#planning 14 days is taxing and I just want to be there already

[ffive-by-fivee]

I miss London and I miss Paris and I miss LA and I miss Denver and I miss my new friends and I miss my grandpa and I miss my girl and I miss my best friend and I miss my other best friend and I miss being on a plane and I miss my band and I miss not having arthritis and I miss my old coworkers and I miss wn and I miss that feeling in my chest when I experience something beautiful for the first time and I miss

[thaliaisalesbian]

i get myself twisted in threads

Chapter 14: it's the first thing i do

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15

Ms. Byers—Joyce, he has to keep reminding himself—refuses all of his offers of help with the kids, and El ends up sitting on him to make him stay in place.

“Tomorrow you will go outside.” She tells him.

“I thought you wanted me to stay here?”

“You will come back.”

“What do you know that I don’t?”

“I cannot tell you. It is not a lie if it is a surprise.”

“Who taught you that one?”

“Max.” Steve would have guessed Will or Mike, or even Jonathan, before he guessed Max. Dustin can’t keep a secret to save his life and Lucas brought Max into the whole thing in the first place, so he’s probably out, too.

“Okay, so I’m not allowed to know anything.”

“No. It is time for bed, anyway.” El practically herds him into Hopper’s room—no matter what Steve says, he refuses to take his bed back—and when he’s done changing for the night, she stands at the side of the bed.

“Are you going to bed, too, or are you just going to watch me sleep?”

“Hopper will not be home until very late.”

“Yeah, I know.” It’s one of his late shift days, the first he’s taken since they moved Steve here.

“Can we read a story together? Hopper and I usually read one before I go to sleep.”

Oh, kid. Of course he can’t say no to that.

“Yeah, El, that sounds nice.”

“I will change and pick out a book.”

She’s back in a few minutes, but that gives Steve enough time to arrange the pillows so he can sit up more comfortably, and make a spot for El.

“This is the book I was reading to you before.” She says, holding it up. He’d never actually asked what it was, but it’s one he remembers trying to read to himself as a kid. ‘The Boxcar Children.’ “Hopper says that there are lots more of them, so I can keep reading them for a long time.”

She starts where they left off, apparently having marked the exact sentence. El finishes the chapter, then looks at him.

“Do you want me to read another one?”

“Yeah, you’re a good reader!” She doesn’t do much in the way of voices or character tone, but Steve hadn’t expected her to. It doesn’t matter, it’s still nice to listen to her read.

One of the kids gets sick, in this chapter, and if El wasn’t yawning, Steve would ask her to read another chapter.

“Okay, sleepyhead, it’s bedtime for real now.”

El sets the book down on Hopper’s nightstand and curls up under the covers with him. “Is it okay if I stay here?”

“I’m not gonna kick you out.” He’s pretty sure Hopper won’t say anything, either. He might take a picture, if he checks on them, but Steve doesn't think he’ll be able to bring himself to be too upset about that.

El wakes him up for Eggos the next morning, and then picks out his outfit for him. Steve’s not going to tell her that everything she does is only giving him more and more of an idea of what’s going on.

It’s a Saturday, Nancy and Jonathan don’t have school today, and El had seemed very eager to give Nancy that list.

If El thinks she’s keeping it a surprise, though, he’s not going to tell her otherwise.

Hopper’s awake by the time Jonathan and Nancy knock on the door. They obviously told El what outfit to have him wear, because they’re dressed very similarly.

“Do I get to know where we’re going now?” Steve asks, and El shakes her head no.

“Nancy and Jonathan will tell you.” 

“Just be back in time for dinner.” Hopper says. “Or if you get too tired. You’re still recovering.”

“We’ll have him back for dinner. We’re hoping that what we have planned won’t be too taxing.” Nancy’s grabbed his crutches from where he’s left them on the far wall. He can do short distances without them, even though he’s not supposed to.

They don’t go anywhere crazy, though it is a bit of a drive from Hopper’s cabin. There’s a spot already set up in a secluded corner of the park.

“Is that a picnic basket?” He knows it’s on the list El wrote out for him, but he hadn’t expected them to actually… do any of it. Let alone this soon.

“Yeah.” Jonathan helps him out of the car, and Steve can’t help but look around and see who’s out at the park today.

This is only going to fuel more rumors about what’s going on with him. He doesn’t want to think about what school is going to be like for Nancy and Jonathan on Monday.

“Steve,” Nancy seems to know what he’s thinking. “Don’t do that. Jonathan and I can handle it. Besides, it’s not like anyone here will know the truth, and I don’t think they’ll stop us today.”

Nancy and Jonathan don’t just have food in the picnic basket—though even the short glance Steve gets tells him that they have plenty. They’ve also brought Jonathan’s camera and a book, with something he can’t quite make out underneath those.

He doesn’t expect them to do everything on his list, they were just ideas, and he certainly doesn’t expect them to manage them all in one date.

Especially not when Nancy’s got that dinner tonight.

“Do I get to know what else we’re doing today?”

“Not yet.” Jonathan hands him an apple. “Right now, this is just about us being out here together. If anyone bothers us, we can just say that you want your privacy. They’ll leave us alone for a little while then.”

“Are you sure about this?” Steve asks, looking around again. It’s not like he expects a crowd to show up, but he’s kind of worried that somehow, it’s going to get back to Tommy and Carol that he’s here—or worse, his parents. 

Well, if they haven’t come back yet when he hasn’t been seen in public for weeks, they probably won’t come back for this.

“It’s going to be fine, Steve.” Nancy says, sitting on his other side, so that she and Jonathan are partially obscuring him from anyone who might be looking in their direction. “Jonathan and I can handle school, and Tommy, and all of that, okay?”

“As far as they need to know, we’re just here to help you get used to going out again.” Jonathan shifts a little closer, taking Steve’s hand discreetly. “Don’t get me wrong, it’d be nice to kiss you out here, but I think that’s a little too risky.”

“No shit.” Steve lets himself relax a little, though. They know the risks, they know what they’re doing.

Joyce said they wouldn’t have done this if they didn’t like him. He’s going to trust that, he’s going to trust them, and see where it goes.

Because despite everything that’s happened between the three of them, he really does want this to work. He wants them to make it through their first fight and college and everything else they’re going to have to deal with.

(He ignores the voice in the back of his mind that’s screaming ‘The last time you hoped for even that much, Nancy decided you were bullshit!’

It’s going to be different this time.

He’s going to make sure of it, no matter what it takes.)

finish on ao3 or continue reading

Nancy doesn’t know if Jonathan can tell—he doesn’t know Steve the way she does yet, even though he’s been learning quickly—but even when he’s relaxed, joking around and catching food in his mouth out here with them—he always seems to be a little guarded. Paying attention to something else.

She doesn’t know how to make him stop thinking.

Well, actually, she can think of a couple of ways, but they’re not suitable in public and Steve certainly can’t do any of them.

“El was watching us pretty closely this morning.” She says, trying to draw him out a little more. “Should we be worried?”

“Maybe.” Steve laughs, “You should have seen what she said to Dustin yesterday.”

“What happened? Will didn’t say anything last night.” Jonathan leans forward again, and she can’t see the boys’ hands but she can tell that they’re holding onto each other. She leans in, too, close enough to put her head on Steve’s shoulder. She doesn’t even care how it looks. Anyone watching can say what they want to.

“Oh, it was good. Dustin didn’t realize how unsteady I still am on my crutches, and knocked me over when he tried to hug me. She told him that if he makes me fall again, she’s throwing him off of a cliff. I wouldn’t be surprised if she and Dustin end up fighting about that sometime soon.”

“Hang on a sec.” Jonathan gets his camera out of the basket. “I wanted to get a picture of your first day out of the cabin, Steve.”

“You have to be in a picture then too, Jonathan. Don’t think I didn’t see those pictures of your mom and Will and few with you in them. Nancy can take one, and if you trust me to get a good one sitting down, I can get one of you two.”

“Let me take a couple first.” Jonathan sets up, taking a few minutes to mess around with it. “This has a timer feature, too, so I can set it up and we can get one of all three of us.” She’s surprised he wants to risk it; film is expensive, and the few times her parents have managed to get Holly to sit still enough for family photos, her dad is always complaining about how the timer on their home camera doesn’t have a longer wait option before it takes the photo.

“Okay.” Steve rests his cheek on her head as he exhales.

“Tired?” She asks. She hopes not, they don’t have much else planned for today—just some more food they haven’t pulled out yet, and the surprise she and Jonathan have been working on—but it is the first time he’s left the cabin since his ankle got infected. It wouldn’t be too surprising.

“A little, but I’m awake enough to stay out.”

“You don’t have to, Steve, I don’t need pictures.”

“But you want to take them.” Steve waves him off. “And besides, it’ll be a good keepsake.”

Jonathan mutters something too low for her to hear, but it’s only a few more minutes before he’s taking their picture. He doesn’t move them, doesn’t have them pose at all, but Nancy doesn’t think it will matter in this case. Just the way they’re sitting looks posed enough.

“Your turn.” She’s careful when she moves, so she doesn’t shift Steve too much. “Go on, you’re never in any pictures.”

“Yeah, Jonathan, I want a picture with you.” Steve needles. “And Nancy left, so I’m cold now. You wouldn’t let me get cold, would you?”

“Shut up, Steve.” Nancy doesn’t bother hiding her smile. Steve and Jonathan would see right through her anyway. Jonathan sits so he and Steve are shoulder to shoulder, but they don’t lean on each other.

Probably for the best, even if she thinks it’d be cute if they did.

She takes a few before Jonathan gets back up to set up the timer. “Nance, you’ll be in the middle, okay? And I don’t know how these will turn out.”

“Maybe I should get him a Polaroid.” Steve whispers. “Then we wouldn’t have to wait for the pictures.”

“No, he’d hate that!”

“Or maybe one of those new digital cameras—”

“Steve!” Jonathan slides in next to her, shoving her halfway onto Steve’s lap, and the flash goes off as she’s laughing..

“Oh, that’s going to be a bad one.” She groans.

“No, that’s going to be the best one.” Steve insists.

“I’ll get you a copy.” Jonathan tells him. Betrayal, that’s what this is. She can’t believe that they’re already conspiring against her.

“Thanks.” Steve says, smiling in that easy way of his that hasn’t seemed like it’s actually been easy since… well, since everything started. “Now do I get to know what else we’re doing?”

“Do you want to eat more than snacks first?” Jonathan asks. “It’s been a while since breakfast.”

Is it that late already? Nancy hasn’t been paying attention to the time.

“I like surprises, though.”

“No, you don’t.” Nancy says. “Once, I tried to plan a surprise date, and you hated that.”

“Okay, I like surprises when I know they’re coming but not what they are.” Steve counters. “And that was nice, Nance, I enjoyed the date. It wasn’t about you, or the surprise. My parents had called to tell me they were going to be home that weekend, and I didn’t want to turn you down so I could clean the house up.”

That… makes a little more sense, actually. But why hadn’t he just told her that?

“Let’s eat our actual lunch first, and then you can get your surprise.” Jonathan says. “Think you can be good and wait that long?”

“I can try. What’s that book you brought? You haven’t pulled it out yet.”

“We were going to see if we had time for that later.” Nancy answers. “After your surprise, and all. I was going to read out loud.”

“I’d say you’d be the first in a long while, but that goes to El. She’s reading me a series right now.”

“Really?” Jonathan hands her a plate, already full of food. A lot of it is from Dustin’s mom, who had heard that they wanted to give Steve a nice day outside, since he was healed enough for it, and had insisted on giving them a home cooked meal to bring along.

Nancy and Jonathan had made the cookies, though. Will had stolen more than his fair share of cookie dough as they did, no matter how much Jonathan threatened to tell Joyce about it.

Jonathan sets out the plate of cookies separately, and takes a few more pictures of them between bites.

“Jon, it’s your turn.” Steve holds his hands out for the camera, and Jonathan hands it over easily. “You’ve got so many pictures of us already.” Steve takes a couple of Jonathan alone, before he notices and ducks his head to hide his blush (but Steve gets a picture of that, too.).

“Come on, Nance, get in there.” She gets the feeling that Steve will just start taking pictures of her if she doesn’t, so she listens.

“Okay, okay, we’re done.” Jonathan says. “God, I’m going to have to develop like a million pictures now.”

“You mean you don’t like taking pictures of us?” Steve asks, almost pouting, and Nancy bites her lip. She knows this play. It’s going to be so much fun to watch him try it out on Jonathan. “What, are we not good enough subjects for you? Nance, Jonathan doesn’t like taking pictures of us.” It’s dramatic—not as dramatic as it would be if Steve could stand, he’d probably be doing a ridiculous pose against a tree—and it’s enough to start them all laughing.

“I’m just used to taking pictures of like, trees, man! Not people!” Jonathan protests.

“I think Steve’s going to make you change that.”

“I’m starting to figure that out, yeah.” Jonathan puts his camera away before Steve can get it again, moving the basket so it’s out of her reach, too.

“What, you don’t trust me, either?”

“I think that if I let one of you get the camera, I’m going to end up with a bunch of pictures of me.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing, Jon.” Steve says, softly, like he’s scared to say it any louder.

Maybe he is.

“I’m just not used to it.” Jonathan moves so that he can hold Steve’s hand again, though, without anyone else seeing.

It was smart of Jonathan to hide his camera away. Nancy wants to take their picture like this, even though she knows she shouldn’t. The school darkroom isn’t a popular place, but it’s not impossible that someone would come in and see Jonathan’s photos.

“Steve, tell Nancy how much salt you put in cookies.” No. No, he’s not allowed to use this against her—

“Only a little bit, why? Wait, did you find out how much of a disaster she is at baking?”

“So, we made these cookies for today, and on the first batch, Nancy switched the amount of salt and sugar.”

“Well, you didn’t realize until Will made a face when he stole our cookie dough!” 

“You were in charge of the dry ingredients! Why would I have noticed anything was wrong? I tried to fix it, we added more sugar in, but they still taste pretty salty.”

“So what did you do with that batch? I don’t think you threw them away.”

“Well, my mom has been bugging me lately about being more active at her church socials.” Nancy starts. She can’t tell him that her mother thinks she’s finally started taking an interest in baking because of the way she’s been asking about recipes and tools. Her interest in baking doesn’t involve doing any of the baking herself; she’s a proven disaster waiting to happen. “So I told her I was bringing some cookies tonight, that I wanted to surprise her so I made them at the Byers’ house. I can’t wait to see her face when she realizes. It was an accident, and it’s not really that bad.”

“So someone’s trying to get grounded, then.” Steve shakes his head at her. “Why, Miss Wheeler, I can’t believe you would rebel in such a way! Salty cookies, you truly are a stain on your mother’s reputation.”

“I could have accidentally gotten someone drunk on current wine thinking it was raspberry cordial.” 

“No, you couldn’t have.” Steve says. “You would never have been left unsupervised like that.”

“What are you two talking about? Steve, did that happen to you?” Jonathan looks between them like they’re crazy, and Nancy thinks that it’s as good a time as any to pull out the book she brought.

Her boys will feed her cookies when they’re in-between chapters.

<- 13 15 ->

[driftward]

Title: Sorceress' Apprentice - Chapter 14 Characters: Y'thol Rhul, Matoya Rating: Teen Summary: Planning for the future Notes: None

Supper passed quickly enough, and at last, Matoya took Y'thol into her library, where she would have ready access to her tomes and materials.

"Stand there, girl, and let me take a look at you."

Y'thol Rhul - and would she change her first name, Matoya wondered? - stood before her, and looked up at her.

"Yes. Yes, I see," murmured Matoya to herself. She pulled up her sleeves and flexed her fingers. "There is no question as to the truth of the matter, I suppose. It is just a question of convincing reality to conform to it, and there are magicks or alchemies that shall do so, along with chirurgeons-"

"Magicks," said Y'thol. "I have looked into the matter already. I know what it is that I want to do," she said, and she walked over to Matoya's books, running her fingers along the titles on spines until she found what she was looking for and pulled it out.

Matoya huffed. "Have you been sneaking in the forbidden section, despite my express desires otherwise, girl?"

"Yes."

Matoya looked at her for a long moment, and then laughed, taking the book from the girl. "Such cheek! Why, I'm not sure if I've taught you well enough or hardly enough at all." she looked through the book, and then frowned. "...you've chosen a hard path this way. Keep well to my words, girl. If this is truly what you want, you will be embarking upon a lifetime of singular study of the self. Your form will change, but you will need to periodically remind your aether of your truth, lest your humours fall out of rights and you fall ill, or worse. The consequences of mistakes here may be grave. Do you understand?"

Y'thol held her gaze steady, as she always did, never flinching or looking away. Her tail swayed slowly, calmly. And she nodded, once. "I would do such and more."

Matoya felt pride swell up within her, but she tempered it. This was important, and she could not allow her ego to interfere.

"Very well. It will be a regimen of spell works and ritual, as I recall, that will need to be refreshed and nurtured throughout your life. You will come to know your own self and your own aether as few in life ever do, but it will not be without cost," said Matoya grimly. "The spells can be taxing, and the work will not end until perhaps towards the twilight of your days, and possibly not even then. You will have to be diligent."

Y'thol nodded once more. "I understand."

"Then stay here. I shall fetch the materials we need at once, and then we can get started."

As Matoya turned away, Y'thol reached out and grabbed her arm. "...I wish to be allowed to perform the initial spell works myself, Master Matoya."

"Foolish girl! Do you know what you are asking? The magicks you are asking to invoke are advanced indeed. Or perhaps you wish to turn yourself inside out, as instead of manipulating your aether to your desired outcome, you pour it straight into the endless abyss of the lifestream?"

Y'thol's mouth got that stubborn set to it that Matoya had learned to recognize well, and she prepared to match herself against it once more. Though she recognized she had grown soft with the girl over the moons, on this, she did not plan to move.

"I would control mine own destiny, or not at all," said Y'thol.

The girl had grown rather too precious to her, she realized, and she found herself shocked by the revelation, sudden as it was. Her will crumbled before such a plain and bold declaration, honestly stated, clearly felt. She set her jaw, and sucked in her breath. It must have shown on her face, for she saw the determination in Y'thol's face shift to a look of concern.

"...Master Matoya?" she asked.

Matoya shook her head clear, and pulled her arm free of Y'thol as she turned away, and took a shuddering breath. It would simply not do to show herself to Y'thol like this. She would not cry. She would remain dignified. And she would solve this problem for them both. She felt Y'thol come up behind her, her hand on her arm once more, but gentle this time. Matoya took a long slow deep breath in and closed her eyes, stilling the storm in her breast, and let it out twice as slow as she'd let it in. When she was ready, she turned to Y'thol, seeing the young woman's concern still writ on her face, her tail almost still, swaying so subtly that only one intimately familiar with Miqo'te mannerisms would recognize it for the message it was displaying. A kind of anxiety. Fear, in this case, for Matoya.

Matoya felt the urge to be reassuring, but squashed it. No. This situation called for truth and steadfastness, not for milksop bleeding hearts and tears. She turned away from Y'thol again, and began to pace.

"You are young yet. We've caught this before your growth. The spellworks will be easier for it, and it is simpler if we do it now, but if you truly wish to learn the rituals yourself, well, then we must needs accept the consequences of delaying until the relative safety of the time after your growth."

Y'thol frowned, and stood up straight. "I can do it now," she said.

"Silence, girl, for I am thinking. And puissant though your abilities may be, what we are proposing is yet beyond your ken. That book contains many techniques that you will need to master, much of them outside our immediate goals here, and I will not have you stumble across them foolhardy in your pursuit of seizing your own destiny. Now be still and let me be, for Twelve's sake."

She saw a familiar flash of fire in Y'thol's eyes, but the young girl nodded, and let Matoya resume her train of thought. Now, where was she? Oh yes.

"...it would take even a true master over a year to gain the confidence, knowledge, and skill those books demand, but you have rather less time than that if we're to do this your way, or we accept the consequences of waiting, simplicity and ease be damned. It is doable, to be certain, and has been done often through writ history, but... hmn. Hold on. Yes, waiting. Waiting would be wisest, for it is time we need to buy, but not all time is equal, and... yes, I think that's it."

Matoya turned to Y'thol.

"If you would not trust me with your destiny for the desire to hold it with your own hand, then perhaps you will trust me to hold the reins of time for you for a spell. There is another spell, no less difficult, but less profound in its changes. I will hold the winds that blow the changes of aether within you, until as such time as you can affect your change yourself. You will age still, of course; time waits for no woman, even though we can slow its march with great effort. But we can delay the onset of your growth until as such time as you can master your own destiny in the way that you desire. Is that agreeable enough to you, young Lady Rhul?"

Her tone was as sharp as she intended, but despite herself, she found herself smiling. Curse her sentimentality. But it was a clever enough solution, she thought, and workable.

Y'thol looked at Matoya steadily. "...and then you will allow me to affect what changes I will upon myself, by myself?"

Matoya looked back, just as steady. "Of course, girl. You are brash, but in this? I will concede your right to your own destiny. It would be churlish of me to deny it, considering how hard mine own has been to fight for."

Y'thol took several deep breaths in, nodding her head, slowly at first, but then more vigorously. Her tail began to sway back and forth, slowly and then more quickly, and she clenched and unclenched her little fists several times. She looked down at the ground, and Matoya could not see her face for a time, but when she looked back up, her eyes were wide and glittered wetly.

Matoya felt her breath catch. This child would be the death of her.

"Then I ask for your grace, Master Matoya. Please grant me the time I need."

"It shall be done," said Matoya.

And so it was.

[summeroffice]

Mind UA with moderator Євген Шпитко

1:13 I really like illusions. For some reason it is believed that the state is always the state. Well, government, state. That it is always a highly competent environment where people understand everything, their careers have already achieved certain successes in life and they understand everything. That is, they are ready to work to build ideal systems of relations in one or another field.  

Unfortunately, this does not completely correspond to reality. States are not ideal; the authorities always make certain mistakes. And sometimes, sometimes an official considers himself to be the main unit, let's say, which should monetise its administrative powers and not create conditions for the realisation of opportunities to do business.  

6:46 The task of the state is always to raise taxes. Well, that's how it works. The task of business is always to explain why raising taxes will lead to a recession in one or another field.  

7:42 Well, I [puts hand to chest] for example am a supporter of any kind of relationship that should be transparent. And that is why I believe that economic booking is about transparency. That is, it is necessary to fix the rules so that it is possible to clearly understand how many people can be booked and thus already plan the development of your business. Well, how will the enterprise function in general. And it will be correct.  

9:28 You can see him playing with his hands when another speaker is speaking. He doesn't play with his hands like this (with his ring) when he's streaming.  

30:09 He proposes the audience to ask questions. He says that he's willing to go to the person with his microphone if need be. 

35:50 The concept is always only... In any conflict - it is a conflict, classic - in any conflict, in any concept, it rests on 2 things. First, there is no need to make statements that later turn out to be not entirely true. You have to make it possible to sit down at the negotiating table. Well, this is classic of any conflict situation. Because we always read first, everything is lost, then it turns out that there are nuances that really need to be discussed. It can be solved in part by a public demonstration of readiness for discussion. 

39:45 What is human nature? You always want to bypass the queue without communicating within the framework of institution because it can take 3 days. You want to be able to call for the problem to be taken care of in an hour.  

The queue can be bypassed and everybody sees that others are bypassing it. Of course, a person naturally wants to bypass it too, when he has a similar problem. That is, it is necessary for the state to start not to make preferences for someone, and then probably everyone else will not want to bypass either.  

But it's a road.

41:14 Well, the state cannot be interested in the existence of only big business, because it will monopolise certain sectors. It's not beneficial for us as a state. Well, not for us personally, but for the state. For the state, it is beneficial to have a lot of competitive-- It has an advantage. It is a different type of competition, and there is no cartel conspiracy. And therefore, it is beneficial for the state to have more small- and medium-sized businesses. Then it is a different type of competition.  

42:04 There are just a few questions, they repeat each other, and they all sound approximately the same. Yes, I understand that they are a bit political and it is very difficult to answer them concretely. When will the pressure on business stop, when will the tax-- When will law enforcement agencies stop milking business? 

I will say this. [Facing the audience] Tomorrow the pressure on business will stop. Well, how the question, so the answer.  

The host disagrees and explains that it's a real problem.  

42:57 I agree, in a moment-- I agree from the point of view that there are conflicts, large conflicts, a large number of conflict situations between business and the state. At the beginning we talked about the fact that the state is a little infantile, it is being rebuilt today; so, business is a little infantile, too. How to fight this? Again, there are three ways: publicity, you have a conflict but you don't compromise anyone and just give public information about this conflict. The first. 

The second is the institutionalisation of relations. It can be Ukrinvest. It can be any other platform. The third is communication at different levels, meaning legal communication through the judicial system, even despite the fact that today the judicial branch is considered to be completely fair. Well, that would be a bit strange. But it is also being transformed.  

Why is it being transformed? The question is simple. Because if we want to get the right to be a corporate or collective member of the European Union after 5 years, then our law enforcement system cannot be non-competitive. The courts cannot be non-competitive in relation to other European Union states. Therefore, it will also transform, whether it wants to do it or not.  

How to help it today? Just speak about it publicly. But to talk publicly does not mean to publish defamatory texts about each other. Well, in an abstract way, compromising, right? It means to say that look, we have a court decision, we think it's legal or illegal, why, and give a legal analysis, give an appeal. That's how the system should work. 

[my-quick-writings-since2023]

A Christmas Miracle pt.1

This year, Christmas needed a real miracle to happen. My older brother, Mikey was out of state sorting out issues with his ex girlfriend, mum and dad are on the verge of a divorce, and grandpa wasn’t taking grandmas’ recent passing too lightly. Kiera was in the hospital after her first round of chemo, and aunt Sue was in jail for tax fraud. Our family was falling apart right before Christmas, and it felt like it was only me and my baby sister, Tina, were the only two sane enough to spend a day or two with the entire family, not that it was possible.

Finally, Christmas Eve rolled around, and I was going to take Tina for a stroll to get out of the house because mum and dad were screaming at each other again. It’s sad, really. They had Tina to hopefully fix their marriage, but clearly their stupid plan didn’t work anyway. I wasn’t mad, I love Tina and her company. I just wish I didn’t have to play the roll of both parents for her. After an hour of pushing Tina in her pram, we reached the park, and I let her go play in the sandbox nearby. Sitting on a park bench, I changed my gaze in between the webcomic I was reading and Tina every few seconds.

I finished my webcomic and decided to play with Tina in the sandbox before we left, but as I was getting up, I heard my name called. “Mary, is that you?” I turned around to see Marco, my best friend. “Oh hey, Marco! Fancy seeing you here,” I stated, “I thought your family left for the holidays?” He looked down before whispering, “Yeah, we were gonna, but then papa had an accident and needed to go hospital.” There was a pause. “He’s okay now though, just no travelling, doctors orders. We had to cancel our flights and reservations, but that’s okay, because I can spend my time with you!” I smiled, “Yeah. Oh have you met my baby sister, Tina, yet.” I pointed to the sandbox where Tina was. Marco was silent, but his face lit up. He loved being around kids, in fact he wanted to be a teacher when he grew up. A few minutes shot by before I checked the time, “Gosh we’ve been here for a while, I aught to go home. Merry Christmas, Marco!” He smiled and waved as I took Tina and put her in her pram, “Merry Christmas to you too, Mary.” I waved goodbye before rushing home. Hopefully things had cooled down between mum and dad.

As I turned the corner to see my house, my face lit up with surprise. Mikeys’ car was in the driveway. “Tina, Mickey’s home! It’s not just us now.” Tina giggled. I could tell she loved Mikey. I picked up the pace, but slowed down when I heard Mikeys’ voice screaming at Dad, when suddenly a cop car and ambo van rushed past me and pulled into the driveway. Now I was scared. I brought Tina to the door, the authorities were already inside, so I slipped past them into my room, where I put Tina down for a nap before going out to check what was happening, but Mikey was standing at the end of the hallway. The last cop tipped his hat and Mikey and I nodded back.

After the door shut, and the vehicles had left, Mikey pulled me in for a hug. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to stop this, I- I’m sorry.” He hugged me tighter and I pat his back to comfort him. “Tell me what happened, I’m 14, I can handle the truth.” He pushed me away gently to end the hug, and he seemed really hesitant for the tough 21 year old guy I knew him as. “I um, dad uh- dad knocked mum out when I got here. Miya was okay with what we planned, so I came back and as I walked through the door, dad had just knocked mum clean out. So I called the cops, confronted him, and then yeah, you saw the rest.” He looked so upset. “What are we going to do, Mary?” I thought. Finally, I said something. “You did the right thing, Mikey, but I’m not sure what’s going to happen. All we gotta do, is trust that something good will happen, and trust each other to look after ourselves.” Mikey nodded, and we prepared something for us to eat, and made something Tina would enjoy, then went to bed.

I lay awake staring at the roof. It’s been hours since I went to bed. I look over at my phone, 11:46 pm. I just want to sleep but I’m in a messed up family that can’t keep their morals the same. Maybe if I just pray, close my eyes and pray for a miracle. A miracle that it will all work out for our family in the end. Just gotta pray and believe and- I fell asleep, dreaming of Christmas 6 years ago, when I was 8, and the world wasn’t so screwed up. I dreamed of the family going to church as a whole, the big Christmas dinner at the end of the day. The happy cheers and laughter from my brother, cousin and myself as we played with our new toys together, with not a care in the world…

(part 2 coming really soon!)

[cksmart-world]

SMART BOMB

The completely unnecessary news analysis

by Christopher Smart

February 14, 2023

TOP 10 GOP COMMITTEE INVESTIGATIONS

10 – Dept. of Justice (DOJ) mistreatment of Jan. 6 patriotic insurrectionists

9 – Dems siccing the IRS on rich donors of conservative causes.

8 – U.S. funding of the creation of the Covid-19 virus to attack conservatives

7 – Chinese capturing the World Health Organization and its balloons

6 – Parents labeled “domestic terrorists” for taking AR-15s to school board meetings.

5 – President Biden's plan to open the borders to drug cartels

4 – Dems importing brown immigrants to replace White Christians

3 – Hunter Biden's laptop and his relationship with the Chinese and Pornhub

2 – Dems propaganda and lies about right-wing extremist swinger clubs

1 – And not least, the DOJ's LSD-offensive aimed at making fools of Republicans

WILL FEDS LOWER BOOM ON LDS ALLEGED TAX FRAUD?

Here we go again — LDS Church leaders have been so busy praying to save The Great Salt Lake and explaining their position on same-sex marriage that they may have forgotten to list some assets on tax documents. Oops. Now hold on Wilson, this isn't exactly straight out of the Donald Trump playbook. For one thing Ensign Peak Advisors, the church's investment arm, doesn't own any golf courses. David A. Nelson, who once managed funds for Ensign Peak, wants the Senate Finance Committee to investigate Ensign Peak for “systematic fraud” anf masquerading as a tax-exempt organization. Nelson alleges the church owes some $20 billion in back taxes. Well, this is another fine mess they've gotten into. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is already barking up the church's tree. But who knows? U.S. tax laws are a can of worms designed to serve the wealthy. Some experts say Nelson is full of... beans. Don't forget James Huntsman, the surfing brother of the former Utah governor. He sued the church for fraud alleging it diverted tithing to build the City Creek Center. The suit was drop-kicked out of federal court. Say what you will, Wilson, but it's good to have God and expensive tax lawyers on your side.

SHERIFF DeSANTIS GUNNIN' FOR MICKEY MOUSE

Florida Gov. Ron “Make-My-Day” DeSantis, the presidential aspirant who is working overtime to out-Trump Trump, has a message for Mickey Mouse: “There is a new sheriff in town,” referring to Disney World and all its LGBT perverts — Goofy, Donald Duck, Pluto and the gang. “I will not allow a woke corporation based in California to run our state.” Florida legislators stripped Disney World of its 56-year-old special tax status as punishment for its wokeness. The fiasco came in the wake of DeSantis' “Never Say Gay” legislation that prohibits classroom discussions on sexual orientation and gender identity. Then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek called the law B.S. and apologized to employees and pledged to end donations to Republican candidates including DeSantis. The new law also gave DeSantis the authority to appoint the board that oversees Disney World. But there was just one little catch: Florida taxpayers would pay for Disney's firefighting, policing, road maintenance and would have to cover Disney's tax debt of $1billion. Oops — Florida lawmakers hastily renewed Disney's special tax status. But DeSantis declared victory anyway and quickly moved on for more culture-war headlines by blocking state colleges from teaching diversity, equity and critical race theory. Make my day, indeed.

Post script —That'll do it for another week of “The Greatest Air On Earth” here at Smart Bomb where we keep track of the truckloads of cash Saudi Crowned Prince Mohammed bin Salman dumps on Donald Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner — to date, $4 billion and $2 billion respectively. As you might recall, Trump's first official foreign visit as president was to (drum roll) Saudi Arabia. You're right Wilson, it's not what you know. In 2018 the prince ordered the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who spoke  out on Saudi human rights abuses. His body was found cut up in little pieces. At the time Trump said, “Other countries kill people, too.” From our “Wassup”-file. Got UFOs? Do we ever: Friday, Feb. 10 — UFO shot down over Alaska by a U.S. F-22 Raptor fight jet; Saturday, Feb. 11 — UFO shot down by U.S. F-22 over northern Canada; Sunday, Feb. 12 — UFO shot down by U.S. F-15 fighter jets over Lake Huron. In a statement, the White House said, “[T]here is no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns.” But the Pentagon said it has yet to find out where the object shot down over Lake Huron came from. Hmmm. “I am not able to categorize how they stay aloft,” said Air Force General Glen VanHerck. Absolutely nothing to worry about.

Well Wilson, Disney World has a new sheriff and he's a total badass buzz-kill culture warrior. So maybe you and the guys in the band can take us out with a little something for Mickey, Goofy, Donald Duck, Pluto and the gang. What can you do to protect your community from such a gun-slinging autocrat with blood in his eye. Take it away:

I shot the sheriff But I didn't shoot no deputy, oh no, oh I shot the sheriff But I didn't shoot no deputy, ooh, ooh, ooh Yeah, all around in my home town They're trying to track me down, yeah They say they want to bring me in guilty For the killing of a deputy But I say oh, now, now, oh I shot the sheriff, the sheriff But I swear it was in self-defense, oh no I say, I shot the sheriff, oh Lord And they say it is a capital offense, yeah Freedom came my way one day And I started out of town, yeah All of a sudden I saw Sheriff John Brown Aiming to shoot me down So I shot, I shot, I shot him down I shot the sheriff But I didn't shoot no deputy, oh no, ooh, ooh I shot the sheriff, I did But I didn't shoot no deputy, ooh, ooh, ooh

I say I-I-I, I shot the sheriff Lord, I didn't shot the deputy, no, no Yeah, I-I shot the sheriff But I didn't shoot no deputy, yeah, so, yeah

(I Shot The Sheriff — Bob Marley)

[eunoiaastralwings]

I have questions for you (well not actually unless you want to answer these)

A youtube video of questions I have for you

OMG LMAOOOO - Got to say it was nice to answer and ecaspe from work drama XD

1.-Have you ever walked out of a mall into a huge parking area and realized you'd forgotten where you parked your car?

Like all the fucking time!

2.-Have you ever gone mountain biking?

Nope - am scared of heights XD

3.-What do you wanna be when you grow up?

Already grown up and have shite job XD

4.-What's the right tip?

I believe about 5€ or more :)

5.-Have you called a plumber to your home lately?

No. . . don't read into it, Tara

6.-How superstitious are you?

Kinda

7.-How much money would it take to make you spend a night in a cemetery?

Give about my annual income pay for the about 2 years without any taxes - then I shall do it!

8.-Would you display this as a trophy?

Nope - am not Celegorm xD

9.-Do you have a pet?

I did - RIP my beautiful Lucky, I love you forever

10.-Do you have a sweet tooth?

Yes.

11.-Do you believe in the power of a curse?

Depends on what kind of curse

12.-Have you had your hearing tested lately?

No - probably tested to be half deaf

13.-Planning a trip soon?

Just had a trip to Thailand -so not anytime soon

14.-Can you remember the tallest man you've ever seen?

Maedhros? . . . in my dream? - I think. . .

15.-Do you love to go a-wandering beneath the clear blue sky?

Yes - but no clear blue skies :(

16.-Have you noticed what big stars real estate agents have become?

Weird fake versions of themselves - . . . yea celebrities !

17.-Are you careful with your personal records?

Yes.

18.-Does your computer ever seem to have a mind of its own?

Yes - sometimes doesn't do what I tell it to do! Like I never asked the thing to ex. out of that page SMH - I still needed that

19.-Have you ever visited the Chinatown section in a major city?

Yes.

20.-Have you ever visited a flea market?

Yes.

21.-Have you ever visited a truck stop?

Yes.

22.-Have you ever had a job as a waiter?

Yes - back in high school and college

23.-Have you noticed how many successful restaurants are theme-based these days?

Oh yea

24.-Have you ever had the desire to write your initials in wet cement?

Wet cement, dough, beach sand, mud ,crave it into a tree - idk you name. But I never done it XD - except the dough and sand of course. OK - maybe on mud too once or twice - in my back garden. . .

[your-dietician]

Opinion: Your portfolio needs diversification. Here’s the best way to go about it in these volatile times

New Post has been published on https://medianwire.com/opinion-your-portfolio-needs-diversification-heres-the-best-way-to-go-about-it-in-these-volatile-times/

Opinion: Your portfolio needs diversification. Here’s the best way to go about it in these volatile times

If you’re trying to figure out how to make sure you’ve always got the best mix of investments, there are general rules, questionnaires about risk and all sorts of academic approaches. But it can be hard to translate the conclusions to your situation, especially if you, like most people, have a complicated financial life with many unrelated accounts.

A working adult might have a 401(k), IRA, Roth IRA, a taxable brokerage account and a money-market account. You might also have a crypto wallet or two, a high-yield savings account with CDs, a TreasuryDirect.gov account for I-bonds and other Treasurys, pensions, or other retirement plans lingering at old employers. Double that if you’re married.

Take the classic 60/40 portfolio construction, which means putting 60% of your investments in stocks and 40% in bonds, or other fixed-income investments. If you were relying on that, you’d be pretty confused right now. In today’s market, the 60/40 portfolio is either dying or rising from the dead, depending on whom you ask. And if you have money in many different places, what parts of it count toward that portfolio ratio?

You can always value the underlying message of the 60/40 portfolio, which is about diversification. You need both stocks and bonds as a hedge, because typically when one is up, the other is down, and you can cut your losses this way.

The bull market run-up after the 2008-2009 Great Recession seemed to change that equation. People needed extra convincing to stay in bonds, given how minuscule yields were. 

Then this year both stock DJIA, -0.10%

SPX, -0.33% and bond markets TMUBMUSD10Y, 3.899% tumbled (hence the death knells). Yet others already see the light at the end of the tunnel. “We think the long-term outlook has brightened quite a bit,” says Barry Gilbert, asset allocation strategist for LPL Financial. 

Given today’s economic conditions, it’s time to think broadly about all of your accounts together and reassess what you need to do going forward into unknown economic territory, no matter what your personal ratio.

Messy accounts for a reason

It might seem like a mess, but you need an array of accounts because they serve different purposes for your goals, which have distinct time horizons. Your retirement, for instance, might be 20 years away, and you benefit from the tax deferment. But the money you keep in your brokerage account might be for a coming large purchase. 

Diversifying your money across accounts also helps you avoid the biggest mistake most advisers see in a downturn, which is cashing out and missing the upswing. “A year ago, we were reminding people that fixed-income has a role. Now we’re reminding people that both stocks and bonds are important, because they all ask: Should I just be in cash?” says Nathan Zahm, head of goal-based investing research for Vanguard. 

Consider those who have a trading account, like one of Robinhood’s HOOD, +2.11% 14 million monthly active users. Those accounts are mostly in stocks, as the platform doesn’t trade bonds (or mutual funds), although some might hold bond or money-market ETFs. These investors will want to calculate what portion of their financial holdings are in that taxable account and weigh that against their other money, to make sure they have a balance that’s appropriate for them. 

Some brokerage overviews or services like Mint will aggregate a wide view for you. But at the end of the day, it might take a spreadsheet to really see what you have, because not all your accounts will talk to each other.

Remember that if you track this manually, it will just be for a moment in time. Your list would not update dynamically as the value of the accounts change, and that’s what matters most for the necessary rebalancing that would keep you aligned with your goals. You’d be 60/40 until the market close on that day, and then come what may. 

Should your target asset mix really be 60/40?

For the most part, 60/40 is a philosophical starting point. “The 60/40 portfolio isn’t automatically best. Practically speaking, you’d want to be at the level that’s right for you,” says Gilbert. 

That optimal mix will depend on your age, the size of your nest egg and your goals, and it’s not a magic or a static number. It doesn’t even have to be a round number. One way to figure it out is to look at the way target-date funds for retirement use a “glide path” that shifts more conservative over time. Even if you don’t invest in target-date funds, you want to create a similar slope for yourself, and not just stick with 60/40 for decades. 

For instance, Vanguard explains that its target-date funds basically only hit 60/40 around age 60, and then continue getting more conservative from there. 

Schwab generally sets its funds to hit 60/40 at about five to six years from the target retirement age. “It’s one point in time. For any allocation, you have to evolve,” says Jake Gilliam, managing director for research at Schwab. 

A sample from Schwab’s Target 2065 Index Fund

Schwab also adjusts the stocks and bonds within the allocation. “Younger customers will have more international, small cap or emerging markets. As you move older, we’re adjusting those sub-asset class allocations,” Gilliam adds. 

This kind of sloped setup still allows for side money if you want to take a portion of your holdings and put it in crypto, meme stocks or keep it in cash under your mattress. It’s just human nature. “We know behaviorally that it can actually drive better discipline,” says Zahm. “If somebody has a side pool of money that’s a few percent to have fun with, then they behave better with the main 95%.” 

Just make sure to count your side account in with your big picture eventually and make sure you’re not letting those positions pull you away from your target asset mix, whether that’s 60/40 or another ratio. 

“There’s nothing wrong with thinking in buckets, but eventually all the small buckets go into one big bucket,” says Gilbert. 

More from MarketWatch

Investors have been tested this year — do you have what it takes to succeed?

Reset your retirement calculator now for today’s bleaker stock markets and make sure you’re still on track

No matter your age, here’s how to tell if your finances are on the right track

Why the 60/40 portfolio is a worthy strategy even though stocks and bonds are weak

Here’s one way to potentially get more from a 60/40 portfolio

Read the full article here

[chaeryybomb]

BRUTAL

pairings: female reader x best friend!jungwon

summary: they told you that these were the golden years, but to you "golden" was a rusting metal spray painted yellow. the story of a seventeen year old trying to survive high school when all you do is try your best. but your best friend jungwon makes it worth the while. 

genre: high school au, friends to lovers, fluff, tiny bits of angst if you squint, attempt at humour

featuring: jang wonyoung, kim sunoo & nishimura riki 

word count: 4.5k 

warnings: reader having a existential crisis most of the time, strong language, mentions of insecurity

the sour series masterlist

You slumped forward the moment the bell rang, letting your head hit the table. You could care less if a bruise would form on your forehead, you had much bigger things to worry about. Your teacher left the class wordlessly as the class was busy doing their own thing. And by that, everyone was buried nose deep in studying. You lifted your head to see the different books of the same topic scattered on your desk, a yellow highlighter balancing on the edge of your table.

Reaching over to grab the highlighter, you turned your head over to the side to look at your desk mate. Wonyoung sat there looking straight out from a k-drama, with her hair flowing down her back perfectly and her slender nimble fingers moving as she continuously wrote in her notebook. She was smart too, fluent in English and Korean, great at maths and science. And on top of that she was kind and friendly, everyone loved her. You did too, you had the honour of calling her your best friend. But sometimes you felt insecure around her, everything she did looked flawless and there you were just trying your best.

"Ack!" You yelped as you sat up straight, holding your forehead. Wonyoung rolled her eyes at you with a small smile on her lips, she had flicked your forehead to get you out of your thoughts.

Without taking her eyes off the textbook, she tapped your own workbook with her pen. Silently telling you to stop procrastinating. You pouted at her and looked at the clock, 10 minutes before lunch. Maybe a walk to the girl's bathroom would do you some good.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom," you whispered to Wonyoung. She nodded and smiled at you before you walked out.

As you strolled towards the girl's bathroom, you passed by the bulletin board outside your class. A bright blue poster stood out with the words "ENJOY YOUR YOUTH" in white. Scoffing at the message, you continued on your way.

"I'm seventeen now, where's my fucking teenage dream?" You muttered to yourself. You were tired of waiting for your life to end up like a coming of age movie. Everyone told you that these were the golden years and you should enjoy your youth, but you swear to god if you hear another one of those cheesy sayings, you might just cry on the spot.

Reaching over to open the stall door, you halt in your actions when you heard familiar voices talking.

"I'm so worried for finals, my parents are gonna kill me if I fail English again," a girl complained. You hear the sound of tap water running. "How are you so calm during this time, Mirae?'

"What's the use of studying hard anyways," the second girl, Mirae, said. "We all know the top spots are gonna be taken by Jang Wonyoung and Yang Jungwon, I just study enough to pass."

The other girl snorted at her reply. "Imagine if those two got together, the power couple of the year," she suddenly said.

"Poor Y/N then, she's gonna be over shadowed by them."

"As if she already isn't. I almost forgot they were a trio until you mentioned Y/N," the girl laughed.

"What can I say? They're out of her league," Mirae joined in with her laughter.

The two voices faded away as you heard the door closed. Finally pushing the door open, you looked at your reflection. Your eyebrows knitted in annoyance and your face was morphed in a scowl. You washed your hands aggressively and poked the inside of your cheek. What bugged you was that they were right. You were the black sheep between Wonyoung and Jungwon. Both of them were smart and amazing, and you're just…you.

You love your best friends, you truly do. But you were constantly compared to them and you hated it. Everyone wanted them, you watched as guys tripped over to confess to Wonyoung and girls squealing when Jungwon smiled at them. The two of them always reassured you that you weren't beneath them but you were sick of their sympathy. You're so caught up in the news of who likes you and who hates them. You just wished people liked you more.

Storming out of the bathroom, someone accidentally ran into you and caused you to fell onto your butt. The student immediately stood up and scurried off, not bothering to even a mutter an apology. All I did was try my best and this is the thanks I get, you thought bitterly.

They said that these were the golden years, but you wished you could just disappear. God, it's brutal out here.

"Y/N, wait up!" Jungwon called after you.

You stopped in your tracks as you watched Jungwon waved goodbye to some students before jogging towards you.

"You heading to cram school today?" He asked you as the both of you fell into the same walking rhythm.

You shook your head, clasping your hands behind. "I moved it to Thursday instead, Wonyoung said I had to many things on Tuesday," you told him. Originally, you would be heading to the library to study before heading over to the cram school. But Wonyoung took one look at your schedule and decided that you did not had enough breaks, so she managed to convince you to take the Thursday slot instead. Thursdays are one of the days where you would not go to the library.

Jungwon seemed to be disappointed to find out that you had switched slots. Maybe he should changed slots too, but does he have any empty spots open for Thursday though? He'd have to check later. Instead, he coughed and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"Do you wanna come over later? The new Demon Slayer movie is out," he offered, hoping that you'd accept.

Unfortunately, you once again shook your head. "Sorry Jungwon, I'd want to cram even more later. Finals are really creeping in and I can't afford to waste any time," you told him with a sad smile. As much as you would like to ditch the books and watch Demon Slayer, the glaring C on your last history paper was telling you otherwise.

You stopped walking when you had reached your doorstep. "Thanks for walking me home, Jungwon. See you tomorrow!" and with that you disappeared behind the door.

Jungwon waved goodbye as he watched the door closed. The smile on his face dropped and his shoulder sagged. Jungwon you idiot, of course she would want to study, he scolded himself. With disappointment on his face, he trudged home with a heavy heart.

"Change of plans, guys," he announced as he swung the front door open, unfazed by the fact that Riki and Sunoo were lounging on his coach. He accepted the fact that Sunoo had somehow gotten the keys to his house (suspecting that his mother probably gave it to him due to favouritism or maybe Riki had sneakily made a copy).

Riki's head poked out from the couch. "She rejected you, didn't she," the younger boy said with a smirk.

Jungwon's face ears turned red as he glared at the boy. "No she did not!" He immediately told him. "She rejected the offer to watch the movie, that's different!"

"That's basically rejection, hyung," Riki laughed.

The other boy just glared at him. "Shut up!" he sputtered out before hiking up the stairs.

Sunoo gave Riki a look, to which the Japanese boy just shrugged his shoulders innocently.

Jungwon walked out from the shower, a towel around his neck with one hand running through his damp hair. Sunoo and Riki had left earlier, finally giving him some peace and quiet. His phone screen was flashing from his study table, initiating that someone was spamming him (quite aggressively) with text message. With a raised eyebrow, he picked up his phone

[7:09 pm] wonyoung: JUNGWON

[7:09 pm] wonyoung: JUNGWON

[7:09 pm] wonyoung: JUNGWON

[7:10 pm] wonyoung: WHY DID Y/N JUST MESSAGED ME ABOUT HOMEWORK

[7:10 pm] wonyoung: ISNT SHE WITH YOU

[7:11 pm] wonyoung: I THOUGHT YOU SAID U WERE GONNA WATCH A MOVIE

[7:11 pm] wonyoung: DEMON HUNTER OR SMTG

[7:12 pm] wonyoung: WHY IS SHE ASKING ME FOR HW

[7:12 pm] wonyoung: DID U CHICKEN OUT???

[7:13 pm] wonyoung: omg u chickened out didnt u

[7:14 pm] jungwon: jfc wonyoung

[7:15 pm] jungwon: and no i did not chicken out okay

[7:15 pm] jungwon: she declined

[7:16 pm] jungwon: she said she had to study ;-;

[7:17 pm] wonyoung: omg u suck

[7:17 pm] wonyoung: i told u the movie idea was dumb

[7:18 pm] wonyoung: but do u ever listen to me

[7:18 pm] wonyoung: no

[7:19 pm] wonyoung: and now u suffer the consequences

[7:20 pm] jungwon: yea yea i get it im dumb

[7:20 pm] jungwon: now what's ur solution the great jang wonyoung

[7:21 pm] wonyoung: i am so glad u asked :)

[7:21 pm] jungwon: oh no

[7:21 pm] wonyoung: stfu im giving u a better idea

[7:22 pm] wonyoung: a n y w a y s

[7:22 pm] wonyoung: my ynradar is going off and she's s a d

[7:23 pm] jungwon: how would u know

[7:23 pm] jungwon: she seemed fine today

[7:23 pm] wonyoung: stfu jungwon its best friend things u wont understand

[7:24 pm] jungwon: i-

[7:25 pm] wonyoung: and as her future bf u SHOULD start to train ur ynradar

[7:25 pm] wonyoung: anw its exam season stoopid

[7:26 pm] wonyoung: and its when those kids start to talk abt how the both of us are gonna get top scores

[7:26 pm] wonyoung: and they talk down on y/n while doing so

[7:26 pm] wonyoung: assholes

[7:27 pm] wonyoung: so i propose to u

[7:27 pm] wonyoung: a ✨ study date ✨

[7:28 pm] jungwon: i

[7:29 pm] jungwon: that's

[7:29 pm] jungwon: actually not a bad idea

[7:30 pm] wonyoung: obv i came up with it

[7:31 pm] jungwon: can u not

[7:31 pm] wonyoung: anw a study date

[7:32 pm] wonyoung: she's struggling in maths

[7:33 pm] wonyoung: specifically taxes because she said and i quote

[7:34 pm] wonyoung: "why do we have to do taxes when we pay people to do it for us"

[7:34 pm] wonyoung: so pls help her and try to cheer her up

[7:35 pm] wonyoung: and confess coward

[7:36 pm] jungwon: i make no promises for the last one

[7:36 pm] wonyoung: aFTER EVERYTHING I JUST SAID

[7:37 pm] jungwon: what if she rejects me wonyoung

[7:38 pm] wonyoung: WE'VE HAD THIS CONVERSATION A LOT OF TIMES JUNGWON

[7:38 pm] wonyoung: SHE LIKES U BUT SHES TOO DUMB TO REALISE

[7:39 pm] jungwon: sigh

[7:40 pm] jungwon: fine i'll try thanks wonyoung

[7:41 pm] wonyoung: np i expect y'all to be a couple by next monday <3

[7:41 pm] jungwon: i-

Sighing for the nth time of the night, Jungwon sat on his bed. He allowed the towel to slipped off his shoulders as his thumb hovered over your chat icon. Truth be told, he always thought his crush on you was unrequited love. You never showed any signs of returning of feelings so he thought he would just ignore the feeling until it was gone.

But oh boy was he wrong, because he didn't knew that he would be spending his high school years by your side. And now you occupy his mind 24/7. Wonyoung could literally tell that he was in love with you, but somehow you never caught on. He allowed Sunoo and Riki to convince him to do the whole "movie date idea", but that failed. So Wonyoung's suggestion was his only option left.

He typed out the message, ready to send it out. If only he could just press the button. Come on Yang Jungwon, you can do this. Just press the damn button Jungwon. Suddenly his phone pinged loudly, scaring the lights out of the poor boy as he yelped and his phone landed with a thud on the ground. He peered over his bed, as if his phone was a ticking bomb.

Oh, it was a message from you.

[8:01 pm] y/n: hey do u know where wonyoung is

[8:01 pm] y/n: she isn't answering my texts

Oh no. He realised that your chat was open, the two ticks indicated that he had (unintentionally) read the message. He couldn't just leave you on read. That's just evil. Scrambling to get his phone, he immediately typed a reply to cover for the other girl.

[8:02 pm] jungwon: sorry i don't :/

[8:02 pm] jungwon: what do u need her for

[8:03 pm] y/n: mf was supposed to teach me a maths question but she left me on rEAD

This was his chance! It was the perfect opportunity for him to score a date with you. Okay, breathe in breath out Jungwon. Don't mess it up and just ask her, he mentally prepared himself.

[8:04 pm] jungwon: oh i could help you if you want

[8:04 pm] jungwon: yk with finals coming up and everything, i can help you study

[8:05 pm] jungwon: if you want of course

[8:05 pm] y/n: omg srsly??

[8:06 pm] jungwon: pls help me study my braincells are literally dying

[8:07 pm] jungwon: jdsjkda okay how about this saturday at your place?

[8:08 pm] y/n: yeah sure

[8:08 pm] jungwon: cool its a date then!

You blinked at Jungwon's message. A date? Wait, did Yang Jungwon just indirectly asked you out? Nah, nah. You were overthinking it. Yes, definitely overthinking. Don't kid yourself, why would Jungwon ask you out on a date? Jungwon is just a friend, you tried to convince yourself.

Keyword: tried.

If he really was just a friend, then why did it felt like butterflies were in your stomach when he said "it was a date"? Then why did you frowned when those girls said that Wonyoung and Jungwon would make a good couple?

Oh god, do you have feelings for your best friend?

Saturday came faster than you would have liked it to. Ever since that last chat with Jungwon, it gave you the sudden realisation that you did in fact had feelings for your best friend. You tried so hard to avoid him in school because you don't want the butterflies back in your stomach. It was basically confirming the fact that you like him. Well, avoiding him also confirmed the fact but you choose to be in denial about it.

You didn't tell Wonyoung about your study date but lately she's been sending you outfit ideas on Pinterest. Specifically, date outftis. And whenever you tried to ask her a question about school, she brushed you off with a random excuse. So it left you no choice but to save those questions for Jungwon.

Speaking of Jungwon, he had texted you 10 minutes ago that he was on the way. You were standing in the middle of your room with your hands on your hips. Both of your parents were out for the day, which left you alone at home. You had taken out the low table to be used later and it was currently in front of you. Colourful workbooks were neatly stacked on top of it.

You did a 360 turn around your room. Was it messy? You cleaned it this morning when you woke up. Did you had any clothes out? No, doesn't look like it. For some reason, you were a nervous wreck. You blamed Jungwon. He just had to call this a date, didn't he.

Should you change? Maybe you should finally look through all those pins Wonyoung sent. Wait, no, why would you have to change into something nice. Jungwon was here to help you study, just that.

Yeah, a study date, your mind emphasised on the word.

The sound of the doorbell pulled you out from your thoughts. You immediately went to open the door. Yang Jungwon stood there on the other side, with his signature smile. Had he always resembled a sheep? He just looked so fluffy.

"Hey!" You greeted him with a smile, internally wincing at your way-too-enthusiastic voice.

But Jungwon didn't seem to mind it. "Hey!" he greeted back.

You moved to the side to let him in. "Thank you for having me," he said as he bowed then proceeded to remove his shoes.

"Uh, do you want anything? Water?" You asked him.

He shook his head.

"Ah, cool. Let's head to my room," you started to walk back to your room.

"Where are your parents?" He asked.

"Out," you simply replied.

That was when it dawned upon you, that your parents were not home. Leaving you and Jungwon, alone. Together. In your room. Alone. With the boy you potentially have a crush on.

"Y/N?" Jungwon tapped on your shoulder. You had stopped walking when you were suddenly washed over by your thoughts. Snapping out of it, you sent him a small smile before opening the room to your door.

The both of you shuffled into your bedroom, you sat down in front of the low table while Jungwon settled down next to you. He moved to take out his books then turned to you. "How about we do some studying and if you have any questions, you can ask me okay?" He said.

You nodded and flipped your own workbook open, immediately starting to work on the first question. Jungwon copied your action and a comfortable silence engulfed the both of you. As the time passed, you found yourself stuck on a certain maths question.

You slightly turned your head to the side to look at Jungwon. He was concentrated at doing his work, you felt a sense of deja vu while looking at him. He resembled Wonyoung when she was studying. At the thought of Wonyoung, you suddenly thought of what those girls said at the bathroom.

They would make a good couple, wouldn't they, you thought. The power couple of the year.

The butterflies in your stomach faded away into an uncomfortable feeling. Just the idea of them getting together already made you sick. You bit the inside of your cheek, you really did had feelings for him. And now it scared you because what if he doesn't feel the same. You made a mental note to consult with Wonyoung later, at least you hope that you'll allow yourself to tell her.

Jungwon must've noticed you staring and gently tapped your head with his pencil. A contrast to when Wonyoung painfully flicked your forehead.

"What's wrong? Are you stuck on a question?" He asked.

You leaned back a bit at the sudden action. You were so deep in your insecurities that you had totally forgotten about the literal problem sitting in front of you. Yet you couldn't even bother to ask him so you just shook your head. "I'm gonna get something to drink," you said instead.

Jungwon watched as you stood up, then decided to follow you as well. "I'll come along."

The boy joined you in the kitchen, perched on one of the island stools as you grabbed a can of soda from the fridge. He studied your movement as you worked around the kitchen. Your features were neutral, you weren't smiling nor frowning. But he could tell that your shoulders were tensed. Wonyoung was right, you did seem down. And he cursed himself for not noticing earlier.

"You okay?" His question made you stopped in a mid-pour stance, the can of soda was tilted but not enough for the contents to be poured out.

You brushed his question off and poured the drink into the cup. "Yeah," you hummed.

Unconvinced by your answer, he pried more. "You know you shouldn't care about what they say, right?"

You furrowed your eyebrows at him, pretending like you didn't understand where he was coming from.

"You're not below us, you know that right?"

You couldn't help but scoffed at his words. Jungwon's lips tugged downwards "I'm being serious here, Y/N," his tone was stern. "You shouldn't listen to what they say. You're more than just-"

The sound of the can being slammed down shuts him up. Your fingers tightened around the can as you looked at him. You didn't had the energy to hear him preach the same old "Don't Listen To Them" speech. You don't need his pity.

"I don't want to hear it, Yang Jungwon," you said through gritted teeth. Not sparing him another glance, you threw the empty can into the trash as you grabbed your glass.

As you walked past Jungwon, he suddenly reached out and held onto your forearm. "Y/N," he said softly. "Please tell me what's wrong."

You sighed and slowly turn around to face him, placing the glass back on the counter. You took in a deep breath before you opened your mouth. "I feel like I'm not enough," you finally said. "Everything I do just doesn't seem enough. All I'm doing is my best but it's just crushing my ego because everyone is telling me that you're better than me."

"I feel like no one wants me and I hate the way I'm perceived. It's always poor Y/N this and poor Y/N that's because everyone just sees me as your shadow and I fucking hate it. I only have two real friends," you gestured wildly. "And lately I'm a nervous wreck cause I keep comparing myself to the two of you. I'm not cool and I'm not smart, and I can't even parallel park!" You threw your hands up in frustration, the feelings you kept inside were pouring out like a waterfall.

Jungwon just stood there as he listened tentatively to every word. He didn't knew that you felt this way, bottling up all your emotions like that.

"And I'm so tired of people telling me to enjoy my youth and that these are the golden years. I might just fucking cry if I hear those words again," you finished ranting. It felt good, it felt like a weight on your heart has been lifted. Then you remembered that you just dumped all of it on Jungwon.

You opened your mouth to apologise to him but he surprised you by pulling him into his arms. At first you were standing stiffly at the sudden contact, but it took a millisecond for you to melt in his embrace. His arms were gently around your back and you returned the hug by wrapping your arms around his torso. The two of you stay in that position for awhile, relishing in each other's embrace. You definitely needed this hug.

Tightening your hold on Jungwon, you realised how important he was to you. He was your best friend and he was always there for you. It was stupid of you to compare yourself to him, when all he did was tried his best for you. The taller boy chuckled when he felt you rubbed your face into his shoulder, he involuntarily released a contented sigh. You felt one of his hands stroked your hair, it felt comforting. That action itself was enough for the butterflies to slowly settled back in you.

After a while, both of you finally (unwillingly) released each other. He pushed a strand of hair behind your ears and said, "You're wrong by the way." Which made you tilt your head in genuine confusion.

"You are cool and you are smart. You're like the coolest person I know. And no one thinks of you as our shadow, you don't hear it but I've always hear the juniors praising you for helping them and how enthusiastic you are," the way he delivered his words was filled with pure awe for you.

"And who cares if you can't parallel park. You didn't hear it from but Jay hyung failed his drivers test three times just because he couldn't parallel park," and that got a laugh out from you. Jungwon smiled proudly that he managed to make you laugh. "And you're wrong when you said no one wants you. I want you."

You blinked once, twice and thrice. He wanted you? "You're just saying that cause you're my best friend," you replied.

"No," he firmly said. "I like you, Y/N."

(Jungwon doesn't know where he got this sudden surge of confidence, but the mood was the perfect time for him to confess. It was a one time chance and he had to take it.)

You chuckled. "I like you too, Jungwon. We are friends aren't we?"

"No, Y/N. I like you. More than friends."

"Oh." Oh.

"Yeah," he scratched the back of neck awkwardly. Oh no, did you not feel the same way?

While you on the other hand, were malfunctioning on the inside. Your best friend just confessed to you and you were frozen on the spot. Why couldn't he had done it over text instead. If he had done it over text, then you could've left the message unread and you could've spammed Wonyoung for help. But the thing is that it wasn't over text and you couldn't just tell him to wait here while you panicked to Wonyoung in your bathroom.

Yang Jungwon likes you. And you like him too, right? Because if you didn't, your cheeks won't be heating up right now and your heart would have not be beating rapidly like it was going to break your rib cage any second. If you didn't like him, there would have never been butterflies in your stomach. Yeah. You like Yang Jungwon, you like him a lot.

"Me too," you whispered, it was soft but it was enough for him to pick it up. Jungwon eyes snapped to you, doe eyed filled with hope. "I like you, too," you said, this time louder. And you made sure you looked him in the eye when you confessed.

You watched as Jungwon's mouth morphed into a big grin. He let out a sigh of relief and dropped to his knees, surprising you. "Jungwon!" you squeaked, bending down to help him.

"I'm fine! I'm fine," he assured you as he stood up with your help. The grin on his face was still there. "It's just that … you like me," he breathed out. "You like me back, wow. I-I can't believe it."

Your face was definitely burning with embarrassment. You punched him lightly on the shoulder, turning away to hide your face. "Believe it, you dork. I like you, okay!" Somehow his grin was able to grew wider at your words, Gently, he took your hand in his.

"How about we stop this study date, and I'll take you out on real date?"

© chaeryybomb 2021

a/n: thank you so much for reading this <3

[creativeashproductions]

What's a Knife Between Onscreen Family // Charlie Gillespie

Summary: Filming an emotionally wrought scene on the set of your current role as a regular goes very wrong very fast. Expecting the scene to be the most taxing of the day you find yourself in the ER getting a transfusion. It’s all fun and games until someone’s holding a sharp knife incorrectly, guess it’s just something in common with co-star Jared Padalecki.

Warnings: Swearing, blood, fear, injuries, hospital, needles, angst, and fluff

Words: 3.5k (including lyrics)

A/N: I watched a part of a panel from a Supernatural con and found it hilarious that Jensen accidently stabbed Jared. So I had to write that for a Charlie Gillespie fic. Link to the video talking about the stabbing is right below this message.

Jensen Ackles Accidentally Stabbed Jared Padalecki during filming From 1:00-6:00

TO BE TAGGED SEND AN INBOX PLEASE!

Masterlist

It had to be one of the most emotionally taxing scenes in your entire career as an actress on a physically demanding show. The scene had been incredibly mentally draining the daughter of a Winchester. It had been once season recurring, one series regular and now filming the third season. As the teenage Winchester, it threw a wrench in all the plans and the reckless character gave no shits.

“Okay, this is our last scene for the day!” Robert Singer, the director of his episode, called out from off stage. Standing at the top of the stairs in the Bunker, you jumped in close with a scrunched nose at the squishy sound.

Over the railing, both Jared and Jensen nodded their support from the ground level with concerned expressions. Ever since you joined the cast in season 13, they had become fathers to you. The sight of you drenched in stage blood was enough to churn their stomachs.

“I gave you the barebones of the scene so work with it. Briar’s traumatized after fighting for her life and has been gone for a while.” Robert explained, “Cas couldn’t find her. I want this to be a tribute like Dean in season 10 episode 14: The Executioner’s Song.”

Taking a deep breath in your emotions channelled into a hurricane in your chest, clenching your fingers on the knife.

“Action!”

Pacing the floor plan of the Bunker is two brothers bonded by sorrow, pain, sacrifice and love. Each throwing out locations on where Briar could be, Jack and Cas had been little help. Sam’s heart clenched tight bypassing images straight to torture. The kind of torture he had endured over the years.

Dean’s mouth opened to suggest another place when the Bunker door creaked open. The red converse appeared before the soggy jeans as the teen slowly made her way down the steps. Briar Winchester shook like a leaf staring off in the distance as the blood congealed on her face and hands.

“Briar.” Dean slowly spoke, moving towards the girl. His green eyes lit up in fury as the seventeen-year-old flinched back. Dean’s hand gently took the stained knife from the young girl.

“I-I didn’t mean to do it.” The meek voice appeared so unlike the usual confidence Briar talked with. In exhaustion, Briar’s knees collapsed, sending the teen right into Dean’s arms.

The stoic man gripped the youngest Winchester as his waist bearing her weight against his while Sam circled to be behind Dean. The choked sob echoed by another escaped the family huddle; one from Briar and the other from Dean.

“Dad.” Briar choked clenching her arms around the green-eyed adult’s shoulders, craving the safety of her father.

Ever since Dean could remember he had had a strict rule of always practising safe sex, he didn’t want a kid. Not in a world that had it out for Winchesters and not one where he might hold his child’s dead body in his arms. That all changed when Cas delivered Dean to a county jail where Briar was held just for a minor assault charge on a wealthy bully.

Dean never let himself want a future with the picket fence and the dog in the backyard but when Briar changed that. Dean would do anything for his family no matter the cost. Example: Selling his soul for Sam.

“Sh.” Dean spoke kissing the crown of her hair he savoured having his child safe in his arms, “I’ll help you to the bathroom to get cleaned up. We’ll heat some soup and toast.”

On autopilot, Dean helped Briar down the hall to the bathroom where she would freshen up and later burn the unsalvageable clothing. As Dean returned to Sam’s side, Castiel came with a sombre expression and an explanation.

“Dean. Sam.” Cas greeted them, flicking his blue gaze between the two brothers. The faint sound of the shower only picked up by the trained heightened sense of hearing from years of watching over their backs.

“Cas what the hell happened?” Dean demanded, “Why the hell is my little girl bruised and coated in blood?”

END FILMING SCENE

“Cut!” Robert called out to the large room with a big smile on his face, “I’ll watch it back. See if we need more takes.”

Jared and Jensen wiped the tears that fell from their cheeks just thinking on how wrought that scene felt. As fathers seeing a young adult in such a state severely agonized them. The duo jogged to see your back against the cold wall—a pinched expression marring your young face.

“How are you feeling after that?” Jensen asked, coming closer to squeeze your shoulders unfazed by the sticky fake blood. It was already all over his clothes from hugging you in character.

“You shouldn’t be allowed to have sharp objects.” You spoke glancing down at your knee that had been punctured by the knife. The dark jeans soaked in stage blood now concealed the real blood.

 “Jensen, did you really stab another person.” Jared deadpanned his best friend referencing back a few years. Jared shoved one hand through his hair, receiving a nasty glare from the hairstylist on call.

The glare on Jensen’s face blistered the taller actor, “I didn’t stab you. You walked into the knife.”

The two bickered as they guided you back to the main stage where Robert had reached a final verdict. He had watched the replay twice along with his crew finding the raw emotion to be perfect. The little detail the three had added was well played. Dean unexpectedly consoling his daughter in tears; no threats to kill or push her to tell him what happened. The first time Briar referring to Dean as her father. Lastly, Sam’s unsure actions in consoling a young girl sucked into life like he was in his youth.

“We got a one-take winner!” Robert called out sending the entire crowd into loud applause and cheers. Jared taking most of your weight as you hobbled to the costume trailer.

The lovely costume designers helped remove the sticky shirt, jewellery and the red converse that had once been white. Only the jeans remained on your body to not mess with the wound. As much as you’d love to shower the blood off, it was near impossible, moving your knee stung and it was best to avoid aggravating it.

“Someone needs to ban Jensen from knives. Just wait till his wife finds out about this, she adores Y/N.” Martha chuckled from her sketches she designed on her breaks for a future in fashion design. Often in your free time, you would be her guinea pig with her designs using refurbished material.

Normally the banter would continue but not when your leg was bleeding, and Jared was taking you to the ER. To make time faster, Jared had scooped you into his arms to the black car their driver waited in.

“Towels are in place. Sorry, you got hurt, Kid.” Clif spoke, opening the door to the backseat where Jensen sat patiently. Unlike usual, he had seated himself in the front so you could stretch in the back.

A weak chuckle met air in the packed car from the blood loss that wasn’t overly bad but enough that Jared took the towel. His pressure on the wound caused a yelp that had Jensen flinching in guilt.

“The knife must have been sharp to cut a mouse in half,” Clif muttered turning towards the hospital close to set. Coincidently the drive took you passed the set your boyfriend currently filmed at.

“Might as well call me butter.” You retorted wincing at the throbbing pain, “You aren’t allowed any more sharp objects, Mr. Ackles.”

“Danneel already threatened to hide all the knives in the house.” The on-screen father laughed as the tension decreased in the small car. Despite the dizziness, it didn’t hide the guilt in Jensen’s green eyes.

Time flew by as you found yourself in a bed for observation and pictures for the knee. It came as a shock when the doctor requested one blood transfusion for the blood loss. The hope of being in and out had evaporated like water beads on a blistering summer day.

Julie and the Phantoms Set

Charlie adored his life as an actor where he was free to visit places, he might not have had the opportunity to do. He made friends with everyone he spoke to and even met the love of his life as an actor as well.

That being said today had been the longest one with a full schedule and barely time for lunch or snacks. Even a nap was unachievable, and he desperately wanted one for being awake for hours by now.

“Charlie! Did you know you’ve got missed calls?” Jeremy inquired, staring at the phone that went black once more. Charlie’s eyebrows came together at the mention. His family had the rough outline of times he would be unavailable to talk.

Stepping back from the craft table’s supper options, he lifted the phone from the table, bringing it to life. His lock screen showing multiple missed calls and voicemails from you, his family and two unknown numbers.

His jaw dropped further when Meghan called for the first time out of the group, “Megs?”

“Finally! Where have you been?” Meghan demanded pacing in the studio she had been using when she got the call. The pretty and successful young woman had gotten terrified at learning about Y/N.

“Filming? It’s the longest day of filming the show. It’s on the family schedule.” Charlie spoke, settling into one of the empty tables. His eyes watching the people entering and exiting the tent set up for food.

“Jesus. Mom called me when you didn’t pick up. Y/N’s in the hospital.” Meghan revealed sending the Canadian actor into a stiff posture. His hazel eyes blow wide and panic flooding his entire system.

“What?!” Charlie didn’t mean to shout nor turn paler than a piece of white paper, but it happened. The volume contracting looks from everyone in the vicinity. Owen even dropped the donut back in the box by the volume.

“She got stabbed with a knife. I sent the address earlier, and I haven’t gotten a lot of info.” Meghan told her older brother, “I know she’s getting a blood transfusion, but nothing else was released.”

Charlie couldn’t tell you what happened between Meghan telling him and reaching the hospital frantically. Nor could he figure out how Owen was in the back of the Uber with him guiding him through exercises; all thanks to Owen’s therapist for his anxiety.

His sneakers squeaked on the polished white floor in his mission to the receptionist transferring information from a chart to digital. Charlie’s painting brought him attention from the kind nurse acknowledging his presence.

“Just let me finish this one sentence.” The nurse hummed saving the information before turning their full attention to the frazzled male, “How can I help you?”

“What room is Y/N Y/L/N in? She was stabbed and needed a transfusion.” Charlie demanded deflating as Owen placed a hand on his shoulder. The Canadian’s eyes bright with panic and a deep fear

The nurse’s eyes softened, “I can’t give out information on patients unless your immediate family members.”

“I’m here-“

“Husband! He’s her husband, they eloped so she hasn’t changed her last name or updated her information.” Owen blurted out, rubbing the pad of his index finger on the black jeans he had worn for his role. The two hadn’t even bothered changing into their street clothing.

The nurse nodded their head-turning back to the computer to enter the name for the patient for the information. It took seconds before the nurse wrote on the miscellaneous sticky note of the ward and room number.

“My name is Riley. If you need any help, you can come back here, and I’ll do my best to give you answers.” Nurse Riley informed the duo with a kind smile nodding in the direction of your hospital room.

Owen’s long legs ate up the distance Charlie made in his sprint to the stairwell, “Shouldn’t we take the elevator?”

“My girlfriend is in a hospital bed. I can’t wait for an elevator.” Charlie rebuked the suggestion on the second flight. Owen’s sigh was the last sound made as the duo slammed into the door to the floor level.

Charlie and Owen appeared in the doorway of your hospital room panting from the exertion meeting the gaze of two actors. Charlie’s heart stuttered at the sight of the high volume of blood in your clothing and your hair.

The sharp gasp brought your attention to the shaking Canadian actor solely focused on scanning for wounds. His eyes barely staying on the two adult males you had been starring with for a few years. Schedule conflicts often led to no introduction to each other’s co-stars.

“What the hell?” Charlie choked stumbling to the chair beside your hospital bed next to the pole holding a blood bag, “Did you get mugged? Are you okay?”

“Char, take a breath, man.” Owen’s blue eyes shadowed with the worry as Charlie’s breathing shuddered. Owen could barely look at you covered in blood.

“Whoa! Charlie. I’m fine. This is stage blood. We had an intense scene, and there was a minor accident.” Your voice soothed the man gently taking Charlie’s hand to comfort him, “I lost a bit of blood. The doctor decided to give me a blood transfusion to bring my levels back up a bit before stitching it up.”

“How do you get stabbed accidently?” Owen questioned glancing at the two men standing silently in the corner. Due to contracts on the Supernatural set details of scenes and storylines was off-limits.

“Well, during filming, I took a knife from her, and she walked into the blade?” Jensen trailed off, shoving his elbow into Jared’s side at the scoff. It happened every time it was brought up.

“I-“Charlie blinked, shaking his head as he took a deep sigh in pushing that to the back burner to focus solely on you. His hand rubbed his face while he settled on squeezing your one hand in both of his.

The touch of your skin grounding him back to earth with the shattering visions of walking into the world without you. It would be both ways, the second his calloused warm skin brushed your hands; it was like the pain faded. Only a sense of content settled in your weary bones.

“Okay Miss Y/L/N.” Dr. Clancy walked into the room only halting to grab a pair of medical gloves, “I see your entourage grew. I’m Doctor Jim Clancy, and you must be Miss Y/L/N’s husband.”

Three pairs of eyes widened at the doctor’s words aimed towards the brunette actor turning a blushing mess. The words mouthed by Charlie to go with it gave barely any insight, but you did it. The moment you had a free minute with Charlie, you would interrogate him in the new title you had.

“Yeah, my husband.” You spoke flicking an expression to Jensen and Jared that caught on from the years together. They had taken you under their wing on your first day on set, and then you became family with their immediate family.

“I can confirm that my initial observation is that the wound doesn’t have anything that shouldn’t be in there. We stopped the bleeding, the x-ray came clean, we’ll set you up with IV fluid, and tetanus shot to be safe.”

“Nurse Gellar here will cut the rest of the jeans off, get you in a gown for a few hours of observation. Just a precaution for blood transfusions. We’ll have some scrubs you can wear when you can leave.” Dr. Clancy motioned to the tall redhead with a quiet demeanour.

Charlie’s lips lingered on your temple at the fear that flared in your expressive eyes, he would give anything to take your place. He softly sang your couple song as a whimper fell from your lips as the jean tugged the dried blood from the wound. The painful pressure felt as you guessed it had started to bleed again, the feel of liquid rolling down your skin, confirming it.

“I’ll sing anything.” Charlie whispered going through his mental catalogue of songs on your shared playlist, “Oh!”

I’m booking myself a one-way flight

 I gotta see the color in your eyes

 And telling myself I’m gonna be alright

 Without you baby is a waste of time

The tears falling no longer came from the pain but the sheer amount of love you had for the man there. Eyes glittering with pure adoration as his voice came off absolutely heart-melting. So, lost in each other neither of you noticed Owen had been filming from the moment Charlie had said ‘oh’.

Yeah, our first date, girl, the seasons changed

 It got washed away in a summer rain

 You can’t undo a fall like this

 ’Cause love don’t know what distance is

 Yeah, I know it’s crazy

Charlie’s hand slowly slid up your arms to cup your tear-streaked tacky cheeks in his warm grip. The hospital faded as it became just you and Charlie. Completely oblivious at the audience in the room.

“He loves her,” Jensen whispered to Jared out of the camera frame that the blonde-haired kid’s phone. It was such a pure moment it felt disrespectful to see this exchange but also honoured to see it firsthand.

“I’ve only seen the look in your eyes for Danneel,” Jared replied, cupping his hands over his face listening to the near inaudible wet chuckle you gave.

“As I have between you and Gen. They have the real kind of love.” 

But I don’t want “good”, and I don’t want “good enough.”

 I want “can’t sleep, can’t breathe without your love”

 Front porch and one more kiss, it doesn’t make sense to anybody else

“Charlie.” You sobbed at the best part of your life serenading you in such a romantic moment at the odd setting—his hazel gaze greener in what would come to be a very dear memory to reminisce about.

The calloused thumb caressing your cheek wiping a teardrop away he continued to see as the doctor finished suturing the wound. 

Nothing mattered other than the couple currently in a bubble.

Who cares if you’re all I think about,

 I’ve searched the world and I know now,

 It ain’t right if you ain’t lost your mind.

 Yeah, I don’t want easy, I want crazy

 Are you with me baby? Let’s be crazy

Charlie’s voice faded with the rest of the song bringing you back to reality with the nurse cleaning up around the wound. That’s how the rest of the day went on waiting for the blood transfusion and IV fluids to finish. You stuffed the tetanus shot while Charlie sang between different genres.

“Thank you.” You softly spoke with Charlie being the only one left in the room with you.

Owen had headed back to their set to finish a scene while giving the updates on you while Jared and Jensen grabbed food. J2 had been very clear they would get Martha to grab some clothing for when they came back. Jensen was determined to deliver you to your home as the first action to make it up to you.

“For what?” Charlie questioned as your index and thumb picked at the cuticles of the opposite hand. Your eyes were hidden from your boyfriend’s gaze.

“For dropping everything to be here.” The words were quiet in the room only filled with breathing and the heart machine you had to be hooked up to.

“My girl-“

“Don’t you mean wife?” You teased brushing a lock of his hair from his forehead taking in the man you had the honor of loving. Of waking up next to in the apartment, you’d been renting ever since you landed the role on Supernatural; overtime Charlie’s things had just accumulated there.

“It was the only way they’d let me in.” Charlie spoke sitting on the edge of the hospital bed, “It’s a little early to call you, but I’m excited to make you my last girlfriend and then my only wife.”

The chuckle fell from your lips, “So, you want to marry me?”

“In front of all our family and friends. Tucked away from the media to celebrate the love we have for each other.” Charlie spoke, “There’s no one else I’d like by my side for the rest of my life.”

A new flood of tears welled at the sincerity in his voice and the warmth laden in his eyes of kaleidoscope colours. Sometimes, depending on his emotion or his clothing, his eyes would be greener, or when he was happy, they had a blue tinge in the green in sadness or your favourite; brown with the swirls of green.

“How did I get so lucky to have the absolute honour to fall in love with you?” Your words created a swell of emotion in the Canadian’s heart.

“The same way whatever deities there are took pity on a boy from Dieppe by bringing him an angel.” Charlie words preceded the kiss on your lips with a grin as you chased his lips after. With one last peck, he leaned back with a fond expression.

“Seriously how do you get stabbed accidently?” Charlie chortled with that gorgeous smile lighting up the room more than the white lights.

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[smashboxgirl26]

vengeance / chapter 13: a new face

chapter 12: catching | chapter 14: apologies

vengeance masterlist

Bakugou’s mind rushed over the details that the Commissioner had mentioned the day before. The main issue was that the League was still active - despite them being imprisoned for over five years at that point. How they were still active was the question. And the only theory at the moment was that there was someone from the LOV who hadn’t been captured in the final battles - someone who’d been working on the sidelines enough that they were able to escape from prosecution easily.

That meant that they were probably very dangerous, and that was enough to send Bakugou back into his office to stare out the window again to calm his breathing.

The pit of anxiety in his stomach had been growing, a lot more now, and had been since you’d mentioned to him that you’d met Midoriya. He’d almost thought that his breaking point had been when he’d stepped into Ito’s room and saw those pictures of you everywhere, but it wasn’t.

It was the fact that he couldn’t work on the Ito case.

But it was that and every other single fucking thing that was piling up in his life. It seemed like his usual ranges of anger couldn’t solve these problems as easily as they usually did, and that was incredibly mentally taxing on him - trying to keep up with everything in the whirlwind that currently was his mind.

He hadn’t felt this way since high school - and the many thoughts that came with those feelings were threatening to flood back in as well.

Work.

Shut up and focus on the work.

Deal with the other shit later.

Y/N.

Work for her.

Becoming the Number One Hero.

Don’t lose sight of yourself and drown in the process.

It didn’t work as well as he thought it would, but Bakugou sat down on his desk chair to start on the case nevertheless.

He’d been emailed some of the details of the case when the Commissioner announced to the police that he’d be working on it with them. It wasn’t the highly classified details - of course - but more so an overview of the case as well as the starting point for him to grasp what the situation exactly was.

______

League of Villains: OVERVIEW

March 23, 2221; 8:09 AM

The criminals that were once banded together in the name of the “League of Villains”, LOV for short, together have had many incidents in recent times of their incarceration. Most are in reference to each other, or previous attacks, which leads the prison guards and employees to believe that this is all the form of something that they all collectively understand.

By incidents, it is implied that attacks have been frequent by the LOV alumnus: all of them have related to others; this has been confirmed by either their methods of attack, or what they have said to officers on the scene about the attack

No prisoners have currently escaped through these endeavors, however both prisoners and prison staff have been wounded. A majority of these injuries have been minor, coming in the form of minor scratches, bruises, and other small inflictions. No deaths have been recorded, but the severity of the wounds is increasing.

The resulting actions of the incidents described above were taken solely by the prison staff themselves with a slight oversight of the police: increased security staff around all LOV prisoners - whether they have made an attempt or not - along with solitary for those who did make an attempt.

Interviews have not yet been held, due to the fact that it is too dangerous for most of the prisoners to be taken out of their cells without the proper amount of protection for the questioner (as more guards have been allocated to watch all the LOV prisoners), meaning that more support is needed in order to properly question them

______

Bakugou was holding his breath the entire time. The more he read, the more he was convinced that there was, in fact, something going on beneath the surface and that the police and prison staff were one-hundred percent correct about their assumptions.

When they’d first been arrested, they’d definitely fought their incarcerations and made attempts to escape. But they’d mellowed out after a while, and even if they were in there for life, their sentences would be more bearable if they played along with the rules that were laid out before them.

But for them to start causing messes now? After five years of mostly good behavior?

It didn’t make sense to Bakugou, unless the theory was correct.

Whether the Director knew all the details was unknown, but that meant that his opinion was completely wrong about the whole situation, and that he was only trying to sweep it under the rug with Bakugou in charge of the investigation.

That fact was burning in Bakugou’s mind as he glanced away from his screen to stare up at the ceiling while running his fingers through his hair. He needed to start working on this investigation quickly, or the Director would try and sweep the whole thing under the rug and there would be no funding allocated towards it.

Bakugou let out a sigh before glancing down to the bottom of the email, and finding the number to the precinct that was heading up the entire investigation and the name of the lead investigator.

…

Bakugou stepped into the low-ceiling, dimly lit room with higher expectations for the precinct that was heading up one of the most important cases containing the League of Villains. But it actually made sense that a dingy precinct was chosen instead of one that had more resources available to them; it was because the Director didn’t want the investigation to go anywhere. Well unfortunately for him, he’d assigned Katsuki to the case, and he wasn’t one to let things go with nothing.

Most of the officers were lounging around in their chairs with a coffee or donut in hand, scrolling on their phones or mindlessly typing something up on their computer. He even thought he saw one watching porn in the far corner of the room.

He grimaced at the sight, but took a few more steps forward to the front desk where he looked over the counter at the secretary who was currently busy on his phone.

“Uhm, excuse me,” Bakugou grumbled out.

“Hmm?” the secretary looked up halfheartedly, taking a small glance before doubling back at Bakugou with wide eyes and standing up from his chair.

“D-Dynamight. I mean, ahem, Mr. Dynamight,” he said loud enough for the other officers to hear.

Bakugou watched as they all scrambled about in their spots and immediately went to typing on their computers with haste as they gave him the side-eye. Bakugou rolled his eyes before turning back to the almost quivering secretary with annoyance, most of it having to do with how the precinct was running.

“We weren’t e-expecting you here till tomorrow, Sir,” the secretary managed out under Bakugou’s scrutinizing glare. “Detective Masaki’s been busy trying to get the base information but-”

“I know that already,” Bakugou spat in response. “It was all in the long ass email he sent me. Tell him to come out of his office so we can discuss the case in person.”

The secretary’s eyes narrowed slightly as they tilted their head and gave Bakugou a confused look, “Sir, I’m not sure of you’re aware but Detective Masaki is-”

“Haruma, it’s okay,” a female voice interrupted from the side, and Bakugou looked up from the desk in front of him to meet the face of the voice who was walking up to the desk from the back.

“Mr. Dynamite, the name’s Detective Masaki. I’ll be working on the League of Villains case with you,” the lady said, sticking her hand out for Bakugou to shake.

Bakugou didn’t even look surprised at the fact that the detective he was working with was actually a woman. He was more focused on the fact that she was much more professional than the other extras who just seemed to be there to hang around.

At least one person in this god forsaken place actually gives a fuck about their job.

“You too,” he said simply before reaching out to shake her hand firmly.

He took the opportunity to observe her features under his heavy glare. She was tall and slender, with a bronzed complexion that matched her wide golden brown eyes. Strands of curly hair were sticking out of the bun she’d pinned to the back of her head, and that was one of his many indicators that she wasn’t, in fact, Japanese.

“Let’s go talk in my office,” she gestured behind her, before walking in front of Bakugou to lead him to the area it was located.

She held the door open for him, and he noticed as she carefully locked the door behind them and checked out of its windows quickly before pulling up blind. Once she’d finally sat herself in her chair on the other side of the desk, Bakugou observed her stoic expression before opening his mouth to speak.

“You’re not Japanese.”

She gave an amused smile, “I’m half Japanese, but I think that was obvious enough from my appearance. I’m from America, actually. But it’s nice to finally meet you Mr. Dynamight.”

“Call me Bakugou,” he grunted back. “It seems like we’ll be working together for a while so honorifcs aren’t really necessary.”

“Then you could call me Kana instead of my last name. If you remember, we go by first names in America.”

“I fuckin’ knew that,” he replied boredly.

“Right..” she replied.

The air between them was awkward, to say the least. They clearly were both headstrong people who wouldn’t take opinions from others. It was going to be an exhausting investigation.

“Well then, let’s get down to it,” Kana said as she crossed her hands together over the table. “I’m actually glad you came today, it means we have more time before the Director decides to pull the plug.”

“So you know about his stupid plan too then, right?” Bakugou asked as he leaned back in his chair. “He doesn’t want the investigation to go anywhere.”

“I think it was made pretty obvious when he decided to assign the case here, of all places,” Kana replied with a chuckle. “But even then, I think he forgot I was assigned here.”

Bakugou had been taking the time to observe his surroundings, and even though it was littered with coffee cups, papers, and files, he noticed the couple of plaques that hung on the wall at the back.

High honors, commended leadership, outstanding excellence…

“What the hell are you doing in a dingy place like this? As far as I can tell none of the fuckers outside have actually put effort into their jobs,” Bakugou asked with an eyebrow raised.

“I was demoted,” Kana sighed. “The Commission’s Director thought I was sniffing around in his business more than I needed to so he dumped me here. I went from being one of the best detectives in Japan to being forgotten.”

“That sucks balls.”

“Yeah,” she huffed a breath out of her nose. “But anyways, that doesn’t matter right now. You’ve read the email, right?”

“Obviously,” Bakugou rolled his eyes.

“So then it’s obvious that the next step would be to start the interviews with the villains. We weren’t able to do them before because we needed more oversight and there wasn’t enough protection to keep the prisoners secure. But now that you’re here it’ll be a lot easier.”

“I don’t think we should start with their interviews first,” Bakugou thought out loud. “It’s not like they’ll give up any information willingly, and we don’t know if the security of the prison would let us see them more than one time if they don’t give us anything useful the first time.”

“What do you suggest then?” Kana asked with an eyebrow raised and skepticism in her voice.

Bakugou at least understood where it was coming from though - this was her area of expertise. He was someone who was not really involved in these types of cases, or at least he wasn’t up until now.

“I’d say we start with the prison and security staff. You haven’t had proper interviews with them yet, right?” Bakugou stared off in thought.

“No,” Kana shook her head. “The only thing we’ve gotten so far are the files they gave us in order to request increasing the security around the villains and to put the ones who were attempting to escape in solitary. There were some basic facts in there but there wasn’t anything specific written down - just the whole thing about them acting weird and how they were talking about something going on outside of the prison.”

“Then I’d say that’s our place to start. If we have those interviews on record then we can use them to help keep the villains from lying to us, since they couldn’t deny anything that was previously said to the prison staff,” Bakugou affirmed with a nod.

“Fine then,” Kana replied with a huff. “I’ll arrange for us to start the interviews tomorrow.”

“I’ll be there,” Bakugou replied tiredly.

He’d rather be working with Kirishima, and Monoma (of all people) on your case than work with this Kana bitch.

…

You waved at Camie as she drove down the street, leaving you on the steps in front of your apartment. The smile you’d plastered on faded, and you felt as your face settled into a hard frown.

It’d been hard trying to keep yourself smiley and peppy all day, and now that you were finally alone it came out easier than you’d expected. Staring blankly at the road seemed to take the edge of your emotions out of your head for a second, and because they’d been running rampant in your head since the previous night it felt like a break.

But that meant the return to reality was much, much worse.

There was some creepy guy who’d been stalking you, which became public knowledge, and Camie had informed you that your boyfriend, the person who was supposed to trust you more than anyone else in the world, had been hiding his emotions from you.

And now that you were thinking about it, it hadn’t even started because of the whole stalker case where Katsuki felt he needed to “protect” you by trying to keep you from the truth of his feelings. The first time you’d noticed it was when you mentioned meeting Izuku, but who knew how long he’d been hiding himself before that!

The pressure of your thoughts manifested itself into a headache, and you could no longer bear standing outside under the sun - even if it helped calm your nerves a little with the light breeze that’d started up - so you headed inside with a huff.

The day had been a weird one.

You constantly felt like you were being watched, only to turn your shoulder and see that there was no one there. And with you being so hyperactive with your surroundings and still not noticing anything abnormal, you were just beginning to think you were paranoid or going insane. But who could blame you, how else were you supposed to handle the news of being stalked?

You closed the door behind you silently, double checking that you’d locked it before finally sauntering off to the kitchen to grab something to eat. All the worrying was making you feel sick and you’d lost your appetite long ago, but you hadn’t eaten since morning and you needed something before you could take a pill to appease the throbbing headache that made the anxiety infinitely worse.

After finally settling yourself down, you plopped yourself onto the couch with the intention of watching some random movie to get your mind off of everything that was swirling around. But a notification from your email stopped you in your tracks before you could even grab the remote.

And when you opened it and read its contents, your heart almost stopped.

The Tokyo University Medical School regrets to inform you that your scholarship has been revoked.

──────────────

sorry this one took some time loll, but idk if it'll get much better since school's starting soon

just ask if you'd like to be tagged :)

tag list:

@spicy-therapist-mom @triviajeongin @iliketobullydeku @nuclearnoir @lilyblossomblooms2020 @all-in-the-fandoms @no-post-ghost @intense-socks

[sithsecrets]

A Matter of Expediency - Part XIV

2.9 k After being married off to Kylo Ren in the name of securing an heir to the First Order’s throne, a princess tries to navigate the ins and outs of married life. As she grows closer to her new husband, the princess also carves out a place for herself in the Order, assuming control over her life when she thought she would have none.

---

Part 14

2.9k words

Mentions: family drama, crying, pregnancy, pregnant!reader, dead loved ones

---

Though it is your intention to deal with your family swiftly, your plans are pushed aside for a time.

In the wake of over twenty executions spanning across numerous planets and entire star systems, there’s much to be done. You spend days poring over work histories and background checks, working diligently to replace lost personnel. There are four positions that need filling on the Board of Charitable Affairs alone, though Hux is at your side to vet candidates. And then of course there’s spying to do, for several Valderan mineral companies are replacing key players in their operations. Canto Bight’s casino owners are kissing major ass, stolen funds need redistributing to various charities, several small insurrections must be crushed…

It’s like you blink and nearly a month’s gone by, days passing in a haze of paperwork, meetings, and formal appearances. You and Kylo are pulled here and there, always busy, always doing something, and the whole ordeal is more exhausting than you ever imagined it could be. Sleep becomes a luxury, and not for the first time do you find yourself marveling at the Chancellor’s ability to go without it. Still, the sacrifice is worth the reward, and you’re happy to see things straightening out amongst the Order’s possessions.

Finally, all is well, and you’re able to relax again. Handling your uncle and his children sits at the forefront of your mind, but you’re smart enough to know that you need rest before launching into yet another confrontation. Still, even after several days of decent sleep, you’re dragging your feet at midday, drowsiness clouding your mind and dulling your senses. More than once do you find the notion of taking a nap irresistible, and you sleep the sleep of the dead each time you lie down.

Miriam notices the change in your behavior immediately, though she says nothing as she helps you fix your hair and set your clothes straight each afternoon. Kylo is more vocal with his concerns, more insistent that you seek medical attention. He corners you one afternoon in your shared quarters, catching you just as you’ve awoken from another one of your naps.

“I fear someone or something has made you ill,” your husband presses, pushing back against your flippant view of the matter. You turn away from your vanity, amused as you take in your husband’s furrowed brow and tense posture.

“Kylo,” you say, voice dripping honey, “I’m just a little tired. I’m not dying.”

Your husband rushes to your side, taking your face in his hands as he becomes more desperate than you’ve ever seen him before. “My love, I am begging you—”

“And I,” you cut gently, turning to kiss the inside of his wrist, “am begging you to not worry about this.”

Kylo’s exasperation heightens, though you don’t let him go on.

“I’m fine, darling” you insist, fussing with the cuff of your husband’s sleeve. “I’ve never been better.”

---

Returning to the palace is almost surreal, everything just as you left it all those months ago. You hadn’t expected anything to change, not really, but the sameness of it all still makes your chest clench in the strangest way. Every rug, every tapestry, every artifact and decoration… each one reminds you of a time that was not long ago, though you can hardly recognize that version of yourself now.

Two Knights of Ren flank you on either side as you glide into the receiving room you know all too well, your only protection on your home planet. Kylo was insistent for a while there, demanded that you be attended by stormtroopers and Reds and a number of other personnel, but you managed to talk him out of it. Ap’lek and Vicrul are more valuable than fifty imperial guards put together, and besides, you are adored here— the chance of you being harmed is slim to none.

Your uncle’s throne still sits on its dais in the center of the room, this fixture too unchanged. You approach it cautiously, mildly afraid to be caught near the thing on principle. It was the cardinal rule of your childhood— do not sit on Uncle’s throne, not under any circumstances. How many tongue lashings had you received for climbing up here as a child? Ten? Twenty? You can’t be sure after all these years.

What you do know, however, is that your uncle’s throne is even more comfortable now than it was in your childhood.

As if on cue, the patriarch of your remaining family comes striding into the room, mid-conversation with one of his attendants. His entire body shudders when he lays eyes on you, no doubt surprised to see you, or anyone else, for that matter, in this room. Arriving unannounced was a key element in your plan, and, if your uncle’s wide-eyed, horrified gaze is anything to go by, it’s already having the desired effect.

You let your uncle splutter stupidly on the floor for a moment, let him go through aborted versions of your name, your old title, and your new one before he finally blurts, “What are you doing here?”

It’s by no means a respectful way to address his Empress, but you’re too pleased with the way he cringes at his own words to care.

Setting your expression carefully, you gesture about the room with one lofty hand. “I’m here for a visit, Uncle. I wanted to check on the state of things here.” Your voice drops, becomes less pleasant. “The state of our people.”

Your uncle looks as if he’s going to vomit. This pleases you.

Mila is the first to come before you, startled like her father was upon seeing your face. She has the decency to kneel though, to show you respect as she waits for her brothers to arrive. And they do after several minutes, the both of them looking ruffled and perturbed as they shuffle into the room.

“You do not kneel before you Empress?” Ap’lek snaps, incensed by the way Sebastian and Tensin make no move to join their father and sister on the floor.

Sebastian, the smart-mouthed little shit that he is, opens his mouth at once, no doubt about to spit something acidic and defiant in Ap’lek’s face. But your uncle stops his son before he can do something stupid, yanking the eldest boy down onto his knees.

“Shut up and kneel down,” the King hisses. “Both of you.”

Sebastian and Tensin need no further prompting after that, though they obviously aren’t happy about being forced to show fealty to you. Mila, however, looks almost afraid, refusing to meet your eyes even as she says, “To what do we owe this honor, Empress?”

You like this change in your cousin’s demeanor, like the way she addresses you with humility and respect. So, you answer her question calmly, though you can feel rage coming to a boil in your chest.

“I am here, Princess, to tell your father that I know what he’s been doing with his people’s money.”

At this, your uncle pales, shifting uncomfortably on his knees. He, too, now will not look you in the eye, an indirect but still very overt admission of his guilt. You can’t believe him, so shameless and yet so cowardly at the same time.

Your uncle drops his head, voice subdued as he speaks. “Empress, I think you’ve misunderstood—”

Something in your snaps then, for how dare he treat your like you’re stupid, like you haven’t been paying attention?

“Oh no, Uncle, it is you who has misunderstood,” you snap, rising from his throne. Venom drips from your every word, Ap’lek and Vicrul your dark, dangerous shadows as you stalk closer and closer to your family. “You misunderstand the purpose of your tax dollars; you misunderstand the needs of your people. They suffer under the financial burden you’ve placed upon them while you snort spice and fuck whores.”

“Do not speak to my father like that!” Sebastian shouts, jumping to his feet in front of you. His eyes are wild, but you are equally as enraged, getting in his face, daring him to so much as touch you.

“Harm me or my child and it will be the last thing you do, you insolent little fuck.”

All eyes land on you, the members of your family stunned into silence by the implications of what you’ve just said. Mila is the only one brave enough to speak, eyeing you from the floor with a look of utter shock slapped across her face. “You’re pregnant?”

Remembering yourself, you take a breath and set your hands on the almost imperceptible swell of your stomach. “Yes, I am pregnant,” you affirm, speaking softly as you think of all your days spent in bed and the way Kylo cried when you told him what you knew. It was the one reason he was so insistent that you come here armed to the teeth.

Your family looks upon you as if you’re a live explosive then, falling all over themselves to widen the distance between all of you. You crowd right back in, however, undeterred and unafraid. “All of you must understand, then, why I came to do this before my condition progresses any farther.”

Tensin decides to be bold. “And what would this be?”

Cutting your eyes away from him, you look squarely at the King. “I’ve come to take your father’s crown.”

The noise that comes out of Sebastian is indignant and angry. Mila gasps, eyes wide and terrified. Tensin turns white as a sheet. And your uncle? All he does is stare up at your stupidly, mouth opening and closing on what appears to be its own accord for several seconds.

“You can’t— You can’t do that,” he stammers, looking from you, to his throne, and back again. “You can’t— Who will rule in my place? You?”

“I have the galaxy, Uncle,” you state, voice even and calm. “I don’t need this planet.”

The King looks at his eldest son and then back at you, a silent question swimming behind his eyes. You refuse to answer it, simply holding out your hand and eyeing the crown that glitters before you.

“Take that ridiculous thing off your head.”

Your uncle hesitates for a moment, a look of utter heartbreak coming across his face as he finally reaches up and out, handing you his crown as instructed. You hold the thing in your hands for a moment, studying the craftsmanship, the fine jewels that glint so beautifully in the light…

And then you throw it at Mila’s feet.

The clang of metal against marble bounces off the walls of the room again and again, the sound almost painfully loud in your ears until Mila’s able to get her hands on her father’s crown— or, rather, her crown. You see tears in her eyes as she studies it, looking at the gold and gilding as if she can’t believe it’s real.

Your uncle is clearly bewildered, shaking his head as he asks, “Why?”

“Because she’s smarter and more capable than both of your sons put together.” You lean down, really get in his face so that he can feel your anger properly. “And to think that you were going to sell her to the highest bidder.”

These words suck all other protests from your uncle’s mouth, and you can see now that this is over.

“You and the Princes will leave this palace immediately,” you declare. “You are not allowed to return for a year.”

Tensin looks distressed. “This is our home!”

You eye him coolly. “Not anymore. I can’t have you poisoning Mila’s reign with your childish partying and idiotic ideas. Now leave me and your Queen alone, all of you.”

Your uncle and his sons stumble out of the room, dazed and humiliated. Mila finally rises to her feet once they’re gone still weakly clutching her crown in one hand. Tears stream down her face. She looks like she’s been punched in the gut.

“Don’t waste it,” you say simply, tossing your head towards the throne in the center of the room. “I can take it from you just as easily as I took it from him.”

“I won’t,” Mila whispers. You believe her.

“Goodbye, Your Majesty.”

And then you’re walking out of the room, your guards trailing behind you without a word.

Mila calls out after a moment, calls you by your title and then by your real name.

You turn to her. “Yes?”

“I—” Your cousin is distraught, eyes darting as she pants for breath. “I’ve been do awful to you. I treated you like dirt, I— You could have let Father sell me to that old man, and I would have been miserable. Why would you give me this instead?”

You stare her down for a moment, considering what to say. “I’m not like you, Mila. I’m not cruel.”

Mila shudders like she’s been slapped, and you turn to leave the room.

---

Ap’lek and Vicrul fly you out into the countryside after the lot of you make your exit from the palace, cruising at a comfortable speed as you take in the rush of scenery bellow you. This part of your planet feels as though it belongs somewhere else entirely, underdeveloped and free from the crowding of urban sprawl.

Your mother’s house, like the palace you just came from, is exactly as you remember it. The landscaping, the front steps, the courtyards— there’s not a blade of grass out of place, and the joy you feel because of this makes you want to weep.

Stepping inside is like stepping back inside, for you haven’t been to this place since you were a girl. Servants and small droids bustle about, putting on the finishing touches for your arrival. You’d asked to have the place opened up a couple of weeks ago, wanted to spend some time here after you finished dethroning your uncle. But now that you know you’re pregnant, you have other plans for this home.

Shooing Ap’lek and Vicrul away, you go exploring, halfway surprised that you still remember your way around. But no, you haven’t forgotten the layout of this house you love so much, these halls and rooms you played in as a baby.

You peek in your old bedroom, delighted to see that no one’s changed the colors on the walls. The same furniture that looked so big in your eyes then only looks average now— small, even. Your little window even faces the same flowers, the same fields, the same sunshine. At once, you decide that your child will know all these things too, just as you did.

Crossing the threshold in your mother’s room feels almost like stepping into a tomb, though the sensation is not one of dread or gloom like you thought it would be. Her bed and furniture are, like everything else in this house, just as they were when she was alive, though the vanity looks strange without her things strewn across it. You can remember your mother sitting there before the mirror, a tube of lipstick in her hand, a bottle of perfume close by. All little children think that their mothers are beautiful, and you were no different back then. Now, though, you realize that your mother really was a gorgeous woman, buxom and bright and so, so pretty. She would have you help her sometimes before she left for a party, would let you pick out her earrings or ask you which scent you liked better that night. Staring at yourself in the mirror, you reach up and unclip your own jewelry, laying the pieces out carefully on the vanity as your first action as this house’s new mistress.

The covers on the bed aren’t the ones your mother slept under, but you still feel like you’re crawling in bed beside her as you lie down. A length of time passes in silence after that, how much you can’t be sure, but you’re brought back to reality when you hear heavy boots in the hallway. Kylo appears in the doorway not one second later, quiet as he pauses to study you for a moment. And then he’s sitting on the edge of the bed and unlacing his boots, he’s lying down beside you. The two of your clasp hands, tangling your feet together like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

“How did it go?” Kylo asks, though you’re sure he already knows.

“Mila will be coronated this afternoon.”

Kylo nods, unfazed. “How are you?”

“I’m fine,” you say softly, reaching out to stroke his cheek. Kylo turns to kiss your palm, gentle in the same way he’s been gentle since he found out about the baby.

“This is a very beautiful house,” Kylo declares, leaving the topic of your uncle and his children behind. “Why are we here?”

“This is where I grew up,” you explain, fingers in his hair now. “I was born in this room.”

Kylo almost-smiles. “What a lovely place for a child. I see why your mother chose it for you.”

It’s your turn to nod. “I know. I… I want to be pregnant here. I want to give birth here, like my mother did. The baby needs to feel the sun on his face, needs to breathe real air when he takes his first breath.”

Kylo pulls you closer, kisses the top of your head. “I’ve always thought space was too cold for an infant.”

And just like that, the matter’s settled.

Everything’s settled.

[geeky-politics-46]

The Asgardian Candidate

Loki/The West Wing FanFiction Crossover

Chapter 3 - “The First Debate”

The 2 candidates strode toward the center of the stage for the ceremonial pre-debate handshake. Both men exuding confidence & authority, even though the air around them was thick with palpable tension

The first lady, Abbey, entering hand in hand with her husband. It was an effort to further highlight the differences between the candidates.

President Bartlet easily outplayed Loki in policy knowledge, but regardless the handsome raven haired charismatic Loki managed to maintain a thin lead over the incumbent. Tonight they were hoping to change that.

They had found a vulnerable spot in Loki, one that Jed was particularly suited to take advantage of. Jed Bartlet was a family man 1st & foremost, nothing mattered more to him. Loki, always solo on the campaign trail with no spouse or relatives to be seen, became visibly angered at the mention of family.

After the first lady had smiled & waved to the audience she turned to her husband. Abbey tipped her head up & kissed Jed, she then placed her hand on his chest over his heart & touched her forehead to his. Both of their eyes closed in that moment & the president placed his hand over Abbey’s, smiling as their hands met.

Loki watched the display with annoyance, to him they were simply putting on an act, a show for their audience. They were posturing.

To the Bartlet’s however this was their moment of ritual, a grounding force that connected them before a moment of political chaos. While it may have been Loki’s weakness, Jed derived only strength from his family & especially from his wife.

Loki placed his hands on his hips & shifted his weight to signal his impatience with being made to wait. He had just finished rolling his eyes when Abbey pulled away from her husband & exited the debate stage.

President Bartlet was the 1st to extend his hand, his warm friendly smile covering a feeling of anxiety. He may be the President of the United States, the Commander In Chief, but something about this man exuded an authority outranking even his own.

Loki locked hands with the President, his lips curling into his signature mischievous smirk, lowering his gaze slightly & boring his rich emerald eyes into his opponent. He was ready for a battle.

As they walked to their podiums, Loki’s eyes stayed on the President. Like a predator stalking his prey, he watched every step the man took. The president could feel the eyes on him, causing him to swallow hard as he took his position.

The 2 men stood roughly 20 feet apart on the large stage, podiums angled toward the front center. The audience had begun to silence & still themselves. The moderator was finishing up sorting her papers. It was nearly time to begin.

Bartlet adjusted his microphone, straightened his tie, basically anything except look at the man to his left. Loki was still staring him down, & he couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle at the nervous fidgeting he had elicited.

Loki’s attention snapped to the front of the stage as the moderator began reciting the debate rules over her own microphone. Truth be told, he had been so wrapped up in his game that he had forgotten she was even there.

He could hardly even see her due to the stage lights, so he looked for the news & TV cameras instead. That was where he would focus. That was who he was campaigning to after all, to the millions watching on TV. They were who he wanted to win.

As the cameras went live the moderator once again recited her introduction & the rules for the debate. This time leaving out bits & pieces that pertained only to the candidates themselves or to their staff. It was really showtime now.

“Good evening, & welcome to the first debate for this year’s U.S. Presidential election. The participants are President Josiah Bartlet, & Mr. Loki Laufeyson. I am Rachel Maddow your moderator. The topics this evening will all be pertaining to U.S. domestic policy. The format for the debate is as follows, & has been agreed to by both campaigns. Each candidate will make a 2 minute opening statement. The debate will then be divided into 6 segments, each 14 minutes long. At the beginning of each segment I will ask both candidates the same lead-off question & they will each have up to 2 minutes to respond, we will then move into open discussion for the rest of the time allotted. At the end of the debate each candidate will be given 2 minutes to make a closing statement. Mr. Laufeyson you won the coin toss, so we will be beginning with you. You have 2 minutes for your opening statement please.”

Loki shifted his weight from foot to foot, hands poised on the edges of the podium. He glanced downward & licked his lips. A smile spread across his face as he brought his gaze back up, locking into the cameras.

“Well, first of all thank you dear Rachel & my opponent, President Bartlet, for taking part in this glorious display of… purpose… before the American people. I know you all feel lost, like leaves scattered in the wind. Without a true direction. That is the downside of freedom, it diminishes life’s joy as you scramble for identity. In order to truly embrace all that this life, this country, has to offer you must put your trust in a true leader. Someone who will lead you down the path toward greatness without question or hesitation. I will be that benevolent leader if you put your trust in my hands.”

“Thank you Mr. Laufeyson. Now to you President Bartlet.”

“I grew up on the promise of life, liberty, & the pursuit of happiness. Along the way, however, we learn how important so many other things there are in our lives. Healthcare, an education, family. Those are just a few that pop to mind. I am, & will be a, president who see’s these issues as ever evolving questions seeking adaptable solutions. As your president I will continue to fight for policy that pulls us forward together, not pushes people into a line. To unite as one family; because at the end of the day, if you have people to call your family - even if you aren’t related by family - you are never truly lost.”

Loki could feel the color drain from his face. Bartlet had just fired a shot across the bow, within the first five minutes of the debate Loki knew he was already starting to sink.

————————

It simply got worse from there. On Asgard Loki never had to attend to matters of actual policy. He was trained as a sorcerer & warrior with a birth right to the throne. Why in the nine realms would he have bothered to learn about budgets & taxes? He was a prince, destined to be a king. A ruler waiting for his throne.

Despite his best efforts to keep up, & even throw a few quick magical charms to make his answers sound more polished, he knew he was floundering. The bile was rising in his stomach as he watched the human to his right take the last of the open question time.

All he had to do now was deliver his closing statement. Then he would re-evaluate. He knew he would have to make a big move tomorrow if he wanted to hold any footing .

“We have now come to the final segment of our debate, the closing statements. Mr. Laufeyson, you have 2 minutes.”

“Standing here, before all of you, I must confess that I spent much of my life being lied to. Many of you have also spent your lives being lied to, by the politicians who claim they will put your needs first. Being told you were something only to find out it was all fiction. All they really care about is power. It’s time for something different than these same lies time after time. I will never feed you those same lies, I will lead you to where you can fully flourish. I will make it easy for you.”

“President Bartlet, you have 2 minutes for your closing statement.”

“While I know that many voters prefer to not delve too deep into the world of policy specifics, & I certainly understand why, but a president should be able to give you a specific plan of how they intend to solve the problems befalling our country. While my opposition here certainly has a flair for language, even when it edges a tad on the overdramatic, I have yet to hear him detail exactly how he will lead this country to a better place. I can tell you that there aren’t many un-nuanced moments in leading a country, it takes much more than fancy generalities. So, Mr. Laufeyson, my question to you is what comes after the generality? What are the next 10 words? How are we going to do it? Give me the next 10 words after that & I’ll drop out of the race right now.”

Loki stood yet with his mouth agape. Fists clenched so tight on the podium his knuckles were white. A mere mortal had bested him, & he knew it just as well as Loki did. Even the moderator had appeared stunned at Bartlet’s closing statement bravado.

As the moderator closed out the debate, the tv camera crews began their scuttle over to the spin room to try & get the best spot for interviews. Bartlet smiled & waved to the audience as he strode offstage. Loki stood there, basking in the stage lights for just a moment longer. Taking a deep breath to compose himself before turning & leaving through the other side of stage. He could already see staffers & stagehands clearing a path for him, they could feel the frustration radiating off of him.

His campaign staff would be taking care of all the post debate interviews. On his best days he hardly had patience for them, on days like today he would rather be looked in closet with his brother than deal with the media’s pedantic prattling. Loki had a plan to put together, & he had to put it together fast.

[snowdice]

Big Bang (Sort of) Editing Story [Day 48]

I started writing this fic while editing my Big Bang story, but am going to continue doing it for other things now that Kill Dear is out. I will write and publish 100 words of the story every time I finish doing whatever task I’m doing. If you’d like to block these proceedings, please feel free to block the tag proofread stories. I will reblog this post with the parts of the story I do today. Edited chapters are linked; everything else I’ve done so far is under the cut.

My Master Post Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18

Ugh I have so many boring things to do today, so have this.

Chapter 19

Thomas sighed in relief as the door to the royal wing finally came into sight. He was exhausted from his journey to Lamir for many reasons. Beyond just the physically taxing journey, he’d also had to deal with the emotions of loosing someone he had thought of as a friend while also trying to help her young daughter who had just had the crown thrust upon her.

Now he just wanted to see his own child and curl up into bed. He smiled at Owen and Kalani as he approached. “Is Logan here?” he asked.

Owen nodded. “The prince and his royal advisor are having a slumber party.”

Thomas smiled. “Of course, they are,” he said.

 He said goodnight to the two guard as they’d be getting off duty soon even if he did manage to drag himself out of his room again tonight and walked past them into the hall.

He walked past the room where they kept the jewels, though was unsurprised to see that the room was unlatched as Patton loved playing around with the different jewelry and had probably left it open when he grabbed them. He was however surprised when his son’s room’s door was thrown open, as Logan usually couldn’t stand for the thing to be open with or without him in it.

 Thomas didn’t think much of it however, and simply walked over to look inside. He was surprised when he didn’t see his son or Patton and instead saw that the only person in the room was a young boy that Thomas did not recognize. He was seated in one of Logan’s chairs and had his head tilted looking at himself in the mirror. He seemed to be trying to get a look at the ornament on the back of his head, and Thomas felt his heart seize a little bit when he recognized the hairpin.

He hadn’t recovered from that gut punch when the boy’s eyes drifted and met his in the mirror. There were a couple of long seconds where the two of them stared at each other in silence.

“Hello?” Thomas finally managed to get out.

Panic. There was suddenly horribly intense panic in the child’s eyes, the likes of which Thomas had never seen before. Thomas could only blink dumbly as he hopped to his feet like his seat was suddenly made of hot coals and then threw himself across the room to the opposite side from Thomas.

He looked around himself, back to the wall and considered Thomas with wildly spooked eyes. Clearly, he realized that he was pinned in Logan’s room by Thomas being in the door.

The boy dropped suddenly and disappeared under Logan’s bed.

 “Uh,” Thomas said, confused and shocked and still a bit in pain from seeing that piece of jewelry in use. He crossed slowly over to the bed and bent down to look under it, moving the bed skirt slightly to the side. He saw a small shaking blob curled up into itself under the bed. “Um, hi,” he said softly.

The blob did not respond except to continue shaking.

Thomas frowned and settled himself onto the floor. “It’s okay,” he said softly. Had he been here stealing things? Thomas had to wonder as he wasn’t sure why someone here for legitimate reasons would be acting so terrified of being caught. Though, that posed the question of how he’d gotten past the guards, and why Logan hadn’t noticed him. “I’m not mad,” Thomas said. “You’re fine.”

The boy looked up briefly from his knees looking terrified. Thomas tried to smile at him gently, but that just made him hunch into himself more, his breathes coming faster. That wasn’t good.

“No, shh,” Thomas said softly. “It’s okay. I promise it’s okay.” He did not seem to believe him, and Thomas winced. What was he supposed to do? He couldn’t just leave him here but trying to talk him down himself didn’t seem to be working.

Luckily, a familiar voice spoke from behind him then. “Dad?” Logan asked.

Thomas looked back at him. Both Logan and Patton were standing at the door, a couple of pieces of jewelry in their hands. They seemed very surprised to see him.

“You… seem to have a guest,” Thomas informed them.

 “I…” Logan said, beginning to edge into the room like he was expecting something to blow up at any moment. “Yes.” He got to Thomas and squeezed himself between him and the bed, putting a physical barrier between Thomas and the boy. Confused, Thomas took a couple of steps away without challenge. “That,” Logan glanced behind him. Patton had moved to the opposite side of the bed from Logan and Thomas and had gotten to his knees to look under it. “That is Virgil.”

Thomas blinked at him. “Virgil?” he asked.

“He’s… new to the castle,” Logan explained. Patton started speaking softly the boy, but Thomas could not make anything he said out. “Patton and I… invited him to a sleepover.”

“The guards didn’t mention anything,” Thomas said, sure that they would have warned him if there was a stranger in the royal wing.

“Uh, well, Virgil is… shy and we didn’t think you’d be back for another week. So, we snuck him past them.”

“Shy?” Thomas asked doubtfully. That was a lot more than shy.

“Particularly of adults,” Logan said.

Thomas took a moment to let that sink in. “Oh.” He was… scared of adults. Thomas could imagine many reasons why that might be the case and none of them set well. “I see.”

“Hey, no, sweetie, stop that,” Patton said, sounding distressed. Patton had managed to draw Virgil out from underneath the bed, though they were both still mostly hidden behind it and Thomas had no question in his mind that if he went to step towards them, Virgil would be back underneath it in a moment. Currently the boy seemed to be clawing at his own head. “No, baby shh,” Patton said, trying to stop him from tearing the pinned in hairpiece out, Thomas realized. “I’ll get it out,” Patton promised him. “Just calm down and let me do it.” He sounded close to tears, and Thomas couldn’t particularly blame him with the way the boy was acting. “You’re hurting yourself, baby.”

He must know, Thomas realized. If Logan had known he was here, then he must have allowed him to use that hairpiece. He’d probably even told Virgil that it belonged to his dead father. Now he was probably terrified that Thomas would be mad at him for touching it, especially when he’d come in to find Virgil alone without Logan to explain.

Patton managed to get all the pins undone and placed the piece delicately on the bed before wrapping himself protectively around the boy and hushing him.

Logan was looking back at them as well. He looked between the puddle of upset on the floor and Thomas. “Could…” he said. “Could I maybe come and see you in a few minutes, Dad?”

“Of course,” Thomas said. “Of course, I’ll go wait in my room. Take as much time as you need.”

He was careful to move slowly as he stepped towards the door, so the poor thing didn’t notice him move and mistake it for him approaching. He closed Logan’s bedroom door softly behind him feeling even more drained than he’d been before as well as anxious and a bit sickened. He went to his own bedroom to wait for Logan.

  Chapter 20

Logan let out a slow breath as his father closed the door behind him. That could have been very, very bad. He turned his attention to Virgil and Patton. Patton had curled himself around Virgil as much as physically possible and had tucked the boy’s head under his chin.

Logan slowly rounded the bed and knelt in front of them. “It’s alright,” Logan said, cautiously moving to put a hand on his shoulder. Virgil didn’t pull away. “I asked him to leave. It’s alright.”

Virgil tilted his head slightly too look at him. Logan rubbed a circle into his back as he slowly got control of his breath.

 Logan smiled softly at him and reached out to touch his cheek with a gentle hand. “You… didn’t hurt him. You didn’t even try to hurt him.”

Virgil shook his head.

“Why not?” Logan asked curiously. “It was a perfect opportunity.”

“Promised Patton,” Virgil mumbled, and the idea that perhaps the thing that had saved his father’s life was a pinky promise just about gave Logan a migraine, but then Virgil ducked his head. “And it would make you sad.”

“I see,” Logan said, heart in his throat.

Virgil kept looking towards the floor, his eyes starting to fill with tears again. “Are you going to turn me in now?”

 He was shaking and barely holding back a fresh wave of tears. Logan knew of course that no one would hurt him here if he turned him in to his father and the guards, but he also knew that Virgil would be terrified if he did so. He was already terrified. Logan didn’t want to know what he thought the fate Logan would be condemning him to.

“No,” Logan said before he could even truly think it through. “No, I’m not.”

“You’re not?” Virgil asked.

“Well, there wouldn’t really be a point, would there?” Logan asked. “The reason we planned to turn you when father got back in is because you posed a danger to him, but you have just demonstrated that is no longer an issue.”

 “Really?” Virgil asked, sniffling a bit and Logan saw Patton’s arms tighten even more around him.

“We will have to figure out a better cover for you than just that you’re new to the castle, but I believe it will work fine. No one besides the two of us would ever guess your origin anyway.”

“S-so I can stay?” Virgil asked, “and you won’t throw me into prison or execute me?”

“I promise you were never going to be executed Virgil,” Logan said. “Even if we turned you in, but yes you can stay with us. We’ll figure out a backstory for you that doesn’t involve assassinations and you’ll have to keep up the lie, but I doubt anyone will question it.”

 “I’ll do whatever you want,” Virgil said, chocked up. “Thank you. I really didn’t want to go.”

“Well, you’re our friend now so there will be no going anywhere,” Patton said kissing him on the cheek. Virgil relaxed back into his hold, pleased with the affection.

Logan smiled at them both. “Can I see your wrists, Virgil?”

Virgil blinked but offered them and Logan tapped the restraints doing a quick incantation. They popped off after a moment.

“You’re letting me go?” Virgil asked, eyes wide.

“Of course,” Logan said. “We’re not just going to keep you prisoner for no reason.”

 “That’s…” Virgil said, eyes watering as he clearly was trying not to cry. “You’re the best people I’ve ever met.”

“I wish that was not so clearly the case,” Logan replied. He slowly reach up and set a hand on his shoulder. “I’m going to go speak with my father. Patton will stay with you.”

“Okay,” Virgil agreed, seeming a bit hesitant.

Logan smiled softly and leaned forward to gently touch their foreheads together. “I will be right back,” he assured. “We will finish our slumber party, though perhaps we will table the rest of the dress up activity for another night.”

 He stood then, leaving Virgil in Patton’s capable hands to exit his own bedroom and cross the hallway to his father’s. He took a brief moment to compose himself before knocking on the door.

“Come in,” his father called.

Logan opened the door to see his father sitting on one of the armchairs in his room. Despite the almost disaster that had taken place a few minutes ago, Logan found himself smiling at the man. It was nice to have him home.

“Sorry about that,” Father said.

“It was more my fault than yours. If I knew there was a risk of you coming home today, I wouldn’t have left him alone.”

 “Is he alright?”

“I believe so,” Logan answered. “Patton is with him and will certainly smooth out any lingering distress.”

“Good,” his dad said. “That’s good.” There was a pause and then he gestured at the seat beside his.

Logan settled himself down on it. “How was your trip?” he asked. “You’re back a week early.”

“Yes,” Father said. “The trip went better and worse than anticipated.

“How so?” asked Logan curiously.

“Well,” Dad said. “The purpose of the trip was to convince the new queen of Lamir, Cecil not to ally with Mocnejsi, but by the time I’d arrived there wasn’t really a risk of that.”

 “Why not?”

“After investigation, it turned out that Cecil’s mother had been poisoned by an assassin from Mocnejsi.”

“Oh,” Logan said, mind already racing.

“They figured out that one of the young women who had been hired on in the kitchen for the winter had done it, and had learned her origin when they questioned her,” Dad informed him. “Considering Cecil was immediately approached for an alliance with Mocnejsi, their aim was likely to manipulate her going forward because of how young she is. Luckily, Cecil is a smart girl and has the help of her mother’s advisor as well as her own. By the time I got there, my only real role was to extend my condolences and reaffirm out alliance. I would have stayed longer, but the possibility that Mocnejsi may think to attack us in a similar way hastened me home.”

 “That…” Logan said. “That is wise. I assume you are going to institute more security.”

“I am, yes,” Dad replied. “I would like your input on plans in the coming day.”

“Of course,” Logan agreed.

Dad smiled at him, “But for now,” he said, “I think it’s time you get back to your slumber party and I get to finally go to sleep.”

Logan nodded and got to his feet. He leaned over to hug his father perhaps a bit longer and harder than was strictly necessary, but Dad did not seem to mind at all. “Goodnight,” Logan said.

“Goodnight, son.”

  Chapter 21

Virgil woke with something soft but kind of stringy in his face. That was weird. He didn’t know what in the closet would feel like that. In fact, as he woke more he noticed more things that he couldn’t sus out the origin of, particularly the warmth curled up against his side. Curious, he blinked open his eyes. Oh, right. Patton.

The soft stuff in his face was Patton’s hair and the warmth next to Virgil was the rest of the boy’s body. Patton had all but refused to let Virgil go last night after Logan had taken off the restraints and Virgil hadn’t minded the attention. They must have fallen asleep together in the piles of pillows and blankets on the floor.

 Virgil brushed his hair gently away, internally (for fear of disturbing him) shaking his head at him. He’d fallen asleep hallway on top of an assassin. He had no self-preservation instincts. He looked at his wrists. It seemed no one had any self-preservation instincts. This of course, included himself as instead of running off when free in case they decided to turn him in after all, he had fallen asleep on the floor with Patton too.

He looked to the side and saw Logan was already awake, reading on one of his chairs. He seemed to sense Virgil’s eyes on him because he looked up after a moment.

 “You can get up if you like,” Logan said. “He is a heavy sleeper and won’t wake up if you squirm out of his grip.”

Virgil frowned, unsure if he wanted to risk it.

“I have breakfast ready for you.”

Okay, Virgil was going to risk it.

He carefully squirmed out of Patton’s grip, leaning down to press a kiss to his forehead in apology for leaving him before getting to his feet.

Logan handed him a plate of eggs and toast when he walked over and gestured to the chair next to him. Virgil sat there to eat while Logan continued to read.

 Virgil ate his food quickly, and then glanced over at Logan once he was done. Virgil was honestly at a bit of a loss. Usually, they came and got him out of the closet only once they were ready to do something, but Patton was still sound asleep on the floor and Logan looked engrossed in his book.

Virgil fidgeted slightly, unsure what he should be doing or even if he should be doing anything. Considering Logan hadn’t given him any instructions, he should probably not do anything. He didn’t want to screw up the first day of… whatever this was now.

 Logan glanced over at him after a few minutes. “Don’t forget about the potion,” he reminded.

Virgil nodded and stood, walking over to the closet since it would still be in there from the previous morning. It was about half gone now and it had gotten to the point where Virgil didn’t feel any immediate affects from it anymore other than some warmth. It basically just felt like drinking tea.

He said as much to Logan when he walked back over to him.

“That’s good,” Logan said, “it means it has been working. It has healed any damage it can from malnutrition. Any internal organs that were damaged should be mostly healed. You may even notice your eyesight getting slightly better. Your immune system should also be boosted. You will likely also find it is easier to gain muscle and while you likely will never be as tall as you could have been, you will likely still grow a few inches during your next growth spirt.”

 Virgil studied his hands where they were sitting on his thigh now as though he could see the changes that allegedly had already taken place in his body. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

“Of course,” Logan replied, eyes already back on his book like it was some normal thing and not a huge kindness he’d bestowed on Virgil before even really knowing him. As though Virgil didn’t just owe him more than just his life going forward.

They sat in silence then for a few more minutes, before the was a soft sigh from the floor and Patton started to wake. He sat up and looked around. His eyes landed on both Virgil and Logan sitting together and he seemed to light up.

 “Good morning!” he chirped.

“Good morning, Patton,” Logan said as Patton popped to his feet, “I have breakfast for you.”

“Thank you Lo,” Patton said, throwing his arms around Logan’s neck, and giving him a kiss on the cheek. Virgil presumed from the lack of surprise on Logan’s face that this was normal for morning Patton, not that the fact surprised him considering how night Patton acted.

He still managed to be somewhat surprised by the fact that Patton turned to hug Virgil a second later. Patton’s lips were pressed briefly to Virgil’s head and then he turned to grab the plate Logan had saved for him.

 “So, what are we doing today?” Patton asked.

“I was thinking Virgil and I could continue our reading lessons if he is not opposed,” Logan said. Virgil nodded, happy with that prospect. “Other than that, I have no plans. I have already spoken with my father before the two of you woke. He is going to spend most of his day catching up on things he missed and said I could take the rest of the day off royal duties.”

“A whole day to relax then!” Patton said, happily chewing on his toast. “Reading sounds fun, but we should do something more active too.”

 Logan hummed. “We can show Virgil the courtyard after the reading lessons,” he said.

It took a moment for it to register, but then Virgil froze. “Wait,” he said. “We’re going outside?”

Logan raised an eyebrow at him. “Yes.”

“So, we’re leaving your room?”

“Are you alright with that?” Logan asked cautiously.

Virgil nodded quickly.

“Oh,” Patton said at his enthusiasm. “I guess you have been cooped up a while, haven’t you?” He smiled sadly and turned to Logan. “Maybe we can do reading lessons in the garden.”

“That would be satisfactory.”

“Great!” Patton said. He looked over at Virgil. “If we’re going out, we should probably put your hair up and get you in some clean clothes.”

 Logan nodded. “You finish eating, and I will help Virgil find something to wear.”

Logan found him an outfit, though it was a bit baggy on Virgil and the hem of the shirt went halfway to his knees. When Patton finished breakfast, he sat Virgil down and carefully worked a brush through his hair.

“Can I braid it?” Patton asked.

Virgil hummed his consent. Having his hair brushed and done up by another person was a lot more enjoyable than he’d anticipated. He’d liked it when Logan did it the night before, though he had to very firmly push away thoughts of where that led.

 “Okay!” Patton said after a few moments. “You look good. Ready to go?”

Virgil nodded and they both led him out into the hall. He paused before they got to the door. “What about the guards?” he asked hesitantly.

“I’ve already given them the same story as I did Dad,” Logan replied. “They know you’re here.”

Virgil still hesitated.

“It’s okay,” Patton promised. “Here, hold my hand?”

Virgil took the offered hand immediately, and Logan stepped in front of them both. Virgil felt himself relax a bit knowing the prince was between him and the guards.

They led him to the door.

 Logan greeted both of the guards at the door, and they said good morning back. Both of them glanced at Virgil curiously for a moment making him shrink into himself, but they quickly averted their gazes.

Patton pulled him past them without incident and soon they were in the small dining hall Virgil had passed through his first night here. He remembered how he’d snuck around at the edges of the room in the shadows with the aim to kill the king, but now he was being pulled through the middle with the prince having just wandered past the royal guards in broad daylight like it was nothing.

 It was so strange, and Virgil still couldn’t totally believe this was happening. The retraced his exact steps back down the spiral stairs near the kitchen and out of the door he and the nice gardener had came through. He could even see the shed he’d been hiding in from here. With a blink, he remembered they were going to the garden, and he wondered if he’d see the man again.

For now, he just looked around them as Logan and Patton led him past the garden shed towards an area with many trees. Orange and yellow leaves were starting to fall from many of the trees.

 They made a satisfying crunching sound under his feet as he was led to a tree. He had seen the group of trees when he’d first arrived here and had even thought about hiding amongst them instead of in the shed, but they’d seemed scary in the dark. They were pretty in the daylight, however, and Virgil found himself tilting his head to watch the branches sway in the slight wind.

Logan sat down under it and pulled out a book and some writing materials from the bag he’d brought. Virgil settled down next to him so they could both look at the book at the same time and Patton flopped down on the other side, immediately setting to work tying fancy knots in the yarn he’d brought with him. Patton shuffled slightly to the side so they bumped shoulders as Logan opened the book and started Virgil’s reading lesson.

  Chapter 22

Patton bit his lip to keep from laughing or awing. “Do you like the flower, Virgil?” he asked.

Virgil glanced up at him briefly and then his eyes returned to the flower he’d found. “It’s nice,” he said.

They’d finished the reading lessons and let Virgil explore the garden a bit. He’d found a dark purple and yellow flower (a pansy, Patton thought) and seemed to be endlessly fascinated by it. He’d been staring at it for minutes now, almost as though he expected it to do something. Patton did not quite understand his interest, but he was still adorable.

 Logan sat next to him and the flower, smiling at him softly. “I imagine you’ll enjoy the garden in the spring,” Logan said. “There are many more flowers then. Of all types. We’ll have to show you all of the best spots. Mr. Deknis has a particularly good eye for colors, and it is always quite beautiful.”

“Who is Mr. Deknis?” Virgil asked.

“He’s the head gardener,” Logan said. “He’s a nice man, though a bit prickly when it comes to his garden. We may see him today if he’s in this part of the garden.”

“Would he have been the multrum I saw in the gardening shed when I hid there?”

 “Ah, yes, that would be him. I was unaware you interacted with anyone in the castle.”

“He caught me in his garden shed, but he wasn’t mean,” Virgil said, he tilted his head curiously at Logan. “Why…” he trailed off.

“Yes?” Logan asked.

“Why is he the gardener?”

Logan looked confused, “Well,” he said, “I guess because he wants to and is good at it.”

“No,” Virgil said with a frown. “I mean. Shouldn’t he… he’s…”

Logan seemed to think hard for a moment. “Right,” he said. “You’ve been under a blood compulsion. I’d guess you would have only worked with multrums in the military.”

 “I guess I didn’t realize that they could be other things…”

“Of course, they can,” Logan said. “Their abilities don’t make them any less of people. Mr. Deknis likes to garden so he gardens.”

Virgil blinked at him.

“…Of course, all things considered, that may not be a familiar concept to you.” Virgil turned back to look at the flower instead of answering. “Right,” said Logan.

There were a couple of awkward beats of silence. Patton bit his lip and happened to glance up. “Oh,” he said. “Speaking of Mr. Deknis.” He gestured to the gardener who was coming up the path between the trees.

 Logan sat up on his knees as Patton waved at him. He saw Patton and turned to walk towards them. “The two of you had better not be up to mischief in my garden,” Mr. Deknis called, his voice a bit gruff. He clearly did not see Virgil who had laid flat on his stomach to stare at the flower.

Logan rolled his eyes automatically. “We were just reading Mr. Deknis,” he said. “Your piles of dirt are safe.”

“No mud cakes?” Mr. Deknis asked skeptically still coming towards them.

“It has been a literal decade…”

Patton saw when Mr. Deknis was close enough to see Virgil.

 He stopped in his track and looked down at Virgil who was already watching him a bit warily. “Hello,” he said, his voice a lot softer than it’d been a few moments before. His expression completely flipped in a moment to something very gentle when he saw Virgil and the cautious look on his face. Virgil did seem to have that effect on people.

“Hi,” Virgil replied.

Mr. Deknis looked at Logan and then at Patton and then back at Virgil. “This is our new friend, Virgil,” Patton offered.

“Hello, Virgil,” Mr. Deknis said with a nod.

“Virgil, this is the gardener Mr. Deknis.”

 “He’s not nearly as grumpy as he sounds,” Patton assured.

“Well,” Logan said, “yes he is.”

Mr. Deknis shot him a look that only served to prove Logan’s point if Patton was being honest. Logan just smiled back. Mr. Deknis apparently decided to let it slide because he turned back to Virgil.

“It’s good to see you again,” Mr. Deknis said. “Are you feeling better?”

Virgil nodded. “I’m a lot better,” he said. Mr. Deknis considered him for a moment, clearly reading how true that statement was. Patton was glad he seemed satisfied with the answer.

“I see you’ve met these two.”

 “Yeah,” Virgil said.

Mr. Deknis smiled slightly. “Be careful with this one,” he said, pointing to Logan. “He’s a bad influence.”

Virgil frowned in confusion. “He’s the prince,” he pointed out.

“And a bad influence,” Mr. Deknis repeated. “He’s a beacon of irresponsibility and mischief and he corrupts that one,” he nodded to Patton.

“I am completely responsible,” Logan replied.

“Need I remind you of the cucumber incident.”

“I was 8,” Logan said.

“I know how old you were,” Mr. Deknis replied, “and you are hardly any older.”

“I resent that.”

Mr. Deknis just smiled and turned back to Virgil who was watching the interaction with pure curiosity.

 “I just picked a few more of those apples for Patton’s mom to make into apple sauce. Would you kids like some?”

Virgil glanced over at Logan and Patton.

“That would be nice, thank you,” Patton replied for them all, standing up. Seeing that, Virgil also climbed to his feet.

“It’s back this way,” Mr. Deknis said, inclining hid head back the way he’d came and then turning to lead them that way. Patton followed him. He glanced back to see Logan put his hand on Virgil’s shoulder and give him a gentle push to get him going. “So, what are you kids up to today?”

 “We wanted to show Virgil the garden and courtyard,” Patton said. “He’s been cooped up inside for a bit.”

“I see,” Mr. Deknis said. He glanced back at Virgil. “Feel free to come out in the garden anytime you like. As long as you don’t go about purposefully destroying stuff, I don’t mind you being out here.”

“I won’t destroy anything,” Virgil promised instantly.

“Well I hope you manage to keep that attitude even while befriending the large upright groundhog behind you.”

Virgil looked a little bit nervous. “He’s just teasing Virgil,” Patton assured. “He loves Logan.”

Mr. Deknis glanced back again and seemed to read the same thing Patton had read on Virgil’s face.

 “Yes, of course,” Mr. Deknis said. “I have simply known the prince for a long time and joke with him in that way often. Logan is aware of that.”

“Indeed,” Logan agreed, his hand squeezing a bit on Virgil’s shoulder. Virgil relaxed a touch.

Mr. Deknis stopped and reached down into a bucket next to a tree. “I wouldn’t offer my apples to people I don’t like,” he said, tossing an apple underhand to Logan. Instead of trying to catch it, his eyes widened and he dodged out of the way.

“You would however throw apples at them despite knowing they have never been able to catch things.”

 Mr. Deknis just rolled his eyes fondly, but Virgil frowned and turned to Logan. “You don’t know how to catch things?” he asked scandalized. “You should know how to catch things. What if someone throws a knife at you?”

Mr. Deknis looked… probably the right amount of concerned about that statement coming from a 14-year-old’s lips.

“Haha, yeah,” Patton said awkwardly. “Maybe you can teach Logan how to catch things Virgil, but later. Right now, why don’t we just get the apples and then show you the courtyard.”

Virgil was still frowning, but he did not argue with Patton’s suggestion.

 Thankfully, Mr. Deknis did not push, though Patton did have to dodge many a meaningful side eye. He might… need to make sure he did not get cornered by the gardener in the coming days… or brush up on his lying without lying skills.

For now, though, he just handed out the apples, not tossing them this time. Virgil thanked him softly and Patton could see the way the usually fairly gruff man went all melty at that. He even slipped an extra apple to Virgil for later which Virgil perked up at.

Patton and Logan pulled him away gently after that so Mr. Deknis could go back to work, but Virgil seemed happy with the apples and copied Patton at waving goodbye to him cheerfully.

Despite the fact that he liked Mr. Deknis and he’d been nice, Patton still took a calming breath when they were no longer at risk of lying about something and getting caught by the man’s powers. They went back into the castle towards the courtyard.

  Chapter 23

Logan was unsurprised that after showing Virgil the large courtyard, Patton almost immediately decided to instigate a game of tag. They were, after all, here with the goal of getting Virgil a bit active after having had him only in Logan’s room for weeks.

He was also unsurprised that Virgil seemed confused about the concept of tag, and Patton had to explain the game in detail to him.

It made him wince, but he still was unsurprised when Virgil went about inquiring after the consequences of losing the game.

He was, however, very surprised when, after getting all of the facts about tag settle, Patton was chasing after Virgil trying to tag him and suddenly the boy disappeared.

 Patton almost ran into a wall in his confusion. He stared at his hands stretched out and just a couple of inches from touching the wall for a moment, before slowly looking up.

“Virgil!” Patton exclaimed. “What?”

“What?” he asked.

“…What are you even hanging onto?”

“The wall,” Virgil replied.

Logan walked closer to the two of them and tilted his head up to look at him. Virgil had jumped up and somehow managed to find hand and foot holes on the seemingly smooth wall. He climbed about 5 meters above their heads and was peering down at them curiously.

 “Okay,” Logan said. “New rule. Virgil is not allowed to scale walls during tag.”

Virgil frowned down at him. “Why only me?”

“Because Patton and I cannot do that anyway,” Logan said. “We would not be able to actually play if you remain up there.”

Patton glanced over at him and reached over to touch Logan’s shoulder. “No tag backs,” he said. Logan glared at him. “Why don’t you come down sweetie?”

“But Logan will tag me,” he said.

“Well, honey, that’s part of the fun,” Patton reasoned. “Don’t you want to try being it?”

Virgil seemed to consider this for a long moment. “Okay,” he agreed.

 To Logan’s terror, he simply let go of the wall, falling straight down and landing crouched. He blinked at Logan. Right. With a start, Patton took off, so he’d have a head start. “No tag backs means a 10 second head start for me,” Logan reminded. Virgil nodded, and Logan reached out to poke him in the arm before immediately running off in the opposite direction as Patton.

Logan’s strategy worked out since, knowing he couldn’t go after Logan for a few seconds more, he chose to turn and go after Patton. After finding one of the statues to hide behind on the edge of the courtyard, Logan risked glancing back.

 Virgil was faster than Logan (and likely Patton) had accounted for. Patton had gotten a good head start on him, but Virgil closed it quickly. Patton shrieked as Virgil barreled into him, bringing them both to the ground.

“Virgil!” Logan heard Patton giggle. Logan figured he was more than okay despite the tackle. “This isn’t how you play tag!”

“I combined tag and tackle hugs,” Virgil declared, making Patton giggle more.

“That’s very innovative, honey,” Patton said. “Now are you going to let me up?...Virgil… I’m counting down your 10 second head start in my head, and if you don’t let me up I’m going to tag you again.”

 This did not seem to have the intended effect as Virgil did not remove himself from Patton’s person. Patton laugh when it became clear he was not going to move and began counting down “7, 6, 5, 4, you’d better let me go sweetie, or you’re going to get tagged again.” Virgil did not seem to care. “3, 2, 1.” Patton reached up and bopped him on the nose. “Tag!” he declared.

Logan was surprised when Virgil instantly jumped off Patton at that. He whipped around.

‘Oh,’ Logan thought as the boy’s eyes narrowed in on Logan immediately, ‘I see.’

 “Virgil was already halfway across the courtyard towards him before Logan could even think about running away. There was no way that he was fast enough to outrun him. Perhaps he could outthink him, he thought. His eyes scanned his environment in the seconds he had left and landed on a large square piece of stone that held flowers in the spring. It was just full of dirt now, but it was still about waist high. Perhaps if he kept that between them, he could outmaneuver him. He sprinted towards it and scrambled to the opposite side from where Virgil was heading.

 He really should not have been as surprised as he was that Virgil did not even slightly slow as he approached the planter box, instead grabbing ahold of the side of it and vaulting over it. Logan stumbled back, bracing for impact, but instead he just got a quick tap on the shoulder.

Logan blinked at him.

“I don’t know if you would be okay with tackle hugs,” he explained.

Logan considered him. “I would be okay with a nontackle hug.”

Virgil happily jumped forward to hug Logan, pressing his nose into Logan’s shoulder. Logan chuckled and patted the top of his head. “Six,” he said, “5, 4, 3…”

 Virgil bolted away suddenly, actually making Logan stumble a bit. He paused just out of reach of Logan, looking at him with anticipation. “2,1,” Logan finished with a raised eyebrow. He already knew he was being played with, but he indulged him by starting towards him. Virgil danced out of the way, eyes alight. Logan sighed. “Is this truly how it’s going to be?” he asked.

Virgil didn’t answer, but to watch him with wide, excited eyes.

“Fine,” Logan said. He dashed towards him again, only to have him continue to maneuver just out of Logan’s reach each time Logan went forward. He’d call it taunting if there was any sign of malice in it.

 They ran around the courtyard in spirts of Logan charging at him and Virgil expertly dodging. Eventually Patton came closer to them. Logan could tell that Virgil was aware of his presence, by how he glanced back at him briefly, but considering he was not ‘it,’ it seemed he chose to disregard him. However, he was not aware of the way Patton winked at Logan as he walked up behind Virgil.

Logan, on the other hand, knew exactly what was happening. He went to spring for Virgil again, and Virgil again moved to dodge, but this time Patton grabbed him around the waist, allowing Logan to actually tag him.

 He turned slowly to face Patton who started to giggle immediately at the perplexed look on his face. It cleared into something else as soon as he heard Patton laugh. “Traitor!” he claimed. “We were on the same team and you betrayed me.”

“I just thought we should probably have mercy on poor Logan,” Patton replied.

“Hmm,” Virgil said, eyes again full of that playful mischief Logan had not seen until today. “Plea for mercy not accepted.”

Patton once again half-shrieked half-laughed as he was pounced on. The two of them went rolling across the grass, Virgil clearly keeping the rolling going longer than it should have as they made it a good few meters.

 Virgil sprung off of him a few moments later.

“Oh, is it my turn?” Patton inquired with a huge smile. He slowly got to his feet. “Hmm, I’m probably at about 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!” He took off after Virgil, but Patton had a bit more endurance than Logan, so instead of doing quickly calculated lunges at Virgil as Logan had done, he just ran at him full tilt without stopping.

Virgil ran from him, though Logan was pretty sure he was intentionally slowing himself down a bit so Patton had some amount of a chance. He kept turning to check behind him and make sure Patton was still somewhat close as he ran.

Which is why he didn’t see the imminent disaster in time.

  Chapter 24

Thomas should have been paying more attention, but his mind had been on the meeting he’d just had with the castle guards about increased security in the wake of the possible threat from Mocnejsi. He’d decided to take a brief walk around the courtyard to clear his head but was still distracted with mulling over the options that had just been presented to him. He stepped into the castle courtyard and did not have time to step out of the way of the much smaller body rocketing towards him. Virgil slammed into his front, but not before Thomas got a good look at his face.

 Virgil’s expression changed dramatically in the few seconds between him registering Thomas was there and running into him. For the briefest moment, Thomas could see that he must have been having a lot of fun. He’d caught the wide smile and sparkling eyes as Virgil turned his head back from looking at Patton who was chasing him across the greenery. He’d looked very happy which made it all the more painful to see that happiness die in and a few instants. When his head had turned back towards Thomas, there was a flicker of confusion at something being in his path.

 Then, clearly everything about the situation registered, because his eyes blew wide in horror as he tried to stop himself, but there was no way he’d be able to in time. Thomas saw that fact register on his face the moment before he hit. Gone was any trace of happiness or joy in that split second. All that was left was dread that had no place anywhere near a children’s game of tag. It was the expression Thomas would expect from someone who felt ice give way under their feet in the middle of a lake they had thought was frozen solid.

 He hit hard, but he wasn’t nearly big enough to actually harm Thomas. Thomas was thrown slightly off balance but managed to stay on his feet. He reached out a hand to his shoulder automatically to steady the child. There was a moment of pseudo calm where they both absorbed the impact and stilled.

Then, the boy’s shoulder slipped out of Thomas’s grip as he went crashing to the ground in a move that made Thomas wince for the state of his knees. Thomas couldn’t quite grasp what was happening for a moment as Virgil face planted onto the ground in front of him, but when he did, Thomas couldn’t help but flinch and take a step back from him.

 Thomas had been bowed to before, of course, seeing as he was a king, but this was not out of respect or courtesy or even just tradition. This was out of terror. He was begging for mercy and it made Thomas feel sick.

“I’m sorry,” he said, meek and shaky into the ground, and there was almost something worse about the fact that he did not beg for forgiveness with his words, but only his posture. The way his breathes came far too quick and shallow said he was likely on the verge of a panic attack, but he was not blubbering through apologies or even not speaking at all. He gave a clear, if shaky, apology, and waited for whatever he thought Thomas planned to do to him. There was no way that was not learned.

 “You don’t…” Thomas stuttered. “You don’t have to do that. It’s okay.”

“I’m sorry,” he said again, but he reacted in no other way. He did not even react when Patton made it to his side and knelt down next to him. Patton’s hand hovered over his back, clearly wanting to touch down, but he pulled back on that instinct.

“Virgil, honey,” he said softly. “It’s okay. No one is mad. It was an accident.”

Virgil did not react to this at all.

Thomas caught Logan’s eye as he hurried over to them himself. “Sorry,” Thomas mouthed. Logan just nodded and turned his attention to his friend.

 “There is no reason for any of that,” Logan said, his voice firm, almost clipped. “You are not in trouble. Now sit up.”

Virgil did respond to that, slowly shifting back on his knees. He kept his head down looking at the ground. “Sorry,” he said again.

“I…” Thomas said, surveying the three kids on the ground in front of him. Thomas slowly sunk to the ground to be at their level. Virgil was tracking his movements out of the corner of his eyes, his head still bowed and his shoulders tensed. “Hey,” Thomas said softly. “Were you three playing tag?”

 Virgil hesitated, eyes flickering as he debated whether he should respond or not.

“Yeah, we were,” Patton answered for him after a moment of stressful silence.

“Well that’s fun,” Thomas said. “I’m sorry for interrupting the three of you. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

Virgil glanced up at him for just a moment before looking away again. Patton apparently felt it was safe enough to touch Virgil, because he settled a hand on the boys shoulder.

“Yeah, we’ve just been having a fun day,” Patton said, carefully matching Thomas’s light tone. “We went to the garden and did some reading. Then, Mr. Deknis gave us some apples.”

 “That’s nice,” Thomas replied. “He’s been talking about the new apples he’s been growing. He’s been working on them for years and they’re just beginning to bare fruit this year. I haven’t gotten a chance to try any yet. Are they any good?”

“They’re very good,” Patton told him. His hand rubbed slowly on Virgil’s back. “Isn’t that right, Virge?”

Virgil nodded a bit, a little less tense now, but still nowhere near calm.

“Well, I’ll have to try them soon,” Thomas said with a smile. “Thank you for the information. Now, I’ve got to get back to what I’m doing, but I hope you three have a good day.”

 “I’ll see you later, Dad,” Logan said.

Thomas nodded and pushed himself to his feet. “Goodbye you three,” he said before turning away towards the door back into the castle. He paused to take a breath when the door closed behind him, cutting off the courtyard. There were a lot of thoughts to shirt through in regards to that conversation. He hated that Virgil was so obviously terrified of him. Both of their two interactions had ended with the poor thing panicking on the ground. He wished he had some idea of how to help him or at least someone to talk to about it.

Maybe he’d go visit Mr. Deknis himself and not just for the apples.

  Chapter 25

“Alright,” Patton said, pressing a kiss to Virgil’s forehead. “I’ve got to go back to my room for the night. Will you two be okay?”

“We’ll be fine,” Logan said. “It won’t be particularly different than the last two weeks.”

Patton nodded and leaned to the side to squeeze Virgil in another hug. He’d been clingy since the incident in the courtyard, and Virgil had been appreciative considering he was still pretty shaky from it. He was still surprised he’d touched the king of Prijaznia (let alone ran into him) and lived to tell the tale.

“Goodnight, Pat,” Virgil said because he was pretty sure he wouldn’t leave if Virgil didn’t.

 “Night Virge,” Patton said with a smile before standing up from where they’d been sitting on the ground. He reached over to hug Logan who was sitting on a chair. “Night Lo! Put the book down and go to bed.”

Logan looked up from his book with a frown.

“It’s almost midnight,” Patton scolded.

Logan sighed and set his book down. “Very well,” he agreed. “We will get ready for bed.”

“You better! I’m going to come and wake you up early in the morning.”

“Early in the morning for you is 9am,” Logan scoffed.

Patton stuck his tongue out at him as he walked backwards out of the door.

 Logan gave his book a mournful look once the door closed and Virgil almost giggled. “I won’t tell on you,” he said.

Logan thought about it for a few moments. “No,” he finally said. “We should probably get some sleep.”

Virgil nodded and pushed himself to his feet.

“We should probably both take a bath after sitting in the dirt today,” Logan said. “Do you want to go first or should I?”

“Don’t care,” Virgil answered.

“You can go first,” Logan offered.

Virgil felt himself smile. “You just want to finish the chapter in that book,” he accused.

“Perhaps,” Logan conceded.

 Virgil just grinned and walked over to his closet to grab one of the outfits he’d been given for pajamas. He chose a pair of baggy shorts that went past his knees and the huge soft black sweater Logan had found in the back of his closet. He headed into the bathroom, noting Logan had already picked up his book again.

Logan may have declared the both of them dirty enough for bathing a few minutes before, but Virgil was cleaner than he thought he’d ever been before coming to the castle. Logan had taught him how to use the tub and what soaps to use for what a couple of days after he’d arrived and had suggested he clean himself regularly.

 Virgil didn’t mind. The tub was enchanted to warm the water inside of it and Virgil loved it. Though, that had the negative affect of making it very difficult to leave.

He cleaned himself up quickly, so he’d have a few minutes to just sit in the water before he felt like he needed to get out and let Logan have a turn. He changed into his pajamas, pulling the crescent shaped protection charm out of his day clothes pocket and storing the warm to the touch stone in the short pocket. He used the clip Patton had made it to pin it to the cloth to make sure he wouldn’t lose it.

 Logan was engrossed in his reading by the time that Virgil exited the bathroom. He did not look up as Virgil approached.

“Your turn,” Virgil said to him.

Logan clearly just barely managed to tear his eyes away from the book. “Right,” he said. “Yes.”

“The book will be there in the morning,” Virgil reminded.

“I know,” said Logan sadly as he set the book aside.

Logan never took much time in the bath, so Virgil quickly went about getting ready for bed the rest of the way. He put his day clothes in the basket Logan had for that purpose and started to straighten out the blankets and pillows in the closet.

 He heard Logan come back into the room a few minutes later.

“Virgil,” Logan said. “What are you doing?”

Virgil looked over at him. “Getting ready for bed,” he answered, confused.

Logan frowned at him. “You don’t sleep in the closet anymore,” Logan said. “That’s only for when we were worried you might escape.”

“Oh,” Virgil said blinking over at him. “Right.” He felt a slight pulling at his chest. He liked the closet. It was warm and soft. Patton had taken a lot of care with how he’d arranged all of the pillows and blankets. It was the best place he could ever remember having to sleep in his life. Yet, he did not argue. He knew getting to sleep out in the open was supposed to be a reward and he wasn’t about to reject it.

 Virgil stood and closed the closet. He tugged on the bottom of his sweater, stretching the fabric between his hands as he watched Logan pull down the covers of his bed and settle down onto it. Cautiously he walked over towards the bed. He wasn’t sure where he should lay down exactly. He dithered for a moment before bending down to sit on the floor near the right side of Logan’s bed and then laying down.

There was shuffling on the bed above him and then Logan’s head popped over the side to squint down at him. “On the bed Virgil,” he said.

 Virgil looked up at him in shock. “But it… I’m…” He trailed off and there were a few seconds of silence.

“It is just a bed Virgil,” Logan said.

But it wasn’t ‘just’ anything. Virgil was pretty sure touching the bed of a royal family member without permission would be considered a capital offence. At least, it would in Mocnejsi. Yet, Logan was expecting him to just… crawl into it?

“Please just get up here,” Logan said. Virgil’s caution at touching something he was definitely sure he should not be allowed to be touching wared with his resolve to repay his literal life debt to Logan by doing whatever he wanted.

 Feeling honestly a bit sick to his stomach, Virgil slowly pushed himself back to his feet. Logan scooted back over to the left side of the bed, and Virgil cautiously sat down on the empty side of the bed. After a second of hesitation he slowly laid down, his head hitting a soft fluffy pillow. He jumped when Logan flopped the covers on top of both of them.

Virgil took a long moment to absorb the situation while Logan took off his glasses and reached over to turn off the light next to him. He’d never slept in a bed before, or if he had he’d been too young to remember. In the orphanage there was a lack of actual beds due to overcrowding and there had always been someone bigger and stronger that Virgil didn’t dare fight for the use of them. During training, none of the kids had a bed. Only a few of the higher ups had ones at the more permanent training sites. There were very few situations where any of the assassins, at least a Virgil’s level, would be allowed to touch a real bed.

 The light switched off, plunging them into darkness.

“Is this…?” Virgil said, eyes still pointed towards the ceiling even though his eyes had not adjusted to the darkness enough to be able to see it. “Do you want… things?”

“Things?” Logan asked.

Virgil did not move his head, but he did reach over and put his hand slightly above Logan’s knee. Logan didn’t move, so Virgil slid his hand up.

Virgil’s wrist was grabbed immediately and pulled firmly away from Logan’s inner thigh. He did not let go afterwards, his fingers squeezing hard, but not quite painfully. “Never,” Logan said, his voice harsher than it had ever been even on the day when Virgil was nothing more than an intruder with deadly intent. “Never offer anything like that to anyone ever again.”

 “I was just…”

“I know what you were doing,” Logan said, voice icy, “and it inadmissible. Never offer that again for anything. Do you understand me?”

“I... yes.”

“Promise me.”

Virgil took a short moment to think. “I promise,” he agreed.

“Good,” Logan said, releasing his hand. His voice got softer too. “Good.”

They were silent for a long time after that, though Virgil had no delusions that Logan had fallen asleep. He could almost feel the tension.

“Sorry,” Virgil finally said softly.

“It’s not something you should be apologizing for,” Logan replied. The bed moved as Logan shifted and a hand lightly touched the top of his head. “Just… never.”

 “Okay,” Virgil said. He shifted slightly after a moment until his head was in the crook of Logan’s arm. Logan brushed the hair out of his face with the hand that had been on his head.

“Goodnight Virgil,” Logan said.

“Goodnight,” Virgil responded. They were quiet after that, though Virgil was still awake for a while yet and Logan’s hand slowly stroked through his hair for a while. Eventually though, Virgil relaxed into mattress. He stuck his hand into his pocket and curled it around the charm in his pocket. The bed was nice, he thought. It was soft and warm… and safe. He finally fell asleep.

  Chapter 26

Patton did their new special knock on the door so Logan and Virgil would know it was just him and they didn’t need to hide the fact that Virgil was sleeping in the prince’s room. He didn’t wait for a response, however, and just shoved open the door. He was surprised to see that Logan was not already out of bed and wondered for a moment if he had broken his promise stayed up way too late reading like he was sometimes known to do. Yet, then, Logan spoke from the bed. “I’m awake,” he called.

Confused, Patton stepped into the room. Logan wasn’t one for lazing around in bed; usually he was out of bed the moment he woke.

 He stepped over to the bed and had to stifle a smile when he recognized the problem. Logan was awake, but Virgil was still sleeping, and he was half on top of Logan, his arms wrapped around him.

“Why don’t you just squirm out of his arms like you do me?” Patton asked, keeping his voice low.

“He isn’t like you,” Logan said. He did not bother to quiet himself at all.

“What do you mean?” Patton asked amused.

In answer, Logan started to move as though to squirm out of Virgil’s death grip on him. In response, Virgil made a pitiful mewling sound in his sleep that landed like a piercing blow straight to the heart. Logan stopped moving immediately and Virgil shifted to grip Logan tighter.

 “Aw!” Patton said.

“It’s not cute,” Logan insisted. “I’ve been stuck for hours and I have to pee.”

Patton chuckled. “Alright, alright, I’ll save you.” He rounded the bed to Virgil’s side and crawled up on it. “Virgil, honey,” he entreated softly. “I think it’s time for me to get cuddles so Lo can get up.” Patton softly touched Virgil’s shoulder and pulled at him gently. He reached forward to carefully pry Virgil’s arms off of Logan.

Virgil made a more confused than heartbreaking sound this time, turning towards Patton so Patton could wrap his arms around him. Logan managed to scoot towards the edge of the bed.

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Logan made it off the bed and dashed towards the bathroom as Virgil’s arms came around Patton and squeezed. Patton laughed and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. After a few moments, Virgil’s eyes started to flicker a bit.

“Good morning, honey,” Patton said softly. “Did you sleep good?”

He hummed sleepily. “Beds are nice,” he said. Patton felt a slight pang at that because it implied he didn’t get to sleep in beds very much, but he chose to shove that aside.

“They are,” Patton agreed. Virgil’s eyes started to close again. “Honey,” Patton laughed. “I think it’s time to wake up now.”

 Virgil made a sleepy whining sound, squeezing Patton tighter. “Don’t you want breakfast?” Patton asked. That question managed to make Virgil open his eyes again. “I was thinking we could go down to the kitchen to eat that way it’s nice and fresh and I can introduce you to Mama real quick.” He neglected to mention the fact that they really did not have a choice. Mr. Deknis had blabbed to Mama about Virgil, and worse, had apparently mentioned that Virgil was skinny. As soon as he’d gotten home yesterday, he’d been met with an already worked up Mama firmly insisting that she meet Virgil sometime today.

 He wasn’t going to tell Virgil that though, because he thought it might scare him away from both Mama and Mr. Deknis.

Virgil thought about the prospect of breakfast for a long moment. “Fine,” he agreed. “I’ll be awake.”

“Good,” Patton said. He reached up to bop him on the nose. Virgil narrowed his eyes and then bopped him back making Patton giggle. He sat up then, and Virgil let him. “Let’s get you something to wear and do your hair,” Patton suggested. Virgil nodded and reluctantly got out of bed, just as Logan returned to the room. “We’re going to go downstairs for breakfast,” Patton told Logan. “That way Virgil can meet my mom.” He gave Logan a significant look and Logan nodded once in understanding that this was not a choice.

 Logan and Virgil got dressed, and Patton did Virgil’s hair up nice, before Patton led them out of the royal wing. They went down the main staircase instead of the spiral staircase that went right to the kitchen, mostly because it would be very busy, and Patton thought they should probably eat in the main dining room anyway. He could feel Virgil getting more anxious as they entered the busier part of the castle, and he stuck close to either Patton or Logan from the time they hit the top of the steps all the way to the main dining room.

 There were a few people in the dining room already eating breakfast when they arrived. Virgil’s curiosity seemed to temporarily overwhelm his anxiety as he looked around the large hall and at all of the people there. Patton looked around trying to see it through his eyes. He’d been running around this place since he was little, so he never really thought about how big the room was or how grandly it was decorated, but Virgil was just seeing it for the first time. Patton smiled at him as he guided him to one of the seats. There was already muffins on the table so Patton grabbed one and plopped it in front of Virgil.

 Virgil frowned down at the muffin dubiously. “You just… keep food out in the open?” he asked.

Right.

“It’s fine, Virgil,” Patton promised. “No one here would have put anything in it.”

Virgil narrowed his eyes and looked around at the other occupants of the room suspiciously.

“Honestly,” Logan said. “No one even knew we would be down here for breakfast. Nobody would just put something in random people’s food for no reason.”

Virgil gave him a look like he’d just told him people could in fact breathe under water. Virgil was really from a… whole different world, wasn’t he?

 “It’s really fine,” Patton said. “Logan and I have eaten things on the table like this a lot.”

“I’m surprised your not dead yet,” Virgil said.

Logan rolled his eyes and reached for a muffin. Virgil slapped it out of his hand and onto the floor. “Really?” Logan asked.

Virgil narrowed his eyes at him. “No eating unsecured food!”

“Virgil,” Logan groaned.

“I bet you don’t even know what common poisons taste like.”

“No,” Logan said. “I don’t because I don’t worry about being poisoned on a daily basis!”

“You should!”

People were starting to look over at them. Patton shot an awkward smile at the woman a few chairs down.

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“Just don’t eat the muffins Logan,” Patton said under his breath.

“I do not understand why-”

“Because it’s stupid as he-”

“Shush,” Patton commanded out of the corner of his mouth, “people are watching, and Virgil is just a normal castle resident.”

That shut the both of them up at least.

“No muffins for now,” Patton said. “I assume it’s okay to eat the things they bring straight from the kitchen.”

Virgil looked a bit leery of this still, but he nodded.

“Good,” Patton said, “then we’ll just wait for that to get here and then everyone will be happy, right?”

Logan opened his mouth and Patton turned to glare at him.

“Right?”

 Logan closed his mouth, though clearly, he did not want to give in so easily. They’d be doubtlessly rehashing this conversation once they were alone again.

Patton caught sight of one of the kitchen workers he knew fairly well come out of the kitchen and deliver food to a group of people who were there before them. She caught sight of them and walked over likely to ask them what they wanted for breakfast. Patton watched out of the corner of his eye as Virgil tensed, eyeing her approach suspiciously and she slowed under his glare.

This was going to be a long breakfast.

  Chapter 27

After an, honestly quite aggravating, breakfast full of Virgil’s cognitive distortions about the likelihood of being poisoned, Logan was relieved to finally be able to leave the dining area. In consideration to those serving breakfast, Patton did not lead them through the door in the back of the dining room that went directly to the kitchen, and instead took them out of the room and down the hall to a different entrance. This one had a guard stationed across from it as, despite what Virgil may believe, the castle workers did consider the possibility that someone would want to sneak into the kitchen for nefarious purposes.

 Said guard, of course, saw nothing wrong with the prince and the head chef’s son entering the side door even with the bonus stranger. In fact, he may even have known Virgil could be coming through this door if Ms. Heart had mentioned him.

Though Virgil hadn’t managed to catch it, Logan knew enough about Patton’s mother that he’d surmised that she had insisted Patton bring the boy to meet her. It was bound to happen at some point anyway, Logan knew, and he wasn’t particularly worried. After all, this was Patton’s mother. Virgil himself didn’t even seem particularly concerned.

 Logan had seen him panic and, while he tugged a bit at the sweater he was wearing, the motion was not particularly fervent, so he was likely just slightly nervous.

Of course, that may be because he did not know Patton’s mother specifically wanted to meet him and just assumed that they were starting the necessary process of introducing him to castle residents with a low risk person.

When they entered the hallway, Logan could already hear the usual noises of the kitchen: the clattering of plates, the bubble of conversation, and the sound of Ms. Heart’s voice calling out instructions.

 He did see Virgil hesitate, but Logan couldn’t sus out why and Patton was already ahead of them and opening the door into the kitchen. It was fairly calm for the kitchen considering it was meal hours. Logan imagined that Patton had chosen the time between when the day guards ate breakfast before their shifts and the night guards after their shifts on purpose. There was still a bit of chaos as dishwashers attempted to catch up during the lull and a few orders were still being made, but overall the mood seemed, to Logan at least, to be light as Ms. Heart ordered her kitchen around.

 Yet, Virgil clearly did not see the situation the same way that Logan did. He froze when the kitchen door swung open and some of the workers turned to look at them. He took a step back, bumped into Logan, startled violently, realized it was Logan, and then side stepped to hide behind him. Logan looked back at him in confusion, but Virgil said nothing, proceeding to mutely peer over Logan’s shoulder.

Patton had moved over to greet his mother as she wiped her hands off on a rag. She glanced over at Virgil and Logan and Logan saw Virgil shrink back a bit.

 Logan could see Ms. Heart’s eyes soften as she tracked his movement. She turned to the woman next to her and said something before moving to remove her apron and hang it up in its designated area. Virgil’s hands clenched in the fabric of Logan’s shirt when she turned back to him.

“It’s fine, Virgil,” Logan told him, but Virgil didn’t seem to believe him. Luckily, Patton had turned back and seemed to realize something was amiss.

He stepped back over to them. “Hey, honey,” he said. A plate clattered in the kitchen and Virgil just about ripped Logan’s shirt.

 Patton frowned sympathetically. “Too loud?”

“Virgil,” Logan said. “You are digging your fingernails into my skin.” Patton shot Logan a glare. “What?”

“How about,” Patton’s mom suggested. Virgil’s fingernails dug more into Logan’s skin. “We go to my office.”

“I think that’s a good idea, Mama,” Patton said. “Come here, Virgil.” He reached over to touch one of Virgil’s hands and had to pull a bit to get him to release Logan. “It’s back that way, away from the kitchen,” he said when he managed to twine their fingers. He stepped around Logan, probably so there was still a buffer between Virgil and the kitchen and tugged him in the correct direction.

 Ms. Heart shot a glance at Logan and Logan felt irrationally like she was trying to read his thoughts. Logan smoothed his features out and turned to follow Patton and Virgil towards her office.

As head chef, Ms. Heart had a small office where she could plan menus without the hustle and bustle of the kitchen and have meeting with people who needed to discuss dietary needs and restrictions. It was very well organized, but still looked fairly messy because of the numbers of decorations she had in it. She had a tendency to keep everything that Patton made her, thus she had his childhood drawings on the wall and little projects stacked on her desk and on the shelves. A lumpy cat statue acted as a paperweight on a stack of papers on her desk and there was a vase of fake flowers (as it could not actually hold water) sat near the window.

 By the time Logan entered the room, Patton was trying to coax Virgil into sitting down on one of the two mismatched chairs, but Virgil was having none of it. He had turned to face the door and was yanking at his sweater in nervousness.

Logan noticed that Ms. Heart did not come far into the room, instead pausing near the door. She did, however close the door to give them privacy, and that seemed to distress Virgil more.

She seemed to contemplate him for a moment. “Hello,” she said, her voice softer than Logan was used to hearing. “You must be Virgil.”

 It seemed as though he were willing himself to magically shrink, but he still replied. “Yes, ma’am,” he said quietly.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said. “I’m Patton’s mom.”

“I know, ma’am.”

“There’s no need to be formal, Virgil.”

He hesitated. “Okay,” he said somehow quieter.

Her eyebrows drew together in concern, and it seemed that she decided to result to her default way of making people more comfortable. “Would you kids like some candy?”

Logan saw Patton’s hand squeeze Virgil’s lightly. “That would be great, Mama.”

She nodded and walked forward towards her desk. Virgil turned so his back was never to her. If she noticed, she didn’t react. She just grabbed a small tin off one of her shelves and took the top off. “How about a peppermint candy?” she asked.

 She offered the tin out to them. Virgil stared at it like it was a venomous snake. Logan decided to act, stepping forward and taking three of the pieces of peppermint candy from the dish. He stepped over to Virgil and Patton and held out his hand, offering Virgil first choice out of all three.

He hesitated before glancing between Patton and his mother. He must have decided that Patton’s mom wouldn’t risk poisoning Patton and took one of the pieces. Patton took another one of them and popped it into his mouth. Logan ate the last piece.

“Thanks,” Virgil said to Ms. Heart before placing his piece in his mouth.

[joa-quin-phoe-nix-fan]

The Interview -Joaquin Phoenix FF

!TW! Emotional abuse, death mentioned, grief

The Interview

It was a very bad idea to drink the night before this interview. You knew it then and you also knew it as soon as you woke up that morning, so hungover you could barely distinguish your feet from your hands. “This is bad...” you mumble to yourself as you walk over to what you could only assume was your medicine cabinet, desperately trying to take some ibuprofen before the inevitable headache and nausea kicked in strong.

After a lot of fumbling and trying to shake pills out of a dental floss container for way too long you finally find the ibuprofen and take 2 with a swig of tap water. Then you walk over to your bedside table hoping that your last nights drunken self had remembered to put your phone there. ..you had remembered! Feeling a slight feeling of pride as your phone finally came into focus you turned it on. Although you had remembered to put your phone in the right place for once, you had sadly forgotten to plug it in. It wasn’t dead but you only had 15% left. “Ugh, I can relate...” you sighed as you plugged it in and looked at the time 9:45. Alright so- wait, 9:45?!? You only have 45 minutes to get to a place 30 minutes away by taxi, but that’s only if you somehow managed to immediately get a taxi as soon as you left your building. Which is practically impossible during tourist season. This means you only just have 15 minutes to get completely ready and, more importantly, get sober.

You do a strange mix of stumbling and running to your kitchen grabbing at anything to fill your stomach. You by some miracle manage to successfully make a (maybe slightly too full) bowl of milk and a cup of coffee. You chug the coffee, burning your tongue in the process and you cool it down by chugging your cereal. You look at your phone, 4 minutes have passed. You jump up off your chair and run blindly back to your bedroom stopping only to glance at your face in the mirror of your bathroom and cringe at the streaks of last nights makeup still on your face. Running into the bedroom you desperately look around for the outfit that you had prepared for today, you had kept it in the same spot for a week making sure that it wasn’t in the wash and unavailable to wear today. You look in the spot, now covered in underwear, a scarf and 3 unknown lipsticks probably exchanged in the womens restroom at the bar last night. Underneath it all...the deep green suit you had planned for today! Thank god!

You throw it on and run back to the bathroom, knocking over an array of furniture on the way, grabbing around for your makeup remover and a cotton pad. You desperately wipe at your eyes, not really caring if every bit is wiped off just wanting the giant streaks of sleep-covered makeup gone. You get most of it off, leaving only slight traces of eyeliner and mascara right in your lash-line and practically jump on your makeup bag, trying to check the time at the same time. Sadly your phone had run out of battery at some point while you were attacking your face. “Ah, fuck it!” you mutter as you just chuck it at your bag, thinking that you’ll just have to go without a phone today and that you’ll charge it later. With shaky hands you draw on your eyeliner as precisely as possible, at the end feeling proud that you only fucked it up twice and that they weren’t even that noticeable. You then run to the door, grabbing your bag, vaguely grabbing inside it to make sure you felt your money, your keys, your slightly crumpled resume and your dead phone and run out the door, hoping that there was a taxi just waiting out there. As expected, there wasn’t one. You have no choice but to wait. The minutes pass like hours until finally, just when you were about to give up and start running towards the nearest bus stop (which is 10 minutes away and is twice the journey time) a yellow taxi peeled around the corner at the highest speeds. You wave to it desperately and luckily it screeches to a stop. You climb in and almost yell the address at the driver, you didn’t want to be rude, you were just so desperate.

As soon as your body settled down in the back seat, you started to feel rather dizzy and like you were going to pass out. You try to breathe deep to calm yourself down but it just kinda makes you suddenly nauseous so you resolve to just looking out the window to distract yourself.

As you watch the people and cars zooming past you try to remember what your uncle told you when he said that he got you this interview. “The man who’s going to be interviewing you is named Joaquin Phoenix, you will address him as Mr. Phoenix. You need to tell him about your college, your high school, the two other jobs you’ve had, how long you’ve had them, the fact that you haven’t been fired or reprimanded in the 2 years that you have had those jobs. Don’t get too sappy or tell him about your possible eviction due to your now ex dropping financial support, that will probably just make him think that you’re making it all up because it all seems to sad and ridiculous to be true. He’ll think you’re just trying to work off of his sympathy and will probably not take it well.” You sigh, although you hated how strictly he said it, you knew it was true, and you need this job.

After you broke up with them, you lost everything. They had helped you with taxes, they helped move and put together all your furniture, they were there for you when your father passed away, in fact, they had been with you for the better part of four years. Losing that broke you, physically, mentally and financially. You weren’t mooching or anything, you had your two jobs to pay for most of the bills, and they had their job. They just always helped when you were a couple hundred short, one time even a whole thousand short. This happened practically every month, being a barista and waitress didn’t pay as much as you expected, but they never minded. They always payed the amount, but then they would guilt-trip you. Forcing you to do things that you didn’t want to do because of their false sense of you “owing them” due to how much time and money they had spent on you. Sometimes you weren’t in the mood to “mess around”, sometimes you were too socially anxious to go to a party, sometimes you were just busy with your two jobs to spend every second of your day with them, but they didn’t care. You owed them these things and if you said no, they would threaten to not help you pay next month, or guilt you by bringing up your dad’s death. Both hurt just as bad and they knew this. They wanted to make you get in trouble at work, by making you not go, so you’d lose your job and have to depend on them more but they never succeeded. Although they had manipulated you in so many other ways, they never affected your work ethic. You knew that you needed to be there every day and no matter how much they guilt-tripped you and sent you text after text, voicemail after voicemail, threat after threat, you stayed at work. Once you got home you would fight and fight and scream and cry, they would yell at you, then as soon as you yelled, made their voice calm and condescending, making you seem like you were crazy.

Sometimes, you would even believe it yourself, but 2 weeks, 14 hours and 25 minutes ago, you didn’t bend, you kicked them out and called your mother, uncle and oncle (the uncle on your mothers side was gay and married a french man that you called oncle because that’s uncle in French) and they stayed over that night, with you crying and sobbing, and with them supplying you with chocolate, vodka and no phone. Your mom kept your phone from you like she had done when you were a child, and you’re glad she did, you surely would’ve called them and gotten back together and gotten back to being manipulated.

Since then, your mother, uncle and oncle had been visiting you one by one, checking up on you, making sure you were doing alright. The first night that they hadn’t done this was last night, the night that you went out, got shitfaced, came home, got more shitfaced and destroyed the house. It was the worst night for them to not check up on you, but you didn’t blame them. It was getting old to them, or maybe they were busy, maybe they just thought you were already over it. You weren’t obviously.

You were so deep in thought that you barely heard the taxi driver say “we’re here.” He was patient but he definitely wanted to get paid sometime today so to grab your attention he raised his voice a tad “We’re here ma’am!” You snapped out of it and looked out the window, you were here. You blushed, embarrassed and hastily thanked the taxi driver, paid for the ride and ran out towards the tall silver building in to the left of the car. The quick jump from sitting to running, though, made you reel and you almost fell onto the pavement when you suddenly stopped in mid-air. It took a moment to realize that someone had grabbed you and held you up before you made your face a pavement-pancake. You looked up, it was a man with silver hair, he had a medium sized beard, quite close to his face, not clean-shaven but not a lumberjack beard. Somewhere between there. He wore a shirt, tie and zip-up sweater. Kinda strange but nice-looking. His eyes were a lovely bright green in the morning light but they were so light you at first thought that they were silver. He held you close, with genuine concern written all over his face. “Are you okay, Miss?” His voice was sweet and gravely, and you felt the vibration of his vocal cords run from his chest, through you like a warm shower, slow and comforting.

You had kinda zoned out for a second, and suddenly realized what had happened, what situation you were in and how embarrassing it was. Your face became hot and stung, like as if you had instantly gotten a sunburn. You tried to stand up but your legs did not seem to want to cooperate. Instead of planting on the ground, steady and firm, to support your body weight, your legs decided to just kinda flop about like fish out of water, desperately trying to find the ground. They finally did and you wobbled up, standing, facing him embarrassed out of your mind.

He was patient and held you tight in case you fell again, “It’s okay, I’m here.” Why did he have to say that? Tears welled up in your eyes and the urge to hug this stranger became overwhelming. “Are you okay? What happened?” He asked as the tears fell down your face, worried that he had said something wrong. You started sobbing now, “I’m-I’m fi-i-i-ine..” you said between sobs, “I...[sniff]...I just had a bad morning...[sob] and-and now...I’ve got a job interview here right now and...and...I need this job but...I-I can’t do it!” At this point you were both sitting in the ground in front of each other, him still holding you and listening. “Keep going, I’m here for you” He pressed on, trying to get you to talk more. For an hour you both sat there with this stranger, you telling him everything and him listening carefully. Not really giving any opinion of his own yet, just asking questions to make you tell him more, tell him about how you felt, what you did next, what you remembered in the moments. Slowly at first, you started to feel better. The more you talked, the less you cried, the less you cried, the more you noticed about this man and how handsome he was, he had a small line on his lip, it was hard to see at first through his moustache but you noticed. Maybe it was a scar? You also noticed his teeth as he asked questions, not straight but not completely crooked. Yellow, he was either a coffee drinker, a smoker or both. His fingers were tobacco-stained, he was a smoker. His eyes were perfectly lined with long lashes, giving another layer of beauty to this man’s face. The more you noticed, the more you wanted to know about him. Life went so slow and sweet with him.

You finished everything that you had to say, finally calm and content. He quietly turned his head and furrowed his brow, processing everything you said. He stayed this way for about 5 minutes. You didn’t mind though, it just meant you could simply watch him and forget everything else in life. After a while he spoke, slowly and carefully, choosing each word as if it was the most important decision of his life. “Wow...that is definitely a whole lot to go through in one lifetime. I understand what it’s like to lose someone, I lost both my father and my brother. My brother died of an overdose right in front of me and I lost my father to cancer in 2015. I have no idea what you will need to heal...but for me, I chose to create. I overworked myself at times, hurt the people I love, I came close to giving up at times, but I kept going. Lots of people tell you to never look back but...I find that looking back sometimes can help you heal. You need to look back to know where you came from. The important thing is to not do that forever, otherwise you’ll never move forwards. You seem to have been overworking yourself, both with your work and your relationship. The man, that you were going to have an interview with...he’s me.”

Your stomach dropped. You had completely forgotten about the interview. The words of your uncle repeated in your head. “Don’t get too sappy...that will probably just make him think that you’re making it all up...he’ll think you’re just trying to work off of his sympathy and will probably not take it well.” You instantly drop your gaze and lower your head, ashamed and unbelievably worried. “I’m so sorry Mr. Phoenix, I made it so you weren’t working. I told you everything about my life. I promise you it’s all true and I swear I didn’t try to play off of your sympathy...I had no idea you were...” You glanced up, meeting his gaze. He looked profoundly confused and not at all angry. You blushed beet red and looked down again in apology. You sat there for a couple minutes, tears forming again, blurring your vision. Then something slowly reached for your face. As the tears fell off your eyelashes and landed on your leg, you saw that it was his hand, he slowly placed his pointer finger under your chin and gently pushed your head upwards. You complied and lifted your head, completely ashamed and met his gaze again. What took you completely aback was, that he was smiling at you. “Miss Y/N...I never thought that. I actually was supposed to have time-off during the time of our interview but your uncle is very good at convincing people.” You both laughed at this, for it was indeed true “So I wasn’t kept from work. Finally, I’d be more surprised if your life story wasn’t true, I would say that you’re an amazing actress if that was the case. I know that everything you’ve said has been true, I could even tell that quite a bit was wrong as soon as I saw you left the taxi. It all made sense as soon as you said it.” You smiled at him. You had only just met him that day but you already felt so comfortable around him. Was this love at first sight?

“Well, now that we are properly acquainted, do you want my number so we can make another interview time or maybe even...to go get a coffee?” You blushed again, getting your phone out of your bag, forgetting that it had run out of battery. You cursed at yourself, you should’ve just let it charge. “I’m sorry, but my phone is out of battery...do you have a charger?” “No, I don’t on me...do you want to come over and charge it?” You nodded, unable to speak because you were so flustered and walked with him to his car, excited to see where this day would go.

PS Hey! This is my first FF! I hope whoever reads this likes it and if you want to request a fic or if you want to give tips on writing FFs I'll happily write any FF or take any advice.

[i-stan-nct-and-satan]

Not Broken (Jaehyun Mafia AU) Part 14

Not Broken Masterlist

Jaehyun X Reader

Y/N is a burlesque dancer living in Seoul. Jaehyun is one of the most powerful mafia men in Seoul. How will Y/N survive when Jaehyun suspects that she is involved with a rival gang?

Reasons to read this story: Ten’s a cross-dressing madam so….. yeah read it ya freaks.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded.  

His presence sent shivers down my spine. Every fiber of my being urged me to run but I couldn’t. A much stronger force locked my body in place. The gym filled with an oppressive energy that immediately became too suffocating to bear.  

The corners of his lips upturned into a slight smile, a motion that contradicted the mood of the room. Letting out a soft chuckle, he ran his fingers through his faded pink hair, only for it to fall back into place seemingly untouched.  

“Is that any way to speak to your new trainer, Y/N?”  

Although he terrified me more than anything I had ever encountered, I refused to let Jaehyun think that he had any more power over me than he already did.  

“New trainer? What are you talking about? Where’s Jeno? He’s my trainer, not you.”  

Jaehun slowly shook his head and began to tsk at me. His smug features mocked me as he began to step closer towards me. He knew of the effect he had on me and was surely using his influence to further disrupt any tranquility I had left. There was no way he’d be ignorant enough to think that his existence was anything less than a means for my suffering, right?

“I must say, it‘s almost disconcerting to hear my fiancé sound so concerned about another man, especially after I forwent my morning responsibilities just to be with her. You wouldn’t be trying to make me jealous would you, kitten?” He taunted, his eyes feigning hurt.  

His words were coated in an artificial sweetness that could lead someone unbeknownst to his character to believe they were filled with genuine hurt but to me, they left me with a headache and a bad taste in my mouth. Not only that, but the way his eyes traveled their ways over my figure as he spoke was... anxiety inducing.

“Where’s Jeno?” I repeated, my strong facade beginning to waver.

Jaehyun stared at me in amusement and I wondered how I was going to keep his mood from turning sour without giving in to his games.

“Jeno has some duties he needs to take care of, you know with planning our wedding and all. Planning a proper ceremony is such a taxing responsibility and even without the deadline already enclosing on us. Although I trust Jeno’s abilities, I figured that relieving him of his other responsibilities would allow him to have everything ready for the end of the month.”

I couldn’t help but gasp.

“The end of the m-m-month? That’s only 3 weeks away!”

“In our line of business, that isn’t particularly out of the ordinary given the nature of most arrangements. A lot can happen in the months leading up to the official ceremony after an engagement is announced. Enemy plans can emerge, alliances could break, not to mention the very real possibility of either party’s death. Most find it best to officialize marriages as soon as possible, for the safety and benefit of all those involved, which is why we’re only announcing our engagement two weeks prior to the ceremony itself.”

Jaehyun’s words reached my ears but they sounded foreign to me and not because Korean wasn’t my first language. Everything he was saying sounded completely and utterly insane. Announcing an engagement two weeks before a wedding, the fact that we were having a wedding? It was straight out of a Kdrama and a cheesy one at that. I didn’t know how to respond to it as I had barely been given enough time to process our engagement in the first place.  

“If Jeno isn’t coming, I’m leaving,” I declared, turning towards the exit door.

“Not so fast, kitten. Didn’t you hear what I said? I’ll be taken over as your trainer.”

I hesitated slightly but began to walk away.

“Then I guess I won’t be training anytime soon,” I announced.

I held my breath, not knowing what to expect. I braced myself for any backlash my blatant disrespect might have earned me when a startling sound entered the room.  

He was laughing.  

I had just made it to the door, but I didn’t dare reach towards the handle. I thought I had fully prepared myself for any reaction he could have to my words whether they be verbal or even physical in nature, but Jaehyun always found a way to rebel against my expectations. His unnerving laughter incited a fear in me so vast, every hair on my body stood straight as though it would abandon its follicle.

I tried to swallow but my mouth was unbearable dry. Gathering up my courage, I raised my arm from my side and reached towards the door handle.

“Don’t you want to hear the other reason for delaying the announcement of our wedding?”  

I paused but continued to grip the handle with whitening knuckles.

“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say to me.”

Jaehyun chuckled at my audaciousness.  

It’s cute how she acts fearless despite how she literally trembles whenever I speak. I want to tease her even more.  

“Don’t you know it hurts my feelings when you say things like that? Or are you just trying to get a rise out of me?” He taunted.

I began to turn the knob, disgusted by his playful tone.  

“Ah. Ah Ah. Believe me when I say that this is something you won’t want to miss out on,” He urged.

“At least... not unless you suddenly want to go through with the wedding.”

I instinctively looked back at Jaehyun, completely taking my hand off of the doorknob.  

“What? What do you mean?” I asked in a tone more sincere than I had intended.

A glimmer of disappointment seemed to wash over his features before he spoke.

“Now don’t look too excited,” He frowned.  

Ah, he’s mocking me again, isn’t he?

“I have a proposition for you. A deal of sorts.”

I stared at him.

“What kind of proposition?”

Jaehyun smiled a devilish smile before walking away.

I stood there confused as to whether he was intending for me to follow or stay put. After a moment’s hesitation, I resolved that it was the former.  

I trailed behind him as we wandered through the myriad of rooms that made up the massive home gym until Jaehyun settled upon one with a considerable about of floor mats. The room was far from new to me, seeing as it was the room Jeno most commonly used during combat training.  

“I’ve been watching you and Jeno train for some time now,” He began, taking notice of my shock.

“You’ve gotten quite good considering you’ve only been working together for  a week. I’d like to assess your progress and continue your training.”

“Why would you want to train me?” I asked. Glancing around the room in search of any cameras he might have used to monitor Jeno and my gym sessions.  

“Because you are to be my bride,” He answered, catching me off guard.  

Jaehyun’s eyes lingered on mine. They were softer than I had ever seen them before, but matching his gaze still proved to be too much to do comfortable. I shifted my stare to a nearby stack of floormats.  

“Although that status will grant you protection in of itself, there are certain dangers that come with taking the Jung family name. I must prepare you for that.”

“Oh...” I responded.

I hadn’t expected his answer to be so impassioned and sensible. I didn’t know what I was thinking, but I was sure his reasoning would have had more extemporaneous origins.

“I would be lying if I said I didn’t have any alternative motives to this decision,” He confessed prompting, me to match his gaze once more.  

“You and I haven’t met under the most favorable of circumstances, which is admittedly my fault. I don’t expect you to forgive me anytime soon and I am prepared for much of the harshness I delivered onto you to be returned onto me possibly for the next several years succeeding our wedding day.”

This time he was the one to break our stare though his eyes only seemed to lower innocently.

“But I want for our marriage to be a mutually beneficial one. I hope that over this next week, you and I will have the chance to get to know each other. I think that that is what would be best.”

“You’re damn right this is your fault,” I said. “Why on earth would you think I’d ever agree to working with you on anything?” 

Jaehyun’s expression hardened, but it didn’t show any signs of anger.

“Because if you think there’s any chance of you getting out of this wedding without my explicit consent, then our little kitten is dumber than I thought. Now do you want to hear my proposition or what?”

I kept my mouth shut.

“Good, now, where was I? Oh yeah. You and Jeno use this room for combat training, right? So, you’ve already experienced several scenarios simulating fights with an opponent who’s much stronger than you.”

Jaehyun stared at me searching for any sign that I was following before going on.

“You’re going to continue hands on training, but with me as your opponent instead. The only rules are that you have to stay within the perimeters of the room and that you cannot use a weapon to attack your opponent. Whoever pins the other on their back for three seconds will win.”

“Oh yeah? And what happens if I somehow win?” I scoffed.

The devilish grin returned to Jaehyun’s face, prompting my confident façade to teeter.  

“If you manage to pin me down for the full 3 seconds within the next 7 days before our engagement is announced to the world, I’ll call off the wedding.”

“What?”

“I said, if you beat me, I’ll call off the wedding.”

“But what about Wayv?”

“That won’t be an issue, I could make the president of Korea disappear without a trace if I wanted. I should have no problem finding a way to keep you safe from Wayv.”

“That’s not what you said before.”

“Well, that’s what I’m saying now!” He boomed.

I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from arguing any further. I had more important things to ask.

“What happens if I can’t beat you before the seven days are up?”

“I was wandering if you’d ask that. It’s only fair that after offering you the chance to call our or marriage off entirely, that I should get something of equal value if you were to lose.”

That wasn’t what I had wanted to hear. Of course, he wanted something from me. Why else would he give me the opportunity to dip out on our marriage? There was no chance that he’d do this out of the goodness of his heart, and the idea that he was only doing this to see the hope drain from my being wasn’t too unbelievable. That couldn’t have been the case though. As much of a conniving bastard I knew Jaehyun to be, he was still a man of business. I’d be a sucker to think he’d do anything without it serving to further his agenda. Now the only question was, what was it he wanted and was it something I was willing to risk?

He brought his hand to his face in an exaggerated gesture as he vocally pondered to himself.  

“What is it that you could offer me that I couldn’t just take from you?”

My body tensed upon hearing those last few words.  

Fuck.

He began walking towards me as he spoke.  

“As you can probably tell, there isn’t much in this world that I can’t buy. Diamonds, cars, mansions. I can have it all. I just have to say the word. So, I’m sure you can understand my frustration when that doesn’t turn out to be the case. You, for example. Although I can’t simply buy your obedience, you’ve come to realize how far my power extends such as with the case of your friend, Wendy. If I can ensure your compliance with our wedding with something as simple as that, then imagine what else I can do,” He voiced as he reached a hand towards my face.  

I turned my face to avoid his advances, but his fingers brushed against my cheek as he pushed a loose strand of hair behind my ear.  

He leaned in close until his lips hovered mere inches away from my ear.  

“But that isn’t very fun now, is it?”  

I took a step back from him and stared into his eyes practically begging him to stop.  

“W-what are you saying?” I demanded.

Jaehyun responded with a sly smirk which only drew more attention to my now flustered state.  

“What I’m saying, is that I don’t want to have to keep forcing you to behave.”

“So, you just want me to go along with whatever you tell me to? And what, act like your perfect little puppet?”

“Something along those lines,” He chimed, leaning in again.  

The heat in my face was unbearable. I wanted to stand tall, but with how close his face was to mine, I could only retreat into myself further. He laughed before turning away from me to stand in front of the room’s mirror wall.  

He spent several seconds looking at himself before continuing.  

“You will be rewarded, of course. Whether it be material items or vacations, ask for it and it will likely become yours assuming you act in accordance with my standards.”

“What type of things does ‘meeting your standards’ entail?” I asked afraid of what the answer might be.

Jaehyun glanced back at me from the mirror.  The fear on my face must have been apparent as he quickly motioned to ease my mind.  

“I will never demand that you do anything of that nature if that’s what you’re afraid of. Although it will be expected of you to give me a male heir, that won’t be for some time and I already have plans to send you away for nine months as the adoption process is completed to give the illusion that you bore said child yourself.”

I relaxed slightly at the confirmation that his requests wouldn’t be sexual in nature, but I tensed back up when I realized he wasn’t done with his explanation.

“My mother is returning to the estate today.”

“Your mother?” I echoed.

“After my father died, she went to live with her sister. She comes to visit the estate when she can and Jisung and Chenle often go to stay with her for long periods at a time, but upon hearing of our engagement she has decided to return indefinitely. She has yet to learn of the specifics regarding our relationship and I would prefer to keep it that way. She’s somehow diluted herself into thinking that our marriage is based on love despite having never heard of you until yesterday. She’s not opposed to arranged marriages, but I’d like for her to think that Chenle and Jisung will have another mother figure in their lives. She will be assisting in the preparation of our wedding as is her duty. Things like going through dresses and basic preparations will make up most of your time together. I would like for you to get to know her as your future mother-in-law given you are unable to win our little bet. Some details would best be hidden from her such as your career path and how we met but it’ll be easier if you aren’t pretending to be someone you’re not. I’ve already had Haechan prepare a back story for you and how we met. I’ve insisted that he tag along on all your endeavors so that he may assist you in... keeping to the script, shall we say?”

He continued to look himself in the mirror as he spoke. He seemed deep in thought, as though he were still confirming the plan with himself instead of explaining the details to me.  

“I know that the bet won’t end for seven days, but if you agree to the bet, know that you’ll need to agree to this as well. That way I’ll have an idea of whether you’ll stay true to your word or not. Once you agree to the terms of the bet, then you cannot change your mind. You can’t suddenly give up your last three tries because you don’t think you’ll win. If you don’t agree to the bet, then I guess I’ll just have to find other ways of making you obey my orders such as through your friend Jungwoo.”

I flinched at hearing Jungwoo’s name. It seemed as though Jaehyun did more than just find out if Wendy was okay when he researched the Heartbreakers.  

“I strongly suggest that you agree to my terms as I believe that even if you lose, you will still benefit from this agreement. Otherwise, the next several years will likely be filled with many hardships should you continue to challenge me.”

His words, which were provocative in nature, had a slight hiss to them. I was reminded of Lucifer who took the form of a snake before he seduced Eve into eating the forbidden fruit and thus bringing about the fall of man. Yet, instead of trying to corrupt me with sin, my Lucifer was giving me a chance to return to Eden. The cost of losing meant my soul. If I agreed, that meant that I was promising to live out my life, pretending to be what Jaehyun wanted me to be. If I didn’t, then I was sure he’d do everything in his power to make my life as miserable as I wanted to make his. Even if it meant my pride remained intact, I wasn’t sure if such a fight was worth sacrificing my happiness for.

But that wasn’t what I needed to focus on.

Jaehyun posed our bet as though it were a guarantee that I would lose, but that wasn’t the case. Jeno had spent hours upon hours teaching me moves with the specific intention that they would help me out if I were to ever find myself in danger of fighting someone much stronger than me.  

Was there any chance that I could actually beat Jaehyun? Maybe not but thinking like that wasn’t an option. If this was the only chance I’d have to get Jaehyun out of my life once and for all, then I was going to take it.  

“Deal,” I said.

The surprised look on Jaehyun’s face disappeared as soon as it came, soon morphing into one of satisfaction.  

“Then shall we begin?”

<><><><>

“Consider today a break from training. Once we’re done with the match you can return to your room and prepare for my mother’s arrival. Starting tomorrow, we’ll only have matches after we finish our training sessions. That way you’ll actually be motivated to come to our training sessions,” Jaehyun told me.

“But that’ll be after I’m already worn out from training! That’s not fair!”

Jaehyun paused for a moment as if he were debating my words.  

“As your trainer, it will be in my best interest to help you improve and that includes showing you where you went wrong and how to counter my moves. I can’t do that unless we fight first. This way, I’ll be able to see your fighting style and have time to plan a lesson teaching you how to counter my moves.”

“How can I trust that you’ll actually teach me the most effective way to counter?” I challenged.

“I understand why you’d doubt me but believe me when I say that I know more than just one trick. Teaching you how to counterattacks to one move doesn’t guarantee that I’ll use it again or that you’ll be a good enough student to actually execute them.”  

Jaehyun ignored the dirty look I gave him.  

A knock came from the doorway. I turned to see Taeyong holding a stopwatch.  

“Ah. Now that our ref is here, Are you ready to begin?” Jaehyun asked.  

I stared him up and down, aware that there was no way I’d be able to take a man of his stature down, at least not today. I had to come up with a strategy.

During one of our first matches, Jeno taught me that the best thing to do when fighting a new opponent is to let them attack first. That way, you can analyze their fighting style and act accordingly.  

“You can tell a lot about a man from their first move. Not just whether they’re fighting style is more defensive or offensive, but about their inner workings as well. A man who attacks without hesitance is rash and likely uses their appearance of strength as a coverup for their faults. A man who hesitates and overanalyzes his opponent is filled with doubt and anxieties. A man who employs weapons to distance himself from his opponent is the same man who would order his underlings to do his dirty work for him. A man who is able to use his opponent's strength against them is disciplined and goal oriented. This kind of fighter knows how to save his strength for more pressing matters. Attacking first will only inform your opponent of your weaknesses so it is best to let them reveal themselves to you first. This will benefit you as you’ll learn to gauge your opponent’s abilities. Never jump headfirst into a pool you can’t see the bottom of. You never know what dangers lurch underneath the surface.”

Jeno’s words eclipsed my thoughts.  

What type of fighter would Jaehyun prove to be? You can learn a lot about a man from his first move, so what if the reverse was true? Would it possible to predict Jaehyun’s moves based on what I already knew about him? With what little information I had, Jaehyun didn’t seem like the type to act without a plan, but given that he was fighting against someone much less inexperienced, maybe that wouldn’t be the case with me.  

I looked at Jaehyun. I took notice of his smug features.

I was right. He expects to win quickly and easily and it’s likely that will be the case.  

This might be our first fight, but it would be stupid of me to take it any less seriously, but what if I could use that to my advantage.

It’s our first fight so probably already anticipating what my first action will be. Perhaps he expects me to act rashly. No, that couldn’t be the case. Jaehyun knows that Jeno and I have been working together and I know that he’s already seen glimpses of my fighting style. He probably knows that I plan to let him strike first.  

I continued to stare back at Jaehyun as I went back and forth with myself. He let out a small chuckle that further revealed his confidence in himself.  

Go ahead and smile, Jaehyun. That confidence of yours is going to serve as a tool for my victory.  

“Yes, I’m ready.”

“Good.”

Jaehyun shot a glance towards Taeyong who nodded in response.  

“To reiterate the rules. Whoever manages to pin the other down for three seconds wins. The pinned person must be laying on their back and both of their shoulders must be touching the mat for the full three seconds. No weapons may be used to attack your opponent and both parties must stay within the confines of the room. There is no time limit. The match ends either with one party successfully pinning the other or with one party tapping out which will result in their opponent’s victory. Is everyone aware of what tapping out means?” Taeyong asked.

Both Jaehyun and I nodded.  

“Great, now get into position,” Taeyong instructed.

I watched Jaehyun as he walked up to a mark that was engraved into the mat with tape. I quickly located a similar mark and approached it.  

“You may start when I blow the whistle. Ready? Whistle!”

Taeyong quickly blew the whistle catching me off guard as I thought there would be more warning beforehand. I launched myself at Jaehyun. A spark of surprise crossed his expression as I quickly advanced towards him.

That was my plan, to catch him off guard by acting in juxtaposition with what he expected of me.  

Slam!

The air that peacefully occupied my lungs was violently expunged as my back made harsh contact with the floor. The pure shock of the moment was enough to have me fixed to the floor. There was no need for the hands that held me in place except to mock me for my misguided attempts against the man they belonged to.  

Whistle!

“Jaehyun is the winner,” Taeyong announced, his voice clear and void of any noticeable disappointment or excitement.  

The match was over, and I was right where I had started. Actually, I was lower than where I had started, both figuratively and literally. Having no recollection of what had happened, I was still hopelessly ignorant as to the kind of fighter Jaehyun was, now with only had six attempts remaining instead of seven.  

As I struggled to regain any pattern of breathing even remotely similar to my normal, Jaehyun simply stared down at me. His body, which showed no intention of withdrawing from mine, began to move closer to my stunned physique. His face hovering only inches away from mine.  

I kept my eyes closed as tightly as I could to find some sort of grounding as I recovered from the impact. I only opened my eyes after hearing a soft chuckle.  

“Cute,” Jaehyun thought to himself.  

I stared back at him shocked by how close he was. I instinctively tried to pull away from him but there was nowhere to go. I was already pressed against the mat. With nowhere to go and nowhere else to look, my eyes met his.  

I prepared myself for the humiliation that would come with looking at whatever amused look might be staring back. After hearing his laughter, I was sure that he was going to tease me, and I was going to chew him out for it. Yet when my eyes met his, the expression that stared back at me wasn’t the self-satisfied grin I had become so familiar with.  

This look was one I hadn’t seen before, at least not from Jaehyun. It wasn’t the cocky look he often adorned while teasing me nor was it the coldhearted disposition I had been intimidated by time and time again. His rose gold bangs fell past his eyes in a vain attempt to hide them, but the intensity they held was desperate to be noticed. That intensity seemed to be the only thing desperate about them. Despite having just finished a fight, as brief as it might have been, Jaehyun looked more sedate than one would expect. His calm and collected state did little to ease my quickening heart as a glimmer of playfulness seemed to linger across his features. This mischievousness garnered especially in his upturned lips which I momentarily glimpsed at in a foolish attempt to alleviate the frenzy of nervousness I felt from holding his gaze.  

Jaehyun noticed my wandering eyes, completely aware of where they had drifted off to.  

My eyes returned to his only to see that they were looking lower than they had before.  

I didn’t have time to question where he was looking before he began to lessen the space between us, his lips slowly enclosing on mine. Unable to do much else, I closed my eyes and turned my head to the side frantically trying to escape his advances which only drew closer and closer until...

“If that’s all you needed me for, then I’ll be off.”

My already tense body jolted slightly at the unexpected voice and my eyes opened just enough to see that Jaehyun’s face had retreated from mine.  

“Ah. Yes. Very well.” Jaehyun coughed, making sure not to stutter as he dismissed his second in command.  

As soon as Taeyong left the room, Jaehyun rolled off of me and stood up.  

I quickly followed, but not before mouthing a silent thank you to Taeyong. Despite him having already left, I felt the need to express my gratitude, even if my thanks only fell upon deaf ears.  

“Well, we both should be heading back. My mother will arrive soon, and you need to be ready to greet her. I’ll send Haechan over to fill you in on your backstory,” Jaehyun advised as his eyes hovered on everything in the room except me.  

“I’m confident that you won’t purposely cause any trouble, that is if you don’t want to forfeit any of your six remaining chances.”

“I won’t.”

Jaehyun finally turned towards me surprised by my sudden willingness to obey.

“I’ll stay true to my end of the deal as long as you stay true to yours, including what you said about teaching me how to counter your attacks,” I promised.

Jaehyun nodded before making his exit from the training room.  

<><><><><>

“Thank God he didn’t leave me with anymore bruises. Imagine having to explain that to his mother,” I sighed.

“Damn. That’s crazy.”

“I’m amazed he didn’t tell any of you about the deal he offered me.”

“He wouldn’t bother telling us about a bet he had no chance of losing, even if the stakes were this high.”

“Wow, thanks, Donghy- fuck, Haechan.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’ll take some time to get used to. I keep forgetting that I don’t have to censor myself around you anymore.”

“Yeah right, like you ever censored yourself around me.”

“I meant with hiding the fact that I’m a gangster, you idiot,” Haechan scolded, hitting me on the side of the arm.

“Ouch!” I howled exaggerating the pain before Haechan playfully tackled me, the both of us erupted in a fit of giggles as we fell on the bed.

“Come on, you need to get ready and I need to catch you up on your cover story. Mrs. Lee isn’t the type to be easily fooled,” Haechan explained.

Before I had returned, Haechan had already laid out a set of clothes for me to wear. I had just gotten out of the shower and put on a towel before deciding to catch my old friend up on what had occurred at my latest training session. I had wanted to catch him up on everything that had occurred since he and I talked that fateful night, but there never seemed to be enough time and I was sure that he already knew the basics.  

“I know this isn’t your usual style, but you’ll like it I promise.”

“Haechan... It’s frilly.”

“No, it’s not, it’s... okay yeah it’s frilly, but this will leave a good impression on Mrs. Lee so just think of it as one of your burlesque costumes or somethings.  

“You want me to pretend that wearing this dress to impress a woman whose son I’m being forced to marry is anything like wearing a costume for burlesque?”

“Yes... and sure it is. Think of it like this. You wear burlesque costumes to seduce your audience. Well, isn’t making a good impression on someone a bit like seducing them?”

I paused weighing his words.  

“I hate how much sense that makes in a twisted way.”

An accomplished smile took over Haechan’s face.

“Now, hurry up and put it on.”

Over the past years of Haechan and my friendship, we had become thicker than thieves. We both felt comfortable changing in front of each other, especially since Haechan had as much interest in women as I had in gauging my eyes out with a rusty spoon.  

“How do I look?” I asked.

It was a simple baby blue dress with a conservative cut to it. The neck allowed for only my clavicle to be exposed. The puffy tulle sleeves extended over the entirety of my arms, yet the see-through material didn’t leave anything from the eye. The bottom of the dress resembled an a-line skirt stopping right above my knees. The shoes Haechan picked out were simple white strappy sandals with subtle daisy decals where the buckles were. Although it wasn’t exactly an outfit, I‘d never choose for myself, even I had to admit that I looked like the perfect daughter-in-law.  

Haechan gave the outfit a once over before speaking.  

“Like you’re in desperate need of a hairbrush.”

“I know I don’t say this often, but I love how hesitant you are to say anything that might be considered unkind,” I joked sarcastically.

Haechan rolled his eyes before motioning for me to sit in vanity chair.

Once I was settled, Haechan began to brush my hair.

“It’ll be better if we keep as close to the truth as possible. If I’m being honest, I think that you and Mrs. Lee will get along almost perfectly something I don’t necessarily think is a good thing.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, when I think about it, you and Mrs. Lee have a lot of similarities, which is a good thing because that means that she’ll like you, but on the other hand, if she likes you too much, it’ll be harder for you to hide things from her.”

“Ah,” I responded.  

I wanted to asked what similarities I could possibly have with a former mob wife but couldn’t as Haechan quickly began discussing the details of my backstory.  

“So, you have two stories you have to commit to memory. The first one being the story we present to the public, aka the story that claims that you were working with NCT to take down Lucas. We haven’t worked out all the details yet as we need to come up with a reason for keeping Lucas’ death a secret, so you won’t have to worry about that for a while. Since Mrs. Lee is still a prominent figure with close ties to NCT and its leader, she knows that Lucas’ death was not NCT’s doing. Basically, the only thing that we are going to keep from her is how you and Jaehyun met along with your career as a dancer. Mothers aren’t exactly the types to squeal with joy at the thought of their sons marrying strippers,” he teased, causing me to roll my eyes.  

Haechan pulled the hair out of my face and began braiding it.

“You’re a barista at John and J’s, a small shop in Itaewon. Jaehyun happened to be in the neighborhood and decided to try the place out. He noticed a man at the counter was blatantly harassing you, so he decided to step in. After the man finally left, you thanked Jaehyun and that’s when he noticed your necklace. He asked where you got it and you told him it was a family heirloom. Aware that this was not the case, Jaehyun started going to the coffee shop every day, making pleasant conversation in order to earn your trust. One day as you were closing, that man from before showed up and made another scene. Seeing that you were visibly spooked from the encounter, Jaehyun offered to walk you home. You accepted. Once you were at the door to your building, Jaehyun brought up Lucas. At first you were terrified that he was a member of Wayv, but he quickly eased your worries and told him about that night. After hearing your story, Jaehyun offered you protection from Wayv along with financial rewards in exchange for your cooperation. You two began dating shortly after and when Jaehyun suggested that you two get married for the sake of NCT’s image, you were extremely hesitant. Once it became clear to you that the council wanted to force Jaehyun into an arranged marriage, you agreed out of fear of losing him to someone else.”

I stared at Haechan’s reflection, mouth agape.  

“What?” Haechan sighed, already aware of how ridiculous it all was.

“Really? I thought you said the closer we stuck to the truth, the better, not that we were gonna write a cheesy romance novel. I mean, seriously! What was that? After freaking out and locking me up, you want me to tell Momma-Mob-Boss that not only did her son reacted calmly to seeing the necklace, but that he fucking came to my rescue? Who wrote this? Dong- ah, Haechan, please tell me you weren’t the one who came up with this BS,“ I scoffed.

Haechan let out a sigh.  

“It doesn’t matter who wrote it, it’s the most believable story we have that presents this marriage as something you would willingly agree to. We even had to fudge the timeline a bit, making it so that you and he met at the coffee shop a month ago instead of just a few days ago.”

“Yeah like a month would really make much of a difference. Sure, this man almost beat me to death, but that’s not the reason I’m so hesitant to marry him. I’m only concerned with us having only met a few days ago. Oh wait,” I spat.

“Well then, what are you gonna do?”

I huffed before turning in my chair to face him.  

“What do you mean?” I demanded.

“What are you gonna do? Are you gonna tell her the truth and lose your opportunity to get out of here? And after that, what then? Are you gonna keep rebelling and pushing back against Jaehyun until he has to chain you up? Are you going to make your life a living hell all for the sake of your pride? You’re right. This is bullshit, but it’s the bullshit that’s gonna get you through the next week. And if you don’t win against Jaehyun, then get ready for even more bullshit, because that’s what you can expect to deal with if you want things to get better. Stop mourning your old life! Just accept that your problems aren’t gonna go away just because you fight against them!”  

My body had tensed up as Haechan seemed to lose his cool for a second. I didn’t know what to say but I felt like I had to say something. As soon as I opened my mouth to respond, a knock fell on the door.

“Guys, Mrs. Lee’s car just arrived at the gates. We have around 5 minutes before she’ll arrive at the door,” The voice called out.  

It was Taeyong.

“Shit,” Haechan cussed as he looked at me in the mirror. He quickly tucked a few loose strands behind my ears before motioning for me to get up.

“We didn’t have much time to prepare. Are you confident that you can remember everything? Actually, it doesn’t matter. Just try not to say anything stupid.”