#she looks like she eats seaweed chips but not because she likes them

[movedtodykedvonte]

I bet Olivia fell off that stupid fucking yoga ball in a meeting once and panic activated the arms knocking everything off her desk in the process.

[campbells-content]

Here to drop some random ml hcs or scenarios on yall and then probably disappear for another month.

Before becoming ladybug, Marinette would always convince her friends to play in the rain or jump in puddles. Right after becoming ladybug the idea of asking Alya to don a raincoat and come outside seemed childish. After being Ladybug for a while, rain only reminds her that there are people out there that she can't help. People who have storms in their brains so strong that even Hawkmoth avoids them. Nino, the closest friend she's had since childhood notices for a second that she no longer looks at puddles with wonder. He brings Alya and Adrien to Marinette on a rainy day, telling them to wear raincoats and clogs. Neither know what clogs are. They get there, waiting outside as Nino went up. Marinette is kindof against it, saying its a waist of time or she was too busy but Nino drags her down anyway. Nino runs out to join Alya and Adrien who were already jumping in puddles but he turns back when he notices Marinette hesitate under the over hang. She's asking herself existential questions like how can she act like a child and play in the rain when someone might need her. Nino grabs her hand and pulls her arm into the downpour making them both laugh as it instantly soaked what little if her sleave was exposed. In that moment she remembered why she loved the rain so much and they all played in the rain like kids because they are kids and they are allowed to enjoy the little things. The rain eventually stopped but they didn't, jumping in puddles and dancing without a care in the world.

(If you can't tell i am releasing all of the creativity that has been trapped within me since my last post.)

After using the dragon miraculous a couple more times kagami starts to collect little trinkets and tells no one, not even her mother. They are her little secret and they belong to her alone.

(When yall think of dragon side effects, do yall see her as cold blooded or a literal heater? I like the heater because when everyone is in t-shits and pants, Kagami literally exhales steam.)

Every time Juleka mutters indecipherably, there was a curse word somewhere in her statement.

Nino and Marinette eat Funyuns but Nino prefers off brand. Adrian eats salt and vinegar chips. Alya eats cheetos. Chloe eats the vegetable chips. Lila eats the vegetable straw chips. Sabrina eats the cheddar pringles, not necessarily by choice. Juleka eats purple doritos. Luka and Zoe eat blue doritos. Rose eats spicy doritos. Kagami does not eat chips but she will take one from any of them if offered. Also, Mylene and Ivan eat basic potato chips together, Kim eats cheese doodles, Max eats different flavours of ruffles and Nathaniel and Alix sit away from everyone eating seaweed.

(If i missed someone I'm sorry, i got the important people. (A part of me feels like i might've mixed up Chloe and Lila on the vibe check but oh well.))

Marinette has bubbles in her desk because they remind her of Nino.

Alya trys to start controlled discourse when her friends drink different sodas but everyone is just glad they get a mini pickmeup of caffeine.

[whattraintracks]

7. Prank Successful - The Next Mutation

Venus, Raph, and Donnie figure out how to reverse the hypnosis caused in "Sewer Crash."

"Well then," Raph stretches. "Guess we tell the guys it's safe to say the b-word again." 

Venus perks up. "Bit—" 

"The otha' b-word, Venus." 

"Oh." 

"Well, we could do that." Donnie raises steepled hands to his chin. "Or..." 

--------------------------

"I can't take it anymore! Make it stop!" 

Raph levels Mikey a look somewhere between unimpressed and exasperated. "Make what stop?" 

Venus is humming to herself as she unloads a bag of groceries. A carton of banana peppers, banana pudding, and banana-flavored cheez-its join their bounty on the kitchen table. 

"The groceries!" He anguishes. 

"Whaddaya mean stop the groceries?" He brandishes an anchovy and banana hot pocket. "We need food, and you told me it was my turn to get 'em." 

"Not this kind of food! Anything but this! This is too cruel, Raph! What have I done to be punished like this!? How am I supposed to eat all of these banana foods when I can't even say the wor—" He cuts himself short with a gasp, eyes bulging. 

It takes everything Raph's got not to grin. Don was right: hook, line, and sinker. Mikey whips around to the turtle himself, already playing his part to a tee. 

"My will is yours," Donnie intones. 

"No! Donnie!" Mikey reaches out to shake him, "Banana!" 

Right on cue, Leo charges in. "Did somebody say banana!?" 

"Dude!" Mikey yelps, spinning around and throwing his hands to his head, "I already said it twice!" 

They look at Donnie, still droning. 

"Banana!" They both shout. 

"I'll say it!" 

"No, I'll say it!" 

"Banana!" 

They're not even looking at Donnie anymore, just shouting frantically in each other's faces. Raph watches with growing delight as Donnie stands and leaves the room completely unnoticed. 

Venus—because she's much sneakier than everyone gives her credit—creeps over, looking equally delighted. She braces on his shoulder to peek past the fridge at Donnie, then back at dumb and dumber. "How long do you think they will fall at it?" 

"That's fall for it, babe." He grins slyly at her. "And as long as Masta' Splinter lets 'em." 

She snickers. Sensei's never met a well-meaning joke he didn't love. 

The shouting match chokes when Leo finally realises, "Donnie's gone!" 

"Oh no!" Mikey shoves past Leo to the stairs. "Don't do it, Donnie! You're too young for prison!" 

Leo races after him. He's almost entirely up the ladder before he shouts, "Raph, Venus, come on!" 

Raph presses a fist to his beak. He makes eye contact with Venus, and she bursts into high, pealing laughter. Before long, they're both busting a gut. 

"Oh, man!" He folds over the table. "That was so much better than I thought it would be." 

Venus is on her knees giggling, "Should," she hiccups, "should we?" 

"I'll watch them with the satellite," Donnie reassures as he wanders back into the kitchen, grabbing a bag of seaweed and banana chips. He salutes Raph with a little grin. 

"Good with me. Say, Venus," he bids, offering her a hand up. "You ever seen Dumb and Dumber?"

--------------------------

Bonus: the sketch I made to help me figure out where everyone was in this scene.

[liiviingdeadgiirl]

"June"

original poem

June is my best friend. She's tall, with long brown hair that goes down past her waist, and her face has freckles all over like where a sunburn would be. June is thin like the tree in my front yard, but unlike the tree, she is full of life and laughter and love to give. June is always wearing that pair of blue sneakers with the stars and hearts drawn on the sides. June's favorite food is rice and eggs with ketchup on it, and even though I don't like the taste, I eat it with her whenever I come over. June and I love to sing along to the radio when my mom drives us to school. June has a smile like sunshine and eyes like a cats. Her fingernails are always painted hot pink, and every time some of the paint flakes off one of the nails, she takes out her polish and paints it over right there. She loves to wear fluffy socks and rub them on the green circle rug in her room then shock me with the static. All of these things, all of these little things, I never knew how much I loved until I didn't have time to love them anymore. Until she swam too far at the beach. Until I heard June's mom tell my mom over the phone that the doctors said they might have gotten to her too late. Until my mom came into my room right before bed one night and didn't say anything, she just looked at me and hugged me and cried real hard. And even though she didn't say anything, I knew. I knew. I knew that when I went to the funeral, I would see her. But when I got there, it wasn't her. It wasn't her because her right thumb nail had a chip in the polish. It wasn't her because her long hair was tied into a bun, not flowing free in the wind. It wasn't her because on her feet was a pair of stubby leather things and not her blue sneakers with the stars and hearts. It wasn't her because she didn't have her sunshine smile and her cat eyes were gray. My best friend was alive. Alive at the bottom of the ocean, maybe, but she was alive. With all the fish and coral and the seaweed like the fish and coral and seaweed she had paintings of on her bedroom walls. I didn't eat anything that day, or the next day, or even until dinner the day after that. Mom went up to me and she said, she said that I have to eat, that June would have wanted me to be healthy and eat and laugh and live. She asked me what I wanted to eat and I didn't look up, I didn't. I just said rice and eggs with ketchup, please, and she understood, and for the very first time, rice and eggs and ketchup tasted good to me.

[citygoldmedia25]

What’s The Tea about Doja Cat Weight Loss?

The American Rapper and Singer who is widely popular because of her unique discography, she rose to fame with her single Mooo! In 2018. The song got viral on social media as a meme but it helped Doja cat to get the attention of everyone and now she is one of the most talented and famous singers aka rapper. Since she is popular, she started to work on her vocals and personality and here we will talk about Doja cat weight loss journey.

Her fans love her wholesome personality and music, she surprised them at her live performance, and it started to trend on Twitter and Instagram. While working on her music, she began to work on her body too as she had body dysmorphia and it made her really insecure.

Her song “Juicy” perfectly describes her feelings. During her teen years, like any person she too started to feel changes in her body both internally and externally. She thought her body didn't look good with any kind of dress she used to wear. Now that she is mature enough to know herself and her problems. She finds joy in little things and eating a good meal while working on her body. She admits about still feeling insecure because of body dysmorphia since she is a celebrity and the media constantly captures her body movement from every angle.

What was the process of Doja cat weight loss?

Doja cat aka Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamine opted for a natural and healthy way of reducing her weight and achieving an attractive figure.

Media even tried to put false allegations on the process of  Doja cat weight loss, there were many rumours about her going for surgery and extreme diet while reducing the consumption of basic meals. She faced criticism from haters but every rumour proved to be false.

On May 24, 2021 Doja cat tweeted : “I lost some weight and there’s absolutely nothing y'all can do about it.” With this she put an end to the discussion.

Diet meal of Doja cat

Doja cat lost around 20 pounds in a short time and it was not easy.

She started with eating plant based meals and high protein intake which included the following :

Spinach Green veggies Salmon fish Egg wraps Beef Chicken steak Seaweed chips Fruit and vegetable juice Low carbs weight loss keto diet Tuna Kale Quinoa Plentiful of water Her customized diet consisted of Two eggs and spinach tortilla with caramalized onions pepper jack cheese and hot sauce, then she would roll everything in seaweed chip. Workout routine of Doja cat She started to work on her body under the guidance of her personal gym trainer. She started with Cardio and weight training exercises to strengthen her muscles. Cardio helped her in burning a lot of calories. Running, cycling and dancing was her everyday routine. Deadlifts Squats She used kettlebells as a full body exercise for flexibility, fat burning and endurance. Jump squats helped her in athletic activity and dancing at her live shows.

Body shaming on Social Media

Doja cat was body shamed on social media, whenever she would upload photos or videos on her media handle or paparazzi would post her pics on their platforms. Her haters would criticize her in every way possible. She was body shamed both times before and after taking control of her body fitness.

Her journey was truly inspirational, she worked hard for it and still received a backlash from haters and media. Despite all the struggle, she continued to make her health progress and music.

[blu-joons]

When They Take Care Of Their Pregnant, Foreign Partner With Korean Superstitions ~ BTS Reaction

Jin:

Your head shook in disbelief as Jin placed down several bags of oranges, with barely enough room for them all on the table, you found yourself catching several as they rolled away.

“These are for you,” Jin sweetly smiled across to you, “apparently oranges are good for pregnant women to eat to make the baby beautiful.”

“You’ve got well over a hundred apples here, and you want me to eat them?”

Jin nodded, laughing at the look of shock that was on your face, “you don’t have to eat them all in one go, but a few can’t hurt, especially if they help to make our baby even better looking than they are now.”

“Shouldn’t the baby of someone as handsome as you not need any extra help?” You joked, “can a baby with your genes even get any better looking?”

“Well, with my genes their destined for good.”

“Luckily for you I know that oranges have actual health benefits, so I’ll eat them,” you told him, watching Jin light up.

His arms wrapped around you tightly, “do you want to eat a couple now? I don’t mind going and peeling them for you?”

“Maybe one’s enough for now, we’ve still got five months after all.”

Yoongi:

You looked to Yoongi questionably as he placed the bowl in front of you. The dish was nothing like you had seen before, with bright eyes watching on as you picked up your chopsticks.

“Seaweed soup,” Yoongi smiled, noticing how unsure you were, “it’s supposed to help you heal and keep you healthy whilst you recover.”

“Are you sure that this will help me? It looks like it’s a little bit dodgy.”

Yoongi nodded back at you, encouraging you to pick a bit of it up, “my mum lived off of this throughout both of her pregnancies, it’s quite common for Korean women to eat it for the first few weeks postpartum.”

“The first few weeks?” You gasped, staring with wide eyes, “back home we live off of burgers and chips because we’re too tired to do anything else.”

“Just give it a try, you might like it.”

“I’m doing this for my health,” you whispered to yourself, picking up a small amount on the end of your chopstick.

Yoongi kept an eye on you as you brought the seaweed up to your lips, “it looks gross, but I promise you it isn’t.”

“They always say that there’s a first time for trying everything, right?”

Hoseok:

You could feel Hobi’s eyes on you as you made your way into the kitchen, grabbing a few items from the fridge and throwing them into your bag to sort yourself out with lunch at work.

“Are you sure that you shouldn’t have taken maternity leave by now?” Hobi asked you, “you should leave work as soon as you get pregnant.”

“I can still work just because I’m pregnant, I’m only three months anyway.”

Everyone around you suddenly seemed to tiptoe, surprised that you were still willing to work despite being pregnant. “You better be taking it easy whilst at work, are your colleagues all looking after you?”

“They’re great,” you promised with a confident smile, “I’ll leave work soon, but I can’t sit around for nine months and just wait for the baby to arrive Hobi.”

“How much longer do you think?”

“Soon,” you chuckled, still a little uncertain yourself, “things are different where I come from, we agreed to go down the middle.”

He smiled weakly back across at you, “maybe at four and a half months you can leave work, how does that sound?”

“I’ll speak to my boss, although I’m sure that he’ll let me go.”

Namjoon:

You could only laugh as Namjoon’s sister told the two of you about the dream that she had had about several birds flying around your home whilst the two of you rested.

“Birds mean it’s a girl,” Namjoon smiled, feeling his heart race as his sister nodded in agreement with him, “that means we’re having a daughter?”

“How can you possibly know what we’re having just from a dream?”

The two of them felt sorry for you as you looked cluelessly at the two of them. “It’s tradition Y/N,” his sister began to explain to him, “if your family dream of birds then that means that you’re carrying a girl.”

“How come you never told me about this?” You joked with Namjoon, poking against his waist, “it’s pretty cool to think about things like that.”

“I was hoping I’d be the one to dream.”

“So, if you dreamt of birds, does that mean that we’re having more than one?” You pushed, seeing their expressions drop.

Namjoon’s head quickly shook, as did his sister’s, “I dreamt of hundreds of birds, if you want hundreds of children?”

“I think one might be enough, let’s hope that’s not tradition too.”

Jimin:

You couldn’t help but sigh as Jimin sprinted through the house to answer the front door before you had the chance to even get off of the sofa, leaving you without reason to move.

“I’ve got it,” he proudly smiled, returning to the room a few moments later, handing the parcel across to you, with the box filled with clothes.

“I could have walked to the front door, it’s not even that hard for me.”

Jimin’s head shook straight away back across at you, “you’re not allowed to do anything when your pregnant, I can take care of things around here. All you need to worry about is shouting when you need help.”

“I don’t need as much help as you think,” you frowned, feeling Jimin sit down beside you, “I’m not used to having people fuss around me like this.”

“We’re a lot more protective here.”

“Agreed,” you laughed, relaxing against Jimin’s side, “you can let me lift a finger from time to time, I will survive doing it.”

Jimin’s head nodded back at you, “perhaps I need to ease up, I keep forgetting that we come from different places.”

“I appreciate you caring for me, but just trust me sometimes.”

Taehyung:

Your shoulders shrugged in reply to Taehyung’s aunt as she asked the two of you if you had given your baby a nickname yet, unsure quite as to what she was on about talking to you.

“We’ve yet to come up with a nickname,” Taehyung replied to her, wrapping his arm around your frame, knowing what was going on.

“Maybe we could come up with one altogether as a family for you?”

Your brows knitted together as Taehyung smiled down reassuringly at you. “Remember how our neighbours kept calling their baby sprout, maybe it would be a good idea for us to come up with a nickname too?”

“Do Koreans actually do that?” You asked in surprise, “I just thought that they were a bit odd deciding to refer to their baby as sprout and not baby.”

“Do you fancy giving a nickname to our baby?”

“I think it would be fun,” you grinned, glancing back across to his aunt, “did you have any suggestions for nicknames?”

Her head nodded straight away, “I always regretted not using the nickname petal for my kids, but it never suited.”

“Petal? I have to say that does have a pretty nice ring to it.”

Jungkook:

Footsteps raced down the stairs as Jungkook heard you call up that you were leaving to meet up with a couple of your friends, catching you just before you walked out of the door.

“Have you got your badge?” He asked you, finding nothing pinned to your jacket, “you need to take it with you if you’re getting the train.”

“It’s in my pocket to put on when I get to the station, I’ve not forgotten it.”

You reached into your pocket to pull out your badge, proving to Jungkook that you had your Pregnant Women First badge. “Make sure that you put it on, the train is always busy at this time of day.”

“I’m sure that other people will move out of the way for me without the badge,” you tried to reassure him, “I am looking pretty pregnant these days.”

“We’ve still got to make sure.”

“I’ll wear it,” you grinned, stepping forwards to press a kiss to his lips, “but I’m going to be late if I stay here with you any longer.”

Jungkook nodded, letting you go, “let me know once you get to the restaurant, and please make sure you take care on the train.”

“Things will be fine; I’ve got my badge so nothing can go wrong.”

---

Masterlist

[deadmomjokes]

I want to thank you for your addition onto that food/exercise post, because I've been trying to find a way to unlearn bad thoughts I have regarding food (telling myself that I need to eat "better" or "healthier", moralizing my food choices as bad or good, and your addition to that post helped me find language that doesn't encourage me to blame myself for some of the foods I eat.

You're very, very welcome. I'm right there with you in the middle of the pits of unlearning, so I know exactly what you mean and where you're coming from.

Having my daughter really woke me up to a lot of stuff I needed and wanted to change about the way I thought, and food was/is a huge one. I have a history of borderline disordered eating, and a massively complicated relationship with food and weight and body image and all that. But seeing this tiny little person with no preconceptions and no knowledge of what food even is really opened my eyes. I'm (re)learning right alongside her while I try to make sure she never ends up in the same places I did.

In case it's helpful, to you or anyone else looking into shifting their views on eating, her dad and I focus on four main things that we want to instill in her regarding food. (Below the cut for length purposes.)

What I said in that post, which is that foods do either lots of good things or only a few good things for your body, and you want overall more of the 'lots of good things' foods. We make the conscious effort to never let the word 'unhealthy' come out of our mouths. Sometimes it's 'less healthy' or 'less good for your body' with foods like candy, but we build it back on a foundation of 'candy isn't bad, it's just not the best food for you and too much can make your body feel yucky.' Another way I've seen this put is "sometimes food" and "anytime food." Cookies and chocolate are lovely "sometimes foods," and so are french fries and chips. Things that are more nutrient dense are "anytime foods."

We eat a wide variety of foods, because they all have different things our bodies need. She'll even ask us now 'what's this one have?' when she's trying a food, and we get to tell her about how yogurt has lots of good protein, and oranges have vitamin C and fiber. (We can get her to balance her meals this way, too; if we tell her plate needs more, different foods, she'll almost always willingly add something to her request. Today, breakfast was bagel and cream cheese. She wanted lunch to be cereal, but we told her she already had lots of grains and we needed something a little different. So she switched to chicken nuggets and apple, and we got to talk about protein and fiber. It was awesome. She's awesome.)

She decides when she's full, and we don't argue or bargain. None of the dessert bribery that people do, and none of the 'clean your plate' or 'no, you're not done, you have to have x-many bites'. We cannot dictate how she feels. It's her body, and her stomach and mouth are part of that. If she only eats three bites of dinner and says she's done, we do ask follow-up questions to make sure she's really not hungry vs. looking for something different, but we never force her to eat. Those "sometimes foods," or 'treats' like cookies and candy have their place, but we don't use them as a reward for first eating "good" food. That just teaches her that certain foods aren't fun, and others are forbidden except for when she's doing something someone wants. Just lots of complicated and not-exactly-positive messages wrapped up in there. It's okay to reward yourself with things you like, but only so long as you don't bring guilt or shame into it. Because...

Food should taste and feel good, it's okay to have preferences, and it's okay to both try and decline trying. Her favorite meal is chicken nuggets and fries, and we let that happen within reason because her preferences matter. She also LOVES roasted seaweed, which I'm neutral on and my husband greatly dislikes. You better believe our pantry has a toddler-height shelf with seaweed just for her. She dislikes beef, but is a good sport a lot of the time and tries it when I make it. BUT, we also make sure there are lots of other things in the meal that she does like, so if she either doesn't enjoy it or doesn't feel like trying, she's not stuck choking it down or feeling pressured to do so. You don't have to force yourself to eat something you don't enjoy just because you think you should or 'it's sooooooo good for you'. (I'm sorry, I have yet to find a way to cook Brussels Sprouts that don't make me wanna claw my own tongue off, no matter how much vitamin K and vitamin c they would give me, and beets make me gag with no exceptions. I don't eat either of them, and I don't feel bad for doing so.) You should definitely feel free to play around and find new ways to try it, because maybe you're like my daughter and hate peas that come in a can with a burning, kitchen-destroying passion, but love steamed, frozen ones with butter. But you also don't need to hold onto guilt surrounding all the 'healthy' food you should like, and all the 'unhealthy' food you shouldn't. Do you feel guilty for your favorite color because there's so many other colors out there that other people just love? Do you also surround yourself with only one color and shun all others? Food is color. Build yourself a kaleidoscope and enjoy it.

I know this is tangenty, but I have a lot of feelings about food now lol

[black-is-beautiful18]

Hazy

Percy Jackson x Black OC

A/N: Percabeth is cute but they're just going to be friends in this fic. This is also inspired by Nigerian tales such as Mami Wata and Yoruba mythology, but it's also folklore from West Africa. I hope you enjoy.

***************************

Her coconut brown skin shown brightly under the sun. Her smile as dazzling and as bright as a full moon while her laugh....oh her laugh was like a song. A song you want to hear over and over again. Her dark tight curls stuck to her face as she tries to shield herself from the water being thrown on her by two girls. They look to be twins. With identical facial features, skin the color of vanilla, and locs that go down their backs adorned with gold clips that glint in the sunlight. There's not much a difference between them except that one is a bit taller than the other. They all were beautiful but not as beautiful as her. Wearing a royal blue bikini she looked almost like a goddess. The water on her skin made it so she was practically glowing. A dreamy sigh leaves Percy's lips capturing the attention of the blonde girl next to him.

"What's got you so distracted, Percy?" Annabeth questions as she ties her hair up into a messy bun." I told you that the others will be here soon. Y-are you even listening to me seaweed brain?" She huffs putting a hand on her hip when Percy doesn't answer. He just continues looking towards the water.

"What's up with him?" Thalia asks as she lays down her beach towel her black and blue one piece fitting her style perfectly.

"Beats me." Annabeth shrugs" He's been staring off into space for some time now and I don't think he's coming back any time soon." She waves a hand in front of his face and Thalia chuckles as she begins putting sunscreen on.

"Definitely not coming back any time soon."

*************************

"Move, Zu!" I cry out laughing as I fight against the girl dragging me out of the water and towards our things.

With her locs pulled back in a low ponytail Zu shakes her head." Nope! Your going to talk to him!" She commands smirking.

Whining I twist in her arms to look to back at our older sister, well she's only 3 minutes older than Zu, but she's still older." Zuri! Tell her to put me down!" I beg pouting.

Zuri let's out a pleased laugh instantly making me groan." Oh not you too!" Rolling her eyes, Zuri points a finger at me." You're talking to him. We saw the way he was looking at you and don't think we didn't notice how hard you trying not to stare back at him."

Setting me down, Zu puts her hands on her hips." Girl, stop being such a guppy. It's clear you both are attracted to each other. Now go and talk to him or else Zuri and I are going to drag you over there."

Pouting I cross my arms." I am not a guppy!" I glance back at the black haired boy biting my lip." He is handsome...and his eyes," I sigh", they're as beautiful as the sea itself...."

"So?" Zuri asks tilting her head to the side.

Taking a deep breath I look at them." I...can't do it." I then try to run back to the water but they're quick to follow me.

**************************

"She winked at you, seaweed brain! I'm pretty sure that was a sign." Thalia says exasperated as Percy shakes his head." Do you see her? She's basically a goddess! There's no way she'll talk to me." Everyone groans or either rolls their eyes at the son of Poseidon.

"She's looking over here." Nico mutters glancing at his cousin.

"If you don't go talk to her I'm going to offer her a spot in the Hunt." Thalia says firmly causing Percy's eyes to widen.

"Plus, she's showing clear signs that she's interested and she's obviously looking at you. Not making a move is something you're gonna regret." Piper says shrugging as Jason feeds her chip. "She's also running away." He adds earning a smack on the shoulder

Sighing, Percy gets up" Fine. I'm going."

***********************

"Ugh! Fine!"

Wrapping my cover up around my waist I stomp off in the direction of the boy who caught my eye. I'm not angry. I'm just being dramatic because I know my sisters are right. As I'm walking I see that the boy is walking towards me as well. He rubs his neck nervously and I can't help but smile. Getting a bit closer I feel my face heating up.

"Hi."

"Hi."

I look at him surprised for a moment before laughing. He joins in instantly making me feel at ease.

"I'm Nia."

He smiles brightly almost making me coo at the way his face lights up but I control myself.

"I'm Percy and you're really pretty." He blurts out making me laugh.

"Thanks. I think you're pretty cute too."

I smirk as his cheeks . I go to say something but there are screams from the water causing me to turn around in alarm. People run from the water mothers holding tightly to their children and couples race to safety from something I can't see.

"Whirlpool!" Someone cries out causing even more panic.

"Whirlpool?" Percy and I voice our confusion at the same time. Looking up at him I notice he's already looking at me.

"Jinx!" We call out before giggling

"Nia!"

"Percy!"

Zu and Zuri come running over to me while a group of teenagers around our age run over to Percy.

"What's going on?" Percy and I ask just as a strange noise comes from the water causing us all to look. At first there's nothing but soon a lump begins rising out of the water. The way the sun shines against it sort of makes it look like a wet stone but I get the feeling that it is not a stone.

"Is that a friend of yours Percy?" A blonde girl asks using a hand to shield her face from the sun so she can see better.

"Nope. I have no idea what that is."

"Ikaki." Percy and his friends look at me curiously.

"Ikaki? What's that?" A blonde girl asks her eyes filled with suspicion and it's clear she's analyzing me and my sisters.

"It is a creature from our homeland....but how it got here I have no idea. They usually live in rivers." Zu mutters trying to think of a possible explanation but I know we can't waste time. We have to get rid of it even if it means exposing ourselves to demigods.

Calling out to my sisters I immediately begin giving orders." Zuleika, see if you can talk to it. If you can ask, why it's here and how it got here." She nods before taking off towards the water wasting no time in diving beneath the waves.

Percy and his friends are clearly alarmed as they see her disappear." Are you sure that's a good idea? What if that thing is dangerous?" A pale boy with shades on asks his voice not showing too much emotion but I can tell he's curious.

Turning to the group I shake my head" She'll be fine. Trust me." I say before turning to Zuri." Check to make sure no one was pulled under. It's clearly either hungry or in distress." She nods before disappearing into the water.

Looking to Percy and his friends I biting my lip as I walk backwards into the water." Stay here. You won't know how to deal with this and I don't want any of you getting hurt."

As I turn to go further into the water I feel someone grab onto my arm.'' Wait! You're not going to be safe either. Let me help.'' Percy says making me smirk as I look up at him.

''You are free to follow me son of Poseidon, but stay out of our way.''

I giggle at the cute confused look that comes on his face. He looks sort of like a puppy as he tilts his head to the side.

''How did you-''

I shake my head as I pull him along with me'' Aht Aht. We don't have time for talking.''

I pull him along with me until we're waist deep in the water'' Tẹle mi ati pe iwọ yoo rii.'' I whisper as I kiss him on the cheek. Pulling away from him I then dive into the water leaving the option to follow me up to him. As I swim further I can see my sisters and I can feel the familiar tinngling in my legs which tends to come with my transformations. Clearly the ikaki has stopped it's dance of death and now seems to be getting help staying afloat by Zuri and Zuleika. Usually ikaki are water spirits that take on the form of man-eating tortoises but they live in rivers. Not oceans, so I'm certain you can understand our confusion when we saw, or more like sensed, the ikaki's presence.

''What's going on?''

''He's disoriented and doesn't know how he got here. The last thing he remembers is eating some poor fool that got too close to him.'' Zuleika says shrugging which results in a groan from the ikaki.

I laugh'' I'm sure he was good, but we have to get you back home. Which river do you live in?''

The ikaki lets out another grunt and I nod.'' Zamfara River. Got it.''

''Nia?'' A familiar voice asks shocked

Looking behind me I smile as I see Percy.'' Just one moment.''

Zuri hands me a pearl and I kiss it causing it to glow. It floats out of my hand water swirling around it until it opens into a portal revealing a river bank.

''Here you go big guy.'' Zuri and Zu help the ikaki through the portal making sure he's all the way through and safe on the other side before waving as the portal closes.

Turning back to Percy I smirk.'' I'm certain this isn't what you expected, huh?''

He nods slowly'' Uh...you have tails.''

Raising an eyebrow I look at the twins and their matching red tails. The bottom of their tales, however, are black. I then look down at my own tail which is a deep blue, and just above my fins is a gold ring.

I giggle'' Yes. We have tails Percy.''

Zu rolls her eyes'' Haven't you seen a mermaid before? I thought you were supposed to be a son of Poseidon?'' She teases making Zuri giggle.

''Knock it off you two.'' 

I swim closer to Percy tilting my head to the side'' We have to go. Our mother will want to know what happened.''

Percy's eyes widen and he grabs my hands.'' But how am I going to find you? What happened to the...the''

''The ikaki is safe at home.'' I laugh as I give him a quick kiss on the corner of his mouth.

''And I'll find you. Don't worry.'' I give him one more kiss on the cheek before pulling away from him.

''Bye Percy~'' The twins sing teasingly before swimming away.

Giggling I blow him a kiss before swimming after the twins not missing the small 'whoa' that comes from Percy. It only makes me ore excited for our next meeting.

********************

A/N: Stupid tumblr ate my PJ stories so I’m reposting them...and if it looks weird it’s cuz I copied it from my Wattpad. 🙄 Enjoy tho!

@stars8melanin @prettyvintageafternoon

[redhoodssweetheart]

Under the Sea

Genre: Supernatural/Paranormal

Pairing: Loki x Mermaid!Reader

Requested: Yes (REQUESTS ARE CLOSED THIS IS AN OLD ONE)

Word Count: 4.5K

Warnings: Angst, fluff, mermaids being tortured and killed, some suicidal thoughts but no graphic details 

Description:  You’re a mermaid that has been captured by HYDRA.  Loki and the Avengers find you but not before you witness your entire family and friends murdered by the terrorist group.  Soon you find a family with the Avengers, but will you be able to stay?

The glass of the tank you were being held in was thick and a little cloudy.  You weren’t sure how long you had been here but your tale hurt and you were weak.  Your captors fed you the bare minimum and their constant experiments had left you despondent and unresponsive.  It had been maybe two weeks since your sister and friend had been killed by them.  They had gotten all they could out of her.

You had screamed and banged against the wall of your tank as they dumped her onto the dirty floor and you watched her writhe in pain as they injected her with some type of liquid.  One of the men had come to stand in front of your tank, you could tell he was grinning, clearly enjoying this.  They left her on the floor for you to look at for several hours before dragging her away.

You weren’t sure when they would come for you, when they would decide that you were no longer useful to them.  Maybe they were trying to play mind games with you and see how well you responded to the stress.  There were the low moments when you wished that they would just end you already, you wanted this to be over, to enter whatever afterlife awaited you.

But that day wasn’t coming anytime soon because a new man approached your tank, “I need backup in lab three.”  You perked up at the different accent to his voice, you had never heard an accent like his before.  “You all need to see this.”

A second later four other people joined the first man.  “Lift the lid,” one of the new men said, through the glass you could tell that he had blonde hair and was broad shouldered.

The first man, he had longish black hair, lifted the lid of your tank and you pressed yourself closer to the glass of the tank.  He peered down at you and his eyes met yours, he saw how terrified you were.  “She’s frightened.  Wanda,” he turned away from you and waved a woman over.  “Can you do anything?”

You were shaking your head, “Please no more.”  The group seemed startled to hear you speak.  It was hoarse sounding, you hadn’t spoken in so long.  “No more.”

The woman, Wanda, held up her hands, “We’re not going to hurt you, please just let us help you.”

You whimpered but you were trapped in the tank.  There were too many of them and you were too weak to do anything to fight them off if you wanted.  The woman’s hands seemed to glow red and then you were blacking out.

When you came too it was dark outside, that took a moment to register.  That and the wide open space that you had.  You were staring up at the night sky which you hadn’t been able to see for months.  You could see the familiar comforting presence of the constellations.  Looking around the bottom of wherever you were you could tell that you were not back in the sea, but that you were no longer in a tiny tank.

Carefully you pushed off the bottom of the pool and broke the surface to get a better look at your new surroundings.  The building that you were in was made out of glass and beyond you could see wide open spaces of green grass and a few trees.  Wherever you were it was no longer that dingy laboratory.

“You’re with the Avengers,” the voice of the man from earlier spoke.  You spun around and saw him leaning against the wall.  You ducked below the water a little bit, but he held up his hands.  “You don’t have to be afraid, I won’t hurt you.”

Narrowing your eyes you came back up and said, “Humans were the ones that captured me, how can I trust you?”

He smirked, “Well for starters I’m not human.”

You cocked your head to the side and stared at him quizzically, “You look human.”

“I come from a planet called Asgard,” he pointed toward the sky.  “Somewhere up there in the mess of a galaxy we live in.”

You looked to the sky and then back at the man, “Do all planets have beings that look human then?”

He moved closer and you backed away, but he merely sat down in front of you, “Not all planets, no, but some do.  Asgard is one of those planets.”  Suddenly there was light all around you and you twirled in a circle as you came to realize that whatever this was were different planets.  “It’s an illusion,” the man’s voice said.  “I can conjure them.  This is the galaxy,” something shifted and this time you saw a closer view of a new planet that appeared to be flat, “and this is Asgard.”

You reached up to touch it, but your hand passed through the illusion, it faltered for a second before resuming its shape.  Looking back at the man you said, “How do you get there?”

“A rainbow bridge,” he then showed it to you and you cooed at the different colors.  “Beautiful isn’t it?”

You nodded your head, “Yes.”

The door to the room opened and you hid yourself some more, forgetting where you were and what you had been through.  The woman named Wanda entered and was holding a tray of food.  She offered you a smile, it wasn’t malicious or sinister like your captors’ had been.  It was almost shy.  “I brought some food, I figured you may be hungry.”

She sat it down at the edge of the pool and stepped away from it.  Carefully you swam forward, keeping an eye on her, assessing her for danger.  When you approached the tray you smelled fish and you hoisted yourself up to a seated position.  You poked the fish with your finger and looked up at her, “What did you do to it?”

“Well I cooked it and put some lemon on it, and there’s some seaweed chips there if you’d like.  We weren’t sure what you ate so we tried to stick with things that came from the ocean,” she explained.

“No, what did you do to it?  Did you poison it, put drugs in it?”  You frowned, you weren’t going to be tricked by this human.

Wanda seemed to realize what you meant and said, “Nothing, we didn’t put anything in it.  Doctor Cho put some vitamins in there to help you regain your strength, but there’s nothing harmful.”

Poking the fish again with your finger you gently picked up a ‘seaweed chip’ and sniffed it.  It smelled all right so you took a tentative bite out of it.  Not the most appealing thing, but it was food.  Picking the fish up next you ate hurriedly, this was the first good meal you had had in awhile.

“Would you like more?”  The man asked.  You nodded your head and he stood, “I’ll get it Wanda.”

“Thanks Loki,” she responded with a smile.  When he was gone she turned back to you.  “The men that had you can’t hurt you anymore.  We took care of them.”  She watched as you pushed some of the bones from the fish around on your plate.  “I know humans have given you no reason to trust us, but we’re not going to do anything to you.  We’ll even let you go home.”

Your head perked up, “Home?”

Wanda nodded, “Tony and the others want you to regain your strength, but they said as soon as you’ve recovered we can take you back to wherever you came from.”

You thought of the ocean where you had grown up, the island that you and your group had lived off of.  Then you became sad, Wanda saw your mood shift.  “I have no home,” you whispered.  “They took them all.”

Wanda’s hand covered her mouth for a second, her heart breaking for you.  She knew what it was like to be alone in the world.  “I’m so sorry.  I know that may not mean much, but I know what it’s like to lose family.  I’m alone with no home too.”

You looked back at the woman, saw the sincerity in her eyes, “Who were they?”

“They’re known as HYDRA.  There’s a man here, his name is Bucky, he was captured and experimented on by them as well.  They’re a group of bad humans that want to take over the world.”

You moved your tail up and down in the water watching as you brought it up and little rivers of water running off of it.  “We’ve always feared humans,” you started saying.  “People either killed us or used us for money.  We thought we were safe, there were no humans around and then one day those men came.”  Your eyes drifted up to the field beyond the glass walls of the enclosure.  “They killed most of us, but took me and five others.  Mermaids… we have families, but most of us form bonds with others when we’re old enough, go out on our own.  I had to watch as my family suffered or were killed.  Mermaids I had known for many years were abused, and now I’m the last one of my family.”  Something wet hit your cheeks and you reached up to wipe whatever it was away.

“They’re called tears,” Wanda said softly and you curled your hand into a fist to hide the wetness.

“Before you came there was one more, my sister if you will, they dumped her onto the floor, injected her with some kind of serum and forced me to watch her writhe in pain.  Forced me to witness her lying on that dirty floor as if she were some unwanted piece of trash.”  You wrapped your arms around yourself, “I thought I would be next, but then you showed up and took me.”

The door to the enclosure opened once more and the man, Loki, stepped back in with more food.  You murmured a thank you and ate a bit more slowly this time.  Wanda stood and whispered something to Loki who nodded.  She said goodnight and exited leaving you and Loki alone.  “I’ll let you eat and rest in peace.  Someone will be by in the morning with more food and Doctor Cho will probably come to see you and take your vitals.”

“All right,” you met his gaze.  “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” he said before he disappeared right before your eyes.

Loki didn’t lie, in the morning the blonde man from the place you had been held captive in came along with a very pretty woman.  “Hello,” he said with a bright smile.  You were in the center of the pool not sure if you wanted to wander closer, he held a tray of food and you wanted to get some, but were unsure of what he wanted.  “My name is Steve and this is Doctor Cho, I believe Loki and Wanda told you about us last night.”

You nodded and slowly moved closer.  Doctor Cho knelt beside the pool and said, “What’s your name?”

“Y/N,” you said.

Her smile was warm and inviting, “My name is Helen Cho, and I’m a doctor.  I’m here to make sure that you become healthy again so we can send you back to wherever you came from.”  She patted the surface beside her, “Do you mind sitting beside me?”

You pulled yourself up onto the side of the pool like you had done with Wanda the night before.  “Are you gonna do anything that’ll hurt?”

“No,” Helen responded calmly.  She pulled out something long and weird looking, you had never seen anything quite like it before.  “This is a stethoscope, it’ll allow me to listen to what’s going on inside your body.  But I’m not used to treating mermaids like yourself, so is there anything I should know beforehand?”  You shook your head and she placed the stethoscope on your chest, it was cold which made you jump, and she murmured a sorry.  When she was done she said, “Everything sounds okay, but I can tell where you’ve been malnourished.  I’ve got a couple vitamins for you.  I apologize now because I took a blood sample last night but I needed to know what the next steps in treating you should be.  I have a few things that I want you to take, supplements that’ll help you in the healing process.  They’ll be incorporated in your meals and I’ll check back daily to see how you’re doing.”

Instead of saying anything you nodded and she took her leave after that to go make some notes in your chart.  Steve on the other hand stayed with you.  “Wanda told me about what happened to you last night.  I’m sorry that you had to go through all of that.”

“Why did you save me?”  You met his blue eyes and could see sincerity and sadness there.  “You knew nothing about me, what if I was dangerous?”

“You didn’t look dangerous, you looked scared,” Steve responded.  “I’m not in the habit of leaving people behind.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” another voice spoke and you both looked up to see a brown haired man enter the room.  One of his arms looked different, it wasn’t the same as Steve’s or Loki’s or even his right arm.  “The name’s Bucky.”

“You were held by the people by me,” Wanda had told you about him last night.

“I thought that Buck would be able to help you some since he has some experience with these men,” Steve said.  “I’ll give the two of you some privacy.”

Bucky waited until Steve was gone before he said, “Listen you don’t have to tell me anything, and you don’t have to talk.  But I wanted you to know that if you ever need someone that has an understanding of what it’s like I’m here for you.”

The offer was nice and it did make you feel slightly better that there was someone here that understood the pain you had gone through.  “Can… can I ask you something?”

“Sure go ahead,” he said.

You pointed to his arm that looked different, “What is different about that arm from everyone else?”  

Bucky held it out to you, “You can touch it if you like.”  You hesitated, searching his face for any signs of being uncomfortable or trying to see if this was some kind of trap.  In the end you hesitantly reached out and ran your fingers over the surface. It was smooth and cool to the touch and you looked back up at Bucky with wide eyes.  He chuckled, “It’s made out of a metal called Vibranium.  I lost my real arm many years ago fighting the people that took us hostage.  Shuri made this for me, she’s this brilliant woman from a country called Wakanda.”

“And it acts as a real arm?”

“Yep,” he flexed his fingers and moved his arm as if he would his flesh one.  “Technology is great for things like this.”

Bucky stayed with you for a little over an hour before he was called away for training of some sort.  When you were alone you took the opportunity to swim around your new space.  You were happy that it was spacious and that you had room to move around.  It was already ten times better than the tank that these HYDRA people had put you in.  And the people here seemed trustworthy enough, they hadn’t given you a reason not to trust them.

Your mind flashed to Loki and what he had done the night before with the… what had he called them?  Illusions?  

Whatever they were you hadn’t seen anyone do anything like that before.  You wondered if all Asgardians could do the tricks that he could.  

As if summoned by your thoughts he appeared by the edge of the pool.  You shrunk down in the water some, not expecting him to just appear out of nowhere.  “How was your visit with Sergeant Barnes?”

You swam closer to him, your tail slapping against the surface of the water lightly.  “It was… informative?”  You weren’t sure if that were the right word to use.  “He was very kind and patient with me.”

Loki nodded his head and then he asked, “Do you mind if I join you?”

“In the pool?”  You asked a bit startled.

He smirked, “Yes, in the pool.  We used to use it for exercise, but Tony had it converted for your personal use.”

You felt slightly bad that you had taken up something that they used for daily activities.  You moved away from the wall, “Go ahead.”

Loki removed his shirt and you saw the toned planes of his chest and abdomen and quickly glanced away before he could catch you staring.  You had seen men shirtless plenty of times, all your mermen friends swam around shirtless, but Loki had you feeling differently.  Before you could consider the line of thinking you had taken he jumped in and the water splashed against you slightly.

Ducking under the water you watched as he swam toward you and paused a few inches away.  The two of you stared at one another for the longest time.  Loki liked seeing you like this, seeing you in your natural state instead of above the waterline.  He knew he couldn’t stay like this forever, he would need air at some point, but he just wanted to watch you for a little while longer.

He understood the stories of why sailors would drown when they came across mermaids.  He was mesmerized by you.

You swam a bit closer to him and hesitantly reached for his hand.  There was something you could do in order to let him breathe underwater, to let him stay in the water for as long as he wished.  You motioned for him to follow you up knowing that he probably needed air.  When the two of you broke the surface you said, “There’s a gift I can give you.  I can let you breathe underwater for as long as you like.”  His eyes lit up at the prospect.  “But I need to kiss you….”  You trailed off wondering how he would take the news.  “I’ve never done this before, but it’s very well known by my people.  I’ve seen it done before.”  Loki was quiet and you grew worried, “You don’t have too.”

“No!”  He said quickly.  “I want to.”  He moved closer so that the two of you were chest to chest.  “This is not how I imagined our first kiss would go though.”

You blinked, “Wait, what?”

He smirked and brushed a finger against your cheek, his eyes trailing down to your lips and then back up to meet your gaze.  “I’ve become infatuated with you, Y/N,” he admitted.  “I laid awake the other night wondering what you were doing, if you were okay, were you sleeping well.  I even wanted to come down here and spend time with you.”

“But… but why?”  You weren’t sure why he would like you, the two of you hadn’t known one another long and you were two completely different species.  “I’m not like you.  I can’t leave this pool and I’ll need to return to the sea at some point.  We’re doomed to fail.”

He rested his forehead against yours, “Darling, I’ve come back from the dead so many times at this point that nothing is impossible.  Have faith that we’ll figure something out.”

A little thrill ran through you when he called you ‘darling’ and you wanted to believe that something could work out.  That you could find a way out of this and be with him forever.  Before any more concerns or worries could be voiced he closed the distance between you and him and sealed his confession with a kiss.  Everything melted away and all that existed was you and him in the pool.

You held him close, running your fingers through his hair as he kissed you, his teeth lightly nipping at your lower lip.  You weren’t sure how long the kiss lasted for, but you didn’t want it to end.  You had never been kissed like this before and the feelings Loki ignited in you made you feel more alive than you ever had before.

Too soon the kiss ended and Loki was called away for a mission leaving you alone in the pool.

Weeks passed and Loki spent more time with you.  The others came to visit with you as well.  You liked Bucky the most besides Loki, seeing as how you and he had similar backgrounds with HYDRA.  Steve and Wanda would be next on the list of people you enjoyed visiting with.  Helen came to check on you periodically and one day she gave you the news you simultaneously looked forward to hearing and dreaded at the same time.

“You can go back to the sea,” she said with a bright smile, thinking that this news would thrill you.  Instead she was met with a forlorn look, “Y/N, is something the matter?”

You hoisted yourself up onto the ledge of the pool and looked at Helen, “What if I don’t want to leave?  What if I wish to remain here?”

She considered your words for a moment, “You need the open space of the ocean to thrive, Y/N.  The pool isn’t near big enough for you to get the proper exercise that you need.  And don’t you wish to find more mermaids and try to start over?”

Your mind flashed to Loki and you chewed on your lip, “I don’t know if they’ll accept me.  Plus I’ve made so many friends here and I don’t want to leave them behind.”

Helen wasn’t sure what to say to that, but she told you to think things over and decide what you felt was best, but she highly urged you to go back to your home.  Bucky appeared not too long after Helen left and he took in your sour mood.  “What’s got your tail in a bunch?”

Normally his attempt at tail or mermaid humor was funny, but you weren’t feeling up to the humor today.  “Doctor Cho said I could go home.”

“Hey that’s great!”  He said, unsure of what the problem was.

“No it’s not!”  You cried.  “It means I have to leave you and the others… and Loki.”

Bucky suddenly realized what the problem was, “You love him, don’t you?”

“It’s silly isn’t it?”  You questioned.  “I haven’t known him for very long and yet I love him.  We were doomed from the start.”

Bucky rested a hand on your shoulder, “It’s not silly, Y/N.  It’s sweet and I know that this is hard, but maybe we can do something.  Maybe Tony or Bruce or someone can come up with a serum to make you human.”

You looked at him, hope filling you, “Really?”

He nodded, “I’ll go talk to them and see what they say.”  He playfully hit your chin and said, “Keep your chin up, we’ll figure something out.”

You didn’t tell Loki that Helen had given you the all clear to go home.  You had made the others promise not to tell him anything either.  You didn’t want to get his hopes up all for it to come crashing down around them.

Tony and Bruce worked tirelessly on a way to make you human.  They went through files on the super soldier serum and began modifying them to work for their needs.  Then they came to you and told you everything was ready.  “There is a chance that you won’t live through this,” Bruce warned.  “Are you sure it’s what you want?”

You nodded, “Yes.” They got you on a stretcher and led you to a lab where some of the others were waiting.  They looked worried and you knew how serious this was.  No one wanted to see this experiment fail.  They got you into the machine and began prepping you just as the doors to the lab burst open.  “Stop!”

Loki rushed to your side, but Bucky held him back.  “It’s okay,” you told him.  “I want this.”

Loki knew the dangers of this, he had heard what Steve had gone through, “Y/N, don’t risk yourself like this, please.”

Everyone waited to see what you would say, but you looked at Tony and said, “Start the procedure.”

The tube closed around you sealing you in and you could hear Loki shouting at them to stop this madness that this couldn’t possibly be what you wanted.  Light began filling the tube and you closed your eyes against the brightness and winced as you started to feel pain throughout your body.

At one point you screamed and heard Loki demand that they stop, but they kept going.  Soon enough it was over and you were still breathing, but you felt different.  When the tube opened you stumbled out, someone catching you before you could fall to the ground.  “Y/N,” Loki’s voice was there, his hand on your back trying to soothe you.

Your eyes were locked on where your tail had once been, but instead you found legs here.  It had worked.  “I’m human,” you said in hushed amazement.  “I’m human!”  You looked up at Loki, saw his eyes shining with unshed tears and kissed him.  Holding him close, you didn’t have to leave anymore.  You could stay.

“Come with us,” Tony said and Loki helped you walk through the halls of the Avengers compound for the first time.  You took in the walls, some had pictures hanging from them others were bare.  This is what your friends saw on a daily basis while you were trapped in the pool.  Tony led you back to the pool and gestured toward it, “Get your feet wet.”

You sat down and dipped your feet into the pool, almost instantly your tail was back and you yelped.  “What the hell?!”

It was Bruce that explained this to you, “We were able to sequence the serum so that when you have salt water hit you you’ll turn back into a mermaid.  When your legs dry off then your legs will return.”

You pulled your tail from the water and Loki helped you dry it off and soon the legs returned.  You got up and hugged Tony and Bruce unsure of how to properly thank them for the gift that they had given you.

The team took you under their wings and helped train you.  It took awhile to get used to walking and then running, but you were soon doing it with expert ease.  Loki helped you learn how to defend yourself and the two of you were constantly together.  Tony had offered to give you your own room, but you stayed with Loki.  You didn’t want to leave his side.

Months turned into years and you still managed to find happiness with the Avengers, even helping them with missions that involved water.  You had lost your family, but you had also found one, and while you sometimes missed your fellow mermaids nothing could ever pry you away from the Avengers or Loki.

[willow-salix]

FabFiveFeb Alan!

Finally got this bugger edited, so here it is, my offering for Alan week of @gumnut-logic​ FabFiveFeb. Once again I’ve written what my daughter plotted with a few of my own tweaks thrown in.

“Is there really nothing else to do around here?” Alan whispered to Selene, jolting her awake from the sleepy doze she was enjoying stretched out on a sun lounger. “How can you just lay around here all day?”

“Like you don’t do the same every day at home?” she grumbled, stretching out in an effort to wake up. She'd never admit it, but she was getting a bit bored with having nothing to do, hence the impromptu nap time. 

“That’s different, I’ve got things there to do.”

“You mean you have technology?” Selene grinned evilly. “Whereas here it’s-”

“Like I’ve gone back in time to 2015 and the graphics suck, " he groaned. 

“Come on, it’s not that bad, don’t you like the peace and quiet?” Selene’s family home was indeed very quiet, set apart from the other houses on the street, it backed out into a small but flower filled garden that held nothing but the sun loungers they were currently occupying, the picnic table their drinks were on, a slightly rusted BBQ, some yoga mats and a bird bath in the shape of a frog on a lily pad.

Alan looked towards Selene's cool, but rather weird, younger brother who was currently doing some kind of yoga crossed with Tai Chi that seemed to have a little of that 1970’s disco type of dancing thrown in for good measure.

“Adam, help me,” he begged, trying to invoke the bro code. 

“Chill out, little dude, it’s all good," Adam said, his sleepy tone the perfect accompaniment to his snail like movements. 

“Nothing about this is good,” Alan huffed, feeling dismissed and beyond frustrated. He was seriously regretting offering to go with her for a visit under the mistaken belief that time spent away from his brothers with his cool sister-in-law would be awesome. But no, he’d been stuck there for three days and they’d done nothing but talk about boring things that he couldn’t really join in with because he didn’t share the same memories that they did and watch TV in the evenings. The only positive thing was the quality of the food on offer.

“How did you grow up like this and not die of boredom?”

“We made our own fun, we’d read, draw, do arts and crafts, go on days out and-”

“Days out? Where did you go?” Alan jumped on that information like John on a double cheeseburger after a month in space.

Selene thought about it for a moment or two. “The seaside?” she offered. "That was always our favourite place to go and somewhere we always looked forward to, a rare treat really."

“The beach? Yes! Can we go?” he gave her his best pleading puppy eyes and she was, as he well knew, powerless to resist.

“Well…” she dithered, caught between spending time in her family home with her mum as it came up to what would have been her parents 30th wedding anniversary and the need to do more than sit around and mope, especially if that moping meant that her littlest love had a crap time.  “Ad’s, are you up for a road trip to Southend?”

Her brother paused in his Night Fevering to look at her. He seemed to think about it for far longer than was necessary before nodding. 

“I could go for that. Wanna take my car?”

                  ***

“I’m never getting in a car with your brother again,” Alan shuddered, still looking a little stressed out by the whole experience.

“Yet you’ll get in a jet with Scott?”

“Scott goes faster than 25 mph and he knows what road signs are,” Alan explained in the same tone that John adopted whenever he was explaining to her why she actually needed an investment portfolio. 

“Road signs are all part of the conspiracy, man, they just want you to follow blindly and never question where they are sending you.”

“To the beach, they were sending us to the beach,” Alan continued to bitch. Selene couldn’t blame him, two hours in a car with her brother's sitar music, cloud of vape smoke and tendency to lose track of their destination was enough to make anyone a little antsy. Maybe now he'd stop complaining when she took too long to fly them to her flat. 

They left the car park and headed towards the seafront. Thankfully, with it being a weekday and term time, there weren't too many people about. As always the sea was a dirty grey colour, nothing like the clear blue they were used to on the island and Selene could tell that Alan was looking at it with thinly veiled disgust.

Southend had been promoted to a historic seaside town back in 2038 and hadn’t changed since. The lights of the out of date arcades still flashed in welcome, drawing Alan’s attention almost immediately, the little beach huts still offered deck chair rental and the amusement park with its clanking, clunking kiddy rides and its ancient roller-coaster still drew some crowds. 

“See that there?” she pointed out towards the sea. “That’s still the longest pleasure pier in the world.”

“Pleasure Pier? Did you have to make that sound so dirty?” Alan groaned.

“Sorry, but that’s what it’s called, there are different classifications and one that has no purpose but for leisure activities like this one, is known as a pleasure pier.”

“I didn't know that, but it still doesn’t make it any better,” he muttered as she slipped one arm through his and the other through Adam’s to tow them across the road.

The air was filled with a mixture of freshly fried donuts, fish and chips and the unmistakable scent of the sea and Selene was immediately hungry.

“It’s been such a long time since I’ve been here,” she sighed happily, relaxing into the atmosphere of what had once been one of her favourite places in the world. She could vividly remember how exciting it had been to hear the announcement that they were going to the seaside for the day. That meant an afternoon spent playing on the beach, splashing in the sea, eating dinner out of a paper tray with a little wooden fork and, if you were really lucky, a trip around the sealife center and a floaty helium filled balloon to take home with you.

Looking out down the length of the beach she easily conjured up images of childhood days gone by, seeing her father chasing Adam down the beach as he attempted to make a break for freedom or tried to eat a clump of seaweed while her mother screeched at Rufus to run faster and catch him.

Maybe coming here had been a good idea in other ways too, she pondered. Her mother tended to favour being miserable if it was an option, and often when it wasn't, and had been mooching around the house sighing like she was a Victorian ghost haunting the place. She’d gone out to visit friends for the day, leaving them alone and that had been when Alan had seized his chance. And Selene for one was glad he had, he was always good at sensing when she was in need of cheering up and this time had been no exception.

“Can we start at the arcades?” Alan asked, looking more excited than he had in days. Who was she to disappoint him?

“Sure, lead the way!”

        ***

Two hours later and Selene had finally dragged her brothers away from the bleepy, shiny, flashy machines and back into the fresh air. Alan, it transpired, was almost as good on a claw machine as John and she was now lugging along a whole new family of stuffed toys, all slightly moth eaten and smelling a little suspect but cute nonetheless.

“I’m hungry,” Alan announced.

“Good call, little dude.” Adam, surprising Alan no end, had joined in rather enthusiastically at the arcade, being more active and alert than he’d ever seen him before, displaying a competitive streak that rivaled a Tracy's. But, now that the excitement of gaming had died down, he was back to his chilled and slightly lethargic self.

“Fancy some donuts?” Selene suggested.

“Sis…” Adam drawled. 

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Selene giggled, shoving the stuffed toys into her brother’s arms as she headed to the donut stalls. “I'll get them, you two meet me on the beach.”

Her arms now free of their burden Selene quickly ordered three dozen of the delectable little morsels, something the English called Dinky Donuts, small little ring donuts, freshly fried and drenched in a sprinkling of sugar. Knowing that they’d need them she bought some drinks too and took her bounty back to the boys, proudly displaying her prize.

“I got them!” she yodeled, but no excited sounds were heard in return. “What’s up?” she asked, nudging Alan as she reached his side.

“What the heck is this?”

“The beach, duh. What else could it be?"

He scuffed a toe into the stones at his feet. “This is not a beach, this is all stones. Where's the sand?”

“It’s a pebble beach, most of the British coast is,” she shrugged.

“It’s wrong.”

“If you say so,” she wasn’t in the mood to argue or defend the virtue of their beaches, she had hot donuts to eat. 

“This is not a beach, there’s no surfers, no sand, no lifeguards, no nothing.”

“This is England, we take things at a more chilled pace,” she soothed, dumping a bag on each of the boys' laps.

She took her own and opened it, inhaling the rich scent. Oooh yeah, that hit the spot. She reached in to pluck one out, studying it from all angles, marveling at it's perfection. She lifted it to her mouth prepared for the taste explosion that was about to assault her mouth in the very best of ways…

“Sel!” A sharp Alan elbow embedded itself in her side, making her drop the donut. She watched in horror as it hit the pebbles and rolled away.

“You had better have a good reason for making me sacrifice a donut,” she warned him.

“Over there!” 

Selene turned, following the direction in which Alan was pointing. 

“What? I don’t see anything?” All she saw was the relatively empty beach, nothing but a few seagulls pecking around hopefully, one coming close enough to snag her lost donut, racing off in triumph with it in its mouth. 

“Them,” he pointed again.

“Them? What about them?” The them in question turned out to be a small group of school age boys, the oldest no more than ten years old. They were all holding a number of balloons from the pier, which were bobbing along above their heads and looked perfectly innocent. “They’re just having a day out, could be an inset day or something at school.”

“No, look what that one's holding,” Alan insisted, nodding towards the oldest looking boy who was carrying a small box with holes in it.

Selene squinted closer. “Is that an animal box?” She was amazed that Alan had even noticed such a thing, she hadn’t looked twice at the boys, just seeing a happy group of friends at the seaside on a rare day off school. Alan always seemed like he was paying little attention to anything, more absorbed in his games or phone, but here was the undeniable proof that he was just as good as his brothers and had inherited their danger seeking sense.

“Looks that way,” Alan agreed. 

“It could be innocent,” Selene argued lamely. “Maybe they are just taking their pet on a day out too?"

“Sure, that’s what it’ll be,” Alan said, rolling his eyes. 

“Honestly, it’s something I’d do,” she retorted, feeling the need to defend herself and her wish to believe that there was good in everyone.

“We’ll keep an eye on them,” Alan decided, finally reaching into his own bag for a donut.

As was usually the case, Selene was easily distracted by talking to her brother and just enjoying the novelty of being in a different place to one she was used to. She’d finally grown accustomed to hearing the sound of the ocean at all times of the day and night after so long in a city where traffic was the only ambient noise. b

But here the sound was different to the island, here the waves lapped gently over the pebbles rather than crashing against rocks and she was surprised that she could tell the difference. 

She’d worried, when Alan had suggested going out, that this little beach from her childhood which stood out so bright and shiny in her memories, would look pale and dull in reality. Life was often that way, your memories and imagination creating a perfect picture that was rarely obtainable in the real world and she didn't want her memories tainted by the truth. Thankfully she had been worried over nothing and was finding it just as charming as she had remembered it to be.

“Not bad are they?” she asked, turning to Alan to see how he was enjoying his donut feast but the space next to her was empty.

“Allie?” she called, looking around like he might suddenly pop out of nowhere. Surely she hadn't ignored him for too long? 

“Alan!” she yelled, trying again. He was a big boy now, an adult in his own right, but she got just as panicked when she lost Scott, which was actually easier if you could believe that. Alan was usually happy to hang near her and chill, Scott was always dashing off to look at something or other and would just vanish into the ether without a second thought. 

“Ad’s, have you seen Alan?”

“Yeah, little dude, cool shirt, strange hair.”

“Thanks for that lovely description. I meant did you see where he went?”

Adam nodded, pointing further down the beach to where the small group of school boys stood, Alan beside them, waving his arms violently, clearly yelling at them though she couldn’t hear what he was saying.

“Shit!” Selene was up in a second, grabbing Adam's arm and towing him along in the process, forcing him to abandon his stuffed animal squad to the mercy of the seagulls as they barreled down the beach after Alan. 

"Al," she panted, finally catching up, "what…doing?" 

In answer the small box that the boy had been carrying was thrust into her hands, a disgruntled rustling noise along with a manic scrabbling, coming from inside. 

"Oi! Give that back!" a boy yelled, his piggy nose turned up to the sky in indignation. "We 'ad ta catch that thing ourselves. Ain't no way you're gonna snatch it."

"You're not getting it back," Alan insisted, his arms folded as he firmly stood his ground. 

Selene passed the box on to Adam who was standing there doing absolutely nothing to help, his attention on the balloons floating above them. Once her hands were free she immediately flanked her little brother, knowing that he wouldn't be doing this without a very good reason. 

"What's going on?" she demanded to know, her hands on her hips. "What are you boys up to?" 

"This idiot won't give us it back," the oldest boy and apparently the mouthpiece of the little hoodlum brigade, continued to yell. Selene had seen boys like him before, usually ones with overly aggressive parents that taught their kids that you got what you wanted in life by being obnoxious, rude and threatening. Well not on her watch and apparently not on Alan's either. 

"You're right , I won't," Alan agreed. "Because that is a living creature that you were about to tie to a bunch of balloons."

"Weren't doin' nothin' of the sort. Yer lyin'." 

"You were what?" Selene hissed, her attention fully engaged now that there was the potential for injury of an animal. "You were going to send an innocent animal into the sky on the end of some balloons?" 

"Nah, we weren't," the little bully boy continued to argue, elbowing one of his friends when they opened their mouth to speak. 

"We ain't doing nothin' wrong, were we lads? Nothin' at all. Just a little experiment for school, jus' like teacher said."

"Experiment? What kind of experiment?" Selene asked, narrowing her eyes in warning. 

"Why should we tell you?" the mouthy one sneered. "You ain't nothin'."

"We were just seeing if he could reach space, like. Teacher said that people would send monkeys up in rockets a hundred years ago," another boy piped up, sounding pleased with himself. "Figured we'd try the same out ta sea like a note in a bottle."

"You are so not doing that!" Selene yelped. 

"Yeah, 'ow you gonna stop us?" 

"You wanna say that to the police?" Alan threatened. 

"Police? Yeah righ', like yer gonna jus' call up the police like they actually care. An' then wot, 'ave em come running on the say so of a nobody? Fer this? I don't think so, mate. They don't give a crap."

"Listen up you little shit," Selene started, rapidly losing patience. "You're not getting that…Whatever that is-" 

"Rat," one of the kids helpfully offered. 

"Rat," Selene continued with a little shudder of horror at the fact that they had gone to all the trouble of capturing a dirty rat off the street just to do something cruel to it. "You're not getting it back and you're not going to hurt it. What's wrong with you all?" 

"He's been to space," Adam suddenly piped up, like he was only just catching up to the conversation but still missing the main point, pointing at Alan helpfully. 

"Space, yeah right," another of the boys, a weedy looking string bean that had previously been hiding near the back of the pack, looking at Alan judgingly. None of the boys looked particularly bothered by their threats or the fact that Selene was practically spitting, she was so angry. 

"Al," she demanded, determined to win the little shits respect. "Show them that clip you took last Saturday, the one on your board."

"We can all board, you ain't nothing special," the mouthpiece sneered, not impressed in the slightest. 

Alan pulled out his phone, fiddled with it for a second then showed them the screen where a video was playing, taken from his vlogging drone as he boogied around outside Five on his astroboard. The dark heavens were clearly visible all around him while the earth spun quietly below, and there, if you looked closely, was John, in the background, sitting on the outside of the gravity ring, clearly doing all the work while Alan filmed for Brandon’s channel. The Alan on screen zoomed in a loop the loop, the drone following, the camera angle changing to show Three securely docked to Five.

“That actually is space!” one kid gasped.

“And that’s...that’s…” another stuttered.

“Thunderbird THREE!” someone screamed in excitement.

“Still think I’m a nobody that the police won’t listen to?” Alan asked casually as he pocketed his phone. "Maybe I should skip the police and go straight to the GDF? What do you think, Sel?" 

"Yep, sounds like a plan to me. They take animal cruelty very seriously, you know."

The ring leader visibly deflated before their eyes, but he valiantly tried to hold on to his ‘couldn’t give a shit’ attitude.

“So you know some people, what’s that got ta do with anythin’? You ain’t the boss here.”

“Knock it off, Wendle, it’s over,” one boy ordered, rolling his eyes.

"Wendle?" Alan mouthed to Selene who shrugged in return. Never had a kid looked less like a Wendle in the entire world. 

“Yeah, I never wanted to do this in the first place,” another joined in. 

The first one to have spoken walked away, followed by another, then the other that had spoken. Others trailing after them until the small group had dispersed as if it had never existed, all of them hurrying off down the beach with calls for getting donuts or having to head home.

Wendle managed to stand his ground for less than a minute before he gave in.

“Keep the stupid rat then!” he yelled, taking off after his friends.

Adam, being Adam, waved goodbye like it was the most normal thing in the world, still holding the rat filled box.

Alan let out the breath he’d been holding, visibly shaking, either from anger or adrenaline. He had never been one for confrontation no matter what form it took or who it involved.

“You did good, babe,” Selene praised, giving him a hug.

“Yeah, good, little dude,” Adam agreed, “here, have this, I insist,” he handed him the box with the rat in it like it was some great prize.

“Erm, thanks,” Alan said, gingerly accepting the box of rat, which rustled as the creature inside shifted around. He held the box for a second, looking completely bemused and a little disgusted, suddenly having a very real feeling of compassion for John when he walked in on Selene and Scott doing something weird. 

“What are we going to do with the rat?” he finally asked Selene, who was the only one there since Adam had wandered off to rescue the stuffed animals they had abandoned, snatching up Alan’s dropped bag of donuts and picking one out to munch on.

“I don’t know,” Selene admitted, “I guess we should take it somewhere to release it. Not around here though, maybe back at Mum’s.”

“I guess,” Alan reluctantly agreed, not liking the idea of sitting in a car with a wild rat in a box. 

Since they had gained another tag along, even if it was in a box, they decided to cut the day short, knowing they couldn't drag the rat around with them all day. It had clearly suffered enough, what with being caught and stuffed in a box and having survived a narrow brush with death. It would be better for them to take it straight home and let it go in the relative safety of the garden before it got even more stressed out. 

"I'll drive," Selene insisted, leaving Alan to hold the rat in the back seats, Adam calling shotgun so he could 'pick the tunes, man'. 

With Selene in the driving seat it was a far shorter, not to mention less frustrating, journey back to Casa de Tempest. 

To Selene's intense relief their mother was still out when they got back. She would have pitched a fit if she'd seen them releasing a rat into her garden, she'd never go out there again. 

Adam wandered off the second they got home, muttering something about a tofu log, leaving them alone to release the beast. 

"You can do the honours," Selene smiled, nodding at the box he still held. "Since you were the one to perform the daring rescue. Seriously, you did good today, sweetheart, but I'm really starting to think that I need to stop taking a Tracy with me whenever I go places, you're all the same, nothing but trouble."

Alan blushed at the praise, as always finding it slightly uncomfortable to be the center of attention in such a way, but still happy to get the validation that he'd done the right thing. With so many big brothers who had all been there and done that before he had a lot to live up to and often felt like he couldn't quite match up to them. 

Taking the box over to the bushes near the fence where Selene had indicated, he opened the flaps and stepped back to give the little guy some room. 

The rat didn't move at first, staying inside the box, obviously scared by its experiences. They stayed quiet, giving it time to make up its mind. Finally they saw the box wobble as the rat made its tentative way out. 

"Shit!" Selene yelped, launching herself off her seat so fast Alan barely saw her move. 

"Sel, what are you…doing," he finished, stunned to see her hit the ground, the rat cradled protectively against her chest. 

"Help me up," she wheezed and he did as she bid, helping her to her feet as her hands were occupied. 

"What's wrong? Why did you catch it?" 

"Allie, look," she carefully opened her hands, just a little. A small, pink nose poked out, followed by a pure white snout, a grey face and perfect pink petal ears. 

"Is that…?"

"A domestic rat, yes. This was either someone's pet or it's come from a store. We can't let him go, he'll never survive in the wild."

"Wow, he's so cute. Can I hold him? He won't bite me will he?" 

"I don't know, he seems tame enough but he's had a fright today so I can't promise anything." She carefully placed the rat in Alan's outstretched hands. 

The rat, far from looking terrified, seemed to be perfectly fine now it was out of the box. It sat down on its haunches and began to wash its face with its little paws, one grey, one white. 

"Aww, he's great," Alan cooed, cupping the rat in one hand so he could stroke it gently with the other. "I've always wanted a pet."

Selene sighed, knowing exactly what was coming next, there was no escaping it, it was going to happen… 

"Can I keep him?" 

    ***

"We gotta move fast," Selene instructed. "I've got the cage and the bedding. Have you got the food?"

"Yep," Alan held up the bag with the food, treats and water bottle they had purchased on their way home. The rat was curled up in his new travel bag, which was hanging from Alan's shoulder. 

"Right, we make a break for it, we go straight to your room, don't look back no matter what happens and avoid John and Scott at all costs. Got it?" 

"Got it," he nodded, grinning happily. 

"They're gonna kill me," she sighed, not that there was much she could do about it. "OK, let's go!" 

They raced up the back stairs from the hangars, straight to the upper floors of the villa where the bedrooms were situated, bypassing the more populated communal areas and managing to avoid any and all Tracys. 

They dived into Alan's room, Selene struggling a little, burdened as she was with a three storey cage. Alan cleared a space on his desk and took the cage from her. 

While Alan set up the cage, filling it with fresh bedding and tasty foods, Selene made herself at home on Alan's bed, the rat happily perched on her chest, enjoying an ear fondle. 

"I didn't know you were back," a voice called from the hallway, accompanied by the sound of footsteps. 

Selene and Alan both jumped, their heads turning guilty towards the door they had neglected to shut where a suspicious looking spaceman stood. 

"Hey, gorgeous husband of mine, I've missed you!" Selene chirped, trying to divert his attention as she quickly grabbed the rat and stuffed it in the pocket of the hoodie she'd stolen from Adam. 

John gave her a look that said he'd seen everything.

"What's that?" 

"What's what?" she answered, trying to look innocent. 

"That tail sticking out of your pocket."

"Tail? What tail?" she poked the tail gently back inside.

"Why does Alan have a cage on his desk that he's trying, unsuccessfully I might add, to hide by standing in front of it?" 

"To put Gordon in?" 

One sleek ginger eyebrow rose and they both knew they were wasting their time. They were well and truly busted. 

Alan held out his hand and Selene passed over the rat, who was none the worse for its impromptu expedition into the depths of her pocket. It sat quietly in his hands, happily nibbling on a piece of cereal bar that had already been occupying his hiding place. 

"Where did that come from?" John's foot tapped out a rhythm as he waited for them to spill the beans, leaning against the door frame, his arms folded. 

"Have I told you how hot you look when you're all grumpy and intense like this?" Selene tried. 

"Where did you get the rat?" he repeated ignoring her blatant attempts at distraction. 

"The beach," Alan admitted, caving immediately under the big bro gaze. 

"The beach?" 

"Yep," Alan looked at Selene for backup, cradling the rat who didn't seem to care about any of the drama he was causing. 

"Some boys had him in a box and they were going to tie it to some balloons and let it go but Alan spotted them and stopped them," she explained. 

John glanced at the rat, who was looking very adorable and fat. 

Ever the master of managing her husband, Selene got to her feet and crossed the room to wrap her arms around John's middle. 

"Alan was great, he sprung into action before I even knew what was going on. He rescued him, and really, isn't that what International Rescue does? Rescue people?" 

"That's not a person, that's a rat," John argued, but she could tell he was weakening. 

"Did I mention that I missed you?" she grinned, standing on tiptoes to place a little kiss on his chin. 

John's sigh of surrender was epic. 

"I'm banning you from ever leaving the house again with any of my brothers. What next, a dolphin with Gordon? 

"No, don't be silly. We couldn't bring a dolphin home in my car."

John rolled his eyes ignoring his wife to face his brother. 

"Does that thing have a name?" 

"Yep," Alan answered, grinning proudly as he moved closer, holding the rat out for inspection. 

"John, meet Fuzz Aldrin."

[chaerrie-on-top]

The Stars Aligned For Us

Shy, social outcast Kim Dahyun wishes for a best friend to somehow magically appear in her life (spoiler alert: her wish comes true).

sana x dahyun (+ other twice pairings)

fluffy and angsty 

sfw

Chapter 1

It's a gloomy evening in Seoul, and Dahyun has decided to spend the day curled up on the couch of her tiny apartment. She had been watching movies and dramas since she got home from class around three hours ago, waiting for the rain to pass over. The rain had stopped maybe twenty minutes ago, but Dahyun wasn't quite ready to depart from the warm, cozy couch. Scooping up another handful of popcorn, Dahyun shovels it into her mouth while giggling at the funny scene playing on the TV in front of her. She hears the front door leading into the apartment jiggle, and quickly searches for the remote to pause the drama as she doesn't want to bother her roommate. Her heart speeds up and her sweaty palms pat the blanket and cushions of the couch as she blindly feels for the remote. Dahyun's roommate, Chaeyoung, rounds the corner of the hallway leading to the living room, the girl a bit wet from the rain.

"Hey," Chaeyoung smiles, kicks her shoes off and leaves them at the shoe cubby at the end of the hallway. She reaches up and gathers her long, shiny black hair in her hands. Chaeyoung makes a sound of annoyance as she ties it into a low ponytail: her previously styled hair now disheveled from the rain.

"Hi." Dahyun replies. "H-How was class?" Dahyun almost rolls her eyes at herself, frustrated with how even the smallest interaction makes her flustered. She wipes her sweaty palms on the knit blanket draped over her body, her empty hands making her realize she never found the remote.

Chaeyoung shrugs, makes her way across the room and into the kitchen joint to the living room. "It was okay: kinda boring. Would've been better without the rain." Dahyun's head is spinning with anxiety, so she just musters out a noise of acknowledgment. She saves herself the embarrassment of stumbling over her words. Chaeyoung grabs a glass of water and some seaweed chips before announcing her plans to go study. Dahyun nods in, again, acknowledgment and watches Chaeyoung disappear into her bedroom. Dahyun lets out a sigh; the interaction is over but she's still dizzy.

Dahyun's phone, which had been sitting on the coffee table, suddenly starts ringing. Startled, Dahyun slaps on hand over her heart while the other reaches forward and snatches the phone up. "Ah, hello?"

"Hello, Dahyun-ah you sound flustered," its Dahyun's mother on the other end.

"I was talking to my roommate. I didn't expect my phone to ring so suddenly."

"Oh, okay. Finally you're talking to someone. Are you still eating lunch alone?"

Dahyun sighs, her lips pulling down into a frown. She feels a heavy burden settle on her shoulders as her mom starts her daily lecture. "No, mom."

"Why not? What have I been telling you?" Dahyun's mom starts. Her tone is firm, but has an underlying sense of care towards her daughter. "You want to be alone. Hm? You don't want any friends?"

"No, I do..."

"Then why aren't you making any?"

Dahyun's shoulders feel heavy and she sinks back into the couch. Her stomach twists, heart sinking. "I don't know. Mommy, I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me, Dahyun-ah. I want you to enjoy college. Study hard, but it shouldn't be the only thing you do. Make time for friends, too, okay?" Her mom reasons.

Dahyun nods to herself, "Okay. I'm gonna go on a walk: its been raining all day and I'm tired of being pent inside. I'll call you tomorrow."

"Alright, go eat dinner Dahyun-ah. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye."

***

About fifteen minutes later and Dahyun finds herself at a local park only down the street from her apartment complex. As expected, the gloomy weather leaves the park empty. Walking straight through the park, Dahyun follows the hiking trail the runs alongside it, leading deep into the forest at the edge of the park. Dahyun knows the park and trail like the back of her hand, as Dahyun had been brought her a lot in her childhood by her grandparents. The thing was; Dahyun's hometown was about an hour or so away from the college she was currently studying at. However, her grandparents only lived about fifteen minutes from the college, so she was quite familiar with the area as she grew up her every summer. Dahyun thought to herself about how she would have to call them soon, perhaps tomorrow after classes were done.

Suddenly, a small black cat runs in front of Dahyun. A friendly creature it was, it comes right up to her and paws at her feet. "Oh," Dahyun gasps, bends down to scratch the feline on its chin. "Are you lost?" the little things collar jingles, and Dahyun reaches towards it. "Ah, your name is Mercury? Hello, Mercury. Let me see who your owner is..."

Miss Celestia, it reads, followed by an address... The address traced back to a shopping center only a five minute walk away, instead of a home address. Dahyun furrows her eyebrows at the strange name. Was it American, maybe? "How am I supposed to return an American her cat if I can't speak English?" she wonders to herself. Regardless, she scoops little Mercury into her arms and heads for the entrance to the park.

Mercury doesn't put up a fight, instead seems to purr and bury it's little face into Dahyun's chest as she is carried. Dahyun runs her hand through the soft, silky black fur. As Dahyun turns out of the park and onto the street, she spots an older woman further down the street. The woman is shaking a small box of kitty treats, and calling out for mercury. Dahyun calls out to her and picks up her pace, meeting the woman half way.

Strangely, Dahyun finds that the woman is in fact Korean; and not American. "Ah," she exclaims. "You found my little Mercury. Thank you so much."

"You're welcome; it's no problem, " Dahyun smiles kindly. She makes a move to hand Mercury over, but the lady reaches out a frail hand and gently touches Dahyun's arm. Dahyun freezes, a small shiver running through her body as she looks back at the little old lady.

"Dear, do you mind doing me one more favor?" She asks, her brown eyes glinting under the sunlight that has finally started to peek out from behind the clouds.

Dahyun shakes her head, "I don't mind. What would you like me to do?"

"Can you carry Mercury back to my shop for me? It's right down this road; it isn't far at all." The woman points down the street, her little hand shaking a bit. "Mercury is stubborn, she won't stay put if I hold her. She seems to like you, darling. "

Dahyun smiles, she thinks the elderly lady is as cute as a button. "Sure, Miss Celestia."

The woman, a bit taken aback at first, looks at her for a moment before breaking into a wide grin. Her little eyes turn into crescents as she looks up at the young girl. Miss Celestia leads the way, making small talk as she tells Dahyun about how Mischievous Mercury escaped the shop. "Ah, she sounds troubling," Dahyun says once the story is finished. Mercury, almost like she knows, lets out a meow.

"Hmm, sometimes she is," Miss Celestia tells her as the two near her shop. "However, I found her after my husband passed. I believe she is a gift from the gods." Miss Celestia kisses the cat's little head, before opening the door into the shop. Dahyun looks up at the sign hanging by the door, reading Celestia's Tarot Shop.Dahyun follows her inside, where she finally sets Mercury down. The cat meows, pretty green eyes casting upwards to look at Dahyun.

"I'm so grateful that you found my Mercury. I don't know what I'd do without her," Miss Celestia comes over and gently takes Dahyun's hands into hers. "Thank you, Dahyun."

Dahyun smiles back at her, the realization that this lady somehow knows her name starts to hit her as the lady turns and rushes over to a tiny table situated towards the middle of the room. "Come, sit. I would like to return the favor."

Shocked, Dahyun follows. She sits across from Miss Celestia, silently watching as the woman whispers to herself. Dahyun looks around the room, inspects the crystals and gems and candles that sit neatly along decorative tables and shelves. Back on the table Dahyun is sitting at, she notices a thick book, stack of tarot cards, and a little pink crystal. Miss Celestia holds her hands out, smiling kindly at Dahyun. "Give me your hands, please, dear."

Hesitantly, Dahyun brings her hands up and onto the table, slowly bringing them to the elderly lady. Soft, wrinkled hands encase themselves around Dahyun. "Because of your kindness, I will grant you a wish." She reaches over with one hand and picks up the pink crystal. "I have enchanted this Amethyst crystal to grant any wish you have," Miss Celestia gently places it into Dahyun's hands. "I sense that you want love and friendship in your life, so I present you this crystal. It will bring them to you."

Dahyun runs her thumb over the smooth surface of the Amethyst, eyes wide and staring at the elderly lady in surprise. Miss Celestia closes her eyes, squeezes Dahyun's hands gently. "Do not stress, dear. You are one of a kind and people will gravitate to you as you are. Carry light and kindness in your heart, and love will come to you." She opens her eyes. "Go on, make your wish."

With one hand still holding Miss Celestia's and the other grasping the crystal, Dahyun brings her free hand to her chest and holds it tight.

School has been difficult and I've been lonely and depressed. I wish for someone to come into my life and stay by my side; a best friend. 

chapter two

chapter three

chapter four

chapter five

[heesulovebot]

wowow than-q dawy bb @itoldsunset​ for the tag! i love doing these 🥺🥺🥺(also ur right rina did deserve a grammy nom but they h8 woc wbk😤)

1. What is the color of your hairbrush? black.

2. Name a food you never eat. i mean i pretty much eat all kinds of food but there’s a lot of things i don’t eat often. if i’m being really picky i’d say i never eat soups but i literally love pho and seaweed soup so idk 🤷‍♀️ 3. Are you typically too warm or too cold? too coooold 🥶 4. What were you doing 45 minutes ago? crying @ work. 5. What’s your favorite candy bar? kit-kat and aero bars were my shit as a kid but i also love any chocolate bar with hazelnuts.

6. Have you ever been to a professional sports game? uhhhh does figure skating count? 7. What is the last thing you said out loud? i yelled to myself in my room because i work remotely & work was being a lil bitch today.

8. What is your favourite ice cream? mint choco chip or the chocolate covered almond vanilla häagen-dazs 👌🏼 9. What was the last thing you had to drink? water. 10. Do you like your wallet? actually no!!! my fave wallet broke years ago but i was still using it even though it didn’t zip up and i was always dropping coins. and then my brother got me an expensive wallet when i moved back to van but it’s literally so ugly and i only use it because i h8 being wasteful 😤😩 11. What is the last thing you ate? cereal for lunch. i was lazy :((( 12. Did you buy any new clothes last weekend? no. i haven’t really left my house at all much the last few months, only for grocery shopping. 13. What’s the last sporting event you watched? again, figure skating? 14. What is your favorite flavor of popcorn? i always ask for the cheddar or salt and vinegar seasoning. 15. Who is the last person you sent a text message to? the gc on kakao.

16. Ever been camping? like a handful of times in my life. as expected, i do not do well in the outdoors lol. 17. Do you take vitamins? i mean i should probably be taking them :((( she deficient lmao. 18. Do you regularly attend a place of worship? nope. 19. Do you have a tan? she pale af rn because of quarantine 😔 20. Do you prefer chinese or pizza? omg....... this is....... the hardest thing i’ve ever had to answer dkjfnkdjnfdk 21. Do you drink your soda through a straw? only if i’m given one. 22. What color socks do you usually wear? black. 23. Do you ever drive above the speed limit? when i do drive, yeah. i’m scared of going too fast 😩 24. What terrifies you? this is too deep, fam. 25. Look to your left, what do you see? my empty cereal bowl from lunch lol.

26. What chore do you hate most? floors!!! i’m weird i hate the simple tasks like i LOVE bleaching shit i will bleach my life away. 27. What do you think of when you hear an Australian accent? not as triggering as the british accent lmaooo australians r turnt. 28. What’s your favorite soda? i’m gonna sound so bougie but those italian san pellegrino sodas the aranciata (orange) is a classic but the aranciata rossa (blood orange) is soooooo goOd. 29. Do you go in a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? if i’m in a car i like to avoid ppl lol. 30. What’s your favorite number? i don’t have one.  31. Who’s the last person you talked to? my roommate when i came out of my room for lunch.

32. Favorite meat? like i love beef but go absolutely fERAL for a good pork belly (@dawy a woman of taste) 33. Last song you listened to? my wife’s new song (meg thee stallion - body)

34. Last book you read? i’m bi i don’t read 💩 35. Favorite day of the week? at the moment? none lmao. 36. Can you say the alphabet backwards? no. 37. How do you like your coffee? i don’t 😌 38. Favorite pair of shoes? i have these like white/green reebok aztreks and they’re srsly so comfy i wear them with everything. 39. Time you normally get up? i wake up at 8 for work. on the other two days i’m at school, i try to wake up early but that never happens and i always miss my first lecture and wake up at 1 lmao 😗✌🏼 40. What do you prefer, sunrise or sunsets? sunsets because i can’t wake up early but also i prefer night time to morning. 41. How many blankets on your bed? gotta have my sheet, my comforter, and since it’s winter i pulled out the ethnic blanket for extra toasty~  42. Describe your kitchen plates. random. they’re my roommate’s. 43. Describe your kitchen at the moment. there is absolutely NO counter space but also that’s probably because we have 2 rice cookers & i wouldn’t change it for anything RICE IS LYFE✌🏼  

44. Do you have a favorite alcoholic drink? i’m basic so my go-to is gin and tonic. with lemon AND lime 😩👌🏼 45. Do you play cards? not like poker or anything but i play a mean speed and go fish lmao. 46. What color is your car? lol 47. Can you change a tire? wtf lol no don’t @ me i don’t have my full license yet u don’t need to drive in the city when the train is so much faster!!! 48. Your favorite state or province? west coast best coast 🤪 49. Favorite job you’ve had? tawan’s trophy wife. kidding. that’s not a job i do it for free ayeee 😌💅 uhhhhhh i literally h8 capitalism so UHM my inner socialist is telling me none but i miss my comrades co-workers at my old starbs job 😔✊🏼

tagging!🌈💕✨: jay @metawin, ayesha @gremlinmetawin, cass @wavelovespang, doreen @gunsatthaphan, rae @zaintseeme, dez @thehuns-bubble-tea, emily @seekingstarlightinthecity, cata @gigiesarocha, sam @khaotungthanawat, orthy @teepakornaekaranwong & anyone else who wants to can tag me!! (im starting to forget everyone’s @s because y’all change too damn much— nvm that i literally just changed mine lmao)   

[mountainleafuniversity]

Undertow pt 2

(Artwork by @warrior-kitty special thanks to @gemellath

(This story is rated PG-13 for content. You have been warned)

Kit drove to Coin’s house that morning and picked up the jackelope chugging a bottle of water.

“Man, it’s hot!” he shouted.

“Hop in!” she told him. “Today is going to be crowded and you know it.”

Both of them knew that the beach would be crowded that day, but Kit was running late after not being able to find important things such as the umbrella, chairs, and sunscreen. Now that it was already late morning, they knew it was going to be hell to find just one parking spot but were unprepared for a bigger problem on their hands.

“Hey Kit” Coin said nervously. “Umm…I need to use the bathroom…”

“Hold on we’ll get a spo-“

Kit was cut off when she saw that the line for beach parking was a mile away from the beach.

“Oh no…Try to hold it in.”

However, they reached a parking lot and saw it was completely full.

“Alright then, let’s go to the other one…” Kit sheepishly stated.

“Man I gotta go like…badly…”

However, each and every lot was stuffed to the brim, and with each passing moment, Coin’s bladder was getting fuller and fuller until Coin was in excruciating pain with no end in sight with the traffic getting larger and slower. After the tenth parking lot, Coin was screaming and ran out of car.

“Go in the palm bushes!” Screamed Kit, panicking.

“There are families everywhere!” the jackelope barked back. However, a sign pointed to the beach bar they usually went to, prompting Coin to speed walk across the costal parkway with the honking cars blaring their horns. He tried to walk faster but was moaning in such pain he couldn’t even run without feeling the sharp pain on his bladder.

Roxie, meanwhile, was eating a bag of chips during her “bathroom break”. She had just dealt with cleaning up after a horrible rescue when she heard someone enter the men’s room in a rush. After a while the person did his business, washed his hands then sneezed.

“Crap! Forgot there’s pollen everywhere!”

The dispenser was out of paper towels, so he tried to enter the stall. Roxie in shock dropped the chips onto the ground.

“Oh, come on! Who eats chips in the bathroom?! And why in the men’s room of all places?”

“No one expects me to be here.”

“Hey wait a minute! GET OUT HERE!”

Roxie feared it was her boss, so she stepped outside, only to see her bandmate.

“Roxie…again?”

“I got hungry.”

“Its 11:30 you can wait. Plus, tomorrow is your day off to celebrate so don’t blow it.”

Coin guided Roxie back to the lifeguard chair where Harry was sitting.

“Oh thank God. It was much shorter…” he happily sighed.

“Hi Harry! How’s work today?”

“For me it’s fine. Roxie however just had a shitty rescue, which is why she was allowed on a break…”

Coin was puzzled. “What happened?”

Roxie closed her eyes.

“Another man was attacked by some octopi thingies and nearly drowned because they tried to force this seaweed into his mouth underwater. He projectile vomited all over me, so my boss made me take a shower…with a hose…on jet setting…”

“We’ve been seeing a string of these lately and the Dolphin Division of the police department is on strong patrol right now, so try to stay safe.”

Coin set his towel and chair down, texting Kit to meet him by the bar. After a long half hour, Kit finally showed up.

“Hey Coin!” Kit said from nearby “I found a spot by paying this guy money!”

“That’s great!” Coin shouted as he went over. “Want me to help you set up?”

After taking another half hour of bickering and arguing the umbrella was properly set up. They had put on sunscreen, and laid down their beach towels, so now both of them were basking on the beach immersed in their sunny naps. Nearby a small disturbance in the sand was kicking it all up and creating a path. It scurried under Coin’s stomach, shaking him awake by the disturbance. He looked around but couldn’t see a thing.

“Hey Kit…”

“Yea?”

“You feel that?”

“No. Probably a crab.”

However, Kit felt something try to jump up from under her back. She lifted her towel to see nothing was oddly there.

Behind the cooler a certain little mouse in a red prison outfit popped out of the sand. Rio climbed into the cooler and grabbed some ice cubes with a devious smirk on her face. She walked over to Coin, opened up his trunks, dumped the ice down, and watched him freak out.

“Whats going on here?” an annoyed Kit said to Coin.

Soon she also felt something pull on her suit, and ice was poured down her back. Bystanders looked to see who in the world were these two dancing clowns.

“Who did this?” Coin demanded.

“You thought it was ice, but it WAS ME! RIO!” Rio shouted jumping onto her perch.

“RIO?!” Coin shouted. “You busted out of prison?!”

“You’re not going to report me, are you?”

“No” Kit said, a bit disappointed in her. “But you’ll need to get out of that prisoner outfit. Hide in our bag and stay in there until we get back.”

“Hey guys!” D’Arcy greeted. “What can I get you two?”

“Hello D’Arcy!” Coin replied. “You are doing okay?”

“Other than going through the trauma of that e-mail sent to me…I guess I’m fine.”

“We’d like mouse-sizes for a t-shirt, shorts and swimsuit for Rio please.” Kit ordered.

“Didn’t she get arrested?” D’Arcy asked confused.

“Yea but it’s a gift for her anyway.”

“Oh ok.”

They paid and collected their bag of tiny clothing, with the jersey devil looking nervously at another clothing stand.

“Why does she keep vanishing...?”

“Who?” Coin questioned.

“Jill...” D’Arcy murmured. “She was a classmate at fashion school. Typical brainless spoiled brat if you ask me. She’s a sea serpent who almost got me expelled many times and always got away with it. She works the stand over there.”

“Is she someone we should worry about?” Coin said. “Maybe she sent the threat.

“Probably not, but she’s been going back and forth quite a lot through that pop-up store… anyways, I’ll see you two later, we’re holding up the line a bit…”

Now Linneaus was complete again and relaxing on the shore, sunbathing and enjoying the environment. However, that was all about to change, when Coin and Rio heard lovely sounding voices and giggling. They shook themselves up to see an elk jackelope wearing a mustard bikini standing above them.

“Hey there…” the jackelope girl said. “My name is Penny…”

Coin was so transfixed on her body, especially her blue eyes, that his eyes turned to hearts and with his antlers turning pink as well.

“Man, what a woman…” he said to himself. “I’m…Coin…”

“LOL SO COOL! And who is your mousy friend?” Penny teased. “I have one too~…”

Crawling from up her back, a fit and strong harvest mouse in purple trunks climbed up the antlers.

“You summoned dearest Rhine?!” he declared.

Rio was immediately smitten with feelings for him and his beautiful build with her face turning a bright shade of pink.

“Rio here!” she said. “It’s…a pleasure…”

Kit looked over and wondered why they were so instantly crushed. She brushed it off and turned on her music before taking a nap.

“We were wondering if you two would like to play volley ball with us…” Penny declared. “Mice vs Jackelopes?”

“S-Sure…”

“Hell Yeah!” Rhine shouted.

“Good…good…” a voice whispered from under the sea. “Bring them to me my creations…”

Meanwhile Kit felt her stomach rumble. Not paying attention to her friends, she opened the cooler and obtained her calzone. She heated it up using the sunlight and decided to sunbathe while she ate her lunch.

Her friends could barely contain themselves playing volleyball with the shady but sexy duo. Harry could only watch in sadness towards Coin as he and Rio couldn’t even play the game properly they were so unfocused.

“Hey Harold.” Roxie blurted. “Why are you staring so hard at Coin? He’s in love…”

“It’s just that it seems hopeless…He and his mouse friend just won’t look away from them.”

“Oh?! Like I didn’t catch you thirsty for D’Arcy’s ass again today!” Roxie exclaimed.

“She doesn’t tease me!” Harry yelled. “I go crazy for D’Arcy because I actually fucking like her no matter what!”

“Glad to hear you admit it…

“But look at Coin and that broad he’s with!” he pointed. He watched Penny shake her tail at Coin, then saw Rhine flex for Rio, both of them absolutely paralyzed by their feeling “They’re baiting them with looks! First off, I’ve been with women that do this, and second, it’s our job to stop what could be potential sirens! With the attacks going on I can’t risk losing anyone!”

“You really think that those two are sirens?!” Roxie said. “Lookie here, just because you can’t have a girlfriend or boyfriend doesn’t mean you have to tear others down…”

Harry wondered if Roxie was right, and both took their positions without saying another word.

Rio hit the ball and got spiked by Penny in the face, knocking her down.

“Winner!” she yelled, hugging a shocked Coin, surprised he won but also scared for Rio.

“Shouldn’t we check on-?”

“I think she’s fine…Rhine is looking after her!”

<<Oh, mon petite fleur!>> Rhine ran over. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah…I’m good.”

“See she’s fine!” Penny said.

“You know…I like you…”

Coin blushed. “Same here.”

“You and I will be boyfriend and girlfriend forever…”

They both pulled closer together until they shared a kiss, but suddenly Coin’s mouth was stuck to her’s, and seaweed was pouring into his mouth.

Rio, seeing Coin struggling, kicked Rhine, revealing himself to be a siren along with Penny. The siren kissing Coin let go and wrapped its tentacles around him. Rio ran towards the beach patrol screaming. Roxie sounded the alarm to get everyone away from the area as Harry ran over and tried to wrestle Coin free, only for the siren to toss him into a sandcastle as the beachgoers quickly ran out of the way. The dolphin P.D quickly swam close to the shore in order to wall the sirens off. The one pretending to be Rhine was caught trying to escape.

“This is lovely…” Kit said, eating her calzone, unaware of the chaos around her.

D’Arcy was just taking a photo with a fan when it happened. She swooped over until she found Roxie and Harry.

“What’s going on?!” she screamed.

“Coin’s being taken by a siren!” Harry screamed.

D’Arcy saw it swimming and trying to bring the struggling jackelope deep into the ocean. She flew over, kicking the temptress with her hooves.

The siren responded with using Coin as a weapon, trying to jab his antlers into her skin, but failed since she was impervious to pain.

“Sorry Coin!” she said before stomping his face.

“You aight…”

Now the dragon goat’s eyes gleamed red with rage, inflicting a curse on the siren. She summoned up her fire breath and torched the creature. Now distracted, D’Arcy dove in and tried to pull her friend to safety, but she wasn’t expecting the creature to splash water, blinding her. The siren threw Coin over the line of dolphins, who breached in an attempt to catch him. However, a serpent circled up from under them and caught the rabbit deer.

“Hey D’Arcy!” Jill screamed. “Remember me?!”

“Unhand him! NOW!”

“Love to talk D’Arcy, but I gotta work!”

The police dove down to catch the serpent but were unprepared for the brigade of sea creatures blocking them and sacrificing arrest. They could only watch as the poor jackelope was taken away.

“We want all fishing boats on alert!” the dolphin captain said. “Scuba divers, scientists, anyone! Suspect is a sea serpent with blue hair, nose ring, Che Guevara shirt…”

After the commotion had died down, Kit was still sleeping with sauce stains on her suit and fur, with the half-eaten calzone on her side. Her earbuds were ripped off and a large hooved slap woke her up.

“Hungh?” she groaned.

Roxie was standing above her with a stern look of anger.

“Coin was kidnapped by a sea serpent and you slept through it!” the rougarou yelled, eating Kit’s calzone.

“What?” Kit asked confused.

D’Arcy swooped down, red eyes glaring.

“He was taken to the bottom of the ocean…I should curse you, you ignorant vulpine!”

Kit’s guilt transformed her into Granny as she pondered what to do next...

“Can-can’t we go down there and save him?”

“We’d have to come up with a plan.” D’Arcy replied.

“I’ll see if we can get our set moved to tomorrow.” Harry interrupted.

“But Coin!” the snail-fox yelled. “He’s in danger.”

“Don’t worry about it.” D’Arcy comforted. Tomorrow morning, me and the girls are going to try and save him. The sun is starting to set so it’s probably best if we just go home for now.”

Even after being back to normal Kit still felt upset lying in bed. She knew that if anything else happened, she would have to do something to save her friend. She just didn’t know what to do.

[honeypwark]

[ Breaking and Entering ]

  ↳ Pre-Debut era

       ↳ Katie kidnaps Songi and Yuna. Chiyuu joins them as they go to their new dorm. They tell stories.

m.list

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

The girls in the dorm all sleep peacefully. While the two smaller rooms in the dorm sleep two and four girls respectively, the largest room of the dorm is home to eight girls, all of whom are tucked into their beds comfortably and snoozing away. The room is neat and organized, mostly thanks to the eldest, Heo Songi. This means that when a figure silently eases the window open and slips through it to land lightly on her feet inside the room, there is nothing for her to trip on.

As if her motherly instincts kick in while she sleeps, Songi wakes despite the intruder not making a noise. Songi doesn’t understand the tingling feeling on the back of her neck until she looks out at the room and spots the shadowy figure. She freezes in fear, watching in horror as the figure walks across the room to the young girl that sleeps on the top bed of the far bunk.

The figure shakes Ahn Yuna awake gently. Songi can hear that she says something to Yuna but not what. Yuna doesn’t start screaming as she wakes and sees who has woken her, only sitting up and rubbing her eyes sleepily. The figure steps away from the bunk and tip toes across the room to Songi herself.

As moonlight is cast across the figure’s face, Songi’s fear is immediately gone and she rolls her eyes. She sits up as the figure gets closer.

“What are you doing here, Katie?” Songi whispers to her unhappily.

Katie Kim crouches beside Songi’s bunk and grins her signature cheeky grin up at the other girl.

“I’m here to kidnap you.”

Songi rolls her eyes, “Right.”

“Throw on a coat and meet me at street level.”

“Why?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“I’m fine here, thanks.”

“Okay, guess I’ll just wander around Seoul at one in the morning with Chiyuu and Yuna without any supervision, then.”

Songi knows what she’s doing. She’s making her motherly instincts kick in, basically guilt tripping her into coming so the younger girls will have someone actually responsible to look after them.

“Fine.”

Katie’s grin widens, “Great.”

Katie walks back over to the window.

“Where you going? I thought we were going somewhere?”

“We are,” Katie assures her, “I have to get something from my dorm that would have made my breaking and entering venture much less successful.”

Katie slips back out through the window with a practiced ease that makes Songi uneasy.

Five minutes or so later, Songi stands outside of the apartment building SM’s trainee dorms are located in. Yuna stands in the February cold with her, another young trainee Kang Chiyuu at her other side. Chiyuu had already been waiting for them when they’d arrived.

“Where is she?” Songi asks.

Yuna just shrugs and tucks her face a little farther into her scarf.

“There she is!” Chiyuu says, pointing up and into the alley.

Songi steps around Chiyuu to look into the space between the apartment complex and the adjacent building. Descending the fire escape quickly is Katie, now with a backpack on her back. The Texan reaches the last landing and climbs down the short ladder portion. She jumps onto the dumpster then onto the ground without fear or hesitation.

Chiyuu claps happily as if applauding for a performance. Katie gives an exaggerated bow.

“You couldn’t have just used the elevator?” Songi asks.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Katie says with a shrug. “Let’s go.”

“Are you going to tell us where we’re going?” Songi asks as she follows Katie down the sidewalk.

“You’ll find out when we get there.”

“So no.”

“Nope!”

Yuna walks beside Songi, her hand in the older girl’s. Ahead of them, Katie and Chiyuu skip and dance and spin around streetlights as though it’s not below freezing and one in the morning.

Chiyuu has always admired Katie. She thinks the older girl is one of the coolest people she’s ever met. Yuna also thinks Katie is very cool, but she’s much too shy to take after her like Chiyuu tries to. And Songi does not think that Katie is someone anyone should look up to as a role model. But try as she might, Songi can’t stop Chiyuu and the other younger female trainees’ idolization of Katie.

Eventually, Katie stops at a bus stop. She spins around and sits on the bench to wait. Chiyuu copies her movements and plops down beside her. Songi sits on Katie’s other side with Yuna.

“You know we can’t just go out anytime we want. We have a curfew,” Songi reminds Katie.

“Do you even know how to have fun?” Katie asks, not even sparing her a glance as she puts Chiyuu in a joking headlock and ruffles her hair.

“I know how to have fun!”

“Really? Then act like it.”

Katie lets Chiyuu go and they continue waiting for the bus. It comes eventually and the four girls climb on, sitting at the back as its only passengers. Chiyuu sits by the window and Katie sits beside her. Songi sits next to Katie again.

“I don’t like this.”

“What?”

“Breaking the rules.”

Katie laughs at that, “You are such a goodie two shoes.”

“I just don’t want us to suddenly not be able to debut because you’re dragging us to do something dangerous.”

“Relax, Songs, we’re not doing anything dangerous.”

“So that means we’re doing something stupid.”

Katie laughs again, “Would you chill out? Just enjoy the ride.”

When they get off the bus, they walk for a bit more then stop in front of an apartment building.

“What are we doing here?” Songi asks.

She leans over Katie’s shoulder as she inputs the pin to enter the building. Katie holds the door open for the other three then steps into the warm lobby with them. She rubs her hands together to warm them then presses her palms to her cheeks.

“Our manager told me where our new dorm is going to be.”

Songi looks around, “And what are we going here?”

“I may or may not have totally swiped the key from him.”

Katie digs around in her pocket and pulls out a shiny silver key.

“You WHAT?!”

Katie laughs, “Dude, chill. It’s literally our dorm.”

“You can’t just steal things from people!”

“It’s not really stealing if it’s ours.”

“Are you just okay with breaking and entering twice in one night?”

“I haven’t broken anything; your window was unlocked and I have the dorm key. So if you think about it I’m just... entering.”

“It-It’s not-“

“Come on.”

Katie grabs Songi’s wrist and drags her over to the elevator. They ride up to the seventh floor and get out. Chiyuu happily skips alongside Katie, the two beating Songi and Yuna to the apartment.

“Drum roll, please,” Katie says, waving the key through the air before inserting it in the lock.

She turns the handle and swings the door open with a big flourish.

“Explore, my children,” Katie says, gesturing to the apartment with wide arms.

Chiyuu grabs Yuna’s hand and tugs her off to go check out the inside of their soon-to-be dorm. Katie gestures again for Songi to enter. She does so with an unhappy huff. Katie enters last and shuts the door behind her.

Songi walks over to the kitchen, silently appreciating the clean appliances and countertops. She could put the toaster under those cabinets. A mug rack would look cute right there. She stops herself from getting too absorbed in possible decoration ideas and turns around.

She finds Katie in the living room, moving some bundles out of the corner and into the middle of the room.

“What are those?” Songi asks.

“Sleeping bags.”

“...for what?”

“Are we gonna have a sleepover!?” Chiyuu asks excitedly, returned from looking at the empty bedrooms with Yuna.

“Of course, we are,” Katie says.

Each girl grabs a sleeping bag, Songi albeit reluctantly. Once they’ve each claimed a spot, laying their sleeping bags out to make a misshapen square, Katie grabs her backpack.

“Okay, we’ve got skittles, seaweed chips, and sprite for Chiyuu- catch! Nice. Almonds and strawberry milk for Yuna, there you go. And applesauce and tuna kimbap for m’lady.”

Songi is surprised when Katie tosses her favorite snacks into her lap but when she looks up, Katie is already reaching back into her bag. She pulls out a couple paper plates and some candles, setting to work lighting them so they can have some light.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

“One time my friends and I were having a prank war, so I got my friend’s boyfriend to take her out on a date so I could sneak over to her house and cover her bedroom wall to wall with three hundred photos of Nicolas Cage.”

Songi curls in on herself in laughter, imagining Katie’s nameless friend walking into her room to find it plastered with photos of the man from National Treasure.

“I once put my brother’s phone in the washer and ran it because he was mean to me,” Songi says.

Katie laughs, “You did something bad? I didn’t think you had the capacity for it.”

Songi throws an empty applesauce container at Katie. They both laugh and settle back into their sleeping bags.

After a few hours of eating snacks and telling stories, Chiyuu and Yuna are both passed out in their sleeping bags while the two older girls remain awake. Oddly enough, Katie and Songi have been getting along. There have been times when they’ve tolerated one another during training but they’ve never been able to talk with one another without any hostility prior to tonight.

“You know,” Katie starts, “For someone with a stick constantly up her ass, you’re not that bad.”

Songi gives a small scoff, “For someone stupid and reckless, you’re not so bad either.”

“What’s life without a little danger?” Katie counters.

They laugh.

“Do you think you’ll be able to stand being in a group with me?” Songi asks.

“Ooh, don’t push it.”

They laugh again.

It’s obvious the conversation has died, so Katie sits up and leans over to the candles that still burn in the middle of the four girls’ sleeping bags. Katie looks back at where Songi lays adjacent to her. She looks like she wants to say something more to her. But she doesn’t say anything, just blows out the candles and lays back down.

“Goodnight,” Songi says to her softly.

“Night.”

[sonofsallyjackson]

A World Not Quite Her Own (pt 1/3) - The Estelle Fic

So here it is, my first foray into the Percy Jackson fandom despite being obsessed with the books when I was in elementary/middle school.  This started as my take on Estelle’s childhood, but morphed into something more with a Percabeth wedding scene in chapter 2.  AO3 Link Here.

Estelle Blofis had never lived in a world without monsters.  Many people in this world would have been driven mad by this knowledge. But for Estelle, it was a simple fact of the universe like humans need air to survive, or blue chocolate chip cookies are the best dessert.  Maybe knowing about monsters should have made her scared, but all it did was show her the heroes who would always come in and save the day.

Many of those heroes made the best babysitters.  

Sally always let out a sigh of relief when Grover was in town.  The Lord of the Wild didn’t even grumble good-naturedly as he took on his excitable charge for the day.  Grover didn’t need the promise of Sally’s seven-layer bean dip or the collection of recycling curated for maximum crunch to make it through their outings.  He had always wanted to teach humans to appreciate the wild, treasure it, and protect it.  Grover might not be able to teach all humans, but he certainly could teach Estelle.   They sat in an isolated corner of Central Park together, occasionally bothered by druids, but mostly it was just the two of them.  They would sit directly in the grass, Estelle’s orange tutu and rainboots regardless of the weather stretched out next to hairy legs that Grover mostly didn’t bother to cover anymore.  While Estelle likely fidgeted just as much as she listened (spinning breaks were deemed a necessity after a single outing), she did listen to him.  Grover was the best at answering questions and like any small child, Estelle had a lot of questions.  So as she grew,  Estelle sang hi to the individual trees on walks with her parents and proclaimed solemnly in pre-school that “Pan was dead”  (a reference that thankfully her teacher didn’t understand but had resulted in a headache-inducing conversation for Paul).   

In comparison, babysitting with Rachel was essentially one long arts and crafts session.  Finger paintings completely covered the fridge by the time Estelle was three.  They’d repainted the mural on Estelle’s bedroom wall about four times by the time she was ten, with each rendition more fantastical than the last.  Occasionally Sally regretted the afternoons spent writing with Rachel over once she discovered the paint covered mess that once had been her daughter, but overall with the sound of laughter echoing through the house (and only one minor prophecy), she supposed things could be a lot worse.  

On days where snow piled up outside their window, but Estelle adamantly refused to wear anything but a swimsuit and a feather boa,  Paul frantically phoned Piper.   She was at the top of a very short list of people who could make Estelle dress appropriately for the weather.  No one was sure if it was a form of diluted charmspeak or just Piper’s knack for finding outfits that technically could be worn in public but still fit the (unfashionable) vibe Estelle was going for.  

Tyson was never allowed to babysit Estelle by himself, but he made up for his clumsiness and general lack of knowledge of human safety measures with an excess of enthusiasm.  He took to having a baby sister so well that no one really bothered to explain that technically the two of them weren’t related.  Still Tyson’s one eye seemed just as normal to Estelle as his hugs or extremely calloused hands.  

Nico really wasn’t her babysitter.  He would stop by the apartment looking for Percy or Sally, but would end up staying because Estelle had him wrapped around her finger.  The first time they’d met Nico had come over with bad news regarding Apollo’s quest.  Estelle couldn’t actually remember what had happened since she was so young, but Sally liked telling the story, complete with pictures, so Estelle knew it by heart anyway.  Percy hadn’t been home yet and since he was with mortals working on a group project, Iris messages would have been a no-go even if the cosmos weren’t trying to prevent demi-god communication.  So Nico had sat on the couch in the living room occasionally pestered by Sally’s “Are you sure I can’t get you anything to eat?” and “You look tired, sweetheart.  You have time for a nap if you want one.”  

In the end, Nico hadn’t gotten that nap because he’d been greeted by tiny hands pulling themselves upright on the couch cushion next to him.  Estelle’s face had been alight with mischief that Nico would have previously sworn was only possible from a child of Hermes.  Her black curls swung wildly around her as she wiggled her way onto the couch and into Nico’s lap.  Estelle made herself comfortable while Nico looked ready to throw up.  At fourteen, he’d fought in two different wars, but one crawling 10-month-old seemed to be enough to break him.  As Estelle grew older, her little chants of “Nico! Nico! Nico!” had so much power over the boy who wanted a family more than anything else in the world.

Annabeth was one of her most frequent babysitters.  She practically lived at their apartment when she wasn’t at school, or helping her cousins or the camp.   She did keep Percy from giving into Estelle’s every whim which wasn’t ideal, but Estelle could deal with eating a full plate of vegetables if it meant hanging out with Annabeth.  Unfortunately,  Annabeth did not share Estelle’s undying love for all things Little Mermaid and often muttered “Seaweed Brain, I don’t know how but this is your fault.  If I have to hear Under the Sea one more time, I’ll-“ under her breath whenever just watching Disney movies was suggested.  So spending time with Annabeth often meant playing with Legos, creating a disjointed collection of buildings. Mini replicas of New York landmarks would be dwarfed by uneven towers because Estelle cared more about height than stability, aesthetics or really any other architectural principle.  When Annabeth entered school, she was less inclined to spend any bit of free time still thinking about architecture.  So she gave Estelle a little potholder loom and taught her the basics of weaving.  Sally had ended up with more neon-colored monstrosities than she knew what to do with, but the girls could spend hours in relative quiet, so it seemed a small price to pay.  

And then there was Percy, the biggest hero in Estelle’s eyes.  Her love wasn’t like the hero-worship of new demigods, who idolized him for defeating the Titans, surviving Tartarus, or going on countless quests.  Estelle believed more than anything else in the world that her brother would be there to catch her whenever she fell and there was no monster he couldn’t beat.  

Even before she could walk, Estelle had seen her brother’s powers.  Some things were easy to miss, like the way Percy could wash the dishes without getting wet at all, but others stood out to her. The waves at Montauk had calmed so he could teach her how to swim but were quick to come back to life if anyone stared too openly at Annabeth or his mom.   While Annabeth built elaborate sandcastles, Percy added fantastical moats and laughed as Estelle roared like a minotaur to tear it down.   He could hold his breath forever, which seemed awfully unfair the first time Estelle had tried to swim underwater and ended up with a mouthful of saltwater.  Percy was always willing to translate for the fish at the aquarium, although Estelle was pretty sure he did the funny voices for her benefit.  When Percy had landed Blackjack on their apartment’s roof after being called back to camp for an emergency, he had translated for his old friend too. Estelle loved those translations the most, even if they weren’t entirely accurate.  

“Seriously, Blackjack, can you cool the language around my little sister?”  

By age five, her older brother had bought wooden swords for the two of them to practice in the living room.  Percy kept the moves simple, demonstrating before lightly wrapping his fingers around her tiny wrists and guiding her through the movements.  Estelle would copy them intently with her nose scrunched up and her tongue stuck slightly to the side in concentration.   They focused primarily on defensive strategies, but still had practice fights where Percy pretended to die dramatically.  

“I don’t think this is a good idea Percy,” Sally had said after they broke their second lamp.

“Mom she can see them. And as long as I’m around Stella will always be a target.”  

There was an unspoken promise in his words.  I’m always going to be here Mom.  I’m still alive, but I can’t lose anyone else, especially not my baby sister.  

Estelle hugged her mother’s leg tightly, looking up with pleading eyes.   “Please Mom I’ll be careful.”    

Eventually, Paul signed Estelle up for fencing lessons because there had to be a better way to teach her to fight that didn’t involve the two of them wrecking the living room every time Percy visited.  And if the way, allowed Paul to share his old fencing passion with his daughter, all the better.  The living room still ended up with the furniture pushed to the side on a regular basis though because Estelle needed to demonstrate everything she’d learned for her big brother.  

When Tyson had come to her sixth birthday party, his present had been a small bronze sword that transformed into a charm bracelet so Estelle could always be prepared.  He’d look so proud and Estelle kept touching it reverently, but Sally had not been amused.  She had wanted her daughter to grow up safe from this madness, even if she knew that wasn’t entirely a possibility.   It was bad enough to have one child constantly in mortal peril and disappearing on dangerous quests.  

“It can’t even hurt her; it’s celestial bronze.  The first time I met Rachel I ran her through with Riptide and she’s still fine.”  

Rachel flicked her red curls over her shoulder.  “Worried for your sanity, but physically fine.”  

Neither of them was as reassuring as they thought, but Estelle did get to keep the sword for emergency use only.  This was after all a world full of monsters as well as heroes.

[ahtohallan-calling]

chapter 12 of it’s always ourselves we find is here!

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11

[kristanna / m / modern au / coworkers & enemies to lovers ;) ]

all good w greg? 

.

No. Guess what was wrong with the printer?

.

out of ink?

.

Unplugged.

.

omg i feel like i shouldn’t laugh but i am

.

Well, then it turns out he had six different viruses on his work issued laptop.

.

no shit? that’s worse than hans

are you gonna make it to the dinner? I’ll save you a seat

liss told me it’s just a bunch of subs and chips and stuff but i mean it’s free

.

Don’t think I will. I’m sorry :/. Haven’t even showered.

.

don’t be sorry! i’ll just sneak some out and we can eat together in the room 😊

can’t have you starving to death

.

And suddenly, the bubbling, hot tide of irritation that had been rising in him since the moment Greg had first interrupted them on the beach was all washed away.

“So,” Greg said, squinting, “where did all my toolbars go?”

Kristoff chuckled and clapped the older man on the shoulder. “Good one, buddy.”

“No, seriously.”

“I’ll cut you a deal. Either you promise me never to click on a pop-up porn ad again, or I’ll tell Harry exactly how many pop-up porn ads you clicked on while using your work computer.”

The other man paled at that. “How can you tell?”

Kristoff winked and tapped a finger against his temple. “Call it intuition. Have a good one, Greg.”

It was for the best that the lobby and hallways were uncrowded as he made his way back upstairs to the hotel room, because not only did he still smell sort of seaweed-y, but he was paying next to no attention to where he was going. Every part of him felt charged somehow, like the air between a burst of lightning and the clap of thunder, but in the best way; he kept pulling his phone out to check it, to remind himself that this was real, that Anna actually returned his feelings, that she was choosing to be with him tonight.

Tonight-- and maybe beyond that, if this streak of luck continued. 

To his relief, she still wasn’t back in the room by the time he got there; he wanted nothing more than to hold her again the way he had in the water, but he also knew that there was definitely still some sand where it did not belong and that his chances of finally getting to kiss her were severely lowered if he didn’t hurry up and rinse off the saltwater that still felt like it was clinging to every inch of him.

He was just rinsing the last of the suds from his skin when he heard the door to the room open and Anna calling for him.

“In here,” he called back. 

“Hurry up before your food gets cold.”

He chuckled. “It’s sandwiches. It’s supposed to be cold.”

“Yeah, but you had to stop and think about it for a second, didn’t you?”

“Did not,” he said as he switched off the water and reached for his towel.

“Definitely did,” came the cheerful reply. “But seriously, hurry up, slowpoke. I’m fucking starving.”

When he emerged, wearing a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt as he ran a hand through his still-damp hair, she was just coming back in from the balcony, her teeth chattering. “Hey, Kris,” she said, and without further preamble she wrapped her arms around his waist and nestled her face against his shoulder.

“Hey, yourself,” he said, one hand instinctively flying up to cradle the back of her head as the other pressed against her back, pulling her closer to his chest.

Anna sighed happily and nuzzled her cheek against him. “Sorry, is this okay? It’s just kind of chilly now that it’s dark out.”

“‘Course,” he mumbled, dropping a kiss on the top of her head. “But I’ve got a sweatshirt you can borrow. I’d hold you all night, but that’d make eating difficult, huh?”

She peered up at him, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “Would you really?”

He swallowed hard. “Ah, shit, Anna. I-- it’s one thing when I tell you stuff like that on accident, but on purpose…”

So fast he didn’t have time to react, she brushed a kiss against the underside of his jaw and whispered, “You’re sweet, you know that?”

Speechless, he only nodded and headed over to his suitcase. “Here,” he said, pulling out a worn, navy blue sweatshirt and offering it to her. “It’s kinda old, but it’s pretty warm.”

Anna wriggled quickly into it, and for the second time that day his heart stuttered in his chest at the sight of her wearing his clothes. The sweatshirt was even bigger on her than his button down had been; it hung nearly to her knees. She giggled as she held up her hands to examine just how far past her fingertips the sleeves of the sweatshirt dangled. “At this rate, you’re going to go home with an empty suitcase.”

Kristoff didn’t reply, too overcome with the sudden thought of this is the night you’re going to kiss her. Of course he had tried to earlier when they were interrupted, and he just might have even before that in the elevator if only they’d had another ten seconds or so, but now seeing her so delighted to be wearing something else of his, the way her eyes had sparkled when he’d offered, the fact that she’d snuck him his dinner up here so they could enjoy it together underneath the starlight with nothing but the sound of the waves to disturb them--

Tonight, he thought, a shiver of wonder racing through him.

“Kris?”

He blinked, startled from his reverie, and looked down to see a look of concern crossing Anna’s face. “Are you alright?” she asked, looking suddenly nervous. “You were just-- staring at me.”

“Yeah, it’s just-- just-- yeah,” he said lamely, and to his surprise, her cheeks turned rosy. 

“Well, anyway,” she said, a little shy as she tugged the sleeves up enough that her hands were free, “I, uh, I put the food out on the table out on the balcony. I got you a Dr. Pepper, that’s your favorite, right?”

He nodded, once again too overwhelmed for words, and reached down to tangle his fingers with hers.

They ate in near silence, exchanging shy glances across the little table between bites of their sandwiches. He wanted to ask her more about everything, not just about the sudden miracle that had sprung up between them but about her, about what she liked to do on weeknights and where she went to elementary school and how she ended up working at an office supply company that, some days, seemed to run purely on nepotism and scotch tape.

And it occurred to him, suddenly, as he watched Anna settle further back in her chair, letting the sleeves fall back down to cover her fingers, that he knew the answers, that they’d been gleaned one at a time over the fourteen months they’d worked together; that she liked to go hiking with her sister or read at home with her cat on her lap; that she’d grown up in Illinois and been homeschooled until high school; and that she’d gone to Auburn and followed her sister further east. 

And god, even just realizing that he’d already known it all, that he’d known it and known that he felt this way about her for so long, was enough for him to again feel that rising certainty that he was going to kiss her tonight-- well, certainty and panic.

Anna, for her part, appeared to be more focused on the night sky than on the way he was dying a slow and painful death right there on the balcony. “I wish we could see the stars like this closer to the city,” she said softly, the evening breeze fluttering through the ends of her hair. 

“You can,” Kristoff blurted out. “I can from my yard.” 

She turned to look at him, her eyes softer than she’d ever seen them. “Can I come see them sometime?”

“You don’t even have to ask,” he breathed, hoping she understood how earnestly he meant it, and that that went for anything she asked of him; it was hers, all she might want of all he had.

He thought for a minute that the moment might be then, from the way her lips parted slightly and the way she leaned forward, but then something lit up in her expression, and she was on her feet. “Oh! I forgot we have dessert!”

He raised his eyebrows at that; it was very unlike Anna to forget anything sweet. He listened to her rustling around through her bag for a moment as he drew in a deep breath, trying as best he could to steady his nerves. 

“Aha!” she said triumphantly, pulling out the bag of M&Ms he’d bought for her the day before and waving them in the air. 

“Well, how about that,” Kristoff said, trying to contain his amusement. 

She grinned, already tearing the bag open. “You want some? Hold out your hand.”

“Nah, that’s okay,” he said, and as she shrugged and popped a handful into her mouth, he added airily, “I got them for you.”

She froze, one hand halfway back down from her mouth, the other slowly losing its grip on the bag. He could have sworn he could pinpoint the moment it had clicked for her— something about the way her eyes were suddenly so bright it made his chest ache. 

“Well, don’t mind me, go on and eat them,” he said mischievously. “I spent good money on those.”

She set the bag down with a decisive tap and finally remembered to swallow. “It was you?” she whispered. “The whole time?”

If he was being honest, he suddenly felt a little off balance himself. He barely managed a nod as she drew closer to him; he let his knees pull further apart so that she could stand between them as she leaned down to set her fingertips against his jaw. They were trembling, just barely.

“I can’t believe it,” Anna said, her voice barely audible. 

“Can’t believe what?”

A soft smile crept over her features. “How something so obvious was right in front of my eyes, and I never even noticed.”

His heart was beginning to pound. “I— I think I missed a couple things, too,” he murmured as she leaned down, and then suddenly— finally— they were kissing, her lips earnest and still candy-sweet against his. He set his hands on her waist to try and pull her closer she went easily, settling herself on his lap. 

“Anna,” he whispered, and felt her smile against him, and god, it was even better than his dreams. 

---

It had been difficult, at first, to fall asleep when she’d kept giggling. “What?” Kristoff had asked, confused, as they faced each other across the mattress, still keeping their distance though they hadn’t bothered with setting up any semblance of a barrier.

“It’s just that a couple of days ago I thought you hated me, and then we just kissed for the first time tonight, and now we’re sharing a bed and it’s just-- it’s just sort of crazy, isn’t it?”

“That’s one word for it.”

She’d raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “What word would you choose?”

He’d thought for a moment before saying, “Lucky,” his voice so serious it made something in her chest flutter.

And she’d bitten her lip and scooted across the midpoint of the mattress and shyly settled a hand on his chest like she had the night before, and he’d gone a step further and slid an arm around her shoulders to pull her even closer, and then they’d kissed again until Anna pulled back and whispered, “Is it okay if we just do this?”

“What do you mean just this?”

“Just-- kissing. Even though we’re sharing a bed? I just-- I don’t want to…”

“Rush things?” he’d finished for her, and she’d nodded, too shy to meet his gaze.

“Me either,” he had whispered then as she nestled her face against his chest, letting the steady beat of his heart calm her nerves until she slid into a deep, dreamless sleep.

At some point in the night, though, a sudden sense of loss dragged her from slumber, leaving her blinking, disoriented, in the pitch dark room.

“Kristoff?” she asked, reaching blindly for him before her eyes adjusted to the darkness.

He was sitting up on the edge of the bed, slumping forward with his head in his hands. Anna sat up, rubbing at her eyes. “Kris, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Go back to sleep.”

She glanced at the alarm clock on her nightstand, squinting at the red digits in the darkness. “It’s after two.”

“Believe me, I know.”

He sounded so dejected that she didn’t even have to think it through before her mind was made up. She pushed the covers back and crawled over to sit behind him. After taking a moment to steel herself, she slid her arms around his waist and buried her face in the crook of his neck, inhaling the warm, woodsy smell of his shower gel that still lingered on his skin.

“Hey,” he murmured, lowering a hand to press it over hers where it rested on his stomach.

“Hey, yourself,” she replied, nuzzling her nose just above the collar of his t-shirt. “Wanna tell me what’s wrong?”

“No.”

“Will you anyway? Please?”

“Nosy.”

“Grumpy.”

“Hey, I was pretty cheerful today,” he contended, and a soft laugh escaped her.

“You were. It was really nice.”

He squeezed her hand at that, and she smiled, wondering if he could feel it against his skin. For several long moments neither of them moved, not daring to speak a word that might brush up too harshly against this tenuous, newborn tranquility between them, and then Kristoff sighed. “You’re not going to go back to bed, are you?”

“Nope. Not til I know you’re okay.”

“I don’t want you to worry.”

“Too late for that.”

Kristoff chuckled. “You’re too stubborn for your own good, you know that?”

“So I’ve been told. By you, mostly.”

He lowered both of his hands now, settling them in his lap, before turning as best he could to look at her over his shoulder, his dark eyes glossed with moonlight. “I’ve never told anyone this.”

“You can trust me,” Anna replied. “But you don’t have to.”

The corner of his mouth quirked up in a smile. “I know. It’s just...it’s kind of a long story.”

She shifted to sit behind him, turning so she could lean against his broad back and rest her cheek against the soft fabric of his worn shirt. “I’ve got all night.”

He sighed heavily enough that she rose and fell with him. “I just...if this changes how you think about me--”

“It won’t,” she said decisively. 

“It might,” he pressed on. “So I just...I’m sorry if it does.”

“Kristoff, quit worrying and just tell me.”

He sighed again. “I just...I really need this presentation to go well tomorrow. I can’t get fired.”

Anna frowned. “Why is that a big secret? I don’t want to get fired either.”

“No, it’s-- it’s different. I can’t get fired, Anna, I...I need this job to help take care of my family. And if I lose this one, I don’t think I could find another.”

“Of course you could! You’re super smart and good at all your-- your computery things, and--”

“I don’t have a degree. I barely even finished high school.”

She was glad he couldn’t see the shock she was sure was evident on her face. “But you’re the head of IT.”

“I know, believe me, and I-- I know there’s no way in hell I’d get a job like this again. Shit, I’d be lucky to get anything full time. But my mom and dad, they’re retired, and they don’t have a lot of savings because they spent it on all of us.”

“All of...who?”

Kristoff groaned; she felt his back shift as he raised a hand to run it through his hair. “I-- fuck. I guess I better tell you my whole shitty life story, huh?”

She turned and pressed a kiss against the nape of his neck. “Only if you want me to.”

He was quiet for a long moment then, but she waited patiently like she always did for him when it really mattered, knowing that, unlike her, he preferred to gather his thoughts in advance before diving in headfirst. Her eyelids were beginning to droop when at last he began to speak, his voice tight.

“I was a foster kid for a long time, til I was about to turn nine. And my folks took me in-- they took in, shit, I don’t even know how many of us over the years, but me and my sister were the only ones who stayed. And they were good to me like no one else had ever been, and when they finally adopted me-- shit, it was the best day of my life. But I...I was just so angry sometimes, not at them but just at the whole world, you know?”

She nodded, too overcome to speak, and after a moment he sighed and went on. “And so I just...I fucked around in school, spent more time in suspension than out, fell in with a bunch of other guys who did the same dumb shit. And then one day, I got arrested, and Pop told me that was it. He made me get back into therapy, made me sit at the kitchen table and do all my homework while he watched, wouldn’t let me leave the house unless he or Ma was with me. And I was furious, and then that burned out, and I was just bored as hell, and so I started messing around with computers, trying to figure out how they worked. At first it was so I could figure out how to fuck more shit up at school, but then I got serious about it.”

He paused then, shifting a little to look back at her. “I’m rambling, I know. You can tell me to shut up and go back to bed if you--”

“No,” Anna said fiercely. “I want to know. And I think you need to talk about it for your own sake.”

He was quiet for a moment, just taking stock of her expression, before nodding slowly. “Maybe I do.”

She settled against his back again. “So keep going.”

He chuckled at that, and she couldn’t help but smile at the feeling of his back rumbling against her. “Bossy.”

“Grumpy. Stop trying to distract me.”

“I...okay, okay, fine. Anyway, I graduated by the skin of my teeth, but I had no clue what to do with myself. Pop, uh, he was a handyman, and he got called up to the office building-- our office building, I mean-- and so I just went with him to kill time. And one day Mr. Westergaard-- as in the old dude-- he was there, and he was really pissed off about something with his laptop, and so I offered to fix it, and I did. And he just kinda looked at me and said, ‘well, shit, son, the IT guy I got now told me to just buy a new one’, and he hired me on the spot. And I just...I worked my way up from there, you know? And because he gave me a chance, I turned my life around, and now I can take care of my parents and my sister, and if I lose this…I don’t know if anyone else would hire me.”

Something dawned on Anna then, and she leaned around his shoulder to get a look at his face. “So Hans…”

“He knows, yeah. So does Harry. Nobody else, though. So that’s why he holds it all over my head, knows I can’t do shit about it.”

“Fucking rat bastard,” they said in unison, and after a moment of surprise they both laughed. 

Anna reached over to squeeze his hand. “Maybe...maybe now if people saw the experience you have…”

“Maybe’s not good enough, not when they need me. I gotta at least help them get through til Maggie graduates, and she’s got another year of high school after this one.”

She moved then to set beside him, tugging at his arm until he raised it and let her slip underneath it. He dropped it over her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her temple. “I know that’s a lot to unload on you, Anna, I don’t blame you if--”

“Oh, shut up, Bjorgman, this doesn’t change jack shit. Except that now I think I like you even more.”

“What, really? Former fuckup, that’s your type?”

“No. But it means a lot to me that you told me all that.”

He was quiet then, his thumb rubbing slowly up and down against her shoulder. She was still wearing his sweatshirt-- he was crazy if he ever thought he was getting it back. She nestled closer against his side, wrapping her arms around his sturdy waist. “I’m here for you, Kristoff,” she said softly. “Anytime you need to talk about shit like this. It’s not gonna change how I-- how I feel about you. And tomorrow-- don’t even worry, okay? I’m gonna make sure the presentation is the best fucking presentation this company has ever seen.”

“I don’t know, last year’s presentation on solar panels is a tough one to beat…” he said half-heartedly.

“I mean it,” she said softly. “Fuck Hans. Tomorrow is going to be great. But first, we gotta get some sleep. You can’t just sit up all night worrying it’ll go badly, because then that’s exactly what will happen.”

“I know, I know, it’s just...I don’t know. I was just... I was thinking about all this shit, and then about you, and how I finally got to kiss you, and--”

“Finally?”

“Ah, shit, this is another one of those things you’re gonna want me to say, and you only know about it ‘cause I let it slip, and--”

“Finally for me too,” she interrupted. “But you kinda already gave it away when you confessed about the M&Ms. I got the first pack of those less than a month in.”

“...yeah.”

She leaned up to press a kiss to his cheek, but before she could, he turned and caught her lips with his own. She sighed against him, letting one hand rest on his chest as his arm tightened around her.

When they broke apart, he rested his forehead against hers. “How am I supposed to sleep when it means missing out on more of that, huh?”

“Cut you a deal, if you don’t get your ass back under the covers right now, I’ll never kiss you again.”

She didn’t think she’d ever seen him move so quickly.