#tall and some can barely float let alone swim

[angleofmusings]

guess who started the week assigned to stay at camp for learning time all afternoon every day and ended today assigned to be at the pool all afternoon teaching the kids how to swim that’s right it’s me

[myonos]

mischief - full ver

yang jungwon x f!reader

genre: fluff, no angst because i’m a weenie

wc: 5k

warnings: mentions of nudity, like one curse word lmao

IN WHICH you are a mermaid and jungwon is human.

Jungwon knows he shouldn’t be out here.

Deep in the woods, with nobody around.

But curiosity got the better of him.

He eventually finds himself standing before a small body of water.

The trees surrounding the area are tall, covering the entire area in shade.

Jungwon stares at his reflection in the clear water before stripping himself of his shoes and socks.

As his feet submerge in the cool water, he feels himself relax, shoulders dropping.

He hears a sound in the water, eyes wide in search of the culprit.

He expects a fish or just a piece of seaweed, but what reveals itself is nothing of the sort.

There you are, a mermaid?

Your eyes search Jungwon’s, looking for any signs of fear.

He doesn't back away, so you glide forward.

Your tail is a majestic royal blue. It glimmers in the water. Your chest is bare, and Jungwon tries not to stare. Your hair is long, flowing in the water.

Your eyes are mischievous but playful.

Jungwon’s eyes stay trained on yours as you swim backward, showing your entire self to him.

Swimming back towards him, you offer him a scaly hand. He takes it somewhat hesitant but grips it tightly once he has it.

You gently pull Jungwon into the water. It's not too deep, but deep enough that he floats comfortably.

You swim circles around him, smiling as he laughs.

As you float before him, you wrap your arms around his neck.

He gulps, having never been this close to a girl, let alone a mermaid.

Your fingers trace his features, strong brows, cheeks, and soft lips.

Jungwon brings his own hands forward to brush your hair behind your ears. He wants to speak, but no words come out.

You let out a small chirp, tilting your head to the side.

Jungwon copies you, making you laugh.

Your laugh is melodious. It sounds like honey to Jungwon’s ears.

You bring your lips to his cheek, letting them brush against it.

You can see the blush rise to his cheeks, making its way up to his ears.

You do the same on the other side, trailing your lips down.

Your face is right in front of his, eyes pleading. For what? Jungwon thinks he knows.

Slowly, he closes the gap between you.

His lips find yours in a sensual kiss.

He's never done this before, but it feels incredible.

Your lips move simultaneously, pushing and pulling.

His hands make their way down your back, holding your waist.

As you separate, Jungwon can hear his mother calling for him. He must leave.

You pout, not wanting him to go.

He pecks your lips again, a promise that he'll be back.

As Jungwon gets out of the water, he doesn't know how he’ll explain that he's drenched. But it doesn't matter.

He doesn't know your name, but he plans to find out one way or another. He decides to call you Mischief, for now, your eyes ingrained in his mind.

Now, all he wants is to see you again, and he can't wait.

You feel ecstatic as you rush back to your pod.

They didn’t know you were up there. Interacting with humans is strongly advised against.

It's not prohibited, but your people fear humans will hunt them if they were to learn of their existence.

You find your best friends in a group as you float beside them.

“Where have you been?” Chaewon asks.

“I met a human boy,” you giggle as your tail splashes behind you.

Your friends gasp, “Y/N! You know we're not supposed to interact with them,” Yeri scolds.

You sigh, “I know. But he was right there, so cute, and I couldn't help myself.”

Yunjin is biting her nails, something she always does when she gets nervous. “Was he afraid?”

You shake your head, “He even swam in the water with me. We didn't even talk. We just laughed…and maybe kissed.”

They gasp even louder, drawing attention from some others around you.

You shush hastily, “Stop, you're overreacting.”

“Overreacting? Y/N, you kissed a boy! A human one, no less!” Chaewon whispers, pushing your shoulder.

“Are you gonna see him again?” Yujin asks, bending closer to you.

“Hopefully? I'm going back tomorrow.”

“Let's just hope you don't get caught.” Yeri rubs your arm, looking sympathetic.

Yeri is somewhat of a romantic. The thought of a “forbidden” love melts her heart.

The next day, you leave the pod undetected as you did before.

Making your way to the small pool connected to the ocean, you wait.

Footsteps approach, and you duck.

You recognize Jungwon’s face as he comes forward, and you happily swim toward him.

“Hi,” he says.

“Hi.”

You realize this is the first time you’ve heard each other's voices.

“I never got your name,” Jungwon says, taking his shoes and socks off. “I'm Jungwon.”

“Y/N.”

“Y/N,” he repeats. “Beautiful name for a beautiful girl.”

You blush.

Jungwon puts his feet in the water and you swim to come between his legs.

“Where are you from?” You ask, resting your head on his thigh.

He looks away in embarrassment for a moment before turning back to you.

“I’m from here, my house is just a couple of feet away from the woods. I’m not supposed to be this far out, but how can I not when you’re here?”

You giggle, drawing patterns on his thigh with your finger.

“Do you regret the other day? Kissing me?”

Jungwon shakes his head vigorously, “No! That was like, the greatest thing I've ever experienced.”

“So, would you mind doing it again?”

You pull yourself out of the water, sitting next to him on the soft grass.

Jungwon leans forward, kissing you softly.

Your hand finds the back of his neck, playing with the hairs there.

Suddenly there's a splash, and your friend's heads appear from underneath the water.

“What are you guys doing here?” You exclaim, looking at Jungwon next to you.

“We wanted to meet your boyfriend,” Chaewon says, giggling at your shocked expression.

“Correction. Chaewon wanted to meet him, and I got dragged along,” Yunjin interjects.

Yeri nods, saying the same.

“Whatever,” Chaewon rolls her eyes.

You sigh, “You guys shouldn't have come up here. The others might get suspicious.”

Chaewon tells you it's fine, that no one noticed them leaving.

“Fine. Jungwon, this is Chaewon, Yunjin, and Yeri. Guys, this is Jungwon.”

Jungwon gives a shy wave and the girls enthusiastically wave back.

They start bombarding Jungwon with questions which he answers graciously.

You don't know how long you spend there, Jungwon answering questions while you look at him lovingly.

“It's starting to get dark, we should get going,” Yunjin says.

You pout, hating to leave Jungwon again.

It's almost as if he read your mind, “I'll see you again tomorrow, yeah?”

You nod, pecking his lips.

He blushes while the girls squeal.

As you leave, the girls can't help but talk your ear off.

They tell you how cute Jungwon is and how they approve of him.

You can't help but recall how he didn't deny it when they called him your boyfriend. Does he view you that way? You assume he must.

That night, you sleep happily knowing you have someone like Jungwon.

Your head lays in Jungwon’s lap, him playing with your hair.

“What’s your world like?” Jungwon asks, twirling a piece of your long hair around his finger.

“Well, I spend every day with my friends. We either swim around the ocean interacting with sea life or we stay in our grove. Sometimes I spend time alone.”

“There’s no tv or phones down there?” The way Jungwon cocks his head is adorable, it makes you giggle.

“No. I’ve read about them in our library but we don't have technology.”

“I would show you if I could.”

You nod, “I know. But for now, just being with you is enough for me.”

Jungwon pulls you up for a kiss, humming in content.

“I’m so in love with you,” he says after pulling away.

“And I'm in love with you,” you reply.

Jungwon tells you about his life and his friends. He doesn't mention his family and it makes you curious, but you don't pry.

He has multiple friends whose names you learn one by one.

The smile on his face as he talks about them makes you happy. You're glad he has people in his life who care about him.

You must count as one of those people too now?

Jungwon asks you to tell him more about yourself.

You tell him how you love sunrises and sunsets, spending time every day to watch them.

Your favorite color is orange, another reason you love the sun.

Jungwon looks at you with so much love in his eyes, it almost makes you shy. To be the focus of someone's attention like that, it's something you've never felt.

Your time once again comes to an end. But now, you don't have to feel sad. You know you’ll see Jungwon again the next day.

You don't forget to keep the girls updated about your time with Jungwon.

They're in awe at your stories, happy for their friend.

Jungwon wishes the same could be said for him.

He wants nothing more than to tell his friends about you. But unfortunately, he knows they'd pester him about you, asking to know who you are. He can't exactly tell them you're a mermaid, they'd either think he's lying or crazy, or both!

At the same time, he almost likes keeping you to himself, with nobody to butt in and take your attention away from him.

He's never been in love before, but if this is what it feels like, he's never been happier.

It's early in the morning, way before your meeting time with Jungwon. You're in the library, reading about human history.

You're thinking about what Jungwon said yesterday.

That he wishes he could show you the human world.

Believe it or not, the human world is something you've always been interested in.

You wish there was a way to experience it.

Maybe there is?

There's a restricted section towards the back of the library that no merperson is supposed to go in.

You being you, never listen. Surprisingly, you've never been caught in the restricted section. Today is no different as you make your way to the back, searching for a specific book.

Your eyes glimmer in excitement as you find exactly what you're looking for.

“Lost Magic” is written in big, black letters on the front cover.

You flip through, magic crowns, magic hourglasses, magic figurines, and then you find it.

A magic necklace that's said to give you any power you wish for, even the power of transformation.

With this necklace, you could become a human and spend more time with Jungwon!

You hear a sound from the entrance of the library so you scurry out of the restricted section, making your way to the front.

You look around, no one is there. Taking the book, you make your way back to your grove.

When you tell the girls about your idea, they look at you like you've grown another head.

“Are you crazy?” Yunjin exclaims. “Magic items are impossible to find, a lot of them are in dangerous places.”

Chaewon and Yeri nod along, “Even I think it's dangerous, and you know me!” Chaewon says.

“I know it's a crazy idea but this could mean spending more time with Jungwon and that's all I want.”

Their questioning stares almost make you retreat, but you stay firm with your decision.

Chaewon sighs, “Fine, we’ll help.”

Yeri and Yunjin's eyes widened “We will?”

“We will.”

So, you set out. The book says the last known location of the magical necklace, officially named The Myonos, was in the depths of the Myronia Sea.

That's not far, so you and the girls swim your way down there.

It's dark and creepy, you want to back away, but your determination pushes you forward.

Chaewon, Yunjin, and Yeri follow behind you.

You can barely see in the deep waters but a faint glow guides you. It's the necklace, stuck in a log of wood.

You go to reach for it but a large mouth comes and bites at you, almost taking your hand.

You all shriek, backing away from the log.

Two eels slither out of the log, “What business do you have with The Myonos?” They speak simultaneously, their voices scratchy, like gravel.

You gulp, swimming just slightly forward.

“I want the necklace to become a human.”

“Human you say? You may take the necklace but he warned! If you are not back in the water by 10:00 at night, you will stay stuck as a human, forever!”

They slither away, leaving the necklace free for you to take.

As you're about to grab it, Yunjin stops you. “Wait! You heard what they said, is it really worth it?”

You stop to think.

You risk never being a mermaid again if you don't make the deadline.

But, being without Jungwon is something you can't imagine.

Do you take the chance?

“Yes,” you say, taking the necklace from the log.

Jungwon is already waiting for you when you get to the small pool.

“Hi,” he smiles.

“Hi. I have something to tell you.”

He's quiet, letting you continue.

You bring out the necklace and his eyes fall to it.

“This is The Myonos. It’s a powerful necklace that can grant any power to the person who has it. I think if I wear it, I can become human.”

Jungwon’s eyes widened, “Become human? Is that really possible?”

“Yes. I want nothing more than to be with you. For you to show me the human world. Will you?”

Jungwon looks into your big doe eyes, and he thinks that he'd want nothing more.

“I will do anything for you.”

You put the necklace on and follow the directions from the book. Tell the necklace your desire and it will come true.

“I wish to become human.”

Within seconds the water around you begins to swirl, covering your body from head to toe.

When it stops you no longer feel as heavy. Looking down, you see two long human legs.

“Oh.”

Jungwon looks away from you, blushing.

“What's wrong?”

“You’re…..naked. I mean, I got used to seeing the top part but not the bottom. Stay there! I'm gonna get you a towel and clothes.”

Without another word, he gets up and runs away.

You float there, admiring your new set of legs.

Kicking them in the water, you get used to the feeling of not having a tail.

Jungwon comes back a few minutes later.

“I had to steal these clothes from my sister, they should fit you.”

You put on the underwear, sweatpants, and shirt he gives you, (you ditched the bra, it was uncomfortable).

Jungwon begins leading you out of the woods, but you're already amazed. The trees are so tall and green. The flowers around you have bloomed beautifully. When you get out of the woods, you're greeted by a huge house.

“Is this your house?” You ask, gasping as Jungwon nods.

“Nobody is home right now, so we can go inside.”

Exploring Jungwon’s house is like nothing you’ve ever seen, not even in your books.

He shows you his room and you coo at the stuffed animals on his bed.

He blushes, throwing them around the room, “My mom buys me these.”

“But you keep them! And that's so cute!”

After showing you the rest of his house, Jungwon insists on showing you around town.

You go to his favorite place first, the arcade.

He shows you how to play all the games, and somehow you end up beating him at everything?

He pouts as you beat him again for the fifth time, but automatically brightens up once you kiss him.

After that, he brings you to his favorite restaurant. He orders a whole load of food for you to try, which you do eagerly.

It’s all delicious, flavors you’ve never tasted before.

“Jungwon!” You hear someone call from behind him.

6 boys are walking towards your table and Jungwon turns to you, almost panicked.

“Those are my friends. I haven’t told them about you 'cause I didn’t know how not to mention you know…”

“And who would this be?” One boy says. You notice his large, doe eyes first out of all his facial features.

“Guys, this is Y/N, my girlfriend.”

You internally scream at him calling you his girlfriend, like it’s almost too good to be true.

The boys all gasp, then they’re ranting.

You hear multiple exclamations of “Why didn’t you tell us,” and “I can’t believe this.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! We’re still kinda new so I didn’t wanna rush it.” Jungwon waves his hands furiously, trying to call them down.

He turns to you, giving an apologetic smile.

You giggle, waving your hand, letting him know it's alright.

The boys spend the next few seconds introducing themselves.

You shake their hands enthusiastically, happy to meet Jungwon’s friends.

They all sit down and within seconds you’re having a conversation with them like you’ve known them forever.

You manage to dodge questions about where you’re from, your family, and things like that.

It wouldn’t be the best idea for them to find out about you, at least so early.

Another hour passes with you and the boys eating, talking, and having fun.

Jungwon tells them you have to leave and you sadly get up, wishing them farewell.

“I know you wanted to keep talking to them, but there’s somewhere else I wanted to take you before today is over,” Jungwon says, taking your hand into his.

You end up walking a couple of blocks away from the restaurant.

When you reach your destination, you’re filled with excitement.

Jungwon has brought you to a cat cafe.

You’ve read about human animals and pets but never thought you’d get to experience it for yourself.

You get situated and immediately cats start to flock to you and Jungwon.

You’re trying to pet them all and Jungwon is watching you with a smile.

“You’re so cute,” he says.

You smile back, “You’re cuter. It’s like looking at a bunch of yous.”

You knew Jungwon looked like something you’d seen before, you just couldn’t put your finger on it. Now you know, he has the cutest cat face ever.

You and Jungwon stay there for a while, eating desserts and feeding the cats treats.

By 9 o’clock, you know it’s time to leave.

Coming back to your little pool in the woods, Jungwon bids you farewell with a sweet kiss.

As you get back into the water, it immediately swirls around you as it did before, and you’re back to having a tail.

You have to say you almost missed it.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” You ask, tilting your head.

Jungwon nods, “See you tomorrow.”

You and Jungwon spend the next couple of days together, doing everything you can think of.

He takes you to the local library and you’re fascinated with all the different subjects.

A particular fantasy book catches your eye and Jungwon chuckles as you show it to him. “The Little Mermaid” is printed on the front and you spend some time reading it.

It’s not very accurate, but you have a fun time anyway.

There are so many books about the human world, you wish you could take them all.

Afterward, Jungwon takes you to the movie theater and you watch the goriest slasher film they’re playing.

It’s disgusting and yet you’re somewhat fascinated.

Jungwon had to close his eyes at certain parts of the movie, but you held his hand through it all.

He takes you to the local record shop where you’re impressed by all his knowledge of music. He shows you record players, vinyls, CDs, and even digital forms of music on his phone.

You listen to old hip hop and r&b in the store and find it to be your new favorite sound, next to Jungwon’s voice.

Another day passes with you and Jungwon having the most fun together. His parents still don’t know about you, which is fine.

You don’t know how they’ll react if they know about you, and neither does Jungwon.

Later on, when Jungwon gets home, the first thing he hears is hee complaining.

“What’s going on?”

His sister turns to him, “I can’t find my favorite tee, you know the red one?”

Oh shit.

Jungwon knows exactly what shirt she’s talking about because he stole it for you to wear.

He still has his sister's clothes that you’ve worn the past 2 days, they’re in his laundry hamper.

“I haven’t seen it,” he says, quickly making his way to his room.

Without interference, Jungwon takes the clothes along with his own and goes to the laundry room to start a wash.

He has to find another way to get you clothes without his sister getting suspicious.

It’s almost 10 o’clock, but some stores must still be open.

He finds the closest clothing store to his house and makes his way in.

He purchases multiple shirts, underwear, and pants for you.

When the cashier gives him a look, he pretends not to notice.

Getting back to his house, his sister is no longer in the living room, she must have gone to her room.

He sighs in relief, nobody is here to question him.

Bringing the clothes to his room, he places them in his drawers, underneath his clothes.

Jungwon lays in bed that night, thinking about you.

Who else would he be thinking about?

It's only been a couple of days since you discovered each other, but Jungwon has never been happier.

He never knew that having a girlfriend would be so amazing.

Wait.

Jungwon realizes he never asked you to be his girlfriend, you've just been using the word as a disguise.

Do you want to be his girlfriend? He definitely wants you to be.

He decides tomorrow will be the day he officially asks you.

Jungwon is waiting for you with a new set of clothes.

After your transformation, you put on the clothes and ask “What are we doing today?”

“I was thinking we could just stay here for today.”

He gestures behind him and you see a beautiful setup with a blanket on the ground, fake candles surrounding it, and a basket.

“I didn't wanna cause a fire so I used fake candles, I hope it's okay. I also have this,” and he hands you a beautiful rose.

“Oh Jungwon, it's beautiful.”

He leads you to the blanket and you sit down gently.

Jungwon opens the basket and you find all your favorites from the restaurant the other day.

You and Jungwon spend your time talking, laughing, and just enjoying each other's company.

“There's a reason I set this up,” Jungwon says after a silent pause. “I wanted to tell you something.”

You stay silent, waiting for Jungwon to speak.

“Y/N, meeting you has to be the greatest experience I've ever had. You're funny, you're beautiful, you're so full of life it makes me feel like I can't be without you. I know we've used the excuse of you being my girlfriend before, but now I'm actually asking. Will you be my girlfriend?”

You can feel your heart bursting inside your chest.

You didn’t know what to call your relationship with Jungwon because nothing was certain. Now you know he feels the same way about you that you feel about him.

You nod enthusiastically, “Yes, Jungwon. I’ll be your girlfriend!”

You throw yourself onto him, both of you laughing as you fall over.

He places a kiss on your head before finding his way to your lips, enveloping them in a kiss.

You spend the rest of the evening reveling in your new relationship teasingly calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend, like kids.

1 MONTH LATER

You and Jungwon have been going strong. You spend every day together either in the woods, in town with his friends, or in his home.

You finally met his family and they loved you immediately.

His parents welcomed you with open arms and his sister squealed about having a new friend.

She said you can bully Jungwon together, which you teasingly agreed with.

Today you and Jungwon are at the grove.

It’s been hard keeping your secret, but you’ve managed nicely.

“Maybe we should tell them? Your friends and family? I don’t know how they’d react but I don’t know how much longer we can keep this up. They’re constantly asking about my parents and home and we’re running out of excuses.” You say, combing your fingers through Jungwon’s hair, his head in your lap.

“That’s the thing, I don’t know how’d they react either,” he replies. “I don’t want them to be scared of you, or think badly of you because of it.”

“I don’t think they’d be scared. Confused for sure, but not scared.”

Jungwon hums.

“It’s up to you,” he says. “If you want to tell them, then we will.”

You contemplate it for a second. If you tell the truth, that’s no longer a secret you have to hide. But if their reaction goes badly, it could put you or your pod in danger. And you might not be able to see Jungwon anymore.

You think taking the chance is necessary.

“Let's tell them tomorrow.”

Tomorrow comes faster than you anticipated and suddenly your nerves are flaring.

You managed to gather everyone at the grove, even Jungwon’s parents, who now stare at you both in confusion.

“What's going on?” Jungwon’s mother says.

“There's a secret we've been keeping from you for a bit now.” Jungwon begins, taking your hand in his.

“Oh god, don’t tell us Y/N’s pregnant?” Heeseung blurts out, and everyone looks at you both in panic.

You both shake your heads vigorously, “No one is pregnant,” you confirm and you see a sigh of relief fix onto everyone’s faces, especially Jungwon’s parents.

“The truth is, our relationship started here at this grove, but not how you think.”

You decide to just come out and say it.

“I'm a mermaid.”

There's a long silent pause, before Niki, as blunt as ever, says, “Is this some sort of joke?”

Everyone starts to cautiously giggle and laugh like they don't know what else to do.

“It's not a joke,” you say.

You step into the water, clothes and all, and watch as the water swirls around you.

You can see the faces in front of you contort from confusion to shock as it happens.

Back in your natural form, the small crowd is silent.

“This is how we met.” Jungwon comes to sit beside you on the ground.

You pick your tail up for everyone to see.

Wide open mouths are all you get in response.

“We know this is kinda crazy but please don't be afraid, I promise we’re harmless,” you plead, hoping for someone to speak.

Jungwon’s mother finally closes her mouth, before opening it again. “I don't know what to say.”

Everyone nods their heads in agreement.

“Don’t say anything, just don't be upset.” Jungwon takes your hand again, tightening his grip.

“I'm not upset, this is like the coolest thing ever,” Jake pipes up.

He steps forward like nothing and sits on your other side.

“So are there more of you?”

And just like that he strikes up conversation like he's not talking to a mermaid.

You start to see everyone else visibly relax as the situation finally sets in.

They all make themselves comfortable as they listen to you speak.

You spend the next hour indulging everyone and their questions and you feel Jungwon squeeze your hand.

By nightfall, everyone has left and it's just you and Jungwon once again.

“I'm so glad this worked out, I was worried for a second.”

You nod in response, relieved yourself.

“They were all so cute asking me so many questions.”

Jungwon is thinking for a moment, it seems like it was serious given the look on his face.

“What’s wrong?”

“I was just wondering, you’ve seen my world, but I still haven’t seen yours.”

Oh, right.

“Do you think that necklace could make me a merman?”

Your eyes widen at Jungwon’s inquisition.

“I don’t know, are you sure you’d wanna try that?”

He nods.

You take the necklace off, giving it to Jungwon.

He gets into the water beside you and says, “I wish to become a merman.”

The water swirls around him and the final result makes you gasp.

Jungwon’s tail is a brilliant shade of blue. It shines in the water.

“Oh my god,” Jungwon says, flicking the tail around.

“Jungwon… you're beautiful.”

He already was beautiful but now, he's even more beautiful.

You hug Jungwon tightly, not believing this is real.

“Well, let's go!” He dives beneath the water even before you do.

You lead Jungwon to your pod, but he's stopping every couple of seconds to admire the deep sea.

Animals come up to you, dolphins, and turtles, and Jungwon eagerly interacts with them all.

Normally outsiders would be questioned by your pod, but because he's with you, nobody questions it.

You see your friends who are all looking at you and Jungwon in shock.

“Jungwon!” Chaewon exclaims. “You're here!”

Your friends all swarm you. They got used to being up in the human world but never expected this.

You all decide to show Jungwon around, him meeting new people as you go.

You finally get to introduce Jungwon to your parents. They love him, even when you tell them he's actually human.

Yeah, it could've waited, but you figured it would be better to do it quickly.

You show Jungwon all your favorite places in the ocean and your cove.

You can see the night sky from your cove, and Jungwon stares in awe at all the stars.

Later on, you say goodbye to Jungwon as he makes his way back home.

You've had the best day of your life. The man you love is officially yours and you've been in each other's worlds, something that seemed impossible just a few days ago.

You and Jungwon are chilling on his bed when he suddenly brings you into a hug.

“What's this for?” You ask, not hesitating to hug him back.

“I’m just happy,” he says. “I have the girl of my dreams, an amazing life, and I get to experience a world others could only dream of. I'm just really happy we found each other that day.”

You bring Jungwon into a kiss, long and passionate.

“I’m happy too… happiest with you.”

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please excuse any typos or mistakes 🤣 i hope y’all enjoy this! i have a sunghoon idea in mind that will happen!!

permanent taglist: @escapetheash @vatterie @kaexox

[starswimmingart]

"Can you talk?" - that sounds like it could lead to some fun/sad times

Oooh thanks for sending in a prompt!! this was my first time trying something like this, and I had a lot of fun with it! This story takes place probably around chapter 3, I hope you enjoy! "Can you talk?" 1500+ Words CW: drowning

It had been a long… long day of travel. Or, night, really. The sun seemed as exhausted as you were as it barely began to peek up over the horizon, any bit of wave covering it in an instant from your view. While being a creature of the sea, you’d been swimming for an extensive period and everything ached from your whiskers to your tail fins. 

Any moment now, that sun is going to be blocked out by a lovely silhouette of land.. Maybe some trees… we’re too far south for icebergs.. Shit, I’ll take anything at this point. 

According to the boys’ navigation systems (and thank the stars that there’d been clear weather recently or you’d never get to land at this rate), it was only a short trip remaining until your next encounter with shoreline.

However, your eyelids were getting heavier by the minute, and your body felt like an anchor as you swam behind the two animatronics. Sun liked to stay near the top of the water, Moon swimming far below scoping out the trenches. You, needing to breathe air, tended to stay with Sun, although occasionally you liked to pop down for a peek of what Moon was up to. You swam up to the top again and took another big puff in through your nostrils, the cold morning air filling your nose, making it burn a little.

You let out a pitiful little sneeze.

Water splashed against your head and in an instant a bright cheerful face was directly next to yours. 

“Oh dear selkie, that was adorable!”

“Hello, Sun.”

The tall yellow animatronic had not let you out of his sight since you’d begun your journey a few days ago, and you’re sure the other grumpy blue one hadn’t either.. Though unlike Sun, Moon's intentions seemed to be less fascination and more of keeping you on a leash. Sun had just NOT left you alone for one moment, though, in all fairness, he really did seem to try. He swam juuust far enough away to make it feel like you had room to yourself, but stars forbid you so much as thought out loud because he snapped to your side in moments asking if you needed something. 

It was… a little endearing. Borderline annoying, yes, but endearing nonetheless. 

Ignoring your short answer, he dove straight into conversation (as if the two of you hadn’t just been chatting previously about ten minutes beforehand.. And ten minutes before that..) “I’m so so glad we’re almost near some land, aren’t you? Just look at that sunrise! I’m soooo looking forward to being able to charge back up again. Aren’t you looking forward to some rest?” He blinked at you innocently.

It was an obvious trap.

“No actually, I think I could keep going all day! I’m doing just fine!”

Despite their intentions on the surface, you still weren’t sure you could let your guard down around these two. The simple facts were they were much bigger and seemed much stronger than you and while they seemed nice enough… 

You swallowed. 

“I might even be up for skipping the next island, you know! 

So says the idiot half asleep and swimming. You know you need that rest. Do you want to drown?

The voice in the back of your head scolded you but you beamed at Sun, swatting it away in your mind's eye. 

Sun's gaze on you remained steady, his smile never wavering. There was silence for a moment, as he studied your face. He only replied with a small "Hmmmmmm.." before doing a happy spin in the water, returning next to you to float on his back. 

"But of course selkie, you know best! I'm sure a strong, brave creature like you could make this journey with no trouble! Moony and I are only just holding you back!" 

He wasn't buying it. 

"I'll leave your capable selkie self to your own devices then, maybe we will even skip the next island, if you're so sure!"

Uh oh.

You puffed up for extra emphasis "Oh absolutely!! I bet we would save so much time, it only makes sense!"

Oh my stars shutupshutupshutup!

He purred. "Wonderful! I'll go let Moon know!" 

Before you could protest (if your stubbornness would even let you) he dove off with a flash of his brightly colored fins into the depths below. 

Well.. shit.

Your navigator had just disappeared. 

You stopped swimming abruptly. While it was a pretty straightforward path ahead, towards the rising sun, you still didn't trust yourself to navigate so very far away from your home waters. 

You stared out into the great fiery ball on the horizon, slowly hoisting itself into the sky. It slowly.. got.. fuzzier..

Oops

Your body buckled. 

When you stopped swimming, apparently that signaled to your brain that it was time to rest. This was very inconvenient seeing that you were in the middle of the ocean. 

You took a gasp of air as you slipped under the cold water, bubbles filtering out of your nose as your vision tunneled. The air went wrong down your throat and your body coughed instinctively, sending saltwater cascading down your airway. Your limbs felt like lead, dragging you down.

I can't move, fuck, FUCK I can't. I can't breathe

You began to tip down, flipping in the water and pointed towards the bottom. Was it the bottom? Everything was so dark, dark. 

I can't...

Muffled, below the ringing that began to fill your ears, you started to hear voices, soft.. familiar.. 

-----------

"Selkie? Selkie!" 

Loud. They're so loud. 

"They're responding, Moon, loo-"

"Yes yes I see, I see!"

He's cranky, as usual.

"Selkie, can you hear us? Open your eyes, we need to see if you're fully responsi- SUN stop pacing like that it's very unhelpful." 

You could hear the solar animatronic whimper, and the footsteps that you didn't recognize being there before stopped. 

You attempted to crack open your eyes.

Bright. Oh stars did that noise just come out of me? Ah shit, OW, ow..

The pain in your throat and chest hit you all at once and you started to cough again, heaving and trying to open your eyes all the way. 

Large hands rushed to you, two against you back, one on your shoulder and one on your knee. Two of the four gripping tightly enough to bring you back to reality with the sensation. 

You coughed again. 

"Easy easy now selkie, don't try to sit up too fast..!" worry pricked Sun's ordinarily cheerful voice and finally, you managed to pry your eyes open enough to weakly look out ahead of you. 

Sun and Moon were crowded around you, looking over with concern, smiles gone from their faces. Sun looked positively distraught, guilty even. Moon watched you with coolness but with an obvious worry written on his face. He cleared his throat, as best a robot could.

"Can you talk?"

Hm. You hadn't thought to try. 

You opened your mouth to speak and out came an uncomfortable wheeze, and you lurched as you burst into another fit of coughs. Sun whined and covered his face in his hands. 

"Oooh no no no this is my fault, I saw you were tired, I shouldn't have left you alone even for a moment, and now you're hurt. I was only meaning to tease, I should've known better.."

Moon began to scold Sun for his self depreciation but stopped as you reached out your hands to gently set one on each of their shoulders (funny, you didn't remember having transformed). 

"H-hey."

Your voice barely sounded like your own, it was raspy and it stung. 

The bots fell silent, eyes boring into you and seemed to watch every breath you took. 

"S.. stop that, I'm okay." 

You didn't FEEL okay but jeez, if it got these two blockheads to stop fussing then you'd dress things up a bit for the time being. 

Finally, you took the chance to look around, and saw that you were on a beach. The sun had risen a decent portion into the sky and the warmth felt.. comforting. Like the comfort of being back surrounded by your pod. You closed your eyes again and felt yourself naturally sinking backwards into laying down. 

The two animatronics stiffened, and followed your hands as you went back. 

"..s'fine.. m'fine.. tired…" 

The pair was quiet for a bit while you seemingly got comfortable on the sand, and you could hear them shift. 

"Get some rest, selkie, we'll get moving again later this evening." 

They seemed to settle in place on either side of you and went still. You knew that they could internally talk to each other using their .. blue.. mouth.. tongue.. tooth? Something fancy, human stuff, whatever. You sighed, and tiredly reached up your hands once more and gently knocked on both of their backs. 

"Mmthanks, both f'you, not drowning s'good.."

You heard a content whirr and a few low chuckles. "We'd be very poor at our job if we let you die before we even got back, you know." Moon joked. 

"Mmmmmhm! Imagine we come all this way and turn up with no selkie! How very disappointing!" Sun tsk'ed a few times disapprovingly for emphasis and the dramatics made you chuckle, trying not to start coughing again. 

The sound of the waves gently breaking on the shore, sea birds, and the soft humming of the internals of the animatronics were the last things you heard before you rocked into a much needed sleep.

[siriannatan]

Canary and A Mermaid

LimitedLife / Au / Flower Husbands

I'm putting the entirety of the blame for this existing on Scott settling on the water.

Might have some mild (thus no tag) Limited Life spoilers

Song Jimmy's singing: Steffan Argus – Ship in a Bottle

AO3

Scott heard more warnings about humans than he cared to count. Martyn warned him The weird harpies did (Cleo, Bdoubs, Scar), the dwarves (Tango, Impulse, Skizz), and the weird elf (Etho) living with the dwarves all warned him whenever they passed by the lake or saw him just floating down a river. But when the weird humans settled in an old ruined house by one of Scott's favourite smaller lakes, he could not help his curiosity and watched them instead running back home as everyone told him to do.

There were three of them. All rather loud and obnoxious when together. The two shorter ones remained noisy even when separated from the rest. but the tall and pretty one would get quiet and just mumble something Scott couldn't quite catch from his hiding spots.

And he played a small instrument with strings and sang pretty well for a not a mermaid. Scott was somewhat tempted to join in but he didn't know the songs and didn't want to destroy the nice melody so he just listened and tried repeating it when alone. Martyn would be so angry if he knew.

Most of the songs the human - Jimmy as others called him - sang were happy and cheerful. At least from what Scott could understand. He was not an idiot so he usually observed from a fair distance and Jimmy didn't sing too loudly anyway so he could have missed something.

You can fit everything you know In a bottle for you to show Pick your brain apart and put it in And build it again with needles and pins...

Jimmy started in a forlorn, shaky voice, pulling at the strings. He was sat on the sandy bank of the small (by Scott's standards) lake. Barely paying any attention to his instrument as he looked up at the clear sky. Scott couldn't really see his face but he slowly got louder and louder and...

Oh, captain, let's make a deal Where we both say the things that we both really feel I feel scared and I'm starting to sink And I only sink deeper the deeper I think Oh, captain, oh, captain, deal Oh, captain, deal, oh, captain, deal, oh

There are red spots under your eyes From when you cry into the sky Ocean waters rising above your neck, mmm You feel the glass start to crack

Scott was a simple man, for a mermaid. He liked pretty things and Jimmy's voice was really pretty so of course on the next 'Oh, captain, oh, captain, deal Oh, captain, deal, oh, captain, deal, oh' he joined in and clearly startled the human who froze to look for the source of the noise. And now Scott had to decide if he should flee or stay and talk to Jimmy.

Scott obviously chose to stay. He'd care about Martyn's warnings later. Nothing he saw about the humans made him scared. And it wasn't like they swam that well anyway so if he was wrong he could just swim away. "Sorry, I couldn't help it," he said after pulling himself onto a rock a bit closer to the coast but not so close Jimmy could just grab him. "You've got a nice voice," he smiled fanning out his earfins. 

Jimmy was shocked to say the least. One moment he was having his me time away from Joel and Grian and the next there was a whole damn mermaid in front of him. That's not what 'retirement' was supposed to be. But here he was. "Um... I'm sorry if I disturbed you?" he offered. Offending magical creatures was a very bad idea. And even if this one said it liked Jimmy's voice it could be some game. Better save than sorry, and Jimmy had nothing to defend himself with. He was not expecting any creatures this close to the ruined mansion they set up camp in. 

"No, no, I live in a different lake, this one's a bit too small for that," the mermaid smiled and showed off pearly white, sharp as-heck, pointy teeth. "I like your singing, it was a nice song, I'm sorry I interrupted," the mermaid said and slipped off the rock. 

Jimmy expected it to get bored and left so he was a bit shocked when teal hair broke water just by the beach and the mermaid left the water. Teal scales morphed into a pair of pale legs. And to Jimmy's dread, all it was wearing now was a tunic, stopping barely at his thighs, made of weird, almost translucent material. and it was wet and clung to their skin.

"Um... I kind of have to..." Jimmy started saying but the mermaid sat next to him on the ground and smiled. Jimmy hoped it was supposed to be a smile.

"Can we sing together sometime?" it asked before Jimmy could collect his thoughts. "The name's Scott, by the way, and I already kind of know yours."

"Su... sure?" Jimmy stammered out and got an even wider and scarier smile in return.

"Great, unfortunately, I have to go, but next time I won't be hiding, don't worry," Scott said leaning in and gave Jimmy a kiss on the cheek and was gone. No goodbye or anything. Just gone as suddenly as he appeared. Almost as if Jimmy imagined him. But the cold feeling on his cheek persisted and there was a wet patch on his shirt from when Scott's hand briefly rested on his shoulders.

After a minute of just sitting there, Jimmy hurried back to the mansion. Before Scott changed his mind about eating him.

Back on his way home Scott was beyond giddy for the next meeting with Jimmy. He was even cuter up close.

[sabbathbloodysabbeth]

You Looking at me, Looking at you

Word count: 10,356

Part: 1/2 (next part will be out soon let me know if you want to be tagged)

Summary: Steve Harrington has fought a demogorgan and numerous demo dogs. Those were supposed to be the scariest and most challenging things he’s ever done in his life. Instead, he quickly discovers the most scariest and gorgeous thing in Eddie Munson. A freak and supposed outcast he is supposed to teach how to swim before he graduates. Which in itself alone could spark PTSD in anybody. Flirting with fake southern accents, sharing a joint and slowly becoming closer Steve slowly realizes that D.A.R.E should have a whole course talking about what you should do to avoid becoming addicted to one human being. Specifically Eddie Munson, who has become the center of his universe in a shockingly short amount of time.

Ao3 link

"𝕻𝖎𝖈𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖊𝖘 𝕭𝖚𝖎𝖑𝖉𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖎𝖓 𝖒𝖞 𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖉, 𝖓𝖔𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖉𝖔𝖓𝖊 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖓𝖔𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖘𝖆𝖎𝖉, 𝖙𝖆𝖑𝖐𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖔 𝖒𝖊 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖊𝖞𝖊𝖘 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖜𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖞 𝖘𝖆𝖞 𝖎𝖘 𝖓𝖔 𝖘𝖚𝖗𝖕𝖗𝖎𝖘𝖊, 𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘 𝖆𝖗𝖊 𝖘𝖔 𝖒𝖚𝖈𝖍 𝖉𝖎𝖋𝖋𝖊𝖗𝖊𝖓𝖙 𝖓𝖔𝖜, 𝖇𝖚𝖙 𝖓𝖔𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖑𝖆𝖘𝖙𝖘 𝖋𝖔𝖗𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗. 𝖄𝖔𝖚 𝖑𝖔𝖔𝖐𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖆𝖙 𝖒𝖊, 𝖑𝖔𝖔𝖐𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖆𝖙 𝖞𝖔𝖚, 𝕴 𝖜𝖆𝖓𝖓𝖆 𝖙𝖆𝖑𝖐 𝖙𝖔 𝖞𝖔𝖚"

Swim practice always began at two thirty five. Always five minutes after the last bell released all of the kids from their final class of the day. Leaving only five minutes for Steve to sprint to the locker room, strip and be on the edge of the pool waiting for his coach to come out. Whistle over his hairy chest, and tiny shorts on. There was no reason for Mr. Winchester to be shirtless or in such tiny shorts, no one on the swim team has ever seen him even touch the water. Let alone in it. Today started off like most days. Make sure not to eat anything with in the hour, rush to be there on time and wait anxiously on the side of the pool. Steve always had a problem with waiting. He just wanted to jump right in and get wet, holding his breath and just floating under the water sitting at the bottom of the pool for just a minute before coming back up. Swimming the eight feet smoothly.

The doors behind the line of boys slams open. A loud laugh as someone's voice bounces off the walls. Causing everyone to cringe, as they all assume that this was just some random kid coming in to laugh at them. If they all had placed bets that moment all of them would have bet for the same thing. Standing in the doorway stood Eddie Munson. A metal head loser who didn't have any problems sneering at any form of jock in the hallways or hopping up on a lunch table and going into a loud tangent over conformity.

They all watch as the others nose scrunches up, the smell of chlorine hitting him. The way  his face goes a light pink as he looks at the line of different shirtless guys with swimming trunks that barely hid anything. Steve, for a split second is distracted by his desire to jump into the deep end along with his other teammates. Curious as to how this guy was going to react, the obvious vein that was popping from his neck was an interesting sight. Though before anyone can say anything, the locker-room doors slam open.

"Munson! Strip and get in line! ASAP, or you will be failing gym this year!"

Steve, along with the other guys on the swim team quickly stiffen up and look forward. Used to the strict manner of Coach Winchester. Standing up straight and tall everyone keeps their eyes forward as they hear grunts coming from behind them. Chains clinking to the floor, all of them including Steve wished they could look behind them and see what was going on. Though they could only watch the teachers face, which goes a little red from irritation. The sounds of clothing being dropped to the ground were obvious, and the guy to Steve's right was holding his breath. Fighting back a few chuckles, up until Eddie mutters under his breath. Only for the teenagers surrounding him to here.

"God, never seen a man more excited about getting a guy naked,"

Eddie Munson was a interesting case, a well known class clown that was bound to make everyone laugh at some point. His first victim was Bobby Riley. A guy who Steve has only had a proper conversation with only a handful of times. From the small impression he had, the guy took swimming seriously. Obviously for the scholarships. Hearing the soft snort coming from him of all people meant they were all screwed. Winchester hears the soft noise and his eyes fly over his team. With military experience, he has always expected some of the rules to drift over to swimming. If you were going to be on his team, you would take it seriously. "Riley, ten laps back and forth now." He spits out. Leveling the suspects down to Bobby, who was the only one who was squirming in his place.

Without argument Bobby Riley moves diving in the water, swimming fluidly under the water. Making it halfway through the pool before coming up for air. Not stopping from moving forward. "Munson, take Riley's spot? Steven, make sure he doesn't crack his head open like a dumbass." The man barks out. Steve stiffens up just a little bit as he feels the presence of the other boy now next to him. A little to close to him for what the line should be. He would glance over but he knew that would receive him twenty laps for breaking position.

"Yes Sir." He says softly. Never having to raise his voice, letting the walls carry it over to the approaching man. Who was now in front of Kyle Evans. Who was staring forward blankly and not reacting in the slightest. The coach stares him down for a few seconds before the demeanor of the boy shakes. Winchester shakes his head with a eye roll before moving to the next boy, and then the next. Searching for something that was unknown amongst the team.

Steve was the next one to receive the stare down. He keeps his chest raised, breathing in slowly and releasing air softly as he doesn't break eye contact with the older. He could feel Eddie's eyes on the both of them. Whatever the man seems to be searching for, he finds when Steve doesn't break like the others. "Well seems like Harrington is the only one out of the lot of you to have some respect and discipline. All of you! Ten laps with Riley!" Steve moves to follow along listening to orders but he is stopped just as fast as they were spoken "Harrington, you're going to have to teach this joke how to swim. Think you can handle that? Know you have the life guard experience."

Steve nearly hesitates, almost says no. He doesn't have this. He didn't want to teach Eddie Munson how to swim. The guy would be a waste of his time. Realistically, this was a opportunity of being on coaches good side. The whole team knew that when you were there you would receive all the perks. So instead of hesitating he takes the whole situation with stride. Speaking confidently but not cocky as he answers. "Yeah, I can handle it coach."

The coach pauses for a second looking through him again, as if he was thinking. "Good. This will be a practice run for now. Take him to the kitty pool out back where the juniors swim and show him some things. But after today you will have to figure out how to teach him on your own personal time." The others voice is gruff as he talks.

Well shit, what the hell did Steve just get himself into?

Ten minutes later, Steve discovered the spawn of Satan. The bane of his existence. The eighth wonder of the world. He's sure finding Atlantis or proving that aliens were real would be a lot easier then whatever the hell was going on now. Eddie Munson was like a fish. Out of water. Flopping around like he was on land, instead of being in water. Water was spraying all over the place and Steve was really trying to be patient. Not many words were passed between the two of them but this was not working.

"Munson! For the love of god will you stop just for five seconds!" Steve yells over the splashing of the water. He is tempted to snap at the guy. But after five minutes in the pool he had quickly caught onto the fact that the other wasn't doing this on purpose. Which was a little bit scary, because that meant he was just that bad at swimming. The guy looked like a puppy meeting water for the first time. Pouncing around and splashing water all over. His hair was laying flat down on his forehead and in his face, matting over his shoulders. Constantly flipping the water out of his hair without any luck of getting it out of his face. If Steve was going to be doing this more then once he made note of being a small box of hair ties for the other to wear.

Unlike Steve, Eddie was in a pair of his checkered boxers. Falling down his hips a little with the water, and god forbid if Steve looked longer then five seconds he was definitely able to see through them. He was the opposite of Steve. Steve was a bit buffed up, tanned out with freckles dotting along his skin. Eddie was scrawny, paler then a corpse and had small scratch like tattoos over his body. Though one similarity the two had were the scars. Eddie had random lines across his ribs, and little circle like scars that looked like burnt marks. Steve, was scarred up pretty good from his last encounter with the upside down. A light scar on his cheek bone from where Billy had cracked a plate against along with the top of his head.

"I have no idea what I am doing!" Eddie yells back. Looking a tad annoyed, moving the back of his hands through his curls as he glares at the other with a huff. Now he looked like a very wet rat and if Steve could laugh he would. It was an amusing sight watching the self acclaimed metal head try to look intimidating like this. His eyes must flicker with a little bit of amusement, as the other begins to throw himself around a bit. Rolling his eyes as he moves sloshing his way out of the water. Struggling to walk with the water against his ankles. Working his way to the side of the pool as he curses. "You know what! Fuck this!" He grumbles out.

Steve feels bad, groaning as he runs a hand through his hair. That has yet to get soaked with their time being out here. Though it was just a tad damp from running wet fingers through it "Oh come on Munson, I didn't expect you to know what you are doing. I'm sure if I randomly showed up to your front step and asked you to teach me-" he pauses to think what the other could possibly teach him. The other seems to pause to look at him curiously. Shoulders tense. This was the moment that would decide whether or not Eddie would stick around to take these lessons. "Fuck- what's the name. Shit Dnd - dragons and dungeons or whatever the hell the name is. I'm sure you would laugh at a stupid jock trying to swim in your expertise." Steve rambles out a little. Moving his arms to cross over his chest. That was bare, freshly waxed the other day.

He's not sure whether his speech worked or not until the other groans. Grumbling a little bit, "I hate that you are right. Though it's Dungeons and Dragons." He complains moving to wade his way to a more shallow part. Moving closer to Steve in the process who was tilting his head as he snaps his fingers as the other says the name.

Sighing as he rubs the side of his face with a chuckle, "sorry you would think after listening to four kids rant about the game I would remember the order of the words." He says softly. Hoping he didn't offend the other, like he normally did Dustin and Mike whenever he said the name wrong. Though he's sure the kids thought he did it on purpose. He didn't. "Though, you do need more control over your limbs then what you got." He comments. Eyes not moving away from the others movement. Watches the other sit on the side of the pool, leaving his feet in the water.

"And, you need to get swim trunks that aren't white." A look of confusion flashes over the others face, seemingly not processing that he was wearing very see through boxers. Steve snorts as he shakes his head amused, "I've seen your balls more then I've seen your face dude." He teases as he moves getting out of the water. Figuring that they were done for the day. Pulling himself up from the side watching droplets of water fall on the cement from his trunks. Moving and tossing an extra towel towards the other, not bothering to grab his own knowing that he would be in the pool again.Watching the other toss the towel through his mane, giving him a second before he begins to wave his hand to get the other to follow him. Leading him to the shower area where he quickly shows him how to get the shower going before he was leaving the boy behind. Ignoring the way the other had gone silent all of a sudden, with a light blush over his face.

Steve on the other hand moves to the pool, right as the last of the guys were leaving. Closing the doors behind them. He sighs gently as he pops some of his tense bones before he's moving and gracefully diving in the water. Doing what he has been craving for over a hour. Just floating at the bottom of the pool and just letting everything drift away just for a few minutes. The stress of school, the stress of his father constantly on his shoulders and the anxiety of the Upside Down returning floating away along with the small bubbles of his breath let float up to the surface. Hair following a long with them as far as each strand could reach, before his lungs start to burn from the lack of oxygen and he's using his feet to push himself off from the bottom and gasping for air as he comes to the surface. Hair falling in front of his eyes as he moves swimming over to the pool side. Not as graceful as he normally would as he focuses on catching his breath. Distracted enough not to notice Eddie coming out with a towel wrapped around his waist in search of the clothes he had just left on ground.

Eddie didn't have much experience with water. He's of course gone swimming before, but that was when he was way younger and could get away with wearing ugly floaters around his arms and body; nor has he actually watched someone do said exercise. He thought he has seen Steve Harrington at his highest before his ultimate downfall. Like any tragic character in a Greek play. For once he was terribly wrong about the other boy. Steve Harrington flew under water with such Grace that it took his breathe away. Everything about the other was captivating, from the way his hair would be tossed back causing water droplets to fly through the air to the way his limbs would move as he just freely swims under the water before going to front strokes. Then a few normal laps before shifting to backstrokes.

Of all situations, Eddie never pictured himself staring star struck at Steve Harrington swimming while holding his pants and trying to run out of the door before he's caught ogling a jock. It would be a bit hypocritical of him to be caught staring at the forbidden fruit that he made sure to announce publicly numerous times he would never touch. He would not fall for such a sun, but as he lets the door click behind him holding his clothes tightly to his chest, wet boxers over his left arm and a towel tightly wrapped around his waist he was tempted. Felt like Adam and Eve as they were given the one thing god told them they weren't allowed to. Letting a shaky breath out he squeezes his eyes shut, trying to slow his racing heart and calm that overwhelming feeling flowing through his veins. The same feeling that made him do flappy hands, jump up on tables or make goofy faces at the lost sheep of Hawkins high.

He's not sure how long he stays like this, maybe five minutes maybe ten. When he finally moves he realizes he forgot his shoes inside. Not thinking he had the strength or will power to do such a task he does the walk of shame to his van. Face red as he throws himself in the back. Thankful that no one was around to witness his lowest of lows. Pulling his skinny jeans up around himself was a task, especially with wet skin and no underwear. Grunting he has to adjust himself numerous times before he was able to pull his shirt over his chest and slide himself between the two front seats. Getting in the drivers side of the car as he turns the ignition. Right as the schools doors open, revealing Steve Harrington holding both his raggedy pairs of shoes in the air. Trying to catch his attention, which Eddie promptly ignores as he pulls out of the parking lot. Only wanting to leave the school and the numerously dangerous thoughts behind him.

One thing that stayed consistent with Eddie Munson, was that he was a runner.

*****

The next day Steve had participated in practice, earning some pitiful glances as he does. Word had spread around the team that he was on babysitter duty in a sense. All of them would do anything to be on their coaches good side but none of them were insane enough to teach Eddie Munson of all people how to swim. In their minds that was a losing battle waiting to happen. If the guy was as good at swimming as he was graduating. Due to Eddie running off without talking to Steve first, neither of them had communicated about when their next lesson would be. That was definitely going to be a problem, and one that Steve would have to solve fast before he was forced to do suicides. After one day of not hearing from him, and two days after their first lesson Steve makes it his mission to find the other to schedule one and to return his shoes.

It to his surprise it wasn't all that difficult to find Eddie Munson in the mix of Hawkins High. Well known amongst the younger grades for jumping up on tables and going on with loud and hilarious speeches and known for his drugs by the older grades he was on everyone's radar. This meant that Steve only had to ask a handful of kids if they had seen him to be pointed to the library. Somewhere that Steve didn't go all that often. He wasn't much of a reader, the words normally blurred and he couldn't focus long enough to read a book let alone a paragraph. The didn't even read the books that were assigned in English class, most times he would just take notes from someone who was reading it and write half assed essays on that.

The library was a reserved area, that raised his anxiety more then any place in the school. Everyone was silent in here and could easily sneak up on him. Something he didn't particularly enjoy. Biting his tongue he forces himself across the line that separated the hall from the library and makes his way in. Giving a tight smile to the kind librarian behind the desk who welcomes him cheerfully, and proceeds to move down aisles of books in search of this guy. What made the whole situation even more awkward was the fact that he was currently holding Munson's shoes. That he somehow had forgotten. God only knows.

The first five aisles he has no luck, instead he finds a book that was on the floor off to the corner. Almost ignoring it he decides to move and take care of it. Picking the book up curiously as his eyebrows furrow in curiosity. A cats face was seen on the lower half, faded into the picture of a guy standing near a cross in the background. The sky was red along with the authors name. Squinting his eyes he rubs his eyes a bit as the font starts to move around on him, a problem that didn't start until his first concussion back in freshman year. He always felt a bit nauseous when he forces himself to try reading something, and this was no different. Groaning annoyed he rubs his eyes a bit more deciding that if he was making his stomach upset with the brief glance he was going to at least know the title of the book.

"Problems Harrington?" The familiar voice snaps him from his staring contest with the cover. Moving his head up blinking a bit feeling a tad dizzy as he watches Eddie's face go a bit blurry on him. He shakes his head no as he begins to feel light headed. Closer to throwing up then what he had been a few moments ago. He can't really see that great, as he chuckles offering the book up for the other. Mumbling a soft 'here' letting the other take it away from him.

"Aww is Pet Cemetery to scary for you big boy?" The guy teases playfully. Leaning a bit close to him, like it was something he was trying to keep between the two of them. Though Steve didn't care if anyone else heard him. He snorts just a little bit at the others joke as he shakes his head no fighting to focus his eyes a bit.

"No- that's seriously the title?" He asks distracted looking down at the cover again trying to see if the words would form together now that he knew what they said. But still he was unable to read it out, even in Eddie's hand.

"Yeah... can you not read Harrington?" Eddie snorts as he moves to slide it back into a empty space between 'Carrie' and 'the shining' there is nothing malicious coming from his tone but he was obviously picking at some jock stereotype. Even though Steve had no desire to read nor did he ever have any enjoyment from the activity the joke still stung a bit. Rolling his eyes he moves the others shoes out for the other to take from him.

"So? You can't even swim Munson, the thing babies can do I don't want to hear it from you." He says a tad bitterly. Watching the way the other turns a little stunned. Eddies face scrunches up in a way of remorse as he takes his shoes back from the other. Currently wearing his Uncles boots that were two sizes to big. He opens his mouth a little as he pauses to think before he spoke. Something that was rare for him.

"Seriously? You don't know how to read?" He whispers to him with wide eyes. Once again he isn't asking to be mean, just out of shock and curiosity. How did the other past his drivers exam if you didn't know how to read?

Steve snorts, "I know how to read, Munson." Shaking his head as he glances down at the others footwear out of curiosity.

"Well then you can read?" Eddie is confused trying to piece the puzzle together.

"No, I can not." Steve says slowly, as if it was common sense. "The words they uh... well they don't sit still on the page when I'm looking down. One of the side effects of having four concussions." He's shy as he explains it but comes off a bit more bitter towards the end. Not enjoying the concussions. He doesn't enjoy the attention on his flaw as he quickly tries to change the subject. "Though, I'm not naming names, but someone sprinted out of the school without their shoes yesterday before we could decide on the next lesson?" Steve raises a eyebrow.

Eddie doesn't catch on to the social cue and was to distracted by the new information that he was receiving. "Holy shit? Four concussions? Do images do the same thing when you are looking at them? Like move around like animation and shit?" He asks innocently wide eyed as he moves to lean against the book shelf leaving his arms crossed, one of his fingers staying hooked into the shoes. Startled as the shelf he tries leaning against moves a little bit. Causing Steve to let a soft chuckle out, distracted by the others clumsiness to be annoyed by the other not dropping the topic he would much rather avoid. Eddie quickly moves to stand back up, figuring that it wouldn't be a good idea to lean against the unstable shelf. "Well good, because no one has evidence that I- er I mean someone? Ran out yesterday evening without their shoes on." Eddie says determinedly as he lets his head lean back a little. Sucking in his lip in a little, the only way Steve could describe him was that he looked like a frog making that facial expression.

"First off, no. I don't have my own personal Walt Disney up there drawing every frame to let the images move in my vision." He shakes his head as he drags a hand through his hair. Trying to be annoyed but that question brought more entertainment to this meeting then anything else. Distracting him from the fact that anything could creep up on them and he wouldn't have seen it coming. "Oh? Well why would I lie about such a thing Munson?" Steve teases curiously. Moving to lean himself against the other book frame. Only because he wanted to mess with the other. He crosses his arms a bit tighter around himself as the shelf doesn't shake and stays put. Smirking as he doesn't think about the space in-between them lacking inches.

"Damn it." Eddie curses. Acting as if that was the worst news he's ever heard, snapping the fingers from his free hand lousy as he comically swings the same around to the left in the same motion. "Here I thought you were a freak like me." He jokes with a huge grin on his face. Before huffing about to respond when the bell rings. Bringing both of them back to reality as Steve glances up at the bell before looking back at the other. All conversation dying between the two of them as the subject changes back to what it was originally intended to be.

"So? When did you want our next lesson?" Steve asks as he moves himself off from the frame and looks at the other with a slightly impatient look. Anxious about being late to practice.

"Hm- tomorrow. After school at four work for you?" Eddie asks. Earning a quick nod before Steve is quickly moving to leave. Not saying much more as he leaves a confused metal head behind him.

****

Four Ten sharp is when Eddie meets Steve near the pool. Late and annoyed as he starts to peel his clothes off in preparation of getting into the pool. Tired, and ready to go home for a nap Eddie was grumpy and a tad cranky. Steve quickly catches onto the others mood shift compared to the day before and was quick to accommodate for the other. Not forcing him to go outside, but stay inside where he helps him into the shallow end. Forcing him to let the water up to his chest to get used to the feeling so when he did go into the deep end it didn't freak him out. Steve had attempted to look up ways to teach someone how to swim, but with the shifting words didn't get that far. Total shocker right? Though the diagrams that were drawn over the papers did give him a slight understanding and they seemed to help with the other a lot more.

Eddie was also a lot less energetic, which meant that his limbs weren't flying all over the place. Causing water to go all over, and into Steve's eyes. Today was a lot more productive in a sense, but when Steve remembers the next step he is a bit hesitant. The other, like a piranha almost senses the others hesitation like it was blood in the water. "What?" He asks tightly and very much sour. Eyes squinting at the other as he expects something. Unsure of what, knew that whatever the other had planned was not a good idea.

"Well, it would help if you got used to not having your feet on the floor all the time." Steve draws off for a second as he adds. "And most times when someone's teaching someone how to swim they normally help the other up above water as they practice kicking." Steve explains as the other just listens. Jaw tense as he glares at the other. Even though Eddie was hearing the others words he wasn't really processing what the other was implying.

"Ok-" Eddie drags out for a second. "And?" He asks raising his eyebrow in a way that makes Steve get anxious and awkward about tossing this idea out there. Silence falls over the both of them, with the acceptation of the water filter going. Echoing and bouncing louder against the walls.

"Well, I was thinking that I help you get a hang of it. By picking you up a little and letting you kick and float without touching the ground." Steve explains shyly. Face a bit pink as he steps in the water a bit awkward. Eddie stares at him for a second before he breaks out into laughter.

"Oh, you've got to be fucking with me Harrington. That's the funniest thing I've heard all day," he snorts as his head throws itself back. As if he had his own gravitational force that Steve wasn't aware of. For a split second he forgets to feel embarrassed of annoyed by the others words. Rolling his eyes as he crosses his arms a bit as he glares at the other.

"Well they normally do this with five year olds, but someone is kind of a late bloomer you know?" Steve sasses back. Watches the way the others smile breaks. Shoulders tense up as he's about to give Steve a piece of his mind. But Steve quickly stops him, not in the mood for an argument. "Dude, it was just a idea. I wasn't going to do it without your permission. Besides it's not often I teach nineteen year olds how to swim, typically it's five year olds at the YMCA, where it's a lot more flexible with lessons. I want to get this done and over with just as much as you, so for the love of god don't break out into a speech that will cause my ears to bleed from annoyance." He rambles out quickly. Making sure not to give the other room for interrupting him. Eddie doesn't, just stands in his place. Water floating above his boxers and below his belly button as he stays still. Not tempted to go any deeper yet. He has but it wasn't something he was willing to do with Steve being next to him.

"Fine." Eddie grumbles as he moves sloshing the water around as he moves back a bit. Going a bit deeper but staying where he can touch as he turns back around to glare at the other. "I bet this won't even work." He sasses, cocking his head in a way that annoyed Steve a bit.

Steve doesn't hesitate to pick up on this. "Ok, I bet if it does work that you have to show up to one of my competitions."  He says with a raised eyebrow. Assuming the other would want to back track on his word. To his surprise the other doesn't hesitate as he grins. Face brightening as his wet curls fall in front of his eyes.

"And if it doesn't work, you have to-" Eddie pauses as he tries to think about what the other should do. Hesitating as he shifts his weight onto his other leg. "Dress up like a freak for a week Harrington." He grins mischievously. Steve snorts a little at the request as he moves a bit closer watching the others confidence dwindle a bit.

"Well then, let's get to it." Steve says clapping his hands a little. Preparing for everything to happen and nothing at all. It was Eddie he was talking about. Something that was easy for a three year to do possibly could be the hardest thing the other has ever done.

Eddies face is a light red as he starts to grow awkward. Limbs tensing and locking up as he stands in his spot trying to cower into himself. Steve shakes his head amused at the other as he pats the others shoulder playfully. The warmth contact was causing Eddie to lose just a few more brain cells. Stuttering over his words as Steve starts to manhandle him to a deeper spot of the water. Where only the other could barely touch, just with his toes. Not only was Eddie's anxiety raising about not being able to touch the bottom his heart was racing. The smell of chlorine was now much closer to his face, with the water being up to his chin now. Turning his head he gives in and tries to trust Steve who has only been saying assuring things. Not trying push the other to far Steve stays close with the other.

His hand moves down to the dip of Eddie's waist and that's when he loses it. Eddie quickly splashes over to a bit of a shallow part, where the water was below his chest so that he could breathe. His lungs were working fast as he attempts to catch his breath, heart pounding so hard he could hear it in his ears. Steve was by his side in seconds as he carefully places a hand on the others back and gently rubs some of the tension away. Once again Eddie felt like he was standing under the tree, with the forbidden fruit right above his face close to his nose. Scratch that, he felt like Isaac Newton purposely dropped this apple on his god damn head. Leaving a huge bump behind that made his head spin and question everything he knew. Because there was this gravitational pull towards Steve that Eddie seemed to really like. Problem was, a bit too much. There was something about the boy that was once again sending butterflies to his stomach.

It takes a few minutes for him to calm down, curls damp and swinging all over. Overwhelming him a bit as he fights with his curls a bit. Steve snaps his fingers in excitement confusing Eddie even more. Standing put as he watches the other throw himself out of the pool and return with a hair tie. That was tightly wrapped around his wrist as he hops back down and pulls it off to give to the other boy. For the few seconds that it was on his skin it left a small indent that caught Eddie's attention. Forcing him to look at the numerous freckles that scattered his skin. Thinking about how he could kiss one and find another within a inch a way. Shaking his head a little at the thought he takes the hair tie confused. Looking at Steve in a questioning way, unsure what he was supposed to do.

Steve snorts at the others reaction as he moves forward carefully and takes the band back as he moves around the other. Carefully holding the others curls and pulling it up just as lightly. Accidentally tugging at his scalp in the process as Eddie jokes. "Careful Harrington, I might just like that." His tone his playful, the words slipping from his mouth before he could think. He doesn't catch the way the other stares dumbly at the other, his mouth falling open in confusion. Eyes scrunching up just the same.

"Why would you like your hair being pulled?" Steve asks in confusion. Tilting his head to the side so he could glance at the others face. Eddies face once again goes a light pink as he realizes the joke went over the others head.

"Aw are you vanilla big boy?" He teases hoping to get the other to understand what he was saying. The joke must have gone over Steve's head flying a couple of miles before returning and slapping him upside the head. Relocation hits the jock as his face grows red.

"Um? Yeah?" He says awkwardly. Laughing some how even more awkwardly. Eddie just wants to slap himself in the face. Realizing the joke didn't land like he had hoped. Instead the idea that Steve was gentle in bed had been planted into his head and the idea was bouncing over different sides of his brain. God, he's sure he has a devil on one shoulder and a Angel on the other right now. Whispering different things in his ear as Steve's hands are in his curls pulling it up before stepping back. Creating a distance between the two as he inspects his handy work. "Alright that should hold for now." He says softly. The question of why Steve had hair ties on him, when no one else he knew had long hair was left unsaid.

"Let's try a more shallow part hm?" Steve smiles kindly. Never making Eddie feel stupid about the irrational fear. He doesn't want to argue or make the other upset so he follows again. As much as he just wanted to curl up in the corner and have a panic attack. He moves as Steve once again attempts to get him to relax. Eddie does, but his limbs tense up again as Steve helps him get into a position to help him swim. Which ends up with Eddie moving to his knees, skin scraping against pool floor as he wills himself not to get a boner. God that would be one of the most embarrassing things to ever happen. Though he's sure it wouldn't be much of one with the cold water.

He doesn't allow himself to look up at the other, knowing that would tempt him to make numerous jokes. Instead he follows every word the other says. Treating each one like it was from the gospel until he finds himself being pushed a little deeper in the water once he realizes it's not that bad. They are still in a shallow part as Steve moves down to his own knees sitting right next to him. Demonstrating the way to move his arms, the way to kick his legs before he's moving and he has two arms underneath Eddie. Helping him with guidance as Eddie starts to sloppily move in the water. For a second Eddie thinks he's won the bet, until something clicks and he's swimming a lot better then what he was. He doesn't realize that he no longer has the other next to him until he's on the side of the pool. Excitement fills him as he bounces up and down like a toddler.

"Oh my god I did it!" His voice scratches a bit as he jumps up and down bouncing more like he was in a bouncy cheer. Smiling brightly as his hair falls from the condiment the other put it in. Steve has a soft smile on his face as he shakes his head amused, moving to stand next to the other happily. Before the realization hits Eddie that the other was not next to him the entire time. "Oh my god, I could have died." He panics gripping onto the side of the pool like he wasn't currently touching the pool floor.

Steve rolls his eyes playfully as he laughs, "Eddie you were fine. Besides you can still touch the bottom. If you drowned that would've been the most dumbest thing I have ever seen in my life." He teases. Eddie glares at him as he opens his mouth to argue but Steve is interrupting him. "Besides, you lost the bet. Which means you, will be going to my competition tomorrow." He grins mischievously. Looking smug as he watches the other. Eddies words die on his tongue as he realizes the consequences to his actions.

His poor heart was not going to be able to handle this.

****

Shockingly there was not much of a crowd for this competition. Seemed like all the sports enthusiasts were more excited about football then swimming. Though the crowd was a decent sized, big enough to where Eddie could somehow blend in with them. Not looking out of place sitting by himself off to the corner, though he still wasn't completely fitting in with his awkward stance. Legs spread out a bit as he leans forward, copying the movement he's seen his Uncle do whenever he watches a football game. The holes over his knees were starting to rip more and his thighs ached a little from this stance so he soon gives up as he starts to fidget anxiously. He doesn't know what to expect but he doesn't want Steve to think that he doesn't care? Just because he was only here for a bet doesn't mean he didn't care.

Well he really shouldn't care about this swim competition as much as he did. It went against every single moral he's ever formed within the last few years of high-school. But yet here he was. Eddie Munson sitting in all his glory excitedly waiting to watch Steve grace this audience with the way he gracefully moved in the water. He already caught a few kids randomly placed around the room whispering together as they point at him. Not being discreet, raising his anxiety more. Causing his hands to shake and fidget between his thighs. Moving his numerous rings around his fingers as he stares a hole into the water. Time passes by slowly, and when the swim teams start to walk out he wishes that time would move faster so that he could see the guy he was here for.

Every single guy had a rubber cap on to hold their hair in place, no hair on their bodies, and very tight speedos that didn't leave any imagination for any of them. Thing was, steve had never worn any speedo when they were swimming together. He normally wore a ugly pair of swim trunks and left his hair out. It was probably breaking all sort of rules but it didn't seem like he cared. So it was a cultural shock when his eyes finally land on the guy. He was a bit more pudgier then the rest of the guys which meant easier identification on Eddie's part. Though like the others he looked like he had recently shaved his body. Little chest hairs had been poking out across his skin the last time Eddie had seen him. Now as he stands up excitedly smiling brightly at Steve who looks shocked to see him, he realizes that no one was whistling or yelling out for Steve. Turning his head confused he looks through the crowd and quickly catches onto the fact that he was the one and only person in the Harrington cheer squad.

Deciding to take that with pride, he was already here why not embarrass himself a bit more as he brings his fingers up to his mouth and whistles louder then everyone else. Heads turning towards him as he does. Even the whole swim team was looking at him as he hops up on a step like he was giving a speech during lunch. "Kick some ass Harrington!" He doesn't have to yell. His voice is loud and cuts through everyone else's as it echos through the room. He hears a couple of parents yell at him for cursing in front of their precious kin, but he was sure they've heard far worst. A older referee came over and scolding him as well, giving him a warning. Though it was all worth it to watch Steve brighten up. Smiling shyly and growing awkward as the guys on the team tease him about the freak being his cheerleader. Though Steve doesn't care, it was one more person cheering for him then the last fifty competitions he's been to. He would rather take one then none.

Beaming as if the sun was shining out of his ass he waves at Eddie playfully winking before his attention is being forced back to the water. Getting situated in a line as the rules were explained. He stretches his limbs a bit, unaware that he was causing Eddie to have a full blown crisis from behind him. The metal head had been to busy putting up a show to pay attention to what the other was wearing. Now nothing was distracting him from the skin tight black speedo. That did not leave much imagination to the others ass. Eddie was sure if he stared long enough he could see every freckle or dimple on the guys ass and that was going to be a huge problem. Barely able to breathe everything happens so fast. One second Steve is standing dry off to the side and the next he was in the water. Moving ahead of most of the other guys currently in the water. Limbs moving a lot faster then what they normally did when he was with Eddie.

Sure, Eddie's been next to the other numerous times in the water but he had been to busy trying not to die to notice the way the others muscles would flex. The way the water droplets would fall down his skin as he moved, the glossy way his lips looked as he gasped for air. Eddie was not having any clean thoughts as he watched the boy swim. There were numerous other guys he could be staring at right now. Those who were more his type, but instead here he was eye fucking Steve Harrington as he swam like his life depended on it. He's letting out a distressed whine when it's all over and he doesn't understand what's happening. People are up and clapping and he's awkwardly copying what they were doing. Standing up and glancing over at other family's to make sure he was doing this right. Clapping before he's whistling not so loudly as he moves over to a mother who was holding a toddler up.

It's a bit loud as he asks gently, "sorry to bother you, but I don't understand a thing about swim competitions what happened?" He asks. Face a light pink as he keeps clapping his hands. Watching the way the toddler in her arms smiles waving at him. He returns the gesture as the woman hesitates for a second. Surprised that he was asking her of all people. She was young, way to young to be a mother but Eddie didn't really care. Now that he was paying attention he seen the way other mothers were moving their children away from her like they had been for him. She smiles shyly as she shifts the kid to her other hip.

"Well, I don't understand all that much either but the guy you were cheering for got second place." She smiles kindly as Eddie nods giving her a thumbs up.

"Thank you m'aam. This will save me a lot of time." He grins cheerfully as he moves starting to hop down the bleachers. Careful not to slip on the floor that was soaked with water. Moving excitedly to wait near the room Steve would be coming out of. He fidgets with the chains that were constantly clicking around as he watches numerous guys coming out. Until it's finally the person he came for.

Steve's hair was a bit of a mess, damp but very attractive. A tighter polo was on with a pair of loose sweatpants. They didn't really go together but Eddie wasn't going to point that out as he pushes himself off the wall that he was waiting on. Walking right next to the other as he grins.

"So- that was impressive." He beams moving into the others space playfully bumping his shoulder. Steve looks at him with a soft smile growing shy and awkward under the others praise.

"Oh? And what could Eddie Munson, this biggest hater of sports possibly like about my swim competition?" He teases playfully. Moving away from the other for a split second before giving in and letting the other into his space. Running a hand through his hair as he grows nervous under the attention the other was giving him, and the confusion. Unsure if the other was fucking with him or actually enjoyed the competition. Though he regrets even questioning the others reasoning as the other shamelessly becomes more dramatic. Moving his limbs with purpose as he pretends to be in distress.

"Oh Steve Harrington, where should I possibly begin. Oh! The rubber was such an etiquette fashion statement that struck me to the core. The way the water moved down your hairless body had my knees ah shaking and my loins ah screaming. My dreams will be blessed for years and my children will know of this day that changed my life forever. My first born child shall be named after -" Eddies rambling as Steve's face grows red. Quickly he shoves the other playfully to interrupt his speech before fighting back the slight laughter from the fake southern accent. It was embarrassing to listen to the other but it was hilarious.

"Oh shut up you," he returns in a equally horrible southern accent. Grinning as Eddie smiled shyly at him. Moving his hair in front of his face as he does. His mouth had been moving before he could think and he was happy to know that Steve wouldn't hit him the second he came off a bit more gay then normal. But once again that gravitational pull towards Steve made his brain orbit around space, with no thought behind his eye. Which also meant he wasn't thinking of the deadly consequences that could appear from his shameless flirting. Though he was willing to be the Icarus to Steve's sun if that meant he could see the others shy smile as goofy side.

Eddies letting soft laughter go as he shrugs bashfully. Moving a curl behind his ear as they walk out of the school. A silence had fallen between them, it wasn't awkward but rather pleasant. Made Eddie's stomach do flips and made Steve confused. The feeling of something blossoming in Steve Harrington's veins was concerning, and he felt like it was a drug he couldn't kick. The withdrawals from his last love had just kicked and now here he walked with a new craving. A new addiction forming as he walked next to Eddie Munson.

Eddie Munson might just become his new bag of cocaine. Hyper and euphoric which would only ruin his heart with long term use. The scary part was Steve couldn't place a name behind the feeling he was having, and like any other addict denial was his first step to realization.

***

With graduation coming up and Steve’s hope of going off to college soon they started to meet a little more frequently for lessons. By this point Eddie was finally able to swim by himself. Not as afraid to be in the deep end they had been able to relax a bit and work on his strength in the water. The lessons went from mandatory to optional and Steve was more then willing to keep taking time for the other. Every day had been filled with flirting and laughs. Shoving each other in the pool and just being boys.

Today on the other hand was different. Steve didn’t really feel like swimming, and if he did he would much rather sit at the bottom of the pool and drown. He had gotten the response papers from every college he applied to and was denied at every single one. Which was some how a record, as every one he knew got denied numerous times but were accepted happily by a community college. Even those didn’t want him. His father had forced him to apply to all of the bigger schools that by times he applied for the community ones they had been filled up already. Now he wasn’t going anywhere but straight to work.

Over the time he’s taught Eddie, the other has been able to read his body language. The way Steve’s shoulders tensed up and the way he sulked walking out of the locker rooms with his trunks and a shirt on said a lot. Steve was a confident guy and never wore a shirt, today the confidence was lackluster at most and Eddie was concerned for him. For someone he dare say be classified as a friend? He smiles gently as he moves to the other catching onto the others reluctance of going into the pool.

“Everything okay Harrington?” Eddie asks curiously. Recognizing that the other got like this sometimes, but normally he would be a little jumpy and anxious. Watching their surroundings. This time he seemed only upset and lost in his head. A quality trait Steve wasn’t known for.

“Yeah- just got denied from every single college I applied for.” He snorts bitterly as he moves to sit on the side of the pool to put his feet in the cold water. Not even that was bringing him much joy. Eddie felt like he was being punched in the gut. He was equally or even more upset then the other because he was upset. If silly, goofy and dopey Steve Harrington was down and gloomy then there was no hope for the rest of the world. The sun mind as well set and the rain clouds should start to form to create a horrible storm. Eddie doesn’t know what to say as he stands there stunned. Out of everyone he would have thought Steve would be the one to leave Hawkins the fastest. Obviously not wanting to be tied down and wanting to travel.

“Oh Stevie,” he says gently. The nickname slipping for the first time as he sits next to the other. Placing a hand on the others shoulder for comfort. Ignoring the way the other grows a bit awkward and tense from the physical contact, obviously not used to it before he’s relaxing. None of the words he wanted to say were coming out. Even if he was able to say them, they would’ve been to intimate for two guys to say to each other. Melting into himself he moves a little closer offering as much as he can. Before he pauses and thinks. “Well let’s get out of here, have you ever smoked before Harrington?” He asks gently.

Steve turns his head at the other with a snort, “We’ve smoked numerous times together Munson.” He says bitterly. Eddie doesn’t take it to heart knowing that there wasn’t any thing mean targeted towards him. Though Eddie grins a mischievous look that causes Steve to melt and forget his troubles just for a split second.

“No Harrington, my dear friend those are cigarettes. I was talking about the sweet leaf, the magnum opus of all natures, the prettiest girl I’ve ever met- Mary Jane, Steve. Have you ever smoked pot?” Eddie asks gently. Watching realization hit the other. Moving his head to stare dumbly at Eddie. Nodding his head after a moment.

“Yeah with Tommy, why-” before he can ask to many questions Eddie is pushing himself up and making a attempt to pull the other up. Grunting as he gives up once he realizes the other was to heavy for him to move.

“Jesus, do you eat Rocks Harrington? Come on? I’ll take you back to mine and smoke you out. You look like you need a smoke.” He laughs gently as he watches Steve hesitate. Before standing up and following instructions. It might have gone to Eddie’s head a little bit with the Jock following and hanging on every instruction he told him. Steve returns a few minutes later and then they are walking out of the school. Steve going to his own car to follow Eddie. Who was absolute chaos when on the road.

Eddies hair was still hanging up in a small bun, something he had prepared for swimming but now it was just up to be up. Enjoying the slight breathe on the back of neck as he hops out of his van. Watching Steve park next to him before waving at him to follow along. Steve had never gone to the Munson residence but it was how he imagined it. It wasn’t that difficult to imagine how Eddie’s room would like either as he was lead there. Not giving much time to take in the rest of the trailer. Steve just follows along feeling a bit like a Zombie.

Moving he sits hesitantly on the others bed as he just listens to the other talk. That was enough to brighten his mood a little. Eddie was like his personal antidepressant right now and he was so grateful. Laughing gently at a joke before he’s handed the joint. That was neatly wrapped and ready. He moves inhaling and releasing the smoke, coughing a bit as it had been a while since he’s properly smoked pot. Handing the thing back to Eddie he lets the other talk his head off. Joking about how Coach Winchester talked to how some of the teachers walked. All of it was goofy and exactly what Steve was looking for. Time started to pass by slowly and the only thing Steve could see was Eddie Munson sitting right in front of him. Glowing, and smiling brightly as his hands waved around like he was orchestrating a orchestra. At some point the giggles start to happen and the two are just making fun of each other. Not in a malicious way.

Huddling closer together as smoke swarmed around them. Making everything blurred together as they either stared at the ceiling or at each other while talking. They both felt like they were finally apart of the solar system that they had been orbiting around for weeks now and it was glorious. Eddies knuckles were constantly brushing up against the others side, and moving up his arm as he talks. Causing goosebumps to form up Steve’s body and shivers to take habitat in his spine. Steve was giggling and laughing at everything as he could barely keep his eyes open for to long anymore.

It’s probably around midnight when the laughter dies down and it turns a bit serious. “Steve?” Eddie says softly.

“Yeah?” He asks gently. Turning his head towards the other but not opening his eyes. That would take to much effort and Eddie found it adorable. With this distance he could see every detail of the others face and he makes a promise to himself that before he dies he was going to paint the others face. Whether it be on a canvas just for him or on a huge wall for the whole world to see exactly what he was seeing. The perfect imperfections of Steve Harrington.

“You have next year you know?” Eddie says gently.

“For what?” Steve asks confused. Forgetting about the reason why he came here in the first place.

“For what?” He asks curiously. Humming as he moves his body a bit to get comfortable on the others bed.

“To well- you know? Apply for college?” Eddie says softly. “If I can repeat senior year for the third time I believe you can make it to a college somewhere.” He breathes out. Breath smelling like weed that hits Steve’s face. Who doesn’t react as he opens his eyes meeting the others eyes. A tension falling in the air. So thick that Eddie thinks he could cut a knife through it. Create a donut like Scooby Doo did in that one episode on the ghost ship. Then the seriousness is all gone as he begins to giggle and laugh, bringing up Scooby Doo seemingly out of nowhere.

****

Just like any star that aligned, they slowly depart from each other. That’s the only way the two boys could describe it. They were close and then slowly drifting apart at sea. Neither of them had seen it coming until it was their last swim lesson. The ache in both of their chests heavy. Eddie knew the reason behind his while Steve felt like a confused child trying to figure it out. Here he sat naive to his and Eddie’s feelings. Both of them growing awkward as they both accepted they wouldn’t see each other anymore. Steve would be going off to work and Eddie would be returning to high-school again next year. Which is exactly how it happens. Eddies unspoken crush starts to blossom more, before withering away. Passing scoops ahoy on purpose, trying to gather courage to walk in and talk to the other. But that was a suicidal mission he quickly discovered.

The uniform Steve Harrington was now wearing had much more cloth then the swim uniform he wore but it still brought an embarrassing reaction out of Eddie who would sneak by to steal glances. Noticing the slight chest hair popping out from the top to the way his shorts made his ass look. Every time he would gather courage to go in and talk, there was always a group of girls talking to Steve Harrington. Who was obviously flirting with them shamelessly.

What was once a gravitational pull became a repellent that Eddie wasn’t sure he could ever be able to push through. And what his great mentor Ozzy had said had come true. Something he was sure him and Steve could prove wrong, even if it meant they were only friends for the rest of their life’s.

Nothing lasts forever

[fandom-imagines]

Sweet little darling~

Fandom: House of Wax (2005)

Pairing: Bo Sinclair X Fem!Reader

Warnings: Canon typical violence, domestic abuse (abusive relationship; not Bo) Kind of out-of-character Bo, depends on how you headcanon him for liking someone! Also not proofread yet.

Words: 2.55k 

Summary: Kindness can get you killed, but it can also get you out of a sticky situation.

Part Two!

To anybody that saw their relationship, it was evident that the feeling wasn’t mutual. Perhaps it once had been, but it no longer was, and for good reason.

“You fucking bitch!” The scream echoed throughout the building, one body looming over a small, cowering young woman.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, doing her best to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall.  “Please don’t hurt m-“ her pleas were cut short as a tight hand grasped her arm and tugged her onto her feet, a harsh slap hitting her cheek shortly afterwards.

“Please don’t hurt me,” he cruelly laughed, mimicking her frightened and desperate tone. “How pathetic.”

“I’m sorry,”

With one final laugh, her boyfriend tossed her to the ground.

*

Laughter filled the truck the group of friends were currently seated in, music blaring through the speakers of a radio one of them had brought but their drunk selves were unable to remember who.

Four of the friends engaged in conversation about anything their clouded minds could think of, whilst the final friend lay against the side of the car, desperately avoiding the demanding gaze her boyfriend was giving her and had been giving her the entire night.

It was clear what he wanted.

Eyes fixated on the green of the grass beneath her, Y/N noticed an approaching truck. Choosing not to say anything, she silently waited for somebody else to notice the vehicle.

“Guys,” Lucy, a close friend of Y/N’s boyfriends, called. “Who is that?”

By now the headlights of the truck were focused on the gang who were circled around the campfire, narrowly avoiding Y/N’s figure.

“James, do something?” Y/N winced as she watched another of the girls grasp onto her boyfriends muscular arm, her blonde hair rubbing against his bare chest.

“Can we help you?” He yelled over the sound of the roaring engine, their music having been paused the second they had notice the driver. “Look dude, this isn’t funny. Just fuck off!”

James’s final sentence was one that made his girlfriend cringe, body remembering the way he had hurt her the night before using that exact same tone; it almost made her cry.

Deciding to stop him before this escalated any further, Y/N made her way towards James before placing a hand on his chest to signal him to back down. This seemed to only anger him further, something that was clear by the way his hands balled into fists. Nobody noticed, except one other person.

“Leave it,” she whispered into his ear, hand dropping from his body to hopefully ease his anger.

James’s hand reach out to her, grabbing his own with a bruising force and tugging her into him as he leaned down to her ear, ignoring the whistles from his friends who assumed he was saying something sexual.

“Just you wait till I get you alone,” James snarled in her ear, unaware of the way an unknown man glared at him before driving away.

*

“Are you fucking kidding me?” James spat, smashing his hand against the cars hood. “It’s busted, the fan belt is fucked.”

His anger seemed to put everybody on edge as they all fell into an uncomfortable silence, something that was uncommon for them.

“You needed a new one anyway,” Y/N mumbled, just loud enough for him to hear.

“Don’t you fucking start,” while his words were directed towards his girlfriend, the others assumed it was aimed at the car in sarcasm; ignorance is bliss after all.

“I can help y’all.” A seemingly kind voice yelled from behind them, having heard the entire conversation. “Sorry, couldn’t help but overhear ya. There’s a town not to far from here. A guy, Bo, runs a gas stop, I’m sure he’d have some.”

Before James could rudely decline this man, Y/N decided to respond. “Do you know how to get there?”

“I’ll drive ya! Truck can only fit two of you though,”

“That’d be great!” She gave the unnamed man a gentle smile, one which he gladly returned. “When are you ready?”

“Now is good,”

She simply nodded, rushing towards the car without giving James a chance to say anything, only leaving him time to follow her, but not before a “fuck sake,” left his lips.

*

“Thank you so much, Lester!” She grinned once again as she hopped from his truck.

“It was no bother, pleasure to meet you Y/N,” he smiled back at her, ruffling her hair slightly before realising the angered look on James’s face. “And you of course,” he nodded awkwardly whilst his hand dropped back to his side. “You two take care now,” and with those words, he drove away.

“Fucking slutting yourself out to weird men, typical,” James spat as he tugged Y/N’s hand so that she was following him into the town, ignoring how she almost tripped in the process.

“I’m sorry, I was just being nice. He was helping us!” She all but yelled, silently praying for him to loosen his grip so that she doesn’t have to use all of her concealer hiding, yet another, mark from him.

“Sure he was. He didn’t just want to get into your pants or anything, huh?”

Ignoring his hurtful words, Y/N began to look around the town.

It was quiet, too quiet. But when she began to think, it was Sunday and there was a Church up ahead at the end of the road which would make more sense, especially considering how early in the morning it was.

“There’s the garage,” James said, dropping her hand to instead point at the small garage not far from them. “Let’s go,”

Y/N followed him, quickly striding to keep up with his large legs.

“There’s nobody here,” she sighed, watching as James just barged his way into the unoccupied garage. “You can’t just go in there! That’s rude.”

“Do I give a fuck? Wait out there for all I care,”

So she chose to do just that.

*

“Oh, hi!” A tall man in a suit gave Y/N a bright grin, accidentally startling her slightly. “You need something?”

“O-oh, hi! Uhm, my boyfriend is in there, I’m sorry I told him not too, he needs a fan belt? I have no idea what one of them is but I-“

The man chuckled, smiling once again as he put his arm around her waist to guide her inside. “Don’t worry, darling. I got ya,” his words were somewhat calming, as though he was offering to protect her from James, despite not knowing what was going on, or perhaps he did.

“You finally grew a p-“James’s words fell short as he turned to see a man, who was significantly taller than him, stood beside his girlfriend. “Hello?”

“Hi, names Bo,” Bo’s tone was a lot blunter than the charming one he had been using previously. “You need something?” He repeated his previous words, instead this time to James and less kind. “You are in my garage after all.”

Despite knowing that Bo could easily subdue him, James chose to get angry anyway. “You got a problem with me? Don’t leave it unlocked if you don’t want people coming in,”

“James leave it,” Y/N gently pushed herself between Bo and James as James began to try get into his face. “Just ask him for what you need and let’s go.”

“Fine, we need a fan belt. Fifteen inch.”

“I might be able to do that, but you’ve already had a look so let me know what I’ve got,” Bo smirked at the angered expression on the mans face at his words.

So maybe he did have a problem with James, a problem neither of the couple knew of.

“Not a fifteen,”

“Then they’re back at the house,”

“The house? Why would they be there?”

“Deliveries are delivered there, easier for everyone really.”

Y/N watched as the two men interacted, Bo incredibly calm whilst James was boiling with anger. Part of her was scared of how he would react, his threat about ‘waiting till they’re alone’ floating around in her mind, yet some strange part of her felt safe knowing that Bo was there. Perhaps it was the fact that he could fight him with ease, or maybe that James would, most likely, never harm her in front of another person.

“Let’s just go,” She pleaded, desperation swimming in her Y/E/C orbs.

“No, I’ll stay, you go.” James seemed pleased with this idea, smirking at the way his girlfriends body tensed; he enjoyed the fear he caused her.

“That’s fine with me,” Bo chimed in, offering Y/N a smile. “That fine with you?”

“Yeah, yeah that’s fine.”

“Let me just lock up,” Bo said, leading the visitors out into the street, much to James’s dismay, before locking up. “Let’s go then.” He gave James one last sarcastic smile before leading Y/N away from him.

*

“Do you live with anyone here?”

Y/N and Bo had been talking for a while now, having chosen to take a slow walk instead. He was nice, to her anyway. She felt as though he understood her, despite not knowing a thing about her.

“Nah, I live with my brother,” Came his response, winking at the girl as he ran a hand through his dark hair, enjoying the way she blushed under his gaze.

She knew it was wrong, finding him both attractive and sweet. But he was both of those, and James was neither, not to her at least. Maybe it was because he was the first person to be this kind to her in a long time, or maybe it was the feeling of safety she felt around him, but she was enjoying his company more than anyone else’s.

“Oh, that must be fun!”

Bo chuckled at her enthusiasm, “I suppose so,”

The pair walked up to Bo’s home, guilt filling the girl’s chest each time she let Bo’s hand brush against her own. She simply enjoyed the sparks flying throughout her body, forgetting about the pain she would receive later as a punishment.

“We’re here,” Bo’s words pulled Y/N from her thoughts, almost tripping over a rock as she came back to reality. “Easy there,” Bo shook his head whilst smiling as he caught her, sneakily pulling her body into his own without her realising it was not an accident.

“Thank you,” she blushed, unknowingly allowing herself to melt into his touch, feeling the need to savour every kind and gentle touch she was getting from a stranger.

“No problem, darling,” he smirked, once again enjoying the way she blushed at the nickname he had given her.

Hand still around her waist, Bo guided her into his home.

“Take a seat, I need to get out of this horrible suit.” His words caused a giggle to leave Y/N’s lips, her head nodding as she took a seat on the faded leather couch, watching Bo leave the room to go change.

*

“Sorry to keep ya waiting, Darl.” Bo’s voice startled Y/N, her body jolting in a way that made Bo feel slightly guilty, something that he rarely felt. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No, it’s okay. It was my fault,” she offered him a weak smile, twiddling with the hem of her short-sleeved t-shirt when he seated himself beside her.

“That looks painful,” his hands cautiously reached out to gently take her hand, fingers lightly running across a hand-shaped bruise that had began to form. “You shouldn’t let him treat you like that,” Bo’s spare hand reached up to her face, hand cupping one cheek which made her flinch, Bo frowning at the action.

“S-sorry,”  

Bo had no idea why she was apolgoising to him. It had been him that touched her, but it all made sense in his head.

“Does he hit you?”

Her lack of response was enough for him to understand to full situation.

“I’m sorry,”

“Don’t be, darling.” He sighed, hand moving from her cheek to her neck to pull her head towards his lips, planting a soft kiss on it, something that made her almost cry along with his sweet words.

“Thank you,” her own arms wrapped around his torso, grateful to be given affection without it feeling forced.

*

“You took your time,” James spat as Y/N walked towards him, Bo having quickly headed to the gas station for something that she couldn’t remember the name of. “Were you shagging him or something?”

“N-no,” the nervousness in her voice was something that caused Y/N to cringe, knowing that he wouldn’t believe her.

“Oh, you were.” James’s hands balled into fists as he stalked towards her, ready to attack.

“No, I had to get changed,” Bo’s deep voice startled both of them, James’s fists unclenching immediately.

“Sorry, man. Can’t be too careful with girls like these, can you?” He laughed, trying to play off his previous words as a joke.

“Can’t be too careful with men like yourself either, can you?” Bo’s words seemed innocent, despite having a deeper meaning.

“What?” James snapped. “You told him about us?” He yelled as he turned to face Y/N whose breathing was becoming laboured in fear. “You little bitch!”

As James began to march towards his girlfriend, a tight hand grabbed his fist, spinning him to face the holder only to not be able to see because of a hard punch hitting him in the jaw. The only thing he could hear was a gasp from Y/N and the ringing in his ears as he dropped to the ground.

“Not so tough now, are you?” Bo sniggered. “You can hit a woman but the second a man touches you, you’re out cold. Pathetic,”

Y/N stood frozen to the spot, unsure of how to react.

She hadn’t expected Bo to attack him. In fact, she hadn’t expected him to do anything at all to him or about her situation. Those who knew didn’t care, so why would a stranger?

“You fucking dick!” James screamed, climbing back onto his feet to throw a punch at Bo, one that he barely reacted to.

“Leave him alone!” Y/N yelled, darting between James and Bo, shoving James away from him to the best of her ability.

“You fucking whore. I should’ve known this is what would’ve happened. Actually, I guess I already did.” His words were fast, but his fist moved towards her faster.

Bo was quicker however, grabbing the man’s fist and twisting it behind his back before kicking his legs from beneath him, effectively knocking him to the ground again.

“Vincent!” Bo yelled. “Got one for ya,” both Y/N and James were confused at his words, fear filling them both as a masked man came running out into the street, knife in hand.

Bo took Y/N’s hand, pushing her behind his hand so that she couldn’t see the horror that Vincent was committing to her boyfriend in full glory.

“Y-you killed him…” Her words were quiet, watching from one eye as the man, who she assumed to be Vincent, tugged away the lifeless body. “Are you going to kill me too?”

“You’re safe here, Y/N.” Bo’s words were quiet, praying nobody else heard his true self speaking. “I’ll take care of you. Nobody will ever hurt you again, my sweet little darling.”  

[spencers-renaissance]

This Gravitational Pull

Summary: Penelope Garcia sets her two best friends Derek & Spencer up on a blind first date. Even with the best intentions and highest expectations, no-one could've predicted it would go quite this well.

Tags: fluff, first date, au: diff first meeting, shy spencer, insecurity, anxiety, flirting, cuddling, protective derek, silly amounts of affection

Pairing: Derek Morgan x Spencer Reid

Word Count: 2.9k

Masterlist // Read on AO3

I started writing this and then realised that I'd set their date in a pub's beer garden? I googled it and apparently they are a thing in America so I kept it in. I don't know how common they are, but I hope it's all good and you can picture the setting just fine.

Spencer really wishes he hadn’t agreed to this blind date.

Not because he doesn’t trust Penelope — he does, he trusts her implicitly and entirely — but because it's a blisteringly hot day in late July and the heat compounded by his shaking nerves is making for a rather unpleasant sweating situation.

A bumblebee buzzes quietly around the table he’s sat at, briefly interested in the iced coffee he’s got his hands wrapped around, and Spencer watches it with a gentle sort of intrigue, able to briefly take his mind off the impending date. He knows that Supervisory Special Agent Derek Morgan is physically attractive, Penelope had made that more than clear with both her copious photos of him and the way she’s sung his praises since she started working at the FBI, but if anything, that just makes him more nervous. If Derek wasn’t his type, then he wouldn’t have as much to lose.

He runs a nervous hand through his hair as he heaves a small sigh. Worst case scenario, he can run home to his apartment, order Indian food, bury himself in the early edition of War and Peace he just won in an auction and forget that this date ever happened.

“Spencer? Spencer Reid?”

A surprisingly deep and sexy voice has him looking up from the watch face he’s been staring at perhaps a little too intensely, and he’s instantly taken aback by the Greek God standing in front of him. He’d known Derek was attractive, he'd seen pictures of him, but no camera could ever hope to do someone so beautiful any semblance of justice.

“Uh, y-yes, um, yeah. That’s me.” He shakes his head to try and recover his awkward word stumbling before discreetly wiping his sweaty palm on his trousers and standing up to shake Derek’s hand. “You’re Derek?”

“The one and only,” Derek says cheekily, shooting Spencer a grin that already has his stomach churning with a mix of excitement and crippling nerves. “Penelope told me you were gorgeous, but let me tell you, she really undersold it, pretty boy.”

His cheeks instantly flush red as he fights to maintain eye contact, blinking owlishly at the other man. Did he really just say that?

“I was going to say the same thing.”

Derek’s grin only widens. “Well, it looks like Penelope matched us well, then.”

This time Spencer allows himself to briefly duck his head as a baffling mix of pleasure and mortification swim around his chest. He puts it down to inexperience. Any other explanation will only compound his embarrassment.

“She did,” he agrees, smiling over at Derek and hoping desperately that he’s managing to stay cooler on the outside than he is on the inside. “Do you want something to drink?”

Derek nods. “I’ll go and order a beer at the bar. Do you want anything or are you okay with that coffee?”

“Oh no, I’m fine, thank you,” Spencer says, and mentally he praises himself for finally getting out a coherent sentence that doesn’t sound hopelessly mangled and flustered.

He watches Derek as he strides into the pub, looking as cool and confident as his looks and personality allow, and he realises that he really does just have a way about him. The bar is relatively crowded due to the blinding heat on a Saturday afternoon, but the bartender serves him instantly, all the girls eyeing him interestedly and the guys knocking his shoulder and joking about with him as though they’re all easy, long-time friends.

It’s nice, Spencer thinks, to be the focus of someone like that’s attention. Derek could have his pick of most people drinking here, but he only has eyes for Spencer as he comes back out, holding a tall pint and wearing a happy, focused expression as he sits back down.

“Do you not drink?” Derek asks curiously and without judgement, gesturing to his coffee.

“I go out with my friends sometimes,” Spencer says, blushing again, “but I’m a bit of a lightweight, and that’s not the best state of mind to be in on any first date, let alone a blind one.”

Derek chuckles warmly at that, and the sound is a pleasant rumble reminiscent of a distant thunderstorm. Spencer wants to melt into it.

“I think I’d like to see you all messy on a night out, pretty boy,” Derek says wryly, still grinning shamelessly, and Spencer gets the distinct impression that this ‘pretty boy’ business is going to be a Thing between them.

Spencer cocks his head and takes a sip of his coffee through the long metal straw. “Maybe you’ll have to join us some time.”

“Does that mean we’re going on another date?” Derek asks, but before Spencer can panic that he’s said the wrong thing, he’s smoothly continuing. “Because I’m more than down for that.”

“You are?”

“Pretty boy, you ever looked in the mirror?” Derek demands playfully. “Add that to this cute little nerdy bashful doctor thing you got going on and you’re the whole package. Of course I want another date with you, and we’ve barely even started this one.”

Spencer flushes bright pink at that, and decides to move the conversation on before he melts into a literal puddle in the middle of this beer garden. “So you know Penelope through work?”

Derek gets the hint. “I was part of the group that arrested her, actually,” he chuckles, “and I thought she was gonna be a nightmare to work with when we gave her the option of working for the FBI instead of going to prison. But then she showed up on her first day decked out from head to toe in pink and yellow, her hair dyed back to her natural blonde, and the way she smiled when I called her baby girl… well, it was smooth sailing from then on. Did you know her back in her Black Queen days?”

“I was her one phone call,” Spencer answers, his face splitting into an easy grin as they discuss his favourite person on planet earth. “I was terrified she was going to jail and I’d lose her forever, so I was over the moon when you guys offered her that deal. We went to get our hair done together the very next day.”

“Oh yeah? And what did Pretty Boy have done to his hair, hm?”

Spencer blushes. “Let’s just say she wasn’t the only one who had a rebellious phase?”

“Now that I have got to know more about.”

“Save it for date number two, SSA Morgan,” Spencer shoots back, relaxing into the easy banter between them.

“Alright, alright, baby, I can do that,” he says, winking again. Thankfully, Spencer manages not to do an embarrassing impression of a traffic light this time. “How did you and Penelope meet?”

“Back in college actually,” Spencer nods. “She was sort of going off the rails after her parents’ death, but I think finding a scared 12 year old in her Geography elective helped her rein it in a bit. We’ve been glued at the hip pretty much since we met. Even when I went to MIT for a bit to complete my Engineering PhD, she came with me. Since her job back then was mostly hacking and some supplemental side jobs, it didn’t really matter where she was based, she was just hellbent on protecting me like she has ever since that first Geography class.”

“Wow,” Derek says, looking genuinely shocked as he leans back a little bit, eyeing Spencer with curious eyes. “You went to college when you were twelve? I’m glad you had Penelope because that could’ve been a disaster.”

“It kind of was,” Spencer nods, laughing a little. “But it meant that I had five degrees including three doctorates by the time I was twenty-one so I wasn’t too mad about it.”

Derek stares at him consideringly, the soft smile on his face making Spencer’s stomach fill with butterflies. “You’re quite the genius aren’t you?”

“Well, I don't believe that intelligence can be accurately quantified, but I do have an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory, and can read 20,000 words per minute.”

Derek just stares at him.

“So, yeah, I guess I’m a genius?” he says bashfully.

Derek laughs, shaking his head. “Definitely a genius. I mean, Penelope told me you were clever, but this is like… insane. Are you sure you’re okay to go out with a mere mortal like me or should I see myself out?”

“Yeah actually, Derek, sorry, it’s not going to work out,” Spencer says, feigning seriousness. “I can’t be with anybody who’s not within twenty IQ points of me or doesn’t have at least two PhDs.”

“A good actor, too? What don’t you have going for you, pretty boy?” He laughs in that wild and free kind of way Spencer always wishes he could, and he wonders whether Derek could teach him how.

Derek watches him like there’s something special about Spencer as the sound of their laughter mingles, looks at him like there’s nowhere else he’d rather be but right here, right now, and the warm intensity of it has a buzz going in Spencer’s chest, a pleasant feeling he can’t imagine anything dousing, and he never wants Derek to take his eyes off him again. Not if this is how it’s always going to make him feel.

The hours of the afternoon fly by and all of a sudden the sun is setting and they’re feeling distinctly hungry.

“How do you feel about getting some street food and taking a wander down to the beach?” Derek suggests hopefully, and Spencer can’t help the wide grin that splits his cheeks at the idea.

“Let’s do it.”

The beach is slightly cooler than the garden now the sun is setting and a soft, salty breeze is floating in from the ocean, so they sit close together in the sand, sharing their servings of nachos and fries between them.

“What’s your family like?” Spencer asks, a little daringly after a couple of minutes of comfortable silence.

Derek smiles. “They’re amazing. It’s been just me, my mom, and my two sisters since I was ten years old, but I think losing my dad only brought us closer together, y’know? We had to learn from a young age how to rely on each other, and we were also taught the very valuable lesson of just how important family is and how nothing in life is guaranteed, so we’ve made every effort to be as close to one another as possible.”

Spencer watches with quiet admiration as Derek gushes about his family, and takes another bite of their nachos. “Do they live locally?”

“No, they’re all still back in Chicago,” Derek says. “It’s sad sometimes, being so far away from them, but they would have killed me if I’d stuck around back home just for them and hadn’t chased my dream of climbing the ladder of the FBI.”

Spencer nods, chuckling along with Derek as they stare out at the quiet, tumbling waves of the ocean.

“What about you?” Derek asks. “Are you close with your family?”

Shit. He hadn’t exactly considered that asking Derek about his family would lead to reverse questioning about his own. I mean, call him a genius all you want, but social interaction is not his area of expertise.

“Uh, it’s just me and my mom. She lives back in Vegas,” he explains, clearing his throat awkwardly as he hopes that’s enough to appease his date.

Truthfully, it probably would have been, but Derek doesn’t say anything immediately, and the silence feels like it’s choking him into admitting the truth, however much it makes his chest tighten and his stomach flip with anxiety. What if this is it? What if Derek doesn’t want to start something with someone who has a family history as fucked up as his? What if he reads between the lines and sees that Spencer could be just like his mom in the future, and thinks that starting a relationship is just too risky?

“She has paranoid schizophrenia,” he blurts out, the words rolling off his tongue without his express permission, and instead of shutting up, they just keep coming. “When my dad left when I was ten, I had to be her sole carer until I left for college at twelve, but even then she refused professional help and medication, so I was taking the train from Pasadena to Las Vegas every weekend to try and help her out, and it got messy a lot of the time. It was only when I turned eighteen that things got a little bit easier, and that was only because I betrayed her trust and had her sectioned into a Sanitorium.

“They’re amazing, they take really good care of her and I did my research obviously, but I think a part of her still resents me for doing that.”

He stares out at the ocean for a couple of seconds before he suddenly realises where he is and what he’s just done.

“Oh my god,” he says as horror and dread fill him from the bottom up, “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have just dumped all that on you, I’m sorry, just—”

“Hey, pretty boy,” Derek says gently, placing a reassuring hand on his back to get his attention. “It’s okay, don’t worry. I’m just happy you felt comfortable enough to tell me all of that, and besides, I asked the question, and I meant it. I wanted to know the answer.”

Spencer feels some of the panic recede a little, and he looks up at Derek to try and gauge whether he’s telling the truth. “Really?”

Derek’s expression only softens further. “Really.”

He relaxes a little further and leans into Derek’s side, smiling to himself when Derek wraps his arm fully around his waist, resting his head on top of Spencer’s.

“I feel like I’ve known you way longer than just four hours and fifty six minutes,” Spencer says eventually.

Derek chuckles, and this time Spencer can feel the low rumble against his cheek as well as hear it. “It might be the biggest cliche in the book, but I feel exactly the same, baby.”

“I think sharing street food on the beach while staring out at a sunset as romantic and beautiful as that one has cemented the cliches in this date enough already,” Spencer points out, laughing a little.

“That is very true,” Derek agrees, squeezing his hand against Spencer’s waist. “We could round all the cliches off with a kiss, if you’d like.”

Spencer sits upright, blushing again as he eyes Derek’s flirtatious but serious expression. “I’d like that a lot.”

Derek wastes no time in taking Spencer’s jaw in his hand and leaning in slowly to place a long, sensuous kiss to his lips. Spencer kisses back with as much control as is possible when your experience is next to none and you have one of the most beautiful men in the world turning your stomach inside out with his attention, but it seems to be enough for Derek because as soon as they pull away, he’s grinning widely.

“You’re quite the kisser, pretty boy.”

Spencer fights the blush but it comes anyway. “I like that.”

Derek’s eyebrows knit together in confusion. “The kiss?”

“No, the pet names.”

Derek’s expression smooths out and he smiles again, a little more tenderly than his usual cheeky grin. “Well, that’s good, because I have plenty more up my sleeve, sweetheart.”

Spencer flushes with pleasure this time and settles back against Derek’s side, observing the blue sea as they settle into silence once more.

“I’m not very used to all of this, by the way,” he says after a while, the sky slowly darkening.

“Used to what?”

“This. Kissing. Dating. Pet names.”

Derek looks down at Spencer to try and get a better look at his face. “Really? You could’ve fooled me.”

“I’ve only ever had one boyfriend before, and this is only the second date I’ve ever been on.”

“Any girlfriends?”

“Not really my area.”

“And this other date, was that with boyfriend number one?”

Spencer shakes his head against Derek’s shoulder. “No, I never went on a date with him. I met him in college and we were friends first, so we never really dated, just fell into a relationship.”

“Ah.” A brief silence settles over them again, but Derek doesn’t let it hang long. “You know I’m not bothered by any of that, right? You could have never dated anyone ever before or have screwed your way round half of California and DC and it wouldn’t matter a single bit. Not if you were here with me, right now.”

He laughs softly as Derek lightens the mood, and something in Spencer’s chest feels like it falls into place at that, like his last anxious reservation has been washed away and he can really move forward, forge onward with this scarily exciting endeavour.

“You’re a good man, Derek Morgan. You know that, right?”

Derek kisses the top of his head. “I do,” he says, “but I’m not sure it’s ever sounded quite as special falling from anyone else’s lips as it does falling from yours.”

Further down the beach, another wave crashes against the shore, and the colours of the sunset fade away slowly. People pack up their picnic baskets and head home, and seagulls attack their leftovers, but none of that matters, because right now, Spencer’s world is Derek Morgan.

Penelope Garcia deserves a medal.

(Yes, I've used that "yeah I guess I'm a genius" sequence in way too many fics, leave me ALONE. )

taglist: @criminalmindsvibez @lesbiantodds @suburban--gothic @strippersenseii @takeyourleap-of-faith @negativefouriq @makaylajadewrites @iamrenstark @livrere-blue @hotchseyebrows @enbyspencer @reidology @transhanniballecter @spencerspecifics @bau-gremlin @hotchedyke @tobias-hankel @marsjareau @oliverbrnch @im-autistic @anxious-enby @kuolonsyoja @reidreids @ropoto @thosecriminalminds @wifeyprentiss @cmily @love-pyramus @notevanbuckley @hotchscotchh (add yourself to my taglist here!)

[jeonsjiddies]

Show Me | pjm (m)

Summary - Jimin shows you how good he can make you feel.

Word Count - 2146

Pairing -  Jimin x reader

Genre - smut

Warnings - penetrative sex, exhibitionism, voyerism, dirty talk, dom jimin

a/n -  another re-write from a previous fandom. :)

“This project will be worth 30% of your grade.“ 

A normal Wednesday morning in  your government class just got a little more interesting.

“I assigned you partners,“ the professor continued as a collective groan echoed through the classroom. 

“Jeon Jungkook  and Kim Taehyung.” 

Jungkook and Tae high fived.

“Kim Seokjin and Min Yoongi.”  

“Jung Hoseok and Kim Namjoon.” 

Hoseok whooped quietly, grinning at Namjoon

“Y/N and Park Jimin.” She said and you froze, glancing over at the notorious bad boy who raised an eyebrow at you, as one corner of his mouth tilted up.

You couldn’t focus on the rest of the names that she read off because you were too busy panicking. How did you end up paired with Jimin? Was the teacher trying to kill you? You had nothing against the blonde haired risk-taker, quite the opposite. You had a huge crush on Jimin. From his long soft, pushed back locks, to his shimmering brown eyes, to his freakishly large thighs and strong frame. He was terrifyingly attractive, sex on legs, and you were nervous as hell to work with him.

“Please get together with your partners and discuss your strategies for this assignment.”  

Jimin smiled that devilish smile, beckoning you over with one finger. You gathered your books and stood, walking on wobbly legs towards the sinfully gorgeous boy.

“Hey.”  

“Hey,” you tried to sound normal.

“Don’t be scared, princess. I don’t bite - hard,” he grinned, sensing your uneasiness.

He leaned far into your personal space as he said it and you noticed the tangy scent of his cologne as you sucked in a breath. He even smelled like heaven.

“I’m- I’m not,” you said  quietly.

“You seem pretty nervous to me. Listen, just because I’ve got a reputation doesn’t mean I’m some lawless thug who-“ 

“No! I don’t think that!” you interjected, “I don’t have anything against you or your reputation.” 

“Then why are you acting like you could jump up and flee out the nearest exit if I move too fast?” he accused. 

“Social anxiety.”  

“Oh,” he said, The guilt apparent on his features.

“Yeah. So which amendment did you want to start with?” you asked,  getting focused and trying not to sniff him; he smelled so good.

 20 minutes later, you’d both picked out which amendments you’d be showcasing as having a lasting impact on the country, and which ones seemed out of date. The bell rang and you stood up to leave when Jimin placed a hand on your arm, his fingers on your bare skin burned in a delightful way.

“I’m sorry about earlier, I… I'm just so tired of being looked down on for where I come from,” he explained. 

“I could never look down on you, Jimin. You’re too tall,” you joked, earning a rare Jimin genuine smile, “ should we exchange numbers so we can work on the project?“  

“Oh don’t worry y/n, I’ll find you,” He grinned deviously. 

You flushed, watching him saunter down the hallway.

You organized records in alphabetical order a few nights later at your afterschool job. You didn’t hear the doorbell chime, so you nearly peed your pants when a soft, sultry voice whispered in your ear.

“Told you I’d find you.”

You whirled around, coming face to face with Jimin. He was dangerously close to you, if you just used your tiptoes, you could kiss him. Your heart beat like a hummingbirds in your chest.

“Hi,” you breathed out in a whisper.

“Hi,” he whispered back, gaze flicking from your eyes to your lips.

His tongue danced across his own lips, and he started to lean in. The doorbell chimed, breaking the spell you’d both been under and he stepped back quickly.

“So um, maybe tomorrow after school, you could come over and work on the government project?” he asked, running a hand through his hair. 

“Yeah, sounds good. Can I ride with you though? I’m saving up for a car,”  you looked down. 

“Sure, meet me by the front door after your last lecturel.”

You watched him walk out the door, letting out the breath you hadn’t known you’d been holding.

You anxiously bounced your leg up and down during the last class of the day. You have been on edge all day. You were going to Jimin’s place. Would his roommates be home? Did he have roommates? Would you two be alone? So many of your naughty dreams had taken place in this seemingly imaginary place and this place was about to be real. You knew nothing sexual was actually going to happen, but you were still so nervous. The bell rang and you jumped out of your skin. It was time. You gathered your things, and walked to the front door, where Jimin was waiting for you. Hoseok and Jin  were by his side, all of them laughing.

“Hey y/n,” Jimin smiled. 

“Hey Y/N,” Jin and Hoseok said at the same time, both of them shouting “jinx!”

You giggled and waved hello.  Jimin threw an arm around your shoulders and walked with you to his bike. All eyes were on you, questions swimming through the halls of your university. People whispered to their friends and stared and ashamed.

“Everyone’s looking at us,” you whispered . 

“Good,” he winked and helped you onto the bike. 

You pressed your body close to his, arms wrapped tightly around his waist. He sped out of the parking lot, leaving the spectators in the dust. You buried your head into his back, trying not to watch the lines on the road flash by. When he pulled up to the apartment complex, you didn’t let go for a moment.

“You ok?”  

“Yeah, just give me a second. I’m a little woozy.” 

He got off the bike and looked at you for a moment, then picked you up and carried you inside.

“Put me down!” you shriek-laughed. 

“Didn’t want you to stumble since you were ‘woozy’,” he shrugged, plopping you into the couch. 

You hated to admit it, but being held in his lean, strong arms make you feel alive, like adrenaline have been shot straight into your heart. You already missed the warm, safe feeling. You sighed. 

“So… hungry? Thirsty?”  

“I’m okay, thanks,” you smiled and he sat next to you on the couch, far too close but not nearly close enough. 

 As you typed out which amendments were outdated, you were hyper aware of Jimins’ every movement. It was driving you crazy, being so close to him. You both chatted about random topics, as you worked. About halfway through, you stood up to stretch and take a break, as did Jimin. You took a step towards the kitchen for some water, tripping over your backpack, but Jimin’s strong arms darted out to catch you. Your hands on his chest, his arms around you, that’s where it really began. You were being electrocuted by his touch. You both stayed like that, lost in each other’s eyes. 

Jimin moved in slow motion, lips barely grazing yours in feather soft brushes. Gentle, sweet. You were floating on air. Then, the wild fire broke out, Jimin’s lips crashing down on yours with so much need and desire, you could barely keep up. He shoved you against a wall, hands roaming everywhere on your body, lighting you ablaze. You moaned into his mouth, able to stop it. His hands on your body sent you into another level of lust, another level of craving him. He bit down harshly on your neck creating a gasp from you. He blew cold air on it, licking the sore red spot. The stinging turned to tingling, sending shivers down your spine.

“Everyone’s going to see these tomorrow know that you’re mine,” he pulled your hips closer roughly.

“I’ve been watching you, princess. I’ve seen you in those pretty little skirts, completely unaware of all the boys watching you. Unaware of what you’re doing. Teasing. I’ve wanted this from the day I laid eyes on you. So many nights alone I would think of your pretty plump lips wrapped around my cock,” he groaned. 

His words had you soaking.

“Why did you wait?”    

“Didn’t think you’d want someone like me,” he shrugged. 

“Do you know how many nights I’ve touched myself to the thought of you, Jimin? How many times I’ve moaned your name, wishing your hands were the ones touching me? You’re so sexy, so brave. I’ve wanted you inside me for so long,” you whispered hotly 

“You got off thinking about me?”  

You bit your lip, nodding. 

“Show me,” he grinned mischievously. 

You bravely took his hand and had him guide you to his room. You crawled onto his bed as he stood, watching you. Your eyes locked on his, you began undressing. Slowly, you removed everything you were wearing, your hands going to your breasts. You kneaded them, rolling your nipple between your forefinger and thumb. 

“Mmm...” you closed your eyes, lolling your head back, “Fuck, Jimin.” 

Your hands slowly traveled down your body, until they landed by your aching heat. Your fingers danced along your slit, then you pushed one inside yourself, arching your back and groaning as you circled it around your clit. Jimin’s breath hitched as he watched you pleasure yourself for him. You added another finger, pumping it in and out slowly, squirming on Jimin’s bed. You’d done this a thousand times, but with Jimin’s face watching your every move, it was so much more thrilling, it was erotic. You began moving your fingers faster, his name falling from your lips as you got closer, your orgasm crashing over you. 

“Mmm… oh gosh, Jimin,” you moaned loudly, eyes connected with his, and you could hear his heavy breathing. 

You lay there, naked body on full display for Jimin. His eyes had darkened, his deep brown now resembling black. 

“Shit princess, that was so fucking sexy,“ he groaned, stepping towards the bed, “but I can make you feel even better.” 

“Show me,” you purred. 

Jimin sprang into action, flinging his shirt off and unbuckling his jeans faster than you’d ever seen anyone move. Down to his boxers, he crawled on top of you, kissing you rough and deep and so good. You couldn’t believe this was actually happening. His boxer-covered erection ground against your dripping core and you groaned. 

“You like that baby? Like how my big fat cock feels against that tight little pussy?” He moaned in your ear. 

“Yes, fuck,” you whimpered, “Jimin, I need you.” 

Jimin grabbed a condom from inside his night stand and slipped it on quickly, aligning himself with your entrance. He slowly pushed in, and oh gosh it stung. He was so big. He lay still for a moment, watching your face for a sign you were ready to move. When you nodded, he slowly pulled out of you, then gently thrust back in. The stinging turned to this amazing, warm, delicious feeling and Jimin started moving faster, whispering dirty things in your ear, telling you how good you felt around him. 

“So beautiful, you take it so good baby,” he encouraged you, but you couldn’t answer. You were a moaning mess underneath him.

Jimin hit every good spot, and knew exactly what he was doing as he pounded into you, and you’d never felt such bliss in your life. The fire deep inside of you was one that you weren’t sure could be quenched. He filled you up so completely, bringing you absolute ecstasy. Jimin was made to fuck, and he was amazing at it. You writhed underneath him, unable to keep still from the insane amounts of pleasure coursing through you. You knew you were close, and so did Jimin, his hand reaching down to draw figure 8’s on your clit.  When your orgasm came, it was like the entire world was shaking. You screamed out his name, back aching into his body, feeling like your soul was leaving yours. You were flying. You felt high. Jimin filled the condom seconds later, panting as his body collapsed on top of yours. He rolled next to you and gathered you in his arms. 

“Holy shit,” he breathed, chest rising and falling rapidly. 

“Agreed,” you nodded, snuggling into his embrace. 

He smirked, and kissed your cheek. You blushed and hid your face in his neck, making him laugh. 

“How can you be shy after all that?” 

“Shut up,” you mumbled into his skin. 

“Y/N?” He asked quietly.

“Hmmm?” 

“I want you, all the time. I don’t want to have to let you go after this, will you be mine?” he asked, and when you were quiet ( simply because you were in shock) he added “I promise I’ll treat you right, like you deserve.”

You lifted your head to meet his gaze, smiling at him as you nodded, telling him you would be his. 

“Show me.” 

[its-warm-in-here]

Playing Pretend

I’m sorry I didn't get this up sooner. I gutted the end but here’s the first part of the first chapter of a Heisenberg x reader fic that will probably go on too long. This is more of a prolog. No smut yet! Written with a female reader in mind, but I may have versions for both m and f when the final product goes up. Gonna start out kinda fluffy before we get darker. Comments and constructive criticism are always appreciated!

Summary: This summer trip to Romania was supposed to be momentous, life changing, and the bases for your master’s thesis. Too bad the villagers want you gone and this ‘Mother Miranda’ won't even see you. Luckily, you run into a greasy engineer who says he can help.

Or

Karl tries to take a day off from being ‘Lord Heisenberg’ with the cute stranger who wandered into the village. Things only spiral from there.

~2080 words

Miranda loved the yearly festivals. She always made a big show of the village, flowers and banners everywhere. The townsfolk would bring out their best clothing, even if their best was still black and brown. The dreary village would come alive with drinking, dancing and merry making. Even some of the neighboring villages would join in the festivities. The town would be near bustling, the local tavern would be full, laughter and song would echo from the church to the castle.

He hated it. All of it. Heisenberg avoided the celebrations, instead opting to stay holed up in his factory as much as possible. And it wasn't just because of the excess of people, while that didn't help. No, it was an insidious purpose for these gatherings. He exhaled a ring of cigar smoke.

First, boost morale through the village and reaffirm the people's faith in Mother Miranda. Second, and far more insidious, was to widen the flock, to expand her influence and bring in new blood for her experiments. The surrounding towns were just as small and removed from the rest of the world as Miranda's village. Made it easy to bring new blood under her wing. Youth would meet and marry, a drunk or four would go missing, and some of the visitors would become new members of Miranda's community. More meat for her Cadou grinder.

Heisenberg flicked the ash from his cigar and watched it float down before the wind caught it. The early morning view from the top of his factory wasn't bad. It was his own part of the world: no view of the village, the stench of the reservoir was nonexistent, and the most he could see of Castle Dimitrescu was a massive wall keeping their territory separated. Just him and his machines. He took another puff. As much as he planned to avoid today, Heisenberg knew that he would have to make at least some appearance. All the Lords did, even if it was just for a moment. Just another way to show her power; having all of her ‘children’ before the townsfolk. He grimaced at the thought. Târgul de Fete was set to start soon. At least that gave him the morning to get shit done. Heisenberg kicked a bit of metal scrap off the roof and it bounced off the scrap heap below with a ping! before landing in the dirt. He rolled his shoulder. Time to get to work.

---

"Well fuck you too!" You slammed the door behind you.  Why even bother going through the proper channels? No matter what, they turn you down, tell you to leave and treat you like an outcast. You spoke to towns folk, to village leaders, hell, you even wanted an audience with their 'Mother Miranda,' but she refused to even see you! You stormed along the path and the few people that had not made their way to the Târgul de Fete celebration steered clear of you, opting to give you a side eye and shuffle to their destination. All you wanted was to observe their festival, and maybe take a few pictures, but even that was negotiable. You had even offered to leave your camera behind with them for the day. Why hadn't you gone to Sweden with the rest of your class? No, instead you went to some culty, backwater town in Romania!

You kicked a rock, hard, sending it flying into the tall grass. "God Damnit!" This was supposed to have been your thesis! Supposed to be life changing! No, now you were just stuck, miles from any true civilization and being kicked out of some stupid, ramshackle heap, whose plants can't even grow right in a Romanian summer. Some of the plants were barely green, most appeared dry or yellowing. The flowers were either wilted and falling apart or hadn't even bloomed. You were no botanist, but you were certain that wasn't healthy.

You kicked another rock, it soared through the grass, but it struck something metal this time before landing with a thud. They didn't want you here, didn't want you at Târgul de Fete? Fine, but they didn't take your camera. Without thinking, you dug the old DSLR out of your bag and snapped a picture of the church.

And immediately deleted it.

You signed. Even if the villagers were a bunch of jackasses, this was their culture and they made it very clear that you were not welcome. Even if they had agreed to all this three months ago. And even if they had called you a bad omen, a poison and a danger to the whole village.  You weren't about to infringe. Crestfallen, you huffed your bag over your shoulder and began the trek back out of town. It was at least a four hour walk to your rental car and a good chunk of that walk was more of a hike. Not like there was much you could do other than leave after cussing out the town speakers and nearly slamming the door off its hinges.

The village had felt abandoned when you walked in, and now that everyone had headed off to a celebration, the village was positively desolate. No traditional brightly-colored dresses or intricate belts to be seen. And no wary or hostile glares from the inhabitants either. It was... quiet. Aside from the occasional crow, you might as well have been in a ghost town. It took you a bit to find the correct path out of the grave yard, but after spinning in circles for a good moment, you pushed past a red door and were back on your way. The village wasn't large, most of the paths were poorly maintained and the whole place was enveloped in a strange fish smell.

You bit the inside of your cheek. This was a good thing, really. Who would've wanted to stay in the ramshackle place for more than a few hours, let alone a few days? You groaned and kicked at the ground again. While not lacking in repellent attributes, the pagan worship of the place fascinated you.  They had their own religion but had incorporated traditional Romania holidays into their culture. Where else in Europe could you see that happen in real time? Of course, you could think of a couple of places, but you had picked here in the Carpathian mountains in particular! While you did have a second choice, you couldn't stop the self pity from setting in.

Ugh.

The village was relatively small and was quickly fading to forest, the castle that overlooked the town vanished behind you as you shuffled down a particularly steep part of the path. The trees here looked more normal, less sickly. While it was only marginally, you felt a bit better, a bit less mad. Stepping away from that place was a breath of fresh air.

Your boots skid a bit as you reach a flat spot. With a huff, you grip both backpack straps to center yourself.  If this couldn't be your thesis, that didn't mean you had to hate the walk. This was Romania afterall, when was the next time you were going to be here? The sky may be overcast, but it sort of added to the eerie charm of this place. You sidestepped your way down another steep incline, using one hand to grip overgrown branches for balance. The last step is a bit further, but you find your footing easily.

And the rock gave way under you, tilting forward with an abrupt grinding sound. A burst of panicked adrenaline rushed through as you struggled to stop. You pitch forward, stumbling over branches and underbrush, your eyes forcibly losing focus.

"The fuck?"

That wasn't your voice. You slammed full force into something, another body? And it gives under you. The other person takes the brunt of the fall, landing on their back with a distinct, "oof."

For a moment, you don't speak, too focused on catching the breath. Finally, your vision swims back and you find your voice, "Damnit... are you ok?"

The man under you goans, sitting half way up to look you over. His hair is grey, and a bit too long, but he couldn't be any older than forty, possibly younger. "Get off." Your eyes go wide and that panicked beat fills your chest. "Ya deaf? Off."

"Er, right," you scramble to your feet and, without thinking, extend a hand to the stranger, "Sorry about... that." You gestured vaguely to the path. "Lost my balance."

He lets out an exasperated huff, and knocks your hand away. For a moment, he doesn't acknowledge you, instead retrieving something from the grass behind him. He's wearing a loose linen shirt, sleeves rolled halfway up with black leather gloves. You force yourself to look somewhere, anywhere else, nervously bouncing from foot to foot. When he turns back to you, he has a tattered, wide brim hat in place and is looking over a pair of broken sunglasses. One of the lenses was clearly shattered, but he hooked them over his shirt collar, his attention finally turning to you. "You're not from around here, huh?”

You couldn't help but snort, "What gave it away, the wind breaker? Don't worry, I'm leaving."

"Leaving?" He repeats.

You start moving back to the path. "Yup, your village speaker has made that very clear."

"They were clear? Not all back and forth on it?" He chuckles, "That's impressive, they must really not like you."

You stare at him, was this a friendly face? It was certainly a handsome face, even with scarring and stubble. But a trustworthy one? "You sure you're ok? Didn't scramble that brain when I ran into you? The rest of the town was pretty dead set on driving me out."

" 'Cause they're a bunch of morons, sweetheart," he insisted, "All part of Mother Miranda's big, idiot mob."

"Huh," you are walking ahead on the path, and he's not but a footfall behind you.

"But they don't matter."

"No?"

"What matters is, why didn't they want you here?"

You stop, turning to face this stranger. He was gruff, and more than a little rude, but in comparison to the townsfolk, he was downright friendly. Hell, you were surprised he was so forward with you.  "Masters thesis," you put plainly, hoping he'll leave it at that.

"On what?"

"Anthropology."

He leaned in close. He wasn't that much taller than you, but you couldn't help but move away from his imposing figure. From this distance, you could smell motor oil and some kind of smoke on his clothes. "That's it?" You scoff, the sooner you are back in your car the better. "I just mean, it's surprising they'd want you gone. You sure there's nothing else? Didn't kick over any goat statues?"

"Not that I noticed," you started back down the path. You'd wasted too much time talking to this weirdo anyway. Just based on his demeanor and dislike of the rest of the village, you wonder if you'd maybe tripped over the town pariah. He certainly wasn't dressed like anyone else from the village.

"I could get you back in."

You stopped, not fifteen feet from him. "You're assuming I want to go back in." And didn’t you? You just risk getting yelled at again. But if there was a chance to write your thesis...

“Well, if you're not interested,” he turned to leave. You grit your teeth, your nails digging deep into your backpack straps.

“Hold up!" It doesn't take much to catch up to him. "How exactly are we going to do this?"

"My word carries a certain amount of weight," he carried on, "Though,  the village doesn't meet on these matters till next week."

"But what good does that-"

He isn't listening, "For today, I know a place you can watch the town. Besides, you're an Archeologist, you probably want an interview, right?" Of course he gestures to himself with a sort of half bow.

You roll your eyes, but still follow, "Anthropologist." He gives you a blank look. "I'm studying Anthropology, not Archeology."

He doesn't seem to care, instead pulling a cigar and lighter from his pants pocket. "Got a name?"

"Oh, (y/n). You?"

The stranger is part way up on the path you had tripped down. "Karl," he had extended you a gloved hand. You look from him to his hand, before brushing past him, pulling yourself up next to him without the offered aid.

[blrush]

If Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding was a serious drama with hour long episodes, Part 3: The Honeymoon Is Over.

Ki Wan drew back his hand. Why had he reached out to Ho Seon like that? What was he hoping to achieve? It must be the exhaustion getting the better of him – yes that was it, he was just tired. In the warm room, under the candle light, Ho Seon had looked so handsome, like a painting of a prince and Ki Wan had felt the urge to touch the painting, and check if it was real. But Ho Seon was a man of flesh and bone, who reacted, and it scared Ki Wan out of his reverie and back to reality – a reality in which he could not afford to make such careless mistakes, or let down his guard.

He stepped back and mumbled under his breath;

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay”, Ho Seon replied, as he brought himself to his feet. They stood apart, an awkward silence between them.

“Ah!” Ho Seon realised, “You spoke!” Ki Wan brought his hand to his mouth, he hadn’t even registered that he’d opened it!

“I’m glad.” Ho Seon smiled, “I thought you never would. I was almost wondering if you could!” He joked, relaxing them both.

Was this the right moment? Should he tell Ho Seon the truth now? The opportunity was presenting itself, he could easily use this conversation as a starting point…

“Come,” Ho Seon spoke before Ki Wan could make up his mind. “Let’s go to bed, you must be tired.”

Ki Wan looked at the bed, then back to Ho Seon.

“Not “to bed”, in that way, I mean to sleep.” Ho Seon assured him.

They were both already down to their under garments, and Ki Wan was tired enough to fall asleep as he was, even though the layers of bandage-like fabric were tight and constricting on his chest and he would rather sleep naked or in a light open robe, he thought that exposing himself was probably not the best way for Ho Seon to find out the truth.

He had never slept in the same bed as another person, and he thought it might prove uncomfortable, but he found the sound of Ho Seon’s deep breathing soothing, and drifted off peacefully, carefully curled up on his own side of the bed.

In the morning, he woke feeling properly well rested for the first time in years. He had never minded his room at home, and was always happy in his own company. But his room had been bigger, and colder, the only sound was the wind outside, whistling through the archways and halls of their empty home. He had no idea the comfort that a warm body beside you could afford. During the night, he awoke briefly, but simply watched the shape of Ho Seon’s shoulders slowly moving up and down and he was quickly lulled back to sleep.

Ho Seon was such a welcome presence, he emanated warmth and comfort. And whilst Ki Wan was still fearful of him discovering the truth, he felt a level of safety and trust already with Ho Seon. He began to truly believe, rather than simply hope, that Ho Seon would be able to accept the truth and Ki Wan’s reasons for his deception. He no longer feared any kind of violent outburst from his new husband, now - he just feared the look of disappointment that would inevitably colour Ho Seon’s normally happy face.

Apparently, even sober, Ho Seon was not easy to rise. He took an age to wake up, twisting and turning under the covers, grumbling and murmuring. Ki Wan found it exceedingly amusing, and lay happily under the warm covers for longer than he should – watching Ho Seon. Ho Seon eventually turned to face him, at first seemingly a little taken aback by another person in his bed, but then registered it was his wife and smiled – toothlessly, his eyes closing.

“Goooggmrrning” He mumbled. Then he opened his eyes, sparkling with mischief, and added in an overly formal tone “My wife.”

“Mmm morning” Ki Wan responded, muffling his voice beneath the covers.

Ho Seon smiled and gave a prompting nod. Ki Wan rolled his eyes.

“Husband” he added quietly. This seemed to please Ho Seon to no end and he smiled ear to ear, giving an enormous yawn and stretch before beginning to get up.

~ ~ ~

The next few weeks of married life passed like a blissful dream. Ho Seon spent most of his days studying, or tending to administrative work, whilst Ki Wan kept his mother-in-law company, doing housework or tending to the garden. Some days, Ho Seon would come out to the courtyard and set up his desk outside on the balcony. Ki Wan suspected he didn’t like to feel excluded from any possible fun they may be having.

Ki Wan found himself settling into a routine of family life, and he and Ho Seon would bid each other goodnight and good morning as spouses, but it felt more like they were children playing house. They both avoided touching one another, and Ki Wan still avoided speaking as much as possible without seeming rude. Though he began to relax, particularly around his mother in-law, who had insisted he call her ‘mother’, which at first Ki Wan found difficult as it made him sad to think of his own loss, but he eventually complied and it only added to the happy-family delusion. She didn’t seem to notice or mind his voice. In fact, she complimented him on it once, and requested that Ki Wan should read to her sometimes – a request that Ki Wan happily complied with, as he missed reading and studying, things which he used to enjoy so much in his old student life before his mother passed away.

One evening Ho Seon passed comment as they were getting ready for bed. Ho Seon was sitting on the bed, cross legged, expectantly, like a child would.

“How come you read to my mother, but you never read to me?” He pouted.

“You can read.” Ki Wan responded.

“Pleeasssse,” Ho Seon whined, “Won’t you read me a bedtime story? Pleeeaase? Wife?”

Ki Wan stifled his laughter, and threw a pillow at Ho Seon in lieu of a proper response.

Their comfortable pantomime as a married couple became second-nature, and Ki Wan almost forgot about the graveness of his circumstances. He knew deep-down this illusion couldn’t last forever, but he couldn’t bring himself to be the one to shatter it.  Their bubble was burst before long, not by either of them, but in the form of an unexpected visitor.

~ ~ ~

Ki Wan often bathed at the house, where they had a big warm tub which the maid would fill for him, and that Ho Seon would use after him. But his fear that the maid may walk back in at any moment, or that Ho Seon himself might barge in unknowingly meant that bath-time became more stressful than relaxing, and he could never really clean his body properly as the tub was too small and he spent most of the time trying to hide his naked body under the water. Walking one day near the river, his mother in-law pointed out a gorge where she said there was a natural spring that people could bathe in.

“I used to take Ho Seon down here when he was little.” She reminisced, “He used to love splashing around – he was so chubby as a baby! Aiiguuu, you will have such cute babies!”

The topic of children did seem to come up an awful lot with his mother-in-law, though Ki Wan normally brushed it off by acting coy and shy about the topic of baby-making. She never pushed him about it or asked intrusive questions about the physical side of their marriage, but she did always manage to slide babies into the conversation.

One morning, Ho Seon announced that he had to go into town on some business, and would take a few hours – whilst his mother-in-law felt poorly and said she would be staying in bed to rest. After helping her into bed, and reading to her until she fell sleep, Ki Wan felt a sudden rush of freedom and relief – he was alone! He immediately rushed back to the bridal house, collected clean undergarments, and headed out for the spring. He left a note beside his mother-in-law’s bedside, lest she wake and panic – or worse, come to find him.

Amongst the rocks and foliage, the spring looked tranquil and inviting. He carefully made his way amongst the trees, down the steep incline. He removed his clothing, and waded in. The water was cold but refreshing, and he dunked his head right under. Relief and calm enveloped him under the surface. He floated around happily, washing himself and swimming, revelling in the peace and quiet.

He knew he should get out soon, as his fingertips were beginning to wrinkle, and his mother-in-law was sure to wake eventually, but he was so relaxed he didn’t want to leave.

Giving his hair a final rinse, he dragged his fingers through a knot at the end and turned to where he had left his clothes on the rocks. He yelped with fright, a man was standing above the rocks looking down at him. He lowered himself further under the water, covering his chest completely.

He could only make out a silhouette, a tall frame, an adorned hat – a government official.

He dared not move, he could barely breathe. He had let his guard down for the first time in over a month, and this is what had come of it! The man began to move, and at first Ki Wan thought he was going to come further down the rocks to the pool, but instead – thankfully – the man turned and made his way back up to toward the road. There was no way of knowing how long he had been standing there. Had he been watching? How much could he see from up there? Had he simply wanted to use the spring, seen a young man bathing, and left? Or had he seen a woman in a state of immodesty? Either way, Ki Wan told himself that the man was a stranger so what should it matter to him?

But what should he do? Grab his clothes and head the opposite direction? But he didn’t know his way around the woods outside the property that well, he really only knew the way back to the Ryu house along the road. No, he would have to stay in the pool longer and hope the man left. But there was no way of knowing how long that would be. He sat in indecision until he could bare the cold no longer. Shivering he clambered out of the spring and put on his dress. Struggling and rushing, his clothes were now damp and he felt uncomfortable. But the afternoon sun had moved beyond trees and he was beginning to freeze in the woods. He would have to head home and hope the man had left the road. He tied back his wet hair and set off.

Upon arriving home, Ki Wan went directly to visit his mother-in-law, who was sitting up in bed, sipping some tea.

“Ahhh, my daughter, come sit beside me.”

“Eomeoni, how are you feeling?”

“Fine, I’m fine. I hate wasting away the day in bed. It makes me feel like an old lady!”

Ki Wan cracked a smile. “Oh? But you don’t look a day over twenty-five!”

“YA!” She half shouted, half laughed. “Rude girl! I was a real beauty in my day you know!”

Just then the maid knocked on the door and entered.

“Ma’am, there is an officer here to see the young master. He has been waiting a little while near the stables. I didn’t want to disturb you, and I wasn’t sure where the young madam was. I told him that Ho Seon was away in town, but he said he could wait. Shall I put him in the guest room, or offer him some tea?”

“Ughhh” she harrumphed, “I’m not in the mood to see some stuffy old court official today. He can just wait for Ho Seon, he should be back soon.”

“With all due respect Ma’am, he does seem very high-ranking. And he is not so stuffy or old… he’s actually quite handsome.” She giggled and looked toward Ki Wan for some sisterly affirmation.

“Very well. Hwa Jin, since you are now the lady of the house, why don’t you go and tend to him. Just serve him some tea and make a bit of small talk until Ho Seon gets back. Oh, and then let me know how handsome he is” she winked.

Ki Wan tried to force a smile as he rose, but his heart was sinking. What if it was the man from the spring? It had to be, what other official would be out on that road coincidentally? He began following the maid toward the stables to collect the gentleman.

Perhaps he had not seen Ki Wan’s face? Who was to say he would make the connection that the person he had seen in the pool was Ki Wan? He had to calm himself down!

As they approached the stables, where the official was tending to his horse, Ki Wan was sure it was the same man. The same broad stature, the same high-ranking hat. He turned when he noticed them, he was – as the maid had claimed – young and very handsome. The maid introduced Ki Wan formally.

“Sir, may I introduce the Lady Ryu Hwa Jin, wife of Ryu Ho Seon. She will see to you whilst you await Master Ryu’s return.”

“Pleasure to meet you. My name is Kim Tae Hyung, Head of the Department of Justice.”

The maid gave a bow, and shuffled away, leaving Ki Wan quaking with fear.

Ki Wan gave a polite bow, then turned for Tae Hyung to follow him through the courtyard. Ki Wan kept his head low and turned away from the man, silently praying for Ho Seon’s speedy return.

Ki wan showed Tae Hyung to the guest room, a simple room with a large reception area and a small alcove for bedding to the side. They rarely used it, but it was the most appropriate space for the man to be received, and for him to meet with Ho Seon if it were for business. Tae Hyung sat down at the table, and Ki Wan waited silently at the door for the maid to bring tea. Ki Wan was on edge, waiting for the man to speak. But he sat quietly, and Ki Wan continued to stare at his own feet.

Finally, the maid arrived with a tray of tea, which she placed on the table before leaving again. Ki Wan took a deep breath to steady himself, then went about serving the tea. He focused on his hands, looking down at the table, he poured two cups and handed one politely to the gentleman. As he did so, their hand touched, and Ki Wan wondered if it had been intentional on Tae Hyung’s part – as if he was trying to incite some sort of a reaction from Ki Wan – the kind of small gesture that might fluster a particularly prudish, gentle, or chaste young lady. Ki Wan made no reaction, and sipped his own tea. Then he sat back on his heels, placed his hands in his lap and waited. All the while, repeating the same mantra in his mind; ‘Ho Seon come back. Ho Seon come back. Ho Seon come back…’

“Unseasonably cold today wouldn’t you agree Lady Ryu?”

Ki Wan nodded.

“A bit cold for a swim, wouldn’t you agree?”

He knew.

Ki Wan was petrified, unmoving. What had he seen? There was something sinister behind his light tone. Ki Wan was sure he knew.

Tae Hyung placed his cup down on the table and leant forward. He brought his hand up to Ki Wan’s face, grabbed his chin and forced Ki Wan to look up at him.

Ki Wan could feel himself losing control of his fear, his neck and ears felt flushed, he was gritting his teeth so hard it was nearly audible, and he could feel tears beginning to well in his eyes. This was it, he was finished. This was not his kind husband finding out the truth, this was a powerful military man who probably had deeply strict Confucius values.

He examined Ki Wan’s face carefully, and looked almost pleased with himself.

“Hmmm… utterly convincing. But how odd. What’s a pretty young boy like you doing parading around as a noble woman?” He sounded amused, like this was all a fun game. Ki Wan was gripping his skirt tightly, and felt bile rising up in his throat.

Just then, Ki Wan heard the sound of approaching footsteps in the courtyard, and Tae Hyung calmly pulled his hand away – like he wasn’t at all bothered by the thought of being caught touching another man’s wife. Ki wan had never met someone so self-assured in their own sense of power.

Ki Wan heard Ho Seon enter the room from behind him.

“Ah! Kim Tae Hyung! I wasn’t expecting you. Sorry I had business in town. How have you been?” He sat himself down beside Ki Wan, and began to pour himself some tea.

“I’m well, thank you. I’ve been travelling the country on some royal errands. I heard you were getting married, I was so sorry I couldn’t attend.”

“Ahh, not to worry!” Ho Seon responded brightly, “It was a small wedding, just family really.”

Ho Seon’s exuberance and cheerful voice, which Ki Wan usually found so comforting, was like the sound of grinding metal in its contrast to Ki Wan’s mood and the tension of the room. Ki Wan was still fraught with anxiety and fear and felt like he was suffocating.

“I never pegged you as the marrying type” Tae Hyung began, “What changed?”

“My mother’s getting older, I guess she wanted a daughter to keep her company, and she was determined to see me settle down and have a family.”

“Oh?” Tae Hyung looked amused over his cup of tea, “Any luck so far?”

“Tae Hyung!” Ho Seon chastised half-heartedly. It was clear to Ki Wan that they were old friends, perhaps from school, Ho Seon’s easy manner and informal speech made that obvious. But Tae Hyung was fishing for information, trying to figure out if Ho Seon knew his wife’s secret – but his subtle jibes at Ki Wan were going completely unnoticed by Ho Seon.

“Tell me, where did you find such a beauty? I’ve never met another woman like her.” He looked directly at Ki Wan, with a smirk that, to Ho Seon, must have seemed like flirting – but to Ki Wan felt more like a threat.

Ho Seon followed Tae Hyung’s gaze, and for the first time since entering the room, finally looked at his wife. His smile quickly faded.

“Hwa Jin! Are you okay?” He sat up to attention. He reached across her skirts, and put his hands over Ki Wan’s. “You’re freezing!” He held Ki Wan’s hands tighter and gave them a squeeze.

“I believe your wife went for a dip in the nearby spring whilst you were out.”

Ho Seon lifted a hand to the back of Ki Wan’s neck, checking the temperature of his skin, he touched Ki Wan’s hair.

“You’re soaking wet!” He sounded genuinely concerned. But Ki Wan had barely noticed the damp seeping through his clothes. He was shivering from nerves not the cold.

“Hwa Jin, why don’t you go and get changed and get warm. I will get the maid to bring you some dinner.” He gave Ki Wan’s hands another squeeze, and prompted her to get up.

Ki Wan wandering aimlessly back to their bridal house as night began to fall around him. Should he have left Ho Seon alone with Tae Hyung, what if he told him the truth? What were Tae Hyung’s intentions? What was Ki Wan’s plan? He needed a plan. But he couldn’t think. He was still reeling from the shock of his encounter with Tae Hyung and as the night fell and the temperature dropped, he did begin to deeply feel the cold of his damp clothes.

He arrived back at their room, where he quickly tended to the fire under the house. Inside he lit a candle and began undressing. He hung up his wet dress and put on new under-dress. He was still freezing. He began to put on all the jackets and outwear he could find, then got under the covers of the bed.

Maybe he should leave? Run away into the night. What if Tae Hyung had him arrested, as a fraud or a pervert? What if he turned Ho Seon against him? But where would he go? Run away into the woods to starve or freeze to death? Before he could think of a plan, his eyes became heavy and he submitted to sleep.

He was awoken by Ho Seon gently shaking his shoulder.

“Hwa Jin. Hwa Jin. Wake up, have something to eat.”

At first Ki Wan thought it was morning, but the room was still dark and Ho Seon was still dressed.

“There’s some dinner here for you, you should eat something.”

Ki Wan begrudgingly sat up, his neck felt stiff and he was sweating under too many layers of clothing.

“Why are you wearing all my clothes?” Ho Seon laughed.

“I was cold.” Ki Wan drowsily answered.

“Mmhm”. Ho Seon nodded. He seemed himself. Not angry or scared. Tae Hyung must not have told him. Somehow, that make Ki Wan more unsettled. If he was keeping Ki Wan’s secret, was he planning on using it against him? A high-up military man, he could easily be the type of person to collect people’s secrets and use them to his advantage. This was Ki Wan’s crossroads, the illusion he had created for himself was finally shattered and he would have to make a decision. He would have to tell Ho Seon the truth.

Ki Wan starting shaking off the layers of jackets he was wearing, leaving a trial of clothes behind him on the floor as he went to join Ho Seon at the table.

“Wait.” Ho Seon stood up. Ki Wan froze. Ho Seon began approaching him.

“Your hair is still wet.” He said. Ki Wan sighed in relief.

“Oh.” He was still so drowsy, his limps felt heavy. He felt back to his wet bun – no wonder he had been so cold. He took out the pin and untied the ribbons. He rummaged around the dresser for a brush.

“Come here” Ho Seon plied, “You really need to eat something, you’re already so skinny – how can you go all day without eating. Mother said you were out half the day.”

Ki Wan sat down in front of the table and let Ho Seon take the brush from him. He slowly started picking at the food, but could barely stomach anything.

Ho Seon sat behind him, and began slowly brushing out his hair. It was a nice feeling. And Ki Wan almost began to fall asleep again.

“Tae Hyung spoke to me.” Ho Seon began softly. Ki Wan snapped back to attention, his heart hammering in his chest.

“Mmm?”

“He has a position for me in his department. He wants me to take it, and move to the capital.”

Ki Wan tried not to react. Ho Seon attentively kept brushing his hair, in long careful strokes down his back.

“Oh?”

“I told him I couldn’t take it. That my mother is too sick, and that you are just getting used to life here. But he said it was “of national importance”. I think things in the court are bad. He says he needs “allies”, whatever that means. I don’t want to go. I hate all the politics of court and I am perfectly happy living here. But he can be…. well, he is a difficult man to refuse – he’s powerful and … he said that it was really more of an order than a request.” He sighed.

“He said you would come with me of course, that we would be given housing at court. I am just sorry that you will have to move again. You just got settled here, and I don’t know what my mother will do without us – but she can’t make that journey she’s far too frail…”

He was rambling now, caught up in the rhythmic task of brushing Ki Wan’s hair, he was letting his own anxieties come tumbling out in a string of thoughts and apologies. Ki Wan had not seen him this anxious since their wedding night. He lifted a hand to stop the brush in Ho Seon’s hand, and turned to face him, their knees touching slightly.

Ki Wan had grown to love this space, their evenings together. In this candlelit cave that was theirs, where it was quiet and just the two of them. He knew he was about to ruin that forever.

Ki Wan took a deep breath.

“Ho Seon. I have something to tell you.”

TBC (Other parts here)

Authors Notes:

Yeah, sorry, trigger warning I guess? I made Tae Hyung a creep for added drama, cause every good Joseon drama has to have an evil antagonist.

And I hope you enjoyed my blatant references; to a certain natural spring in cloud recess and a little hair brushing reference to the gayest scene to ever pass chinese censorship. 

Hope you enjoyed!

[one-boring-person]

Hello, I found your blog and found your writing wonderful, I am in love lmao. I would like to make a request involving 'The Lost Boys.' Maybe one where the reader is a mermaid. She sings 'My jolly sailor bold' like in Pirates of the Caribbean, thinking she's got her next victim, but then she realizes there are four vampires. What happens next, you can decide. Kisses ^^

Thank you so much! I'm so glad you like my blog!😊💛 I'm sorry this is a bit short, but I hope you enjoy it, though I'm a bit worried that it's not what you had in mind...😅

Caught In The Act.

The Lost Boys x mermaid!reader

Warnings: mention of death, threats

Masterlist

I can't help the cruel glee that spreads through me as I realise that the wait I had expected for prey to show up has not been as long as I thought it would be. It flows through me, bringing a malicious smirk onto my face as I stare up through the dark at the four figures standing atop the cliff nearby, their bodies highlighted by the circling lighthouse beam, excitement and anticipation flooding me. My choice of hunting grounds for the night hadn't been my first, but now I realise I may well have gotten very lucky; I'd never have thought that a cliff at night would be so popular.

With a sense of determination, I swim over to a nearby rock, pulling myself elegantly onto it, arranging myself in a tempting manner for the humans I'll soon be luring to their deaths. Once in position, I start to sing, my voice rising on the wind to carry towards them, seduction laced into my tone as I go over the familiar lines of the song. 

After a second, the figures on the cliff seem to notice the sound, heads turning to locate the source, the confusion brief before the hypnosis will take over and guide them to me, resulting in their demise. It takes them a few minutes, but eventually, just like clockwork, they give in to the sultry sound of my voice, following the lilting notes numbly, triumph giving my singing a new edge as I watch one of them move slowly towards the edge of the cliff, peering down into the black sea, still looking for me but with much less determination. The person steps off, dropping into the darkness cloaking the base of the cliff.

Smirking to myself, I continue on, knowing they will have died on impact, or will drown either way, meaning I can focus on luring in their friends. A second steps up, following their friend off of the cliff with no hesitation, the other two doing the same as I carry on singing, in case any survived the fall, so I can draw them further into the ocean. I don't take too long, soon allowing my voice to peter off into nothing as I drop from the rock, slipping neatly into the churning ocean.

Swimming quickly, I go to the area where they all fell in, intending to further seduce them, should they still be alive, before pulling them all under the surface, where I'll drown them. The former is smirk still on my face as I envisage this in my head: the struggling always gets me, it makes feeding so much more fun. With this in mind, i start to scan the area for the floating bodies.

Surprise and confusion fill me when I realise that there are, in fact, no bodies to be found. Flicking my tail, I move to the surface, breaching it to see if I can see any of them washed up on the rocks, a frown on my face. This proves to be my undoing, as I soon find myself hoisted from the water, my flailing body lifted right into the air as if it weighs nothing, which I know for a fact to be false - my tail alone is incredibly heavy.

Calling out in protest and outrage, I writhe in the grip that has me held so tightly, bucking against the three pairs of hands on my body, revulsion filling me at their icy touch. This surprises me, but not as much as the fact that I'm now being held by three people who are ten feet above the sea level, leaving me totally helpless. It's at that point that the reek hits me: stale blood. My captors are vampires.

Still struggling, I make eye contact with a hovering figure before me, their yellow eyes glowing brightly in the darkness, fangs bared at me in warning. The creature is about my height (when I'm on legs), with short, oddly styled hair, a dark coat floating out behind them as they move closer to me, face twisted into a snarl. Anger is evident in their expression, hands clenching at their sides until they're close enough to me, at which point they're lifted to my face. Taking hold of my chin, the vampire forces me to look into his face.

"Who the hell are you?" He spits, lip curled up to show his fangs.

"Why should I tell you?" I snap back, shaking wet hair from my face.

"Because you just tried to kill us, and we caught you in the act. We wanna know who failed to kill us." He snarls, spit flying into my face as he tightens his grip. 

Jerking backwards, I struggle to see who else is holding me, taking note of the tall blonde on my right, the equally tall brunette on my right and the shorter blonde digging his fingernails into my tail. Hissing in anger, I whip my tail gently, allowing it to slip from his grasp.

"What makes you think I'll tell you?" I respond furiously, struggling to pull my arm out of the vampires' grips, muscles straining and aching now. 

The platinum blonde growls and gestures to the others, who is gently start to force my arms behind my back, twisting painfully.

"Do you value your arms? If so, I recommend that you start talking, otherwise Dwayne and Paul here won't hesitate to rid you of them." He bites out, threatening tone surprisingly effective.

Disgusted, but not willing to risk losing my limbs, I give in.

"I'm (Y/n). I just wanted something to eat, and you four happened to be the first people to show up." I explain briefly, not happy with the situation at all.

"Why are you here? Why not closer to the beach?" The brunette, Dwayne, interrupts, tightening his grip.

Wincing, I growl and flinch away from him as my arm is twisted more painfully.

"It isn't so fun." Is all I say, not willing to elaborate.

"Fun? You like killing people?" The taller blonde, Paul, asks, sounding somewhat surprised.

"Yeah. Don't you?" I shrug as best I can, soon regretting that decision as pain shoots through my arms.

That seems to make the leader stop in his tracks, his face pulling away from mine, eyes narrowed in thought. After a moment, he looks to his friends, all of whom nod, some form of telepathic communication clearly having taken place. A shot of trepidation goes through me at this, unsure now of what will happen to me.

"You're coming with us, you might prove useful." The leader says, smirking for the first time as he withdraws his hand from my face.

Eyes widening, I start to struggle again, writhing more and more in their grip, terror coursing through me.

"No! No, I won't! Let go of me!" I shout out at them, only to stop still when the leader grabs my neck and snaps his teeth in my face.

"Remember what I said about your arms? The same goes for your tail, so I suggest you behave." His voice is low and threatening, prompting me to shut up instantly, though I can't help the fear inside me.

All I wanted was a meal, and now here I am, being carted off by four vampires.

[kohakhearts]

for the prompt thing; i can't shut up about gureshin and i feel rly guilty LOL but...... going to/sneaking into a pool late at night, playful fighting turning into quiet floating, reminiscing, enjoying each other's presence

alternatively OR additionally:

hot summer evening stroll turned heated, teaasing, prompting for more intimacy than they can have in public, mischievous glances, promising touches, the thrill of being in love and intensely attracted to each other whether they're alone or with friends

send me 1 or more character (+ a prompt, if you like) and i'll write a short fic!

wc: 1 062

They’re calling it a heatwave.

That is, Guren says, when it’s so hot out the temperature barely drops in the night. Shinya thinks, No shit, but is frankly too hot to verbalize it. It’s not so horrible, really; it just makes him yearn for December’s frigid caress all the more than usual.

Guren doesn’t seem to hate it much himself, oddly enough. He’s never dressed for the weather, but Shinya can’t recall a time he’s ever complained much about it. Well, it would be admitting a weakness, and Guren can’t do that, can he?

The thing is, it’s hot out. And Guren has never had to admit his weaknesses for Shinya to see them.

The habit of evening walks is one they picked up who-knows how long ago. When they were kids, Shinya used to do this with Mahiru sometimes. In his worst moments, he imagines asking Guren if they do this because of her. In his best, he knows Guren wouldn’t tell him so even if it were the truth.

Besides, that’s all in the past. The past isn’t good for much these days. It’s easier to just pretend there is something kinder in the future and move on. It’s not like any of them knows; they’re just as lost as they were eleven years ago.

Today, however, Shinya decides it is too hot for a walk.

“Let’s go swimming,” he suggests when they are midway down the trail they walk every Thursday night.

“What?”

“Swimming,” he repeats. “There’s a pool near here, did you know?”

“We can’t go swimming.”

“Sure we can.”

Guren glances over at him, exasperated. “We haven’t got swimsuits, idiot.”

Shinya purses his lips. Without missing even one step, he slips his bag from his shoulders and holds it open between them. Guren peers down, then comes to a skidding halt.

“You’re kidding me.”

“Not even one bit.” Shinya has stopped a few steps ahead of him, so sends his grin back over his shoulder. “Really, Guren. When was the last time you did something fun?”

“This is fun.”

“No, it’s not.”

Guren sighs. If he had really believed, even for a second, that Shinya was wrong, he would still be arguing. Instead, he just looks tired.

“It’s late,” he points out. “Everywhere will be closed.”

“Great,” Shinya says. “Then that means it’s free, doesn’t it? C’mon, I think I know where this place is.”

He doesn’t give Guren time to protest. And though he is scowling when he catches up to Shinya, the fact remains that he is following. That’s the part that really matters.

The pool in question is not a discovery of his own. Mito told him about it back in June. She doesn’t like swimming anymore—says her hair is too long—but even she admitted it was quite nice. Outdoor, surrounded by tall but shock-free metal fences. Well, she didn’t say that. Shinya figured it out for himself, some weeks later. Still, he’s never climbed them. He didn’t have a reason to.

This evening, he does.

Guren blanches at the sight. “You expect me to climb this?”

“You’ve done harder things,” Shinya says idly. “I’ll know you’re really a coward if you back out now, though.”

With that, he begins to climb. Guren grumbles something under his breath, but follows after him. If there is one thing Guren dislikes more than exposing his weaknesses, after all, it is being called out for having them. It’s a wonder he’s able to sleep at night with a pride that big weighing on his chest.

Once they are safely on the other side, Shinya hands him the bag and tells him to change. The building’s doors are locked, so Shinya turns around and counts out a full minute—or tries to, at least. He is interrupted around thirty-six by Guren snapping, “Shut up, or I’ll push you into the pool.”

“Unfair, when you’re the one with the swimsuit.”

But Guren does give him a chance to change into his own.

And then he pushes him in the pool.

Shinya was expecting it, really. When Guren slips in after him, he grabs his ankle and pulls until his head falls beneath the water. He comes up and splashes with a mighty sense of vengeance, so Shinya responds in kind. It is nice. It is cool. By the time the sun is nearly obscured completely by the horizon, the vicious summer heat has been long forgotten.

Guren won’t say so, but Shinya can tell his shoulders are more relaxed than they were. It probably doesn’t have much to do with the heat, though.

“Okay.” Shinya finally holds his hands up. “I surrender. You win.”

“You want to go home?”

He won’t point out the disappointment in Guren’s tone, either.

“No,” Shinya says easily. “Let’s stay here for a while. Just stop splashing me, would you?”

Guren splashes him. The bastard.

But Shinya does not retaliate this time. He leans up against the edge of the pool and tilts his head back to see the first stars dusting over expansive indigo. He points up at them.

“Nice view from here. Kinda weird, after living in the city for so long.”

Guren settles at his side. His gaze trails up and past Shinya’s hand. “Yeah,” he mutters. “Guess it kinda is.”

Shinya’s arm falls down again. If his fingers brush against Guren’s arm intentionally, or it is just a mistake of his close proximity, neither of them will say so.

What Guren does say, to Shinya’s surprise, is “Thank you.”

He glances over at him, half-expecting a mouthful of water. But all that meets his eyes is Guren’s solemn gaze, darkened by the encroaching night.

“I forget sometimes,” he adds. Simply, like Shinya will know what he’s talking about.

And he does. That’s the whole point.

Shinya’s lips twitch. He swipes his hand across the water and throws some of it up at Guren’s chest. He says, “We’re not old yet.”

Guren’s own hand falls over top of Shinya’s. He does not speak. He does not splash back.

His fingers wrap around it. Tighten.

“I know,” he says, and Shinya hears what he means: You reminded me.

Shinya doesn’t pull his hand back. Guren never asks him too. The stars grow stark against twilight’s banner, refracted beneath the surface of the still water. Time ticks on.

They let it.

[thewickeddevil]

A Study In Jean Moreau

(tw: mentions of Jean's past, violence, mental health and suicidal thoughts/intention to die. let me know if there's something else)

ok, so, i say all the time that Jean Moreau is my favorite and comfort character in All For The Game (i know. it literally hurts but also brings me joy sometimes) and i would literally kill for that man. so, that said, i think too much about him and, consequently, i have too many hcs about him. on request, i will now do what i'm gonna call A Study In Jean Moreau

(my beta reader and best friend helped me a lot with this. thanks @jostenrun)

i'll start with this quote from one of my kerejean fics (https://archiveofourown.org/works/26146540)

During Jean's first four months at USC and playing with the Trojans, he would always ignore Jeremy and put a frown on his face whenever he was in the same place as him. It obviously wasn't the best of strategies to put distance between himself and all the Jeremy glow, but it looked exactly bad enough to work.

Still, Jeremy was all pompous and charming looks at him, always smiling and being polite even though he received much less in return. It pissed the shit out of Jean.

He was used by the Ravens for many years, treated exactly like the exchange item he had been, just possession and obliged to follow lines and lines of rules too strict even for how he should breathe.

Riko was violent, the Ravens were cruel, the Moriyama family was wrong and he needed to repeat this to himself on a daily basis to be able to just keep going.

Back at the beginning of those days, many times he would fight back until he was taught that it was only worse. Many times he would beg until he realized that it encouraged Riko more than it prevented him. Many times he would cry until he was taught that it was wrong.

He would often bleed.

He would often wish to bleed until there was nothing left in his veins, no thoughts in his brain, no air in his lungs, no words on the tip of his tongue—

And he would often try to do just that on his own.

That was his daily life for a long time. Evermore was what he knew, the Moriyama family was who he belonged to and all of that was for what he served. That was it.

How was he supposed to know back then that suddenly overly nice twenty-eight other people would replace all of that with magnificence?

How was he supposed to know that they wouldn't look at him with disgust whenever he accidentally let a curse in French slip away?

How was he supposed to know that the Trojans had complete freedom within the team, instead of having to walk in pairs like the Ravens?

How was he supposed to know that Jeremy wasn't going to hit him whenever he made a mistake?

Or how would he know that Jeremy never considered anything that he made a mistake?

It was all a very big break from reality and so, so suddenly. Jean felt confused at first. Lost, wrong, out of place, stupid and scared.

And Jeremy was always determined to be the best he could be. Jeremy was safe.

Until Jean felt comfortable, confident, fine, and satisfied. He was someone instead of something and he really felt like that.

i think Jean would take years to relearn how to live instead of surviving. sometimes he would fail at that, but so many failures can only lead to success eventually.

he really didn't want to keep playing exy after everything, he doesn't think exy is good at all and trauma made him hate it, but he needs it because of the deal with Ichirou. fortunately, the Trojans are a team big enough to put him in the background for a while, to give him a little rest. but he knows he can't relax too much

he starts therapy. he needs it badly and it takes time for him to really be able to do it, but Jean was never anything but strong, and when he sees the chance to finally heal he knows that, despite how tired he is, despite how many times he wonders if it's worth it to keep going, he needs to grab that and at least try. just one more time. he never wanted to work for anything in his life because nothing was important before, but now he thinks that maybe things are changing

the Trojans get a dorm exclusively for him at first, because they don't want Jean to force himself to share space with someone he doesn't know and still doesn't trust. they want Jean to have his own space and feel safe before anything. he needs that solitude and he knows that it doesn't mean loneliness because his team will always be just a call away from him

he relapses sometimes. days without taking basic care of himself and without getting up from bed, and he no longer remembers whether he’s alive or not. sometimes he's able to call his therapist when that happens, but sometimes he isn't

this is how he gets into the habit of learning poetry. and eventually, writing poetry. he needs a coping mechanism and words seem to be safe enough to float around in his mind and make space in his core

(French poetry that Kevin always dissects for him and tells about the history behind the period in which those texts were written, or about the authors of each text)

the process is slow but it’s progress nonetheless

so, we know about therapy, about not being easy, about difficulties and things happening slowly during the healing process, now let's talk about the little details when things finally start to work out positively. when the best part of Jean's life finally begins

he finds out that his eyesight isn't bad only because of the beatings he took in the nest, and finds it ridiculous when Jeremy offers to help him buy glasses because, according to him, all the glasses Jean likes make him look like a middle-aged man that curses people for fun. Jean doesn't hate it though

Jean learns how to swim and likes it more than he thought he would. he likes the fluidity and movements of the liquid around his skin, how he cuts the water with his body when moving around and how it doesn't hurt him, and he just feels light

Jean likes nutella and chocolate with nuts, because Jeremy used to give it to him after nightmares or difficult days, and it became a comfort food for him (something he wasn’t even allowed to eat in the nest)

Jean's musical taste is a big mess of R&B, soul, pop art, folk, dark pop... he likes artists like Lorde, Aurora, Marina, Sigrid, Sleeping at last and the list goes on

Before he left France, Jean's family had a farm and he was responsible for harvesting fruits and vegetables there. this is one of the last memories he has about France, so he likes to harvest fruits and vegetables whenever he has the chance in the US

Jean loves to read fantasy books. he is a hufflepuff and part of cabin 6 in camp half-blood (children of Athena)

he likes geography. pedology, topography and weather are his favorites. he likes to look at the sky and know how to name climatic phenomena regardless of where in the world he is

(he also likes history and sociology, but only because he can hear Kevin and Jeremy — respectively — talking for hours and hours about those two subjects)

he hates biology

he absolutely hates croissants, tea and coffee. in the morning he always drinks juice or chocolate milk (the latter is Jeremy's fault)

the first time he willingly got wasted on alcohol, he, Sarah and Laila woke Jeremy up in the wee hours of the night while singing in Spanish (Jean barely knows Spanish). he passed out after that and woke up the next day in his room. his first thought was that he was fine even though he lost control of himself around other people, and he cried because of that. Jeremy was concerned because he thought he was crying from a headache or something related to a hangover

Jean can never find shoes his size in conventional stores because he's very big (fucking tall, muscular but not too much, with large shoulders and hips, and eventually a tummy) and, consequently, his feet are also big. he needs to have it personalized and he completely hates it

he loves dogs but is easily scared by them. he couldn't get out of the dorms for almost an entire day after Jeremy's mom's dog barked too loud and it scared Jean. he felt guilty and didn't want people to be mad at him for being so scared of a simple dog

he loves cats though, and after some time into therapy, he adopted a service cat. Kevin and Jeremy always joke about it looking like a replica of Jean himself

Jean doesn't understand the purpose of MMA competitions, because he doesn't like violence and thinks martial arts should be only for self-defense, so he doesn't really understand why people choose to compete over something so aggressive

he also doesn't like the violence in exy, but he forgives because, at least, violence is not the main goal of the sport, but to score points

he learns to draw and starts to open art commissions on the internet. this is his first job and he's proud of it because it was something he achieved by himself

Jean and Jeremy fell in love on the beach

Kevin and Jean take time to forgive each other, especially Jean. the broken heart Kevin left in Jean hurt more than being abandoned by his parents. he suffered from it for years but he didn't really want to blame Kevin. he also knew Riko, after all. he knew how capable of driving someone insane Riko was. it didn't make things easier or less painful though. Kevin and Jean took time, but they never loved each other less

Kevin and Jean fell in love for the second time (the time they could, the time they were allowed) after one of the matches in which their teams were rivals

Jean is very picky for food consistency, and he hates ketchup and mayonnaise for that. he insists all the time that if people knew how to season the food well, they wouldn't need those condiments

(he secretly loves Dijon Mustard though)

Jean was born on 08/31. he’s a virgo

plushies are the first resource that Jean uses when he feels alone but is unable to be around anyone at the moment, so he unconsciously starts making a collection of them. they're all small, except for two that Kevin and Jeremy gave him and are, respectively, a fox and a red and gold trojan. he eventually distributes his plushies to children in local orphanages but keeps those two to himself out of sheer emotional attachment

he doesn't stop suffering because of his trauma throughout his life, but he learns to deal with it. that's the point of everything. he never thinks he will magically forget or get over it, but now he is in a different place in his life and he can start working his way to be the best version of himself he can. he doesn't fool himself into thinking it will be easy and fast, he never thought it would be less difficult than it really was, but he takes things slowly and carefully and hopes it works

his entire healing process is too complex and extensive to explain everything here, but i did the best i could and now i really need to stop because i could stay here ranting for days. xx

[alloftheimagines]

billy hargrove | babysitting duty

masterlist | request

words: 1.4k

warnings: mild swearing

prompt: How about a one-shot about reader working at the pool with Billy. And are in charge of teaching little kids how to swim and for some reason he's partnered up with her for lessons and just being surprised he's not that bad with kids? Maybe it ends with it resulting in a date?  [ @midnight-quartz​ ]

“Hargrove,” you call as you pad bare foot around the perimeter of the pool. “We’re on babysitting duty today.”

You throw him a pile of uninflated armbands as he groans. A light sheen of sweat covers his forehead, his sunglasses perched on top of his bouncy curls as he eyes the crowd of kids racing through the doors to the pool. The sun is beating down on you today, and for once you’re glad to be teaching if only so you can escape to the coolness of the swimming pool.

The two of you get to work, inflating the armbands for the kids who haven’t come prepared and collecting the floats from storage.

“Hey!” you hear Billy scold as the kids begin to climb into the shallow end of the pool. “No running. You don’t wanna be banned for life, do you?”

You throw the floats into the pool, watching with a smirk on your face. The child he’s talking to can’t be older than seven, and his eyes are wide as he shakes his head aggressively, peering up at Billy with an innocent expression.

“That’s what I thought. You got armbands, kid?”

“No,” he says quietly. “I lost them and my mommy says she can’t afford to buy another pair.”

Billy’s expression softens. You keep your eyes on them as you climb into the pool, the water cool against your hot skin. “Well, lucky for you, we’ve got plenty of spares.” He bends down, sliding the armbands onto the child’s thin arms gently. “Hey, if you accidentally forget to give them back at the end of the lesson, I won’t tell anyone.”

“Really? I can keep them?”

“Shh,” Billy hushes, finger to his lips as he ruffles the child’s hair. He stands up, a light blush forming on his tanned cheeks when he notices you are watching them. You smile at him, surprised at his kindness, but his expression turns back to its usual stoniness as he slips into the pool.

You ignore it, beginning your lesson in a loud, clear voice and ordering the kids to pair up. “Alright, guys, let’s start with a back float. Billy?” You motion to him to come closer, and he does, gingerly.

“In your pairs, I want you to take turns floating on your back.” Noticing their wary expressions, you elaborate. “Your partner will support you and keep you safe, and your armbands will make sure you don’t sink, I promise. Watch me.”

Billy is prepared as you fall onto your back, the water keeping you afloat. You feel Billy’s hands holding up the small of your back, though of course you don’t need it. Your eyes flutter shut against the midday sun.

“See?” Billy adds as you straighten back up, your damp hair heavy as it hits your back. “Easy peasy. You guys wanna give it a try?”

A chorus of, “Yes!”'s sings out as you smile reassuringly, glancing at Billy from the corner of your eye. He’s still looking at you, blue eyes glistening in the sunlight.

“I got something on my face, Hargrove?” you mutter as the kids begin to back float.

He shakes his head, brushing his blonde hair out of his face. “What, you too good to be looked at?”

“By you?” You raise an eyebrow. “Yes.”

With that, you wade away from him, helping the less confident kids out. From the other side of the group, you can hear a soft wail and see that one of the youngest children is crying with his head in his hands. You’re about to head over, but Billy beats you to it.

“What’s going on, kiddo?” he asks, twice the size of the little girl.

“I’m scared,” the girl whimpers, skin blotchy from her tears. She’s adorable, her hair in two braids, ends damp from the water.

Billy frowns. “What are you scared of, sweetheart?”

“What if I sink and drown?” Her bottom lip wobbles sadly.

“You see these?” Billy replies, pointing to the armbands with a soft expression—the same one he had worn when talking to the boy earlier. “These make sure that will never happen. These keep you safe.”

You turn you gaze away from them, helping another one of he kids who is wary about floating, but a moment later you can’t help but returning your focus to them. You’ve never seen Billy this way before, caring and helpful, gentle. Usually he’d grunt brutishly at you if you so much as asked him to blow his whistle at closing time.

“Tell you what,” he continues. “Why don’t I hold you up while you give it a try?”

The girl shakes her head nervously.

“You know, this sign,” he points to the lifeguard logo on his shorts, visible just above the water, “means I’m the lifeguard. That means I have to take care of you, no matter what. You think I’d let you drown?”

She shakes her head again, this time more confidently.

“That’s right. I promise I’ve got you. If you really don’t want to do it, you don’t have to, but I think you’re stronger than you think.” He smiles reassuringly, a smile you’ve never seen before. You’ve never noticed how pretty he is when he thinks nobody is looking, how his pink lips curve at the corners and his blue eyes glitter as though you have his full attention. “What do you say, you trust me?”

The girl nods. Billy smiles again, putting his hands on her back and instructing her to lean backwards. She does, hesitantly, giggling as the water laps against her.

“See, you’re doing it. Look at that.”

You turn your attention away as he catches your gaze suddenly, heading over to the other side of the pool in the hopes he didn’t see you watching him. Little do you know, he’s watching you walk away, licking his lips with pride.

The lesson passes quickly, and you’re sad to return to the hot concrete as you guide everyone out of the pool, collecting armbands. Billy winks at the boy who borrowed some, a finger to his lips again as he smirks.

The girl is a few paces behind, and she stops as she comes to them. “Thank you, Mister.”

“You don’t need to thank me, kiddo,” he replies, kneeling to her level. “You were the brave one. You think you wanna try again soon?”

She nods, earning another wide grin from Billy.

“Good girl.” He ruffles her wet hair the way he had with the boy earlier, his muscles rippling as he stands up.

You smile at the interaction as she walks off, collecting the floats from the side of the pool. “You’re good with kids.”

“You sound surprised,” he retorts, helping you with the armbands and floats. The two of you head towards storage, more slowly than you usually would.

“I am,” you admit. “I can barely get two words from you unless it’s to be sarcastic, let alone a smile. Would have had more luck if I was 3-foot-tall with pigtails, huh?”

He shrugs. “Kids are a pain in the ass, but I don’t wanna be the guy that makes ‘em feel like shit. They come here to have fun, y’know?”

“Right.”

“Besides, I didn’t realise you wanted a smile from me.” He’s smirking as he takes the floats from you, piling them in storage haphazardly and locking the door. “All you had to do was ask, sweetheart.”

You roll your eyes, about to walk away when his voice pulls you back.

“You know, I learnt most of it from you.”

“What?” you frown.

“Working with the kids,” he explains. “I watched you take a few of the lessons on my break the other week. Honestly, I was shit-scared of teaching them; had no idea how to talk to them. You taught me everything I know.”

You tilt your head. “Is that right?”

He gives you a slight nod, still smiling. “Maybe you can teach me some more. Y’know, say tonight at eight?”

This takes you aback, and suddenly you’re very aware of the fact that you are both wearing only your swimsuits. It had never bothered you before; it’s your work uniform, after all. Now you feel exposed by Billy’s piercing blue eyes. “Are you asking me out?”

“Is that alright?” his voice is confident, but you catch the doubt as his expression falters for only a moment.

You sigh, hesitant. It’s the flutter in your stomach that answers for you. “Yeah, I guess that’s alright. Eight it is.”

“I’ll pick you up.” He takes a step closer to you, his eyelashes dark with dampness. “Maybe I’ll give you more than just a smile, huh?”

He leaves you with that, sauntering away with only a glance spared over his shoulder. You laugh, shaking your head at his retreating figure. Today certainly hadn’t turned out how you'd expected.

[du0tine]

𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍: 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 | 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐄 𝐀 𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐋𝐄!

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓: 1,803 | 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: below the line!

angst. self-intoxication, use of alcohol. hallucinations. unrequited love. dark best friends to lovers au. mentions of murder. drowning. light description of blood and gore. mentions of rigor mortis and rotting flesh. viewer descretion is advised!

“Remember when we were young? Too innocent for this world with simply no fucks to give?” You say, your voice is painfully hoarse as you take a long and painful swig from your whiskey. Cringing you whine from the burning sensation that ripped at your throat, you didn’t even like whiskey and yet here you were drinking your sorrows away. This wasn’t anything new though, it was routinely for you to rip yourself apart on this night every year. The night he left you. 

There wasn’t anything special between you besides the fact that you’d grown up together and were best friends. Having such a bond made it inevitable for feelings to arise. Whether it come from one of you or both, it seemed to have happened and unfortunately it only came from you. Your feelings for the boy were strong, you loved him with everything you had. At one point you were even willing to die for him and you did. Not physically but mentally a large chunk of your heart dispersed, your soul died having sacrificed itself for him. He fell in love with someone else and you lost a part of yourself in acceptance of that. 

“Would it be that hard for you to return my feelings?” You ask out, your voice echoing into the void. It was always silent, every night was simply like the next. You gave your heart to him and in return you were met with an eternal silence. You’d never learn to love again, not after him. 

Silently you expected there to be another voice, his voice. You knew there would be no reply and yet you wanted one. All you wanted was to hear his voice one more time and yet you’d come far enough in life to simply end up alone without him. Surely at the age of 26, graduated with a degree in business and running your empire up the stock market, you’d become successful. You were living the life you always wanted but what was it without him? At moments like these all the money in the world meant nothing without Jaemin by your side. 

Sighing to yourself you kick off your shoes, your feet slapping against the marbled floors. The coldness making you shiver lightly as you take another swing from your drink. The bitterness of the alcohol warming you up, you could feel yourself sweating up as your vision become hazy. You could feel yourself getting drunk in memory of him. 

Holding the glass bottle in front of yourself you slush the liquid around. You felt confined like this as if you were the liquid contents inside this beautiful glass bottle of poison. Self intoxication of alcohol being your only escape during times like these. You were simply drowning yourself in your own issues, swimming around in your problems. At this rate you were slowly killing yourself. The mix of loneliness and the harshness you suffocated yourself with was draining you of life. There was simply no future for you like this. 

Pushing past the balcony doors you hoist yourself onto the balcony railings, the coldness of the night air blowing roughly past you. Whipping at your skin as goosebumps arose, littering your skin. Bringing the bottle up towards the sky you hold it next to the moon, watching as it slowly disappears behind the cluster of dark clouds. It was almost as if everything and anything wanted to disappear in plain sight of you, just like him. 

“Jaemin, tonight we toast to you,” Raising the bottle up higher in salutation to the night sky before bringing it to your lips and emptying it’s contents. The empty bottle feels much lighter in your hands as you feel your head spin. The world seems to be speeding up as your body slows down. Sauntering back and forth on the railing you struggle to keep your balance. 

Once, twice you stagger back and forth. A cluster of hysterical laughs bursting past your lips as you through your head back in amusement. Finally, you felt like you were letting yourself go. 

“Honestly, maybe life will be better without you,” You ponder to yourself as you playfully stick one foot off the railing. “Either way if I were to fall you wouldn’t catch me would you? You didn’t have my back in the past so it’s a good thing you aren’t here now too. You wouldn’t dedicate yourself to me the way I did to you.” 

Momentarily you stand still, your chest heaving heavily as you gaze out at your backyard from above. Its calm and serene, the pool that lay directly below is still. The water reflecting the dark skies colours showcasing a murky, dark blue and black. It was almost like an abyss. Your mind strays off and you mentally note to yourself to have the contractor come and install pool lights. Maybe that would clear up your life, you couldn’t swim in your problems anymore. If you found some sort of light in your life perhaps then you could finally be free and instead of drowning, you’d be floating on the surface calmly. 

“Everything is just too dark, maybe that’s why I’m so clouded up.” 

“No it’s not, you have me here,” Replies a voice.

You feel the hairs on the back of your neck raise up in fear as you whip your head in the direction of the voice. Turning around you see a dark silhouette, his silhouette. He’s standing there in the dark and yet somehow you can just tell by his tall, slim figure and broad shoulders that it’s him. But how? There was no way he could’ve entered your home without you letting him and certainly without the security alarm going off. Overall though, he was gone. So how was it that he was back?

“Who are you?!” You confront the figure, your voice is rather shrill, laced in fear.

“You already forgot? No— you definitely know who I am. You’d never forget me,” He replies, his voice is different from the usual soft tone he once used with you. This time it just sounds much more menacing and much more evil. 

Then you finally see his face as he steps out from the shadows. Shrouded in darkness you see his visage, his features are still the same except for the painfully discomforting smile plastered on his face. His eyes are glassy and cold, no longer sparkling with warmth. The black tufts of his hair blow in the wind, brushing past his forehead and flying up into the air. There you see it, the small circular hole in the middle of his forehead. The wound seems fresh as the dark crimson blood slowly begins to seep out. Drifting down his t-zone and past his nose bridge. 

“There’s just…no way you could’ve forgotten,” He continues as he slowly inches his way towards you, “I mean after all you did this to me, remember?” 

You can’t breath, your chest feels tight and your throat simply won’t budge. You can’t even bring yourself to scream, simply just standing there in fear. Your eyes wide displaying all the emotions of fear you had deep inside of you. Within moments he’s standing in front of you, looking up at you. His skin is pale, as the blood continues to seep out of his forehead splashing him with the only colour of life he had. 

Reaching forward slowly his arms snake towards you as he wraps them around your waist and hugs you tightly. He feels like cement, his skin is hard and freezing and he simply just won’t let go. You snap out of your trance, your fight or flight kicking in as you try and get him off of you but no, he won’t let you go. Not now but isn’t that what you wanted? 

“I didn’t leave you silly,” He says, his breath is cold against your skin. The smell of death omitting from him as it feels like his aura is making the world around you feel polluted. “After all you killed me in fear of losing the one you loved most, me,” He continues as his places his head against your chest, you feel the blood pour onto your skin. It feels wet and damp as you start to hyperventilate squirming in his arms as you struggle to pry him off. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about! You left me for her!” You scream in frustration as he simply hugs you tighter. It feels like you are being molded into place within his arms as he leans against you, pushing harder and harder making you feel heavy. 

“Well I’m here now, isn’t that what you wanted? You’ve always been greedy haven’t you,” He says once more as you drag your finger nails against his skin, peeling his skin off as a result. His flesh is rotting as he shows no reaction simply holding you tighter. Screaming in fear you feel his skin caught up within your finger nails. You try to push him off once more but this time he fights back. Hoisting you up onto his shoulder as he pushes you off the edge of the balcony. The two of you falling into the dark pool. The water feels suffocating as it pulls you both towards the bottom. His figure floats over you, his hands on your waist as he helps push you down. 

“Remember when we were young?” He asks, the bubbles blowing past his lips as he speaks out loud to you, his voice echoes slowly inside the water. “You promised that we would die together, in order to spend the rest of eternity with each other. You know? Best friends forever?” 

Your gaze feels hazy as you struggle to breath, your vision is cloudy. All your sense draining from your body except for the feeling of his touch against your skin. 

“You couldn’t let me live in happiness couldn’t you? So I’ll take you with me and now, we can be happy together.” He says as he closes the distance between you both, engulfing you in a hug. Suddenly the coldness doesn’t bother you anymore. The life is slowly leaving you as he presses his forehead against you, the tip of his nose brushing against yours as he kisses you tightly. “With your death, I’ll accept your feelings since you couldn’t bare me loving someone else,” He says as your eyes shut once and for all, the water has long filled up your lungs and you are no longer alive and now Jaemin feels like both you and him can rest peacefully. 

Your unrequited love being accepted by him, once and for all. The only price you had to pay was with your life since you’d so greedily stole his. 

𝑨𝑳𝑳 𝑹𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻𝑺 𝑹𝑬𝑺𝑬𝑹𝑽𝑬𝑫 ©︎𝑫𝑼0𝑻𝑰𝑵𝑬

[markedforruin]

The Forest Lawn Mill Mystery Prologue

So here’s a small thing I wrote with Jeffery Mason and Sage Wilkinson. Will it be continued? most likely. When? who knows lol 

Reminder that Jeffery Mason as a character is solely owned by David Near, and I am in no way affiliated with him and this is just a fanwork. Nothing crazy. Go listen to his audios on youtube if you haven’t!

Story here:

It hadn’t been more than a few days since Sage had begun talking to the new kid at school.

He was kind of weird. 

He had albinism but dyed his hair black, as if he didn’t stand out enough as is. Apparently he thought black hair combined with his extremely pale face would help him blend in, but he was already hanging out with the class goth so… Sage doubted that. 

Maybe “hanging out” was an overstatement. They had been assigned a group project, and they talked a lot, but they hadn’t hung out outside of school hours. Maybe if they did, Sage would get to know Jeff better, and they could stop complaining about math class and talk about things they liked. 

“So uh… Are you doing anything after classes?” Sage was so bad at making friends, but they had to try. Jeff seemed like a cool person after all. 

“Why?” Jeff’s almost monotone voice broke through the silent school library. 

“Because I was thinking maybe you’d wanna hang out more? We can come over to my place… You could meet Beetle?”

Jeff gave his classmate a sideways glare. “You got a pet beetle or something?”

“No! No, it's a horse! He’s a horse. His name is Beetle.”

Jeff chuckled a little, covering his mouth with a fist. “That’s the weirdest horse name I’ve heard of.” He admitted. 

“But it’s not the worst! My parents own a riding school so we live on a huge farm property, and trust me, some folks have horses stabled there with even worse names.” Sage laughed, finding his phone to look up the site his parents had made. 

“Here, look-” He shoved the phone in Jeff’s face, leaning all into him.

“What the fuck- Post Stallione? Like Post Malone?”

“yeah. He’s a fine horse but his name is…”

“That’s so fucking cringe, Sage.”

“I know!”

They had a small laugh, but fell silent again quickly.

“So… Is that a yes, or?”

Jeff sighed audibly and loudly.

“I don’t know.” Was his reply. Sage thought he wasn’t going to say more, but he released a breath and opened his mouth again.

“We’re still missing some furniture at my house, and I don’t think my dad would like you, so… Fine. Fine. I need a fucking break from that house anyways…” He mumbled that last part.

“Is your dad homophobic?” Sage tapped their pencil on the paper. The numbers were swimming around on the page, and they’d resorted to doodling their horse instead of doing math. 

“Honestly I think he’s just ignorant, but he’s real fucking annoying about it. Barely knows what a transgender person is, let alone someone like you.”

Sage turned to look at Jeff, and the boy looked back.

“Because I’m nonbinary?”

“yeah.”

Sage huffed mockingly. “When I meet him-”

“IF.”

“WHEN I meet him, I’ll look him in the eye and say “Nice to meet you ma’am, you must be the housewife! you’ve birthed a fine young son, i am glad to be his friend.””

That had Jeff laughing, and Sage joined in. 

“I’m not opposed to mocking my dad, that’s for sure!”

“And I’m not above kicking down the ego of dads like yours.” Sage bowed dramatically. 

“Alright, alright, I’ll come home with you, then. You’re fucking hilarious, Sage.”

Sage clicked their tongue. “Thank you, I know I gave a stellar performance.”

Fastest way out of Forest Lawn was the school bus, which meant they were surrounded by lots of noisy teenagers.

Both of them wore their earbuds to drown it all out. Sage leaned over to look at Jeff’s phone. 

The boy leaned away clearly not wanting to share his screen.

“What are you listening to?” 

“Nothing you’d like.”

“Try me.”

Jeff offered an earbud in silence. 

What came out the other end was… Oh hey! Emperor!

“Oh symphonic black metal… Good taste dude.”

Jeff looked back at Sage with almost googly eyes.

“That’s new.”

“What, somebody liking the same music as you? Dude I listen to metal too, look at me!”

“I’ve been looking at you since we were assigned that group project, Sage.”

“So?” Sage snatched Jeff’s phone to add some music to his playlist.

Jeff shrugged, and let Sage take over his phone on his watch. 

Their stop was the very last, and as they hopped out, the only things around them were trees and gravel paths.

“It’s not far from here, just gotta go up this way.”

Jeff followed along silently, not protesting. 

“What do you think about Forest Lawn so far?” Sage looked back at Jeff. 

“You want an honest answer?”

“Yeah, I live right outside the town, I don’t care what you think of it.”

“It’s fucking horrible, honestly. I hate this town.”

Sage nodded thoughtfully.

They made it to the main driveway, and the Wilkinson’s riding school property slowly came to light.

“People say the town is cursed, y’know.” Sage unlocked the main door and waltzed inside.

“I’m not superstitious. Also where’s your parents?”

It was a bit too quiet in the house. 

“They’re working until 8 pm, and also they’re both very superstitious so they’ve told me a lot of stuff about the town.”

Sage led Jeff upstairs to their room and threw the school bag they’d carried on the floor next to his desk.

They motioned for Jeff to sit on the bed. It was pretty big, so Sage joined him. 

“Ok, spit it out, tell me.” Jeff seemed pretty eager to know about all this. 

Sage cracked his knuckles. “Let’s go, then.”

They both got comfortable, and then Sage began.

“People talk about Teenagers and young adults being brainwashed by radio static, and children keep reporting this “man in the woods”, also there’s rumors floating around about the abandoned Mill close to here… It’s complicated. Around 30 years ago Forest Lawn saw the biggest disappearance of children ever over the summer. None of them were found, until 5 years ago, when one single naked woman was found passed out on the highway with her leg torn open. Her DNA showed that she was literally one of the children that had gone missing.”

Jeff intently listened, not a noise escaping him as Sage told their story. 

“She’s still in psychiatric care at Pinehearst State hospital. Last update the public got from her was that she was adamant about some “tall man” that took care of everyone, which is the exact same thing children are saying today too.”

Sage paused for a moment.

“The Mill, though? man that’s a crazy story. It’s locked up and apparently age old paint on it from like… the 1800’s that says “plague, stay out” was painted on. It’s kind of close to here but I’ve never visited because you can’t get there by car, and going on horseback is at least a whole day’s trip.”

“I wanna see that mill, are you serious!?” Jeff was officially invested.

“What if there are dead bodies in there or something, dude? no way!”

“Uh, yes way, you didn’t strike me as a coward.”

“Group pressure doesn’t work on me Jeff.”

“Group pr- we’re two people, man.”

Sage crossed his arms. “I bet you don’t even know how to ride a horse.”

Jeff shot back at him. “Fine, then teach me.”