leaving Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to the Kid and Kodya. Kodya would never admit it, but these days were his favorite. He’d stay out way longer than he usually did, just to keep whatever conversation the Kid inevitably dragged him into going. He hadn’t enjoyed another person’s company this much since he’d met Nephthys.

Nephthys noticed the change in behavior, commenting about how mopey he got while away from the sea, and giggling that he might have gotten a boyfriend he didn’t tell her about. Kodya was quick to deny this, but more than willing to talk about whatever trouble Red, Fluffy, and the Kid got into, under the pretense of being pesky dolphins of course. Such stories would appease her curiosity, and she rarely went beyond light teasing as she watched Kodya inevitably perk up as the weekend drew to a close and Monday neared.

It was on one such Monday that Kodya finally worked up the courage to ask Gyrus a question that had been weighing on him for a while.

“So how old are you anyways?” Kodya said, eyes on the white board as he wrote out a few problems he’d created based off of his and Nephthys’s shopping lists and an old book about store finance.

“Probably around your age,” Gyrus shrugged, to absorbed in his work on the problems to notice the way Kodya had shut the book to look at him sharply.

“And how old do you think I am?” Kodya pressed.

“I don’t know, 200s right?” Gyrus glanced up at him, and finally seemed to realize something was wrong. “Are you older?” He offered, looking embarrassed, and not at all like a being who was most certainly not a kid.

“I’m 24,” Kodya stated, voice flat. Now what am I going to call you? He mentally despaired.

“24?” Gyrus’ mouth fell open. “But you can’t be! You’re clearly an adult!”

“Of course I’m an adult!” Kodya crossed his arms, “I’ve been an adult for six years!”

“18?” Gyrus’ tail twitched in agitation. “Humans reach maturity so young? How long do you live?”

Kodya shifted uncomfortably at his tone, feeling slightly offended. He wasn’t the weird one here. “We live to be around 80? Some a bit less and some a bit longer, you know, a normal amount.”

“That’s so short,” Gyrus shook his head. “I can’t even…how can you stand it?”

“Hey!” Kodya scowled down at Gyrus, “Most creatures live way shorter life spans, so I’d say you living so long is the weird one here. We do just fine with 80 years thanks.”

Gyrus placed his head in his hands. “Every time I think I’m beginning to understand humans, I find out there’s so much more I don’t know.” He looked very small then, and forlorn. Kodya felt his anger dissipate.

“Look, Kid,” he said, drawing the last word on his tongue to see if Gyrus would notice and protest. He didn’t, and so Kodya plowed on. “You’re doing fine. You’ve learned everything I taught you way quicker than anyone I’ve ever seen.”

“Not everything,” Gyrus sighed as he picked up his whiteboard. “I can do the calculations, sure, but I don’t really get all the words. Like this one,” he pointed to a problem, “35 cents for bananas. What are bananas? I know they must be food from how you talk about them, but I have no idea what they look like. And this!” He jabbed a finger at one of the words, “Bug spray! How do you get something as small as a bug to spray anything?”

“Slow down Kid,” Kodya interrupted and Gyrus deflated at the sound of his voice. “I can bring you a banana and bug spray if you want.”

“But even if you did, there would inevitably be something else I can’t picture or misunderstand. I just wish,” he sighed again, pulling his emerald tail close around his body. “I just wish I could see it all for myself.”

His lower lip started to tremble, and Kodya felt his heart clench at the sight. “Maybe you could,” he said, and then instantly wanted to hit himself for promising something so impossible. But Gyrus was looking at him with wide, watery eyes like Kodya just promised him the moon, and Kodya couldn’t bring himself to deny him anything.

----------------

The old shed opened with the loud grating noise of rusted hinges. Kodya winced slightly at the sound, before pushing forward into the crowded space before him. Nephthys had said the inflatable kiddie pool was just in here the last time she’d seen it. But that had been nearly seven years ago, back when she’d tried to teach him how to swim in exchange for teaching her written English. Those lessons had not lasted very long, in part because Kodya was much less gracious as a student than as a teacher, and in part because the drowning incident had still been fresh in his mind.

He shoved aside The fishing rod he’d gotten for his Mom at fifteen, still as clean and unused as the day he’d bought it, and some of her old Navy Seal camping gear. Where was it? It should be with the practical stuff…

Something bright and pink caught his eye, the faded plastic tucked quietly in a corner behind some old storage bins. Kodya waded over towards it and gave it a gentle tug, pulling out of another box labeled POOL in his mother’s loopy handwriting. He pulled the cumbersome plastic out, and stopped.

There was something else in the bin, soft against his hands. Weird. He couldn’t think of anything pool related that was soft, and his mother was usually so organized. He looked down to see a strange fur wrap below. It was plain brown, with faded spots making a star pattern along it. One edge was jagged and sharp, with bits of leather skin poking out below it. Kodya ran a finger down the edge, and wondered if someone had taken a blunt knife to it.

The plastic of the pool rustled against the boxes as Kodya shifted, drawing his attention back towards it. He shut the pool box with a snap. Whatever it was, it didn’t concern him. His mother could sort it out on her own time. He had a mermaid’s day to make.

---------

“I’m back!” Kodya called as two brightly colored heads appeared in the water. “And you’ll never believe what I brought for you today!”

Gyrus beamed at him, and Kodya took a minute to examine that lovely smile and enjoy how it was all for him. “We’ve got something to show you too!” the Kid exclaimed, “Do you want to see it?”

“Sure Kid,” Kodya allowed himself a slight twitch of his lips, wondering what seaglass or shells Gyrus had brought for him today. “But I’ll bet mine’s better.”

Red and the Kid exchanged glances, before Red sighed. “Just so we are clear,” she said, “I do not fully approve of this idea.” So saying, she dove into the water, and in her place rose a single white corner, then another and another, until there was a great white box with a handle sticking out the side.

Kodya blinked. “What is that supposed to be?” He asked, squinting at the sides. Something about the faded pink stickers looked familiar. Was that ice cream?

“It’s a box with wheels!” Gyrus proclaimed, gesturing to the suspiciously familiar object. Kodya raised an eyebrow, and the Kid blushed. “Lift it higher!” Gyrus hissed, and the white box raised above the water, allowing for both the wheels and Fluffy’s head to come into view.

“See?” Gyrus’ purple orbs practically glowed. Beside him Fluffy beamed and even Red looked a bit smug.

“I see,” said Kodya, feeling somewhat baffled. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

“That’s the best part!” the Kid’s green tail surfaced to slash the top of the water excitedly. It went straight into Tori’s face and she sputtered, causing one end to dip back into the water. “This box holds water! Without it coming out! If you put me in this I could come with you to shore!”

Well that diminished Kodya’s surprise a bit. He felt a bit hurt. He’d put a lot of thought into his kiddie pool. But he shook it off in favor of squinting at the white cart. It was looking more and more familiar the more he stared.

“Is that,-” he frowned, “- Oli’s ice cream cart?!” Oli’s ice cream was a staple on the beach in the summer months, and he’d recently upgraded to owning a portable cart that he employed Anan to push around and increase business. But Anan had lost it under what he claimed was a sudden storm. Kodya narrowed his eyes. “Did you hypnotize Anan into giving that up?”

“We didn’t hypnotize anyone,” Red sniffed. “This was a gift.”

“We just asked, and he handed it right over!” Gyrus added. “He didn’t even stop to question why we were all in the water!”

Fluffy batted her eyelashes and then threw Kodya a wink, and Kodya had the sneaking suspicion that they had used a different method of coercion instead. But hey, he shrugged. Oli hadn’t held that much of a grudge, and it was high time Anan learned a lesson about not giving in to the whims of every pretty girl that smiled at him.

“So what was it you brought for us?” Gyrus asked innocently, and all three mermaids' attention snapped to him.

“Oh,” Kodya rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “I kinda brought something similar, only bigger, and with no wheels.”

“Really?” Gyrus beamed. “That’s great! Now we can all go on land!” All? Kodya opened his mouth to protest. He could hide maybe one mermaid, but three?

“That would set some of my fears to rest,” Red said, sounding appeased. “I did not want to leave Gyrus to wander this strange world without protection.”

Fluffy began bobbing up and down in the water, splashing wildly with the ice cream cart to show her enthusiasm.

I’m not getting out of this, Kodya realized with a sinking dread as all three mermaids celebrated around him. I need a plan.

--------------

The plan was simple. Really. Early in the morning, Kodya would meet the three mermaids at the docks. There was a rainstorm scheduled for Thursday, perfect for both providing cover and keeping the mermaids wet. Kodya would load the three of them into the back of his truck, where they would climb into the kiddy pool. Then Kodya would drive really slowly into town, pull out the white cart, now covered in a blanket to pass as a wheelchair, and wheel each mermaid through the store. Simple.

The first part went off without a hitch. It was indeed raining on Thursday morning, the icky, thick, constant rain that made it very uncomfortable to be outside for long periods of time. When Kodya arrived on the dock, he found it deserted. Perfect.

“Guys?” he hissed as he scanned the dark waves. “It’s time.” Three multicolored heads rose from below the dock to greet him.

“That took too long,” Red grumbled. “I had half thought ye’d grown cold feet.”

“It took longer to fill the pool than I expected,” Kodya sighed. “Now come on.” He extended his arms towards Fluffy, who was closest.

Red batted his hand away. “I’ll go first,” she snapped. “It is my duty as champion of the queen to ensure the safety of the rest of the pod.” Kodya rolled his eyes, but complied, hauling her surprisingly light body up into the air. Sylvia went next, eagerly wrapping strong arms around his neck as he lifted her up into the truck too.

And then at last, it was Gyrus’ turn. Kodya reached down for him, determined not to react. It was just a simple assist after all. Kodya could feel both warm skin and slick scales as he carefully lifted him into the air. Gyrus’ arms wrapped around Kodya’s neck, pulling close to Kodya’s chest and soaking his already wet shirt further.

Gyrus ran a curious hand through his hair, playing with the hair tie in the back. “You’re hair feels so strange dry,” He murmured, lavender orbs hypnotic. Their faces were inches apart, and Kodya froze. They hadn’t been this close since the day they met, when Gyrus had called him perfect, and the mere memory sent Kodya’s whole face alight. Gyrus gave the slightest of frowns as he ran gentle fingers through Kodya’s hair. “What’s wrong?”

“If ye are quite finished,” Tori’s loud voice broke through Kodya’s haze, “the sooner we start this, the sooner we can get back to the sea.”

Kodya yelped, placing Gyrus hastily in the back of the truck and ducking his head as he hurried to the front. Still bright red, he gripped the back of the wheel and took several deep breaths. He needed to focus damn it. Or this whole trip would end in disaster.

Disaster…the various, horrible ends of this hair brained scheme were enough to bring him back to reality. If he messed up here, the mermaids could end up in an aquarium, or worse, dissected. He took a deep breath and put the truck in drive. By the time he’d reached the store, the image of Gyrus’ face so close to his own was properly suppressed in the back of his mind.

---------

Step two turned out to have its own set of problems. Namely that as soon as he put the truck in park, he found the mermaids arguing in the back about who would go in first.

“It will be I,” Red’s arms were crossed. “It’s my job to keep you safe, there’s no point in arguing.”

“You don’t even want to see the store!” Gyrus scowled. “Nor do you know as much about humans as I do! And besides,” he crossed his arms, “I’ll be with Kodya so there’s no need to protect me!” He glanced to the side. “Right Sylvia?”

Fluffy threw up her hands in a clear signal of, keep me out of this!

“What’s the problem now?” Kodya massaged the space between his brow. Both Red and the Kid turned on him.

“I am going first, and that is final,” Red snapped at the same time Gyrus said,

“It isn’t fair!”

Kodya sighed, considering. On the one hand, letting Red go first would strengthen the fragile trust they had formed. On the other hand, the Kid was far, far too old to be babied like Red wanted, and going first with Red meant introducing her to Alistair. Kodya squared his shoulders. He’d rather avoid whatever fight she’d pick for as long as possible.

“It’s the Kid’s trip, he gets to go first,” he said, and Red scowled while Gyrus lit up.

“Alright!” Gyrus pulled himself to the edge of the truck to avoid the angry Red. “Help me down and let’s get going!”

“Not so fast kid!” Kodya scolded. “I’ve got to get the wheelchair ready first.” He pulled out the ice cream cart and opened the lid, revealing the cold water he’d taken from his hose the night before.

Carefully, he picked Gyrus up again, this time avoiding eye contact, and plopped him inside. Access water flooded over the edge and distracted the Kid while Kodya tried to hide his blush. To distract himself, he fiddled with the lid, wondering how it would close without bothering the top sticking out.

“This is so exciting!” Gyrus turned to Kodya, eyes shining. Kodya’s hands tightened on the lid at the sight, and a crack came from underneath them. Both Gyrus and Kodya looked down at the now unattached lid. Well, Kodya thought. There goes that problem.

The blanket was thrown over the top to hide the water and the faded ice cream stickers, and the makeshift wheelchair was ready to go. There was just one thing missing. “Here.” Kodya pulled out an old shirt and handed it to Gyrus. “Humans can’t go in stores without full clothing,” he explained, trying to make it seem normal and not like he’d spent hours agonizing over which one of his old shirts to give to Gyrus.

“Thank you,” Gyrus murmured, pulling the bright yellow shirt, specifically chosen to match the yellow tips of his tail, over his head. “Yellow is my favorite color.” Kodya shrugged as casually as he could, but tucked that little piece of information away in his brain.

“Time to go,” he said, stepping behind the cart pushing it towards the door.

---------

As Kodya predicted, Gyrus loved the store. He found everything about it fascinating. From the food to the overpriced towels and swimwear for tourists. Kodya thought he would explode when he found the nets Kodya usually bought and recognized them. He wanted to know how everything worked, what it all did, and why Kodya would or wouldn’t buy it. The towels in particular fascinated him, as he had known humans hated to be too wet, but he’d never realized what a big deal it was until he saw all the different patterns and colors. He was quite disappointed when Kodya broke it to him that the colors and patterns were purely decorative, and didn’t hold any significance at all.

Eventually they got down to business. Kodya walked Gyrus through his grocery list, explaining what each item looked like and what it did. Gyrus seemed to have memorized the prices, and was more than eager to read off the numbers and comment on cheaper options available. Kodya would then have to justify his choice, usually because of quality, and explain it to an attentive Gyrus. It was a long process, but Kodya didn’t think he’d ever had this much fun shopping for groceries before.

But as Kodya finished explaining about bananas and how they worked, he noticed Gyrus’ mood had taken a turn for the morose.

“What’s wrong?” Kodya asked, as Gyrus stared glumly down at the bunch of bananas in his hands. “Am I going too fast?”

“No, no,” Gyrus sighed. “It’s stupid.” Kodya crossed his arms, waiting, and Gyrus shifted the bananas into one hand to run the free one through his hair. “It’s not that I’m not grateful you brought me here so I could see everything, it’s just,” he peaked up at Kodya through his starshaped bangs, “there’s so much of it. I’ll never learn it all today, even if we didn’t have to hurry up and give Tori and Sylvia their turn.”

“Who said you had to learn it all today?” Kodya pointed out. “We’ve got the pool and the wheelchair now. We can definitely come back here again.”

“But it won’t always be raining,” Gyrus pointed out. “You might get seen helping us out of the water.”

Kodya waved a hand as he began to push Gyrus forward. “We’ll just have to figure out another way then. You’re smart. You know what the hurdles are, you come up with something.”

Gyrus shot Kodya a small smile. “Thank you Kodya,” he said. “You really are the best person to teach me.” Kodya ducked his head and pushed harder, trying to hide his blush.

“Kodya? Is that you? I thought I recognized you wandering about my store!” Kodya’s head snapped up to see Alistair waving from the counter. Oh no. “But who is this handsome stranger you’ve brought with you?” Alistair practically jumped over the counter to see better. It took all of Kodya’s strength not to grab the cart's controls and wheel them both out the door.

“Careful Alistair!” Kodya shouted as the man stepped closer and began shamelessly feeling up Gyrus’ muscles. “He’s in a wheelchair!” He pushed Alistair away as Gyrus starred with a look of absolute puzzlement on his face.

“Of course, of course!” Alistair said as he stepped back to lean on his counter. “What’s your name, handsome?”

“I’m Gyrus,” Gyrus said, sounding faintly amused. “Nice to meet you.”

“A pleasure! An absolute pleasure! I am Alistair, and this is my humble store!” Alistair gave a sweeping gesture to encompass the whole building. Kodya rolled his eyes at his theatrics.

“Are you really?” Gyrus asked, sounding intrigued. “Where do you get all the items for sale?”

“Trying to find my sources? How shameless,” Alistair raised an eyebrow and Gyrus blushed, sensing he’d done something wrong. Kodya scowled. “But don’t worry!” Alistair laughed. “My sources are all local, like our charming mutual friend, Kodya here!” He pointed to Kodya who crossed his arms.

“I don’t supply you that often,” Kodya grumbled.

“Oh come now Kodya, don’t be modest.” Alistair winked, he leaned over to Gyrus and whispered, “He caught me a great white shark, I still have the teeth if you want to buy them!”

“I know,” Gyrus smiled. “But I don’t need another shark’s tooth.”

“Another?” Alistair drew back in shock, mouth hanging open. He glanced wildly between Gyrus and Kodya. “You don’t mean to tell me our grumpy Kodya snagged a stud like you?”

“We aren’t dating Alistair,” Kodya stepped in before Gyrus had a chance to misunderstand. “I’m just showing him around while he’s in the states.”

“So he’s single?” Alistair said, and Kodya felt his heart stop.

“Kodya’s been really kind to me!” Gyrus piped up, clearly hoping to back up the illusion of being new to the area. “He’s taught me so much about these states!”

“Oh really? And what has he taught you?” Alistair leaned forward into Gyrus’ personal space.

“Lots! I’ve learned about money, and the presidents on the bills, and dinosaurs…” Gyrus began to rattle off all the things he’d recently learned while Alistair took the opportunity to stare shamelessly at his lips.

Kodya rolled his eyes, disgusted, then froze. Out of the corner of his eye he could have sworn he’d seen a blue tail.

-----------

Kodya stalked through the store, following the telltale trail of water down the aisles. He hated to leave the Kid alone with Alistair, but he trusted him to be able to handle himself and keep Alistair distracted while Kodya hunted down their real problem.

Speaking of which, he turned a corner to find one half of the dynamic duo munching happily away on the fish in the deli. “Fluffy!” Kodya hissed, as the pink-haired mermaid turned her wide eyes on him. “What are you doing here? And where’s Red?” He’d seen a blue tail, and unless Fluffy had changed her forest green scales blue and back in the last minute, there was no way she was alone.

Fluffy shrugged, gesturing to the fish in front of her to say, I don’t know, I got distracted by the food.

Kodya cursed, striding forward to grab Fluffy bodily and drag her away with a cry of, “you aren’t supposed to be here!” His motion startled Fluffy, whose tail whipped around and knocked the whole deli over, sending the whole display of fish directly on top of her.

Kodya and Fluffy froze. Panicked blue meeting panicked brown. For a second all was still, until in the silence the clunking sound of heavy boots began to fill the air. Fluffy sprang into action, covering herself with the fish in an attempt to blend in. Kodya helped, figuring that if whoever was coming mistook her tail for another fish they might just by themselves some time.

They had just finished when Knox, an employee of Alistair’s store, rounded the corner. “I heard a loud noise, and have been instructed to look for damages,” he said in that monotone voice of his.

Kodya could have cried with relief. If there was one word that summed Knox up, it was gullible. “Don’t just stand there!” He snapped, putting on his most thunderous expression. “Get the first aid kit!” Knox paused, eyes traveling from Kodya’s face to Sylvia’s fish covered tail, to her big puppy dog eyes about to overflow with tears.

“I will retrieve it,” he said, voice still montone, but there was a quickness in his step that betrayed his concern. As soon he turned the corner Kodya let out a relieved sigh.

Fluffy beamed up at Kodya, clearly ecstatic that it had worked. Kodya frowned back at her. “We still need to get out of here before he gets back,” he pointed out.

Fluffy rolled her eyes with the clear message of, you worry too much. And no Kodya wasn’t having that. He grabbed her arm and tugged it upwards.

“Come on,” he said as Fluffy obligingly circled her arms around his neck so he could lift her up. “We’ve got to find Red and get out of here before he comes back.”

“Before who comes back?” Kodya and Fluffy’s heads snapped to the right to see Tori emerging from the towel section. “And what was that noise?”

“What were you thinking!” Kodya felt his fury return in full force. “You knew you had to wait in the truck!” Fluffy looked down guiltily, but Red crossed her arms.

“I am the Champion of the Queen.” She scowled. “It is my duty to keep Gyrus safe. You were taking too long.”

“Gyrus is perfectly fine!” Kodya hissed, taking a step forward. “But now thanks to you two, I had to leave him alone, and now I have to get you out of here before anyone sees your tails and calls the press!”

Red drew herself up to her full height, which given half of her was a floppy fishtail, wasn’t that impressive. “I am perfectly capable of…” But Fluffy held up a hand to stop her, cocking her ear as if listening. Kodya and Tori followed her example, and Kodya’s heart stopped once again.

Footsteps.

Red dove towards the racks of towels as Kodya looked around wildly for a place to stash Fluffy. Could he throw her back into the fish?

Too soon the footsteps came to a halt. Kodya froze as a very familiar voice said, “Kody?”

Slowly Kodya turned around to see Nephthys standing in the aisle, eyes wide as she took in Red half hidden behind the towels and Fluffy still in Kodya’s arms. “Neph, I can explain,” he started, but she shook her head.

“Alistair is coming!” She said as she pulled out her purse. “Distract him while I fix this!” Kodya wanted to argue he’d be better able to carry both mermaids, wanted to ask why she wasn’t reacting, but the look in her eyes told him not to argue. He wordlessly handed off Fluffy and hurried back to where Alistair and Gyrus were waiting.

“Kodya!” Alistair called out. “What was that all about?”

“You just left,” Gyrus added, a bit reproachfully. “Then we heard a huge crash.”

Kodya waved a hand. “An accident. But don’t worry, Nephthys is taking care of it.” He shot Gyrus a look that he hoped communicated, help me distract him.

Alistair was still frowning, concern clear on his face. “I should still check it out, someone could have been hurt.”

“You really don’t have to,” Kodya said, and Gyrus added,

“Didn’t you say you can’t leave the counter to avoid losing a sale?”

Alistair stroked his beard, looking torn. “This is true, but I really can’t ignore people hurt in my store…” his face split into a sly grin that made Kodya’s stomach drop. “So Gyrus, you’re hired!”

“I’m what?” Gyrus stared in confusion.

“Wait a minute!” Kodya protested. “You can’t just hire Gyrus!” He was a mermaid for one, with a tail and no social security!

“Why not?” Alistair beamed. “He’s got all the qualifications: He has an understanding of basic math, thinks Andrew Jackson isn’t worthy of his position on the twenty dollar bill, and best of all, he’s really cute!” Alistair winked at Kodya and turned to Gyrus, “So what do you say? I’ll pay you an entry level salary, but with your brain and looks you’re likely to get promoted no problem!”

“You’ll pay me?” Gyrus blinked. “In money?”

Alistair opened his mouth to reply, an amused smile on his lips, just as Nephthys rounded the corner with Fluffy on her shoulder and another woman with red hair helping Nephthys support her. “Time to go Kody!”

Kodya wasted no time, grabbing Gyrus’s wheelchair’s handles as Gyrus scrambled for the grocery bags and began wheeling him out after the three women.

“Wait a minute,” Alistair started, “What happened?” But Nephthys waved her free hand behind her.

“Got it handled, take care of the mess and bill me!” She cried as she pushed through the door, a towel wrapped over Fluffy’s tail as she and the familiar looking stranger carried her out. Kodya and Gyrus followed, leaving a confused Alistair behind as they stepped into the open air.

“Where’s Red?” Kodya asked as soon as they got to the safety of the truck. He and the blue-tailed mermaid never saw eye to eye, but he didn’t want to leave her stuck in there.

“I’m right here,” snapped the woman with the red hair, “or have you gone blind?” Kodya blinked, and blinked again, his brain not catching up with his eyes. His gaze traveled down, from her distinctive red hair, to her odd plated shirt, to the towel tied around her waist, and her….

“You have legs!” Gyrus screamed, finger pointing in shock. Kodya blinked again, and yes. That was what his brain was struggling to comprehend. Before them both stood Red, on two legs and looking utterly human.

Tori placed a hand on her hip. “Yes, thanks to the potion the witch gave me.” She gestured to Nephthys with her other hand.

Kodya’s eyes flicked to Nephthys, and she gave him jazz hands with an awkward smile. “Surprise?”

#room of swords #room of swords fanfic #kodya #gyrus #sylvia #tori #strawbarrow #mermaid au #menfolk are overrated

10 notes · View notes