#other peeps did this better than me but uhh nothing wrong with giving my own shot at it lmao

[squeezysgardenofcakes]

*ponifies your edgy video game protagonists like it's the 2010's*

Bonus 1: Other PDude Ponies (w/o the trenchcoats)

Bonus 2: guess the now equinified vidya game protags and you might get...uh idk bonus points

[spidernerdsblog]

Match made in Hell : Chapter Three

A/N : Chapter three is here. Survival of the fittest this is how life evolved on earth. And to survive you have to learn to adapt even if you have to make truce with people you hate. Hope you like this chapter. Let me know what you think.

A Happy New year to all of you lovely peeps! 💖💖

Pairing : Mob! Tom Holland x Reader

Summary : you always wanted a simple life but to be born as the daughter of a dangerous mobster turned out to be a curse for you. Everything changes when your father gets your lover killed and forcefully marries you off to another mobster as a part of a deal. You hate your father and your husband the only thing you seek is now revenge. Will you ever be able to fall in love again or this burning hatred inside you will consume you?

Warnings : 18+,mature content, a little PMS drama, language, flashbacks in italics, slight nudity, suggestive themes.

Mini Playlist : Bad Things by Meiko

SERIES MASTERLIST

Complying to the note you take a quick scan of the room ensuring that you’re not being followed by anyone before making your way to the restrooms but instead of going inside you sidetracked to your left and stride your way to the staff exit door across the hall and sneaked outside continuing to walk down the dark alley. You stop when you see a large figure standing in the dark a few feet away from you.

"Y/N" the man speaks with a deep voice.

"Who are you?" You demand. The man walks out of the shadow and your face lit up as you saw his face illuminated by the street light. 

"William? Oh my god!" You rush to embrace him. William Marshal, your father's most trusted wing man and your mentor. All the knowledge you have raptured be it hand to hand to combat or gun fight he taught you all. 

"How are you my little tigress?" 

"Surviving" You say with a small smile. "But what are you doing here?" You were so surprised as well as happy to see him.

"Your father sent me here."

Your brows draw into a frown ''Daddy sent you?...But why?"

"You are alone and boss thinks it's a little dangerous to leave you in the enemy territory on your own" 

You scoff. "Huh, since when did he start worrying about my safety?" 

"He wants me to help you with your task, so how much progress have you made?" He asks.

"Actually William there has been some changes in the plan” You say. “I’m no more playing daddy’s little killing puppet" 

William gives you shocked look. "What, are you planning to backstab your father?" 

''Not literally stab him though I wish I could heh. But I'm gonna make him pay for his crimes by turning him in and then let the law decide his punishment."

"You want to go on a legal battle with the king of illegal trades?” He chuckles lightly at your childish idea. “You're bluffing right?"

"I'm not bluffing Will. I just want to deliver justice to all the people who have suffered for him without anymore bloodshed. And I’m not ruthless like him and at the end of the day he's still my daddy so even if I want I will never be able to kill him" You sigh with remorse. 

"It's a suicide mission Y/N, you can't win against him, not alone"

"Well Rome wasn't built in one day, Will. Plus I have you."

His face went stoic. "I can't betray your father Y/N." 

"Will, how could you forget that this man killed your whole family? He didn't even spare your five year old daughter. Don't you want revenge?" You tried your best to persuade him. 

"That man died when he accepted his allegiance."

"Then here's your another chance to avenge your family. Are you going to help me or not?" You ask him firmly.

"You know I have always seen you no less than my daughter" He reaches out a hand cupping the side of your face "so what does my daughter want me to do?" 

The corner of lips turn up into a smile. "Nothing much for now I just want you to pose as a double agent, provide me all the information and report back to daddy whatever I exactly say to you" You explained. 

William nods in agreement to your plan. "So have the Holland's agreed to this?"

"Holland's?" You frown. "Why on earth would I involve them? They are no less evil."

"You are plotting against your dad the mafia kingpin and you need allies Y/N."

"I don't need any allies…" You pause mid sentence as it finally hits you what Will was actually trying to imply. You narrowed your eyes with a sly smirk "Unless I rat them out against each other and they end up destroying each other in the process without anyone suspecting it was me behind all this. Like this I can hit two birds with one stone"

"Well now you're getting it." William says proudly. 

"By the way boss told me to give you this." He holds out a revolver, you stiffen at it’s sight.

"That's my gun" You swallow hard.

"Yes indeed it is." 

"I can't take it Will and you know why" You say anxiously.

"I know that the past haunts you Y/N but that phase is over. You have to let go" He takes your hand and places the gun. "Keep it, you'll need it" Your palms were sweaty as you gripped on to the gun and looked at it intently. 

"I think you should go back now before your husband gets suspicious and remember.." 

You cut him off before he could finish. 

"To be nice and call in a truce. Trust me I got this." You winked with a sly grin and rushed back to the hall through the backdoor but you are met with an obstacle. Tom was standing right in front of the restrooms, you quickly retreated behind the wall.

"Shit! Why are men so clingy?!" You groan with slight irritation when your phone lights up

T : Hey you okay? You're in for too long. 

T : Y/N???!! 

You roll your eyes as you text him back. 

Y : No I'm not okay!!! 

Concern clouded his features whilst he texted you back.

T : Hey what's wrong? 

T : Darling, you alright? 

You couldn't think of any valid reason to get past him so you had to swallow your pride and texted back with the most safest and believable excuse for a woman. 

Y : I'm PMSing!!!  T : ….OK. 

You peered to see his reaction and you swear you would have burst out laughing if you weren’t in such a sophisticated place, the look on his face clearly showed how weirded out he was. 

Tom on the other hand was clueless about what to reply next, since a young age he has been dealing with the most dangerous people from the underworld but never in his life he had to deal with someone pmsing specifically he never had to deal with you. Though he had a little knowledge about these things thanks to sex ed at high school. You saw him take a deep breath before typing. 

T: You need something? 

Y: Yeah, will a tampon be too much to ask? 

Y: It's kind of urgent. 

T: Right on it. Just stay there. It will be fine, love. 

T: Do you need a change of dress? 

To be honest you were quite taken aback seeing this concerned and understanding side of his. 

Y: No, I'm fine. And please don't come barging in the ladies room. 

T: Yeah I know that. 

As soon as Tom moves away you quickly slip inside the restroom and heaved a sigh of relief. After a few minutes a middle aged woman walks in the restroom.

"You must be Y/N?" She asks with a smile.

"Yeah." You nod.

"Here you go, love." She hands you a tampon. You take it and go inside a stall. You wait for a few minutes before throwing the tampon in the dustbin and emerging out of the stall with a smile.

"Thank you so much." You say smoothening the slight creases on your dress.

"Oh don't be but I must say your husband really loves you. You should have looked at his face how freaked out he was."

"I really doubt the love part.'' You snicker, turning on the faucet in the basin to wash your hands.

"Well darling, here’s an advice from a lady to a lady keep your man happy and satisfied and then not only will he be showering you with all his love as well as—"  She coils her thick glimmering diamond necklace around her slim finger "might get these too."

"Well thank you for your advice but not a fan of leashes you see." You quip drying your hands with the paper towels.

"Trust me sweetie one day you will just want to wear these leashes only for your man." She steps closer putting a hand on your shoulder.

"Will see." You give a tight lipped smile.

After sometime you step out and find Tom patiently waiting for you.

"All good?" He asks, you nod in affirmation.

"It was lovely talking to you sweetheart. See you again." The woman chirps, you smiled waving at her.

Bad Things starts playing……. I know what I want And I'll get what I need I'll come over and I'll show you how Don't you wish that you can have me now?

"Shall we have this dance?" Tom held out his hand. You take it with a smile as he leads you to the center of the room. Your hands go to his shoulders while his hands rest on your hips. You slowly begin to sway your bodies to the music going back and forth, your eyes looking around to the other couples dancing. 

You say that you want all of my love But let's be honest we don't need all that I like it better with no strings attached

"You're welcome." Tom says, drawing your attention back to him.

"Uhh..." You look at him in confusion.

"I guess the words that you are looking for are thank you."

"To be fair it was kind of your duty to help your wife from an embarrassing situation." You quip.

"Oh now I'm your husband, huh?" He raises his eyebrows amused.

Good girls do bad things sometimes But we get by with it Good girls do bad things sometimes But we get by with it

"Well you have been rubbing the fact on my face since day one so—" You half shrug. 

"So what was Mrs. Sinclaire saying?" He asks looking around the room.

"Nothing of my interest just how I should get one of those shining collars around my neck." You roll your eyes dramatically.

"Those are gifts from their husbands who love them dearly, love" He corrects you, a smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

How much more can you take if I give you a taste I've been waiting for you all night long I come around and then I'm gone

"But for me those are glittering leashes" You retort.

"Darling, how much ever you pretend but under this tough shell you're just a hopeless romantic, you crave love and I can give you all of it only if you allow me." Tom laces his hand with yours another hand stays at the small of your back, waltzing to the music. 

You'll get yours, I'll get mine Then we run out of time You're the only one that I desire 'Cause I love to play with fire

"Maybe I'm that's why I still dream of a beautiful life away from all this from you" you say looking deep into his brown orbs.

He leans down to your ear and whispers. "I can assure you one thing princess the farther you want to go away from me the more I will pull you back towards me"

A shiver runs down your spine as his smile turns into a wide grin.

Good girls do bad things sometimes But we get by with it Good girls do bad things sometimes But we get by with it

His hand moved from your back to your lower waist and he dipped you low, taking you by surprise. You bent on your back as he pulled you back up with a force, throwing you against his body sending your body right into his broad frame.

Ooh (oh-oh-oh-oh-oh) Ooh (oh-oh-oh-oh-oh) When I'm down I let you know (ooh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh) When I'm down I let you go (ooh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)

You stayed like that for a while, inhaling deeply but the only thing you could smell was him, his expensive cologne intoxicating your senses and then he pushed you back again, spinning you around twice and settling back for the previous slow pace. 

Good girls do bad things sometimes But we get by with it Good girls do bad things sometimes But we get by with it (oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)

The night ends and you are now back at home sitting on your bed busy with your night routine rubbing on some body lotion on your hands as Tom walks in.

"What are you doing in my room?" You frown.

"Technically this is my room" He reminds you rummaging through his closet.

"Not anymore." You state haughtily. He plainly ignores you and goes inside the bathroom. 

After a while he comes out with a towel wrapped lowly around his waist, his wet curls sticking to his forehead. You couldn’t help but admire his chiseled upper body, muscles rippling and glistening in the soft golden light of the room.

"You’re staring" He sing-songs, smirking cockily.

"No-no, I'm not'' You fumble. 

"It's ok, darling I'm all yours to look at" You roll your eyes meanwhile he takes off his towel and throws it in the hamper before getting on the empty side of the bed just in his black calvin klein boxers.

"Whoa, you are gonna just wear that?" You ask in surprise. 

"Why you gotta problem?" He smirks while getting inside the covers. 

"No seriously, you’re either fully covered or almost naked. Nothing in between." You remark giving him an annoyed look.

"Why does it turn you on babygirl?" He says with a sultry voice. 

"Shut up and stop with these weirdass names, will ya" You grimace as he chuckles.

"And what about you? You are going to sleep in that?" He points out looking at your sleep shorts and a loose shirt. 

"Well you may think of yourself as a calvin klein's model but I ain't a Victoria’s secret angel. So yes I’m gonna sleep in these" 

"But your Instagram says something else" He quips, making you smile mischievously.

"Aww did someone get all riled up at work?” You click your tongue pouting “so sad." 

Tom all of a sudden grabs your arm pulling you down to him as you jolt down surprised.

"And for that you deserve a nice spanking" His voice low, a cocky grin plastered on his face.

"If you touch me I'll chop off your hands." You threaten with a cold stare and pull out your arm from his grip. You lay down turning to your side and snatched away the covers from him.

"Oi! blanket hogger!" He protests, pulling the blanket back.

"Get out of here!" You kicked his leg playfully snatching the cover again.

"Y/N I swear to God I’ll push you off the bed!" He says laughing.

"Shut up you whiny baby." You retort laughing as well.

He moves closer to you bringing his hands to tickle you on the side of your hips. You squealed trying to push him away but he tightened his hold around you both laughing like kids when suddenly you realized how close you were the heat from his bare body felt like burning against your skin. 

What are you doing? You hate this guy, he is the reason Ethan is dead. You remind yourself gaining back your composure and stopped laughing. You went silent closing your eyes as Tom got the hint and backed off.

You soon fell asleep breathing softly but Tom was still awake staring at the ceiling thinking about all the meetings and deals he has to make tomorrow when you shifted on the bed and turned to Tom’s side in your sleep. You subconsciously hiked a leg above his placing your hand over his chest snuggling close to him. 

Tom found it really amusing chuckling softly as he took his time to admire how beautiful and innocent you looked. He went to wrap his arm around you just then he heard you mumbling in your sleep. 

"I'm sorry - I'm so sorry Ethan." His expression goes hard. He retracts his hand away placing it under his head and lets out an exasperated sigh before closing his eyes to sleep.

Next morning you squint your eyes open to find yourself practically laying over Tom's chest, you sit up hastily waking him up in the process. 

"Good morning, princess." He says with a groggy voice. You look at him timidly. 

"By the drool I’m assuming you slept well." You frown rubbing the corner of your mouth with the back of your hand. 

"So much for chopping my hands eh?" He snickers. "But what about you taking advantage of me while sleeping." you felt your face heat up in embarrassment.

"Sorry I used to have a side pillow when I slept."

"Oh it's ok, love. I'm honored to be your human side pillow.'' he says cockily before getting off the bed to get ready for the day. 

"Dickhead" You mutter under your breath.

****

 You went to punch his chest, but William blocked it

"As a devout feminist, I refuse to say that you hit like a girl." William quipped letting go of you, and you spin around in frustration

"Let's try this again, shall we?" 

"Tell me again why I have to learn self defense this early in the morning." 

William began to roll up his sleeves to better move around "You are my  responsibility." 

You smiled "...says the feminist." William chuckled. 

"Fighting is rhythm. There is a music, there is a meter, there is a pattern. Let that rhythm beat within you." He stood defensively and nods at you. 

"Again." you put up your fists and start to fight him, but he easily blocks your blows. You two spin and continued practicing. You struck him again but he blocks it. 

"Legato" You strike again with increased force,

"Ostinato" You strike back with all your force. 

"Crescendo" You managed to hit him, but he blocked the majority of it and held you by your neck. 

"And then, once you've established your cadence--" You spun out of his grip, kicking him, and pressed him against the wall while he's distracted. 

" --You change the key." you said smiling proudly. 

 "Very nice." He said a little out of breath. "But none of this matters if you cannot make the kill." 

"But I don't want to kill anyone." 

"You will. To survive" He said.

You stepped back to catch your breath from the intense workout.

"Now c’mon we will learn something new today." He brought two wooden staff and throws one at you out of the blue which you barely catch.

"Hey! I wasn't ready!" You protested. 

"First lesson-- always be on your guard." He instructed. You took note of the weight of the staff in your hands for a moment.

"It's heavy." 

"I was half your age the first time my father gave me the staff. I would have torn every muscle rather than let him see me strain. And, had I--" He attacked you, you barely blocked his blow "-- he would have corrected me." 

"No offense, but your dad sounds like a jerkwad" You panted. 

"Mothers love their children. Fathers make them strong" He attacked you again, and though you struggle to keep up, you manage to continue blocking him.

"Well in my case my daddy doesn't care 'cause he already kind of bidded me off in a stupid deal--" You started to fight back  "-- and my mother is quite ardent to make me strong enough to face anything what is to come my way" You grunt while attacking but William easily dodges your strikes.

"You're anticipating. Do not let me see your move before you make it." He strikes at your staff, knocking you off-balance and causing you to twist your ankle as you fall and whimper in pain

"Get up." He commanded.

"I can't, my ankle hurts." You groaned.

"The ability to end your pain is a warrior's true weapon. Master that, and nothing holds power over you." You glared at him. 

"Now, on your feet." You winced. 

"I said, On. Your. Feet." He barked.

You continued to glare at him, but do grab your staff to use it to help you to pull yourself up on your feet. You leaned against the staff for support. William looked mildly impressed.

"Good. Perhaps you've actually learned something today." 

It’s been almost two weeks since the gala night William has been in contact with you providing you with valuable information. You were lost in your thoughts when your phone buzzed and you were broken out of your daze. It was William, you received the call. 

"Hey Will!" 

"Got some news." 

"Seems like Victor has grabbed quite a hold in the European drug cartel. He has been making quite some big deals." 

"Daddy is making deals with the European drug mafias?" You were surprised at this news. "But how is that possible? As much I know he planned to oust the Hollands off their turf first before taking over their business." 

"Working with your dad I have learnt one thing about him, ‘compartmentalization’ nobody gets to know about his real plans. And that is the reason behind his success." 

"I think I know someone who might give me more info on that. But the most important question is who is doing all the dirty work for him while he is sitting in NY." 

"A new gang has emerged in the city ‘the vipers’ but I’m surprised that the Holland’s didn’t happen to come across them yet." He says before ending the call.

Meanwhile Tom was at the docks of the London port accompanied by his brother Harry for a meeting with an old time ally.

"Gomez, after a long time mate." 

"Yeah Holland business has been a little rough these days"

"So my brother tells me that you wanted some negotiations to be done with the current revenue arrangement of the port area"

"Yes Holland about that you see you're charging an outrageously high protection money and for that I am having very little profit from my drug trafficking business" 

"Well mate protecting you from the cops and allowing you to smuggle through my port comes with a high price I told you at the beginning only." Tom says.

"Then I might have to rethink our alliance, Holland."

"You mean you want to call off the deal?" Tom raises his eyebrows.

"Yes you guessed it right" 

"That's really brave of you given that the narcotics are already suspicious about your activities" Tom mocks with a sinister look in his eyes.

"I'll take my chances and there's this new gang who are ready to provide protection at a much cheaper rate plus they are going to help me expand my trade to the States. And profit has always been my first priority mate." Gomez states.

"Well whatever suits you mate but the port is still under my control if I may remind you so perhaps you should start watching your back" Tom advises, malice in his voice and then he storms out of the place.

****

You have finally decided to have a night out and blow off some steam. You dressed up in a slip dress and put on your matching stilettos. Booking yourself an uber you were just about to go down the stairs when you heard some heated argument coming from the office though it was mostly Tom’s voice you heard and by the tone you deduced he was very angry. 

You slowly made your way towards the room to see Tom standing in the middle of the room with Harrison and Harry beside him, his men surrounding him as he yells at them. They were so engrossed into the meeting that nobody bothered to notice you standing so you quietly lean against the doorframe and listened to their conversation.

"I'm paying a bunch of assholes for nothing!" Tom barks. 

"Tom, calm down." Harry goes to tone down his brother.

"How can I calm down?! Some bloody newbie gang has been operating right under my nose! on my turf! and I have no news about that." He snaps.

You couldn’t help but the whole conversation made you chuckle a little too loudly drawing everyone’s attention present in the room. Tom was already seeing red with his business going into jeopardy and seeing you laugh like that he went ballistic. 

"Does something here appear funny to you?" He glares at you.

"Well funny things do." You retort.

"And may I have the pleasure of knowing what you found so funny?"

"Well seeing you guys all worked up about this whole new emerging gang snatching away your territory. I really feel pity for you."

"Thank you for your pity now you may leave, anyways women are not allowed here. I should not see you snooping around in the future near this room." He orders.

"Your loss I might know something that could have helped you in solving your little problem." You shrug and turn to leave. 

"Wait! What do you mean?" 

"Well I guess women don’t do business here so I better keep my mouth shut." You taunt agitating him even more.

"Stop fucking with me Y/N! If you know something then tell me." You pucker your face pretending to think. 

"Please" he adds softening down a bit, you sigh audibly.

"Ok then let me give you a heads up. The viper gang which is hampering your business deals is owned by none other than Victor Martinez aka my daddy dearest." Tom's eyes went wide as well as Harrison's and Harry's. 

"What! You’re kidding right?" You scrunch your nose shaking your head sideways dismissively.

"But-but we had a deal!" He was still in disbelief.

"Honey you made a deal with the devil. What did you expect?" Tom crosses the room in three strides and grabs hold your arm with a death grip anger raging in his eyes.

"Leave my hand, Tom! You’re hurting me!" You struggle twisting your arm. He slightly loosens his grip but still holds on to you. 

"What more do you know? What have you father-daughter planned behind this whole wedding facade?!" He spat gritting through his teeth.

"Hey don't go all out on me! I myself didn't know about this until today. He never told me about this secret gang." 

He scoffs, raising his eyebrows. "And you want me to believe that?" 

"It’s up to you if you want to believe or not but if I would be plotting against you why would I even care to tell you all this?" You pull your hand away "--and this growing hatred inside you I have thousands of times more of that hatred inside me for him" you seethe.

"Then what was the meaning of the whole deal?" 

"Well he wanted me to lure you and trick you into writing everything you own including your business to my name and then kill you." Tom is left speechless with your revelation.

"What? Feel the bitter taste of betrayal?" You smirk. "Now you’ll understand what I felt." 

"Okay then you guys have fun working out your plan on going against your new enemy while I enjoy my night with some music and drinks." You chirp enthusiastically.

"Now where are you going so late?" Tom sounded tired.

"None of your business" 

"Anthony, Michael go with her" He orders two of his men.

"No need, my uber is already waiting outside" saying so you left.

Reaching the club you order some drinks for yourself. You sit on the seat near the counter enjoying the ambience as the bartender hands you a martini. Though it wasn’t like the rave parties you had in NY but you really felt relaxed finally out by yourself after being trapped in that house for two weeks after your wedding which felt like ages. 

"You're Y/N right?" You look up to your side to find the red head girl from yesterday.

"And you're the hooker" You quip and she chuckles.

"Yeah I am, it's Sandy by the way." She takes seat beside you. "So where’s your husband?" 

"Probably still shouting at his men." You shrug, taking a sip of your drink.

"Not to be prying but what's the deal between you two? It looks like you hate each other's guts"

"Don’t know about him but I definitely do, perhaps after tonight he might start hating me too." 

"Then why the hell did you get married?" 

"Well honey things don't work like that in the mob. A wedding is just a strategic alliance between two families for their own mutual benefits. We just serve as scapegoats, our fates were sealed together the day we were born" You explain. 

"Well that’s some really messed up shit" She sympathizes. 

"I know." 

"But you can still work it out. You know he isn’t that bad, at least not in bed" She grins cheekily. 

"Okay I didn’t need to know that" You chuckle sarcastically. 

"You’re really missing a good dick girl, that you can have any time you want and all your life." 

"Do I look like a nymphomaniac?’’ You laugh ‘‘-and no doubt he is a dick. He is the reason my innocent boyfriend is dead, I’m stuck here in this stupid marriage and instead of apologizing what does he do? He brings in girls, acting like a slut" You rant.

"You're bothered aren't you?" 

"No, why would I be bothered with whom he sleeps?" You stand up from your seat stumbling a little already feeling tipsy.

"-- you know what I'm gonna enjoy today, get drunk and dance my sorrows away." "Everyone in the house tonight’s drinks are on me! Enjoy the free booze!" You screamed. The whole crowd whooped and whistled.

"To my fucked up life!" You shouted, downing a shot. 

You made your way to the center of the dance floor and started dancing without any worry about tomorrow. Within seconds you felt two hands around your hips, you turn your head to find a cute boy probably of your age as you continued to dance and grind against him. After a couple of songs you went back to the counter and had some more drinks. You were totally wasted as your vision went blurry and pretty soon everything blacked out.

It feels like a struggle for you to open your eyes as you stir inside the covers. Huh? You squint your eyes open and realize you were actually lying in a bed. You slowly sat up, your head was pounding with last night’s hangover as you groaned holding your head. Your eyes slowly adjusts to your surroundings and you realize that you were indeed back home and in your bedroom. You look down at your body and were shocked to find yourself in just your black strapless bra and underwear.

"You’re up at last." You hurriedly pull the covers up to your chest hearing Tom’s voice. 

He walks in a pair of grey sweatpants and a tightly fitted black t-shirt, his biceps bulging out of it. It was really odd to see him in such an informal attire but he looks good, you slapped yourself internally for the last thought.

"What happened last night? How did I get here? And where are my clothes?!" You badgered him with questions.

"Woah slow down, that's a lot of questions at one go and you should be the first one explaining about your reckless behavior last night."

"Why, what did I do?" You frown.

"Oh you really went wild last night. For starters you danced with random blokes and then you drank more and got wasted. And then you took off your dress whilst those drunk bastards did body shots." Your mouth falls agape in shock.

"Wait what? I took off my dress in public?!" You were still in disbelief.

"Yeah and that’s not all” He says with a scoff “You let those twats lick salt and lemon off your body while they did shots. Thanks to Sandy who informed me on time." You rolled your eyes looking away. 

"After seeing you being used for body shots things got a little nasty out there and they had to close early."

"What did you do?" You ask anxiously. 

"That any man would do seeing his wife being touched by other men." He growls the last bit.

"What do you mean?" 

"I made sure they will be in the hospital for a good couple of months." He states rather proudly. 

You slap your forehead shaking your head in annoyance. You didn't realize that you had let go off the sheets covering your body giving Tom quite a view which he had missed the other day. 

He slowly leans forward, eyeing you up and down lustfully prompting you to back off until your back touched the head board. He crawls towards you further hovering over you reaching his hand out to cup your face.

"You really upset me yesterday Y/N." His voice low as his hand brushes your hair from your shoulder and travels downs to your chest fingertips gently brushing over your rib cage down to the valley of your breasts slightly tugging to the soft material of your bra. You caught hold of his hand to stop him from going down further, he smirks. 

"Funny how you allow strangers to touch you, but not me, your husband who has the only right to do it." You kicked his crotch but not too hard. 

"Bloody hell!!" He groaned as you tackled him down bringing yourself on top straddling him. You were far gone from feeling self conscious, sitting on top of him in just your undergarments. 

"Well the thing is I don't take you as my husband." You sneer narrowing your eyes. "And the last time I checked, you don't trust me." 

"Well I never trusted you on the first place and you proved it last night quite nicely for the reason why” He says. “but honey I'm not letting you go so easily."

"After a lot of thought I actually think you could be a perfect leverage for me" He then goes to press his hand to your lower stomach "Moreover if you were with my child I guess grandpa Victor will certainly agree to some negotiations" He ticked his jaw with a devilish grin. You flare your nostrils fuming at his audacity. 

"I would rather be barren than let you father my child and give him/her this cursed life." You seeth. Tom seemed a little hurt by your words of how you think he's going to be a terrible father but he masked it with his usual cocky self. 

"Truth be told princess I love to be on top and in control but for a change you really look so pretty on top, can't imagine how beautiful you'll look while you ride my dick" He says tracing your jawline with his fingers. You swat his hand away. 

"You're such a piece of shit!" You snap getting off him. He gets up chuckling and leaves the room as you quickly get off the bed and run to the bathroom. 

Undressing yourself from the leftover clothes you ran a warm shower, the warm water quickly relaxing your muscles. You smelt of sweat, alcohol and cigarettes which made you feel dirty. You squirted some body wash and lathered your body with it before washing it off. Then you washed your hair with shampoo. 

You take your time before drying yourself off and walk out of the bathroom busy fixing your towel and bumped into Tom. His large hands held your arms steadying you meanwhile your towel loosens and falls off your body. You both looked at each other in shock. 

Tom stands there like a statue gaping at you, eyes lingering from top to bottom of your exposed body; ‘man you have a goddess like body’ he thought as beads of water trickled down your wet hair. You finally come back to your senses then it suddenly hit you that you were standing completely naked. 

"What the fuck!! Tom close your eyes!!!" You shriek out quickly bending down to grab the towel and cover yourself. Hearing you scream Harrison came barging in your room. 

"What happened mate?" Out of instinct Tom lunges forward and embraces you tightly blocking you from anyone's view.

"Harrison! Get the fuck out of here!" 

"Oh I'm sorry bruh. Didn't know you were busy." He cackles turning around. Some of his other men also came rushing in thinking something happened, leading to a total chaotic situation in the room. 

"Yes, who else is left to join the party you are cordially invited!" You yell frustrated. 

Tom is still guarding you as he yells sharply. "Get out of here you bloody morons!" 

When everyone is finally out of the room Tom steps back as you stand at your place clutching on to your towel, both of you looking away from each other. After a few awkward moments of silence Tom finally speaks up. 

"That was quite a spectacular view, you have kept things quite perked up I see." He says playfully. And that was enough to get on your nerves. 

"You!!!" You glower taking the vase you found near you in your hand to hurl it at him. He steps back a little, raising his hands defensively. 

"Careful love! That cost me thousands of dollars, though I don't have any shortage of money but still don't want a lovely art to go to waste just to appease your anger on your piece of shit husband" He snickers breaking into a laugh and runs out of the room leaving you fuming. 

"Son of a bitch! Uggh!!" You stomp your feet keeping back the vase at its place. Your phone dinged and you went to check, it was a message from William. 

W : Good news

..................................................................

Taglist in bio or send an ask/dm I’ll add you

[lovelylunarwriting]

Jaemin Soulmate!AU

Jaemin has a reputation as a “cool” kind of guy, which is why he wears bracelets to hide the words permanently etched on his left wrist

“Wait- if it’s not butter, then what is it?”

Jisung and Haechan are notorious for giving him shit for having a ‘weird’ soulmate, but Jaemin thinks it’s kind of funny, honestly

Like great question dude but,,, why are you asking me this

Jaemin’s apartment is around the corner from a little family-owned grocery store that he’s frequented since his high school days.

He’s very much a regular, to the point of the owner being like “Jaemin…. Please just work here. You already know where everything is”

To which Jaemin has to respectfully decline, because he wants to focus on his dancing and singing, and working too much would get in the way of practicing.

That, however, does not stop the old man from sending customers with questions to Jaemin whenever he comes in.

Because Jaemin is too polite to be like “uhh I don’t work here, good luck”, he always ends up helping them

But secretly, he doesn’t mind. He thinks that maybe one day, his soulmate will be the next one to ask him a question.

Even after repeated questions about “how much does this cost?”, “when do you guys open tomorrow?”, “when will the next shipment of bok choy be in?”, he still isn’t terribly bothered.

The other employees chastise the boss for sending customers to Jaemin, but the old man is always like “he knows this store better than you all do. That’s why he gets a discount higher than yours”

Employee discount: 15 percent off all merchandise

Na Jaemin discount: 20 percent off all merchandise

It’s an unspoken rule amongst employees that Na Jaemin gets a discount, but they are NEVER to mention it to him! He knows that business has been rough recently and wouldn’t accept the generosity, but the boss thinks Jaemin is too skinny and wants him to be able to afford to eat well.

Now lovely reader, this is where you come in. You recently got a job at this grocery store but you work in the back, so you have never seen the famous “Na Jaemin” that all your fellow employees chat about so frequently.

Coworker #1: “Ugh, he’s like SO dreamy”

Coworker #2: “I know right? He’ll have no trouble becoming an idol at this rate”

Meanwhile you’re like “lol what who? Also where is the printer for printing clearance labels”

You specifically applied for the back of house position because you did not want to talk to people.

It’s not that you’re antisocial by any means- honestly it’s the opposite. It’s just that you have the tendency to say whatever you’re thinking with absolutely no filter.

So in the past when more…. challenging… customers have talked down to you, you gave back the same energy without thinking.

Management was not happy,,, so you were like “mmmm maybe I should just keep to myself and everyone would be happier”

One day though, it seems that you’re shit out of luck.

Your work bestie calls you at 3 in the morning on your day off saying that her kid has a fever and she’s gotta stay home and take care of him.

You have no plans other than generally being a lazy lump at home, and she’s always had your back at work, so you’re like “girl don’t worry about it, I got your shift. I’ll make some chicken noodle soup for him too”

To which she’s like “bitch if I hadn’t found my soulmate already I would’ve snatched you up T-T”

You giggle and tell her to try and get some rest- both her and her kid.

And then sleep another blissful 4 hours before rolling in for the 8am shift.

When you get there, boss man is like “ayeee so you’re covering for her shift which is stocking shelves, are you gonna be okay doing that?”

You: “Ahaha yeah it’ll be fine~ just please don’t send customers to me oh my gosh”

Boss Man: “Don’t worry, I just saw Jaemin walk in. I’ll send them to him”

You: “... who is Jaemin”

Boss Man: “He’s my FAVORITE!! Remember that!”

You: “Oh, okay!! Yes sir!”

You’re like fifteen minutes into your shift and you’re already on edge because all you’ve done so far is dodge all the old ladies who are shopping this early.

No actual products have been put on the shelves yet, or at least not by your hands.

Settling down in the dairy section, you relax a bit and start putting cold products in the cold shelves fixed to the wall.

And of course- things are in the wrong place. Why would anyone put anything back where it belongs?

Picking up a product, you glance at the label out of sheer boredom more than anything.

“Wait- if it’s not butter, then what is it?”, you say to yourself.

Or so you think.

“Yeah, that is like the one question I don’t know how to answer”, you hear a masculine voice say from behind.

You spin around and look up into the man’s face.

And oh boy is that a nice looking face.

“Oh I’m sorry, I- WAIT”, you start, before you realize what he said.

Grabbing his left wrist, you push up the bracelets to reveal what you’d just said. Then you drop his hand out of sudden shyness, and because it’s not cool just to grab people.

“Do… do you mind if I look at your wrist as well?”, he asks quietly.

You roll up your sleeve and present him with your arm. He delicately wraps his fingers around your wrist and flips it over to read the words written”

He drops your wrist and sinks into a squat, flopping his arms over his head and looking at the ground.

“Oh my gosh why did I say something so lame…”

“Umm,,, to be fair,,, I did ask you about butter so by comparison yours isn’t that bad,,,,”, you try to comfort him, and he lifts his head up to meet your gaze.

“You mean that? It wasn’t like the lamest thing you’ve ever heard?”

“Oh I’ve heard much lamer things, don’t worry!”, you say with a cheery smile that contrasts your words entirely.

He stands up again and clasps your hands in his. With a look of determination he looks straight into your soul and asks:

“What time do you get off work?”

You tell him, but let him know that you’ll be busy after work making chicken noodle soup for your coworker and her son.

He’s like “oh you can cook?” and you’re like “lol no but I’m gonna die trying”

He writes his phone number on your arm (next to your soulmate tattoo) and is like “text me when you’re done with work and I’ll swing by and walk you home and maybe I can help you cook”

And quickly clarifies “ONLY IF YOU’RE COMFORTABLE WITH ME IN YOUR HOME, I UNDERSTAND IF BECAUSE WE JUST MET YOU-”

You’re like “dude,,,, it’s fine, we are literally destined to be together. Also if you try anything I’ll just beat you up so it’s chill”

Looking at his watch, he sprints makes a beeline for the checkout counter, going on about he’s gonna be so later and Haechan’s never gonna let it go if he’s late twice in a row, and something else but by that point he’s so far away from the dairy aisle you can only hear muffled sounds where words should be.

The next several hours could not go by ANY SLOWER.

Starting off today, you figured the day would go by quickly because you’d be preoccupied figuring out how to do something new, but now all you can think about is pretty soulmate boy.

And how he never mentioned his name, but to be fair, it was a rather quick exchange.

What feels like centuries later, your shift is coming to a close so you grab the ingredients you the internet tells you you need for the soup and head to your favorite cashier.

Somehow the front of the store is both quiet and abnormally loud for this time of night.

“Jaemin’s been waiting there for fifteen minutes? Do you think he’s waiting for someone?”

“Maybe he needs to talk to the boss? Usually he’d just ask one of us to grab him but he’s just standing outside”

“Ugh it’s so cold, should we tell him to come inside?”

You glance over to the crowd of coworkers towards the entrance and break out into a smile.

“Just keep ringing me up, I’ll be right back!”, you tell the cashier and fast walk past the small crowd.

Peeping your head out the door, you greet him.

“Are you cold? Come inside, I’m almost done”

“Oh okay, should I wait by the door though?”

“No, come with me. I wanna show you off~”, you instruct and he raises an eyebrow, but plays along.

Holding open the door for him, he scuffles his way in and shyly offers his hand.

Gladly, and with a pounding heart, you lock your fingers between his.

“Your hands are freezing, dude”

“Shhh it’s fine. I was trying to be cool, okay”, he jokes with you as you walk back to the register

Ringing up your items, the cashier is looking at you and him with raised eyebrows, and you’re just like “shut up jessica I’ll explain tomorrow”

The two of you walk back to your apartment and spend the rest of the night cooking and talking about everything and nothing.

The more you learn about Jaemin, the more confident you are that the universe got this one right.

Even when most things feel unclear, you know this person is someone you can always rely on.

(also when you bring your sick work bestie the soup, Jaemin insists on tagging along and she’s like “omg Y/N that’s JAEMIN” and you’re like “I KNOW” and he’s like “hi here’s some soup, also why do you know my name”

[polygamyff]

52. Part 8

Even though we didn’t have sex, I have woke up with a smile on my face. I really enjoyed last night, I think hearing that I am not a danger to my kids, it’s really made me happy. Robyn has shown me nothing but loving, I have enjoyed it. I think not everything needs to be about sex, I guess but I enjoyed it, but Robyn is not in bed and I have slept way more then I usually do. I am usually the one to wake up early, but I was so comfortable in bed with Robyn, stretching my body out “yes” I groaned out, I needed that. Reaching over and grabbing my phone, I did text Nalah last night that I needed to see her, let’s see what she says. Tapping on Nalah’ message as my phone unlocked, she will be at her apartment all day. I guess I will pay her a visit, I need to inform her of this of course I mean she has the right to know such a thing. Getting out of bed, I can’t be bothered to check the rest of my notifications. I groaned out as I sat up on the edge of the bed, every time I travel and go to different climates my body always aches but I am used to it but hate it, this is my body telling me I am ill and to relax but life goes on. I am happy to know Robyn wants more kids, I would never say no to more kids, why not. I can afford it and also I enjoy being a dad and I would like a son but also I will be blessed even if I had five daughters because they are the best, Reign has changed me so much. My phone started to ring in my hand, looking down at the caller I.D. What does Tina want now, answering the call “morning?” I said groggily “hey my handsome man” here she goes “your handsome man? Come on now Tina, what can I do for you now. You want to use me again?” I laughed, she is forever using me for something “use you, actually not you baby. Who manages Robyn? I have been watching her closely and you know I work with all designers and models, you know me” oh she doesn’t want me “I feel a little offended now, and nobody. She doesn’t need one, why?” I wonder what she wants “I have a proposal for her and the little one, they both have beautiful faces and we would like her to model the Balmain baby and adult range, matching outfits. I mean you can act as her manager, but I need a fresh faced beautiful woman and that is what she is” I am shocked to hear that “oh wow, ok. I mean I can ask. I am not sure that is her thing though but I can always ask, my girl is very busy at the moment though but for you Tina, I will ask” I do like Tina even though she is crazy as shit “thank you, they are so beautiful so I hope she does agree. Get back to me” that is a nice compliment “I will, thank you. Bye” disconnecting the call.

There is many reasons why I don’t want to go Milan that time also, I don’t know why but I am honestly getting harassed by my ex girls I used to fuck with and I am not sure why Shawn chose Milan, like was it ploy but the girls are just being nice and asking when I am coming but I have changed. Like now, I have this one asking when is you and your assistant coming to Milan, she is asking because of the picture I posted of Reign. I don’t really entertain them, but they are good friends, I mean I guess I have fucked all of my female friends too. Replying to the message ‘I should be in Europe maybe in a few months’ time, even closer. No birthday party for me haha’ pressing send on the message, opening the baby gate. This is like the fifth gate I have opened; Robyn has gone baby gate mad “I am about sick of these because of Reign” Jay is awake already “jump over it nigga, can’t you jump?” Jay said “this isn’t an assault course, morning everyone. Krista, missed me?” I said laughing “always” Robyn is used to little Krista now, she even eats breakfast with us “sarcasm now, morning Mi Amor” touching the top of her head “I am busy today. I need to go and see Nalah” pulling the chair back “can I come with you?” Robyn asked “sure, I don’t mind that. Hey girl” touching Khaleesi’ head “how does it feel to be thirty one? I wanted to ask you that” Jay asked “erm, I am not sure. I feel blessed, I didn’t think I would be alive. Honest, I was fucked. That is it, the end” I shrugged “amazing story bro, actually. I do remember you. I was a bodyguard at Little Wayne’ party, and you had a big entourage and I saw this skinny as fuck guy. Like Robyn, this nigga was skinny as fuck. These people weren’t protecting him, he was just there. I just remember you came and we had to accommodate your people, I was talking to my friend and he said don’t you remember and I do but I was so young then, much smaller in size” he chuckled “I don’t remember it, I was probably at my skinniest. Like niggas see that and they think I am that still, people can’t accept I am different now. I am just saying, I had a death wish. I would come to the party with a case full of money, I was a bastard. Don’t get angry Robyn but I am surprised I didn’t end up having kids elsewhere, but I was a bastard. Shit was wild Jay, but yeah. I am alive” I laughed “god wanted you here” Jay pointed at me “you were never a bastard to me?” Robyn said “have you seen you? You are so damn beautiful woman” is she crazy “but you had beautiful! You are such a liar, you have. I mean I was what, nothing? Me?” rolling my eyes “but your innocence got me, your calming nature. You got to understand Robyn, these girls that I met were there for a reason. It’s just not interesting, just you but I do feel like people can’t accept I have changed” I just feel it.

Robyn wanted to come with me to see Nalah, not going to refuse now “you think Jay will be ok? We will be back before she waked up” Robyn asked “Jay is part of the family, that’s his little stink so she is ok. You know, we need to trust this circle Robyn. A lot of shit will change and it’s concerning, I have a murderous family now? I mean what the fuck” shit is wild “that doesn’t phase me actually, my grandpa did say it, but I ignored it. Who am I to judge but you need to be careful with all these changes” I do actually remember Robyn’ grandpa attacking me that time but I honestly don’t know half of the shit that be happening with the family “do you want to go and get a new car now? I always forget” I feel bad now “no, it’s ok. I am fine with this” frowning at Robyn “why? I can get you a car” she has been hiring this car for the longest “because, I said so now leave it” side eyeing Robyn “I must admit, you are way better than my driver. Much more pretty too” I grinned “awww thank you, I love driving with my man” nodding my head smiling, ny phone started to ring in my hand “Ally” answering the call “erm, I didn’t get around to asking, where are you anyways?” Ally asked as my phone buzzed against my ear “with Robyn why? She is driving” odd question “Valentina, party in Milan? Shawn arranged it? This is what I got from Valentina anyways, I just didn’t think you would want that?” My face softened “you’re kidding right? I’ll sort it out” I don’t want Robyn to know “that is fine, speak soon” she disconnected the call. Checking on the message, Valentina again, now I get why she is here texting me ‘You had no party for your 30th?? Well you did with your dad; you need to visit. You can’t just stop partying, it’s fun. Bring your girl along, we don’t discriminate’ she says that because her ass is bisexual, she be fucking anyone, replying back to her ‘Well she does, but I will visit for lunch. That is it’ shaking my head laughing, she wants that old Maurice which is gone “what are you laughing at?” Robyn questioned “uhh well” locking my phone.

“Uhhh well what, I did see a woman’ name on there soo?” Robyn peeped “and you think I would laugh and text back when you can see? So, when I would go Milan there was females I was friends with that I would party with. She is just asking when I am coming to party, but I of course said those days are over, they want to meet up I guess. I said I am coming overseas soon, we can meet for lunch, that is it” is Robyn going to kill me or “so you had sex with them?” I paused staring at her “not exactly, I have seen them with other girls. I just watched while I got high, I didn’t actually fuck them” Robyn let out an oh “even better, seen their pussies, that is ok right?” ok she is not happy “that was in the past, now it’s just hi and bye. She is good people, I can’t help what past Maurice did” now she is mad with me “I know you won’t cheat, I know you won’t but I don’t trust bitches that are openly messaging you when they know you’re with me?” nodding my head slowly “they invited you?” Robyn laughed “I am not going to lick pussies and share you, got it. Who else you texting on that account?” rolling my eyes “friends, it’s not sinister Robyn, these are clients too! And friends” Robyn scoffed “you have fucked all of your friends Maurice” I sighed out “you have Zen! The fuck, you drove him home!?” which she did “I have not seen his fucking dick, that is different and you are clutching at straws!” she pointed at me “now put your fucking claws back because you know that is wrong, my man is messaging a girl that you have seen her pussy” clearing my throat “so now what?” I said “you tell me brains?” Robyn is so angry with me “she is a client of mine too, not that way! Honestly, just like Tina, I have these connects Robyn” Robyn held her hand out “give me your phone” I guess she is going to search my phone, passing my phone to Robyn “let me park up” sounds like she is going to beat my ass.

Robyn is very quiet just parked outside of Nalah’ apartment, I mean I have nothing to hide it is all there “ok, you get a lot of messages from females that you have not opened so the messages you do open, you know?” Robyn said, rubbing my face “aye!” Robyn spat “yes, I mean yes” I was just in my own thoughts “well I have read them anyways, nothing really was sad. They compliment you too much about being a good daddy, but I do trust you. Just not women that I assume you had sexual relationships with, I don’t want these bitches thinking I am a weak bitch because that is not me, I am very secure in that manner” Robyn placed my phone in my lap “but I like what I saw, not an ounce of flirtatious behaviour” nodding my head “I am scared, I don’t want you to beat my ass either” I said laughing “I wouldn’t beat your ass, dramatic. I just like to know you respect me. But would I let you party with them? No, and neither will you see them in Europe or whatever you said in that message, it’s not harmless with them and I won’t have it yeah, see how I feel once we married but right now, that is a no” nodding my head, I will listen to Robyn of course “I was just trying to get her to leave me alone really, I wouldn’t ever want to lose you. On god” Robyn cooed out “same, I missed you a lot. Nice to see you are scared of me and I respect that like I respect you. But I will break your dick if you try anything too” she says something nice and then threatens me, she is nice “you can be scary sometimes, I am a good boy” Robyn got out of the car “you near shit yourself, Bye” she ain’t wrong I did.

Walking the lobby to Nalah’ apartment “I wanted to ask, if you thought I was scared didn’t that make you think I was cheating?” I questioned “no because you gave up your phone to me. And it was more of I don’t want an argument look; I know you Maurice, so I didn’t take it in that kind of context of cheating. You are too damn cute” Robyn knocked on Nalah’ apartment door “I don’t try and be cute, but it happens, I can’t help how sexy I am, actually. I got to tell you some shit” Robyn placed her hand on her hip looking all concerned “so Tina called me, I was like it’s about me. What else does she want but no, she spoke on you and Reign. She is Tina, she knows everyone in the modelling and designer industry, and she was like” the door opened “hello family!!” Nalah spat “one minute so yeah, Tina goes oh does Robyn have a manager, I was like nah she doesn’t need it. She said I want Robyn and Reign to model or runway Balmain kid and adult wear, they are beautiful” Robyn’ eyes bulged out “you are lying to me!” she pointed “deadass” I said “oh yeah, she called Ally while you was away, I said tell Tina to call Maurice directly. He is not lying” Nalah backed me up “see, I am not lying. I am shocked but yeah, up to you. I can be your manager; I take payment in handjobs or even oral? Your terms” Robyn’ hands over her mouth still staring at me “no” she shook her head “you’re beautiful, what can I say. Come on” placing my arm around Robyn as we made our way inside “I can’t take that in, I am not that beautiful” Robyn moved her hands away from over her mouth “you are, stop it and hi Nalah” walking into her apartment “look at your tan, what the hell. Did you go with him Robyn?” Nalah asked “no, why? You know I didn’t” moving my arm away from Robyn “you just glowing, I know but welcome to my place. I got us some cocktails” rolling my eyes seeing Shawn “you can also kiss and make up with Shawn, please and thank you” I didn’t know he would be here “he lives here now?” I asked “well he comes here now and then Maurice” stuffing my hands in my pockets “let’s talk then, come” walking off “Maurice” Robyn said, I am just going to say how I fucking feel or knock his small ass out.

Shawn closed the bedroom door “Valentina then? You want to talk” Shawn’ face softened “look-” I cut him off “don’t look me right, Robyn looked at my messages because I have her crazy ass messaging me on Instagram, she called Ally and then Ally sent it to me. Why are you setting me up? Is that why you wanted to go Milan? Boys night out, you cheat on my sister and I cheat on Robyn and we all keep it secret? I am passed that! You know Valentina owns a fucking whore house and she will do anything for her girls to work and you set that up!?” Shawn didn’t think I would know “it’s not a whore house, Maurice we know her she is good to us. It was just a party. I wasn’t going to cheat on anyone, just fun. I said it to her” I sniggered “knowing full well my past with these people, you’re supposed to be my friend, I can’t believe you. If Robyn read that she would have killed me thinking it’s me because of my reputation out there! The reputation I am trying to fix because I was so fucked! Don’t you like I am happy? Answer me” Shawn put his hands up “listen to me, it was harmless. You are my best friend; I am happy for you. I just wanted some fun, harmless laugh” I laughed “I think you’re on a different level to me Shawn, I am getting married next week. No night away, just getting married. I trust Jay more then you after this, you set me up with Valentina!? Yes, I get it, she is nice. But you know what she is, and I said, you fuck with my sister I will knock your fucking ass out, what is your problem!?” I shouted “nothing, just some fun! Maurice you need to lighten up, nobody was going to cheat, she knows Milan!” he shouted “she runs a whore house! She is ok from a fucking distance like every fucking female I know. I don’t think I want that in my life, people like you in my life. You want me to beg for you, you miss that, and I see it. I have to make decisions in my life and you ain’t involved in it, I want you to fucking leave me and my family alone” Shawn’ face softened “Maurice, come on now. We have known each other since school! This is dumb, I would never let you do anything like that again. I want the best for you bro” I just felt anger in me, grabbing Shawn by the throat “then why contact Valentina!? Tell me that, I am getting rid of everyone, I am done! I am done with everyone!” I spat, Shawn grabbed my arm “then let me speak” I want to squeeze his neck, pushing him back “damn” Shawn coughed.

Shawn put his hands together “I love your sister; I promise you now I wouldn’t ever cheat on her. We are happy, I didn’t mean it in a malicious way, Valentina knows Milan. I wanted a party for you, nothing sinister and she knows that, and I can show you the messages. I made a mistake, I am sorry, but I love you, I wouldn’t ever want that for you, I know how much you love Robyn! I know, I see it. Me, I always wanted that for you. This was taken the wrong way, in life there will be women from your past there, it means nothing. It’s just fucking business Maurice, you know that. I promise you this, I know. I was living that life with you; I was scared for you. Don’t take this as bad, never that. I promise you! Just some fun not in the bad way. I get it, you’re not the Maurice I knew, and I like that, just don’t want you to lose you like that. I have been so upset. Please, bro you are taking this the wrong way. I have never been so happy with Nalah please” I can tell he is being genuine “then why ask her?” I said ever so calm “just because she knows the villas and places to party, it wasn’t going to her girls. I was getting the boys along too, I am sorry” nodding my head “don’t fucking play me or my siblings, you will find out why, but my circle is going to be tight. All y’all going to be playing a fucking part, and I ain’t taking no prisoners got it?” Shawn got his hand out “got it, I got you. I always did Maurice. You are my brother, but don’t kill me” I chuckled taking his hand “don’t let me down, on god” patting his back.

Smiling lightly at Robyn “I hope everything was ok?” Robyn asked “you know me” I sat down on the couch “I am sorry Robyn” Shawn said “for what?” Robyn said in confusion, I wonder what his fat ass mouth got to say “I don’t want to fall out with my brother, he means everything to me. So I was taking him to Milan, to party. And I invited a girl, Valentina she is a well known woman to get girls but in the past she has been good to us, I needed someone to get us a villa so I can get a villa and party, I didn’t think anything of it until Maurice said she has been messaging him but the thing is, she is a friend and Maurice knows that but I am sorry, I feel like I let him down and you, I am sorry” he wants to admit to it so be it “right, I did see he was messaging her too which was very harmless but why did you do that? How?” Robyn asked “because she knows Milan, she is friends of ours too. We have never had sex with her at all” Shawn put his hands up “Maurice seen her pussy though, he admitted that” Shawn frowned at me “I ain’t lying to my girl, but this is his fault but nothing happened. Honest” I mumbled “wow, you’re a real dumbass. Now I am angry at you” Nalah said “I made a mistake! She knows how to party, I am sorry! Please. I wanted to say sorry to you Robyn” Robyn is not happy at all, I am just stressed out of my mind right now.

[osmw1]

Poison-Wielding Fugitive   Chapter 24

“Payment? It’s not like that was a quest or anything.” “We’ve gotta draw a line in the sand. You try tellin’ others that you did all this for free and you’re gonna find yourself in a heap of trouble.”

Oh, okay. I had no choice but to follow along. Arleaf’s father also understands the concerns Veno had.

“At any rate, this village ain’t exactly wealthy... we don’t even have the lump sum for the knowledge you’ve given us. Even if I were to use my store as collateral.” “Umm, you can pay me with whatever you’re comfortable with.” “And as I’ve said already, if I take advantage of you here, you’ll be in deep.” “But…”

That’s true. If we stick out too much, it’d be dangerous for us. We can’t forget that there are still people after us. There are even wanted posters posted in the tavern.

“Father, don’t shout at Yukihisa.”

Arleaf stands up for me. Nice. You’re my breath of fresh air. And she’s been looking up to me ever since the whole Bloodflower thing too. Damn, that feels good. Mm. Whoops. I’ve been subconsciously ogling her. Gotta stay cool and collected.

“… ugh. The whole village—and of course our family—is grateful to you. That’s why we can’t have you work for free. To take advantage of people is the beginning of corruption. So be considerate of us and make your demands. Don’t take us merchants lightly either.”

Arleaf’s dad annoyedly grumbles.

“So… what should I ask for?” “Ah. There’s nothing we can give you that could ever make up for the knowledge you’ve given us. But what we can do is…”

He brings out a sack of coins and puts it on the counter.

“This is the money we’ve collected from selling the cure, plus donations from the villagers. That and you’ll have my Arleaf to make up for the rest that we owe you. Don’t go too crazy on her now. Think of it as a favor for me.” “Huh?”

What did Arleaf’s father say just now?” I got the money part. But I’m not too sure about the next bit. What about Arleaf now?

‘He shall use Arleaf to cover the rest of thy remuneration is what he said. Thou can use her to satisfy thy lust to thy heart’s content. How fortunate for thee.’

Oh, no, no, no, no. Dumbfounded, I look over to Arleaf, who then blushes and casts her gaze downwards. What the hell? You can’t just sell your daughter!

‘Think carefully. Thou may seem like a simpleton, but thou have the knowledge to cure Bloodflower. They must know they can milk thee for other secrets. Hence why he is entrapping thee with his own daughter. It is a dirty trick often used by humans.’

Maybe, but still… What happened to drawing a line?!

‘Perhaps these are separate matters. They likely have the money they owe you. How cunning of them.’

I’ve just refused the proprietress’ offer for her niece. What am I going to do about this?

“Blasts…”

Arleaf’s father frustratedly curses under his breath, while Arleaf’s mother… peeps on us from the door. What is this, some kind of movie? Was Arleaf’s dad ordered by his wife to sell their daughter and so he reluctantly offers her to me?

“Don’t get me wrong, boy! What I meant was don’t go crazy and working her to the bone! Don’t you lay a hand on her!” “Father!” “Uhh, working, like have her help me out to pay off the debt kind of thing?”

Oh, I get it. Yeah. That’s totally what he meant. Man, was I surprised. But it seems like her mom is still pushing for marriage. Still, that could be convenient for me.

What am I saying though? I’m a wanted man. If she’s affiliated with me, she’ll probably be wanted for being an accessory. I can’t marry her. Plus, what’ll happen when Veno learns how to undo the spell? Do I return back to Japan? Or do I stay here in this world forever?

I can’t say so for sure right now. So it wouldn’t be fair to Arleaf.

‘That is surprisingly virtuous of thee. Especially knowing thy… fantasies and delusions of her.’

Shut up, Veno. That’s a whole different thing. Yes, I’ve thought of us adventuring together, but that’s not even close to what you’re suggesting.

“That’s right!”

Arleaf’s dad agrees with an exclamation. It’s convenient for us both, I see. I’ll take the negotiation tactics I’ve learned from working in a black company and use it on him.

“That said, though… I’m an adventurer and I don’t stay anywhere for too long. I wouldn’t want to impose upon Arleaf.” “I-I know you’re an impressive adventurer, Yukihisa! I’m prepared to follow you to the ends of the world. So, please, take me in.” “Mu?”

New party member? Hey, are we getting a new party member? ... is what the gleam in Muu’s eyes seems to mean, but I want to say no.

“Uhh… well, while I’m still here in this village, you’d really help me out…”

“Only for the time being,” is what I implicitly said. Arleaf looks gutted while her dad has a beaming smile on his face. Talk about jealous. Sheesh.

“I’ll follow you wherever you go, Yukihisa, and I’ll prove it to you.”

Arleaf shows how obstinate and zealous she is. I’m not even that strong or anything!

“Well, uhh… for the time being then, let’s do our best together.” “For sure!”

While it’s true that I’m trying to make a living in this village, more often than not, the quests I do are from you guys anyway… The payment I’ve received for the cure did thicken my wallet quite a bit, so I’ve still got money to stay for a while. The problem is the cost of maintaining our weapons. The crossbow and armor I have equipped are quite the specialty items, so I’d like to think the maintenance on it is on the expensive side. If worse comes to worst, then we’ve gotta find out where we can get new equipment that’s easy to use. And the biggest problem is when I really have to escape, I’ve got to part from Arleaf so that she’s safe too.

“Don’t you even think of laying your hand on my daughter, y’hear?”

Calm down, old man! I never said that I would!

“Hmph. Should be alright then. You’ll find out how scary she can be too, Cohgray.”

Arleaf’s dad muttered smugly, but what does that even mean? Arleaf herself trembles with anger, showing her bloodlust for her father again.

“By the way, Cohgray, you feelin’ peckish at all? Why don’t you stay for dinner?” “… Father, you’re just—” “What? You can’t hide it from him forever. You might as well show him now.” “You’re the worst.” “You can’t back out of this one. This ain’t only for Cohgray, but for you too, Arleaf.”

Umm… I haven’t had a say in this at all. Aren’t you guys getting carried away? I look over to the back of the shop and see Arleaf’s mother visibly sigh. What? I don’t understand at all what’s happening.

“A showcase of our daughter’s finest home cooking. You’re excited too, eh?”

He presses me with a threatening look.

“Oh. Yes.”

For whatever mysterious reason, I guess Arleaf’s family is treating me to dinner tonight.

“Thank you very much for saving my life. I apologize for not having an earlier moment to thank you directly.”

Arleaf’s mother politely bows and greets me before showing me to the back of their store.

“Oh, not at all. I’ve only done what I ought to. How have you been feeling since then?” “I would even say better than before.” “That’s really good to hear. I’m glad the proprietress is feeling better too.”

I break the ice with the proprietress and her huge change.

“I am doing no worse than her for sure, haha.”

Hmm… I don’t think Arleaf’s mom changed nearly as much as the proprietress did. I think she’d be better off not to, actually. She’s swelling up like a balloon… any more would be bad.

“Mu.” “But Mr. Cohgray, it seems you are quite adept at alchemy as well. What a clever boy you have.”

Arleaf’s mom pets Muu as she speaks. With Muu around, I seem so much more skilled at medicine than I actually am. In reality, Muu’s just a weird chemical reaction that I’m using as my adventuring buddy.

“Good grief… my husband and him barking orders sure brings us trouble though. Arleaf, too, for my husband’s sake…”

For your husband’s sake… what? Could you perhaps give me a proper answer?

“Like I said! Keepin’ it a secret won’t do nobody no good. You get it, don’tcha?”

Ah. Arleaf’s mom stares daggers at her husband. What is happening? I thought Arleaf was just cooking for us.

‘They must be scheming to poison thee. Well, not that it would be effective.’

Surely that can’t be it, Veno. Their expressions don’t match up. And Arleaf herself seems to be bothered too. It just seems like her dad’s going nowhere with that.

‘Aye… but something is up. Consider my curiosity piqued.’

Seems like Arleaf’s in the kitchen and caught up in cooking.

“Cohgray, come check over these ingredients here!” “Father!”

While Arleaf is distracted by her dad, I look over the ingredients. Veno’s knowledge kicks in. I’ve been to various taverns and inns for meals since I’ve come to this world. There’s nothing that I wouldn’t know of about.

There’s meat that I’ve cooked with, veggies that I’ve had at the tavern, some regular-looking ingredients, and a loaf of crusty bread. Nothing’s unfamiliar.

Yep. Nothing special about this at all. Seeing that I’ve finished looking, Arleaf’s dad nods at me, clueing me to look at her cooking. While displeased at this situation, she starts cooking as she’s been told. She looks like she knows what she’s doing.

“Goodness… it’s embarrassing how you cling onto your daughter.”

Arleaf’s mom begins to chastise her husband.

“It’s the truth. But don’t go pokin’ the bear.”

Arleaf’s mom lets out a big sigh, seemingly like this is a long-standing problem.

“Let’s do this later instead. So, Mr. Cohgray, where did you learn medicine? Perhaps… you come from a prestigious family?”

As expected, they keep inquisitively prying. They’re essentially handing their daughter off to me, so it’s only fair they’re concerned.

“Umm… I had someone who knows lots about this subject. He taught me everything. I’m just from an average family.”

Not a single word of that was a lie. That’s a life pro-tip I’ve learned from working in that sweatshop. Hide your secrets amongst truths. Like how a job opening would advertise how cozy and spirited the workplace is, you’ve got to make your shortcomings look like your strengths.

While it’s true how the veterans would be all friendly with each other, the newbies often get ostracized and get forced with more work. Create a façade of truths while glossing over what you want hidden. You’ll have more people believe you than you’d think.

As long as there are suckers, there will be people tricking suckers. In this case, the someone who knows lots about this subject is Veno, but I don’t have to say whether or not he’s human. I’ll mislead them to think that I’ve learned all this beforehand, while the truth is that Veno had just been teaching me each step of the process one by one. They don’t need to learn the whole truth. At any rate, I can talk my way out of this. Plus, they’re normal people so this whole thing is a piece of cake.

‘One would say thou possess quite the silver tongue. Thou seem quite excited to cheat them too.”

I want to refute him. Is Japan really better than this world? I can’t say… There might be a sword hanging above my head, but I’m starting to think this isn’t all bad. At any rate, it’s great that I don’t have to work overtime and that I sleep well.

“Is that right? You must have had a great mentor then.” “It’s all thanks to him that we could eradicate this illness…” ‘I would love to give him our thanks then.”

For some reason, I sense Veno all puffed up with pride.

‘How dost thou like mine knowledge now?’

Yeah, yeah. You saved the day, but don’t forget I’ve been dragged into this by you. So, please, be quiet. If they pry any more than this, it’s gonna get a little dicey.

previously: /ch001/ /ch002/ /ch003/ /ch004/ /ch005/ /ch006/ /ch007/ /ch008/ /ch009/ /ch010/ /ch011/ /ch012/ /ch013/ /ch014/ /ch015/ /ch016/ /ch017/ /ch018/ /ch019/ /ch020/ /ch021/ /ch022/ /ch023/ /ch024/ /next/ (full list of translated chapters) (discussion thread on Novel Updates) (please support me on Patreon or Paypal)

[zens-ponytail]

Hello!! Can I ask for a friend zoned MC feeling unrequited love to the RFA + V & Unknown which ends in a "I like you god damn it" confession?? And they like you back?? Thank youuuu (: I love your blog btw

Author’s note: sorry this is so rushed I have to post Saeran/V’s separate bc this is so long || So some of these aren’t as much confessions asthey are cute, BUT I HOPE YOU ENJOY THEM NONETHELESS ♥

Yoosung

“To the left, MC!!!! NO, YOUR OTHER LEFT!”

You smashed the buttons of yourcontroller down, hoping something good would happen

I have no idea what I’m doing.

“Uhh, Yoosung?”

“Hmm?”

“I think I just died.”

“WHAT?”

You set your controller down andglanced over at your best friend

His eyes were glued to the screen,tongue sticking slightly out just like it always does when he’s focused onsomething

The light from the monitor flashedwhite and Yoosung jerked forward, causing your knees to collide

You felt your face heat up at theskin on skin connection

“A-Ah, Yoosung?”

“Not now, MC, I think I can winthis!!”

Yoosung leaned over in front ofyou, trying to get a better angle of the screen

You got a whiff of Yoosung’s shampoo and your heart skipped a beat 

I don’t know how he smells this good after playing video games all day.

You involuntarily reached out andran your fingers through his hair

“…So soft.”

For a second you though you feltYoosung leaning into your touch

But that’s probably my imagination…

The screen flashed again andYoosung turned around to look at you

He was still leaning over on yourside, your faces now inches apart

“I won!”

Yoosung gave you a close eyedsmile

…That damn smile.

When you didn’t respond to him,Yoosung frowned

“What’s wrong, MC?”

“…”

Screw it.

You summoned every ounce ofstrength you had and closed the gap between his lips and yours

Before Yoosung could react, youpulled away

“U-Uhhh,” you looked at Yoosung’s brightred face, “Congrats on the win?”

Do it!! Tell him how you feel!

“Yoosung, I-“

“M-Me too.”

Zen

It was just another average frienddate with Zen

You, him, a small bistro, hundreds of fans all begging to get apicture with him

Just a normal day

“Zen, over here!!!”

“Sorry about the flash, I justHAVE to make sure it’s a good picture.”

“Are you stupid??? ALL of Zen’s pictures are good!”

You turned to look at your friend,who was soaking up as much of the limelight as possible

This dork…

He stood up and tapped on hisglass with a fork

“Ladies, ladies, you can all get a picture with your Zenny, just be patient!”

“Since when are you theirs?” you mumbled, crossing yourarms

Zen glanced back at you

Crap, did he hear me?

You gave him a big smile and athumbs up

That ought to throw him off his tracks.

Zen turned back to the sea of fans

“I’ll be outside in ten minutes,so if everyone could make a line outside, that would be perfect!”

In the blink of an eye therestaurant was empty again, a flood of screaming girls and guys retreatingoutside to wait for their prince

A sigh of relief escaped your lips as Zen sat down

“Are you mad at me?”

You looked down at your food andbegan messing with it

“Don’t play with your food, MC.”

“Okay, mom.”

He sighed, “If you aren’t going toanswer my question I’ll just go outside right now.”

Zen put his hands on the table andstarted to push himself up

“W-Wait.”

You grabbed his arm and pulled himback down

“I’m not mad at you,” you sighed, “I’mjust mad that we never get to spend time together like we used to.”

Zen put his hand on top of yours andleaned in toward you

“What do you mean? I see you allthe time up at work!!”

You stared at his hand

He’s touching me.

He’s holding my hand.

ZEN is holDING MY FREAKING-

“MC???”

You awkwardly coughed and pulledyour hand away

“Y-Yeah, uh no… what were wetalking about?”

Zen leaned back in his chair

“Never mind… let’s just eat.”

He lifted up his glass of water tohis lips

Those lips…

“I love you.”

“WHAT?”

“DAMNIT ZEN!”

You pushed away from the table andstood up

“You spit all over my shirt,” yougestured down to the wet material that clung to your chest, “my WHITE shirt!!’

“W-Well you said that you… youlove me.”

“Ah… that.”

And all of sudden, the floorbecame veryyyyy interesting

I wish I had the power of invisibility…

“MC, look at me.”

While you were contemplatingsuperpowers, Zen had taken the time to walk over and stand in front of you

“Nah, I think I’m good,” you continued looking down, “the floorhappens to be my favorite shade of… brown.”

A soft and warm hand tilted yourchin up, and your eyes met his scarlet ones

“I love you too.”

You slowly leaned in-

“ZENNY, WE’RE WAITING~”

Offff course.

Zen stepped back and glanced atthe girl peeking through the front door

There was the click of a cameraand a squeal, and she was gone again

Zen scratched the back of his head

“Sorry, I guess it’s-whoa whoa WHOA, what are you doing????

You flung your wet shirt over theback of the chair and shivered

“Man, this place is kinda cold,”you looked up and smirked, “then again, I am wearing just a bra.”

You heard a very inhumane noise come from the back of Zen’s throat

“The fans can wait.”

Zen grabbed your wrist and pulledyou into his chest, his lips crashing against yours

The beast was NOT contained thatnight

Jaehee

On your way out of the RFAbuilding you glanced at your watch

Damn… it’s already 11pm? I stayed waaaaayyyy too late.

When you walked past the break roomyou heard the familiar sound of the copy machine clunking turning on

“…damn Jumin and his damnreports-“

I wonder if that’s…

“-with his damn cat and the damncat wine.”

Yup, that’s Jaehee.

You peeked in the room and watchedas she stuffed a stack of papers into the copy tray

She wiped her hands on her skirtand sat in the chair next to the whirring machine

“You should go talk to her.”

“WhAT THE-“

Seven put a hand over your mouthand pulled you away from the door

Jaehee glanced up and sighed

“Anyone there?”

Seven removed his hand and youlowered your voice to a whisper

“What the hell do you want?”

He glanced at the breakroom andthen back to you, giving you his famous ‘I have an idea that could go horriblywrong or perfectly right’ look

“Good luck,” was all he saidbefore grabbing you and harshly shoving you in the breakroom

“WAIT-”

But it was too late

In a flash the redhead was gone,and you were alone with Jaehee

She looked up and smiled

“MC? I didn’t know you were hereso late! It’s nice to have some company.”

You stared at her, unsure of whatto say

S-So cute…

“U-Uhh, yeah…”

Jaehee stood up and stretched,letting out a tiny yawn

“How much longer does Jumin haveyou here?”

She picked up the warm copies fromthe tray and leaned up against the machine

“I just have to run this back tohis office and I’m done! At least, until he inevitablycalls me at midnight asking for more cat food…”

You walked with her to Jumin’soffice, continuing to listen to her rant about his late night antics

When the two of you finally gotthere, she plopped the papers in a box outside the door

“H-Hey, Jaehee?”

She glanced over at you

“Hmm?”

“You wanna go grab some late nightcoffee? Since, you know, Jumin should be calling you in about,” you checkedyour watch, “30 minutes.”

“Sure!! That’s exactly the pick meup I need, a nice little friend date!”

Hold up.

“…Friend date?”

“Yeah, I was thinking-”

“I like you. A lot.”

Jaehee stopped and turned to you

“A-As a friend?”

You stepped closer, “More than a friend.”

Her eyes widened and a deep blushspread across her cheeks

“Oh…”

“Oh?”

You felt your heart break in two

She doesn’t feel the same… dammit, this is why you never fall in love with a straight girl.

Tiny hands wrapped around yourown, causing you to look back up

Jaehee had a soft smile spreadacross her lips

“Me too… a-about the not friendthing.”

Her gripped tightened, “Not that I don’t consider you a friend! I’m just, well, what I’m tryingto say, or rather, what want to say-”

“Would you two KISS ALREADY???”

Both of your heads snappedin the direction of the voice

“Seven, whyyyyy are you still here?”

“Still?”

“Yeah, he was here earlier when-”

“-When I set you guys up!”

As you and Seven began arguing, Jaeheelooked between the two of you and sighed

She interlocked fingers with youand pulled you away

“Sorry, Luciel, but we have a dateto get to.”

You stuck your tongue out at himand he rolled his eyes

“Whatever… have fun you two lovebirdddssss!!”

You looked over at Jaehee andsmiled

Oh, we will.

Jumin

Dammit, he closed the blinds.

You rolled your chair closer and angledyour head in an attempt to see into Jumin’s office again

“Peeping tom much?

“Shut it.”

Zen sighed and leaned up againstyour desk

“I still don’t understand what yousee in him.”

You rolled your eyes and lookedover at Zen

“You promised you’d be supportive-

“-And I am,” he held up his handsin surrender, “I just think you could do better.”

“What? Like date you?”

“Well, not that much better.”

Zen smirked and you playfully hithim in the stomach

Within the next second the two of you burst out laughing

“Wow,” you wiped a tear from youreye, “I don’t even know why that was so funny.”

“Me neith-”

“MC,” Jumin’s voice boomed, “Can Isee you in my office?”

Zen raised his eyebrows and pushedhimself off your desk

“Good luck,” he glanced back,“with him, you’ll need it.”

You rolled your eyes and stood up,cringing when your knees made a loud pop

Could my body, like, not embarrass me? No? Alllllllrighty.

You walked into the room and Juminclosed the door behind him

“So, what’s up?”

Jumin turned around and sighed

“I believe some… congratulationsare in order.”

Huh?

“Did I get a raise?”

Jumin chuckled, taking one bigstep toward you

“No, I’m talking about you andZen.”

…Huh?

“I’m a little lost… what do youmean-”

“Your relationship. Are you notromantically involved with each other?”

“Huh?”

Said that one out loud this time…

You mentally kicked yourself, “Zenand I are just friends.”

“Just friends?”

“Purely platonic.”

Jumin scratched his chin,completely lost in thought

You took a deep breath

Here goes everything nothing.

“…I actually have my eye onsomeone else.”

Jumin snapped back into reality

“Who? If that, well, if it isn’ttoo much to ask.”

Crap. Crapcrapcrapcrap-

“Is it really not Zen?”

Oh my god.

“You know,” you grabbed his tie,“you’re pretty clueless for a CEO.”

In one gentle tug, your lipsconnected with his

After a few seconds, Jumin pulledaway

“So, it’s me then?”

You shook your head and grinned

“Of course, you-“

Jumin’s lips crashed on to yoursagain,his hands cupping your face

And let’s just say you were now verythankful for the closed blinds

Seven

“Wrench.”

“WRENCH!”

“Screwdriver.”

“SCREWDRIVER!!”

You grabbed the two tools fromSeven’s hand

“You know, you don’t have torepeat everything I say.”

“Repeat everything I-OUCH! MC, why’d you kick meeee?”

Seven hugged his shin and hoppedup and down

I’m surprised he has this much energy at 2 in the morning….

You looked back up at Seven, whohad miraculously gotten over his bruised shin and was chugging a can of Dr.Pepper

…Who am I kidding, he never sleeps anyways.

It had been about an hour sinceSeven called you asking for help fixing his chair

You had gone to the furniturestore IKEA anyone??? with him earlier that day and actually took the time to READ the damn manual

“Anddddd, done!”

You clapped your hands togetherand smiled

“Wanna test it out?”

Seven gave you a mischievous grin

“Don’t mind if I do!”

Before you knew it, Seven grabbedyour waist and pulled you into his lap, causing both of you to fall back intothe chair

It creaked under the combinedweight of you and Seven, but surprisingly remained stable

“Hey, you really did fix it!!”

Seven began spouting off nonsenseabout how crappy it was earlier, but you were too busy thinking about the factthat you were sitting

In his lap

INCHES away from his face

He’s so warm…

“-Plus, it kept making weirdnoises! I’m so glad you came over tonight.”

“Mmhmm.”

“Uh, earth to MC?? Agent 707calling, can you read me??”

You shook you head, zoning back in

Seven sighed, relaxing back intothe chair

“Thank God Seven you’re okay… I can’t have my best friend dying on me…literally,” Seven chuckled at his own joke

I love that little laugh.

“Dammit…”

Seven looked back at you

“What’s on your mind, MC?”

“You.”

DID I JUST SAY THAT OUT LOUD?

“W-What?”

Here we go.

“Seven, I like you.”

“You mean,” Seven furrowed hisbrows, “You like me, or you like-likeme?”

You rolled your eyes, how old is he again??

“You’re so ridiculous.”

Seven looked at you patiently

“I like-like you.”

You felt lips lightly press on the back of your neck

“Well that’s not fair,” Seventightened his grip on your waist, “because I love-love you.”

[linssikeittomies]

Apocalypse. In 50 Years. Chapter 1: Virgin Allison

I’m lucky. Always have been. Me, my parents, their parents, and their parents as far back as we can remember have always been lucky: none of them have been seriously ill, gotten into a serious accident, or suffered major financial setbacks. We don’t have any hereditary diseases. No one has died before their 80th birthday. There hasn’t been a single divorce.

I had a good upbringing, a stable family situation and a healthy diet. My parents bought me an apartment, I got in to college on my first try, I have hobbies I love and time for them, summer is just around the corner and we’re planning a vacation to Hawaii, everything is great and I should have nothing to worry about.

But every second of the day I feel this anxious tension in my chest.

I always feel like I’m doing something wrong, or I’m supposed to be doing something else. Something is not correct, and I don’t know how to correct it. Something’s expected of me, but I don’t know what. I’ve tried going to church and mosque more, I’ve tried doing more sports, I’ve tried volunteer work, arts, science, philosophy, psychology, travelling, soul searching, nothing works. That nagging feeling just won’t go away! Sometimes it’s right there on the surface, sometimes it sinks to the background, but it’s there every second of the day and my sanity can’t take another month of this feeling! I might be the first person in my family line to have a mental breakdown.

--

There’s some kind of sound… What is that, I don’t like it, I don’t like beeping when it’s so warm. Just let me find that last bunny. It got scared of the sound. Aww, I found it, right on my desk, the alarm…

Oh, the sound was my alarm clock. Damn brilliant, time to wake up already. Whose bright idea was it to force people up before they were ready? The professors can’t like being woken at the ass crack of dawn either. Just stop having morning lectures, people! Nobody wants them! I’m the nicest girl this country has ever seen and I’m getting an impulse to murder a guy. I’ve been getting up at 5:45 the whole week, maybe I should’ve gone the other route and just not slept at all. Would’ve made it easier to drag myself out of my soft, warm, loving bed… I’ve been trying to clean up my language, but I just have to curse some right now. Gives me enough anger to push myself up. Makes me feel bad about myself, too.

The classic white and blue sailor fuku has seen a lot of use this past month, but since it still feels marginally less wrong than all my other clothes, it’ll see a little more. I brush my hair while I wait for the frying pan to heat up enough fry my omelet, then pick at it and end up only eating half. Ughhh, why did I stay up reading that fanfic last night, again? I’ve read it like ten times already, I already know damn well what’s gonna happen! I get so queasy when I’m tired… I should probably pack the rest of this omelet up and take it to school ‘cause I’ll just get hungry an hour later.

I manage to cover the bags under my eyes with make-up, and since for once I was smart and packed my bag ready last night, I just grab it and get out the door. I’ve barely closed it when my next door neighbor Ricky comes out his. He’s really nice and kinda cute, but his obvious crush on me makes our relationship a little awkward. Not that I don’t reciprocate – he’s easy on the eyes, super cute with all those freckles and dimples and supposedly carefree hair combined with a caring and shy personality. So yeah, I once considered dating him, but the overwhelming sense of WRONG! WRONG! had unfortunately made that impossible. It always flares up particularly bad when something romance-related comes to my mind, maybe I’m just extremely aromantic without realizing it? It seems being friends with him is a-ok, however. And it’s got its perks.

“Oh, morning, Ally. Did you like the cookies I gave you yesterday?” he asks, as if there was ever any doubt. “I think the cinnamon made them a little too Christmassy.”

“Not at all, they were great! I don’t get how you make them soft in the center, whenever I try they just dry up.”

“Might be too much flour”, he theorizes as we go down the stairs. He moves his messenger bag from his free side to between the two us – I’ve noticed he does that a lot, I think it’s some kind of unconscious attempt at putting up a barrier because he feels so self-conscious around me. “Or maybe you keep the oven on for too long. I always turn it off when they’re close to ready.”

I almost ask for a baking lesson, but again the WRONG flares up so I give up on the idea.

“You might be on to something, I’ll try that next time.”

He’s bad with words, so he tries to find something to say but can’t. He scratches his arm absently and opens his mouth only to close it immediately. Our conversations are rarely smooth, and these kinds of pauses are the norm. I don’t mind them that much – no point in saying words solely for the sake of making noise, after all. But Ricky seems to find them incredibly uncomfortable and a sign of failure, so often I just say something completely meaningless to help him out, give him some ideas.

“How’s school been lately?”

Ricky’s a journalism major, and has a huge collection of magazines and newspapers at his place. I wonder why he didn’t go into confectionary since he’s so good at it already. Maybe he prefers to keep it a hobby? Not even with a gun to my head would I animate for a living, even though I spend like 90 percent of my free time staring at anime.

“Nothing special”, he mumbles. “A lot of work… It, uhh, might get a little worse now that my computer broke…”

“Aww crap, I feel for you!”

“Thanks… I… spilled milk on it last night”, he admits embarrassed. He likes drinking milk with cookies, he must’ve been eating those cinnamon cookies while working on something. “It’s probably busted even if I can get it dry.”

“I can lend you my tablet if it’s any help.”

“Thanks, but… all my files were on the hard drive.”

Oh jeez, he didn’t even save the most important ones to a cloud? This guy’s just hopeless. I don’t get how he’s managed to stay alive living on his own for two years. A cute face doesn’t help much with keeping track of bills and switching fuses.

We part ways on the street and I dig out my headphones. My bus route is noisy as hell, thanks to all the “edgy” teens going to high school. For some incomprehensible reason so many of them think it’s entirely necessary to loudly laugh at the worst non-jokes and gossip about this bitch and that bitch and those assholes, while also apparently hating each other judging by the amount insults they throw at each other, but still they hang out together so I guess they really are friends…? I just don’t get them. I was never like that in high school, I actually liked my friends.

Speaking of which, I get a new message from ~BFF~.

Good morning! Saida says, and sends a selfie. Seems she’s been clothes shopping, as I’ve never seen that tunic before. The hijab is old, but it’s draped pretty elaborately. It looks really good on her, red’s really her color, and the tunic’s greenish gray complements it surprisingly well.

Woah nice! Looks great on u (^o^)b

Thanks^^ Took ten tries to drape it good, I’m thinking wearing it like this for the premiere. Only a week from now! SO excited! >o<

Grrrrreat peeps gonna luv it \(^-<)

Keep both thumbs up for me^^

Saida’s an aspiring playwright and works on a lot of amateur productions. This will the first play she wrote completely on her own. I’ve been to a couple of their rehearsals, so I know the story is about a woman whose father is murdered and she vows to catch the perp – but in the process learns that her father was actually a terrible person and was killed in revenge. I didn’t want too many spoilers so I haven’t read the script.

Can we go togthr im so proud of u (/>3>)/

Of course! We’re going for a dinner afterwards so you can come with us too

Aww, I wanted u all to myself orz

If only you were a guy you couldXD Too bad :p

Deciding to tease her about this raises the wrong feeling back to the surface, but the opportunity is just too delicious.

Ill keep that in mind (^3^)b

Oh jeez, in hindsight that was a bad joke (/-_-\)

U get im gonna teez u about this all ur life k:DDDD

In hindsight that was a REALLY bad joke -_- Have fun AT SCHOOL you little devil!>:D

Aww orz

She barely has classes this week, not that it means she actually has less work – just that she’s supposed to working on assignments at home. Unlike me, she’s really diligent and actually does her homework over a few days instead of the previous night.

--

The professor is late, as usual. Students don’t have keys for the classrooms, so we have to wait outside. It can get pretty cramped, especially at places like this: at the end of a narrow hallway, with the smelliest toilet in the building at the other end. Everyone tries their hardest to squeeze out of the way of the stench. At least in the summer it gets a little better – in the winter the pipes get frozen, and when the water doesn’t flow, the smell really starts melting off faces.

I fail at stifling a yawn, and a classmate gives me a sympathetic look. It’s so hard to stay awake when I’m not on the move, any small break just reminds my brain of how tired I am, and then it wants to go back to sleep. It even forgets about the horrible stink floating in the hallway, if only for a moment. When my head drops and I snap back to attention, it suddenly fills my nose again. I’ve repeated the process about five times already.

In fact, I’m right in the process of drifting back to sleep again when I notice her. The pale, young woman dressed all in black, sporting abyssal black hair and glowing, ember-like eyes. She stares at me intently, like a hawk hunting a rabbit, and emanates a malicious aura. Everything about her is… dark, somehow. Like she’s hard to make out, and even the bright lamps seem dimmer around her. She looks human, but in an… elongated way. Her face, her body, and especially her fingers, look a little too long and a little too spindly. She looks like a daddy long legs. I can’t shake the mental image of her creeping up the wall and skittering away in to some slight crack. I’m not used to being nervous – I consider myself a particularly brave person, but this lady is giving me the creeps! I find myself crossing my arms at my chest to get at least some kind of barrier between us, despite her standing several meters away. It’s not far enough. If possible, I would rather put several countries between us – but as it stands, all I have is half a meter of hallway.

Her eyes stare at me unblinkingly as I squeeze closer to the door, their dim glimmer drowning out all other light. I can’t look away – her gaze holds me prisoner, and laughs at my fear.

Then a light weight settles on my shoulder, and her thin lips curve into a sharp, sadistic facsimile of a smile and she whispers

                                                  FOUND YOU

before turning around and walking out. All feelings of dread melt away with her gone, and I turn to look at whoever defended me.

It’s a hand. A translucent, poorly defined, watery hand that peters out of existence at the wrist. Seeing it floods me with tranquility. It twinkles like moonwake and grips my shoulder reassuringly before fading away.

…

Wow, I must be really tired! Guess those five hour nights finally caught up with me! As interesting as this awake-sleeping was, I’d rather not repeat it anytime soon. Or, like, ever. I have got to catch up on sleepy times this weekend.

--

By afternoon I’ve almost forgotten about the creepy lady and disembodied hand. It’s Friday, I’m too excited about finally having the time to finish my Ayato cosplay to think about sleep deprivation hallucination thingies. If I hurry, I should be able to finish the coat, maybe work on the pants some more. I need to get some more glue and find the right kind of buttons, the crafts store is still open so I’ll stop by there before going to my parents’ –

“Hey, Ally!”

A classmate drags me out of my thoughts.

“Ellie decided to throw an impromptu birthday party to herself tomorrow at her place, wanna come with us?” Lisa continues. Bryan is at her side, while Lotte and Yao come up on my right.

“She’s invited a lot of her other friends, too! Place is gonna be crawling with cute chicks!” Brian informs me as he pumps his fists. He then seems to remember he’s talking to a girl. “…Or guys, if that’s your thing”, he adds meekly.

Lisa firmly shakes her head.

“Her place can’t fit more than twenty people, and our class is gonna be at least thirteen of those people.”

“Yeah, the afterparty is what’s filled with hotties!” Lotte pipes in with stars in her eyes. Our class doesn’t actually share a lot of courses, but we try to stay in contact with each other. We have a whatsapp group, and sometimes we plan parties or get-togethers. I try to take part every now and then, but so often everyone just wants to go drinking I don’t see the point in going.

“Don’t worry, Ellie said her place is an alcohol-free zone for tonight because she doesn’t want a repeat of last year!” Lisa assures me. “It’s just gonna be music and games until we go clubbing.”

Ellie is pretty nice, and the only person I kind of consider to be a friend other than Saida. I might make friends easily, but keeping them is a genuine problem. If we hadn’t been neighbors all our lives, I don’t think I would still be friends with even Saida, either. So I’d like to at least try and hold on to Ellie while we’re still in the same school.

“Alright, I’ll be there!”

“WOOOO!!!” Lotte screams and everyone else flinches.

“Jesus Christ Lotte, control yourself!” Yao snaps at her, but of course she doesn’t give a damn. Instead, she starts dancing right there in the hallway and singing some pop song off-key. I know for a fact she’s not drunk because she acts like that even in class, but it’s still almost impossible to believe. Yao grumbles quietly and facepalms in shame before walking off without another word.

“See you tomorrow!” are Lisa’s parting words, and she smiles brightly as she waves bye. Bryan punches her lightly on the shoulder and she silently pumps her fist. They’re so happy that most of the class will be there. We used to this kind of stuff a lot more often in our first year, but then summer break came and everyone drifted apart.

“Wear something nice... but not too nice”, Lotte advises, winking conspicuously. “That’d be a bit too scary.”

“Scary how?” I ask puzzled. She just blows me a kiss before WOOTing again and pseudo-dancing out the door. In a way I almost envy her utter indifference towards social norms, being her must be so freeing. I can’t imagine the tiniest worry ever enters her head. For sure she never feels anything she does is wrong.

I popped in the crafts store on the way to my parents’ – on Friday’s we always have dinner together. This week it was dad’s turn to cook, so I helped him make the asam laksa, after hiding the curry- he always tries to put in too much, and mom’s so white she can barely salt her food.

“Bismillah”, dad and I say.

“God is great, by his hand we are all fed. Amen”, mom and I say.

My parents are great at working around their faiths. They both let the other do their own thing while holding onto their own. They never tried to teach me one faith was wrong. I came to think of God and Allah as different aspects of the same entity, in a way, and had no problems growing up bi-religious. As a child God felt closer, but after graduating middle school I became more drawn to Allah, maybe partly because of Saida. That’s when we really started being good friends, despite being neighbors since birth and always being in the same class. I even wore a hijab for a while, like her, though only for, like, ten months maybe? It wouldn’t have been even that long had my parents not been kind of worried, and had I not been a rebellious little shit. I wanted to make them squirm a bit. Imagine that, an Ally who wasn’t a total goody two shoes.

“We’ve been thinking about getting a dog”, dad tells me. “I think a Maltese would be best, they’re small and playful. A dog should be social and playful, right? Real companions. I have some breeders scouted already.”

He’s super excited about this dog. One might even say suspiciously excited…

“You’re suffering from empty nest syndrome”, I quip and chuckle.

“Nonsense, I’ve always wanted a dog.”

“You never mentioned dogs before Ally moved out, honey”, mom reminds playfully.

“What? Sure I did. The house was just too small.”

Mom rubs her chin mock-thoughtfully.

“The man doth protest too much, methinks.”

“He really doth.”

Dad gets flustered and still tries to claim he’s doing no such thing. Everyone and their grandma knows he has a soft spot for anything cute and fluffy but he still likes to pretend he doesn’t. Oh, that pink teddy bear on that shelf? It was a gift for my wife, she loves things like that. I heard your cat had kittens, can I bring my daughter over to see them? What’s a few mice, they’ll be gone by winter, getting mouse traps is too much hassle.

We had to call an exterminator for the mice. In a few months they had taken over most of the kitchen.

“Well now neither will get to name the puppy.”

Aww, and I was so looking forward to that yappy little shedding machine. I would have named it Fluffy of the Incessant Noise.

“I’m thinking O’Malley. That could then be shortened to either Max or Madsie.”

“He hasn’t been this excited since your youngest cousin was born”, mom says while nudging dad with her elbow. Dad claims the dog would be mostly for mom, so she won’t get lonely while dad’s at work. Mom says Of course, honey, and lets it slide. She has a part-time job, she’s only home alone for nine hours a few days a week.

--

I leave when it starts getting dark outside. I live close to my parents, so I decide to walk home. It’s getting a little chilly outside, but that only means the air is fresh and getting under the warm covers will feel that much better. It’s quiet – oddly quiet, it’s only quarter past eight. Why are all the lights already off? I could get a few people being asleep already, but the whole neighborhood? It’s not a blackout, the streetlights are on. Weird.

I’m starting to get a little nervous. Logically thinking there’s nothing worrying around, but my gut keeps telling me something is wrong more insistently than usually. And it’s a dangerous wrong, not the this-is-not-expected-of-you-wrong.

I pick up my pace a bit, and that’s when the streetlamps start going out, too. Each one I pass under fizzles out after me. The feeling of wrong is replaced by GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!!! In a blind panic I start running, but then the lamps start breaking before I even reach them! Hot glass shards rain over me as I’m left in total darkness in a large city that never sleeps!

No, that not entirely correct… There is still one light on. A single streetlamp a dozen meters away illuminates a small patch of sidewalk. Something is standing under it. Some kind of dark creature, with long talons and glinting fangs. I can hear it chuckling darkly… and it charges at me!

On instinct I put up my dukes, only realizing after the fact that it’s probably the one choice even worse than simply running – I’ve never hit anyone in my life and would just break each of my fingers before getting mauled to death… Shit! Okay, okay – but at least this way, I can die on my own terms – bring it on, bitch!

But just as quickly as it attacked, it is defeated. A blindingly bright spear of light shoots down from the sky, piercing the creature’s head clean in the center and nailing it to the asphalt. The resulting shockwave drops me on my ass on the ground. The spear stays standing, unbearably bright to look at but barely illuminating the surroundings at all. And the creature lies there motionless, not bleeding, but it’s so obviously dead I almost want to go up to it and investigate a little. My wrong radar goes off, though, so I give up the idea.

And, well, I wouldn’t have gotten that far anyway, since now a watery, half-there hand fades into view around the hilt of the spear – the same hand from school. This doesn’t feel like a dream, and in a dream I sure wouldn’t wonder if this was all a dream, but I just have to consider the possibility. Because if this is reality, I’ll have to readjust my beliefs on ghosts and I really, really don’t want them to be real!

A faint sound of flutes drifts in as the hand lifts up the spear and offers it to someone invisible. The corpse of the demonic beast quietly crumbles to dust, and all the lights flicker back on. The invisible someone starts forming a body – at first as poorly defined as the watery hand, like a half-remembered memory, but soon solidifying into a slender, paper white arm, alabaster robe, platinum blonde curls… and massive, pure white feathery wings flaring out from this picture perfect woman’s back. A softly glowing halo hums into life above her head as a single, clear ring of a church bell tolls.

If – if this isn’t an angel, nothing is. There I am, on my ass on the pavement before an emissary of God, and I can’t even manage to not gawk at her like some fucking moron!

The angel takes the spear in her hand, the watery hand waves to me and disappears, and still I can’t manage to even close my fucking mouth!

“I take it you are unharmed?” the angel asks me, her voice pure and melodic and all that poetic crap, and all I say is “Praise be to God”, like some generic and zero-thought-process and out-of-habit phrase like that is going to do any good in this situation. THINK OF SOMETHING TO SAY, DAMN YOU BRAIN!

“Get off your ass already!” a new voice huffs and startles me enough to actually make me jump despite not even standing. On my left, there is a lesbian – honestly, that’s what best describes her! She’s wearing red flannel, for fuck’s sake! A super short lesbian, she’s almost a head shorter than even me… What the hell – heck is she doing here? Can’t she see the angel standing right there? Why isn’t she boggled out of her mind at the incredible sight?! It feels so right to be in awe of her – wait… It feels… right? Why… why isn’t anything wrong now? I… This is so confusing. Where did the wrong go?

The angel graciously offers her hand to this idiotic creature, and all I can do is stutter out a simple thank you. Partly it’s my confusion at the inexplicable disappearance of wrong, and partly because she is - and I’m not shitting or embellishing this in the slightest - the most beautiful woman I could have imagined even in my wildest dreams. It’s not just how she looks, it’s also how she feels – and yes, she does look stunning, but she also emanates this aura of peace, reverence and contentment. That aura, combined with her perfectly symmetrical, slim face, large eyes in multiple hues of blue and nearly translucent, evenly toned skin puts Aphrodite, Venus and Istar all to shame.

“Thank you”, I say automatically. The angel smiles and I swear my heart skips like ten beats. Not only is she indescribably beautiful, she’s also insanely tall – I don’t even reach her armpit. As I stare up at her like some love-struck idiot, her face subtly changes – her eyes go from double-lid to monolid, her nose flattens a bit, and her cheekbones travel upwards. She’s turned from completely Caucasian to part East Asian – like me. She skin still stays just as pale, though, it even faintly glows a white light.

“We need to go, asshats!” the lesbian snaps. I reluctantly turn to look at her instead of the wonder in front of me. Her hair is blonde as well, but instead of freely flowing long waves, it’s a straight, long bob and pulled into a ponytail. Her eyes are an even turquoise, and that’s one of the only two things worth mentioning about her looks – she’s impossibly plain. She’s so plain you can’t call her ugly, not even standing next to the angel. The other thing worth mention is that bitch face of epic proportions. How she can be anything but awestruck around the angel is beyond me, but that look makes it pretty clear she despises nothing on this planet as much as she does me.

I thought the angel would be incapable of negative emotions, but even she gives a slight glare at the lesbian, like she’s being inappropriate.

“Yes, it would be best to move on before more demons arrive.”

That thing was really a demon? Not just some monster? Why was it after me? And why am I important to warrant an honest to God angel to save me? Not that I don’t appreciate it, it’s just weird that a nobody like me gets special treatment. My family’s not important, and I’m not even planning a religious career.

The angel and the lesbian start walking towards my place, and I don’t question how they know where I live. I just follow, legs weak, suddenly noticing how funny the short lesbian looks next to the giant angel. As I stifle the chuckle, I realize how rude I’m being, and to a celestial being at that!

“Ah! My name’s Ally binti Badraan! Nice to meet you!”

Both women turn to look at me, but keep walking.

“We knew that”, the angel replies smiling gently. “You may call me Rapture.”

We both look at the lesbian expectantly, and she blanks for a good five seconds. What, doesn’t she know her own name?

“…Meta. Got any smokes?”

Rapture looks like she wants to facepalm, but it wouldn’t fit her image.

“Uhh, sorry, no. I don’t smoke.”

“What are you even good for?” Meta huffs. Excuse me? What the hell kind of manners are those?! She was totally raised in a barn!

“I apologize for my subordinate”, Rapture grumbles. “It may be difficult to believe she is also an angel, but she is capable despite her personality.”

What?! The lesbian is also an angel? But – she’s nothing like Rapture! She seems like the furthest thing from angel excluding demons! Rapture, yeah, she could only be an angel, but you can’t tell me that Plain McBitchy belongs in the same genus!

“I’m here to fight demons, not to baby these bonebags”, Meta comments with a sneer. I decide not to bother with her, and address Rapture.

“So you’re powers, am I correct?”

Rapture smiles so bright I swear the whole street lights up. I hate being a broken record, but she is so beautiful! I might have to look away soon, wouldn’t want my eyes to overload.

“Oh, good to see you have read your Bible! It has been very long since I met a true believer!”

I don’t have the heart to tell her I haven’t even read the whole Bible… I skipped like 70 percent of the Old Testament. I read all the angel stuff on Wikipedia.

Come to think of it, does this prove Christianity to be the only true religion? What am I going to tell dad and Saida?

I’m just about to ask, when the angels – no, I just can’t consider the lesbian an actual angel – suddenly turn invisible. We’re right at the corner of my apartment building, and I hear someone walking towards us. I don’t want to panic, because for sure Rapture wouldn’t have left me to fend for myself if it was a demon, but can you blame me for imagining the worst when I was a second away from death mere minutes ago?

I couldn’t hide behind the dumpster fast enough, and Ricky caught me at a very embarrassing situation.

“Did you drop something?” he asks. I feel my face growing red as I try to nonchalantly brush my clothes clean and look like I didn’t just dive on the ground.

“Oh, yeah, my… thing. Girl thing.”

“I have two sisters, you can say tampon”, he laughs as he throws in his trash. I am so glad he doesn’t realize I made it sound like my tampon just fell out. “Nice evening, right? If it weren’t for the lights, you could see the stars clearly.”

Yeah, the sky is clear and there’s only a light breeze in the air. I look up at the sky, but can only see a few dots here and there. I’ve always wanted to go in the countryside somewhere at night so I could see the starry sky in all its glory. It’s just that driving in complete darkness in a strange place would be a little too scary, and I am not sleeping in a car.

I catch Ricky looking at me with a slight blush on his face, and wait for the wrong to set in to discourage any kind of romantic notion. But it doesn’t come. What happened to it? It always comes at moments like this!

“Um…” Ricky starts, wrings his hands, looks at the ground, looks at me, and starts again. “I – I cooked up something really good, if you’d, maybe, like to come in and, I don’t know, watch some anime?”

Where is that sense of wrong? I feel completely fine with saying yes to this ridiculously obvious date. It’s like it’s suddenly okay to like someone.

I – I kind of want to see what happens. It doesn’t have to lead to anything serious, I can just leave if wrong returns. Claim I didn’t realize this is a date.

I’m gonna do it!

“Yeah, okay! I got some mochi at my place, you liked the green tea ones, right?”

Ricky can’t believe I just said yes. His smile is so wide you could fit a camel in his mouth, despite him clearly trying to play it cool, like he’s a smooth player.

“Those were the kind you got me for Christmas? Where did you buy them?” Aww, he remembered! He hadn’t looked too happy with his first taste of mochi, but I guess they grew on him.

“The Chinese store on West street, they got many kinds.”

“Never thought I’d say I like green tea”, Ricky jokes and stops even trying to hide his joy.

“My favorite is durian, smells horrible but tastes heavenly.”

Does that count as an accidental pun? Rapture and Meta are still around, aren’t they? Just invisible. What’s up with that, anyway?

“Was that the purple one, or –“

Ricky is cut off by Meta suddenly appearing right at his side and making him jump away in surprise.

“Will you two just get ON WITH IT!” she yells exasperated. “I’m TIRED, I need my SMOKES, and I’m not getting EITHER while you two keep standing here FLIRTING WITH EACH OTHER!”

Ricky stares at her in terrified silence, and I can’t think of anything to say either. Meta huffs again – seems to be her thing.

“Do you at least have smokes?”

Ricky shakes his head timidly.

“Well of FUCKING COURSE you don’t! Fucking useless garbage! Thirsty little bitch who probably still wets the bed…”

“What the hell Meta?!” I yell. Yeah, I’m a nice person, but I’m not gonna just stand there while this bitch insults my friend! Angel or not, she needs to show some basic respect! “You can’t just blow up like that! Apologize!”

She stares at me in stunned silence, and I can just hear the Did this bitch honestly-! Uh-huh, you bet your ass I did! “Ricky’s a nice guy, he doesn’t deserve you giving him shit for not enabling your bad habits!”

Uh-oh, bad move. Meta goes from disbelief to fite me! in under a second.

“You realize he probably beats off to you every single night? Nice guys like him watch the most fucked up Asian bondage porn”, Meta shoots, and stomps inside.

“She’s wrong!” Ricky instantly squeaks. “I don’t even watch normal person! I swear! SHE’S LYING!”

…and he escapes. I doubt this date is happening anymore.

When I get inside, Meta is already sprawled out on the couch. Rapture becomes visible the second I close the door. She begins a long, furious rant that same second.

“Meta! Your work ethics are deplorable! We are under strict orders not to show ourselves to normal humans! You mouth off any human you meet and spend your time smoking and rotting your brain with TV and lazing around and drinking and nothing I say ever gets through to you! Get up! What a fine image you are giving your client!”

Rapture is a lot less angelic when she rants at someone she clearly considers beneath her. That feel-good aura is completely gone and her face contorts in inhuman ways. Her voice also is also slowly losing its melodic qualities and turning more and more shrill every ten seconds. And she talks for many ten seconds. Wow, can she flap her lips! She just keeps going and going and going about the innumerable flaws Meta has, while the object of this rant does nothing to hide her prissiness though she never defends herself, either. Guess she’s used to this, and knows the fastest way to get it over with is not to argue. I may not like her, and maybe I do agree with Rapture on many points, but it’s still overkill to put someone down for almost ten minutes.

“Please calm down, Rapture, I’m sure she got the message.”

Despite this being such a meek protest, she actually turns to face me – her eyes have turned black and her face is considerably more angular and sharp than earlier. She returns back to normal in seconds, like she forgot I was here and tries to pretend she didn’t just chew out her partner. Her huge wings knock off two glasses on my table, which thankfully don’t break, and after some deliberation she decides her visage is angelic enough without the wings. She sheds them by letting the feathers fall of in a dramatic cascade. Fortunately they fall through the floor and don’t just pile up for me to clean up.

“I assume you would like an explanation of the situation?” she asks, and I nod. Behind her back Meta rolls her eyes and drops back on the couch. “Your grandchild will be the second coming of the messiah.”

Messiah? As in, Jesus Christ? And his second coming? Woah, seems Christianity is the only religion. Am I gonna have to give up Allah?

“We will stay here to protect you, to ensure the bloodline keeps going.”

“Have you been protecting me my whole life? But – why would you never show yourselves?”

You’d think protecting me was a little easier if I knew what could happen to me. I could, you know, maybe try and prepare, instead of freezing and trying to fistfight a demon. Plus I probably would have gone to church a lot more often. God likes it when people go to church.

“Oh, no, we were assigned to this task today. Powers are much too conspicuous – before this, a guardian angel was more suited to the task. They are everywhere and have very little power, so they do not attract attention. But now that you have been discovered, Satan will do all in his power to break the bloodline. He will do anything to escape judgment.”

She smiles reassuringly, but suddenly her smile doesn’t captivate me like it just minutes before. Yeah, she’s still super beautiful, but hearing her nag so passionately didn’t exactly earn her points in my book.

“Not to worry, we can take anything the enemy throws at you.”

Right, yeah, I guess I should be worried about my own life, now that she mentioned it.

“So Christianity’s God is the only true god?” I blurt out. Rapture smiles brightly, while Meta vigorously shakes her head behind her back.

“So… is He or isn’t He?”

“Of course He is! What else would He be?” Rapture barks.

“He’s so far from the only one he’s not even a decimal”, Meta comments. Rapture shoots her a truly venomous look, and clearly plans to lecture her some more later.

This is all a bit much to take in… I’m the grandmother of Jesus, and angels can’t agree on whether God is the only god or not, and I’m gonna have to tell mom and dad all this craziness… Oh and my life is gonna be in danger basically 24/7 now.

“Okay guys, I need some alone time. Good night, sorry but I only have that one couch… Try and share it or something.”

Rapture lets out an indignant scoff, but I don’t look at her. I just close the bedroom door and fall on the bed. I should do my evening prayers, but what can I even say tonight? Should I pray to both my Gods, or just one? Should I address one to all the possible deities, since Meta said there’s a whole lot? Would just one shared prayer do or am I gonna have to sit here ‘til I faint from hunger?

Eventually I settle on praying to both God and Allah, as I do every evening. I simply pray for guidance. As predicted, Rapture nags at Meta, but at least she’s doing it quietly, and lets me fall asleep.

--

Crumbs… Crumbs everywhere… Poor sandwiches, can’t be easy going to school when you shed all over the floors and eat yourself for lunch, and Ham can’t even find its cow.

“BLESSED SILENCE!”

I hear a confused groan and it takes a few seconds to realize I’m the one who made it. It’s pitch black in my room.

“Sorry, it got a little too quiet”, Meta explains. I groan again. This is just great, she woke up in the fucking dead of night because it was too quiet? That’s the ideal for night!

At least I fall asleep again reasonably quick.