#thank GOD (and any other divine being who wants a shout out) that I noped outta his inbox jfc

[kneelb4kesha]

So tired rn that I scrolled past a post about Good Omens s2, attempted to remember when its release date will be (did not remember that due to being Wiped Out the memory drive has a current 7 minutes of buffering time), and was a harrowing moment away from the classic tumblr pasttime of treating @neil-gaiman's inbox as an ANI voice assistant. "Hey Siri Neil, what date is-"

[whereisten]

Stupid Cupid

A Taeyong fic that’s a part of our Halloween Series!

Summary: Cupid, also known as Taeyong, has never experienced real love. But when he meets you, he may finally have a chance.

Pairing: Cupid! Taeyong x female reader

Genre: romance, angst, fluff, smut, fantasy

Word Count: 13k

Warnings: oral (male receiving), penetration, breast fondling, cursing, alcohol use

(A/N: thank you guys so much for being so sweet and understanding and patient. I’ve always believed Halloween should be a celebration for multiple months out of the year and since the Halloween series is ongoing, it works 💀. Anyways, I’m so excited to share this with y’all. ❤️ One of my favorite songs is “Give Me Love” by Ed Sheeran. And the music video features Cupid so I was inspired. 👍🏼 I hope you guys enjoy it! I also was inspired by “The Consequences of Cursing Cupid” by @by-moonflower). I loved it!)

...

Cupid was one of God’s most prized pupils. He was also one of His most beautiful creations. His hair had the shades of pink you’d see at sunset and warm brown eyes that could claim the heart of almost anyone. His tan skin glowed, bringing a piece of heaven’s glow down to earth with him. His body was slender, elegant, and muscular. His true appearance was known to few mortals but overtime, historians were able to conclude that Cupid was as beautiful as any of the archangels.

God entrusted his son to bring love and hope to the world one couple at a time. With his bow and arrow, he was able to give people love every day. As the years have passed, though, the population of the world expanded and Cupid only had so much time in the day to bring couples together. God and Cupid carefully handpicked Cupid fledglings throughout the years. Cupid wasn’t alone in his work anymore and he could afford some downtime every few centuries. It was 2020 and it was time for Cupid, or, as he was known by his earthly name, Lee Taeyong, to take a vacation.

Taeyong arrived in the sunny coastal town of Isla one Sunday morning. He would stay here for a few months. Taeyong would’ve kept working if he hadn't been forced by his coworkers to take a leave of absence. He’d always been a huge workaholic and quite the perfectionist. He was the type of guy who liked to get things done by himself. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his team. He just had a fixation with doing things his own way, which caused many clashes over the years.

This time, God had to intervene and force Taeyong to step down so that newly realized Cupids like Haechan and Yangyang could step up in his absence. Taeyong moved into a beach house right by the beach. A whole mansion to himself, he grimaced. What the hell was he supposed to do in such an expansive and luxurious place all by himself? Well, he had some ideas.

As much of a workaholic Taeyong was....when he let loose, he really let loose. It was like there was an on/off switch in his brain when it came to his rebellion and since he was out of work for the foreseeable future, it was time to turn the switch on. All work and no play for so many years made him act out in rebellion, which was why God sent Cupids Sicheng and Kun to watch out for Taeyong this time around.

Taeyong heard a knock on the door of his beach house. He frowned in confusion.  

“Knock knock,” Kun said as he brought in suitcases and carried a backpack over his shoulder. Sicheng followed him in with his own bags as well.

Taeyong frowned. “What are you guys doing here?”

Sicheng beamed. “We’re here to make sure you don’t start up another orgy and anger many significant others…”

Kun nodded. “You’ll barely know we’re here.”

Taeyong brought out his angelic smile. “Is that so?”

…

Even with Kun and Sicheng on his tail, Taeyong was able to throw a massive party at the beach house the next night. A pretty face like Taeyong’s and a few likes on Instagram could attract many followers. And with followers, there was a great party. Celebrities even caught wind of the festivities. Taeyong was able to hire caterers and event planners to make the beach house a Hawaiian paradise. Tiki torches were lit all around the house. People lounged in the lagoon-shaped pool. There were party games in every room in the mansion.

Your friends convinced you to come with them to the hot new bachelor’s party. You could use a night out after working another six day work week at the local Isla Humane Animal Shelter. You wanted to let loose and dance with your friends. If only for a little while. Hopefully, you didn’t think about him now that you were able to relax.

Taeyong was having the time of his immortal life, dancing with one girl...one boy...after another. He was already hooking up with people on the dance floor in the backyard that overlooked the beach. He would grind behind one girl while another boy grinded against him from behind. Taeyong was in nothing but red swim trunks. His abs glistened with sweat and-

Your friend Jisoo said, “y/n, ask him to dance.”

You’d spent the last few minutes staring at the dancefloor. You couldn’t help but watch the pretty boy who stood at the center. You quickly gulped down your drink and shook your head. “Pass.”

Jisoo sucked her teeth. “Y/n, you’ve been staring at him for five minutes now.”

You rolled your eyes. “I like to observe my surroundings...It’s nothing.”

“You should ask the pretty boy to dance. It won’t hurt.”

“Nope. I’m fine right here, drinking my free pina colada...Not a care in the world.”

Jisoo replied, “Y/n, it’s been five months...”

You met Jisoo’s eyes. “Yeah, and I’m doing a lot better. You know this. My family knows it. All of the people who should be sorry to follow me on any social media know this.”

Jaehyun joined you two. “She's talking about how she’s over...him?”

Jisoo nodded. “And she clearly wants to dance with The Bachelor over there.”

Jaehyun watched him, also. “Well, for starters, he’s way cuter than that bastard but she should stay away from him. He’s trouble.”

Jisoo scoffed. “Who are you? Her father?”

Relieved that Jaehyun was on your side, you said, “Thank you, Jay! Now don’t worry about me, Jisoo...I’m great! I’m out of the house. I’m cutting a rug.”

Jisoo eyed you. “Okay…”

Now you had to admit that you thought about throwing caution to the wind and dancing close to the man, making ‘come hither’ eyes at him, kissing him in a closet, and calling it a night. The idea made you wet just thinking about it. But you knew yourself. You were the type to fall hard. And you fell hard once and it left you broken to this day.

Anyway, Pretty Boy seemed kind of busy so you turned the other way to join a game of poker in the living room.

Every human that spent an intimate moment with dear old Cupid was guaranteed the best orgasm of their lives. In Taeyong’s hands, his lover would feel treasured and adored and spoiled. Taeyong, a bringer of love, could bring paradise to anyone.

Now in his human form, Taeyong still had some of those divine powers. However, in a human body, he had limitations.

Like his alcohol tolerance, which, unfortunately for him, had never been good.

Before he could take anyone to paradise like he’d longed to do since he came to the Earthly plane, he was outside in his front lawn, vomiting all of the alcohol he downed in the past two hours.

Taeyong felt woozy. He wasn’t all there the moment when you first approached him. He looked awful. Pale and sweaty from puking so much.

Your concern outweighed your fear of talking to him so you approached him. You handed him a bottle of room temperature water and a wet towel from his kitchen so he could clean himself up.

Taeyong uncapped the water bottle and drank. He managed to say, “Thank you.”

You sighed, relieved to see that he was responsive. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I am...Thanks…What’s your-”

“Y/n! Time to go,” Jaehyun started. Jaehyun promised to take you home. You were supposed to go into the shelter tomorrow to finalize an adoption.

You shouted back, “Coming!” You turned to your friend. Taeyong couldn’t see your face now. You did smell heavenly, though. Like fresh berries and daisies.

You turned back to Taeyong and smiled. Even if he was a wreck, he was still the most gorgeous male you’d ever seen. “Great party. Take care of yourself.”

Taeyong was still trying to sober up but he was able to meet your eyes, the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen on this planet. In any realm, actually. “You, too…”

You left him there, curious about you. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to ponder further as he threw up again. Maybe these parties were getting old. He always found himself like this whenever he visited good ol’ planet Earth...

…

[One Month Later]

Taeyong continued to indulge in his debauchery, throwing parties every night. Part of him hoped you would return so he could properly thank you for your kindness.

Your eyes were sultry and your scent was intoxicating. He wished he could remember you.

Every night that he spent time with a different partner, he thought of you.

Without any hidden agenda to get in bed with him, you absolutely fascinated him. His clouded judgment that night only made him remember your eyes. That was all he had to go on. He couldn’t explain the need to see you again.

The need grew stronger and stronger.

He certainly couldn’t ask his coworkers or the big man upstairs for help. Surely, they’d misinterpret his actions. He simply wanted to see you again.

In the process, Taeyong slowly began to reevaluate his time on Earth. Like Gatsby before him, he threw even more parties in hopes of you showing up. But he had no idea about your hectic work schedule. The parties continued and Taeyong quickly grew bored. Maybe he needed to get out and explore the city if he ever hoped to see you again.

In the daytime, Taeyong found himself waking up earlier and sending his partners on their merry way. He took up a couple of hobbies at home, as well. Baking and playing games on his Nintendo Switch. For his outings, he’d go to the mall, the grocery store, the amusement park, and more. Everywhere he could think of. But you weren’t there. He had the ability to feel your presence but you were never within his radar and it frustrated him.

Taeyong finished swimming a couple of laps in the pool and went into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. Kun was making dinner and Sicheng was setting the table.

“Penny for your thoughts, boss?” Sicheng inquired.

Taeyong sighed. “I’m just wondering when you two will finally leave me be.”

Kun turned off the stove and let the stir fry cool. “When your sexual appetite ceases.”

Taeyong frowned. “Have you no shame to comment on my activities?”

Sicheng and Kun looked at each other and looked back at Taeyong. “No.”

Taeyong sighed. “If you must know, the parties will cease tonight. I have given up.”

“Given up on what?” Sicheng asked.

They couldn’t know about Taeyong’s true motive with his parties. “Parties, of course.”

“Really?” Kun asked as he washed his hands.

Taeyong sighed. “Yes. Now let’s eat.”

A few hours later, Taeyong went to the beach to get some sun. A few girls asked for his number and he simply pretended not to know English. He spoke Japanese and spoke broken English to throw them off. He was in no mood to frolick. He was frustrated.

It was because of you. He couldn’t explain it but he desperately wanted to see you. Wanted to know you. Wanted to feel you come alive under him as he pleased you. And he had no leads.

Maybe he should just throw in the towel. It was dangerous for him to entertain the idea of seeing someone as more than just a fling. Knowing his one night stand’s name was more information than he needed.

Perhaps you weren’t real. Oh, heavens. He knew you were real but maybe he should convince himself of the contrary so he could give up on you.

Meanwhile, you’d been busy non-stop. You couldn’t go out and unwind because of your extremely-packed schedule, which was just how you liked it. Whatever free time you had was spent at home curled up in bed before bedtime. It was how you preferred it, though. It helped you get over your ex much more quickly. Or so you thought, anyway.

One of your co-workers at the shelter was an adoption counselor who had a family event she needed to attend. So she asked you for a favor. You came in for the afternoon shift to help pair up families with pets.

You loved working at the shelter, helping animals find their forever homes. It broke your heart to see so many of them, neglected and homeless. You always knew you wanted to work with animals, though. In high school, you started at the shelter as a volunteer. Now, you were one of the managers. You helped with fundraisers and outreach events to get the shelter animals’ faces out there.

You went to check on the dogs, cats, rabbits, ferrets, and other residents of the shelter, like you always did. Then, you finished adopting out an Australian Shepherd. His new family already adored him. The shelter’s adoption process was strict so if a family really wanted to commit to a pet, they had to commit to the process to prove it. So you had high hopes that this adoption would be permanent.

On the off chance it wouldn’t, these animals always had a home here. You wouldn’t cease until you did everything you could to get a home for each animal that walked through the shelter’s front doors.

You took a picture of the happy family to post on the shelter’s social media. You sent them off. You felt like you were being watched so you turned to the front window where you recognized Jaehyun and the pink-haired man from the Hawaiian paradise party. They were talking like they knew each other.

You frowned and walked outside to greet them. “Jaehyun?”

The men faced you. Jaehyun beamed, “Y/n! I was passing through and I ran into Taeyong here who is looking to volunteer at the shelter.” Taeyong was about to cut in when Jaehyun continued. “Is there a volunteer orientation today?”

You shook your head. “It’s tomorrow, Jay.”

Taeyong just looked at you, not saying a word.

You tilted your head in confusion. “But...If you’re free, Taeyong, we’d love to have you.”

Jaehyun answered for him. “Of course he is. There’s no other place he’d rather be!”

Taeyong shot Jaehyun a look but his face softened as he looked at you. “Yeah...He’s right about that.”

Still confused, you smiled. “Okay, tomorrow it is.”

Taeyong headed home after his confrontation with the meddlesome Jaehyun. Just who was he to you, he wondered. How dare he cross a god?

Sure, Jaehyun was a beautiful specimen but he was not at his level, Taeyong thought to himself.

[A Few Hours Ago]

After his time at the beach, Taeyong took another stroll through the town, exploring small businesses and stumbling upon an animal shelter.

Through the front window, he saw a family with their Australian Shepherd. And that’s when his radar switched on. His heart squeezed and his breathing faltered. You were here. You greeted the family inside. They posed for a family photo together with their dog. They held a sign that read “Furrever Home” on it. The family thanked you and you sent them off.

You were exquisite. Your smile. The glimmer of hope in your eyes. Your laugh. You were out of breath from running around so much and from the excitement, he could tell. Even though you were stressed and tired, you were happy at that moment. You turned toward his direction and he read your name on your name tag: y/n.

Taeyong wanted to rush in and call for your name but his feet were planted to the ground.

“Hey, I remember you,” someone called out to him.

Taeyong snapped out of his daze and turned to find a handsome young man with black hair frowning at him. Taeyong started. “I’m sorry. I don’t-“

“You’re Taeyong. You throw parties at that beach house and you’re the city’s most eligible bachelor. It’s all over social media.”

“Yes, and?”

The stranger glared as he nodded at you through the window. “You’ve been watching her, haven't you?”

Taeyong smirked. “And what about it?”

The man looked down at Taeyong’s pants where his member betrayed him. Jaehyun lifted his eyebrows.

Taeyong shrugged. “It’s rude to stare at a stranger’s crotch.”

He laughed. “You’re pretty easy to read, Taeyong. But I gotta warn you: don’t waste her time if you’re not fully committed.”

Taeyong laughed. “And who are you to tell me this?”

“Someone who refuses to see his friend’s heart broken again.”

Again, Taeyong wondered. “Well, I have no plans to let it get that far.”

He rolled his eyes. “Right.”

“Jaehyun?” You started.

Then, the conniving Jaehyun set Taeyong up to be a volunteer at the animal shelter without his consent. Well, Taeyong could’ve said no at any time but he didn’t want to disappoint you. Besides, this would be an opportunity to get to know you. Jaehyun may not be so bad, after all, Taeyong mused.

Jaehyun left Taeyong with these parting words. He grinned, showing his dimples. “If you hurt her, I will run you out of this town.”

Taeyong smiled. “I’d like to see you try.”

To anyone else, it would’ve seemed like two friends were parting ways but in reality, it was more like a declaration of war.

Your friend Jaehyun was very protective of you, Taeyong realized. He wondered if Jaehyun was enamored with you. And your nickname of “Jay” for him made Taeyong’s stomach turn.

Who was he to you? And why was he butting in on Taeyong’s pursuit of you? And what did Jaehyun mean by you getting your heart broken again? Who broke your heart? And why was he still breathing, unless Jaehyun failed to mention your ex’s funeral?

Taeyong wasn’t going to break your heart. He wasn’t that stupid. He spent enough time on this planet to set boundaries and never fall in too deep with a human.

It didn’t matter if you made him feel different than any other human has after twenty seconds of an interaction.

…

[The Next Day]

Taeyong wasn’t sure how he would feel about working with animals because he’s never interacted with them before. He envied any family who had a pet, though.

It was a kind of love he didn’t get to see frequently. His job was primarily focused on romantic love so it always fascinated him to see familial love, love between friends, and now love between man and man’s best friend.

You led the volunteer orientation. It was a relatively full house. You gave the new recruits the rundown on maintenance, walking the dogs, socializing with the animals, feeding, laundry, and safety. Taeyong was so impressed by how skilled and informative you were at work. You were a no-nonsense girl when you needed to be.

When the orientation ended, Taeyong lingered behind in the staff meeting room. You had to admit that seeing Taeyong again made your heart do weird things. You’d dreamed of him for a few nights and part of you wished you could’ve gone to another one of his parties. Your friends told you he’d thrown so many this past month that they lost count. So you were shocked to see this wealthy party boy at an animal shelter of all places. You did notice as you gave your talk that his eyes never strayed from yours.

After the orientation, you began, “Hey, Taeyong. How did you like the orientation?”

He smiled. “You were brilliant.”

Your face heated up. “Thanks.”

He asked, “I was wondering if you were free tonight to-“

A volunteer popped in. “Y/n, code leash with Ruby!” Code leash meant a dog was loose in the shelter without a leash on.

You started. “Oh, God. Sorry, Taeyong, I have to help catch one of our dogs.”

You looked distressed so Taeyong decided to help. He didn’t know where this altruism came from but it was there. “I can help.”

“Thank you. I have to warn you, though. She’s not friendly with most people. So be careful.”

You and Taeyong teamed up to catch Ruby while some of the other volunteers also teamed up elsewhere. Ruby had hidden under one of the benches near the cat corner of the shelter.

Ruby was a Papillon, also known as a Continental Toy Spaniel. She was a reserved dog. She was adopted as a puppy but when she was a year old, her owners gave her up for adoption when they were expecting a baby. With the betrayal she’d experienced, she closed herself off from most people and most animals. It took a few weeks for her to warm up to you.

Ruby had cute ears that resembled a butterfly’s, which explained the name of her breed, the Papillon.

With her leash in your hands, you crouched down to greet her. “Hi, Ruby…”

She surprised you by running over to Taeyong, who froze in his tracks. Ruby jumped against his legs and cried. She wanted his attention.

You looked at them in shock. Ruby had never taken so quickly to someone before. You were impressed.

Taeyong’s eyes doubled in size as he slowly backed up. Ruby continued to jump against his legs, regardless. “What’s happening? Is she trying to kill me?”

You fought back a laugh. “No...She wants you to hold her.”

He looked mystified. “Uh...I’ve never…”

“You’ve never…?”

For the first time, he looked shy. “I’ve never held a dog before…”

You approached them and called Ruby again. “Ruby, I’ll help you.”

You picked Ruby up and guided Taeyong. “Just raise your arms and cradle her. It’s okay.”

You handed Ruby to Taeyong and he was shocked at this new feeling he felt in his chest. It was this overwhelming joy and worry and affection he’d never felt. He would die for this dog.

Well, if he could die, he would.

So this is what familial love must be like.

Ruby licked him all over his face and he giggled like a little boy.

You were overjoyed to see Ruby with another person. This was promising. “She really likes you. It took me weeks to get her to warm up to me.”

Taeyong stared at you. “Really? I can’t imagine that…”

“You saved the day, Taeyong. Not bad for your first day as a volunteer.” You laughed.

You led him and Ruby back into her room. You stepped into her small room where she resided alone. She had a big fluffy bed and toys to play with. Even so, it could definitely get cramped in there after a few hours. You would take her for a walk later.

Taeyong asked, concerned. “She lives by herself? She must be so lonely.”

You told Taeyong her story and he understood her circumstances. He was furious at Ruby’s previous owners and he finally understood why places like this shelter existed.

You said, “She needs someone who will remain faithful to her all of their life. I hope she finds them soon.”

Taeyong rubbed Ruby’s belly. “So do I.”

“I have to get back to work. You’re not on the schedule until tomorrow but you are more than welcome to spend some time with the dogs…”

Taeyong was in his own bubble with Ruby.

You giggled. “Or maybe just Ruby.”

You left them be and got back to work.

Taeyong spent the next hour playing with Ruby, taking her for a walk, taking pictures of her, and cradling her to sleep. He hoped to catch up with you later but he couldn’t let go of his attachment to this dog now.

There was something about this town that made him attached to others. First, it was you. Then, it was Ruby.

It was unusual.

Ruby fell asleep and Taeyong checked his phone. He received a text over half an hour ago.

Where are you? Kun says you’re not home :( -Yooa

Crap, he’d forgotten all about Yooa. His “date”.

Taeyong realized he’d be getting earful from Kun later. He texted Yooa he was on his way.

…

[2 Weeks Later]

The first few days were rough for Taeyong because he’d never done manual labor in his life. He was willing to try and with your and other volunteers’ guidance, he was able to pick up on everything quickly. Everyone thought Taeyong was as strange as he was beautiful. They thought he was a sheltered rich boy who was learning how to care for someone else for the first time. Well, they weren’t far off from the truth.

Taeyong volunteered almost everyday at the shelter. He did everything he could possibly do as a volunteer and still had the energy to take the dogs on more walks than required. He was a god, after all. His energy on Earth was higher than that of any normal human’s. He hoped to impress you, too. He tried to ask you out or even for your phone number but you were always busy with shelter tasks. It was very hard to tell if there was a connection between you two.

At the end of each shift, Taeyong always left Ruby for last because she was his favorite shelter animal. “Alright Ruby, today is the day I finally ask y/n out.”

Ruby snoozed in response. Taeyong sighed. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

You were the last person to leave the shelter and lock up. Everyone had already left an hour ago but you were finishing up some emails. You found Taeyong waiting outside the door. “Taeyong!”

He waved and smiled, not looking disheveled at all after a full-day shift.

You, on the other hand, could use a shower. “Everything okay?”

Taeyong asked, “Are you free?”

“Uh...”

“I was wondering if you…”

Your eyes as you watched him left Taeyong in nearly almost a trance. The way your hair fell over your eyes when you adjusted your work bag. The breeze caused your perfume to creep into his nose and he had to catch his breath. Even your little yawn after a long day was cute. Damn it.

You started, “Taeyong?”

Taeyong tried to say something but his throat went dry. Why wasn’t he able to say words? He was prepared to say. Come away with me tonight. I’ll take us to dinner and then...Well, it’s your call, y/n.

And here he was, his palms sweaty. His cheeks were red. He was so close to trembling from the new anxiety that crept up on him.

You asked, “Are you okay?”

Taeyong shook his head to shove his fears away. “Are you free?”

He invited you over to his house for dinner as a thank you for showing him the ropes around the shelter. You felt bad for assuming that he was asking you out. It appeared that he wanted to keep this platonic and you were relieved.

You’re a chicken, Taeyong thought to himself. The ball was in his court and he missed his shot to take things further with you. Even so, you’d said yes so all in all, you two were headed somewhere.

You followed Taeyong in your car over to his place. You entered the extravagant beach house, which was surprisingly neat and homey. The furniture looked comfortable, like you could easily fall asleep on it. The lighting was at a low, almost romantic setting. The house was tranquil and all you could hear was the crash of waves in the distance.

Taeyong said, “Please take a seat. Make yourself comfortable. Can I offer you some wine?”

“Yes, please. Thank you.”

Taeyong smiled warmly at you before he departed for the kitchen.

Another young man appeared as he came down the stairs, calling out. “Sicheng and I will be back in a few days. Our Lord needs us in Beijing for an emergency match-up.” He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and merely stared at you. “Seriously, another ‘appointment’?”

Taeyong darted out of the kitchen. “Kun.”

You got up and waved. “Uh, hi. I’m Taeyong’s friend, y/n. From the animal shelter?”

Sicheng joined the group. “Friend?”

Kun’s eyebrows furrowed. “You’re just friends with him?”

You looked at everyone around the living room. “Yes…”

Although you had to wonder what Kun meant by “appointment”. If you had to guess, you weren’t the first girl Taeyong brought home. This week.

You knew Taeyong was a player from the first night you met him. But you were attracted to him so the possibility of a one night stand with him didn’t repel you. You weren’t about to ask for it, though. You were already going out of your comfort zone, coming over to his house for dinner.

And then...Taeyong’s personality surprised you these past few weeks. He was warm and hard-working and kind. You had to admit you had a little crush on him. You wouldn’t let that truth see the light of day, though. A player was a player, no matter what.

Sicheng smiled as he greeted you, “Y/n, welcome to our home. I’m Sicheng. Our rude friend right here is Kun. We are Taeyong’s coworkers and roommates.”

“It’s nice to meet you. What is it that you guys do? You mentioned a match-up?”

Taeyong eyed his friends. “They...”

Kun continued, “We...are dating gurus!”

You replied, “I see. So you’re headed to Beijing? That’s exciting!”

The boys told you they worked for a dating website for high-profile people and traveled to countries like China and South Korea to counsel them on dating. It was unheard of and unusual. At least for you, anyway. But it was kind of fascinating. Kun and Sicheng told you that Taeyong had been working nonstop for years now as a dating guru so now he was taking some time off. They excused themselves and headed off to the airport.

You accompanied Taeyong to the kitchen as he cooked some New York strips for the two of you. He refused your help and wanted you to sit down and relax. “I didn’t know you were a dating guru.”

He chuckled nervously. “I don’t really like to talk about it.”

“Oh, well, we don’t have to…We could always talk about something else. Like where you’re from?”

Taeyong chopped some vegetables as he mulled over his answer, avoiding your eyes. How was he going to say he came from Heaven? First of all, it would be ludicrous to you. And second, it sounded like a pickup line that would only stroke his ego. There was no way to win by telling the truth. “Abroad.”

You sipped your glass of wine. He was so vague. “Abroad? Where?”

“My Lor-...father traveled all the time when I was growing up so we always moved. And once I got to work with the dating website, the traveling continued.” Nice save, he thought to himself.

“Oh? Wow, that’s sad, isn’t it?”

Taeyong looked at you. “Sad?”

“I mean, maybe it wasn’t...What I meant was that it must have been difficult getting uprooted all the time. Having to get accustomed to a new place...Only to have to start over somewhere else.”

You had no idea, Taeyong thought. You read him like a book so he had to ask. “How did you know?”

You understood his situation very well. “My dad is a lieutenant general. We’ve moved around a lot until I was eighteen. Come to think of it...Are your parents in the military?”

Taeyong knew he had to come up with something. Quick, he told himself, think of something believable. The first thought that came into his mind was Jurassic Park after he watched it last night. “No...He’s a...paleontologist.”

That was an uncommon job but you were impressed. After all, Jurassic Park was one of your favorite movies. You asked him about the places his dad took him, what dinosaur bones his dad uncovered, and more. Taeyong had to get creative and being dumb about the subject didn’t hinder his case. He claimed that remembering the names of species was impossible for him. You were riveted, regardless. You spent most of the time talking about Jurassic Park, anyway. You told him about Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure and a Jurassic Park feature located at the park. You suggested you two could go together sometime and Taeyong’s eyes lit up, then. His doe eyes caught you off-guard.

You continued talking about your interests and your pasts. Well, you did. Taeyong had to get a little creative when topics such as his “childhood” and “family” came into conversation. But other than that, he enjoyed having you in his home. You were full of warmth and generosity. You laughed at his jokes and asked him about how he was doing. It left him speechless. He wasn’t sure what you were really thinking or if you were even interested. You were equally unsure and found yourself considering what you’d been fighting since the moment you first laid eyes on him.

Taeyong served dinner. His cooking was incredible. The steak and baked potato were paradise on your taste buds. “Taeyong, oh my God, this is incredible. You should be a five-star chef and open a restaurant.”

Taeyong chuckled. “Thank you, y/n but I’m more of a pastry chef than anything else.”

“What’s your price for a batch of chocolate cupcakes?” You teased.

He smiled. “Free of charge.”

“But?”

“Well, if you were free to watch Jurassic Park 2 with me this week, then I would consider it.”

“I’ll take it.”

Taeyong was excited that you two would see each other outside of work again. Taeyong served you cookie dough ice cream with fudge.

You ate your ice cream. “Thank you so much for inviting me over. I haven’t been able to hang out with friends in a while so this means a lot.”

Friends. Taeyong was a little hurt at your label of him. He thought there was something between you. Maybe this wasn’t the right time to make a move so he forced a smile. “I’m glad we’re friends, too.”

…

[2 months later]

Taeyong continued to volunteer at the shelter. His ego took a nice, deserving blow after you told him you were just friends. He was still happy that he got to spend time with you. You became so close that you spent most of your time with him outside of work. You played video games and watched movies. You also fostered some animals together on the weekends.

Taeyong hadn’t thrown a party or gone to one since he started spending time with you. His phone started lighting up a lot less as the weeks passed. The truth was Taeyong had stopped hooking up with anyone else. He was focused on you. Getting to know you.  

You even told him about your ex Jaemin. You and Jaemin were going strong for 11 months. The biggest player at your university, Jaemin worked hard to get you to say yes to dating him. The romance started off beautifully and ended abruptly when Jaemin said he didn’t want to be unfair to you. The day after the breakup you saw him out with another girl like it was nothing. And a month later, they were engaged to be married. Now, they were married and expecting a child together. It seemed that he genuinely loved his wife. The way he looked at her with such affection the day after he broke up with you. It broke you because that was how you used to look at him. You thought he was the one and up to a certain point, he told you you were the one for him. You wondered how he moved on so quickly to this day.

Since then, you didn’t want to date anyone, much less a playboy. Hook-ups were something you would’ve considered but you were still hurting. Taeyong had been the first boy you looked at in five months but you still weren’t ready. However, now that you two were getting to know each other...Maybe, just maybe…

Taeyong wanted to track down Jaemin and destroy him, break up his family, and kill him. Well, maybe not to that extreme. But he wanted to avenge you for how Jaemin could’ve been so swift in hurting you and moving on like nothing. He had to wonder…

If maybe one of his coworkers had something to do with it. He’d never had a hand in pairing up a Na Jaemin with anyone. If that were the case, he would’ve never forgiven himself for pursuing you.

He finally understood that you were guarding your heart and he didn’t want to push you. He would wait for as long as it takes to…Well, he wasn’t sure...Kiss you? Take you out on a date? He wasn’t sure how romance or courting worked.

It took some convincing but Taeyong finally decided to foster Ruby for the week. He didn’t refuse before because he didn’t want Ruby. He was scared of being ill-prepared for taking care of her or that his house had some hazards for the little dog.

You drove Taeyong and Ruby back to his house. The three of you stood outside his front door. He had Ruby on a leash.

Taeyong started. “Are you sure, y/n? What if Ruby falls in the pool when I go take a shower? What if she chews at my phone charger and gets electrocuted?”

You laughed. “Taeyong, how is she going to get in the backyard? Are her paws going to magically turn into hands so that she can turn the doorknob to the back door?”

“No…”

“So long as you keep her active and give her toys and activities, she will have no reason to chew at your charger or go on an online shopping spree while you’re asleep.”

Taeyong frowned, knowing that you were mocking him now. “Fine. But if anything happens, I’m taking you down with me.”

Your eyes danced. “Fine with me.”

You three went to the beach and Ruby was having fun playing on the shoreline. Taeyong giggled like a little boy as he played fetch with her. You watched them and smiled. It was beyond you why Taeyong wouldn’t adopt Ruby. They clearly loved each other very much. Maybe today you could finally convince him.

You returned to the beach house as you ate ice cream cones from the boardwalk ice cream shop. Ruby ran back inside to drink from her water bowl. You and Taeyong lingered on the outside deck by the pool and watched the sunset. Taeyong’s chocolate ice cream cone was melting at the sides and you regretted not buying chocolate so without thinking, you licked his melting ice cream. Taeyong was caught by surprise and you looked up at him before getting back to your ice cream cone.

The innocent but teasing glint in your eye made him shocked and aroused. He paid a little too much attention to your tongue. As quickly as it appeared, it disappeared. And he longed for it to worship his body.

You winked. “Sorry. You’re a slow eater and it was melting…” You handed him your vanilla ice cream cone. “You can have some of mine.”

He snapped out of it and licked the cone as suggestively as he could to try and get a reaction out of you. And that he did. His big brown eyes had a mischievous glint to them. He smirked. You avoided his eyes completely. “Y/n.”

You bent down and pretended to tie your shoe and realized you weren’t wearing sneakers but sandals. You got back up, embarrassed and still looking away from him. “Yeah?”

“I like you.”

You looked back up at him. “Taeyong-”

“It’s okay if you don’t feel the same way. I just wanted to say it. At least once.” He liked you for a long time now. The more time he spent with you and went out of his way to be with you every moment he could made him realize that maybe what he longed for with you wasn’t simply one night of pleasure.

He wanted more. He didn’t know exactly what that meant. But he just liked to be with you. Your kindness, your wit, your sense of humor, everything about you made Taeyong feel that heaven could be found in another person.

He didn’t want to push you, not at all. He did wonder about what things would be like if you gave into each other. But he would still wait for as long as it took for you to consider him.

You admitted, “Taeyong, I like you, too.”

He sighed in relief. “Oh, thank heavens. Let’s go out on Friday.” Hundreds of plans were running through his mind of how he wanted to spoil you for your first date. He’d been doing research on where he could take you in the city and debated whether or not a road trip to Universal Studios would be too much.

You smiled in spite of yourself. “That’s so sweet…”

“But?”

“I don’t know if I’m ready...Or if I can trust you...You’re very…experienced.”

Taeyong looked at you in confusion as he finished his ice cream cone. “What do you mean? I’ve never dated.”

“I mean...Sexually…” You muttered the last word. Your face was hot and Taeyong only looked at you like you’d said the sky was blue.

“Taeyong, before we met, you were partying every night and sleeping with multiple people. Are you going to tell me that you’re not that person anymore? Because you know what happened with Jaemin...I don’t want that again. If we are going to take this any further, you have to be honest with me. When you want to end it, show me your heart. Don’t leave me wondering what I did wrong...” He could see your eyes get bigger and redder. They were welling up. Your voice broke and it broke him to hear it.

He hated seeing you unhappy. You didn’t deserve to be burned the way you had. He wrapped his arms around you, then. For the first time. “I would never do that to you. I would never-”

You hugged him back. “Please don’t make promises you can’t keep. Let’s just take this slow...Okay?”

He never felt as close and vulnerable with someone. Then you came along and he was ready to do what he could to be with you. To at least try. “Okay.”

He caressed your face and pulled you in for a kiss. He lifted you off the ground and sat you on a ledge as he leaned down to kiss you deeper. His tongue intertwined with yours. You both tasted like ice cream and it made you both crazy with longing. You were the first to stop the kiss and reminded him, “Slow.”

He kissed your forehead. “Slow.”

…

[4 Months Later]

You and Taeyong took your new relationship slow. It drove you both crazy that you put off sleeping together for so long. You wanted to get to know Taeyong better. So did he. Even if this was the longest dry spell Taeyong had undergone, it was worth it.

“What’s got you so happy, boss?” Sicheng asked, visiting from New York. Sicheng and Kun moved out months ago when they saw that Taeyong wasn’t causing any trouble. Sicheng held Ruby in his lap. Taeyong adopted Ruby not too long after you two agreed to date.

Taeyong was worried, though. Just how far could he take things with you before he was summoned back by God? It could be five years or fifty years before He called him back to Heaven. Taeyong had to tell someone what was eating at him and Sicheng was one of his closest friends. “I need to tell you something.”

After Taeyong told Sicheng about you and what transpired all this time, Sicheng sighed, “Taeyong, this is trouble. We are not supposed to get involved with humans.”

“Sex is okay but dating and marriage are out of the question? How does that make sense?”

Sicheng frowned, reminding Taeyong of Kun at that moment. “Sex was never okay. In moderation and with zero strings attached? Sure...But you’ve crossed several lines...You’re playing with fire by pursuing y/n.”

Taeyong sighed in frustration. “I know but Sicheng, I’m falling…”

Sicheng watched Taeyong that night and witnessed how he changed after he met you. He put a hand on Taeyong’s shoulder. “I know. You’ve fallen since that first night. Five seconds.”

It took Taeyong five seconds to fall in love with you.

Taeyong continued, “I want to make this work. Let our Lord find out from me.”

“But-” Sicheng started.

“I appreciate you for not ratting me out to our Father, Sicheng. You’re a good friend.”

Later that night, Taeyong picked you up from your apartment and wanted to surprise you. He blindfolded you as you sat in the passenger seat of his car. Taeyong whispered into your ear. “Can you hear me?”

You laughed and bit your lip. “Taeyong, it’s a blindfold. Not ear plugs. Why are you whispering?”

He whispered even lower and the warmth of his breath made you fidget and press your thighs harder together. “It’s fun. That’s all.”

He could tell you were aroused. He could see your nipples through your black dress and he had to control his cock from making an early appearance. It was a good thing he blindfolded you.

Taeyong drove you two in silence and his giggles made you laugh. You held hands. It didn’t take too long to reach your destination. He escorted you out of the car and removed your blindfold.

“Surprise!”

You were at the Isla Central Marina and you stood before the entrance of a yacht named Cupid’s Bow. The boat was decorated with white Christmas lights.

“Taeyong, what is all this…”

He smiled as he led you onto the boat. “It’s where we’re having dinner tonight.”

You sat down at the table set at the center of the yacht. It was decorated with white daisies. Taeyong chose white daisies because their scent reminded him of you. And for their significance.

He sat you down at your seat and squeezed your shoulders.

You looked around in wonder. The night sky was clear as the full moon shone down on you both. “This is amazing. I can’t believe you did this for me.”

Taeyong sat across from you and smiled brightly. “I want to give you the world, y/n. If you let me, I will.”

Your face felt flushed and you stared down at your lap. “You’re so corny.”

He asked for your hand and you gave it to him. He kissed it and looked at you with what could be described as bedroom eyes. He tried to seduce you a couple of times now because he loved to tease you. You’d tease him back and pretend to consider sleeping with him. Fair’s fair.

But tonight? The teasing would stop.

Someone else cleared their throat. “Welcome to Cupid’s Bow. Thank you for dining with us tonight. I will be your server, Kun.”

You gasped and laughed. “Kun, what are you doing here?”

Dressed as a waiter, Kun said, “Taeyong needed a hand for tonight. And our friend Sicheng will be maneuvering this vessel.”

You turned to Sicheng as he waved from the steering wheel. He was wearing a captain’s outfit. You fought back a laugh. They were a cheesy group of guys.

Kun started you guys off with drinks as the boat departed the marina. You sailed around the bay that connected to the ocean. The bay led into downtown Isla where the city lights shone brightly. It was a beautiful modern-day fairytale.

Taeyong started up a playlist from his Bluetooth speakers and asked you to dance. “Give Me Love” by Ed Sheeran played.

Taeyong was a great dancer. He must have been classically trained for years. He spun you in circles and dipped you, pretending he was about to drop you to tease you. He pulled you close and hummed along to the lyrics. You laughed and held him tightly.

The songs continued as you and Taeyong watched the view. He held you from behind. The night was perfect.

“Y/n,” he said into your ear softly.

“Hmm?”

“I love you.”

You turned back to him and smiled. “I love you, too.” You kissed him.

You liked Taeyong ever since that night you met. But you started falling in love after you saw how he was with Ruby. He carried a lot of love and loyalty in his heart that it left you in awe every time you were with him. There was more to him than the wealthy bachelor persona he emitted. That wasn’t who he was. He was a man who loved fiercely. He was your best friend. And now you wanted him to be your lover.

You sat down together and ate Italian cuisine. Kun was an incredible chef. You and Taeyong share lasagna and chicken Alfredo. It was delicious. For dessert, you two fed each other gelato.

When Cupid’s Bow returned to the dock, you and Taeyong sat in the car, awkward.

Taeyong waited for you to tell him to take you home but it never came. You wanted him to suffer for a few more seconds.

You started. “Thank you for tonight.”

He cleared his throat. “I had the best time.”

“Can I stay the night?” You asked softly.

Taeyong was hearing things. “I’m sorry?”

“Let’s spend the night together.”

Taeyong was about to jump out of the driver’s seat and scream. He played it cool and his face was unreadable as he said, “Okay.”

You giggled. Taeyong was an enigma but you could see the blush creeping onto his cheeks.

You returned to the beach house and darted to the pool. Taeyong ran after you. You removed your dress and turned to him, biting your lip because you knew he loved it.

You were down to your black and red lingerie and Taeyong was so close to salivating. He longed to worship your body. He stood there, unable to move. He watched you slowly descend the steps into the pool and wait for him.

He walked slowly over to you, like a tiger about to pounce on his prey. He wanted you. You could see the desire in his gaze. He unbuttoned his shirt and you could see his abs glisten against the reflection of the pool. He smirked again, knowing it drove you crazy when he did that. He slowly unbuckled his belt and you could see his bulge better as he pulled down his pants.

“Wow,” you said.

“Hmm?”

Taeyong was down to his briefs. He pulled them down and chucked them away. His physique was like that of a statue of a Greek god. He was rock solid. You swam into the deep end, waiting for him to follow you in.

Taeyong got into the pool and dove down. You couldn’t see him now.

You were waiting for him to surprise you but time passed and you wondered if something was wrong.

“Yong?” You started. “Yong!”

He crept up behind you then, pulling your panties down in the process. “Boo.”

You smacked him. “Jerk. I thought you were dying.”

Taeyong chuckled. “I wasn’t down there for that long.”

“You’re kidding, right? I counted. It was at least a minute.”

Maybe he crossed the line with his immortal abilities, then. He sighed. “What can I say? I have incredible lung capacity.”

You rolled your eyes. “Why don’t we put that to the test?” You put your arms around him and kissed him deeply.

Taeyong’s heart skipped a beat. Your soaked body got him harder. You got onto his lap and he kissed your cleavage. His kisses were everything. You had been thinking about your first night with him for a long time now.

Taeyong lowered the strap of your bra and kissed your shoulder, silently asking if he could unclasp your bra. You nodded. He adored your breasts, biting and sucking at them.

You lowered your hand to his pelvic region and felt his large cock. He grunted as you clasped it. You kissed his neck and nipped at his ears.

You both loved teasing each other so now that you were spending the night together, neither of you was going down without a fight.

After a few minutes, Taeyong carried you out of the pool. You looked up at him, admiring his flawless profile. He dried you off and he took your hand and led you upstairs to his shower.

He started up the shower and you looked up at him. He took your face into his hands and gave you a peck on the lips. He smiled.

He started washing you with his body wash. It was Jo Malone Lime Basil & Mandarin. It smelled just like Taeyong and you wished you could smell like this all the time. He carefully navigated your body like you were a fragile vase and kissed you all over. He saved your chest for the end and could feel your heartbeat against his palm. He looked up at you through hooded eyes and you kissed his nose.

You washed him and teased him as you washed around his crotch, lightly tracing it with your fingers. His skin was soft while his body was muscular. He was the most beautiful contradiction in the world.

Taeyong pulled you in for another kiss and you wrapped your arms around each other. He turned the shower off. You both dried off.

He scooped you up, making you giggle. He laid you down gently. You stretched your body against the mattress and Taeyong admired all of your angles.

“I’m going to fuck you until the sunrise, y/n,” Taeyong said as he looked down at your body. Your eyes lock on him. They were no longer doe-like.

“I bet you are,” you said, feeling a little nervous now.

He straddled you and kissed you. His cock teased its entrance into your folds. “My stars, you are the most gorgeous creature,” he said as his face was mere centimeters from yours.

You pulled him closer and you kissed again, running your hands over his back. He traced his fingers around your folds, teasing your entrance. You whimpered as you held him tightly.

You pushed him off of you and laid him back as you gripped his cock and pumped. “You think you’re the only who’s been dying for this moment?”

Taeyong gaped at you. You were the first partner to take charge. His other lovers usually let him take the lead. He didn’t mind it much but to see you cater to his needs made him dizzy.

You took his cock into your mouth and your throat burned from the contact. You couldn’t take all of him in so you had to love the rest of him with your hand. You started bobbing your head back and forth, licking the veins of his throbbing member. Taeyong grunted. “Fuck, y/n.”

You looked up at him and his heart nearly stopped again. He gripped your hair. He came into your mouth and you swallowed his seed.

“You taste better than I imagined,” you said as you wiped your mouth.

You were generous in all aspects of life but in the bedroom? Taeyong was floored. “Allow me to pamper you.”

He laid you against his bed frame and brought out handcuffs.

“Well, you came prepared. Are those new?” You hoped they were.

“Yes. They came in yesterday…Good timing, wouldn’t you say?”

You nodded as he unlocked the cuffs. “Lift your arms up, y/n.”

You obeyed and he cuffed you. Your breasts were raised beautifully and Taeyong sighed. “Breathtaking.”

You averted your gaze and Taeyong shook his head. He took your chin and turned your face to him. “No, no...Don’t get shy on me now...Not when you fucked me with that pretty little mouth of yours.”

You loved how low his voice became and you felt your pussy tremble underneath him. He fondled your breasts, squeezing your nipples and biting them. He kissed around your folds. He traced his tongue at your entrance and breathed against it, making you whimper. He started whispering sweet nothings in multiple languages. He spoke in almost ten languages and you wondered who this man really was. You came once he spoke dirty French into your ear.

You were already soaked and Taeyong wanted to indulge in torturing you for a few minutes before he entered you. He started by slipping one finger into your entrance and carefully avoided your G-spot to rile you up.

“Taeyong, please,” you cried.

He stopped and kissed your forehead. “We have all night, y/n.”

You pouted. “You’re too good at torturing me.”

He smiled. “Am I torturing you? I didn’t think so.”

You wrapped your legs harder around his abdomen. “Get inside me. Now.”

He sighed. “You seem to forget that I’m calling the shots, y/n.”

You licked your lips. “Are you?”

He frowned and slipped his fingers out of your folds. “Do you not like it?”

You shook your head. “I do. I do. I do.”

He smirked. “Then, let me work.”

He continued to fingerfuck you until you cried. “Yong, please…”

“I love when you call me Yong. It destroys me,” he said as he finally entered you.

You cried out loud as his cock entered and hit you in the right places. You could feel him go deeper and could feel his cock twitching in your belly. You climaxed quickly and Taeyong quickly pulled out and came right after.

Taeyong cleaned you both up, not removing you from the cuffs just yet.

“Uh, Taeyong?”

“Yes, darling?”

“You forgot something?” You looked up at the cuffs.

“Oh, you’re right. I did forget something.” He kissed your forehead. “I love you.”

He walked out of the room.

Your arms started to hurt from having been raised for so long. “You are so funny!”

He returned with a tray that had two glasses of water and a bowl of strawberries and whipped cream.

“Are you hungry?” Taeyong asked, acting oblivious.

“Taeyong, I think it’s your turn to try on the cuffs…”

He beamed. “Exactly what I was thinking, y/n.”

“Okay, great. Now if you can get these off of me, the chances of me choking you to death will be lower.”

He laughed. “You’re so funny.”

He sat next to you in bed. And fed you a strawberry with whipped cream on top, popping it into your mouth. He carefully slipped his finger out and licked his finger. “Mmm.”

He took the whipped cream and drew out shapes onto your body, tracing his tongue over the shapes and eating the whipped cream. It drove you crazy.

“Now that I’ve had my dessert. It’s only fair that you enjoy yours.” He uncuffed you.

You cuffed him and had your way with him. You even took it a step further and pulled out another set of handcuffs from the drawer. “I see you got an extra pair.”

He smiled. “Can never be too prepared.”

You returned his smile. “Let’s kick it up a notch. Shall we?”

You cuffed his ankles, as well. He laid in bed and waited for you to get to work on him but you decided to get the bowl of strawberries and whipped cream and eat a couple slowly. You even fed a couple to Taeyong.

You started, “This is nice.”

Taeyong grumbled in Korean.

“What was that?”

“Nothing. I’m just waiting here. Patient.”

“Like the good boy that you are,” you cooed.

Your voice made him harder. You took the whipped cream and traced it over your collar bone. “Lick,” you commanded.

He licked across your collarbone. Then, you drew shapes onto his body, drawing a heart around his pelvic region. You saved it for last and slowly licked around it. You kissed his tip. He groaned. You straddled him and kissed him passionately.

You teased each other like that all night and made love for hours. You fell asleep in each other’s arms, holding each other tightly. The sun had risen a few hours ago. You woke up first and found Taeyong holding you tightly to his chest. He felt your movement in his sleep and he held you tighter. The sun lit up his features. He looked like an angel.

You kissed his cheek and his eyes opened slowly. “Good morning.”

You smiled. “Hi.”

He stretched and held you again. “I need to check on Ruby.”

You shook your head. “I’ll take care of her. You sleep.”

He whined. “It’s okay. You rest.”

You giggled. “It’s okay.”

You and Taeyong got cleaned up. You borrowed some of Taeyong’s clothes. You took Ruby for a walk around the neighborhood. You spent a quiet day together, living in utter bliss.

…

[1 Week Later]

Taeyong was on cloud nine. Having you in his life made him complete. He can’t imagine it getting better than this. You were at work and Taeyong was preparing dinner for you as you were sleeping over later. He was going to ask you to move in.

He finished his homemade pepperoni pizza and put it in the oven. He heard the doorbell ring. Ruby barked and he joined her to see who was at the door. It couldn’t be you. It was too early. He opened the door to find Mark at the door.

“Mark!” Taeyong smiled and hugged him. Mark was another one of his coworkers and close friends. Taeyong regarded him as a little brother.

“Taeyong, it’s great to see you…Wow, you are glowing.” Mark eyed him carefully.

He smiled, thinking about you. “Yeah...I guess I am. Come in!”

After they sat down and caught up with each other, Mark said, “I’ll cut to the chase...I’m here in Isla for my next pairing session.”

“Is that so?”

He nodded. The usually lighthearted boy looked serious. “I know about y/n.”

Taeyong’s smile faded. Ruby snuggled tighter to Taeyong as she rested on his lap. “Who-“

He shook his head. “I found out myself. Y/n is my next assignment.”

Taeyong felt his world crashing down onto him. “No…”

Mark sighed. “I expected one of the fledglings to get into this mess but you? Our mentor? It’s absurd.”

“Mark-“

“Father doesn’t know…Imagine his disappointment when he finds out. He doesn’t have to. If you end it now.”

Taeyong’s chest was on fire. Tears were threatening to fall. “No.”

Mark frowned. “What?”

“You heard me, Mark. I’m not leaving her.”

Mark sighed. “Once I strike the arrows at her and her partner, it’ll be over.”

Taeyong shook his head. “Mark, please.”

Mark hurt for his friend but his duty as a Cupid came first. “I’m sorry, Taeyong. This is how our world works. You’re the one who told me so.”

Taeyong hated this. He hated the world he knew before you. How could he go  back to a world of bringing love to others and have no love himself? He couldn’t. Not after meeting you. You’d been burned before. No doubt by one of the Cupids interfering. He wasn’t about to let that happen again.

“Taeyong, if you interfere with y/n’s pairing...There’s no telling what the consequences will be.”

“I’ll be the one to deal with that, Mark. But I won’t let you come between us.”

After their exchange, Mark left. Taeyong retired to the kitchen to check on the pizza. It was ready.

“What is he saying, Taeyong?” You started.

“Y/n?!” Taeyong jumped as he found you waiting for him at the kitchen island. 

You’d snuck in earlier to surprise him with sweet potatoes you bought from the farmer’s market. You wanted to scare him because it was a bit of yours. You snuck through the back door with your own set of keys he gave you.

You were about to duck your head into the living room when you heard Taeyong say he wouldn’t leave you. Your heart sank.

He wanted to hold you. “Y/n…”

You crossed your arms. “What is going on? Who is Mark? And who exactly is your father? What exactly is your job, Taeyong? Because I’m beginning to suspect you’re not a dating guru.”

Taeyong sighed. “You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”

“Try me.”

Taeyong checked the schedules of the fledglings at work in Isla. The best way for him to prove his identity to you was to show you how Cupids worked. “Come with me.”

He drove you to an amusement park. You turned to him. “You are not taking me on a date right now.”

He shook his head. “I’m not. Just follow me.”

He led you into the park and you sat down on a bench by the haunted house.

Taeyong started. “See that guy in the leather jacket? That’s my coworker Shotaro.”

“I don’t see him…” There was no one by that description where Taeyong was pointing.

“Y/n, hold my hand.”

“Taeyong, now’s not the time.”

“Please. Just do it.”

You gave in and held his hand and suddenly, a young man in a leather jacket appeared. Shotaro was carrying a bow and a bag of arrows. He prepared his arrow to shoot at someone leaving the haunted house.

“Taeyong, what is he doing?!” You yelled.

Taeyong shushed. “Y/n, just watch.”

You put a hand over your mouth and you were about to run over and stop this madness. Taeyong held you back.

Shotaro released the arrow and hit the young woman first. She looked at her best friend and kissed her cheek. Shotaro then shot another arrow at the best friend. She kissed the first young woman on the lips, then. The arrows vanished just as quickly as they pierced both women. It was as if they were never struck. Shotaro noticed Taeyong and waved before he faded away.

You rubbed your eyes. “Taeyong?”

“Yeah?”

“What the hell was that?”

“More like what the heaven was that…”

“Explain.”

Taeyong explained everything to you. How he was Cupid. How there were Cupids all over the world bringing people together. Taeyong was the original Cupid and he was on vacation. You took it all in and a lot of things started to make sense. Why he never spoke about his family or his job. How a lot of things were so new to him. It wasn’t because he was a sheltered rich boy. He wasn’t even human. He was a god.

This also meant that your concept of love was completely wrong. Cupids had their hand in romance all over the world. Which made you realize...

“So…When Jaemin broke up with me, it was because of you guys?”

Frustrated that you brought up Jaemin, Taeyong managed to say, “Yes…”

Tears fell from your eyes. “And you were never going to tell me?”

“It wasn’t my place to-“

“Oh, hell, if it’s not...How long were you going to play me like this? You were going to leave, anyway. What was the plan? Lead me on and then dump me like Jaemin did?”

Stabbed by your words, he begged, “Stop saying his name.”

“Well? How long were you planning to lead me on for? I’m sure you have a carefully crafted schedule for your next victim ready.”

Taeyong shook his head. “You don’t mean that.”

Tears fell onto your lap. “Taeyong, I loved you. Did you ever love me?”

The past tense killed him to hear. “Y/n, I love you. I’ve never loved anyone in all my years. You’re the only one for me.”

“Taeyong, you’re going to leave me.” You sobbed.

He shook his head. “I won’t leave you. I’ll fight for us.”

You hugged him tightly and he shushed you. He bought you a funnel cake with a large cup of lemonade to share. You both ate in silence for a few minutes.

You broke the silence.“When Mark said I had a pairing session, that means that I’m being matched with someone. Someone that isn’t you…”

“Yes…”

“Taeyong, I don’t want to be matched with someone else. What are we going to do?”

“I have a plan.”

You sighed. “I’m being selfish.” “What? No...Why would you think that?”

You took a sip of the lemonade. “The consequences of you disobeying...God, I still can’t believe it....I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Taeyong replied, “Let me deal with that, y/n. I will fight for us. It’ll take some convincing but after all of my years with Father, he has to listen to me.”

…

[The Next Day]

Tonight was the animal shelter’s fundraising gala in downtown Isla. It was held at the lavish Sun and Moon Hotel’s ballroom. Your potential partner would be in attendance tonight but you didn’t care. All you cared about was Taeyong and what he had up his sleeve. Mark was mingling with the other guests. He didn’t know that you were in on his plans with you. He met your eyes and smiled, playing the part of the oblivious but charming young man.

As far as Mark knew, you and Taeyong broke up last night so you had to look miserable. And frankly, you felt miserable not knowing what was about to happen with Taeyong. There was a chance you could lose him forever tonight. But you held onto the chance of remaining with him.

You forced a smile and continued to mingle with the guests. Meanwhile, Taeyong disguised himself and kept an eye on Mark. Mark may have been a well-established Cupid by now but he was not at Taeyong’s level. He was off by a few centuries.

The shelter had received a lot of donations from many local businesses and celebrities. You gave a thank you speech to all the attendees for their generosity and raised your glass to them. The uncertainty was killing you underneath it all.

Taeyong watched Mark prepare his arrow, then. Mark was no longer seen by humans. You realized Mark and Taeyong were missing, which meant it was time. Taeyong prepared his arrows. He stabbed himself with his own arrow as he watched you. Right before Mark shot his arrow, Taeyong shot at you. You turned to him, then, finally able to see him. Mark realized too late what he had done.

Mark yelled. “What have you-”

Taeyong and Mark vanished.

…

[5 Years Later]

The year you spent with Taeyong had vanished from your memory. The night of the gala after Taeyong and Mark disappeared, you continued on with your life. Living with an inexplicable hole in your heart. You thought it was because you were being dramatic. Seeing a lot of your friends get married and have kids didn’t help your case either. Meanwhile, you were alone. Working hard and thriving, sure. But emotionally, you weren’t all there.

None of your friends or family remembered Taeyong either. It was as if he never existed to any of you. One day, Jisoo introduced you to one of her friends from her gym. You two hooked up not too long afterwards. The night was fun. It was a one-time thing.

However, that one-time thing ended up in your pregnancy. The father wanted nothing to do with your child so he skipped town. You didn’t hold it against him. The child was unplanned and you decided to carry on with the pregnancy on your own. Your friends and family were very supportive. You gave birth to a baby girl named Daisy.

The emptiness in your heart was filled by your love for Daisy. She was your world. She was your partner in crime. You wanted to give her everything good the world had to offer. Maybe someday you could give her a father.

After dropping her off at pre-school, you stopped by the post office to send out a letter to your pen pal. Isla recently started up a pen pal program for its citizens to send each other letters and gifts. You were paired up with someone who shared a lot of the same interests as you: favorite movies, foods, and animals.

You were paired up with a man named Lee Taeyong.

Dear Taeyong,

I’m sending you a copy of my favorite movie of all time, Jurassic Park. Please let me know if you like it. If you do, there’s a bunch of stickers in it for you. I hope you have safe travels to Munich and Budapest.

Warmly,

y/n

Taeyong had faced serious consequences for interfering with your pairing session. The work that had to be put in to pair up y/n’s original partner, Nakamoto Yuta, with someone else put everyone into a frenzy. Thankfully, the damage was repaired.

However, the Lord was pissed. Taeyong disobeyed him. Even though God adored him, he knew he had to be punished. For every second it took for Taeyong to fall in love with you, it would take a year for you two to reunite.

God relieved Taeyong of his Cupid duties and wished him a wonderful life as a human. He looked forward to Taeyong returning to him again one day.

Taeyong returned to Isla with an established job as a pilot. Ruby remained with him. His friends Sicheng and Kun would look after her while Taeyong was away now and then. He loved traveling the world but he loved coming home to Ruby most of all. He tried dating a couple of times but it never clicked with anyone. And hook-ups were a thing of the past. He wanted something serious. He hoped to find someone to call his person someday.

He recently sent his pen pal a letter before departing for his flight to Paris.

Dear y/n,

I loved Jurassic Park. I can’t believe I wasted so many years of my life not knowing this movie. Don’t hold back on the stickers. I’m sending you a copy of one of my favorite movies. It’s called Train to Busan. Try not to swoon too hard over Gong Yoo or I might get a little jealous.

Warmly,

Taeyong

You two exchanged letters frequently and after a few more months, you decided to meet up at the cafe right next to the shelter. Taeyong walked past the shelter, arriving early for your meet-up. He was thrilled to meet you and finally put a face to your name. He looked at the windows where adoptions were currently underway.

That was when he saw you.

And just like that everything flooded back to him. How you two already knew each other once. How you became friends and grew together. How you fell in love.

He ran into the shelter and called your name. “Y/n!”

You were answering a volunteer’s question when you heard someone call your name. When you turned to the person who called you, it all came rushing back to you. All of the memories. All of the love for him that you carried in your heart. 

“Taeyong…” Your eyes welled up.

You ran towards each other. You jumped into his arms, then. You laughed and cried together. You took a ten minute break to sit outside with Taeyong.

“I can’t believe it’s you…” He cried.

“Me neither...It’s been five years…”

“Five years...A year for every second it took for me to fall in love with you…” Geez, he thought, God was so unfair and so corny at the same time.

Five years without each other was too much for either of you to bear. You caught up on each other’s lives. Taeyong was shocked to find out you have a daughter. You were shocked that Taeyong was a human now.

But now this meant that you two could grow old together. Daisy could finally have a father. And you couldn’t wait to hold Ruby again.

…

[1 Year Later]

After a year of dating and getting to know each other again, you and Taeyong got married. Daisy and Taeyong adored each other. Ruby was happy to see you again and more than happy to welcome Daisy into her life. It was a beautiful union.

All of your friends were in attendance. Jisoo was weeping so hard. Jaehyun and his boyfriend Johnny were in attendance. Taeyong was shocked that it hadn’t been Jaehyun who claimed your heart after all this time. It turned out that Jaehyun was just a concerned friend. They became good friends.

You got married at the beach. You wore a stunning mermaid white gown. You walked down the aisle with a train decorated with white daisies. The white daisies translated to: “I love you truly.” Sicheng, a violinist, played his rendition of “All My Life” by K-Ci & JoJo. It was yours and Taeyong’s song.

Taeyong donned a black tuxedo. A daisy decorated his lapel. He nearly broke down in tears at how lovely you looked. You couldn’t help the huge smile on your face.

You recite your vows to each other. You started, “Taeyong, from the moment we first met...My life became tinted in shades of pinks and oranges again. I could see that the world could be beautiful. You helped me find happiness again. A happiness I didn’t know I needed until I met you. I adore you and will adore you even into the afterlife. Whatever happens, I will always be here for you. You have my heart. My everything. I cannot wait to spend our lives together with Daisy, Ruby, and our future children. I love you.”

Taeyong replied, “Y/n, you are my world. I found love in you. You are the light of my life. You made me a better person and you made me want to live and enjoy life. The world is beautiful because of you. I love you with all of my heart. I promise you that we will always be together. No matter what life...and the after life...will throw at us. I am yours. I will always be with you. My love. My darling y/n...I love our family. Daisy and Ruby, we love you so much. I cannot wait to raise our family together, y/n. I love you.”

Officiant Kun continued, “By the power vested in me by the State of Sweetwater, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”

Taeyong scooped you up and kissed you, earning applause from your friends and family.

A magical day of many. You two lived happily ever after.

Fin.

[mrsmaybank]

My Little Sun - Spencer Reid x Reader

“Can you imagine it?” I started, “A little girl who looks just like you? I’d be in so much trouble.”                  

She giggled, “Absolutely whipped.”                       

PART ONE HERE

A/N: It came out fast!!! I had lowk already started it, so that’s why this update came so quickly. Please don’t expect them all to come this fast LMAO. I usually write slow as fuck. Anyway, I really hope you guys like this part so I can maybe just maybe turn this into a mini series. Please lmk if you guys like :) 

CONTENT WARNINGS: KIDNAPPING, PREGNANCY, LANGUAGE, MENTIONS OF SEX (lmk if i missed any please) 

I paced the bullpen as the team spoke to Penelope. The shock of her pregnancy was starting to wear off, and now I could think more clearly. How could she? What was she thinking? 

Recently, I’d found myself thinking about it more, a baby her and a mini-me. A family of my own, with the love of my life. It was exciting and like a lovesick fool it made my stomach fuzzy. But she wasn’t ready and I couldn’t do that to her. So how could she do it to herself? She hadn’t finished school, hadn’t started her career. She could barely take care of herself! I wasn’t mad, absolutely not. Just disappointed at her self-sabotage and the fact she’d made the decision completely without me. I couldn’t think about it for long though, because I was swiftly reminded by my surroundings that right now, there was a chance I’d lose her, our child and any children we wanted to have in the future. That was the priority. 

“Garcia, check her credit card records, we need to see where she last was.” Hotch said. 

“Uhm, okay,” Penelope took a deep breath while clicking away, “Let’s see. Her last purchase was last night, 6:49 at a CVS Pharmacy, oh--” 

“What Garcia?” Hotch asked. 

“She was um, picking up her monthly case of birth control.” 

JJ broke the silence, “Spence…” she started towards me. 

I breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank god.” 

“Thank god?” Morgan questioned. 

“She’s 23.” I wiped my face, “Whole life ahead of her.” The team understood what I was trying to say. Rossi’s hand fell on my shoulder, giving it a squeeze. 

“So why would she tell Brook she was?” Garcia asked. 

“I uh, I..I don’t know.” I spat out. I really had no idea.  

“Think Reid.” Rossi told me. “You guys ever talk about kids or pregnancy?”

“She might be trying to send us a message,” Emily added. 

I thought back to the last time we discussed starting a family. 

--FLASHBACK-- 

We were surrounded by timeless pieces of art and history, and yet the true masterpiece was still her. She was always beautiful to me, a perfect being, truly. But today, something about the way she looked today specifically, made her look like the kind of beauty you see in a painting. Had she been a painting, her creator must have been skilled. Each stroke of his brush creating every divine curve of her face and body to produce a work of magnificent art, one that I so proudly hung on the walls of my heart. 

I remember exactly what she wore, and how it felt to take it all off. The painter had an eye for color. Her denim skirt, the length or lack thereof making me embarrassingly wary, was blue like the Mediterranean Sea, complementing the pigment of the skin of her legs. A white button down made of silk, not worn properly, of course. Too many buttons were left open at the top, as to draw attention to the gold adorned on her chest, but in the spell of temptation she procured to cast upon me, my eyes wandered to admire territories of her body they shouldn’t have. Not in public, at least. The buttons at the bottom were left untouched as well, revealing the soft skin of her stomach. She looked like an angel, but of course, went out of her way to instead be my temptress.

My affinity for her beauty aside, the wide eyes in delight at the museum artifacts and careful attention to my commentary were what made our excursion wonderful. The feeling of her smaller hand in mine, and the giggles and the teasing “You’re way too nerdy to be so stupid hot Dr. Reid.” made it absolutely perfect. 

In exchange for her listening so attentively to my historical facts and stories, I took her for ice cream. She insisted we ate it on the greens of Lincoln Park. Who was I to deny her that? What came next--I expected. She’d devoured it. Made a mess of strawberry ice cream on her white shirt. 

“It was the wind!” She insisted as the first of many drips of ice cream fell down her chin. 

“No it was not!” I argued back while wiping it, “You just never learned how to eat ice cream properly.” I gently removed the cone from her hands and into mine, taking an overzealous bite. “This, lovey, is how you eat ice cream.” 

“Give it back, you...you dickass!” She snorted. We laughed like two lovesick teenagers. 

“Dickass?” I asked, eyes watery from laughter. 

“Yeah dickass, give me back my damn ice cream.” I took another bite, “Stop! You’re eating it all!” She pouted. Pouts were unfortunately my weakness and I handed it back to her. However, in her rush, the pink scoop had fallen directly on her blouse. 

“Way to prove my point,” I started to take off my cardigan, “You want dickass’s sweater?” 

She wanted to be mad but couldn’t contain the wince of a smile. “Please.” 

We carefully removed her shirt from under while simultaneously putting the cardigan in its place. 

“Spence don’t let me flash! There’s kids and judgmental old ladies here!” 

I laughed and shushed her, “I know, I know.” I moved all the fabrics quickly and it was done. Her sticky pink shirt was replaced with my soft sweater. “There.” 

“My hero,” She kissed me, “Truly.”

She leaned back on our picnic blanket on her shoulders as we observed our fellow park goers. “So many kids.”  

I nodded my head in agreement. “Yeah…” 

“We should bring our kids here one day.” she said, instantly breaking my haze from the crowd so I could only see her. 

I smiled again at the thought, “Yeah, and tell them how their mom is the world's clumsiest ice cream eater.”

She looked at me with disdain before shoving her shoulder into mine. “Shut up.” 

“Can you imagine it?” I started, “A little girl who looks just like you? I’d be in so much trouble.” 

She giggled, “Absolutely whipped.” 

I toppled her so we were laying down, facing each other. She kissed me hard, and my hands went to the sides of her face, only pulling back to say “I can’t wait for it, you know. My two little girls.” 

She smiled, “But I’ll always be your favorite right?” she asked sarcastically. 

I laughed, “Oh of course. Always.” 

“I’ll have a big ol’ belly, you know.” I nodded, “You’d still be perfect.” 

“We’d have to go to the mall, buy me a shitload of new clothes. Do ya know how dirty malls are Spence?” I winced at the thought of thousands of strangers bacteria on every surface and she laughed, “Got ya.” I shook my head, “Nope! I uh, I’ll just bring hand sanitizers and uh, to the Maternity section we’ll go.” 

“Non-stop Panda express eating.” I nodded again, “I’ll be non-stop Panda Express buying, then.” She smiled so hard her nose scrunched. 

“I love you Spencer.” 

“I love you too. I am so in love with you.” 

--FLASHBACK ENDS--

“Yeah but it was trivial.” I said. 

“Maybe not,” Hotch argued, “Was anything mentioned specifically?” 

“A name she liked?” Prentiss added, “Maybe a craving she thought she might have? Anything at all?” 

I nodded, “Not a food, but a fast food place. Panda Express.” I doubted that would be helpful. 

“It’s a stretch but, Garcia, check for any dilapidated buildings within 10 miles of a Panda Express.” 

“Yes sir,” She typed away and then said, “No, guys. I’m sorry. All of our Panda Express’s are in pristine malls or new developments.” 

“Mall!” I shouted, “She said we’d have to go to the mall! She knows I hate the mall.” 

Morgan pointed at us, “The tiles in that room look like they could be from some 80’s Bloomingdales.” 

“Garcia-” I said. 

“Already on it.” 

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

The pregnancy ruse was either going to get me killed, or save my life. It was a moment of panic and I just wanted to throw her off. I know it did, but in what direction? 

She was still crying, her demeanor with me was still laced with bitter animosity, but she was calmer now. 

“How long have you known?” Brook asked, the contents of her flask now empty and her words slurred. 

“I found out yesterday.” I lied through my teeth. 

She shrugged her shoulders, “Had you guys talked about it?” 

“Vaguely.” I admitted. 

“What’d Spencer want? Boy or girl?” I debated on whether or not to say, and she caught on. “Don’t fucking lie.” She stated harshly. 

“Girl.” I breathed out. “He wants a girl.” 

“What do you want?” she asked. 

“I don’t care.” I said. That was true. 

“How come?” 

“I just want to start a family with him. Don’t really care about the gender…” That was true as well. 

“Oh.” she nodded her head, “Why’d he want a girl?” It was strange, her  genuine curiosity. It freaked me out, but my alternative was being stabbed. I chose to just answer her questions, regardless of how much I really did not want to.  

“He liked the idea of a little girl who looked like me.” 

She winced, eyes tearing up further. “Right.” I was beginning to realize her feelings were very real. 

“You really like him, don’t you?” I asked. I knew I shouldn’t have but I couldn’t help it. My head was still looking for an answer as to how she could be driven to do something like this. 

She clasped her hands together, her anger returning.  “Don’t fucking start. You know nothing of what I feel for Spencer.” She came up closer and tugged at my hair, “Fucking nothing.” 

“Okay,” I grimaced at the pain from the force at which she pulled my hair, “I-I’m sorry.” 

She let go, “You should be. You really, really fucking should be.” She sat back down, pensive for a while. I wish I knew what she was thinking about. 

My heart had not stopped it’s fast pace ridden with anxiety since I gained full awareness of my situation, but now, it felt like it was going to burst through my chest. Was she planning on just killing me now? 

My anticipation ceased when she got up and brought back the camera with her again. “Hello BAU. There has been a change in plans. Your beloved,” The words reeked of sarcasm, “Y/N here, will be returned eventually. . She’s gonna be fine. However, it is now in everybody best interest if this video feed was cut out. Sorry.” She said before mouthing, “No I’m not.” She shut the camera off. 

She turned to me, “I hate you. Fucking despise you.” Figures. 

“But I would never hurt Spencer. Or his child. Even if it is being carried by a whore like you.” 

She began to pace once more, “You’re obviously a mistake on his part. You clearly tricked him with sex and...no just sex I think. You're not really smart enough to be capable of anything else. Regardless, he’s probably already thinking about abortions or adoption. There’s no way in hell a man like him could ever want to start a family with a girl like you.” She shook her head, “Absolutely not.” 

I could only nod my head at her delusions. This woman was so far up her ass. 

She pinched my cheeks together with her cold hands, “You tried to trap him. How’d that go for you?” 

I was silent.

“I asked you a fucking question!” She held my face impossibly tighter. 

“Poorly.” I got out, “Poorly.” 

“In 9 months, I’ll help you deliver your baby. And then, you can go.” Brook backed away and let go of her tight grip on my face. “I’m keeping the kid. Raising it.” She smiled, “I’ll be the mother Spencer’s child will deserve. And then-” A giggle creepily reminiscent of a schoolgirl’s left her throat, “He’ll love me!” 

Brooks intention had twisted from wanting to murder and torture me as revenge for “taking” Spencer, to a now twisted maternal desire for his (hypothetical) child. But if Spencer and his team couldn’t find me before the time I was supposed to be showing, I was fucked. Utterly fucked. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Taglist: @britishspidey

(Let me know to be added)

[sugar-petals]

Your First Date With Baekhyun

:: bbh x sm apprentice!reader

words. 10k

warnings ⚠️ idol au hc, pining, brief angst, eventual car sex 👀, tw light injuries bc baek is clumsy in love, oral fixation, finger sucking, rough sex, making out

↳ NOTE. here we go again with the slow burn ✊🔥

It all starts with a divine act of clumsiness. 

An accident, completely out of the blue.

Who is surprised, what else could it be.

Ever since Baekhyun violently bumped into you from behind in the SM cafeteria to avoid Mark spilling red hot Americano on him… life has never been the same. 

That you walked in on him walking around mighty topless, with you wanting to clear the dance practice room many hours after work three times already does not help.

It’s always the same chain of events. He practices for longer than the others and gets sweaty, pulls off his shirt, pauses the music for a five-minute break. That’s unintentionally making it seem like everyone is already gone and the room is empty — you are deceived by it every time, and he almost gets a heart attack himself. We know how easily embarrassed Baekhyun is with showing skin by accident, outside of any shower stalls that is, let alone being caught stripping by himself. 

The first time he screams and you scream, off you run after quickly shutting the door. He tries his best to cover himself up with his hands, but to no avail. Lucas, Kai, and Johnny are no longer the only Magic Mikes under this rowdy fucking roof anymore. Even if you turned around fast, you saw more than a whole lot. 

You know how scared Baekhyun is by surprises, he gets all fidgety. Even after four whole minutes, he still sits with the music off breathing harder than he did from powering through four jointbreaking ligament-snappers I mean EXO choreographies. 

Lot of thoughts on his mind, lot of blood pumping through him. Baekhyun can hear a pretty hefty heartbeat pound in his ears. Eventually, he shakes his head at himself and does switch the music back on. But even that doesn’t distract him, nor can he concentrate on the moves. He keeps on asking himself — what the hell is wrong, what is this, why does he act like that? 

So, he ends up sneaking out of the room to call it a day. You were waiting in the nearby corridor to do the cleaning after he left. But now, you hide behind a shelf with props and miscellanea to avoid him. 

Of course, Baekhyun comes to grab a water bottle from said cupboard. Well, oh shit. He has his shorts on, and his calves are literally 20 inches away from you. He doesn’t see you crouching down there, but your pulse is going through the roof now, too. 

In fact, not even the days when Taeyong is walking around the company in a sexy as hell crop top could cause you such a panic. And that is the highest possible bar already. The average apprentice almost faints.

There’s pungent sweat that can knock you out of your socks… and then there’s sexy sweat scent mixed with men’s deodorant. Baekhyun leaves the latter after rushing out of the corridor. It’s even more intense in the practice room, if not absolutely unbearable. Oh boy. Pheromones, please no.

It’s almost as if you’re taking a bath in cologne. You’re getting nauseous and tingly from how it gets to you. You can hardly focus on scrubbing the mirror. If only the guy knew what horniness he is causing just by infusing the air, what the fucking fuck.

The second time, he jerks up again, but tries to explain himself. But so do you, ending up with a mutual, stuttering word spill in sync. 

Neither of you understood what the other was saying because you were too busy with a knee-jerk dialogue. Anxious all over, you quickly leave and eventually end up hiding behind the cupboard again. The new comeback track blasts even louder in the practice room. 

The third occasion, you no longer flinch at each other and laugh a little, mighty embarrassed still, but apologize with knowing eyes. This time, you enter the room after a small „Can I?“ and at least manage to clear some noodle boxes and unused towels from the backup dancers away, and pin a new schedule to the door. 

Baekhyun quickly pulls over his plain white tee and keeps on mumbling sorry, sorry like he’s Super Junior, practically scraping the ground with his hair because he bows so deep. 

You’ve never seen him this awkward. Instead of his usual one-liners and most effortless conversation starters, he resorts to switching on the music again after frantically looking everywhere but in your direction. He sings his lines right along, getting back into the routine’s intricate steps. 

Strange. 

Very strange.

All day, he is impulsive with lightening up just about any situation. One sentence, hook line and sinker; the mood alleviates. Not this time. He’s ignoring you now that you’re in the room.

The truth is: Baekhyun can’t help but set his pupper eyes on you in all other occasions already, especially when you’re busy at a distance. And it’s making him crazy. Next day at the cafeteria, he deliberately arrives late so he can queue way, way behind you. 

For the first time in all glorious epochs K-Pop history, he would let Sehun enter the line before him so he would have a shield. „Maknaes first“ is his brief comment, and Sehun thinks that Baekhyun must squarely confuse today with his birthday.

And fate says… sike. Two minutes later, a teary Mark rushes toward you and loudly apologizes for the Americano disaster. „Baekhyun was not being impolite, it was me!“

As he says just that, he turns, points right at Baekhyun’s tomato red head peeking out from behind Sehun’s shoulders, and bows to him. 

The whole cafeteria is witness, including Lee Soo Man.

And SHINee, who will have gossip material for five weeks because of this. Key is already taking notes. 

And BoA — who’s giggling because she’s seen it all in the business and knows exactly what’s going on with Baekhyun and you. Oh. Lord.

Baekhyun wants to sink into the ground right then and there. He’s been found out again. Of course he has to step out from his lair now and bow back to Mark, take the blame and explain the whole incident all over, and comfort him with a string of appeasing words. Which he hates for four reasons at the same time. He embarrassed Mark, himself, disturbed you the way he bumped into your back, and now you saw him hiding from… precisely you. Little does he know you did, too. 

Baekhyun quickly retreats to sit next to Sehun once again after Mark has calmed down and he, being the senior as always, has performed another 180° bow to you in front of the entire staff and idol audience, causing his oversized shirt to slip downward, way to his armpits. 

Goodness gracious.

BoA is this close to shouting „get a room“ upon seeing Baekhyun stand in front of you with his stomach all bare until he has hastily tucked his shirt back into this place. Fast as it happens, you can’t hide your reaction face. 

Chanyeol, sitting at a nearby table, does a telling reaction noise himself, and you can tell he’s read the situation to a T. Even worse, he’s whistling. You can fool a lot of people, but not Park „Radar“ Chanyeol. He’s a himbo incarnate, but this guy’s emotional intelligence is too damn strong, and he knows Baekhyun inside out. Oh shit, man.

The next ten minutes are fraught with a weird, sonorous mumbling in the room. Lee Soo Man doesn’t really get it, thank God. But the meaning of Baekhyun silently cowering behind Sehun while eating his kimchi stew is more than obvious to half of the people around. Baekhyun never fucking acts like this, even when he’s sad.

It’s like something is pushing the two of you into humiliating situations like that ever since you started to work at SM since last May. Literally Baekhyun can’t stop apologizing to you all day because he’s suddenly clumsy or the strangest situations happen.

Nope, he doesn’t do it on purpose. But yes, he finds himself enjoying your attention. So what is he going to do? This keeps being stuck on his mind. Especially because half of EXO, NCT, and SuperM is asking him what the hell is going on in three raging group chats at once.

And you? I don’t have to tell you how it feels like when Baekhyun stumbles over to squarely plant his cutesy baby face into your back. Firmly wrapping his hands around your waist on top of that not to fall over entirely. That feeling is locked into your muscle memory. And now, seeing him stripped down for the fourth time already? Goodbye to your sleep.

Special thanks to a jittery Mark for making this first hug I mean collision out of nowhere happen. Just to be sure: Mark really didn’t spill his coffee on purpose, nor did Baekhyun want to bump into you this hard. And we know Mark’s reflexes are usually fast enough to save the day. But he was about to host his first variety show all by himself, so you can imagine how shaky and distracted he was. And nobody will resent him — this is only all about you and Baekhyun… being the most repressed motherfuckers.

Baekhyun constantly almost-crashing into you somewhere or basically crawling on the ground before you makes for a second very shaky guy. What the hell is pulling him towards you wherever he goes? It’s even worse than Minseok moving one inch and accidentally smacking Baekhyun in the face.

It just goes on and on.

Following the second cafeteria embarrassment, the next Friday after lunch, you run into each other at the ground floor elevator exit so you would drop your fries. Yeah, extra crispy ones, with the best mayonnaise. Baekyhun has been feeling so guilty about his curse at this point that he orders extra fries for you at the cafeteria two times a week with his card. Which makes Chanyeol know dear Eros struck particularly hard. Because if he didn’t care, Baekhyun would pay it five times a week like he does for NCT every now and then. But if he does it only two times, something is at stake. He doesn’t want it to be apparent.

Baekhyun can’t even look you in the eye when he puts them on your tray. Instead, he quickly bows three times in a row and then disappears. This guy is a small puddle of blush. 

Lee Soo Man cites him into his room to say what’s wrong soon, but all Baekhyun can blurt out is that he didn’t sleep well and the comeback song won’t get into his head. Which is not a direct lie, so.

Whatever you do, Baekhyun appears out of the blue and falls to your feet. Only two days later, he returns from shooting an MV and slips right in front of your office. Pretty much because his feet stumble over his own pants. You put the paperwork aside and check what the hell is going on outside. A dizzy Baekhyun straight-up hit his head at your door. He declines you helping him up because he knows that your touch is probably gonna make him fully insane. He walks around with a forehead patch during the comeback stage and people online think it’s the latest trend.

Somebody save this man.

The universe just keeps on arranging the silliest things to make shit happen, huh.

At this point, Baekhyun developing a full-blown apprentice crush is as obvious as Lucas being tall.

Now, the reality is. This man is Hitch, the Date Doctor. He notoriously handles crowds, can get along with anyone he’s put together with on camera, helps the other members to juggle their love life whenever they have a problem. Chen is probably a married man because of Baekhyun in one way or another. He isn’t really shy normally in his own words. But when it comes to his own crushes — classic case of everybody’s cupid who gives good advice they would need the most. 

That Baekhyun is helpless with anything that digs beneath the surface of his usual interactions will show to you very soon. There’s tough Baekhyun, there’s cute Baekhyun, and then there’s an utterly speechless little bean who has an internal meltdown when you do as much as take the stairs together. The difference is staggering. He’s fidgety, tense, makes himself even smaller and first and foremost: Is impressionable to an extreme.

In short: Baekhyun has fully converted into a fake maknae.

It’ll show in staff meeting conversations on trivial things about the schedule that he wing-mans everybody but himself when shit hits the fan. He stutters in your presence. Baek’s a mess. Chanyeol takes Baekhyun to the side and raises his brows at him at least five times a day, as in wanting to say: „Are you ever going to do something about it?“

Baekhyun dodges the answer each time and preoccupies himself with social media. Fans will later say that he hasn’t uploaded as many Twitter replies, Youtube videos, and Instagram snapshots in his whole career. And Baekhyun is already quite active online so you can tell how much he’s spamming.

Secretly… hoping you see his online activity. Which you do. 

You’ve memorized his five latest vlogs down to the cute little sound noises he’s making. Still, you hide behind the cupboard, and he is hiding behind an unsuspecting Johnny. Because Sehun is already grumbling about becoming a human shield, and Chanyeol would tease Baekhyun to the hell and back whenever you’re around.

Why does all of that happen? Why is he trying to escape? 

The answer is, Baekhyun feels an overpowering respect towards you. He doesn’t know where it’s coming from, it’s something you exude. To the point where he isn’t able to clown you the way he does with others. It’s literally that bad.

On top of that, Baekhyun is frustrated that whatever extroversion he can switch on during broadcasts, fan meets, and with the other members is suddenly failing him. He tries hard to fall back to his usual humor, but you being around makes him act much more erratic. And, surprisingly reserved, believe it or not.

Eye contact will make him break whatever character he’s trying to tune into for the sake of keeping it together. The exact opposite will happen. All the blushing and boiling hot sweat gives him away. Your own heated af face he doesn’t even notice.

In his mind, he’s going through any possible way of mannerisms to get your attention all while not embarrassing himself. He gives confident SuperM leader Baekhyun a shot, comedian Baekhyun, too, and he will don a pokerfaced version of himself as a last option whenever you are close. 

All unsuccessfully. He can’t keep the façade for long; he knows he’s acting strange and inconsistent that way. Do you even realize what you merely sitting in the same practice room is doing to this guy?  

As you can tell…

It’s up to you to hit on him. Finding an unmistakable balance between being breathtakingly forward and overly subtle. The right way to ask him out is somewhere in between. The way you gauge it, Baekhyun is turned off by all kinds of brazen approaches, but doesn’t want to be nudged with satin gloves and feathers either.

However, you end up playing too lowkey at first try because you’re just as nervous. You think, maybe it’s good to find out how interested in me he will admit he is. Which, given how much he tries to conceal his feelings, turns out to be a difficult idea.

And — Isn’t is crystal clear he likes you a whole lot by the way he tries to retreat from everyone but you? Recently, fleeing to stand behind Lucas. Who has the most hiding surface and won’t question what Baekhyun is doing there all the time, unlike Johnny.

So, how do you learn that your plan is a bad idea? You try to involve yourself in NCT’s Friday night truth-or-dare where Baekhyun always joins to mess with everyone.

But that weekend, he interestingly excuses himself to „practice English, it’s urgent!“. Off he goes as soon as he sees that you are part of the lineup, looking like he’s seen a ghost. 

So, that mission failed. You get Taeyong, Haechan, and Yuta twerking against you at the same time while wearing sailor moon outfits as a dare instead. 

However: You still learned something from this. The way that even Haechan’s wild gyrating and arguably great ass did not have a single effect on you tells you that you really want someone else really damn bad. Hell, if Yuta Nakamoto winds against you and you feel nothing—

And, something else has become apparent to you.

Professional he is, Baekhyun establishes rapport even with people he dislikes or feels neutral about, but when his more vulnerable feelings are in the game, he runs from them. 

Beside Chanyeol and BoA, you’re smart enough to begin seeing what clockwork ticks inside of him. When Baekhyun doesn’t try to get close to someone that’s around him so frequently, something is mighty wrong and his opinion about that someone must be an intense one. And it’s not because he hates that person, the opposite is the case. 

He’s almost less afraid of you than his worries of ruining it. 

But through what, you’re wondering, seriously. 

On the other hand, you get why Baekhyun keeps a viable distance. He knows it’s difficult to be associated with him in the way he wishes you were. Since people were looking at him and you so strange in the cafeteria, he even stopped practicing in the after hours. 

Two weeks later, he even quits buying you fries for lunch and eats in the recording studio instead. Chanyeol remains correct: Much is at stake.

After the truth-or-dare fail, you sit down in sobriety and go through your options. You get all sorts of grand ideas to reveal your feelings, but dismiss the majority of it. You have to start small, really small. This needs the utmost care. Especially because you don’t want to compromise him by accident any further, nor are you anywhere near as ballsy as you believe someone hitting on Byun Baekhyun needs to be. 

Truth be told: BoA would kick your ass for thinking that. And letting so many opportunities pass, as if you aren’t beating yourself up for it enough. Idol mode Baekhyun, well, he would be hard to approach indeed. But what is currently going on… he’s literally showing you his underbelly. He’s begging you to do something.

That he avoids even the lightest touch: More than telling to BoA’s knowing eye. He would be so easy to sway with just one sentence. She knows that at this point, Baekhyun is desperate. His yes would come so fast. You’re far from having faith in this. But you still try. You want this man.

Eventually, you rack your brain for anything understated you could do. 

Then, you get the idea. 

After a schedule briefing, Baekhyun recently said he dearly wishes he could eat fried noodles in the early evening because he’s craving something savory, meanwhile flashing a split-second glance at you. Maybe… You can discreetly bridge the gap by getting him food.

You’re part responsible for doing things like that in the company already so nobody will question you driving around with your little motorbike. 

If you think about it: That’s a good excuse to approach him frequently and visit his apartment. The move is calculated, but it’s what the situation requires. You can’t tell how Baekhyun will react, but if he looked at you this way, it’s worth a shot.

And so, you dare the impossible. You show up with a deliberately small portion of noodles after the last comeback stage, knock twice. He does open. You’re frozen up.

Uttering a hopefully neutral „You said you wanted this. I’ll also bring it tomorrow if you want,“ and then drive off again without even waiting for a reply from a very surprised-looking Baekhyun in PJs. 

Sweating like crazy, thank God your helmet and the upcoming dark of the night was hiding your red cheeks. Shit man, that was robotic as fuck! is what you’re thinking for the entire ride home. Another fail, you sure won’t return tomorrow. Now you can’t look him in the eye, either.

Meanwhile: 

The meal not only saves the day of Baekhyun’s usually very lackluster diet mood that comes out when he is by himself. It also makes him flustered and grateful, curling up on his couch. He couldn’t even remotely try to say no out of politeness or concerns for his food plan. Baekhyun breaks the chopsticks right away after closing the door. Today, his dog’s with him. Mongryong excitedly jumps up and down next to Baekhyun. Your visit was short and sweet, but it made two beans very happy.

In fact, he rips open the box and shoves a quarter of the content into his mouth in the blink of an eye. It’s not just how hungry he is. He’s also overwhelmed that you came to his house. He feels like it’d be the highest level of disrespect to throw it away to begin with, no matter how spartan his eating habits are supposed to be. 

He almost views this little take-out box as a part of you. He imagines how you listened to him talk, decided to drop by, bought it with your own money, and carried it all the way to him. All that extra effort and attention he spins back and forth in his head for the whole next week.

And, on the spot, Baekhyun is so taken aback that he starts deep cleaning his apartment at midnight as soon as he finishes his noodles. 

To your own initial shock, he also drops an envelope with money under your office door the next day. And you thought someone was sending threats.

You get the underlying message, though. This is something just between the two of you, and the envelope is a yes. For another meal. Actually, more than that. There are 30 sorted bills in it, each to buy one box since he knows where you get the food from and what the standard price is. 

Payment for one month in advance. Meetings for one month in advance. This fucker. 

And you thought your sweaty scene at his apartment left him confused or weirded out. Nope, he decided he wants this times thirty. Something you have to let sink in.

The next day you drive along at the same time, there’s nobody there. 

Because Baekhyun has left the door open. Now you can’t just speed away again. Nor do you really want to, for God’s sake. 

After putting your helmet down in the small entrance room, you find an anxiously waiting Baekhyun on the extremely cleaned up living room couch, sitting there with fidgeting feet like it’s a porn casting. 

The tension could kill. You put the box on the table before him like it’s England’s Crown Jewels. You want to calm him down so desperately, but don’t know how.

Given his sparkly eyes set on the food, that he wants to devour what you brought him right away is not hard to overlook. But he still seems hesitant. Insecure. Baekhyun doesn’t manage to say a full word which is the most surreal thing. You work up your voice and pass him the chopsticks in their paper packaging. „Pig out. You didn’t eat since 7AM.“

Again, he breaks the chopsticks. Trying hard not to do it too fast.

You sit opposite to him and revert back to professional mode. Talking about statistics from the comeback that Baekhyun hummingly acknowledges the way he does when you talk to EXO in meetings. 

He stuffs himself like his life depends on it. No stable eye contact from him. 

Both of you know that it’s not what you want to say. But even ten minutes in: Nothing about the cafeteria, the fries, the envelope, the topless incident, the forehead patch, nothing. Just you going on about details from work and him listening, nodding, chewing, making brief little remarks and using all his standard corporate phrases. „Ah, yes, EXO surely benefits from that.“ But it’s a start. You begin small. 

So far, so good. With every evening, the conversation becomes more and more two-sided and the meals bigger. A second envelope soon enters your office, covering the extra costs for the XXL boxes, your fuel, and another month worth of meals. Note: Only one and a half weeks in. 

Fuck, you got yourself into something big. Is it because his dog likes you?

You are starting to like babying him like that, even if you both keep it serious. Unusually so, but at least you don’t get into any more accidents with that suspense off your either shoulders. 

It’s not like that cute little face would leave you any chance in the first place. Baekhyun smiles shyly around you. His big laugh is sweeping, but the small things… lethal. Absolutely lethal.

His manager doesn’t like it, but his genius idol’s mochi factor is increasing since you bring him spicy, richer foods. Baekhyun declines most snacks he’s offered at work, hardly eats up at the cafeteria and gives it to Foodcas Xuxi instead, and even the stylists wished he would gain more weight without any results in their convincing acts. But when you bring him a large portion of extra al dente spaghetti or — as of recently — self-made black bean noodles, Baekhyun would consider it rude not to follow the call of the carbs. 

Interesting.

He eats even more aggressively when he knows you made the food yourself. 

Quickly enough, he pays either for take-out or ingredients meant for not one, but two people. You usually eat a little earlier than he does, but you would not trade the best luxury meal in the world eaten by yourself with being together in Baekhyun’s flat. To the average Joe, this would be the biggest hassle, but to you… there’s no way you can get enough of being around him so privately. You enjoy taking the time to buy food for him. Taking the time in general.

You’re not the only one.

I don’t have to tell you how Baekhyun has to fight getting a vicious hard-on with sitting opposite to you with your motorcycling jacket peeled down to the hip, right inside a staring-not staring-staring-not staring match while you both slurp on your noodle soup pretending to be apprentice and idol.

It’s… bizarre. And hot. And bizarre. And frustrating.

You both don’t know where to take all of this. You end up making it a rock-solid daily routine, but not going any further than that because you are afraid. The excuse: Never change a running system.

In the meantime, Baekhyun works out even more. Not to compensate for the calories or to get rid of the increasingly chubby cheeks. Nope, it’s to impress you and show his fitness, plain and simple. At times, the music once again blasts in the practice room after everyone left. You come in to clear the room with Baekhyun in one of his very tight tank tops. 

You greet each other softly smiling. The familiarity really does begin to show. While you sort and organize, he writes you a little note on what to get for food tonight. He scribbles a little „:3“ emoji underneath. 

You think about that for at least two hours before you drive to his apartment.

So, yeah. Something is going on with him regardless of both of you trying to keep your routine stable and CIA-level secret. 

He finds himself cringeworthy when he carries seven stacked up chairs to a group meeting at once just because you’re attending. But something in him can’t help it, for the love of God. At least in this regard, he thinks, something is running on autopilot in terms of flirting methods. Meaning, he really does hide less and less. 

Meanwhile, Lucas’ eyes are falling out because Baekhyun is mustering new levels of strength nobody suspected he had. In the most random situations, even. Baekhyun’s fitness trainer is also living one hell of a life because his protégée is so eager these days. Mastering everything from weights to pilates. Hormones are one hell of a drug.

Kai frequently remarks that Baekhyun is different. „He’s nagging much less, what’s going on, why, why!“ he says to Taemin on the regular, and they invent all kinds of theories.

Since Baekhyun doesn’t want to miss out on your daily evening visit nor spend 8 hours in the gym, that means: He increases the intensity of the work-outs. For two and a half weeks, he is completely knocked out afterwards.

And so… it happens.

Baekhyun falls asleep before your visit. The door he has opened beforehand as always, but you enter a dim room with dozing Baekhyun splayed on the bed in his red carpet outfit from earlier that day. He worked out in the morning, did some hosting, talked his soul out in an interview, attended an award show, drove home, and eventually collapsed in the sheets. Lights out.

You put the rice box and cake slice you brought along on his desk. He looks so cute when he dozes, but you also hate disturbing his sleepy angel hours. Especially because you know how worn-out his schedule has left him and you feel sorry for it. 

You feel weird for standing there with your take-out and want to hurry outside as fast as possible, but leave a note. 

For the first time in weeks, you eat dinner in your own flat.

After forcefully waking up at 3AM due to his usual sleep cycle being off balance, Baekhyun falls into a spiral of regrets. Once it dawns on him what time it is and he must have missed your visit, he buries his face in his palms sitting at the edge of the bed. 

He resents himself for neither cleaning up his bedroom properly nor staying awake even more so, no matter how eventful his day was. He imagines how you must have seen him sleep, probably in the most humiliating, unflattering position and with terrible hair, judging him for being rude, forgetful, unattractive, messy, and probably a thousand other things.

Until… he finds the note. That one gives him a second almost-heart attack, but an adrenaline-fueled one this time. He stumbles back onto his bed and reads it twenty times over.

„Rest well and dig in. Don’t worry. Text if you’re okay. 03304 68010113.“

After three typos in your number, almost choking on cold rice because he eats so passionately, and several minutes of going back and forth on sending something, he kicks his own ass and writes a little „I’m ok, I’m very very sorry! I’m an idiot 😭“. After you reply that he has no reason to apologize, he rambles on about how he wishes that he’s not being an inconvenience to you with a whole row of sad and dejected emojis. 

You hate that Baekhyun feels put on the spot and obliged because of you this way and try to think hard about how to solve the dilemma. You won’t try to stop the rain of his apologies by telling him to calm down because you know it’ll make it worse, and instead decide it’s time to get going.

The opportunity is now, and there’s only one.

‚So, I have an idea—“

Going to the groovy little underground pizza restaurant downtown is something that Baekhyun immediately accepts as a suggestion. He wants to compensate for his dozing, but he also knows that this is a whopping chance more than anything.

And… a covert first date. 

He knows that’s what it is. It’s about leveling up now.

Before you can write that you’ll treat him and he can relax, he gets firm with insisting that you will pay not a single dime. You know that it’s not just his overworking conscience speaking. It’s also the only way Baekhyun gets an occasion to express that he takes this very seriously via text. 

That he wants to repay you and aims to get the most out of meeting up is something you realize when he steps out of the wardrobe room the next evening after everyone in the company has gone home. 

The stylists he has told that he needs to try this particular outfit on for some time to get used to it. „I need to dance in this, so.“

Actually, it is meant for EXO performing at the Oscars next week, but he got away with the excuse and a promise to take care. 

And… he really did the rest of the styling all by himself. He’s turned into a glamorous neat freak. Every shiny hair glued into its desired place, freshly dyed honey blonde with soft brunette roots. 

In fact, who walks at you is a wholly different Baekhyun in a dark, reddish-violet satin suit, pointy black shoes, matte black tie, mature sultry eye shadow, black square sunglasses pushed up into his hair, his signature lipstick, with a distinct statement tote bag, and black lace socks. I repeat: Lace. This is the fanciest anybody has ever headed to eat $6.50 pizza at a tube station. I mean wow, just wow. The tailored shoulders and how tight the tux cinches in at the waist is on par with Kai’s Obsession crop top. 

Even the much more expensive award show outfit from last week looks like a potato sack compared to how much he dolled himself up and reinvented literally every inch about himself. Like you have to prevent yourself from drooling.

Yep. He. Means. Business.

Funnily enough, Baekhyun realizes his zeal and just how much he is trying to impress you at all costs when you turn up with your standard khaki trench coat, bunny print umbrella, and casual white sneakers that have seen World War 1 and 2. You know, just the way you always come to his apartment and the way it’s inconspicuous. 

Going by his face… he starts to overthink his esteem. You can see how his expression becomes mortified. You promptly decide to put an end to his self-conscious back and forth through taking him by the hand. 

„You’re the best-looking man in the world and I’m asking you for a date. Are you comin’ or are you not?“

You then make it particularly clear to him that if anything, this right in front of you is very much authentic Baekhyun and not someone else you’re in for after all. And, that you’re both in your genuine form tonight the way it’s gotta be, the way you know each other and the reason why you decided to do this. Boom.

Four-step Greek style sermon for tonight: Delivered.

Now he’s gaping at you too much to beat himself up. That mission is very much accomplished. Modern problems apparently require ancient rhetoric. You’re in a kick-ass mood tonight. I dunno, anybody would be, Baekhyun’s accentuated sense of style has the historic potential to make girls reckless.

Baekhyun’s hand is heated like an Icelandic geyser and his heartbeat rate would make the average rabbit look like an amateur. Believe it or not — it’s the first time you’re deliberately touching. It’s ridiculous.

You head to the company garage, he churns out five jokes in a row on how he must look like a Korean Elton John on the way to his best-of concert, you laugh… Baekhyun feels better. Three times as nervous compared to when you usually come to his flat, but better nevertheless. And he drives, so. 

He feels like he’s catching up and giving something back, no matter that you feel he doesn’t have to, but to him, it’s important. 

You joke back to him how it’s a little bit funny — Elton John pun intended — that you saw every inch of Baekhyun’s apartment at this point already but this is the first date. The world is upside down, but it’s SM Entertainment, so. Things get started in different ways, but they do.

That realization is getting to him, too. Baekhyun’s peacock alter ego emerges to bolt over the motorway like a lovedrunk Lewis Hamilton with a foot glued to the gas pedal, but also checks fifty times for how you feel in the passenger seat. Asking about how you like it, if the A/C is set to how you want it, whether your seat is tilted the way you enjoy it. Damn, he really is on edge. 

On top of that, said alter ego maneuvers him right into a 3-kilometer outer ring traffic jam before his innocent self even realizes it. More time to chat… more time to sit so close… more time you get to savor the comfort of his luxurious car. So that was a Freudian slip with a steering wheel right there.

You already know that Baekhyun has never tried as hard to make somebody like him. You compliment his taste in cars vice versa to take that pressure off before he turns into a nervous wreck entirely. And then, also adding that you could get used to this which makes Baekhyun feel like a billion Won. His eyes are downcast, his cheeks are beaming. Figures, light superpowers and such, we know the deal.

Meanwhile, that you really like him already and for a long time is something you challenge yourself to make more than apparent to him. If he’s still this desperate about pleasing you and unsure about how he comes across, there’s some work to do. This guy needs a sign. A football field-sized one. If Baekhyun’s demon is his self-worth tonight, yours is being a lot more demonstrative. You’ve been far too indirect with him all day every day.

That you’re outside of both your professional spheres actually helps: Big fucking time.

Easing him into a conversation happens surprisingly smooth when you recount visiting his apartment and seeing him sleep so beautifully. Which you say was the most gratifying thing which is the truth. It’s been on his mind, hearing about your relief makes a lot of things plague him less. 

You also add how you enjoy bringing him food just because. That he’s nice and good company, even when he sleeps. That assures Baekhyun and makes him laugh.

And yes. He ends up serenading you throughout the entire traffic jam. And yes. When Baekhyun is in love, his singing is particularly on point. You can hear the cherry on top in his registers. No need for the stereo, you can ask him to sing any song you like. 

The traffic jam disperses after 20 minutes, Baekhyun has interpreted your entire favorite playlist at this point. Arriving feels like way too soon. 

You put your trench coat over Baekhyun while he exits the car. There’s hardly anyone around in this part of the town but who knows, making sure not to mess up his hair in the process. Both of you hurry to the stairs leading underground. Meanwhile, the car is parked quite stealthily behind a closed-down fish restaurant with dusty windows.

It feels good to walk around with Baekhyun right by your side. 

The surroundings are cluttered with trash and only few people wait at the tube station that opens up before you with every step downwards. It’s actually perfect as a getaway. There are mostly older businessmen on shift at first glance. 

It’s colder out in the open and surrounded by surfaces of concrete, the car was like a spa by comparison. Baekhyun takes the initiative to put the trench coat back onto your shoulders. You feel flattered and you smile at each other, and walk on with synchronized steps. The pizza bar is almost within sight. In the meantime, the digital board announces the tube arriving in five minutes. He takes your hand.

And then… some real bullshit goes down.

A group of seven scraggly-looking teens lounge on a bench, roughly 200 meters before the pizza bistro. You have to pass the bench close-by given how narrow the walking space next to the train tracks is. 

One of them, the tallest of the bunch, coarsely shouts at you. „How much did that prostitute cost and where does he keep his money, huh?“ He sticks his wriggling tongue out right along. The others are ogling Baekhyun’s shoes and chest pockets, preying and laughing and sneering. It dawns on you that you should’ve asked for one more song in the car.

The mood tips. One of the boys sitting on the left side of the bench starts fiddling with a 3-inch switchblade. And then, something flicks the switch inside you, too. Your Kyoong-protect-o-meter goes through the roof faster than Baekhyun can get his car to the speed limit. 

Cue She-Hulk transformation. In an onslaught of your inner wrestling diva claiming her rights, you take matters into your own hands by hurling Baekhyun’s glitzy designer bag at the guy’s surprised face. Sorry Versace, it had to be done. The whole group gasps out loud. While they’re still caught off guard, you go on to lunge forward and furiously whack greasy knife guy and two other approaching attackers with your Roger fucking Rabbit umbrella using a windmill-motion martial arts technique you came up with from scratch. Baekhyun doesn’t even have to duck… being smol has its advantages. 

The switchblade is sent flying into a bin. Point landing. You proceed to rip into the group to helicopter your improvised weapon in circles until it threatens to plow down the better of them and they back away squealing and pleading. Britney would be so damn proud of you, I’m telling ya.

Needless to say, the mortally terrified group runs and disperses into the arriving tube, probably booking their therapist appointments for Monday morning already. You pick up the bag for Baekhyun a little breathless, dust it off, and say a prayer. Holy shit. 

What the hell just happened. Literally, what the fucking fuck.

An entirely wide-eyed Baekhyun still can’t believe that a whole group of sleazy guys twice as tall as him took an unhinged windmill beating by you to prevent a robbery, and meanwhile he is the martial arts champion. Like, hello? He’s been a Hapkido instructor with several gold medals. How many black belts does the guy have again? He could mow down fifty of that kind and pulverize anyone of them with a mere NCT-style kick. This is ridiculous. He’s mighty impressed.

A few businessmen at the station are looking at you from afar with open mouths. You wave and give a thumbs up signalling all is okay. The security personnel reviewing the CCTV the next day is down for a ride. You hope that there are no headlines with pictures of this. Tube brats get their ass busted by cartoon bunny at 2:15 AM. K-Pop star Baekhyun defended by mysterious umbrella wielder gone wild.

You take a deep breath, brush off your coat. „Um. Moving on I guess.“ Then, interlink arms with Baekhyun, strolling on toward the restaurant. Looking around everywhere, still a little shocked. Walking off your relief helps, as is looking forward to eating. Damn, you do outrageous things when you’re hungry.

The restaurant is the size of the practice room at best, lit with white neon and decorated with Italian flags in every corner. The empty seats are designed like in an American diner from the 80s.

The lanky six-foot-something waiter, Luigi Roberto Maranello Salvatore (his nameplate is really in-depth about this), hurries to the door when he sees how Baekhyun is dressed and probably thinks the King of Korea just arrived. Which he, in fact, did, but that’s beside the point. 

You sit at the very back and get comfortable after breaking your last sweat. An enthusiastic Luigi presents to you the latest ‚delicious couple menu options’ and promises to use the best toppings he can offer. You instantly trust him, Luigi has the most accurate mustache you’ve ever seen.

Baekhyun and you share a huge plate of the curiously named ‚Pizza Puppy Love‘  that might be better described as a circle-shaped late night gala buffet. You dig in because damn, fighting thugs makes hungry, and Baekhyun stuffs himself given how it’s his favorite meal. Luigi sees that you are avid eaters and way too busy looking at each other, so he disappears in the kitchen, proud of setting the mood just perfectly.

In the meantime, Baekhyun says that he thinks of hiring you as a sasaeng protection machine. You muse how the umbrella is sturdier than you thought and you wouldn’t hesitate to use it again now that you think about it. Being Baekhyun’s Jarvis is not a bad thought, actually. Beating up rascals for him is your newly discovered love language.

In fact: Whatever took over inside of you and made you lose your chill, Baekhyun is mighty curious about. He thinks that was very sexy. You get the feeling that this guy could like dangerous women. He might have picked that up from Taemin, credits to him.

After Baekhyun has dramatically recounted the umbrella incident at least five times, the conversation goes on about your embarrassing hiding stories, how hilariously over- and underdressed you are as a unit, and you teasing him about „speeding on the highway, are we“. Baekhyun teases you back about how you acted like his manager with your trench coat over his head. He kind of has a point and you call it a tie.

Seeing Baekhyun all full with his beloved pizza and acting so carefree in his Oscar suit is a cute sight. You take the liberty to cut a particularly large slice out of the puppy pizza UFO and feed him. 

If it’s a couple menu, you gotta act like it.

Baekhyun is making some mighty heart eyes at you, and so — you decide to take it a little further. This whole fight thing made you forget you’re on a goddamn date after… a whole year of eyefucking and that it’s about time to close the gap.

Luigi is wholly busy making order in the kitchen and Baekhyun has some tomato sauce stuck at the side of his mouth. Convenient. You take the chance to wipe it off with the tip of your right digit. 

He realizes what you’re doing and promptly grabs your hand to keep it right where it is. Uh-oh. His tongue darts out, he licks right across your finger. To top it off, he starts to suck it, too. With a typical nonchalance. Seeing how you almost combust, he takes another finger into his hot mouth. And sucks a little more. His lipstick smudges onto your hand. His eyes are like hot coals and the pupils are all blown. Oh my, my, my. 

If you’re just playing, don’t you ever give Baekhyun anything to escalate on like that, ever. The way you were ready to knock down the seven guys, he is ready to get physical once the first step is done. Though, the thing is. You’re not playing. It’s exactly the type of fodder that you’ve been craving to give him. Baekhyun’s oral fixation is something else.

The rest of the pizza is gone in five minutes…

…and Luigi gets the tip of his life.

You walk to the car in much faster steps than before. Even if it’s later than late, nobody is around anymore except a sleeping beggar on the other side of the station. No danger in sight whatsoever. There’s a different reason to get going like that this time and there’s no way you can mentally prepare yourself for what’s coming.

Back to the fish restaurant, back to the car spa. Nobody on the streets, anywhere. This night, Baekhyun does not feel even remotely tired, though.

After you put your umbrella in the trunk — you will honor it much more from now on — the driver’s and passenger’s seat stay empty for half an hour and a little more. Now, the actual stereo is on. There’s a lot to catch up with on the backseat.

Baekhyun puts Delight on repeat, and queues City Lights just because. Guy knows what good music and singing sounds like. You interlock hands and call him pretty. Baekhyun is flustered, but all the more eager. 

It takes barely a minute until you get serious with making out on top of him and grind on his lap like the world ends. The satiny fabric is too tempting not to gyrate all over it in your jeans. Lord knows his legs are great. You know what you signed up for. Those thighs are so delicious to straddle, you can’t even imagine. 

Baekhyun gazes at you so intently and ready, whispering his little you-can-do-anythings and tell-me-all-you-wants, it’s like magic.

To top it off, kissing his little pouty lips has got to be the best thing, running your hands through his sexy hair — even more so. Your mouth and fingers have been begging you to do this. Begging. 

From there, your hands go places. His neatly razored nape of the neck, his waist, the chest. His suit, all that expensive fabric, his gentle skin, it’s so nice to the touch. He smells so hot. Bergamot, cinnamon, and sweet, deep, rich and soothing sandalwood. „Girl, I’m your Candy“ gets a whole new meaning. Practice room memories. As if you aren’t wet enough already. 

By the last minute of the second track, Baekhyun is already hooked kissing your neck and does some very daring acrobatics with his tongue. And you thought the pizza would satiate him. Nope, he eats you up like a whole salad bowl of black bean noodles with three pounds kimchi and ten fried eggs stacked on top. In his own words I mean lyrics: Game over.

The desperation and nervosity adds even more sloppiness and hunger. These have got to be the lewdest slurping and sucking noises you’ve ever heard. You can’t help but curse the ugliest things. Something’s pretty damn hard through the front of his tux already. 

Baekhyun feels that you feel it and the kissing becomes even more frantic. His whole body says: Grind more. Please. Please.

By the time the fourth track starts, Baekhyun’s entirely wet mouth wanders upward. Here goes the French kissing madness. You glide your hips back and forth on his bulge, and his tongue is already winding inside of you like it’s advanced singing lessons. It’s so unreal that you have to grab hold of his upper arms to stay in place. Shit, this guy. 

You can tell that this… is his absolute forte. Nobody can fuck with Baekhyun when it comes to outrageous mouth and throat technique. Your tongue gets a sense of how confident he is in his lip service and works his way into it. Now you know how it feels when Byun Baekhyun pays back your attention. Holy Luigi’s Cannoli, he has so much fun. Way, way too much fun. Like Sir, this is a Wendy’s.

And that’s the last damn straw. Really, the last one. You can’t do this shit anymore. You ask for condoms. 

After freezing up for at least ten seconds, he nods his little head about ten times in a row. It’s as if he can’t actually believe it and didn’t just kiss the shit out of you with the hardest dick in history.

„Okay, I’ll—“

Baekhyun keeps them in a yellow puppy-shaped bag under the driver’s seat and takes three torturous minutes to get them from there since it’s underneath and behind other random things. Which means you get to look at his ass for said time because he is bent forward between the two front seats. It’s not like you’ve never seen Baekhyun from behind, but never this close nor in a suit as tight since he usually wears baggy things. So. He’s not just big in the front, then. For his build? That is Korea’s ass.

And the condoms? You expected they were in his tote or his suit within one reach and rip. Nope, Baekhyun did not leave the company building with intentions. He’s been managing this raging boner for a whole year and did not make any moves on you in his apartment where he could have had you on any available surface in two minutes. Baekhyun wasn’t close to even remotely ask for literally anything. He just sat there on the couch with restless legs, ruffled hair, and an open mouth while hearing you talk. You don’t want to imagine how intensely he must have gotten off. Which he, in fact, did. 

He didn’t deliberately plan sex in a specific place for the first date either. Instead, he was prepared for— what exactly? A slight eventuality? Now that you think about it: Going by how he dressed himself, what Baekhyun probably thought he could get out of this was: A compliment. Even if all of your evening visits were nothing but hardcore sexual tension and this was the chance to bring that to an end. Let that sink in.

This guy’s self-control is not only astronomical, but also completely astounding given his usual character. In fact, you thought he would be entirely sovereign with this. How could he not? He’s Baekhyun!

Going by all that… You conclude that Baekhyun must really feel like he does not deserve you. His shame and self-denial must go through the roof. Given how his deeper insecurities have been in plain sight, it actually makes sense. Looks like you’re the one bringing them out, whatever it is that you do. It’s pretty tough knowing that you rouse something as vulnerable in him but it’s as good as it is bad. You find him very brave and incredible for letting it show. Honestly? It’s better than pushing through all of this pretending.

Plus — You really must have given him the impression that he can look but not ever touch. While that’s the entire opposite of what you want. 

To be fair: Having Baekhyun openly touch you in the company would have been a dangerous act. Even more so than say, you touching him, (which would have been somewhat possible, look at stylists and managers casually or work-relatedly doing skinship). Because that means that the availability his profession suggests to the world is no longer a thing and his mind is set on one person. Which, in his field, is social death. 

That’s why Baekhyun could only ever touch you by virtue of circumstances and whatever higher forces arranging accidents where he bumped into you. Talk about indirect ways. The universe gave you what you wanted, but in a way where there was always the excuse of bad luck and no possibility of other people finding out about your feelings. Risky love breeds risky circumstances.

The same with showing his body or knocking at your door to get your attention. He knows he can’t do that, can’t ask for it. So what happens? You accidentally walk in on him, or he crashes against your office entrance after slipping.

The same with treating you, spending time together, getting taken care of by you. Baekhyun found himself wishing for it. So it happened that you spilled your fries and he bought them for you all over, and he was begging for fried noodles so the opportunity to meet surprisingly came about. The accidents themselves both of you didn’t want nor deliberately stage, but you very much wanted the results of them. Directly you could not express your feelings, not even Baekhyun. That’s how it all came to be and now you see just how much he wants to be close to you in so many ways.

That he feels ashamed and undeserving — that shocks the living hell out of you. 

So, all right then, keeper. Time to show you otherwise. 

It’s crazy how he thinks you’re the one off limits and not him. Then again, he’s not the guy with the savage umbrella technique.

Since his hand is too shaky, you slip one on him and start to ride him without any further ado. You’re already leaking so what’s left to fiddle around about. No wasting any time here. 

The deal is as good as sealed. He feels fucking great inside of you and his wide eyes are the most rewarding thing. Whatever dimension Baekhyun just broke through, the level of whipped is not possible to be described with any human words. His hands are roaming over you pretty much without aim, you can tell your body is too much for him.

After he’s begging you to do it roughly, you grab him by the collar and fuck his soul out until he’s all gasping because his dick hurts. The song’s called Are You Ridin’ with good reason.

Baekhyun’s brains are long screwed out at this point, if not reduced to absolute green and purple jello. Is there actually any mind to lose at this point after you had your fingers in his mouth? Like literally, his favorite thing? Probably not. 

He bites down into his sleeve. Baekhyun is all knocked out by you by the time you get to your second orgasm, and reclines on the backseat bench to starfish the rest of the thing with his mouth hanging open at you. Hormone overload. His entire body shut down except the will to keep it up and not come. Yum, he is fit. Where he takes that godly strength from, only higher powers can tell. The Tree of Life, Zeus, Ten Chittaphon, I don’t know. 

He just has the kind of dick you can really bounce on. Really. Fucking. Hard. You are one spark of insanity close to run on autopilot. I don’t think anybody’s growled like this on him before. Nor was Baekhyun’s cock this close to falling right off, ever. 

This is not sex, it’s a crazy as fuck pounding, with Baekhyun on the verge of being blacked out with drool on his chin and his eyes rolling back. His fingers are absentmindedly trailing down your upper back and all he can utter is a small, yearning „please, please“ and gritting „don’t stop, please don’t stop…“ between his teeth. And hell, you have not a single reason to. Cue Captain America, I can do this all day.

When other people say smashing, whatever they’re referring to is not as smash as this. This must be the dirtiest, wettest slapping noise you’ve ever heard, and Baekhyun’s entirely uncontrolled moans will be forever etched into your memory. So melodic, so goddamn excited and desperate and all fucked out. He’s groaning so well, it’s like it’s meant for you.

By the third time you come, he’s crying and whining and has to cover his mouth not to scream out loud. You have no idea what your body is doing, but whatever it is, it’s taking Baekhyun out. Even you tire after some time, but you keep going. You imagine that every thrust is the meal and attention you wanna give to him.

That’s a lot of fucking and edging you get done in half an hour. Baekhyun’s tongue is hanging out afterwards and you went through a whopping three condoms. So much frustration finally released. Baekhyun’s gonna be emptier than Suho’s wallet after Sehun ordered a lifetime supply of bubble tea. 

You squarely avoid oozing your own cum onto his backseat with one hand. Good lord that creampie would ruin everything if he didn’t wear a condom. You’ve come a long way since colliding in the cafeteria, not gonna lie.

And thank God you’re not fucking somewhere in the company and the Audi is close to soundproof because this guy is LOUD. You need some good eardrums to handle these moans. Unhinged is an understatement. If this becomes a contest outwhoring each other, he’d win by a landslide. 

By the time you slip off, Baekhyun is on the verge to the dreamland, you milked every last drop out of him. Which means… 

…you get to drive an expensive as fuck Audi through Seoul. Your beatdown with the tube thugs you try to refrain from boasting about, but this one you are tempted to brag about to yourself for the next week. Well, in your mind. Just a little bit. It’s a great car. And you feel giddy in your body all over. That’s what sex with Baekhyun does to you. 

Seoul traffic is tame around this time. Half in his sleep, Baekhyun hums and sings on the driver’s seat. He’s all sober, but you made the guy act a lil’ drunk, huh. In his element, he talks and talks and talks and talks a little more. Then, does his tiny 'ㅅ' pup face and dozes for half the ride. Sleeping angel hours.

You can’t really scold him for passing out so fast in the slightest. As always, he went who knows how many extra miles just for you. That includes vowing to hand-wash his Oscars suit because it’s fucking ruined. Since the stylists are guaranteed to flame him, you send the fashion department a message how Baekhyun has to wear a different suit because he’s simply too dummy thick for this one, especially as far as the pants are concerned. Which is almost no lie and they will believe you. 

Much like his name suggests, Baekhyun does go hundred. At his apartment, you basically have to carry him into the bedroom. He says he doesn’t want to sleep. But you won’t kiss him goodnight after you pull off your jacket without a strong word on how his health has to be priority. He gets the point when you say you wouldn’t have had a first date without Baekhyun dozing off before your evening visit.

Sweet baby Jesus, you’d still be awkwardly slurping noodles without Baekhyun’s faux pas. If you look back at it: It’s all a story of accidents that turn out beautiful.

Sleep being Baekhyun’s reset button, that’s the best thing to do in order to give the night a good conclusion. Being alone in his apartment together, you don’t have to discreet about sleeping next to him after setting the alarm clock.

Mark Lee’s piping hot Americano is the culprit for all of this, but you thank him.

----

© 2017-2021 submissive-bangtan. all rights reserved. no reposts allowed.

[jadedlavendergemini]

As Promised

Summary: If you were to ask Emma Moore how out of control her life became just before the apocalypse, she would have told you how she had never seen it coming. How she fell for someone that she should have avoided at all cost and how she had no control of any of it in anyway possible. Of course she had no clue of her own ‘destiny’. Michael Langdon x OC

A/N: please forgive me in advance as I had to write this on my phone, my laptop is being a bitch. So I’ve been think pretty heavily on this idea for a fic for a while. And I hope this is as original as can be, I’ve seen some fics with similar Story lines but here’s my twist. And after having a positive week and hearing some great feed back from other Authors, I thought it was the right time to post it. Just let me know if you want to be tagged for any future posts.

Tag list : @7-wonders @guiltyfiend @plymptxn @fallenangeldreamer @fckinsupreme

Part One:

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“Now, keep chanting the spell in your head, loud. Loud like a shout. I want you to keep concentrating on the wick of the candle.” Behold watched as the young girl’s hand hovered, slightly shaking above the candle on her desk. Another few seconds flew by and soon a flame had ignited. “Excellent, Emma!”

She opened her eyes, saw the flame and smiled. “That was a little harder than I thought.”

“Pyrokinesis is a lot harder than others would think. But you, little miss witch, hit it on the first try! Very impressive.” Behold watched as she turned back to the flame, smile slightly faltering. “Your father will be very impressed, you know.”

“I’m sure he will.” She replied, not meeting the instructor’s eyes.

Behold Chablis was one of four instructors at the Hawthorne academy. While her father preferred to teach Emma in most of her lessons, Behold also expressed interest in teaching the young witch. He voiced that she needed the occasional space from her father and that she would blossom into a successful witch with other instructors offering critique. And in honesty, Emma preferred her father or Behold in comparison to Baldwin Pennypacker, who treated Emma as if she were less gifted than the male students.

Tell you what,” he began closing her spell book. “Why don’t you take the rest of the afternoon off. You’ve been doing so well lately. If you want, you can even go run about the library. It shouldn’t be busy with any of the boys.”

“Really? But my father-“

“Your father will be please to know that you’ve been excelling every spell that I’ve thrown at you this week. Especially one known to be used in the Seven Wonders Test itself. Go on.”

The young girl smiled, grabbing her personal book and a pen. She was out the door when she gave a quick and sweet “Thank you!”

The halls of the secluded wing of the academy were quiet as Emma walked. Due to Hawthorne being an all boys school (Emma being an exception due to her father), she would have zero chances of running into the boy students in this particular area. Unfortunately the library was on the boys turf. Not like any of the boys bothered her, but on occasion one boy, overly cocky and brave would attempt to be a pest. Whether it was crude comments towards her body or abilities, or just constant chatting in her ear. Emma would whip up a good ole headache spell just to chase him away. Other students were too frightened of her father to even talk to her.

As she continues her walk, she worked on pulling her hair from the long braid it was in earlier and used her fingers to wave out any knots. As she approached the almost secluded library, her feet locked in place. Looking up, she was amazed to see a boy, dressed in the typical Hawthorne uniform facing a book shelve from which he was looking for something. She opted to turn around and quietly return to her room and study, but she found her feet to be stuck in the same place. And whatever noises she made in her attempt to leave seemed to trigger the boy. Turning around Emma was met with face that could be described as sculpted by god himself. His blue eyes poured into hers.

“I didn’t know anyone would be here. I’ll just-.” Emma quietly tried to form a sentence trying to make an final attempt to exit before hearing his voice.

“Please don’t leave because of me. I was going to retire for the night. I was just trying to find one book before I went.” His velvet voice sent the hairs on the back of neck stand. He turns back towards the hundreds of books, confusion covered his features as he searches for the correct title.

“I can help, I’m in here pretty much all the time, what are you looking for?” She asks, setting her notebook down on a nearby table.

The boy smiled and gave her the name. He watched as she held her hand up, her fingers slowly caressing each spine of the books. After a minute, she stopped at one before carefully pulling the book from its spot. Her lips formed a small smile as she gently placed the book into his large and expecting hands.

“Well, you seemed to have found that in no time.” He admired, returning her smile, ocean blue eyes not leaving hers. “Divination?”

“Nope, I meant it when I said I’m in here all the time.” She replied, eventually breaking eye contact with the boy. “Pathetic, really.”

“No not at all.” He says. He balances the novel in his left hand, raising his right hand for hers. “I’m Michael. Michael Langdon and you are....?”

“Emma Moore,” she places her smaller hand in his larger one. Taking note in the softness and warmth. It felt familiar and comforting in some way. “You’re the new boy everyone’s been gushing about. So... the alpha?”

Michael lets out a low chuckle. “I wouldn’t say that I’m ‘the alpha’. Just a new boy looking for answers about himself. And I haven’t seen any other witches here, yet. Am I to assume you’re the only one?”

She waits a moment longer until she pulls her hand away from his, taking note in the feeling. She places her hands behind her back. “I’m the only one, my father is an instructor here. Unfortunately, my father can’t stand Cordelia Goode or trust her. So here I am.”

“I wouldn’t call that unfortunate.” He replied. “I had my first lesson yesterday with him. He seems very intense.”

“He can be. But don’t worry he’s harmless.”

Michael smiles before gesturing to the book still in his hand. “Thank you again. Hopefully I’ll be seeing more of you?”

“Of course,” she said, walking past him to retrieve her notebook and pen from where it sat forgotten on the table. “I like to study in the library around this time, less students. If you need to catch up on anything or just feel like hanging out, I wouldn’t mind.”

“I’ll have to take you up on that offer sometime.” Michael smiles before making an exit down the hall. As he made his way down the candle lit corridor, he felt his heart pounding to a rhythm he was unfamiliar with and his hands felt the small sparks of energy she had released just moments ago from their handshake. Taking a quick turn around, he can still see her.

Emma had taken a seat on of the many couches. Her knees pulled towards herself, she was drawing her loosely waved dirty blonde hair into a bun before setting down and taking notes from another book.

Michael turns back. Hands clasped behind his back, with the book of course. And As he continues to walk away, he can’t stop the massive grin that’s on his face. Emma Moore. He felt the connection the moment they touched hands. Hers fit so perfectly in his, like a lost puzzle piece. He breathed in the sweet scent of her when she had moved past him and followed by demonic whispers of her name in his ears. She was the One.

After Michael had left, Emma tried to continue with her study’s. But her mind wandered to the conversation they had just shared. She barely knew the boy yet she already offered to hang around, not something she would normally do when it came to the other students at Hawthorne. And that feeling when their hands touched was odd, never had she felt something so comfortable with a stranger. And ever since his clear blue eyes looked into hers, she felt a slight buzz in the back of her head. Something was different about Michael and she couldn’t quite place it.

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About two hours had past and it was about dinner time. Emma had just begun to place the books back on the shelves and grab her notebook.

“Behold told me I’d find you here.” Spoke her father, John Henry as he made his way into the library. “How was your lesson today?”

“It was okay,” she replied, picking up her belongings and walking over to stand in front of him.

“Okay? Behold said you were able master pyrokinesis. And on the first try!” John Henry said proudly. “And to think you thought you would be better off at Robichaux's.”

The young witch just rolled her eyes. “Beginners luck, I guess. Where were you today? I thought you were going to be teaching me.”

“Well, I got caught up with Ariel today,” he explained, moving past his daughter and taking a seat on the couch. “He’s worked himself up over the new student. I don’t see how he doesn’t see what I do. As much as I want to think we have the Alpha in our midst, I don’t think it’s him.”

“You mean Michael?” She asked.

John Henry’s eyes shot to his daughter. “So you know who. I assume the other students talk very highly of him.” He scoffed.

“Yeah, we met earlier. I helped him find a book. Seemed like a normal warlock to me.” Emma replied, her eyes not meeting her fathers.

“Emma, I want you stay clear of Michael. I don’t have a very good feeling about him.”

“What-“ she attempted to question when he stood from his seat.

“Do I make myself clear?” He interrupted, voice slightly raised.

She looked to him and nodded. “Yes, sir.” She added quietly.

His eyes followed hers, he sighed before placing a hand on her shoulder and began guiding her out of the library. “I Just want you to stay on top of your studies and stay out of trouble. Alright? Let’s grab dinner, I want to hear all about your lesson today.”

[loki-is-my-god-of-mischief]

You Idiot! (Young!Remus Lupin x Female!Reader)

A/N:  So this is a sort of prequel to 'Took You Long Enough'. This is set in the third year of the maraurder era, so no one is an animagi yet. I looked up what the diver symbolises and I have changed the 'lover' description to 'someone close to you'.

Took You Long Enough

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Reader POV I hate divination. It's so pointless. I mean who would want to spoil their own or someone else's future by practically telling them what happens. UGH! Half the stuff that people 'predict' don't even come true. "What do you see Miss Malfoy?" "Huh?" Yes, well done me. You just proved to the whole class you excellent range of vocabulary. "In your tea cup Miss Malfoy, what do you see." "Oh...um..." Why does the stupid professor choose me out of everyone. "I suppose I can see someone diving?" "Here let me see" The professor says whilst gesturing to show me the cup. I hand over my tea cup and the professor nods. "Yes, well done. There is a Diver in your tea cup. Can anyone tell me what a Diver symbolises?" The professor asks the class. A know-it-all Ravenclaw sticks their hand up. "I can professor." They open their divination book. "It says in here that a Diver symbolises 'A great and unexpected piece of news which will lead to a fortunate discovery, it also reveals deception from someone close to you.' ooh someone is lying to you Malfoy" They reply with a snicker. I immediately settle a glare on Sirius. "What do you have planned now Siri, some prank no doubt" He looks affronted. "Why do you assume it's me when they mention deception. I swear (Y/N), for once, it isn't me." Even though he has lied in situations like this before, I know he is telling the truth. It's in his eyes. But then, who is lying to me. Probably no one since divination is a load of crap. All of a sudden there was a load bang behind the Professor. I look toward them and see them covered in purple paint. Sirius bursts out laughing "Haha, shouldn't your stupid tea leaves have warned you about that professor. Haha that was a good one, right (Y/N)?" He laughs hysterically whilst looking at me. "You have something to do with this Miss Malfoy? Why am I not surprised?" "No, I swear. I had no Ide-" "Enough! You and Mr Black have detention for the remainder of this week-" I suppose it can't any worse. "-With Argus Filch. Class Dismissed." I turn a viscous glare to Sirius. "What? How was I supposed to know he would blame you for this too." I suppose he's right there but I'm still angry he got me detention with Filch. ________________________________________________________________ Remus POV Classes are over now and I'm waiting with James and Peter in the Common room for Sirius and (Y/N). When they walk in Sirius looks guilty and (Y/N) looks angry. "What did you do now Sirius? Why is (Y/N) angry with you?" "Because Remus. Sirius decided to pull a prank on the Divination's Professor and get the blame on me too so now we both have detention with Filch." She states angrily. Ouch. Not with Filch. I can see James and Peter  grimace from beside me. They probably had the same thoughts as me. "Don't worry (Y/N), It can't be that bad." James says trying to lighten the mood. "Oh yeah? Did I forget to mention it's detention for the rest of the week." we both grimace again. So it is bad. "It will be alright (Y/N), you'll see." I state smiling, she is going to love what I have planned. "Yeah, sure. Let's just get this over with Sirius." She mutters angrily whilst marching out of the common room, Sirius following behind like a dog with it's tail between it's legs. James looks at me weirdly for a second. "What do you have planned Remus?" "Oh, Just a little surprise for Sirius, is all." ________________________________________________________________ Still Remus POV It's time for (Y/N) and Sirius' detention to finish. I spent all this time asking what Sirius had done to get the detention, the  the rest of the time setting up my surprise for Sirius. The door opens and out walks Filch then (Y/N). Filch marches away, glad to have been done with them and I make my way over to (Y/N). "Where's Siri?" "Finishing cleaning, he'll be out in a minute. What are you doing here?" "You'll see, and might I just say...You'll love me for it." At least I can dream. "O..Kay?" Just then the door opens again and Sirius walks out. I then use wand without them seeing and they Sirius is drenched in Yellow and Black paint. "UGH!...What they hell!" "Okay...haha...I...Believe you...Remus haha...When you said...love you for it haha." (Y/N) barely gets out around her laughter. Seeing her laugh so hard and Sirius covered in paint causes me to laugh too. "What the hell Remus?" Sirius shouts at me. "I figured you should act a bit more Hufflepuff and tell the Divination Professor that (Y/N) had nothing to do with your prank. So I thought I would get you started by giving you a total colour make-over." I reply still laughing slightly. "As much as I hate being covered in paint...You right. I'll tell him tomorrow, promise." "You better! and thanks Remus." (Y/N) says smiling. ________________________________________________________________ Next Day Reader POV I can't believe that Sirius actually got me off the detention. Well I guess I have Remus to thank for that. God that was so funny, Sirius still has some yellow paint stuck in that god forsaken birds nest he calls hair. Speaking of thanking Remus, why is he in the common room all alone. "Hey Remus, what are you doing here alone?" I say whilst watching him jump. "Hey (Y/N) didn't see you there. I guess I kinda got lost in thought and didn't realise everyone had left." "And Sirius, James and Peter just left you down here. Those ungrateful sons of witches." How dare they! "It's alright, I appreciated the time to think." He smiles, god I love that smile. Remus is always so thoughtful to others. Even yesterday, he pranked Sirius just because he had got me detention. "Would you mind some company?" I ask. "I would appreciate it, thanks." He replies, still with that smile. "I just wanted to thank you for what you did for me yesterday. If it wasn't for you I would still have detention." "So you don't have it anymore?" "Nope, Professor let me off once Sirius explained it was all him." "That's good." We sit there in comfortable silence for a while until I notice he is starting to look sad and withdrawn. Remus POV I'm glad she doesn't have detention anymore. I hate it when she is angry or sad for that matter. She is such a rare, beautiful, carefree person that I don't want her to ever be upset. It is wrong when she is upset. *sigh* I shouldn't even be thinking this. She is an amazing person that I love so much and what am I?...A monster. That's what. She would never even give me the time of day if she knew. I'm probably putting her in danger right now just being her friend. No. I have to tell her, then maybe she will leave me alone. It would kill me..but she would be safe. "Remus?" I'm brought out of my thoughts by her wondrous voice. "Are you ok?" "I have something I have to tell you...Your probably not going to like it." "Remus...You worrying me." "(Y/N)...I'm....I'm a monster....A hideous beast. I'm a werewolf." I say not looking at her anymore. "What?" She says so quietly that if I wasn't a werewolf I wouldn't have heard it. Although, If I wasn't a werewolf we wouldn't be having this conversation. "I know you probably hate me right now, and you want nothing more than to see me dead. That's totally fine, I would too If I were you an-" "You Idiot!" I was started by her interruption. "Huh?" "How dare you!" I knew it, but still hearing her hate me is still painful. "How dare you assume that I would hate you!" I kno-...wait...what? "What?" "I don't hate you. Your my best friend, I don't care if your a werewolf. And If I here you call yourself a monster or a hideous beast again I will hit you so hard that your head will still be ringing a year later. You are none of those thing Remus." She states fiercely. With the look in those (E/C) eyes, I can tell she believes every thing she said and I shouldn't even think about arguing with her. "You don't hate me?" I have to be sure. I don't want this to be some cruel trick. "Of course I don't. Your never going to get rid of me Remus, we are stuck together. Marauders forever remember?" "Yeah...I could have sworn you were going to hate me though. Don't tell the others though. I want to do it, eventually." "Sure, but why not now." "They will probably hate me." "I repeat my earlier words Remus, 'You Idiot!" She says with a laugh. I soon join in.

[pinksweatergettingbetter]

warning, the following has mainly snarky (and possibly furious) opinions on Spirit of Justice. Reader discretion is advised.

-

Alright, on to part three, where Phoenix’s big fat mouth gets Apollo and Athena into deep doodoo.

-

QUICK CHILDREN, INTO THE MANHOLE!

-

SDUFGDGSF YOU CAN ‘MOVE’ WHILE YOURE BEING CHASED 

way to ruin the moooooood XD

-

well athena if its any consolation, smelling like a rotten egg will probably delight sadmad.

y’know. cause youre a putrid egg yolk.

-

“Once a rebel, always a rebel!”

apollo was never a rebel

you sent him back to America before he could do any rebelling.

>OH MY SNARK IS CONFIRMED BY APOLLO

-

oh everyone’s met up now

-

“It was like watching a pair of ostriches bury their heads in the sand”

the FUCK does that mean, Phoenix?!???

-

“dubious hovel”

-

whats wrong with athena? i thought she was huddling up in the corner because she saw something unnerving, then maybe because of all the sudden people there–– but it’s implying she’s disgusted by the shitty state of the place?

what, is Athena a germaphobe now??

-

“He said he hopes you’ll come back and take over this office someday.”

“M-me?”

“Those were his words! He might have been half-joking though.”

I’m not sure which I’m more offended by; the fact that Dhurke still assumed Apollo would make a shit lawyer, or the fact that Apollo does indeed take over. Spoilers. Haha.

-

“must’ve been because of you, dhurke!”

no it was because of Phoenix Wright because he was a cool guy, once upon a time. also because, unlike every other lawyer in the gotdamn series, Apollo just really friggin loves the law. He thinks lawyers are legit cool and he wanted to be one because he just happened to have a passion for litigating. He’s not a prop in your stupid story, he’s his own interesting person.

-

“Dhurke was never a hands-on kinda dad...”

you can motherfucking say that again, vore machine.

“...but not a day went by that he wasn’t thinking of ya. That much I’m sure of.”

yeah he sure was

thinking of the favours he could one day ask of him.

“Doesn’t get more paternal than that!”

Athena, you don't even have a dad. Your opinion on the subject is completely worthless. 

“(Dhurke... And to think, I really did spend my days trying to forget you...)”

god apollo you don’t deserve this. you deserve trucy and klavier and thalassa (being an actual mom for once) HELL you deserve your ACTUAL, REAL DAD.

-

“The victim’s passport and any pictures of him were burned up in the fire. Without knowing his real name, no divination seance could be performed.” 

So you’re telling me Jove brought every single glossy of himself into that blaze? And after the fire, nobody bothered checking the dental records on the corpse/asking where that neato musician from the other night went?

Once again, DDSOJ police, at their best. If there wasn’t a coverup involved, I’m gonna be pissed.

-

( My real dad... I was never really interested in learning about him. )

While this is a totally understandable and natural reaction... I really wish–– Actually, no; it’s best Apollo never learned that he once had a father who actually gave a fuck about him. That’d probably break his heart.

-

“As the son of the terrorist Dhurke, Nahyuta was expelled from the royal family.”

i.... why did Dhurke keep him in Koooraheen, anyway? He really couldn’t have sent him to a happier life in America with his half brother?

-

huh i think that face-palm is a new expression for Vore Machine. he almost looks reasonable.

-

“As his son, Yuty no doubt got the cold shoulder at every turn.”

amazing. not only was Apollo abandoned in America in some shit orphanage with zero contact from anything he knew as family, but Sadmad was forced to stay behind in a country that hated his guts. The perfect situation for both boys!!! No wonder they’re both so fucking grouchy all the time! Dhurke, you parental genius!

-

“Dhurke’s the kinda guy who can become fast friends with just about anyone!”

guess that explains the fandom popularity 

-

“Lol come over n play some jams bro”

“Ok dawg is it chill if i bring my kid my wifes uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

“Yeah its cool I'm great with kids”

“tight”

-

“It’s like Dhurke’s done nothing but save me all my life” yeah... from messes he made.

-

“Jangly Justice”

god. i want to root for Jove but like. He looks like a tool, he sounds like a tool, his stage name is the tooliest thing ive ever heard... 

-

originally this section was me ranting about how Thalassa would never have just ‘stopped looking for Apollo’ when she heard that Jove perished in the flames, since Apollo’s corpse was never found and the rebels were out looking for her to give him to her– but instead I’m just gonna leave you with ‘that excuse is mad weak and the writers need to try harder.’

-

“You should try on the jacket, Apollo!”

“Yeah, yeah!”

Look, I can excuse Athena, because she doesn’t know. But Datz knows its mold infested and disgusting. And he just finished talking about APollo’s tragic past. What the everloving fuck is up with this sicko?!

Also Athena, you can’t laugh at him wearing an eyepatch when he just got done wearing one all last year. 

-

“I’d recognize those horns anywhere!”

“Is that really the only way anyone recognizes me?”

cue Phoenix harrumphing from the corner and brushing his spikes

-

yknow maybe ive mentioned this before but why /hasn’t/ the queen found the safe house? It’s Dhurke’s old law office; that’d be like, the first place I’d check. Its like wondering if Dumbledore’s Army is based in Hogwarts.

I mean I guess you could say the Queen assumes theyre not stupid enough to hide in their old main haunt but... they’re stupid. they’re really, really stupid. it’s been proven like 800 times.

-

so we just had a ladder convo about lizards?

also what do you mean geckos like to live in houses? i thought they just climbed around outside them. aLSO WHY ARE THEY EATING THEM 

... I appreciate that it ended in a Bugs Bunny Switcharoo though.

...And Phoenix ends it with “theyre just a plain old lizard”

I guess Phoenix doesn’t know flowers or lizards. 

-

i really don’t know why none of the revolutionaries think sadmad’s playing the long con. they’ve all just completely given up on him. what if he was pulling a snape??? they talk about trust and shit and yet none of them trust their own leader’s son? shameful.

-

“It seems like Gar’an has some serious leverage over him”

okay, they suspect he’s being controlled with some kind of blackmail... and yet do nothing to help him? they’re dumb enough to risk their lives doing something like that, but not compassionate or caring enough?? to their leader’s son???? what the fuck??????

-

aww i missed Beh’leeb. I hope she and her (born/ unborn? cannot tell if she’s pregnant or not) kid are doing ok.

-

“So she’s trying to help the revolution along... in her own special way!”

that sounds enormously patronizing phoenix, shut up. she’s pregnant and she has to deal with fucks like Datz running around blowing off firecrackers at government officials.

-

...youre giving the orb to datz.

ill eat my hat if nothing happens to it.

-

“We’ll attract undue attention if we go in too large a group”

oh also because youre dressed like baby’s first paint set but

-

“AAAH!!”

“Do you know something about this?” “Nope! Just felt like shouting is all.”

yes, this is definitely the guy who should hold onto the orb for you. also i presented the attorneys badge. guess he has nothing to say about apollo’s proof of profession, eh?

-

“Yeah... You’d think Nahyuta might’ve cut his old man some slack, but no.” Dhurke you thick son of a bitch

-

wow. one single flashback occurrence where Dhurke wasn’t a dick. Well, 1/1000 ain’t too shabby...

-

“What? You came to visit me and you didn’t even bring me a present?”

What, like your plate of ‘my son is NOT a failure” sushi, Dhurke ?

-

“But I’m not a rebel.”

“Don’t be ridiculous– You’re a member of the defiant dragons simply by being my son.”

HE’S NOT YOUR SON YOU FUCK

-

If you present him your attorneys badge he jokes about dying happy and apollo makes it explicit that he means via execution 

dhurke. that means apollo would die too. stop fucking joking about him dying you prickwad.

-

Apollo: Hey Dhurke know anything about this necklace

Dhurke: OOOAAHHH!!! OHHH!! AHHH!!!!

Apollo: So thats a... 

Dhurke: Hahahahah its a no son give it here

Apollo: Yeah ok i see nothing suspicious about that at all and i sure hope the secret behind it wasn’t important to this case or anything..........

-

me: jeez i hope that stupid necklace was the last thing we had to present

phoenix, appearance from god knows where: hey maybe ask about the hostage

me: bless you baby. also i forgot you were here

-

Phoenix: Sounds like the minister has someone you really care about, cause you totally obeyed everything he did.

i know what youre trying to excuse here SOJ staff but no, straight up lifting right out of JFA will never be ok.

-

“Is there a new lady in your life?” “WHAT?! DONT BE RIDICULOUS SON!”

I’m gay now! Hahaha. But seriously. Nobody wants to date Dhurke.

-

“Amara was the love of my life, but she’s gone now, and there will never be another.”

cue Dhurtz shippers furiously jamming their fingers in their ears and whistling 

- 

wh

what the 

fuck is happening 

to his aRM

-

“You tensed up” HIS BROKEN ARM STARTED VEINING SO HARD THAT IT SHOWED RIGHT THROUGH LIKE 2 LAYERS OF CLOTH

THATS SOME KRISTOPH DEVIL HAND SHIT RIGHT THERE

JESUS CHRI

oh there’s something hidden in there THANK GOD THAT SCAREDTHE FUCK OUTTA ME

-

“Oh I see– so youre hiding a woman’s photo up your sleeve”

oh yeah, a 3D photo. that has bumpy bits. absolutely apollo.

“You don’t need to keep secrets like that from me– You’re an eligible bachelor now. But you’ll... introduce her to me at some point, right?”

this has that creepy ‘parent insists you have a crush on that one kid’ conversation vibe to it, especially since it’s not like Apollo ever had an attachment to Amara to make him see her as a mother; she was ‘dead’ before he could even walk.

-

“Mon dieu! Are you into younger women, Dhurke?!”

Athena,,,,,,,, athena,,,, Apollo,,,,, he’s 

it’s 

oh never mind.

-

“Heh heh. Dhurke, you old dog, you. You got yourself a younger lover.”

ACTUALLY, YOU KNOW WHAT, NO, NOT NEVER MIND. YOU HAVE A PHOTO OF AMARA. YOU KNOW WHAT AMARA LOOKS LIKE. YOU KNOW HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PAST AND PRESENT DHURKE BECAUSE THERES NO WAY HE COULD JUST RANDOMLY CUT HIS HAIR AND THEN HAVE IT GROW BACK THAT FAST.

I KNOW YOU THINK SHE’S DEAD BUT AT LEAST FUCKING SAY YOU THINK IT’S HER TWIN SISTER YOU UTTER UTTER NUMBSKULLS

“This is Amara before she died. If you look closer, you’ll see that I was younger, too.”

“Hey. You’re right.”

“Aww, that’s no fun.”

MY ULCERS ARE NO FUN BUT GUESS WHAT NEITHER IS LIFE

-

“Wait a second... Haven’t we seen this woman before?”

DAAAUUUUUUUGGGGHHHHHHH

GOOD FUCKING BALLS PLEASE PLEASE LET THEM BE TROLLING DEAR GOD AAHGGDFKAFAGF

-

i really love that photo though. everything about it is generally just really nice.

-

wait hang on. they. they just. they kept her around? after her fake assassination? they just–– WHERE YOU COULD GET A PHOTO OF HER?!

EXPLAIN–– THERE’D BETTER BE A GOOD EXPLAIN

-

“She was confined within the grounds, but she was fit as a fiddle.”

Ga’ran. Ga’ran. Ga’ran. You stupid, stupid, stupid bitch.

-

“She was being held under virtual house arrest, so I freed her, and we made a run for it.”

“Of course, we didn’t just proclaim it to the people so that they’d realize Ga’ran was a dirty bitch; that would have been way too easy hahaha.”

Ohhh I see. They didn’t know Ga’ran was the one who did it. Except Ga’ran was the one who kept her under house arrest and faked her death so... It’s pretty obviously her? Amara would know that by putting 2 and 2 together? But no... Apparently Amara was suspicious enough to suspect Dhurke of being the arsonist like Ga’ran said, but brave enough to ‘accompany him so she could ascertain the truth for herself.’

hey remember when i said brave. i meant stupid. she was stupid enough to go with someone she thought might have tried to kill her, completely unsupervised. though i guess you'd have to be that dumb to actually fall in love with Dhurke in the first place.

AH, and she was immediately recaptured. Because Dhurke sucks. 

Waaaaait wait wait. How long and when did he ‘rescue’ her? The incident was 23 years ago, but Rayfa is 14– and Amara would need the usual 9 months to gestate– plus, the room she’s holding Rayfa in has the Defiant Dragons handbook in there, so it’s probably someplace of Dhurke’s–– 

Meaning there was a nine year gap but they still didn’t show her to the general public to depose gar– AGHHH. ITS ALL TERRIBLE!!!

-

“Apollo. We need to grill the queen about Amara when we have the chance.”

Hobo Nick’s ghost: Hey uhh me, that might get you uhhhhh murdered i thought we got over that after von karma tasered the shit out of u––

SOJ Nick: DOOOOHHOOOHOO I LIKE SOLVING MYSTERIESSS

-

Apollo: hey maybe the baby Amara’s holding is me. 

Athena: Nah it’s too cute to be you.

Apollo: ....i just want to have proof that I’ve known the loving touch of a mother at least ONCE ATHENA OKAY???

-

“Hm? Oh... well, either way, it’s not you, son.”

yeah fuck you apollo the Sadmahdis only love their REAL children

also its Rayfa. it was in the safe next to Rafya’s letter; Rayfa basically identified it as herself when she saw it, it’s Rayfa.

Apollo: wow youre sure acting vague and suspicious about this; guess i’ll just accept it for what it is.

-

Dhurke: [tells apollo’s he's going to die and leave him fatherless again]

Apollo: [immediately assumes its another of Dhurke’s jokes because Dhurke’s jokes are horrible and always at Apollo’s expense]

-

phoenix: ...are you sick?

NICK

OH MY GOD 

i shriek laughed 

-

Apollo: [clearly emotionally distraught] 

Dhurke: [continues to dance around the issue, thus prolonging Apollo’s suffering]

-

(Why is this happening now? Just when I was finally starting to feel like you really are my...)

HE DOESN’T DESERVE YOU, APOLLO

GET OUTTA THERE

-

So far Apollo hasn't said “i’m gonna do x and x and x, or die trying!” and honestly i know it’s a bit on the nose but it’s more true for this situation than any other ones it’s usually said in.

-

Dhurke: I’ve got a big secret

Apollo: You’ve been hiding something *ELSE* from me?

Dhurke: I’m afraid I can’t tell you what it is. I’d be betraying a certain someone if I did.

WHY DID HE EVEN BRING IT UP THEN!? WHY IS DHURKE JUST THE FUCKING WORST?!!!

-

“You’ll discover a truth that is hard to accept. But I know you. And I know you can handle the truth, no matter what it turns out to be.”

After all, you’re super great at accepting all the misfortune my existence has heaped upon you! Hahaha!!!

-

“Apollo... Are you okay?”

“...I’m fine.”

they ask you how you are, and you just have to say that you’re fine, when you’re not really fine, but you just can’t get into it b

-

h e r e   c o m e   t h e   r e b e l s

-

and once again you have to manually move there. 

-

action bomb over here from Vore Machine 

also beh’leeb sweety youre doing amazing

-

“Dhurke belongs to the people!! Give him back!!!”

he what now

-

(sigh)

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................hi.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................sadmad...............................................................................................................................................................................

-

“They’ll be arrested? Just for protesting?!”

Apollo... you live in the real world, r–– oh well technically he doesn't hm

that point’s moot

-

“They are aiding and abetting a criminal by seeking his release”

uh pretty sure that’s BS yut

-

“Her Eminence, Queen Ga’ran, has ordered they be arrested and judged en-masse”

ok im fucking 

im 

I'm wheezing so bad not ONLY do we have to save a revolution and Dhurke the rebel leader, but we are now about to defend most of the population of an entire country at once. Stakes RAISED bro

-

good fucking lord apollo stop being all “weren’t you a defiant dragon once?!wehh!!”

even Phoenix, with his Edgeworth obsession, didn’t really question it when Edgeworth was being his shithead prosecutor self.

-

Nahyuta: Sigh. Guess I can’t escape you. I mean I could use my magic beads to tie you up and then prance off but i have a plot to advance.

-

“Enough with the zen monk act, Nahyuta– Tell me how you really feel!”

Damnit, Sadmad, it’s not like we have someone who can read emotions by listening to-– oh yeah.

-

“She’s being held in secret where nobody is allowed to see her.”

second time’s the charm!

-

Apollo, simply bringing up the reason he’s doing what he’s doing won’t get him to stop. Remember the Phoenix and Maya situation? Until you can guarantee her safety, Sadmad’s just going to keep steam rolling along.

-

OH FINALLY 

ok athena dish the dirt

- 

alright, here we go, folks. time for Nick to get all their asses killed. i mean just listen to that ominous music :/

-

i love her laugh sprite. 

“a lawyer AND  a comedian, HOW DROLL”

the royal guards weird me out a bit though. its those masks. I'm getting high lady gaga gives 

lady gagaran

-

Apollo: better give her evidence to burn–– i mean, jog her memory with some evidence.

Ghost of hobo nick: future me!! stop this!! don’t you remember what always used to happen?!

SOJ Phoenix: DOOOHOOOHOOO WE GOT HER NOW, APOLLO! 

-

...........that worked

....no it didn’t. just spring you damn trap already, gagaran.

-

Apollo: Hm better not tell the people, that could stir up the revolution and actually make it happen. Especially since there might be REAL terrorists hiding out there, just waiting until someone goes, “Hey, that dead queen isn’t really dead!!”

-

lol

something went wrong?? no way

-

“Eeeek! Apollo! Don’t strip here!!!”

why is athena such a ditz in this case???

-

I HEARD A BELT 

-

wow. apollo’s ass canonically bared in AA6

klavier gavin cries a million miles away

-

“HE WASN’T HIDING THE BULKY ASS ORB IN HIS CLOTHING, YOUR EMINENCE”

“damn i really thought he was hiding it in his skintight pants and vest. also ignore the other two, they couldn’t possibly have it.”

-

oh lord pls don’t hurt rayfa

-

“Your mind has been poisoned by the barbed one.”

“It was an honour and pleasure, your eminence”

phoenix i know that was highly badass and all but youre literally sitting pretty to be executed 

-

“”””discipline””””

-

“Well, Apollo, let’s head back to the safe house for now.” 

yes, just in case any spies follow us! so that the queen can get her hands on the orb that much fast!!

-

oh hi edgeworht, youre in this game

-

WOO YOU TELL’EM EDGEY

DOWN WITH PLUMED PUNISHER!! DOWN WITH PLUMED PUNISHER!! DOWN WITH PLUMED PUNISHER!!

-

“Moving along to things that actually matter...”

it’s true, but he shouldn’t say it

-

“Yeah, it’s like the more we learn about this case, the less we understand.”

just like me and this game’s writing process

-

“A trial without evidence...”

there’s evidence, you wankers, what do you think that photo of amara, the old case files and the necklace are????

-

“Athena, you’re too young and extra to die. Sit this trial out so we can save on sprite space.”

“Gotcha, chief.”

-

“Plus, there’s prosecutor Blackquill to think of. he said he’d use me for sword practice if he put you in harms way.”

Yeah, if Athena dies, who’ll his new punching bag be??? don’t think i haven’t forgotten story teller. i will not forget. i will not forgive.

-

“Remember; the worst of times are when lawyers have to force their biggest smiles.”

ugh, finally it’s used semi right. 

-

And so, we come to the end of another frustrating chapter. It’s finally time to move on to the final trial. I’m actually kind of curious to find out how everything went down– though something tells me my suffering won’t end when i do. 

Welp, friends –  till next time. The final hurdle is at hand. Or at least, part one of it.

[deruste]

Lord of light: Fallen by night

“Next to nothing,” I replied to her question. She sighed. “They were the divine family until the gods took over. To make the creation story nice and short-” It was not nice and short. It was nightfall when she finished. To make things simple I'll summarize. The first “it” couple, sky and earth had kids that were the titans who represent ancient elements or aspects of the world, Light, time, death, prophecy, constellations and the ocean. She didn't give a name but my father was the titan of heavenly light, strange position buts sound important. The Sky hates their next batch of kids the first cyclops and the hundred-handed ones which to be fair just sound ugly enough to be angry at. Especially if your first kids are the divine giants whose heads reach the sky. Earth got cranky and had her children fight their father. Nearly no-one had the balls to kill him except my uncle Kronus who chopped him up real good. My father and his brothers helped to restrain him so Kronus gave them the territories of north, south, east and west. All but my uncle Oceanus who didn't do shit but stay in the ocean so he got that by default. My father was the lord of the east. She stops there. “What else? He became the lord of the east and then what?” She shrugged. “He was the most powerful of his brothers but not more so than Atlas and Kronos himself. Honestly, he never did much of worth. Outside of giving humanity sight and most of us agree it was because wish for them to bask in his splendor. His children did more than him but the short of it. Kronos children rebelled, won and sent them to Tartarus.” She said it all so calmly I started to question both our sanities. This can’t be right, right? This is all a hallucination from a gas leak. Yet why do I feel that is should believe it. “Wait you said, Children? I have siblings.” She gave an even longer sigh. “They are...were the titans of the sun, moon, and Dawn.” I looked at her funny. “Why does the dawn have its own god?” “Goddess, Eos the rosy-fingered dawn.” She said proudly. I don’t know though, not that intimidating of a title. I shall smite you with morning dew. “Most gods are devious but Eos is mostly harmless. Mostly interested in her morning ride and attracting young men, so you're properly safer from her.” I took the backhanded compliment in stride. Also, that implies incest so nope. “What about the other two, the sun and the moon.” I pointed upwards. Are they watching me?” I said terrified that I had siblings who properly saw everything from the sky.  She seemed sad for a moment and then composed herself. “Remember when I said that Jackson boy took down your father.” She was stark serious with a guarded look, her arms crossed. I sensed something wrong with the guy but I thought he was just a dumbass, but he is something more dangerous. A powerful dumbass. “He killed him didn’t he?” I asked sincerely but she waved her hand half-heartedly. “Yes and no, there are ways to beat divine beings in combat. They all are easy in theory but much harder in practice especially with your father. From my sources, he seemed to push your father back and the satyrs used magic to turn him into a tree.” I looked at her waiting for the punchline. It was a very bad joke. She stood stone face. Oh god, oh gods whatever! She is not joking. “What? Tree, maple what?” I scramble nearly falling over. She picked me up and put me in the passenger seat. “I’ll let that set in and get us to our next destination.” I let myself sink into the car seat trying to focus on the landscape to regain stability. I saw that we were at a campsite that had peculiar markings such as purple and orange shirts and a sign saying.                                                                                 Where are your gods now? “Were avoiding the people that did that right?” “If that makes you happy.” I couldn't tell if she was joking. I have a feeling that's going to be a catchphrase. “There's one last gift, a peace offering for you.” “May I ask why? I like the necklace but what else am I getting.” If there is one thing I learned it's that everything has a price. What did the next gift cost? Also, the term peace offering is not giving me the jollies. “A general from the army your father led wanted to give recompense.” I twitch slightly. That does not give me confidence that it will be a good gift. “ From what I understand, he thought that a child of your father should have a chariot. Your father provided a chariot but the not the animal but he will have a selection to choose from.” So, my fathers, only gift after being gone for nearly a decade is a god damned chariot. A car, no. A home that isn't in a shanty town, no. An education that isn't self-taught, no. A god damned chariot with no animal, that I probably have to feed. Thanks, dad. “Wait how are you driving” I turned to look downward at the driver seat to meet something that had me chuckling. “What the hell are you using?” I said trying to suppress my laughter. It was a golden seat with mechanical legs that were overly detailed, cellulose, leg hair and all.   “Made by telkhines, ugly beast but useful beasts. They made that necklace you have and use actual magic.” Actual magic? “They make steampunk props?” I partly started to watch my surroundings as we went ever more south to the west to the town of ponce. “Weapons, armor, charms depends on what you order and what you give them. They are good at making things but not finding things. You worked for one ounce.” Did I? Guess with Aegle being a monster the whole time I guess a lot of the people I encountered and saw where monsters. A thought occurs thought. “The tall, waddling old man with the dog like face.” I always thought that man was disfigured but being a monster properly explains his ugly face as well. Not to be mean to the man Ignacio’s forge was by far one of my most filling jobs right next to the farm and second most fun right next to the flea market. “Why can I see monsters then. I saw them before I knew I was a demigod.” I remarked. She gave a glare. “Demigod naturally sees through the mist, (the veil that keeps the mortals from seeing monsters and the gods.) but you are right most see most clearly after they learn their heritage. Perhaps it's one of your abilities, true sight.” “True Sight. Its at least what would I call it, to see through the mist clearer than some demigods, the disguises of monster are powerful but the magical ones you apparently see through.” I guess that makes some sense, if dad gave humans sight then it makes sense my power involves that but that seem weak for the son of an elder divine. “Any more questions or do you wish to stay quiet.” I think for a second. “Why did you look after me. Why did dad have me? What do I do now.” She lowered her head downward in sullen dread. “The first is simple, the second unknown to me, the third is…complicated but your choice. I was assigned to you to make sure you lived after your mother died. Dracae is what my kind is called but I am deformed by their standards, they have two tails and I have one. I delivered messages for various groups even the gods at one point but like many things they forgot us.  As for the why, I don’t know. You father rarely cared about his own troops much less humans and his own children. We assumed that he forgot them, we joined because… we wanted justice.” I saw her face distort into anger. A look one gave when remembering something painful, I let her cool off a bit after she lets slip out. She did say Helios, Eos and Selene were but she talked about Eos like she was alive so the other two are gone. Wow, not even a full day and I have not only family but dead family members. “The last thing is up to you, the boy gave you the option to go to their camp where you will get food and shelter as long as you play puppet.” I shifted my head to my shoulders. “To the gods, I'm guessing.” she nodded her head keeping one eye on the road and the other on me. “You do my old snake heart proud to know I raised you to be smart. That or you go with me.”

“I aim to please. If it's all the same to you I think I'll make my decision now and go with you.” She turned her head all the way to face me and stopped the car suddenly. “Don’t make decisions lightly!” She shouted. She nearly started hissing again. “I will bring you to where what remains of the army, there are some demigods still there that chose to live far from the gods in new york, they could barely fight but they do make good merchants.” She seems to calm down again and decide it's not the time for questions anymore, I can’t even think of any more to ask her. “It was not a lie you know.” She said sadly, her voice slightly breaks “At first I didn’t like my talents being wasted to be a babysitter but you grew on me somewhat.” She chuckled, her eyes starting to water. “I...I..I-” I hug her from the side, my left hand from her shoulder interlocking with my right to make a circle hug hanging from her neck. “I know, your eyes blink three times when you lie.” She returns the hug with tears dripping down her eyes with the scent of salt on them. “I'm sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry-”An arrow knocked itself into the dashboard Cutting her off. “The fuck?” I yelled as another arrow notched itself near my neck “Dammit, they found us!” She screamed trying to dodge arrows and drive the car. I looked behind us and saw only an orange splotch in a sea of dark leaves and branches. “Can Jackson fly?” I said frantically trying to find a projectile. “No that would a child of Zeus, a son of Poseidon, a lord of the sea is who we face. If I have to guess a pegasus.” “Is he a good shot?” An arrow went into the roof getting only halfway in. An idea brews in my mind to get rid Jackson. Not a single shot has hit us yet, some were close but no direct hit. I take the arrows from the various places they were logged in and pile them on my lap. “Do you have poison?” She points to the glove compartment. It was a long shot but it had what I need. “May I?” “ Look I need to release some poison for my fangs and glands sometimes.” She said reflexively. The poison was clear with a tinge of yellow in jam jars. Two to be precise. I take all the arrows and jam it in, pun intended. Aegle put a hand in front of me. “Try to aim it like a dart but if they get close enough to the window just toss them in their direction.” She dictated. I follow her directions to the letter but decide to leave them in the jar. I lower the window so I can sit on the door. Now for the nice people or those with no sense of wisdom, don't attempt this in any shape or form because in all likelihood I will fall off and leave half of my skin on the forest floor. Maybe my neck would be broken, the bottom line doesn't replicate. I used to play darts in the employee lounge but trust me that barely helps when I'm holding poison-tipped arrows while sitting on the window of a moving car. It took all my ass clenching ability not be thrown off as Aimed at the moving black mass. In the rising moonlight, I saw a bit clearer and know for a fact that he was on a flying horse. Yet that was a low mark on my what the fuck meter today. Either I aim for Jackson or his horse? I took a better look while I saw something odd, I know the flying horse with wings would be usually the first thing I saw two but its something else. It was almost that I saw an aura around Jackson that seemed...strong. And not that it seemed that he was ready for anything but more in a literal I saw a faint glowing aura of protection around him, shielding him. A voice echoed in my mind. The Styx shields, the Styx protects. You will be forced to make recompense. Okay...that was more poignant than I would like. In shows or movies, schizophrenics have this deep narrative driven voice that attacks them with personal insults. Most of the times in real life its random gibberish and loud noises, if there is a voice it can be neutral like “the sky is green” over and over again or pleasant “you're are wonderful” voices. At Least some other than instructional. So when they start to make coherent sense be very afraid especially if there negative it means it’s at its worse. Bottom line when the voice in my head starts giving advice be very afraid.   “Jackson would be vulnerable to arrows, right? Does the name Styx mean anything to you?” Oh great, I'm listening to the voice now. Terrific.  “Did you say the river Styx?!” She started swerving in response. She thinks for a moment and shakes her head. “That explains how he killed your father then. He has the curse of Achilles.” I understood what the meant, slightly. I remember that he was a hero from a myth that had a bad heel but from what she said it seems to be some sort of power. I thought about how it could help him beat my father. I barely knew him so it hard to think of anything concrete I guess it could give… invincibility. Oh crap. I try to think of something. Aim not for he who leads, aim for what carries the teens. And now this creepy shit. Shot in the dark, I try to think it out as I throw the arrow. The arrow flew for a short bit toward Jackson but was quickly deflected by a glowing sword that was now in view. He started to fly ever closer to the truck with the Pegasus ever more in my sight. It had ebony hair and raven-like wings with empty eyes. Who the hell looks at that and thinks “that's a great mount”. It was definitely majestic in its movement and manner but its actions, its stare, its look, that stare gave off the aura of rebellion. Like it would kick off most rider given the chance. Kick off the rider! Of course. The pegasus came closer now with Jackson and the blond girl. I didn’t see the satyr but the sounds of pan flutes were within the air and the trees moved slightly. Guess that makes sense, nature creature, nature magic. I kept my eye on the winged horse and tried to ignore both of the Blancos. “What are you doing?” Percy Jackson screamed. “We can give you sanctuary. The camp is the only place you can be safe.” The girl added. I ready my jar as they increased velocity with the horse nearly neck and neck with the car. “Consider this my answer in the form of a toxic hail Mary.” I  held the jar sideways as the contents blew in the wind, the arrows, the venom, all going in the direction of the raven pegasus. The horse started to convulse and bucked off Jackson and his girlfriend off its back. I would be lying if I said I didn’t take pleasure in the way the jackass fell straight on his ass in the dirt. It was like a stunt gone wrong. I was sorry for the horse, it didn't deserve the arrows and venom to the face but I needed an escape. I think he tried to yell something before we got out of earshot but we manage to escape into the wilderness.  Hopefully, that will be that last of them for a while. “W-w-w-we manage to lose them.” The realization slowly reached Aegle as an I climb, precariously back into my seat. “Don't be so sure. I remember three of them being at the hotel.” “Oh your right, that means goat boy might still pursue.” She had an angry way about her when she said goat boy. Didn't she say something about satyr's against my father? “Now what?” I try to ready for a nap. This amount of excitement has left me worn out. “Nacho, he runs the ranch nearby or at least keeps the animals running rampant.” Oh yeah. An animal to pull my chariot. Glad to know that this is my new normal from now on. “Remember Ignacio from the forge?” I close my eye as I strain to remember where that name felt right. Not a common name to say the proper way, most people go by Nacho with that name and I  swear if you bring up those cheese covered chips I will deck you in the schnoz. Then something came to me in a haze. A bright forge, a roaring flame, a small ugly man with great skills in making repairs and creating jewelry. “Wait! That Nacho!” The general that was gifting a war beast was my old boss. I worked for him for three years in Ramos, a small town north of El Yunque. I helped at his forge and learned some skill in bending and manipulating metal. It wasn't my longest job or my most enjoyable one but it was the most fulfilling. There is no other feeling like making tools with your own hands and saying that you know how to make half the things people things people need day to day. It's like you are above them in a certain way like they always need you no matter how much they pretend to be better than you. “Yes. That Nacho, he was the leader of the Telchines for a bit before your father dismissed him.” “Wait why was he dismissed?” She started to sway on the road, we properly lost a wheel so it was actually quite astounding that we are still driving semi-properly. “ He had a habit of ...Questioning authority.” She said casually now resting her head on her fist. From her tone, she explained this plenty of times. “ He questions some of your uncle's tactics and by you fathers authority he was moved to this outpost.” “Wait for outpost!” I yelled jumping from my seat. “This isle is far away enough from the gods that they barely notice anything that happens here. It's the same for Alaska except that Poseidon sends the occasional hurricane.” Annnd she let that bombshell drop. “ He hasn't done it in a while but...watch your back when near the sea. It should only be 20 minutes away from the ranch.” With that, I sunk back into my seat wide-eyed. Apparently, one of the worst kind of disasters that can befall the island is caused by the father of the guy I just threw poison at.  Maybe the ranch will be nice and quiet, Nacho was always level-headed. Maybe a little nap to keep me going later.

[emmaspirate]

The Birds

A/N: Two months later and I’m back. Thank you to the two ladies who looked this over for me - Mona (@o-u-a-timer) and Lena (@lenfaz), I owe you my life. We’re picking up now folks - hope you enjoy. 

Summary: Meet Emma Swan: mother, detective, and angel. She’s just trying to get through her eternal afterlife in one piece. Naturally the universe has other plans for her. When a murder occurs in the divine community, she must enlist the help of angels and demons alike to help crack the case. Enter Killian Jones, a mysterious demon who has every intention of making Emma’s life a living hell. Angel/Demon AU. This has been done before and I’m sure other attempts are better than mine, but I thought I’d give it a shot. There is a depiction of a crime scene at the bottom so read at your own risk!

A03

Chapter I/Chapter II/Chapter III/Chapter IV/Chapter V

Chapter V: All the Things Lost

“Death ends a life, not a relationship.”  - Mitch Albom

Emma’s eyes snapped open at 8:15 on the dot. She’d somehow managed to fall back into unconsciousness a bit past five. She could hear Henry rummaging about in the kitchen. He normally took care of breakfast in the morning, given that she was almost always out late catching perps.

She’d taken off her shoes and jacket when she’d woken up from her dream, so she threw on a hoodie over her t-shirt and ambled outside. Emma tried to remember her nightmare, but felt as though she was grasping at straws. Everything had been so crystal clear before, and now it was jarringly murky. There was something else too, something else she was forgetting…

“Hello, Love,” he said, answering her question.

Her eyes took in his sprawling form on her couch. He’d ditched all the leather, and was wearing a black Henley and skinny jeans. He looked incredibly amused as his kohl-rimmed eyes darted over her body. She was slightly alarmed she hadn’t felt his presence sooner, was it possible to grow used to the feeling of a demon? She had been spending an inordinate amount of time with them…

“Mom, your cocoa is done.”

She spun around, her face fixed in horror, and was greeted by her son extending a mug towards her. He was holding her favorite cup, Henry had made it for her when he was in third grade. It said “World’s Best Mom” on it, and he’d drawn some horrible picture of the two of them on the other side. She’d cried when she’d gotten it. It had felt like a lie at the time.

It felt like a lie now, as he said “What?” like nothing was wrong.

In a flash, Emma was in front of Hook, hand wrapping around his neck as she hauled him to his feet. “What are you doing here?” she growled.

“Mom, what the hell?” Henry sputtered from behind her.

Hook was smiling. “I quite like you like this, very commanding.” When she tightened her grip on his throat he said, “We have to go to Lily Page’s residence.”

“I know that, but what are you doing here?” she spat.

“Her Majesty,” and where most demons said the name with reverence, Hook said it like it was an insult. “Gave me your address so that we could go on our merry way. I also brought your car for you.”

“Mom, would you stop? Killian is cool.”

Maybe it was the shock of hearing her son refer to homicidal, sociopathic, demon Hook as “Killian”, a man she wasn’t sure existed, but she let him go. There was a beat as she assessed Henry, tried to see if he was serious, and then “Killian?”

Her son looked incredibly put out with her. “That’s his name,” he shot back.

“Watch it,” she replied reflexively. Emma turned to Hook, “You’re letting him call you Killian?” She didn’t manage to keep the surprise from leaking into her voice.

Hook looked incredibly sheepish as he scratched at his ear. “Like the boy said, it is my name,” he muttered uncomfortably.

“I didn’t know you had such a soft side,” Emma replied, smiling in spite of herself.

“I don’t,” he insisted.

“Whatever you say, Hook,” she teased. She figured that while her son may be able to get away with using his given name, he’d have no qualms about ripping her apart should it ever pass her lips.

“Did you know Captain Hook is based on Killian?” Henry asked, seemingly springing back to life now that the situation had diffused a bit.

Once again, Hook looked incredibly uncomfortable. “Mr. Barrie and I were associates,” he explained. “Seemed a few bits of my personality, as well as,” he held up his hook. “This, inspired him.”

Emma stared at him in disbelief. “You were friends with J.M. Barrie?”

Hook smirked at her surprise, seemingly back in his element. “The man was a child in an adult’s body, anyone with that affliction tends to enjoy the company of a less savory crowd. He was an easy target.” Hook shrugged. Then, he sauntered a bit closer to Emma and said, “You’ll find, Swan, that I’ve made many friends over my long, long lifetime. Some of the people I get into bed with may surprise you.”

Emma scoffed and lightly pushed him backwards. “I have no interest in your bed or whose in it.” Since she still wasn’t entirely comfortable with the fact that Henry was in the presence of a very dangerous demon, she quickly added, “We should go.”

Hook looked her up and down with a raised brow. “You sure you don’t want to change, Love?” he asked with a laugh in his voice.

Emma paused for a brief moment, remembering her dirty jeans, ratty sweatshirt, and greasy hair. He was right, she probably should change, but hell would have to freeze over before she let him have this one. Reaching behind him, she grabbed her red leather jacket off the peg next to the door. “Nope,” she said and shrugged.

To her surprise, Hook just smiled. “If the lady insists. It was nice to meet you, lad,” he called to Henry, giving her son a little two-finger salute.

“You too, Killian. I’ll let you know how it goes with Violet.”

Emma’s eyebrows shot up so fast she was worried they’d get lost in her hairline. “What?” She all but shouted as she turned around between the two of them. “You told him about Violet?”

Hook laughed. “I was just giving the lad some advice about women.”

Emma glared at him so hard she was certain he’d spontaneously combust at any moment. Then, without warning, she began to shove him towards her front door while she called out “Don’t you ever take this idiot’s advice about anything! Especially women, my god!”

From behind her, she heard Henry sigh.

From in front of her, she heard Hook laugh.

Emma threw her hair into a ponytail at the first stoplight they came to. It slowly began to dawn on her, much to her horror, that she hadn’t showered in multiple days. She shifted subtly away from Hook, hoping she wasn’t giving off an odor.

“Sleep well, Angel?” Hook asked, and the light tone of his voice suggested he knew exactly what she was doing.

“Mhm,” Emma murmured as she stepped on the gas.

Hook was all but laughing now. “Your son revealed some interesting information about your sleeping habits.”

Emma froze just long enough for him to notice. “Did he?”

Hook kept his gaze fixed forward, as did Emma, but she could feel the smugness radiating off of him. “He did. He said you snore.”

Emma felt a pulse of rage fly through her veins, and her Bug jumped forward as her foot pushed down further on the pedal. “I do not! You know that’s not true; Angels and Demons don’t snore! Sleep puts in a nearly comatose state,” she cried, and the indignation in her voice made her cringe.

“And yet, in your comatose state, you still somehow manage to snore. Defying the odds left and right, Swan,” Hook replied.

Lily’s was only a few miles away, she lived in nearby Roxbury, but Emma felt as though this car ride would never end. She didn’t dignify his ludicrous proposition with a response, although she’d certainly have a few choice words for Henry when she got home. Although, his words did bring another question to her mind, and so she asked, “Do Demons ever dream?”

Hook turned his head to look at her, and a quick glance at his face showed that all traces of joking had left his expression. Sure enough, his voice was deadly serious as he said, “No. Divine beings don’t dream, surely you know that.”

Emma nodded as she refused to meet his gaze. “I know that that’s the party line, but I’m wondering if you, or anyone you know of, has ever… dreamed… or hallucinated… or something…”

“Have you?” Killian asked, and there was something else buried deep in his voice; it sounded almost accusatory.

Naturally, Emma’s defenses flared up. “Never mind,” she hissed, and just as he was about to say something, her gaslight saved her. “I need to fill up,” she bit and abruptly turned into an Exxon station. Truth be told, the turn may have been a little too abrupt because Hook knocked his head into the passenger window, but she was springing out of the car before he could say anything. Emma watched him clamber out and shoot her a disbelieving look before he muttered something about making a “phone call.” She paid him no mind as she made her way to the back of her Bug.

The angel could not make her hand stop shaking as she wrestled with the fuel cap on her car. When she’d asked him if demons dreamed, she’d been afraid he’d say yes. That whatever the hell she’d experienced last night meant that she was traveling down a dark path; that she was one step closer to becoming what she feared the most.

Somehow this was much worse.

Demons didn’t dream, of that Hook had seemed sure. She trusted that, if there was any exception to that rule, he’d have found it by now. So, what did that mean exactly? What did it say about her that she was apparently the first divine creature in at least six hundred years to have this happen to them?

What the hell was going on?

She heard it before her mind processed what it was. Something was whizzing up behind her much too quickly for her to do anything, even with her heightened reflexes. Emma’s body reacted differently than it had at Regina’s, or when she’d first met Hook at his hotel. She shifted instantly into an ethereal state, as if her brain had decided that there was no benefit to keeping in control. It was fight or flight, and in a split second she’d picked fight.

She’d picked a second too late.

Maybe if she hadn’t been so distracted, she’d have noticed something was amiss before. Unfortunately, all she could do was watch the glistening silver arrow as it hurtled towards her. She knew, given the fact that it was moving at a speed too fast for a human weapon, that it was made of mortifero. She had no chance. This was it. Emma was going to die.

He came out of nowhere, barreling into her like a freight train. She was so caught off guard she went tumbling to the ground without resistance. Her muscles locked and she stopped breathing, but she didn’t push him off when he told her to keep still. Hook stayed like that for what felt like an eternity, keeping her pinned beneath him, as his eyes darted around.

Every instinct she had was telling her to kill him and get the hell out of there, but she managed to keep those urges at bay. She knew he was trying to protect her, and murdering him probably wouldn’t do any good. Still, it was hard to keep herself in check when the adrenaline was pulsing through her veins.

They stayed like that for a bit longer, until Hook decided that whatever, or whoever, had attacked them was gone. He then seemed to remember that he was literally on top of her and shifted his weight so that it was on his arms rather than on her. He did not, however, make any attempt to move out of her personal space.

“Are you okay?” Hook asked, and Emma was confused at the genuine sincerity in his tone.

She found that her mouth was incredibly dry. “I’m fine,” she croaked, her voice cracking ever so slightly. “Could you help me up?”

Hook nodded and leapt to his feet, pulling her up gently as he went. They both instantly realized what a bad idea that’d been when her knees gave out and he’d had to catch her. He was very careful to make sure his hook didn’t get too close to her exposed skin, instead resting it against the leather of her jacket. “Here,” he muttered as he dragged her over to the passenger side. He then proceeded to open the door with so much unnecessary force that Emma was briefly sure he’d rip it off. “Sit,” he commanded as he all but dropped her onto the seat.

“Do you know who that was?” Emma asked as she adjusted herself.

Hook had his body positioned so that he was shielding her side of the car. His eyes continued to scan the street, and Emma was loathe to admit that she did feel marginally safer with him here. “No idea. They took off on a bike after they shot at you.” His gaze flickered to her and his brow furrowed in concern. His hand moved up to the left side of her head, as though he were going to touch her, but she shied away instinctively. A brief flash of pain crossed his features, but it was gone before Emma could regret her actions. He gestured to his own ear. “They appear to have nicked you, Love.”

Emma’s hand shot up to where her hairline met the skin just above her ear, and sure enough it came away covered in sticky gold. She’d never quite gotten used to the fact that angel blood was a golden color. It did give her a nice glow all year round, but it always had been a little off-putting. “Ow,” she muttered belatedly.

“You’re lucky it wasn’t your chest,” Hook smirked. “I’ll go get something to absorb the blood from the attendant.”

Emma waved a hand at him to dismiss the idea. She quickly reached around into the backseat and pulled out a fistful of brown napkins from Chipotle.

“Charming,” Hook sneered as she dabbed at her head.

She winced slightly as she pressed, the cut stung like a bitch, but he was right, it hadn’t been fatal. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Hook was visibly startled. “What?”

Emma scoffed and removed the napkins from her cut for a brief moment so she could glare at him properly. “You saved my life. I’d have been shish kabobed if you hadn’t been here. So, thank you,” Emma replied.

The demon was visibly uncomfortable at her gratitude, shifting from foot to foot. “Yes, well, I wouldn’t want you getting shish kabobed, as you so eloquently put it. Besides, I told your brother I’d take care of you, so,” he trailed off.

“So, I think one of these days you’re going to have to admit that you don’t hate me as much as you pretend to,” Emma goaded.

Hook smirked at her playfully, clearly grateful the mood had shifted into a joking one. “Me? Not hating an Angel? It’ll be a cold day in hell.”

Emma laughed and threw her bloody napkin into the backseat, enjoying the grimace that overtook Hook’s face. She’d get it later. Probably. “We should go,” she said as she started to get up from the seat.

“I’m driving,” Hook shot as he all but shoved her back down. Without waiting for her reply, he hurried over to the driver’s side and began to buckle himself in.

Emma could only gape at him as he turned the key in the ignition. “You cannot drive my car! I’m fine! The cut is basically patched up, accelerated healing works like a gem,” she protested.

“I’m not worried about your cut, I’m worried about you calming yourself down. We need you out of your ethereal state before we get to Lily’s, otherwise the humans will think I’m talking to myself.”

Emma realized that he was right. Didn’t mean she had to be happy about it. She crossed her arms over her chest and stuck her lower lip out. “Driving calms me down,” she grumbled.

Hook laughed as he pulled out of the station and onto the road. “I’m sure it does.” He paused for a moment, smile falling off his face, before he said, “I haven’t met any divine beings who’ve had dreams. Doesn’t mean they don’t exist.”

Emma didn’t say anything, just fixed her eyes forward and nodded.

“Not a cross I’d be willing to bear,” Hook said so quietly she thought she’d heard him wrong.

Emma glanced at him. “Pardon?”

“The dreaming thing. I wouldn’t want it. When I sleep, although it’s infrequent at this point, it’s the only break I get from my own head.” Hook swallowed and kept his eyes on the road as though his life depended on it. “There’s nothing in this world I’d want to dream about.”

“What about good dreams? Happy dreams?” Emma asked, her heartbeat hammering in her ears. She didn’t want to care about him, but the idea that everything he’d ever had could be so tainted, every memory, every hope, every love, was making her chest ache. The angel in her was overly sympathetic to the plight of other creatures, which was the clear explanation for why his pain was hers.

Clearly.

Hook smiled and she wanted to cry. “I don’t have those.”

They only made it half a mile down the road before they realized Emma hadn’t actually filled the tank at the station, but other than that they got to Lily’s without any more hindrances. Her friend’s place was appropriately seedy, but nothing Emma wasn’t used to given the residences she used to occupy.

“Lily lives,” Emma paused for a moment before she corrected herself. “Lived in apartment 3A.”

Emma felt Hook’s eyes on her, but she didn’t move her gaze off of the building’s front door. “You alright, Swan?” he asked.

There it was again, that genuine concern he kept showing that she just couldn’t seem to ignore. She almost wished he’d go back to being an ass. “Fine. Let’s go see the super,” Emma muttered as she charged forward. Hook, to his credit, followed behind her without comment. She could have sworn she felt his fingers ghost the small of her back, but the sensation was gone before she could check.

They found the super’s door with relative ease, and Emma didn’t waste anytime with pleasantries. “Boston PD,” she yelled as she pounded on the door.

Emma heard rustling around inside before the door was thrown open and a grubby little man in a stained undershirt and checked boxers was in front of them. “What?” he spat.

The smell that wafted through the air must have hit Emma and Hook at the same time, because as soon as she wrinkled her nose he groaned, “Jesus, mate.” Emma turned to find his face contorted in disgust. “Do you have an entire marijuana dispensary in there, perhaps a dead body or two?”

“Hook,” Emma scoffed, although the comment did make her smile.

Hook gave her a disbelieving look, like he could not understand why he was being chastised given the smell that was coming from this man’s room. “How ironic is it that we’re conducting a murder investigation, and this man is clearly hoarding dead bodies in his room. I mean there is no other explanation.”

Emma expected the super to fire back in some way, but when she turned back to him she realized he was too busy leering at her to have any idea what they were saying. The angel rolled her eyes. “We have a warrant to search the apartment of Lilith Page,” Emma droned as she pulled out the document.

“I’ll help you in any way I can, sweetheart,” he purred and Emma suppressed her gag reflex.

Hook didn’t suppress any of his reflexes as he lunged forward so quickly, Emma had to place a hand out to stop him. “Did you miss the part where I mentioned that we were conducting a murder investigation? Perhaps you’d like to be the next victim?” Hook growled.

Emma watched the man sputter like a fish on land, and while she knew she should say something, she decided to let herself enjoy the moment. She may have been required to keep her composure, given that she was representing the police force, but who was really being hurt besides the little perv in front of her if she let Hook fly off the handle. “Can you let us into Lily’s residence, or am I going to have to go in myself?”

The super didn’t say anything, he simply shoved past the two of them and refused to make eye contact.

The demon swept his hook in the human’s direction. “After you, Swan.”

Emma gave him a tight-lipped smile and followed the man up the stairwell. “What can you tell me about Lily?” she asked.

The super looked over his shoulder as he huffed up the stairs. He seemed slightly shaken, but largely unaffected by Hook’s threat. That was to be expected; the more immoral a human was, the less fazed they were when it came to divine encounters. When you had nothing to lose, you were harder to shake. “Can’t tell you much. Lily kept to herself, she was an odd girl,” he muttered as he opened the door to the third floor.

“What do you mean?” Emma asked as she followed him down a grimy hallway. There was trash littering the ground and somewhere in the distance, she heard a baby crying. Or at least she thought she heard a baby crying. This place was bringing back bad memories of some of her former houses.

The super ignored her question. “You said this was a murder investigation.”

Emma shot a dirty look at Hook over her shoulder. “I can’t confirm or deny anything of the sort, nor have I.”

The human gave her a smug, knowing grin. “Yeah, well, your partner did. Look, I just need to know if I can rent her apartment out to someone new.”

“Well considering the fact that she’s dead, yeah I’d say you can,” Hook replied in his disarmingly uninterested tone.

If Emma’s look had merely been dirty before, this one was downright lethal. If the demon wasn’t already dead she was certain he would be now. “We cannot comment on an ongoing investigation at this time,” Emma spat, to which Hook gave a noncommittal shrug.

“That’s a relief,” the superintendent sighed as he reached what Emma assumed to be Lily’s door. “Can’t say anyone’s going to miss her.”

Emma’s gaze flicked from Hook to the man fiddling with the keys to the apartment. “What do you mean?” Emma repeated, and if the human could hear the hostility that now laced her question he showed no sign.

He shoved the key into the door. “Lily was a weird girl, dangerous too. The kind you just wanted to instinctively avoid. Trouble seemed to follow her wherever she went. The girl had no family, no friends, it’s not really a surprise what happened to her. Good riddance if you ask me.”

Emma wasn’t really sure what happened after that. One minute the super was pushing the door open, the next minute he was pinned against the wall with Emma’s hand around his throat. She pulled her other hand back, readying herself to deck him across the face. “She was my friend,” she roared.

“Swan, don’t,” Hook yelled and she felt his hand wrap lightly around her shoulder. His voice was enough to make her stop for a moment as he said, “This isn’t you.”

“You don’t know me,” Emma growled as she kept her attention on the gasping man in front of her. She could feel the darkness well up inside her, temporarily drowning out the light.

Hook, who could also sense the varying degrees of light and dark someone possessed in their souls, must have felt it too. “Don’t let it win. Lily’s gone, there’s no sense in hurting this man.”

Emma considered his words carefully. It probably wouldn’t hurt her too much if she did take physical action against this human, but as she felt the darkness working its way through her veins, making her fingers tingle, she reassessed. She worked so hard to maintain her humanity, to be as good as possible, that she wasn’t about to let a passing comment break her.

She slowly released his neck, loosening her fingers one by one, until he fell to the floor. She hadn’t realized she’d been holding him off the ground, her divine strength having kicked into gear in her rage. Emma realized she was lucky she hadn’t killed him accidentally. “Go,” she spat.

The super scrambled to his feet, but Hook quickly grabbed him by the shirt. As the demon stared into the human’s eyes, the man’s expression went from fearful to blank. “Speak of this to no one,” Hook said, voice sounding like honey as he bent the human’s free will. His tone took on a hint of malice as he added, “And never speak badly of Lily Page again.”

Emma watched as the super stumbled down the hallway after Hook released him, glad to be rid of the man’s presence. “Thanks for that,” Emma whispered.

Hook looked visibly uncomfortable at her gratitude, scratching nervously behind his ear. Naturally, he resorted to what Emma was quickly realizing was his number one deflection tactic. “There are other ways to show your gratitude,” he purred, cadence sounding not unlike what he’d used to influence the super.

Emma rolled her eyes and quickly shot back, “Only in my nightmares.”

Hook’s expression darkened as he gave her a once over. “Well from what you’ve told me, those aren’t all that uncommon for you, are they, Swan?”

She didn’t answer, just lifted her chin and stared right back at him. She knew he was trying to get under her skin, but the thing was, she didn’t regret opening up to him about her dreams. His words to her in the car earlier had been the only thing that’d made her feel better about the situation. He may have been a dick, but he was on her side.

For now, she reminded herself.

Letting out a huff, she glided past him and entered Lily’s residence. She heard Hook’s footsteps come in behind her, but she was too busy taking in the cramped living room to notice. It was sparsely decorated, an old, plaid couch that looked like it’d been found in a dump was in the center of the room, and a few lawn chairs surrounded it.  Lily had also placed a piece of wood on top of two cinderblocks to create something resembling a coffee table. There was a kitchenette off to the side of the room, but judging by its current state it had hardly ever been used.

That was it.

There were no pictures of family or friends, no children’s artwork on the fridge, not even a piece of junk mail. To anyone else, it would feel as though no one had ever lived here. It was just an abandoned room in a shitty neighborhood in Boston.

Emma Swan wasn’t just anyone.

Emma noticed the cup of coffee, now cold, sitting in the sink. She saw that one side of the old plaid couch was more sunken in then the other. She paid attention to the book on the makeshift table; The Catcher in the Rye, which was clearly well-loved given the way the spine bent.

These were the signs you left when you were nobody. The little things that said “I was here”, even when no one was looking for them. Emma knew what signs of life, but not of living, looked like. Emma had been nobody before she’d had somebody, before she’d had Henry, and David, and Mary Margaret. Before she’d found her family.

Something Lily had never had the opportunity to do.

So when Hook said, “Don’t touch anything you might get tetanus,” Emma hadn’t laughed. She hadn’t said anything. “You alright, Swan?” he’d asked shortly thereafter.

“I’m fine. Absolutely fine,” she’d said back a little too quickly and a little too aggressively.

She watched as the demon rocked back and forth on his heels, floorboards creaking in protest. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked and she had to laugh at how displeased he sounded at the idea of that.

Emma shook her head. “Really, I’m fine. It’s just that I’ve been here before. There’s no one to call and tell that she’s dead. We just turned her body over to the morgue and they’ll dispose of it and that’ll be it. There’s no one to cry, or mourn, or plan a funeral. There’s no one to care, and I feel like I have to do it and I didn’t even know her and,” Emma swallowed and willed herself to continue. There was something that felt safe about opening up to Hook. He didn’t know her, and he wasn’t in a place where he could judge her, so there was no harm in telling him this. It’s not like anyone would believe him anyways. “And that could’ve been me.”

Hook nodded, and she was surprised he actually seemed to be pondering her words. “It wasn’t you though,” he finally replied.

Emma shook her head, he wasn’t getting it. “But it could’ve been. Before I had my kid, before I had my brother, this was me.”

“Except that it wasn’t.” Hook cut in. “This wasn’t you, this isn’t you. I don’t pretend to know anything about your past, Swan, but I do know enough about you now to say that you could never have been this. You heard the way the human described her.”

Emma stiffened and shot back, “He didn’t know her.”

Hook stood his ground and tilted his head in a seemingly sympathetic way . “Maybe so, but that didn’t mean what he was saying was untrue. She was a demon, Swan. You don’t become one of those unless you have darkness inside of you.” He stepped closer to her, his voice dropping to a whisper so quiet she wouldn’t have heard him if not for her heightened senses. “Unless you’re a bad person.”

Emma mirrored his actions, stepping closer and whispering, “I don’t buy that. We all have darkness inside of us. You saw mine ten minutes ago when I almost killed that guy.”

Hook continued to close the space between them. “Aye, but you didn’t. You stopped yourself. Lily was bad and you are good.” He said the word like it was an insult. “It’s why you could never be what she was. People will always care for you, you will always be loved. That’s the difference between you and Lily. That’s the difference between you and,” he stopped himself before he finished the sentence, mouth clamping shut like he was afraid of what was going to come out.

Emma stepped up so that their chests were touching. The proximity made her instinctively uncomfortable, but she didn’t shy away. “Difference between me and who?”

Hook stared at her for a minute, studied her silently before he stepped back and said, “The difference between me and you.”

Emma felt the breath rush out of her lungs as it slowly dawned on her that maybe she wasn’t the only one in the room who could sympathize with Lily Page. She might not have been the only one who felt alone. “Everyone can be loved,” she said quietly, deflecting back to his earlier statement.

Hook gave her a twisted smile. “But not everyone deserves it.”

Emma flinched and clamped her mouth shut. They weren’t talking about Lily anymore, and they both knew it. The angel stood in stunned silence as Hook looked away and moved into the next room. She truly had no idea what to say to him, how she could show him he was wrong. Words had always failed her, and right now she’d give anything she had for that not to be the case.

Luckily, she was saved by Hook’s voice calling her into the next room. There was an urgency in his tone that sent her heart plummeting towards her feet. That, and the fact that he’d called out “Emma,” when she was pretty damn sure he hadn’t used her first name since they’d met, made her regret getting out of bed this morning.

The first thing she noticed when she entered the room was that it was empty save for a stained mattress pushed into the corner. She then saw that someone had written, in blood or red paint, she didn’t know, “Nesir Sah Roivas Eht,” on the wall. It was the same message that had been at each crime scene.

It would have been off-putting on its own, but it wasn’t until she turned around that she realized Hook’s real cause for distress. His back was to her, eyes clearly transfixed on the opposite wall. Someone, Lily or some third party, had covered the wall in photos. There was no white space peaking out; every single inch of wall was plastered with pictures.

Pictures of Emma.

Emma wasn’t sure how long she stared at the images, eyes traveling rapidly across the length of the wall. There were some that had been taken at her home, some that had been taken at the station. Henry, David, Mary Margaret, and Regina all made appearances in the collage. They appeared to go back as far as when she had first arrived in Boston, and the most recent one that she could see had been taken two weeks ago at a family dinner near the Harbor.

At some point during her panic attack she must’ve sunken down to her knees because Hook materialized in front of her. He crouched down so that he was physically shielding her from the wall, blocking it from her line of sight. “You’re okay, Swan,” he whispered, and his hand hovered over her shoulder, as though he were afraid to touch her.

Emma let out a shaky breath, slowly coming back down from the mental ledge she was about to jump off of. “She has a serial killer wall dedicated to me. She stalked me, she took pictures of my family, how the hell am I okay?”

Hook sighed, moving his hand back to his side. “On the plus side, Lily’s dead, so at least she’s not adding to her moving tribute.”

Emma shook her head and made a move to stand back up, Hook following after her. “We don’t know that she was the one who did this. Someone could’ve taken up residence here after she died and put the photos up. Hell, they could’ve been paying her to take those photos of me. She might not be the real culprit here.” Emma cut herself before she could admit her real fear, although she suspected that Hook, who was overly intuitive, already knew what it was.

Lily, who it appeared had been stalking Emma for the past decade or so, had turned up dead a few days ago. Any good cop knew that made Emma the prime suspect in an ongoing murder investigation.

Sure enough, Hook read her like the open book he claimed she was. “This doesn’t mean anything, Swan. You had no idea she was doing this until just now, your reaction to these photos was enough to prove that. I’ll make sure anyone who asks is quite clear on that. In fact, if you want we can just destroy the creepy tribute to you and no one will be the wiser.”

Emma laughed in spite of herself and, against all odds, felt grateful for Hook’s presence. He had an effortless way of making her feel a bit better, which probably had to do with the fact that whatever she’d seen, he’d seen worse. “Unfortunately, we need to report this. Could be crucial in finding whoever is really doing this. I’ll call David and get him to send a team out here.”

Emma was pulling out her phone to do just that when all of the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Her muscles began to coil as the bile rose in her throat. The adrenaline that began to pump furiously through her veins could only be indicative of one thing.

Hook must have felt it too, because in half a second he was beside her and shifting so that he was facing the door, hook ready to meet whoever was coming.

Demon.

She approached slowly, sauntering out of the shadows like a model on a runway. She wore a skintight green dress and a black cape held together at the neck by an emerald broach. Her green leather gloves made Emma wonder if she was going for some sort of theme when she chose her outfit this morning. She was the kind of put together that Emma could only dream of being. The only thing that wasn’t immaculate about her, were the wild red curls that fell all around her long face. She was beautiful.

Beautiful and undoubtedly dangerous.

“My, my, my,” the demon purred as she stepped fully into the room, black heels clicking against the floor. “Isn’t this a pretty sight? An angel and a demon working together, please don’t stop on my account.” The woman had an English accent, and her tone seemed to be one of perpetual amusement even as she gave them a murderous glare.

“Zelena,” Hook growled, and the angel stepped back instinctively. His voice oozed with pure hatred, an anger directed towards the woman that Emma had yet to experience.

“So glad you remember me, my darling,” her ice blue eyes glistened jovially as she turned her attention to Emma. “Now, don’t be rude and introduce me to your new pet.”

Emma stepped forward, mostly because she could literally see the darkness radiating off of Hook, and it was only getting stronger. It wouldn’t be long before it temporarily overwhelmed him and then they’d really be screwed. Not to mention the fact that the woman’s condescending tone was grating on her. “The pet can speak for herself, and she’d like to know who the hell you are first.”

Zelena’s eyes lit up with satisfaction. “Oh, the doggy has some bite to her, does she? I’m Zelena Mills.”

Emma fell short at that. “Mills? As in Regina Mills?”

Hook, who seemed to be reigning himself in given that the dark aura around him had dimmed slightly, chuckled. “They’re sisters,” he said as though it were the most amusing fact in the world.

“Half sisters,” Zelena hissed and it was the first time she exuded a mood other than entertained.

“Aye, half sisters. Zelena got the crazy in the family, Regina got everything else,” Hook goaded.

If he was trying to get under the other demon’s skin, it worked. “Don’t talk about her in my presence or you’ll regret it.”

Hook rolled his eyes and stepped closer to the red-head. “Please, you and I both know I could send you right back to the backwoods you came from. Zelena, you and I fought this battle years ago.” Hook cocked his head and raised an eyebrow as he asked, “Have you forgotten who won?”

The female demon looked ready to pop with anger. Emma would’ve been amused if she herself wasn’t about to burst from the adrenaline rush was experiencing. Just as she was sure Zelena was about to strangle Hook, her face reverted to its amused expression. “Ah, Darling, hasn’t anyone informed you? There’s a new player in the game.”

Hook’s face fell. “What are you talking about?”

Zelena ignored him. “That’s quite the wall there. Such a moving tribute, it’s a shame really.” The demon smiled as she eyed the hundreds of photos of Emma from across the room.

The angel’s muscles locked up, something in Zelena’s words setting off alarm bells in her head. “What’s a shame?”

The woman was determined to evade all of their questions. “You know, I think you and I,” Emma was surprised to find Zelena looking at her and not Hook. “Are going to have a lot of fun with this,”she said as she moved towards the angel.

Suddenly, Zelena was on her knees, hands grasping the sides of her head as she let out a low scream. Emma turned to find Hook staring at her intently, chin lifted defiantly as he watched her suffer. The angel had to admit that it felt nice to be on the other side of his power as Zelena let out another yell.

“Enough games,” Hook whispered darkly as he dropped his chin. Zelena let out a gasp as she came back to reality. “Tell us why you’re here.”

Then, as if the day hadn’t been weird enough, Zelena began to laugh. It was a cackling noise that reverberated through the spartan room, and Emma couldn’t help but move a bit closer to Hook. “Oh, my darling, I should think it was obvious,” Zelena rasped as her blue eyes landed on the angel.

“I’m here to see Emma".

tagging people: @handsomeswan @natascha-remi-ronin @cigarettes-and-scotch-whisky @tnlph @shady-swan-jones, @lenfaz, @o-u-a-timer

[triptomeet-blog]

My first beach trip

Nights On Beach

  Its 1.30 am where night sky is filled with stars and night is so dark that our bonfire is the reason we’re able see each other on this beautiful beach and we are sharing an amazing moment with 3 girls (good looking 1s) who we just happen to meet and another solo traveler from Germany. What happened after this changed my life and I happen to meet love of my life later.  

The Plan

  Let me rewind you to 7.30 pm of day before, we left for this road trip. My friend just got suspended from his job and we were sulking and trying to figure out how screwed he is and that’s when I told him with ‘let’s go on a road trip’ and with hardly any money in my pocket, am on road with 4 other friends of mine. We had never been to this place and we were sure it’s one beach to go as bachelors and little did we have idea. What we will be experiencing, is going to change my life.

Driving those curvy country side mountain roads, covered in lush greenery to the beach was probably one of the best roads to drive. We reached and we got to ideally located shack on beach, which was right in the middle of the beach and after a whole night of driving, we just wanted to crash.  Woke up in the noon, got out and stepped out of the room with a peak of beach and on our adjoining room outside, I see 3 hot girls standing in bikini. Being a man, I can tell you this is probably one of the things every man secretly dream off but I couldn’t show the excitement and while I was getting inside the room i acted as if nothing had happened. Closed the door and started jumping, shouting and pulling everyone’s blanket waking them “there 3 hot chicks in bikini, just beside our room’ and BAM in an hour 5 of us up and ready. The power women I tell you.  

And it was not about the place anymore, it was to make use of this amazing opportunity, which is blessed on us. Like sane person, I started plotting the scenario and I paid for bon fire on the beach and as the day turned to evening. We left to main town(where rest of plotting is suppose to happen) for dinner and buy alcohol and what an amazing town it was. Streets filled with temples and poojaris everywhere and on one side and on the other side of the streets it was hippies and tourist walking around the streets and both half naked. Then we went to this little famous old Indian village house, which is a famous food joint around and had an countryside styled homemade food sitting on the floor. It was a divine experience for me, as I hail from a huge city in India.  

Game of Life

Came back to beach and got the set up done which is bonfire, music, sheesha, alcohol and chairs on the beach and by 10. We are ready and waiting for the girls to come back from diner and it was almost 12 am and no signs of them. Just like firewood even our hopes were burning to ashes and just before we lost our hopes. We saw them entering to our shacks and I invited them to join us and within few seconds. Here we are sitting on this peaceful beach where all you can hear is waves roaring under the sky full of stars and in no time am talking to divya who is most good looking among the 3 and we hit off, we’re all from same city and divya happens to be from my neighborhood itself and I couldn’t thank god for a better set up then this, I slowly started flirting and she started too and we have this Nice chemistry building and I heard my friend in shock.

 ‘I can’t believe you girls are MARRIED’

Trust me, that was the last thing I expected to hear after so much of planning n plotting. So immediately, I just turned towards them  

‘Wow, don’t tell me you both are married’  

Pointing my hand towards other 2 friends of Divya, who are a lil far off from me and divya and next words from divya was like Boulder on my head.

‘Nope, it’s me and her. Who are married’ with a sly smile.

Man oh man oh man, the disappointment I had of my dreams being crushed. It was way more disastrous then present day(2017) Indian and American politics and without any delay in next 10 mins, I just concluded and went back to room telling

‘Am too tired, I should crash now’

The disappointment I went with and all throu the walk and till the min I got sleep, I was just laughing at myself and trying to figure out. How can this go wrong and thought it’s a good thing, we’re leaving this place before noon.

But life always has a plan for you and little did I know that next day was going to begin a new chapter of my life.  

I don’t want to bore you with too much, will be writing the part 2 of this story. Wait for it.