#so that by the time you realize all your block count is taken up they're already in the blue box before you have time to use texas or yato

[meeblo]

That time of the week again where I get through the new annihilation and get one leak at 350 or 380 enemies after 20 minutes of mind numbing waiting, decide it's not worth it, and then just PRTS proxy auto deploy Lungmen downtown instead. My weekly limit is 1800 already, the one time rewards for 400/400 and mildly better sanity efficiency can wait until I try again next week. I would just look up an AFK guide at this point because dealing with bullies is not worth the satisfaction of assembling a clear myself, but I don't have Thorns so that rules out like 90% of videos.

[storiesforallfandoms]

shared trauma ~ logan howlett; marvel

word count: 3466

request?: no

description: in which she sneaks away to help them return home, and ends up bonding with the brute with knives in his hands

pairing: logan howlett x female!reader

warnings: swearing, some deadpool & wolverine spoilers, trauma bonding, wade wilson being wade wilson, a good ending

masterlist (one, two, three)

Getting out of Cassandra's compound wasn't as hard as the Others thought. Not when you shut up and played by her rules. She trusted everyone who worked under her enough to let us come and go as we pleased, mainly because she knew we were scared enough of Alioth to come back and be under her control.

The Others also weren't as hidden as they thought. At least, not from me. Lucky for them, I was the only telepath in Cassandra's army, because Johnny's mind gave away everything about the Others without even knowing I could hear him.

When it got dark and mostly everyone had turned in, I snuck out of the compound. I could see the hiding place of the Others in my head, and I knew it would take me a long time to get there on foot, but I needed to get there. There was something about these variants - this Deadpool and this Wolverine - that was different. They may be the key to my freedom from Cassandra. Maybe to all of our freedoms.

I travelled for so long that my legs burned and I felt like I was going to pass out, but I got there. Immediately I was hit with the sounds of several brains, all thinking about a plan to take down Cassandra. All except one, but it was hard to make out what was going on in that head over the wounds of everyone else. I pushed into the place, a silence falling over the room as they heard me enter. I winced with every step I took down the stairs. When I appeared in the doorway, I was greeted by a barrage of weapons.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed, putting my hands up.

"You're one of hers," Blade stated.

"I came alone," I insisted. "I...technically snuck out."

"How did you find us?" Elektra asked.

"Let's just say Johnny Storm's mind was just as loud as his mouth. Look, I'm not here to hurt you guys. I'm here because I think those two - " I nodded to Deadpool and Wolverine " - may be who we need to take Cassandra down."

"And why would you want to take down Cassandra?" Blade questioned. "She's your leader."

"Not by choice. I followed her because I knew it meant survival. But I'm telling you, I see something with those two. I'm clairvoyant as well as a telepath, and when those variants were with Cassandra I could see a fight that ended with her downfall."

The group shared a look. Well, all besides the Wolverine, who was halfway through a bottle of whiskey. He seemed to be ignoring everything going on. I realized his mind was the one I couldn't hear. It was almost like he was trying to block out any thoughts. Not because of me, but because he didn't want to have to think those things.

"We could use a clairvoyant," Elektra pointed out.

"This reading you got form us," Deadpool said. "Did you see all of us winning?"

I shook my head. "It doesn't work like that. Some scenarios aren't definitive, and some are. I saw that we'd fight her, but after that there's a number of different ways it could go. All I saw for sure was that Cassandra was taken down and everyone in the Void was finally free from her reign."

"Sounds like a shit power," Wolverine muttered.

"She could tell us how to avoid the bad paths," Elektra said.

My legs were starting to ache in a way I couldn't handle for much longer. "Can you guys make a decision soon? I walked all the way here and my legs feel like they're about to snap off."

The group, minus Wolverine, shared another look before X-23 - Laura - nodded and said, "We'll give you a bed. Once you're rested, we'll come up with a plan."

~~~~~~

I laid awake that night while everyone else was asleep. We had come up with a plan to attack Cassandra's compound, one that should be mostly successful for everyone if the input from my visions helped at all. Everyone else had gone to bed with hope of a successful mission at sunrise, but I was wide awake with thoughts of going against Cassandra. Unlike everyone else, I had been part of Cassandra's team for a very long time. I had seen the things she did to people who opposed her. Despite the fact that my visions should give us a leg up in this fight, I was still scared of the consequences if we lost.

There was a stir in the air that told me someone was awake. I heard movement and the sound of a glass bottle being picked up. Logan didn't notice as I rolled over to face him. He was already walking up the steps and out of the hideout. It took me all of ten seconds to decide to follow him. This Wolverine may have been a grumpy Gus, but trying to speak with him would be way better than laying in the silent room struggling to sleep.

I followed him into the woods, where he had already started a small fire. He was sat next to it, hunched over with a bottle of Gambit's whiskey. I was shocked there was any whiskey left at this point, but who was I to judge someone else's coping mechanism.

His back straightened when he heard me approaching. "I don't want company."

"Good thing I'm not here to keep you company," I said, sitting next to him but keeping enough space between us. "I'm here to see if you'll share the liquor you're stealing."

To my surprise, he willingly gave me the bottle without hesitation. I took a big mouthful, which proved to be a bad idea when the harsh liquid burned my throat. I winced at the burn and gagged once I had it swallowed. Logan let out a low chuckle. "Not your usual drink of choice, huh?"

"Actually, I've never drank," I responded, passing the bottle back to him. "I was pruned before I was legal drinking age, and Cassandra doesn't have alcohol at her base."

"You nervous to fight your boss tomorrow?"

"She's not my boss. I'm not part of her team by choice. I already said that. You saw Alioth, you saw what he can do. I was young, I was scared, and she promised to keep me safe."

There was a pause. I wouldn't look at him. I knew coming here was a risk. I knew they wouldn't completely trust me. I just wished they would understand I only sided with Cassandra to stay safe and alive.

Logan broke the silence when he asked, "How young?"

"What?"

"You said you were young, below the legal drinking age. How young?"

"I was a teenager," I responded. "Mid-teens, I think."

"What does a teenager do to get themselves sent to this hell hole?"

I shifted in my seat. No one had ever asked me my backstory before, so I never had to reveal what I was most ashamed to admit. "Do you have Hydra in your universe?"

He nodded. I sighed and said, "My parents...they worked for Hydra. They...they let those Hydra scientists experiment on me. Trying to recreate something as powerful as the serum that created Captain America. Except, instead of making me super strong, it gave me the ability to read minds and see the future. Weirdly enough, the TVA doesn't like anyone that can change the future."

"They didn't get you to join them? Seems like your powers would've been perfect for a time variance agency."

I chuckled humorlessly. "That's not how the TVA works."

"You were a kid."

"That's not how the TVA works."

When he didn't respond, I found myself becoming aware of the silence. Like, of the actual silence. I couldn't hear a single thing Logan was thinking. No one could truly block me out. At least, no one I had met. Not even Cassandra could keep me out completely. I looked over at Logan, trying to focus on him, but still I couldn't hear anything.

"I don't like people poking around in my brain, bub."

I smiled a little. "I can't help it usually, but your brain is weirdly silent. No thoughts, Wolvie?"

"They're none of your business."

I left it at that. Despite my abilities, I wasn't one to pry into other people's thoughts. I heard things by accident, but I wasn't searching through people's heads for their trauma. Actually, it was nice to not have Logan's voice in my head. It was true silence that I had not had in years.

"Are you really not coming with us?" I asked him.

"I'm not a hero," he responded.

"You sure about that?" I eyed his yellow suit. "It's not about being a hero, though. It's about going home."

"There is no home for me to go back to."

His mental walls cracked for just a moment then. I could hear something coming from his mind; the faint calling of his name. No, not calling. Screaming. It was multiple voices, but it was just a faint whisper to me. At the same time, an image came through in his mind. It was a woman with red hair and brown eyes. We didn't have any variants of her come through the Void before, but I had recognized her from the minds of other X-Men who I had crossed paths with: Jean Grey.

Just as quickly as those thoughts slipped out, Logan managed to pull them back in. I wasn't sure if he was hiding them from me or from himself, but either way they were gone. I could tell from the look on his face that he knew I had heard something, and he was not very happy that I had.

"You don't have to tell me," I said, my voice soft. "Or...or show me. But whatever it is going on that has you like this, I'm sorry it happened."

His face was hard as stone, but I could see in his eyes that there was a flux of emotions.

"I lost people," he admitted. "Everyone I loved in my universe. It was my fault and...I just couldn't live with that. I did things...things I regret. Things that could never bring those people back."

"You could be reunited with them in another universe."

He shook his head. "It won't be the same. Every other universe already has a Wolverine. The only one that doesn't is the Mouth's, and that's because he died. I couldn't go back there and put them through seeing me and opening up old wounds. Besides, I don't think I could see them again either. Too much guilt."

I could see Jean's face again, just for a moment, before she was gone again. I could feel Logan's grief; his guilt. The more he opened up, the more his mind became easier to read.

I moved closer to him. Not by much, just an inch to test the waters. When he didn't react, I moved closer again until the space between us was almost completely closed. He looked up at me, but for once he didn't have that scowl on his face. He looked curious by my actions more than anything. I didn't try to push his boundaries any further than just being close to him.

"Good people do bad things sometimes," I told him. "It doesn't make you a bad person."

"I'm no hero, kid," he pointed out.

I shrugged. "Neither am I. None of us are here. But that doesn't mean you can't become a hero."

I wasn't sure if it was the whiskey, the fire, or just how close I was to Logan, but I felt a rush of heat washing over my body. I knew I was definitely feel the effects of the alcohol because I was swaying involuntarily. I started to lean in closer to him, but tried to stop myself as best I could. He seemed amused by it, at least, which made me smile more.

I let out a yawn and stood. I stumbled a little, causing Logan to reach out for me to steady me.

"Are you gonna be able to get back on your own?" he asked.

"I think so, but if you see me passed out along the way do me a favor and carry me back," I said. He chuckled and I tried not to beam too much about it.

I started to walk away, or more like stumble I guess, when Logan called, "Did you see me there tomorrow? In your visions?"

I turned back to him and responded, "Maybe. You'll figure that out tomorrow."

~~~~~~

Good news is, the battle at Cassandra's hideout went well. We took down every one of her cronies, and when Cassandra had left with the army of Deadpools to go to Deadpool-10005's universe, we commandeered her place to keep us safe from Alioth.

Bad news is, Wolverine and Deadpool got out, but the rest of us didn't.

No one really seemed upset over that fact. I mean, besides Laura, who was already missing the variant of Logan ("He may not have been my dad, but he was a version of dad," she had said when she realized he had left without her). Blade, Elektra, and Gambit were more proud of themselves for saving the day, even if it meant not going back to their own realities. I guess I was happy to no longer be under Cassandra's control, too, but I found myself wishing I could've left this place too.

And I found myself dreaming about Logan.

Well, partially dreaming. Some of them were visions.

It's not hard to differentiate between dreams and visions. I don't often get visions when I sleep, but when I do I can feel that they're visions. It's hard to explain other than that. Some nights I found myself dreaming of us by the fire again, except this time I allowed myself to get close enough to Logan to touch him. It very rarely went further than my shoulder against his, sometimes my head against his shoulder. But the visions I had were us together in an apartment I didn't recognize. At first they were all the same - me, Logan, and Wade living domestically in some apartment in New York. Laura was there once too, but only one time.

But then once the vision ended with Logan's arm around my waist and his lips against my forehead. I had woken up with a start before anything else happened.

It was the only vision that showed me with him romantically, but I knew deep down inside of me that that's what I wanted. I mean, Logan is an attractive man. No one could deny that. I may have only known one version of him briefly, but still it was enough to leave me longing for his presence again.

It was just another new normal day in the compound previously owned by Cassandra - I was in my own room reading one of the few books Cassandra had somehow found and kept - when an orange door shaped portal opened. I recognized it as a TVA portal. I sat up quickly, my guard high as I waited for a TVA agent to walk through.

But it wasn't an agent.

It was Logan.

"Come on, kid," he told me. "I'm taking you home."

He didn't have to tell me twice. I was up off my bed and through the portal. I expected to be brought to the TVA first, but I was surprised to find myself in a small apartment.

The apartment from my visions.

I looked around, taking in every detail of the place that I had already seen in my head before. Everything was there, from the pictures to the crude drawings Wade had stuck to the fridge, to the mattress in the middle of the living room where Logan slept. Everything from my visions.

"This..." I said, but paused before I finished the sentence. Did I tell him I had been seeing this place? Did I tell him that I had been seeing us?

When I didn't say anything further, Logan said, "I know it's not your home. But...I wasn't sure if you'd want to go back there."

"I don't," I said quickly. And it was true, I never wanted to go back there. After what my parents had done to me, it was almost a blessing to be sent to the Void. Besides being forced to do Cassandra's bidding.

Logan nodded. "Okay. So...well...welcome. You can stay here as long as you want. It'll take some time to get used to actual society again, I'd assume. The Mouth lives here too - "

As if on cue, the front door opened and there stood Wade, being followed by the mut I once knew as Dogpool.

"Ah! You got the girl!" he said, ushering the dog into the apartment and kicking the door shut behind him. "Finally, he can shut up about seeing you again."

Logan's face turned a shade of red I never expected to see from The Wolverine. "Wade, shut the fuck up."

"What? I'm just saying you've been brooding around this place for ages because we had to leave her behind. You finally have her back. Oh, and Laura! You guys can be one big, happy, fucked up family."

I looked over at Logan. "Laura's here?"

"Not staying with us, but she is in this universe," Logan said. "The TVA agreed to let us save you guys from the Void. Gambit, Elektra, and Blade are all gone back to their own universes now."

"Hopefully one where Gambit can find a better dialect coach," Wade added. "And you get to stay here with us! Isn't that just great? You get to share a bed with Wolvie."

"Only if you're comfortable with that," Logan quickly added, shooting another glare at Wade.

"Of course she'll be fine with that. Better than sharing a bed with Blind Al. Actually, can we switch? I'd much rather cuddle up to the greatest showman."

Logan raised a fist to Wade and unsheathed his claws. It was enough for Wade to finally stop running his mouth and scurry off to his room, the dog following closely behind him. Logan pulled his claws back in and let out a long sigh.

"I'm sorry, I know this is a lot to take in at once," he said. "It's a lot of explaining."

"I can figure it out, I'm sure," I said. "Thank you for saving me."

"I should be thanking you."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "I didn't do anything."

"After our talk by the fire, I realized you were right. I was letting the shit I did get to me for too long. I forgot who I was, or who Charles wanted me to be. I just needed a little push from a different mind reader."

I smiled at him. "You just needed someone to tell you you're not a bad person. It's insane to me that no one had done that before I did. Just cause you did bad things didn't mean you were ever a bad person."

There was a pause, then suddenly I was being pulled towards him. Before my mind could comprehend what was happening, Logan's lips were against mine. His hands were holding my face, holding me to him. It took my brain a few seconds to register what was going on before my hands were reaching for his shirt, holding him as well.

Our moment was swiftly interrupted by a familiar merc exclaiming, "Finally!"

Logan pulled away from me to glare at Wade over my shoulder. I heard the bedroom door slam shut again.

He looked down at me. "I'm sorry that you will have to put up with that."

I giggled. "I guess it's a small price to pay if it means I get to kiss you more."

His smile was so beautiful. It really brightened his face after all the brooding and scowling I had seen him doing before. "I'll kiss you as much as you want, bub. Just gotta make sure Wade is locked away in his room if you want it to be any more than kissing."

"Awe, no fair!" came Wade's voice.

Logan and I shared a look before Logan said, "Maybe we start looking for an apartment of our own."

The suggestion caused my mind to fill with another vision: Logan and I in a small place similar to this one, but one that was just our own. The two of us tangled in sheets, completely naked, with the glow of the sunrise spiling through the blinds onto us.

I smiled, both at the vision and at Logan. "I would love that."

[drgnmnts]

knuckles bruised (like violets) │ jacaerys velaryon x targaryen!OC

Title: knuckles bruised (like violets)

Pairing: Jacaerys Velaryon x Targaryen!OC (Daenys Targaryen, daughter of Viserys I Targaryen and Alicent Hightower)

Summary: There is no war so hateful to the gods as a war between kin, especially for those caught in between, longing only for peace as they're met with fire and blood.

_______________________________________________

Chapter 6 - Second of His Name

Conten warning: mentions of su1cide (not explicit)

Word count: 3k

Ser Criston Cole gave Daenys a fright when he woke her up, as the hour of the wolf slipped away and gave way to the nightingale. His rich brown eyes, who had always looked at her with fatherly fondness, were now dark as a raven, and the look on his face was one of concern.

“What’s the matter?” Daenys asked, sitting up on what once had been her childhood bed.

“You must come with me at once, Princess,” he said, “Her Grace the Queen has summoned you in the Hand’s Tower.”

____________________________________

Daenys could barely remember the last time she had visited her grandsire’s chamber, but she was sure she had never seen the place so crowded: Ser Otto was standing by the fire, his clothes pristine and poised as he stared at the flames; Queen Alicent, also dressed in her day garments, was sitting on one of the chairs by his desk, the other one taken by Helaena who, just like Daenys, was still wearing her nightgown. By the window, Aemond stood tall as he watched the moon set outside.

“Did something happen to Aegon?” she asked as soon as she noticed her eldest brother’s absence. Alicent stood then and walked to meet her daughter at the door.

“No, sweetling, Aegon is—”

“The King is dead,” informed Ser Otto before Daenys’ mother could deliver the news. Alicent let out a heavy sigh, and Daenys heard Helaena whimper.

As she felt all the blood in her head rush to her feet, ridding her face from any color, Daenys let out a soft “oh”. Alicent grabbed her hands and rubbed at them, her attempt at comforting her youngest daughter.

“How?” Daenys asked. Her eyes were brimmed with unshed tears, but somehow she felt unable to cry.

“In his sleep,” explained the queen, voice thick from all the crying. “A servant boy was changing the incense in his chamber when he saw him.”

Daenys sighed heavily, trying to process such grim news. 

“I must write to Rhaenyra, I think she’d prefer to hear it from me,” she said. As she turned back towards the door, however, Ser Criston blocked her path, his eyes looking straight ahead.

“What are you doing?” she asked, and once again it was Ser Otto who answered.

“No one is to leave this room until we decide what our next step will be,” the man declared.

A knot set in the pit of Daenys’ stomach.

“Our next step?” she repeated with a humorless scoff. “Rhaenyra is to be our queen now, we must send word to Dragonstone and start with the preparations for her coronation. That is our next step, what is there to decide?”

The silence that followed her question was deafening, and realization fell upon Daenys’ shoulders like a stone.

“You wouldn’t dare,” she muttered in disbelief. “That is treason.”

“It was your father’s wish,” intervened Alicent, her white handkerchief clutched in her hand. “Last night, when I visited him, he told me he wished for Aegon to succeed him.”

“Beware the beast beneath the boards…” muttered Helaena, although no one seemed to pay her any mind.

Daenys shook her head in confusion. “You lie,” she uttered, and this made Aemond turn to face her immediately. 

“Mind your tongue, sister,” he said, and his words felt like a slap on the face.

Alicent put her hands up in a conciliating manner. “It is the truth, Daenys,” she said, “I would never lie about something of this importance.”

Daenys crossed her arms over her chest, defensive. After a moment of silence that felt like a decade, she spoke again. “They won’t accept this. Daemon won’t accept this.”

“They will be offered generous terms,” said the Hand. 

“If you think that will suffice, then I’m afraid your delusions of grandeur might have gotten the best of your intelligence, Grandsire.”

Otto Hightower’s anger used to scare Daenys as a child, but not anymore, and she held his cold gaze with defiance. 

“Aemond,” he said, “escort Helaena back to her chamber. And do me the favor of finding your brother.”

With a curt nod, Aemond took Helaena’s arm with a gentleness he seemed incapable of, and the two left the room without uttering another word. The idea of staying there with her mother and grandsire sounded worse than torture, but as Daenys made her way to follow her siblings out, Ser Otto called her name again.

“I am afraid your lack of cooperation has led me to make a radical decision,” he began, as he closed the distance between them with slow steps, like a predator circling its prey. “You’ll remain in your bedchamber until Aegon’s coronation—”

“You’ll imprison me?” she inquired, utterly taken aback. “Mother!”

“You can’t be a prisoner in your own home, Daenys,” the queen said, but both of them knew that wasn’t true.

“The Queen and I cannot trust you,” he continued. “You’ve proven yourself more loyal to Rhaenyra than to your own family. I cannot have that kind of insurgence taking place in my own household, so from now on you will obey. You’ll remain in your bedchamber until Aegon’s coronation,” he repeated, “and after that you will stay here, at King’s Landing, where you should’ve been the last six years. There is no need for that marriage pact anymore.”

Daenys’ face paled, and she blinked rapidly as if trying to clear her vision and make sense of what her grandsire had said. There is no need for that marriage pact anymore. Jace’s beautiful face flashed before her eyes, and an involuntary sob escaped her lips.

“You cannot do that,” she choked out while she took a step back, as if she was being pushed by an invisible force that made her behave like a scared animal.

Alicent sighed. “Royal marriages are politics, Daenys—”

“I do not give a fuck about your bloody politics,” she snapped, and Alicent clutched her chest at her daughter’s improprieties. 

“Careful,” warned Ser Otto.

“I am a woman grown,” she continued. “You might still be my grandsire, but you’ve long lost any right to tell me what I can or cannot do. I will go back to Dragonstone.”

“You shall not,” he insisted.

Daenys’ lower lip trembled as she felt like a little girl again, restrained and powerless in a house that was ever unable to show her love. “I would sooner throw myself out my window than stay here.”

Ser Otto took a step closer. “Do not threaten me, child,” he warned again.

She knew in her bones that this battle was lost. It didn’t matter what she said, or how much she pleaded with them to let her go. This decision was clearly long in the making and not an ounce of it was improvised or prompted by her father’s sudden death: Ser Otto Hightower never did anything unpremeditated. 

Alicent tried to approach her daughter again, but Daenys was quick to remove her arm from her grasp as she took a step back. “I would like to return to my chamber, please,” she said, her voice quavering from holding back her need to cry.

Ser Otto gestured for Ser Criston to walk Daenys back to her impromptu prison cell. It was only when the heavy wooden doors were closed behind her that she allowed herself to collapse on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably as she was overcome by a sorrow she had never felt before.

______________________________

The day had dawned and turned to dusk again, and Daenys had not been allowed to leave her bedchamber. She had been served food twice, but of course she had rejected it, fearing the Hand might try to poison her to get her out of his way. She was now sitting by the bay window (which had been closed shut with locks to prevent her from escaping— or jumping to her death), leaning on the stone frame as she watched the specks of dust dance around the room with the setting sun.

Her face was puffy and red from crying, and her hair was now a disheveled mess after freeing it from her braids. She did not move when she heard someone opening the door.

“I heard you had quite the meltdown last night,” her visitor said. It was Aegon.

This made Daenys stand up immediately, defensive. However, what she saw in her brother’s face caught her completely off guard: Aegon’s face was as blotchy as hers, with dark circles under his eyes, and his sky-blue orbs now bloodshot red. 

Since his sister did not respond, he spoke again as he sat down in one of the chairs by the fireplace. “They have me walking around to sober up so I can get some rest for tomorrow.”

Daenys wondered if he even remembered the awful things he had said to her during dinner. Her expression tensed. “They’re crowning you tomorrow?”

Aegon nodded, eyes glued to the dancing flames. “At dawn. In the Sept.”

“Gods…” Daenys whispered, covering her face with her hands. That meant the ceremony would take place before the smallfolk. There was no going back after that. Rhaenyra would be devastated.

As she sat next to her brother, he spoke once more.

“I know you probably won’t believe me… but I’m as much a prisoner as you are, dear.”

Daenys turned to look at him. He certainly didn’t look happy about becoming king; in fact, she couldn’t recall ever seeing him so miserable.

“Then refuse the crown, Aegon” she said. “Say you don’t want it. Bend the knee to Rhaenyra and this whole misfortune will end before it even starts.”

Aegon laughed bitterly. 

“I begged Aemond and Cole to let me go. I would gladly get some gold, buy a myself a passage on whatever ship takes me as far away from here as possible and never set foot in this fucking shithole of a city again— sorry.”

Daenys shook her head; the least of her concerns was her brother’s profanities.

“This doesn’t feel real,” Daenys murmured. Aegon patted her knee in an attempt to give her some consolation. “What happens now, then?”

Aegon let out a heavy sigh. He looked tired, and much older than he actually was.

“I wish I knew.”

“Did they say anything about me?”

Aegon furrowed his brow in thought, as if trying to come up with the best way to word the information he was about to share with his little sister.

“They want you to bend the knee to me, of course. I suppose they intend to use you as some sort of messenger to speak to Rhaenyra, perhaps expecting her reaction to be softer if it’s you. And… well, you already know about the betrothal.”

The mere mention of her betrothal to Jace made her jaw clench, eyes cast down. Aegon noticed.

“You really love him?”

Daenys met his eyes again, and this time hers were brimmed with unshed tears. She nodded, lower lip trembling.

Aegon’s expression was a mixture of curiosity and genuine wonder. He nodded his head as he turned his gaze back to the fire. “Lucky,” he murmured.

Daenys wanted to agree, but she felt anything but. 

Both siblings remained seated by the fire until the hour grew late and someone came to fetch Aegon. They were mostly quiet, but Daenys would occasionally put her head on his shoulder, and Aegon held her hand twice. Despite Aegon’s many flaws, the eldest son and youngest daughter had more in common than they had ever realized: both ignored by their father and constantly sermonized by their mother, knowing painfully well that they were not what she had expected them to be. Aemond was loyal and upright. Helaena, kind and soft. Even Daeron, who had spent most of his life away, was said to be stalwart and chivalrous. 

Daenys and Aegon existed solely in the margins of their family, only brought to the spotlight when necessary, always to the benefit of others. Just like Daenys had been sent away in her youth to unite their family, Aegon was now being brought forward to secure the crown.

Before he left, Aegon hugged Daenys for the first time in many years. Then, she was alone again.

_________________________________

She hadn’t been able to sleep the whole night and, when the handmaids came into her chamber at dawn to help her prepare, Daenys was sure her ghost-like state gave them a fright. The women bathed her and clothed her in a simple pearl-white dress, very similar to the ones she used to wear as a little girl, and she was certain it had been her mother’s idea. The handmaids braided her hair in such an intricate and beautiful way that Daenys would’ve thanked them, had it not been for the lump in her throat every time she caught sight of herself in the mirror.

She was escorted to the Sept of Baelor by four members of the Kingsguard, and she knew Daemon would’ve found it amusing, for they were treating her as if she was some sort of criminal instead of just a girl without her dragon. 

Upon their arrival, Daenys took her place next to Aemond, but didn’t utter a word to him. She watched the small-folk enter the Sept until it was full to the brim. 

“People of King’s Landing,” began Ser Otto, his voice powerful as he addressed the crowd, “today is the saddest of days. Our beloved king, Viserys the Peaceful, is dead.”

The people audibly gasped and spoke amongst themselves, and Daenys wondered if they really felt the loss of their king, or didn’t care at all.

“But it is also the most joyous of days,” he continued, “for as his spirit left us, he whispered his final wish that his first-born son, Aegon, should succeed him.”

After a moment of confusion, the crowd applauded, as knights and musicians alike entered the premises, ready to receive their soon-to-be king. Daenys felt sick to her stomach as she watched Aegon march through the crowd, visibly upset and insecure, but anger was also starting to bubble up inside her: you shouldn’t be here. None of us should be here.

“It is your great good fortune and privilege to be here to witness this. A new day for our city. A new day for our realm. A new king to lead us.”

After Aegon had knelt before the Septon to receive his blessings in the name of the Seven, Ser Criston took the Conqueror’s crown and put it on Aegon’s head.

“The crown of the Conqueror, passed down through generations. Let the Seven bear witness: Aegon Targaryen is the true heir to the Iron Throne.”

Ser Criston was the first one to bow his head to his new king; he was followed by Alicent, Helaena, and Aemond. When Aegon’s eyes fell on Daenys, they were pleading. She could feel her mother’s gaze, and the Hand’s, and the hundreds of people waiting for her to acknowledge her brother as her King. Whatever I do, I am a traitor, she thought.

Flexing her knees ever so slightly, Daenys curtsied to King Aegon II.

“All hail His Grace, Aegon, Second of His Name, King of the Andals, and the Rhoynar, and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm.”

Each toll of the bell felt like a dagger through the heart; an ominous warning of the wars to come, a reminder that the situation wasn’t a dream, but real life, and so would be the consequences.

As the crowd erupted in cheers for their new king, however, Daenys felt the floor beneath her vibrate as if they were standing on a volcanic crater. Before she could even turn towards her siblings, a giant dragon, scarlet as the blood that ran through her veins, emerged through the wooden floors: Meleys.

The Red Queen screeched as she came completely into view, and amidst smoke and cries of help, Daenys felt Aemond grab her wrist as he stood in front of her and Helaena.

Princess Rhaenys looked majestic on her dragon, and Daenys’ heart leapt in anticipation when she saw her eyes scanning the family until they fell on her. Rhaenys gave her a barely-there smile.

“I am not here to shed blood,” the woman said, her voice resonating in the now quiet sept. “This war isn’t mine to begin, and I am no kinslayer. However, I cannot return to Dragonstone without Princess Daenys.”

Daenys’ eyebrows shot up as she drew a breath, her heart beating with such intensity that she could hear its thumping echoing in her ears. Aemond’s grip tightened around her wrist.

“Aemond,” she said, eyes wide in agitation, “let me go.”

Aemond’s brows furrowed in something akin to affliction, and Daenys had to peel his fingers off her so he would finally release her. Daenys looked at her family one last time: Helaena seemed miles away, while Ser Criston kept his eyes glued to the dragon. Alicent and Aegon stood together: her, with eyes wide and glassy; him, with a faint smile. From the other end of the altar, Ser Otto watched her intently. 

When Daenys made her way down the stone stairs, the dragon’s enormous head turned towards her, her threatening jaws opening to let out a warning sound.

“Vēttan se, Meleys,” said Rhaenys, and the she-dragon lowered her head. Allow it. 

Daenys lifted her skirts and grabbed onto the rope ladder that connected directly with Rhaenys’ saddle. She climbed as fast as she could, aware that the more time they spent there, the more likely it would be for someone to try and attack Meleys. 

As she settled herself behind Princess Rhaenys, Meleys taking flight shortly after and thus getting them out of the Sept, there was only one thought in Daenys’ mind, which repeated itself over and over again: 

I’m going home.

______________________________________________

If you liked this, let me know in any way! <3

Don't worry, we'll see Jace again next chapter, and I think you'll like it hehe.

Also, just a reminder that I'm open to requests if you have any! :)

And once again, thank you for your patience and all the kind comments!

_______________________________________________

Series Taglist: @void21, @burningwitchobject, @hellish-idiot, @inf4ntdeath, @klutzylaena, @swimmjacket, @helo1281917, @cat-winter, @deltamoon666, @strawberrymangoes, @lenadoerrer, @lenasdmns, @parkyurri, @groovycass, @yagbookstand02, @jacaeryslover, @moonshine147, @neocity-mel, @pleasebell, @blupblupfish , @izzzzzzzzylove , @alexandra-001 , @treblebeth, @esposadomd , @pixiemoony , @alessiaparigim

[call-me-copycat]

Escaping The Night (Part 2)

Welcome! - Introduction and Request rules (important if you want me to write for you, or if you want to know who I am)

▶ Characters: Shinso x Fem Reader (although I might have used "they" in some areas) + Father/Mentor Aizawa (platonic)

▶ Genre: Angst to Fluff

▶ Summary: Vigilante Reader has gotten apprehended by the police and is now in custody. Who will decide your fate, and what's going to happen to you?

▶ Word Count: 2525

▶ Warnings:

- 1 curse word

- It's implied that the reader had their clothes changed while they were unconscious into a uniform (so, invasion of privacy)

- Mention of dead parents

- Implied that the reader has a variety of scars

- It's a pretty slow chapter, and the whole chapter takes place at the police station

- Another warning for those that don't like to wait for each chapter (sorry ｡⁠•́⁠︿⁠•̀⁠｡⁠ )

➜ [Part 1]

➤ {This is Part 2}

➜ [Part 3]

➜ [Part 4]

➜ [Part 5]

➜ [Part 6]

➜ [Part 7]

➜ [Part 8] Coming Soon!

Your mind started to fill with fog and the edges of your vision started to slowly fill in as you banged your hand on the window in one last attempt of escape.

And then your world went dark.

In your period of unconsciousness, you were met with internal darkness, a silent, still void of emptiness, the type of dream one would have when they knew they would have to wake up soon. A dream that was well known all across Japan, from students preparing for tests the next day, to office workers trying to clock in as many hours as they could, it was something familiar.

The darkness seemed quiet and still from far away, and only those on the inside truly understood the depth that it held. Although it seemed empty, the void held that your consciousness was anything but. Rather than the absence of matter, it seemed that it was simply shielded from you, like a curtain blocking the wide view of a window. Full of possibility it held.

However, the familiarity started to sway, as while you couldn't see anything, you started to hear voices. Voices of all sorts, varying in degrees of recognition, started to fill the silence that had once filled the empty void.

'It's your fault, it's always been your fault'

Your father...

'Your quirk is scary! I don't think I wanna be friends anymore ..'

A friend of yours when you were younger...

'Go rot in hell'

A villain you had taken down once, a long time ago ...

"What do we do with them? They're only a kid, a teen at most"

This voice was unfamiliar, and you didn't recognize it at all.

You heard another voice, this time it being a bit clearer than the others that filled the void of your mind.

"I'll do it. I can care for them."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

The voices began to fade as you fell back into rhythm with the silence, however the edges of the seemingly infinite void began to disorientate and fade away as your surroundings slowly became lighter and lighter.

You blinked your eyes. Once. Twice.

You were awake again. You quickly sat up, and swiveled your head around in order to gain new insight as to where you were.

There wasn't much around you, the walls were completely white and bare of any objects or color, and you were laying on a sort of shikibuton, which was also devoid of any color as well.

The whole room was impressively clean, with not even a single speck of dust or dirt present. Though its volume wasn't of any great proportion, being rather tight for your taste.

You looked behind you to realize that there was a toilet right next your head from when you were unconscious (internally cursing the person who put you so close to it), and a small window filtered soft sunlight into the barren room, giving it the smallest tint of yellow. It also helped you comprehend that it was somewhere near the early morning.

As you went to stand you realized that your clothes had been changed to a colored uniform instead, and your shoes were replaced by flat slippers.

The changed clothing bothered you a little bit, but you decided not to dwell too long on it, due to bigger issues needing observations. Although, for some reason you never pondered as to what they did with your clothes, mind too foggy to think of anything but where you were.

Your mask that had covered your face was gone, and your hands were stuck together in metal cuffs that swallowed them and a bit further, almost a couple centimeters up your arm. The cold metal wasn't necessarily painful, but it was a tad uncomfortable, as it's stiff form didn't allow too much movement (most likely an added bonus for the guards in case if escape attempts), and the metal dug into your skin a bit everytime you tried to move your arms up or down.

You weren't tied down to anything so you took the advantage and used it to stand and look around at where you were. The room was devoid of any clue as to where you were, but from your examination you guessed that you were in a prison of some sort, though it didn't seem that bad on the surface.

"You're right, you know"

A voice suddenly butted into your thinking, making you jump and turn towards the door of the room. You realized that you had spoken the last part of your thoughts out loud, albeit quite softly.

You furrowed your eyes in an attempt of a glare as you found the source of interruption, all anger being directed towards the men that stood just outside of the door from where you were. It was the man with the scarf again, with a regular looking police officer wearing a crisp uniform and blinding white gloves standing next to him politely.

"What do you want", you spat at them, not knowing yourself if you were talking to one or both of them.

"We're here to ask you a few questions", the police officer disclosed, not reacting to your sour attitude the slightest.

And with that, you found yourself sitting in another barren room, this time a bit bigger with a glass mirror that covered almost the entirety of the wall where the door was, to which you were sure was someone behind it watching your interrogation.

You were invited to sit, which you did, but you didn't really have all too many options. The man in the scarf sat on the chair across from you, leaning forward a bit in a casual manner while the police officer stood in front of the door with his hands folded neatly in front of him.

The man in the scarf wasted no time, immediately getting to the point of the discussion, to which you were slightly glad for because you most definitely weren't in the mood for small talk. The room was cold, and it was even more unbearable with the cuffs on, the frigid bitter metal stinging your skin whenever it rubbed against it.

"So, why were you running from the police? Do you know?"

"Of course", you quipped, glare never faltering as you kept up eye contact with the man.

"Ok then. Answer me this, why were you and your little buddy seen all over town taking down villains. Illegally, I might add." He responded back, immune as ever to your angered retorts.

"Because we were. No one else was coming. That case was left untouched for weeks, and so while the heroes were arguing over paperwork, the villain was making off with his new life earnings.", Your answered, this time truthfully.

"Well then, if 'no one was coming', then why was I able to show up and take down the villain and you?"

You kept your cool, not wanting to make your situation worse, but that didn't stop you from becoming a little upset at the man in front of you.

"Because that situation was different. Tell me where you came from because I've never seen your face around before"

The man before you sighed a bit, this time leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table, knitting his hands together to lean his head on.

"I'll tell you where I came from if you tell me where you came from. That sound fair enough?" He replied, emotion never changing in his voice.

"I come from everywhere and anywhere. A paradoxic birth where the death of one created the life of another." You answered simply, knowing how annoying it was but only wanting to get a kick out of the man's anger.

"Right. And my name's Shirley. Which it's not."*1 The man bitterly jested.

"But if you're so curious as to where I came from, I technically wasn't on duty that night. However I did hear the alarms go off as I was nearby. Being the only hero on duty that was close enough I went in to do what I do best.", the man finished.

He paused a bit, letting some silence fall in between the both of you for a second in order to let you finish processing, before proceeding to speak again.

"Now, I have to ask, what's a teen like you going running around and fighting villains? Where's your parents?" He questioned.

Reports had been made repeatedly over a large span of time about people reporting that they saw some kids taking down villains, along with reports of villains randomly screaming out in pain or fear, despite the absence of both. He figured that it was related to you somehow, but you always managed to sneak just out of his grasp everytime he thought he was about to capture you.

"Dead." You answered, again with a simple answer to avoid giving it too much info.

"I'm sorry about that, but when did they pass? Long ago? Recently? " The man questioned you once again, this time though you noticed his voice became a little gentler. You scoffed internally, not needing nor wanting anyone's pity. You knew you were being childish, but you weren't exactly in the mood to act wise and mature as you were being interrogated.

"My mother died when I was born. He was recent you could say" You didn't want to call that man your father. For all he was, he was considered lower than dirt from you.

"Ok, now what about school? "

"Don't go to one"

"How about money? Food? Clothes?", The man prodded. When you were taken in to custody he noticed your condition definitely wasn't one of the best. Heavy bags rested below your eyes, and you had almost no muscle, being mainly skin and bones from miniscule meals over time. He didn't even want to think anymore when he saw the different types of scars littering various parts of your figure, ranging from little opaque ones, to heavy set burns.

"Nope. Scavenge. Reuse." You answered back in time with the rhythm of the man's questioning. You were going off of technicalities, answering his questions enough so that he couldn't say you refused, but not giving him any useful information about you that he would possibly use.

You watched him sigh a deep sigh and lean back in his chair while staring at the ceiling with closed eyes. Looking at him, you noticed that the man looked so much more tired than you initially saw, skin pale from lack of sun, and eyes always rimmed with red, as if they were never fully satisfied with the amount of sleep they got. His hair was unruly, random strands sticking out in odd places, yet it still flowed down his shoulders as if it was a river made of the midnight sky.

Your attention was brought back when the police officer opened the door to let another man in, this man being dressed in what looked like a detective outfit you saw in a movie once. He had a kind smile on his face and thanked the officer while taking off his hat and going to stand beside the tired scarf man.

He looked over at you and greeted you with a small, yet charitable smile as he did earlier. The man practically radiated friendliness, but you didn't let your guard down, though you did lose most of your glare.

The detective man bent down a bit and whispered something to the scarf man at a volume to which you couldn't hear, even if you strained your ears, though you didn't bother since professionals seemed to have a habit of doing things like that. All the more reasons for your disrespect, because you believed that if they couldn't treat you with the simplest manners, then why should you?

The scarf man looked over at the detective man before answering in a normal (yet tired) voice,

"No. I was thinking you were going to let her know."

The detective man smiled at him before saying in a normal voice,

"Well, it would be pretty rude to let her know without even knowing who you are".

The scarf man thought for a second, but ultimately stood up facing you.

"Ok, kid. Before we let you know what we have planned for you, you might as well know who we are. My name is Shota Aizawa, or some other people know me as 'Eraserhead'. A few even know me as 'sensei'."

The detective stepped forward before announcing who he was as well.

"And in case you wanted to know who I am, my name is Naomasa Tsukauchi. But you can call me Detective Tsukauchi or Officer Tsukauchi."

The detective-officer Tsukauchi looked over at the scarf man Eraserhead, both sharing knowing glances. Internally you were going crazy, thoughts swarming your head. What were they going to do with you? Lock you up? Force you to give up all your information to the system? Or, worse of all...

"So, now that we have that out of the way, let's let you in on what's going to happen, ok sweetie?" The detective added.

You grimaced a bit at the nickname, but overall it didn't mean much.

"Overnight, it was discussed on what we were going to do with you, and if you were going to be punished or not. It was decided that you were probably the victim of emotional manipulation, along with simple misunderstanding of what it was that you were doing. Without any parents, you were sort of given free will." The scarf man Eraserhead started.

"And so, since you were ruled out as a victim instead of criminal, it was decided that you weren't going to get punished. However, it was clear that you were leading a life full of potential in the wrong direction, so we concluded that you were going to need someone to counsel you into behaving normally and eventually letting you go and live a normal life in the future. It was also questioned as to who your caretaker would be, but luckily someone stepped up to both care for you and all your needs while also helping to counsel you and be your mentor."

The detective-officer Tsukauchi added.

Your eyes widened. That was what you were afraid of. You didn't want to be stuck at some religious temple or orphanage, and taught to become 'civilized', all you wanted to do was continue living life the way you once were, defeating villains and creating good memories along the way with those that you had grew close to.

The detective-officer Tsukauchi continued, despite your clearly agitated state.

"You're lucky!" He exclaimed with a smile on his face.

"You get to be with a teacher who works at U.A, and is a hero as well instead of being put into the foster system!"

You frowned, not liking where this was going.

"So you'll be staying with me from now on", The scarf man, Eraserhead, stated.

Well, there's part 2! I'm very sorry if it was a bit boring, but it'll get better soon, I swear!

I've been working on the newest chapters non-stop because I really don't like to keep people waiting, but even with that there's still going to be some waiting that has to be done, and I want to apologize for that. I greatly appreciate your patience! ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و

This chapter was a bit messy, along with part three, but I was able to smooth it out a bit. I hope it doesn't bother you too much.(●´~`●)

As for the *1, that was a reference to Courage The Cowardly Dog, since I grew up watching the show.

Thank you very much for reading, as everytime someone reads one of my stories it gives me more motivation to write more, and in turn I learn more each day and with each story! So thank you very much! (*´﹀`*)

　 ∧ ∧

　( - з -)

┏━〇〇━━━━┓

┃ごめんね. ┃

┗┳┳━━━━┳┳┛

┗┛　　┗┛

年2022/月12/日05

[ocean-waters]

hey ocean!!! :-) for the love your fandom ask game, let's try 14, 16 and 25!! ✨

Hey Rin! Thanks for the ask ❤️ you picked some good questions

#14: the ship that always makes you smile

Hmm. I wonder. Yknow.. I can't seem to recall any that would.

Alright, seriously, there has not been another ship like rinharu. Honestly, I struggle to put it into words since it's mostly feelings.

This pairing altered my brain chemistry and rewired me. Literally defined my taste when it comes to ship. If it reminds me of rinharu, there is a high chance i'll ship it. It's a ship that's got it all. Just the dynamic is so addicting and fun and thrilling. There is not one moment when they're together that is not overloaded with feeling. They play off of each other so well. They're both opposites, but also more similar than they realize. They have fantastic chemistry, and they are both so passionate, but they can also be pretty soft with each other too. Their moments make the show. I mean, they are the "core-axis" of free! After all.

From the very beginning of their story together, it's always been so entertaining. I loved seeing how their relationship started, grew, and evolved. It was love at first sight (or I guess you could say it was actually love at first swim). Rin's determination was unwavering, and he kept trying until he finally smashed his way through Haru's walls and eventually won him over with his charm, all while being absolutely enamored by Haru himself. And he truly did shake up Haru's entire world. Haru was so sure the only thing he needed was to feel the water. Then, in comes this smiley and annoyingly persistent kid and shows him a sight he's never seen before, and makes him feel so many funny feelings.

They're both so taken with one another, even if they don't want to admit it. I love how Rin gushes about Haru at any chance he gets, and how Haru is constantly thinking about Rin whenever they're apart. And i mean, gosh he quit swimming because he thought he hurt Rin. He had that much of an impact on Haru. They both drive each other forward, improve one another, and becomes their best selves together. Their relationship certainly wasn't without its bumps along the way, but i think that just makes it more interesting.

Seriously, when it comes to these two, they could be doing anything, and they would still have me smiling. I will treasure them forever.

#16: a tiny detail in canon that you want more people to appreciate

Not sure if some of these really count as "tiny", but:

● I just genuinely love that whenever Haru has flashbacks of his childhood moments with Rin, the first thing he remembers/thinks about is his smile, and the scene is always tinted pink with cherry blossoms.

● Rin's friendship with Nagisa. He pretends to be aggravated by him, but he's got quite the soft spot for him too.

● How perceptive Nagisa truly is. He notices the small things about his friends and their behaviors. It's so sweet

● Haru's love for weird looking creatures, like northern stoplight loose-jaw kun. He would have loved sacabambaspis.

● Haru's hobby of wood carving. I would love one of his handcrafted iwatobi chan charms.

● Also one I learned about recently: Haru actually has double-jointed knees!

#25: a piece of advice for taking care of yourself in fandom spaces

Fandom, as fun as it is, unfortunately has its rotten side. You'll inevitably come across pointless discourse of any kind during your time in it. The best thing you can do is honestly just avoid engaging with it. Don't ruin your own happiness by starting arguments with people who simply won't listen. If they're constantly popping up on your feed, simply block them and keep enjoying your side of the fandom. Constantly being met with people being destructively negative about the things you enjoy will do nothing except bring you down. It is so much nicer to just be able to enjoy things. You don't have anything to prove to anyone, and you don't need to justify yourself for liking a certain character or a ship. Just post what you want in your own circle. Be free!

(That being said, there are actually interesting discussions one can have with people who are actually willing to listen and debate properly, and those can be good experiences too. I'm just talking about discourse like ship wars or arguments like: Rin Matsuoka is a toxic character, and you're problematic if you like him!!1!!11! and such)

[From the "love your fandom" ask game]

[bumblepony]

Kiss it better, Tommy or Maria (or both!) and baby Miller

Part of my Kiss Ficlet Prompt's on Tumblr Ameerawrites for this lovely Tumblr prompt. I ended up going a lot longer then a normal ficlet but oh well.

“Mateo?” Tommy calls, frustrated as he balances Tilly on one hip and the laundry basket on the other. “Mateo! What did I say about leavin’ your toys on the floor in the hallway?” Tommy huffs and hikes the basket higher as Tilly starts to sniffle again, one clammy little hand wrapped in the fabric of his shirt and the other in her mouth as she sucks despondently on her thumb, fat tears falling down her cheeks. Tommy softly tries to soothe her, but she’s teething and has been weeping on and off all day. 

Tommy pulls her up a little higher on his side so he can give her messy curls a quick kiss while he tries to avoid the toy landmines at his feet. At least there aren’t plastic building blocks. Those fuckers hurt. “Goddamn it, Mateo,” Tommy swears under his breath. He’s having a hard enough day without having to worry about breaking a leg or dropping a child. He huffs when the boy doesn’t respond and continues through the hallway into the living room. 

The day was turning out to be a disaster. Maria had left yesterday morning for an overnight trip to a nearby community for a trade agreement issue, leaving Tommy at home with the kids. Normally, that wouldn’t be an issue. But today, everything that could possibly go wrong has. Tilly is teething and the washing machine conked out just as she spilled milk down the front of her last clean onesie. Tommy accidentally burned Mateo’s grilled cheese because of the milk incident, causing Mateo to throw a tantrum, which leads to him and Tilly both being too wound up to take naps. Then, just as Tommy was getting ready to send Mateo outside in the backyard to play so he can get a few moments of peace to try and hand wash the laundry, it started raining. Meaning Mateo has to stay inside, which inspires another tantrum. Tommy is at the end of his rope, and he’s counting the hours till Maria is supposed to get home after dinner.

Dropping the basket of clean laundry on the coffee table to fold later, Tommy makes his way toward the kitchen to grab one of the washcloths he’s got in the freezer for Tilly to chew on and to see if he can locate his wayward son. 

“Mateo?” he calls again, and this time, he actually hears some shuffling and scuffing and hastens his steps. “What are ya doin’ in there, Mateo? I swear to god, if you are gettin’ into those cookies like I told you not to, I am…”

The scene he walks into would be comical if they were in a 90’s Friday night sitcom, but unfortunately, they're not so all it does is freeze the blood in Tommy’s veins instantly. Mateo is trying to get up to the top of the refrigerator where Tommy had placed his little toy guitar that he’d taken away this morning after Mateo refused to stop playing it and woke up Tilly from her morning nap. Matteo’s managed to get up on the counter and is reaching out to grab the handle of the fridge when Tommy comes through the door. Tommy watches in slow motion as Mateo’s hand doesn’t quite get a grip and slides off the handle, and because he’s leaning so far forward, he can’t pull himself back before he starts to fall head-first toward the tile floor.

Tommy feels like he’s moving through molasses as he pushes himself towards his son. A squeak of surprise comes from Tilly at his sudden movement, and a shout of terror prizes itself from Mateo’s lips when he realizes he’s going down. Tommy reaches out his free hand desperately towards Mateo and just manages to grab him at the elbow of his trailing arm and yank as quickly as he can upward to try and stop his face from hitting the floor. 

Tommy just barely makes it. 

He adjusts his grip on his son, pulling the boy to his chest as his legs give way and he crumples to the floor, back resting against the kitchen island. His breath is coming fast from his lips, and he can’t hear anything over the pounding of the blood in his ears.

Once his heart starts to slow down, he finally registers Tilly’s high-pitched cries of fear and confusion and Mateo’s wails of pain. 

Fuck, fuck, fuck. He tries to put Tilly down, but she immediately goes to crawl back into his lap, her little nails biting into the skin of his arm as she screams, snot and tears mixing together on her face. “Oh honey, honey, I just need to look at your brother, honey. Please, baby, just a second,” he croones to her, his voice wobbling, but she won’t stop. “‘M sorry honey, I’m so sorry, baby, but I gotta look at your brother.” He ends up having to turn his body away from her so she can’t climb into his lap as he tries to gently manhandle Mateo to look at him. Tommy’s large hands tremble as he cups his son’s face, looking for an unseen injury as Mateo continues to wail between great sobbing breaths.

“Mateo, where does it hurt buddy? Buddy, where ya hurtin’? Tell daddy, baby.” He sees no obvious injuries, so Tommy runs gentle searching fingers over Mateo’s face and head just in case he somehow managed to bump it against something else on his way down, but finds nothing. “Please, buddy, please, tell daddy what’s wrong,” he begs as Mateo continues to scream, his face scrunched up and turning redder by the second. 

Tommy can feel panic sweeping over him like a heavy wave, and his eyes start to burn with his own tears as Tilly continues to scratch at his arm, crying pitifully, desperate to reach him, and Mateo keeps screaming and screaming. Tommy feels himself starting to disassociate, the edges of his awareness becoming fuzzy and faded, so he reaches his hands into his hair and tugs hard at his scalp until it stings and the world around him comes back into view. He can’t do this right now, he can’t slip into his memories. He’s gotta be present here for Mateo and Tilly.

“Okay, okay, we’re gonna be okay,” he says as calmly as he can. “Just… gotta get to you’re Tio Joel, okay?” He settles Mateo against his chest, holding his head momentarily against his shoulder, whispering soft nonsense into his ear. Then securely puts his arm under his butt and scoops up Tilly with his other arm. When he stands with purely the power of his legs and core, he’s afraid he’s gonna fall, but somehow, he manages to keep all of them upright and steady even though Mateo lets out another heart-wrenching sob at the movement. Tommy strides to the front door, kicking it open with a socked foot. He’s suddenly thankful that he’s still so active at 53 years old, riding almost daily, cleaning, training, and working the horses. Because he doesn’t know otherwise if he’d be able to do this. He’s across the street and surging up the steps of Joel’s front porch faster than he’s ever moved in his life. Before he can start to think how he’s gonna get the front door open, Joel spills out of it, eyes wild and shaggy hair flying every which way.

“Tommy, what the hell…” He freezes when he sees the state of the three of them and immediately moves forward to take Mateo from his arms. Tommy stops him.

“No, take Tilly. Mateo was trying to climb the damn fridge an’ almost fell. I caught him, but he’s hurt somewhere, an’ I can’t find it with her needin’ me too.” Tommy explains in a rush as Joel easily pulls Tilly to his chest and starts rocking and crooning quietly to her, using the bottom of his flannel to wipe away the mess on her face. The two men push into Joel’s house, and Tommy gently sits Mateo down on the couch, feeling helpless at the tears still falling and little hiccuping cries pouring out of his baby’s mouth with each breath.

“Baby, what’s wrong? Please, tell me what’s wrong,” Tommy begs the tears he’s been holding back prickling painfully at the back of his eyes. Mateo just shakes his head and whines, his whole body hunched in on itself, his one hand holding his other arm tight to his side.

Joel squints at Mateo and turns to Tommy, “How did ya catch him?”

“I heard him in the kitchen, an’ I…”

“No, no. I mean, how did ya keep him from hittin’ the ground?”

“I-I grabbed ahold of his arm an’ yanked him up.” Tommy looks at Joel, and Joel’s face lightens a touch as he moves to sit on the coffee table in front of the couch. He turns and hands Tilly to Tommy.

“I’m guessin' I know what’s wrong,” Joel says, reaching his big, gentle hands out to lay on Mateo’s face and then sliding down to his shoulders, trying to pull his attention to him. “Mateo honey, is it your arm? Does your arm hurt, honey?” Mateo’s head bobs up and down fast, his eyes glassy and frantic. Joel puts his hands around Mateo’s little face, enfolding it almost completely, and softly wipes away his tears with his thumbs. “Okay, buddy, that's okay. Me an’ your daddy, we’re gonna get you taken care of, don’t you worry, baby boy.”

Joel turns to Tommy and takes Tilly back into his arms, bouncing her on his knees and running a calm hand down her spine. “I think this is a case of nursemaid elbow. We need to take him over to the clinic, an’ they should be able to get him fixed up just fine.”

Tommy vaguely recalls hearing that term before in some book he read or some conversation he’s had, but he can't quite make sense of it at the moment. His heart is still beating too fast, the tendrils of an oncoming panic attack lingering at the back of his brain, and his son is sitting sobbing quietly on the couch, fingers digging into his arm. “What is that again?” Tommy mumbles, running his hands over Mateo’s hair and the back of his neck, trying to soothe him without jostling his arm.

“Means most likely when you grabbed him, you pulled his elbow out of the socket. It’s most likely already back in place, but it can hurt like the dickens, an’ if not, the doc can put it back. It happened to me with Sarah once when she was just a little older than Mateo is now. She tried to run out into the street to grab her soccer ball just as a car was drivin’ by, an’ I grabbed her arm to pull her out of the way.” Tommy’s eyes go wide in horror.

“I-I did this?” Tommy’s vision suddenly tips and tilts as he yanks his hands away from his son quickly. He hurt him. He did this. Joel sees the anguish on his face and grabs onto Tommy’s knee with his free hand, pinning him to the couch as Tommy tries to move away from Mateo, afraid he’ll somehow hurt him again. “Shit, Joel, fuck. I… It’s been such a bad day. Such a bad day. Tilly ain’t sleepin’, which means we ain't sleepin’, and I was tryin’ to pay attention, I was, but the damn washer broke, an’ Tilly she’s been cryin' all day, an’ he got away from me. He just got away. I was just trying to keep him from hittin' his head. I just saw him goin’ down, an’ I- I grabbed him. I did…”

“Tommy, Tommy. Stop, okay, Stop,” Joel says, reeling him back from the brink with a firm squeeze to the joint of his knee. It hurts, but it snaps him back. “Brother, ya did nothin’ wrong. It’s something that happens with kids. They ain’t done growin’ yet, so sometimes it just happens when you grab 'em. I know you wasn’t tryin' to hurt him, Tommy. You were tryin' to protect him.” Joel moves his hand to Tommy’s shoulder and shakes him a little until Tommy’s eyes lock with his, “It’s gonna be okay, hermano. Now go slip on my extra boots, an’ let's get our boy to the clinic, okay?” Joel’s voice is sure and steady, and Tommy’s able to hold on to it to help pull himself all the way back to the here and now. He nods his head, quick and firm. Joel’s already pulling his own boots on with little Tilly laying her head weakly against his shoulder, eyes half closed, and thumb sucked back in her mouth as Tommy cuddles his boy safely against his chest and gets moving.

—

“Tommy.” He feels delicate fingers card gently through his hair, dragging him softly out of the restless slumber he had fallen into. “Tommy, baby.” He blinks his eyes open into the low light of the clinic room and sees Maria standing in front of where he’s sat in the chair next to Mateo’s bed. She’s still dressed for riding: jacket, dusty jeans, and boots, hat off to the side, kerchief tied around her neck. Her eyes are worried, wrinkles standing out around the edges, but her gaze is soft, loving. Her fingers keep gently combing through his hair as he blinks back into wakefulness.

“M’ sweetheart,” he mumbles and pulls her into his arms, pressing his face into her abdomen. Breathing her in, he can smell the early spring flowers from the fields she most likely rode through, the pungent odor of horse and sweat from her long ride, and the lingering hint of lavender she uses in their laundry detergent on her clothing. “M’ so sorry. Baby, I’m sorry.”

“Tommy, why are you sorry?” she asks, pulling away from him carefully. She squats down in front of him with a tiny grunt, takes his face into her small, strong hands, and makes sure his eyes are fully on her. “You were trying to protect him, Tommy. You were doing what you were supposed to. It was an accident, baby. It could have happened to any one of us. I am not mad at you, not even a little.”

His hands clench at his sides as he feels his skin prick under her fingertips. He knows she’s right, knows it with a certainty that he can’t explain, but a part of him can't help remembering his son's cries. Knowing that it was his hands that caused it… “I swore… I swore I’d never hurt ‘em. I swore it,” he says, his jaw tight, tone vehement.

“And you didn’t, Tommy. You didn’t.” Maria moves her hands to his, pulls them open where they are clenched, and twines her fingers with his. “You are not your father Tommy. This is not the same. You were protecting him, and yes, Tommy, sometimes that means you are going to hurt him. But you did not mean to do this. You did not hurt him with intent. You are a good man, Tommy Miller, and a good father.” Tommy stares at her, her words a balm to his bruised and jagged soul, a salve to hurts he had thought long since buried. “Do you believe me?” she asks quietly, shuffling forward so she can rest her forehead against his.

“Yes,” he breathes into the space between them. Her trust in him has slowly started to make him believe in himself. He has no idea where he would be without her, without this strong, courageous woman by his side. She shifts again so she can wrap her arms around him and squeaks in surprise when he pulls her up into his lap, her arms around his neck, his locked across her back, her dirty boots hanging off the side of the chair. He holds her to him as they watch their son sleeping peacefully in the clinic bed next to them, a brace holding his elbow securely to his side. 

Joel is asleep across the room on the old couch against the wall, Tilly wrapped safely in his large arms. Her little face is pressed into his flannel, delicate eyelashes fanned out across her soft cheeks and mouth open, drool soaking into the fabric. Ellie, her hair a ratty mess, looks like she came to the clinic straight from stable duty. She’s camped on the floor, her back against the couch and head lolled back against Joel’s side. Her hand is curled over Tilly’s back, Joel’s hand over the top of hers, fingers intertwined. 

Maria runs her nose along his slowly and gently takes his lips with her own. A sense of peace settles over him with the pressure of her mouth on his. She pulls back, and he pushes one of her locs away from her face. Letting a finger trail down the line of her jaw, “Maria, darlin’, you sure do know how to kiss a man an’ make it all better.”

She laughs quietly and lays her head against his shoulder as they watch their little family sleep.

[andre8398]

A Hit and a Miss

-Yoyogi Academy (Baseball Field)

"BALL!" Kyuma drops the bat as he runs to first base as he hits his fourth ball.

THUMP

He seems unconstrained as the timer counts down. He can't keep his mind off of what happened at the hospital the afternoon prior.

THump THUmp

He was terrified, he thought he was gonna be reprimanded and yelled at, then why? "Why did he smile?"

-At the Hospital a few days prior

Thump Thump Thump

Ryugo's footsteps make the ground shake. Even with Mineaki's help it seemed like it was difficult to walk. Kyuma felt guilty for not being able to calm down his senior and for letting her use his baseball at all. Regardless he can't change the past, so he was prepared to accept the consequences.

THump THUmp THUMP

……….

Kyuma is trembling as the Giant student looms above him. A sense of dread fills the room as Ryugo reaches for Kyuma.

Everyone in the room felt uneasy as the intentions of the student were unknown, yet Durga and David were about to try to make a move. An expressionless Ryugo had his hand on Kyuma's head.

Rustle Rustle

Huff

"Hey, it's ok. Nothing to worry about kiddo."

Ryugo said with a weak smile as he rustled Kyuma's hair.

"W-what.. but we caused-"

"Don't beat yourself up about it. Things happen, the important thing is no one got hurt" Mineaki gives Ryugo a look of worry as he says those words. "and you both are taking responsibility for your actions. So don't worry." Ryugo's weak smile becomes more genuine and warm, leaving Kyuma and Durga baffled.

Thud

"Huh? What's tha…………

For a second the world grows silent.

-Yoyogi Academy (Baseball Field)

Kyuma snaps out of his thoughts at this silence as realizes that the game is over, his team had won and he is on his way to line up with the rest of his team.

"It's over already?" Kyuma questions himself as he tries to figure out what had just happened. Kyuma then goes to ask a teammate what happened after the game.

"Yea, It was crazy. You start to play like you were a pro, it was almost like you were possessed." Kyuma's teammates says with a twinkle in his eye.

Kyuma realizes what has happened and thanked his teammates as he finished changing. "Did you help me out, David?" A small child shepherd clings to his shoulder and nods. "I see, Thank you. Let's go meet up with Durga and Ryugo."

-A while later in a Clearing

"This is the right spot, right Dav- Aauh!" Kyuma questions as he sees no one around. However before Kyuma could finish his question he is lifted and taken away by a Red Dragon.

SKREEE!

The Dragon gleefully Skrees as he looks at Kyuma.

"WOW! YOU GOT BIG QUICK, PYRE!" Kyuma exclaims as Prye takes Kyuma into the mountains. As a clearing comes into view the dragon slows down. As Kyuma and Prye get closer to the clearing they see Ryugo and Durga sparring. Ryugo dodges and parries every one of Durga's attacks. "So they're at it again?" Kyuma sighs as the red dragon lands and gently puts Kyuma on the ground.

"WHY .. CAN'T….. UGH LAND…. A.. SHOO- WOAHHHH!" Durga gets thrown into a bush after a failed attempt to attack Ryugo from behind. "Augh… you're hurt, how are you still able to dodge and block my attacks?"

"It doesn't take much energy to dodge an attack, plus your attacks aren't that strong without that black energy stuff you used before. So I can block your attacks." Ryugo explains coldly as Durga springs into action again.

"AUHHHHHHH!"

Durga jumps and launches a spin kick. In the blink of an eye Ryugo plants his feet in the ground and places his arm in a defensive position.

THUD!

Ryugo is unmoved like a pillar standing firm. Suddenly using the momentum of the spin Durga launches a second kick. Even with the larger amount of force Ryugo still holds his ground. Time starts to slow until it feels like it stops completely.

Ryugo's eyes widen as something flashes through his mind. A young girl stands before him in a fighting stance.

"This time I'll take you down, Big Bro." she says as she begins

ryu..

"What was that?" Ryugo thought to himself and panicked.

ryugo……

"Who was that girl? She looked familiar."

Ryugo……….

"Was that a memory?"

RYUGO!

Ryugo opens his eyes and sees Kyuma over him.

"Kyu- ma?" Ryugo says as he slowly gets up, with Kyuma helping him. "What happened?"

"You looked like you were in a daze, and seeing her Durga struck you in the neck and knocked you out. She then said she "needed to go meet with the track coach about the next track meet." Kyuma tells Ryugo, with a worried expression.

"Hmmm I see. Well at least that's over. That tigress is relentless." Ryugo says with a bit of relief in his voice. "So, Kyuma, how was your game? Oh, and I hope Prye didn't scare ya."

Kyuma looks shocked at Ryugo, his senior was knocked out cold yet he acts like it was nothing. "That's what you're worried about Senpai?"

"Yea, I wasn't hurt and got a nice nap out of it. So I don't think it matters."

Kyuma looks at Ryugo baffled and just sighs at his seniors' cold and almost emotionless reply.

"I was surprised she got so big so quickly." Prye screeches in joy as Kyuma pets her head causing her to purr a bit. "Oh and the game was alright, I got a bit distracted but it worked out in the end."

"Well good. And sorry for making you come all the way out here into the mountains. I didn't know another place with enough space for Durga and me to spar."

"I-it's alright Senpai, it's nice to be in an open area with lots of room to move around, to bad that it looks like it's starting to get dark."

"Hmm alright then. How about you call Dr. Mineaki and ask him if it's ok to stay a bit after curfew? That way we can get a bite to eat." Ryugo gives a small smile, as David tugs on Kyuma's shirt with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Alright, hopefully he says yes" Kyuma says a he walks away looking for some signal. Pyre tags along to help.

After a while Kyuma is out of sight. Ryugo slowly gets up and goes over to a giant boulder, he slowly picks the boulder up. After adjusting its position he starts to do some squats. Some time passes and Ryugo finishes his squats and starts to other exercises while a shadowy figure stares from behind a tree hidden.

"48……. 49……. 50……. Guagh!" Ryugo finishes his final set as he chucks the boulder in the direction of the figure. Though just as he was about to walk over to where the boulder was.

"SKREEEE!" Ryugo heard Pyre call as Kyuma's group flies back

"Ah good your back, what he say?" Ryugo asks as he approaches the three. As the shadowy figure clings on to the tree terrified relived the boulder didn't hit him.

"He was surprisingly alright with it, he said just get back to the dorms safe and don't push yourself too hard with the physical reconditioning. Whatever that means?" Kyuma says, wondering, Ryugo chuckles slightly.

"Don't worry about it, let's go eat! Oh and Pyre I left you some extra meat at your nest, thanks for your help oh and tell the others i said hi!" Ryugo says as he and Kyuma wave goodbye to Pyre as the wyvern flies away.

"Now, my turn." Ryugo steps back from Kyuma and takes a deep breath.

Ryugo's body starts to shine as energy envelops his body. Ryugo grows slightly in size as horns, wings and a tail made from pure energy grow from Ryugo. A shocked Kyuma stares in disbelief.

"SO COOL! I didn't know you could do that senpai?!" Kyuma exclaims. "You kinda look like Wakan senpai when your like that." The shadow figure sneezes as he wonders what Kyuma just said Ryugo noticing but ignores it.

"It's not something I can do a whole lot since I'm still recovering but I should be fine for now. I think I'll call it my dragonborn form." Ryugo says as he hugs Kyuma tightly to make sure nothing happens to him.

"Alright let's goooo……" Ryugo says as he takes off into the city…………

[jayfortheday]

Ik your inbox is prob flooding with the Black Phone requests but I love how you write Vance sm I rly wanted to make a request with an idea I’ve had for awhile😩 Can you write something based on the movie Corpse Bride where YN is taken by the Grabber. They’re so paranoid that they’re gonna die so they start saying their passionate “I love yous” for their boyfriend out loud (using ‘you’ instead of ‘him’ when referring to their bf). Ghost!Vance mistakes their love declaration as meant for him (maybe he had a crush on them when he was alive) and shows himself to YN and is just like “omg we’re a couple now coz you said you loved me” all very delusional. Since Vance keeps them alive/protects them from the Grabber YN plays along with their “relationship” to stay alive. But then after awhile Vance realizes he’s actually dead and is preventing YN from escaping so he finally lets them go since he doesn’t want them to end up with his fate,, with something like “I love you, but you’re not mine” & “My chance of escape was taken from me, and now I’ve stolen that chance from someone else”

Sorry if that’s rly long😭 But take all the time you need if you decide to do this!!

Not Really Mine (Vance Hopper)

Pairing: Ghost!Vance Hopper x GN!Reader (romantic)

Word count: 4178

Description: After being captured by the Grabber, Y/N, believing they're going to die, confesses their love for their boyfriend for the last time, unintentionally summoning the ghost of Vance Hopper. Vance, believing the declaration was for him, sticks around Y/N and helps them navigate the situation they're in. Y/N accepts the advice and, in turn, does their best to help Vance.

Tags: angst, hurt/comfort, kidnapping, blood, language, alternate universe, canon compliant, mixed emotion ending

Quick Note: If I'm right, then the order of victims in the movie is Bruce, Billy, Griffin, Vance, and Robin. Using this, I'm placing Y/N's abduction after Vance but before Robin.

~~~~~~~~~

Your breath felt ragged as you lay against the mattress, your eyes burning with tears. You’re going to die here, that man upstairs is going to kill you, this is where it ends. You huddled your knees close to your chest, and imagined you were back home. You imagined you were snuggled under a blanket, that the TV was on, that you were laying with your boyfriend, just enjoying the time together. You were never going to see him again. Your chest hurt with all the emotion you were feeling, it felt like you were going to explode. 

What would you say to him? If he were here, what would be your final words to him?

“I love you, I really do. I miss you so much right now and I would give anything to touch you again. I’m sorry for all the times I got angry or the times I acted distant. It all seems so small now, I just wish I was with you again,” your words echoed in the empty space. You imagined he was there in front of you, that he heard your words, that he understood your feeling. You took a shuddery breath and exhaled slowly. You slowly blinked open your eyes, adjusting to the sunlight. 

However, only a small amount of sunlight reached your eyes. In front of you stood a figure blocking the light coming from the window. Oh god, he’s here, it must be time.

“I’m not ready to die,” you whimpered quietly, covering your eyes again, to pretend it wasn’t real.

“You’re not going to die,” the figure said, but it wasn’t the voice you had expected. It wasn’t the scratchy voice of your capture, but instead the smooth voice of a young boy. You blinked your eyes open to reexamine the figure. The person kneeled close to you, their eyes on level with yours. You sat up slightly to get a better look at them. A head of bloody, blonde curls framed the injured face of the teenage boy in front of you. You recongized him, the papers showed his picture for weeks after he went missing. Nobody ever said it but you all assumed the worst.

“Oh god, I really am losing it,” you muttered, rubbing your eyes with your palms before opening them again. There he still sat before you, Vance Hopper. 

“Did you really mean it?” Vance asked, leaning closer to you. You looked at him confused. “When you said you loved me?” Oh. Vance thought your words were for him. You weren’t quite sure you had the heart to tell him they weren’t, not just because you didn’t want to make him sad but you were a little scared of him. You nodded hesitantly. Vance smiled widely, his eyes lighting up with joy. 

“How are you here, I mean you’re-,” you hesitated, trying to figure out how to word it. 

“I’m what?” Vance asked, furrowing his brow slightly. Did he not know? Couldn’t he remember? You figured dying might be hard to forget. 

“You’re supposed to be back home,” you said hurriedly, trying to fill in the gap. 

“Oh, I’m not sure, I guess I’m just here,” Vance said, his tone light. 

Something about Vance confused you. You had barely known him in life, you had only glanced at each other maybe a couple of times, and now here he was, gladly accepting a love confession that wasn’t even meant for him. Vance stared up into your face, his eyes concerned.

“You’re still crying,” he said sadly, standing up and wiping a tear from your cheek. You hadn’t even realized it, but he was right. You were crying. “Why are you so sad?” He asked, sitting down next to you. Did Vance really not realize the gravity of the situation?

“I don’t want to die here,” you said quietly. 

“You’re not gonna die,” Vance said hurriedly. He leaned forward and cupped your face with his hands, you shuddered at the odd feeling. It felt like a pair of cold hands were barely grazing over your cheek. 

When night arrived, you heard the door to the basement open. You stiffened in your place and Vance leaned against the wall in the corner, his face going dark. Pushing open the door was the man you has seen before. His face was obscured by a mask with a large smile, it was extremely unsettling. 

“I thought you might want something to eat,” the man said, setting down a tray next to the door. You looked nervously between him and the food. “Eat it if you like.” With that, he went back to the stairs and closed the door behind him. You listened for the foreboding sound of the door locking, but it didn’t come. You furrowed your brow as you looked at Vance. 

“Did he,” you started. “He didn’t lock the door.” 

“You should eat,” Vance said, interrupting your thought. “I don’t know if you’ll get food again.” Your thoughts of the unlocked door were replaced by thoughts of food. Your horror at your situation had obscured your feelings of hunger which had now become apparent. 

You cautiously got up and approached the tray on the ground by the door. You sat down on the floor by it and examined the plate. It was eggs and they sat next to an open bottle of soda. You picked up a piece of the food and nervously smelled it. It smelled fine, just like normal eggs. You placed the piece into your mouth, chewed quickly, and swallowed. You breathed deeply and began to eat the eggs in front of you, trying to satiate your hunger. When you were halfway finished, you looked up and saw Vance leaning against the wall, staring at you. You picked up a piece of held it out to him, an attempt to be kind. He shook his head and pointed at you. With Vance’s declining, you continued to eat the food. 

When you had finished, you grabbed the bottle of soda on the tray and sipped at it. You stood up and walked back to the mattress on the other side of the room. You sat on the edge, sipping at the soda and thinking. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see Vance wander over and sit next to you. When you finished the soda bottle, you set it down on the floor and looked at Vance. 

“He didn’t lock the door,” you said again. “This is my chance, he fucked up, and now I have a chance.” You laughed in disbelief. Vance stiffened beside you. 

“No, no, you don’t,” he said with a mildly upset tone. “It’s not real.”

“What do you mean, of course it’s real,” you said, gesturing to the door. “He did forget to lock it so I could just go.”

You walked forward and grabbed the door handle. You saw Vance grab your wrist more than you felt it. 

“Please, Y/N,” he said softly. This was the first time he had said your name. “I don’t want what’s waiting up there to happen to you.” You looked at Vance with confusion.

“What does that mean,” you said, your tone a bit shorter than you intended. “What’s up there?” At this point, you had pulled the door open and were staring up at the stairs. Vance looked towards the landing and then at you. 

“Him,” he said straight forwardly. “He’s gonna hurt you, bad enough you’ll wish you’d just pass out so it could be over. You never pass out soon enough.” He sounded upset as he walked over to the mattress and sat down on it, looking at the wall. 

You looked up the stairs. 

“Promise you’re not lying to me?” You asked Vance, hesitation in your voice as you looked at him. He nodded at you sadly. You sighed deeply and closed the door. You wandered over and layed down next to Vance. 

“I know,” he said, his voice understanding. “I’m sorry it’s not real.”

“It’s not your fault,” you said, your chin trembling slightly. Vance layed down next to you, thinking. 

“Ask me anything you want,” he said, you looked slightly confused at his sudden offer. “I wanna try to cheer you up.” You smiled slightly. 

“Alright then, did you really like pinball as much as people said? I mean they called you Pinball Vance,” you laughed slightly as you asked. Vance smiled at your laughter. 

“It was my absolute favorite,” he responded, rolling onto his back to reminisce. “I would spend hours at the Grab N Go tryin’ to reach my high score. It never got old no matter how many times I played it.” When you were laying next to him like this, you thought his smile looked oddly beautiful. “Anything else?”

“Is your hair like this naturally or did you curl it,” you asked, one of your hands going to try to play with Vance’s curls. Again, it felt like they were almost there. 

“Nah, it’s curled. My mom’s been getting me perms since like 6th grade. It doesn’t really look that bad so I just roll with it,” he responded, turning his head slightly to look at you twirling your finger in his hair. “Why, you like it?” He smiled jokingly. 

“Totally, absolutely obsessed,” you joked back. 

“Anything else?” There was a question on your mind, but you felt it was too intense, so you only half asked. 

“Do these still hurt?” You asked, gesturing to the injuries on Vance’s face. Vance’s bloody face had really put you off at first, but you had gotten used to it. Vance brought a hand up to his face and grazed his fingers over the cut on his nose. 

“Not really,” he responded. “They used to, but I don’t really notice them anymore.” 

“That’s good, I suppose,” you said, your eyes looking at all the blood covering Vance. 

“Does it make me look super badass?” He smiled, flexing his arms as he lay next to you. This elicited a laugh from you. 

“Super badass,” you replied. 

“I know it feels weird, but you should sleep,” Vance said, propping himself up on his elbows to look down at you. 

“You’re right,” you responded. “It does feel weird.” 

“I’ll be here the whole time, so you don’t have to worry about that guy coming in here while you’re asleep,” Vance said, trying his best to comfort you. 

“Don’t you need to sleep?” You asked, looking up at him. 

“I don’t really feel tired, so staying up shouldn’t be too hard, just a little boring,” he laughed. You look at him with a nervous look in your eyes. “Come here,” Vance said, holding out his arms to you. 

You scooched closer to him and he wrapped his arms around you, holding you as you lay on the mattress. Even though you could only half feel his cold skin, the mere idea of having someone else there with you was comforting. Your face was nestled in the crook of his neck, there was the slight smell of blood and a sandalwood-scented cologne. You closed your eyes as you leaned into the ghostly touch. 

“I love you,” Vance said quietly into your ear. Oh…yeah. You had forgotten about that part in all of the stress of today. 

“I love you too,” you whispered back. It felt so wrong lying about this sort of thing. Not only did it feel like you were cheating, it felt like you were hurting Vance like you were using him, which when you thought about it, you were. You huddled closer into Vance, trying to forget what you were feeling. 

When you awoke the next moring, Vance was no longer laying with you. You looked to the edge of the bed and saw him sitting. 

“Vance?” You asked with a sleepy voice. He turned to you. “Whatcha doin’?”

“Watching,” he responded, looking at the door. You sat up and moved to sit next to him. By the door, you saw the shattered glass of the green soda bottle you had been given the day before. 

“What happened?” You asked. Vance looked to you and followed your gaze to the broken bottle. Vance’s gaze darkened as he looked at it.

“He tried to come in here last night,” he responded with a slightly angry tone. Vance saw you stiffen next to him, fear on your face. “But don’t worry, I got rid of him easily enough.” You relaxed slightly.

“I hope he’s not too mad,” you said quietly. “He’s scary enough when he’s not.” 

“I’ll be here the whole time,” Vance assured you again. “I got a bit more fight in me than that.”

You leaned your head on Vance’s shoulder and looked at the door nervously. He wrapped his arm around you, resting his elbow on your shoulder and his hand in your hair. 

“I wonder if I’ll ever get out of here,” you said quietly, the thought escaping your lips before you could filter it. You could see Vance turn his head down to look at you. You angled your head to meet his eyes. A thoughtful look crossed his face.

“Would it be so bad if you didn’t?” He asked. “You could stay here with me.” You pulled away from Vance and looked at him with a furrowed brow. 

“Why would you say that?” You asked, looking at him with wide eyes. 

“Just think about it, we could be here together, just us. Would that really be so bad?” Vance smiled at you with pleading eyes. Did he realize what he was implying?

The rest of the day was spent with a palpable tension between the two of you. You could tell Vance was upset, and you were too, but for very different reasons. Vance thought you were abandoning him, that you disliked him and wished to leave him. You were upset because, even though it was unknowingly, Vance was asking you to give up your life. You didn’t see the man again that day, not to bring you food or even just to stand in the doorway, which you were semi grateful for. You sat on the mattress and watched Vance stand in the middle of the room, looking out the small window. 

“Can I ask you more questions?” You asked him, hoping to lighten the atmosphere. Vance looked at you with calm eyes. 

“Sure,” he replied, walking over to you and sitting next to you on the mattress. 

“So,” you said, thinking of a good question. “What’s you favorite animal?” You knew it was a rather tame question, but tame is what the two of you needed right now. 

“Probably a tiger or something, I like their colors,” he replied, a small smile on his face. “What about you?” You thought for a second before replying. 

“Probably a panda, I think. I like the black and white, and I would love to just lounge around all day,” you laughed at the thought. Vance sat and waited for your next question. 

“What did your bedroom look like? Mine had grey walls and some music posters, and I always had two fans pointed at me cause my room got really hot,” you said, answering your own question to provide context. 

“Oh, lemme think. It was white, I had a couple of movie posters, but other than that, the walls were empty. It was always super messy though, I really don’t like cleaning,” he said, smiling at the memories. 

“Do you wanna ask me anything?” You offered. Vance thought for a moment. 

“Not really,” he said. “I like answering your questions more than asking them.” There was another question you wanted to ask Vance, but that would wait until later. You and Vance did your best to come up with other ways to fill the time, ways for this to feel normal. You played 20 questions, talked about your favorite movies and music, and just sat in silence. Vance was starting to grow on you. He made you smile in a place where happiness seemed impossible. You were thankful for that. 

As the sun began to set outside the small window, you could see a reminiscent look in Vance’s eyes. 

“Whatcha thinkin’ about,” you asked, interrupting his thoughts. 

“I like watching the sunset,” he replied. “It always calms me down when I feel mad or something.” You couldn’t see the sunset very well from here, so you could tell Vance was remembering more than seeing. “You tired?” He turned around to examine your face.

“Kinda, but not super,” you replied. The thought of sleeping brought a yawn up to your throat, which you unsuccessfully repressed. Vance smiled at the contradiction. 

“Yeah you are, come on,” he sighed happily, laying down on the mattress and patting the spot next to him. You crawled up the mattress and lay your body down next to him.

You lay on your side, facing him. Vance felt your eyes and turned to face you. 

“What’s up,” he asked quietly, searching your eyes. 

“Can I ask you one last question?” You asked, it was time. Vance nodded. 

“How did you get here?” Vance opened his mouth but didn’t respond. His brow furrowed as he thought. “Take your time, it’s ok.” Vance rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling, deep in thought. “Good night, Vance.” You snuggled into his cold side and closed your eyes. 

The sunlight shining through the window awoke you from your dreams. You blinked your eyes open, adjusting to the light. Once again, Vance wasn’t lying next to you, but instead, sat at the foot of the bed. You sat up, yawned, and shuffled down the mattress to sit next to him. You looked up at his face. His red eyes and raw cheekbones showed he had been crying. 

“Vance?” You said quietly, trying not to disturb him too much. He glanced at you, you could see tears forming in his eyes again. 

“Y/N,” he said in a raw voice. “I think I know the answer to your question.” You looked at him sadly. You reached out and took his hand in yours, he squeezed it. 

“It wasn’t for me, was it?” he asked, the tears in his eyes falling down his cheek. 

“What do you mean?” You asked.

“You weren’t saying you loved me, or that you missed me, you probably didn’t even know me, did you?” He said, his voice starting to break. Your eyes grew sad as you had to admit it.

“No, it wasn’t, I’m sorry Vance,” you apologized. “That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy your company, or that I don’t appreciate that you’re here. I don’t think I could have done this alone.”

“Why didn’t you tell me, about what I am, Y/N?” He asked, glancing at you before looking back at the ground.

“I don’t know, really. When I saw you didn’t know, it felt impossible to be the one to break that news. If I had more courage, I probably would have told you,” you responded, leaning towards him and resting your head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry this happened to you, Vance. You didn’t deserve this.” You could feel Vance shake as he cried. 

“I’m sorry for what I said yesterday. I didn’t realize what I was asking you,” he choked out. “Just because I did, doesn't mean you have to die here. I love you, but you don’t belong here with me, not now.” You felt your own tears forming as Vance spoke. 

“I wish I had known you more, maybe I could have loved you like you deserve,” you said, turning your head to press a kiss to his shoulder. 

“I’m gonna get you out of here, I swear on whatever life I have left in me,” Vance cried, turning his body to hold you. 

“I doubt that’s possible at this point,” you sighed, holding onto the front of Vance’s shirt.

“Well, you’re not dying, I’m damn sure of that. I’ll think of something,” Vance sniffled, laying his cheek in your hair. 

The first half of this day was spent in silence. Vance sat on the wall, thinking silently. You sat on the bed, doing your best to entertain yourself. You looked over occasionally, trying to see a change in Vance’s expression. When the sun had assumed its noon position in the sky, Vance stood up. 

“I think I know what to do,” he said as he walked over to sit by you. “When he leaves the door unlocked tonight, I’ll go up first and I’ll distract him. While he’s gone, you’ll go. I’m already dead, there’s not much he can do if he catches me.” Vance’s plan was simple, yet seemed like it would work. 

“It’s not that simple,” you heard a high-pitched voice behind you say. You whipped your head around quickly to see the small form of a boy with a bloody, slit throat. You quietly screamed. 

“Oh my goodness, you scared me,” you said, a little out of breath. 

“There’s a lock on the door upstairs, you can’t just leave,” the boy said, his eyes wide but emotionless. 

“A key lock?” You asked. You glanced over at Vance, who seemed transfixed by the other boy.

“A combination,” the boy responded. “It used to be my bike lock.”

“If it was yours, you should know the combination, right?” You asked with a hopeful voice. 

“I don’t remember it,” he said with a level voice. Defeat crushed the hope in your face. “But when I did know it, I wrote it down.” He slowly pointed to the wall opposite you, to a spot in the middle. You looked at the boy before getting up to examine the wall. Indeed, scratched into the wall, were five numbers. “I don’t remember the sequence.”

“That’s ok, this is all I need,” you said, with a thankful voice. You turned to the boy and gave him a grateful smile. In the blink of an eye, he was gone. 

When you looked back to Vance, you saw he still had a look of shock on his face. 

“How were you so calm about that?” He said quieter than normal. 

“I’ve been livin’ with you for the past couple days, got used to it,” you laughed, trying to cheer him up. Vance smiled with an exhale from his nose. “It sounds like we got a plan.”

With this plan in mind, you and Vance waited until the sun set to begin. You recited the code ‘23317’ until it was engrained in your brain. 

“I don’t know how much time I can buy you, so you’ll have to be as quick as you can. I’ll try to meet you by the door to see you out,” Vance said, leaning close to you. You nodded. You stood up and grabbed the handle of the door. You pulled and it opened. You nodded to Vance again. He stood and walked over to you. He reached his hand up and brushed a stray piece of hair behind your ear.

“Hope to see you soon,” he said softly with a smile. With that, he walked past you and up the stairs. “You’ll know your cue when you hear it.”

After a few seconds, you heard a loud crashing. You heard quick footsteps overhead rushing away. You took this as your cue. You ran up the stairs as quickly as you could. You paused before the corner and looked around it carefully. Sure enough, the chair at the top of the stairs was empty. You ran up the remaining stairs and past the chair. You looked to the left down the hallway at the end of the kitchen and saw the front door. You took a deep breath and ran towards it. You pulled open the door and saw the combination lock. 

‘23317’ played in your head as you tried the possible combinations. ‘2-33-17’, nope. ‘23-3-17’, no. By process of elimination, the last one had to be it. Adrenaline coursed through your veins as you tried to not waste the precious time Vance gave you. With a shuddering breath, you turned the lock. ‘23-31-7’. The lock clicked open with a quiet snap. You hurriedly took the lock off and threw it to the ground, you would revel in your victory later. With the lock off, you opened the screen door into the night. You turned around, hoping to see Vance behind you. 

As he promised, there he stood. With so much to say and so little time, you decided to express your feelings in a gesture. You grabbed the sides of Vance’s face and pulled him down to you. You took a breath and pressed your lips to his. You pulled away slightly.

“I love you, Vance. I wish I had time to love you more,” you said with a shaking voice as tears began to run down your face. 

“Until the next life,” he sighed with a sad smile. With that, you stepped back, and Vance pushed the door closed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Jesus, I think this might be the longest fic I've ever written, but damn it was so fun. It was awesome to get to stretch my writing muscles, this prompt gave me so much to work with that it was so easy to just keep writing

[80s4life]

Damaged Goods’

Word Count: 1,824

Status: Requested!!!

Ask:  could you maybe write smth about kreese getting into an argument with the reader (they're in an established relationship already), saying something rlly mean to her, hurting her feelings, causing her to storm out of the dojo to go home and drink. and when he comes back and sees her drunk and crying, he comforts her and explains that he didn't mean it? if u don't wanna tho, i understand! :)

@: An adorable anon that deserves a hug!

Fandom: Karate Kid Series (original 80s trilogy)

Relationship: John Kreese x Female!Reader

Summary: He can’t explain his explosive outbursts. He can’t explain why they always target you even if you weren’t the source. All he knows is that he’s messed up again, and this time might be the end.

Warnings: strong language, mentions of abuse, past mistakes, could be considered grooming? (Ew), Kreese (Kreese is his own warning tbh)

Masterlist Karate Kid Masterlist

{gif is not mine, credits go to @tsarinasource​}

Maybe it was the stress. Maybe it was the pressure. It could’ve been the students, his mood, the dojo, hell maybe even just the week. But, with the rageful, scolding gaze and harsh tone, he continuously assaults you with threats and jabs. 

“You’re so damn weak! Look at you!” he screams, throwing a punch at you in which you weren’t fast enough to block, not with all the tears in your eyes.

Just barely side-stepping, his fist hits your ribs, staggering you back as you try to defend the children shrinking behind you. “Kreese.”

“Y’know, it’s almost fucking pitiful with all the damn teaching you’ve had for years. I thought you’d at least be half a bit better than them,” he tsks, “But, you’ve always been like this, haven't you Y/N?”

Wide-eyed, you go to block a kick led by many more blows trying to knock you down. “Kreese!” you warn again, but it doesn’t break the haze. 

Finding your footing a little bit off, he uses it to his advantage, taking the opportunity to kick it in a painful direction. Yelping, you feel his foot collide with the outside of your kneecap, kicking it the opposite direction - a direction it is not designed to bend - causing you to fall.

“You’re still the sad, poor little girl you were when I’d found you, huh?” he asks, grabbing a fistful of hair to bring you up on your knees. 

Gasping, your expression changes from a determined sympathy to a confused hurt, finally letting a single tear slip down your cheek as you stare up at him. Then does his awareness finally set in, letting go of you to look at the students around him.

He looks down at you, head finally bowed and body slumped into yourself in defeat. He has to play the part. “And that, students, is how you effectively defeat an enemy. You try to mess with their emotions, get them to think they have the upper hand, but you always have to remain in control. It’s brutal, it’s deceiving, but it’s survival. Survival. Is. Living. Understand?”

“Survival...” you huff, meek body struggling to regain composure. You don’t even look at him, leaving your stuff as it is and walking out of the glass doors without another word.

It takes everything in Kreese to not drop everything and run after you, but he’s stuck in a room full of minors with the legal obligation to keep them supervised. Especially in this type of sport. He tries not to strain too hard to keep watch on your disappearing form, snapping his head around once he’s realized his positioning here.

The rest of the afternoon passes off with a newfound anger, pushing the students to their brink and almost making them follow suit in the path you’d taken hours prior. He was relentless with his instructions, his punishments for improper composure, completion of tasks, and adolescent attentiveness sending them to the mat to workout more times than any of them could count.

Finally, when Kreese had seen it appropriate, he let the children go with the promise of the same expectations the following day. Grabbing at the towels and trash, his thoughts were unable to be avoided now with nothing to do. He was guilty and he knew it. He fucked up - again. He took it out on you - again. And, he punished you for his own doings - again.

It didn’t help when he’d heard the children on their way out, muttering ‘There’s no way in hell that he’s gonna recover from that’, ‘Y/N’s hurting herself for being with him’, and ‘He’s a monster to everyone it seems.’ Maybe he was, and that hurt him even more to think about.

Nipping at little things, Kreese stayed longer than he knew was normal, brushing his fingers across awards, organizing the papers on his desk, and even collecting your things and placing them at the door for when he was expected to leave. Then, his phone rings, “Hello?”

“Hello?” your voice rings out on the other end, slurred and nasally.

“Y/N? What’s going on?”

“Nothing, nothing’s wrong, you’re just a dick that picked the wrong day.” He can hear an audible gulp, hiss and sniffle, cringing at the insinuations that follow them.

“I’m on my way home.”

“What home? What home is this now, Kreese?”

“I’ll talk to you later, okay? Just calm down, please?”

Shrieking buzzing noises answer him, a grumble erupting from his throat as a response.

...

Dragging his feet up to the door, he goes to unlock the front door just to find it unlocked and hardly closed. Stepping in silently, the keys jangling catches his companion’s attention, haphazardly getting to her feet on the floor.

“I’m home,” he states sarcastically.

You don’t say anything, rather, you stare at him. You don’ know what to say, and even if you had the voice to speak your mind, what could you say? He already knows.

His eyes meet yours for a few moments, then they trace down to the floor, finding empty beer cans, a spilling bottle of tequila, and vodka in your hands. “What are you doing, Y/N/N?” he frowns, hand coming up to smooths out the creases forming on his forehead.

“The only thing I know best it seems,” you slur, lopsidedly standing as more tears pour down with the weight on the sentence. His words hurt you, bringing up the past in such a way, and that’s the only thing that’s been eating at you for hours. While he was able to somehow ignore it at the dojo, you were burdened with it at home.

“You know that’ not true,” he sighs.

“Well, it’s like you said, I’m still the same little girl, right?” you giggle painfully, “I’m still the same girl with daddy issues, nowhere to call home, and no ways to defend myself. You’re the perfect guardian angel that just swooped me off my feet!” you go to make a swinging motion, ultimately making your drunken body swing a little too hard. Crashing to the floor, Kreese sidles up next to your quickly, a strong hand on your upper arm.

“Y/N...” he sighs, pulling your body to rest on his lap, a hand coming up to brush at your hair as he places your head on his shoulder. “I didn’t mean it, Baby. I was angry, and I-” his voice breaks as the reality sets in.

“Took it out on me,” you finish for him in a pissed sarcasm.

He squeezes you tighter, “Yeah.”

“And, let me guess, you’re sorry?”

He sighs, “Yes.”

“But, do you really mean it, Johnny?” you pull out of his hold begrudgingly. You love nothing more than being in his arms, but now’s not the time. You can’t keep going through this.

“What kind of question is that?”

“You repeat yourself every time! You say you’re sorry and then you do the same shit over and over and over again!” you get back up, somewhat sober as the truth shines through, distancing yourself from the man on the floor. “You belittle me, you punish me, and, best one yet, you hit me, Johnny! Whether it be martial arts or not, you use it to your advantage like the holy grail!”

“I don’t know why I act like this, Y/N! What do you want me to say? I’ve told you I wasn’t somethin’ to be fixed, yet you followed me anyway! I’ve told you, countless times, to stay. The fuck. Away. And, what do you do? You. Come. Back.”

“So you don’t mean it then?”

“What?!”

“Well if I’m such a burden to you, and all of this is apparently my fault, then you don’t mean it. It’s all my doing and I’m the one who causes all this pain and time and energy to waste.”

Without another word, you walk down the slender hall, trudging up to your bedroom to slam the door shut. With a regretful ‘Shit’, Kreese, throws a beer glass at the wall, hands flying up to wrap around his head. He stays behind for hours, cleaning up your mess, but not with any blame. He knows he’s done this. Maybe just a little bit, deep down, he truly knows he’s put you through hell.

Once the clock strikes around 3, he finally allows himself to open the bedroom door. Your tiny body is the first thing his eyes land on, and he watches as his mind is put at ease. He loves you. Damn, if anything else was a lie, this is his only truth. He undoubtedly, uncontrollably, and unconditionally loves you. He would simply waste away if you were to leave him.

You had every right to be mad, and he scolded himself for making you feel so damn worthless. You were the only bright ray of sunshine that’s shined through his dark, gloomy life. 

Slowly, he walks around to the other side of the bed, pulling at the covers to allow himself to lay beside you. With your back to him, he can tell you still weren’t asleep yet. Brushing at the stray hairs that cascaded behind you, he allows himself the freedom to press up behind you, pulling your back to his chest and wrapping his arm underneath your head, the other laying over your waste to secure you.

“I’m so sorry. I really am, Y/N. I don’t know how we’ll pull through this, but I want us to be together,” he whispers in your ear.

“I’m not leaving, Johnny,” you whisper back, still unable to face him. “I don’ want to just yet.”

His muscle ease at the notion, but he can still feel the stiffness and confusion swirling within you. “Tell me what you want from me, I’ll do it. I’ll try to be better. All I can do is try.”

Turning in his arms, you look up at him. “You already know what you have to work on.”

He nods, blue eyes softly gazing at yours, “I know.”

“Good,” you mumble, playing with the sleeve of his T-shirt. “Happy anniversary by the way.”

Instantly, his whole body stiffens again, and you turn your back to him once more. 

“It's alright, John. Just go to sleep.”

He was a broken, angry man. You were a forgiving, angelic woman. You both knew that you’ survive this little rift in your relationship, and it seems hard to believe right now. But, all you need is time and love, and all the kinks will work themselves out. Kreese had his issues, and you had yours. All you have to do is forgive, forget, and learn to adapt. That’s true survival.

[kpop---scenarios]

Life After Death

Pairing: Kyungsoo x Reader

Genre: Zombie! Au, Enemies to Lovers

Warning: Death, Blood, Smut, Swearing

Word Count: 9k

Summary: The morning you woke up, everything seemed normal, until it wasn't. The world is turned upside down the government and the World Health Organization have shut down, zombies around every corner and only the strong survive. You meet a few friends along the way, and lose even more as you continue to fight for your life. You never thought you'd meet someone under these circumstances but here you were, happy while surviving life after death. Though you should have known, there's never a happy ending in an apocalypse.

A/N: This is part of the collab started by @biaswreckingfics! Go to her page to see the other stories written by terrific creators!

"I'll see you later." You whisper to your sleeping boyfriend before you place a light kiss on his cheek. You open the front door to your apartment, looking back and around at everything, making sure you weren't forgetting anything before you left. As you close the door, you realize you forgot to turn off the radio when you hear one of your favorite songs playing. With a sigh, you glance at your watch and you see you're going to be late, so you leave it, just missing the important message that interrupted everything.

"Breaking News: The World Health Organization has announced extremely serious side effects from the recent vaccinations of batch number 0506361. If the numbers 0506361 are on your vaccination cards please report to your nearest hospital to seek medical treatment."

You don't notice anything different or weird as you walk down the pathway from your apartment building to your parked car. The sun is shining, the air smells crisp, today was going to be a good day, you could feel it. You slide into the driver's seat of your car, turning it on and immediately syncing your phone to play your favorite playlist to amp you up for the day of work you had ahead of you. As you continue to drive to work you notice the streets seem a lot busier than they usually were, especially for 7:45am, some people in their suits running down the sidewalk screaming. Your stomach twisted as you continued down the street, your eyebrows furrowing as you tried to watch the people and the road, slowing your speed. You look out your window and see a man laying on the ground, with another man on top of him. You rolled down your window to yell at them, but when the man turned to look at you, panic ensued. His eyes were white, his face was covered in blood, veins pulsating in his face. Nothing about him seemed human. He looked directly at you, and stood up. Your hands shook as you rolled up your window as fast as it would go. The man suddenly now bolted towards you, snarling. With your window up and both hands now on the steering wheel, you try to breathe through the lump that had appeared in your throat. As you keep driving, you see more and more of people being attacked, tackled and ripped into, people running away crying and screaming, vehicles crashing, buildings and cars up in flames. You could hear the blood curdling screams from inside your car. With shaky hands you switch the station of your radio to see if anyone was reporting on what the fuck was happening.

"..If the numbers 0506361 are on your vaccination cards please report to your nearest hospital to seek medical treatment.. there's a virus.. It's zombies. Zombies are attacking the city.. everyone seek shelter.. oh god.. please no."

You quickly turn your car around, speeding back to your apartment as you try to swerve off the undead as you rush back to your boyfriend. You may not know much, but you've seen enough zombie movies to know that you need to get supplies. You drive your car up and over the curb, parking directly on the lawn in front of your building and run inside. You were lucky you lived right on the ground floor of one of the first apartments in. You struggle to slide your key into the lock, the cries of residents pleading filling the hallway. Your key finally slides into the lock, quickly you turn it and shove your door open before slamming it behind you.

"Jaebum?" You whisper as you scrounge through the front closet looking for the duffle bag that you knew was in there. "Jaebum." You hiss again, running to the kitchen. You pack all the perishable food items and then begin filling up every jug you could find that had a lid with water. You tore through your junk drawer grabbing the flashlights and batteries, and any candles you could find as well as your butcher block.

"I'm serious, Jaebum. You need to answer me now." You hiss, bringing the bag into the living room. You guys needed to leave quickly, which meant you needed to pack even quicker. It wasn't like him not to answer you, it made you worry. You glance to the front door and his shoes were still exactly where he had left them the night before. You crept up to your closed bedroom door, with your hand hovering over the door knob. Your heart felt like it was beating out of your chest as you grabbed the knob, slowly turning it. You push the door open, expecting to see him, but he wasn't there. You quickly changed out of your work clothes, and grabbed everything from all of your drawers and shoved it into the bag. It wasn't until you had finished grabbing what you needed and you had a second to listen that you heard the shower running from down the hall, but for whatever reason, something didn't feel right. You tiptoed quietly down the hallway, standing in front of the door, you pressed your ear against it but heard nothing other than the sound of the shower running.

"Jaebum?" You whispered, gently knocking on the door, but there was no answer. You turned the knob, and opened the door. You saw your boyfriend standing there with his back turned to you. "Oh my god, Jae, we have to go! There are fucking zombies outside!" You gasp, still having a hard time believing those words that were coming from your mouth. In a split second he turned around, his face was beginning to contort, one eye was pure white.

"Y/N.. somethings wrong." He chokes out, spitting out blood before he falls to the ground, his body spasming while he froths at the mouth.

You let out a loud scream as you slam the door shut, running down the hallway to grab the duffle bag before heading out. You swing your door open to run out and crash into a man who falls into another group. You turn to apologize but already there were zombies staggering down the hallway at a quick pace. You whisper an apology before you run out the front door, his cries and pleas for help making your heart sink. You release a big breath seeing your car is still there. You climb in your front seat, closing the door as fast as you can and locking all the doors before turning your car on. Just before you were able to put your car in reverse and speed away, a man began banging on your window.

"Please miss, please open your door." He asks. You look at his face, he's sweating, blood splattered all over his face. His fists and arms remain pressed against your window, smearing blood across it. Your eyes drift down and you see a fresh wound - a bite mark and a chunk taken from his arm.

"You were bitten.." You say to him through the window.

"I'm fine. It's fine.. it's not a bite.. please." He begs. He turns to look behind him and looks back at you, panic written all over his face.

"Please miss, they're coming.. please." He cries.

"I can't." You yell, turning your head away from them. You put the car in reverse, stepping on the gas you pull away from him, knocking him to the ground. As your car stops so you can switch it into drive, you watch as the man gets mauled by a herd of the undead. You felt bad, but you couldn't have helped him, even if you wanted to.

You drove towards the freeway, thinking your best bet is to get out of the city. Your eyes were glued to the road and watching the mirrors, you watched as people panicked while driving, crashing into other cars trying to merge first, crashing into medians, and going in all directions. You could feel a panic attack coming along as you finally realized you were all alone. You had no one to talk to, no one to help you and that was terrifying. You glance down at your gas gage, seeing you had almost a full tank, you knew you would be able to make it to the one place that was probably the safest, your cousin Ray's.

You're stuck in traffic with your doors locked as you see a few people running to cars, trying to get in. There's a man, crying and panicking. No one would let him in, a herd of zombies following behind him. You needed to make a quick decision, so you rolled down your window motioning them over to you. "Here, get in." You yell, unlocking your doors. A man climbs into the backseat of your car, and you quickly lock the doors as soon as the door closes.

"Thank you." The man cries

"Have you been bitten?" You ask, turning to look him over.

"No.. no I haven't. Some men.. they pulled me out of my car, and took off, leaving me out there to die." The man explains. "You're the first person who offered me any help."

"I'm glad I could help." You smile through your rear view. "My cousin has a farm just an hour or so up from here. My family is heading there now. He's been preparing for an apocalypse for a long time. We should be safe there." You explain.

Earlier you had gotten a frantic call from your mother, her asking if you had seen what was going on. You couldn't understand why she thought you lived under a rock and didn't know anything. You did leave your house and listen to the news, contrary to popular belief.

"Thank you, thank you." He cries. You just smile as you continue to drive to Ray's farm.

**

An hour later you take a left turn, driving down the gravel road that leads you to the farm house. You drive slowly, seeing your mom's car, your aunt's car and a few other relatives. You sighed a sigh of relief, knowing that your family was safe. The two of you get out of the car and quietly make your way to the door. You softly knock but there's no answer. You turn the door knob, pushing the door open and it's empty. You walk down the small hallway and hear nothing. Your mom isn't talking, Ray wasn't yelling, no one was making a sound and that was very unusual for your family.

"Hello?" You call out.

You hear footsteps coming from down the hall as the two of you stand around the kitchen. "Hurry up." You laugh and cry.

As the footsteps got closer, you could hear snarling. Your laughter stopped as your cousin Ray came out of the back room. "Zombies." You whisper, backing away.

Not far behind him was your mom, dad, and aunt all coming out, rushing towards you all. "Run!" You scream, heading towards the door. You pull it open, the man behind you trying to get out the door, but he falls, crying as the undead come closer. He's doing his best to fight the zombies off but more stagger out from the back room, there are too many for him. "Run! Save yourself! If you meet my wife, her name is H/N, tell her I love her and our daughter." He yells. "I was trying to get home to them." He yells.

He's trying so hard to fight them, but he's bitten, he screams in agony as he's being ripped to shreds, his body being mauled by the undead.

His screams are now silent, the only sound filling the room is the sound of flesh being torn through.

You close the door, running back to your car. You see a gas can on the side of the house. You rummage through your car, knowing that you have a lighter somewhere in there. You remembered the argument you and Jaebum had gotten into about smoking and he tossed his lighter in your car.

Found it, under the passenger seat. As you went to get out of the car, you noticed something in the backseat.

A wallet.

You grabbed it, opening it up to see the license. It was the man's.

"Kim Jongdae." You whisper. You felt sorry for him, but you couldn't take long to mourn. You needed to be alert and get back on the road. You take your lighter and run to the gasoline. You pour it all over the front of the house, seeing your undead family banging against your windows broke your heart but you needed to do this. You flick the lighter, igniting the flame and throw it onto the ground. The house lights up, the flames quickly engulfing the house. You walk back to your car, slide into the driver's seat and sit there, tears pouring down your cheeks. You have no family, no friends, you have no one.

No one is coming to save you. You watch as your family and the house burn to the ground, exploding in the process.

That made you laugh a little bit, thinking of all the illegal shit your cousin Ray had in his basement.

A while later you get yourself together and drive over to the barn. If you knew anything about your cousin, it is that he always stored something in his barn, besides his pride and joy of a car, his old bronco, Monty. You pull the doors open, and take the tarp off the car, revealing its shine. Just as you remembered it. You peaked in the driver's side and sure enough, the keys were dangling from the ignition.

You began walking slowly to the back of the barn, opening another door, and here you found the jackpot.

Guns.

From a machine gun, to a pistol, to a shotgun. You gathered them all, putting the guns and the ammo in the backseat of Monty. You grab your bags from your car, tossing them in as well before looking around to see if there was anything else you could take. You notice a radio, but don't think much of it at the moment.

You climb into the driver's seat, and pull out of the barn, feeling safer than you have all day. You keep driving down the deserted highway. Abandoned cars everywhere, a few bodies laying around but most of all, no zombies but also no humans either. You're barely paying attention to the road, when you hit something, causing you to swerve, and the car to make a funny noise. You get out to check and see your front tire, flat as fuck.

You didn't have a spare. It was getting dark and you were exhausted. You moved most of the guns to the floor of the back seat, grabbing a blanket and some food and water. You change your clothes, wiping yourself down before having a snack. Laying down in the backseat you try to plan out your next move, but your eyelids get too heavy, and you can't fight it anymore. You doze off completely, and for a little while, forget about the disaster you're in.

You stayed in your car for weeks, never coming across anyone human. You missed talking to someone, talking to yourself wasn't the same. At times you almost forgot what your own voice sounded like. When it was safe, you'd get out of the car and wander around the forest, collecting sticks and branches to make fires with, so you could heat up some of your food. You have some, but you were starting to run low and you didn't know what you were going to do when it ran out. You were limiting yourself to one meal a day but even that didn't seem to help.

You learned when zombies came near the car, in a few or a herd, you needed to hide yourself very well. No moving, light breathing and packed under a lot of things. You were sure if they couldn't see you then they would continue on their way and leave. It almost always worked.

Life in the apocalypse was lonely and exhausting. That night you went to sleep, hoping for a miracle.

You're woken up later, by a frantic tapping on your window. Your eyes adjust to the sun as you look directly out your back window. A group of men stand there, all looking terrified as one of them taps on your window harder. You crawl up to the front driver's seat. You know you can't go anywhere, not with your busted tire. You turn the car on, rolling down your window just a crack.

"What?" You ask, side eyeing all of them.

"Please, we won't hurt you.. we just need a ride. There.. there's a military base a few miles up, but we just can't walk anymore. We haven't come across anyone, human in a while." He stutters.

"My tire is flat." You explain. "I don't have a spare."

"I can change it for you, just gotta take one off another car." A man pipes up.

You didn't feel uneasy from these guys and you were one to always trust your instincts.

"You change the tire, I'll give you a ride." You say. A military base? Maybe it would finally be somewhere safe for you to be.

The man nods and gets to work. By the time he's done the sun is beginning to set, and then you're on your journey to hopefully find somewhere safe.

You're driving down the highway, doing your best to follow the men's map that has every military base mapped out in the 100 miles surrounding the area. "What are your names?" You ask.

"I'm Changbin." The one in the front seat answers. "I'm Chan, and this is Felix." One in the back answers.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Y/N." You say with a smile. As you continue to drive, it quickly becomes night time, everything is black, except for the dim lights coming from your headlights. The two men in the back continue to loudly talk and argue over something, making it hard for you to concentrate. You hated driving at night, especially near wooded areas, you never knew what was out there.

"Can you guys stop?" You ask, glancing to the back.

They continued and got louder. Changbin was asleep in the front seat as they continued their bickering, making you get even more flustered. You turn your head to look back at them, telling them again to stop. They look at each other as you look back at the road and see something standing there. You get startled, yanking the wheel to try and avoid it, heading directly into the woods. The car heads straight on towards a tree and crashes. You hit your head hard on the steering wheel, knocking you out.

What feels like hours, but only seconds later you gain consciousness, just in time to hear Changbin and Chan crying. "She killed him." Changbin cried. "I'm gonna kill her." He yells.

You're struggling to open your eyes, your head is pounding.

You can hear some rustling between the two. "Don't." Chan says. "Leave her. She's in no condition to go anywhere. The undead will get her. She'll get her suffering, ``he says. "Let's take what we can and leave."

"No." You whisper. "Don't."

They can't hear you.

You can hear them rummaging through your car, collecting your guns, your food, your water, everything you had.

"Let's go." Changbin says, they both take off, leaving you there to die as you lose consciousness once again.

**

You're startled awake, surrounded by darkness. You unbuckle your seatbelt, getting out of the car with your head pounding. Your headlights are still on, and you see Felix's body laying on the ground. He had flown through the windshield from the impact of the crash. He wasn't wearing a seatbelt. You begin to cry, this was too much for you.

And then you remember. You look up and see a herd of zombies staggering towards you. They were quicker than you thought. You turned towards the road, running as fast as you could, your leg was throbbing. You run across the road to the other side of the woods. You can hear the snarling behind you as you do your best to navigate through the trees, branches breaking beneath your feet.

You stop, hiding behind a tree, trying to control your breathing. You listen, you can hear the sounds of them walking through the forest, searching for you. You take a second before you take off again, trying to zigzag through the woods in your best attempt to lose them.

You look up, seeing a fire. You run towards it, the flames becoming closer, you can hear the sound of faint words.

Then everything goes quiet. Suddenly the fire is put out and you can hear the sounds of guns clicking.

"Don't shoot." You yell out. "Please."

"What do you want?" A woman yells back.

"I'm.. there's a herd following me. I need help. I was in an accident, I was robbed. I haven't been bitten." You stutter.

"We don't need anyone else." A man yells. "Keep moving."

"Please.. I just need some help. I'm all alone." You cry.

"Move along, before I put a bullet in your head." He yells.

You let out a sob as you turn, beginning to run a different way. You hope you can find a safe place and a group of people but for tonight, you just hope you can survive the night.

**

It had been months.

Months since the outbreak, months of being on your own, months of fighting, scavenging, and hiding. You had come across a few groups, but they wanted nothing more than to take what you had and leave you defenseless. You had learned to hide from most people, giving yourself the advantage of a surprise attack. Most of the time you were successful and they just took off but sometimes they also fought back.

A week ago you had come across a small town, and had found some food and water and a place to stay, but you knew better than to stay in one place for too long. You quickly packed up your belongings into your backpack and grabbed your large spear. You learned awfully quick how to take down a zombie with it, finding it to be much more efficient than a gun, especially with having spears on both sides.

As you walk through the forest, your eyes and ears are open, listening for any signs of the undead. You stop in your tracks, hearing the sound of grunting and yelling, sounding close to you. You walk towards the sound, and come into view of four men trying to fight off a herd. They looked to be struggling, and although you don't usually like to insert yourself into others' fights, you felt like being nice and lending a hand. You run towards them, spearing a few in the head on your way.

You quickly join the fight, taking down a few zombies, as they get a little distracted, seeing another person helping.

"Focus." A man yells, bringing them out of the confusion.

A few minutes later, the last one is stabbed in the head, his decaying body dropping to the ground. The four men turn to look at you, two of them with a smile on their faces, one looking a little confused and the other one looking right angry.

"Hi." One with brown hair and a large smile says.

"Thank you." The blonde one grins.

"No problem." You laugh.

"I'm Baekhyun, this is Chanyeol." He introduces. "And that's Suho." He says, pointing to the confused one. "And that's Kyungsoo." He finishes, pointing to the angry one.

"Nice to meet you all." You say. "I'm Y/N."

"Are you all alone?" Chanyeol asks.

You nod your head.

"What's your story, Y/N?" Suho asks.

You smile awkwardly as you look at the four men who surround you. "My boyfriend turned into one of them when this whole thing started, so I was on my own from the beginning, in a sense. I met a man on my way to my cousin's farm, where my family was gathering, and when we got there they all had already turned. He..he tripped and he fell while trying to escape and he was bitten." You shudder. "I gathered supplies and I took off, and ended up with a flat tire a few hours away. I stayed in my car for weeks, managing pretty well on my own. I met three guys who offered to change my tire for a ride to a military base but when we finally got going.. it was dark and they were arguing in the back." You explain. "I turned around to tell them to stop, but they wouldn't listen and when I looked back at the road, there was something there and I swerved." You sigh. "We hit a tree, and one of them flew through the window. The other two robbed me of everything I had and I've been alone ever since."

"Well not anymore you're not." Baekhyun smiles. "You can join our group."

"Yeah!" Chanyeol exclaims.

"No." Kyungsoo grunts, walking past you, glaring at you. "We didn't need your help. And you're not joining us." He spits. "You're not going to let her join, right?" He asks Suho.

"I don't know." Suho sighs.

"Suho, everyone around her dies. She's bad fucking luck and if you bring her with us, we're all as good as dead." He spits.

"Meeting." Suho announces.

The four men huddle around, whispering to each other. You can make out Baekhyun and Chanyeol saying yes, and Kyungsoo saying no.

Seconds later they all stand up, Kyungsoo looking pissed with the other two looking happier than a pig in shit.

"If you would like to, we would like to invite you to join us. We know it's tough out here, and I can't imagine what it's been like to be alone." Suho says.

You look between all the men, even if one hated you for no reason, you were tired of being alone, and being scared alone.

"Yes." You announce. "Thank you."

"Come on, our camp is this way." Chanyeol smiles, waving you along. Three men begin walking away, but Kyungsoo walks towards you.

"I don't trust you." He murmurs, moving in close. "If anyone from this group so much as gets a splinter, I'm coming for you." He growls into your ear, his tone is low and very threatening. Goosebumps cover your skin as you feel his hot breath on your ear.

You nod your head.

He turns away from you, running towards the rest of his group.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea?

**

You felt like your legs were going to collapse as you continued to walk behind the group. Baekhyun turns around, smiling as he announces you have arrived. You look around and see a bunch of trees, but no camp, except for the small campfire pit that sat on the ground.

"It's.. nice." You smile.

Chanyeol, Suho and Baekhyun start laughing.

"Look up." Chanyeol says.

You tilt your head to the sky, and see a decent sized tree house sitting between a few trees. Your jaw drops, this was one thing you had never expected to see. "Come, we'll give you a tour." Baekhyun says, beginning to climb up the swinging ladder. You follow behind Baekhyun, the rest coming up behind you. When you get inside, you're honestly still amazed. It wasn't much but it was safe and it was out of the way and off the ground.

"We pull up the ladder when we're here, and when we all leave we just hide it." Suho explains. "We have food, water and sleeping bags. The most important things. We all pitch in around here, whether or not it's repairs, runs, or fights, everyone helps." He says, looking at you.

"Of course. Whatever I can do to help, I will." You assure them.

"Or don't, I'm not ready to die." Kyungsoo mutters, setting his stuff down.

Your eyes darted over to Kyungsoo, giving him an offended look. He looks back at you, not caring if he's hurt your feelings. You can sort of understand why he's weary of you, but it's not like you killed these people for the hell of it. You were determined to prove that it wasn't you, that you weren't bad luck. How you were going to do that, you had no idea.

**

That night you sat around a campfire, your belly fuller than it's been in a while, while you listened to stories Baekhyun and Chanyeol shared about their friend group. As it turned out, there were a total of twelve of them when this first started. Some of them were unfortunate to be ones who had gotten the batch of vaccines, a few they had lost while traveling, some died in fights, or took off to find their loved ones.

"Have you come across any of them?" You ask.

"We've looked, but no luck so far. There are two we're still looking for. Oh Sehun and Kim Jongdae." Suho says.

Your heart stops. Your head darts up, looking at him with wide eyes.

"What?" Chanyeol asks.

"What was that last name?" You whisper.

"Kim Jongdae? He was one of our best friends." Suho tells you.

You gulp, there's a ball forming in your throat. "What?" Kyungsoo yells. "What do you know?"

"I.. He said he was trying to get back to his wife and kid.. h-he told me to run and save myself. I wanted to help him b-but I didn't know how." You choke out.

"The man that was bitten at your farm. That was Jongdae?" Kyungsoo asks.

"I saw his license in his wallet.. he had dropped it in my car when we got out. I'm so sorry." You cry.

Kyungsoo rushes towards you, tackling you to the ground, straddling you.

"You fucking bitch, I knew you shouldn't have joined us. It should have fucking been you. You should have died, not him." He screams in your face, spit flying from his mouth as he hands pin your shoulders to the ground.

You're bawling as Suho and Chanyeol pull Kyungsoo off of you, he's still crying and yelling. "It should have been you!" He yells.

Baekhyun helps you off the ground, guiding you to go up into the tree house. He sets out a sleeping bag for you, tucking you in as you cry into the built in pillow. 'I'm so sorry." You whimper.

"I know. And we know it's not your fault. Jongdae was a clumsy motherfucker so I'm not surprised he tripped. Don't take what Kyungsoo says to heart. He's been through alot and he's not warm to new people. Just give him a bit." Baekhyun tells you. He gives you a half smile before climbing down the ladder and sitting back around the fire, helping to calm things down. That night you fell asleep with tears staining your face.

**

Days bled into weeks, and then into months, until this new life and these men were all that were at the top of your mind. Chanyeol had finally been able to make contact with the ham radio that had been found on one of many expeditions. There seemingly were whole groups of people like yourselves out there, sticking together and trying to survive. You reflected on the wonder of it all as you cleaned the rabbit you had caught, the best you could.

Kyungsoo had become different with you, he didnt give off a hatred towards you anymore. His words didn't cut quite as deep. Slowly you were becoming closer, and you enjoyed it.

Suddenly, you feel a presence behind you, waves of hot breath covering the nape of your neck, sending chills down your spine. He didn't even need to speak, you already knew who it was. "You're doing it wrong." Kyungsoo breathed, his body close to yours.

"I'm not." You retort, continuing to skin the dead animal. You tried to ignore his presence, and that fact that he made you feel so many mixed emotions whenever he was around.

You both hear a crunch of leaves behind you, making Kyungsoo step away from you and turn around.

"What are you guys doing?" Baekhyun asks, raising his eyebrow.

"She's skinning the rabbit wrong. She's going to take off all the meat with the fur." Kyungsoo announces.

"I am not.. shit." You spit, looking on the ground, seeing hunks of meat still attached to the fur.

"Told you." He mumbles, walking away and into the forest to try and find more food.

You stick up your middle finger at the man who drove you crazy day in and day out.

"Y/N." Suho calls out to you, a few hours later. "If you want to take a bath, go to the stream now. It's going to be dark soon."

You nod your head, climbing up the ladder to grab your things. You slide back down, just in time for Kyungsoo to be protesting something.

"We've all got other things to do, you're the only one free." Suho tells him. "Y/N, Kyungsoo will be keeping watch for you."

"I really don't ne.." you start.

"Yes you do." He says, looking at you. "And you will go. That's it."

With an aggravated groan, Kyungsoo stomps off towards the stream, with your speed walking to keep up with him.

As you finish up your wash, you dry yourself off with your towel, pulling your jeans on over your damp legs. You bend down to grab your shirt, when you hear a rustling from behind you. You stand up straight, your heart pounding in your chest.

You hear it again, the sound now closer to you. "Fuck." You scream, running towards Kyungsoo. Your body collides with his, your breasts pressing against his hard chest. "There's something out there." You whisper.

You both hear the sound, Kyungsoo holding onto you as his eyes dart around, taking in the surroundings. Seconds later a deer walks out of the bushes, grazing and you can feel your heart slow down.

"It's a deer." He announces, looking at you. You look back at him, your eyes trailing to his heart shaped lips. Your own set of lips parting slightly as you look back at him, his eyes haven't moved from your face. Without thinking you inch yourself forward, which causes Kyungsoo to inch back. Your stomach sinks. You cannot believe you just did that. Why did you think that he would return a kiss?

"We should head back." He says, avoiding eye contact and clearing his throat.

You feel so embarrassed. You quickly whisper an apology before grabbing your things and taking off, hearing a faint "wait." From behind you. You're running through the words, desperately trying not to cry as you can hear Kyungsoo running behind you.

You finally slow down, trying to catch your breath as your lips quiver. You hear a stick break behind you. You turn around with a sigh, and come face to face with a zombie, snarling as he reaches out for you. You scream loudly as you try to fight it off, tripping in the process. You fall back with him on top of you as he tries to go in for a bite. Black bile is seeping from his mouth, his breath is rancid.

"Help!" You scream out, one hand trying to reach for something, anything that would help you take him out.

Suddenly his body goes limp and you hear the sound of a sword coming out of his head. You roll the body off of you, and see Chanyeol smiling above you.

"Thank you." You sigh in relief. Chanyeol puts out his hand to help you up, when he's attacked. Another zombie staggers up to him, latching his teeth to Chanyeol's neck. He screams out in agony as the monster devours him before your eyes.

"No!" You cry. You take Chanyeol's sword, putting the blade right through the zombie's skull. Chanyeol sinks to the ground, sobbing while he holds his neck. "I'm sorry." You cry. "I'm so so sorry."

"It's.. not.. your...fault." He breathes. "Tell them.. I love them.." he stutters.

Kyungsoo, Baekhyun and Suho rush to Chanyeol's side. Baekhyun is sobbing while Kyungsoo and Suho hold back their tears.

"I didn't.. I didn't know there was a second one." You sob.

Kyungsoo walks over to you, his face stone cold. He wraps one arm around you, pulling you in close to him. "It's not your fault." He murmurs. The two of you stand there, watching the life drain from Chanyeol's eyes.

Baekhyun announces he will be the one to put Chanyeol down, but would like to do it in private. Three of you walk away from the sobbing man, your heart full of guilt.

**

The next day, the camp is quiet. You were busy making wood spears, like Chanyeol had taught you a few weeks ago. You couldn't even look at Baekhyun. You knew the two of them were best friends and your heart hurt so badly that Chanyeol died while trying to save you.

Had you not been so stupid and tried to kiss Kyungsoo, then this would never have happened. You knew this was your fault and there was nothing you could do to make it better. You can't bring Chanyeol back and you really wish you could.

"Careful." You hear from behind you. You turn your head and see Kyungsoo leaning against a tree. "If you keep sharpening it like that you're going to end up slicing your finger off." He tells you.

"This is how.. Chanyeol showed me how to do it." You say. You could barely speak his name.

Kyungsoo chuckles. "Yeah, he wasn't the best at doing it either." He crouches behind you, wrapping his arms around you to show you the proper way of doing it. Your heart still flutters as he touches you.

"Thank you." You whisper.

"Anytime." He says, standing up and walking away from you.

Fuck. You were so fucked.

**

That night you couldn't sleep. You stared at the empty spot beside you, where Chanyeol used to sleep. You could hear the small whimpers coming from Baekhyun and you just couldn't take it. You slowly slid out of your sleeping bag, slid on some shoes and climbed down the ladder. As you stand in the forest, you take a deep breath of fresh air. You need to gather your thoughts and heal yourself. You begin walking through the woods. It's quiet, and you didn't plan on going very far. As you're walking, you stop to listen. You hear a noise coming from in front of you but you didn't know what it was. You tried your best to hide behind the tree, limiting your breathing as you continue to listen. You can heat twigs breaking and leaves crunching. Your heart begins to race in your chest, you squeeze your eyes shut.This was a bad idea, you should not have left the tree house.

"What are you doing?" You hear from in front of you. You open your eyes and see Kyungsoo standing in front of you.

"I thought.. oh my god." You sigh. "I thought I was going to die."

Before he can say anything you both hear groans and snarls but you're not sure where from. You unintentionally let out a squeak. Kyungsoo covers your mouth with his hand, pushing you up against the tree. His body presses hard against yours, you can feel his hot breath against your neck.

The two of you stay like this for what feels like hours. When the sound is finally gone he pulls away from you.

"What are you doing out here?" He growls.

"I needed some air, and to think." You explain.

"You could die out here. This has to be your stupidest decision." Kyungsoo scoffs.

"No." You begin. Before your brain can tell you not to say anything, your mouth begins to move. "My stupidest decision was trying to kiss you." You say, turning away from him to walk away.

"I was surprised." He announces. "I didn't think you'd try and kiss me. I didn't think you'd even like me. I treated you terribly." He tells you.

"That's probably why I like you unfortunately." You sigh, making him laugh.

As the two of you are walking back towards the house, you hear whispers coming towards you. You both stop, hearing the sound of a gun loading, making you stop in your tracks. Kyungsoo pulls you behind him, moving both of you towards a bigger tree to hide behind.

"Show yourself walker." A man screams. "I know you're out there."

Neither of you say anything. Kyungsoo is against pressed up against your body, shielding you from any danger.

A while later you see a light flashing. It flashes towards your tree, making Kyungsoo push into you more, trying to keep the two of you hidden. The light passes the tree you're behind and continues to walk away. Neither of you move until the light is completely gone and out if sight. Both of you let out a sigh of relief but Kyungsoo doesn't move away from you. His face hovers close to yours, you can feel his breath on your face.

You wait. You wait for what you hope will happen but you don't think that it will come.

Until it does. Kyungsoo presses his lips to yours. You're shocked at first, until he begins moving his lips against yours and you get into it. You wrap your arms around his neck as he slips his tongue into your mouth. You moan into the kiss, making him groan.

"I want to fuck you." He says, his lips still just barely touching yours.

"I want you to fuck me." You breathe.

Kyungsoo turns you around, pushing you up against the tree. He kneels down, pulling down your sweat pants and underwear.

"Spread your legs." He demands.

You spread them as far as you can. You can hear the sound of his belt unbuckling behind you. Your pussy throbs in anticipation. You don't know how big or small he is, but you hope he destroys you. You couldn't even remember the last time you had been fucked at all.

Kyungsoo steps up behind you, taking two fingers and searching between your lips for your hole. He chuckles when he finds it, he can feel your juices dripping from inside of you. "So fucking wet." He groans, slowly pushing his two fingers inside you. Immediately you clench around them, it feels so good. "I needed to make sure you were wet enough, and fuck are you ever." He whispers in your ear.

He pulls his fingers out of you, and lines his cock up with your hold. You're bracing yourself on the tree as he pushes himself inside you. Your eyes practically roll back into your head as he stretches you out.

"Oh god." You cry, your fingernails digging into the tree bark.

"Shit." He cries, slowly pulling out of you before snapping his hips and harshly pushing his cock back inside. "It's gonna be quick." He groans.

That was fine with you, you knew you could rub your clit twice and cum, it had been too long.

Kyungsoo has his hands holding onto your hips as he snaps his, grunting and groaning from behind you. You reach between your legs, touching your clit. You begin to slowly rub it and you can already feel your intense orgasm already building up. You feel like you're going to cum already. His cock feels so nice sliding in and out of your pussy, the sound of his grunts and moans, with the feeling of his hot breath covering you and giving you shivers.

"Cum." He grunts. Your tighten your pussy around him as you orgasm washes over you, leaving your body feeling weak.

Kyungsoo moans loudly as he pulls out of you, jerking his cock to cum all over your ass. He lets out a string of swear words as he releases his load, breathing heavily as he works through it.

You both pull up your pants, and get situated. "We better get back." He says, walking back towarsa camp. You follow closely behind him, confused about your feelings for him, but more so his feelings for you, if there were any.

**

The next day you wake up with the thoughts of what happened last night over flowing through your head. You didn't know how to process this, or what was going to happen now. You decided to see how the day was going to play out and just go about your normal routine.

When you got downstairs you said hi to Suho, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo. Two of them said goodmorning back to you, and one did not. You tried to stop thinking about it but it was hard and you knew he wasn't the type of man to tell you his feelings.

However, all day he ignored you. Anytime you tried to say anything to him, he walked away, he refused to answer you and honestly you felt extremely disrespected. Your eyes burn as you fight off the tears, watching him talk and laugh with Baekhyun while you just get ignored.

Suho on the other hand most definitely noticed something was going on because a little while later you see Suho quietly yelling at Kyungsoo.

"I don't care what you did." Suho spits. "Fix it. I refuse to have a hole in our team because one of us is being a dick. Fucking fix it." He murmurs again before walking away.

**

That night you laid in your sleeping bag, wondering if this is what it was going to be like. You having feelings for Kyungsoo, and him taking advantage of it. Fucking you when it's convenient for him and ignoring you the rest of the time. Even after death, life was still so fucked.

You feel something pressing against you from behind. You slowly roll over and see Kyungsoo laying beside you in his sleeping bag.

"Can we talk?" He asks.

You nod your head.

"I." He begins. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the way I treated you, I'm sorry for the things I said and for the way I acted when I found out about Jongdae. Its been hard to lose people, and it's even harder to accept new people into the group. You're doing a great job here and we're lucky to have you." He whispers.

"Thank you." You smile. But you really want to know why he ignored you all day. "What was going on today?" You ask.

"I enjoyed last night. I, um, had a girlfriend when this whole thing started. We got out together, we met up with Suho and Baekhyun and Chanyeol and she really helped build alot of this. I lost her a while ago, and it's been hard. I didn't think I would meet anyone, or fall for anyone else and then you came along. I feel guilty for liking you so much, like I'm cheating." He explains. "I was convincing myself it wasn't cheating."

"I get that. I was in a relationship when this thing started. Unfortunately for me, he ended up being one of the ones who received that does of vaccine. I had to leave him in our apartment and take off." You whisper. "You'll always have her memory with you and it's something you'll treasure. I didn't know her, but I'm sure she wouldn't want you to be sad and mourning her."

"You're right." He sighs. "It's hard to let go, but I do like you, Y/N. I want you to know that."

"I like you too." You smile.

The two of you lay there, whispering to eachother, laughing and enjoying the night. You couldn't have asked for anything better.

**

Over the next few weeks, the others had changed. With Chanyeol being gone, it took a toll on Baekhyun. He often sobbed at night, crawling next to you so you could rub his head while he cried. Your heart went out to him.

This life wasn't easy.

Suho had become much more grimmer and sullen. He barks orders at people, never engaging in coversations anymore. He's tired, everyone is tired with very little of hope for the future. Fighting for your lives everyday, scrounging for food and water is a struggle, however none of this stopped you and Kyungsoo from sneaking off when you could to be together.

Neither of you really talked when you weren't fucking and that was okay with you, you knew he still had feelings for you. It was the little things he did for you when no one was looking that reassured you. You both knew that announcing your relationship to Suho and Baekhyun would not end well, so keeping it between the two of you would be the best.

You announced to Baekhyun and Suho that you were going to the river, they both just nodded while Kyungsoo offered to be your watch.

It didn't take long for him to be pulling off your shirt and for you to slide off your pants and panties. Both of you walked into the cool water, soaking yourselves before Kyungsoo pulled you towards him. He lifts you up, letting you put your legs around him as he leans in for a kiss. You can feel his cock sliding against your pussy, waiting to be pushed in. He breaks the kiss, leaning down to pepper kisses along your neck as he thrusts, pushing himself inside of you.

You throw your head back as he holds you, fucking you harshly. There was never time to fuck slow, you always needed to be quick and get it done, just in case.

He pumps himself into you, his hand reaching between you and him, touching your sensitive bud and rubbing while he pounds his cock into you.

"Fuck baby." He groans. "You feel so fucking good."

You hold him close as your orgasm builds, biting your bottom lip and your hands gripping his hair. "Just like that." You breathe. "Don't stop." You grind yourself on him as you begin to cum, intensifying your orgasm. "Oh god yes." You moan, breathing heavily.

"I'm gunna cum." He moans, thrusting harder. Seconds later he releases himself, shooting his cum inside of you, his head resting on you as he catches his own breath.

"Fuck." He breathes pulling out of you. "I love you." He whispers.

You stare at him with wide eyes. This wasn't something you had been expecting at all, considering you did your best to hide the relationship at all costs. "I know it might be too soon, but I do and I need you to know that."

"I love you too." You smile.

You're brought out of your sweet moment when you hear screaming from Baekhyun and Suho. You both rush out of the water and get dressed as quick as you can before running back to camp.

"What?" You breathe. "What happened?"

Baekhyun and Suho grin as they stare at the radio. "Listen!" Baekhyun yells.

“Our dear citizens, to those who have survived. The WHO has created what promises to be a vaccine. We are asking all our citizens to make their way to the nearest hospital facility. Troops are being deployed along with helicopters and planes to transport as needed. Today … we have hope in the world again”

You all burst into tears. You did it, you survived and met some wonderful people. You have a love you had never thought you'd get again.

Kyungsoo embraces you tightly, crying into your shoulder as you do his. Quickly Suho and Baekhyun join your hug, all of you feeling such relief and happiness, for the first time in a long time.

As quick as you all can, you gather what you need to make the trek to find a hospital. You say a quick goodbye to your site that has kept you safe for so long, before taking off, hand in hand with Kyungsoo, and Baekhyun and Suho on either side of you.

It wasn't long into your journey, when you hear the familiar sounds of zombies wandering through the forest. The four of you prepare yourselves for a fight but as they come out, you realize there are more than you all had anticipated. You try to fight your way through the crowd, but somehow you're separated from the group, trying to take on more than you can. The others are distracted, they aren't paying attention to your calls for help. A zombie lunges at you, knocking you back. You're crying loudly but no one is coming to help. The other zombies kneel beside you as you keep trying to fight them off, but one takes a chunk out of your shoulder. You scream in agony as you lose your strength to fight. They're devouring you as you're fading into the darkness. You can hear Kyungsoo yell no and all the pain stops. You see him standing over you as you spit up blood. He's crying over your body, asking you to stay with him but you can't. You're tired of fighting, you want to let go now.

So you do.

You open your eyes and see a film over everything. Your body is sore, the scent of meat makes your mouth water and your stomach cramp. Everything feels stiff but something smells so good. Your hearing is better than ever, picking up the sound of a rapid beating heart and the sound of crying. Wait…Where’s my heart beat? You look with horror at the meat...

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, “I love you.” You reach out to stop the knife but your body is stiff and I responsive as you watch the knife plunging towards you. It’s me you scream in your head as it all goes dark

There is no happiness in life after death.

[balmasedas]

desperado / druglord!javier peña au. 

chapter one.

summary: reader is a dea agent. violence has arisen in the streets of colombia and she's determined to bring javier peña to justice. things take an abrupt turn when, instead of her finding him, he finds her and realizes they got much more interest in each other than just drug-related topics. 

warnings: only +18. overall, this is smut so smutty. canon violence. detailed warnings in every chapter. spanish traductions are in the notes, though for the sake of non-spanish speakers, spanish dialogues will be minimal and not relevant to the plot.

word count: 2.5k.

You throw your sweater in the backseat of your car before exiting it. In the morning, you had dug through your boxed-up winter clothes after shivering in your shirt-sleeves as soon as you got out of your department. Now, the temperature has risen to the seventies and you give yourself a clap in the back for deciding to wear something decent underneath. Spring in Colombia is a nightmare.

The crime scene is packed with local police and DEA agents. There are no civilian spectators this time, they know better than sticking their noses in the Medellin's cartel businesses.

Upon your arrival, you don’t need to identify yourself to the uniformed men guarding the perimeter. They know you well by then. You are the only female in the team that has to deal with these kinds of situations —gruesome, gut-churning, dirty shit. Not a very much "lady-like" job, some would express. For that, you have earned yourself the title of a gritty woman. Maybe because you were gritty, maybe because you were a woman.

Sometimes, though, you find yourself wondering why you turned down some run-of-the-mill desk job back in Virginia. It would’ve been a dull routine, for sure — hideous, even; but gossiping about some flash romance between two co-workers is less taxing than having to witness five rotting corpses at first daylight. 

"Jesus Christ," you lift your sunglasses to your head. Your partner, esteemed, weary agent Steve Murphy, turns around at the sound of your voice. 

“You’re up early.” he asserts, with a raised eyebrow. 

You purse your lips. “Had a bad night. Ran out of whisky at one am.” 

Not even Hugo, or Hughie for his gringo friends, could help you. You forgot that his daughter would be celebrating her birthday and his all-night store would be closed until the next morning. Normally, you would own an arsenal of alcohol, but it has been an abnormal week and a hell of a night —starting with the spiral of violence that has arisen in the streets of Medellin.

"Well, look at the bright side: your stomach is empty," Murphy mumbles.

Looking at the bodies in front of you, you can’t agree more: their hands are tied-up to the oxidated wire behind them, hanging by their arms. They are barefoot and scantily clad. There is a visible gunshot wound in all of their front heads, some flies are already hovering around the open flesh. A quick death to eternal torture, you suppose.

"When did you get the call?" you inquire.

He fiddles with his wristwatch. "About two hours ago." you only hum in response, keeping your eyes in front of you and paying no mind to Steve who only grows impatient at your silence. "You think this was Peña's job?" he adds.

You nod in denial. "If it was, it doesn't make sense." Not one bit. "Peña works underground, quiet, like a sneaky rat. I'd even say they're more well-behaved than most cartels. So why do this?"

Why such a declaration of violence? Why draw even more attention from the authorities? 

"Maybe he decided to toughen his punishments?” You scoff at his remark.

“He can do that without half the city knowing it. A ditch is much more subtle than a monument to death blocks from the US embassy.” 

Murphy smirks. “Seems that you have given it a thought before, Sarchie.” you narrow your eyes. He knows you hate that nickname. Your tendencies to boss him around had brought you consequences: the unofficial title of a Sargeant. Sarchie, shortened and friendly.

“Killing someone? Yes, you. Multiple times a day.” you put your sunglasses back on and walk away. The forensic police won’t be there until the next half hour, at least, and you are too disquiet to wait around. Plus, your stomach is growling, but Steve doesn’t need to know that. “We’re gonna need their names, I’ll see what I can find. You have a little chat with the coroner and see if they can speed up the autopsy. The sooner the better, ok?” you spot the smirk on his face. You know what he’s thinking. You shut your car's door and point a finger at him through the window. A clear warning sign in your eyes. “Shut the fuck up and do it.”

(,,,)

Happy hour. You give up on the investigation and stop off at ‘Chiquita’, a popular local bar near your place. The prices are cheap, the drinks aren’t that good but they do the job. The place is crowded — hot couples with wet, glowing skin grinding against each other. Happy or horny or both. You take a mental note to have some fun later. 

As you sip at your bourbon and crack your peanuts, you let yourself dwell on what you found out about your case. You finally got the names of your five guys. For that, much research wasn’t needed: All of them had their IDs in their pockets and they were exactly who you feared they were: no ones. No ties to any big names, no official involvement in any cartel — at the most, a few minor possession charges. As for weeks, your few clues have led to nowhere and the enigma surrounding the Medellin cartel seems to worsen with every minute that passes by.

You hate mysteries. Colombia’s full of them. 

You take your second bourbon in one smooth shot and ask for another. You grab a colombian peso from your wallet and slide it across the wood. Your eyes stop at the picture of your parents that you carry around. It’s tiny and worn, just like your relationship with them. They haven’t heard from you in weeks, a fair deal, if anyone asked. They don’t have to deal with their fucked up daughter and you can focus on your work filled with dead ends and a ghost that haunts you while you’re awake: Javier Peña.

“¹Qué tomas, preciosa?” a velvety voice caresses your ears. A pleasant smile breaks quietly over your lips. Just in time.

You turn your head to the side. The stranger, with chocolate-skin and inviting eyes, is waiting for an answer. You tap your fingers against the glass.

"Bourbon," you say. "²Pero no me vendría mal un trago más." he grins and holds up two fingers to the barman. He sits at the empty seat beside you, he’s exuberating confidence. He’s offered you the bait and you'd taken it.

"³Algo más que se te ofrezca?"

You look him in the eyes. You know how the story goes from there. It isn’t any different than the one from last night, or the night before. As an apex predator, he's out for something to satisfy his hunger. He won't go home without reaching his goal and you're desperate enough to let him.

"⁴Sí. Hay algo más que puedes hacer por mi."

(,,,)

The fucking cat on the window has been staring straight into your eyes for the last fifteen minutes. Matias, the guy you've met hours before, is too focused on you to notice the awkward presence of the animal, so you don't bother shooing it away. 

He's enjoying himself, pounding into you in a symphony of lust bites and moans. But the sound of skin on skin doesn't match the intensity of your passion for this encounter.

It's not that his performance was terrible, it was just... soft. So soft, too soft. From the sweet nothings, he gasps on your ear to the gentleness of his grip on your hip. 

You aren't a sweet girl. If you were sweet, you wouldn't have traveled all the way down to Colombia to participate in the war on drugs. If you were fond of delicateness, you would've stayed inside and touched yourself to a Cristina Peri Rossi novel instead of searching for strangers at bars.

You don't like to believe you are a special case. On the contrary, you assume your attitude is the rule and not the exception. Not a hell of a woman, but a woman made of hell – waking up already worried about the hours ahead of you. How could you not? Your life is as wide and empty as the sky. Unstable, unpredictable. Anything can happen. A good meaningless fuck is the only moment you allow yourself to feel something — someone. By then, the detachment that gets you through the day disappears and raw feral emotion takes its place. 

You are addicted. It's like a drug, but worse. Drugs don't have feelings, people do.

You’d grabbed Matias' hand and wrapped it around your neck a few times but your request had been ignored; you’d even pushed his ass against your body so you could get closer to a feral touch, but he had insisted on something more caring and delicate. 

And delicacy just won't do. 

So, after a few tries, you give up. You lay still, under his heating body, dead eyes directed at your window. No emotion whatsoever, no release. Like a numb, stiff sex doll, rooting for his satisfaction. Forgotten until next time.

“⁵Donde?” he blurts in your ear. You evaluate your options quickly. 

“⁶Adentro.” Any other place would demandsñ more attention. By then, he would be aware of your passivity and asking too many questions. You don't answer questions, you make them.

His body tenses and trembles. You feel heat dripping between your legs but it doesn't come from you. He leaves a few small pecks on your neck — thankfully, the last ones for the night. Matias breathes over you for a few seconds before he gets off. You stare at the roof in silence, and when he asks if you finished, you simply nod.

You can't grasp what he says under his breath after you ask him, as nice as possible, to leave. What he does or doesn't vocalize, it doesn't matter. You won't be repeating with him. You never fucked the same person twice. 

Once you hear the front door shut, still resting on your bare skin, you lit a cigarette. The room is void of artificial light, and the cat is still in the same place, with his silhouette contoured by the gleam of the moon.

"Sneaky bastard." you chuckle, then get up from the bed and slowly approach it.

You stop at the wooded frame of the window, maintaining your distance. Not too close to scare him or him to scare you. He isn't a friendly guy. He isn't even yours — just a grumpy cat that stops by your department too often demanding some food. You tried to get him to come inside before, but all you had won from your offers were a couple of scratches. Nonetheless, the cat has seen more of you than many people have. So, even though you renegade from him, you found yourself inevitably attached. He's the closest thing to a family, after Murphy, of course. But Murphy hasn't seen you on your worst, yet.

"Hope you see the same shit I see." you grimace and shake your head. "Not like that, I mean... I should choose better who to fuck with. And they should choose better too." the cat remains silent –obviously– and you keep talking. "You could make yourself useful and spook them away before I have to." he meows, you roll your eyes and decide to leave him alone. "Then again, I could do it myself if I told them I hold long conversations with the stray cat that lives in my window."

You choose to take a bath and call it a night. You glide through the living room, though before you can reach the bathroom something stops you. There's a noise outside, some glass breaking down on the streets. You can ignore it, conflict isn't a foreign subject in Colombia, especially at late hours. But then it repeats itself a second time, and the third bugs you too much for you not to grab your night robe and take a look at it from your window.

The only light pole is out of order; there's not a soul in sight; music can be heard from afar. You see nothing out of place until you do.

Your car is parked across the street. All four windows have been smashed, the tires are flat. You barely waste time cursing before you flee out of your place. You thought the night couldn’t get worse but the world has a disturbing obsession with testing your patience. 

Once you take a step outside and approach your damaged car, you’re not sure where your chills are coming from. Perhaps, because of the unfriendly weather or maybe because you’re suddenly aware of how idiotic was your decision to go outside. 

Everything inside your vehicle is left untouched. There weren't objects of value anyways. You find no logical reason for someone wanting to wreck a car just because —yours, of them all.

Big red warning signs color your mind. Your eyes scan your surroundings with speed. It's a dark, lonely dessert. You're now sure that what happened isn't some random event. The victim could've been to another person, but you weren't just another person.

"⁷Discúlpeme, señorita." a voice throws yourself far from the source. You reach for your gun just to find nothing there. Damn you. "⁸Está bien?" you look at the man. An old man that, at first glance, doesn't represent a threat. His voice is gentle, his voice is tinted with a caring voice. You lower your defenses, just a bit, not enough to stay around.

"⁹Sí." you mutter.

Slowly, you walk back to your apartment. Old man glues his eyes to your form and you don't take your own off from his'. Before reaching the sidewalk, you trip with something. Your back collides against a car and you're ready to apologize when the owner exits it there’s not a sign of rage in his face. On the contrary, his stare is blank and his mouth doesn’t even twitch.

Bad news.

You intend to run, but another guy blocks your passage and two more appear at each side of you. You turn over to ask the old man for help, but he’s gone along with your last piece of hope. Can’t blame him, you would’ve escaped too if you had the chance. However, you can’t and the smartest thing to do is acknowledge it and work from it. 

You stay still thinking it will persuade them to opt for gentle treatment. 

How naive of you. 

A set of fingers dig into your arms, another one grabs you by the neck and lowers your head as they drag you into their car. Guarded by two of them who sit at your sides, a dark cloth bag is placed over your head and your wrists are restricted with a zip tie. 

All you have left now is your hearing, you pick up a few things: the engine roaring, the tires burning on the asphalt as you speed off, some spanish words thrown in the air. Nothing substantial, nothing of use.

You sit in silence and wait for the worst.

[leam1983]

On Yuletide Gags

I don't know how I feel about the trend of sourcing the box of some expensive piece of tech from somewhere and stuffing it with purely didactic stuff for the kids...

I get it, some of us aren't really able to afford even those more accessible of consumer electronics, the chip shortage being what it is, but when my parents felt like pulling an Xmas fakeout, they at least had the decency to do it the other way around...

What's better, to spend weeks getting unreasonably hyped about something your relatives never had any intention to buy you, or to stew in apprehension for just as long in the expectation of something that's been sold to you as unbearably shitty, only to open that box and actually find something neat inside?

As that's what my parents did to me, as a kid. I forget in which year of the nineties it happened - likely around 1992, seeing as I was still fairly young - but Mom and Dad spent weeks giving me straight-faced guff about having bought a rock-counting game for me, and I essentially lived in mortal fear of what waited for me under the Christmas tree.

Come the big morning, I woke up at the ass-crack of dawn and politely followed the family policy of each of us opening a gift at a time in a clockwise order, all the while stewing in anticipation of that one circular, weirdly heavy box under the tree. When it came up, I realized my parents had cut up store catalog images and background pieces to put the cover of a fictitious game together, titled Count the Rocks.

I was fuming. I'd never made any concrete demands, but I expected there'd be at least one major gift along with a few utilitarian ones, like basic clothing items or packaged appointment cards announcing I'd get a new pair of prostheses in X months. I would've even taken erasers and pencils, honestly.

My parents are split in two and are trying to get me to open the modded cookie tin. I shake it instead, feeling a few small pebbles jostle around in there, with something bigger blocking their travel. I give in with a grunt, open the tin, and find what was likely the Tengen release of the NES' version of Gauntlet - I don't remember exactly and I'll definitely have to fact-check with the folks. In any case, it was a lot better than rocks.

Compare and contrast with today's pranks that keep flooding my socials. "Ooooh, psyche! You thought you were getting a PS5 or a Switch, huh? Well, howsabout the rest of winter's school supplies stuffed in a PS5 box borrowed from someone else?! Gotcha, son! Bwahahahahahahahaha!"

That's just cruel, as far as I'm concerned. I'm not in favor of setting unrealistic expectations, obviously, but if I had serious doubts as to my ability to source a hot commodity for Crimbo, I'd tell my hypothetical kid and I'd strongly urge them to review their gift list. I'd want them to be happy and if that means getting something that's within my ability to get as earnestly as I can, then that's what I'd do.

It also goes hand-in-hand with a weird trend I'm seeing, where parents act like they're absolutely desperate for their kids to start acting like adults. I'm not referring to late teens or even twentysomethings in need of a bit of a reality check - as those do exist - but children. Kids. What's an eight year-old going to do with school supplies; he doesn't have the emotional maturity needed to process how that's probably the callous, pragmatic and honestly heartless thing to do!

Christmas isn't about fucking pragmaticism, it's about telling your kids you love them to bits - within your budget's constraints. If you can't afford toys, tech or clothes, give them experiences. I'm a grown-ass adult and my parents got me a dog-sledding course scheduled for this February. I am fucking stoked. In return, I bought them a four-day stay at a local Scandinavia-themed hotel, spa and resort, without knowing what they had planned. They've had to scrap two consecutive reservations in Mexico thanks to COVID, so I figured I'd bite the bullet and get them something local that can actually be carried out in accordance with the local sanitary restrictions.

School supplies for Christmas... I mean, come on!

[tinyboxxtink]

"Black Magic" *Part 6*

Part 5

Part 7

Okay so this one's a bit shorter, but like I said I want to try and keep it a "day" a chapter. Also, I don't think you want this day to be ANY longer.

....I'm so sorry.

Also also---- I'm going out now. I'M SO SORRY.

I'll post another chapter tonight....be strong my babies!

Side note how perfect is the gif with the angry barba and the smirking Olivia....I mean.... what?

Tag List:

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@omgsuperstarg

@chasingeverybreakingwave

@gibbs274

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@word-scribbless

@objection-argumentative

@aprildecker-blog

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@stars-trash-18

-------

You arrived at the door of Rafael's office early once again, knocking this time. You looked like a million bucks. You had taken at least an hour to get ready, your outfit, your hair, your makeup. You were ready to make a move. You knocked again. There was no answer. He should be there, maybe he didn’t hear you. You knocked a little louder. Where could he be? You decided to take a peek and peer open his door to see the most horrifying sight:

Rafael and Olivia, making out on his desk. They both snapped back when they heard the door open.

“Y/N!!” He yelled angrily. “Don't you knock?”

“Oh.. oh my God I'm so sorry sir I'm really sorry. I just brought your morning coffee sir,” You were upset, embarrassed , confused , distraught unable to speak, unable to think.

“Well you should learn not to peep on other people Y/N,” Olivia gave you an evil smirk. “I should get going anyway baby,” she rubbed the lipstick off Rafael's lips. “I have a long day.”

“Oh but I'll miss you carino,” Rafael whined while rubbing his nose against hers in a disgusting fashion.

“I know baby, but maybe we'll have lunch?” She messed with his collar.

“You can count on it,” Rafael growled seductively, smacking her butt as she walked towards the door. “Two can play at your game,” she whispered at you as she walked out

Oh my god. Oh my God oh my god!! How did she know? How was it possible? So many things went through your head at that moment.

“I um, I left something at my desk,” You lied quickly as you headed out the door.

“Olivia!” You called after her angrily suddenly overwhelmed with courage. She stopped and turned and stared at you

“Really? Got some balls on you now do you?”

“What did you do?” You demanded.

“I didn't do anything to him.” She acted innocent. “He just realized that his feelings for me were there all along,” she batted her eyes mockingly. “Isn't that what you did?”

“It's not real!” You barked. “You know it's not real. It'll wear off by tomorrow,”

“Oh I really don't think it will” She held up a water bottle in her purse and it was filled with a….purple liquid? Yep it was purple. Why was it purple? Did she make it stronger? Oh God how strong did she make it?

“Olivia you can't do this to him. I stopped and realized if it wasn't real, I didn't want it.”

“Oh that's bullshit.” She rolled her eyes. “You just brought him his morning coffee. You and I both know that it has that stuff in it. You just needed to refill him but I got there first.”

“No that's not true! You yelled, tears stinging your eyes now. “And he loves me. I know he does.”

“Oh my God you are delusional,” she laughed.” Look I'm happy you had a fun day yesterday but you’re out of your league here, sweetie. He's mine and he always will be? Got it?” She smirked again, then turned and stomped away in her heels leaving you there speechless.

----

You were furious, you were confused, you were upset and then you realized that you had to still continue this day as if nothing was different. Nothing was wrong. You wondered how strong Olivia's stuff was. You wondered what the rules were. Did it block out his feelings for you completely and only focus on her? Did it wipe any memory of you and him at all? Could you break it? You had so many questions you needed to call Chloe but you know you couldn't until your break so you sucked it up and walked back into Rafael's office.

“I'm really sorry about that so earlier,” You did your best to keep from crying. He looked at you with an almost look of disdain.

“Yeah well you really need to be more professional, Y/N.” He scoffed.

"Now you really need to get me copies of these prepositions by noon so that I can go to lunch with my beloved and then go to court.”

“Your beloved?” You spat unintentionally, wanting to gag.

“Excuse you?” He gave you an angry look.

"Look I know that you have some kind of crazy crush on me, but you need to learn that what me and my girlfriend have is something you can't get between so you really need to either control yourself or I will relieve you of your services.” He glared at you.

You couldn't breathe, you felt your heart beating in your chest and your ears. Your palms were sweating, you were having a panic attack. What the hell did she put in her concoction? How did she make him turn so harshly against you?

“I... Yes sir, sorry sir, right away sir,” You whispered grabbing the papers from him running out of the office.

Finally after you got Rafael his copies and he stormed out of his office to go meet his “beloved”, you took the break to call Chloe in tears.

-----

“Oh My God, what happened honey?” She asked, immediately hearing your sobs over the phone.

“She did it,” You sobbed.

“Who did what now?”

“She found the spell! Or some spell. I don't know what she did. I don't know how she could have-- I don't know what she did!!!” You kept sobbing uncontrollably not being able to form coherent thoughts.

“Okay, I'm going to need you to slow down,” Chloe said in a calming manner. “Breathe honey. Use your words. Now explain to me exactly what happened,”

You took several deep breaths trying to compose yourself so that you could explain what was happening to her.

“I went into Rafael's office this morning, and he was making out with that vile woman,” You sniffled.

“What vile woman?”

“Olivia, his ‘beloved’,” you rolled your eyes through your tears.

“His beloved?”

“It's some woman that he works with, and apparently has been in love with him forever. She somehow, I don't know how, figured out what we did to him and she somehow found her own spell. Which I'm pretty sure is not the same one, because it was a purple liquid. AND she not only created feelings for her, she made him hate me!!” You continued to sob.

“...Oh,” Was all Chloe could say.

“OH…?!” You scoffed. “I thought you said that magic laws frowned upon spells like that, controlling people's free will!”

“It does! Good magic anyway,” She sighed.

“What the hell does that mean?” You yelled angrily.

“Well I mean you know there's good witches and bad witches,”

“Oh my God, what in the Wizard Of Oz fuckery--”

“I don't know what to tell you honey. That's how it is. There's good magic and there's black magic. Black magic is all selfish and self-indulgent and instant gratification. She must have gone to somebody who deals in that,”

“Who could it be?”

“I don't know! It's not like they're listed in the yellow pages! WAIT-- Oh my God I think I might have an idea,” Chloe suddenly paused. “...But you're not going to believe me,”

“Oh my God what does that mean?” you asked wearily.

“Well.. you've seen all the movies right? You know like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White,”

“Oh God. Are you seriously going to tell me that true love's kiss can break the spell?”

“Well.. you really don't have any other options right now, do you?”

“CHLOE those are Disney movies for fuck’s sake!!”

“Hey, remember Once Upon A Time? THAT was the ‘real world’, and true love’s kiss brought magic to our world!” Chloe pointed out.

“THAT’S A TV SHOW!!!!!”

“I don't know what else you want me to say here babe. But you should do it. Unless you want to lose him forever to this “Olivia” person. You said that she had a lot of it, right? She could keep this up for as long as she wants. AND the more she gives him the stronger it's going to be and the harder it is going to be to break. I mean he might end up really hating you and firing you, and then your whole life will be ruined. You not only need to break this spell for you to be happy, but before it impacts your entire life,” Chloe warned.

“Oh my God, oh my god…” You whimpered. “I should have never done this.”

“Hey chin up this will work out I'm sure of it!” She said in a chipper tone.

“Okay Jiminy,” You rolled your eyes as you hung up and went back to your office. You did your best to continue with the rest of the day, trying to stay out of Rafael’s way. Which wasn't hard, considering that he was in court most of the day. Around four he texted you and told you that he was no longer in need of your services for the day so you could go home early. Oh also he just HAD to add that he was going to go out with Liv. You wanted to vomit. You headed home and went to brainstorm with Chloe.

-----

“Okay so I've been researching black magic. Chloe had papers sprawled out all over her bed when you came home. “She must have used a combination of love and hate spells.”

“Wait, so you mean actual love spells? Like actually creating fictitious love? Not just magnifying what he felt for her?”

“Correct” she nodded. “I don't think he ever had real feelings for her.”

“Well he said that she and him had a thing, and that he thought about her like that when they first met. So maybe it was going off of that,” You shrugged sadly.

“Another thing we need to figure out is how to get the rest of the potion from her somehow,”

“And just HOW do you expect me to do that?!”

“I don’t...I don’t know,” She shrugged, sifting through her research.

“Chloe, give me something you DO know,” You rubbed your temples; this was giving you a migraine.

“Okay… well, maybe if I talk to my other friends they can figure out a way to counteract the effects even just a little, if you're not willing to or unable to get true love's kiss,”

“Oh God--”

“Hey, I'm just saying”

“Whatever.” You sighed. “My head hurts, my heart hurts, everywhere hurts Chloe,” You whined. “I just want this to be over,”

“Okay honey just-- just go get some sleep, I’ll figure out a game plan for you to use tomorrow,”

“Okay...thank you,” You gave her a small hug and went to your room.

You went to bed with a deep feeling of dread.

[dabi-the-burnt]

Ah bro so I just read through the threads. I appreciate what you said about me and all and looking out for all the artists. I’m usually a very accepting and forgiving person but they way they continue to make up stuff and then contradict themselves… I dunno it’s hard. They also have not taken down any of the work on tiktok (at least on their bigger account that they still use, the one that they wrote “I’m sick of artist like this” on.)

Yeah. For the most part while responding on Instagram I went from tired of their shit to just plain tired and over it, so tbh I was probably a little too forgiving to an extent. I also don't like their talk about "your followers are harassing me" and then plainly admitting that they weren't harassed and their followers had just gone up a bit??

They contradict themself a lot and I realize that more and more looking at it. Plus I hate when people's excuses are "Oh I'm locked out of that account" (Though I know that does happen it just feels sketch when it only happens when called out) or "I got hacked" or any other excuse that makes it not their fault.

Plus then having blocked me but half stalking my accounts is sketch as hell. They'd blocked me on tiktok before.

I also hate that they acted like they immediately removed everything without throwing a bitch fit and having to have people talk about it more publicly. And then it seemed more like reaching out was just to tell me to remove my stuff talking about it.

As for what I said about you being understanding- I still stand by that. But I hope they know (and I how you know too) that you don't have to accept an apology. Just because they removed some of your stuff on an account or two doesn't make it all better. You're allowed to be upset still because that was upsetting and still continues to be.

I think often times people forget that you're a person because you're big in the dabi side of the Fandom. They see art come out and they see your follower count and they forget that you're just a person vibing. And there's this weird sort of idea that it doesn't matter if you take from someone with a following because "it doesn't hurt their growth" or "they've got enough" or whatever. It's always like they just think of bigger accounts like a company. Like a big production. "Like, it's not going to hurt Walmart if I resell their clothes. They're big enough it won't hurt."

If that example makes since. Idk I'm tired lol.

Anyway TLDR: you don't owe them forgiveness at all and it doesn't make you a bad person to not accept an apology especially since they continue to be sketch

[min-chery]

Whiskey and smoke | KTH & PJM

Pairing: Taehyung / Named OC / Jimin

Rating: 16+

Warnings: Bartender Taehyung!au / Rich Jimin!au / vague mentions of sexual assault / drinking / smoking / Written in OC's POV

Summary: She has been bound to follow orders all through her life. Living a life of restraint, Taehyung had become her only source of relief. And one day, he and a very handsome stranger from the bar take a decision that rocks her damned world.

Word count: 2.9k

I swirl the amber liquid in the glass. Pegs after pegs of whiskey already In my system. It does me more good than harm. Has been doing it for the past 4 years.

It has become my companion over the years. I don't lose myself it. Never will. I find myself when have it by my side. I find the confidence I crave for. The world becomes brighter than it ever possibly could.

The bartender keeps a close eye on me, his lips forming a pout. He's sometimes the only one who cares about me. And I'll gladly indulge myself knowing I'm not unwanted.

"I'm alright Tae. It's not my first time drinking." I wave him off.

"That's why I'm worried, noona. Another family gathering?" He inquires.

"Hmm. And a few important clients from his company."

"You should tell them this isn't the life you want, Val. You're drinking yourself to death at this rate."

"It's not that easy." I sigh.

"It is that easy. You've never tried to know that." He whispers harshly.

"Don't act as if you care." I sneer. He talks as if it's that easy to confront them. Them. My manipulative parents.

"I do care, okay! You think I asked you out thrice because I don't care? All you've done those times was throw the same shitty excuse at my face. You won't understand how much I care, Valeria. You're too drunk to even try and understand how hard I'm trying to see you as just a bestfriend when we know we both are not just that." He looks disappointed in me for the first time and it breaks my heart. I look straight into his eyes without letting myself waver and he stares with the same intensity. He finally gives up, slamming the shaker on the counter before heading to the other side of the bar.

To hear him call me by name and not 'noona' or 'Val' makes me almost tear up. I sniffle, pulling my hair towards my face. The world blurs and the scenes from my first time meeting him take over.

It was in high school I first saw him. My bestfriend introduced me to this club. Back then this building had been used as a hangout spot for people interested in motorsports. Jungkook and I sneaked out from school on multiple occasions to meet with the people here. It was everything I had ever wished for. I had nothing to hide about among those people. Didn't have to pretend who I was. There was always free alcohol here. And the first time Jungkook brought me here, a guy had draped his arm over my bestfriend's shoulder and said "Who have you brought here with you, Jungkookie?"

He had smiled so wide at me, I wondered for a second if I was in heaven. How could someone have been so beautiful and been a human?

Jungkook had introduced us to each other and left us alone to get along. And we did. We got along so well and so fast, we were surprised. He talked my ear off about a girl he loved. Narrated so many stories about their happy life together. They sounded so happy and in love, that it struck me like a flash of lightning when he said she cheated on him multiple times. His eyes that had been scrunched up in a smile all afternoon and had suddenly taken a glossy sheen to them.

It had been the first time I had seen a man cry. I remember wondering if I could ever soothe him. If I could see him smile once again that day. But he recovered pretty quick. He had found something else to hold onto and love. Motor racing.

The sound of a throat clearing rings beside me and I lift up my face to look at the person. A man about my age peers at me from above his glass of scotch. There's a slight hint of a smile on his lips as if he's watched the previous conversation with Tae and finds our little fight amusing.

I sniffle and glare at him, which only makes him smile more openly. He sets down the glass on the counter and wipes the liquid off his plump lips with the back of his palm.

"Don't worry about him. He'll come around soon." He says, voice gentle and laced with a teasing smile.

"And I don't need a stranger telling me that about my bestfriend." I snicker. It makes a foul emotion crawl through my skin. To see an outsider talk about Tae, my Tae, as if he knows him better than I do.

"My my I should've probably introduced myself first. I'm Park Jimin. Taehyung's roommate." The smirk that's settled on the man's lips is so frustrating, it makes me want to punch him square in the nose.

"Do you smoke?" He asks. For once it feels like he's not mocking me. I nod, placing my hand in his when he extends it.

It's then I realize that I'm following a man that I've met for the first time outside. Beneath the arrogance, he seems like a gentleman by the way he's curled his fingers around mine. A fragility in the way he handles me.

We walk a few blocks away from the club. Music from the place we just left still faintly following us. Jimin then sits on the clean sidewalk, looking at me to sit down too. And I do. Sitting so close to him, I take to opportunity to really absorb his features into my brain. 'He's beautiful' is the conclusion my mind comes to.

He holds out a cigarette, waiting for me to put it between my lips. I part my lips open for him to do so. He gulps before doing so and then proceeds to take out his lighter. The orange light the flame produces shines on his face making him look handsome in a different way.

His eyes lift up from the cancer stick in my mouth to my eyes and fall back on my lips. He's quickly moving away from me as if he's scared of the effect I would have on him.

I take in puffs of the smoke, let it fill my lungs with the toxins. I still don't understand why it relieves me, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't. It's just as good of a friend of mine as is the alcohol.

"So you're the one who's been hooking up with Tae for so long." He says, pushing away the silence that had engulfed us. I nod, letting out the smoke I'd held in my mouth.

"I've known Tae my whole life. And I've seen him cry only a handful of times. The first time was back in high school. When he cut his ex-girlfriend out of his life. For good." He grits out the final part, eyes unfocused as he recollects his memories.

"And then a couple of years later. When you told him about your family. He didn't tell me anything other than how he thinks they're the shittiest people in your life. Didn't go into much detail about it. Just cried in my arms all night until he fell asleep." He's now looking at me with a soft look in his eyes.

"He told me he loved you that night. I always teased him about this Valeria who had his heart. Still has it. The last time I saw him cry was when you rejected him. The first time." I remember that day, I considered it the worst moment of my life. And Jimin wasn't the only one that saw him cry that day.

I woefully smile, feeling a lump in my throat grow bigger. Taking another long drag of the cigarette, I flick it onto the road. It doesn't fall far from me though. Jimin is stretching towards it and tossing it into a waste bin close by without lifting his ass up. He's smirking once again, winking at me. I laugh at his attempt to impress me with his aiming skills.

"They are shitty people. My family. I'm only something they use for their publicity stunts. Attending their business parties, walking around in rich gowns for the men to see. They never for once asked me what I wanted. All they've done is throw things at me and demand at me to be what they wanted me to be." I laugh, but it's anything but with happiness.

"I've abandoned my dreams to be a living doll for those people. I've had strangers my father's age run their filthy hands over my body. And he watched, that man. Watched his friends make his daughter feel like dirt. Can still feel the fingers of the guy my dad wants me to marry on my bare back from just hours ago." My voice cracks, tears no longer being able to be held within the confines of the waterline. As they tumble down my cold cheeks, I wrap my arms around myself. Feeling naked in my backless dress.

Jimin rustles beside me, shrugging his blazer down his shoulders and wraps it over me. He giving me an apologetic look which I wave off. I'm too tired to deal with the problems in my life.

"Why won't you agree to be Tae's girlfriend when you love him? The guy your dad chose is obviously a pathetic excuse of a man."

"I'm not the kind who stand up for themselves. I kept telling him that I'll never be able to turn down my father's order if he asks me to marry a rich businessman. I'd have to cut Taehyung out of my life and I can't do that to him. He deserves someone way better than that." I sniffle, wiping my face free of the moisture. Jimin's letting my words sink in, thinking of a response.

"Look, I've not had a great family either. Left them behind when I was really young. I let them know how forcing their decisions on me was not worth losing me. So, I understand how you must feel. But it's always nice to have someone fight for you, fight the whole world with you. And with Taehyung in your life, I don't know if there is anyone who'll be as careful with your heart as he is."

"Stop trying to set me up with him." I laugh.

"Just saying." He replies, his eyes closed into crescents as he joins in my laughter.

"Got another cigarette?" I ask as I move in closer to him. He worriedly looks at me and then nods. Once again lighting it up, he places it between my lips.

I take in a long drag and hold the smoke in my mouth. I watch Jimin gulp as I move in even closer to him. I blow it to his face, his eyes growing hooded as he looks at me through the toxic air. I pass the stick to him, asking him to do the same. He follows along, hollowing out his cheeks and blowing it to my face.

It makes my core thrum from the intensity of the scene. A hand with the number '13' tatted on the wrist holding a cigarette and the puff of smoke encasing the two of us. We've come incredibly close to each other, faces just centimeters away. He's slowly leaning in, eyes locked on my lips as mine on his. Our noses brush, a spark going straight to my brain.

I shift my head to the side, eyeing his soft ears. I lift up a finger to gently tug at the earring, toying with it as I breathe in his cologne. The soft flesh of his earlobe tend me irresistible and pull me in to press a kiss there.

Jimin's arms have wound themselves around me, his nose buried in my hair as I kiss his ear. Somehow, my mind has deemed him a safe place. Him being Taehyung's roommate playing a large role in my trust in the man I've met for the first time today.

"Val! Jimin-ah! Is that you two?!" Taehyung calls out, rushing towards us. I jump up from the sidewalk, walking towards him with Jimin trailing behind. As Taehyung nears us, he opens his arms. My eyes blur with unfallen tears and I smash into his chest.

He wraps himself around me, forming a protective embrace. I fist his black shirt at his chest, cuddling and making myself smaller in his arms. His hands run through the length of my hair, his cheek smushed at the top of my head. He's my warmth on a cold night and without him, I'd fall into a pit of eternal winter.

"I'm sorry, Val." He says, not letting go of me and I'm glad he didn't. I wasn't ready to leave his embrace yet.

"You had a tough time and came to the club for some relief and me being a dumbass lectured you." He says against my hair.

"Don't call yourself a dumbass." I pout, weakly hitting at his chest. His laughter fills my ears, along with Jimin's quiet chuckle. I look up at Jimin from where I'm buried in Tae's torso. He looking at us with newfound adoration.

"I'm sorry though." He mumbles.

" 's okay."

I'm being moved away from Taehyung's chest after a minute, but still held towards him by my waist. Taehyung looks at Jimin, a quiet conversation between them. And Jimin walks closer to the two of us, his hands going around Taehyung's shoulder.

"Hi baby." Jimin coos, making a faint red dust across Taehyung's cheeks. Jimin then places a kiss on his lips, a quick peck before they're both looking at me.

"I've been wanting to tell you something noona." Taehyung starts, his hands tightening around me.

"I and Jiminie have been roommates since high school. And we've decided to move to The States."

It hits me like a flash of lightning when he says so. He's moving away. Far away from me. And somehow it invokes a deep fear in me. Jungkook also moved to the US after college. I feel dizzy realizing I'd be left alone in the hands of my family. And I'd rather die than let that happen.

"Tae..." I whisper, the tears running down my cheeks almost instantly. His eyebrows pinch in worry, hands holding my face. His thumb brushes my cheekbones, catching the tears as they fall.

"I found an amazing photography program at one of the colleges and it fit right in my budget. I won't even have to get a student loan for it. It was our dream remember? Me taking photography while you took business courses." I nod. I remember talking about it right after we hooked up for the first time. I had laid on his chest, his arms holding me as close to him as possible.

"We're both being stagnant in our lives, Val. How long do you think we can keep hooking up? You're going to leave me behind the second you get engaged to a stranger." His eyes are filling up in pain.

"I'm coming with you, Tae. I'll suffocate here without you. Don't leave me, Tae. Don't leave me." I'm sobbing hard in his arms, clutching hard at his waist as if it would stop him from going away.

Jimin moves in, taking both me and Tae into his arms. He places a gentle kiss on both of our foreheads.

"We'll take you with us if you want, moonlet. You've got a week to yourself before we move. You can take some time and think about this decision, alright? We need you to be sure you want to come with us." he speaks benignly.

"I don't need more time. I want to come with you." I say with determination.

"That's good, Val. Jiminie will take good care of us. He's got a huge apartment in New York. Got a shit ton of money. He's really kind too. And god the things his dick makes you feel." Taehyung groans, throwing his head back and then breaking into laughter. Jimin and I join in, basking in the warmth his smile provides. We both love this adorable boy with a boxy smile and I'm sure it is seen in our eyes.

"You're making me sound like a sugar daddy, you idiot." Jimin says, hitting him softly at the back of his head.

"It is true though." Tae laughs. "Looks like lover boy's starting to feel things for you, noona."

Jimin blushes, trying to stand tall and not shying from our collective gaze. In the end, he gives up, stuffing his face in the crook Taehyung's neck.

"He doesn't have a problem with polyamory too. He's the full package, this guy." he smiles, ruffling Jimin's hair.

We don't stay there for long after our conversation. We head to Jimin and Taehyung's apartment and I stay the night. We all spend time getting to know each other better. Me and Jimin bond very fast, learning we're both similar in a lot of ways. I and Tae let Jimin in on our stories from years ago. I and Jimin even kiss for the first time that night, leaving us warm and blushing.

As the night progresses and we lay in each other's arms on the living room floor, I realize I'm being given another chance at life. Maybe running away from the people who birthed you isn't the best way to start your life again. But it feels good. To finally leave behind the toxicity. In a week's time, I'll be free. And I intend on making the most out of my life after.

[snarkwrites]

six sexy words | reggie mantle; let me take care of you.

Notes:

Oh hello, hi. Guess whose inspiration has finally come back from the war? A while back, I was linked this really neat prompt list by a dear friend of mine and it.. Sparked a few things. So… I guess this is me, starting a new one shots collection?

All of these come from my own mind and I don’t take requests for one shots / prompts, btw.

This is the prelude to my Riverdale fic Gangsta. It kind of... explains how Alyssa wound up getting with Reggie in the first place. Events have been moved around / misplaced, etc.. Anyway.. yeah. I know nobody asked for this but here ya go.

Prompts:

taken from either [ HERE ] or [ HERE ] give or take. It could be one or the other or a mix of both at my own choosing.

catching his gaze lingering on you, i still remember everything about you, let me take care of you were the prompts used here.

Fandom / Character:

Riverdale | Reggie Mantle x Andrews!Sibling OFC, Alyssa

Fic Alyssa Appears In:

[ here ] - read at your own risk. looose af canon compliance and some kind of dark themes are present (kind of an older guy manipulating a younger girl then stalking her sitch so be warned) and are hinted at here.

Warnings:

This one is kind of.. angsty. And there are some dark hints that people reading the fic linked above will pick up on. They're only vaguely hinted at here, btw, so... yeah.

A backstory literally no one asked for, lmaoooo.

Tagging:

@BRITHEDEMONSPAWN is the only one currently on my Riverdale tag list, so…

** if you want to be tagged in my Riverdale stuff, lmk!!**

Other Stuff:

[ ABOUT MY WRITING | TAG LIST DOC - IF YOU WANT TO BE TAGGED, THAT IS. | FANDOMS I WRITE FOR]

I looked up just as Reggie looked down. I could feel the weight of his stare every single time he shifted his gaze towards where I sat in the back booth of the diner.

A strawberry milkshake sat in front of me, untouched. I wasn’t even sure why I was at Pop’s. It’s pretty much the only place for all the lovey-dovey couples of Riverdale to come out on a Friday night anymore and I had to be a glutton for punishment because I knew that this meant the odds of me having a Valentine’s solo date in public, where people would look at me and judge or feel sorry for me for whatever reason, were high.

Not that it bothered me, but when you can feel everyone around you watching you like you’re a landmine or something, it gets old real quick.

A chair scraping loudly against the tiled floor of the diner as it was dragged over drew me out of my own thoughts and I braced myself. Preparing myself to look up from my phone and Snapchats that I had open to find Cheryl or Veronica or Betty sitting there, a sympathetic look in their eyes.

Instead, I looked up from a Snap my friend back in Chicago had sent me and my mouth opened in surprise a little because Reggie sat there, the backwards facing chair pressing into his chest.

“Happy Valentine’s Day.”

“It’s just another Friday.” I muttered, shrugging as I took a few noisy slurps of my milkshake and eyed him. “No hot female company tonight?” I gave him a mocked look of shock as I said it, laughing softly when his response was to pout right back at me.

“I mean, if you count the red-head I’m currently lookin at and I’ve been tryin to talk to all night, then yeah.” Reggie answered.

His answer caught me off guard and as a result, some of the strawberry milkshake went down the wrong way and I choked a little. Reggie chuckled, reaching over to lightly pop me between the shoulder a few times as he gazed at me in concern and amusement. “You good, princess?”

“Super. That would’ve been one hell of an obit though. Girl dies on Valentine’s Day while drinking a milkshake alone and nearly choking to death on strawberry bits.” I laughed and Reggie raised a brow.

“Guess dark humor isn’t your forte, huh?” I teased gently and Reggie gave a quiet chuckle.

“So… How are you feeling about being back in Riverdale?”

“It is what it is.” I answered, shrugging as my eyes wandered around the diner, taking in all the happy couples of Riverdale High.

My gaze settled on Reggie again and I struggled to come up with something even halfway passing as a conversation starter. Maybe that wouldn’t have been such a struggle for me if I’d stop getting lost in the depths of dark brown eyes… Or the way his tongue trailed ever so slowly over the outline of his mouth.

I found myself wondering why he was even over here talking to me to begin with. There was a booth full of River Vixens further towards the back, all laughing and whispering, and yes, occasionally calling his name.

I locked eyes with one of them and the sour look she gave me had me rolling my eyes.

“Hey, it’s gettin late. I doubt Andrews would want his sister walkin home alone…” Reggie trailed off under my amused gaze. I gave a soft laugh, finishing the last of my milkshake.

“Are you asking permission to walk me home, Reggie?”

“What if I am, baby girl?”

“First of all, it’s Alyssa…” I reminded him knowing fully well that it’d go in one ear and out the other, because it always has with him. Reggie’s been a nickname kind of guy for as long as I’ve known him and been friends with him. It’s nice to see that some things haven’t changed, even if at times that can be a little bit grating.

Baby girl just… has negative ties to it for me at the moment.

I winced at the thought and Reggie chuckled. “Okay, princess. Gotcha.” he muttered, leaning in a little. Reaching out and swiping his thumb over my bottom lip. I tried so hard not to tense up or flinch and I found myself hoping against hope that the little bit I did tense up went unnoticed.

I didn’t feel like answering questions and I didn’t want Reggie thinking I was weird or he’d offended me or something because honestly, he hadn’t. The whole thing was a me problem and it was one I was trying not to think about because I just wanted it all completely behind me. Forgotten about.

“You okay?” he asked, a brow raised as he eyed me in concern.

Crap. He noticed.

Apparently, the fact that he’s observant as hell hasn’t changed either.

I gave a soft laugh and nodded. “I just wasn’t expecting that. But it’s okay.” I quickly offered.

Deeper down, I have to admit… If so much hadn’t happened to me in Chicago, I’d definitely be falling hard and fast for Reggie Mantle all over again right now.

I did feel something. A sliver of a spark.

,, Don’t even think about it. The last time you felt sparks, you wound up getting in way over your head. Look where that got you, Alyssa…” that nagging little voice in the back of my mind spoke up, drowning out any and all other thoughts.

He’s my friend. Walking home with a friend isn’t a bad thing.

,, as long as it stops at friendship. Do you really think he’s just going to settle for you? He’s one of the big men on campus. Every girl wants him. Why would he choose you with all your current issues and that big nasty past of yours hanging over your head, threatening to ruin everything?” - and with that thought acknowledged, I smiled and cleared my throat. Breaking through his thoughtful daze with a soft laugh. “Earth to Mantle… You in there?”

“Yeah, yeah. I was just thinkin.”

“About?” I asked the question before I could stop myself.

“About how nice it is havin you back in Riverdale, Alyssa. You were always one of my favorite people.”

I smiled fondly.

Sitting down the styrofoam cup I’d drained of it’s contents, I rose up from my spot on the booth and held out my hand. “C’mon, lug.. If you insist on walking me home, we should probably get going… Stupid town curfew.”

“It is kind of dumb, huh? I mean, it’s not like we actually have a serial killer here.”

“It’s not like we don’t either. Sorry. I watch too many true crime documentaries.”

“No, you just lived in that big city too long. You forgot how safe and isolated it really is here.” Reggie chuckled. He slipped an arm around me and I tensed a little before I could stop myself.

I know he noticed it again, but he lowered his arm. Gave me an apologetic smile.

“Hey… do they still have those swings out behind the elementary?” I asked as we stepped out of the diner. He eyed me and smiled. “Yeah, why?”

“Well, since we do have a little bit of time left before I absolutely must be walking in my father’s door, I thought maybe we could go sit on them and talk? Like we used to? For old times sake?”

Reggie gave a soft grin. “I’d like that.”

“Just don’t try to send me into orbit like the last time I let you push me, okay?”

Reggie chuckled, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he stared down at me.

I snapped my fingers in his face. “Hey…”

“Yeah, yeah. Look, I make no promises.” Reggie teased. I pouted up at him and we started to walk across the parking lot.

“You’re a lot quieter now, Alyssa. Skittish.. Are you sure you’re okay? I still remember everything about you and you weren’t skittish at all… If you wanna talk about it, you know you can talk to me, right?” Reggie asked as we walked towards the playground down the block. I sighed quietly.

“I’m not!” I spoke up, glancing up at him. Hoping he’d buy it and not keep pushing. Because I’m just not ready to talk about what I managed to get myself caught up in. And you just don’t want to see the disgusted look in his eyes when you do talk about it and he realizes just how stupid and pathetic you really are, the thought came but I shoved it out quickly. For the next minute or two, that heavy silence settled between us. I didn’t address the fact that he said I could talk to him. I know I could but… I just can’t right now. I need time. I need to get my head around everything.

And I don’t want to deal with the disgust I know he’ll probably feel. I know he will because I feel it, every single time I look at myself in the mirror. My parents and Archie keep insisting it’s not my fault, but all I can see is that I was the one who willingly got involved with the people I got involved with in the first place. I’m not stupid. I had to know that Dave didn’t really give a shit. That he was probably using me to stroke his own massive ego. That he purposely picked me when he sensed some deep hidden vulnerability. But I’m the one who let it happen. And I’m the one who let it go on for as long as it did and I allowed it to get to the scary point that it got to…

So yeah.. Pretty sure I don’t want to dump all this on Reggie Mantle and then see him look at me differently. I just… can’t.

I want to, but I can’t.

I hugged myself when the wind picked up, wishing I’d had the common sense to grab a thicker jacket before I left my dad’s house earlier. Reggie stopped our walk and slipped off his letterman’s jacket, holding it out. I eyed it and then him.

“Oh no. No. I’m not about to get my ass kicked by your fanclub.” I teased gently.

In reality, I knew that having the scent of his cologne so close to me would probably stick with me. It’d be too much temptation. Taking his jacket was a slippery slope.

“C’mon. Stop being so stubborn, woman. Look at you, shivering right now… You always took care of me back then. Let me take care of you, okay?”

He stepped closer. Not too close. Close enough that I knew if things were different, I’d totally be pouting right now because I’d want him closer. Before I could answer him, he slipped the jacket around my shoulders and I gave a soft and amused laugh. “Better, Reggie?”

“Yeah.” he answered. I tried not to notice it, but I couldn’t help myself. His eyes darted down and settled on my lips. His gaze lingered.

My heart hammered just a little harder against my chest.

I swallowed hard and cleared my throat, trying not to think about the way he was looking at me currently and the way it made me feel. Because someone’s made me feel that way before but they turned out to be the most toxic person I’ve ever known.

I just.. I don’t know if I can trust myself or anyone else right now.

But I want to. God, I want to.