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toontails · 3 years

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Toon Quest|| Reader Insert

Chapter 3: I'm Here, You're Here, Everybody's Here!

A/n: Hey guys! Sorry I’m late (5 months late) sorry about that. I was busy! I promise! I had to

Split the chapter as this was a lot longer than I wanted it to be. So you’ll be seeing Chapter 4 and possibly chapter 5 real soon! I won’t leave for so long again. Don’t worry.

But I’ll make this note quick. A couple people messaged me and said that this story reminds them of Babqtfim. At the time I didn’t know what that was. Until I did research. And to satisfy some of you. I incorporated some of that in the plot. Don’t worry. It won’t change the plot drastically.

I particularly didn’t wanna publish this chapter as I feel nothing really happened in this chapter. But I couldn’t leave you all waiting for any longer!

Oh! And the next chapter. I’ll introduce to you—musicals! Don’t worry they won’t stay for too long in the story. I know not everyone likes songfics lmao. But it goes with the plot I promise! We’re starting to get rolling again so buckle up.

Enjoy!

“Now...where did I put that folder…” M/n searched the desk for a folder she was searching for—for about 4 minutes now. The day has pretty much been frantic—after Henry and M/n left from the board meeting yesterday, work had to be done in all departments. To start the new set of episodes—M/n was in charge of getting the scripts from the writers that were out of town—meaning they had to be shipped into the studio. Which was delayed about a day everyone was supposed to be scheduled to start reading through the script. But that was pushed off because of Bendy now being out of town and the fact that there was a new objective for everyone in the studio to do. Or...more to attend to in that matter.

M/n was silent as she looked under the receptionist desk. Muttering under her breath incoherently. She hardly noticed Charley sauntered over. After pestering Annie for a few minutes M/n so happened to be in his path as he was on his way to go find Edgar. Leaning over the desk he looked as M/n stood back up with a time ticking expression of annoyance slowly etching on her face. That was until she saw Charley standing on the other side of the desk where she flinched slightly, surprised at his sudden appearance.

“God dammit Charley—what did I tell you about sneaking up on me—“ she held a hand to her chest to feel her heart pace slowly slow down after seeing Charley.

“I dunno, I lost track, I think this is the...uh….5th time?” He fakes a thoughtful expression as if he were really counting the many times M/n told him to announce himself before just standing off to the side to be noticed. Which he was known around the studio for.

M/n shook her head and rubbed her forehead. “Did you see my clipboard today? It had stuff on it that I need because Henry wants to have a meeting with everyone in the conference room later on today and I need that.” She said, Charley raised an eyebrow, his eyes slowly sliding away from M/n and to the background where he saw..Edgar! Thank god...Edgar was holding a clipboard as he skipped down the hallway where he left earlier to follow Boris and Alice. He hardly noticed Alice and Boris trailing behind the spider as they talked to each other. The clipboard that Edgar had a grip on was yellow...well from what it seemed from where Charley was standing.

“Is it yellow?” He asks her. M/n perks up, removing her gaze from a stack of paper to look at Charley, In hopes that he had a clue to where her clipboard went. “Yes, it is. Do you know where it is?” She smiled at him. He looks back at her.

“Nope.”

“Then why did you—“

“But, I’ll go find it for ya’, how about that? I got a keen eye, don’t ya’ worry about a thing! You stay right there and I will be back in a jiffy!” He said before turning the other direction and walking off. M/n looked as if she were about to say something...but took his word that Charley would have her clipboard. The only reason Charley was going after it was so he could find out what Edgar wanted to speak to Alice and Boris for.

He, Edgar and Barley rarely talked to Alice and Boris and Bendy—actually they talked a lot because they were a part of the same production. But seeing Edgar seemingly...in a rush to speak to the two? Did raise questions to Charley. But Charley then remembered as he stopped walking.

“Where is Barley..?” He muttered.

“Fer’ the love of—where are ya’ takin’ me? You toss books on my head then expect me to venture off with ya’ to spy on Eddie, so what? Let the guy have a li—“

Charley smacks the back of Barley’s head who wouldn’t stop bantering with him. The eyepatch wearing toon grunts at the impact and rubbed the back of his head.

“Shut up you moron, you sure do love to bicker…” Charley grunts as he and Barley walked

down the hall where Alice, Boris and Edgar once were walking down. “We’re going to see what Ed and the others are talkin’ about, Alice has been rambunctious lately.” Charley said, looking at a door as they passed by, listening to see if anyone was in the room. Barley raised an eyebrow. “And why would that be our problem? Look—Bendy’s outta town. I can finally get a full night's sleep without him somehow having the urge to pull a joke on me at 3 in the morning. And I’d like to say, I slept wonderfully.” Barley said. Bendy was always around the studio doing little jokes and...well being a disruption. Especially to Sammy. It was just that Bendy rarely got out and interacted with other people—other than anyone in the studio. But now that he is gone for a day or two. Barley was glad to get some sleep in and some peace and quiet without having to run into Bendy’s antics.

“Look, I just wanna know what Ed’s got planned. Shut your trap and help me find them.” Charley walked ahead of Barley in search of the three. Barley muttered under his breath.

“Fine..”

“Don’t worry about society’s problems, they say, their problem isn’t our problem, they say—“ Y/n mocks. Watching the fields go by. It was still the afternoon and they..obviously were still on the road. Oswald was still seated next to Y/n. His ears flat against his head as he watched her...rather sarcastically bring up the last ‘meeting’ they had at the studio about all that was going on between toons and humans and how—it wasn’t their concern nor responsibility. And;

“Now look at us.” She said, She leaned far back into the car seat. Arms crossed across her chest. Bendy was still looking at the road. But Y/n could see his expression had almost turned sour.

“Are you hintin’ towards somethin’ or talkin’ just to be talkin’?” He asks her. Finally getting a reply from him. Y/n shook her head slowly. Looking at the road as well.

“I didn’t expect a diner to be a place where toons weren’t allowed. I don’t even know when they started doing that.” She said, Oswald opened his mouth to speak. As he did so his ears raised slowly.

“I’m pretty sure there’s other establishments that serve all of us.” Oswald said. Y/n didn’t reply for a second. She silently agreed with Oswald. There’s no way every single establishment or building had a no toons policy.

“Yeah…” she muttered. Everyone fell silent and for the most part the sound of the car's muffled engine was heard. It was nice to have a quiet feeling. Considering what had happened a few minutes ago. Y/n was no longer hungry after the altercation at the diner so for the most part her main focus was no longer on getting food. But figuring out what was in Idaho—or more who was in Idaho and what their next objective was. She felt Oswald sit back next to her. His shoulder touched hers as there wasn’t much room to begin with. But the space was still comfortable to sit with him in. She saw Oswald turn his palm face up and edged it over to Y/n. Y/n looked at his hand, uncurling her hand from her crossed arms hovering it above his and looked over at Oswald who was already looking at her. He must have seen she was maybe upset from not eating—or just the fact that the people at the diner were so...rude and the unexpected turn of events. Was he trying to comfort her somehow?

Soon he lifted his hand and took her hand in his. Y/n smiled and looked back out the window feeling the warmth cascade her hand—touching a toon seemed—odd. She could feel a soft texture from his ‘fur’ but then again it didn’t feel like fur. He was warm and not to mention, odd feeling four fingers instead of five intertwined around her five fingers. But, either way. It did relax her and stop her from bickering she was

Once doing it for about 40 minutes—which was mostly aimed towards Bendy but he didn’t seem to give her a reaction from her constant complaining. But either way, she was calmer and serene.

Soon the car slowed down. They were in a small town—similar to the one they just left in Oregon considering they were now entering Idaho. Y/n blinked momentarily. “What’s wrong?” She asks Bendy.

“The trail is gone.” He said his gaze still focused outside of the window to try and see if he could spot any sort of hint towards their new direction, but to no avail he couldn’t find any sort of trail or subliminal hint anywhere. Y/n looked at the welcome side on the side of the road. A chipped green painted sign with white letters elegantly painted on the wooden sign. ‘Warlington Hillside’

“Warlington Hillside…” Donald read the name, Panchito looking out the window at the sign as well. “Well. A mile back I saw we entered Idaho so..I guess..it’s up to us?” Y/n said. Turning to look at Bendy and then over her shoulder to Panchito and Donald. Donald's expression stirred into utter confusion.

“Why would it drop us off here? It couldn’t just lead us to where we need to be? Or who we’re looking for? For all we know—whatever we’re looking for can be in an entirely different town in this state.” Donald took the book that was on Y/n’s lap. He shook it momentarily as if it would make the book shake to life and get to working again. Panchito tilted his head.

“Ah...Donal—I don’t think it works that way my friend. It would just be best that we start here. After all! We are in a town!” He motions towards the front window of the car towards the town that would have been entering if Bendy kept driving.

“What are we supposed to do? Ask everyone in town if they see any suspicious activity?” Donald sarcastically said as he flipped through the pages of the book. Panchito froze for a moment. And then he shrugged as if to say the idea wasn’t so bad after all.

“Actually, I think that would be a perfect idea!”

“I was kidding—“

“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this. This is the dumbest idea ever…” Donald rubs a hand across his face and soon edged his beak. Y/n closed the car door and looked around the town. She actually took notice that the town wasn’t exactly a town? But more of a city. Its twinkling lights from each building caught her eye. The street lamps were now flickering on as it was nearing sunset—but the sun was still out, showcasing its melodious colors in the sky. Her eyes traveled around the area. Watching the cars drive by in the street and watching such...fashionable people walk down the street.

Looking over she saw a man and a woman walking by. Arms intertwined with each other as they both seemed to be in a deep conversation. But what took Y/n’s attention was the clothing. Their clothes seemed—dated back. The vest. The pants. The dress. It seemed tailored. With rich fabrics. Vintage clothing of something straight from a film in the era of the 40s.

Y/n never heard of this place before. In the distance she could hear jazz.

“Now. All we have to do is ask around!” Panchito glanced at the small group as he extended his arms to motion around his surroundings. Bendy had a hand on his hip. Giving Panchito a blank expression. Obviously he thought the idea of going around asking random strangers for any suspicious activity was a horrible idea. What kind of idea is that?!

“Oh lighten up. I like the looks of this place.” Oswald nudged Bendy. Bendy only sneered before moving away from Oswald’s constant nudging.

“This place—I don’t know. I don’t like it.” Donald denied. Crossing his arms and tapping his webbed foot to the pavement. The four turned their gaze to Panchito who caught their attention when he spoke to a random stranger passing by.

“Hola! A quick question.” Panchito says. The man stopped walking and looked at Panchito. A smile appeared on the stranger's face.

“Of course!” He said.

“Do you have any news around town? Anything suspicious? Anything new? Or big?” Panchito asks. The man thought for a moment. Bringing a hand to tap his chin.

“Well—nothing too out of place has happened around town! But you all should really go to this jazz band tonight—might not be the place you all are looking for. But it really is a good way to relax and loosen up for the night!” The man informed—not exactly information they were looking for. But then again. It was something.

“Is this some place everyone frequently goes to?” Y/n’s asks. Walking over to Panchito to look at the man. The man shook his head. “Oh no—I assume you all are looking for something? There’s been this toon in town—I can’t remember his name. But he’s looking for two other people? From what I remember he said something about them being on the radar from some other group of men. But anyway! He’s mostly at this bar around sunset after—well I don’t know what he does throughout the day—but either way. He’s always at this bar a few blocks down on Columbus Street. I would go ask if he needs works done if that’s what you all are askin’ for.” He thoroughly explained. Panchito hummed in amusement before glancing at Y/n to see what she had to say. Which—was great. Not only did they get information on the fact someone was kidnapped? Y/n wanted to assume it were toons in the same predicament Oswald was once in. But who was at the bar more than likely on the lookout for the same thing they are.

“Thank you! We’ll certainly give him a visit.” Y/n smiled. The man smiled and nods.

“He’s a toon—he’ll be easy to spot in the bar. I wish you all luck! Bye!” The man then turned around and walked off. Donald still had his arms crossed.

“I wonder who’s the big guy that’s on the same page we’re all on.” Donald said. Y/n turned around and looked at Donald. Bendy and Oswald stood next to Donald. Y/n tapped her fingers on her leg. Was it a good idea to even ask a random stranger that would seemingly have information? Maybe. Maybe not…but—either way.

“It’s worth a shot.” She muttered to herself. Glancing around the city she looked at the group of toons.

“Alright. Let’s go find this guy.”

“Okay—“ Alice took the yellow clipboard from Edgar. Edgar scattered into the empty meeting room. Past Alice. Boris walked in shortly after, closing the door as he walked in. Alice read over the list of things that M/n and wrote down—it was more of a to-do list. A series of things that needed to be done—mostly before the week let out. Alice ran a hand through her hair as she tapped her foot to the ground.

Boris stood by the table and then looked at Edgar. “So—what was it that you were trying to tell us? Other than that clipboard.” Boris spoke up. Edgar squeaked as he hopped on a chair. Standing on two legs. He placed his hands together as if he were some sort of pastor. He then pointed over to Alice mostly signaling towards her halo—but she was too busy reading the clipboard to take notice. Boris tilts his head. His gaze moved over to Alice when he took notice of Edgar’s gesture.

What could he be referring to? Looking back at the spider. Boris’s nose twitched. “I need more detail.” He says. Edgar nods before looking around before dashing off to the side of the room. Ripping open a closet and pulling a black throw over blanket from the closet before speeding over to Boris and hopping back in the chair. Edgar placed the black blanket around him as if it were a cloak. Edgar placed his hands together once again. As if he were praying. Boris' ears perked up slowly as his tail slowly swayed side to side.

“Is it someone or a something?” He asks. Edgar points to himself. Alice looked away from the clipboard and focused her attention on Edgar.

“Were you pointing at Alice’s halo?” Boris asked. Edgar nods once again. Finally! They were starting to understand him! What a miracle!

“I’m assuming this someone takes on—something religious?” Boris asks. Edgar once again nods. Alice was about to speak before a familiar voice interrupted. “He’s talking about nuns, you idiot.” Boris and Alice turned around and saw Charley standing in the corridor. Alongside Barley who had his arms in his pockets—as he always had them.

“Where did you two come from?” Alice asks. Turning to face the two. And placing a hand on her hip. Her upper lip twitching in annoyance. Charley motions towards Edgar. “Lookin’ for him! And M/n is looking for her clipboard—which you seem to have and I’m here to retrieve that and Edgar—“ Alice quickly cut Charley off by turning the clipboard around and showing it to Charley.

“July 23rd. A board party for toons and humans. It’s more like an integration celebration.” Was all she said. She practically shoved the clipboard in Charley’s face to show the circled date at the bottom of the list. Charley glared at Alice snatching the clipboard from her grip. He looked down at the clipboard and he felt Barley walk closer to him to read the list as well.

“Wuss so bad about it? It’s just some shindig.” Barley asks before looking at Alice. Instead of Alice explaining. Edgar hopped from the chair. Leaving the black blanket in the chair. He landed in the middle of the circle the four created. He squeaked and squeaked frantically. Waving his arms in the air. Charley furrowed his eyebrows.

“Aye! Calm down! What’s the rush?!” Charley told Edgar. Barley took the clipboard from Charley’s hands and read the list attentively. Alice looked between Edgar and Charley.

“What’s he’s saying?” She asks quickly. Edgar huffed before he went still and composed himself before looking at Charley. Letting out a series of squeaks.

“He’s going to explain from the beginning.” Charley translates. Alice nods before raising a hand. She leaned over and closed the door.

“But first. Charley—Barley. There’s something going on. World wide that is.” Alice said. Charley huffed. “Yeah—obviously we can tell. Sudden flux of toon riots and anti toon lovers are starting to rise.” Charley said. Alice nods—that was one thing that was out of the way that she didn’t have to explain. Thank goodness.

“Yes that. And—the fact that Bendy—and a few others are—I guess you can say are resolving some upcoming problems.” She said. Barley laughed under his breath. “What’d he do? Wreck private property again and get himself in cuffs?” He asks—mostly jokingly but Alice deadpanned for a moment as she shook her head.

“No. This is serious. Long story short. The real reason he’s away and out of town because M/n’s daughter found this book—the—“

“The one on TV.” Boris finished for Alice. Alice nods. Charley furrowed his eyebrows and thought for a moment…when the hell was the last time he looked at TV? He did remember seeing a news segment about some government artifacts being looted from a museum a few days ago. Now that he remembered. He could remember being told that the artifact was a book. And…he did hear Bendy in a room the night fumbling around as if talking to someone—now mentioning he heard more than one voice.

Well…he be damned.

“Now that’s somethin’ new.” Barley absently said—it were as if he read Charley’s mind. They were on the same page. Charley crossed his arms and gave Boris and Alice a look.

“You know I didn’t think Bendy would be this stupid and troublsome enough to steal a book for fun and then run off with M/n’s daughter.” He missed the point.

Smack!

“Ow! What was that for?!” Charley rubbed his forehead where Alice deliberately gave a slap to. Alice had her hands on her hips as she glared at Charley.

“He didn’t steal the book you idiot! There were three of them that night. Edgar knows it all—as well as additional information. Edgar can explain all that—but what I need for you too to know…” Alice looked between Charley and Barley.

“Is that we are now working together to help Bendy and the others—“

“What?! No! I’ve basically been told he had a stolen book with him. I’m not gettin’ involved in this mess. Look at society’s impression on toons right now. You think that when they find out that a group of toons with a young girl are on the run, with a book they are currently lookin’ for would look good on us?” Charley sneered at Alice. Barley on the other hand agreed with Alice.

“I’m agreeing with Alice on this. Bendy wouldn’t just do anythin’ fer just the fun of it. When was Tha’ last time Bendy stole anythin?” Barley asks Charley. And Charley couldn’t name off a single time. Charley’s nose twitched as he sneered yet again. Of course Bendy caused trouble around the studio. But anything revolving anything in public—he was—well. A normal toon. That didn’t cause any trouble. So obviously there had to be a reason why he was traveling around as of now. Alice took note of Charley’s silence and then continued speaking.

“Charley. We know. You hate Bendy—hell. Even at times I get angry at him. But he’s still family. And if we have information that will very much help him and the others he’s with. We should help him as best as we can.” Alice’s halo slowly glimmered the beautiful golden light. Charley silently stared at her before grunting and waving his hand.

“Fine! Tell me the info and let’s get started.” He said. Alice smiled and clasped her hands gently at his participation.

“Edgar. Fill Charley and Barley in first on what’s going on. As well as the book.” Edgar nods at Alice's command before turning to both Charley and Barley. It took only a few minutes to inform and get the two to update them of what was going on. Charley stood in front of Edgar, arms crossed and nodding his head every once in a while as he took in the information. Despite it being a bunch of squeaks and motions. He still could understand the spider—as well as Barley.

“So. He’s in Oregon now?” Barley asks. Alice nods slowly. “From last I checked. He is. I was going to give him a call today to see where he and Y/n are—I believe that’s her name.”

“A magic book…” Charley muttered under his breath. It sounds so—made up. Childish. But if Edgar seemed pretty serious about it. Then Charley was willing to go the distance with the others.

“The night when M/n’s daughter came to the building and when she and Bendy and—a third person That was in the room. Edgar was in there—but you said you had more information. Right?” Boris asks. Edgar nods frantically. Charley motioned Edgar to continue.

“Alright then let’s get to the important stuff.” He said.

Edgar looked at the four before he started explaining.

“What are we gonna do now? The brat and those toons got away.”

Edgar peeked from behind the garbage can. A few blocks away from the studio. Edgar was entertained by the action in front of him. The rabbit that he saw as he peered from the ceiling out the window in the room where Bendy and two others were discussing with each other—two when how Bendy and that rooster leaped from the window with a lasso.

He had to follow them to see—what were they up to? Edgar had always mostly been in the studio all his life. And seeing such adventurous actions take place out of nowhere really caught his attention. Unfortunately he was too afraid to wander near the bar. But when he saw Y/n, Bendy, the rooster and the rabbit appeared from the buildings. Edgar could tell that they were after something. Which led to them chasing two people—who he now deemed the bad guys. He followed the car chase—but mainly swinging from building to building by his web. Which was how he kept up. And how he ended up behind the garbage can in the alleyway where the van of the two ‘bad guys’ had crashed near. He saw the man in the trench coat slip off his jacket. The two backs were turned towards him. So he couldn’t take in any facial details. But with the coat off. Edgar could see a black blazer vest. A velvet red undershirt. The man's hair was a familiar dark color slicked back with hair—not a single strand disobeying.

The woman had dark hair as well. Fair skin. And a dark knee length dress. Her hands on her hips as she stared at the wrecked car. The man sighed and rubbed his temple.

“We need someone that can get in there for us to grab the book…” the man muttered. The woman glanced at him as she silently watched him contemplate. The man reached in his pocket slowly before pulling out a device—a phone now that Edgar thought back on it—at first he didn’t know what it was.

“I’ll contact him. You know he’s been practically yearning to join.” The man told the woman. Who had then nodded. The two had abandoned the crashed van and wandered down the sidewalk. Edgar squeezed between people who had checked to see and check on people in the car crash. Followed after the two as they then turned down an alleyway after several minutes of walking. Which only led Edgar further away from the studio—but he knew his way back perfectly. So he didn’t have to worry.

Edgar peeked from around the corner. The alleyway had a few puddles from the rain from earlier. The brick walls glistened from the water and the fluorescent street lights that gave light to the alleyway. Edgar saw that the two slipped into a building from a metal door. But it closed unfortunately so it wasn’t able to make it. Looking up. Edgar could see an exhaust hood near the top of the doorway. Scurrying over. Edgar with ease climbed on the wall and up to the exhaust hood. Edgar placed four hands on the hood and with a strained grunt and groan using all his strength he pulled the exhaust hood from the wall. Anyone would have fallen back from the sudden motion of something being ripped from the wall. But seeing Edgar was a spider and could travel up and down walls. His balance didn’t falter. Edgar tossed the torn metal behind him—a distance; ‘clank!’ Echoing in the hall. He quickly crawled in a dark humid vent. The feeling of dust tickling his form wasn’t his worries.

“You had one job!” A shouted echo was what Edgar followed. It seemed the lady that man was with was the one who was shouting. No doubt there may be more people. Edgar crawled through the vents and absently walked by a vent that peered down into the room. Perfect.

Edgar backtracked and quickly placed his full attention down below.

Despite outside being what seemed to be a worn down warehouse. The inside seemed more of an office building. He could see the features of the woman. But the man stood in blind spot. Standing next to a coffee table as the woman stood in front of the coffee table as well as standing in front of three toons—the beagle boys. Magica was standing off to the side. Arms behind her back.

The beagle boys seemed to flatter at the woman's scolding.

“Was it so hard to catch that girl!? She’s 18 for crying out loud! What damage could she do?! She’s a kid! And that—that damn toon! You couldn’t catch him?!” She shouts. The shortest of the three beagles raised a finger to speak. “They all worked together..Miss..” he said slowly.

The woman’s expression only hardened.

“It seems we can’t depend on you three to take them out and take the book. This isn’t some ordinary schemed show where every episode the plan foils and we say oh well better luck next time—and the same thing happens! We mean business!” She shouts. Soon Magica finally spoke up.

“Miss Susan. Might I remind you that this particular group is indeed chosen by an ancient powerful book. She’s more than just some teenage girl with an absent mind and those toons are more than just toons.” The duck said. The woman—now Susan now that a name had been given sighed as she raised both her hands and slowly rolled her fingers down to lock them both into a fist. Each finger gives a satisfying crack. But before she could say anything. Two figures burst through the front door. Standing around the same height. They both were toons. One had two horns on his head. And black fur—he almost resembled a goat. His yellow optics gleaming at everyone in the room. “Ding dong!” He shouts as he extends his arms. Next to him stood a toon. Dressed in a tailored purple suit. His head was a dice. Arms behind his back as he trailed

Behind the demon like-goat into the room.

“Well. What do you know?” Susan mutters. Edgar felt himself shrink at the sight of the horned toon. It indeed was the Devil! He’s heard of him—not someone to be messed with. His Right Hand Man as most toons know of—King Dice. Was also another toon that meant business.

“We heard the news. They got away? Bummer.” The Devil circled around Susan. His tail brushed under her chin as he then stood by the coffee table. Susan scoffed and shook her head slowly.

“Yes. They got away. With the book—we planned this all out. I don’t see h—“ she was cut off by the man in the trench coat.

“As I said. We need someone to go along with them to get that book.” He said. The Devil placed a hand on his chest. “Which..ladies and gentlemen. Is why I’m here.” He grinned. Showing the sharp rows of piercing teeth that were ready to sink into anything.

“Who do you have?” Magica asks. The Devil glanced over to her and placed his hands behind his back.

“Two hard headed people. And might I say. That can make anyone run for their money. Two toons. They’re brothers and I think they would do this mission just fine. After all, They do owe me their souls. Having them run a small errand for me won’t be a problem.” The Devil said. Susan's interest had been caught with the new way to retrieve the book. But there was a small problem.

“Where are they?” She asks.

“Good question. They got away from me a couple months prior to this entire plan you all manifested. But nevertheless. They still owe me. It should be easy to track them down. After all I have their souls and can do what I please with them at any time.” Susan nods at the Devil’s explanation. “I can track them down if need be.” Magica pipes up.

“That would be perfect.” Susan whispers.

“When we find the brothers. All it would take is for me to tell them their objective. Which is to retrieve the book from those toons. And bring them to me.” The Devil said. The man in the trench coat spoke up yet again.

“They would need to approach the group carefully. Go along with them, not startle them.” The man said. Susan nods.

“Heard you loud and clear.”

“I’ll go and track down these brothers.” Magica straightens her shirt before turning to face the Devil. The dice man had yet to speak. More so standing next to his boss with a calculating expression.

Magica had her eyes closed as she furrowed her eyebrows. She was a powerful force. A witch. With powers so ancient and powerful. It wasn’t a surprise how quick she was able to get the location of their supposed ‘minions’.

“They’re in Idaho. Not too far of a drive.” Magica speaks up. Susan grins.

“Well. Off we go! It’s only a matter of time before those toons and that brat get too far!”

“They’re sending hitmans?!” Boris shouts. Tugging at both of his ears. Alice had a hand over her mouth taking in the information that Charley basically had to translate to the group.

“They’re sending someone out to go after the book and kill them…” Alice said slowly. Charley had a hand on his hip as he looked between Boris and Alice.

“Why don’t we just head down there and warn them?” He asks.

“Henry will be looking for us.” Boris answered. And Alice nods. Barley shook his head. “Ah please. The lad is busy gettin’ a headache about that board meetin’ we can leave now maybe make it to Oregon by midnight.” Barley said. Alice raised a finger.

“I have a feeling we should head to Idaho instead. If those brothers are down there, No doubt the others will be.” Alice said. Barley perks up yet again.

“Wait a minute…Charley. Ya’ said somethin’ about nuns?” He asks. Charley looked at Barley and slowly nodded. “Well Eddie did. But yeah. Why?”

“Those boys are in Idaho for a reason. Ed. You said somethin’ about that Devil guy ownin’ their souls. Yeah?”

“Squeak.”

Barley nods at Edgar’s confident answer before looking at the four.

“Well in this city located in the state. There’s this monastery. Filled with nuns. It's an ancient chapel. I remember Wally sayin’ somethin’ about learnin’ in his history class that that monastery has this jewel that can keep away all evil. Spirits and demons. Those boys must have been after that if they’re bein’ chased by the Devil himself.” Barley informed. Alice clasped her hands together. Brilliant! Just the information they needed!

Charley snorts. “Good luck with them thinkin’ anyone would let them inside the sanctuary.” Alice ignored Charley’s statement before she focused her attention on Barley.

“What’s the name of the church?” She asks. But Barley shrugs. “I dunno. Neva’ asked. We could ask Wally. But I doubt he’ll give us an answer without questionin’ why? And I’m pretty sure we should all lay low for now and not run our mouths about all that’s goin’ on.” He said. He was right. Alice wasn’t too upset. At Least they knew that the chapel was in Idaho. That was a start.

“Well..if you think about it. The Devil is also after the others as well…that jewel can come in handy..” Boris said. Charley raised an eyebrow. “You sayin’ Bendy and the others should steal it?”

“Not that!” Boris quickly shook his head. Alice had a look of concentration written on her face. She then furrowed her eyebrows.

“We’re leaving now.” She said. Charley, Barley, Edgar, and Boris all looked at Alice with the same expression. Puzzled and shocked.

“Now?” Charley asks.

“Now.” Alice said. She walked over to the door and opened it. But Charley quickly shot in front of the door and blocked her exit.

“Hey now. Let’s think about this. We have the Devil involved and the government and a witch. Are you sure this is a good idea? Besides. Idaho is hours away from us. And neither of us can leave because everyone will be looking for us.” Charley quickly spilled all of the reality common sense out. But Alice furrowed her eyebrows.

“They need us. I doubt they know those ‘minions’ are after them. Alongside with the Devil himself. This has gotten serious. So everyone let’s go. We have a road ahead of us.” She was serious. A hint of malice dripped in Alice’s voice. Charley stared at Alice. Contemplating. He had no choice. One way or another some sort of altercation would happen.

“Whos car are we takin?” He muttered before moving away from the door.

“Thanks Wally! Love you!” Alice sat in the drivers

Seat as Boris sat in the passenger. Wally stood on the sidewalk watching the toons. Charley muttered under his breath as he slipped in the car. Alongside Edgar and Barley. No bags packed. Just them.

“Okay….uh..when will you be back?” Wally asks. Alice smiled innocently. “Soon! Bye!”

And with that. The car pulled out of the parking lot and down the road. Wally blinked—but he never questioned a thing..good thing his apartment was close by.

“Now. Let’s go get our friends…”

Pushing the doors open. The sound of various people talking. Cigars. Music—jazz and liquor wafted into the air. Y/n looked around and saw toons and humans together in the bar. All dressed in their Pristine clothing. Some at pool tables and booths interacting with one another.

The floor was made of mahogany wood. The dim golden lights after so lightly lighting the room. It had a warm feeling and not a feeling like that dinner that had that odd feeling of sticking out like a sore thumb.

“Thought the guy said our guy would be easy to find.” Donald said. He crossed his arms and his eyes looked around the area. There were toons in the building. And the person they were looking for could be any one of them.

“We could ask around.” Panchito piped up. But Donald scoffed. “Not that again!”

“Well. We have no other choice.” Bendy said. He looked around the building. At Least to find a hint of their target. Hopefully they would track the guy down more sooner than later.

“Let’s go sit in the meantime.”

The five had wandered over to an empty booth. And sat down. Feeling the tension in Y/n’s leg let go. Y/n relaxed in the booth and sighed in pure relief. “At Least for sure we won’t get kicked out from here.” Y/n told the four. Panchito and Donald sat across from Y/n. As Oswald sat next to her and Bendy sat next to Oswald. Sitting on the outside of the booth.

Taking the menu and opening it. Y/n absently went over what would be served in the bar. “What time is it?” Donald suddenly asked. Y/n took her phone from her pocket and glanced at the time. 8:14PM

“It’s 8PM.” She groaned. It was so late already! Suddenly the thought of where to sleep appeared in her mind. She looked over Bendy who was looking over at a small crowd of people.

“Bendy. Are we sleeping in a hotel tonight or are we still on the road?” She asks. Bendy turned his attention to Y/n. “Well. We hadn’t exactly found out what we needed from here—not to mention. We still need to find that toon that guy was talking about. More than likely we’ll stay in town for tonight.” He replied. Thank goodness. She didn’t think she could stay cramped up in the front seat much longer.

“So! Oswald. Where have you been for these past couple of years?” Donald asks. Turning his attention to the rabbit.

“I could ask the same for you, pal.” Oswald gave Donald a smile. Donald huffs before placing his head in his palm. “Watching my nephews. It was a headache. But they’re good kids.” Y/n perked up and placed her attention on Donald. “Oh? You have nephews?” She asks with a small smile. Donald nodded at her answer.

“They left with their mother a few weeks ago.” He said. To which Donald and Y/n strikes a conversation. First talking about his nephews talking about living in a boathouse. Which Y/n still saw as interesting. Within a few minutes. The sounds of cheering and laughing and clapping were heard. Causing the group to turn their heads over by the bar.

Bendy had been rubbing his temple as if his head was aching. He stopped when he heard the cheering and looked over to the bar. A toon was standing on the bars tops. From what it seemed to Y/n. He was a cat, with a white face and black fur. He had on a brown button up undershirt..an odd color for a button up. He had on a tanned faux leather bomber jacket. The shoulder pads seemed to be tanned like soft cotton. And the collar of his jacket was a sherpa design. Which also had that soft cotton look. He had on brown dress pants and brown loafers. An odd choice for his outfit. But that wasn’t Y/n’s business.

He also had on a brown cloth fedora hat. Which, now she’s thinking about it... He sort of resembles Indiana Jones. On his hip was a wrapped up rope underneath a yellow Fanny pack that was wrapped around his hips.

“It almost killed me! But I was too quick! It quickly tried to grab onto me with its claws—but. As quick as I was, it only nicked me.” The cat reached down and pulled his button up. Untucking it and lifting it up to show his torso. A healing wound was seen on the side of his torso. Three distinct claw marks ripped into his fur. The wound was pink which made it much more noticeable.

“That’s more than a nick!” One person shouts. The cat only smiles wider.

“Tell us more!” Another shouts. They obviously were intrigued by his story. He must have been the guy that was drawing that crowd over by that bar when they first walked in.

“Yes. Another. Let me buy you a drink lad. You must be thirsty from your last journey!” A man states. But the cat shook his head. Waving his hand he turned down the offer.

“Ah. No thank you sir. The only thirst I have. Is the thirst for adventure!” His statement made the crowd cheer loudly.

“Who is that guy?” Y/n asks as the cheering calmed down enough for her group to hear. Donald was the first to reply. “He’s this archeologist. I only know about him because my uncle reads his books. His name is Felix.” Donald explains. Yet seeing a renowned person was in the same building as him. He didn’t seem too excited though.

“I’ve heard of him too. I think he’s a cool guy.” Oswald said. His eyes still planted on the cat toon. Who was now off the counter speaking to someone. But Bendy didn’t seem too interested in the toon as he leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. “That still doesn't answer our question as to where this person is we’re searching for…” he muttered. Y/n noticed his change in demeanor and energy. She leaned over Oswald slightly and pressed the back of her hand on Bendy’s forehead. The heat coming from his head gave a little warmth to Y/n’s chilled hand.

“Bendy, are you coming down with something?” She asks him. Before he could speak. Y/n removed her hand and spoke once again. “You need to rest. You’ve been up all day. I think it’s best if We all stay in town tonight.” She told the small group. Panchito looked away from the cat and placed his attention on Y/n. “You still have not eaten anything.” He told her. Y/n took in account that she indeed still hadn’t eaten anything. And it would be best to eat before they ventured off to do anything. And now it seemed they had a lot on their plate to get through.

“So. What are you in town for?” One of the patrons of the bar asks the cat. Y/n, Bendy, Oswald, Panchito and Donald looked over back at the bar and saw the cat was sitting on a stool facing a man—most likely no one important but their conversation caught their interest.

“I’m lookin’ for two fellow toons. I ran into them about four days ago because they were looking for something down here—to stop someone—that had something to do with a church I believe. They were talking so quickly I could barely latch onto what they were panicking about. So. I helped them here. Where the church was located. But an hour ago when we got here they were napped. Someone took them when I was off on the street asking for the location of the church.” The cat explained. Despite the sounds of the bar with the clattering dishes and murmured talking from other patrons. The group was able to hear the conversation crystal clear.

The cat must have felt the gaze of the five staring and listening to the conversation. His ear pivoted in the direction of their booth before he turned his head to look at the group. Bendy quickly grabbed the menu and lifted it up towards the end of the table to block his gaze. Using it as some sort of wall. Ducking his head. Y/n, Panchito, Oswald, and Donald followed the same as Bendy as they leaned into the table as if having a group meeting.

“Are we all thinking the same thing?” Y/n asks the toons. Bringing her voice down. Oswald glanced at her before he spoke.

“Well the man down the street did say something about someone looking for kidnapped victims. He might be the person we’re looking for.” Oswald said. Y/n sighed and placed both hands on her face to ease the tension. Why him?

“We can’t have him tag along. He more than certainly knows about the book. He’s a damn archeologist! And if he finds out we have it—lord knows what would happen to us.” She whispered to them. Bendy raised his finger to inject something. “Then again doll, he might know more info about the book than we do.” He said. Donald slowly raised an eyebrow.

“Okay—that’s nice. But what about those kidnapped victims? Are we looking for them..?” He then slowly pivoted his thumb towards Panchito—which he was really motioning towards the direction a few feet away at the bar where Felix was.

“—Or the cat?” He finished.

“Well we can’t look for the people that were taken. We don’t have any information on them. But he does.” Oswald answered Donald’s question. Hinting towards Felix. So making it clear. Felix was the person they were on the search for. And now. Someone they needed to lend a hand maybe for the night.

Bendy sets the menu down and sits properly in his seat. “Well I guess we all can agree that he’s helping us.” Bendy glanced at the group. Which they nodded in agreement. Y/n was about to add something else—about who would go to speak with the cat. But with luck on their side. The cat decided to come around himself.

“Hello!” The five looked at the end of the table and saw Felix was standing by the table. A smile planted on his face as he glanced individually at the group. The group was caught off guard by the cat's sudden appearance—other than Panchito. Who waved in return for his greeting.

Felix continued speaking before he placed his gaze on Bendy. “I notice you’re Bendy, right? From the show?” He asks. And Bendy slowly nods. Odd having someone who travels a lot know about his show—but he didn’t complain.

“I am.”

“Great! Nice to meet you! My name is Felix!” Felix took Bendy’s hand and shook it fiercely. Bendy’s smile twitched before widening. His arm trying to keep pace of the cats shaking.

“Hi, nice ta’ meet you too.” Bendy’s voice wavered and bounced from being shook like a doll. Felix let’s his hand go before digging into his Fanny pack. And pulling out a small notebook—not exactly a big notebook—but one of a size that shouldn’t exactly fit in the Fanny pack.

“I love your show! I find it funny. You know. I watch it from time to time when I’m just lounging around—whenever I get the chance.” As he spoke to Bendy he pulled out a pen from his pack and opened the notebook and passed it to Bendy. “Might I have your autograph if you don’t mind?” He asks.

“I—well—sure.” Bendy didn’t seem to know how to respond. Instead he took the pen and the notebook and wrote it down in the notebook. Felix then looked over and placed his gaze on the three that were staring at the cat.

“I’m assuming you all aren’t from around here?” He asks. Oswald shook his head. “No. Actually. We all aren’t exactly—it’s a long story—“

“We’re on a mission and we’re looking for someone—but we got word they were kidnapped at the last minute and some guy on the streets told us to come to you because you know the people who we are looking for to advance further in our objective. And we didn’t want to really bother you—but we really need to leave town by sunrise because we have a lot to do ahead of us because we’re running from these guys who are out to kill us! And if they find out we’re here—we’re dead a-“ Donald quickly slaps his hand over Panchito’s running mouth. Felix ears perk up—obviously his attention now fully on them.

“Sorry—it’s been a rough day—we..” Donald tried to think of a way to make the group seem less…fugitive-like and…predictable. Y/n could feel herself shrink—she didn’t exactly know what to say. Because either way—with explaining what they needed and who they were looking for a why would result in circling back around to the book—the book that was stolen—and obviously is wanted by various people…for some reason. For all she knows, Felix could potentially be someone that wanted the book like that…man in the trench coat..or. Take them in..either way. There were a lot of options.

Instead of anything hostile. Y/n saw the cat's tail slowly swaying from left to right as a smile appeared on his face.

“Am I glad I ran into you all then.” He said. Oswald lets out a perplexed yet shock noise. “You are..?” He asks slowly. Felix nods. “I’ve been searching for those two for hours. Unfortunately not many people are much help here. But now that I need you and you need me. We can make this easier by finding them. But my question is. What do you need them for? Are they friends?” Y/n knew this question would occur. One way or another. None of them replied. Instead glancing at each other waiting for each other's answer. Donald soon sighed.

“Follow us.”

Thump

Y/n placed the book on the counter. After leaving the bar. Felix led the group to a hotel room he was staying in for the time being. It was small—but comforting and out of reach of anyone else so the group—along with Felix. Can safely discuss amongst each other.

Felix's eyes widened when he saw the book Y/n placed on the counter. His tail wagged quickly as he quickly placed his paws on the book.

“Oh my! How did you all get your hands on this?!” He ran a finger over the embroidery on the leather book. He quickly turned around and looked at the five. He didn’t seem angry, too shocked or scared—but more ecstatic with seeing the book. How on earth did they get it? Y/n held her book bag close to her chest as she watched the cat. Standing next to Panchito, Y/n spoke up—for the first time to Felix.

“Well. It's a long story that we constantly had to repeat—which I’m sure we have to repeat many more times but, we promise we aren’t thieves or anything like that. We’re just doing what the book tells us—damn that sounds bad..” Y/n muttered the last part under her breath. Felix shook his head and smiled.

“No—no. I have so little information and notes on this book. There’s so much to learn about it. I only know the bare minimum.” Felix turned towards the book yet again. He was silent for a moment before he continued speaking.

“It’s a book created eons ago. The story seems like a fairytale. But I assure you. This is all real.” He picked up the book. But didn't try to open it. Instead Felix examined the leather casing on the book. After a few moments of silence. Felix continued talking again.

“This book holds a lot of power. Along with knowledge about life—“ He then turned around and faced the five who were looking at the cat. Felix then pressed a finger in the stitched name on the book.

“Hint the name.” He adds.

“So…it’s about the evolution of life..?” Y/n asks. Felix smiled but shook his head? Y/n was left perplexed. If the book wasn’t about life itself. Then what was the purpose of it?

“No. In fact. I don’t even know the meaning of it! No one does!” He laughs. Which only left Y/n more puzzled. Donald furrowed his eyebrows.

“What?! Aren’t you the guy with the brains? I thought you knew about this thing!” Donald shouts as his hands flew to his head to tug at his feathers. He didn’t take it well knowing how mostly everyone was aimlessly traveling around without a thought in their head. Which Y/n couldn’t blame him.

“Well. All I know is that this book has knowledge of people that it chooses—from my understanding. This book only awakens when great danger is near.” Felix explained. That was something Y/n assumed would be the answer. The book acts as some sort of warning. Hearing Felix say it. Was a relief in an odd way.

“When was the last time the book was awakened?” Y/n asks. Felix lifts a paw. And taps his chin with his claw. A look of contemplation ridden on his face.

“I don’t have a clue. Any sort of information on this book was held from the last holders and—-well they’re not here. All I know is that only the holders of the book are able to access it.” Felix said. He glanced down at the book before glancing back at the group. “Which is you all.”

“The people that were kidnapped. What did they come here for? The book led us to this town.” Bendy asks. Cycling back around to the main reason they all needed Felix. Felix nods firmly before passing the book back to Bendy. Who took it and tucked it under his arm.

“Yes! The brothers. Their names are Cuphead and Mugman. They came here because they were looking for a jewel I believe.” Felix reached into his Fanny pack as he spoke. He quickly pulled out a photo. And showed it to the five. The photo was a picture of a red ruby. Or a jewel. It was perfectly placed on a white pillow for display. Around it seemed to be something reflecting it. Like some sort of glass box was encasing it. Which raised the answer. Was the jewel another artifact?

“They were escaping the Devil—big guy—I don’t know if you all know about him.” Felix adds. Oswald nods as well as Bendy. Panchito, Donald and Y/n only stared at Felix for further information. The Devil? As in..

“Satan?” Y/n asks. Felix furrowed his eyebrows and contemplated yet again. “In a way—yes!” He answered.

“Wha—huh? Wait..are we talking about. Big furry guy? Horns. Yellow eyes? The one that runs a Casino on this small island near the Atlantic? That Devil?” Donald asks. Leaning forward slightly in disbelief. Whoever this guy was. He seemed like someone not to mess with. Felix nods at Donald’s statement.

“I…I apologize. I do not understand who this fellow is.” Panchito pipes up. Y/n looked away from the rooster and over to Felix. “Neither do I. I only know one guy who people referred to as the ‘Devil’. And that’s this weird guy that lives on our street that shaves his back in the morning every Sunday and when he shaves you can see this tattoo of a demon—“ Y/n crossed her arms and looked at the ceiling in thought.

“I think he was a biker…” she looked back at Oswald, Panchito, Donald, Bendy and Felix. Who all gave her a questioning look.

“Every Sunday? Jeez. How fast does that guy's hair grow?” Oswald asks before grimacing at the thought. Y/n rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it…” she muttered. Donald quickly got back on track by placing his gaze back on Felix.

“That doesn't matter. Why would they be running around from the Devil?” He asks. Felix placed the picture back into his Fanny pack and zipped the pack up as he started to speak yet again.

“They never told me. But they seemed to really try and get away. So I helped them. And got them here. Our plan was to find that jewel. That jewel comes from an ancient tomb on this island called Ruby Falls. Though the location doesn't matter. The jewel is here in Idaho. And last I checked in. It was in a convent.” Felix informed. Thank goodness he was a help. A church would be the last thing Y/n suspected to be a part of their journey.

“The jewel works as a shield. Keeping all negative spirits away. Which in all. Means. The Devil wouldn’t be able to touch them as long as they had that jewel with them.” Felix finished. Bendy’s grin wavered before he raised an eyebrow. “And how exactly were they going to get this jewel? Steal it from a bunch of nuns?” He asks.

“That’s something I don’t know! Never got to find that out!” Felix laughs.

“How do we even know these brothers are who we’re lookin’ for?” Donald asks. Turning his direction to his group. “For all we know we would be chasin’ people that we don’t even need.”

“It’s worth a shot. We don’t have much to go off of but this information we have here.” Y/n said.

“In the meantime. You all can stay here tonight?” Felix smiled. But his ears quickly perked up—as if he had just remembered something in the nick of time.

“Oh! I didn’t get your guy’s name! Besides Bendy of course.” Felix walked closer to the group. His attention sets on Y/n first as he lifts a paw and gently takes her hand in his to give a soft shake. “My name is Felix.” He introduces—as if by now Y/n didn’t know his name. The silly gesture caused her to smile. As she felt him shake her hand.

“My name is Y/n. Y/n L/n.” Felix smiled once more. “Nice to meet you, pretty lady.” He said softly. The cat took a moment to take in Y/n features. By surprise Y/n’s smile widened at the action when Felix looked over to Panchito. Who had been standing next to Y/n.

Felix spoke to Panchito, Oswald and Donald. Getting their names and striking an interesting conversation with Panchito and his home in Mexico. Where he explained he lived on a family farm owned by his father. The conversation went before Felix told the group to make themselves at home;

“Sorry for the mess—I didn’t expect guests.” Felix quickly tossed a book bag across the room. Where it landed by a couch. There were only two rooms. The living room. Which was connected to a small walk in the kitchen and bedroom. Which had one bed. Enough room for everyone to sleep for the night. Y/n had wandered over to a window that was by the couch seeing it was pressed against a wall. Peering out the window. She saw they were a few floors up. Maybe the 4th floor or so. But it was a nice view out in the street. The bar was actually across the street from the hotel. Peering down she could see people walking down the street—which begged the question.

“So. What’s up with this town? Weird clothes and stuff..” she asks. Turning around and surprisingly Felix was standing behind her—which she didn’t know. He was holding a blanket and pillow balled in his arms. Hearing the question he leaned over and placed the blankets on the couch.

“Well this town isn’t exactly ordinary to say the least.” He said. Moving to stand next to her he glanced out the window.

“This town likes to keep a tradition—well. If you would call it that. Singing is their passion. Ya’ know. Back then a lot of films had musical numbers and all that jazz. Very happy town I do say so.” That was..some odd information that she didn’t know even existed…

“A real life musical?” She asks. Her eyes glued on him. Felix turned to look at her before nodding. “Yeah! Something like that.”

“How come I haven't seen anyone sing yet?” She asks.

A town that spent their time in joy and ..singing? Certainly that was something she would like to see.

“Oh trust me. You’ll hear it sooner or later. You should head to bed. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.” Y/n nods at his statement as Felix turns around to walk off. Still stuck on the fact the town was like a musical film! Certainly she was sure it was down to annoy her friends sooner or later—-mainly hinting towards Donald. But with fatigue now creeping onto her every so slightly. Y/n turned towards the couch. She kicked off her shoes before she placed the book bag down on the floor as well. She sat down on the couch and lifted the blanket and laid it over her shoulders. Looking over she saw Bendy sitting on the floor with a blanket. Along with Oswald, Panchito and Donald. Felix had left his room to give everyone space and quiet.

“What are you guys doing on the floor?” She asks. The four turned their heads away from the TV that was one and held their attention. They looked at Y/n and Bendy spoke up.

“We all can’t fit on the couch.” He said. Y/n glanced at the couch. And he was right. The couch wouldn’t fit five people. Nor was the couch a pullout. But Y/n didn’t want the four to sleep on the floor. Y/n grabbed her blanket and pillow and stood up from the couch before she wandered over to the group and plopped down on the floor as well.

“I guess we’re all sleeping on the floor then.”

“Oh yay! It’s like a slumber party.” Panchito sets his sombrero down away from the group before he nicked Y/n’s blanket and tossed the warm cloth over her and his own form.

“Whatever you all do. Please don’t sleep wild. I don’t need someone’s foot in my face in the mornin’” Donald turned over to lay down. Lifting the blanket to his beak.

And there. They all had their peaceful sleep.

“Now stay ya’ asses quiet, my boss’ll be here soon.” Doug fixed his tie on his blazer. Walking away from the cage Cuphead and Mugman were still seated in.

Cuphead seemed to have run out of energy to shout at the two toons. Moving his eyes from Doug who had his back turned to the cage. Fixing his tie and speaking to another toon—or henchman—what Cuphead was now referring to them to. Soon Doug turned around and looked at Jack who was standing around idly.

“Put the cage on the carrier and take it to the next room.” Doug told Jack who had snapped from out of the dazed expression and nodded quickly

Jack stumbled over to the cage picking it up and putting it on the carrier. “Yes sirrrrr!” Jack drawled. Doug then snapped his fingers impatiently. “Hurry! The lady will pay us handsomely when she sees those two!”

Cuphead and Mugman shuffled slightly at the sudden movement of Jack pushing the cart. Cuphead yelped as he tipped over and crashed into Mugman. Causing Mugman to get stuck between the bars of the cage and Cuphead. Mugman wheezes before shoving Cuphead’s form off him with a heavy groan. Cuphead muttered before he watched Jack pushing the carrier to another room in the warehouse.

“Where are you taking us?” Mugman asks, placing his hands on the bar to look at Jack. Who then sniffed and wiped his nose momentarily.

“The garage area. It’s where all my friends are.” Jack replied. Cuphead punched Mugman’s shoulders. Mugman rammed into the cage at the impact. A painful expression written on his face. “Ow! What was that for?!” Mugman hissed at Cuphead.

“Don’t talk to him.” Cuphead nonchalant in response.

“But you talked to him earlier!” Mugman pouts.

“Correction. I was trying to be condescending, you’re tryin’ to make pal-pal with this idiot.” Cuphead whispered to Mugman. Grabbing Mugman by his shoulder to speak to him more closely.

Mugman gasped softly—rather dramatically—and furrowed his eyebrows. “Cuphead...that’s not nice.” He said. Cuphead gave him a blank expression before looking at Jack.

“What’s 2 plus 4 Jack?”

“Negative 7!”

Cuphead looks at Mugman. Who still had his gaze on him. But he didn’t seem to care about the fact that Jack completely got a math question wrong. The two were interrupted by the sound of metal doors flinging open. The two cup brothers faced forward as the cage entered the new room. The fluorescent lights illuminated the room as the cage was placed down. Cuphead and Mugman’s expression immediately deadpanned at the sight of various figures.

“Well—howdy doo!” Zip cackled. Shooting from behind a man cloaked in a trench coat. Cuphead didn’t pay attention to the shadow like toon. And turned his gaze over to a figure he was very familiar with.

“Ah! Dice. Long time no see—is that a new mustache?” Cuphead smiled. Standing up—more crouching in the cage before he wrapped his hands around the bars in front of him to look at Dice. Dice didn’t respond as he held a stoic expression—before rolling his eyes.

“Out of all people…” he mutters.

Mugman looks away from Dice and the odd man in the trench coat to see a woman. She wore a black dress—flats—a sharp gaze settled on the two—next to her was a duck toon. Raven black hair. Dark eyes—and a black dress..what an odd group…

“Country boys…” the duck’s voice was stained with disdain. She sighed before shaking her head. Cuphead could hear the disgust in the ducks before he placed his gaze back on her and sneered.

“Why are we here?” Cuphead skipped the jokes and introduction as he glowered at the group.

“You two have a pretty simple job.” Dice finally speaks up. Mugman shivered slightly. They were dead they were dead they were dead—they are going to die!

“No.” Cuphead responds. Mugman immediately shoots up from his seated position and covers Cuphead’s mouth.

“I—he means—what—what is the—what’s the offer?” Mugman stammered. But Cuphead didn’t budge. He pushed Mugman’s hand away and pointed at Dice.

“And I said no! We—“

“You—“ Mugman quickly added as he nervously grinned at Dice. Cuphead then points his thumb to his chest harshly—pointing to himself.

“I’ve had enough of these games! Just let us go! We want nothing to do with you nor that crybaby Devil either!” He shouts. Susan smiled before looking at King Dice. “That’s one fiesta cup.” She chuckled. King Dice rolled his eyes. “Tell me about it…” he muttered.

“Well. If you won’t listen to me. Listen to him.” King Dice raised a hand. Placing his middle finger to his thumb in a motion of snapping.

“Crap…” Mugman mutters. And with a snap of his fingers. The two felt the ground leave their shoes and into the dark—hot world.

“AAAAAAAH!!!”

Crash!!

Laying flat on his face. Cuphead lets out a heavy yet pain filled groan. His arms sprawled out and his shoes almost beat touching his head. Mugman on the other hand was caught by his shirt by a long appendage. Mugman had his eyes covered. His body curled into himself as if he were cowering from the ground he thought would be his demise. Cuphead’s gaze slowly left the red dusted colored stone ground—he squints as he gazed around his surroundings—almost familiar to a cave—humid—hot—real hot…

Cuphead’s blurred gaze soon landed on Mugman—who had yet to uncover his eyes. Cuphead heaved himself up as he stared up at Mugman. His blurry eyes soon subsided and his eyes trailed over to what had caught Mugman by his shirt. Tracing the long black appendage which soon landed on the imp that stood still—gleaming down at Cuphead with its bright fierce golden eyes. The Devil.

“You gots to be kiddin’ me…” Cuphead whispered to himself. The Devil’s ear twitched and his tail slowly lowered to the ground. Placing Mugman on his feet. Once Mugman felt the ground beneath his shoes he brought his hands down slowly and glanced over at the Devil with frightened furrowed eyebrows.

“Long time no see you two.” The Devil grins widely. Cuphead sneers before he takes several steps to the Devil. Pointing an index finger up at the imp.

“Now you listen here! I have answers that need questions!” He shouts. The Devil immediately deadpans and rolls his eyes.

“I believe you mean questions that need answers…” he corrects the cup. Cuphead sputters before glaring yet again at the Devil.

“What’s the big idea! What do you need from us? We’ve done what you’ve asked the last time—I told ya! Our deal with you—is off. It’s over!” Cuphead shouts. Mugman rubs his forehead in an anxious manner.

“Cuphead—stop.” Mugman grunts. But Cuphead didn’t listen.

“You two still owe me one more deal. That was our agreement. 3 deals. You’ve done two so far. And this shall be your last objective for me. And it is important.” The Devil explained calmly. Placing his hands behind his back. His golden eyes looked at the two in an attentive manner. The corner of Cuphead’s lip twitched as he gleamed up at the imp.

“No more deals.” He repeats. Though the Devil smiled—he’d expected this from the hardheaded cup. The Devil lifts a hand and points at Mugman—who had yet to speak. Mugman felt himself shrink under the Devil’s gaze. “You’ll do this deal—or you’ll lose him. The choice is yours.” He calmly said. Cuphead glanced over at Mugman. Mugman raised his eyebrows.

“Wait—who me? Huh?” Mugman sputters. Placing a hand on his chest. “Death is inevitable for everyone. But I can and will take something precious away from you Cuphead if you don’t comply. As said this is your last deal and you two won’t have to hear or see from me ever again.” The Devil said. Cuphead sighed through his nose harshly.

“But if you don’t. Mugman will die. I do own you both after all—but on the bright side! Haha! Hey! After you two finish this deal. You two won’t be owned by me anymore! This is a win-win deal here!” The Devil lets out an airy laugh. Mugman shuffled under his feet.

“What do we have to do?” Cuphead asks. The devils ears perked up. “All you have to do. Is take and eliminate.” He answers.

“Wait—no! We can’t—no!” Mugman rushes between the Devil and Cuphead. Spreading his arms to intervene. Mugman then looks at the Devil.

“We can not do that! We can’t kill anyone! I apologize—but this is way out of me and Cuphead’s bargain—“

“We’ll do it.” Cuphead replied. The Devil hummed before looking at Mugman. Mugman sighed before shoving Cuphead away and fully facing The Devil.

“I can’t..I can’t do that—I—I can’t just hurt someone.” Mugman pleads.

“Why Mugman I didn’t even tell you if they were even good or not! For all I know I could be sending you two to take out one of the world's most wanted criminals!” The Devil laughs. Mugman frowns. “I can guarantee you that they more than likely aren’t.” Mugman said. The Devil grins before nodding.

“You’re right. They aren’t.” He chuckled. Cuphead soon spoke up. “Like I said. We’ll do it. What do we need to do.” Cuphead went back to the topic at hand. And the Devil wasted no time.

“A book. You two are off to capture a book. You will retrieve that book and bring it back to me. As for the people that are holding the book. You will take someone by the name of Oswald. And kill one person—she’s a useful source that needs to be stopped.”

“And her name is Y/n L/n.”

Y/n felt her nose twitch. It felt like something was crawling on her nose. The light touch on the tip of her nose felt soft. But caused her nose to twitch yet again. She furrowed her eyebrows and lifted a hand to rub at her nose. But was met with something soft. Her eyes fluttered open. The smell of something sweet wafted in the air. But her focus was more on touching her nose to see what it was that was bothering it.

To Y/n’s surprise; it was Oswald’s ear. The rabbit was asleep. And his ears must have flopped over in her direction. Y/n places a hand on his ear to gently move it away. The sudden feeling over his ear caused him to awaken. His onyx eyes slowly and heavily opened. He must have been awfully tired. He smiled at her softly and Y/n returned the smile.

“I made breakfast.” Y/n flinched at the sound of Felix’s voice. As well as Oswald. The two glancing above them to see Felix hovering over them. Arms behind his back with a smile.

“So. First thing we need to do ask around town if they found any details last night about—“ Y/n ignored Felix and was busy stuffing her mouth with the pancakes he made—she didn’t know if the fluffy pancakes were so delicious because she was yearning for food for the past several hours or if they really were just some really good pancakes. Panchito watched Y/n as he held his fork. A smile stretched on his beak. Boy was she eating fast!

But Felix hadn’t noticed as he was busy going over today’s routine with everyone—which actually mostly consisted of Bendy listening to him. Donald was trying not to drift back off to sleep. As he had the bottle of syrup in his hand. The syrup substance had long over spilt on his plate and was now dripping on the counter. Oswald hadn’t eaten his pancakes—he must not have been hungry. But overall..majority of them were distracted and weren't listening to a damn thing Felix was saying.

“So!” Felix clapped his hands. Causing Donald to jump in his seat and quickly place the syrup bottle upright and put his attention on Felix, Panchito and Y/n to quickly place their attention on Felix and Oswald to snap daydreaming and place his attention on Felix as well. Felix thought he had their attention the whole time. Smiled with glee.

“You all got that? That’s the plan!” He says. Bendy looked at the four. He could tell they didn’t take in a single thing of info.

“Okay. I think it would be best if we all would split up.” Felix said as he looked at his wrist watch. He and the group stood on the pavement. In the early hours. It was around Looking away from his wrist watch he looked at the group. Counting before nodding. “Luckily we have an even group.” He says.

“Oh! Can we pick our partners?” Panchito asks. And Felix nods—“well of course.” He said in the background as Panchito hops over to Y/n and hooked his arm around hers. Y/n smiled as she stood next to Panchito as the others took their partners as well. Bendy went with Felix and Oswald went with Donald. An even group—thankfully.

Leaving out Panchito practically was skipping down the sidewalk in joy. Y/n scrolled through her phone for a mere few minutes before she placed it in her pocket and looked over at Panchito.

“You think we’ll even find them in town?” She asks. Panchito took a moment to think. “Ah—a slim chance. We'd have already run into them by now.” He replies.

“But. I’m more on the optimistic side.” He smiled at her and Y/n smiled back—their characteristics should be too hard to see as the brothers—from what Felix explained—literally had cups for heads. So they would be easy to spot. Rounding the corner. As Panchito and Y/n were in a deep conversation—Y/n accidently ran into someone. Not paying attention. Y/n was gladly able to keep her balance, opening her eyes that she didn’t realize she closed on the impact. She looked in front of her to see who she had accidentally ran into. Not before placing a hand on her forehead after feeling the pain starting to travel on her forehead. She must have run into them pretty hard.

Standing in front of her was a toon. Also holding his forehead—his head was as shaped as a ceramic pale gray cup. He had a red nose and wore a black dress shirt with brown shorts. He held his eyes closed as he muttered under his breath—damn. She must have run into him pretty hard.

“Sorry! I wasn’t paying attention.” Y/n sheepishly apologized. Removing her hand from her forehead. The toon slowly opened his eyes and looked at both Panchito and Y/n. He held a sour expression but that was until he took a moment to stare at Y/n.

“Oh—uh—No. I’m sorry—I should have been payin’ attention.” He apologizes, speaking slowly as if he were unsure. As for Y/n it were as if a brick was tossed at her face to bring her back to reality. Wait.

“What’s your name?” They both ask in unison. Both Cuphead and Y/n put on a surprised expression. Cuphead quickly then replied. “My name is Cuphead.” He replied. Y/n felt her heart leap in her throat. Well what do ya know?! Look at how quick they were able to find one of the brothers! How long have they been just wandering around town?

Gasping slightly. Y/n smiled. “Hey! Aren’t we glad we ran into you—me and a couple of friends of mine have been looking for you and your brother.” She explained. And Cuphead couldn’t wipe the look of awe off his face—what is he supposed to do now?! He can’t just kill the poor girl. Not to mention—

“You’re pretty!” He nervously exclaims. Y/n stopped talking slowly as she stared at him before she smiled yet again. “Oh—thank you.”

“Qué nombre tan extraño…” Panchito mumbled under his breath. As he stood beside Y/n and gazed upon Cuphead.

Panchito then softly nudges Y/n’s arm.

“No. No sé de él.” Panchito told her before putting his gaze on Y/n. Y/n looks away from Cuphead and to Panchito.

“What’s wrong?” She asks him. Panchito grabs Y/n by her arms softly and directs her to face the opposite direction of Cuphead. “I don’t know about him.” Panchito lowered his voice for only him and Y/n to hear. The sound of various footsteps and murmured voices of people in the town were seemingly muffled to Y/n’s ears.

Cuphead stood behind the two. His eyes found sight of Y/n’s book bag that she had strapped around her shoulders—more than likely he assumed that’s where she kept the book.

“Why?” Y/n asks Panchito. “Do you think it is odd that we spent hours last night searching for him and his brother and no sight? And seemingly we now run into them?” He asks. Which. Y/n agreed. The town wasn’t that big from the looks of it. They should have ran into the brothers hours ago last night—but then again—seemingly they were kidnapped. And Cuphead didn’t show any sign of stress from being taken—then again she knew nothing about Cuphead nor his brother.

“Yeah…I guess you’re right.” Y/n muttered.

“Hey—sorry to interrupt—“

Y/n and Panchito both flinched at the sight of Cuphead standing in front of them.

“But. Do you two know Felix? The guy we came to town with.”

DING!

“OH! Look! Oswald! Look!” Donald points at the game stand in front of the two—Oswald looked away from whatever he was gazing at and looked over to Donald and then the stand his friend had been playing at. The two managed to come across a small fair in town. A few stalls held games and unfortunately Donald grew distracted and started to play the silly game—tossing the baseball in a bucket—much to Oswald's mind it didn’t interest him.

“You’ve played this 3 times already Donald.” Oswald told him. Donald looks at the stall and back at Oswald. “You must be the fun guy at parties.” Donald grunts before he walks past Oswald and down the dirt path. A few people walked by to have fun on their own at the fair. Oswald's ears perked up slowly before looks behind him. He then started walking slowly—following after Donald.

“Is it just me. Or do you have this weird feelin?” Oswald asks. Donald opened his eyes after walking with his eyes closed for a few seconds. He had an expression of contemplation on his face. Before he dismissed the thought. “You think always like that.” He grins triumphantly. Maybe in a way to get back at Oswald’s last remark. Oswald blinks before squinting his eyes. “No I don’t.” Oswald quickly reputed.

“I’m joking..” Donald laughs. The two walked down the fair, the sound of murmured voices and games wafts in the background.

“But really. You hadn’t told me anything about what you’ve had going on.” Donald picks up. Oswald looks at Donald. “Well..nothing too exciting happened lately.” He started before looking ahead of the two again. Oswald’s ears slowly flattened. “Just been hangin’ around.” He finished. Donald’s tail feather flickered as he looked away from Oswald. When he knew Oswald the rabbit was very outgoing and straightforward. But he couldn’t find the sense in himself to keep pestering the rabbit.

Trying to think of another topic to push aside the now awkward silence—before Donald could say anything. Oswald turned his gaze back on Donald. “I’m sorry I left suddenly.” He said abruptly. Donald looks at Oswald as the two slowly start to trail off with their walking before standing still.

“I’ve…been meaning to tell you that for years—and the others of course. But more importantly you because well—you were always there.” His voice was quiet but Donald could still understand and hear every word that came from Oswald’s mouth.

“I feel horrible for what I said and—and I didn’t mean it—Especially not towards you—I was angry and sad and at times I can’t really control that because…” Oswald trailed off. His ears felt flat against his head before reaching a hand up to wringe nervously at his ear. “A lot has happened when you and the others were away that I tried to get myself through and I couldn’t..” he trailed off yet again and Donald felt himself frown.

“Oswald. You don’t need to apologize. I’m always here to talk. What ha—“

Pew!

THUD!

A light blue light of energy whizzed between Donald and Oswald. Oswald’s ears quickly shot up. As Donald quaked in fear before jumping away from Oswald.

“Bettigan! Don’t do that!” Shouts a voice. Oswald and Donald quickly shoot their heads over to see 3 figures. A lanky stack of casino chips. In a western get up outfit holding onto the wrist of a cup headed figure. With a blue nose black sweater and blue shorts. Floating in the air was black 8 ball.

“HAHAHA! THat was funny! You almost got em’ Mugs!” Shouts the 8-ball as he cackled.

“That’s not funny. You almost caused a scene you nut!”

“Is that…?” Oswald whispered. Donald slowly nods. “I think.”

“Should we?—“

“Run!” Donald dashed past Oswald and grabbed onto the rabbit's wrist and dragged him down the fair.

“Hey. They’re gettin’ away!” The 8 ball cried out. Mugman looks away from Bettigan—one of the few partners he was assumed to be before looking over at where Donald and Oswald stood.

“Come on your idiots!” Bettigan laughs before he runs after the two in the general direction they headed. Mugman and Mangosteen followed after Bettigan.

“I thought he was on our side!” Donald shouts as the two run out of the fair and back into town. Oswald huffs before throwing his hands in the air. “I did too!”

“Do we find Felix!?” Donald asks.

“We need to find So—OW!” Oswald’s ears dropped low to steer clear from the blue peashooter that whizzed past them yet again. Donald looks behind them to see the three were indeed after them—the town didn’t seem to take heed that the peashooter was a dangerous weapon as it didn’t seem dangerous at all. So they kept on with their day.

Oswald soon ran into someone knocking the two onto the ground. “Ow! Hey!” That voice! Looking down he saw Y/n who had squinted her eyes from the sudden impact.

“Oh. There you two are.” Panchito stops walking as he turns around to see Oswald quickly shooting from the ground dragging Y/n along with him. Cuphead stopped walking as well but didn’t face the group as he saw Bettigan, Mangosteen and Mugman running over. Mostly Bettigan holding Mugman by his handle and Mugman holding a sour expression.

“Run! Go!” Donald shouts as he shoves Panchito with him. “What’s going on?!” Y/n said as Oswald took her wrist and they jogged off with Panchito and Y/n.

“Hey! You didn’t get the girl?! I just saw her!” Bettigan said as he skids to a stop to stand in front of Cuphead. Cuphead sends a glare to the cowboy. “I was going to you idiot!” Not entirely true.

“They’re gettin’ away. The girl has the book.” Cuphead picked up Mugman from Bettigan and placed his brother on the ground.

“Are ya’ sure?” Bettigan asks. Cuphead nods. “Yes! It’s in her book bag. But I wants the girl. You all stay away from er’” he sneers as he eyed Mangosteen and Bettigan.

“What? Why—“

“I said so! Now go catch that rabbit!”

“Aye aye. Capn’” Mangosteen cackles before In a blink of an eye that magical 8 ball vanished in thin air.

The four ran down the sidewalk—that surprisingly didn’t have many people as it was still the early morning.

“Where is Bendy and Felix?!” Y/n shouts as the four rounded the corner. “Don’t know! The town is small, sure we’ll run into them.” Donald shouts.

“Okay! New plan! Forget the last plan! Keep the book safe! And don’t die!” Oswald shouts. Panchito smiled. “Sounds delightful!”

Soon a black dot formed in front of the two. Two eyes rolled around as well as a smile forming an 8 ball with a face?

The 8 ball opened his mouth and a light illuminated within its mouth and a loud vibrating sound hummed as if some sort of weapon was starting up. As the sound got louder the light grew brighter and brighter. The four took wind that they needed to stop running. The four skidded to a stop just as they were about to get too close to the 8 ball. A light of energy soon shot from the 8 balls mouth and landed on the sidewalks creating a small explosion. Unfortunately being too close and not having enough time to react. The impact caused a powerful force and Y/n flew back. Not knowing whenever the others were she felt herself land somewhere soft.

“Hey—I know this is sudden—“ quickly opening her eyes she was face to face with Cuphead who held a nervous grin. Y/n shrieks before swinging her fist and it collides with Cuphead’s temple—unbeknownst of her his cup head was..well actually a cup. And the solid ‘tink!’ Made that known as the pain surged through her hand and through Cuphead’s head. “Ow!” He shouts as his hands fly up to his head. Y/n fell to the ground and immediately scurried away. Tripping over her shoes she ran past Cuphead and across the street where she thankfully didn’t get hit by any passing cars.

“No wait!” Cuphead shouts before groaning heavily in frustration.

Donald quacks in fear as he runs in the opposite direction. Taking Oswald by his ears and Panchito by the collar of his shirt. Dragging the two—more so Oswald. Donald ran the opposite direction to avoid the 8 ball.

“Who are these people?!” Donald shouts. As Panchito ran beside him. “Ow! Let go of my ears!” Oswald cried out as Donald shoved the two in an alleyway—Panchito heaves before turning around.

“Ah! Where is Y/n?!”

Y/n ran down an alleyway. Hopping over forgotten garbage and trash bags. She heard footsteps behind her and she felt her heart leaping in her chest. She was going to die! She was going to DIE!

She skids around a corner and sees a dead end. A garbage dump against the brick wall. If she could hop that she could get to the roof!

“Fuck am I thinking?!” She quickly disputed the thought. She couldn’t do that—she wasn’t in a movie. This was real life! She panicked as she heaved out of breath to try and catch her breath. She paced back and forth until she heard the sounds of the footsteps getting closer. Turning around she spotted Cuphead.

He heaved and tried to catch his breath as he frowned. “Jeez—you’re fast—“ he heaved. Y/n quickly stooped down and picked up a few rocks and pebbles. She quickly yet harshly threw one at the toon and it hit him in his face—some landing on him as some didn’t. Cuphead flinched and raised his hands up.

“Ow! Listen! Ow! Stop! I’m not here to hurt y—ow! I don’t wanna hurt you! I’m just here for the book!” He shouts. The minute he mentioned the book. Y/n felt herself jerk backwards. The familiar tug caused her to drop the rocks in shock. Her shoes slightly lifted from the ground from the book now awakening in her book bag and the dumpster vibrated and echoed at the impact of her shoes.

“No—no-no.” Y/n quickly tried to run past Cuphead—but the book dragged her back over to the toon—undoubtedly running into Cuphead sending the two to the ground.

“Ow!”

“What was that?!”

The two shouts. Y/n quickly got up before turning to face the streets and running off yet again. “HEY!” Cuphead shouts.

Y/n almost tripped over a stroller a mother was pushing. Y/n glanced over her shoulder and shouted a quick apology to the mother. “Sorry!”

Looking back ahead. Y/n tried glancing around the town for her friends but to no sight she didn’t see anyone. Breathing heavily through her nose. Y/n looking over on the porch of a house. There sat. Water gun. Not a weapon but she was sure it would come in handy. Her fight or flight mode was kicking and she was desperate for survival and protection. Grabbing the toy gun she ran down the sidewalk and looking around.

“Guys!” She shouts in spite of catching the attention of her friends—but instead. Catching the attention of a certain cowboy.

“Well looksy here!” Bettigan shouts. Y/n stops jogging before turning around and spotting the toon. Bettigan flicks his hat up and grins at Y/n. “Put em up—cow girl—“ he demands. Y/n blinks as she shuffled on her feet. The sidewalk had little to no one to hide behind but she still felt crowded. She quickly lifts the toy gun up and glares at the opposing opponent. “Stay back!” She shouts!

Bettigan stared at Y/n for a moment before reaching to his side and pulling out a pistol—in fact..it was real. Not ever having a weapon pointed at her. Y/n—like a wimp. Dropped the toy gun and raised her hands up in fear.

“Drop the bag.” The gun motioned for Y/n to turn around. But Y/n felt her mind go foggy. HOW WAS NO ONE SEEING THIS?!

“Come on now..drop it.” Y/n slowly took the book bag off her shoulders before placing it on the ground. Bettigan smiled—but before he could talk. Something whizzed in the air and knocked the pistol from his grip.

“Bettigan! I told ya’ don’t kill her! What are y—“

“You idiot I had her right there she has the bag in the ground!” Y/n saw Cuphead walk over pointing his index finger at Bettigan’s chest out of fits of anger.

“She’s right there!” Bettigan motions over to Y/n. Only to find.

“Where did she go?” Bettigan muttered.

Y/n tripped over her shoes as she rounded yet another corner. She rushes past a street where a quiet neighborhood resides. On the whim she heard two voices! One she was familiar with.

“Hey! Watch the horns!” It was Bendy!

Y/n skids to a stop and looks down the street. Standing on the side of a building was a tall lanky figure. He was furry, dark and…his horns were large and he had Bendy by his tail. Bendy hung upside down as he gazed up at this creature.

“Where’s the rabbit?” The creature asks. Y/n could only see the back of the creature and see Bendy being held. Y/n wasted no time before she ran over. Picking up a rock from the ground and chucking it in the air.

“Put him down!!!” She shouts. The rock hits the creature at the back of its head. It was a hard hit but not enough to deter the creature. But enough to make him turn around and gaze over his shoulder to the girl. It’s yellow eyes pierced into Y/n’s form.

Yellow eyes, black fur, horns.

“Oh shit…” she whispered.

The Devil drops Bendy before turning to Y/n. Bendy soon scurried away from the creature and over to Y/n. His arm looping around Y/n’s waste and picking the girl up to run from the neighborhood.

“What are you nuts?! You just hit the Devil!” Bendy shouts at her. Y/n frowned as she looks over Bendy’s

Shoulder—not seeing the creature anymore.

“I didn’t know that was him!” She cried out in fear. Bendy slowly stops running as he looks around frantically.

“Do you still have the book?” He asks her. Y/n felt him put her down. “Yeah, where’s Felix?” Y/n asked. Bendy looks back at her. “I dunno. The guy wandered off. No wonder he lost the twins!” Bendy sneered. Y/n breathed heavily trying to grasp onto her breathed as she looked around.

“I can’t find the others.” Y/n huffed

“Me ei—“

“a…a…a…a..” a distant scream echoed in the air.

Y/n and Bendy looked at each other as they heard the distant screaming grow closer.

“aaaaaAAAAAAAAHH!!!” Oswald had soon flown into Bendy and Y/n and the three had unfortunately rammed into a glass pane window of a store; the glass shattered into shards as the three fell into the store. A few screams of the pediatricians pierced the air. And Y/n felt wind get knocked from her lungs. Y/n rolled on the ground. The glass shards sticking to her shirt, pants and bag, Bendy groaned in pain as Oswald did as well. The sound of feet slapping the concrete grew closer.

“Guys! Are you okay?!” It was Donald. Y/n felt her eyes go blurry from the sudden impact. She groaned at the feeling of air not being able to properly cycle around her lungs. Soon Panchito and Donald hopped into the store through the broken glass. Donald reached down and helped Y/n up. Y/n groaned as she stood up slowly. Closing her eyes to help regain her balance.

Oswald slowly got up as Panchito looked down at Oswald. A few cackled and laughs echoed in the air—similar to being surrounded by a pack of hyenas. Y/n opened her eyes to see Bettigan, Mangosteen, Cuphead and she assumed his brother Mugman was standing in front of the broken glass pane. A few imp like creatures with different shades of red fur—there had to be at least 8 imp creatures that stood next to the now villainous people that weren’t on their side.

Mangosteen had yet again opened his mouth—like how he did to throw the energy ball at them earlier—but instead. Y/n felt herself slightly lift from the ground and her book bag unzipped and the book soon slipped from the bag leaving Y/n to tumble to the ground. Bendy had caught her and held her by her waist.

“No!” Y/n protested as the book floated over to the group. “Nice running around. I’ll give you all that.” The western cowboy—Bettigan praised. His voice was deep and husky. The book was an arms length away from him as he reached out to grab the book. But instead;

Whip!

A thick lasso rope embraced around the book. With a tug the book was pulled away from the beam of energy that was pulling it closer to the opposing group—being snatched off the go side where it landed in the hands of Felix. Felix stood in the doorway entrance of the store. A couple of customers cowered behind a shelf that stood next to him.

“I don’t think so.” Felix smiled at Bettigan. Bettigan huffed before pointing at the group. “Get em!”

With a blink of an eye. Donald, Y/n, Panchito, Bendy, Oswald and Felix dashed from the store. Almost tripping over her feet. Y/n ran down the sidewalk with her friends to seemingly nowhere—their main objective was to just get away from their opposing team.

“Where are we going?!” Y/n shouts as she and the others found themselves on the main street of the town once again.

“I don’t know!” Felix shouts—but he didn’t seem to sense the danger they were in. Instead enjoying the cat and mouse chase that ensued. He then grunts before looking down at his hands where he held the book.

“Ow! Hey—it’s burning me!” Felix said curiously. He tossed the book over to Y/n and she caught it. “Maybe it—AH!”

Y/n was dragged back, her arms being tugged harshly by the book. It lifted her from the ground with great strength. Y/n shrieks as she feels herself seemingly get tossed backwards and ramming into someone.

“Ow!” Shouts a voice but she couldn’t match the voice to the face as she and the person fell and rolled on the ground—rolling in a few summersaults from the impact. With adrenaline pumping she didn’t take much time to get up as she did the first couple of times. Sitting up and looking over. She was met face to face with an exhausted looking Mugman.

“Ah!” The two scream before backing away from each other. Her back hits the car that was parked off to the side of the street.

“Gotcha! You brat!” Y/n felt someone take ahold of her hood and lift her up yet again. She sunk into her jacket and aimlessly kicked and tossed her legs. “Ah! Let me go!” She protested. Swinging her arms back, try and hit whoever had her hold by her hood. Looking off to the side she saw the book laid aimlessly on the ground in the middle of the street.

“Mugman! Get the book and take it to Mango! I’ll deal wit’ da girl!” An accented voice shouts. Mugman stared at Y/n momentarily before he slowly backed away and scurried off towards the book. Y/n was dropped to the ground. She fell to her knees and before she had the time to get up and run off. She was grabbed by her shoulders and flipped around onto her back. A foot pressed into her torso. She gazed up at the person to see that they were a toon. A fox toon in a red suit. He looked to be some sort of pimp.

“Alright Noid. Heard ya’ve been givin’ my boss problems.” He sneered. Leaning down as his nose pressed against Y/n’s. Y/n glared at the toon. “I dunno who you’re talking about! I don’t even know what you guys are after us for!” She shouts.

“The book! Where’s the rabbit?” He got to the point. Y/n was silent for a moment as she stared up at him. “Oswald?” She asks.

“Yes, him—“

“What makes you think I’ll tell you!” She tried to swing at the fox. But he backed away before her fist could make an impact on his face. He holds his belly and laughs boisterously. “HAHAHAHA! OH man! You’re too good kid!” He laughs. He reaches behind his back and pulls out a pistol.

“Too bad you gotta be put out da’ picture.” He aims the gun at Y/n. Y/n wheezed slowly as she saw the weapon. Her fingertips running cold. She was going to die! She tried to sink into the concrete road away from the barrel. She could see the black hole pointing at her eye. But before the fox could pull the trigger. A loud thud was heard above Y/n. The creaking off a car and the alarm on the car went off—letting her know something heavy must have landed on it. The fox lowers the gun and looks up.

An animalistic growl rumbled the ground and Y/n shivered at only thinking what creature was there to kill her now?! She slowly moves her head to roll her eyes back to glance behind her. She only could see a large silhouette crouching on the alarmed car. She didn’t wasn’t to move too much in fear of having that fox toon wanting to quickly finish the job and shoot her.

“Let. Her. Go.” It was no one she was too familiar with. It couldn’t be any of her toon friends. Y/n cursed under her breath

But instead the fox's ears lowered as he lifted his foot from Y/n’s torso. “Go on. Take the girl.” He retaliated. Or so what Y/n assumed he did. The creature took a step from the car. And Y/n could feel purgatory chanting her names. She was going to die. She should have listened to her mom! Just stay in the house! This was crazy! She didn’t even know what she was doing! Should she just give them the book?!

“Whoa!”

Thud!

Whoever the big and bad creature was must have taken a step too wide and fell off the car. And fell face first into the ground. Deciding to take a look at this mystery hero. Y/n slowly sat up and saw;

“Boris?” She asks slowly. The wolf had landed on his chin, ears dropped low as he looked at her. His body arched over his head as he gave her a flustered smile.

“Ah…hey Y/n—“

“AAHAHAHA! This?! This is supposed to be the big wolf?!” The fox hurled over and laughed, arms curled over his stomach as he laughed hysterically.

“You—YOU HAD ME THERE FOR A SECOND!” He laughs. Boris’s attempts to try and spook the fox clearly almost had the enemy—but with one silly move caused Boris’s plan to fail.

As the fox laughed. Y/n quickly pushed the fox away from her, causing the toon to fall into the car behind him. She scurried off the ground and rushed over to Boris. Grabbing his arm and tugging him up—with how heavy he was her tugs meant nothing—but Boris thankfully was quick as he stood up and towered over her—she never realized how tall the wolf was—but thinking more on that later. She and Boris ran down the street away from the fox who just then got back up and shouted curses at the two.

“Where did you come from?!” Y/n shouts. She smiled at the wolf who ran next to her with a silly grin. Without taking notice. He closed his eyes and started to explain. “Well! Alice decided it would be best if we—“ Boris was cut short by running smack dead into a light pole. He stood stiff as a board. His ear twitched as his two eyes were replaced with X’s

“Didn’t…see that…sign…” he wheezed. Y/n skids to a stop as she looks forward to seeing that wandered into a construction sight. Looking at the sign that Boris inadvertently ran into she saw it had a black photo of a sewer hole. Boris staggered as he held his head.

“Oh my…” he whimpered. He seemed like he was about to fall.

“Hey! You two can’t be over here.” A construction worker warned. Y/n saw Boris falling back. She gasped and tried to stop the wolf from falling but he was far too heavy. She pressed her back into Boris’s but he already seemed to be knocked out unfortunately when turning the opposite direction to hoist Boris up. She noticed the open sewer hole a toe length away the black darkness was calling her name to just fall in.

“NO!” She shouts.

“Yes!” Y/n quickly looks up to see that flying 8-ball again. Gasping she stiffened at the sigh of the creature.

“Boris! WAKE UP!” Y/n legs gave out as she then fell into the sewer hold. With Boris limply falling in after. His foot had kicked an abandoned street sign and it flew in the air before falling into the sewer hole with Y/n’s descending screams. Mangosteen blinks before reaching a hand up to his chin (?)

“Wow—she’d much rather toss herself in a sewer line then be up here with me?” He seemed hurt genuinely as he frowned.

“…”

“OH WELL! Time for some brutal murder!” He cackled before floating over to the sewer hole and falling in as well. The construction worker blinked slowly and furrowed his eyebrow. Before he rolled his eyes

“I don’t get paid enough for this..”

Boris landed on top of the metal street sign shortly Y/n landed between his legs oddly Boris was still sitting up muttering under his breath—eyes closed but he seemed out of it.

“Yes—I’d love to….” He muttered under his breath. Y/n couldn’t see anything in front of her as her shaky breathing echoed in the sewer.

She shakily reached for her phone. Once finishing it she quickly took off her bookbag and placed it in front of her. Mesmerizing where her front zipper was. She unzipped it before turning in the flashlight in her phone and placing the phone in the front zipper. Once the light was on she could see the sewer line. The street sign oddly secures at some sort of boat as in the shallow water kept she and Boris afloat as it floated down the line.

She heard water a few feet ahead but it was so dark she could only see what was really in front of her. She looked over her shoulder and nudged Boris.

“Boris! Wake up—wake up please! We’re—we’re in the sewer and I think we’re lost!” She panicked. She lifts a hand up as she looks infront of her. Her hand softly pats at Boris’s face.

“5 more…minutes…Henry….” He muttered.

Y/n had her focus on the end of the tunnel—where she soon could see that—there was a drop!!

“Nonononono!! No!” She shouts. Pressing herself back into Boris. Boris snores before he snorts and wakes up. He looks around with an alarmed expression.

“What?! What’s going on?! Where am I?! Why is it so dark?!” He cried out. Y/n wrapped her arms around Boris’s arms as if to use them as some sort of restraint.

“Oh my gosh!” Y/n shrieks in fear. Boris shouts as he wraps his arms around Y/n as well. The street sign lurched forward and the two were sent sliding down the steep hill, Y/n felt her stop spinning in circles. Similar to how it felt riding on a rollercoaster. Their screams echoed in the sewer.

“AHHHHHHHH!”

“AAAAAAH!” They both shout in fear yet—excitement.

Suddenly a ball of energy shoots down the tunnel. Lighting the way down the tunnel where Y/n could see for a split second an abrupt turn. Y/n looked over Boris’s shoulder to see the 8 ball had followed them into the sewer line—possibly to make sure they were dead for sure. Y/n hid her face in Boris’s shoulder as she felt the abruptness. The metal street sign that acted as a sled skids the wall. Creating a spark as the tunnel dipped down yet again causing them to go faster.

Another energy ball had been shot and it landed right in front of the two just before the second dip. Y/n shrieks as she flies off the sled—as she deemed it.

Boris yelps and frantically tries to grab onto Y/n but he is separated by going into another direction which is downwards into the sewer. The energy ball had torn off another metal plate which held cables to the sewer lines wall—thankfully with luck on Y/n’s side she lands on the new sled and was separated from Boris when she was led to different tunnel—which was a form as Boris went left and she went right—on the hood side she managed to lose Mangosteen. Y/n had landed in her stomach and was holding onto the metal plate that was curled at the end so she could have something to grasp onto. It really resembles a sled now.

Y/n felt another dip and her legs lifted from the sled and she flipped forwards mid air. Screaming Y/n felt herself free fall as she lost the metal plate she was on. Boris had made it from the tunnel he was separated from Y/n. And he looked up in the direction of Y/n’s screaming. And right when he looked up. She landed back between his legs.

“AH I THOUGHT I LOST YOU!” He shouts with glee. As he hugged Y/n. Rubbing his cheek on top of her head. Y/n felt herself shivering at the thought of maybe landing in the sewer water and scraping herself up pretty bad. She was thankful that Boris was there. The two looked forward and saw at the end of the tunnel a large pipe that led upwards. The pipe had a valve. And spurts of water were spilling from the crevice of the pipe.

“I think that's the way out!” Y/n shouts and smiles. Boris smiled as well before frowning.

“Why aren’t we slowin’ down.”

Being tossed through a window of a house that was nearby. Bendy groaned as he laid on the floor limply. The debris of the glass shards and dust particles from the wall wafted in the air. The demon's tail twitched as he sighed…tossed through a wall…again. Bendy glared up at the ceiling in irritation.

“This is not my week…” he grumbled.

Hearing the sudden tiny gasp caused Bendy to snap from his trance before sitting up on his elbows. Looking over he saw two children. One boy—no older than maybe the age of 10 holding a bat over his head in fear that Bendy may have been an intruder. And a little girl who had to have been 8 cowering behind her brother. They both held a fearful expression thinking Bendy would harm them. Bendy blinks before having a nervous smile. “Um—-I can explain—“

Donald was caught off by frantic huffing and puffing. Oswald quickly crawled into the apartment. Crawling over the glass shards and wall pieces. His fur was ruffled as he landed on his stomach to breathe.

“They—are Vicious!” Oswald's voice cracks as he shakily points behind him which leads outside. Bendy was surprised that the rabbit crawled up to the second floor to get away from beagle brothers—who had also shortly after decided to make their appearance after Y/n suddenly vanished.

Oswald looks at Bendy before looking over at the kids. His ears dropped once he saw how alarmed the two kids were. Seeing two toons being thrown through the wall into your home? That would frighten any kid.

“Oh man…” he muttered.

The two kids then screamed in fear and the brother dropped the bat to the ground before he grabbed his sibling and scurried off down the hall. Oswald quickly gets up as well as Bendy.

The faucet in the kitchen trembled and the ground vibrated. Oswald and Bendy look down at their feet before looking at each other. Bendy blinked before the sound of water spraying widely outside caught his attention. Two distinct screams were heard and both Oswald and Bendy were yet again tossed to the ground by Boris and Y/n. The two were soaking wet. The mildew smell of water wafted the air. And the sound of a heavy sew lid smashing onto concrete echoed in the streets.

Y/n coughed up water and crawled off of Bendy. She gasped for air and groaned heavily. Bendy yelped as he quickly wiped the water from him as he looked over to Y/n who were on her hands and knees trying to free her lungs of water. Head to two she was drenched and shivering.

Boris stood up quickly and shook his coat of fur. Splashing water everywhere. Bendy wandered over to Y/n and helped her up.

“Boris! What are you doing here?” Bendy was relieved to see his friend. And Boris wagged his tail quickly, happy to see Bendy as well. “Alice led us here! She had something to tell you! That there’s this group of people trying to kill you all!” He explained before he grunted.

“But it seems you all already got the gist of that.” He muttered under his breath shaking his left foot from any water. Y/n gagged and groaned.

“I’m all wet! With sewer water! And—and they took—-The book!” She shouts. Bendy and Oswald both looked at her.

“They took the book?” Oswald repeats. Y/n looks at him and nods, breathing heavily to catch her breath. “Yes! And we need to get it back!” She looked out towards the hole in the wall and ran a hand through her hair.

“Where’s Alice?” Bendy asks as he turns to look at Boris. Boris thought for a moment. “They’re still in town.” He answered.

“They’re?”

“Oh yeah! Charley, Barley and Edgar are with us too!” Boris nods with a bright smile. Y/n didn’t know who they were other than Alice. But Bendy didn’t seem pleased.

“Come on. We need to find Donald and Panchito.”

Rushing down the sidewalk. Y/n could see the water spluttering from the sewer hole that she and Boris had exited from. Water everywhere on the street after busting that pipe they ran into shortly after their victory chase with Mangosteen. Luckily the water damage didn’t floor the street—but surely construction will pull their hair out when they see that.

“How did you two get up there anyway?” Y/n asked Bendy and Oswald before motioning up to the hole in the building on the 2nd floor. The two kids that were in that room peered down at them. Bendy points to himself. “I was tossed.” He then points at Oswald. “He was hiding.” He finished. Oswald looks away down the road to avoid eye contact. Y/n’s clothes felt heavier she sighed and shivered yet again.

“All we need to do is locate that bo—“

“Squeak squeak!!” Two loud echoing squeaks that reminded Y/n of a dog's chew toy echoed in the air. The four turned around and were faced with a spider toon—Edgar. He held the book in his hand and smiled triumphantly.

Bendy smiled.

“Eddie!” He shouts with glee and runs over to the toon. He wrapped his arms around the spider toon and lifted him up to give Edgar a tight crushing hug. Edgar let’s out various squeals of laughter. Y/n didn’t know who the toon was but assumed he was good and that Bendy knew him. She jogged over and once she got closer the spider smiled at her and handed her the book. Y/n smiled before taking ahold of the book. At long last!

“Thank you.” She thanks the toon as Bendy sets Edgar down. Edgar smiled before he looked away with a flustered expression.

“There you guys are!” Y/n glanced up and saw Panchito and Donald running over. Once they were close they skidded to a stop once spotting Boris. His height must have made the two cautious as Donald quacked in a surprised manner before hiding behind Panchito. Boris’s nose twitched before he smiled and waved. “Hi!” He says. Panchito soon smiled and waved at Boris—remembering the face from the studio. As for Donald he cautiously looked at Boris but remained silent.

Bendy took the book from Y/n and smugly grinned.

“And we have the book. You all can thank—“ he then looked at Edgar but—Bendy then points to himself with his thumb as he grinned.

“This guy.” Just as he said that. A black blurry figure ran in between him and Y/n. Snatching the book from Bendy’s grasp. Bendy still held the hand up that was holding the book. He looked at his head before he looked at Y/n whose mouth was agape.

“What the hell Bendy!” She shoved him—for what felt like the 100th time the book was taken from them! Bendy grabbed Y/n’s hands to stop her from shoving him again. “Hey! Hey! Don’t get hostile with me—“

“Hah! Losers!” Everyone looked over to see the shadow like toon that Oswald, Y/n, Panchito and Bendy encountered. The fast shadow toon grinned as he held the book above his head before dashing off reaching behind his back with his free hand. He held a small metal like ball.

“You know out of everyone we’ve encountered—he doesn't make me scared.” Panchito absurdly confessed. Oswald rubbed his eye so that he could start to bruise up. The toon then smashed the ball to the ground like a smoke bomb. Black smoke seeped onto the ground and out popped 4 shadow creatures. All with sharp features their glowing white eyes caused Y/n’s bookbag to fall off her shoulder as everyone stared in awe as the 4 shadows loomed in the air threateningly.

“I take that back.” Panchito said nonchalantly.

“Get them!” Zip shouted before he cackled loudly and rushed away with the book. The four shadows quickly started towards the group and all six of them screamed in fear before scurrying off in different directions.

Edgar tripped over his legs running away as he followed Y/n. With how small he was he sure was fast as he kept up to speed with her. Boris and Bendy had run off into another direction. Boris screams and he tripped over a trash can. But he rolled off the ground and kept running. Oswald, Donald and Panchito found their different paths as well—everyone splitting up yet again.

Y/n held her bookbag as she tripped over her wet and saggy pants that were weighing her down. She had to think big instead of running everywhere! She looks at Edgar hoping he could understand her. “Do you think you can find that book again?!” She asks the spider as the two rounded a corner. Edgar squeaks before he remembered she couldn’t understand him. He nods before he stops running and zips off to another street in hopes of finding the stolen book. Y/n looked behind her and saw that the shadow like creature was quick and series of voices were in her head—she assumed it must have been the effect of the creature she covered her ears and huffed she was running out of breath and her legs urged her to take a rest she was running too much! Y/n ducked under a man's arm as he stood in the way. He almost tripped over and looked at Y/n in confusion but didn’t seem to notice the shadow creature chasing after the girl.

As soon as Y/n thought could outrun the creature. To arms stuck out. And grasped onto her dragging her into an alleyway. Y/n yelps and almost tripped over. Turning around quickly she was met with Cuphead.

“Sh! Quiet! I’m helping you—“ he raised a finger to his mouth to silence her. Y/n huffed and placed her back on the wall opposite of Cuphead. She felt water dripping from her and onto the concrete ground. She tried to contain her hard breathing but she couldn’t as Cuphead peeked from the alleyway. Should she even be standing near him?

As he was busy looking away and out the alley to see if the creature was far off somewhere. Y/n looked over and saw a gate she could hop—would she even be quick enough? She couldn’t even run—her clothes were wet and she felt icky and tired! Y/n looked down at her hands to see the bandage around her hands were loosely coming off.

“Are you okay?” Y/n heard the voice echo in the alleyway. She looks up to see Cuphead had turned around to face Y/n. He was wringing his gloved hands slightly.

Y/n didn’t really know what to respond as she stared at him. “Yeah…” she cautiously said. Cuphead smiled. “Great—“

“So. You’re out to kill me?” She abruptly asked…well she had to know! Cuphead opened his mouth before placing his hands on his chest. “They told me to. But I don’t wa—“

“So you are going to kill me?”

“No! I’m not—I was but until I ran into you today—I made the decision that I wasn’t—“

“So your original plan was to kill me—“

“I don’t think either way I put it—it’ll sound good. Look—let’s start from the beginning.” He wandered over to a trash can and leans his elbow onto it. Before looking at Y/n he then smiled.

“Hey, I’m Cuphead. Cups—whateva’, but you can call me…anytime.” He winks at her. Y/n mouth was agape as she stared at him. Feeling butterflies in her stomach as she saw him lean too far in the trash can and almost fall over. He played it off by reaching a hand out to Y/n to shake.

“And I know you. You’re Y/n—my uh…boss…sorta told me. To kill you.” His words went quieter—as blunt as he was he really didn’t seem like the guy to want to kill anyone. But Y/n couldn’t even form words as she looked at him…what an odd guy..

“Don’t seem too…moved..okay..uh…you're still there?” He moved his hand when he saw Y/n didn’t take the hand shake. He waved his hand in front of her to see if he could snap her from her daze. Y/n blinks before she slowly removes herself off the wall.

“What suddenly made you not want to kill me?” She asks. Cuphead gave her a closed lip smile as he gazed at her with a far off look. “Well…you’re pretty.”

What?

Despite feeling the fluffy feeling of butterflies in her stomach. Y/n didn’t find the reply good enough. She furrowed her eyebrows and Cuphead soon raised his hands.

“I know—that doesn't sound like anything too believable—look. My brother and I aren’t people that go around for fun harmin’ folks. This—our boss—The Devil. He sorta owns our souls for the time being, and he said to release us. We had to take that book from you and your friends and specifically kill you. I don’t know why.” His reply seemed genuine and authentic. Y/n tensed muscles slowly eased as she slowly nodded.

“So you’re not going to kill me?” She asks yet again. Cuphead shook his head. “I’m not. I promise I won’t lay a finger on you..” the two were silent for a moment as Y/n tried to wrap her hand around everything. She doesn't understand.

“I don’t understand…Why would you not kill me if that’s the only way to not be soul bound to the Devil.” Y/n repeats. Cuphead looks off to the side.

“You know Felix..right?” He asks. And Y/n nods.

“Well. Me and Mugs—my brother. Our original plan was to get this jewel that would protect us from the Devil. But as you can see—“ he motions around himself. “We’re here. I was going to let you all go—I hope your friends are still alive.”

“Trust me. They are.”

“Well. If you all can get away safely and find that stone. That can break the string between the Devil and me and my brother.” Cuphead finished. Y/n stared at him for a moment.

“So you want us to help you?”

“If that’s not too much to ask..”

Y/n was silent…the book..something about it from earlier…she ran into both Cuphead and Mugman because of the book. Idaho…wait.

Gasping softly she looks at Cuphead.

“You—you and your brother. The book—okay look. We have this book. And this book is leading us to people that should belong on our team. And you and your brother are two of the few people!” She quickly explains. It all made sense now! Cuphead tilts his head.

“What’s the purpose of it. Everyone on my team—the head honchos as I put it. Want that book. I never really cared to find out why but..what’s so important about it?” He asks. And frankly;

“We don’t have an answer for that yet. It’s—it's a lot to unravel. And we’ll explain that when we get you and your brother out of this mess. All you need to know now. Is that. You need to be on our team. And I’ll make it happen.” She boasts. Y/n gave him a smile and Cuphead then smiled back.

“I like ya’ spunk.” He winks. “Have any boyfriend’s?” He grins. Y/n smiled slowly. “No.”

“Lookin’ for any?”

“We have bigger things to look at right now—“

“Alright, alright. I have a plan for you to get your book back and for your friends to leave town safely.” Cuphead moved on. Y/n nods as the two walks deeper into the alleyway.

“Tell me and let’s put it into action.”

#fanfic #fanfiction #bendyxreader #cuphead x reader #oswald the lucky rabbit #toon quest #jose carioca #panchito pistoles #duck tales x reader #ducktales 2017 #the three caballeros x reader #batim x reader

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yandere-society · 4 years

Text

A Separate Journal

Synopsis: Playing games were your favorite. Although the first 20 years of your life wasn’t all that interesting, right now was going to be the peak. When you thought you finally had a direction to follow after your graduation, life, of course, decided for you to play its game. Do you accept?

Pairing: Namjoon x fem!reader

Word Count: 2.1k

Headline: 2 Month Search Of Missing Woman Ongoing

Admin: @nomnomsik

Trigger warnings: yandere-themes, unhealthy obsession and relationships, mentions of manipulation

⊱ ────── {⋅. ✯ .⋅} ────── ⊰

Spring.

People always said spring was the time to freshen up, get outside, and enjoy the slow but upcoming warm weather. It was time to unburrow now that the cold was gone.

And you had to agree, it was quite nice to not be always shivering in your dinky apartment. Even though the inside was old, indicated by the chipping paint peeling off the walls or the small cracks in the ceiling, it was a safe haven that you had.

Not to mention that you were not the neatest person in the world. Books of your studies were spread all across your desk, post-its barely hanging onto the side of the table. You thought about “spring-cleaning” your apartment, but you couldn’t find it in your body to finish it through.

Given the fact that you forget where you place your things, cup and books being the main culprit, you sometimes spend an entire day trying to find them without any luck. But then, like an idiot, you roll your eyes when you find it hiding underneath your papers.

Maybe you should study a little less.

When you finally sit down at your desk, you flip open to your personal journal, recounting about the day. You continued further by noting about the aspirations you had for the future. You blocked a section of time out each day to jot down a bit, just to record a moment in time during your life. It helped you escape reality, as life continuously put its pressure on your shoulders.

Paying bills, covering your expenses, working… All while maintaining social relationships with others. You sighed. Sometimes, it would be nice if life was easier.

The night was still young, your body shaking off the cold air that seeped through the thin walls, as you finally began to write.

May 12th, 2020

The smell of coffee.

You happened to get your special spot at your favorite coffee shop, resting your laptop against the table that you had all to yourself. Even though you probably should’ve drank caffeine, when Jungkook recommended you to try their newest hot chocolate, you couldn’t pass up the offer.

A cute boy giving you a golden smile?

You were weak.

Whenever you took a sip, you looked up to take a glance at the cute barista boy. You happened to figure out quickly that he worked every Thursday evening, fitting perfectly into your schedule. Every Thursday had your body filled with a giddy sensation.

You stayed late in the shop, enjoying the atmosphere and mood by yourself, finding that you were always more productive in it. It felt nice being able to wish Jungkook a good night whenever his shift was over.

He would send you a smile and a wave as he walked out the door. But, the feelings of loneliness would seep through as you packed up your things several minutes later, leaving the shop late at night.

When you walked, you could hear your own footsteps against the sidewalk. The only lights came from the street or the flickering signs of closed shops.

You were all alone.

But, sometimes, you would find an unsettling feeling inside you.

You imagined that were being watched. It was fleeting, then it disappeared and you decided to no longer think about it.

Because, nobody would care about you in that kind of way.

»»————-　✼　————-««

It was winter.

He could see and feel it. The sky was bright white outside, but there was a linger of pale blue. His breath created white puffs of heat that floated in the dry air. His fingertips were tinted a light red as he pressed them into the glass windows. They left his fingerprints as he looked outside in the living room in his apartment.

When Namjoon turned around, he threw his body lazily on the plush sofa, feeling his body mold into the softness. He stretched his arm to the nearby coffee table, picking up the journal that he had stopped reading for a bit.

When he looked over, he saw Rapmon running towards him, giving him a few licks on the face then jumping up with him. Cozily snuggled up together, he flips open to his bookmark, barely noticing how his eyes were falling asleep.

May 19th, 2020

A sigh.

You stumbled back into your cheap apartment, letting your bag down in a huff.

Finally.

You were finally going to be free from this hell-hole. Graduation was approaching, and once you had that diploma in hand, you were running with it. It didn’t matter where, as long as you were far away from here.

But, of course, today you had to do something embarrassing. You just keep making a fool of yourself everyday. All you wanted to do was enjoy your quiet time in the coffee shop with a drink in hand, but instead, you had to bump into someone else and spill it all over them.

He was a really good looking guy too, and that just made you even more embarrassed. The guy was so nice about it, cute even, especially when he stumbled his way through the process giving you his number. Normally, you would’ve rejected that kind of advance, but Namjoon, he said his name was, was so kind about your accident. It made your heart weak in the moment when all he did was just smile and reassure you that everything was fine.

Your face grew hot as you threw your body against your bed. With your head cooling down and lying against the comforter, you turned to stare at the side of your desk. The fluffy scent of softener filled the room as you melted into the plushness. Another sigh escaped your lips as you stood back up. It was already dark outside, your throat was parched and there was nothing in your refrigerator. Why hadn’t you just remembered to go to the store before coming back home?

You scolded yourself mentally as you declared a short shopping expedition. All you were going to get was a 6-pack of water, maybe a midnight snack, popcorn was always your favorite, and come back home. Plus, where even was your cup? You swear you had it this morning.

You shake your head, overwhelmed by too many problems at once. There was a lot of job searching to be done when you came back, so you didn’t want to waste any time.

Namjoon closed the book shut, placing it back on the coffee table. When he stood up, Rapmon perked up, a soft swish of his tail knocking into Namjoon’s ankle in a repetitive rhythm. When he walked over to the kitchen cabinets, Rapmon followed behind him, almost as if wondering if it was dinner time yet. But Namjoon just opened each cabinet one by one, scanning the shelves.

“Nothing, huh…” He murmured.

Namjoon suddenly chuckled. You always lost your things, but Namjoon always brought them back for you. His favorite parts were reading about how you found something you were looking for, blaming yourself for how forgetful you were. Although, he wished that you somewhat thanked him for helping you those months ago.

Namjoon walked over to his room, placing the book into a locked cabinet and sealing it with a key.

He glanced at his watch, grabbing his coat from the closet and slipping both arms through. When Rapmon tried following him out the door, Namjoon chuckled, petting his head.

“You can’t follow me, silly. Don’t worry, I’ll be back really soon.”

Then, Namjoon left his building complex, glancing at his phone and following the directions to a nearby coffee shop. He hid his hands into his pockets to keep them warm, humming to himself as he turned the corner.

When he finally arrived, a bell on the door signaled his arrival as he slipped through. The inside of the shop was warm, the heaters and the roast of coffee adding to the comfy atmosphere. After he got his drink, he took a seat in your spot, remembering the first time he had met you.

You had no idea of his existence, but it didn’t matter.

He spotted you so easily like he always did, somewhat irritated this time as he watched you talk with Jungkook like you were having the time of your life. Namjoon brushed it off though. Afterall, he read how much you liked people who were mature, and if there was something Namjoon was confident in, it was his ability to learn.

Just as you were about to turn around, he had walked forward, ultimately leading to the two of you colliding into one another. Your drink tipped over, spilling slightly over his jacket. As you realized what had happened, you began to apologize profusely, only for Namjoon to charm you and give you his number.

He’s still proud of that today. The two of you got together a while after that and he stole you away from everyone else. Even if the news flashed of a missing person, Namjoon knows not to delude himself with the “horrors” of the event. You were perfectly safe with him.

»»————-　✼　————-««

December 1st, 2020

You did it. You made it.

Everything you could ever want, you had it.

You scribbled hastily into your journal as Namjoon went out for his weekly stroll. He didn’t know of the existence of this one, but he knew of the others. You knew that he had read them, that he had sneaked his way through your cheap apartment doors and took one, returning it in the morning.

And so, you fed him lies. You never actually held a conversation with the barista in your life, the exception being the day you saw him. You remembered only writing it down because you knew how his feelings would flare when he read it.

Namjoon didn't know everything about you… You knew everything about him.. You wrote of your type, your feelings, “secrets” that weren’t really true.

You fed Namjoon so many lies through these journals because all you wanted was the perfect one. After realizing Namjoon was just like you, the excitement in your body almost exploded.

When you first noticed how his figure followed you on Thursday nights, you started to properly keep your journals. And once one of your journals went missing, you wrote about how clumsy and silly you were once you found it again.

All of it was a perfectly laid out trap.

When you realized another went missing and showed up the next day, you barely even mentioned it in writing. Afterall, you were building up an image of how messy you were. Perhaps, Namjoon thought of you as a cute idiot.

But it didn’t matter now because Namjoon finally became the perfect partner for you. And only you.

Maybe you were a little messed up in the head, but you weren’t that crazy, right? You weren’t hurting him and he too, wanted to be with you. So, why not tell him all the things you liked in a person? He didn’t have to change who he was, but he did it just for you.

If that wasn’t love, love didn’t exist.

You wrote your final sentence, sealing the book shut and tucking it far back into the darkest corner of your bedroom’s closet. Boxes piled on top of it, and as you shut the door closed, you heard the front door open up.

He was home. Home to you.

“Namjoon~” You called, walking over and spotting a plastic bag hanging from his wrist. You peered over it, curiously. “What’s in there?”

“Oh,” He starts, smiling mischievously. “Take a guess.”

“No clue.”

“Just guess,” He laughs, bending down to pat a happy Rapmon to the side.

“Ice cream.” You state as a matter of factly.

“Popcorn.” He corrects, watching as your eyes lit up and sparkled.

“Thanks, Joon!”

You give him a hug as you take the bag with you into your small room, closing the door softly. A hum escapes your lips as you smile to yourself, feeling your face heat up. Perhaps one day Namjoon will discover your ploy, but you remind yourself, does it truly matter when you both feel the same way for each other?

A grin forms on your lips at the thought of your ambiguous disappearance. You didn’t have to work a day of your life anymore. And a pleasing feeling falls over you as your eyes grow heavy and a small nap takes over.

You played the game to win the game.

#yandere bts #yandere namjoon #namjoon x reader #yandere namjoon x reader #bts halloween #bts oneshot

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thesaltofcarthage · 3 years

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Loki takes over: Tom Hiddleston on his new TV series and a decade in the MCU

from Entertainment Weekly

Ten years after Hiddleston first chose chaos in Thor, Marvel’s fan favorite God of Mischief is going even bigger with his time-bending Disney+ show.

By Chancellor Agard May 20, 2021

Tom Hiddleston is Loki, and he is burdened with glorious purpose: After playing Thor's puckish brother for over a decade in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, no one understands the mercurial Asgardian God of Mischief as well as the actor. He can teach an entire seminar on Loki if given the opportunity — which he actually did during pre-production on his forthcoming Disney+ show. In conversation, Hiddleston quotes lines from his MCU debut, 2011's Thor, almost verbatim, and will playfully correct you if you mistakenly refer to Asgard's Rainbow Bridge as the Bifrost, which is the portal that connects Loki and Thor's homeworld to the Nine Realms, including Midgard, a.k.a. Earth. "Well, the Bifrost technically is the energy that runs through the bridge," he says with a smile. "But nine points to Gryffindor!" And when he shows up to the photo shoot for this very digital cover, he hops on a call with our photo editor to pitch ways the concept could be even more Loki, like incorporating the flourish the trickster does whenever magically conjuring something. The lasting impression is that playing Loki isn't just a paycheck.

"Rather than ownership, it's a sense of responsibility I feel to give my best every time and do the best I can because I feel so grateful to be a part of what Marvel Studios has created," the 40-year-old Brit tells EW over Zoom a few days after the shoot and a week out from Thor's 10th anniversary. "I just want to make sure I've honored that responsibility with the best that I can give and the most care and thought and energy."

After appearing in three Thor movies and three Avengers, Hiddleston is bringing that passion to his first solo Marvel project, Loki, the House of Ideas' third Disney+ series following the sitcom pastiche WandaVision and the topical The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Led by head writer Michael Waldron (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Heels), the six-episode drama sees Hiddleston's shapeshifting agent of chaos step out from behind his brother's shadow and into the spotlight for a timey-wimey, sci-fi adventure that aims to get to the bottom of who Loki really is. "I wanted to explore slightly more complex character questions," says Waldron. "It's not just good versus bad. Is anybody all good? Is anybody all bad? What makes a hero, a hero? A villain, a villain?"

Even though Loki — who loves sowing mayhem with his illusion magic and shapeshifting, all with a major chip on his shoulder — has never been one for introspection, the idea of building an entire show around him was a no-brainer for Marvel. When asked why Loki was one of the studio's first Disney+ shows, Marvel president Kevin Feige replies matter-of-factly, "More Hiddleston, more Loki." First introduced as Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) envious brother in Kenneth Branagh's Thor, Loki went full Big Bad in 2012's The Avengers. That film cemented the impish rogue as one of the shared universe's fan favorites, thanks to Hiddleston's ability to make him deliciously villainous yet charismatic and, most importantly, empathetic. The character's popularity is one of the reasons he's managed to avoid death many times.

"He's been around for thousands of years. He had all sorts of adventures," says Feige. "Wanting to fill in the blanks and see much more of Loki's story [was] the initial desire [for the series]."

The Loki we meet on the show is not the one who fought the Avengers in 2012 and evolved into an antihero in Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok before meeting his demise at the hands of the mad titan Thanos (Josh Brolin) in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War. Instead, we'll be following a Loki from a branched timeline (a variant, if you will) after he stole the Tesseract following his thwarted New York invasion and escaped S.H.I.E.L.D. custody during the time heist featured in Avengers: Endgame. In other words, this Loki hasn't gone through any sort of redemption arc. He's still the charming yet petulant god who firmly believes he's destined to rule and has never gotten his due.

Premiering June 9, Loki begins with the Time Variance Authority — a bureaucratic organization tasked with safeguarding the proper flow of time — arresting the Loki Variant seen in Endgame because they want his help fixing all of the timeline problems he caused while on the run with the Tesseract. So there will be time travel, and a lot more of it than in Endgame. As Loki makes his way through his own procedural, he'll match wits with new characters including Owen Wilson's Agent Mobius, a brilliant TVA analyst, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw's Judge Renslayer. The question in early episodes is whether Loki will help them or take over.

"One of the things Kevin Feige led on was, 'I think we should find a way of exploring the parts of Loki that are independent of his relationship with Thor,' or see him in a duality or in relationship with others, which I thought was very exciting," says Hiddleston, who also serves as an executive producer on the show. "So the Odinson saga, that trilogy of films, still has its integrity, and we don't have to reopen it and retell it."

Yet, in order to understand where Loki is going, it's important to see where he came from.

Hiddleston can't believe how long he and Loki have been connected. "I've been playing this character for 11 years," he says. "Which is the first time I have said that sentence, I realize, and it [blows] my mind. I don't know what percentage that is exactly of my 40 years of being alive, but it's substantial."

His time as Loki actually goes a bit further back, to 2009 — a year after Robert Downey Jr. big banged the MCU into existence with Iron Man — when he auditioned for Thor. It's no secret that Hiddleston initially went in for the role of the titular God of Thunder, but Feige and director Kenneth Branagh thought his natural charm and flexibility as an actor made him better suited for the movie's damaged antagonist. "Tom gave you an impression that he could be ready for anything, performance-wise," says Branagh, who had previously worked with him on a West End revival of Checkov's Ivanov and the BBC series Wallander. "Tom has a wild imagination, so does Loki. He's got a mischievous sense of humor and he was ready to play. It felt like he had a star personality, but he was a team player."

Hiddleston fully immersed himself in the character. Outside of studying Loki's history in the Marvel Comics, he also researched how Loki and the Trickster God archetype appeared across mythology and different cultures. "He understood that he was already in something special [and] it was a special character in a special part of that early moment in the life of the Marvel universe where [he] also needed to step up in other ways," says Branagh, who was impressed by the emotional depth Hiddleston brought to the part, especially when it came to how isolated Loki felt in the Asgardian royal family.

There was a lot riding on that first Thor feature. For one, no one knew if audiences would immediately latch onto a Shakespearean superhero movie partially set on an alien planet populated by the Norse Gods of legend. Second, it was integral to Feige's plans for the shared universe. Loki was supposed to be the main villain in The Avengers, which would not only mirror how Earth's mightiest heroes joined forces in 1963's Avengers #1 but also give Thor a believable reason for teaming up with Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans), and the rest of the capes. Feige first clued Hiddleston into those larger plans when the actor was in L.A. before Thor started shooting.

"I was like, 'Excuse me?' Because he was already three, four steps ahead," says Hiddleston. "That took me a few minutes to process, because I didn't quite realize how it just suddenly had a scope. And being cast as Loki, I realized, was a very significant moment for me in my life, and was going to remain. The creative journey was going to be so exciting."

Hiddleston relished the opportunity to go full villain in Avengers, like in the scene where Loki ordered a crowd to kneel before him outside a German opera house: "It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation," says the Machiavellian god. "The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."

"I just knew that in the structure of that film, I had to lean into his role as a pure antagonist," Hiddleston recalls. "What I always found curious and complex about the way Loki is written in Avengers, is that his status as an antagonist comes from the same well of not belonging and being marginalized and isolated in the first Thor film. Loki now knows he has no place in Asgard."

Loki did find a place within the audience's hearts, though. Feige was "all in" on Hiddleston as his Loki from the beginning, but even he couldn't predict how much fans would love him. Feige recalls the reaction at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con: "Did we know that after he was the villain in two movies, he would be bringing thousands of people to their feet in Hall H, in costume, chanting his name? No, that was above and beyond the plan that we were hoping for and dreaming of." It was a dream Feige first got an inkling of a year earlier during the Avengers press tour when a Russian fan slipped past security, snuck into Mark Ruffalo's car, and asked the Hulk actor to give Hiddleston a piece of fan art she created. "That was one of the early signs there was much more happening with this quote-unquote villain."

Despite that popularity, the plan was to kill Loki off in 2013's Thor: The Dark World, but the studio reversed course after test audiences refused to believe he actually died fighting the Dark Elves. Alas, he couldn't out-illusion death forever. After returning in Taika Waititi's colorful and idiosyncratic Thor: Ragnarok, Hiddleston's character perished for real in the opening moments of Infinity War. In typical Loki fashion, before Thanos crushed his windpipe, he delivered a defiant speech that indicated he'd finally made peace with the anger he felt toward his family.

"It felt very, very final, and I thought, 'Okay, that's it. This is Loki's final bow and a conclusive end to the Odinson saga,'" says Hiddleston, who shot that well-earned death scene in 2017.

But, though he didn't know it yet, the actor's MCU story was far from over.

When Hiddleston returned to film two scenes in Avengers: Endgame in 2017, he had no idea where Loki portaled off to after snatching the Tesseract. "Where'd he go? When does he go? How does he get there? These are all questions I remember asking on the day, and then not being given any answers," Hiddleston recalls. To be fair, it's likely the Powers That Be didn't necessarily have answers then. While Feige can't exactly recall when the writers' room for Endgame first devised Loki's escape sequence, he does know that setting up a future show wasn't the primary goal — because a Loki series wasn't on the horizon just yet.

"[That scene] was really more of a wrinkle so that one of the missions that the Avengers went on in Endgame could get screwed up and not go well, which is what required Cap and Tony to go further back in time to the '70s," says Feige. Soon after that, though, former Disney CEO Bob Iger approached Feige about producing content for the studio's forthcoming streaming service. "I think the notion that we had left this hanging loose end with Loki gave us the in for what a Loki series could be. So by the time [Endgame] came out, we did know where it was going."

As for Hiddleston, he didn't find out about the plans for a Loki show until spring 2018, a few weeks before Infinity War hit theaters. "I probably should not have been surprised, but I was," says the actor. "But only because Infinity War had felt so final."

Nevertheless, Hiddleston was excited about returning for his show. He was eager to explore Loki's powers, especially the shapeshifting, and what it meant that this disruptive figure still managed to find a seat beside the gods in mythology. "I love this idea [of] Loki's chaotic energy somehow being something we need. Even though, for all sorts of reasons, you don't know whether you can trust him. You don't know whether he's going to betray you. You don't why he's doing what he's doing," says Hiddleston. "If he's shapeshifting so often, does he even know who he is? And is he even interested in understanding who he is? Underneath all those masks, underneath the charm and the wit, which is kind of a defense anyway, does Loki have an authentic self? Is he introspective enough or brave enough to find out? I think all of those ideas are all in the series — ideas about identity, ideas about self-knowledge, self-acceptance, and the difficulty of it."

“The series will explore Loki's powers in a way they have not yet been explored, which is very, very exciting.”

The thing that truly sold Hiddleston on the show was Marvel's decision to include the Time Variance Authority, a move he describes as "the best idea that anybody had pertaining to the series." Feige and Loki executive producer Stephen Broussard had hoped to find a place for the TVA — an organization that debuted in 1986's Thor #372 and has appeared in She-Hulk and Fantastic Four stories — in the MCU for years, but the right opportunity never presented itself until Loki came along. "Putting Loki into his own procedural series became the eureka moment for the show," says Feige.

The TVA's perspective on time and reality also tied into the themes that Waldron, Loki's head writer, was hoping to explore. "Loki is a character that's always reckoning with his own identity, and the TVA, by virtue of what they do, is uniquely suited to hold up a mirror to Loki and make him really confront who he is and who he was supposed to be," says Waldron. Hiddleston adds: "[That] was very exciting because in the other films, there was always something about Loki that was very controlled. He seemed to know exactly what the cards in his hand were and how he was going to play them…. And Loki versus the TVA is Loki out of control immediately, and in an environment in which he's completely behind the pace, out of his comfort zone, destabilized, and acting out."

To truly dig into who Loki is, the creative team had to learn from the man who knows him best: Hiddleston. "I got him to do a thing called Loki School when we first started," says director Kate Herron. "I asked him to basically talk through his 10 years of the MCU — from costumes to stunts, to emotionally how he felt in each movie. It was fantastic."

Hiddleston got something out of the Loki school, too. Owen Wilson both attended the class and interviewed Hiddleston afterward so that he could better understand Loki, as his character Mobius is supposed to be an expert on him. During their conversation, Wilson pointedly asked Hiddleston what he loved about playing the character.

"And I said, 'I think it's because he has so much range,'" says Hiddleston. "I remember saying this to him: 'On the 88 keys on the piano, he can play the twinkly light keys at the top. He can keep it witty and light, and he's the God of Mischief, but he can also go down to the other side and play the heavy keys. And he can play some really profound chords down there, which are about grief and betrayal and loss and heartbreak and jealousy and pride.'" Hiddleston recalls Wilson being moved by the description: "He said, 'I think I might say that in the show.' And it was such a brilliant insight for me into how open Owen is as an artist and a performer.'"

Everyone involved is particularly excited for audiences to see Hiddleston and Wilson's on-screen chemistry. "Mobius is not unlike Owen Wilson in that he's sort of nonplussed by the MCU," says Feige. "[Loki] is used to getting a reaction out of people, whether it's his brother or his father, or the other Avengers. He likes to be very flamboyant and theatrical. Mobius doesn't give him the reaction he's looking for. That leads to a very unique relationship that Loki's not used to."

As for the rest of the series, we know that Loki will be jumping around time and reality, but the creative team isn't keen on revealing when and where. "Every episode, we tried to take inspiration from different things," says Waldron, citing Blade Runner's noir aesthetic as one example.

"Part of the fun of the multiverse and playing with time is seeing other versions of characters, and other versions of the titular character in particular," says Feige, who also declined to confirm if Loki ties into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and/or other upcoming projects.

Making Loki was especially meaningful to Hiddleston because they shot most of it during the pandemic, in late 2020. "It will remain one of the absolute most intense, most rewarding experiences of my life," he says. "It's a series about time, and the value of time, and what time is worth, and I suppose what the experience of being alive is worth. And I don't quite know yet, and maybe I don't have perspective on it, if all the thinking and the reflecting that we did during the lockdown ended up in the series. But in some way, it must have because everything we make is a snapshot of where we were in our lives at that time."

While it remains to be seen what the future holds for Loki beyond this initial season, Hiddleston isn't preparing to put the character to bed yet. "I'm open to everything," he says. "I have said goodbye to the character. I've said hello to the character. I said goodbye to the character [again]. I've learned not to make assumptions, I suppose. I'm just grateful that I'm still here, and there are still new roads to explore."

Additional reporting by Jessica Derschowitz

#loki #loki series #tom hiddleston #entertainment weekly

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creampuffqueen · 4 years

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Just Like This | Chapter One

Summary: Rayla and Callum have been best friends since elementary school. Now, years later, Rayla is discovering new feelings for her best friend. The only problem: she's about 99% sure he doesn't think of her in the same way. Not willing to risk their friendship, Rayla continues to hide her feelings for Callum. How long until the truth comes out?

a/n: Hey everyone! Here it is, the greatly anticipated Rayllum high school au! Please please please reblog this, because Tumblr won't show this post in the main tags due to an affiliate link! Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!

Word Count: 3372

Warnings: Language

Read on Ao3

~~~~

Sunday, September 30th, 2020

Katolis Supermarket, 5:31 PM

“Who wrote this list?” Rayla complained loudly, stalking behind Callum at the grocery store, shaking the piece of paper in his face. Her fellow sophomore was pushing a cart around, eternally focused on the task ahead.

“Well, Claudia suggested it, but everyone else added on,” Callum replied, not even looking at her. Stopping in the middle of the isle, he grabbed a 12-pack of soda and loaded it in the cart. “What’s next?”

Looking over the extensive list again, Rayla frowned. “Uh, it says… ‘those little animal cookie things with sprinkles, you know the ones’.”

Callum finally turned to look at her, a wide grin on his face as they both said “Soren,” in unison.

“Jinx,” Rayla giggled, “You owe me a soda.”

“Okay… just take one from the pack when we get home?”

Both teenagers continued through the store, Rayla getting bored of walking and hanging off the front of the cart, laughing as Callum made a big deal of struggling to push them around.

She supposed they should be hurrying. Evening was approaching quickly, and soon all their friends would be over at Callum’s place to study. Callum had dragged her off to the grocery store to get snacks for their cram session, considering she lived only a street over and had a car.

“We’re all going to be sick by the end of the night,” Rayla sighed, loading more snacks into the cart.

“Well, at least we’ll be awake,” Callum, ever cheerful, turned his head around to grin at her.

At his smile, Rayla felt her heart give a small wayward flutter, though she squished it down quickly. Tonight was important; she needed to pass this test to keep her grade up, and it wouldn’t help if she spent the entire night mulling over how cute her best friend’s smile looked.

“Yeah,” She chuckled, trying to pull herself back to the present. Keep it together, Rayla.

They got their unhealthy amount of junk food, collectively winced at the price, bought it anyway, and set about loading it in the backseat of Rayla’s car.

In no time at all Rayla was driving, Callum reclining in the passenger seat. With the radio cranked up, neither felt the need to talk, content to sit in the comfortable silence.

It was hard to believe that they’d been friends for eight years now. Rayla could still remember the first time they met like it was yesterday.

She was eight years old, in second grade, having just moved to a new school after her parents left on a military tour and she went to live with her uncles. Her first day of school had gone off without a hitch.

That is, until she met Callum at recess.

Content to play by herself, Rayla had been making use of the free time by pretending to build a fort under the slide. While pretending to hammer in nails, she noticed a small group of kids nearby. Two boys and a girl.

While she couldn’t make out all the words, the body language she saw was more than enough. The bigger boy, a head of blond hair, was pointing at the smaller, brown-haired boy, and laughing. The girl, black hair tied in two pigtail braids, was looking between them, unsure of what to do.

Curious eight-year-old Rayla snuck up, for she’d always been good at sneaking, and listened in on the conversation.

“Soren, shut up, he’s going to cry!” The girl said.

“Oh, so little Callum’s a crybaby now?” The boy, Soren, taunted.

“I’m not a crybaby, Soren!” The other boy shouted, though he couldn’t hide the sniffle at the end of his sentence.

“Oooh, Callum’s crying! Who’s gonna help him, his dad? Oh wait-”

Soren didn’t get to finish his sentence.

Well, she thought as she sat in the principal’s office twenty minutes later, Runaan will be happy to know that I’m learning something in my karate class.

All four kids were in the office, sitting in chairs in front of the desk. Callum and the other girl, Claudia, were both still sniffling from residual tears. Soren, fresh from the nurse’s office, was holding an ice pack over a rapidly blackening eye.

The door opened, and in came the principal, shaking her head with a sigh.

“You three again?”

“We didn’t do anything!” Soren shouted, voice whistling through the new gap in his teeth. Oh yeah, she’d knocked a tooth out as well. “She started it!”

“Well you were being really mean to that other kid!” Rayla protested. She and Soren glared at each other from their respective chairs, accusatory fingers pointed straight out.

“I wasn’t being mean, I was just joking!” Soren explained, “Callum’s my friend!”

“Well Soren, what you said was really mean-” Claudia interjected, but the boy, who Rayla had learned was her brother, interrupted.

“Callum, you know I was joking, right?”

“Well…” Soren’s face fell as Callum dropped his gaze to his lap. “It did kind of hurt my feelings, Soren…”

“Wait, you’re friends?” Rayla exclaimed, glancing curiously between both boys. “I thought he was bullying you! And my parents and uncles always said you have to stand up to bullies and-”

“I’m not a bully!” Soren shouted. Voices began to rise between them again, and the principal was forced to interject.

“All of you, quiet down. I’m going to talk with you each individually, and we’ll see what happens then. Callum, come with me. The rest of you: play nice.”

In the end, Rayla got suspended for two days for fighting, and Soren got one day for bullying. Despite the massive lecture Runaan and Ethari subjected her to, Rayla couldn’t help but feel like she’d done the right thing in the end.

When she returned to school, she was surprised to find Callum approach her at recess, a little paper bag clutched shyly in his hands.

“Sorry my friends and I got you in trouble,” He said, passing the bag to her. Opening it, Rayla’s face split into a huge grin at the sight of two tart-things waiting for her, filled with jelly.

“Soren’s usually pretty nice,” Callum continued, “But he doesn’t know when to stop talking. If you hadn’t stepped in, he would have said something mean without thinking, I’m sure. So you kind of helped both of us, in a way.”

“Oh. Well, you’re welcome, I guess. And thanks for the tarts.”

She was about to turn away and enjoy her spoils, but then Callum kept talking.

“Do you want to come play with us? Me and Claudia are pretending to do magic, and Soren’s a knight. You can do magic with us, if you want.”

Well, this game was certainly right up her alley. “I’ll play,” Rayla conceded, “But only if I get to be an elf.”

Callum grinned broadly, pointing to where the two siblings were playing. “Of course.”

~~~~

“The snacks are here!” Rayla called into the house, arms laden with shopping bags. Callum shut the door behind them, similarly burdened with the case of soda.

The pounding of feet sounded overhead, and several heads poked over the stairwell to glimpse the pair in the kitchen. “Finally!” Soren cheered, racing downstairs to try and rifle through the bags Rayla was carrying.

“Not yet, you lump,” Rayla scolded, pushing past the senior boy, “We’ve got to get upstairs at least.”

“Thanks for going to get snacks,” Claudia called, and her thanks was echoed by the other kids there. Callum and Rayla both shrugged, and made their way upstairs to the game room, where they’d all be studying.

Sitting on the various bean bag chairs and couches, the rest of the study group cheered when the food and drinks arrived. Andromeda, Callisto, Ram, Skor, and Marcos all leapt up to snatch the snacks they wanted. When everyone was sitting again, food in hand, Callum gave a dramatic clearing of his throat, turning all the heads in the room towards him.

“So, uh, thanks for coming over. Hopefully we can all actually get some studying done, since, you know, that’s what we’re here for.” He fixed a firm glance on the two couples in the room. “Ground rules: no making out in my house, don’t be super messy, and also please actually study. Soren, no idea what you’re doing here since you’ve already taken this history class, but okay.”

The older boy shrugged, taking a big gulp of his soda. “Moral support. A welcome distraction.”

Callum clapped his hands together once. “Okay then. I actually made a schedule for this, and if we follow it, we can cover all of the sections by… midnight, I think. 11 pm if we work really fast.”

“You made a schedule for studying?” Callisto asked in disbelief. Andromeda laughed, throwing an arm over her partner’s shoulder.

“Yes, I made a schedule for studying, I think it’s going to be very helpful!” Callum defended, crossing his arms over his chest. Even talking with the other two people, his green eyes somehow still managed to find Rayla’s.

She met his gaze, just for a second, heart pounding, before she looked away again. “Well, guys, if Callum wants to make a study schedule, good for him. Let’s just get started; I really need to pass this test.”

“Since when have you been worried about grades, Rayla?” Skor snorted, reclining in a beanbag chair, dumping spicy chips into his mouth.

“Since I’m in four extracurriculars and if I don’t pass, I don’t play.”

“Try-hard,” Soren coughed from his seat. Rayla just flashed him her middle finger, eliciting wild laughter from the rest of the room.

“Guys,” Callum whined, “I’m trying to be productive-”

“Okay, let’s start,” Claudia said, placing a gentle hand on Callum’s arm. It took everything Rayla had not to glare at the other girl, biting back the unwarranted flash of jealousy.

That’s all in the past. We figured it out.

Usually, she could forget just how close Callum was with Soren and Claudia. But then, something like this would happen, and she’d be reminded that before he met her, it was the siblings who were his best friends.

Having known them his whole life, it was no surprise that he’d developed a massive crush on Claudia in middle school. And he never shut up about it.

His confession at the end of seventh grade had very nearly torn their friend group to shreds. He wanted to ask her to the end of year dance, and when Claudia accepted he was ecstatic. Rayla had been happy for him, and just hoped that when they started dating, they wouldn’t be weird about it and make her and Soren uncomfortable.

But as it turned out, Claudia only thought of Callum as a friend. When she told him, Callum was crushed.

Rayla could still remember opening up her front door to see her best friend standing there, tears streaking down his face.

“Rayla, I just- I can’t believe how stupid I am-”

She pulled him into a fierce hug, and didn’t relinquish her grip on him until his mother came to pick him up. At school the next day, nobody could stop her wrath as she stalked up to Claudia and demanded answers.

“How could you?! You know how Callum feels about you, and you led him on anyway!” Rayla shouted.

“I didn’t want to hurt his feelings!” Claudia insisted, “And I do know how he feels and I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea-”

“No, I know what flirting looks like, and you led him on! He believed that you felt the same way!”

Claudia looked on the verge of tears, and some sick part of Rayla was glad for it. Let her feel bad for her actions, let her feel the same way Callum was feeling.

“Look, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings. I just… I don’t see Callum in that way.”

“Then why’d you keep flirting with him?” Rayla’s voice was dangerously low. Their shouting match had attracted a small audience in the school cafeteria.

“I…” She was at a loss for words.

“You know what?” Rayla snapped, “Save it for someone who cares. Explain yourself to Callum, not me. It’s him who needs the apology.”

The next few weeks were tense. Hardly any of them spoke to each other. Even though Soren was in high school and had nothing to do with the drama, he still sided with his sister, like Rayla knew he would.

Things worked out. Slowly, but surely, they worked out. But not without a lot of tears from everyone involved, a lot of yelling, a lot of accusations. Things worked out.

But even after Claudia and Callum were on speaking terms again, he decided to ditch the dance. Rayla, who never was going in the first place, was more than happy to offer up her couch for a night of movie watching and junk food eating. And sure, Claudia’s Instagram photos were cute, but for Rayla, nothing could beat the fun she was having with her best friend, right here.

Rayla was pretty sure that was when she’d started to fall in love with him. Or, more accurately, when she realized that she already had fallen in love with him.

However, confessing your love to your best friend after a recent heartbreak seemed like a bad idea. So she kept it to herself.

Which, she supposed, was how she found herself here, three years later, still madly in love with her best friend who was none the wiser, getting jealous over a relationship she both knew was purely innocent and also she had no claim over anyway.

Cool, Rayla, very cool.

Shoving down her stupid feelings, Rayla listened as Callum went over his plan for the evening. Review through chapter 2, take a 15 minute break, review through chapter 4, continue pattern until they got through all the chapters they needed.

The plan was met with a loud groan of complaint from Soren’s end. “Callum, why are you even doing this? You literally have a photographic memory.”

“Well, you guys don’t, so really I’m helping all of you!”

“I mean…” Rayla snorted, “Soren does have a point. Why are you so worried about studying, Callum?”

The teenage boy scratched at his neck awkwardly. “Well, uh, it’s kind of embarrassing, but… I’ve only skimmed for answers this entire time. I need to actually read the passages to remember it.”

Rayla just rolled her eyes. “Callum. Everyone on earth just skims for answers. We know you’re all goody two-shoes, teacher’s pet, but chill. You’re going to be fine.”

“How are you so chill, Rayla?” Callum demanded, “Weren’t you just freaking out, like, two seconds ago? Hello, Miss I’m-in-every-sport-imaginable?”

“Changing the subject!” Rayla declared loudly, “Open up the textbook, Callum!”

~~~~

“Time check,” Ram moaned from where his face was pressed into one of the beanbag chairs, “How much longer?”

“We’re at-” Callum attempted to respond, but was cut off by a yawn.

“Chapter six?” Rayla asked, though she wasn’t too sure herself. All the words were beginning to jumble together on the pages. At some point her notecards had gotten mixed up, and random dates and events were scattered all over the room.

“No, the time,” Ram complained. The other boy sat up, brushing his shaggy white hair from his eyes. “What time is it? My curfew is 11:30.”

Callisto grabbed their phone and took a glance. “11:15.”

“Ok, let’s review,” Callum suggested. However, the entire room gave a loud groan of complaint.

“My brain is melting!” Soren cried, dramatically tossing his head into Marcos’s lap. His boyfriend rolled his eyes at his antics, though he threaded his fingers through the other boy’s blond hair.

“Soren, you don’t have to take this test tomorrow!” Claudia snapped, “Don’t start whining!” The girl looked almost ready to start pulling her hair out.

“Alright,” Andromeda sighed, “My mom’s calling; she’s probably here to pick me up. Thanks for this, Callum. If I find a quizlet I’ll send it in the groupchat, okay?”

“Yes!” Skor cheered, “Quizlet is my lifesaver!”

“Pass me some Doritos, Rayla,” Callum muttered in quiet defeat. Rayla hummed in agreement, grabbing the chip bag from the pile of snacks nearby. Her friend was so tired that he didn’t even complain when she took a couple for herself.

One by one, the room began to empty. Callisto’s dad came to pick them up, Ram agreed to drive Skor home, and Claudia, Soren, and Marcos piled into Soren’s little car to drive off into the night.

That just left Rayla. And Callum. Alone.

“Place is a mess,” Callum sighed, taking in all the damage. Although they’d started out pretty clean, as the night wore on everyone got lazier and started just piling the trash where they were sitting. Crumbs spilled over the carpet, and empty soda cans rolled about.

“Let me help clean,” Rayla offered, “I mean, some of the mess is mine.” She gestured to the notecards spilled everywhere. Her mind was a bit fuzzy from exhaustion, but she was pretty sure she and Soren had started throwing them at each other at one point.

“No, it’s fine-” Callum sputtered, but Rayla just rolled her eyes.

“Let me help. Then we can both go to bed and you won’t get in trouble for the mess.” She left no room for argument, and started gathering up all the garbage and stuffing it in the empty grocery bags.

They worked in companionable silence, just tidying up the room. Rayla knew his house well enough to know where everything went, and tossed out all the garbage and swept up the lingering crumbs. Soon enough, the room looked nearly spotless again.

“See, fast!” Rayla chuckled. She glanced at her phone. “Just in time, too. Runaan’s asking where I am.”

Callum surprised her with a sudden hug, catching her off guard for a moment before she returned it, trying to calm her fluttering heart.

It’s just a hug. Friends hug all the time, don’t get all excited.

“Thanks for coming,” Callum said, a tiny bit breathlessly, “I know you were worried about the test and I wanted to help, sorry it got kind of out of hand.”

“You… organized this all… for me?” Rayla hoped her face wasn’t as red as it felt.

“Well, yeah,” He laughed, “Even though you probably didn’t need it. You know all the material really well.”

“Only thanks to you, and you know that,” Giving him a friendly punch to the shoulder, Rayla couldn’t contain her grin. “I do feel better prepared, though. I’ll pass. If my brain doesn’t turn to mush first.”

“You’ll ace it,” Callum assured her, “I’m sure of it.”

His green eyes were so bright. And his smile so genuine. Rayla returned it, albeit with less enthusiasm. “Thanks.” Her voice sounded stupidly high-pitched, even to her.

He held her gaze for another long moment before glancing down, at the buzzing phone in her hand that she hadn’t even noticed, too caught up in staring. “You should go. Get some sleep for the test tomorrow, huh?”

“Yeah,” Rayla breathed, “You too. I’ll see in English tomorrow.”

It was an effort to leave the room. To walk down the stairs, quietly so she wouldn’t wake his parents, and out the front door. To open up her door and get in the car, turn the key in the ignition.

The entire street was silent. That’s how it always was, she supposed. The first to arrive and the last to leave. A glance up told her Callum was staring out his bedroom window at her, watching her leave.

With a heavy sigh, Rayla put the car in reverse. Pulled out of the driveway.

She wasn’t naive. Callum had always been big on physical contact, and it had never meant anything more than he cared. She wasn’t willing to put her heart on the line like that, not when she was sure he didn’t like her that way.

Rayla was a risk taker. Always had been. But this? To risk the relationship she already had with her best friend? That was one risk she would never be willing to take.

~~~~

a/n: Poor Rayla! I would like to apologize to everyone in advance; the pining is not going to get better for a LONG TIME

Tag List: (comment to be added or removed)

@hipster-rapunzel

#the dragon prince #tdp #mal writes stuff #rayllum #rayla x callum

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ddaenghoney · 5 years

Text

chapter eighteen

masterlist link in blog description.

As a successful songwriter, you want nothing more than the acknowledgment that the chart-topping musical pieces are your own creations. But contracts, relationships, and the difficulty of facing the stakes involved head on, keep your mouth shut until pressure builds too much.

Pairing(s): Park Jimin x Y/N, Min Yoongi x Y/N

disclaimer: any characters depicted do not represent the actual personality of the respected idol in real life.

Series warning(s)/genre(s): Chapter-based written fic, Slow-burn relationship(s), Fake-dating, Unrequited love, Songwriter/producer!oc, idol!Jimin, idol/songwriter/producer!Yoongi, friends with benefits, drama, romance, smut, angst, fluff (updated as needed)

Chapter warning(s): physical confrontation as well as mob mentality in that there’s a small group verbally harassing OC in a scene; nothing gets too severe, but the repetitive badgering could make some uncomfortable. OC speaking her mind a lot.

Word count: 6057

if you enjoy please, please let me know!

On weekdays Namjoon’s cafe is generally flocked with business workers in the early morning. An inconspicuous assortment of people walking in only long enough for a to-go order to be acquired before they whisk back out the doors in their commute. With the constant flow and few amounts of people that sit down to chat and relax, you choose it as the location to meet with the leader of a girl group from SoundWave you were quite fond of.

Through a series of overly polite texts, she requested a chat to catch up, and you have a feeling there’s more to it than that. You stir your coffee with the straw, watching the ice go in a circle over and over, while contemplating what the other thing she wants to discuss is. There’s no reason for her to want to wake up before her schedule just to catch up, especially not when her group will start promotion for a comeback at the beginning of the next month.

You have an inkling of why she’s going out of her way, but a large part of you hopes to be wrong. You want to assume you left the artists you worked with with a better image than the one swarming around in your head due to sensitivity. If you’re wrong, it would make you happier, and if you are right you are not sure how you will take her opinion.

“Y/N,” Your head lifts as a voice comes from beside you. Brightly she smiles, removing sunglasses from her eyes and keeping her beret style hat secure on top of properly styled straight hair.

“Jihyo, it’s good to see you.” You can’t help a warm greeting in return, undeniably glad to see a familiar face that you’ve never had a problem with. If the people around the cafe were not rushing in and out so haphazardly, you would even take the moment to give her a hug, but an accumulation of increased awareness lately, causes you to simply gesture for her to follow along as you take your drink. “My friend’s the owner and said we could use this meeting room to talk.”

“This is the place you always brought drinks from then?” She comments as she walks in your trail, giving a sweet smile to Namjoon as the two of you pass him by.

“Yeah,” You nod your head, using the previously claimed key to open the doors. “His coffee’s my favorite. Maybe I’m biased though.”

“I’ll grab some on the way out. I’ve been missing it since you used to bring it for meetings.”

You fumble needlessly putting the keys securely in your pocket, nodding your head at her words as you switch the lights on. Recalling the people-- generally artists gives you a difficult time rationalizing your decision to walk away from the company. If it weren’t for how you were ignored for credit, you really would not have left. Even with Yerin in charge looming over everyone with her calculative manipulations, you could get over that because the coworkers you saw everyday made it endurable. Comfortable.

“I was actually kind of surprised to hear you wanted to meet up, to be honest with you.” You sit in one of the chairs surrounding the table. You leave your glass on the wood where you’re sure to forget it quickly. Jihyo sits a seat away on the same side, simply dragging it out to angle it towards you. “I doubt I’m a company favorite right now.”

“It’s pretty divided actually.” She admits, brushing back her hair from covering the faintest of smiles. “Empathizing or thinking you’re acting insane.”

You bite your lip. Which side of the line she stands on you’re sure to find out soon.

“No one expected the thing with Min Yoongi either,” She laughs slightly, without joy. Ironically. “Who would think he’d put himself out there like that-- get fired because of those songs.”

She doesn’t look at you as she speaks, so the discomfort slipping into your eyes is never seen. Like you expect from the employees of SoundWave, they all still view Yoongi distantly. Granted, his involvement in releasing music with you is still a shocking thing to consider as reality. Moments occur where you still worry if you’ve ruined something big for him, but his excitement about conceptualizing a new company of his own sets you at ease.

“Are you both dating now?”

You look up from your lap, finding Jihyo’s eyes to be tame and her lips curled in a giddy way. As though the conversation really is two people catching up without a more grand issue looming in the background. Accepting this moment of simplicity, you don’t stop your mouth from smiling in return. Your head nods in small, but quick jerks. Still new to telling, but you enjoy that you’re able to say,

“Yeah, we decided to become a couple almost two weeks ago.”

“That’s really cute.” Her words beam brightly like the little bop of her shoulders, finding this news nice. “He always seemed so hard to approach-- I think because of how popular he is, I guess.” She rambles along as her fingers push straying locks from her face. “Then again, I’m sure you both had things in common… Both of you being producers and songwriters and all that.”

Contrasting her initial endeared temperament, the reminder Jihyo’s final sentence seems to instill in the forefront of her mind causes her voice to drift into a quieter murmur. She stares towards your melting drink, a hand atop her thigh squeezing to cause wrinkles in the denim she wears.

Finding her remaining silent, you do nothing to fill in the gap with words. Instead, your eyes remain on her, realizing that Jihyo likely means to say whatever is pressuring her shoulders. Her mouth opens slowly, a word apparently clinging to her conscious and away from being said, but she manages to shove the thought out entirely,

“Are you going to tell everyone about everything you made at SoundWave?”

Your heartbeat feels like it rumbles for a short moment in your chest as she asks. The expression on your face remains poised, and you’re more surprised with yourself that you aren’t shocked by her question than you anticipated. Its presence in the air resembles, to you, a draft. You wish it wouldn’t be here, but you aren’t frustrated. Simply expected this.

Collecting your condensated glass into your hand, you take a languid sip, mulling over a reply to her. Frankly, you find yourself remaining in limbo on the topic. In some ways you want nothing more than to scream about all of your production in songwriting to everyone, but maybe you didn’t need to.

“It really,” Jihyo’s voice chips her phrasing like she isn’t sure whether to interrupt your processing, but she goes on. “Would be so bad for us-- us idols. We,” She stammers as you place the glass back on the table so casually, missing your furrowing eyebrows confused at her suddenly timid disposition, “We never wanted you or everyone to make everything for us, Y/N. So many of us want to make our own music. We didn’t want to take credit for everything you made-- you know my group especially didn’t.”

Your lips purse into a line, spine straightening slightly as her plead completes. Like your contract with SoundWave, every idol you are positive had clauses they should have reconsidered or questioned. Considering the chance of a lifetime in front of the people like Jihyo obviously they would overlook the idea that they would not produce their own music-- most likely satiated with the idea that after gaining experience they would be able to create as well.

You realize this. Undoubtedly, the majority of idols and groups did not ever want to claim your songs as their own, but had no choice other than to do so. Ever since the feeling of unfairness started springing within yourself to receive credit, this factor has prevented you from blindly going to the press with your story. You don’t want to ruin all of their careers.

“Jihyo,” You begin as your fingers curl atop the table, loosely forming a fist. “I don’t know if I’m going to tell anyone about it. I really want to, honestly, but-”

“You’ll ruin all of us!” Your lips clamp shut as she suddenly bursts out. “Y/N, I know it sucks for you-- I really do; but this isn’t about you. This is everyone’s careers!” Your hand tenses further as she groans, rubbing her face with her hands. “Don’t you know how many all-nighters, how many days-off, how much we-- I’ve given up to make it this far-”

“You’ve given up?” You say like a knife in her sentence. Your eyes narrow as Jihyo looks at you with startled confusion at your interruption, her hands pausing from rubbing her neck. “Jihyo, regardless of if I was involved, your schedule was always going to be that harsh as an idol.” Her mouth peeks open uncertainly, but you speak on, “Do you know how many things I’ve given up too? You’re not the only one who pulls all-nighters, and gives up personal time, but at least when you give it up you get rewarded with people knowing who you are, meanwhile I get to watch them all think all the work I put into everything was something you did-- what all of you get to claim you did.”

“I know, but-”

“You never even stood up for me.” Jihyo’s eyes widen as though she can see the betrayal of your statement-- the unhidden spite firing in your irises. “None of you ever tried to change anything. You say you never wanted to do any of it, but you all aren’t ever going to try and change it, are you? Watching me get shut down each time was answer enough.”

“Why should I have to fight for any change?” She shoves her words out in haste, appearing defensive as her arms cross. “If you hadn’t noticed, it won’t work. We all get our careers thrown away if everyone were to find out.”

“Because it’s wrong!” Your words loudly propel you forward, leaning towards Jihyo in your seat as she shifts back into hers. “You know it’s wrong! You’re all lying to everyone and letting me be the dirty secret of the fucking company and I’m just supposed to accept it? I’m just supposed to start over from nothing all because none of you have any kind of guts to admit that I’m the one who made your chart-toppers!”

Concern runs rampant in Jihyo’s eyes, mouth remaining gaped as you stare at her with even, full breaths heaving in your chest. Clamping her lips together, she glances towards your drink for no reason other than to avoid your lingering eyes that blister every nerve of guilt swarming in her mind. Shoulders tensing when she listens to you scoff, she wills herself to remain silent from timid retorts as you speak up once more in a voice barely louder than the sound of the clock on the wall.

“Why is it that I’m the only one ever asked to suffer in silence?”

Jihyo blinks her eyes tightly together, building a wall out of every ounce of strength to refrain from the hollow apologies that she realizes would do nothing for you. All she can do is stay in her bubble, presented on the stage with her members as the image given to them by SoundWave. The liberty you explain a desire for isn’t something she can take hold of, especially if her group’s reputation is smashed to pieces by what you could say to clear your name.

“Y/N, I know it’s never been fair of anyone to use you like this-- to always erase your name from everything you’ve created.” Her voice drips frailty off of words intended to appear sound with reason. Composure is lost on her and you can see it as she talks without reaffirming eye contact. You acknowledge the weight in her throat likely at odds with what she feels convicted to ask of you as well, and it makes you feel sorry for her. “But SoundWave isn’t going to do this anymore-- they’re going to let us write our own music now and credit properly, so it’s over at least.”

Your heart drops like a weight towards the ground, eyes instinctively narrowing at her words. Within moments you feel a tremble ricochet throughout your shoulders, and when Jihyo finally tests a tiny look in your direction you know your reaction is not the one she wished for.

“What-” You stutter out the words, shocked beyond belief that a switch in the company had been so simply flipped. She’s able to tell you this so lightly as if the decision came with ease following your leave. “I,” A ball in your throat feels made of metal, scraping your words into fury as you speak slowly, “That was all I ever wanted from them, and they do that now. They do that after I quit.”

“Y/N-” You stand up cutting off Jihyo’s statement before it begins. Shaking your head, you let out a single breathy laugh as your hands clench at your sides,

“I can’t believe this.” You mutter and start an exit from the room, ignoring the clattering on wooden floors behind you as Jihyo stands up.

“Wait, where are you going?” She asks without the sound of footsteps under her words, and you don’t care to look back as you reply simply,

“Away from here. I can’t take listening to this crap anymore, Jihyo.”

Without missing a beat, you pull open the door and exit back into the main cafe space. Remnants of the morning rush cause a small line to linger along with busy employees completing their tasks. Namjoon catches sight of you as you walk along, but doesn’t attempt any wave of goodbye as he notes the contortion in your eyebrows as you quickly mash keys on your phone. He only bites his lip and continues filling paper cups full of hot coffee.

You have no hesitation in turning left down the street to walk northwards, but no destination is in mind as you do so. All you do is exhale a sigh to release some of the frustration while the repetition of a dial tone vibrates in your eardrum.

“Hello?” Yoongi’s voice rings clear on the other side of the line along with the clicking tone of a car blinker.

“Hey,” You say in response, crossing your free arm so that your hand can squeeze the opposite elbow. “Were you busy?”

“No, just on the way to pick you up from the cafe actually.” He says easily as you nod your head gently. Walking slowly upwards on the sidewalk you have little time to tell him a new location before Yoongi’s voice gently inquires, “How’d it go?”

“Bad.” You say as the news stings like a dagger in your mind. Huffing, you shake your head, “SoundWave’s going to start letting them all make their own music. Credit properly.”

“What?” Yoongi’s voice sounds baffled and you can imagine his neck tensing rigidly with lips frowning at the implication of your words. You nod your head despite him being unable to see you.

“Right? After all the shit they said about it never being possible for me.” Yoongi listens to the frailty of your words, realizing that this news must hurt you so much to have heard. He bites his lips, hands gripping tighter on the steering wheel as he turns a corner,

“I’m so sorry, angel. I should be there in a few minutes and we can go somewhere to talk about it-”

Yoongi’s voice falters away from your ear due to a swift grip on the back of the arm holding the phone. Instinctively, you pull your arm towards yourself as you take a step away from whoever grabbed you. The sole of your shoe presses flat on the concrete as you turn, facing the face of someone you’ve never seen before in your life.

As words scurry around your head in confusion, you say nothing as you take in the appearance of the girl about your height, then your shoulders tense as movement behind her gives reason to look to another. As your focus collects itself you see more than just the two people, but another onlooker further beyond them as well as a person to your side that startles you as she calls out your name.

“What?” You find yourself responding to her call, another step away from the small semicircle they form around you.

“Why are you using Yoongi-” “You got him fired-” “Use your own talent to get a career-” “I bet you didn’t even do anything on those songs. You just want the clout-”

Between the five people, you can’t distinguish whose words belong to you. Continuing rampantly in bursts of ignorant anger towards you, they simply persist onwards. Without giving you any opportunity to defend yourself, all the voices overwhelm your nervous throat and wildly scanning eyes. You take another step away when one becomes particularly enraged as she speaks loudly and her hand reaches out.

Your hand smacks hers away before it can make contact with your shirt, definitively colliding with her skin to make a loud sound that seems to reverberate throughout the avenue. The quiet ensuing is wholly false, but you find it impossible to actually hear anything from them as their reaction consists of even louder yelling at you. Any lips you take a look at are moving and no one reaches again, but you know they want to force their opinions on you with the fury at which they speak.

And all the words you’re able to visualize assert your disgracefulness. In different ways, with strong enunciations you simply are the target of their blame. Everything they don’t know about behind the scenes of all the trouble you’re finally escaping from, they frustratingly paint you as the perpetuator. The reason that all is wrong. “You’re lying to get attention-”

“None of you even know anything!”

Your voice breaks their flow of thundering rage, silencing them entirely by the brutal and unforgiving confidence of your frustrated exclamation. Just like that they’re startled. The fuel of adrenalin leaves them to course through you as you glare in response to their actions. You reaffirm, “Quit blaming me when you don’t know even a percent of what I do!”

One towards the back of the group glances uncertainly at the others, and the one whose hand you hit away takes a step back. Like they didn’t expect you to speak against them. Your hands clench tightly as you remain erect in posture. Eyeing each of them, you find it almost impossible to stop yourself from blurting out every secret you’re obligated to keep for everyone else except yourself.

“What does that even mean?” A guy pushes the girl at the front of the pack aside, storming in your direction but stopping short of contact as you do nothing to evade him. Instead his shoulders shake from your consistent glare that he felt tense in front of. “You’re causing all the trouble!” He manages to fumble out anyways as he works up the nerve to take another step with his arm rising as well, making you begin to move back.

Before contact ever occurs, his wrist becomes clenched within the hand of Yoongi as he steps in between the two of you. A shiver in your spine nearly shakes your knees to a buckle as the sight of his back shielding you releases a wave of worry building in your head.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Yoongi asks lowly, simply throwing down the arm he took hold of as his eyes freeze the man. Disbelieving calls of his name from the small crowd mumble and gasp, clearly overtaken by just the sight of him. “What were you going to do?”

“Yoongi-” You reach both of your hands to clasp onto one of his biceps as he tries to step closer to them. “Let’s go,” His head shifts to look back at you, dark irises tinted with immense irritation from what he just walked up to. You shake your head as you consider what could go on if you both remain, and your fingertips tremble on his skin.“Please. I don’t want you to do this.”

Yoongi turns towards you, maneuvering his arm as your hands fall away so that he can press a guiding hand to your back. He looks back towards the group as you both only take a few steps. Ignoring the cling of your hand on his chest to continue him along, he speaks up with conviction, “If I find your names, I’ll report this.”

He takes no heed of their instant rebuttals as they call feebly out to the pair of you as you walk along. Instead, Yoongi drops his hand from your back to take hold of yours as he believes you’d prefer. Finding your fingers quickly intertwining with his own, Yoongi sighs, squeezing as the severity of what you leave behind catches up with him.

“Did any of them hurt you?” He asks the moment he enters into the driver’s seat of the car. The door slams beside him and your head shakes as you fumble with the seatbelt to get it latched. “Angel,” He shifts towards you, delicately cupping your cheek as your body freezes in response. “Are you okay?”

Seeing Yoongi’s eyes searching through your own for any of the discomfort you should feel is soothing. His palm warms your skin and in that moment you relish in the sensation despite the heat that remains in the air of early fall. The breath in your chest escapes through your lips, and Yoongi’s thumb twitches worriedly against your cheek.

“Yeah.” You nod slowly, overlapping his larger appendage with your own freely allowing yours to grip softly. “Honestly, I am.”

Yoongi doesn’t completely believe your words, if only because he can’t imagine how terrifying being so arbitrarily surrounded is. He bites his lip, head tilting as though to ask again.

“Nothing really bad happened.” You say shrugging your shoulder, and glancing downwards. “And everything they were mad about is completely stupid-- they shouldn’t have done any of that.” The hand you left atop his own, strays to glide slowly up his wrist and resituated on his forearm, gently guiding him from cupping your cheek so that you can return to holding his hand. “They really don’t know anything.”

“That doesn’t give them the right to act like that, angel.” Yoongi’s hand engulfs yours while he talks, prompting your eyes back up to his. You nod your head, entirely in agreement. The sight causes Yoongi’s brow to furrow slightly.

“Can you drive me to SoundWave?”

“What?” He blurts out on impulse, frowning more from bewilderment than anything else. “What for?”

“I want to talk to Yerin.” You say simply, as the reasonings those people threw at you return to your mind, as well as the worries of Jihyo that brought her to plead with you for the sake of her career, and the voice ripped away from Jimin petrifying him from ever expressing his thoughts to you until it was far too late.

Yoongi’s mouth opens to speak, but he stops from doing so. Your eyes give him the answer before he has to vocalize the question. Instead a small chuckle escapes him more similarly to a grainy breath. “Okay.”

Within the confines of the elevator, Yoongi stares up at the growing number as you both go higher up the building. Between your bodies he starts a tiny sway of your held hands, while he squints in thought before finally speaking,

“Not that I think you’re wrong to go and talk to her, but do you think it’s going to do anything?” He recalls his own efforts of very early on in the merger that subliminally requested a change of his image to represent something closer to himself. Just like the rest of the employees who try to escape the confines of narrowly set paths, Yoongi too was swiftly rejected in few words with only an explanation of there being no need to change something that works.

“Who knows.” You say not realizing until your voice comes out that despite the mellow timbre that there’s a hint of timidness as well. Yerin has always been the greatest shadow in your mind for years now. Someone you’ve never been able to stand across from and feel equal with because of her subdued confidence that showered her veil of control over the entire company. “I don’t think I care if it does anything. I’m just over this.”

“Should I wait out here?” Yoongi asks as you both step out of the opening doors. He ignores the obvious shock in his peripherals from the secretary that likely has no way to gauge how to handle your presence in the room. Everything on Yoongi’s side is practically settled, and you have simply been a former employee for weeks now; not supposed to be returning so high up in the building.

“No,” You squeeze tighter on his hand, turning your head to look up at him as you remain paces from the secretary’s desk. You speak quietly. “I don’t think you’ll have to say anything, but having you there would feel better.” You frown as you think that it may sound selfish to have dragged Yoongi along this far only to tell him he won’t actually do much. “You’re comforting for me…”

“Then I’ll go in with you, sweetie.” Yoongi says before gently pressing a tiny kiss to your temple, as you squeeze his hand bashfully. “I’ll cheer you on-- you can give me inspiration for a diss track-”

“Stop.” You smile, bumping your hip against Yoongi and continue the walk to the desk with him trailing alongside you.

Satisfied slightly that he could at least break away some nerves, Yoongi takes in a larger inhale than usual. Frankly he’s unsure of what you plan to say to Yerin, but considering all of the grief instilled on you so far from her, Yoongi doesn’t doubt it could be definitive. If you find closure from this, then he’ll be content with this choice of a blindsiding meeting, but he can’t help worrying that some emotions could create words inciting angry retribution on the side of SoundWave.

Your collected demeanor as you speak to the secretary, along with the full way you stand with shoulders straight and each leg stood with no slouch gives Yoongi something to relax about. When he thinks about one of the first times he interacted with you, an evident difference in your assurance exists. Where you had bumped into him escaping a meeting room, you’re now choosing to cut into any current schedule to speak to Yerin following the public reaction she’s passively caused.

Steadily, you enter into her office only minutes later, never needing to bother with waiting in a seat. Yoongi follows after you simply standing closer to the door while he watches you stride towards the desk. Yerin sits with relaxed posture, though her eyes go from Yoongi to you with perplexity.

“Should I have the lawyer present for whatever you want to talk to me about?” She asks instead of greeting, letting her forearms rest on the wood before her.

“Doubt it.” You say, not taking a moment in your head to consider where to begin. Everything you would like to exclaim to her flutters violently around, so much so you believe her narrowing eyes to be preparing herself for the eventual explosion. You want nothing more than to get a genuine apology to fall from her lips along with admittance that she was wrong to do everything to you that she has, but your calm heartbeat reminds you of the impossibility of that route.

You know she wouldn’t loosen her stubborn tongue to admit anything of the sorts. You could even assume she has no regrets so far. Watching our reputation’s stature diminish for years is nothing but a casualty in her calculations. Needless to fret about it when the product of your fingers has given so much acclaim to the company. All Yerin’s allowed happen is a choice made to receive the most lucrative result. Whatever happened to you is of little consequence.

“Did you ever think what you did to me was wrong?”

Your question’s candor rings softly in the room. Not timid, but somehow resigned. Almost like a test, Yerin believes as she continues to stare towards you without so much as a waver in emotion from the depth of the question.

“You agreed to it.”

“As a twenty-year-old worried about paying back my college.” You swiftly insert the context, shaking your head so as to not let Yerin detract from the severity of her contract in your life. “You know how much of an incentive working at a company like this would have been to anyone in my position. Any student, or young adult just starting out. You used it against me.”

“You could have walked away.” Yerin reaffirms before sighing as she sits back in her seat. “Considering all of that about yourself back then, what would you expect a company to do for you? That was your chance back then to start in the career you want. Everyone starts small; why would there be an exception for you?”

“You came to me.” You say with an even voice. Yerin’s hand curls on the table, visually reacting slightly. “I submitted songs for a contest, but you came to me with a contract. I didn’t see anyone else getting contracts back then,” You cross your arms and your head tilts with your blunt conclusion. “You saw enough in me to seek out a long-term job, and you didn’t want me to leave when I didn’t re-sign. You can’t try to convince me otherwise of that.”

“Of course I didn’t.” She says with a scoff. “I don’t deny you’re talented-”

“But you denied me from showing everyone else that!” You assert as your arms gesture to emphasize your frustration. “In some ways, I could understand you not giving me credit as a new rookie at this job, but I worked here for five years. I have nothing to show for it anywhere because you wanted me to be stuck here for the rest of my career, and you know what? I probably would’ve stayed for a long time if you would have just given me the damn credit that I deserved!”

Yerin remains quiet as you pause to take a breath and collect yourself from the startling rant. Her jaw tightens along with her fisting hands on the desk and shockingly to you, she averts her gaze to the side. Swallowing down any nerves, you go on without remorse as you attempt to hit every point you can,

“Now I hear you’re going to let the idols produce, and give all the songwriters proper credit. Everything you did to me is going to just be me, huh? You won’t do it again because you know it’s wrong-- you know whoever you trap is going to end up wanting out just like me and you’re not willing to take any chances on this perfect company image getting messed up by some songwriter, isn’t that right?”

“Y/N, I’m not the only person in charge of these decisions. There’s a board. You know that.” Yerin says at a low volume. She still looks from you towards a window overlooking the city that you doubt she’s focusing on. She’s in the wrong. She knows it and you can see her silently admitting it whether she wants to or not. But no responsibility claimed.

“When Jimin, Jihyo, and all the other idols here wouldn’t take my side it was because you’re in charge of the decisions.” You say before scoffing, watching her flinch from the sound and turn to finally face you. “When I come up here to talk to you about it, you say it’s because of the board. It’s always someone else’s fault that I couldn’t be helped. You’re the CEO. If you knew this was wrong, you should’ve said something. It’s your job to look out for the company, but it’s also your job not to be spineless and pass blame around.”

Yerin’s eyes widen at the end of your composed speech. Standing up with intent to challenge your words, she opens her mouth with a glower aiming at you, but freezes as your eyes narrow and you take a step forward to stop just short of her desk,

“I just practically got attacked before I came here because people think I ruined a career just by having my name in the credits of his songs.” You coat your words with convicted resentment. “All of my friends are begging me to stay quiet because their careers could be ruined by me saying I wrote so much of their music. I wouldn’t have to be everyone’s enemy-- I wouldn’t be hated by so many people right now if you hadn’t forced everyone in this company to lie in the first place. Everyone wants me to be quiet right now because all the lying is supposed to stop? I’m supposed to be the scapegoat for this company and be the only one to receive all of the infamy for your unethical crap? That’s not going to happen.”

“What?” Yerin’s voice stutters a shocked response on impulse. Her fingers drag against the wood of the desk, evidently nervous by the implications. “You can’t mention anything about your job here, Y/N. That’s in the agreement.”

“Remove the non-disclosure clause.”

Yerin scoffs in pure disbelief, looking past you to Yoongi as he simply remains a spectator. Clearly unprepared for all that you’ve said thus far, but doing nothing to stop you from continuing. She shakes her head as her eyes come back to you. “I’m not doing that.”

“Then don’t. I’m still telling the press.” You say simply as a shoulder shrugs, and you loosely cross your arm.

“You’ll,” Yerin pauses when she realizes her heartbeats acceleration. “You’ll lose all your royalties. We’ll sue you.”

“Sue me then.” You nod your head once, completely unwavering as you just shrug again. “Really. I’ll just drag the suit out. Let you all show your true colors to the public and then we’ll see if you think it’s worth it to get involved in your fail-safe plan when everyone still realizes how much SoundWave has forced its employees to shut up and lie about.”

The brief wave of silence as you finish feels uplifting on your shoulders. Yerin only looks on at you with indication that she doesn’t know what to say to convince you otherwise. You don’t allow her to dwell, simply dropping your arms from their crossed position over your front.

“You made your choice.” You turn on your heel to start a path towards Yoongi, sparing a glance back towards Yerin as she calls out,

“You shouldn’t do this, Y/N! You’re trying to get back at me, but you’re just going to ruin everyone at this company-”

“I’m not trying to get back at you.” You turn to her as Yoongi opens up the door. “I’m not responsible for this anymore. This isn’t my fault. It was always your fault from the moment you made me sign that contract and never planned to change your ways.”

Without another word spoken you leave the room behind Yoongi, feeling absent of regret and restraint in your throat. As though lighter on your feet you exit the company and with it abandoning all of the fear it has instilled on you for years. No plan of avoidance lingers in your head to save face for the greed of SoundWave’s sake, and even though you’re still unsure of coming days, you don’t feel wrapped in deceit.

Upcoming seasonal winds will begin and you have no doubt the frail veil remaining on your image will drift away into the past as you walk into new days.

if you enjoy please, please let me know via ask, comment, rb with tags– however ! i’d just really appreciate feedback 🥺 i hope you enjoy the series, i’m working really hard on it! : )

tag list (send an ask to be added): @jaiuneamesolitaiire @tsvkino-usagi@xionysus @baebyjoonie @honeyoongles @betysotelo18

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robbyrobinson · 4 years

Photo

OWL HOUSE X CTHULHU MYTHOS XVII:

“Grrr....what happened? Where are we?”

Amity’s eyes were caressed with the sudden brightness of the sun. Something felt odd about the situation she found herself in, but she could not put her finger on it. Blaring sounds made her ears tremble. Around her were odd structures extending from the ground and nearly the sky. Her hand probed its surroundings. She had fallen on some hard, rocky material. The fall had kicked the wind out of her lungs, but she trudged forward to get on her legs.

Even then, her legs felt peculiar. Her knees wobbled and became interlocked. She looked around to see if Luz landed somewhere close to her. “Luz?”

Beep, beep.

Before Amity could realize it, a red car was blaring right into her direction. Amity’s legs locked up and she froze there like a deer caught in headlights. More cars were coming down on both sides of what Amity could now see was the road. Amity held her hands up to summon magic from her bile sac, but it was of no use.

“Amity! Look out!”

Amity was tackled and pushed off the road just in the nick of time. The driver of the red vehicle temporarily stopped and shook his fist angrily at Amity. “Watch where you’re going, ya fool!”

Black, suffocating smoke seeped through his exhaust pipe when he slammed on the gas break. His tires left a long, continuous streak of black lines. Amity opened her eyes again seeing that she was now being carried in the arms of another girl. She had braided, black hair, golden eyes, and a green jacket. She grinned, revealing that there was a gap between her teeth. “You don’t run into traffic like that, Amity.”

“How do you know my name?” Amity asked. She couldn’t help but feel that the voice sounded eerily similar.

“It’s me, Luz, silly,” the woman replied.

Amity looked down at her hands finally seeing that she was in a different body as well. She jumped out of Luz’s arms and made a dash towards one of the windows of a building. Fully expectant of seeing her own reflection, instead, her eyes were taking mental notes of a girl with short brown hair, glasses, and a yellow skirt and white top. “Who’s that supposed to be, Luz?”

“It’s you,” Luz noted.

“How is this possible?” Amity asked.

“When we fell, our souls must have gotten into some bodies.” Luz darted her eyes in different directions. “Hypnos said that he would get the rat for us, but where is he?”

Amity shrugged her shoulders. “I guess we’ll have to find him.”

The two took hold of a hand and walked together. Vehicles bolted down the road accompanied by people chatting away about different, mundane topics or just about anything to keep the discussion going without hitch. Much like back in Bonesborough, there were a few stands with considerably odd products. Amity stopped in front of a food stand and stared at the strange delicacies. Blood red fruit; yellowish, pill-like serpentines. A sweet-smelling scent of hairy fruits. A nectarine aura radiated from them. Amity’s stomach growled. Just looking at the odd fruits was enough to make her hungry.

“Hungry, aren’t ya?”

Amity covered her stomach in embarrassment. “No, I’m not.”

Luz chuckled and reached for one of the hairy fruits. “This is a real juicy one right here.”

“What is it?” Amity inquired. Luz and the owner of the stand looked her over in bewilderment. “Anyway, I’ll take two of these.”

The owner nodded and wrapped the two fruits in plastic before placing them in a bag. He then figured out the amount for the produce with the tax. Luz felt around in the back of the woman’s pocket and pulled out a wallet. Opening it, she retrieved the money for the two fruits and gave it to the man.

“Thanks for doing business,” the man said, “but be sure to keep that friend of hers from getting run over.”

Luz and Amity trudged their way a few more meters before making a stop at a bench. Luz motioned for the witch girl to sit down which she does on instinct. Luz opened the bag and reached in to produce one of the fruits. “I know you don’t have these on the Boiling Isles.”

“What is this thing?” Amity inquired. She held the odd fruit in front of her face and sniffed it. “Smells good too.”

“That, my dear friend, is a peach,” Luz explained, “it’s hairy, but it is a really sweet fruit.”

Amity eyeballed the fruit curiously before taking a bite from it. The nectar-like juices dripped down from her mouth. “You’re right; this is good.”

Luz took a napkin and wiped Amity’s mouth. “Don’t talk with your mouth full.”

“T-thanks,” Amity blushed. She took her eyes off Luz and scanned the surroundings. “So, this is the human world.”

Luz’s eyes sparkled. “I’m sure you’ll love it here. Why not after we take down Nyarlathotep and Belos we could have a sleepover with my Mami?”

Amity with Luz? Spending a night together? In cute pajamas? Cuddling? Steam fizzled from Amity’s ears. But she couldn’t shake the feeling of uncertainty. “So....is the Earth safe?”

Luz raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Just that...I was always taught that the people of Earth were savage, merciless heathens who would wage war on each other over the most trivial of plights. Humans were these disease-ridden rats who would turn on each other for profit and were never meant to learn magic as it would only further their mindless heathenism and violence.”

Luz felt her chest tense up from the sensation of being stabbed with an invisible knife. “Wow...that’s deep.”

Amity looked at Luz with surprise. “So that is true?”

Luz rubbed the back of her head. “Well, on the most technical of terms..but there are also instances of human kindness and understanding.”

“I see.” Amity turned away. “The Emperor had always told us that humans were warmongers that could not be trusted. I guess some of that did manifest when I challenged you back at the witch convention.”

“Don’t worry, Amity,” Luz assured her, “I don’t take any personal offense towards your assumptions. Lilith pretty much had to learn that lesson as well after she had become a roommate.”

Amity sighed in relief that Luz was not offended by the conditioned prejudices she was indoctrinated with. “I do have to say that there are so many interesting sights here; no wonder Eda collected all this stuff.”

Luz smiled. “Y’know, I did see a shop close to the park.”

“You did?”

“Yeah; something tells me that Hypnos is there.” Luz shrugged. “It kind of fits his mysterious aura.”

Amity nodded. “Yeah; the strange magic man might have already felt we forgot about him.”

They threw the seeds of the peaches into a trash can and walk in the direction of the store. Sure enough, it was exactly how Luz described it: it was a small, square store decorated with an eerie green paint which was chipping away in flakes exposing the splintery wooden boards underneath. The shop was placed impossibly between two large buildings. Grass grew around it into long, spindling strands that wedged into the foundation of the shop. A fern tree covered the roof to form a canopy. From the tiny specks of light, they could make out a few letters.

“Is this the right one?” Amity asked.

“Well, it said that it was located on 1300 Arkham Drive,” Luz clarified, “so it must be.”

They cautiously walked through the large columns of grass to get to the door. Inside of the workshop, it was impressively massive and grandiose. Much like the void they had entered through astral traveling, there were doors upon doors throughout the building. Doors of various sizes aligned the walls. On top of those passages were more doors. Along the staircases and the ceiling. Doors, doors. In every hard spot was one. To where the doors led they could not tell. After their trip through the void, they would rather leave it that way.

“About time you made it!”

They both turned their heads in shock and stared at a small man. His eyes were the size of dinner plates. He tilted his head making it apparent that it was the only comfortable way he could handle his large organs. His forehead was deeply filled with wrinkles upon wrinkles especially around his eyes. His hair was short and unkempt with its whiteness. The whiskers of his mustache curled in an upward spiral. His beard was long enough to reach the floor. He held up his wrinkled hand and skinny, bony fingers. He held a bust in his other hand. It greatly resembled him to some degree.

“Hypnos? Is that you?” Luz asked.

“In the flesh,” he chuckled, “well, this is my actual body.”

Amity crouched down. “But what about all that power you demonstrated?”

“Like I said, I jumped out of my body the moment I sensed Nyarlathotep’s return. But I had to keep the old man from getting eroded. Or eaten.”

As he said that, a small humanoid shape took form and walked on all fours from one of the doors. Its face was bereft of any describable orifices aside from the flashes of yellow, jagged teeth. For all intents and purposes, it made no sound even when its large, bat-like wings fluttered. Two horns pointed inward towards its head. Amity quickly shielded herself and Luz from the bat beast. “Step back, monster!”

Hypnos laughed until he felt himself wheezing. “Nekron, heel.”

Before the two girls’ confused eyes, the creature responded and sat down without issue on the ground. It wagged its barbed tail and its paws made a pitter-pattering sound on the floor. Hypnos took his hand and rubbed the side of the creature’s body. It had a slick, rubbery complexion to it. They could see now that the beast was smiling. A horrid, maniacal smile at that, but at the least it diminished a bit of the preexisting notions the girls had on it.

“What is he?” Amity inquired.

“A nightgaunt, my girl,” Hypnos replied, “a runt of the litter, really, but he is loyal.”

After petting Nekron, the nightgaunt stood up on its hind legs beside its master. Hypnos opened a small door to withdraw a tentacle. It was still moving about violently despite long being separated from its owner. Suction cups clicked on each other; slime trickled down his arm when he presented it to his pet. “Take.”

The nightgaunt obliged and grabbed the tentacle between its teeth before bolting past Hypnos and into one of the doors. Orange light emitted through the door and the nightgaunt disappeared. Hypnos directed the two girls to one of the other doors. This time, it was a large door of indescribable geometry. “Here is my actual workshop.”

Opening the door, they saw shelves containing jars. Each jar was filled with a yellow substance to preserve its contents. Eyes of different species and sizes; claws and teeth; ancient documents even. Hypnos took one of the jars and presented it to Amity and Luz. There was a brain inside of it.

“This contains the mind of what came to be called the Great Race of Yith. They were a race of aliens who could travel through all-time by swapping their minds with another race. They could project their consciousness through all space so they could learn about what other races did.”

He put the brain back on the shelf and withdrew another jar. It contained a small, amoeba creature. It was amorphous in appearance, but it changed its body accordingly to match the jar it was inside. It had roiling eyes and mouths alongside its pseudopodia. The hair on the back of Luz’s neck recoiled which made sense because the creature was focusing its many eyes on her.

“A shoggoth,” Hypnos answered, “started off as a servant-race created by another species to act as servants, but they turned against their masters.”

“You know, on the Boiling Isles we have servants too,” Amity pointed out.

“And what are they called?” Hypnos asked. He was mostly asking for the sake of asking without expecting an answer.

“Abominations,” Amity replied, “but they are made to never want to go against orders.”

Hypnos scratched his beard. “Who knows? Maybe some of those aliens discovered your world and subtly mixed their technology with your magic and those abominations you speak of could have been the descendants of this process.”

“This is all interesting and all, but please tell me that you did get the rat,” Luz said.

Hypnos smiled. “Of course; look on my desk.”

The human-faced rat was trapped underneath a small birdcage. The horn fracture it had stolen was on a far side of the desk. “It must have been stuck in the void for who knows how long.”

The two girls walked to the desk and observed the rodent. It shook its tail wildly whilst trying to figure out a method of escape. Hypnos grabbed a shriveled arm and held it over the cage. Wrapping his fingers around the wrist, blood trickled down from the base of the arm. The rat got up on its hind legs and greedily licked at the red liquid. It messily licked the blood from the corners of its mouth and continued to do so until it had its fill.

“That is gross,” Luz declared.

“Oh, it was just hungry is all,” Hypnos noted, “it eats witch blood.”

“W-witch blood!?” Amity screamed. She backed away from the rodent. “That thing could’ve bitten me and Luz back there.”

“The rat used to be a familiar that belonged to a witch, but it seems that the witch is long gone. But I did manage to get that horn it stole from you two.”

“We didn’t just come for the horn,” Amity added, “you know where that book is?”

“Yes, the Necronomicon, of course,” Hypnos replied, “I will fetch it for you two.”

He opened a drawer in his desk and withdrew a large book laced with a thickly-tacked on leathery material. “The original Necronomicon; the one that your ancestor, Luz, wrote all those years ago.”

He handed it to Luz. Luz looked it over sensing some dark presence within it. It came to her in the form of a whispery hiss spewing malicious intent. The book was heavily drenched in only the darkest and most unholy of dark spells that was likely inaccessible to the children of the Isles. This book, with its inhuman spirit and secrets, was not just evil: it was evil in its most pure, and incorruptible of forms.

“Does this book contain something on how we could kill Nyarlathotep or any god for that matter?” Luz asked.

“I would advise not looking into the contents of the accursed book,” Hypnos bluntly stated, “it contains information on not just the gods, but secrets of the universe itself.”

“If Nyarlathotep gets a hold of it, what then?”

“The Necronomicon was never meant to be read by anyone of this mortal plane; information on dark spells and how to cast them; bringing back the dead to act as your servants; sacrifices to the Old Ones and where these gods of old will once again return. The book must be destroyed at all costs.”

“That’s a good strategy,” Amity noted, “with no book, Nyarlathotep would still be without powers, so perhaps we can take him down.”

Hypnos nodded. “Luz, you are familiar with the old ways that magic was done on the Isles I presume?”

Luz nodded.

“Through those glyphs, the first witches were able to perform magic. Will you use them to destroy the book?”

Luz scratched her chin. It was a hard gamble: while it would be easier to read the book to figure out a way to kill Nyarlathotep, with no book at all, Nyarlathotep would still be at a disadvantage. If anything, they could temporarily block Nyarlathotep from enacting the rest of his plan until they could get him weakened enough to banish him. Luz shook her head.

“Of course.”

“How are we going to destroy it?” Amity tapped her foot to contemplate. “Well, we could burn it; do you have glyphs for fire, Luz?”

“That’s genius, Amity!” Luz proclaimed. “Hypnos, do you have some paper I could borrow?”

"Yes, this is Channel 8 News, and we have a story for you,” an anchorwoman announced.

Above the city, an insidious rip began to tear into the fabric of reality. The sky fell away in flakes as it widened further. Witnesses of the event stopped in their tracks to record what they were seeing to their social media accounts. Flaming balls descended from the rip and onto the buildings and vehicles.

“At approximately 3 in the afternoon, a large rip appeared over the sky, and now it appears that meteorites had fallen to the Earth. From what I am hearing, some of our top researchers had speculated that these meteorites could have come here through a ‘wormhole’ if you would call it as such.”

The balls were dispensed in highly populated areas. Smoke was bouncing off the odd balls emphasizing how intense the heat was around them. Much like any meteorite, the balls slammed into the earth’s crust and created craters around themselves. Much like before, bystanders were casually streaming live videos on the mysterious objects. A man with glasses knelt down at one of the craters.

“If you take notice of these meticulous details, this metal is unlike any I have seen before in my life.”

Despite protests from some of the surrounding people, the man leaned in closer for a better look. The ball glowed an ominous red and dematerialized. Before he could react, the ball became a metallic suit of armor and dragged him into the hole. The other balls followed suit and attacked the bystanders. The armor suits lumbered along, each painstaking step after painstaking step. They grabbed ahold of people and tossed them around with little thought of whether they were the targets they were after.

Vehicles were seized by the armor and smashed to miniscule, insignificant pieces. Attacks were launched at buildings with chunks of debris falling to the ground and onto people desperately trying to escape the damaged buildings. Soon legions of armored assailants made the ground quake. Small fires broke out converting the city into a wasteland. From the destruction wrought on the city, Odalia made her entrance. A large, black knight suit carried her weakened son in its arms. She looked into the staff’s gem for a message. Sure enough, the cloudy mist inside of the gem gave way to reveal Nyarlathotep in his Black Pharaoh form.

“Very excellent work, Odalia,” Nyarlathotep said.

Odalia felt her satisfaction bubble up her throat. “Yes, my lord; this is the place where the Necronomicon is located?”

“Aye, it is; in this city, your insolent child is trying to assist that human girl. They have a helper as well.”

Odalia smiled whilst clutching the staff in her hand. “I will give her a strong thrashing so that she could be of more use to you, Dweller in the Darkness.”

“I knew that I had selected the right vict-I mean servant,” Nyarlathotep replied, “once you retrieve the book and the girls, I will provide you the means of return.”

Nyarlathotep disappeared in the mist once the connection was cut off. She directed her attention towards the armor suits recklessly pulverizing the streets without rhyme nor reason.

“Lord Nyarlathotep had confirmed that we are in the right place! I don’t care if you have to tear this pathetic rock apart or crush a few rats underfoot: this is the beginning of a new age.”

#owl house #fanfiction #the owl house fanfiction #odalia #odalia blight #cthulhu #cthulhu mythos #mythos #fic

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randomguywithwords · 4 years

Text

As The Dust Settles: Chapter 15 (Geten X Dabi Slowburn)

Chapter 15: Soldiering On

AO3 Link: Here

Previous Chapters: 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

––––––––

Extinguishing his flames, Dabi saw only charred ashes on the ground. Wind will get them. It always does.

“What did they do to me? Why can’t I use my meta ability?” Geten said, as Dabi rubbed his arms. He turned to look at her.

“I should have figured…” Dabi muttered. “Tokugawa Prefecture was near their territory. These guys must have been one of the last few to acquire them.”

“What’re you talking about?” She pressed on, frenetically rubbing her hands. She made a few gestures, trying to use it, but to no avail.

“You mean you don’t know?” Dabi stared at her. “You guys kept track on the League so well, so why not – oh.”

Again with the hierarchy. The pieces put themselves together; Dabi knew why she was in the dark.

“What? What ‘oh’?” Geten screeched.

“Hey, calm down, girl. It’s only temporary.” Looking at the store, the door was still open and the lights were on. “Let’s get something to eat. Might help.”

That seemed to relax her for now, although she was still trying to move ice. The two of them entered the store and walked out carrying some snacks. In spite of the abandonment of this town, the snacks’ preservatives lasted for a long time. Dabi made sure to turn off the lights as they left.

“Ok, explain,” Geten said as they sat on the sidewalk.

“First off, the quirk-erasing bullets are temporary. It was an unfinished product made by the Shie Hassaikai, a yakuza group that got shut down a while back.”

“And I’m guessing here,” Dabi said as he munched on his chips, “But your leaders – those lovely asshats – they knew about the Hassaikai. They probably knew the group had a way to erase your precious meta abilities. Since their whole army was based on the principle of free meta ability usage, your Re-destro didn’t wanna make everyone panic. So he and his group shut up. Makes sense?”

“So they kept it from me.” Geten growled. “Again.”

What does she mean, again? Dabi took another bite in silence.

“Well, like I said, it’s temporary, and we can just call for an extraction –” He pulled out his phone when Geten unexpectedly grabbed his arm.

“No! We’re not leaving.”

“But...you’re gonna be useless, aren’t you?” Dabi raised an eyebrow. “I mean, you saw what happened to that guy. We might be up against something...problematic.”

“We can handle it.”

“Speak for yourself. You’re quirkless for the next couple of hours. And do you even have any ice?”

Geten balled her fist. “I have some ice cubes in my pocket. They’re cold enough to last a few hours. I’ll take care of myself. And I’ll help with this assignment.”

Dabi sighed. You and your ego will be the death of me. “Fine. Whatever, if you’re going to be so difficult about it.” He put his phone back in his pocket, and Geten released her grip.

Her hands aren’t cold, he realised.

He caught her with a blank stare at the pavement. “What are you thinking about?” He asked, suddenly feeling that her pride was not the only reason she was so insistent on continuing.

No, she’s not that afraid of the rest laughing at her quirklessness, or that she got shot...but what was it?

She put on her hood. “Nothing.” Her face was shrouded once more, and Dabi felt a tinge of disappointment. Can’t see what’s she’s thinking, it’s unsettling, he rationalised. That was probably the reason.

“Let’s go.” She said, standing up. She had stopped trying to use her quirk by now, giving up. He thought of saying something, but his mind came up blank. So he followed suit in silence, with the both of them getting on the motorcycle and speeding off.

Are her hands shaking? Dabi thought.

The silence of the ride was more somber than peaceful, knowing that what lay ahead was a real threat. Skeptic’s talk of this dissenter managing to evade capture from the soldiers sent to stop them sent chills down Dabi’s spine, but also a burning thrill. This better be good.

“So, what’s the plan now?” Dabi shouted over the wind.

“You still have your fire, so you can take care of large groups. I think it might be a gang or cult of some sort that hates the Liberation ideology, considering the advisor back there looked like he was beaten to death. I can run distraction or disruption. We should split up and use our communicators.” Geten replied.

Good plan, Dabi admitted. “Ok, and what if things go south?”

She had no reply for a good three seconds.. “Usually things never go south for me, but seeing the condition I’m in...maybe we should regroup in an area?”

“Fine. Don’t die, okay?” Dabi thought out loud, then added hastily, “Gonna be a hassle to explain your death to everyone.”

“Worry about yourself,” She retorted. “I’ll be fine.”

If you say so...He thought, his grip tightening on the handlebars, unable to push out the thought that something bad was going to happen to her. She was quirkless, after all, during the most crucial time of the night.

“Who do you think those guys were back there?” Dabi asked.

No response came for a few seconds. “I don’t know,” She finally said, “But I don’t think they were just random thugs. It seemed more like a hit squad. And who’s Mesa?”

“No idea. Never heard it in my life.” Dabi racked his brains, but he never bothered keeping the names of people in his past. Just the few, and the rest were smouldering corpses like those trash back there. “Do you think they were targeting you?”

He felt her bristle at the question, as if that triggered a thought. “Don’t know,” She said throatily.

Lying? Whatever. She’s not gonna tell me. But it might be linked to this whole assignment…

“Anyway, they might have tried to shoot me too, but I probably burnt the bullets up.”

“Fast reflexes,” She uttered.

“Thanks.” Was that an actual compliment? She sounds bitter about it – that she didn’t react fast in time. The rest of the ride was spent in silence, until Dabi saw their destination.

“There.” He flicked his head towards the fast approaching factory.

It was run-down and abandoned, complete with a “NO ENTRY” sign and worn-down wire fences which provided as much protection as fabric against a bullet. Towering metal and concrete chimneys gone dormant studded the compound; five-storey high buildings were placed next to them. Large metal containers occupied the expansive courtyard with dark lampposts situated in an orderly fashion, surrounding the containers like patrol guards.

Strange, have I been here before? No, that was impossible. He’d never visited Tokugawa Prefecture in his life. His mind was being a prick.

The two disembarked. “Guess we’re playing hide and seek. This place is massive,” Dabi said as he retrieved his earpiece from his pocket and wore it. Geten did the same.

“Let’s set here as the meeting point.” Geten pointed at their motorcycle. Dabi assented.

“Search the buildings first. It’s the most logical place to hide,” She said as she rubbed her left arm up and down. Did she always do that? Or is she just nervous? Just as he finished the thought, she abruptly stopped and tucked her hands in her parka pocket.

They walked through the row of buildings, until Geten tapped his shoulder to draw his attention. She pointed at one of the doors. In particular, a handprint on the dusty iron. Damn, she spotted that? He nodded.

The door was shackled by a chain, and said chain had been broken and strewn on the floor. Dabi pushed it open.

He wasn’t surprised that he was greeted by darkness. With the faint strings of moonlight permeating through the dusty windows above, he could make out the silhouettes of stacks of crates, catwalks and broken lamps hanging on the ceiling like death row prisoners. No movement caught his eye when they stepped in.

Getting her attention, he made a ‘split up’ gesture. She nodded and the two separated down the narrow paths.

Dabi walked until he saw a sparkly glint of reflected light shining on one of the crates. He automatically read the label engraved on them, and his eyes widened.

BUSHIDO ENTERPRISES PTE LTD

So that’s why –

The ground shook. He heard Geten yell over the thundering of crates shifting.

Shit. He turned and ran back as he saw crates beginning to collapse where Geten had headed. He spotted a blue parka and grabbed it, hauling her into the clear. With his other hand he shot a plume of azure flames into the darkness.

The fire illuminated a tall figure as it passed through like water around a rock. The figure had its hands braced to take the brunt of the damage. It looked like –

Dabi hid his surprise with a grin. “Well, I’ll be damned.” He retracted his hand. The fire lingered on some wooden planks strewn on the ground, casting a blue glow on the man’s face.

“Beatdown.” Geten breathed, veins of fear pulsing through the word.

Advisor to Violet Regiment, Shingu Takame, eyed the two of them with a stoic face, void of any expressions of pain. It seemed as if Dabi had sprayed water rather than a torrent of fire. The man had no words; he raised his fists and leapt towards them.

–––––––––

Cliffhanger? Plot twist? Eh.

Uhh right my thoughts on this chapter. I went through about 2 revisions? Major ones. I wrote the first draft in that flurry of creativity (and evasion of my academic responsibilities), then after hearing some of the thoughts on c14 (thanks Kannra in particular btw), it helped clear some of my thoughts and I realised I characterised Geten slightly incorrectly there, so I did a revision, and then once more when the chapter wasn’t “correct”.

Yeah I always planned for Takame to be an antagonist here (I hoped I made that pretty clear with the last few sentences of this chapter). Also look at me with chapter planning. Much wow, very writer.

Hopefully he’ll be one of the few OCs I’ll ever need to use.

Next chapter’s going back to Geten and...yeah. Not gonna spoil anymore than that. Thanks for the support, any feedback is much thanks from me.

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thefandomhighqueen · 5 years

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last christmas, i gave you my heart: cressworth one-shot

i finished the Stalking Jack the Ripper series around a week ago, and I have so much love in my hearts for Audrey Rose Wadsworth and Thomas Cresswell that i couldn’t not write this short little modern Christmas time au for them. hope you enjoy!

read on ao3

Audrey Rose couldn’t quite remember how her cousin Liza convinced her to attend the Holiday Open Mic Night at the coffee house near campus, and definitely couldn’t remember how her cousin forced her to wear such a lovely black dress.

But what she could remember was Liza shoving makeup brushes in her face and naming products that Audrey Rose had never learned in her life.

Liza pulled her hat down over her ears, being careful not to ruin her makeup. In a sweet voice, she asked, “Are you still mad at me, dear cousin?”

It took every bone in Audrey Rose’s body not to turn to her cousin and push her into the snow. Instead, she cast a glance in her cousin’s direction before looking down at the footprints she was leaving in the snow. “I don’t know, Liza. How could I be mad at the woman who stabbed me in the eye with a mascara wand?”

“But I apologized! Profusely!” Liza yelled.

Audrey Rose chose to make her cousin suffer in silence as the two of them turned the corner and started nearing the coffee house. Outside of the two-story building, dim yellow lights glowed against the brick wall as snow kept trickling down from the sky above. The wind blew against the wooden sign that stuck out right above the doorway, making it seem as if the coffee cup on the logo was actually giving off steam.

It was one of the loveliest places that Audrey Rose had ever seen, and she wished that she was able to come here more often.

The only reason Liza has even found out about this place was through her ex-boyfriend, Harry. After he had graduated and left to tour the country, the place became a safe space for Liza to mourn the loss of her relationship.

“Isn’t this place beautiful at night?” Liza linked her arm through her cousin’s.

In awe and breathless wonder, all Audrey Rose could do was nod.

Liza nudged her side and said in a quiet voice, “Let’s go.”

Despite the cold, the girls took their time admiring the old building before stepping inside and walking toward the line of people in front of the counter.

There was a good amount of people already seated with their drink orders in front of the makeshift wooden stage. Liza had warned Audrey Rose that the place would be packed to the brim, but they seemed to arrive in just enough time to beat the rush of people before the night truly started.

The chalkboard menus hung from wires strung to the ceiling and were filled with loads of decorations and drawings of different drinks. There were all different kinds of coffee, tea, hot chocolate, small desserts, it was almost too much to take in at once.

Liza turned to Audrey Rose. “Will you get me my usual coffee order and a chocolate chip muffin? I’m going to go and find us some seats.”

With a quick wink, her cousin was off, speed walking toward a table in the middle of the room. Audrey Rose tried to open her mouth to yell after her, but closed it when no words came out. Instead, she pouted her lips and waited patiently for her turn in line.

“I should hate to think that pout is because of me, Wadsworth.”

She hated that the voice coming from beside her cause her heart to beat a little bit faster. Turning, she said, “Hello, Cresswell.” She looked him up and down. “I didn’t see you come over here.”

Thomas Cresswell had been a thorn in her side ever since the start of the semester. He’d hailed from Romania, where he studied under one of the most famous forensic scientists in the world. Now, he was attending her very school and apprenticing under her uncle with her.

He was almost too handsome, with his dark hair, sharp jaw, and eyes that seemed golden brown in the candlelight. Even with her wedge boots on, he still towered over her. Tonight he wore a dark shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a pair of blue jeans which he tucked into the top of his boots.

His smirk was evident when he realized that she was checking him out, and Audrey Rose realized how badly she wanted to jam her scalpel into that pretty little smirk of his.

Before he could say anything, she said, “I’m here with my cousin, Liza. She was the one who just walked away from me over there.”

A lazy grin graced his features. “I’m guessing she couldn’t handle my dashing good looks like you can, Wadsworth.” “You’re so full of it, Cresswell,” she said, rolling her eyes.

He rested his arm on her shoulder. “But you didn’t deny my beauty. I think I might be growing on you, Wadsworth.”

The small stutter of her heart proved his words true, but all Audrey Rose could say was, “In your dreams.”

“Only every night.” He stepped a bit closer to her, close enough to send a small flush to her cheeks. She tried to play it off as just the cold from outside, shivering a bit and pulling her coat a bit closer.

Being Thomas Cresswell, of course he noticed. A bit of concern flashed in his eyes. “Are you cold, Wadsworth?” he asked, his voice a bit soft. “Maybe once you’re done ordering, you and your cousin can come and sit by my sister and I. We’re sitting near the fire.”

Audrey Rose searched for her cousin in the crowd of people, but couldn’t find her. She turned to Thomas and smiled. “I’m sure it won’t be necessary, but thank you. I’m sure my tea will warm me up just fine.”

He raised an eyebrow, looking her up and down before resorting back to his grin. With his deep voice, he said, “At least you’ll know where to find me if you need another source of body heat.”

With that, he walked toward the crowd, becoming lost in a sea of people.

It was really amazing, the effect that he had on her and her heart. She knew from the moment that he walked into her uncle’s advanced forensics course that he would be trouble, but she never bargained how much.

She needed to stop thinking about him. Thomas Cresswell should’ve been her enemy, he was really the only one she was competing for the top spot in the class for. And with all of the sly comments and not so subtle looks in her direction, it should’ve been easy to hate him.

But it wasn’t. He was actually kind, and nothing like the automaton that people said he was. In class, he would always speak his mind, but do it politely and not insult others. Hell, even when he was most annoying in the internship with her uncle, it was always just a friendly competition.

Oddly, Thomas was exactly the type of man she could spend the rest of her life with. And it drove Audrey Rose up a wall.

After she had ordered her items and grabbed them from the side counter a few minutes, Audrey Rose started to go through the sea of people in order to find her cousin.

There were many faces there that she should recognize, but none of their names came to mind. She had really ought to go out and socialize with people her age a bit more instead of spending time with cadavers.

She was able to find Liza after her cousin had stuck her hands up and waved her down like a maniac.

And to Audrey Rose’s never-ending pile of bad-luck, the table Liza had picked was right next to Thomas Cresswell’s.

Shit. “Hello, my dearest Audrey Rose!” Thomas exclaimed, a giant grin on his face. “Turns out you ended up right beside me anyway.”

The woman next to him elbowed him in his stomach, earning a delighted look from Audrey Rose, and an odd one from Liza. She introduced herself as Cresswell’s older sister, Daciana. Audrey Rose shook her hand after placing her items on her table.

Daciana’s eyes were alight with mischief. “It’s finally nice to meet the girl my brother talks about so often,” she said.

Casting a wary look at her, Audrey Rose said, “All good things I hope.”

“You wound me with how poorly you think of me, Audrey Rose.”

She smiled at him. “Your ego could probably withstand a few hits.”

Liza pulled her down to sit next to her. “Your flirting has improved over time, cousin!” Liza whispered excitedly into her ear.

Audrey Rose rolled her eyes and whispered back, “It’s not flirting.”

“Sure, hon.”

The two of them continued to talk to each other and to the Cresswells right beside them for a lot of the night. Acts came up and performed and they were pretty good overall. Most sang old Christmas time classics in festive sweaters.

It was a pretty great night in Audrey Rose’s book, she realized as she downed the rest of her tea. She had found a place she would visit more often, she got to spend some time with her cousin, and she even got to see a bit more of Thomas Cresswell’s life outside the laboratory and classroom.

Towards the end of the night, Thomas got up and told them, “I have matters to attend to, I’ll be right back.”

Despite being sad that he was leaving for only a few moments, Audrey Rose did quite like the view of his muscular back as he walked away from them.

Daciana smiled at Audrey Rose. “It’s nice seeing someone like my brother as much as he likes them.”

A blush appeared bright on her cheeks, and she tried to look down at the floor to avoid eye contact and get her emotions under control.

“I don’t think he likes me like that,” Audrey Rose confessed.

Before Daciana could refute her claim, a light smattering of applause went up in the crowd as the next performer came up to the stage.

Liza’s jaw dropped open as Audrey Rose turned to look at the stage. All she could do was sit jaw-dropped like her cousin as Thomas took a seat on the stage.

“Hello, hello, everyone. I hope you’re all having a good night tonight.” He grinned. “My name is Thomas, and I’ll be singing one of my favorite Christmas songs of all time, and it goes out to someone special who will get my heart this Christmas.”

Somehow, his eyes found hers in the crowd of people, and he winked.

The famous opening to the song started playing over the speakers, and the crowd cheered as they finally caught on to his play of words. “Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, but the very next day you gave it away. This year, to save me from tears, I'll give it to someone special,” he sang, a smile gracing his features.

As the music continued playing, he pretended to be playing whatever instrument made the dinging noises, and it made Audrey Rose laugh and grin.

“Once bitten and twice shy, I keep my distance, but you still catch my eye. Tell me, baby. Do you recognize me? Well, it's been a year, it doesn't surprise me. I wrapped it up and sent it, with a note saying, "I love you, " I meant it. Now, I know what a fool I've been, but if you kissed me now I know you'd fool me again.”

His singing voice was actually as smooth and wonderful as his regular one, and Audrey Rose felt her heart catch every time he would make eye contact with her when he was singing.

Liza and Daciana kept glancing at her throughout the song, just to see if she was upset or if something was off, but Audrey Rose couldn’t be happier. Thomas was kind of making a fool of himself, for her. And it was amazing.

The crowd was loving it too, and Audrey Rose made sure to savor every moment, knowing that Daciana was recording her brother on her phone.

As he sang the last verse, he started getting a bit quieter. “Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, but the very next day you gave it away. This year, to save me from tears, I'll give it to someone special.”

Everyone in the room burst into applause, and Audrey Rose stood to her feet and started cheering along with Daciana and Liza. Thomas, never missing a chance to be theatrical, took a large bow, and yelled, “Thank you, you all have a good night!”

He hopped off the stage and went over to where the girls stood. Still smiling, he asked, “Audrey Rose, can we go for a walk together outside?”

With Liza and Daciana tossing knowing looks her way, Audrey Rose nodded and grabbed her coat.

The two of them walked out of the coffee shop side-by-side as they walked toward the familiar direction of campus.

Despite his slight smile, Thomas’s voice held a note of worry as he asked, “Did you enjoy it?”

She turned to him, stopping them both under a streetlight, barely protecting them from the flurries of snow still falling down. “Thomas, I loved it, it was wonderfully entertaining and delightful,” she teased.

For a moment, time seemed frozen as the two of them stood still, smiling at each other like the love-struck morons they were. It was Audrey Rose’s most blissful moment of her entire year.

“Did you really mean it?” she asked tentatively. “Am I really the special person who has earned your heart?”

His eyes were genuine and full of admiration as he nodded. “You have had it for quite some time, maybe since the first day I saw you.”

She raised an eyebrow. “But we hated each other almost immediately.”

He scoffed. “You could never hate me, I’m just too good-looking and devilish for you to ignore, and that’s what you hated.”

Smiling, she clasped their hands together as she said, “Oh, my mistake.”

“I was actually thinking about giving you a heart as a present, but I didn’t think your uncle would be too happy with that, or you for that matter.”

Audrey Rose almost smacked him upside the head. “That would’ve been a ridiculous present, Cresswell. Besides, I like the one you just sang to me.”

Thomas stepped closer to her. “Bet that you can’t top it.”

Taking one step closer and tilting her head up, Audrey Rose smiled. “You’re on.”

With that, Audrey Rose closed the gap between the two of them and placed her lips on his for the best Christmas season kiss ever.

#my writing #cressworth #thomas cresswell #audrey rose wadsworth #stalking jack the ripper #hunting prince dracula #escaping from houdini #capturing the devil #modern au #one-shot

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celmation-gibson · 4 years

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Hello, Well 2018 was a Great time for Cinemas, and what a Year for such Creature Features such as the ones I will be reviewing here, and now may I present to you some reviews of the movies that I've observed on the Big Screen that year.

Pacific Rim: Uprising – My First movie to see in Theaters since I couldn’t find a Perfect time to see Aardman’s ‘Early Man’, but I’m pretty sure this Year would be a Monster of a Movie experience in the Cinemas. Since I’ve have and Watched the First film on DVD, I would think that I should enjoy its Sequel that has been made, and even though Mr. Guillermo Del Toro (the first film’s Director) didn’t direct this Film, he Helped Produce it as well. And as I said before, I do Love a Good Giant monster film, and this film was always filled with Suspense, Action, & Drama, and I would Fear that there won’t be any Hope left if those Giant Monsters win. Also it breaks my Heart wide Open to see a Character who I say and Liked in the First film died in this one. And that one Villainous Character is sure a Wicked Dick (*pardon my Language*) about this one being Possessed by a Kaiju Masterminded Brain. And surprising how that Rouge Jaeger was controlled by a Kaiju Brain, Hit him once & he’ll hit you back Twice as Hard. But I’m glad the heroes win in this Battle, and it took near the Tail end of the Film for the Movie’s Title to appear, unlike the First one where you wait 15-20 minutes for the Main Title to appear in a longest prologue, but for Me, I would almost stick with the Original Film.

Rampage – As I said before, I do Love a Good Giant monster Movie, and this is one of them. And it was a God-Epic monster Mash, even had some hilarious Moments, like when George flips the Bird, and I was like “Did that Primate just flip a Bird?”, though I do know another Ape who can Flip a Bird. And not to mention that the movie is actually based off an Old Arcade game of the same name, and if you Look very closely in the Office Building of Energyne, there are Arcade Cabinets of the Original ‘Rampage’ game, and ‘Rampage: World Tour(?), though I’m not quite sure what the other one is. And the monsters are Hardcore Badass, I don’t know which one(s) are Great (though I pick all of them), and for Bonus, there was another Creature in the Beginning of this Film that was a Rat Test subject. And the Sequence where they hunt the Giant Wolf Down was Awesome and it gave me Goosebumps completely. Plus some Good Elements from the Game is Included as Well, such as Eating People, Tearing down a Building from top to bottom, the military being involved, and Destruction of the monsters themselves. Even when me and my Dad were watching it in the Theaters, and when Dad watched the Commercials for the Film, one of his Favorite Quotes from the movie was “And of course the Wolf Flies”, LOL! And the Lizard Monster in the Film was so Massive & a “Pain in the Ass”, there was no End in that Creature, even when you plant an Explosion in his Ears & throw Missiles at him, he gets back up again, and I thought the Impalement on George would have Killed him Completely, but it was just thru his Shoulders and Thank goodness not the Heart Area or Between the Chests. But still, this film was an Epic Fun Thrillride, the characters are Great & Fun-filled, and I guaranteed this Year would be a Monster Movie Experience in the Theaters.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - Well, me and my Dad seen the first 'Jurassic World' in Theaters back in 2015, so we figured since we love Dinosaur movies, we go this this latest update, and to our Surprise, Original Jurassic Park star Mr. Jeff Goldblum (the big Chill, the Fly(1986)) will be starring in Guest Role, and it was a Surprise seeing him in a Honda(?) commercial to promote the Film. And That my Foodtown was already selling products, even sodas & Chips in Promoting the Features, and it featured some of my Favorite Dinosaurs in the Film such as the Classic T-Rex, and boy was that Opening Scene in the Pouring Rain so Intense, the Surviving Raptor of the Original JW film Blue, who is one of my Favorite 'Good Guy' Raptors, the Comical Dino Hard-head Stiggy, who I find entertaining & Funny in the Movie, and My Favorite Villainous Dinosaur, the IndoRaptor, and if you think the Indomenous Rex in 'Jurassic World' was Terrifying, this IndoRaptor is one Badass Creep, even when she(?) smiles while playing Dead while one of the Soldier guys was about to Chip a Tooth off her, kinda gives it like a Cartoon-y feel to it like the minor ones in 'the Adventures of Pinocchio'(1996). And that Epic moment where the Island was in Volcanic Eruption was so Frantic, even one scene in the Film was shot in One single Lengthy shot during those Round Vehicle Thingies, an I thought the Part where one of the Brachiosaurus was Left behind on the Island while Massive smoke was covering him was the most Disturbed sequences in the Film. Well i certainly enjoyed the film, while my Daddy didn't, cuz he thought there wasn't much action or creature footage in the film, as he thought there was more of some "Love Stories" being put into it, that's why he might like 'Rampage' more, where they showed some monsters earlier in the film, but you might say that some Critics praised Pratt's and Howard's performance, Bayona's direction, the visuals, Michael Giacchino's score and the "surprisingly dark moments", while others suggested the series had run its course, criticizing the screenplay and lack of innovation.

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation - Well, Mr. Genndy Tartakovsky Never Fails to impress us with this Three-times Charmer, and how Lucky was I to reserve a Seating to see this on my Birthday of 2018, after a Good Morning at the Meadowlands flea Market, and a goof Lunch at Taco Bell, I hit the Theaters with my Dad, and the Movie was Fantastic, and since Mr. Genndy Tartakovsky Co-written this Film (along with one of the 'Austin Powers' writer), I know what some Moments in the Film, there are certain scenes that are free of Dialogue, just like the ones in 'Samurai Jack'. And it was a-bit strange to see a Character from one the 'Hotel Transylvania' shorts that I've never seen, and that short was "Puppy", but in order to watch the short (even for myself), I have to watch that Gross-out 'Emoji movie' for it. But for HT3, the Climatic part of the DJ Battle with Professor Van Helsing (Drac's old Nemesis, and was surprise to see him still Alive in Machine parts) & the Kraken was Awesome, I didn't remember the first Official song played, but I do know the second being 'Don't Worry, be Happy', and the Final one was none other than the 'Macarena' and supposedly it's the Extended River remix version of the song which I have on my I-Tunes and have no regret in Purchasing it, along with Daft Punk's 'One More Time'. So I like the Film and can't wait to get it for Christmas, along with 'Rampage' this Year. And I even heard that Genndy will be working more at SPA where he will be set to Direct an R-rated animated feature titled 'Fixed', and an Adventure Film named 'Black Knight'.

Smallfoot - When I saw some Preview ads on CartoonBrew, I thought this looks kinda Weird and thought I'd just pass on it, but after seeing some TV Ads for the film, and seeing how interesting it looks, I thought I'd give it a shot, and kinda find the movie very Interesting if you wanna feel Young at Heart, and was Lucky to see it on Columbus Day, the only Actor(s) in the Cast i know were comedian Danny Devito & Basketball superstar Lebron James, and to my surprise seeing the closing credit of the film that Cartoonist Justin Roiland voiced in the film as well as one of the Yeti folks in the Kingdom, and I only know the names Common & Gina Rodriguez starring in the film. And the Music and songs in the Film are Nice, and I like how some Advance the Characters or Advance the plot, and it was Hilarious hearing one Song being sung in the tune of Queen/David Bowie's 'Under Pressure', and since Common is a Rapper in real-life, he did a Good Singing on when the Stonekeeper himself tells Migo that Humans & Yetis were Enemies in the old ages. And the other reasone I like watching this film is that I'm also Fascinated with Yetis and Drawing them, as you can see from my old 'YETI & other Stories' story in my Gallery, and one of my Yeti inspirations was the old Unfinished/soon-to-be-Finished David Allen film 'the Primevals'. And don't forget that the SF film was inspired by a book called 'Yeti Tracks', which is a good thing that some Films were based on Books such as 'Mr. Popper's Penguins', 'Home', & 'the Adventures of Pinocchio(1996)'. And I like how the Film was promoted "from the Studio who brought you 'Looney Tunes'" in which case, it is made by Warner Bros., and also the people who worked on 'Storks', and this film now made me think of two Environmental Animated films from 20th century Fox such as 'Ferngully: the Last Rainforest' & 'Once upon a Forest'.

Halloween(2018) - I never even heard that the Original 1978 classic is getting a Remake, although It may not look like a remake, but a True sequel to the Original film, and avoiding stuff on what happened in 'Halloween II(1981)', 'Halloween 4 -Curse', & 'H20'. And I read that the original star Ms. Jamie Lee Curtis will be in this Film, as well as being executive producer for the feature along with the Original 1978 Film's Director Mr. John Carpenter, as in they want to make it look Perfect as the original Monsterpiece, and they did succeed in it in Keeping the Spirit & Atmosphere like the 1978 movie. And I gotta say, Micheal Myers is one 'Pain-in-the-Ass' monster in this Film, like he always is in the original series, and I feel sorry for the People who got killed by that Creep, the Podcasters, the Boy who was equipped with a Gun along with his daddy, and a Woman who Micheal murdered and left a Baby behind. And an amazing thing my dad found in a Twist of Story is when Micheal got hit by the Sheriff, the Sheriff and the Late Dr. Loomis' student professor went out to investigate and kill Micheal, only for the Sheriff to be killed by the Professor, and when the Professor dude wore Micheal's mask, my dad thought that he was gonna be the New Micheal Myers, but Micheal resurfaced and soon killed the Professor afterwards. And one part in the Film which left the Audience in an applause is a Sequence that was based off the Original film, when Micheal attacked Laurie and pushed her off the Balcony, he saw her Body Lying there, but when Micheal turned away and looked back again, she was gone, just like what happened in the 1978's film ending. even after watching this film with my dad, he still had alot of Questions need to be Answered about some parts in the film, and I wish they showed more of the Ending with Micheal being Burned alive in the Cellar. And this may be one Creepy Classic that i might never watch again, but I just stick with the original Masterpiece of Fright & Shock.

the Grinch - Man, I am seeing alot of Good films in 2018, and this one may be the Last that interest me that Year, and this one was an Adaption of Dr. Suess' Classic Holiday Tale, 'How the Grinch stole Christmas', or simply titled 'the Grinch'. And seeing how Interesting it looks after seeing some Previews and TV Ads, especially that part where the Grinch whispers to Max and Fred "This is the Loudest Snow I've ever heard in my Life", I've decided to give it a Go, and hoping to see if it's Fascinating like the Original 1966 Animated Classic and more Better than the 2000 Live-Action Jim Carrey one, and it was. How lucky i was to see this movie on a Day off afternoon on a Wednesday, and I thought i would be the only one seeing the Film in Theaters, but it was also some Girls and their Parents & Guardians, possibly had a Half a day off. But for the Film, I Loved how the Narrator of the Film narrates in Rhyme, like the Original Dr. Suess books, and how the Writers improvised the Story using the same Lines in the Books, and It had a Great choices in Christmas soundtrack, especially in the part with Grinch Wake-up Radio with some Familiar tunes I know and Cherished. And it was a Great Film produced by the Wonders of Illumination, the Wizards behind 'Despicable me', 'the Secret Life of Pets', & 'Sing', plus they did another Dr. Sues adaption such as 'the Lorax', even some of the character designs in the film made me think of the Designs from Disney features such as 'Wreck-It Ralph' & 'Monster University'. And some of the Voice Cast in the film I know of was Keenan Thompson of 'All That' & 'Keenan & Kel' voicing Bricklebaum, a jolly citizen of Whoville, and Angela Lansbury as the Whoville's Mayor, and how Surprised/Not Surprised to hear another Familiar Voice in the Film playing one of Cindy Lou's Friends, who that boy is none other than Mr. Sam Lavagnino, the Voice of Baby Grizz in 'We Bare Bears' & Pepper and Alien King in 'Summer Camp Island'. And I'd thought Ms. Cindy Lou Who would have a cute design just like the one in the 1966 Classic, and she did have a Cuter design in this Film when it comes to the Creative Artists of Illumination. And Yet, this has become another Holiday Classic, and when I told my Mother how much Fun it is, she might be hoping to get the Film on DVD for my Niece to Enjoy.

There was a Movie called 'the Meg', though I may have interest to see that, but I wasn't sure how much interested I will be with the Whole thing. And sorry if I didn't felt like seeing 'Ralph breaks the Internet' or 'Into the Spider-Verse', I go for the Obscure & Non-Disney taste in the Cinemas as of now.

#2018 #best of #movies #smallfoot #the grinch #pacific rim uprising #rampage #jurassic world fallen kingdom #hotel transylvania 3 #Halloween #george #reviews #cindy lou who #indoraptor #my artwork #drawing

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vincess-princess · 5 years

Text

ex malo bonum

behold, the dumpsterfire of a fic i’ve been obsessing over for the last week.

Fandom: Motley Crue Characters, pairings: demon!Nikki Sixx, demon!Tommy Lee, demon!Mick Mars, fallen angel!Vince Neil, Nikki/Vince, elements of Tommy/Vince and hints of Nikki/Tommy Rating: Explicit Warnings (please pay attention!!!): violence, non-con, drug use mention, alcohol mention, self-harm tendencies, suicide attempts, murder Summary: Vince thought he knew where fallen angels go and what they become. But he never expected to go through something like that. A/N: I’m not religious at all and my entire knowledge of Christian canon comes from Jesus Christ Superstar and Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita. I was making up lore on the go and I dare assume almost all of it is completely wrong. If you’re offended by this, please don’t proceed!

As always, huge thanks to @polska-tankietka for editing this, love ya!

Chapter 1.

Word count: 2677

Warnings (for this particular chapter): violence, suicide attempts mention, alcohol mention, drug use mention

“Did it hurt?”

“What?” Vince blinked and looked up from his shot of whiskey. He was already on his fifth, but was only slightly tipsy (must have something to do with the quick regeneration thing). The shitty bar where he was drinking himself into oblivion was dimly lit, and he had to squint to make out the face of a stranger standing behind his shoulder. The stranger’s voice was pleasant, but there was something… unsettling in it. Off-putting. Hostile.

“Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?” he repeated smugly. His hand crawled onto Vince’s shoulder and clutched it. A hot, blinding spike of something that felt like electric shock went down Vince’s spine, and everything became so clear he wondered how in the world he hadn’t seen it coming. In his defense, they were faster than he thought.

“It did,” Vince raised his head and looked the demon straight in the eyes, curving his lips in disgust. “A lot.”

The first was a car, a truck going down a busy highway with a very convenient pedestrian bridge over it. Vince figured out the right moment and jumped, his white Heaven robes flapping like wings behind his back. When he woke up they were no longer white, but a dark red, the color he would have assumed to be his blood if he had found a single injury on his body. But there hadn’t been any.

He had to change his clothes after that, partly escaping humans too curious for their own good, partly no longer wanting to be reminded of what he had had and what he had lost.

“Drowning your sorrows in whisky, huh?” The demon pulled up a chair and plopped down on it, his hand sliding from Vince’s shoulder down onto his arm and staying there, grazing over the skin with his claws occasionally, oh so carefully. Vince didn’t pull his arm away from the grip, although every fiber of his being protested to the touch. He could reach that one pocket of his jacket with another hand just as easily. “If I were you, I would celebrate.”

“You aren’t me,” Vince retorted indifferently, turning away from the demon and focusing on his almost empty glass.

“Not yet, sweetie.” The demon grasped Vince’s chin with his fingers and turned his head back to face him. Vince shook his fingers off his chin with clear revulsion. “What a pretty thing you are. You know that? Have you already come across the human concept of beauty?”

“No,” Vince said listlessly. He couldn’t care less about the small talk, but the demon’s intentions still weren’t clear to him and asking directly felt weirdly untimely.

“You will,” the demon promised, moving closer to Vince, almost breathing into his ear, and Vince couldn’t help casting a quick look over him. Despite the lack of light, the demon’s eyes looked unnaturally green. “They’re completely obsessed over it. Starving themselves to death, wasting their entire salaries on beauty products, painting their faces until they are unrecognizable, squeezing their bodies into uncomfortable clothes. It’s so much fun. How did you manage to get such a good-looking body, though? All the angels I met looked like middle-aged accountants at best. Heaven is really obsessed over its employees’ purity.”

“Random distribution,” Vince murmured and downed his shot. The demon waved to the barista and showed him two fingers. A few moments later two shots of whisky were sent their way.

The second time, it was the height. Vince stood atop a twenty-story building and looked down at the busy street beneath, and everything was so little and insignificant. He didn’t have his wings anymore, but he could feel the rapture of flying one more time.

Vince woke up in the hole on the pavement the shape of which resembled that of his body. He had only a few scratches and not a single bone broken. He kept touching those scratches for the next hour until they healed.

Last time there were no injuries. Progress.

“I’m paying, baby.” The demon pulled a wallet out of the pocket of his leather jacket and slid two dollar-bills the barista’s way. “Enjoy your downfall. Did you already get the concept of money? Those humans turned pieces of metal and paper into their literal gods. They’re ready to die for it. How many of them, you think, are ready to die for an actual God, like real Jesus Christ, nowadays?”

His name out of the mouth of this despicable creature was like a string snapping in Vince’s chest, badly cutting his insides. “Don’t you dare speak His name,” he hissed, jerking his arm away from the demon’s grasp and moving his chair farther down the bar counter. If his gaze could kill, the demon’s body would already have been sprawled on the floor under the counter.

“Or what?” the demon stretched out his hand and wrapped his fingers around Vince’s elbow again, dragging him back in place. The chair legs gritted across the floor loudly, and Vince felt like all the eyes in the bar were on them now. The demon’s claws, painted in chipped black nail polish, were digging deep into his skin, but this time Vince didn’t try to wrestle away from his grip. This creature isn’t worthy of your anger, he reminded himself. “You’ll tell him and he’ll punish me? Funny. He no longer needs you, honey. That’s why he got rid of you. Threw you out like a toy he got fed up with.”

“Shut up,” Vince bit his lip and looked away. Every word slashed his soul like a sword, leaving deep, bleeding, unhealable cuts. “Stop that. Just-“ too early, a warning flashed across his mind, but he shook it off. The demon was clearly mocking him, and Vince wasn’t going to put up with that. “just tell me what you want from me.”

The third time, there were drugs. He tried regular pills from the pharmacy first - he heard they can cause death when consumed in excessive amounts. He woke up in the public toilet of some fast-food restaurant, in the puddle of his own vomit, with people banging on the door and shouting. Then there were other drugs, which people buy not in clean, white pharmacies with smiling women in doctor’s robes, but in dark alleys and night clubs. People didn’t want to give it to Vince without money, and he could no longer use any of his previous powers, so getting them was one hell of a job. All of which was in vain, because Vince only got a short and sharp sting of pleasure across his body before descending into darkness, and then woke up, this time in a hospital, surrounded by dumbfounded doctors.

“Nothing much,” the demon smiled sweetly and almost gently tucked a stray golden lock behind Vince’s ear. The demon’s own hair was pitch-black and wild, framing the sides of his face and falling onto his forehead, but still not managing to hide the uncanny gleam in his eyes. “You’re a pretty little thing, and I like pretty little things. Let’s hook up, and I’ll leave you alone.”

“Hook up?” Vince frowned, and the demon laughed sincerely.

“Sweet innocence. Don’t worry, you’ll learn. It won’t take long. You’ll enjoy it. It’s one of the things humans do all the time, to have fun or kids or both, or aiming for one and getting the other.”

Vince gave him a long, hard look, for the first time this evening. He foresaw that – well, not exactly that, but something of a kind – and the blade dipped in holy water was now warming in the pocket of his jacket, reacting to the demonic presence. Killing a demon was hard and usually disapproved of by the authorities – the privilege of killing belonged only to high-ranked angels, ones who could withstand the temptation of sin inevitably coming with it. It was even harder for a fallen angel devoid of the Lord’s blessing. But it was possible.

His human vessel was shorter and weaker than that of the demon. But he had the blade. He had the advantage.

“Checking me out, huh?” The demon traced his fingertips along Vince’s jawline. Vince didn’t flinch back. “I gotta say, I am extremely lucky with my current vessel. It gets me all the chicks.”

“My human form is male.”

“Doesn’t matter. You’re pretty, you qualify. Blond too. Love blonds.” The demon grinned, his teeth slightly sharper than human’s, a little bit too many of them. Devil is in the details, Vince recalled.

“Why don’t you get any other human then? Why me?”

“Honey, what demon wouldn’t want to bang a freshly fallen angel? It’s not every day that we have visitors from up there. You reek of Heaven, blondie. There’s still a lot of it in you. I wanna know how it feels.”

The demon licked his lips, eyeing Vince up as though he wanted to eat him whole. Vince shuddered but didn’t look away. He wasn’t afraid of him, after all.

“Sweetheart, I’m not gonna wait for you to come to terms with it. Don’t test my patience.”

“What if I refuse?” Vince carefully moved the untouched shot away, barely brushing the glass with the tip of a finger. The demon didn’t comment on it, but his gaze lingered on the rejected whisky a little longer than necessary.

“Then there will be a very loud and unpleasant scene that will surely feature in every newspaper by the end of the day. I feel like you still don’t fully understand,” the demon leaned closer to Vince and almost whispered in his ear, “I will get you anyway. You can only choose how, by force or by your own will.”

Vince closed his eyes, suppressing the urge to grip the handle of the blade through the jacket. He knew, of course, that demons couldn’t be trusted with a conversation, let alone an agreement. He shouldn’t have answered him in the first place. On the other hand, in this case. the demon wouldn’t have left him alone and would have forced him to answer. He couldn’t get rid of him with God’s power – he was no longer able to use it, neither could he deal with him with the help of simple, brutal force. Because he, as any angel, was against violence in general, not because the demon was half a head taller than him and had claws and sharp teeth.

Maybe it was better to just submit. Maybe the demon would be too distracted during this “hook-up”, whatever he was going to do to him, and wouldn’t notice Vince pulling out the blade. Maybe.

Submit and just let him do whatever he wants? something whispered quietly to him inside his head, something the invisible presence of which Vince could feel but only now got to hear. So you would let the forces of evil run amok because you’re not supposed to beat them?

Yes, Vince cut the something off and turned to the demon.

“Alright,” he said quietly. “It won’t take long, will it?”

“It will take as much as I need, angel, and by the end you will beg for more,” the demon promised complacently and pulled him up from the chair. “Come on. My car is in the parking lot.”

“Isn’t that kinda… uncomfortable?” Vince raised his eyebrow, for a second actually trying to imagine two whole people trying to find enough room on the backseat.

The demon burst into laughter, but the grip on Vince’s arm remained tight. “That’s the point, baby! Quick and dirty, exactly what you angels deserve. Come on.” He headed to the door, dragging Vince along.

Once they were outside, Vince lingered a little to inhale crisp, fresh night air - most of the Earth smells were still new to him, and some of them were quite pleasant. The demon interpreted it differently.

“Nervous? Don’t worry, all virgins are. You at least will probably be the first fallen angel to get rid of his virginity so quickly. Some never even get to experience it.”

“Why?”

“Because they’re ugly as hell, haven’t you heard me? I’m telling you,” he turned to Vince and poked him in the chest, “I’m telling you, this vessel is gonna be your best asset on this Earth. Everyone likes beautiful people. It’ll make your life down here easier. Actor, singer, model, hooker – choose whatever you want. Oh, here’s my car.” The demon pointed at a black, relatively small car in the farthest slot of the parking lot. “Seems small, but I can assure you, it fits our needs perfectly.”

“Your needs.”

“Eh, stop playing Virgin Mary. Mary Magdalene had a much better time before Jesus showed up. The girl was going places.” The demon grinned at the sight of indignation on Vince’s face. They approached the car, but instead of opening the door the demon backed Vince up against it, grabbed his collar and pulled him into a sloppy kiss.

Vince didn’t get to know what it felt like. A belt wrapped around his throat and yanked his body backward, hitting his back against the car roof and pinning him down to it. Vince’s hands flew up to the belt, scratching on it in a fruitless attempt to loosen it, but the assaulter was strong, stronger than him. And a demon as well, because the mere touch of his hands sent another spike of hot, buzzing electricity down Vince’s spine.

“Hold him!” The demon who brought him here tried to grab his wrists, got a kick in the stomach and had to take a second to drag himself off the ground. The second time he tried to grab him Vince was prepared.

The demon gasped and recoiled, his hands jerking up to his chest where the blade was now buried, barely audible sizzling coming out from the wound. The one behind Vince’s back almost rushed to help him, loosening his grip, but was stopped by a fierce glare of then-green eyes, now a solid black. Instead, he grabbed a fistful of Vince’s hair and banged his head on the car roof so hard it dented - the head or the roof, Vince didn’t really understand, because the world blurred in front of his eyes.

The next thing he remembered was lying on the cold pavement, hot blood dripping onto his eyes. A stray lock was hanging in front of his face, all smeared in blood as well. His hands were tied by the same belt that had been wrapped around his neck. Two demons stood above him, both black-haired and tall, their eyes now pitch-black, both radiating rage so intense it heated up the air around them.

“Fucking bitch,” the one from the bar spit out. “Who do you think you are to use this?” he raised the blade carefully by the handle. It was still covered in his blood, which oozed slowly from the cut in his chest and stained his shirt. Apart from that, it didn’t seem to cause much harm. “You’re no longer the warrior of God, blondie. You’re the same as us now. Wanna see?”

He kicked Vince in the side to roll him onto his back and then drove the blade right into his shoulder. Vince thought he knew what it would feel like: he had tried cutting himself before.

He didn’t expect it to burn, the same way it did in the demon’s flesh.

The demons didn’t even let him scream out his pain. They put something sticky on his mouth and threw him onto the backseat. The new, taller one, whose face Vince hadn’t managed to make out, got behind the wheel, and the green-eyed one sat at the back with Vince, his hand gripping his arm firmly, claws digging into his skin and leaving deep red marks.

Vince didn’t notice the pain. Tears streamed down his face silently while he was frantically, desperately searching for that connection he had always had deep inside his soul, the connection to Him.

He searched, and searched, and found nothing.

#motley crue fanfiction #vince neil #nikki sixx #supernatural au #angel/demon au #ex malo bonum #motley crue slash fanfiction #tommy lee #(an honorable mention)#tw: alcohol #tw: drugs #tw: suicide attempt #tw: violence #please stay safe babes!#damn this fic just went and took over my life and i'm so for it #haven't written dark stuff in a while and damn did i miss it #vince is gonna suffer a lot #sorry baby :(#i still love you #my last updates got not so many notes and considering the number of warnings on this one there will probably be none #but please if you read it let me know if you liked it #this fic is important to me on some whole different level than wilwif #not that wilwif is not important: it is and just as much #just......they're so completely different #yes i will go back to wilwif once i finish this if anyone cares #i just need to get this one out of my system #anyway im shutting up #also will post it on ao3 #AH SHIT I FORGOT #tw: dubcon

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artificialqueens · 5 years

Text

colour me blue, chapter three (branjie) - holtzmanns

(read on ao3) | (tumblr: plastiquetiaras) | word count: 2629

But now, Vanessa gets to be part of it, too. She gets to show Brooke her favourite places to eat, her favourite places to go. She can introduce Brooke to her own friends that she’s beginning to reconnect with, bring her to work and get her the friends and family MAC discount because Brooke’s always complaining about the amount of makeup she has to buy for ballet.

She can take Brooke on a date.

That is, if Brooke wants to.

AN: If you’ve made it to this chapter, the epilogue, thank you. This story was a rollercoaster to write, and I am so grateful for all the sweet comments and feedback on it. I dunno if I would delve into subject matter like this one again, but it’s definitely pushed me to follow through on stories and become a stronger writer in the process. Special thanks to barbie and writ for being wonderful cheerleaders with this story, I love you both <33

“Three life sentences later and I’m free!” Vanessa throws her arms up in the air, nearly losing control of the walker that she’s started to need less and less every day.

“Mija, keep your voice down. Everyone in the lobby’s looking over at us.” Vanessa’s mother swats at her arm as they walk out the front doors of the hospital, ones that she’s not going to have to see for a long, long time.

Well, until her next appointment with her cardiologist. But still.

“I can’t. This is some Shawshank Redemption level shit. I’m finally outta here.” Vanessa ducks out of the way when her mom tries to swat at her shoulder again, nearly ramming into Brooke on her other side, who’s trying hard to keep from laughing.

Brooke can’t help it, though, a little giggle escaping from her lips, and Vanessa can’t help but wink back because she’s happy, so happy.

She’s made it through the months of rehab after her transplant, the endless therapy to gain her strength back. Learning to walk again, getting her voice back and stronger than before, being able to do things by herself the way she should be.

Vanessa feels powerful.

Sure, she’s still going to have appointments that she needs to go to, more check ups and physiotherapy to make her body even stronger, but it doesn’t matter. Because finally, finally, she’s going to have more to life than a hospital room.

Vanessa already has, in a way, with Brooke around. Dropping by the rehab unit after her ballet training, telling Vanessa all about how she’s been building her own strength back up, too. Bringing in different snacks each time for the two of them to try together while they binge watch more trash TV. Cheering Vanessa on as she practices walking in physio, as she’s able to do more and more every single day.

She can take Brooke on a date.

That is, if Brooke wants to.

They drop Vanessa’s mom at her house - technically Vanessa’s house too, after she’d had to move back in a couple of months before being admitted to hospital. When she hadn’t been able to clean her apartment anymore, make herself dinner, because she’d become weak and tired before finishing either. When her heart couldn’t take the strain of simple household tasks any longer.

In rehab, she’d practiced cooking again with her occupational therapist, practiced getting dressed on her own. Practiced all the little things that someone should be able to do on their own, abilities that had slipped from Vanessa’s grasp as she had become weaker and weaker. But now? Vanessa’s stronger. She has to take it slow, yes, but she’s getting there. She can do things on her own again.

The prospect of independence makes Vanessa feel limitless. She doesn’t need others to do simple tasks for her anymore. She can take care of herself, hell, she’s been cleared to go back to work. She’s not reliant on anyone anymore, which means that she can move back out again soon, too.

Not that she’s been at her mom’s house in months, what with being in hospital and all. She just doesn’t want to stay, to stagnate.

Brooke looks at Vanessa from the driver’s seat after they drop the hospital bags with Vanessa’s belongings in them in the front entrance. It’s been months since Vanessa’s gotten her heart, months of her getting stronger and stronger and more independent, but Brooke still looks at her with a dusting of awe on her features. Like she can’t quite believe that she’s looking at her, that she’s there.

Brooke’s gazes are always filled with emotions that Vanessa can’t quite decipher, but ones that are enough to make the heat rise to her cheeks, have her heart (her new heart) turn over in her chest. Because there’s so many unsaid things between them, so much that they haven’t talked about because they haven’t had the chance to, but now that Vanessa’s out of the hospital?

They’re going to have the chance, and the time. Endless time, time that had felt like it was being snatched away while Vanessa was in the hospital.

But not anymore.

“So, where do you want to go?”

Brooke’s question makes Vanessa pause. Sure, Brooke’s asking about options for lunch. But the question feels so much deeper, like it could be about everything in Vanessa’s life.

Where is she going to go? What is she going to do?

The possibilities feel endless. She’s going to go back to work because she misses it, being able to put people together with a handful of products. Maybe she’ll start working out again once she gets cleared to do so from her doctor. Maybe she can watch Brooke dance, maybe Brooke can teach her some dance steps herself.

Vanessa’s life isn’t restricted anymore. She can make her own decisions, have the chance to try out different things.

But for now, for the first choice she’s going to make with her newfound freedom?

“Let’s get some Chipotle.”

“Can I look yet?”

“No, no, no, no, no.” Vanessa twirls in place before flopping back on the mattress in front of Brooke, dropping the makeup products in her hands into the bed. “I ain’t done. You still need glitter.”

“Glitter?”

“Yes, glitter. This ain’t gonna be a boring look. Now stay still.”

Brooke raises an eyebrow but acquiesces, letting Vanessa dust her cheek lightly with her finger. Vanessa can feel the familiar routine of doing makeup settle into her bones, make everything feel like it should, the way it used to.

Vanessa’s had a couple of shifts back at work - not too long, only half days to start - but they’ve gone well. She’s able to restock the shelves, do makeup on clients, stay on her feet for hours at a time. Each step she’s able to take feels like she’s dreaming, like she shouldn’t be able to.

But Vanessa is. She finally is.

Brooke had picked her up from work today since she’d had the day off, intent on spending the evening eating comfort food and watching TLC. But then Brooke had seen the coloured liner on Vanessa’s lids, the dark lipstick and she’d brought up the question that she’d asked months and months ago, back when they were both still sharing a hospital room.

You’d said you’d do my makeup one day, remember?

And so Vanessa’s gotten Brooke sitting ever so still on her bed, mapping out her face like a canvas with contour and highlight and cut creases. She feels like she’s on a roll, like she never wants to stop, not when Brooke is her favourite new client. The most beautiful client she’s ever seen, one who still gives Vanessa soft little butterflies in her chest even after months and months of knowing her.

Vanessa brushes some excess setting powder off of Brooke’s cheeks, removes the clips in Brooke’s hair that have been holding her locks out of the way. She can’t help the little noise of excitement that she lets out, poking Brooke’s shoulder until she turns around and faces the mirror.

“Done.”

Brooke opens her eyes and looks in the mirror, and the gasp that leaves her mouth makes Vanessa want to dance around.

“Holy shit, Ness. You’ve made me look good.” Brooke’s turning her face slightly, looking at it from all angles. “How did you give me cheekbones?”

“You’ve always had cheekbones. Real easy to make you look good when the source material is already so beautiful.”

It’s true. Vanessa’s seen Brooke in all sorts of states. In the hospital, makeup free, hair mussed. In her stage makeup, looking like a doll in pointe shoes. Sleepy when she wakes up from a nap, makeup smudged on her face no matter how many times Vanessa tells her to take it off before she passes out. Somehow always perfect.

But Brooke’s cheeks flush crimson at her words just the same, her eyes ducking down. It’s still thrilling somehow, the fact that she’s known Brooke for what feels like ages yet some things still feel so new, so unexplored. Mostly because life had kept them from getting the chance to do so - the hospital stays, the near death moments that took a little bit more precedence over getting to flirt with Brooke the way she wanted to.

But not anymore. And Vanessa’s going to take it.

“Shut up.” Brooke’s cheeks are still pink but Vanessa can see the pleased look in her eyes, the way she keeps glancing up at her reflection.

“Prettier than every single one of those models in the MAC makeup ads.” Vanessa leans on Brooke’s shoulder - not because she’s tired or needs to rest, but because it’s nice. Comfortable.

“Liar.” Brooke’s smile is soft when Vanessa lifts her head back up, and Vanessa realizes how close they’re actually sitting.

Vanessa gives her a cheeky grin back, one that makes Brooke’s smile grow. Vanessa loves the sight. “Never lied in my whole life, Miss B.”

“You lied to your nurse that one time when you hid a bag of potato chips as a snack in your bedsheets.”

Vanessa sticks out her tongue at Brooke, making her crack up. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

Vanessa notices how long Brooke’s eyelashes are when they settle into a silence, when Brooke grabs her hands and starts to draw patterns all over her palms.

“I remember when I’d hold onto your hand when sitting in your room in the ICU, months ago. You wouldn’t squeeze back, asleep and all that. But your hands were still warm. Your pulse was beating by your wrist.” Brooke’s voice is soft and she doesn’t look up, continues tracing along Vanessa’s lifeline, her heartline. “It made me believe that maybe, just maybe, things would be okay. If your body was still fighting that hard to keep going.”

“Can’t keep me down for nothing.” Vanessa puts a finger under Brooke’s chin, lifts her face up to look at her. She can still see the residual haze behind her eyes, made up of the weeks and weeks of uncertainty that they’d both gone through, so close to having everything go wrong, despite the fact that it’s been months since then. Months of Vanessa healing more and more.

The fear is still there.

“I’m still here. And I ain’t going anywhere. Not now, not when I have you.” Vanessa pauses after the words leave her, because-

Does she have Brooke?

Conceptually, Vanessa knows that she does. She knows that Brooke’s become her best friend and favourite person to talk to and spend time with and she never ever wants to lose her, but-

But then Brooke kisses her, grabs her face with both of her hands and her lips are soft, so soft and Vanessa can’t help but gasp when they break the kiss, when Brooke’s forehead is against hers and they’re both trembling slightly.

Vanessa looks up, her lips parting unintentionally and Brooke’s eyes are as wide as hers, her chest rising and falling and she looks like she’s about to apologize, pull back, and Vanessa can’t help but close the distance between them once more.

Kissing Brooke feels like the first time Vanessa had gotten to walk without a walker again. An action so new, so novel, one that makes her pulse race and her head spin, but also one that feels familiar. Like home. Like this is what they’re meant to be doing, what they both deserve. Brooke tightens her arms around her waist, pulls her closer and Vanessa’s never felt like she’s fit anywhere better than within Brooke’s embrace.

Vanessa pulls back and Brooke’s face is lit up brighter than the sun and the little laugh that leaves her is one that feels like a bit of release, one that they’ve both needed for so long. Vanessa almost doesn’t want to let go of Brooke, move farther back from her ever again, because it feels right. Safe. Like home.

Brooke’s her home.

Not the hospital, not her mom’s house. But rather her home is a person, someone who’s taken over her heart despite her objections, who’s been through so much with her.

Vanessa never wants to let her go.

“I wanted to do that for so long.” Brooke whispers the words, as if speaking any louder will break the spell and shatter whatever is keeping them in each other’s grasp.

Vanessa presses a little kiss to the corner of Brooke’s mouth because she can’t help it, can’t keep herself back. “Why didn’t you?”

Brooke shoots her a look. “Why do you think?”

“What, that little hospital stay?” Vanessa waves a hand airily, holds back a laugh when Brooke raises an eyebrow. It’s not joking material yet, not really. But almost.

“I don’t think your old dinky little heart would have survived a kiss from me, do you?” Brooke snickers and Vanessa feels her own mouth drop open.

“As if.” She shoves Brooke’s shoulder but can’t help but giggle too, join in Brooke’s laughter.

“Imagine if I’d kissed you and your heart rate monitor sped up and started beeping faster. That would have been hysterical.” Brooke looks smug, too smug, and Vanessa groans at the thought.

“God, don’t even start. That would have been embarrassing.” Vanessa shudders, then pauses. Because sure, back then, Vanessa would have cared, but…

“Feel it now.” Vanessa grabs Brooke’s hand from where it’s resting on her waist, presses it on her chest.

Above her heart. Her new, working heart that’s beating strong, so strong, pumping blood and oxygen around her body and keeping her alive. Letting her kiss Brooke.

Brooke’s hand is warm under hers, pressing to the side of her breastbone and her lips part, her eyes widening. “It’s fast.”

“All you, baby.”

Now that they’re both out in the open with what they’ve been holding back (Brooke’s kissed her, kissed her), the words feel natural rolling off of Vanessa’s tongue. Like she’s been keeping so many things back from Brooke for her own good but now she can tell her, have her know that she cares.

Vanessa drops her head against Brooke, their hands still pressing above her heart and it feels so right, so perfect. As if today hadn’t been their first kiss but more like their hundredth, as if they’ve been like this forever. She fists her hands in Brooke’s shirt, relishing in how close she is, how she can almost feel Brooke’s breathing.

“I’m glad we’re here now.” Brooke lifts her head up before leaning in to kiss her again but Vanessa pauses, pushes her back slightly.

“Hold up. I know it’s liquid lipstick, but you’re gonna make it smudge. That took real effort.”

Brooke snorts. “Don’t care.”

Vanessa can’t even protest when Brooke leans in again, because the heart beating fast in her chest may not be hers, but it’s strong. It’s showing her that she’s alive, how lucky she is, and how Brooke has captured it and made it hers, one hundred percent. Something Vanessa doesn’t want to change for the world.

Vanessa won’t have to, not when Brooke’s holding her this tight, this close. Not after they’ve both made it through the worst of the worst to get here, coming out the other side with two beating hearts that are in sync, the way they’ll always stay.

#rpdr fanfiction #branjie #brooke lynn hytes #vanessa vanjie mateo #hospital au #lesbian au #colour me blue #holtzmanns

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dracula-in-purple-story · 5 years

Text

From Enemies to Friends

CHAPTER TWO

Author’s Note : All of this is ENTIRELY NON-CANON. I’m still working on my writing skills. Thank You and Enjoy, hopefully.

It was late at the dark, gloomy night. Most residents are deep into their dream wonderland. Some are doing their shady businesses. Unfortunately for the hidden residents of Inkopolis, there were no rest for them.

Multiple alarms blasted out in the massive fortress located deep in the forest of Mount Nantai. Most of the people emerged from their slumber quickly and get dressed before waking up those who are a deep sleeper. After they geared up, they immediately rushed to the nearest kettle in order.

Nicholas, who had just walked through the gate door of the main entrance, heard the alarm and, with a little bit of hesitation, dropped everything he was holding as he rush straight to the emergency kettle at the corner of the front garden wall, where it was hidden by flower bushes. He changed into his other form and swam right into it.

As soon as he emerged from another kettle, the place around him reveals to be an underground base. Full with equipments, gadgets, computers and weapons. He rarely went here ever since he became a co-guardian for his young master but he knew, for a fact, that this place is now chaotic.

Half of the night-shift people are typing away in their computers and tried to keep track on their task or rushing around, while another half of them seems to be missing, but it soon replaced by bunch of day-shift people fully suited up and lined up right in front of an old but fitted lady, who aged pretty well for a 130-years-old.

“Nicholas, just in time.” the old lady said in a firm authority, “Before we address the situation here, how’s my grandson?”

Fond murmurs were heard among the people before got silenced by the glare from the old lady. Nicholas sighed in bliss, “He’s fine, Mistress! He is still the pure boy who worried over small things.”

She nodded in acknowledgement, smiling a bit, before broadcast a image onto the huge projector screen in front of them. A crashed unidentified flying object. Half of the crowd gasped. “Isn’t that a failed prototype of Thunderstrike? Why is it here?!” Suzuki, another co-guardian of Erek, speaking her mind out in fear.

“Minale, come here and report on what the Scout Squad D had discovered, please.” the old lady said with simple directness. A three feet being, equipped with a large propeller helmet, zoomed right behind the crowd. “As you can see from the picture,” she started her report while landed on the table with grace, “a failed prototype military aircraft, Thunderstrike, crashed outside the city, with a corpse of a Mini Zapfish that was used to operated the aircraft. Bless its soul.”

“The Scout Squad D previously assumed that it was just a public test run from the underground Oct-”

“Wait,” Nick rudely interrupted Minale’s report, “what do you mean by ‘previously’?”

“It is where I’m trying to get to the point, Mr Nicholas!” she scoffed, “If I may continue, they thought it was just a test run until a power outage happen. It only last for approximately five minutes before the power came back.”

“Ten minutes before we activate the emergency alarms...” Minale continued along with a stressful sigh, broadcast the picture of Inkopolis Tower, “...the Great Zapfish is gone.”

This statement alerted the uneasy crowd as they scanned the picture. Indeed, the Great Zapfish is missing from its tower. The Mistress clapped lightly to gain their attention back to her. She nodded to the Scout captain who zoomed back to her post, giving out commands as she spoke to the microphone that wirelessly connected to the Scout Squad D.

“So far, the conclusion of the report is that Thunderstrike is merely a distraction tool in order to steal the Great Zapfish. Even though we all know that we got more than enough Zapfishes to supply our power source and they have other resources to generate power,” the old lady halted her talk for a few seconds, “why would they want the Great Zapfish for? Any possible answer? Or someone knows exactly why he would need it?”

The absolute silence is eerie until Suzuki shakily raised her hands. The old lady arched her eyebrows before nodding to let her answer. “Twenty years ago, I... I participated the project before I escaped, Mistress Octivia. He’s building some... sort of heavy spherical aircraft with some built-in turntables and mixers... along with some Wasabi supplies...” she gulped, “...the module were estimated to use large amount of energy... but Alivia and Alivia Jr helped me sabotaged the process before aiding me to escape that hell hole!”

“Calm down, dearest.” a tall figure, wearing a set of laser sight goggles, patted her shoulders sympathetically as she cried uncontrollably.

“Go calm your wife, Hayato. I fill in the rest of the details to you two later.” The lady in charge pardoned them as they walked back to the kettle. “Unfortunately, even with their best efforts in sabotaging, the heavy aircraft was built. If he manage to tame the Great Zapfish to do his bidding, Inkopolis is doom to be destroyed.”

“And as Octarians ourselves, we know how Octavio operated behind his DJ set. If we let that happen, we would be back to the starting point! Are you ready to oppose against the hypnotisation once more, my fellow friends?!” she shouted in a fierce tone.

“YES, MISTRESS!”

~~~~~~~~~~

Erek woke up early in the morning, the sky was bright and the sunlight shone through the windows. Lazily, he stretch his body as he get up from his bed and walked out from his bedroom. The birds were chirping and enjoying the cool breeze when he opened up the slide door that leads to the balcony. The dew drops were falling from the leaves of various flowers he potted yesterday. The sun was rising up from the clouds as he water his flowers.

Just as he walked back to his bedroom to take some clothes for his fresh debut, there came a huge knocking and loud ringing on the main door.

“Must be the neighbours... Cod, I forgot about introducing myself to them yesterday!” the boy mentally slapped himself, “Coming!”

He rushed to the door, not before he tied his tentacles to Topknot, and opened it to see three inklings standing there. One of them, the cyan ‘inkling’ girl, looks familiar but he couldn’t pinpoint on where he seen her before. The middle one of the group, a pink inkling girl, decided to talked.

“Hello there, rookie! The name’s Callie Mac N! Callie for short. On my left is one of my Roller buddies, Mike!”

Mike, an orange inkling boy, raise his Octoglasses and rest it in his forehead, “Hello~!”

“On my right is our little floof of our humble crew, Jewel!”

The cyan girl smiled brightly, “Hewwo, I’m Jewel. Your neighbour at the corner over there! My mommy told me about your arrival yesterday. What’s your name?”

The three of them stared at him with excitement. Nervously, he scratched his head before replying, “Oh... uh... My name is Erek! Nice to meet you all! Want to come in? I’m about to change my clothes and start cooking breakfast.”

“Oh, great! Thanks, buddy. Don’t mind us crash-... WOAH!” As soon as they were welcomed into Erek’s home, they were met with the most freshest living room they ever seen. A bookcase full of the latest video games, a clearly expensive LED TV along with its loudspeakers, limited edition of Chirpy Chips poster with the members’ signature and, is that a freaking CoroCoro hoodie hanging on a coat rack that was supposed to be out in like, next year?

“Umm, guys? You have been standing here for a long time. I made some light breakfast so we could... uh... chat?” Erek, now donning the Starting Gears, was quite concerned about his new friends, who gawked at his living room quite a long time. “Is it weird? My living room?”

The trio snapped out of their daze. “What, no!” Callie exclaimed, “It’s just... woah! My daily earnings couldn’t even pay for this kind of luxuries! Let alone that hoodie! How did you managed to get that?! It was supposed to come out next year!”

“Next year? But I got it for my birthday three days ago. My friend, Kevin, who gave me that just said they have extras so... yeah!” Erek recalled a little.

“Dude, you don’t actually mean Kevin, the famous trendsetter who just opened a company called Cuttlegear? That guy knows his stuff about fashion!” Mike gushed, “This Octoglasses? Automatically became my favourite headgear after he post some cool model pictures with them. And you know him?!”

“Yes? He works for my Grandmama and he take care of my wardrobe since I was young.”

“Wow! That is crazily fresh! Can I check your closet?”

“Mike, that is rud-”

“Sure, go straight and turn left, you should be able to reach my gear wardrobe.”

Mike cheered as he rushed to the location. Jewel facepalmed, “I’m sorry about my boyfriend.”

“It’s fine. I could give some gears away if he loved it so much. I was planning to buy my own clothes with empty slots anyway.”

“Wait, wha-”

“OH MY GOD! CALLIE! JEWEL! LOOK AT THIS! EREK HAVE SUPER FRESH CLOTHES! EVEN THE SLOTS ARE GOD TIER! I’M IN HEAVEN!”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Gramps, come on... pick up the cells already...” Marie is pacing around the studio. After her cell ended with the monotone message and a beep, she heavily huffed before looked helplessly at her cheerful cousin, which now have a frown on her face as she fiddling with her thumbs. “Nothing?”

“Nothing.” she plopped down to a sofa as Callie sat down nervously beside her.

“It can’t be... he usually would answer us in a few rings. And now this happens!”

“It’s going to be alright, Cal. Once we finished our broadcast, we head straight down to Octo Valley to check up on him. He’s the strongest squid we have ever known.”

“I know, Marie. But, it’s Gramps we are talking about. Possibilities are limitless! What if his SquidCell is broken? What if he was kidnapped? What if-”

“Callie, calm down!” her cousin smacked her head slightly before caressing it gently. Callie pouted before surveying around the studio. The production team is a hectic mess. Bumping against each other frantically, papers are flying everywhere, the cameras are being thrown left and right.

“Squid Sisters? Five more minutes before we start the Inkopolis News!” a female show betta glided gracefully in front of the two cousins, pointing at her blue watch impatiently.

“Ms Betty!” the Squid Sisters immediately stand up and bow to her. “Sorry, me and Marie were-”

“I know,” Ms Betty halted the black inkling, “I’m not blaming you girls. This is probably the first time we have to broadcast this kind of news. If it weren’t for that Great Zapfish to go missing on us...”

“We understand, Ms Betty. We truly do.” Marie grimaced a bit before following behind their director. Once they arrived at the Inkopolis News Studio, they immediately went into position, just like they had been practised for the last few weeks.

“Don’t be nervous and follow the script. Add some colours into it like you are not reading whatever was written here, okay? That was what made this program famous for.” Ms Betty addressed, “We are ready in three, two...”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Man, you are a really good cook!” Callie complimented Erek as they finally arrived at the Plaza. Jewel nodded shyly, agreeing what she had said while Mike is burping loudly, “Yeah, you should totally teach me that recipe! I could cook for my babs and mother-in-law too!”

“Mike!” Jewel slapped his back softly. They laughed loudly at the interaction. Probably loud enough to cause four certain inklings to turn their heads to them.

“Oh, you guys! Where have you been?!” a dark blue inkling boy with glasses asked. Callie shrugged it off when her new friend have a questioning look, “Those guys are the rest of my crew. From left to right, we got the ever so quiet Kitty,” she gestured excitedly to a lime green inkling girl who just waved before turning her focus back to her SquidPhone.

“Marcus, the ‘cool guy’ wannabe,” a purple inkling boy just flicked her some fingers before finishing his drink.

“Blitz, my roommate and another Roller Buddies,” the boy with the glasses offered to shake hands. Erek accepted it and shake politely.

“And Marlee! Our new member from last week!” a dark green inkling girl grinned at them.

Once introductions are done, Blitz pondered a bit, “I’m going to assumed you haven't watch the news, yes?”

“No. Why?” Mike asked back, “Are the news reporter some blacklisted musicians?”

“No,”

“Racist?” Jewel cautioned.

“No,”

“Famous enough to actually expect them to report Inkopolis News?” Callie guessed before squinting at the big window where the reporters would be sitting. “Well, yes! But it’s not the point right now! The content-”

“HOLY ZAPFISH, IS THAT THE SQUID SISTER?! I’M A BIG FAN! HEY CALLIE, WE HAVE THE SAME NAME!” Callie Mac shouted enthusiastically as she run up the walkway and squeezed her way through the crowd outside.

“Why do we elect her as the captain?” Marcus scoffed at her behaviour. “So crazy, that woman...”

“I’m a big fan as well... but not as hyper as Callie is.” Erek giggled. The crew laughed it off for a while.

“So, back to the topic, what do we miss?” Mike questioned with a curious tone.

“You see, well,” Blitz looked at his clueless teammates, and a new friend, with a sense of guilt, “I don’t think we could participate this month Splatfest.”

The trio gasped. They were shocked, especially Erek. His first day of debut had clashed with a horrific news. The kind of news he didn’t expect to happen in the first place.

“Are you serious, mate?” Mike fretted, “We never ever have a Splatfest cancelled before! All they need is to postpone, like they did in that Pencil vs Pen Splatfest!”

“News Flash, brother.” the purple inkling roughly tilted his friend’s head up, the rest of them followed suit, “Our humble energy source had disappeared!”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Staaaay fresh!” was all she last heard before turning off the radio. Furrowing her eyebrows, Tres quietly packed her Splattershot Jr. Before she could even tiptoed towards the old, rotten door, she was hugged from the back. Usually, she would roundhouse that person who dared to risk their life to hug her but there are few exceptions, especially this little yellow figure behind her is her baby sister.

“Paula...” she turned around before kneeling down to hug her back, making the little inkling giggled silently. Tres smiled softly, “Go back to big brother, would you? Breakfast’s ready.”

“Annnd you are going to stay this time, Big Sis.” another yellow figure, slightly smaller than Tres, spoke sternly while pointing a pan to threaten her. Tres smirked a bit before running to the door. She was succeeding before her face got stuck. A freaking clear tape prank.

“Cielo... Zona...” she pulled the tape immediately before screaming in pain, “Again?”

“It’s ya fault that ya makin this easy for us, Big Sis.” two small orange figures appeared outside the door. They laughed heartily at her before shrieked as their eldest sister hugged them off the ground. It’s not long before the rest of the siblings decided to join their group hug.

They settled down after they finally convinced their eldest sibling to stay back and properly eat her breakfast. Although it’s been a while since they have breakfast together, Tres still wolfed down her share of food. Diego couldn’t stand this any longer as he hit her softly but still painful enough with the very same pan.

“Eat it slowly, Big Sis. It’s not like the Inkopolis Tower is going to run anywhere.”

“I know but the faster I earn some cash, the sooner we can get the surgery to be done.”

“Big Sis...” the small twin-tailed inkling mumbled before she quickly snatched back her small bits of bread from her twin brother. The eldest grinned at this sight before excusing herself from the table. She pecked each one of them before heading out.

“Be careful not to overwork yourself, Big Sis!” Diego shouted. Tres halted her movement before glancing back at the eldest brother of the house. “I can’t promise that.”

She sighed before whispering, “Not when our dad have his life on the line.”

#Splatoon #My Splatoon Story #My OCs #draculainpurple #Agent 3

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yeetdam · 6 years

Text

stars after the rain ☾ yedam

genre – romance, soulmate au

synopsis – set in a universe where everyone is born with two names tattooed on their skin. one name stands for their soulmate, the other for their potential killer. no one knows which person inked on them is their other half and which is their downfall, but that has never been an issue to you. after all, you were born with just one name. and, well, there’s only one way to interpret that.

wc – 8.3k

a/n – this is a completely self-indulgent fic pls forgive me this mess contains everything i dream of: best friend doyoung antics, slow burn-ish vibes and a cheesy rendition of the slow dance scene on the rooftop from high school musical 3 :’) either way, i hope you’ll enjoy this and pls lmk if there are any mistakes or if u have some feedback uwu

It’s bound to end in a tragedy when Doyoung barges into your room without any warning and sees it for the first time.

“That’s a cool place to have a tattoo,” he admits and points at the back of his neck when you turn to him with an irritated expression. The realization crashes onto you like an atomic bomb the moment you subconsciously mimic his movement and slide your hand up the back of your neck.

“Oh.”

In the blink of an eye, you frantically rummage through your drawers for your foundation. Lately, there’s been many things clouding your mind, be it the many exams you can’t afford to fail or the abnormal number of complaints Hyunsuk has sent you in a span of three hours. It’s not the first time for you to drown in all kinds of duties, but it seems like the pressure has got into your head worse than usual. You never fail to cover the ink on the back of your neck with either turtlenecks or foundation, so it just fuels your frustration when Doyoung sheds light on it.

“Hey, relax! We can join the party a little later, so take your time,” he says and puts a firm hand on your shoulder in an attempt to calm you. “Uh, do you want me to help? It must be hard blending that in every day.”

You snort. “First of all, I am relaxed. Second of all, I don’t do this every day, but I manage perfectly on my own.”

“Jesus Christ,” Doyoung sighs and retreats his hand, “I was just trying to be the empathetic best friend. But jokes aside, it really is a cool place to have your tattoo. My thigh can’t relate.”

“As much as I love being your best friend and am willing to listen to your problems anytime–” you successfully find the bottle and squirt a generous amount of foundation on the beauty blender, “–even that is too much information for me. What should I know next? Your other tattoo is on your butt?”

There is nothing wrong with covering up the tattoos you are born with. It’s not socially frowned upon if someone doesn’t make any efforts to hide the ink. In the end, it all boils down to your personal preference. You know a handful of people who waltz around with both of their names on display, and you are relatively sure that Doyoung would be one of them if his tattoos were on an appropriate part of his body.

“Haha. Funny,” Doyoung deadpans before he whips out his phone. “I meant what I said, take your time. Plus, I realized I still gotta call someone.”

“Give me five.” You hum and apply the liquid on your skin. He exits your room and makes sure that the door falls softly in its lock to give you a moment of peace. A frown paves its way onto your face as you build up the coverage until there is no trace of black on your neck.

Showing the inked names on your skin and just talking about the concept of soulmates in general isn’t a social taboo. However, there are quite a few people who rather avoid the topic at hand, including you. Truth be told, every cell in your body knows that Doyoung is dying to discuss this topic with you and there are too many moments you recall where he looks as if he’s about to explode if he doesn’t bring up his soulmate. However, he never did that. Doyoung wears his heart on his sleeve and so do you, but here’s the thing: Doyoung is better at swallowing them down.

So as his best friend, the least you can do is go with him to that one goddamn party even though there are other things you’d rather do at this late hour of the day.

(A prime example of what you’d rather do is giving Hyunsuk a piece of your mind because receiving fifty-seven emails about not understanding biology, whining about the new TA and his harsh grading and inquiries about what to get Seunghun for his birthday in the span of three hours is not okay.)

Whenever you go out in public, you are usually seen with a turtleneck or a scarf. Covering up your tattoo with a foundation is your plan c) when desperate times call for desperate measures. Also, there is a reason why you barely go to parties.

Parties fall under desperate times.

Although there isn’t anything in Yeji’s house that is illegal to consume, the living room is sweltering hot, the music obnoxiously loud, and the entire scenario is equivalent to a frat party minus the alcohol, drugs, and making out.

Instead, a dozen bottles of pretty much every soft drink you can find from the convenience store just three blocks away and a broad selection of chips and chocolate and cake are found on the tables.

“Wanna bet that you could never finish cola with salt in one go?” Jaehyuk suggestively raises a brow at Doyoung and holds up the red cup in his hand.

“If I win, you owe me bubble tea for an entire month. Wherever and whenever I want.” You fight the urge to smack yourself as you see the sneaky grin etched on Doyoung’s lips. For a moment, you debate whether to stand up your comfortable position on the couch and knock some sense into him. But then again, you remind yourself why you’re even here in the first place. Though you know most of the people here, you don’t really talk to them. Doyoung was your only friend present.

You’re only here for Doyoung’s sake. You’re going to let him have fun and let him regret his life decisions in the aftermath.

“Aren’t you feeling lonely here?” you divert your eyes from Doyoung to the guy who drops himself on the couch beside you. He’s a new face, you figure, dressed in an unbuttoned, red flannel shirt, a black graphic tee underneath and ripped skinny jeans. Strands of jet black hair fall into his face, but they fail to hide the genuine twinkle in his eyes as the corners of his lips subtly tug upwards.

“Well, you’re not wrong,” you mumble and are very glad that you’re no longer focused on Doyoung if you consider the gagging sounds he’s emitting, “I’m not a huge fan of these kinds of occasions.”

“Let me guess,” he muses and takes a sip out of his cup, “That guy forced you here?”

A chuckle escapes your lips when he points at Jaehyuk who’s laughing maliciously at a kneeling Doyoung.

“Actually, it’s the guy who looks like he needs life support, but close enough.” you lift a brow at the flannel guy. “Is there a reason why you’re staring at me like that?”

He shrugs in response. “I’m just happy that I managed to lift up your spirits a little bit.”

There it is again, the glimmer in his eyes. You can’t lay a finger on what exactly it is, whether it’s playfulness or an underlying risk. All you know is that it's a gamble. You either take the leap or you keep it safe. It’s not the first time that you end up in such a situation, but this time, it’s a little but different. The only thing that is stopping you is the uncertainty of reading him.

But maybe, maybe it’s not that bad.

“You know,” you start and fiddle with your fingers, “I’m fairly sure that you’re the only one who can enlighten me here.”

Your hunch is proven right. It is not that bad. Not bad at all, actually.

For the next hour, you two stay seated on the couch and talk about all kinds of things. Sometimes, when you bother to care, you laugh at some mishaps that occur right in front of your eyes, like Chaeryeong tripping over her own feet before she crashes into Mashiho and makes him fall flat on his face.

“Wanna grab something to drink?” he asks after a while and swirls the last few ounces of liquid in his cup. “Besides, I think I need a refill.”

“Sure,” you reply and you both enter the kitchen. The room is empty apart from the two of you, and though you can still hear the music blasting through the closed door, your ears don’t ache as much anymore.

While you grab ahold of one of the opened bottles of cherry cola and pour it into an unused red cup, you watch him roll up the sleeves of his flannel from the corner of your eye. He has pretty hands, you figure, and maybe it would’ve been better if you didn’t stare at them for so long. It’s only a subtle flick of his wrist as he fixes his sleeves, but you don’t fail to notice fine black lines on his left wrist.

Before you ponder longer about it, he asks you, “Hey, can you pass me the cherry cola?”

You nod wordlessly and hand him the bottle and don’t leave his hand movements out of your sight. Once in a while, your eyes flit to the fridge behind him, to the few strands of jet black hair that sick out messily or to his eyes. Curiosity has never been a trait that really defines you, but sometimes, you can’t help but try to decode the name on his wrist.

Still oblivious to your underlying intentions, he continues rambling about his favorite music producers. “Cha Cha Malone has this really distinctive tone in his productions…” he places the edge of his cup on his lips with his left hand and suddenly, your blood runs cold.

Though there is the slight possibility that you are suffering from hallucinations, you are pretty damn sure it is not an illusion. The kitchen sheds enough light to see everything clearly, from the slight bags under his eyes to the coffee stains on the table. The lights aren’t blinding, but they’re enough to decipher the fine black lines inked on his left wrist.

Your name.

“... and I feel that– hey, you look like you saw a ghost. Is everything alright?” he furrows his brows in concern, but when he follows the trail where you’re looking at, he gets the gist. You notice him tense up and are pretty sure it’s not a trick of the light when he pales, something akin to guilt paints his face.

“Come to think of it,” you mumble and avert your eyes from his wrist. “I didn't catch your name. Who are you?”

He hesitates, chews on his bottom lips first before he answers. He looks like a deer caught in the headlights and it just fuels your thought that the worst case scenario has become a reality. You hope it isn’t what you think it is.

“I’m Bang Yedam.”

You stare at him in disbelief, unable to force any coherent words past your lips. A shiver runs down your spine, and though there is less to be scared of because your name is inked on his wrist too, you're still wary. Obviously, the one who is destined to end your life won't have your name tattooed on them.

But with your circumstances, you can't help but include that possibility.

Yedam doesn't hide his panic anymore as he tries to justify himself. "Look, I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself earlier, (y/n). Doyoung told me not to–"

"Doyoung? What does Doyoung have to do with this?"

When all you're met with is silence, you ask again with something akin to fury laced in your tone. "I said, what does Doyoung have to do with this?"

He diverts his gaze to the counter behind you with pursed lips. Knowing that he won't spill the truth, you try to find the remaining puzzle pieces to complete the mystery by yourself. Your efforts are in vain though, because there is nothing you remember that could serve as a link to what Yedam said–

("I realized I still gotta call someone.")

"I need to go," you say when it dawns on you and you set the cup on the table. A jumble of emotions rages in you, be it the anger that flows through your veins or the whirlwind of irritation and disappointment and despair flooding your senses. You don't stop when Yedam calls after you and tries to make you stay.

You rush into the living room to grab your belongings, completely ignoring Doyoung who is still oblivious to your discovery. It's when he takes a closer look at your trembling hands and pessimistic face that the joy falls from his face.

"Hey, why are you leaving already?" he asks, concern laced in his voice as he tries to touch you, but you swat his hand away.

You huff. "Mind your own business, I really don't appreciate your stunt."

"What?" he furrows his brows and tries to figure out the meaning of your words. "I don't understand–"

"(y/n), please don't go– oh God." Yedam slows down to a halt at the sight of you and Doyoung. The boy beside you widens his eyes when he sees Yedam and then, the realization strikes him like lightning.

"O-oh, that was what you're talking about. Look, I can explain–"

You don't stay a while longer to hear his reasoning.

There is a reason why Doyoung has been your best friend for so long. It isn't the first time for you to fight and if you're being honest, your ego isn't that big to not forgive him. Doyoung can be awfully nosy and loves to stick his nose into someone else's business. Therefore, it doesn't surprise you that you invite him over on an afternoon after he left fifty voice messages and over a hundred text messages in your inbox.

"Please don't start your explanation with 'I was trying to do you a favor'." you sigh in distress.

"I was trying to do you a favor," he bluntly says and it costs you your willpower to not invite him out of your place. Doyoung sends you a crooked grin before he turns serious. "Okay, real talk now. I was just... surprised when I saw Yedam's name on your neck. And since I already knew that one of Yedam's tattoos is your name, I thought it'd be a good idea to make you two meet. Turns out to be that I was a fool."

"You're always a fool, please," you deadpan and snicker when he shoots you a death glare.

"Hey! I was trying to be an empathetic best friend here! I just breathed and here you are, clowning me. That is disrespectful!"

He attempts to throw you off your chair by aiming a pillow at you. Instead, he almost knocks down the succulent on your desk. The next few minutes, you bicker for a while and start an impromptu tickle fight to lighten up the mood. It's when you both lie on the carpeted floor and your heartbeats have fallen back into a steady rhythm that he addresses the problem at hand.

"Why don't you want to give him a chance?"

"My gut says it won't end well," you reply slowly.

Doyoung shuffles to the side to get a good glimpse of your face. "You know, the chance is high that Yedam's your soulmate. He's got your name too, after all. And he's willing to give it a shot, y'know? One meeting doesn't sound bad and won't be the end of the world."

You hesitate, considering the implied proposal with a frown. "It's complicated."

"So you're willing to let the glorious chance pass by?"

"Yes."

Taken aback by your rapid answer, Doyoung adds in a quieter tone, "Not many people manage to find even one of the two people. Even less find the one who wears their names too. You should definitely consider it, (y/n)."

"I get where you're coming from, but..." your voice trails off.

Doyoung watches you with expectant eyes. "But?" he drawls.

But you don't understand.

"You're not gonna stop bugging me until I say yes, are you?" you say instead. Although you'd trust your life to him, you don't want to burden him with your tattoo dilemma. He may not let it show too much, but you know he has his worries and he doesn't need to break his head about the meaning of your only tattoo too.

"Do you want the truth or a fabrication of lies?" he asks with a suggestively raised brow, making you roll his eyes at his silliness.

"Fine, I'll meet up with him one time. He shouldn't get his hopes up, though."

For some reason, you find yourself walking into the café fifteen minutes earlier. You blame it on the fact that there surprisingly was no traffic jam, although it's rush hour. As it turns out, you're not the only one to arrive earlier than expected, because Yedam enters the coffee shop five minutes after you.

He notices you right away, seated in between red and black cushions at the far back of the room, but doesn't steer towards you instantly. Instead, he stands in line and orders two drinks before he approaches you. An uncertain, shy smile adorns his face and contrary to the first time you met him, he's different. His hands shake so much that he spills one cup a little bit when he sets them down and he can't bring it over himself to look you in the eye. Yedam's treading lightly, abnormally careful about his own actions.

"I got you hot chocolate. I hope you don't mind," he mumbles and slides the cup towards you.

There's the need to tell him not to worry and loosen up. However, you don't manage to do so. What you do manage is a quiet "thanks" before you take a sip of it.

Well, at least Doyoung wasn't lying when he said that the café served delicious beverages.

Awkward, heavy and pressuring don't even come remotely close to describe the silence hovering above you. Even an innocent bystander can tell that neither of you is exactly comfortable in your shoes.

"So." Yedam's ears perk up when you clear your throat. "You wanted to meet me."

"Yeah…" his voice trails off as he taps his fingers on his paper cup. This time, he's wearing a blue wool sweater with sleeves so long they cover up his palms. You fight the urge to ask him if you could see his left wrist.

"Uh, give me a second to mentally prepare myself." he stammers before he starts anew. "I'm going to be honest here. I was happy when Doyoung called me and said he knew someone who wore my name. I had a great time that night and I, um, guess that things wouldn't have ended like that if you figured it out in a different manner."

"I'm going to be honest too," you confess. "I had a lot of fun that night, well, before it started to go downhill. It's just, I don't think I'll be able to cope with this." You gesture on your own wrist.

Something that hits very close to desperation is written on his face. For the first time, he looks at you directly and tries to read you. "Listen, I'm not trying to force anything on you. I know not everyone cares about the marks and that's fine. I just..."

He hesitates, tries to find the right words. Judging by the tone of his voice and the quiet sigh that escapes his lips, you know he doesn't belong to the group of people who don't care, unlike you – and he is very well aware of that too.

"You just?" you probe. Though you are quite sure what words will follow next, you need to hear them come out of his own mouth.

Yedam glances at you unsurely, wariness audible in his voice when he speaks up. "I was just hoping to, uh, get to know you. It doesn't have to be something long lasting, I swear. If you feel uncomfortable, we can break it off at any time. I was hoping that we could at least try."

There are many, many red lights blinking in your mind. This suggestion is nothing more than a very, very bad idea. In your case, the journey doesn't even matter. It doesn't matter if you end up being more than friends. What matters is the result. And, well, the result is inevitable.

Amongst the many, many stop signs that practically scream DON'T DO IT, there is one brain cell that begs to differ. Yedam looks at you expectantly, pleadingly even. His desperation is visible in his eyes as if they held stardust which reflects his every emotion.

You inhale deeply through your nose in an attempt to steady your frantic heartbeat. It's bound to end in a tragedy and you should care more, but you don’t have the heart to reject him.

Hopefully, you don't sound so unconvinced and scared when you respond.

"Trying sounds good."

Yedam is careful. He's so careful it genuinely surprises you. He doesn't push you to anything, works his way to more personal questions (though so far, the most personal question he's asked you was how long you've been friends with Doyoung) and tries his best to cater everything to your needs. It's by the fifth time you meet up in person when he finds the courage to ask for your number. Truth be told, you can practically see him pondering five minutes about each text he writes before sending it to you. The absence of emojis in his messages just confirm how nervous he still is.

It's still awkward when you talk and most of the time, it's Yedam who asks questions. Yet he's quick to pick up certain likes and dislikes, like your favorite ice cream flavor or your least favorite type of music.

It goes without saying that Doyoung practically demands regular updates. He was over the moon when you told him how your first date ended and even paid you bubble tea. That was how happy he was for you.

"He's not as bad as expected," you say as you nonchalantly look for good Netflix movies to watch.

Doyoung snorts in response. "Of course I knew that already. I've known Yedam for a good while now and seriously, all he does is sing the High School Musical soundtrack and swoon about music producers."

"He sings?"

You practically feel Doyoung rolling his eyes as if it was the most obvious thing on earth. "Duh. That guy's a singing god. But you have my word, (y/n), I'll end him and twist out his intestines if he hurts you. You really don't have anything to worry about."

"The only thing I worry about is you becoming a potential murderer," you say in a monotonous voice. (In a way, it’s ironic, given how there is bound to be someone who wears Doyoung’s name with the negative connotation.)

That causes your best friend to laugh in an exaggerated manner. "Very funny. In all seriousness though–" he grabs a handful of chips and stuffs it in his mouth, "–how do you not know that he sings? Even though you know he produces his own songs? I thought you talk lots."

"The thing is–" you shuffle to the side and hope he won't spit any crumbs on you, "–he's the one who talks. I just listen and answer his questions."

Doyoung sends you an unbelievable look that's equivalent to 'Are you serious?' "Then ask some questions back, you fool!"

"I don't know what to ask though!"

"What? You truly are unbelievable." he groans and throws his head back. "I guess I have to step up my game and help out a poor soul, huh?"

You throw him an offended look. "I am not an imbecile!"

"I never said that, dumbass," he tuts. "But back to the point. Yedam likes music, just recommend him some songs and he's gonna love you. Or have a High School Musical marathon with him. For all I know, attend a concert with him or just let him show you his own songs– the possibilities are endless! You always meet up at that café and although it's nice and cozy there, it's getting boring. If you only knew how panicky Yedam gets when I bring you up in our conversations: pitiful! That's what it is!"

"I don't know if that'd be a good idea–"

"Listen, I have no idea why you are so against getting close to him and since we already had this talk, I'm not gonna bring it up again. But for the love of God, if you already agree on trying, then put in some effort yourself!" he exclaims and with every word, his hand gestures become bigger. It even reaches the point where you're certain that he's going to hit you in the face.

Nonetheless, he’s right. You desperately need to step up your game.

Yedam is confused when you send him a link while he’s talking about something you don’t bother listening to. His irritation is visible in his scrunched brows, in the way his gaze switches from you, then back to his phone, and in the little hitch in his voice.

“They say your music taste tells a lot by yourself.” you shrug and try to sound as casual as possible. “And, uh, perhaps I heard that you like listening to new songs.”

The confusion morphs into a small yet genuine smile once he sees that it’s a link to a Spotify playlist. “You’re not wrong about that. While we’re at it, here.”

Your phone vibrates, signifying a new text message. Just like him, you fail to hide your amusement when you see the link to his own Spotify playlist, followed by a SoundCloud profile.

“Let me guess, the SoundCloud one is where you post your own music?” you joke lightly but when you look up and meet Yedam’s bewildered expression, you gulp. “Did I say something insensitive?”

Yedam hastily shakes his head. “No, not at all! I’m just surprised that you remembered that I produce some songs too.”

“I mean, it’s hard not to forget that when Doyoung gushed about that for a good hour and you like to swoon about how much of an idol Cha Cha Malone is to you.”

He looks at you with a stunned expression. “Do I really talk that often about him?”

“No. I just remembered that, that’s all.” you smile lightly. Regardless of whether or not Yedam buys it, the apples of his cheeks are dusted red and he looks down as if he hopes for the floor to swallow him whole.

Quickly realizing that the atmosphere might turn into an embarrassingly long and awkward silence, you scroll through the Spotify playlist and chuckle when you recognize songs you haven’t heard in a while yet.

“Do you have something against my music taste?” Yedam asks, partly wary, partly sounding as if he was ready to brawl.

“No, of course not!” you explain once you calm down. “It’s just, it’s been a while since I heard the Jonas Brothers. Also, uh, I’ve never seen High School Musical and you have a lot of songs in it.”

Yedam looks like he's about to jump out of the window and his eyeballs might have fallen out of its sockets after your confession.

"What did you even do in your childhood?" He acts as if it was an unforgivable crime and then adds with conviction, "First of all, the entire soundtrack is on the playlist. Second of all, what are you waiting for? We need to catch up with things you should've done when you were a child!"

“What are you–” Before you get to finish your thoughts, he grabs ahold of your hand and leads you out of the café. “Where are we going?”

“My place,” he replies without looking back at you as he picks up his pace. “You need to watch all movies. I refuse to leave you uncultured.”

Your attempts of not having to watch any of the films prove themselves futile. That, and the other, unexpectedly childlike side of him make you stay. Even if you planned on running away, you couldn’t anyway. With the way your hands are intertwined, it’s hard to do so. Though by now you’re practically rushing down streets and occasionally bump into a pedestrian or two, the incredulous look on their faces when they see you hand in hand is something you don’t miss.

You don’t know whether the feeling bubbling in your gut should feel warm.

When Doyoung said that Yedam knew every single song from High School Musical, he meant every single song.

You tried, you really tried to pay attention to the storyline. However, it’s not that easy when five minutes into the movie, the first song comes up and Yedam belts out every single note in a theatrical way. You find yourself anticipating the next song so he’ll sing more rather than the actual plot progression.

When Doyoung said that Yedam could sing, he meant he could sing. It would’ve been nice of him if he had warned you beforehand how angelic Yedam’s voice was because your jaw dropped to the floor the moment he started to sing. You didn’t know what you expected, but you certainly did not expect to be swept off the ground in a span of 0.08998 seconds.

“Did I just ruin your fun?” Yedam asks carefully, a bashful smile plastered on his face once the first song came to an end.

The question startles you and you blink at him in awe before you feel the heat creep up your cheeks. “What? No! I mean, no. I was just surprised that your voice is that nice,” you manage to choke out.

His smile widens, and your face flushes a deep red.

“So you don’t mind me singing along?”

“I prefer your voice over that guy right there…” you pause. “Wait, what? Forget what I said.”

“Me? Forgetting that? You wish,” he beams and erupts in laughter when you cover your face with your hands. “But if that’s what you want, I’ll sing along.”

You find yourself listening to Yedam singing anything your heart desires many times after.

While you still have no idea what exactly the plot of High School Musical is up until now, you indulge in the heavenly voice of your human jukebox even more with every passing day.

Depending on his mood, you discover the many facets of his personality. On days where he’s tired and you happen to stop by just because you’re casually in the neighborhood, he shows you his self composed songs. Although the bags under his eyes are impossible to miss, he keeps his head held up high and urges you to comment on all of his songs despite rather wanting to hide under the covers.

On days where you’re tired and happen to be lounging on his couch, he loves to lull you to sleep. His voice is soft and gentle, just like his hands playing with your hair as you hide your face in the crook of his neck. Then there are days where it seems as if stole the sun’s job or had drunk too many energy drinks and jumps around like a lunatic while belting out the melody of My Heart Will Go On.

Today seems like a day where he’s just emitting happiness.

Truth be told, you don’t know when exactly you’ve let down your guard. The current scenario is too sickeningly domestic for your liking – with you leaning your head on his shoulder while his arm is lazily draped around you. The third installment of High School Musical running on screen doesn’t quite suit your taste either, yet you don’t make any amends to put some distance between you.

“Do you know how to dance?” Yedam asks casually, eyes glued on the screen. Currently, Troy and Gabriella are at the school rooftop and it seems as if the next song is going to start soon.

Your eyes narrow at him. “What are you planning?”

“I’ll take it as a no. But that’s fine too.”

“Yedam, seriously, what are you planning?”

There’s a gleeful twinkle in his eyes when he faces you. Before you can ask again, he stands up and pulls you up with him.

“Just trust me on this. It’ll be fun,” he interrupts you in the middle of your doubts. That shuts you up for good, yet it doesn’t hinder you from sending him warning glares.

You stay blissfully unaware of his ulterior motives until he firmly grabs one hand and puts your other on his shoulder, followed by planting his free hand on your waist. He shoots you a fond and reassuring smile to soothe your panicked self. Then slowly and surely, the first guitar strums come out of the speakers before Gabriella starts singing in the background.

A quick glance behind Yedam to the screen, where the lovestruck couple is also in the same position as you, is enough to let you know in which direction this is heading to.

“No. No. No. I can’t dance, much less slow dance–”

“I’ll guide you. Just keep your eyes on me,” he muses and tilts your chin so you lock eyes.

There are so many cells in you that are screaming at you to look away, but you’re unable to do so. There’s something behind the fragments of fondness in his eyes that you can’t quite decipher, but either way, you get lost in his eyes and your breath hitches.

“Let me guide you,” he repeats in a tone that makes you melt in a matter of seconds. You’re pretty sure your legs would’ve given up at this point if it weren’t for him who takes a step back and tugs you with him.

It goes without saying that you feel like a newborn baby deer that’s still clumsy on its legs. In the first few tries, you’re uncoordinated, stiff as a board and step on his toes a few times, and you’re not able to look away from him. He winces when you misplace your foot and you shoot him an apologetic look in return, but after some time, you get the hang out of it. Midway through the song, your legs no longer feel as if they’re going to mutate into jelly as you sway through the expanse of his living room.

“Look, you’re doing just fine,” Yedam reassures warmly before a grin etches across his lips; as if he just came up with a brilliant masterplan. “Wanna try a spin?”

“No,” you shoot out like a bullet and cause him to giggle. “This is enough for today.”

“Fine then, maybe next time.”

The rest of the song is spent in comfortable silence, warm smiles and occasionally knocking over a book or two when you happen to bump against the shelf. When the song comes to a slow end, you find yourself coming to a standstill. It’s just then when you realized how dangerously close Yedam really is. His breath hits your lips and you pick up the slight scent of spearmint.

You’re not the only one who notices. Yedam’s gaze switches from your eyes to your lips. Confliction is prominent in his face. Even though you’ve grown more comfortable around him, a feeling similar to home even, he’s aware he can’t cross all your limits yet. He doesn’t dare to prod further, lean a little bit closer and you know he’s wordlessly giving you the shots.

At this point, your heart practically hammers against your chest and you wouldn’t put it past him to hear it too. Perhaps, you’re in too deep and for a moment, you slowly move closer until it’s just a matter of a few millimeters separating you.

That is until you’re aware of the fact that you’re clinging onto his hand as if he were your lifeline. The realization causes a knot in your stomach. Suddenly, the doubts flash your mind; the fear that initially overcame you when you first met him at the party, when you found out who Yedam was.

There’s nothing wrong with Yedam. He’s nice and talented and genuinely cares. Yet at the same time, you’re not certain if there’s nothing wrong with him. You can’t be fully certain of him and that realization strikes you like lightning once more.

You try to ignore the sadness that washes over him for a short moment when you pull away.

“I’m sorry. It’s just a little complicated to explain,” you mumble apologetically.

“It’s fine,” he replies in the same manner.

There’s no doubt that you can see the genuineness in his eyes, but you can’t tell whether he was really telling the truth or was trying to manipulate himself into thinking that it truly is fine for him.

Surprisingly, as well as to your luck, he doesn’t bring up the episode again. In fact, he acts as if it never happened and honestly, you wouldn’t want to have it any other way. You’ve become a little more cautious ever since, but you would be lying if you said you didn’t want him performing a little bit of skinship on you. He still sings for you, proudly shows you his latest songs and becomes cozy around you whenever you watch a movie.

Just like any other day you’re at his place, you’re sitting on the couch and currently scrolling mindlessly through your inbox while Yedam is on the other end of the couch.

“I really like you.”

You hope you misheard what he said. Yes, you definitely misheard it, you’re positive of that. The intensity of his gaze when your eyes meet begs to differ though.

Honestly, the day was bound to come sooner or later. After all, you’re not that oblivious. Yedam is similar to you, you like to think – he wears his heart on his sleeve. But whereas you let your bad sides show, he puts all the good in him on display.

“How are you so sure that we’re soulmates? Do you have any other reason besides the fact that I wear your name too?” you ask after a moment of silence. It costs you your entire willpower to not lash out on him and say once more that you’re not interested in something more than what you already have, but he wouldn’t believe that.

And frankly, you’re not sure if you would believe yourself either.

“I do,” he responds, voice full of conviction. “I say it so easily because I found the other person already, and I know that he’s not my soulmate.”

“Again, what makes you so certain about that?”

Yedam purses his lips and hesitates before he sits directly next to you. He opens his mouth several times, but no words come out.

Then suddenly, without any verbal warning whatsoever, he turns to you completely and tugs on the collar of his sweater, pulling it so far down until he exposes a strip of skin underneath his left collarbone.

You gape at the sight, hope you’re hallucinating. You really hope this is just a trick of the light. It must be one.

The pitch black ink contrasts with his skin, and though the letters are fine lines and easy to miss if you don’t pay attention, the name leaves a burning image in your head and a foul taste in your mouth.

Kim Doyoung.

“I wouldn’t put it past him to kill me if he really wants to. And trust me, he’ll definitely have a reason to do so.” Yedam chuckles dryly as he covers the tattoo.

Although you already know the answer, you ask flabbergasted. “Does he know?”

“That I wear his name? Unless he wears mine, which I highly doubt, no. He would’ve confronted me about this by now if he knew.”

It explains a lot. No, it explains everything. It explains why Yedam oozed confidence and was sure that you were bound to last a lifetime. It explains why he looks at you as if you were the center of his world without a doubt. It explains why he’s not afraid of you. He’s only been treading lightly because of you.

You sneak another glance at him and the sight causes something in you to break. Yedam is sitting right beside you, watching you carefully and pleadingly even. The specks of glimmer he holds in his eyes, the ones that reveal his feelings, aren’t even specks anymore. They’ve dissolved and you’re looking right through him. He wears his emotions on full display now, the desperation is prominent more than ever.

He’s treading lightly yet is needy for an answer and slowly reaches out for your hand. Before it can get so far, you turn away from him and croak out a weak “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t trust me?” you wince at the hurt laced in the undertone of his voice.

“It has nothing to do with me trusting you. It’s me, okay? It’s just–”

“–complicated, I get it,” he spits out the words as if they were acid and suddenly, the couch feels much lighter.

“Yedam, I didn’t mean it like that!” you stand up and grab the hem of his sweater in an attempt to bring him to a standstill. “I’m sorry.”

Yedam stands still, but he doesn’t turn around to meet you. He takes in a deep breath and sighs audibly, but you don’t miss the hitch in his breath as if he’s trying to contain something else.

“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have–” he pauses, stabilizes his shaky pitch before he reaches back and detaches your grip, “Nevermind.”

He leaves you alone in his living room and it costs you your entire energy to not break down onto the floor.

He doesn’t text you anymore and as much as you itch to contact him, you don’t muster up the courage to actually do it.

Doyoung also noticed the shift in your relationship. Fortunately, he doesn’t pry further and never brings up Yedam in your conversations. You’ve never told him any details but you’re relatively sure that Yedam said some things to him.

Either way, Doyoung remains a great friend. He tries his best to lift up your spirits – even bought you a gallon of your favorite ice cream flavor along with a lifetime supply of candy of all sorts. Once he realized that his wallet was suffering, he resorted to cooking your favorite food, even if that almost resulted in him burning down the kitchen.

However, as much as Doyoung might distract you from your pity party, he’s not a permanent fix. You know it and he knows it. Therefore, it really doesn’t faze you when he brings up the last person you’d want on your mind (to your dismay, he’s the only person on your mind).

“He’s also miserable right now, you know?”

When you don’t respond, he sighs and drops on the seat next to you, seeing it as his cue to continue. “He’s waiting for your call. I don’t know what went down between the two of you, but you better sort it out. Not only am I running out of ideas to get you out of your house, but I’m also pretty sure you two will end up as living corpses if you don’t fix it soon.”

You lift up your head and purse your lips. “It’s not going to end well.”

“You always say that.” he rolls his eyes, sounding more fed up this time. “Yedam didn’t tell me a lot and I know you get turn hyperventilated whenever it comes to your tattoos, so I’m not going ask about that. I never did and never will, get it? All I know is that Yedam dished out his soulmate situation from start to finish. You should trust him too, wholeheartedly.”

“I would’ve done that if I could a long time ago!”

“If I could,” he mimics, two octaves higher than your actual tone, “You can! I don’t want to guilt trip you or anything, but it’s only fair if he knows too. He’s poured his heart out to you, why can’t you do the same? Just think like this: say we live in a world where soulmate tattoos don’t exist, would you like him?”

“I…” your voice trails off.

Seemingly satisfied with your reaction, Doyoung sighs and stands up.

“I think you know the answer too. Talk to him, please.”

Come to think of it, you’ve never invited Yedam over to your place. That’s about to change when you send him your address and find him at your doorstep later in the evening. The sun is long gone and in its place shines the moon along with the stars. Their light is enough to taint your living room in a soft glow and it’s enough to notice every single one of his features.

He’s tired, looks like he hasn’t slept well in days, yet frankly, there’s something oddly comforting about his presence.

“You called?” he asks to break the ice.

Truth be told, you’ve rehearsed what you wanted to say many times a few hours ago. You could’ve also practiced weeks before but you doubt you’d ever get rid of the uncertainty laced in your shaky voice when you start to talk about that topic.

You fiddle with the hem of your sleeves. “I realized something. You never asked to see my tattoo.” It’s not what you rehearsed, but as long as it leads to the point, it’s alright.

“I didn’t want to pressure you,” he responds.

You observe his expression, narrow your eyes in a brief moment of contemplation before you slowly undo the scarf you’re wearing. Yedam is quick to guess where this is heading to and quickly stammers, “Wait, you don’t have to justify yourself in front of me!”

“No, I want to,” you say with conviction and turn around so he can see the black ink at the back of your neck. Although the room is just dimly lit, you know that he can see it clearly. For a moment, you get goosebumps as his fingers ghost over the ink, but you let him bask in his fascination.

“The truth is, this is the only tattoo I was born with,” you confess after a moment of silence.

He gulps. “What?”

“I only wear your name, Yedam. You’re smart, I’m sure you understand the weight of that.” You turn around but don’t find the courage nor the energy to look him in the eye. The silence is heavy, unbearable, and literally nothing about it lifts the pressure off your shoulders. You don’t need to see him to know how the revelation shatters his view on everything in millions of shards.

“Look at me, please,” he pleads instead, and when you shake your head in response, he gently cups your face. You have no other choice but to do as and are startled when all you see is not pure horror, but soft, pure and wholehearted adoration in him.

“God, (y/n), I wouldn’t ever do anything to hurt you. Believe me when I say you mean so much to me. You have no idea how hard I’ve tried to have you voluntarily open up to me. and now that I see the situation from your view, I get why you were so unwilling at first. But trust me when I say I only want the best for you and would never put you in danger.” The raw vulnerability in his voice makes you believe him for a while and keeps you from breaking out in tears.

“You don’t know that.”

“Oh, I do know that. Did you already forget? Doyoung is my potential killer,” he says matter-of-factly and sends you a broken smile, “So before I kill you, I’ll make sure that he ends me first.”

“Great, and then my best friend ends up in jail.”

This time, he genuinely laughs. You, on the other hand, can’t bite down the small smile that paves its way on your lips from that weak joke.

“You’re right, I can’t guarantee your safety from me,” Yedam admits once he’s calmed down and tucks a strand of your hair in place before he goes on, “But I can guarantee that I’ll do anything in my power to make you happy. Have you even looked at my SoundCloud profile? Ever since I met you the majority of my releases are love songs!”

“So you admit that the songs are all about me?” you playfully raise a brow at him.

“Of course they’re all about you.” he breathes out as if the weight on his shoulders was lifted off of him. Yedam still looks like he could need some sleep, but there is no longer a sign of restlessness. He is at ease, and it shows the most when he adds fondly, “It doesn’t have to last forever. We can break it off if you feel unsafe. I hope we can at least try.”

The course of this conversation is oddly reminiscent to your first date in the café, you think. Back then, you were more than convinced that the only way this would end was as a tragedy. Back then, you just said your answer out of pity, one might say. But that was back then, and this time, you’re more than serious and more than convinced when you respond with a smile.

“Trying sounds good.”

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