#sorry rotating him in my head so fast right now i threw him in the washing machine and im watching him spin

[wormstan]

u guys dont get it stan is just a little kitty . no ur not listening to me hes just a little kitty cat in this big and crazy world do u understand me

[ashiemochi]

anubussy - vii

✠ Anubussy ↳ sorry, i don't want your touch ↳↳ it's not that i don't want you

➶ pairing: OC x Leon S(exy) Kennedy. ➶ genre: fluff, more angst, gore, longer smut/suggestive themes ➶ word count: no

NOTE: ✠ = time skip ✠✠ = switching povs/characters

prev -> next

“Look, this shit’s spreading fast and thick.” Chris said.

Not even a minute into the debriefing and Leon was already done with it all, leaning his head on his fingers with his arm resting on the table. So Ah frowned deeply at this, her hand hesitating to offer him some comfort. 

His head must be pounding and a bit disoriented. It was clear he was intoxicated as shit. Add that to the fact his wife was alive and, apparently, safe and sound; he was understandably growing a bit overwhelmed.

Through his sliver-open and perceptive eyes, he picked up on So Ah’s hand twitching in his direction, but she didn’t do anything. 

“All of the researchers and staff at my university were infected.” Rebecca added on.

Leon released a heavy sigh, raising his head with a look of disbelief, “This again, huh? It’s like I’m stuck in a goddamn loop.”

Rebecca threw a confused glance at Chris who returned it.

“What?” Chris voiced his.

Rebecca leaned onto the table, “What are you talking about?”

“You know that bomb that went off in DC?” Leon started, then he pointed at himself, “Well, it was my mission to stop the terrorists. We got to our rendezvous point… And some asshole ratted us out.”

His eyes were shut, recalling every second of that dreadful night, “The bomb went off and everyone on Metro SWAT, my whole unit; gone.”

“I keep fighting… And fighting, and fighting. Instead of seeing an end to this shit, it just keeps getting worse.” Leon snapped lowly, looking up at Chris, “Is this what my life’s supposed to be?”

“Fighting the living dead and the bastards that make them?” His voice had gone down to a tired whisper, visibly exhausted by everything, “What’s the point of it all?”

The softest of touches on his skin brought instant butterflies within him – and not the ones that made him want to throw up. His eyes trailed to the gloved hand on his, following the source only to see a sympathetic pair of cinnamons. 

His brows furrowed subtly at the strange, but familiar, warmth that filled his bones – and So Ah blinked, seemingly just coming to. Much to his dismay, she removed her hand. 

“Look,” Chris piped in, picking up and rotating the laptop so he could see who they were up against, “This is Glenn Arias, an arms dealer. His deals on the black market are so shady, they landed him on a certain government’s hit list.”

“A smart bomb was dropped on his wedding. He lost his family and his wife – and now, he’s got a grudge.” Chris explained, “After the attack, he went underground, but now he’s back with B.O.Ws and a score to settle.”

“Here’s the kicker, he said his products have targeting capabilities. From what I’ve seen,” Chris’ eyes hardened briefly at the memory of his mission four months ago that left his whole team wiped out, “I believe him.”

Leon blinked blankly at him then shut them for a moment with a faint huff, “So you got an arms dealer on one side, and on the other…” He turned his head to Rebecca and So Ah, “A government dropping bombs on weddings.”

Then he gave So Ah a sarcastic look, asking with a snide, “Who’s the bad guy here?”

She opened her mouth but Chris wasn’t having any of it anymore.

“Arias!” Chris yelled, “And it’s our mission to bring his ass down!”

“Your mission! Not mine!” Leon shouted back, making the Han girl jolt a little.

“Goddamn it, Leon!” Chris shot up, slamming his fist onto the table.

“Stop!” Rebecca snapped and then directed her attention to Leon. 

“Leon, with everything that’s going on, you just sit here and feel sorry for yourself. Did you even notice your wife has been sitting right next to you all this time?”

“And you?” She turned to Chris, “You’re letting your grudge get the better of you.” 

The way she was scolding them sounded like a mother to her kids and So Ah sank into her seat, silently, avoiding Leon’s obvious look. What would she even say? 

She was already on thin ice with Leon and she didn’t know enough information about Arias like Chris and Rebecca. She was basically there for damage control – damage being her own stubborn husband.

“God…” Rebecca trailed away, shaking her head, as Chris sat down in his chair, “I cannot believe how alike you two are.” 

Leon seemed almost offended, straightening up at this, as he asked, “What are you talking about?”

Rebecca stood up, her chair sliding back noisily, “You’re acting like a couple of selfish brats right now.”

She turned around to her bag on the other table, leaving the trio to sit there quietly. So Ah hesitantly looked up at Leon who returned the same look – they hadn't seen each other in so long and they were still pretending like they weren’t in the same room together.

Deep inside, they both wanted to reach out, but they deny themselves of the other – thinking the other doesn’t want to.

Rebecca faced them with a medical gun of sorts and a test tube attached to it. She showed it to them then rolled up her sleeve, pressing the tip against the spot near her elbow pit.

Then she pulled the trigger and instantly, the tube was filled with her blood. The trio by the kids’ table shared a look, and she spoke.

“The virus is right under our noses. Always has been.” Rebecca revealed. 

Chris leaned back on his chair, speaking for the Kennedys and himself, “I don’t follow.”

“We don’t need to look for some new virus that Arias is infecting people with. The virus is lying dormant inside of everyone – even you.” The doctor pointed at So Ah as an example, “What we need to find is the trigger.”

“Something activates the latent virus and only Arias knows what it is. But until we find that out, everyone, living and dead, are his potential weapons.”

“And if we don't figure this out right now, there won’t be quaint little towns like this for you to drink your sorrows away in,” Rebecca directed her scolding to Leon who bowed his head as if in shame – not in front of her, but in front of his wife. 

“Ever again.”

Rebecca took a second to breathe and resumed, “I created a vaccine. And I tried it on myself and it works. But until we find out how Arias triggers the virus, who knows if it'll work the same for everyone else.” 

The gun clicked when she took out the test tube, shaking it slightly for emphasis. 

“My blood holds the answer.” Rebecca moved to their table and set the vial down, “If I die, get this to a lab you trust – like Green Life.”

At the mention, So Ah’s shoulders deflated a little, peering up at the woman who went back to the other table, putting the gun down. She faced them again, specifically Leon and Chris.

“I can’t imagine what you two have been through,” She said sympathetically, “But I know that neither one of you are the type of person who would sit here and argue while the world dies.”

“That’s not who you are…” Rebecca’s voice went into a mutter, “Or is it?”

Silence filled the air as everything she had said was settling in, leaving them for the bathroom. So Ah was aware of one thing – that woman was not one to mess with. 

Leon looked over at her but she didn't notice, having her eyes set on the table with her curtain bangs shielding her peripheral vision.

“So,” He started as if merely starting a small talk, “Where have you been all this time?”

So Ah jumped subtly, not expecting to be directed to so suddenly and she glanced at Chris who gave her a silent nod. She shifted a little in her seat, nervous under his observant eyes.

“I had an, uh… An undercover mission.” So Ah answered, her hands beginning to fumble with one another.

Was it just her or was it getting hotter in there?

Leon raised a brow, indicating for her to continue and elaborate. Her shoulders went up a bit as if afraid of what to say.

“It’s for the BSAA…” She said, the word bringing a bad taste to her mouth, “I’m not allowed to say.”

Leon scoffed at her answer, shaking his head in disbelief and he brought his flask up to his lips.

“Guess our vows were all but empty promises.” He muttered, ticking his head once to the side, “Big surprise, Han.”

The girl flinched at the poison on his tongue and Chris shot her a knowing look, reminding her silently that Leon had the right to be upset.

The DSO agent exhaled heavily after gulping down the alcohol, gritting his teeth slightly at the stinging sensation it left behind, “It doesn’t matter – after this is done, we won’t be seeing each other again. Just how you like it.”

“I didn’t have a choice, Leon…” So Ah whispered before straightening up when Leon looked at her with distraught evident in his deepdeep azures.

“You always have a choice – it’s a matter of whether you actually pick one or not.”

Her eyes burned familiarly and she pressed her lips into a thin line, trailing her eyes down to her hands. She was aware she might’ve picked the wrong choice – but they didn’t even show her the right one. Everywhere she looked, a brick wall would block her way to the correct road.

She needed him to know how deeply sorry she was. She didn’t want to leave him and it was so hard to be so far from him for such a long time. 

So Ah was trying her utmost best to do good for her and her family’s sake – for his too. After years and years of being practically held hostage by the alliance, the last thread of sanity snapped, forcing her to lead that research coordinator into an alleyway and break his skull in.

It was euphoric for a split second to take down one of the many men who ruined her life – but then she couldn’t stop throwing up at the thought of having blood on her hands. They weren’t entirely innocent but still, it felt so wrong. 

She wasn’t a bad person – but they forced her to be such. 

“Leon!”

A new voice entered the room, and it was only familiar to one person. So Ah looked over, confused at the raggedy man in an oversized button-up blue shirt and a red beanie. 

Leon’s eyes went into an immediate glare, growling as he shot up from his seat, “Patricio!” 

His cologne wafted past her just like he did when he grabbed Patricio’s collar roughly.

“Wait, wait! Let me explain – unh!” The man was interrupted by his grunt when Leon slammed him against the wooden pillar.

Chris and So Ah quickly stood up, rushing over to them and Chris called out, “Leon!”

“You know that guy I was telling you about,” Leon snapped his eyes over at him, “The one that sold out me and my unit?!”

Patricio stammered, “You don’t understand!”

Leon didn’t listen, pressing up his arm against his neck, voice dropping to a growl, “This is the guy.”

“Please, stop.” Patricio wheezed

“Hey, what do you think–”

“Official business, it’s okay.” Chris flashed his badge to the bartender 

“Leon, calm down.” So Ah spoke quietly, setting a hand on his shoulder to try and stop him from suffocating the poor man, “Hear him out.”

Leon’s tough exterior faltered for only a split second and Patricio could barely even manage to send the girl a grateful but terrified look. 

Then he doubled over in pain and slid to the ground when Leon punched him in the stomach.

“Leon, come on!” Chris pushed him away from the man, trying to de-escalate the fight.

“What do you want?!” Leon barked at Patricio.

“Please, you’re the only one I know from the DSO.” The man begged, a hand over his aching stomach, “It’s my family. You’ve got the save them.”

Leon furrowed his brows at the request, “What?”

“My wife and my daughter are in Spain. An arms dealer is getting paid by the surviving members of Los Illuminados,” He explained quickly, most likely to avoid another hit from the raging DSO agent, “To launch a large-scale bioterror attack.”

Patricio shook his head, “I know too much. They’re going to kill me and my family!”

So Ah opened her mouth but Chris chose to go for his brawns – just like Rebecca said back in the aircraft – and Patricio let out a yelp once he was shoved to the pillar again.

Internally, she deeply wondered why was she here again – her marriage was already a lost cause. She didn’t see herself getting another chance any time soon. She believed Leon was one hundred percent just tolerating her for the sake of the mission.

“Did you hear what he said?” Chris asked, keeping his eyes on Patricio, “It’s our lucky day.”

“Lucky?” So Ah repeated, indirectly speaking Leon’s thoughts who joined in.

“Are you crazy?”

Chris looked over at the married couple, “He’s gonna lead us right to our guy.”

Patricio was visibly confused, glancing at both men, “The hell are you talking about?”

“The name Glenn Arias ring a bell?” Chris questioned, making the man’s eyes widen.

“How do you know?”

“I’m psychic.”

Nice one, Chris.

Patricio turned to the only one who didn’t go physical on him – So Ah.

“I need your help. Please tell them.” He begged, “My family.”

So Ah frowned deeply at this. If there were two roads where you’d do anything for your family, she must’ve taken the wrong one – but Patricio went for the right one. It wasn’t entirely correct due to his history but he was also threatened. 

She saw herself in him if she hadn’t chosen the violent road.

“Leon, Chris, come on.” So Ah stepped in, earning three pairs of eyes on her and instantly giving her anxiety, and she chose her words carefully, “Give him a chance. Let him tell us what he knows. His wife and daughter are in danger – he needs you.”

Leon stared at her, reading her gentle eyes. She related to that raggedy man a little too much – yet, he knew she was always kind-hearted. She was a family person; she understood the feeling.

Chris left it up to Leon to decide whether to play good cop and bad cop – Leon chose the former. Just this once. 

Leon glared at Patricio, taking a step back as he said lowly, “You heard her.”

So Ah blinked in slight surprise, catching the subtle glance from him and the sigh of relief from Patricio. 

Their peace was short-lived when a truck halted outside the windows on the pavement. So Ah looked over, a sense of dread washing over her at some men with guns hopping out of the back of the truck.

Then a bigger man jumped out, a giant minigun in hand. It was the same model as the one you’d see attached to a helicopter. Not even a moment had passed before he started shooting the windows of the hotel, aiming straight for anyone. 

A sharp gasp emitted from her when hands held her and pulled her away from the bullets, hiding down behind fallen tables and chairs. She couldn’t hear anything but the gunshots, each bullet sinking into the walls or pillars mimicking her heart thudding against her chest. Faintly, she could pick up the momentary screams of the bartender lady before she was hit by the firing range.

The memory of the failed undercover mission was in a loop during the whole duration of the fire assault, forcing her to relive it. She wanted it to stop – now.

So Ah only squeezed her eyes shut to the point it hurt with a faint whimper, unaware of Leon being the one shielding her body from any stray bullets despite him knowing her regenerative ability. His body weight was partially over hers, an arm around her waist with his hand pressed to the ground, and his other arm was over their heads. 

It was by pure instinct. 

“Son of a bitch!” Chris cursed, having taken Patricio to take cover behind the pillar.

Leon looked over at him, “He was followed!” He shouted back and then tilted his head to the side to avoid any close bullets, the tip of his nose brushing his wife’s hair.

A phone slid to a stop in front of him and he looked at Patricio who was fatally injured. His blood was already pooling all around him, soaking his jeans and shirt from the wounds on his torso.

“My family, please,” He whimpered, “Save them.”

His hand dropped into the pool of blood, completely lifeless.

Leon hissed, knowing now he had no choice, “Damn it.”

The world around her gradually went quiet, and the last thing she heard was Chris shouting out Rebecca’s name. A faint groan reached her ears when her senses were slowly functioning once again.

Suddenly, she was aware of the presence next to her – on her.

Her eyes peeled open and the first thing she saw was Patricio’s dead body. The hotel was destroyed, with dust and minor debris covering every inch of the ground. 

She turned her cinnamons up to her side, connecting with Leon’s equally surprised ones. It seemed as if even he was unaware of his protective stance over her. It took him back to the eighth time he saw her when he was close enough to count her freckles and see the doe stars in her eyes.

The day his heart leapt up to his throat.

His lips parted as if to say something but he chose not to, pushing himself up to his feet and taking the phone with him. So Ah followed suit, stumbling a bit with her cheeks dusted red – she wished she could get rid of them like patting away all the wood dust from her clothes.

Subconsciously, her hands went to fix her hair enough to make sure the back of her neck was still covered, trying to busy herself from the unknown lingering tension.

A pair of blueblue eyes from a particular agent scanning her for wounds went unnoticed. 

“DC, they hit us at the hotel and took Rebecca. Track them,” Chris returned from outside the hotel, alarmed after he reported to his team, “I know the big guy. He’s with Arias.”

So Ah stepped close, panting faintly, “Why would he take her?”

“I don’t know,” Chris said, voice filled with worry, “I just wanna get her back.”

So Ah looked up at Leon, a final and silent request ‘help us.’ And Leon, ever since day one, thought to himself, ‘how ever could I say no to her?’

“There goes my vacation,” Leon huffed, shaking his head, mildly disappointed, “Again.”

A phone ringing emitted from Leon and he looked down at Patricio’s phone. He gave So Ah and Chris an apprehensive look, showing them the caller ID. 

It was Patricio’s wife.

So Ah couldn’t help but turn around in a feeble attempt to block out any faint sound on the other end of the call. She hugged her arms as a sense of comfort, shutting her eyes for a moment. 

It was gut-churning when Leon answered it.

And even worse when he didn’t say a thing to the poor wife, his sad eyes glancing over at the husband's dead body before hanging up.

“There’s a reason he gave that to you before he died.” Chris said gently, “It might have the answers we need in it.”

“We have Rebecca’s laptop. We have leads.” He pressed on, one last try at convincing Leon, “Look, man. We need you.”

Anticipation hung in the air as Leon trailed his eyes down to his dead teammate. While he wasn’t actually a part of his team, Patricio was the victim in this all along. His inclination to save others Leon always had was resurfacing.

He looked over at So Ah who was staring solemnly at Patricio. 

Yeah, screw his vacation.

[caiuscassiuss]

tease ⎮ k.th (snippet)

TEASE IS OUT NOW!!! FIND IT HERE

Description: You knew you were hot. You saw how the guys looked at you, how their eyes were drawn to a tight t-shirt or short skirt. And maybe this would fail epically—crash and burn like a failed experiment—but you wanted to get under Kim Taehyung’s skin the only way you knew how.

Genre: Brother’s best friend (jungkook is your twin brother lol) au/ enemies-to-lovers WC: (estimated) ~10k Warnings: graphic smut (Dom! Taehyung + Brat! Reader, dirty talk, daddy kink, degradation kink/ slight slut shaming, masturbation, blow jobs, cunnilingus, edging, light dub-con, spanking), reader is promiscuous and a tease™ 

The incident at the club was definitely an offensive blow to Taehyung in your non-existent game, as he watched you differently in the times you ran into him. He looked a lot more contemplative and a hell of a lot angrier that you tamped down a victorious smile. You were gonna blue ball him so hard he would rue the day he snitched on you to your parents.

You had already planned on skinny-dipping in the pool when Taehyung was sleeping over one night, but your plans were ruined as your parents announced a family trip to the lake cabin rental.

You had pasted on a smile at the news, looking happy to escape from the city, but inwardly you pouted. This trip would put you out of commission, so to speak. You wouldn’t see Taehyung for the next few weeks and you were sort of worried the thing you had going on would fade as he, inevitably, would fuck some random girl to get over the tension.

However, imagine your joy as your amazing, heaven-sent brother asked if he could drag Taehyung along and all the parties agreed.

The four hour car ride was monotonous, with you parents at the front, your brother and his friend in the middle, and you unfortunately cramped at the back. You glanced at Taehyung, who was fast asleep with his spidery lashes brushing his cheeks. You patted your backpack absentmindedly, where your secret weapon was stored. You were pulling out the big guns this time. No fucking around. He was going to be begging to fuck you.

Your family arrived at the rustic cabin you were renting and you jumped out of the car to stretch your poor, poor back. Your parents, of course, took the master bedroom so that left the two guest bedrooms between the three of you. Jungkook and Taehyung would be sharing a room while you would have your own and honestly, you thought the heavens were smiling down on you, because the rooms were connected with a Jack-and-Jill bathroom. 

You just had to wait for the right moment. Everyone was exhausted and took a nap, which resulted in you pacing around your room, deep in thought.

Your parents had decided to go out for dinner at the township a little while away, while Jungkook fibbed a lie about going to the woods for a hike and instead snuck away to the beach for girls. Apparently, from what you could hear from inside your bedroom, Taehyung was still asleep and refused to go hiking with Jungkook. They also thought you were asleep too, your dad taking a moment of pity on you by acknowledging how hard you’ve been working at school and sports.

Inwardly, you fistpumped. They were finally leaving you and Taehyung alone, so you could finally enact your plan.

You hid your vibrator underneath your sheets and waited for Taehyung to wake up. You didn’t have to wait long as you heard the creaking of floorboards in the other room.

Tossing away your shirt, you were left in just your bra and panties. Settling down on your bed, you turned the vibrator on low and rubbed it against your panties. A slight, quiet groan escaped your mouth and you felt arousal start to form on your nether lips. Dragging the vibrator up and down against your covered slit, your ears perked up at the sound of shower starting in the conjoined bathroom.

You repeated the motion a few times, before you pressed the tip of the vibrator hard against your covered pussy. It pressed against your clit and you felt your vision swim, a slight yelp escaping your mouth. For a while, the shuffling around the bathroom stopped and you froze, half excited and half anxious.

You heard metallic scrape of shower rings and relaxed. You circled the vibrator around your slit a bit more, stimulating the motion of penetration lightly and arousal definitely stained your panties. 

Moving your panties to the side, you let the tip of the vibe rest against your clit, rotating it to cover it in slick and burrowing it deeper into your pussy. A loud whine left your lips, one he definitely heard, and you panted heavily. The muggy air pressed down on you and the blood rushed around underneath your skin.

Shoving down your bra, leaving your breasts obscenely pushed out against the cups, you dragged your fingernails across the sensitive skin of your breasts. Groaning, you turned your face to burrow your head into your pillow.

Slowly inserting the vibrating dildo into your pussy, a shout left your lips as your pussy contracted against the object suddenly. The lack of action over the past few weeks definitely made you more sensitive.

Chest heaving, you left the vibe in to adjust to it. Taking it and feeling arousal coating your fingertips, you slowly pushed it in and out of your pussy. Your eyes shut in pleasure and strangled yell emanated from your throat, your legs relaxing until you could feel both legs spread for the world to see. The cotton sheets suddenly felt too hot against your skin and you pushed them hurriedly away.

You pressed the vibe in and out of your now sopping wet pussy and your fingers pinched at your breasts, circling around your perked nipples. The shower in the background sounded muffled to your ears as you sunk into a veil of pleasure.

Thrusting the vibe deep into your pussy, you hit your g-spot and you choked, an embarrassingly loud groan filling the air. You undulated the vibrator against your g-spot and clit repeatedly, black spots and bright lights flashing against the back of your eyelids. Your moans were now non-stop and you knew Taehyung could hear you even if he was downstairs.

Memories of his dark eyes, veiny neck and arms, and sweaty shoulders made you tense up. The vibrator hit your g-spot and clit at once and you tweaked your nipples, a scream leaving your lips as felt light exploding in your vision and your pussy clenching the vibrator. Your knees knocked painfully together as you orgasmed, eyes shut and mouth wide open to moan loudly into the air.

The waves of pleasure washed over you and gradually left, leaving you panting into the air. The air conditioner brushed against your sensitive pussy and aftershocks rocked your body, clamping your lips tight to stop groans from escaping. Pulling the vibrator out, you could feel slick start to coat your pussy and thighs.

Closing your eyes, the blanket of placidity settled over you. Wow, you had really needed this, hadn’t you? All your scheming and schoolwork had—

A hard knock startled you out of your thoughts and you registered the shower had stopped. The knock rattled the doorframe and made you wonder how mad Taehyung was on the other side.

“Taehyung? Do you need anything?” you asked, voice slightly high-pitched and cracked.

“Open up, Y/N,” he grumbled.

You threw on a large t-shirt to cover your chest and leaking pussy, nearly stumbling as you walked to the door.

“Y-yeah?” you asked, cracking the door open a bit. Taehyung pushed the door open roughly, and you almost tripped over air.

He stood there, shirtless and wet, glaring at you from underneath his wet bangs. You gulped, nipples instantly perking up again at the aura restrained anger he exuded. Your eyes followed a drop of water that dripped from his hair and landed with a plop on his chest, working its way down his toned pectorals and defined abs and then into his Apollo’s belt—

“—it down?”

You shook yourself out of your thoughts, wide eyes snapping to meet his.

“H-Huh?” you blurted out, uncharacteristically flustered.

“I said,” he huffed, nostrils flared, “Can you keep it the fuck down?”

You didn’t even have to pretend to flush and act nervous. “O-oh, sorry—”

He gave you an unreadable look, fire burning in his eyes, then snorted and slammed the door. For a while there was silence. A slight pout painted your lips and you shifted your weight, now feeling your arousal drip down your thigh. You had thought this would be the time he would crack but he didn’t. A bit worried at the radio silence, you suddenly heard a soft, strangled groan that emerged from the other bedroom.

You smirked. It was only a matter of time before he cracked.

Hi everyone! This is my first foray into BTS fanfiction and break from indefinite hiatus, so I really hope all of you liked this sneakpeek. Honestly it’s not anything deep but I guarantee you it will edge all of you so hard :) Let me know if you’d like to be tagged!

Estimated release date: Jan 6th, 8 PM ET

[andreafmn]

I'm Not Afraid - Chapter 3

Word Count: 3,195

Characters: Female Reader Argent Character, Original Male Argent Character, Derek Hale, Allison Argent, Scott McCall, Stiles Stilinski, Isaac Lahey, Lydia Martin, Chris Argent, Jackson Whittemore

Story Description: (Y/N) Argent arrived at Beacon Hills to put to rest her father’s sister, Kate Argent. For the first time, her family has decided to settle down and sustain a life in this interesting small town. After 17 years, (Y/N) has the opportunity to establish interpersonal relationships but will she be ready to face the complications that come with relating to her cousin’s, Allison, friends; especially, the infamous Derek Hale. She will face the adventure of being associated with the Derek and McCall pack as well as being faced with the discovery of certain aspects of her life she never imagined.

*DISCLAIMER* I do not own in any way Teen Wolf, all credits of the pre-established characters, script, and storyline belong to Jeff Davis and MTV Network. The only thing I own is Argent Reader insert, her immediate family, and her storyline, as well as her effects in the others’ storyline.

Chapter: 3/?

Warnings:  brief mention of attempted suicide

A/N: If you enjoy my writing I’ll also be posting them in AO3 and Wattpad along with other stories (I also hope to start taking requests if ya’ll want) Hope you enjoy and all constructive criticism is encouraged.

Follow Me!

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Chapter 3

"Time!" Mr. Harris looked up from his watch. "If you catalyzed the reaction correctly, you should now be looking at a crystal."

I looked down at my beaker and saw a horrible concoction of half crystal and half goo. Thanks to Stiles, my last partner of this weird-ass rotation the chemistry teacher had us partake in. Yet even though I didn't get with Stiles that well I was relieved that he was my partner. Isaac had been completely insufferable these last few days and I couldn't handle that.

"Now this part of the experiment I'm sure you'll all enjoy. You can eat it." I was bummed that I couldn't eat mine and I guess Lydia noticed.

"Hey, (Y/N), we can share mine. Don't frown." I smiled at her and she returned it.

After Lydia gave me half her rock crystal, Scott just stood up and screamed our names to stop, and everyone else just stared at us. We both turned and gave the boy a weird stare before diverging our attention back to the candy. After clinking our candies against the other, we savored the sweet treat.

Allison's POV

"Derek is outside waiting for (Y/N) and Lydia," Scott said.

"Waiting to kill them?"

"If he thinks one of them is the Kanima, then yes. Especially after what happened at the pool."

"It's not Lydia."

"Stiles, she didn't pass the test, man. Nothing happened."

"No, it can't be her."

"Well, it's not (Y/N) either."

"Well, it could be her."

"What is that supposed to mean?!" What the hell was his problem?

"Well, we have no idea who she is, and she hasn't really proven to be a good person. And the attacks did start after she first arrived at Beacon Hills."

"You don't know her, I do. Believe me, it's not her. I've known her my whole life. I think I would have noticed her turning into a killing lizard and I don't think I would be here to tell you. So, we can cross her out." We both sighed. "But it doesn't matter because Derek thinks it's one of them. So, either we can convince him that he's wrong or we've got to figure out a way to protect them."

"Well, I don't think he's gonna do anything here. Not at school." Scott stepped in.

"What about after school?" I asked and he sighed. "What if we can prove that Derek's wrong?"

"By three o'clock?"

"There can be something in the bestiary."

"Oh, you mean the 900-page book written in Archaic Latin that none of us can read? Good luck with that." Seriously Stiles, not helping. At least I was trying.

"Actually, I think there might be someone who can translate," I said thinking about our guidance counselor.

"Uh, I can talk to Derek maybe convince him to give us a chance to prove it's not either of them or... But if anything happens you guys let me handle it, okay?"

"What does that mean?"

"You can't heal like I do." I stared at him. I wasn't a defenseless baby. "I just don't want you getting hurt."

"I can protect myself." I took the crossbow out of my bag. He said nothing. "What? Did something else happen?"

"I just don't want you getting hurt. Seriously, if anything goes wrong you call me, okay?! I don't care if your dad finds out. Call or text, scream or yell; whatever, I'll find you as fast as I can." He stared straight into my eyes.

"We have until three."

He turned to leave until my crossbow went off. "Ooh." Scott quickly turned around and caught the arrow.

"Aah. Sorry." Stiles handed me the crossbow. "Sorry. Sensed a trigger on that."

Scott's POV

Currently, Stiles was on Lydia's and (Y/N)'s trail, and I was on the field with Boyd trying to find Derek.

"I wanna talk to Derek."

"Talk to me."

"I don't wanna fight."

"Good. Cause I'm twice the size of you" I looked up to find it true.

"True. Really, really true." He smirked. "But you wanna know what I think? I'm twice as fast." I smirked back and tackled him to the ground. Once we stood up, Derek appeared by our side.

"She failed the test." His face held his iconic scowl, and his arms were crossed.

"Yeah, but that doesn't prove anything. Lydia's different."

"I know. At night she turns into a homicidal walking snake."

"I'm not gonna let you kill her."

"Who said I was gonna do it?" I looked back to the school and realized Erica and Isaac were still back in the building. I tried to run towards it, but Boyd threw me down. "I don't know why you think you have to protect everyone now, Scott. But even so, Lydia has killed people and she's gonna do it again. And next time it's gonna be one of us."

"What if you're wrong? For all we know it could also be (Y/N). She didn't pass either, and how is it a coincidence that the attacks started after she arrived?" For a second I could have sworn there was a sign of desperation and worry in his face. But as quick as I blinked the look was gone.

"Lydia was bitten by an alpha. It's her."

"You saw that thing up close. You know it's not like us."

"But it is! We're all shapeshifters. You don't know what you're dealing with. It happens rarely and it happens for a reason."

"What reason?"

"Sometimes the shape you take reflects the person that you are." He gave me his hand and helped me up. "Even Stiles calls her cold-blooded."

"Well, what if she's immune? What if she has something else inside of her that makes her immune to the bite which is why she didn't get paralyzed."

"No one's immune. We've never seen it or heard of it. It's n... It's never happened." He argued.

"What about Jackson?" He looked away. "That's why you tested him, isn't it? Because you gave him what he wanted, didn't you?"

"Scott..."

"You said the bite either kills you or turns you. You were probably hoping that he would die. But nothing happened, right? You have no idea why do you?"

"No." Derek's jaw clenched and I knew I struck a never, so I pressured on buying more time.

"I have a theory. That she's immune and that somehow, she passed it on to Jackson. You know I'm right."

"No!

"You can NOT do this!"

"Look, I can't let her live! You should've known that."

"I was hoping I could convince you but then, I wasn't counting on it." He looked at me frazzled as to what I meant, I just smirked.

(Y/N)'s POV

Being stuck with Stiles and Lydia in the library is torture, an experiment I did not want to know the result of. Actually, just Stiles. Ever since Chemistry he had been on our trail like a lost puppy. Lydia and I had a project to work with, and he was just in the way. He was acting so weird and fidgety, more than usual.

"Hey, Allison. What are you doing here?" Lydia said looking behind her.

"Oh nothing, just wondering if you wanted to get together for a study group."

"Sure, that would actually maybe let the tension leave this group," I said and as we were leaving, Jackson joined.

"Study group? I'm coming with."

"Great." We left through the back door of the library, lord knows why, and we were walking at top speed.

"If we're doing a study group why don't we just stay in the library?" Lydia said. I was asking myself the same thing but since everyone else had stood up, I just followed.

"Because we're meeting up with somebody else."

"Why don't they just meet us at the library?" I asked.

"Oh, that would have been a great idea! Too late."

"Okay, hold on..." Lydia started saying but Jackson stopped her by grabbing her arm.

"Lydia, shut up and walk." Jerk.

We all got inside of Stile's jeep since he thought it would be faster that way because we were already late. It was an awkward ride to what I learned was Scott's house. No one said much except for the casual groan or scoff coming from Lydia.

"If we're meeting at Scott's house, where's Scott?" Lydia asked.

"Meeting us here. I think. I hope." Stiles said as he led us up to the front steps and into Scott's house.

Once inside he closed every single lock there was on the door. My reaction was involuntary as I stared at the slim boy in front of me as if he was another worldly creature.

"Uh, there's been a few break-ins in the neighborhood." He then put a chair on the doorknob and now Lydia joined in the stare. "And a murder. Yeah, it was bad."

"Lydia, follow me. I need to talk to you for a minute." Jackson spoke up.

"Seriously, what is going on with everyone?" Lydia said exasperated.

"Actually, I've been thinking the same thing. What the hell is going on?" I asked once Jackon and Lydia were out of sight.

"Nothing. Like we said it's just a study group." Stiles answered and I crossed my arms against my chest. Groveling for an answer seemed completely futile in this situation.

Allison's POV

"You know what, (Y/N). Why don't you go into the kitchen and help yourself to anything or go upstairs and lay down? I think Scott will take a while."

"O-kay?" She headed upstairs with an audible sigh and I motioned to Stiles to give me his phone to dial Scott.

"Hey, it's me. You need to get here. Quick." I looked outside and saw Derek and his pack waiting. I looked at the phone after Scott hung up and started dialing my dad's number.

"What are you doing?"

"I think... I think I have to call my dad."

"But if he finds you here, you and Scott..."

"I know." I stared at him. "What are we supposed to do? They're not here to scare us, okay, they're here to kill Lydia... Or, or even (Y/N)." We stood in silence and I debated on whether if it would be a good idea to call my father. If I did my relationship with Scott would be completely and truly over and if I didn't there could be a chance I would be down a friend or even a cousin.

"I've got an idea." I looked at a nervous Stiles. "Shoot one of them."

"Are you serious?"

"We told Scott we could protect ourselves. So, let's do it, at least give it a shot, right?" I debated for a moment.

"Okay." I don't think I sounded too confident.

"Look, they don't think we're gonna fight, so one of them gets hit, I guarantee they'll take off. So just shoot one of them." His reasoning made sense. I looked outside.

"Which one?"

"Um, Derek, preferably in the head."

"Stiles, if Scott can catch an arrow, Derek definitely can."

"Okay, ah, just shoot one of the other three."

"You mean two?"

"I mean three." Quickly he moved the curtains aside and looked outside to check on the pack. "Where's Isaac?" Without being able to think I was attacked and thrown to the ground and so was Stiles. I don't know how but Isaac found a way in.

(Y/N)'s POV

I was laying down on the bed of what I hoped was a guest room, scrolling through my phone when I heard a crash downstairs. I guess Lydia heard it too because when I looked outside the hallway, there she was. We moved slowly and carefully. After, I started to hear snarling and crashing.

"What's happening?" Lydia cried and I half hugged her as reassurance.

"Get back. Someone's trying to break in, okay? Go." Allison appeared from around the corner.

"I can help," I said.

"Stay." We didn't move. "Guys, go!" We both ran back to the room she was with Jackson and closed the door. Yet, Jackson was nowhere in sight.

"Jackson?!" Lydia screamed and we made our way to the bathroom locking the door.

"Who are you calling?" I asked Lydia as she took out her phone.

"Hi, I-I need the police. Th-there's someone trying to break in." She turned off the light and I heard the door outside slam.

"Stiles! It's here!" Allison screamed. What the hell was IT? Then the door crashed down. Lydia started squirming so I engulfed her in a hug and tried my best to calm her nerves.

"We're gonna be alright." But honestly, I was just as scared. Once silence was the only thing surrounding us, I checked the room. "Okay, I think it's gone. We'll go out slowly."

She nodded and followed me out of the bathroom and later out of the room. We made our way calmly down the hallway and the stairs. That's when I heard the worst screech ever and it was not human. We both ran outside to see what had made such an awful sound and were met by Derek, Isaac, Erica, Boyd, Scott, Stiles, and Allison. What the hell were they all doing here, and why were Erica and Isaac limp on the floor?

"Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?"

"It's Jackson," Scott said. What could that possibly mean?

After everyone had calmed down, Stiles took us back to the school to look for our abandoned cars. As I made my way to my bike, Allison stopped me. Claiming that she was too worried about my safety. Not having the energy to fight, I obliged and got into her car alongside Lydia, who was still a bit shaken from the events.

"I need you to promise that you both won't say anything about what just happened." Allison staged the statement as a request but it was clearly a command.

"I promise not to say anything about what just happened if you could tell me what the HELL just happened," Lydia said, exasperated.

"I'm with Lydia on that one."

"It's kinda complicated." Allison sighed.

"How about you start with why Derek was there?" I spoke. "And Isaac and all of those kids from school?"

"Or where Jackson went or what is wrong with Erica?" She looked down. "Need to come up with a possible lie?"

"Part of the reason I am asking is because Scott and I aren't supposed to be seeing each other, okay?" Seriously? That's your excuse "So it's better if you just keep what you know to yourselves."

"Fine. I'll keep what I know about you and your boyfriend, which is nothing, to myself." Lydia started to get out, but Allison held her back.

"Hey, he's not just my boyfriend, you get that right?"

"Let me go." The strawberry blonde spat.

"Just for one second, please try and remember. "

"Remember what?!" Lydia turned.

"Remember what it feels like. All those times in school when you see him standing in the hall and you cannot breathe until you're with him or those times in class when you can't stop looking at the clock because you know that he is standing right out there, waiting for you. Don't you remember what that's like?"

"No."

"What do you mean no? You've had boyfriends."

"Not like that." She closed the door and left. Allison stared at her until she had reached the door to her house before starting the car back up.

"I know you're lying. This has nothing to do with your relationship with Scott. Maybe like five percent but when you look at the whole picture it's not. So, why don't you actually tell me the truth or I swear I will get out of this car."

"We're moving."

"Doesn't mean I won't jump out."

"What do you want me to say?!"

"The truth. Just tell me why the hell everyone has been acting so weird?"

"You're one to talk." She scoffed.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You! Ever since you've arrived you have pushed everyone away, even though all they have been is nice to you. You're alienating yourself for no reason."

"No reason?! How about the fact that I don't want to grow attached to anyone because I know that once the year ends, I'm gone? It has been like that for almost ten fucking years. Allison, you have only had to move about three times in your life, maybe four. I have been moving every single year since I was eight years old. Don't you think that it doesn't hurt to leave behind people you have grown to love and won't see again, possibly forever?"

"I didn't think..." she sighed.

"Exactly, you didn't think because you don't understand. The last time I grew close to someone, I had to say goodbye and you know what happened?" She shook her head no. "She was bullied into attempting suicide. I did that."

"Are you talking about Josie?" I nodded, roughly wiping away the tears that had spilled. "That wasn't your fault. It was tragic but there was nothing you could have done. You didn't do it."

"I did. She was alone because I left, and I couldn't protect her. She won't even answer my messages. Now, I don't associate myself with people so I don't have to care about what happens to them. That way it doesn't hurt once I leave."

"I'm so sorry, (Y/N), I didn't know you felt that way. But don't push me away. I will always be a constant in your life. I'm your cousin, I will always be with you." She hugged me and wiped away any other tears left. "I love you but get out."

"Dude, you just ruined the moment."

"No, I mean we're at your house and I have to get home. I love you." She smiled and I got out of the car. Before I could say anything else, she sped off. She knew there was a conversation still lingering and she was trying to avoid it. I just hoped I didn't have to explain myself to anyone else.

I entered the empty house, making sure all the doors were locked, and made my way up the stairs. Opening my bedroom door, Brody jumped off my bed and onto me, slathering my face with kisses.

"Hey, buddy. I missed you too," I laughed. Being near him instantly calmed me and helped me feel more at ease after the night I had.

I changed into my pajamas, too tired to shower, and cuddled with Brody on my bed. Talking about my past always made me tense. I tried my best to stray away from the topic and reveal as little as possible as I could, but it always found a way to be uncovered. As hard as I tried it was the dark cloud that would always follow me around. All I could do was avoid the whole thing as much as I could and hope they didn't bring it up again.

With Brody's warmth next to me, I quickly nodded off to sleep and melted the stress of the day.

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[lunarfly]

Harmione Essay: Physical contact — a changing pattern (by Turambar)

Hello! This is an essay written many years ago, before the release of HBP&DH. It doesn't belong to me so credits to the original writer(Turambar)! It was written on the CoS forum, I'm not sure if it's still saved there but I have a word document with all of the essays. Anyways, this essay has no ship/character bashing. Again, this essay isn't written by me. Enjoy!

The evolution of this pattern of physical contact between Harry and Hermione is very interesting.

PS to POA:

1) If we look at the very scene where the trio become friends, a curious aspect of this pattern rears its head: Harry is physically decisive, Harry and Hermione have physical contact in a time of crisis and Ron is to one side looking on. "Harry yelled at Hermione, trying to pull her towards the door."

2) At the end of the book she initiates the hug and he feels very embarrassed since displays of physical affection are totally foreign to him. "Hermione's lip trembled and she suddenly dashed at Harry and threw her arms around him. 'Hermione!' 'Harry - you're a great wizard you know.' 'I'm not as good as you,' said Harry, very embarrassed as she let go of him." Then there's the nice moment in the hospital wing when he realizes she wants to hug him again but is glad she holds herself in because his head's hurting.

3) In POA, having previously seen Harry jump on a troll for her and wrestle Millicent Bulstrode off her - both while Ron is present - Hermione turns to Harry for emotional support through a physical gesture, grabbing his arm when the trio see that the Fat Lady has been slashed (by Sirius). "Harry, Ron and Hermione moved closer to see what the trouble was. 'Oh my -' Hermione exclaimed and grabbed Harry's arm." Again Ron is present but Hermione turns to Harry.

4) The Shrieking Shack/Time Turner scenes, when they are nearer their 14th birthdays than their 13th ones, are where the pattern accelerates and becomes noticeable.

It is mostly Hermione initiating contact. Harry is accepting of this contact and only indicates she should let go of his arm at one point when her grip causes him to lose feeling in his fingers.

Shrieking Shack:

"She now grasped Harry's arm painfully hard"

"Hermione suddenly grabbed Harry's arm again."

"Hermione's grip on Harry's arm was so tight he was losing feeling in his fingers. He raised his eyebrows at her; she nodded and let go."

Time Turner:

"In here!' Hermione seized Harry's arm and dragged him across the hall to the door of a broom cupboard, she opened it and pushed him inside."

"Hermione nudged him and pointed towards the castle."

"Hermione was holding Harry very tightly around the waist."

"Peeves!" Harry muttered, grabbing Hermione's wrist. "In here."

5) So to summarize:

a) Up to this point, apart from a couple of occasions where Harry has grabbed Hermione, the contact between them has been initiated by Hermione.

b) It has occurred at times of crisis/stress and generally involved Hermione seeking support, reassurance and protection from Harry.

c) Apart from the hug and flying on Buckbeak it has involved arm contact.

d) Despite embarrassment over the hug - understandable since it's presumably his first since he was a baby - Harry is still mature enough to pay a compliment - 'I'm not as good as you'. But he's comfortable with the contact, he doesn't question it and his indication to Hermione to release his arm is not a rejection of her: she has no qualms about grabbing him again.

GOF:

6) Here we see a change in the pattern to Hermione initiating contact in moments of fun/joy/excitement/relief.

Veela:

"She reached up and pulled Harry back into his seat."

"Hermione was soon tugging on Harry's arm. He turned to look at her, and she pulled his fingers impatiently out of his ears. 'Look at the referee!' she said giggling."

First task:

"Then before either of them could stop her, she had given both of them a hug."

Dobby:

"Harry!' she panted, skidding to a halt beside him (the Fat Lady stared down at her, eyebrows raised). She seized Harry's arm and started to try and drag him back along the corridor."

"Oh come on Harry, I want to show you!' she seized his arm again, pulled him in front of the picture... and pushed Harry hard in the back, forcing him inside."

Hexes:

"...catching up with Harry and Ron in the Entrance Hall and pulling Harry's hand away from one of his wriggling ears so that he could hear her."

The end:

"'Bye, Harry!' said Hermione, and she did something she had never done before, and kissed him on the cheek."

7) Things to note about this:

a) IMO it reflects Hermione's growing self confidence which is very evident in OOTP

b) Hermione appears to have an increasing wish for physical contact with Harry. For instance is it really necessary for her to touch his hands and pull them away from his ears (twice) to gain his attention. Wouldn't a tap on the shoulder have sufficed? And isn't hand to hand contact quite a lot more intimate than tapping someone on the shoulder?

c) Harry only initiates physical contact once, during the Dark Mark chapter: "He [Harry] seized the other two and pulled them down onto the ground." There is no description of how he reacts to the joint hug Hermione gives himself and Ron.

d) This pattern coincides with a growing mental closeness between Harry and Hermione: a lot of instances of them knowing what each other is thinking and also of Harry becoming more interested in what Hermione is thinking. It also coincides with Harry becoming more reliant on Hermione: needing her friendship when he has his falling out with Ron and her knowledge and skill to help him get through the tournament.

OOTP:

Now we finally come to the most interesting part of this whole pattern. It has changed again.

Harry's feelings towards Hermione are in transition and that flows through into a river of confused thoughts, emotions and actions about various subjects.

Just in the welcome scene, for instance, there are phrases such as: "found that he was not sorry" "the words tumbling over one another in a rush" 'but before he knew it, Harry was shouting" "every ... thought ... was pouring out of him" that help to show he's not on top of things.

8) The hug

"Followed by an even louder shriek, and his vision was completely obscured by a large quantity of very bushy hair. Hermione had thrown herself on him in a hug that nearly knocked him flat, while Ron's tiny owl, Pigwidgeon, zoomed excitedly round and round their heads.

"HARRY! Ron, he's here, Harry's here! We didn't hear you arrive! Oh, how are you! Are you all right? Have you been furious with us? I bet you have, I know our letters were useless - but we couldn't tell you anything, Dumbledore made us swear we wouldn't, oh, we've got so much to tell you, and you've got things to tell us - the Dementors! When we heard - and that Ministry hearing - it's just outrageous. I've looked it all up, they can't expel you, they just can't, there's provision in the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of underage Sorcery for use of magic in life threatening situations -"

"Let him breathe, Hermione," said Ron. (Harry gives description of Ron)Still beaming, Hermione let go of Harry."

a) When compared with the pattern of the previous books this has to be the most intense and sheerly physical sign of affection and joy Hermione has ever lavished on Harry. Compare it to their first hug in PS: that was a moving embrace, this is almost a rugby tackle.

b) Neither Harry nor Hermione want to let go. Harry doesn't make any move to. Hermione only lets go after Ron intervenes.

c) For the first time, we are told how Harry feels: a "warm glow that had flared inside him". This feeling incorporates seeing both friends, but it starts when Hermione hugs him, as I've explained previously.

9) Snape's class:

"Salamander blood, Harry!" Hermione moaned, grabbing his wrist to prevent him adding the wrong ingredient."

Hagrid's cabin:

"Get under here!" Harry said quickly; seizing the Invisibility Cloak, he whirled it over himself and Hermione while Ron tore around the table and dived under the cloak as well ... Hermione gasped; Harry clapped a hand over her mouth ... Harry made to pull off the Invisibility Cloak but Hermione seized his wrist. "Not yet," she breathed in his ear. She might not be gone yet."

Quidditch:

"As they rose from the table, Hermione got up too, and taking Harry's arm she drew him to one side."

Grawp:

"Hermione walked right into him and was knocked over backwards. Harry caught her just before she hit the forest floor ... "Good!" said Hermione, as Harry set her back on her feet."

"Grawp's hand had shot out of nowhere towards Hermione; Harry seized her and pulled her backwards behind the tree, so that Grawp's fist scraped the trunk but closed on thin air.

"Bad boy Grawpy!" they heard Hagrid yelling, as Hermione clung to Harry behind the tree, shaking and whimpering."

Out of the Fire:

"Get over here," muttered Hermione, tugging at Harry's wrist and pulling him back into a recess."

"Harry grabbed Hermione and pulled her to the ground."

"Hermione had been dropped, too, and Harry hurried towards her."

"Hermione gripped his arm tightly."

"Harry could feel Hermione shaking as Grawp opened his mouth wide again and said in a deep, rumbling voice, 'Hermy.' 'Goodness,' said Hermione, gripping Harry's arm so tightly it was growing numb."

"One of the giant's massive hands reached down. Hermione let out a real scream, ran a few steps backwards and fell over. Devoid of a wand, Harry braced himself to punch, kick, bite or whatever else it took as the hand swooped towards him."

"Pebble-sized droplets of Grawp's blood showered Harry as he pulled Hermione to her feet and the pair of them ran as fast as they could."

"Harry and Hermione moved together instinctively and peered through the trees."

The Department of Mysteries:

"The circular wall was rotating. Hermione grabbed Harry's arm as though frightened the floor might move too, but it did not."

"She grabbed his arm and pulled, but he resisted."

"He seized a handful of Hermione's robes and dragged her forwards."

"Harry raised his wand but to his amazement Hermione seized his arm."

10) The major change to the pattern from all the other books is that Harry is a far more active participant.

Instead of being the more passive rock that Hermione clings on to, he is much more forcibly protecting her. He reacts very instinctively and decisively.

From being mostly one-sided in the sense that Hermione was doing most of the grabbing, it is now much more even. There's more full-on contact rather than just arm grabbing.

If we compare Harry's actions in the forest scenes of OOTP with the Shrieking Shack/Time Turner scenes he is far more protective and physical with Hermione than before. In POA they were facing the Whomping Willow, a werewolf and dementors, in OOTP a giant and centaurs.

The way Harry shapes up to Grawp without a wand shows almost a desperation to protect Hermione. When his arm starts to go numb in OOTP, same as it did in POA, this time he doesn't ask her to let go.

11) Overall this changing pattern reflects the changing nature of Harry and Hermione's relationship:

Hermione has been the one to develop and realize her feelings for Harry but now Harry is catching up just as Hermione for a while was the dominant participant in the pattern but it has evened with Harry's full involvement.

[harryimaginedstories]

on your side

genre: au (while I don’t like the term ‘au-fic’ at all imagine the two characters are in college together and in their early twenties.) angst and some fluff as well.

about 5k words

it’s entirely different than anything I have ever published and I really love it. please let me know what you think and stay safe during these wild and often scary times. 

read more here: my stories

photo: taken from instagram, previously taken by somebody from the movie AWC, which also inspired me (kinda) to even write this.

They started arguing pretty much the second the car door fell shut behind them and even ten traffic lights, countless of turns and getting honked at twice, didn’t stop their heated exchange of words. Harry’s hands held on to the seat tightly, an attempt not to touch her thigh like he normally would, while hers curled around the steering wheel until the white of her knuckles showed. It wasn’t uncommon for them to fight. They had never been one of those couples who didn’t call each other out on their bullshit or who tried hide anger when there was reason to feel it. However, this was the first time that they weren’t on their way home, where their argument could be settled in private. Instead, Harry and Y/N, both infuriated with each other, were on their way to a party. With one generous rotation of the wheel, Y/N parked Harry’s black car in the last free niche on the street of the frat house. The vehicle gave an unpleasant sound and Harry closed his eyes, his nostrils flaring. Before he got the chance to complain, Y/N swung open the door, stepped out and threw it shut hard enough to know it would set him off. 

“Jesus fuck!” Harry shouted, opening the passenger door and stepping out, too. 

She waited long enough to press ‘lock’ on the keys once he was out, then she walked away. With quick strides he caught up with her, and had he not been as angry as could be he would have probably felt hurt at her for not waiting up like she would have any other day.  Walking next to her he turned to look at her profile, trying to catch her eyes, but she refused. 

“Would you mind not taking your crazy out on my fucking car?”

“Oh, so you do care about that then. Good to know,” she snapped back. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Y/N halted and so did he. They were standing on the pavement, one house away from where there could already be heard the dull sound of music blaring and a good meter of distance between them.  Any other night they would be standing there, too. Only not to deliver a few more blows before pretending to be alright while their friends were around. On any other night, Harry would have taken advantage of the warm weather, by letting his hands roam across Y/N’s bare arms. She would have given him a kiss or two and made him a laugh at least as much. He would have reminded her for the fifth time (at least) that she looked beautiful. There wouldn’t be any distance between them, let alone one entire meter.

“There is one thing I’ve been hearing clearly through all of the bullshit you’ve said today,” Y/N hissed, her lips barely moving and her hands curling into tight fists by her side, “which is that you don’t give a fuck about me.”

“Oh my god.” His throat bobbed as he swallowed thickly, his head falling back before snapping forward quickly, “You’re being such a lunatic!”

Wind picked up some of her hair and pushed the loose strands into her eyes, breaking the angry stare she’d held with him and for a moment, Harry could have sworn she appeared to be younger. Then she brushed the hair off with shaky hands and back she was, angry and exhausted. 

“You’re a dick!” Y/N squealed, 

“Well, clearly we could go on,” he snapped and rolled his eyes, “but our fucking friends are waiting for us so do you think you can manage to avoid me for the next few hours so we can at least settle this at home?” 

Y/N crossed her arms over her chest, hiding her cleavage which he had tried not to stare ever since she’d put on the blue dress. That damn dress. Focusing on it now it only irked him further. She knew how much he loved it when she wore this particular piece of clothing. It had spent the night on the floor of his bedroom or over the back of a chair often enough. He was certain she’d put it on specifically to spite him. 

“Fine, let’s go. But since you’re unhappy with my parking,” Y/N stepped forward and reached up, pressing the hard metal of Harry’s car keys into his chest, “you get to be the designated driver tonight.” 

Her fist lingered on the fabric of his black T-shirt. Feeling her touch him momentarily paused his thoughts. All anger was forgotten, as if the wind had picked it up, too, and carried it far away. Harry whimpered and her lips parted, their eyes connecting without any trace of hurt in them. Then his hand found hers and she dropped the set of keys into his palm, snapping them both out of their brief moment of peace. 

“I don’t want to see you right now,” Y/N stuttered, blinking rapidly until her eyes turned darker again.

“Don’t come look for me later when you’re drunk and feeling sorry,” Harry replied, before he stepped around her and walked towards the frat building.

Y/N lost sight of him the second he stepped inside. Despite still feeling angry with him, she couldn’t stop herself from briefly wishing he wouldn’t have left her alone. She didn’t like being left alone at a party. Neither did he, for the matter, but she refused to feel guilty for sending him away. Y/N drew a shaky breath and stepped inside, instantly greeted by the smell of alcohol, smoke and pot. A big banner had been hung from one side of the hall to the other, wishing everybody a cheerful start to the new semester. Underneath mingled numerous students, all of which held drinks in their hands. Already Y/N recognized a few of them from some of her classes, she didn’t feel like talking to them however. To her luck she spotted a few friends of her in the first room she entered and was quickly greeted with hugs and kisses to her cheek. 

Dena, a girl Y/N had grown close with through sharing an equal distain for their econ teacher, pressed a drink into her hand and smiled. “You look like you need at least two of these.”

Y/N smiled sadly. “That obvious, huh?”

“Well, you didn’t cheer in delight upon seeing us like you should have so,” said Clara, another friend Y/N had made whilst talking badly about her teacher.

“Oh, yeah, I’m sorry.” 

Dena nudged her. “Also, your boyfriend stormed past us earlier so we expected something was up.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Clara asked.

Y/N shook her head and took a long sip from her drink. It tasted of a mixture of beer and vodka, which on any other day she would have refused to drink. “I really don’t.”

“Great. Then let’s just cheer to us.”

The two girls raised their own cups and waited expectantly for Y/N to do the same. Dena grinned at her and cleared her throat. 

“To us, the coming semester, which we will fucking ace. And-” she paused, looking at Y/N, “to knowing when to kick your boyfriend’s ass. Cheers!”

“Cheers.”

Harry stood by the unlit fire pit in the lounge area, where the chairs had been pushed aside to create a dance floor. A scowl was deeply etched onto his face and he had yet to smile genuinely. He blamed the alcohol he wasn’t allowed to consume for how poorly he was feeling, but he knew even if he had drowned his veins in liquor, it wouldn’t be until he’d feel her touch him that he would be in a better mood. He stood back watching with a few of his mates, who were all except one, very drunk, as some freshmen clumsily turned the dinner table into a bear pong station. Matt, the only sober one left, had tried to get him to talk about why his mood was so sour three times already, receiving no answer each time. Harry rolled his eyes upon feeling him nudge his shoulder again.

“Where’s your girl?”

Harry shrugged. “Don’t know.”

He’d been cursing her short height since turning around and looking for her in the crowded hallway thirty minutes ago. She’d slipped past him without him noticing, and while he was too proud to go look for her properly, it annoyed him that he wasn’t able to casually spot her whenever he scanned one of the many rooms that had been turned into a club. He especially didn’t like it since he knew that she was drinking. Blindly he felt for his phone in his pocket, ensuring for the tenth time that its volume was turned up. Should she call him, he wanted to be sure that he wouldn’t miss it.

“Didn’t she come with you?” Matt pressed on, either oblivious to Harry’s annoyance or simply indifferent to it.

“Doesn’t mean she can’t wander off on her own, does it?” Harry replied, his voice rough. 

He’d never really liked Matt. Actually, he’d liked him a lot once. They’d even considered becoming roommates in their second year. He’d liked him, up until he’d gotten together with Y/N and noticed the gleam in Matt’s eyes the first time he’d introduced her to him. Their friendship dissolved fast after.

“I’m sure she can. She’s always been good at enjoying parties, hasn’t she?”

Harry didn’t reply. Once more his eyes scanned the room frantically, detecting every single face in hopes of recognizing the eyes to the one he loved.

“Dude!” Eric, a tall and broad looking bloke who’d just become team captain to the football team, stumbled into Harry’s side, knocking him back. 

“Sorry! Shit,” Eric laughed, doubling over, revealing that he was clearly drunker than he should have been, “I’m sorry, mate. Wow, I need to lay off a little.”

“No kidding,” Harry replied, but smiled when Eric slung a heavy arm around his shoulders. The unmistakable smell of alcohol fanned over his face as Eric talked, and his nose scrunched up. 

“You’ve been wearing a look as depressing as Matt’s sex life-”

“Hey, fuck you, Eric!” Matt snapped, unamused.

“-and I intend to fix that. C’mon.”

Harry didn’t fight it as the taller guy dragged him away, out of the lounge and into another room further down the hall. He certainly didn’t mind getting away form Matt. Regardless of them having been friends once, Matt was the last person he wanted to be around when he was having a rough time with Y/N. The smoke was thicker in this room and the music a little quieter. There were less people dancing and more sitting around on the couches and chairs. A few stood by the wall in small groups and some, the ones Eric was walking towards, were standing opposite a dart board. They cheered upon seeing the two guys approach, making more noise than anybody else in the room.

“You’re on my team and you’re gonna help me win, yeah? M’taking advantage of you being sober as a stone. Your aim is probably better than any of theirs.”

Harry laughed and nodded, accepting to be involved. “I’ll try my best.”

The first dart arrow was thrust into his hand by a guy named Kyle who appeared to be on the same team. Half an hour later and Eric was grinning from ear to ear, writing their leading score numbers onto a makeshift writing board that was really just the coffee table. Something the guys living in this house would be happy to find in the morning.  Y/N watched him. Despite being intoxicated, or perhaps because of how intoxicated she was, she noticed every muscle of his back move each time he raised his arm. Her heart fluttered whenever he laughed and she felt a heat grow at the pit of her stomach whenever he leaned his head to the side, revealing the back of his neck to her. And above his neck was his ear, which hid a spot right under his hairline where he liked to be kissed. Y/N’s lips parted at the thought and her toes curled.  He hadn’t noticed her when entering the room. She didn’t blame him though, since she’d successfully hid herself behind Dena and Eric’s big body also worked wonderfully as a shield. Despite anything she’d said before the party, she was immensely relieved to see him. The vodka-beer mixture which she’d learned had been invented by Clara, was disgusting but also got her drunk faster than she had expected. Or intended. Another round of cheers erupted as Harry scored another point for his team. 

“Not fair. You won’t give them as much as a chance to win.” 

A chill rushed down Harry’s back at the sound of the honey sweet female voice behind him, and Y/N, too, froze in place. Slender fingers touched Harry’s arm, caressing the skin despite being less than welcome to. Upon turning around he was met with Silja, who’s face wore a smile equally sweet as her sly voice. Though standing by the opposite wall, Y/N swore she could hear Silja as if she were standing next to her. She would always be able to detect her voice, especially if the words she spoke were directed to Harry. 

Dena followed her friend’s gaze and raised her brows. “Haven’t seen her in a while. I thought she dropped out.”

“Would have been too nice,” Y/N growled. 

She’d never actually talked to Silja herself and she surely didn’t intend to. Before getting together with him, Y/N had been mostly oblivious to who was genuinely interested in him and who she imagining to be. Only with Silja there had never been any doubt. Even before Harry had become hers, she’d felt a bitter taste collect in the middle of her tongue whenever the pretty brunette girl tried to talk to him. Once her claim on him had become justified, she disliked Silja and her upfront behaviour all the more.

“Hey, you know you don’t have to worry about her, right?” Dena said quietly, reading Y/N’s expression, “Harry has rejected her what, three times already? Even before he was with you. He’s not interested in her.”

“I know. I’m not worried about that,” Y/N said quickly, stepping around Dena to get a better look at her boyfriend and the girl that had yet to remove her hand from his arm, “I trust him.”

“Doesn’t make her less of a bitch,” Clara grumbled, also staring at them intently. 

The three girls watched Harry turn to look at Silja. He gave her a tight lip smile before he stepped away to make room for the next player, conveniently shrugging off her hand in process. To their dismay, Silja followed him.

“I haven’t seen you this summer,” she complained in an uncomfortably high voice, that was laced with feigned displeasure, “Where were you hiding?” 

Harry sighed, wishing Y/N would find him already, and rested his back against the wall. The last thing he needed for this party to become worse were the advances of the woman standing before him. “I wasn’t.”

Their summer had been great. They spent it looking for a flat to move into together. One weekend they’d taken the train out to the ocean and spent two days in a pretty bed and breakfast, where nothing distracted them from each other and everything, even their sheets, held the faint smell of sea salt. He wasn’t about to tell any of that to Silja though. 

The girl pouted, smudging her lilac lipstick at the corners. “Didn’t you miss me at all? Not even a little bit?” 

“No.”

She smiled. Her neck moved to the side as her eyes mustering him. “You and your attitude. I really missed that.”

Harry let his head fall back and for a moment Y/N forgot to eye the girl hitting on her boyfriend and instead stared at his throat. She longed to kiss him there, too. The darkened expression taking over his relaxed face quickly brought her attention back. Thinking about kissing him had made her miss the words Silja had said to upset him. 

“You’re wasting your time missing me.”

At last, Silja’s smile dropped. “You’re still with her, then?”

“Yep,” he replied shortly. 

 “Fine,” Silja pushed the long brown locks off her shoulder and crossed her arms, “maybe if she fucked you right you wouldn’t be such an asshole all the time.” 

“Fuck off, Silja,” Harry snapped, pushing himself off the wall to instantly tower over her.

“Harry! Your turn again, mate.”

Without giving her as much as a second look, Harry turned away and followed Eric’s call. Dena’s hand rested on Y/N’s shoulder, squeezing her gently whilst smiling at her. Y/N exhaled loudly and relaxed. She didn’t doubt Harry’s capability of getting rid of Silja. She’d also truly meant it when she’d said that she trusted him. But after their argument she wasn’t so sure that he didn’t want to receive some affection tonight, be it from anybody. While she would have hated it, simply entertaining Silja’s flirting wouldn’t have been cheating. A warm feeling overtook any worry left in her body upon watching him turn Silja away. He didn’t bother look at her again but walked back to his friends to resume the game, treating her like she wasn’t even there. He didn’t even give Silja the satisfaction of remaining angered by her words. Giving up her attempts, Silja walked away and left the room quickly, her cheeks slightly rosy in embarrassment. 

“Remind me to kiss him later for that,” Y/N said, her voice holding more love for him than she would usually let on whilst angry. 

Clara laughed. “So you’re not mad at him anymore.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me that I was or I might still be.”

“What were you two fighting about anyway?” Dena asked. 

Y/N took another long sip from her drink, before remembering that she’d wanted to not drink any more for the night. Oh well. 

“He didn’t come home last night. Without notifying me. He fell asleep at stupid Rick’s place and neither of them bothered shooting me a text or ringing me about it. I spent all night worried sick.”

Y/N’s expression hardened at the thought of waiting up for him. She’d paced around the living room of their new flat before settling on the couch, vowing to stay awake until he returned. She’d had half a mind not to call his mother or sister, not quite worried enough to ask them. 

“I didn’t see him until an hour before coming here ‘cause I had to work today. So we didn’t have time to properly fight about it.”

“Didn’t he say he was sorry?”

“Sure he did, as well as stating that I was overreacting and not his mother.”

“Ugh, men,” Dena grumbled, then she changed the subject, “Let’s get refills in the kitchen!”

Harry got bored of the game after the fifth round, but stayed to play until the team he’d joined won by a margin. Then he politely excused himself from playing another round. Though she’d told him she didn’t want to see him, Harry really wanted to see Y/N and he figured over an hour of distance sufficed for her to calm down. Maybe she would even allow herself to be happy about him finding her. He strolled around the room, then went looking in the hall and finally searched the lounge. If only she were a little taller, he thought once more. All of sudden he heard a loud shout. It wasn’t one of the usual party hollers, it was one that held no joy at all. With swift strides Harry crossed the room, turned left in the hallway and entered the kitchen. This time he didn’t have to search to see her. Y/N was sitting on the counter, her legs dangling down and her hands curling around the stone surface. Across from her was the kitchen table on which all of the different liquor bottles had been placed. It was also where the single shout turned into several. A guy Harry hadn’t ever seen around campus before stood next to a broken bottle of vodka. His hand curled into a fist and his face was red. Opposite him stood Dena, a girl Harry barely knew beyond her being a friend of Y/N. Next to Dena was a guy named Dylan, his face painted with guilt and worry. 

“You fucking broke my shit!” the stranger shouted. 

Y/N flinched. It wasn’t Dena who’d pissed off the wrong guy, but Dylan who had tried to make a drink for them. She didn’t feel any less involved if the guy were to be shouting at her. The second the bottle had broken and the tall stranger exclaimed that it’d been his, Y/N had felt fear curse through her. She hated it. She hated how a man shouting was so scary that she froze in place.  Just like she always did when afraid, her eyes began to search for Harry. Heavy like a wave and equally overwhelming was the relief when she saw him lingering in the doorway.  Their eyes met. Y/N visibly relaxed. She could read the question in the look he was giving her and she eagerly nodded. There were so few people scattered around the small place, Harry had no trouble reaching the counter.  Once in arms reach she held out her right hand, whimpering when his fingers slotted through hers and holding on tight. Any anger towards each other was forgotten the moment their skin touched. Y/N gave a determined pull until he stood next to where she was sitting, her legs touching his waist. Harry didn’t say anything, but he allowed her to let go of his hand to instead hold on to his shoulder. His own settled heavily on her thigh, relishing the feeling of her bare skin. He didn’t complain when her fingers curled tightly around the fabric of his shirt, nor did she mind how intimate it felt to have his hand on her naked thigh. His eyes quickly scanned her face, waiting for her nod, confirming that she was alright. Y/N smiled gently, relief mirroring in her eyes. Harry returned her smile. His heart clenching when he noticed the faint veil of alcohol before her eyes. Ever so slightly, their heads leaned towards each other, then his nose softly touched her forehead.

“He didn’t do it on purpose,” Dena said defensively, “and these bottles are for everybody to use.”

Harry shifted closer to Y/N but removed his nose form her hairline. Unwillingly he turned his attention back to where the argument grew. The stranger’s head, figuratively doubling in size by the minute, was red and looming over Dena like a balloon hovering in the sky. He had to admit it was impressive that Dena, equally short as Y/N, refused to back off.

“I wasn’t asking you! You and your friend better figure out how to replace my drink and you better do it fast!”

“Mate, lay off a bit, will ya? They didn’t do anything on purpose,” Harry interrupted, his voice calm and steady, “Why don’t you just grab one of the ten other bottles and leave ‘em alone?” 

The stranger, slightly shorter than Harry, turned to look at them. Y/N tightened her hold on his shoulder. She was mentally preparing herself to jump off the counter and at the stranger’s throat instead, should he as much as try to pick a fight with Harry. Noticing her shift beside him, Harry’s hold on her intensified.

“Leave them alone?” the tall guy snapped, “that was twenty fucking quid he broke!” 

“Bit embarrassing that you’re whining about twenty quid,” Harry said, wearing a smug grin, “and picking a fight like some kind of neanderthals who found out somebody’s pissed into his cave.” 

Dena giggled and so did Y/N, along with some bystanders who’d gathered to watch. The bloke narrowed his eyes, first at Harry, then at the girl sitting beside him. 

He opened his mouth to speak, but Y/N interrupted him. “Quit looking at me and spare me any sexist bullshit you’re about to say.” 

The guy rolled his eyes, then smiled. “You’re pretty for a bitch.”

Y/N’s hand yanked Harry back by his shoulder equally fast as he’d pushed off the counter to lunge forward and at the guy. The movement caused him to knock against the counter uncomfortably. She didn’t let go and didn’t move, despite Harry’s enraged breathing getting louder.  

“Fuck you!” Harry shouted, eyes wide. 

Anger oozed out of his pores and heat settled in the small kitchen. Calm and collected only a moment ago, he was all the more scarier now that he was enraged. Scary enough to make the stranger take back a step. Y/N loosened her hold on Harry’s shoulder, sliding her hand down to press against his back instead. She rubbed his spine gently, hoping to ease him by letting him know she was okay. 

"You need to leave,” Y/N stated, her voice calm.

“Definitely,” Dena agreed, her eyes trained on her friend before finding Harry.

He didn’t return her gaze, his eyes remained on the tall blonde. They stayed put until the guy lowered his empty cup to the table, the movement slow and deliberate. He clearly didn’t want it to look like he was leaving because he was told to, so he took his time. But finally he turned away, before at last leaving the kitchen and hopefully the party all together. 

Harry shuddered upon feeling Y/N’s nose against the shell of his ear. “I’m fine, Harry.”

“What a wanker.”

“A fucking wanker,” Y/N replied, her smile practically audible in her voice. 

Harry turned around to face her, all of his attention returning to where it belonged: her. His eyes looked into hers intently, reading every answer to all of his unspoken questions.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes. Are you?”

He nodded. “Did he try anything before I came?”

“I noticed him about zero-point-five seconds before you arrived, Harry. I’m fine, I promise.”

Her hands gently took hold of his face. The fingers of her left hand traced along his jawline as tenderly as one would the rim of a glass in hopes of eliciting a sound. That’s how Harry sometimes felt when she touched him. Like she was being as tender as she could possibly fathom to be. 

“Does that mean you’re gonna go back to being mad at me?” As he spoke, Harry moved closer. His hands rested on each side of her hips, allowing his body to get closer to hers as he leaned forward.

Y/N laughed and shook her head, their faces so close they almost touched. She enjoyed the warmth of his breath fanning against her throat. 

“Are you? You were at least as pissed off as I was.”

He shrugged, then playfully nudged her nose with his. “No.”

“Then I think I’ll let it go, too,” she answered, faking to be coy, “For now, you still owe me an apology later.”

Harry laughed. “That’s fair. Promise to mean it this time, too.” 

Her eyes narrowed. She took hold of his chin, holding him still so she could kiss him without giving him the chance to deepen it. The feeling of his mouth slotting with hers, be it as briefly as it was, ignited her like nothing else could. Any remaining worry was pulled from the corners in her body where it had hidden, and was thrown out not to return. Harry took over. All of the space inside her that could belong to an emotion, now belonged to him.

“I knew you didn’t mean it earlier,” she breathed accusingly against his lips. 

“I meant it a little,” he said, curling his hand around her wrist to pull away the hold she’d taken and he kissed her a second time before she could complain. 

Despite their desperation their teeth didn’t clash together, nor did their noses unintentionally bump. They’d kissed too many times not to blindly meet each other without missing. His tongue glided along her bottom lip, hers pushed his aside so it could trespass into his mouth. Frantic hands held on to her hips and her thigh, eager fingers remembered to be gentle as they settled on the back of his neck. Harry moaned and Y/N pulled away.

“Thank you,” she whispered, just enough space between them so she could speak. 

Harry’s kisses trailed down from the corner of her mouth to her cheek and her jaw, his lips warm, wet and determined. He allowed one kiss to last a little longer, followed by a small lick to her earlobe.

As satisfied as could be as long as they weren’t alone, he raised his head to look at her again. “What for?”

“Being on my side even when we’re fighting.” 

The smile gracing her features was so genuine he could have melted, just like her words were spoken with more love behind them than he could detect. He smiled and willingly moved his head to the side, so she could kiss below his ear. The heat in his belly grew and he let her know by squeezing her hips.

“Ditto.”

[shinydelirium]

MLQC Season 2 Chapter 21 (Kiro) Part 4 [Crazy Cube] & [Love and Wishes] Translation [CN]

***SPOILERS*** THIS POST CONTAINS HEAVY SPOILERS FOR CONTENT NOT YET RELEASED ON EN SERVER!!! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!***

For previous translations of chapter 21: Part 1/ Part 2/ Part 3

[Crazy Cube]

While I stood on the sidewalk thinking about how to resume communication with Helios, a fast-moving figure in the distance caught my attention.

Helios’ body was covered in dust and his clothes were stained with blood but he was still very distinct.

When he saw me, those blue pupils lit up instantly.

I chose the right one!

Suddenly, the cars in front of him turned sharply, accelerating in his direction.

MC: Look out!!

Helios reacted quickly and escaped without harm.

But more and more cars seemed to be purposely targeting him, recklessly charging at him.

I couldn’t help but think of the sound of heavy objects on the ground I heard from earlier.

Does the culprit not only want to separate us but also want to kill him…?!

I tried to run towards him but as my feet touched the zebra crossing—

Helios: Stay where you are!

He didn’t say anything more, only the wind and the harsh sound of tires screeching came from the other side of the road.

From a distance, those car taillights cut through the night like sharp blades, leaving bloodstains in their wake.

It was like spreading out a huge iron net, trapping Helios in it and trying to crush him fiercely.

Only Helios was faster. He steadily jumped onto the fast-moving car.

He knelt on the front hood with one knee, picked up a buckle and smashed the windshield forcefully. His actions caused the car to freeze for a moment and then he raised a mocking smile.

MC: What happened?

Helios: These are driverless cars.

Helios: Since there’s no people, it’s better to solve.

He leapt sideways off the front of the car. His body moving at lightning speed—

Like a silver phantom, traveling freely within the high-speed machinery.

As he moved, all the cars kept crashing into each other.

Helios was like a flexible silver wire, guiding these unmanned cars together, causing continuous collisions.

Finally, Helios’ feet landed steadily in the middle of the crossroad and the anxiety in my heart was instantly lifted.

Countless car lights fell on him, shining brightly.

MC: Helios!

Although I knew he thought of a plan, my heart couldn’t help but speed up.

Helios: I’m tired of all this running.

He lowered his center of gravity slightly and leaped up just when the cars on all sides were about to ram into him. He threw out a buckle attached to a rope and wrapped it tightly around the top of a traffic light.

Helios swung along and hovered in the air.

Numerous cars slammed into each other in an instant, completely blocking the crossroads.

However, before I could do anything, a sense of dizziness suddenly came over me. The space in front of me was different from the previous rotation and became distorted.

An inexplicable suction pulls me back.

Helios: MC!

I fell back in a daze and only saw Helios running towards me nervously.

MC: I…

I want to open my mouth and say something. My outstretched fingers went through Helios’ hand and my whole body passed through his body—

I saw his eyes widen in horror, slowly being swallowed by the black mist.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself slumped against a fountain.

I gasped, feeling a little stupefied for a moment.

And sitting off to the side was a man who looked a little weak. A luminous Rubik’s Cube was suspended in his hand.

I carefully examined the man in front of me and when I recalled Helios’ previous conjectures about the different spaces, everything seemed to make sense.

MC: You’re the one who’s been manipulating the space in this hotel, right? Who are you?

Hearing my question, the man suddenly raised his head. His eyes were full of madness and unwillingness. His teeth clenched together, making a horrible sound.

Branded on his calf was a glittering snake tattoo.

Sure enough, he’s from GR!

??: That man is such an eyesore.

The man’s eyes kept turning in his sockets, strange and terrifying. His fingers kept shaking uncontrollably as he turned the cube.

That Rubik’s Cube is the key.

I propped myself up and grabbed the anesthesia gun hidden in my pocket, waiting for the perfect time to attack.

But all of a sudden, a huge pain came from behind me and someone immediately bound my hands.

The intense pain pierced my nerves, making me break out in a cold sweat instantly. My entire body was trembling constantly.

The man gave me an indifferent glance and continued to spin the Rubik’s Cube in his hand.

??: As long as I want to, he will never escape from my grasp.

Hearing such ridiculous words, I scoffed coldly.

MC: You underestimate him too much.

As I spoke, the Rubik’s Cube suspended between his hands began to pulsate slightly.

As if being pulled by something, it flew out from the man’s hands and rolled onto the ground.

He seemed to have never experienced such a thing before as he motionlessly watched the Rubik’s Cube on the ground.

The vibrations are getting bigger and bigger. It looked like something huge was coming out from it, pushing each square continuously outward with a strong thrust.

The blue light from the square is also flashing irregularly and the gap between the squares is becoming even bigger—

??: Wa-wait…!!

As the man wailed, the entire Rubik’s Cube exploded with a dazzling light.

Individual cubes fell one by one and scattered in different corners of the garden.

A piece of the shattered cube fell in front of me and then a rush of wind passed over my head, knocking the person who was originally behind me aside.

I was gently turned around and was trapped in a sweaty embrace.

The obsidian ring shone dimly on the hand covering my arm.

Helios: I’m late.

[Love and Wishes]

Helios: This won’t do.

MC: It’s fine.

I took Helios by the hand and walked into the depths of the garden. His brows furrowed, staring at my right hand.

Helios: This kind of simple treatment…

MC: This simple treatment is enough! I promise you that I’ll go to the hospital after the everything is over!

After the Rubik’s Cube exploded, the helpless man who controlled it was dealt with. Helios just gave an annoying look and didn’t pay much attention to him.

And those people who were taken into different dimensions appeared one after another in the building of this garden. Everyone was at a loss as to what happened.

MC: I suspect that the old man must still be somewhere in this garden.

MC: The person controlling the Rubik’s Cube certainly didn’t expect that we would break free. Therefore, he definitely can’t be too far.

MC: So we can’t waste any time!

Seeing my reasoning, Helios smiled without anger.

Helios: I didn’t know you still had this side of you.

MC: Me neither.

I shook my head at him and searched the entire garden.

Finally, the old man was found in the attic of a small two-story building.

The old man was a little nervous upon seeing us. He cowered and raised his head.

MC: Grandpa, don’t worry. We’re good people!

Not knowing what to say, I subconsciously said something silly. Sure enough, a snicker came from behind me.

But when I turned my head to look, Helios had changed back to a calm face.

Helios: Leave here first and explain later.

I went to a nearby hospital to quickly treated my arm and returned with Helios to one of his secret bases.

The old man quivered in the corner, looking out the window blankly, with hopelessness in his eyes.

MC: Grandpa, can you tell us what happened?

The old man was still looking out the window, his mouth slightly opened.

Old Man: I’m…not an old man.

I blinked and looked at Helios who was sitting to the side.

Helios: What are you?

Old Man: My name is Shen Dong….22 years old this year.

He said this sentence lightly was instantly submerged by the wind howling outside the window.

MC: …..?

MC: 22 years old??

I stared wide-eyed in shock, looking at the thin and frail old man in front of me….thinking for a while that I must have misheard him.

Shen Dong lifted his heavy eyelids laboriously. They were filled with hatred except he didn’t have any strength, sitting there like a dead tree.

Shen Dong: I’m an Evolver…

Shen Dong: I can remove a person’s Evol and replace it with an already existing Evol in my body. Then, it becomes my own.

MC: ….So it’s equivalent to you just taking away other people’s abilities? Then the ability that you lost disappears?

Shen Dong: Yes.

I wondered suspiciously. So GR did this just to make people who have Evol lose it?

Shen Dong ignored my bewildered gaze and continued talking to no one in particular.

Maybe he has been silent for so long, it didn’t matter who it was at this moment. It didn’t matter how it will impact or what assistance it will provide in the future, he just wanted to get it all off his chest.

Shen Dong: As to why I became like this…

He looked at his raised hand sarcastically, with no light remaining in his eyes.

Helios: It’s related to using Evol.

Helios said this nonchalantly without any emotion on his face.

Shen Dong nodded.

Shen Dong: I don’t know how but when I use Evol, my body seems to get older.

Shen Dong: And then age faster and faster….faster and faster….

Shen Dong: In the end, I became what I am now.

Helios: If that’s the case, why do use your abilities?

Shen Dong: Do you think I want to!!

He yelled. His voice filled the room instantly.

Shen Dong: …They have….my lover.

Shen Dong: If I don’t listen to them…they will kill her.

Helios: They captured her?

Shen Dong: No…they only give me pictures of her every day.

Shen Dong: She doesn’t even know about all of this…

Shen Dong: She’s been waiting for me to come back.

He looked out the window and didn’t even have much strength to sit up straighter.

In that dark room, he sits there every day, taking other’s Evol over and over again.

Watching himself grow old little by little.

I clenched my hands subconsciously and looked at Shen Dong unbearably.

MC: Sorry, I still have to ask something about GR but if you don’t want to say it, then you don’t have to answer me.

MC: Do you know about the Wish Club…?

Shen Dong narrowed his eyes and nodded slowly.

Shen Dong: Those people are different from the ones at the Wish Hotel. They were forced to have their Evol extracted from them.

Shen Dong: As a price of debt.

As soon as he said this, Helios brought a key over.

His whole body was covered with a heavy layer of frost and his eyes were cold.

Helios: This is the room key. You look after him here.

Helios: I’m going to deal with some things. I’ll be back soon.

I looked at Helios deeply, took the key, and watched him walk out the door with heavy steps.

Shen Dong seemed very tired and lifted his eyelids.

Thinking of his experience during this time, I asked softly.

MC: You rest here first, okay?

His eyes trembled suddenly, as if thinking of something. He raised his head and looked at me.

Shen Dong: Looking at your check-in information, you’re an Evolver that deals with memory?

MC: Yeah, what about it?

Shen Dong: Nothing…

He avoids my eyes unnaturally. Considering the state of his body, I have the upper hand.

MC: Are you okay? If you’re uncomfortable, you can tell me.

Shen Dong shifted his eyes back. They were full of pain and suffering.

Shen Dong: …Do you think I can go back to how I was?

His question left me a little speechless for a while. I pressed my lips together and looked at his wrinkled face.

MC: I don’t know.

MC: But I think…even if there is only a glimmer of hope, you can’t give up.

MC: If you press on, maybe one day in the future, you can get back your original body!

Shen Dong: Maybe?

He smiled softly. His gaze seemed to pass through the eaves, over the endless streets and crowds, and land in a very distant place.

Shen Dong: Can I…hold your hand?

Shen Dong: It’s been too long….since I’ve touched anyone in a normal way.

I was stunned for a moment. Seeing him raise his hand slowly, I stretched out both hands without thinking.

I didn’t say anything.

I knew that for him, all words were powerless.

I only hope I can give him more strength.

Shen Dong: …I’m so sorry.

MC: Huh?

In the next second, the surroundings began to spin. My vision became blurred and I felt the power slowly fading from my body.

Shen Dong: I’m really sorry….

His apologies kept ringing in my ears. My vision was gradually swallowed by darkness and only his last cry was heard before I lost consciousness.

Shen Dong: I don’t have much time…

I don’t know how long time has passed. There seemed to be someone faintly shaking my body.

??: MC!

An urgent voice came to my ears, calling my name again and again.

I reluctantly opened my heavy eyelids. Things were in and out of focus but I seemed to see a blue sea.

I struggled to raise my hand and gently brushed away the messy silver hair that covered my eyes.

MC: Sorry….I seemed to have messed things up.

Helios: It’s not your fault.

Helios: Are you all right?

I nodded, trying to sit up, but realized that I was really weak and there felt like a force in my body that had disappeared.

I looked around and saw no sign of Shen Dong.

Helios: He’s not here anymore.

MC: That’s right…just now he asked me to hold his hand and then I lost consciousness.

I looked at Helios in a daze and hesitated to say what I was thinking.

MC: …My Evol seems to have disappeared.

When Helios heard this, his face fell.

Helios: Try to use your abilities on me.

I slowly raised my hand and snapped my fingers at him.

There was no reaction. No matter how hard I tried, it was useless.

Helios immediately took out the microcomputer, tapping a code quickly with his fingers.

After a while, the window on the screen suddenly zoomed in. An old man got out of a car and walked towards a pathway.

MC: Where is he going?

On the screen, Shen Dong stumbled along. His strength no longer enough to make him go any further.

Exhausted from walking, he leaned on the tree trunk beside him panting. His whole body shook, then he set off again.

Helios’ eyes narrowed slightly.

Helios: He’s going back.

When we hurried over, Shen Dong and a strange girl were sitting on a bench among the flowers.

Countless flowers and branches gently made noises in the wind. The world is beautiful and quiet.

Shen Dong’s joyful smile and the girl with tears on her face formed a sharp contrast.

Girl: Seeing you now, I always feel like I’ve been waiting for you for a long, long time.

Girl: It seems like I’ve also become an old woman myself.

The girl didn’t seem to want to cry anymore. She only raised a smile for half a second and then immediately wiped away the tears she couldn’t help but shed.

Girl: Sorry...what should I do?

The girl looked like she finally collapsed. She gripped her skirt tightly to prevent herself from crying.

Shen Dong’s fingers gently touched her face as if he was touching the most unique treasure in the world.

Shen Dong: I came to tell you that I did not forget the agreement with you.

Shen Dong: I’ve come back.

He gently wiped the girl’s tears and kissed her nose.

Shen Dong: However, those other agreements may be impossible.

Shen Dong: Although we agreed we won’t miss every winter in our future lives, but it seems it will be somewhat difficult.

Girl: What do you mean….

Shen Dong: Just treat it as…an early end to an ordinary winter.

After speaking, the old man raised his hand and snapped his fingers in front of her.

[End of Part 4]

[charincharge]

I Don’t Want To Wait, eight

rowaelin high school bff masterlist

Based on the prompts:

“Okay, I know I’m evil and all that jazz, but I have standards too.”

What are you smiling about?

“He’s late,” Rhoe grumbled, his eyes flashing in annoyance as they flicked to his watch. Aelin sighed from her spot on the couch and rotated her brace-covered wrist. It was a minor sprain, the most minor sprain; she wouldn’t even have been injured at all if she hadn’t reflexively held up her hand against the deploying air bags, but when Rhoe had received a call from Aelin that she was in the hospital, he’d gone a bit ballistic. And his former surrogate son was pretty much persona-non-grata in the Galathynius household at the moment.

“Dad,” Aelin warned.

“I’m allowed to be mad,” Rhoe repeated for the hundredth time that week. “When I let that boy—” Rowan had apparently lost his name privileges for being a minute late. “—drive you around, I expected you to be returned in a single piece.” He shook his head, repeating the same speech Aelin had heard every day for the last week. “I have one single treasure, Aelin. The most valuable treasure in the world, and when that treasure leaves the house, I expect it to come back to me in perfect condition.”

She wondered how long this would go on. How many days of penance Rowan would have to pay before Rhoe forgave him.

Aelin sat up straighter at the sound of three raps on their front door. While Rowan used to just swing the door open himself, he now knew better. Aelin threw him an apologetic smile from the couch, her eyes trailing over the tightly sewn stitches above his eyebrow. They somehow made him look even more handsome.

“You’re late,” Rhoe said, looking expectantly at the white paper bags in Rowan’s hands.

“Sorry, sir,” Rowan’s eyes were tired. It’d been a long week. “I had an extra delivery this morning and…”

“No excuses,” Rhoe snapped, causing Rowan to nod nervously as he laid out the food on the coffee table for Aelin. Her eyes lit up at the feast in front of her. As part of his punishment for his “reckless driving,” Maeve had him doing breakfast deliveries before school all week, which ended in something special for Aelin.

She felt somewhat guilty that she was benefiting so much from Rowan’s accident, since she was a hundred percent positive that it was her own comment that had caused Rowan to become distracted and not see the car stopped at the red light in front of him. But, as she smelled the chocolate stuffed french toast, she couldn’t resist smiling.

She also wasn’t complaining that in her dad’s overprotectiveness, he’d assigned Aelin-watching duties to Rowan for his late-night shifts.

“I don’t need a babysitter!” Aelin had scoffed, while her heart pounded with glee at the notion of extra time with Rowan.

“What if you need something from the top shelf and fall and sprain your other wrist?” Rhoe had argued.

Rowan was more than happy to agree to Rhoe’s terms, immediately clucking and fretting over the couch-bound Aelin like an overbearing mother hen. It should have annoyed her to no end, but she was secretly enjoying every single second of his fussing.

“I’m working a double,” Rhoe said with narrowed eyes at Rowan, who nodded succinctly. “I’ll be home just after midnight.

Rowan cleared his throat nervously, and Aelin paused, fork midway to her mouth to gape at her friend. “Sir?”

Rhoe’s eyes narrowed warily. “Yes?”

Rowan ran his hand through his hair, tugging at the ends slightly. “I, uh, just wanted to ask you if you wanted me to come here tomorrow?” Rhoe frowned, his lips turning down at the question. “It’s just that tomorrow is prom, and if you want me to come here, I totally will. But I should probably tell Lyria today.”

Aelin felt her stomach clench uncomfortably at the mention of the L-word. She’d been so busy enjoying the extra attention from Rowan all week that she’d forgotten about prom. About the circumstances that led to this whole ordeal. Maybe her dad would tell Rowan he couldn’t go. She felt guilty about even thinking it, but she couldn’t help but hope it. Even just the slightest bit.

Rhoe rolled his bright blue eyes. “Don’t be stupid, boy.” Rowan flinched slightly at the way Rhoe addressed him. Seemed he clocked losing name privileges too. “You’ll take that girl to prom. You made a commitment, and I would hate to think you’re the type of person who doesn’t follow through on promises.”

“Yes, sir.” Rowan’s eyes flicked to Aelin, who was still holding her breath in anticipation. “I can still bring breakfast in the morning, if you want…”

Rhoe clapped Rowan’s shoulder just a smidge too hard as he smiled. “Nope. I took tomorrow off. You have fun at prom.”

Aelin exhaled as her dad finally left and Rowan slumped down onto the couch next to Aelin as she poured the extra side of chocolate onto her French toast and dug in.

“Your dad is fucking terrifying,” he said with a shake of his head.

“He can carry over a hundred pounds up as many flights of stairs, Ro. You should be terrified of him,” Aelin laughed through her sweet chocolatey bite. “He can definitely take your scrawny ass.”

Rowan’s mouth popped open. “My ass is not scrawny!”

Aelin poked his thigh with her toe. “I’ll believe that when I see it. Stand up, so I can take a better look.” She winked as Rowan shoved her foot away from him.

“Aelin…” Rowan’s cheeks flushed pink as Aelin wiggled her eyebrows. He bit his lip, tugging at the skin there, looking annoyed.

“What?” she asked, wishing so badly that she could jump into his head and hear what he was thinking.

“I have to get up to get you a napkin,” he said, looking at the chocolate that had splattered onto the table, “ And I know as soon as I stand up you’re going to stare at my ass,” he grumbled, and Aelin let out a loud cackle.

“I would never,” she said through her laughter.

“You’re such a liar,” he said, poking her shin.

He was right. As soon as he pushed himself off the couch, Aelin’s head snapped in his direction, but he spun around to walk backwards so she couldn’t get a good look.

“Ha!” he said, a victorious smile appearing across his face.

Aelin rolled her eyes. “Come on, Ro,” she pouted. “I’m injured. The least you could do is let me get a good look.”

“I hate you,” he chuckled, his cheeks now a deep red as he continued to trail backwards into the kitchen.

“You know what they say whenever you walk by,” she said through her giggles. “There goes Orynth’s ass. Everyone gets a piece.”

He flicked her off as he grabbed a handful of napkins with his other hands. “Please,” he scoffed. “I know according to your dad I’m evil now, and all that jazz, but I have standards. This ass is for my eyes only.”

Aelin cackled. “I’m now just picturing you staring at your own ass in the mirror, being like… damn, that’s a good ass.”

“I don’t have a full-length mirror for nothing,” he said with a wink, leaning over the coffee table to clean up the chocolate splatter.

Aelin couldn’t resist leaning back and peering behind him, trying to get a better look. She sighed happily.

“Ace!” he yelped, standing up straight and spinning around again, covering his rear with his hands. Aelin was laughing so hard that her stomach was starting to hurt. “I’m telling your dad that you’re the evil one.” He tried to say seriously, but soon enough Rowan was joining in the laughter, tears rolling down both their cheeks.

As he smiled at her widely, helping her from the couch, that sudden pang of desire sprang up in Aelin again. She’d been able to control it for the most part, and neither of them had mentioned the conversation that had caused the crash in the first place. She wasn’t sure she could even imagine how the rest of that discussion would go. But she was glad to put it to the backburner for a tiny bit. At least until she felt more comfortable with it again. That hadn’t deterred Lysandra from texting constantly and asking when Aelin would like her first lesson. Luckily, Aelin was able to stave her off for a little while longer – at least until her wrist completely healed.

Rowan slung Aelin’s backpack over his shoulder, carrying her books as they walked to school, enjoying the balmy morning.

Once they arrived, Rowan led them to his locker instead of hers, and Aelin frowned. “Ro, I have to put my books in my locker.”

He shook his head. “We have world history first. I’ll just put them here, and we’ll come back together after.” He looked as his watch. “We walked too slow.”

“Sorry my leg span isn’t four thousand feet,” Aelin said, laughing at her best friend. He complained that she walked too slowly, but really he was just too tall for his own good. He didn’t realize how fast he got places simply by having longer legs.

Aelin clearly hadn’t looked at Rowan’s locker in some time, though, because she was shocked by the decorations on the inside of the door. It was dotted with photographs of their group of friends through the year – but, Aelin noted she made a prominent appearance in the center of the door, in a picture of just her and Rowan. It was from Yulemas break. Aelin’s favorite holiday; but she’d never seen this photo before. It must have been taken at the tail end of Maeve’s Yulemas party, when Aelin had fallen asleep after too many sweets and rum-laced eggnog. In the photo, Aelin’s head rested carefully on Rowan’s shoulder, her eyes closed and face relaxed in slumber as Rowan smiled softly at whoever was behind the camera.

“What are you smiling at?” he asked, and Aelin shook her head.

“I like your pictures.”

“Oh,” he said, returning her smile. “Yeah, Aunt Maeve printed a bunch out for me.”

“Mr. Whitethorn, Ms. Galathynius,” Principal Havilliard bellowed at the other end of the hallway. “You’re late. Again.” Aelin and Rowan sighed simultaneously. “Your second infraction this week,” he continued. “Don’t make it a third, or I’ll see you both in detention next week.”

Aelin wanted to tell Principal Havilliard off. It wasn’t her or Rowan’s fault for being late, exactly. They both had single working parents, and with Rowan’s car in the shop for the next few weeks, they had to walk over two miles to make it there. She was gearing up to say something snappy back, when Rowan dragged her down the hall, away from the offending school administrator.

“Not worth it, Ace,” he mumbled.

They managed to make it through the rest of the day with no other incidents, unless Aelin counted getting a C on her Ancient Languages oral exam an incident – which she didn’t.

“So, RoRo, you excited for prom?” Wes asked Rowan from the driver’s seat. Technically, Aelin wasn’t supposed to be driving with any of her friends for the rest of the year, but her dad was at work. And she couldn’t bring herself to walk another two miles home.

Lysandra’s eyes met Aelin’s in the backseat of the car, and Aelin purposefully looked out the window to avoid her face doing anything she couldn’t control.

“Uh, yeah?” Rowan asked. “I guess.”

“Dude,” Wesley laughed. “You’re going to prom with a cheerleader, who’s been all over you for months, and you guess you’re excited?” Next to her, Rowan shrugged silently. But Wesley was only spurred on by Rowan’s lack of enthusiasm. “Should we pick up some condoms for you on the way home, or do you have some?” Wesley asked, and Rowan inhaled so sharply he started coughing. “What?” Wesley asked, looking at his girlfriend, confused, and rubbing his elbow where Lysandra must have pinched him. “I’m just saying. I heard it’s tradition to get a hotel room after prom…”

“Rowan would never be so cliché,” Lysandra interjected, her bright eyes flashing to check on Aelin in the mirror, but Aelin refused to look anywhere but out at the trees passing by out the car window as she steadied her breath. “Right?”

“Right,” Rowan repeated quietly.

“Doesn’t hurt to have some on hand,” Wesley said. “OW, what the fuck, Lys?” he yelped.

“You’re such an idiot,” Lysandra mumbled, just barely audible over her exasperated sigh.

“I’m good,” Rowan spoke up, clipped.

Aelin couldn’t control herself as she looked over her shoulder and took in her best friend’s paled face, staring at the roof of Wesley’s old sedan.

“You are?” she asked, hoping her voice didn’t sound too high.

“Yup,” Rowan replied, still refusing to look down at her.

“Smart boy,” Wesley laughed.

Lysandra’s eyes flicked to Aelin again, filled with worry, and Aelin shook her head slightly.

But Wesley raised a fair point that Aelin hadn’t even thought about during her busy week. She’d been so worried about Rowan and Lyria being at a dance together, arms wrapped around each other intimately, that she hadn’t even considered the implications of what would happen after prom?

She couldn’t believe how stupid she’d been.

Despite looking forward to their late night “babysitting” all day, Aelin’s mood was completely soured by the conversation in the car.

She overcooked their pasta, couldn’t settle on anything to watch, and gave terse replies to every question Rowan asked.

“Do you want to watch a movie?” he finally asked, after finishing loading the dishwasher, and Aelin grunted a sure. He turned on Clueless, one of Aelin’s favorite movies and relaxed back into the couch.

To his credit, he made it all the way through the movie, which Aelin laughed about 500% less than usual at, until asking Aelin what was wrong. But Aelin wasn’t sure what to say. She couldn’t exactly tell him she was stressed about the prospect of him having sex with Lyria. She didn’t think he’d really do that. He’d said on multiple occasions that he barely knew her. And sex didn’t seem like a thing Rowan would just do with someone he barely knew. But, then, why did Aelin feel a pit of dread sitting deep in her stomach? Nothing about his answers had reassured her. And Rowan was changing. She never thought Rowan would abandon her at a party either, and he did that easily.

“I’m just tired,” she replied, yawning loudly and throwing all her acting skills into her performance. “It’s been a weird week. I think I’m going to head to bed. I’ll see you Sunday, right?”

Rowan crossed his arms as Aelin got up and started heading up the stairs, his bowed lips frowning and pinching his beautiful face.

“I thought we told each other everything,” Rowan said, annoyed. Aelin paused her feet on the stairs, looking over her shoulder at him. He was hunched over and still frowning, angrily glaring at the darkened TV.

Aelin cocked her head to the side, thinking of all the things she’d censored from Rowan in the last few months, and thinking that he’d probably started doing the same.

“I thought so, too.” She paused, looking at the way Rowan tensed at her words. She smiled sadly, and trudged upstairs to bed, not bothering to let him reply again.

~*~

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[oikawaplssteponme]

PART 6 | previously: part 5 | masterlist

pairing: Katsuki Bakugou x fem! reader

ratings/warnings: swearing, unconsciousness, violence (?)

synopsis: When UA’s hot heads, Katsuki Bakugou and you, are forced to put your hatred for each other aside and plan the third year Prom, things end up getting a little heated...

a/n: hi hi! i hope you all are doing well❤️ all i have to say is: it’s about time Y/N ;)) enjoy XX

•

Six: butterflies

For probably the first time in your life, you weren’t looking forward to Hero Training today. You didn’t feel the greatest. Today was peer evaluations but it wasn’t with Aizawa. Midnight was in charge today.

“Alright everyone! So I’m feeling generous and you can pick your partner today! One partner will demonstrate what they have been working on while the other will be providing helpful, constructive feedback. Then when I tell you, you can switch!” explained Midnight. You looked around at your classmates, unsure who you’d partner up with.

“Hey Y/N!” waved Deku, “did you maybe want to be-”

“Sorry Deku, Y/N’s with me.” You felt a hand grab your wrist.

“Kacchan? I thought you and Y/N were banned from fighting with each other?” huffed Deku. You looked up at Bakugou, who was already leading you away.

“This isn’t fighting, it’s constructive feedback. And shut up Deku.” Bakugou led you to the corner of the room, away from the other groups.

“Well damn maybe I wanted to be partners with Deku,” you said, crossing your arms. Bakugou laughed.

“And miss the opportunity for me to show you up? I don’t think so princess,” smiled Bakugou. You groaned.

“Whatever. Alright, who’s going first?”

“You obviously. You need the help,” said Bakugou.

“Oh really?”

“Yeah so what have you been working on?” he asked. You rolled your eyes.

“I’ve been practicing close combat without using my quirk. I can't rely on my quirk to get me out of every tough situation because if my body temperature is really low or my creation time is super delayed, that could cost me the fight,” you explained. Bakugou nodded.

“Alright then, so come at me Y/N. Show me what you’ve got!” yelled Bakugou. He adjusted himself into a defensive stance. You took a deep breath and got ready to strike.

“Don’t waste my time now Y/N, I haven’t got all day!” he teased.

“I’ve been looking forward to this for too long,” you smiled. You went in for a direct punch with one hand while using your other as a fake. Bakugou saw it coming though.

“Amateur work,” he mumbled. Bakugou continued to dodge you and your attacks. You began to get desperate, unable to land a solid hit on him.

“You’ve got me yawning over here princess.”

“OH FUCK OFF!” You were getting worked up at this point. You went for an uppercut shot and then whipped your leg around to kick Bakugou in the side. He fell to the ground.

“Shit-”

“Hmm guess you should’ve paid more attention,” you smirked. You helped Bakugou back to his feet.

“That kick was good but I know you’ve got way more power than that,” he said. You raised a brow.

“What do you mean?”

“Here, when you go for a side kick like that, you want to engage more than just your leg. Use your core and hips to create more momentum. Like this.” Bakugou changed his stance and whipped his leg around for a clean swing. You nodded.

“Okay…” You attempted to do the same.

“That was better but rotate your hips more, like this.” Bakugou went over to you and placed his large hands tightly on your hips. Your eyes widened.

“You want to force them to move, not just have them go with your leg. That way you generate more power,” he explained. Bakugou moved your hips as he pleased, keeping his hands firmly on you. You looked over your shoulder at Bakugou. His red eyes moved to look into yours. You never really noticed his eyes until now. They were beautiful.

“I-I…” you became instantly flustered. Bakugou’s face turned pink. His face was so close to yours, your noses almost touched.

“Uh, is this okay?” he whispered. You nodded.

“Y-Yes…”

“OKAY TIME TO SWITCH PARTNERS!” Announced Midnight. Bakugou instantly snapped out of whatever trance he was in and took his hands off of you. You turned the other way, slapping your hands over your cheeks.

“Uh so yeah just try it like that next time,” he said.

“Yup okay yeah sounds good,” you stuttered out. You tried to cool off but your face felt like a million degrees. You couldn’t understand why.

“Okay, what did you want to work on?” You asked. Bakugou looked over at you and smirked.

“I hope you brought your gloves.”

~

“This is a bad idea,” you insisted as you put your gloves on. Bakugou shook his head.

“No it’s a good idea. If anything it helps both of us. Now start throwing them princess,” said Bakugou. He had been focusing on quicker reflexes and his air speed while dodging. His plan was for you to throw as many of if bonds as possible, to test how he reacts.

“Bakugou if I blow you up it’s not my fault,” you huffed. Bakugou laughed.

“Your confidence amazes me. I doubt you’ll be able to even get a bond near me.”

“Oh really? Wells how’s this!” You generated a quick carbon bond and aimed it right for his head. By the time you threw it, he was already blasted up with his own explosions.

“Nice try but you’ve gotta be quicker than that. Come on you’re supposed to be challenging me!” He called. You clenched your fists.

“FINE!” You began to throw your bonds at him. One after the other after the other. Bakugou shifted from flying, dodging on the ground, and using his own explosions to cancel yours out. As much as he hated to admit it, you were giving him a run for his money.

“WOW KATSUKI, TIRED ALREADY?” You teased. Bakugou continued to counter your attacks.

“NOT EVEN CLOSE!”

You kept on throwing your bonds at him, despite the pain radiating from your entire body. You weren’t used to such speed when creating your bonds. Your cells weren’t regenerating fast enough to keep you stable. You began to feel lightheaded.

“Don’t go and get shy on me Y/N!” He yelled. Your hands ached and you felt sick. You threw one last bond before crashing to your knees.

“Hey that last one was pretty weak Y/N...Y/N?” Bakugou landed from his explosions. Your eyelids felt heavy. The last thing you saw before you collapsed was Bakugou rushing towards you.

~

By the time you woke up, the school day had already ended. You laid in Recovery Girl’s office, a cold towel across your head. The room was dark. You felt better so you decided to get up.

“Now where do you think you’re going?” said Recovery Girl. You jumped.

“Oh hi, sorry. Am I okay to go?” You asked. Recovery Girl smiled and patted your hand.

“You’ve gotta be more careful sweetheart. I’ve never seen you get like that before,” she said. You sighed.

“Yeah I guess I overworked myself a little,” you explained. Recovery Girl shook her head.

“More than a little dear. You’ve gotta remember that you’re only human after all, and you’ve gotta heal. It’s a good thing that blond boy brought you over here immediately,” she said. You jumped.

“Wait do you mean Bakugou?”

“Oh yes, I think that was his name. He came bursting into my office while you were still unconscious. Very heroic I dare say,” she smiled. You couldn’t believe it.

“You’re good to go sweetheart. I recommend you grab a good dinner and rest up,” Recovery Girl removed the towel from your head. You nodded.

“Right. Thank you very much.”

You stepped outside of Recovery Girl’s office and there sitting on the floor was Katsuki Bakugou.

“Bakugou?” He looked at you and got up.

“Oh you’re awake. A-are you okay?” he asked. Bakugou was twiddling his thumbs as he spoke to you. He looked a little nervous.

“Oh yeah I’m fine. Just pushed myself too far that's all,” you explained. He nodded.

“Did you wait for me this whole time?” You asked. Bakugou’s eyes widened.

“NO-well uh maybe...I just felt bad that it was kinda my fault that you ended up like this…” he mumbled. You felt your face grow hot.

“It wasn’t your fault, I was the one who pushed myself too far. I knew that it was a bad idea,” you said.

“Still...uh, the cafeteria already closed so I uh grabbed you this.” Bakugou handed you a box with rice, vegetables, and meat. You gasped.

“Bakugou...”

“It’s not a big deal I just didn’t want you to starve to death that’s all,” he huffed. You took the box from his hands.

“Thank you Katsuki,” you smiled.

“Yeah well you’ve gotta get stronger if you even think about beating me for the number one Hero spot. I want it to be a fair fight,” he said. You laughed.

“Sounds good.”

“Well, I’ll see you later Y/N.” Bakugou started to walk back to the dorms. You looked down at the box of food. You had this warm feeling all over your body. Your stomach felt tingly.

What the hell…

Then it hit you.

Do I have butterflies in my stomach?

You rushed over to the bathroom and splashed cold water on your face.

No no no this can’t be happening.

You looked at yourself in the mirror. You couldn’t get his image out of your brain. The way he looked at you. The way he held you. The way he teased you. They way you always wanted to be around him. The way you couldn’t go a day without thinking about him.

After that night with Bakugou, something woke up in you. It was as if you had been suppressing it for years and you just now felt it. The only problem was, you had no idea what ‘it’ was.

Now, you did.

Fuck. I’m in love with Katsuki Bakugou, aren’t I?

•

[taglist OPEN: @vangoghpoets @vangoghmusings @bokutory @complimentaryhugsgirl @cloudswritings @kriswu46 @neodnyl @evivn1 @jazzylove @mileven-reddie @whalerus @misssugarless @random-fandom-girl-24 @fanfiction-and-stress @ushiwakatrash @minhoswife @addictofsupernatural @the-shota-king-masayuki @freyafolkvangr @fourteenow @tamaguchi @lalayy @athenarosaline @blxck-coffee @katsukibabe @thatonegeekchick @that-chick212 @bibly @nxynxy ]

[alleyskywalker]

Got to ask for gen Theon&Asha as I am a clown ❤️❤️

Sorry this took so long! Always love my fave squidlings!

“You lot are going to get me in trouble,” Dagmer grumbled even as he set up the wooden targets, plunging them deep into the sand. Theon was fumbling with his bow, scanning the sky for a gull to shoot down.

“Come now, Dagmer. I doubt my lord father will be so wroth were he to find out,” Asha said with her most winning smile.

“Aye, he’d probably think it right amusing if Asha were to throw an axe while wearing her best gown to feast,” Theon said, still watching the gulls and ignoring Asha’s eyeroll.

“Theon, you advocated for this folly, so come help set up.” Dagmer gave the boy a light cuff to get his attention and detach him from his bow.

Asha ran a hand along the wooden handle of the practice axe. In truth, she had no idea how her father would react to her learning the axe and the sword, or any weapon. So it was best they keep these lessons secret. She was thankful for Theon’s help in convincing their master-at-arms to help train her. She was liked by the household, generally, but she did not hold nearly as much sway with Dagmer as Theon did. She had tried to get Maron to teach her, but he had only laughed and told her to not be a silly girl and that girls don’t do that. Which was stupid and not even true. Some girls captained their own ships and went raiding with the men. Not many, granted, but some did. It was not unheard of when a man had no sons for one or more of his daughters to take up the role. But her lord father had three sons, so perhaps this was different.

It was simply Asha’s misfortune that she had no interest in songs and needlework and weaving. But her father had little patience for those things too, so perhaps he would not take unkindly to her activities, especially if she already had the skills by the time he found out.

Theon had thought the idea amusing, if a little ridiculous, and he longed to please her as much as he had once longed to please Maron, so it was little effort to get him on her side.

Once the targets were in the sand, Dagmer shooed Theon away and came to stand beside Asha. His own axe was large and polished, the steel razor-sharp. This was no practice axe and Asha watched with awe as it rotated lazily in Dagmer’s large hands. “Alright, lass. We’ll start with the throwing and get to the killing later.”

Asha nodded cooperatively and straightened her shoulders.

Dagmer showed her how to hold the axe, two-handed to start with, and how to balance it. She learned how to hold it correctly over her head and when to release on the throw. The first few times she threw it, it went too low or too heigh, then under-rotated or spun too fast. Theon had lingered around initially, watching curiously and snickering at her first few attempts. “Go do something useful, boy,” Dagmer finally boomed at him. “You were no better your first few throws as I recall.”

Theon shrugged and skulled off to shoot gulls from the sky.

Asha remained, throwing the axe again and again, until the wooden targets split and splintered beneath it and the sun moved through the sky, toward the sea. Asha thew her axe and covered the one set of trousers and tunic she owned with sand; Theon shot down some half-dozen gulls and picked up shells along the surf.

“You have focus, lass. Better than your brother,” Dagmer told her, once all the targets were properly splintered.

“Oi! I heard that!” Theon protested from several feet away.

Dagmer laughed, that throaty, booming laugh that sounded a little like thunder. “I didn’t say which one, did I? Well, come show me your kills, I know you’ve been wanting to.”

They walked back up to Pyke together, down the empty stretch of beach. Sometimes, Asha would chase Theon into the surf and sometimes he would pick her up by the waist and make her screen indignantly as he cackled like a maniac. Dagmer chuckled at their antics and hurried them along without much actual urgency, even as the sun began to sink toward the water.

“We’ll practice again, won’t we?’ Asha asked as they neared the castle.

“Aye, lass. We shall.”

Theon slipped an arm around her waist. “I want to see Rodrik’s face when a girl beats him at axe throwing,” he snickered.

Asha rolled her eyes and ruffled his hair, but her chest was full of warm cotton and her arms ached pleasantly. I hope it’s like this forever, she thought as they crossed the drawbridge into the yard.

Years later, when Theon will come back from his time in Winterfell, changed and strange, calling a wolf his brother, she will lie awake at night remembering days like the one when she had her first axe throwing lesson, and mourn her little brother, and hate the man pretending to be him.

Even later, at Deepwood Motte, when the Northmen beg for mercy, she will remember that feeling and how much it had hurt, and will bury her axe in their chests.

They had not had mercy for her or her brother or their family. She will have none for them either.

[super-secret-sick-fics]

hii you said that requests were open so i was wondering if you’d want to write an iwaoi sick fic? like it’s a middle of a practice match agaisnt some school and oikawa feels sick but doesn’t tell anyone beforehand?

Hello and thank you for the request!! I hope this is kinda what you wanted. I tried :) sorry it took me a minute!

An Off Day: an IwaOi Sick fic

Pairing: Sick Oikawa, Caretaker Iwaizumi

Words: ? (I didn’t get a count sorry—longer though)

Warnings: fever, passing out, cursing

————————

It was a dull day.

Oikawa sat in class, his head resting on his palm, and everything just felt faded. Existing as a human today seemed like entirely too much work.

He wasn’t sure what it was, but his entire day, his surroundings, his overall demeanor— none of them were as vivid and bright as usual. Things were just...off.

He felt off.

A lethargic and overall blah feeling clung to him like a thick winter coat, making him feel like he couldn’t breathe and leaving his head muddled. He didn’t know what was going on with his body and it was incredibly frustrating.

Oikawa scoffed to himself, ignoring the curious side eye from the girl next to him, and resolutely decided to ignore the dull, blah feeling. Surely if he willed himself to feel less blah, then that would put the pep back in his step. Besides, this was his last class of the day and then it was time for practice.

They were playing some no-name, no-skill team in what Oikawa deemed a “charity” practice match. For the other team, it would be a learning experience. For Seijoh, it would be another victory to add to their running total.

Class finally ended and he stood up to head to the club room. Immediately, his knees buckled and black spots danced in his vision. A small hand grasped his upper arm and held him steady. Once the spots cleared, he saw the small girl who sits next to him looking up at him, concern etched into her face.

“Oikawa-san? You look pale. You should go home and rest. I’m sure they’ll be okay without you at practice today.” He shook his head.

“I just got up too fast. Thank you for helping me out,” he smiled and she hesitantly let his arm go. She nodded, grabbed her bag, and left the classroom.

Oikawa, much to his dismay, was still dizzy though. He placed his hands on his desk and ducked his head, squeezing his eyes shut while he waited for it to pass.

In the club room, he met up with Iwaizumi and chatted with his other teammates here and there, resolutely ignoring the fatigue thay plagued him.

Warm-ups came and went and their coach went over the rotation for the practice match. All the while, the lethargy he felt never went away like he thought it would. In fact, it seemed to be increasing and there was now a dull, consistent thudding in his head. Maybe it was more than just an off day? Maybe something was wrong?

He didn’t get much time to explore the new thoughts, because the other team arrived and their practice match began. Oikawa was right; the other team wasn’t a challenge in the slightest. The fact that it was any easy game didn’t make him feel any better about his complete lack of game.

Nearly every single one of his sets was wrong. Too high or too low. Too far left or right. The ball wasn’t settling in his fingers the way he needed it too and it all irritated him to no end.

He couldn’t concentrate. Every now and then, the court tilted dangerously sideways and he had to consciously ground his feet to bring it back to equilibrium. He was starting to feel weak. His limbs weighed about 1,000 lbs, making every lift of his arms to set the ball or movement of his legs to cross the court a Herculean effort. All he wanted was to curl up on the ground and take a nap.

“Hey, you okay?” Matsu walked up to him during a break between serves and put a hand on his shoulder. He was frowning. Oikawa glowered at him.

Was he okay? No. Of course not. He was 98% sure that he had a fever. Would that stop him from playing? No. Of course not. This was an easy team to beat. If he couldn’t push through this, then he wasn’t worth anything to his team.

“Yeah. Fine.” He snapped. Matsuhana put his hands up and backed away. Play resumed.

It was just a cold. He could shake this feeling if he just pushed through it hard enough. If Oikawa was confident of anything, it was his ability to ignore negative feelings and punch through bad moods.

That confidence slowly drained out of Oikawa along with any energy and focus he may have had the longer the game continued.

The two teams switched sides of the court and Iwaizumi appeared at his side.

“Hey, what’s the deal? You okay? We should have taken this set a long time ago,” he grumbled, his usual grumpy tone setting all of Oikawa’s already frazzled nerves even more on edge. His lip curled as he glanced over at his best friend.

“Thanks, Iwa-chan, I didn’t realize,” he sneered. Iwa’s eyes widened and he blinked comically. Oikawa would have made a joke if he wasn’t feeling so shitty.

“Don’t take it out on me, Trashykawa,” Iwa’s eyes narrowed, “your sets have been off all match.”

Oikawa felt like he was slapped in the face because he knew that. Of course he was more than aware that not a single one of his sets hit their mark yet. It was eating away at him and it made his stomach churn. He could do this though. He would not let his team down.

“I know,” he muttered. Iwa’s face changed again, but Oikawa’s vision blurred and he couldn’t make out what expression the ace had. He walked away.

“Oi, come back here a seco—“ Iwa started but was cut off by their coach.

“Iwaizumi! You gonna stand around and talk all day or are you gonna let us resume the match?”

He glanced one more time at Oikawa before getting into position. Oikawa thought maybe he looked concerned or upset or something, but he honestly didn’t have the energy to figure it out. It was all he could do to stand up right.

The set continued and each passing second was an eternity to Oikawa. Black spots popped up more frequently and he had to squeeze his eyes shut quickly and exhale to keep himself from passing out. It was a losing battle.

The dull thud in his head grew into a steady pounding that took up residence behind his eyes, leaving him vaguely nauseated. It was getting harder to breathe, even though he wasn’t running around like he normally would be. The gym swirled and he blinked several times, but it wasn’t going back to normal. The sounds of shouting and squeaking shoes faded away, replaced by a strange roaring sound.

Oikawa realized very quickly that he was in serious trouble.

“Oikawa!” Wataru’s shout cut through the roaring and sent a sharp pain through his head. As quickly as it left, the roaring in his ears returned and with it, his vision completely blacked out. It took all his effort to call out for help.

“Iwa-cha—“ the sound got caught in his throat and his body crumpled to the floor.

The next thing he knew, Oikawa was staring at the ceiling. He blinked a few times and groaned. The lights beaming down on him reminded him of the migraine he definitely had and he shivered. Why was he on the ground?

“Tooru? Oh thank god,” Iwa’s face entered his field of vision (and blocked the light, thankfully). His voice was shaking and desperate, adding to Oikawa’s confusion.

“Iwa-chan?” He said feebly.

“Are you okay? What hurts? Fuck, Tooru. You scared the shit out of me,” Iwaizumi was frantic, his hands cupping Oikawa’s face, making the sick boy cringe. Touching was no good. He didn’t want that right now.

The corners of Iwaizumi’s mouth pulled down and his eyebrows scrunched. He moved one of his hand’s to Oikawa’s forehead and the other to his own. His eyes blew wide.

“Holy shit, Tooru! Why didn’t you tell anyone you were sick, dumbass?”

Oh. He’d been caught.

“Would you believe me if I told you I didn’t know?” He smiled weakly up at his best friend, who scoffed in return.

“Idiot,” he mumbled before turning his head towards somewhere above Oikawa. The lights pierced Oikawa’s vision and he moaned when his head pulsated. He tried to curl up, but Iwaizumi was already trying to get him standing.

“Coach, he’s got a fever,” Iwaizumi shouted across the gym and Oikawa’s knees buckled. Luckily, Iwa’s arms were securely around his waist.

“I’m gonna take him to the club room and call one of our moms to come pick us up. Do you need me here?”

“No, go take care of our idiot captain,” their coach responded, his arms crossed over his chest. Normally, Oikawa would’ve squaked at the insult, but it was taking all of his attention to stay awake.

“We got this man. Go handle the child,” Makki snickered.

“Mean, Makki,” Oikawa managed to whine as he and Iwa stumbled out of the gym.

By the time they got back to the club room, Oikawa was sweating profusely, panting, and leaning almost all of his weight on Iwaizumi.

Iwa led them to the back of the clubroom and guided them down to sit against the wall. Oikawa shivered and immediately curled into Iwa’s side.

“How the hell did you let it get so bad, Shittykawa,” Iwa questioned. His tone held more concern than malice and it settled Oikawa’s nerves ever so slightly.

“Mmm, so warm Iwa-chan,” was all Oikawa could respond with. Iwaizumi scoffed, but threw an arm around Oikawa’s shoulder and pulled him closer anyway. The setter smiled.

“Yo, who should I call?” Iwaizumi asked, his tone still lacking its normal gruffness.

“Everyone in my family is working right now, Iwa-chan. No one is going to pick up,” Oikawa said. His throat was getting sore now. That means he’s sick sick. He frowned. Another shiver shot up his spine.

Iwa sighed, “okay. I’ll call my mom. She won’t be able to get here for at least half an hour though. Will you be okay until then? We can take the bus if you want.”

Oikawa nuzzled into Iwa’s shoulder. The smallest hints of his cologne were still present, despite getting sweaty from practice.

“No. No bus. We’ll want for Auntie, if that’s okay with you?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll call her.”

“I’m sorry, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa yawned. His eyes started drifting closed. Man, did a nap sound perfect right now.

“Don’t apologize, Tooru. Just scared me,” Iwa muttered and Oikawa felt the ace’s nose nuzzle into the top of his head. He relaxed further, in spite of the chills running through his body.

“Get some rest. I’ll wake you when my mom gets here,” Iwa whispered and Oikawa couldn’t remember the last time he sounded so soft. At least towards him anyway. Iwaizumi pulled Oikawa down gently so the setter’s head was pillowed on his lap.

Oikawa fell asleep to Iwaizumi’s gentle hands carding through his hair.

[yelena-bellova]

Hiii, I love your writing and I was wondering if you could do a Female! Reader X Daniel Sousa where he says prompt 13: “I’ve fallen for you and it’s becoming difficult for me to get anything done.” (Sorry for my English, is not my first language)

The Way You Look Tonight

Plot: Y/n and Daniel Sousa go on an undercover mission, but Daniel seems...off.

Warnings: none

Word Count: 1.6k

A/N: It’s sooo weird to write Daniel back in the 40’s/50’s after watching AOS. But I hope you enjoy! (And your English was perfect! 👌🏻)

————

13: I’ve fallen for you and it’s becoming difficult for me to get anything done

————

It was a warm summer night in Los Angeles, on the swankier side of the city filled with fine hotels and nightclubs. The SSR had been trailing a former HYDRA operative for months but he’d escaped us each time we’d tried to bring him in. We’d gotten a tip that he’d be at a club tonight and I’d been assigned to go undercover and arrest him. Though I’d been fine with going alone, Chief Sousa had volunteered to go with me. We were arriving separately to preserve the facade that we were strangers meeting spontaneously. I was already sat at the bar, dressed far fancier than I typically did and sipping the drink I’d ordered.

“Pardon me, miss,” a familiar voice began behind me, “Is this seat taken?”

I turned to face Daniel, dressed in his smartest suit, who upon meeting my eyes looked almost dumbstruck. I couldn’t help but allow myself a few seconds to admire how handsome he looked.

“By all means,” I answered with a flirtatious smile, gesturing to the free barstool.

He scooted his seat closer to me so we could talk and ordered his drink, before turning back to me,

“Anything yet?” he asked quietly.

“Not yet,” I whispered, “But I’m going to excuse myself to the ladies room in a moment, that’ll allow me to get a full view of the place. If I spot him and he tries to bolt, I can chase him down but I’ll need you backing me up.”

He hadn’t answered me yet or even acknowledged my plan, he was simply staring at me.

“Daniel, are you with me?” I asked with a small laugh, nudging his arm.

He seemed to shake himself out of whatever daze he’d been in, “Uh, yeah, sorry. Sounds like a plan.”

I nodded and rose from my seat, walking past the dance floor and past various tables as I headed towards the bathroom. Selfishly, I needed a minute to pull myself together before continuing with the mission. Once I was within the privacy of the room, I locked the door and began giving myself a very familiar pep talk in the mirror,

“You are an SSR agent, under no circumstances are you to let your feelings for Daniel Sousa get in the way of this mission.”

It was taking an enormous amount of self control to keep my focus on what we’d come to do when all I wanted was for Daniel to pull me into his arms on the dance floor. We’d worked together for almost a year now and had become fast friends, somewhere along the line I’d fallen for him. It was grueling each day to go in and work so closely with him when I couldn’t do anything about my feelings.

I took a deep breath, collected myself and exited the room. I surveyed the dance floor once again, unable to find the man in the crowd. I scanned a couple of nearby tables, nothing but happy couples laughing and staring at each other lovingly. Okay, definitely not helping in my attempts to focus solely on the mission…

Finally, I spotted him. The ex-HYDRA member was seated at the same bar that Daniel and I had been at, only a few seats down. Upon Daniel seeing me again, I nodded towards the man and inconspicuously reached into my clutch to retrieve the pistol I carried. Daniel didn’t leave his seat but was alert and ready to move if the guy gave us the slightest bit of trouble.


“Care to buy a girl a drink?” I asked in my most sultry tone as I stood behind the man.

He turned to take a look at me only to be met by a pistol pressed to his abdomen, “SSR, you’re under arrest.”

He ran his eyes over my figure before meeting my eyes, gave me a smug grin and bolted towards the nearby backdoor of the club. I took off after him, not waiting for Daniel to catch up knowing he’d catch up. I slammed my body into the door the guy had escaped out of and spotted him sprinting down the alley towards a car. Even in high heels I was a remarkably fast runner, something this guy was not, and was quickly gaining on him. Just as he was approaching his car, I tackled him to the ground and pinned his hands behind his back.

I pointed the gun at him, “Like I said…SSR, you’re under arrest.”

I heard Daniel panting behind me and whipped my head around, he’d just caught up to us.

“Sousa, cuffs,” I said, as the man tried to squirm out of my grasp to no avail.

Daniel seemed to be stuck for the second time of the night, all his attention focused solely on me.

“Sousa,” I repeated, “Cuffs.”

“Oh, right,” he snapped himself back into reality as he reached into his suit pocket and tossed me the handcuffs, “Sorry.”

—————

Back at the SSR, we’d interrogated the guy and found out he was at the club for an illegal weapons dealing. While he wouldn’t give up his contact, we were smart enough to narrow it down to a few names. It was almost midnight by the time we’d handed the man over to the cops, the office was completely empty except for me and Daniel. Since it was just us, I’d slipped off my uncomfortable heels and Daniel had removed his suit jacket and tie. For once, the atmosphere of the office was very relaxed.

“All in a day’s work,” I remarked as I leaned against the door of his office.

He smiled at me from behind his desk, but I could tell there was something going on he wasn’t telling me about. He wasn’t usually this quiet, at least not around me.

“Something bothering you, Chief?” I asked, stepping into the room.

“I wouldn’t call it a bother,” he said as he fiddled with his hands in his lap, “But there is something on my mind.”

I grabbed a chair and slid it over to his desk next to him, he rotated until we were face to face. Our knees brushed against each other lightly, I tried to ignore the adrenaline in my veins from being in such close proximity to him. I waited for him to start talking as he drew a deep breath,

“I’m no good at this kind of thing, but for the sake of the agency,” Daniel chuckled, “I think I have to at least try.”

I furrowed my brows in confusion but let him continue speaking,

“Y/n, I’ve fallen for you and it’s becoming difficult for me to get anything done,” he said with a small smile, “I come in here every day and have the hardest time doing my job because all I find myself doing is thinking about you. Like tonight, how many times did you have to wake me up from whatever daydream I was having?”

“Twice,” I answered with a laugh under my breath at the memory.

Daniel echoed me, “Twice. You wanna know why? Because I couldn’t stop thinking about gorgeous you looked sitting at the bar. Or in the alleyway, how fearless you were taking down that guy,” his smile lessened as the conversation went on, “I know that by doing this, I’ve probably scared you off and messed up our entire friendship but…I just couldn’t let another day go by without telling you how crazy I am about you.”

Words couldn’t begin to describe the joy that I felt in that moment. I’d pined after Daniel Sousa for months now, wishing every day that something would happen between us. Now here he was confessing to feeling the exact same way and thinking I would want nothing to do with him.

“Daniel, I-I…” I began but as he carefully took hold of one of my hands, I lost my train of thought.

“It’s fine if you don’t feel the same, Y/n. I will get over it, I promise.”

“What if I don’t want you to get over it?” I said, locking eyes with him as I placed my other hand over his.

He looked so hopeful as we sat in expectant silence, wondering who would break it first. Slowly, he stood up and pulled me up with him, clutching my hands to his chest. I took a step closer, leaving only a sliver of space between us. Giving me every opportunity to back out, he cautiously leaned down with me as his destination. I threw caution to the wind and rose to meet him, crashing my lips against his only to be met with the same enthusiasm. Daniel’s hands released mine to gently grasp my waist, while I gripped his white shirt to anchor myself to him. Our lips moved together slowly, there would be time for more passionate kisses, but this was a sweet moment that was to be savored.

After we pulled away, I kept my eyes closed and pressed my cheek to Daniel’s as he enveloped me in his arms. He started softly humming a Bing Crosby tune, one of my favorites. I’d always loved it when he sang, he was convinced he was terrible but even if he was, I wouldn’t have noticed.


“If we wouldn’t have been on duty tonight,” he whispered close to my ear, sending goosebumps down my skin, “I’d have asked you to dance. I’d have held you close like this and wouldn’t have let you go even for a second.”

“Who says we still can’t have that?” I replied as I gently began to sway, picking up the song he’d been humming where he’d left off. Daniel caught onto what I was doing and quickly took over, moving our bodies back and forth as we sung the song together. I don’t know how long we stayed like that but however long it was, it wasn’t nearly enough. Luckily, I saw many more moments like it in mine and Daniel’s future…

Oh but, you're lovely

With your smile so warm, and your cheek so soft

There is nothing for me but to love you

Just the way you look tonight

————

900 Followers Celebration

[absoluteindulgence]

Paradise (BNHA POC!CUTIES COLLAB)

Happy Black History, Honeys!!! I’ve spent the last 12 hours working on this and I’m still unsure of the finished product, please if you like what read don’t be shy to comment (or if you didn’t DM me, constructive criticism. I haven’t written a story in a while so have mercy lol) Characters are Aged Up🆙 but it’s fluff? I tried my hand at Ludus but can’t say I executed it right lol. Thanks in advance to everyone that reads it! I’m gonna go pass out now, respectfully.

The time you spent together always resorted to some kind of new fun. Always smiles and laughter, learning something new about each other. You didn't spend a lot of time together during your days of being highschool kids, but after some time apart and rekindling something most may call "Puppy Love," you've been finding more reasons to get out of bed.

Kirishima was strong and kind-hearted when you knew him back at U.A., Giving off the proper sentiment that would make you believe in yourself. It's kind of embarrassing how hooked you were to each other's personality, painstakingly apparent to your other classmates wishing for you two to just date but never doing so. Resulting in the classic 'Will They, Won't They' trope annoying everyone; Only to continue like that in your young adult years. Pushing your childlike fun on each other, date after date.

You woke up early, just to get a sense of the mid-winter weather. Still wearing your pajamas, you opened the window near your bed; the brisk air immediately greeted your room with little atonement to your mildly groggy body. You shivered right away, knowing that even though the sun was high in the sky, the wind would be unforgiving until the afternoon. Promptly doing your beauty routine, you dressed warmly and threw your hair under a cute beanie Kirishima had bought you for Christmas. Eager to meet at the station with your Red-haired date. It would be the first date you would've had in weeks, and ironically enough, on Valentines' Day.

As you reached the meetup station, he was already there, fifteen minutes earlier than when you two were supposed to meet. This was typical for him, and many times you had tried to beat him to the punch, but he was always one step ahead. As you got closer, he raised his head from staring at his phone screen, reciprocating the smile plastered on your face as you hugged him.

"Hey, Little Miss Cozy, you look great!" His sharky grin made your heart pulse.

"Aw, thank you, you don't look bad yourself, Kiri" You glanced at his outfit; he looked so stylish! His PR team has really helped him with his image since he graduated, and now he looks like he belongs in a sophisticated J-pop group. "I'm so glad we're hanging out today!" 

"Yeah, me too. Too much work and not enough play are bad for the body!" He dramatically sighed as you playfully pursed your lips in agreeance, and in return, he held your hand through your winter knitted mittens, "Plus, I missed my partner in crime."

Your face heated up from the sweet confession just to retort with, "I feel the same way, Handsome."

His raspy chuckle coming right after as he casually brushed his red hair back with his fingers. Kirishima had promised to make it the best day you could ever have on the holiday. Planning something you didn't even expect; an indoor Ice Skating rink. It would be your first time engaging in the sport, and you were anxious. Unsure about your own elegance and precision to be the best on ice. But he reassured that it would be a fun experience nonetheless, and you believed it would.

"Don't worry, Cutie, if at any point you think you're gonna fall, just hold me tighter." With his graciously, flirtatious wink, you were blushing, with a demure grin.

After traveling to the venue, Kirishima greeted the clerk who would be taking your admission tickets. Right after, you two went to the counter where you get sized up for the Ice Skates. After getting them, you were slightly frantic on how to tie them, bewildered by the laces and hooks. Kirishima saw how confused you were, lightly chuckling at your frantic fingers working so hard to figure it out on your own.

"Hey, don't stress yourself out before you get on the ice, let me help.'' He squatted close to your feet just to help settle your feet into the rented skates. They were a perfect fit, and as he helped, he looked up to beam at you. "You know I feel like the Prince of your story, ready to whisk you away after knowing that the shoe fits you so perfectly."

How smooth, you thought to yourself. Physically flustered and speechless, you had no cheeky rebuttal. Which only made the buff redhead break out into laughter. So many times, did his bold flirts silence you and make your heart flutter. But it was one of your favorite traits that he had. After getting your shoes on, you held his hand the whole way to the rink, continually repeating, "Don't let me fall, okay?"

"Of course, My Princess" He nodded kindly, taking on his role of 'Prince' too seriously. Bringing you to almost trip as you tried to hide your face. "Hey, at least wait till we get on the ice."

Another carefree chuckle leaving his toned body, making you happy to enjoy this experience with him. Getting to the rink may have been a battle, but now you were finally getting onto the ice, working your legs slowly to steady under the frozen ice. Not wanting to move too fast and create an inconvenience for anyone enjoying the rink. Gradually, you took a breath, calming down, as you held Kirishima's hand tighter. He smiled so warmly the whole time you focused on getting comfortable on the ice. The patience he carried just to keep you feeling safe and secure made its way into your heart, knowing that there was no malice energy.

"Are you ready, Princess?" Finally finding your footing, you nod. "Okay, then I'll teach you the basics."

His skating directions are so thorough and straightforward that you're able to follow them and feel like you can execute each move flawlessly. He politely assists you with your stances, placing his big, callous hands onto your waist gently just to help you find the proper posture to keep you from falling. It's fun learning how to do it, but now you're eager to start, and Kirishima can tell.

"Okay, Princess, that's all I have to share. Let's have some fun!" He holds your hand firmly as you slowly glide around the skating rink, feeling your legs space out naturally to create the best gliding and position one leg in front of the other. "See, you know what you're doing!"

Your childlike smile shoots Kirishima straight in the heart as you make the first steps to skating like a pro. He knew you were a fast learner and always admired that. Your persistence to learn something new was fascinating to him. You would start off anxiously and felt as if you didn't know what you were doing. But once you had the chance to shine, you left no skill invalidated.

"Hey Kiri, you think we can go a little faster? I wanna get some more momentum and see if we can do a trick!"

"W-what, you sure you want to try that on your first time at a skating rink? Certain moves require being a professional figure skater… Which we aren’t."

"You have a point, but we should still try anyway," You smile with reassurance, "We didn't graduate from U.A. not to be durable in various conditions!"

You raise your other arm showing off the muscle you gained from being a student at the number one school. Kirishima looked a little bewildered, thinking that your ideology doesn't equate to ice skating whatsoever, but he agreed that you weren't wrong. U.A. definitely had their trials, and you were put through many of them as a first-year.

"I mean, just look at that couple; they're so graceful, and I think we can do that!"

You pointed to a couple of what looked like professional ice skaters making a move you had never seen before. Your eyes sparkled as their chemistry was unmatched by everyone else in the rink. They spun so gently and romantically that you felt like you had to try to do something just as beautiful as that. Kirishima took a couple of Ice skating lessons on the side only to gain more flexibility and agility to become a better defense hero during his agency apprenticeship. It worked well, and he learned many things that he didn't expect to use in his daily life.

Looking at the skilled ice skaters, he felt like that could be him and you, and so he looked back into your eyes, reciprocating your glittery gaze. With a pure and toothy grin, he said, "Okay, let's give it a try."

Excited by his answer, you almost jumped for joy, forgetting where you were, and almost slipped and tumbled into the Red-haired hero. You laughed off the blunder, and you both kept trying to reach the speed it would take to get into any ice move. Having the fundamentals of chemistry be explained had made you even more pumped. Learning the basics of a spin and how to get the most out of sticking your leg out and balance. Kirishima praised you every time you got further into the rotation. You felt good knowing that you were trying and learning something different, respecting the art of figure skating.

Surprised that you were doing so well, you lost focus for a second and accidentally bump into Kirishima, resulting in him falling to the ice-cold floor. Horrified that he's injured, you kneel close to him to inspect, but instead, he laughs, looking at your worried face.

"I'm okay, Princess; this isn't my first time falling on the ice."

"Are you sure? I mean, it looked like you fell kinda har-"

To avoid a freakout and reassure you, he stole a kiss from your lips, lasting more than three seconds as you didn't want it to stop, but he pulls away with a light chuckle, "This floor is cold as hell, though."

"I-I'm sorry," You slightly pout, not knowing what else to say.

"But hey, I'm here with the hottest girl, so this makes up for everything."

Your goofiest smile was starting to form as you reached out to help him up. "Okay, Mr. Flirt, you got me there."

His laugh was highly pleasing to your ears, and you laughed with him. As he stood up, he patted himself down and checked his skates, making sure everything felt the way it did before the fall. After the check, he wanted to leave the rink, it made you anxious, thinking that something else was wrong with him, but he laughed again, "I know you wanted to try a pro move today, but I actually have something else planned."

"Something else?" You tilted your head to the side, confused as to what he could be mentioning.

"Yeah, but it's a surprise, so I'm not gonna say anything until we get there." His shark-like grin came back, making you grin in return.

"Okay, but can I have a hint?" You imitated puppy dog eyes but couldn't keep your face straight, laughing at your own face.

"Hmmm, I'll think about it" He smiled. "Maybe when we're closer, but let's return these skates and go."

And with that, you returned the skates getting your cute and comfortable platform sneakers back. You had even forgotten what shoes you wore since you were in the rink skating for a long time, Feeling like you had sweat enough from the body-induced activity. You were excited to figure out where you might be going. You tried your best to make guesses as you rode the bus to get there and passed by each stop. Still not able to put the finger on where you might be going.

"Here's your hint, Princess," You turn from looking out the window to look back at him. "It's as sweet as you."

Even with such a cute but corny remark, you still didn't have a clue. But you were getting off at the next stop. No dots connected as Kirishima grabbed your hand, guiding you off the bus with him. He smiled the whole way, eager to see your expression on the date's secondary location. The walk may have lasted for five minutes until he stopped, turning to look at you, "We're here."

The building looked a little shabby but still had a colorful banner saying 'Welcome.' A little creeped out, you wondered what was being welcomed. Ghosts maybe? Not humans, maybe clowns, though. You were reluctant to step further, but you looked into Kirishima's eyes, and his expression looked pure and unaltered by the outer appearance of the building. You feigned a light smile, unsure what to expect inside the establishment but prepared for what's to come.

Intertwining your hands, your date tightened the grip, caressing your hand. As if doing his best to comfort you as you walked closer to the entrance, his toothy grin never leaving. As he opened the door for you, you entered the building, the floor looking just as bland as the outside, but you had to be admitted in to get to the specific base, and as you got to your final destination, Kirishima let you walk in first to scope out the scene.

In an instant, you're blinded by beautifully bright colors, pleasingly happy music that didn't sound creepy and candy-like decor from wall-to-wall. Shocked by what you're seeing, candy hung from the ceiling while numerous candy stations were on the floor. Your eyes became huge, looking at what could only be considered a candy paradise. Kirishima stood next to you, nodding at the beauty of the atmosphere filled with gleefulness and sweets all over.

"Well, Princess, welcome to Sugar Sanctuary."

He presented the place so nonchalantly, and yet his energy about the place said otherwise. Your jaw had dropped, not even knowing a place like this had existed. Your eyes couldn't even focus on what was in front of you; you just wanted to explore the floor and eat as much candy as possible.

"We burned so many calories skating, I think we should reward ourselves. I remembered out of the blue that you used to have a sweet tooth, and I wanted to see if that still holds true now."

You turned to hug him tightly, almost jumping into his arms. His eyes widened as you held him, " Of course that's still true! Let's leave here with a dump truck worth of sweets!"

His chuckle reverberated through his body and onto yours as you held him; without protest, he nodded. "Let's do it!"

And with that, you venture into the venue, reading fun facts about the candy, playing the video games that gave out real prizes. Kirishima had a point to prove, his goal was to win you whatever you wanted, and he did it so well, surprising you at his gamer abilities. And his claw skills were something to see too! You never thought you would have this much fun on a date, and yet, here you were having the time of your life with the man who was your highschool sweetheart.

Although your relationships would continue to confuse your friends, you always looked at the bigger picture to smile and have fun. Avoiding all the complicated politics of your connection, taken at your own pace, and not listen to others' opinions as you enjoyed Kirishima's company and vice versa.

You spent every moment tasting different sweets and fresh pastries from the floor that you almost forgot to take photos of the unique location. You spotted a photo booth, and with no hesitation, You lightly tugged your redheaded date to follow along. The booth itself was spacious when inside and looked like it had enough room to fit half a dozen people. But because there was so much space, you tried to create a wonderland of candy surrounding you, bringing you closer to your date.

Kirishima happily obliged to set up what seemed to take a while but eventually, ready to pose for the flix. Unironically, you two looked gorgeous, making quirky faces as the camera flashed, focusing in on the memory. However, the moment was just perfect enough to steal a kiss from him and to thank him for all that he’s done to help you celebrate a holiday that you usually overlook. After caressing your lips onto his, you say, “You know what, Kiri, you truly delivered. And I want you to know that I appreciate you.”

He goes in for another kiss, just to rest his forehead on top of yours, “No, thank you, I’m happy to rescue my Princess from a boring any time of the year.”

With a couple more photos taken in the booth, you leave heading to their lounge area to share a complimentary cake with a candle to grant a special wish together, hoping to have endless moments and to keep smiling together.