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fortisfiliae · 4 years

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Promised Part 14 - Tom Riddle x reader

Summary: In this story, Tom didn’t grow up as an orphan, but with his grandfather and uncle. Reader’s sister got very sick and the Gaunts offer their help. But not without asking for something in return.

Disclaimer: Please be aware that I don’t condone any of this in real life. (GIF is not mine)

Warnings: Arranged marriage

Word count: 3.7k

Part 14 - Gaunt Manor

The weeks after Nagini had shed and you had added her skin into the antidote got more and more exhausting. The potion needed tending up to twelve times a day now and unfortunately, you didn’t own a time turner. Both Tom and you had not gotten a full night’s sleep in a while and it started to show. Every day that went by seemed to last for an eternity while the circles under your eyes carved deeper and deeper by the minute.

The curriculum had gotten more challenging, as the teachers were preparing their students for the N.E.W.T.s. Homework was harder and more time consuming than in any other year before and you had to study for hours afterwards as well. These things alone were enough to wear out most students from year seven. Because of that, thankfully no one got suspicious of how drained you looked. Except for Camille. She had started to ask a lot of uncomfortable questions whenever you had left to take care of the potion. She knew you too well. Sneaking out every two hours to go to the Come and Go Room on top of your studies and school work had drained you to the point where you must have looked like a walking corpse.

One day, when Professor Leveret had dismissed you after an exceptionally long Astronomy lesson in the late evening, you had reached your breaking point and were on the brink of tears, pondering about failing every single subject at the end of the term. There was little to no energy left inside of you. So little, you couldn’t even bring yourself to cry, but merely stared into space with reddened eyes and parted lips. Tom brought you to his room that night and went to the Come and Go Room alone. And when you were in bed, you were too tired to fall asleep. How ironic. You never knew that was even possible. But once you weren’t distracted anymore, your mind started to wander. It was impossible to keep up with everything at once. You would either fail your N.E.W.T.s or spoil the potion. The latter would be worse of course and for no price would you let your sister down, so you mentally prepared yourself to either leave Hogwarts without graduating or repeat your entire seventh year. Oh, there were the tears. Finally. They ran and flowed along with hollow sobs and wouldn’t stop now that they were coming.

What if the Gaunts were so appalled by your failure that they would call the wedding off before you could cure Elsie? They could easily paint you as a disgrace for not completing school and make your sister pay for it. No matter how it would turn out, they would take it out on her. The plan had worked so well until now and yet you were still desperately trapped inside Marvolo’s web.

Half an hour must have passed when Tom came back. The cushion beneath you was damp from the tears that had rolled down your cheeks and you held your breath to prevent another whimper from escaping your mouth. You hastily wiped your face and turned your back on him, trying to breathe slowly and act as if you were asleep. But he noticed, of course. And even his well-chosen words of comfort couldn’t ease your mind. You couldn’t let yourself fall into his touch and allow yourself to drift off to sleep because you knew that in two hours, the circle would start once again.

The next day, when you sat on Tom’s sofa together to study for Transfiguration, and you had just started reading the same paragraph for the third time since you just couldn’t concentrate, it just rolled off your tongue.

“I can’t do this anymore.”

Tom looked up from his book. “What, the twentieth chapter? I just-”

“No, not this,” you sighed and threw your book on the coffee table. “I mean everything. This whole situation. It’s too much.”

“Well,” he said and laid his book aside too. “It certainly is a challenging time. The N.E.W.T.s, the schoolwork and the antidote.”

Challenging was an understatement.

“I just need a full night’s sleep, or two,” you mumbled. “And you do too. We need help, it’s inevitable.”

“Help?” he asked, brows raised. “What do you have in mind? Ask Hilt to look after the potion?”

His expression changed once he had seen how you shifted. “No. Don’t tell me that’s what you were thinking.”

“I thought about asking Camille for help. She wouldn’t tell anyone and she’s always been great at Potions,” you explained. “And then I thought, Ben would ask her where she’s going all the time. He wouldn’t leave her alone anyway. So I considered telling them both.”

Tom looked like he had been petrified for a second, not moving a muscle. “But you’d have to tell him about the pact.”

“I know.”

“That’s what he was after since the beginning.”

“Yes. But I think we can trust him.”

“You think?” he asked. “Why, because he’s stopped Freda’s quill? That’s enough to gain your trust?”

“It’s not like we have a lot of options, Tom,” you replied, slowly but surely getting annoyed by his constant suspicions. “Camille wouldn’t be with him if he was a snitch.”

“We will just plan better. It won’t be easy, but we-”

“No. This is too much work for two people. Just look at us. We’re both barely keeping up. It won’t be long until we’re completely worn out. We need help.”

Tom’s brows were furrowed, still not convinced even if he understood. You stretched out your hand towards him and waited for him to hold it.

“If we don’t ask for help we’re going to mess up. I’ll either fail my N.E.W.T.s or the antidote won’t be finished. No matter what happens, Elsie will pay for it. Please.”

Camille and Ben looked at Tom and you like you had both lost your minds when you took them to the seventh floor. They had asked so many questions on the way there, but you were far too tired to answer them all. Besides, they would just be able to see for themselves in a bit.

When you had arrived, you said to them once more: “I’m going to show you something now. And it is unbelievably important that you understand this needs to stay between us. No one else must know.”

Camille and Ben nodded, both with serious and still confused looks on their faces.

“And might I add,” Tom said as he looked directly at Ben. “That my memory charm is very powerful. If you can’t keep your mouth shut I’ll obliviate you and I might even make you forget that you have magic running through your veins.”

Ben nodded again. “Alright mate, I got it.”

The door to the Come and Go Room appeared and the two wore the same expression that you must have had when you had first seen it.

“Come in,” you said as you opened the door.

The room was a bit tight with the four of you in there. You stirred the liquid inside the cauldron like you did each time while Ben and Camille looked around curiously.

“A potions room?” Camille asked once the door had been closed. “Now, can you please tell us what’s going on?”

You looked at Tom, who stared back at you, lips pressed together and still unsure if what you were about to do was a good idea. But still, he nodded. He had every right to be suspicious, you had to admit now that you had brought them there. But Camille was to be trusted and frankly, you were far too tired to think of any consequences.

So you began to tell them everything from where it all had started, a day before the school year, at your house. Camille knew half of the story already, but once you told them about the Gaunts and that they were the ones who had cursed Elsie, she stood there wide-eyed, just like Ben.

“And this is why I wanted to ask you both for your help with the potion,” you said once you had told them every detail. “If you don’t mind of course. If you’re willing to help, everyone would just have to come here three times a day. That would make our lives a lot easier.”

They didn’t even need to look at each other and nodded right away.

“Of course,” Camille said. “It all makes sense now. Oh, you must be exhausted. Twelve times a day?”

“I can come more often if you want,” Ben chimed in. “I don’t have as much to do as you, my N.E.W.T.s are still a year away and I wouldn’t have bothered studying much this year anyway.”

“What a surprise,” Tom muttered, even though there was a hint of a smirk on his face.

“One more question,” Ben said. “What about the last ingredient? Banshee tears you said, right? Where are you going to get those?”

“Well. That’ll be the final obstacle.”

“My uncle owns a flask,” Tom explained. “He and my Grandfather will be out next week and we’ll go and try to get them. Our house-elves will be on high alert however, so it’s going to be risky.”

“So,” Ben said. “When are we going?”

“We?” Camille and you asked simultaneously.

“You can’t sneak your way in anyway with the elves around, right?” he said. “Four people are a better distraction than two. I’m in.”

“You weren’t even invited in,” Tom said.

“I don’t care,” Ben shrugged. “I’m still in if you need me.”

Tom sighed as he walked in circles around the cauldron, his hand covering his mouth while he considered Ben’s offer. “As much as I hate to admit it,” he then said. “I think you might be right. A distraction could be of benefit.”

“See?” Ben chuckled. “The muggleborn isn’t that dumb after all.”

“Oh brush off the arrogance, Hilt. We don’t have the flask yet.”

“Boys, please. Let’s discuss that another time and let me show you how to tend to the potion.”

You spent the following week planning for Saturday, when the Gaunts would leave their manor to attend the honouring of the Order of Merlin. You had also gotten some most needed hours of sleep. Not only that but just knowing that Camille and Ben were taking some weight off your shoulders made it much easier to concentrate on school and homework as well.

On Saturday evening, when you met at the fireplace connected to the Floo-Network, you went over your plan again.

“And don’t forget,” Tom said. “There are two house-elves. They’re loud, but not very bright. Much like Gryffindors.”

Camille stifled a laugh and looked over to Ben.

“Mate,” Ben replied. “Can you stop bullying me? I’m helping you out here.”

“Sorry,” Tom answered and bit the inside of his cheek. “I was just joking.”

“Oh yes. Riddle’s first joke in eighteen years and of course I take the fall.”

“Guys,” you scolded. “Get it together. Do you remember everything?”

“Yes,” Camille replied. “We are Theresa Carrow and Connor Prewett, your new and very pureblooded friends. We’ll be distracting the house-elves while Tom and you look for the flask. Once you got it, Tom will obliviate them and we'll come right back here.”

“Alright then,” you said as you watched Tom disappearing inside the fireplace. “See you there.”

The green flames consumed you whole once you let the Floo Powder fall and transported you swiftly to Gaunt manor, where you found yourself in a dark hallway, the reception hall, perhaps.

Tom was there already and offered his hand for you to step out of the fireplace. Camille came next, followed right by Ben. Before you could say anything, you heard two raspy, high-pitched voices coming your way.

“Who is it?” one voice asked. “Master? Is it you?”

“Show yourselves,” the other voice croaked and the elf snapped her fingers, making all the candles around the room light up. It still was dim, but you could see them a bit better now. Both of them were wrinkly and old, their faces scrunched up in suspicion. They didn’t look like the elves at your home at all but were hunching and worn out, completely different to Tummy. The male elf, Scrook, missed a large piece of his left ear and the female one, Hokey, walked with a severe limp.

“Master Riddle,” Scrook said once he had detected him and bowed tediously. “What do we owe the honour? Master Gaunt didn’t tell us you would visit today.”

“He didn’t?” Tom asked. “He must have forgotten. I told him that I’d come by today. Isn’t he here?”

“No Master,” Hokey answered. “They just left thirty minutes ago. Should we inform them for you?”

“Not necessary. I just wanted to treat my friends to dinner, you see. May I introduce you to Miss Carrow, Mister Prewett, and my fiancée.”

“Oh, networking, yes,” Scrook said and bowed once again. “Welcome to Gaunt manor.”

“Shall we prepare some food for you, Master?” Hokey asked.

“Certainly. Bring my guests to the sitting room, will you? I’ll join in a bit.”

“Of course, Master. Of course.”

The two elves escorted Camille and Ben to the back, bickering and wrangling like an old couple.

“Quick now,” Tom whispered to you and walked the opposite way, towards the basement. The whole mansion was cold and dark, mahogany bleakly spread across the floors and even on some walls. The marble staircase in the entrance hall might have looked impressive, but only added to the frigid aesthetic of the house.

“Allow me to ask, Mister Prewett,” Scrook said while Ben and Camille took a seat. “What magical family do you belong to? I’ve never heard your last name before.”

“I, uh. I’m related to the Black family,” Ben said.

“The noble and most ancient house of Black,” Hokey crowed. “What an honour.”

The corridor to Morfin’s chamber was long, you had walked there for at least a minute, and it got even colder with every step you took. When you finally reached the door at the far end, Tom halted and you took a deep breath. Tom turned the doorknob, but the entry remained closed.

“Locked,” he said. “Alohomora.”

The door stayed shut. Tom frowned. That would have been too easy.

“A different spell?” you asked. “Or is there a key somewhere?”

He shook his head. “No. It’s a charm.”

Merlin’s beard. What could it be? You thought about what Morfin could have done to lock the door. Something that only he or Marvolo would be able to use.

“What about Parseltongue?” you asked. “Does Morfin know it too?”

“Yes,” Tom answered and proceeded to speak unfamiliar words in the language. The doorknob clicked and sprung open by itself. “There we go.”

Meanwhile, in the sitting room, one of the elves got more and more interested in Ben and Camille’s backstory. “Can Scrook offer you a drink Miss? Sir?” he asked, while Hokey was busy in the kitchen. “Please, if you don’t mind, Mister Prewett. Would you tell me how exactly you’re related to Arcturus Black? Master Morfin is on good terms with him and I wonder why I’ve never heard of you before.”

When you entered Morfin’s chamber you were surprised by its size. It was almost as large as the entire Potions classroom in Hogwarts. Dead bats and shrunken heads were hanging down from the low ceiling here and there, along with strange feathers and strings that must have been some creature’s strands of hair. Despite its size, the room was crammed with bottles, finished potions and ingredients of all sorts. It wasn’t messy, not at all, but very chaotic for anyone unfamiliar.

“Morfin arranges everything by type,” Tom said. “Liquids from living creatures must be in this corner then.”

You both started opening the drawers and looked for anything that could possibly be Banshee tears.

Ben and Camille still got cross-examined by Scrook. “Interesting, interesting. Mister Black is your great-uncle, you say. Have you met him lately?“

In the chamber, you had searched for over ten minutes already, and gone through hundreds of little flasks. The number of different liquids in this room must have been in the thousands. Slughorn’s stock was absurdly small compared to this.

“Can’t we just use a summoning charm?” you sighed, going through your fifteenth drawer of vials filled with animal blood.

“No,” Tom said while closing a drawer. “The elves would notice it immediately.”

You shoved yet another drawer shut. “Bloody hell. What if it’s hidden?”

“That’s possible,” he mumbled, still scanning over all the flasks inside the cupboard.

“Wait,” you said. “What if we’re looking in the wrong place?”

“All liquids are here, as I said.”

“Yes, but I just remembered. Slughorn said this years ago. Banshee tears when stored, turn into tiny, pearly white crystals.”

Tom lifted his head to look at you.

“Where are the solids stored?”

He pointed at the opposite corner of the room. “Over there.”

At the same time, Hokey brought appetizers into the sitting room. “Enjoy,” she grumbled, her tone not fitting her kind words at all.

“Thank you,” Ben said after he and Camille had taken some canapés from the tray.

Both elves froze in shock, deeply offended. “Sir, you have not just thanked Hokey, have you?” Scrook asked.

“Of course not,” Camille stated, holding her head high. “What are you thinking? He thanked me for handing him a canapé.”

“I see,” Scrook said, eyes narrowed. “I’ll go and look for Master Riddle now. He’s taking awfully long, whatever he’s doing.”

“No!” Camille and Ben shouted which lead the elf to turn back around.

“No,” Camille repeated, her voice a lot calmer. “I’d like to know more about this house. Can you tell us how long you have worked for the Gaunts?”

In the chamber, you went through the flasks and glass containers on the other side of the room, where the solid ingredients were stored, while Tom still roamed the liquids. And finally, between fairy wings and unicorn liver, lay a tiny flask of Banshee tears.

“Got it,” you called. “There it is.”

Tom walked right over and checked out the flask too. “Good girl, very smart thinking.”

You lightly pushed him with your elbow for what he had just called you and smiled. “Let’s go.”

Scrook had gotten disturbingly close to Ben. “I’ll gladly tell you all about this house, Miss,” he said, not taking his eyes off the boy. “When Mister Prewett reveals his real name.”

“My real name?” Ben asked. “What do you mean?”

“You’re not a pureblood, are you?” the elf hissed. “I can smell it.”

“Excuse you, elf!” Camille bellowed. She was a much better actress than Ben. “You surely didn’t mean to insult Mister Prewett in that way. I must have misheard you. Now apologise.”

Before they knew it, Scrook had gripped Ben’s hand and pulled it towards his own face, sniffing at the inside of Ben’s underarm. “I knew it!” the elf yelled. “Mudblood! Hokey quick, alarm the Masters!”

Hokey came running in from the kitchen at the same time as Tom and you arrived in the sitting room. All three of you stood there in the archway and looked at Camille, Ben and Scrook in disbelief.

“Traitors!” Scrook screamed and accidentally knocked the tray of canapés off the table. “What have you done, Master Riddle? Bringing a mudblood into these halls.”

Ben had finally wrenched his arm away from the elf, holding on to it tightly while standing up straight, his chest heaving.

“The Masters must know,” Scrook whined and turned around. “We have to tell them immediately, Hokey.”

“Enough,” Camille said as she rose from her seat. “Stupefy!”

In an instant, Scrook fell to the floor without another word, completely unconscious. Hokey let out a yelp at the sight, turned around and ran toward the kitchen.

“Quick, before she apparates,” you shouted.

“Stupefy,” Tom called with his wand pointed at Hokey. “We don’t have much time. The charm wears off on elves much quicker than on humans.”

Ben and Tom dragged the two elves to the entrance hall and dropped them next to the fireplace, while Camille cleaned up the mess on the floor, where the canapés had landed.

When you had gathered by the fireplace again, Scrook already opened his eyes, blinking slowly.

“Leave,” Tom urged and pointed his wand at the elves. “Obliviate.”

Camille went first and disappeared into the flames, followed by Ben and you.

Back in Hogwarts, when Tom stepped out of the fireplace, you finally felt like you were able to breathe again.

“We did it,” you said and fell into his arms. “I can’t believe we really did it.”

Tom held you for a moment, his arms wrapped tightly around your waist, then moved his head and looked at Ben when he let go. “What happened?”

Ben still hadn’t calmed down. He rubbed his hands on his trousers repeatedly and shook his head. “I don’t know. They were shocked when I thanked them for serving us food. Then the elf said he could smell that I’m not a pureblood.”

“You thanked them?” Tom asked. “Elves don’t accept that.”

“How am I supposed to know that? I’ve never seen a house-elf before.”

“Forget about that now,” Camille interrupted. “Did you get them? The Banshee tears.”

“Yes,” you said and pulled them out of your pocket. “We got them.”

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misslilli · 3 years

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Felix Felicis

MSR. AU. PG-13. | tagging @today-in-fic | AO3

Chapter 14 - Last Chance For Spotting A Rainbow

If you know you know ;)

[ FM ]

The second Friday in school marks the end of the grace period for the first-grade parents where they can accompany their kids all the way to the classroom. From now on, we wait for them in front of the school with the other parents.

It also ends the grace period where I can “casually” bump into Miss Scully in front of her classroom and I’m a little disappointed, to say the least.

This morning though, I get lucky because when we enter the school, we run into her on the way from the teacher’s lounge to the classroom, a stack of books in her arms and a cup of coffee perched perilously on top of them.

Felix is ecstatic. “Good morning, Miss Scully!,” he yells from across the front hall and tugs me towards her.

She stops and waits for us, her coffee cup wobbling. “Good morning, Felix! Mr. Mulder!”

“Good morning! Do you need help with that?” I gesture towards her books but the shakes her head no.

“No, no, I’m fine, thanks. So Felix, you got any big plans for this weekend?” They’re walking in front of me and I’m proud of myself that I steal a glance at her ass only once. Okay and one at her legs. ‘Those heels, oh boy. Another pair to add to my inappropriate fantasies, in most of which she always wears heels. And nothing else.’

“Yeah, we’re going to the farmer’s market tomorrow! Have you ever been there Miss Scully?” Felix swigs his schoolbag along, his gaze never leaving her.

“Actually, me and my friends go there every Saturday, so maybe we’ll run into you guys there!” I somehow get the feeling that if Felix gets any say in this, we’ll be spending the whole day there until we run into her.

When we reach the classrooms, she finally lets me help her out. “Could you get my keys please? They’re in my back pocket. Just pull on the lanyard.” ‘Oh Lord. They’re in the freaking back pocket of her jeans. Of course they are. I just can’t seem to catch a break.’

Biting back a dirty joke – which I’m 100% positive she wouldn’t appreciate – I do as told and tug on the lanyard, unlocking her classroom door and opening the door for her. I briefly wonder if I should just put the keys back where they were, but the thought alone almost gives me a heart attack, so instead, I loop the lanyard with her keys around her neck and she smiles thankfully.

“Thanks. Have a good weekend, Mulder boys!”

After school, I don’t see her again because they’re, as Felix informs me, in the gym already. But I’m treated to a story about her in recess in the car.

“So I was sitting on the teacher’s bench again today and Miss Scully was talking to Miss Anderson and you know how they’re kind of weird and only ever use the first letters of their names? Miss Anderson always calls her “D” and I’ve been wondering forever what it stands for.” Yes I do know, I had to get him the book of first names from our library’s top shelf. Also, a kid’s definition of forever will never cease to amaze me. It’s been a few days, tops. I wait for him to continue.

“… and then, Miss Anderson said it, dad! She said: ‘Dana, I’m not sure this is gonna work!’ Now I finally know! …Dana.”

I nod, but on the inside, I sincerely hope that he hasn’t made the obvious connection, that her name is almost eerily similar to his mother’s first name. Just one letter.

---------

[ DS ]

That night, we order Chinese takeout, none of us particularly interested in cooking and we gather around the kitchen table. Sarah passes out the chopsticks while Holly opens a bottle of Shiraz, our classes clinking together for a toast. “Two weeks down! So girls, how was your week? Any juicy stories?,” Sarah asks, looking around at us expectantly.

“Well… I could tell you about that really awful date I had this week with Mark the banker, on which he made a move 10 minutes into the conversation buuuut I get the feeling someone else might have more interesting stories.” Holly points her chopsticks at me and grins, waggling her eyebrows. My own chopsticks pause halfway to my mouth.

“Me? Why?” I ask innocently, stuffing a piece of spring roll into my mouth.

“Very funny! You wanna tell me why I saw a very handsome dad leave your classroom all smiley faced on Tuesday?” ‘Busted.’

“What?! Mr. Mulder? How did I miss this?” Sarah looks at the both of us incredulously.

“Because your classroom isn’t across from D’s and you didn’t happen to look out through the window to see Dopey McSmileypants leave! So D, spill it, and don’t leave anything out!” I shrug nonchalantly.

“I asked a mom to help with read-alouds but her kid was sick, so since Mr. Mulder happened to stand there, I asked him if he could do it. Of course, the kids were all over him with questions, who are you, what are you doing here, you know how curious they are. He was a big hit with them, though, they absolutely loved him.” ‘They’re not the only ones though’

“Bet they weren’t the only ones who loved him, huh?” Damn Sarah for reading my mind! I laugh uncomfortably, shifting in my seat, but I nod. It was really nice to have him in my classroom. To cover for the fact that I’m not telling them the whole story, I help myself to some Kung-Pao Chicken. Sarah catches on anyway, of course she does.

“Wow, that’s mighty nice of him, to take an hour out of his workday to help you out! But I get the feeling that there’s more to the story, what aren’t you telling us, D?”

“Well… after he left, the kids had even more questions, they practically fell over each other, why are your cheeks so red Miss Scully, is he my boyfriend, or is he my husband? And… I caught myself thinking ‘Ya, I wish!’ …” I trail off, a little embarrassed at my admission.

“Man this is some serious Romeo and Juliet shit that’s going on here, D. So we’ve established that you like him, we suspect that he likes you too, judging by the glazed over look on his face when you walk by and he thinks no-one is watching. What’s the hold-up then?”

“Please don’t tell me we’re still hung up on the people talk – good reputation bs!” If I had hoped that the conversation would not take this turn, Holly quickly extinguishes it.

“I don’t know, guys… it’s not complete bs though, you know how I hate when people gossip about me behind my back, and dating the new guy in town puts me in a spotlight that I’m not particularly comfortable being in. I guess what’s worse however is that I’m scared. Like, terrified, of putting my heart out there again after that 2 year on-again-off-again shitshow with Steve last year.”

“That narcissistic asshole…,” Holly mutters under her breath and the others nod, remembering when I had finally hit emotional rock-bottom last year, after I realized that he’d gaslighted me over and over again, resulting in me having a mental breakdown curled up on the cold bathroom floor.

“My anxiety has been badever since, it’s getting better with therapy, but still… I just know I’ll screw it up. I’m damaged goods.” Alex, who hasn’t said anything yet, listening intently, finally speaks up.

“That’s not true, D. You’re getting help and you know we’re always there for you.” – “Yeah, we’ll kick anybody’s ass who dares to hurt you!” – “Don’t interrupt me, S. If he’d ask you out on a date, do you think you’ll say yes?” I consider this for a moment.

“I’m not sure. I don’t really know anything about him except that he seems to be a great dad and that he believes in aliens…” Holly bursts out laughing at the last part.

“What? Aliens?” I tell them the story that took place with the PTA parents in front of the school and the others join Holly’s laughter and I’m grateful that the conversation has taken a lighter turn.

“That’s too funny... You know, he could really learn a thing or two from his son, he asked us to his and his dad’s birthday party today at recess! It was so sweet, guys, I can’t even… We’re all invited, by the way – I think it’s going to be quite the event!” Felix had come up to Sarah and me today, holding out an official invitation and one that he had made himself, just for us.

“Yay, a party, I love me a good party! So, are we going to go?” Holly looks at us questioningly. Sarah only scoffs, rolling her eyes.

“Are you kidding? Of course we’re going to go!”

#xf #the x files #xf fanfic #msr #felix felicis

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etjwrites · 3 years

Text

OC Backstory - Emotion Edition | Week 5: Free/Courage

Week 0: Introduction || Week 1: Fear || Week 2: Joy || Week 3: Disgust || Week 4: Sadness || Week 5: Anger ||

Is it over already? This was so much fun! I really enjoyed participating and reading everyone's pieces. Thanks to our wonderful hosts @cirianne and @kosmosian-quills for putting this on! These prompts filled my mind with layers upon LAYERS of backstory, and really helped me flesh out Brom as a character. Afallon is so much better because of it!

You probably stumbled upon something between the last prompts, that moved you. An idea that didn’t really match the prompt. A backstory character that deserved exploring. A question that stayed unanswered. For this week, I encourage you to look for these questions and explore them, write on them, and tell me about it!

In keeping with the theme of this event, I chose yet another emotion, the story behind which I'm excited to share with y'all! Brom is about 14 here. (I started writing this and it wouldn't stop. Help.) @yourocsbackstory

“These paths look treacherous,” Brom said, glancing nervously back at the way they'd come. He and Prentice had been traversing the numerous twists and turns of Hyphantria's revered caverns for quite a while, looking for all the secret entrances. Each time they explored the maze-like tunnels, they went a little farther, a little deeper.

Prentice waved a hand dismissively. “I've a sure foot.” He tapped the top of his boots with his walking staff. “Furthermore, how often have we quested here? These caves are as familiar as mine own hands.”

“We left familiar behind two chambers ago,” Brom reminded his friend. “I'm actively adding to our map as we progress.”

“If on the map, 'tis familiar,” Prentice rejoined. “No matter how new the path may be.” He patted the crystal-studded wall to his left. “In fact, I almost feel at home.”

“The whispering,” Brom said, unease, twisting in his chest. “It's stopped.”

Prentice quirked his head, listening. “Why so it has,” he said, brows knitting together before sheer panic stamped itself onto his features. “Brom, run!” He turned and dashed back through the tunnel, Brom following, the both of them slipping and sliding and cutting themselves against the sharp-edged walls.

Beneath their feet, the earth started to rumble, and dread seized Brom's heart. Would they die down here in the bowels of Hyphantria, ground into dust by the ceiling collapsing upon them? He pushed faster, past Prentice, towards the sparkling glimmer that marked one of the other large chambers whose tunnels would lead them back to the surface.

A sharp cry made him whip around and jerk to a stop. Prentice had fallen, struggling to regain his feet amidst the wobbling, unstable ground. A stalactite shook loose and crashed to the ground just where his head would have been, had he not managed to roll away in time.

Brom staggered towards him, hand outstretched, when the earth shook mightily.

Prentice flung himself at Brom.

Too late.

With a great, groaning sigh, the floor gave way, and Prentice tumbled deep into the newly formed crevasse.

“Prentice!” Brom screamed, dropping to his hands and knees, swaying with the sudden shuddering of cavern. He called his name again, peering desperately into the dark. But while the softly glowing crystal shards that lined the Shalott caves could well enough light the paths and tunnels they'd been exploring, their gentle luminescence was unable to penetrate the deep, yawning blackness that fell away in front of him.

He called again and again, but there was no answer. Either his friend had fallen so far he could not hear him, or he been knocked insensible upon landing. Neither scenario was desirable, and Brom squeezed his abruptly burning eyes shut, refusing to consider the possibility that Prentice might be gone.

No. He had to be alive. Had to be alright.

Ominous rumbles filled the sharp-toothed cavern, more stalactites falling during a particularly vicious quake.

The wisest thing to do would be to run, to flee to the next chamber and worm his way through one of the escape tunnels until he could see the sky once more.

But Brom couldn't leave Prentice here to die. He would be the worst kind of coward if he did that. His first and only friend in all of Hyphantria, who risked all manner of danger to sneak him across the boarder on occasions such as these, and showed him many of the wonders his mother's country had to offer. Brom would save him. Or die trying.

“Give me strength,” he prayed. He thrust trembling hands into his pack, withdrawing his climbing rope. He kept up the silent prayers. He felt so utterly alone, the jarring earthquake shaking and horribly distorting the natural light of the caves so he could barely walk. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” he breathed, reciting the verses over and over even as his hands shook so much he could barely fasten the clips in place.

Brom tugged hard on the rope once he had tied it off, looping it around for added strength. He looped his climbing pick around his hands, aware he could lose a limb if it snagged in the wrong place, at the wrong time, yet horribly afraid to lose his means of retreat. With one of the picks he struck the vibrating wall, breaking off some crystals, which he tied about his arms.

“Prentice!” he called once more, and again received no answer. “Please be alive,” Brom prayed. “I need a miracle right now.”

Then he turned around, and—clinging to the ropes—lowered himself into the black abyss.

Brom descended for long minutes, the crystals lashed about him providing the faintest light. He steadily climbed deeper, the glow from the ceiling above diminishing until it felt like a distant memory.

This far down it was cold. The quake continued to rage, and Brom grew ever aware of a powerful thirst that made dizzy. But he dared not let go of the rope, not even to slake his needs.

His feet touched ground. He'd reached a small ledge.

Brom relaxed for half a moment, and then a terrible jolt flung him off its crumbling edge. He hit the other side of the crevasse hard, the breath knocking out of him and leaving him gasping as the rope tied around his middle yanked him to a stop. He hung there, dangling in the air, fingers barely able to brush either side.

Thankfully his picks had stayed attached, so he struck out with them, painfully aware that he'd run out of rope, and yet hadn't found Prentice. Brom gulped. He would have to climb up again and unloop the rope.

Ascending seemed to take twice as long, and Brom's arms were shaking when he reached the top. Everything was cast in an eerie blue and white glow, and Brom could feel that time was running out. If he didn't find Prentice soon, the falling stalactites might well block their path home.

Once he had the rope unfurled to its full length, Brom ventured once more into the place that had swallowed his friend. He passed the spot where he'd had to stop before and kept going, deeper, and deeper, the chill of the abyss freezing him to his bones.

And there!

Prentice's walking stick was wedged into a narrow part of the crevasse, two bloodied hands clinging to it.

Brom started crying.

One of Prentice's hands slipped, and he swore at Brom. “I didn't hold on this long for you to lose heart at the finish!” His voice was horse, likely from screaming. The shock had hit each of them in different ways it seemed.

Ignoring his friend's harsh words, words that were driven by the terror in Prentice's eyes, Brom rappelled down closer. He gathered up the slack in the rope and looped it around Prentice's waist, securing it using a knot his father had once taught him.

“You can let go,” he said, testing the rope to make sure it still held fast.

“I confess, I cannot,” Prentice said, shaking his head minutely. His clothes were torn to shreds, like he'd scraped against the walls the whole way down until his stick had caught, and he had cuts and freshly-formed bruises adorning his entire body. One of his eyes was swollen shut, a jagged cut bisecting it that stretched from his cheek to his temple.

“One hand at a time,” Brom said, getting his hand under Prentice's and shifting it from the stick to his shoulder. He did the same with the other, and the next instant Prentice was clinging to him, limpet-tight.

A massive shudder rocked the cave at that moment, and the gap widened, Prentice's stick dislodging and spinning away into the darkness.

If I had been but a moment later, Brom thought, unable to repress the full-body shiver that twitched through him. He slid one of his picks into Prentice's hand, slipping the loop over his wrist twice.

“You must help me climb, I have not the the strength to lift us both.”

“Aye, 'tis time that I cease clutching you like a babe,” Prentice said, the words meant to be joking. The fine tremour in his voice spoiled the effect.

They struck out together, Prentice and Brom, inching their way up until they reached the cavern floor. Mercifully, the distressing bucking had stopped, and they lay on the rubble-strewn ground until they caught their breath.

“Thank Heaven,” Brom uttered aloud, and Prentice nodded solemnly along.

“You saved my life, Brom,” he said.

They rose to their feet and began the arduous, limping walk back to the escape tunnels.

“I owe you a great debt. I should never have placed you in this position. I . . . I almost killed you. I would not have begrudged you had you fled and left me behind.”

“I wanted to,” Brom admitted, shame flushing his skin. “At first. I was so afraid.”

“But you did not.” Prentice paused for a moment and clapped Brom on the shoulder before they resumed their trek. “I really thought I would die. I screamed and screamed, but you didn't answer. Or I couldn't hear a response amidst the earth's pain. The longer I held on, the more I began to wonder if I were mad for simply not accepting my fate. I had myself near about convinced that I should just let go.”

“Then I saw you, descending into the pit like the Archangel Michael himself. You could have died rescuing me. You looked as terrified as I felt. But still you threw yourself into the unknown. For me. In the greater world, we are yet seen as boys, but Brom—I tell you truly—you are the bravest man I've ever known.”

They turned a corner, and the bright sun greeted them.

Additional thanks to everybody who has read and commented on my work for this event. Y'all rock!

Tag Crew: @adie-dee @writtendevastation @catharticallysarcastic @francestroublr @crystallized-ink

#it is here; it is very late. But it is done!#writeblr #am writing #yourocsbackstory #emotion edition #brom #afallon #etjwrites

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crystalstar8 · 3 years

Text

Knights of the Night (Epilogue)

Epilogue

Ch 1, ch 2, ch 3, ch 4, ch 5, ch 6, ch 7, ch 8, ch 9, ch 10, ch 11, ch 12, ch 13, ch 14, ch 15, ch 16, ch 17, ch 18, ch 19, ch 20, ch 21, ch 22, ch 23, epilogue

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29139240/chapters/71536491

pairing: Jungkook x oc

genre: vampire au, college au, twilight, romance

word count: 1,587

warnings: blood (obviously), kidnapping, child kidnapping, needles, France, human trafficking

notes: vampires, vampire au, college, college au, so many twilight references, blood, needles, kidnapping, children, homelessness, dance, ballet, flashbacks, romance, slow burn, probably no smut, idk yet tho, France, French things, attempted genocide, inaccurate French history, bisexual main character, @strawberriewithchocolate-blog @mozy-j @daechwitad-2 @zobadak @fallenstar-7

summary: Catalina starts college in a small town all the way across the country. She doesn’t know anyone and isn’t exactly looking for friends. She just wants to focus on dance. But when she meets fellow dance major, Jimin, and adventurous, fellow freshman, Jungkook, Catalina ends up discovering a whole new side to the small college town; one that is dangerous but oh so enticing...

Catalina took one last glance around her room before heading downstairs. She heard Jimin’s voice, which put a wide smile on her face. Him and Taehyung were back on time, which meant they’d be able to come with everyone that afternoon.

She ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time, before landing in the foyer. Taehyung and Jimin were taking their shoes off and setting their bags down, chatting with Hoseok and Namjoon. Catalina threw her arms around Jimin and asked him, “How was your trip?”

He pulled away and smiled wide, his eyes disappearing. “It was incredible. I’ll tell you all about it later.”

“I can’t wait,” Catalina said, smiling just as wide.

“We were gonna go to the beach later,” said Hoseok. “Do you want to go with us?”

“Sure! I think we’ll mostly just relax, though,” said Taehyung.

“Here, I’ll help you unpack so you can get yourselves settled before we go,” Hoseok said, following them back out the car. Catalina left the foyer and went into the kitchen. The kitchen was beautiful, so different from when she first came into this house. They had it remodeled, actually, they had a lot of the house remodeled. Everything was a bit more modern, but their antiques were mostly still around. Even Yoongi redid his bedroom, saying he didn’t want to sleep in a rat’s nest anymore. He made an incredible amount of money on the antiques in that room, the museums practically begging him to part with them.

The light was on in the kitchen when Catalina entered, which meant Jungkook was in there. Sure enough, he was standing in front of the fridge, staring into its contents with bleary eyes. His hair was a floof on top of his head and his pajamas were rumpled. Catalina came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. She laid her head on his back and listened to the steady rhythm of his heart, something she’s become so very familiar with.

“What will you have for breakfast?” she asked. He grunted in response, shifting some containers around on the shelf. He finally chose a container of leftovers and cracked the lid to sniff it. He sniffed it three times before deciding it was edible and dumping it on a plate. While it was heating up, he turned and opened his arms, letting Catalina settle into him.

“Are you gonna surf today?” he asked.

“You asked me that yesterday,” Catalina said with a giggle.

“And you said no yesterday!” he said. She could feel his laughter in his chest where her head was resting.

“Maybe,” she said. “I heard the teaching process is very hands on.”

He chuckled and said, “Where did you hear that?”

“Hm, I don’t remember,” she said. The microwave beeped and Jungkook let Catalina go so he could grab his food. She pulled a blood bag out of the fridge and sat down with him at the dining table, sipping at her drink while he ate.

“What are you guys doing up so early?”

Yoongi wandered into the kitchen with messy hair and tired eyes.

“It’s beach day!” Jungkook said, much more awake now that he was eating. “You’re coming, right?”

“No.”

“Yoongi, you don’t have to swim or surf or anything,” said Catalina. “You can just sleep on the beach. Or drink wine on the beach. You need the fresh air, you’ve been at your piano for days. Plus, I think everyone would really like to spend some time with you.”

“When are you going?” he asked.

“We’re heading out around eleven,” said Catalina.

“Oh. I’ll think about it,” Yoongi said. “Are Taehyung and Jimin back yet?”

“Yes, they just walked in a little while ago,” said Catalina.

“Good,” he said. “I’m glad their flight wasn’t delayed.”

With that, he left the room.

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

During the drive to the beach, Catalina made sure to sit in the back of the Jeep with Jimin.

“So, tell me about the trip,” she said, a giddy smile on her face.

“Ah, it was perfect!” said Jimin. “I’ve never been to Arizona before so I didn’t really know what to expect about the weather or anything. It really is very dry there. The heat is like heat from an oven. And the places we saw were so beautiful. We camped in the Grand Canyon and… it was insane. The Grand Canyon is insane. Everything was so incredible. And at night, you could see the stars perfectly. When we camped in Death Valley, there was absolutely no light pollution for miles so the sky was amazing. We saw the Milky Way.”

“Oh wow,” Catalina sighed.

“You and Jungkook should go next summer,” said Jimin. “You’d love it.”

“Yeah, I would do that,” said Catalina. “That sounds like a lot of fun. We need to make up for our last trip.”

They sat in silence for a while before Jimin said, “I can’t believe we’re going to France in two weeks.”

“I know!” said Catalina. “I can’t believe it! This is something I’ve been waiting for my entire life and I’ll finally be able to do it!”

“Is your solo ready?” Jimin asked.

“I mean, as ready as it’ll ever be,” said Catalina. “You know how it is.”

Her and Jimin had both taken the winter semester off to recover from their transformations and to get used to their new bodies. Catalina used that time to choreograph a solo worthy of an audition in France. By now, the beginning of summer, she had perfected it as much as she could.

“I’m going to the studio to practice it tomorrow,” said Catalina. “You should come with me. You can help, or just watch. You haven’t seen it finished yet.”

“What time? I’m babysitting tomorrow,” said Jimin.

“Oh right! You’re doing that every Tuesday now, aren’t you?” said Catalina.

Jimin nodded and said, “Yep, Caleb’s sister has dance on Tuesdays, so I’ll just be there for a few hours.”

“Are you still gonna do that when classes start? You’re signing up for classes in the fall, right?” she asked.

“Yeah, I don’t want to fall behind any more than I am,” said Jimin.

“Me too,” said Catalina. Then she smiled and grabbed Hoseok’s shoulder over the driver’s seat. “And you’re starting classes with us too, aren’t you?”

He laughed and said, “I sure am!”

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

The weather was perfect, and according to Jungkook, the water was ideal for beginner’s surfing. They got set up on a relatively empty patch of the beach. The family closest to them had a few kids, who were building a sandcastle near the water. It was Monday, so thankfully there weren’t too many other people there. Yoongi laid out a beach blanket and immediately laid down, covering his face with his sun hat. He was almost completely covered, with long sleeves and long pants. Catalina figured he was trying to protect his pasty white skin.

Jimmy K settled down beside Yoongi with a thick book. Catalina had assumed he would be surfing with them that day; he seemed like the type to surf. Jimin and Taehyung lathered themselves in sunscreen and took their spots near the cooler, relaxing and watching the fun just like they promised. After shedding her shorts and tank top to reveal her new white bikini, Catalina lathered herself in sunscreen, since she could already feel herself burning. Then she grabbed her board and met the others down by the water.

At some point, the family next to them left and they were left to themselves on their private stretch of beach.

Catalina, Namjoon, and Hoseok kept their eyes on Jungkook and Jin, who were teaching them the basics of how to surf. They all had boards, rented ones for the newbies, and Catalina was excited to get out on the water. With every glance at the ocean behind her, she felt nervousness twist in her stomach. She had to keep reminding herself that she wouldn’t drown and she wouldn’t get hurt. Her body was stronger than it used to be, which was something she still hadn’t completely gotten used to.

They were standing on their boards, Jin showing them how to position their feet. Jungkook went to each of them, giving them pointers or fixing their positions. He stepped onto Catalina’s board behind her and nudged her right foot forward a bit, hands on her bare waist.

“Just keep your knees bent and your legs spread a bit more,” he said. His bare chest was pressed up against her back.

“…And if you guys fall off, just let the current roll you until it’s settled, then come up,” Jin was saying. “But you guys won’t drown anyway, so no harm.”

“Right, no harm,” Jungkook said, his hand sliding down to her butt.

She giggled and turned around to face him.

“Did Hoseok get this treatment when you helped him?” she asked with a wide smile on her face.

“He would probably like that,” Jungkook said with a laugh. “But this is only reserved for my favorite students.”

“Ooh, so Namjoon got this too,” Catalina said, winding her arms over his bare shoulders. He threw his head back and laughed. This was her favorite song. The sounds of his laughter, the waves hitting the beach, The seagulls calling overhead, his heart beating in his chest.

Catalina leaned up to press her lips against his, the board wobbling in the sand beneath their feet.

She never wanted this song to end.

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rawritzrobin · 4 years

Text

Angel Amongst Bats Chapter 17

Title: Angel Amongst Bats

Pairing: Jason Todd x Stella Covington (My OC)

Warnings: Cursing, past major character death, a little bit angsty, fluff.

Summary: Stella and Jason have been reunited. The family is very interested in their new guests.

A/N: Wanna be on my tag list? DM me and let me know (:

Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13

Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16

Chapter 17: Reunion

Jason and Stella held each other in the garden for a while. Renegade got up off the floor and stared at the couple in front of him. He turned away when they went in for another kiss. A familiar pang of jealousy filled his body.

The family finally got to the garden and smiled at the scene in front of them. Nightwing looked so relieved and let out a breath he felt like he was holding in for weeks. No one said anything.

Stella pulled away from Jason’s embrace and placed both her hands on his cheek. “I missed you.” She said quietly.

“I missed you too doll.” He said smiling through his tears.

After a few moments, Alfred cleared his throat. “Might we take this inside? It’s starting to get a little chilly out here.”

They all turned to face Alfred and nodded.

Jason scoops Stella into his arms and carries her inside bridal style. She wrapped her uninjured arms around his neck and buried her face in his hair, taking in his scent. She pressed a line of kisses down his jaw. Jason chuckled, and leaned into it.

Alfred opened the door to the manor and they all stepped inside.

Jason carefully sat down on the couch with Stella still in his arms. He pulled away for one second to examine her injuries. Stella could see the cogs turning in his brain and placed a hand on his cheek.

“I’m fine Jay. Honest.”

Jason relaxes into her touch, and for a moment, pushes his worries aside.

Nightwing sat next to him, his mask was off now. A sense of relief washed over his eyes.

“Hey Dickie.” Stella says with a grin.

“Missed you baby bird.” She leans over and gives him a small hug. “You have no idea how hard it has been dealing with him without you.” Stella giggles and Jason rolls his eyes.

The rest of the family just stared at the three of them.

Dick was admiring himself, as usual. “I look good in my hero gear.” He announced loudly. Barbara smacked him in the back of the head and he laughed. “What it’s true. He said as he took a seat next to his twin. “Hi I’m Dick. But you know that already.” He said to Nightwing, extending his hand out.

Nightwing smirked at him and shook his hand. “Hi, let’s call me Nightwing. It’s going to get a little confusing if we start calling me Dick too.”

Dick shrugged. “Makes sense.”

Renegade took a seat across from his doppelgänger. He studied him. The way he was whispering to Stella. The private smiles they shared with each other. The way he held her like she was the only thing that mattered to him. He felt a familiar sense of longing in the pit of his stomach. His heart ached looking at the two of them.

“Will you three be staying for dinner?” Alfred asks.

Nightwing and Jason exchange glances. Jason didn’t care what they did. Now that Stella was safe in his arms, he was up for anything.

“Sure. Why not?”

———————

Dinner was, interesting to say the least.

Dick and Nightwing spent the entire time talking non stop to each other. Well more like spent the whole time complimenting each other. Barbara watched in amusement as she did not know how in the world he was able to talk this much. They were basically the entertainment for everyone that night.

Tim was very interested in the device they used to get here. He asked Nightwing if he could examine it and he obliged, as long as he did not break it that is. Tim was ecstatic. He ate his dinner with one hand while examining the device with his other.

Damian frowned at his food the entire time. He knew at this point Stella was leaving. He actually started to enjoy her company. He was sad to see her go. He said almost nothing the entire night.

Jason and Stella never left each others side. Alfred managed to push both of their chairs together so they could continue to be close to one another. Jason had his arms around the back of her waist, careful not to aggravate her ribs. Stella had her legs draped around his and had her hand on his lap as they fed each other pieces of bread and shared soft kisses.

Bruce admired the scene in front of him. This was the first time in years that the whole family was actually together and not fighting. He watched Alfred hustle around, trying to serve each and every member of the family. Damian was glaring at his food like always, and Tim was fascinated by the object in front of him. He glanced over at Renegade. He noticed the young man was still watching the couple in front of him with wanting eyes.

He would have to finally talk to him after their visitors were gone.

Dinner was peaceful. So when Alfred asked if they wanted to stay the night, Nightwing, Jason, and Stella agreed.

Dick and Nightwing went down to the Batcave. They wanted to fight each other to see who really was the superior Nightwing. Barbara, Damian, Bruce, and Tim followed them.

Jason took Stella upstairs to her room. It was a very eventful day, but Stella was still recovering from her injuries and he knew she needed to rest. They spent a few hours talking to each other while laying on the bed. Jason had his arms wrapped around her the entire time.

Stella told him everything that happened to her in this world. From waking up in a dark alley dressed in her PJs, to being kidnapped and nearly beaten to death by Joker’s son. She made sure to leave out the parts about her sneaking out into Gotham alone. She didn’t want Jason to have an aneurism. Jason smiled down at her.

“How did you know I was here?” She finally asked.

“Well, Zatanna helped us the most. She was able to track down your location using some type of aura scanner or something. Once she was able to pinpoint your location, I used the tracker in your necklace to track you here.”

Stella looked down at her necklace. She wore it so often she forgot she even had it. It was just a simple gold necklace with the letters JT at the end. She held the necklace in her hand.

“Huh, so the tracker wasn’t actually a stupid idea like I thought.” She says with a laugh.

“Told you it would come in handy.” He chuckles.

Stella looks at him and places her right hand on his cheek. Jason closes his eyes and gently presses a kiss onto her hand.

“Just making sure you’re real and not a hallucination.”

“I’m real princess. I promise.”

They shift positions so that Stella is laying on her uninjured side. She hugs him tight, taking over as the big spoon. She runs her hands through his hair with her uninjured arm. He hums and melts into her touch.

“So tell me, how did you keep this a secret from my dad?” She asked with a smirk.

“Lets just say we had a little help from Miss Martian…” He went on to tell her the many ways they covered up her disappearance. They talked until Stella started to get sleepy. Jason handed her the pain pills Alfred left by her bedside, and she fell asleep peacefully in his arms.

Jason took in the room he was in. It was an exact replica of his old room back at the manor. He chuckled at the idea that Stella stayed in his childhood bedroom while she was here. He admires the photographs on top of the dresser. He pauses at the photo of him as Robin, standing with Batman.

Just then, he realized that he had left his mask and helmet downstairs. He didn’t feel comfortable leaving his stuff out in the open like that. Especially since the helmet was pretty much a walking bomb to anyone that wasn’t him. He carefully wiggled out from Stella’s grasp, careful not to wake her. Thankfully, she stayed asleep, the pills working their magic.

Jason tip toed out of the bedroom and carefully closed the door behind him. He made his way into the foyer where he found his hood and mask sitting on the table he left them on. He picked up his things and started to head up the stairs, when he noticed someone was watching him from the living room. Jason turned to face his doppelgänger.

Renegade got up from his seat on the couch and made his way towards Jason. He stood in front of him and looked him up and down. It was like looking in the mirror, except it wasn’t.

The white stripe was a given. Something he remembered Stella talking about. A side effect of his dip in the Lazarus Pit. Jason had many scars on his face, and he was sure he had many more under his armor. And his eyes. They were harder, like he had seen a lot of things. They were the eyes of a man who have clearly been through a lot. He looked at the red bat on his chest.

“So, Red Hood?”

Jason smirked. “Yeah. Kinda just fit.”

“The clown still alive in your universe?”

“Yeah.” Jason answers, in a dark tone.

Renegade frowns, but didn’t say anything more.

“Hey, uh. I just wanted to thank you. For you know. Taking care of her.” Jason said looking away from his twin. He was never too good at these things.

Renegade shrugs. “You should thank the family. I was barely here most of the time.”

“Stella told me everything. To be honest, I probably would have done the same thing. God knows how many things I destroyed in this place while she was gone. I can’t imagine what I would do if I lost her.”

Renegade stayed silent, not knowing how to respond to that statement. “Take care of her.” He says as he turns to return to the living room.

“Always.” Jason replies. He turns and jogs up the stairs with his helmet and mask in hand.

Renegade watches him ascend the stairs. Once he heard the door softly close, he pulled out a cigarette, and made his way out the front door.

Jason enters the room as quietly as possible. Stella turns to look at him as he closes the door behind him. She smiles up at him.

“Sorry doll. Didn’t mean to wake you.” He said as he stripped off his armor and boots. He grabs the spare PJs Alfred left in the room and slips them on. Stella watches him with tired eyes as he gets under the covers and holds her tight against his chest.

“I love you.” She mumbled into his chest, snuggling as close as possible.

Jason kisses her on the head, before whispering back. “I love you too princess.”

#Jason Todd #Jason Todd x OC #jason todd/original female character #Original Female Character #Stella Covingron #DCU #DC #Red Hood #Alternate Universe #Alfred Pennyworth #Bruce Wayne #Time Drake #Damian Wayne #Dick Grayson #AU #Batman #iwritethings #fanfiction

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purplesurveys · 3 years

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1127

1. What is one thing you will never do again? Watch The Hours. Film itself is great, but is way too triggering.

2. Would you rather be twice as smart or twice as happy? I’d take happiness easily. It’s not bad for the most part to make mistakes and I’d rather be too clumsy than be altogether miserable.

3. What happened the last time you cried? It was the day of what would’ve been our anniversary and at that moment I was alone in my car at a parking lot (waiting for the office to open) on a gloomy day. I just had to cry and let my feelings out for like 5 minutes to accept everything but I was immediately fine afterwards, haha. Grief can be funny.

4. What happened the time in your life when you were the most nervous to do something? My first job interview. It was my first adult thing ever. They never got back to me - very professional of them - but I was still grateful for the experience nonetheless.

5. What would your parents be surprised to learn about you? That I was in a whole ass relationship for technically 6 1/2 years. They probably have an inkling by now, but only about me being in a relationship. I’m sure they would be very surprised if they ever found out how long it had actually gone for.

6. What’s your worst habit? I pick at my toenails when I’m nervous or stressed. I tend to do this when I’m doing a work task that I particularly dread, and sometimes I’ll end up being fixated on the habit for like 10 minutes straight and not get anything done.

7. What superpower would you have for one day? Time travel, just to take quick trips to multiple decades and see how life was like during those times.

8. What fictional character do you have the biggest crush on? Matty from 13 Going on 30 would be one of them. Albert Finney’s character in Two for the Road is also charming as fuck.

9. Where would you live if you could live anywhere in the world? If money wasn’t an issue, probably somewhere cozy in like Switzerland or Canada.

10. What is your most bizarre pet peeve? Not necessarily a pet peeve but I get extremely uncomfortable when someone hands me a gift then they insult the gift while in front of me, saying it’s not a great gift or that I probably don’t need it, etc. Filipinos also have this habit of saying something along the lines of, “You earn way more than me so you’d probably think this gift sucks” like how do you want me to react :(((((( I love receiving gifts and the idea of being thought about already means a lot to me, so it just makes me wince a little bit when I hear statements like the above.

11. Who knows you the best? Gabie, probably. I’ve changed a lot since then, though.

12. What after school activities did you do in high school? Clubs were mandatory extracurricular activities in my high school; in my time, I joined the table tennis and yearbook clubs.

13. What “most likely to” superlative would you be most honored to receive? Idk, we didn’t have those in school. I probably would have been honored to get a journalism-themed one though; something like Most Likely To Write for NYT or Most Likely to Win a Pulitzer or something like that. Obviously that’s changed now and I’ve long let go of journalism as a passion.

14. What’s the last book you really loved? I haven’t read in a long, long while.

15. What was the greatest television show of all time? I don’t watch a lot of TV so I’m not the most credible decision-making body for this lol, but out of all the shows I’ve watched the best one would easily be Breaking Bad.

16. What’s been your favorite age so far? 16. Life was insanely easygoing back then and everything fell into place for me at the time.

17. If you could go back in time, what is one piece of advice you would give your younger self? Know when it’s enough. Be kind to yourself.

18. What one thing would you be most disappointed if you never got to experience it? Have kids.

19. Apologize or ask permission? I don’t understand the relationship between the two.

20. Unlimited love or money? I would love to never have to worry about finances ever again.

21. If you knew you would die in one week, what would you do? Take a week-long leave for work, spend all my money, bond with my dogs, throw a party for my closest friends, and honestly, make my peace with her.

22. What’s your most listened to song? Spotify doesn’t show that feature, but I bet it’s from Paramore or Hayley anyway. It would be impossible to know my most-listened to song of all time, like if we took into account my Spotify, iTunes, etc.

23. Beach vacation or European vacation? I need a beach vacation badly, but a European vacation would be a new and different experience. I’d take the latter.

24. If you could have been a child prodigy what would you have wanted to be skilled at? Playing the piano.

25. What’s the first thing you would do if you won the lottery? Depends on how much I won lmao. I’d probably retire this early if the money was big enough since I’m pretty stingy anyway. But generally, I would like to pay off whatever bills my parents are currently paying for, get back the car that we had to sell because of the pandemic, and maybe go for a solo vacation or five heheh.

26. What celebrity would you trade lives with? Kylie Jenner, for a day. Just so I can briefly have a taste of how being that rich is like.

27. If you were a performing artist, what would you title your first album? Nope.

28. What story do your friends still give you crap about? Staying with Gab despite the red flags that glared for four whole years is one of them. Angela will also never let go of that one time I tried some kind of fruit juice in high school and I described it as ‘packs a punch.’ It’s understood as a super Westernized idiom where I live and literally no one uses it in a casual sentence, so it was a hit with her and now we use ‘packs a punch’ whenever we want to describe something awesome or surprising.

29. If earth could only have one condiment for the rest of time, what would you pick to keep around? Mayonnaise and I will die on this mayonnaise-coated hill.

30. What is the ideal number of people to have over on a Friday night? Ideally? At this point? Like 20. I would love for that to be the case on the first Friday we can consider the Philippines COVID-free.

31. What was the worst age you’ve been so far? Sorry for yet another incoming Paramore reference but they literally have a lyric that goes, “22 is like, the worst idea that I have ever had.” Before turning 22 I used to think it was a weird line, like how could 22 possibly be unenjoyable? Now I’m 22 in a pandemic going through a rough breakup and I can’t even see my friends nor work in my first workplace ever.

32. What is your weirdest dealbreaker? If they wanted only cats as pets. I can deal with a dog and a cat, I guess; but cats were never fond of me so I feel like I’d struggle with this situation lol.

33. What fictional character reminds you most of yourself? Mr. Peanutbutterrrrrrr. Has a lot of love to give, doesn’t always use it on the right people. Also lives on pleasing others.

34. Do you believe in karma? Just to a tiny extent, in how I would want people’s awful actions to come bite them in the ass one day. It’s not a philosophy that controls my life and the things I do whatsoever.

35. What was your favorite TV show as a kid? My absolute favorite was Hi-5, with the original cast. As I got older my interests shifted to Spongebob and The Fairly OddParents.

36. What is the weirdest thing you find attractive in a person? I don’t think it’s weird, but I don’t hear thighs too often when people list down their favorite physical traits. It’s certainly one of mine.

37. What Jeopardy! category would you clear, no problem? A Friends-themed one, obviously. This reminds me of the Jeopardy night I had with some friends a few nights ago! That was so much fun, and Andi makes really great and fun questions hahaha.

38. What is something you’re superstitious about? I don’t think I am about anything.

39. What is the scariest experience you have ever had? Maybe that night my grandpa went into a drunk rampage. I was 9, right in his line of sight, frozen and scared shitless, and I didn’t know who he was going to strike next.

40. Who is a non-politician you wish would run for office? I never really think about this. If someone’s a non-politician then there must be a reason they aren’t, lol.

41. What cheesey song do you have memorized? Little Things by One Direction is very cheesy and it’s one of my least favorite songs of theirs, but I still have it memorized out of habit.

42. What one dead person would you most like to have dinner with, if it were possible? My great-grandpa died all the way back in the 70s, even before some of my aunts and uncles could meet him. It would be cool to spend time with him.

43. Do you think it’s important to stay up to date with the news? Yeah, absolutely. I have the stomach for it lol, so I always monitor what’s happening locally and globally. Skipping the news from time to time is fine because I get how anxiety-inducing and depressing some events can be, but there’s a huge difference between ignoring the news for your mental health and being indifferent altogether. I’d immediately judge anyone who’s the latter, and would assume you are incredibly privileged.

44. What is the best present you could ever receive? My money refunded -____________- I had food delivered to my director, Bea’s house as a surprise earlier today, but apparently I ran into a scammer driver and the fucker drove away with the meal I had bought for Bea. I reported the driver and the situation, and thankfully the customer service rep of the food delivery app quickly responded and said they’d return the full amount I paid for; but I still haven’t received it.

45. Would you give up one of your fingers if it meant you’d have free wifi wherever you go, for the rest of your life? No. Mobile data exists for a reason.

46. What’s the first thing you’d do if you were the opposite sex for one day? Check out my voice.

47. If someone told you you could give one person a present and your budget was unlimited–what present would you get and for whom? I’d love to surprise Angela with an overseas trip that would last for like a month. Traveling is one thing we have yet to do as best friends.

48. What is the nicest thing someone could say about you? Nothing particular, but it makes me happy when people call me strong and when they validate the shit I’ve gone through over the years.

49. Giant house in a subdivision or tiny house somewhere with a view? I would take the giant house. When it comes to my own place, I would want to have a lot of space to roam around.

50. What is the weirdest quirk your family has? Nothing is coming to mind.

#surveys #survey

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malecsecretsanta · 3 years

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Merry Christmas, the-ghost-of-william-herondale!

For @the-ghost-of-william-herondale, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Read On AO3

*****

Taking Charge Of Your Destiny.

The interesting thing about soulmates, Magnus figures out early on, is that even if their name doesn’t show up until your teens you still feel when they are hurt, physically at least. Magnus can remember times throughout his childhood and adolescence where he would feel intense bouts of pain but would not know where from. At 11 years old he felt a shooting pain in his collarbone, but was just sitting at the table reading. His shoulder aches for weeks afterward and he still has times where it is stiff to this day. When he was 14, in the middle of a dance routine his hand felt like the knuckles had cracked, it had felt like he had punched someone but he was just practicing his pirouettes.

As he got older, it happened less and less often. And then one day when he was 16 he woke up to find the name ‘Alexander’ scrawled on his hip. He knew from a young age that he was bisexual, not afraid to let the world know that he would love whom ever he chooses.

Now, more than a decade later, working as one of the youngest charge nurses in one of the busiest emergency departments in New York, Magnus didn’t really have time for soulmates.

___________________________________

It’s a brisk November evening, the temperature hovering around 20 degrees when Magnus walks into the hospital, venti Starbucks coffee in hand. The temperature hovering around freezing put him a little on edge, people always forgot how to drive when the snow started to fall. And it would melt just enough to freeze into a sheet of black ice. He stops just outside the doors to take a breath of fresh air before walking through the doors to the clinical air of the hospital. He makes his way to the change rooms and changes out of the clothes he had worn for just the evening and into his scrubs. His hospital provides all of the charge nurses with the same deep, navy scrubs and he wears them with pride. He beat out a lot of people for this position and he works incredibly hard for his staff and his department. He glances at the clock, 2300, okay 30 minutes until the mayhem starts. There’s a certain aura of the night shift that Magnus loves. While the rest of the world has gone to sleep and shut down, his ER is buzzing with activity.

Magnus sits down with the charge from evenings and gets the rundown of the department, what staffing for nights looks like (he is fully staffed and thankfully no one has to be mandated), and what the patient counts look like for the various parts of the ER. Overall their census is lower than normal for this time of year, but Magnus isn’t holding his breath, nor is he going to say anything out loud. Once he’s finished getting report, he watches his night staff coming through the door, this particular rotation is filled with stellar staff and Magnus finds himself looking forward to the night ahead of him.

The night starts out much like any other, Magnus goes around the various sections of the ER, making sure all of his staff have what they need to do their jobs properly. He is somehow able to make it back to the high acuity section where his desk is without any big problems coming up. He is getting caught up on paperwork, paperwork he has needed to do for days, when one of the spritely new residents comes walking up to the charge desk.

Magnus looks up from the papers he is signing, “Hello Simeon, to what do I owe the honour tonight?”

“Okay, so it’s Simon.. Lewis,” the resident says shows Magnus his badge, Magnus huffs a laugh, of course he knows his name, Magnus just likes to see the new ones flustered. “But honestly I had an energy drink before I started and now I am buzzing. But it’s so quie--” Magnus puts his index finger up to Simon’s lips trying to stop him from continuing. “-t.”

Magnus rolls his eyes before making eye contact with him. “You did not just say that word, there is one rule when working in a hospital that you need to know. You never say the q word, I don’t care if there are no people in ANY of these beds that word does not pass your lips.” Dr. Catarina Loss is walking up as Magnus finishes chewing into the frightened looking resident.

“Good evening Magnus, what did you say to scare my poor resident so badly.”

“Well you see Dr. Loss, your poor resident here decided to tempt fate by saying the q-word. I was just explaining that when, not even if we get a huge rush, he owes my whole group of nurses breakfast.” Catarina looks at Simon and smirks.

“Sorry Simon, but you are on your own here. It is like the unspoken rule that you never say that word. Good luck tonight, I will be in my call room getting a little shut eye while I still can.”

As soon as she finishes talking Magnus has the wind knocked out of him, he feels like something is crushing his chest and he has to grab the desk in front of him to stabilize him. “Magnus!” Catarina comes rushing around the desk so that she is directly in front of him “Magnus, answer me, are you okay?” The crushing pain only lasts for about 30 seconds before it turns to a dull ache. He looks up at Caterina and she has her stethoscope in her ears and diaphragm against his chest.

“Yeah,” He breathes out, “It felt like something was crushing me and then now it just feels like a dull ache.” Catarina is counting his respirations and finishing up his work up before she answers.

“Well, physically you check out. But please take it easy, and if anything I mean anything happens, come and get me.”

“Yes, mom,” he says, rolling his eyes once again, rubbing his chest as he does so. Catarina starts to turn around when his phone rings, he brings it up to his ear and puts his hand up to stop Catarina from leaving.

As soon as he is off the phone he gathers his team around him. “Okay everyone get ready, we have a 4 car MVC coming in, they are transporting the hardest hit vics. Helen,” He looks at the unit clerk, “call a respiratory 25 arriving in 5 minutes, they have one patient in respiratory distress in the ambulance right now. Lydia, Dot you two get the resus room set up, Lydia you will be the primary nurse for that patient, Dot you will assist her. Let me know as soon as they are stable. There are also 6 other vics who are being brought here, they are all stable as of right now and will go through triage. Buckle up everyone we are in for a long night ahead of us.” The ER turns into a flurry of movement around him, his team works seamlessly together, getting ready for an incoming resus, as well as an influx of patients.

Moments later 2 paramedics come rushing through the doors of the ambulance bay, talking a mile a minute to Lydia as brings them toward the resus room. “Alexander Lightwood, 25 year old, Male, MVC, extracted with the jaws, lost consciousness on the way here, we started bagging him,” the paramedic looks at his watch “6 minutes ago.” Lydia signs the papers the paramedics hand her once she is done getting report.

“Lydia, you look like you have it handled here, do you two need anything else?” Magnus asks, Lydia looks up taking the stethoscope off from around her neck and puts it in her ears and presses it to the patient’s chest while Dot is busy hooking him up to their monitors.

“No we’re okay here,” She pauses for a second before adding, “But if you could see where the fuck RT is that would be helpful.” A moment later, Ragnor Fell, the respiratory therapist, runs into the room and gets to work. Magnus knows his staff have this handled so he leaves it to them while he goes to triage and helps where he can.

Patients just do not stop coming in as the night trudges on. Magnus is pulled every which way, still managing to let his nurses go for breaks though, he even manages to sneak off for a 30 minute break himself during a small lull in the action.

When he gets back to his desk Lydia comes up to him with an update on their patient from the ambulance. “Okay so our patient in resus, Alexander is stable, he is currently on 8 litres of O2 but he is stable enough to be transferred to a different bed.” Magnus looks over his bed assignments and thinks of where he should go.

“Bring him to bed 17 in high acuity.” She nods her head and walks back to her patient. Magnus runs his hand over his face, it’s been so crazy that he hasn’t even had a chance to focus on the aching in his chest. It’s still there he notices, but definitely just an ache, and an overall soreness, although that can be contributed to the fact that he has been on his feet for a solid 3 hours, running around his ER.

He falls back into the chair at his desk, cautiously optimistic that he can squeeze a tiny bit more paperwork in, asking Helen if there have been any staffing changes for the morning he should be aware of. Thankfully he is able to squeeze out some preparation for the day shift before a monitor beeps loudly. Magnus looks up at the central monitoring system on the monitor above his desk, and sees that bed 17 has gone into v-tach. He feels the heaviness in his chest again, but pushes through it. He jumps out of his chair and grabs runs toward the bed in question.

“Helen, call a code blue to high acuity, Lyds, get over here,” by this point Magnus is at the bedside. Shouting orders before the doctors get there. They have ripped the blankets off of the patient’s body, and are moving the head of the bed down. “Dot the backboard.” She passes him the board and he goes to put it under him. “Okay, let’s roll him on 3. 1, 2, 3.” As they roll him Magnus sees it, in the brief second his back is on display he sees it clear as day. The name Magnus in a flowing script along the back of his ribs. Magnus shakes his head, clearing his thoughts. Dot starts bagging him, while Lydia starts compressions. Just in time, the code blue team comes and takes over. Magnus takes a step back and moment to think through what just happened. His mind is racing, he thinks to himself Magnus must be a common name, he couldn’t possibly be his soul mate.

He walks back to the desk and runs his hand over the nape of his neck. He turns to the clerk beside him, “Helen, what is the patient’s name in bed 17?” He knows he could just as easily look it up, but his mind is everywhere right now. She gives him a slightly curious look, obviously thinking the same thing, but she turns to her computer and looks it up for him.

“Lightwood,” She says, pausing before saying the first name. “Alexander.” Magnus lets out the breath he was holding.

He takes this information and lets it ruminate in his brain for a little while he tries desperately to regain hold of his ER. He makes a quick round and glances up at the clock on the wall, 0639. He takes a breath, so maybe he didn’t get his second break, but most of his staff did, so that’s a win in and of itself. He has 50 minutes until day shift starts, he needs to figure out what the fuck is going on. He sits back at the desk and Catarina fills him in on bed 17.

“He is once again stable, we think we have figured out the right meds to keep him that way. But Magnus,” She looks him in the eye. Over the last few years he has been working in the ER they have gotten close, close enough apparently to broach topics that aren’t completely professional. “When I was doing his assessment I saw it.” Magnus sucks in a breath, she couldn’t have noticed it too, and put two and two together. “That can’t be a coincidence.” She whispers her next words. “Your name on his back, you pretty much collapsing just minutes before his MVC is called in. And don’t think I haven’t seen your soul mark when you are reaching up, you aren’t trying very hard to hide the name on your hip.”

Magnus looks up at her pleading, “My mind is a mess right now, what do I do? I can’t just walk up to him and be like hey, this is completely unprofessional but I think I may be your soulmate.”

She looks back at him and says, “Look, I can’t tell you what to do, but what I can say is his emergency contact is coming in from another state, he will probably be waking up within the next couple hours and your shift ends in,” she glances up at the clock, “40 minutes.”

__________________________________

Magnus skirts through the rest of the shift, he is extremely glad that his staff is so strong because they hold him up when his focus isn’t 100%. He heads to bed 17 on his way out, he’s not sure if he should, but his legs lead him there before his mind can catch up. He sits in the chair next to the bed, leaning his elbows on his knees and rubbing his face with his hands. What am I doing here? He thinks to himself. Just as he is about to get out, he hears movement in the bed and a groan coming from the man. He immediately jumps back into nurse mode.

“No, don't try and talk. Let me get your doctor for you.” Magnus gets out of the chair and goes up to the desk. “Aline can you please page Dr. Loss back here please.” She gives him a look, as if to ask if he’s sure. “Yes I know she hands over 20 minutes, but please get her.”

Cat gets back to the ER quickly and they are able to extubate him once she and Raphael Santiago, the oncoming respiratory therapist are happy with his O2 levels. Once everyone leaves, Magnus walks back toward him. “Are you my nurse?” Alexander asks, his voice still scruffy from the intubation. Magnus huffs out a laugh.

“No, that would be Clary on days I believe.” He pauses to think of whether or not he should tell him. “Uhhhh, I am the charge nurse from nights actually. You gave us quite the scare last night, Alexander.” He tries to sit up in his bed, gritting through his teeth.

“It’s Alec.” Magnus gets up, and helps adjust the head of the bed. Alec takes a sharp breath in.

“Are you okay, do you need me to get your nurse so she can get you some pain meds?”

“Magnus?” Alec whispers, so softly Magnus almost doesn’t hear. Magnus looks down and notices that his badge is right in his eyesight. “It can’t be.”

Magnus sits back down in the chair beside him, wondering what he should say. He puts his head back in his hands, and says softly back at him, “I think it is.”

“So, you know?”

“I saw my name after you coded last night, we were turning you, and it was there, clear as day. And I felt it, the moment your car crashed. I almost collapsed in the middle of my own ER.” He looked back up at Alec, who’s eyes were glossy.

“I never thought I’d find you.” He chokes out. “And it takes me almost dying for you to come to me, what kind of sick karma is that?” Alec tries to laugh, but groans as soon as he starts.

“Don’t try and laugh. You have multiple broken ribs and you are pretty banged up from the accident.” Magnus takes a chance and reaches for Alec’s hand. “You know I tried finding you many times. But Alexander is such a common name, it was no use, I gave up too. I’m sorry for giving up.” Alec looks back at him like he's hung the sun, squeezing his hand as tight as he can manage. They sit there in silence, just holding each other's hands for a few minutes. Magnus can feel his eyes start to droop, the exhaustion from the night before finally starting to catch up with him.

“Magnus, why don’t you go home. If you know where my phone is you can put your number in it.” Alec says with a smirk. Magnus has to say, he’s impressed, even laid up in a hospital bed this man has game. Magnus grabs a piece of scrap paper from his pocket and a pen and jots his name and number down.

He’s handing it to Alec when Clary walks in. She clears her throat, “What are you doing with my patient Magnus?” Magnus' face immediately turns beet red.

“Uhhhh just catching up with an--- old friend?” Magnus answers, although he can tell she’s not convinced.

“Well your old friend here needs to be assessed, besides you should be going home to sleep!” She tells him.

“Yeah yeah, I was just leaving.” As he walks away he hears Alec ask for his phone, and Magnus smirks, hoping he will put that number to good use.

____________________________________

Magnus wakes up to a text from Alec, it’s nothing much, just telling him that he’s been moved up to the ICU. Magnus furrows his brow, he figured he would have been admitted to the hospital, but was hoping he would be able to avoid the ICU. He goes about his evening routine, working out, prepping his lunch for the upcoming shift. He just cuts out his lounging time so he can head into the hospital early. He walks in and throws all his belongings besides his badge, phone and wallet in his lockers, walking to the elevators still in his civilian clothing, a pair of jeans, deep purple v neck t-shirt and his favourite leather jacket. He walks into the ICU and up to the desk which just so happens to be staffed with one of his favourite float clerks, he says he’s there to see Lightwood in room 4017, he is secretly pleased that he is bed 17 on this unit too. She smirks at him knowingly but sends him to the right room.

He walks into the room to see Alec with a small but beautiful young woman with jet black hair, she is sitting on his bed facing Alec, her head thrown back in laughter. “Iz, please don’t make me laugh, it hurts too much.” Magnus takes a good look at Alec, he still looks super banged up, his left leg is elevated and in a cast and he has a nasal cannula giving him oxygen and a quadrupel baxter pump that makes Magnus wince when he thinks about trying not to tangle the lines. He doesn’t realize he’s just been standing there staring into space until a new voice brings him out of his daze.

“You must be Magnus.” The woman says, “I’m Izzy, Alec’s favourite sibling.” She extends her hand which Magnus takes immediately.

“Uhhh yeah, I’m Magnus. I’m not sure what Alexander’s told you about me.”

“Oh honey, I grew up knowing your name. Alec tried desperately to hide his mark from everyone else, but there was no hiding it from me. Although my dear brother didn’t mention how handsome you were.” Magnus smiles shyly, looking toward the ground avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room.

“Iz, stop please, we just met this morning, let us at least get to know each other a bit before you embarrass us.”

Izzy looks at her phone, “Fine, but only because it’s a quarter to 9 and I have to check into my hotel.” She brushes the hair off of Alec’s forehead and places a kiss. “Bye big brother.” She starts to walk out the door and stops right beside Magnus who is still at the door of the room. “Take care of him please.”

“Always,” he breathes out, his voice betraying him before he can think of what he is saying.

Magnus takes the seat beside Alec and takes his hand in his own. He takes a good look at Alec, his breathing is still laboured and his skin is cold. He knows immediately that the ICU is definitely the right unit for him. It pains him to see Alec like this, he knows they just met, but actually feeling the pain that brought him here adds another layer of hurt. They sit there talking, well mostly Magnus talking, for what feels like hours before his IV pump starts to beep. His nurse is in there moments later with another IV bag of fluids and meds, obviously anticipating the completion of the bag.

“You know Magnus, it’s past visiting hours and I should be kicking you out.” Alec’s nurse, Anna says. He recognizes her as one of the float nurses he occasionally gets on his night shifts.

“You know Anna, you could just look the other way.” He flutters his eyelashes, “And I will make sure you get a good assignment the next time you are in my ER.” He adds a wink for good measure.

“You better,” she smiles at him, “But you should really pay attention to the time, it’s already 2240. You aren’t even changed yet.” Magnus looks back to Alec, he knows he needs to leave soon but can’t bring himself to get up from the chair. Alec’s grip on Magnus’ hand starts to loosen and his eyes start to droop close, the pain medication Anna gave him finally taking effect. When his breathing starts to even out, Magnus gets out of his chair, stopping to place a soft kiss on his forehead before he leaves the unit. His shift goes swimmingly, just steady enough that it goes by fast, but not enough that it is out of control. It’s a good thing because his mind and heart is elsewhere.

__________________________________

On the third day of his stay, Alec continues to desat and the doctors end up doing a pleurocentesis, removing the fluid around the lungs and Alec starts to get better after that, better enough that he is moved to the step down unit on day 4. He starts to improve rapidly after that, blowing the doctors and nurses away. On day 8 he gets discharged, with strict orders to have someone watch over him, that’s how they end up here at the entrance to the hospital, Alec’s bag thrown over his shoulder, Alec on crutches holding gripping his prescription in his left hand.

Alec looks over to Magnus and says, “You didn’t have to take time off just to take care of me.”

Magnus smiles back at him as he pulls up to the car he had parked conveniently by the front door. “Of course I did silly, your sister had to leave yesterday and they wouldn’t let you get discharged without someone. Besides I only technically took 1 week off, you just caught me on my week off.” He helps Alec into the car. “Anyway I have some pretty great eye candy to keep me company.” Magnus winks at him, before kissing him gently. Alec brings his hand up under Magnus’ shirt, grazing his fingers along his hip. Magnus feels a spark when Alec goes over his mark, and then it is like everything falls into place. This part of him that was missing for so long, the hole in his heart that he didn’t even know was there was now filled. Sometimes accidents tear people apart, but sometimes they can pull people who were broken back together.

#the-ghost-of-william-herondale #malecsanta20 #*fic20 #*gifts20

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saranghae-hoe · 4 years

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PARTNERS IN CRIME [fanfic]

Pairing: sarawat x tine

Rating: M (depictions of murder, violence, blood, sex)

Summary: Sarawat didn't do it. He didn't do any of it, despite the evidence being stacked against him. The school, the cops, the victims...everyone was pointing the finger right at him. The only person who believed him was the one person who hated him the most, his combative roommate, Tine.

Tine just wanted a normal college life. Date pretty girls, make some good friends, get drunk, and maybe learn a thing or two if he had time. With Sarawat as his roommate, none of that was possible. Wat was being accused of the unthinkable and no one was on his side. But Tine knew Wat didn't do the things they said he did. As much as he hated the guy, his morals just wouldn't let an innocent person take the fall.

The pair are going to have to take matters into their own hands...work together and solve the crime themselves. However, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions...

PART 1 // PART 2 // PART 3 // PART 4 // PART 5 // PART 6 // PART 7 // PART 8 // PART 9 // PART 10 // PART 11 // PART 12 // PART 13 // PART 14 // PART 15 // PART 16 // PART 17 //

PART 18 (latest part)

Tine opened his eyes. Huh. He hadn’t thought he’d be doing that ever again. A stark white ceiling loomed over him. If this was the afterlife, it looked awfully sterile. His hearing finally registered the incessant beeping somewhere near his head. God...he was still alive. This was a hospital. He tried to take a deep breath, steeling himself for the pain that was sure to follow. There was pain in his ribcage, but not as much as he thought there’d be. They must have been pumping him full of painkillers or something.

He glanced over towards the source of the beeping. All the machines that had successfully kept him alive displayed each and every one of his vitals, his heart rate monitor easily cresting and falling. Well, if the machine said he was alive, who was he to argue?

A light snoring sound came from his other side, so Tine gingerly tried to shift over to see. Oh...him. Wat’s fragile-looking frame lay crumpled against the side of Tine’s hospital bed, his eyes fluttering as he dreamed, causing his lush eyelashes to shake slightly. Maybe it was the meds talking, but damn if he didn’t look like a goddamn angel.

He smiled, trying to raise his arm to touch Wat’s hair. The moment his still-bandaged fingers grazed over the man’s head, Wat shot up like he had been electrocuted.

“TINE!?” Wat yelled. “Tine! You’re awake!?” He tripped over his chair as he tried to run over to the panic button. When he finally made it, Tine could see Wat’s hands were visibly shaking. He struggled to get his fingers on target, finally succeeding in pushing it after a few tries. “Nurse!” He screeched into the little box. “Room 506 is awake! He’s awake!”

No one responded, but Wat whirled and came back to Tine’s side. Incredibly, he looked angry. Tine had barely been conscious for 5 minutes and already Wat was mad at him. He couldn’t help but smile again.

“What are you smiling about?” Wat snarled.

“You.” Tine said simply. His voice sounded weak and unused. How long had he...been gone?

Wat looked taken aback, his mouth hanging open a bit. Before he could recover, a team of hospital staff entered the room. “Mr. Teepakorn, how wonderful to see you awake.”

Tine blinked. “Have I...how long have I been asleep?”

The doctor looked at her clipboard. “Today’s your 9th day here.”

9 days? 9 whole days? Tine looked back at Wat. “Yeo…?”

Wat rolled his eyes and sighed. “He’s in jail right now, awaiting trial.”

He immediately felt his body relax. “Mr. Guntithanon,” one of the nurses addressed Wat. “If you don’t mind, we have some things to do here.”

A bit flustered, Wat stepped away from Tine’s bedside. “Oh, of course. Sorry.” Without thinking, Tine reached out to grab Wat’s sleeve, preventing him from walking too far. Eyes gentle, Wat looked down at him. “I’ll be right outside, okay?” Tine nodded, finally letting him go. “Besides, I’m not done yelling at you yet.” With that, Wat schlepped out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Not wasting any time, the nurses went about checking his monitors and getting his bed re-situated so he could sit up a bit. The doctor, meanwhile, took a seat in Wat’s chair. “So, Mr. Teepakorn...mind if I call you Tine?” Tine shook his head and the doctor smiled. “I’m going to go over your injuries, okay Tine?”

“Was I...going to die?” He asked, his voice barely audible.

The doctor looked serious. “You lost a lot of blood, Tine. Thankfully, you did make it to the hospital in time and we were able to give you several blood transfusions. After that, your condition did stabilize.” She didn’t sugarcoat anything and Tine felt a chill go up his spine. Had he really been that close to never seeing Wat again? He had resigned himself to that in the moment, of course. But hearing it again now that he was thinking clearly was an unpleasant reminder. “You wouldn’t open your eyes, but your brain function was normal so we had hope. As you may know, every day that passes without someone waking up means the probability of them ever waking up goes down.” Tine gulped. “So, Mr. Teepakorn, for the sake of your boyfriend out there, I wouldn’t recommend getting into this kind of trouble again.” The doctor scolded, but her tone wasn’t harsh.

Tine blushed. “He’s not, I mean, we’re not...um, did he tell you that?”

The doctor laughed with amusement. “No, but I’m not blind. Who else would stay here day and night even after all your other friends went home?” Tine felt guilt twinge in his heart. “Any little movement or change in you and he would be beating down the doors of the nurse’s station. I mean, for christ’s sake, he even volunteered to change your bed pan.”

“Oh my god!” Tine exclaimed, slapping his hands over his face, but the doctor just kept laughing.

“If he’s not your boyfriend, then I would suggest rectifying that ASAP." She smiled gently for a moment longer and then fixed her expression back into serious mode. “Well, everything looks good here, Tine. We’ll keep you for another day and then get you sent home for more rest. Luckily, your ribs were only cracked and not entirely broken and since you’ve been imobile for more than a week, that’s mending quickly. All your other wounds are healing nicely as well, so we’ll just need you to stop by every other day for fresh dressings, okay?”

Tine tried to process all her instructions, nodding incoherently.

Picking up on his lack of understanding, the doctor smiled again. “I’ll leave the instructions with Mr. Guntithanon since I think he’ll be taking good care of you.”

Before he could protest, the doctor and her nurses headed to the exit. A moment later, Wat slipped back into the room. “What’d she say?” He asked, his eyes flitting over Tine’s face.

“She said…” Tine stuttered, turning the doctor’s words over and over again in his head. Day and night Wat had been by his side, she said. “I can go home tomorrow probably.”

Wat sighed with relief. “Okay. Don’t worry, Tine. I’ll take good care of you at the dorm, okay?”

Tine shook his head. “You don’t have to.” He said reflexively.

Wat narrowed his eyes at him. “Oh?” He sneered. “Well too bad. You’re stuck with me.”

“But…!”

“Drop it, Tine.” Wat said with steel in his voice. “This isn’t up for argument. You’re done playing the hero. You’re done taking the hits, done tying your own rope. Do I make myself clear?”

Tine nodded, shutting his mouth tightly.

“Good.” Wat’s smile returned and Tine breathed again. “Now, the guys are all on their way over here because they made me promise to call them the minute you woke up.”

“Are they all okay?”

“Oh totally.” He spoke nonchalantly. “Barely a scratch on them, honestly. That thick skin finally served them well, it seems.” Shrugging, he continued, “Can’t say as much for the other guys, though. Ohm and Phuak kicked the living shit out of them.”

Tine felt a small smile spread across his lips.

Wat hesitated before speaking again. “I also called the cops…” Tine looked up at him and Wat held up his hands defensively. “Apparently, legally we have to. They need to talk to you about what happened for the trial. You are the star witness, of course.”

Trial. People like Yeo got trials. He almost laughed. “Great legal system we have, huh.” Tine said bitterly.

Knowing what he was thinking, Wat clasped Tine’s hand. Their eyes met and Tine felt a burning in his chest. Being knocked around and having his skull rattled hadn’t changed his feelings about Wat one bit. Thank god. “I’ll be by your side the whole time, okay?” Not trusting his voice, Tine nodded quietly. “Just a little more and this will be over for good.” He gave Tine’s hand a squeeze and Tine felt his heart tighten. He knew. Now he knew. When they were alone, really alone...Tine had something he needed to say. He wouldn’t miss his chance this time.

#2gether #2gether the series #tine x sarawat #sarawattine #wattine #sarawat #tine #brightwin #bright vachiwarit #win metawin #thai bl #fanfic #my fanfic #2gether fanfic #2gether au

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imnotwolverine · 4 years

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In sickness and in health

Henry Cavill x OC Lisa - multi-chapter fic

Author’s note: Lisa is overworked and sick as a dog, while Henry is the ever-loving, doting caretaker. A little fluffy fluff on the Thursday morning, because I couldn’t sleep (surprise Henry sneaking in on Snyder’s watch party, I hold you responsible).

Word count: 1.842

Disclaimer: fluff

This is part 15 of the Tea for Two story.

You can find the Masterlist here.

< Go back to part 14

‘You’re not okay,’ He said softly, pushing my boggling body back in the pile of pillows on the bed.

I knew he was right. I was somewhere in between a heavy cold and fever-town, but that definitely did not stop me from being obnoxiously stubborn. I wanted to go out for heaven’s sake! Right now my sexy heels should be carrying me through the restless city streets, ready to go to a party. To have fun! But no. It was New Year’s eve and here I was, sitting in bed, looking like a wet rag. And it sucked.

‘Well then at least you go. I won’t accept that I am spoiling this night for you too.’ I tried, my voice coming out too brittle for my liking. Henry’s face scrunched up. ‘You are a piece of work woman.’ He chuckled, giving me a loving look. ‘Thankfully..I can be just as stubborn as you are. And I. Am. Not. Leaving.’ ‘But Jason organised this whole party. And you so wanted to go. You’ve been talking about it for weeks now.’ ‘I know. But there will be more parties. And right now, you first need to get better.’ He cupped my cheek, trying to sooth away my frustrations.

I huffed in annoyance, moving my face away from his hand as I turned on my side, rolling away from him. ‘I hate this.’ I sulked, pulling up the blankets as I felt another cold shiver rush over me. Henry was quiet, his hand gently folding a bit of hair behind my ear, his eyes burning into the back of my head. ‘Can I get you anything love? Tea? Soup? ..A hug?’ His voice was gentle, unfazed by my moping.

I quietly shook my head, my head burning hotly beneath the blanket that I had dragged up to my chin.

It had been a while since I had felt so bad. Actually… Come to think of it. The last time was about a year ago, also during my holidays. I knew I was a bit of a workaholic. I knew I probably should take a few more weeks off in the year, to recharge. But then there always was this new cool project. Or I just couldn’t refrain myself from opening a few e-mails, which then totally escalated again to the point that I was having hour-long work calls. Yes. I was really bad at my work-life balance and my body paid the price.

I felt Henry’s body lift from the mattress as he got up again, his feet shuffling out of the bedroom as he let out the quietest sigh. From that sound alone I knew he was feeling upset and it made me feel crazy guilty. Guilty for him having to see me like this. Guilty for being the major cause of this. Why did I have to be so darn stubborn?

‘Henn?’ I called out feebly.

I heard his footsteps stop mid stairway.

‘Yes dear?’ He answered, his feet immediately moving back to the bedroom.

I rolled around so I could look at him.

‘I’m sorry.’

My jaw clenched as I saw him look at me with those big puppy eyes. It was more than evident that he was feeling worried about me, his nose flaring in discomfort as his eyes trailed over the small sweat drops on my temples.

‘Don’t be. Baby. Just..relax. Try to sleep a bit.’ He moved back to the bed and folded back the blankets, his hand picking up the washcloth from the nightstand, gently dabbing the sweat off my forehead. ‘No..I’m really sorry. This happens every time I take a holiday. My body just crashes. I… I work too much.’ I sighed, my eyes looking anywhere but at Henry, my hands fumbling with the covers. Henry sat down again on the edge of the bed, continuing to dab my head as the sweat drops kept rolling.

Gods I was feeling so shit. My head felt like a ton of bricks, my throat sandpaper and my muscles were aching so badly it felt like I had been hit by a truck.

‘I’m just so darn stubborn.’ I croaked, finally looking back at him. He smiled again. ‘Yes you are. And.. I like that, I do. Just not when you get ill because of it. I want to have you around for as long as is humanly possible, you know?’ His tender words made my heart buzz. ‘I know.’ I nodded slowly, rubbing my head into his hand and closing my eyes for a moment.

We stayed like that for a few minutes. His hand dabbing the sweat of my forehead as he began to hum a slow tune. I felt all worries wash away as the cold cloth gently travelled across my aching hot skin.

‘Could we at least move to the couch? I miss Kal.’ I hummed, finally opening my eyes again.

Henry chuckled. ‘If you promise me you’ll stay put.’ I shrugged. ‘Not like I can do much else.’

‘Okay then.’ He said, sitting back a bit so he could fold away the blankets. I pulled up my feet to get up, but before they even touched the floor I felt myself being scooped up by Henry. ‘I can walk.’ I protested, pouting my cracked lips. ‘And I.. like carrying you.’ He retorted, smiling smugly.

—

The tv was set to its lowest volume as we sat snuggled up on the couch. Henry was wearing a simple black sweater and jogging pants, his arms protectively wrapped around the pile of blankets I was wrapped in. I didn’t know whether I was comfortably toasty, or sick toasty, but I didn’t really care. Henry seemed more than a little happy he could have his arms around me and keep me safe. Ever the knight in shining armour.

‘Your mom told me you were a great fan of King Arthur and his knights when you were young.’ I said with my raspy voice, looking up at him as he peered at the tv. He sniffled, giving me a crooked smile. ‘I was..and still am by the way.’ His smile grew wider as he saw the amused look on my face. ‘How are you feeling?’ His hand brushed away some hair that was sticking to my forehead. ’Okay now. I don’t think I have felt this safe and cosy in my life.’ I snickered, nestling my head back in the nape of his neck.

‘Then I am doing a good job.’ He kissed the top of my head, resting his lips there before moving up ever so slightly. ‘What else did you talk about with my mum?’ His curiosity seeped through his semi-casual tone. I shrugged. ‘Girl things.’

‘Oh don’t give me that. We would have no secrets, right?’ The smile was evident in his voice. ‘Mmmm. Well I wasn’t the only one with secrets. You were pretty..open towards your mom about your secrets while I was asleep on your lap.’ I pushed myself up a bit, my arm shaking with effort. Immediately I felt Henry’s arm wrapping around mine, steadying me as my body trembled with effort. ‘Easy, easy.’ He whispered.

His eyes gave me a quick full-body scan to see if I was alright, before looking back into mine.

‘I’m okay.’ I confirmed with an amused tone as I laid a weak hand on his chest, a small smile tugging at the corners of my lips. Henry shifted slightly in his seat, careful not to shake me up, before licking his lips and looking back at me. ‘Well..I hope that didn’t catch you by..surprise..’ He breathed, checking my reaction. My smile grew wider. ‘No. But you were right about one thing..’ I looked down at my hand on his broad chest, my fingers grazing gently over the soft cable knit. He wore this sweater so often the threads were baring thin at some points.

‘We haven’t really spoken about it all that much.’ He filled in for me. I nodded, looking back up. His tender eyes had gotten a whole lot more stormy now, his nostrils flaring.

He lowered his eyes, licking his lips again. Was he nervous?

‘Well just to confirm. I do want kids, another dog AND a house with a nice garden.’ I nodded, feeling my already hot cheeks burn as his hot gaze quickly peeked back at me. I folded one of my hands around my cheek, feeling the skin burn. ‘I’m not even sure anymore if I’m blushing or blazing.’ I snickered. He smiled, letting out a small breath as he leaned towards the sidetable to grab the cool washcloth and dab it on my heated face again.

‘Good. And marriage..still okay?’ He peered into my eyes as his hand gently pressed the cloth against my cheeks. ‘Of course. I could do with a different last name.’ I shrugged, feigning disinterest. He chuckled, his hand turning my head so I could see him raising a handsome eyebrow in challenge. ‘What?’ I chuckled, leaning into the coolness of the cloth, the moisture forming drips on my salty skin. Two can play that game, I thought, giving him my most seductive gaze. Henry swallowed harshly as his hand froze for a moment against my cheek, our eyes just looking deeply into one another.

In the back of my mind I half-registered the tv had started a count down. But his eyes. Those eyes. I couldn’t look away.

The sound got a touch louder as we heard the neighbours following along top lung, their count down sounding through the living room wall.

‘9..8…7..’

Henry sat up a bit, moving away the wash cloth.

‘6…5…4..’

Our eyes blazed as our lips were curled in stupid smiles. Blue meets green. Boy meets girl. Husband meets wife?

‘3..2...’

I let out a small gasp as Henry bent over.

‘I want it all with you Henry. I do.’ I whispered against his lips, our kiss forming a perfect seal of promises made.

‘HAPPY NEW YEAR!! WOOHOO YEAAAAAA!!!’ The neighbours went berserkers as a loud pop sounded of a champagne bottle.

Meanwhile our living room was a whole lot more quiet. Much to our amusement. We let out a soft chuckle as Henry’s hand sneaked around my head, pulling me as close as he dared.

‘Happy new year love.’ He smiled, his cheeks showing those cute dimples as he pressed the wash cloth back against my heated skin, our noses touching.

‘Hmm..’ I hummed, leaning into the cool cloth and closing my eyes. ‘Happy new year.’

‘And..’ He sat back a bit. ‘I have a first proposal to make.’

My stomach did a little summersault as I gave him a confused look. ‘Now..?’ I asked, unsurely. He chuckled. ‘Now’s as good a time as any.’ He sat back a bit more and pulled my hands into his, giving me an intent look. ‘Dear Lisa. Would you, please, go on a holiday with me?’

I burst out laughing.

‘Oh by Merlin’s beard! Henry, you! Hahaha.’ I rolled my eyes, before nodding “yes”.

Part 16 >

#henry cavill fanfic #henry cavill fanfiction #henry cavill x oc #fanfiction #NYE #insicknessandinhealth #teafortwo #cute #fluff #fluffy

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mischiefandspirits · 4 years

Text

Doppelgänger (4/?)

Previously on Doppelgänger ~ Masterlist ~ Next time on Doppelgänger

Danny, Sam, and Tucker were just 14 when they took a look inside the portal Danny’s parents had built. From there, everything changed. They woke up with white hair, green skin, and powers they could learn to control. They were hybrids, halfas.

They were the hero Doppelgänger.

{Shades of Gray}

“Thanks, but I'll pass,” Valerie scoffed.

The trio’s ghost senses went off and Sam turned away from the popular girl. I got it. “Same.”

Danny opened his Space Fold while Tucker distracted Valerie, dropping the thermos into Sam’s waiting hand before she climbed onto her scooter to ride off.

“Are you sure you don’t want an-”

“I’m sure,” she scoffed, shoving Tucker away. “Get lost.”

Suddenly the ground began to shake and the ghost dog burst from the ground.

Danny gasped and ducked to the side as Valerie’s dresser was knocked over. His eyes flickered red as he used a bit of ghost strength to catch it before it could fall into the street.

“Wow, nice catch, loser.”

Danny quickly pushed the dresser upright and let go of his ghost power before Valerie came into view. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Thanks, I think.”

“No, thank you.” She looked over the dresser, sighing with relief. She turned to him with a critical eye. “You’re stronger than you look.”

Danny didn’t get a chance to answer before he was plowed over by a ghost puppy.

“Danny!”

As Danny groaned and rubbed his head, the puppy yapped and licked his cheek. He looked up to see it prancing on his chest with its little flame tail wagging. He turned to Tucker and Valerie, who were staring. “Uh, help?”

“Got it,” Sam said, appearing at his side to scoop up the dog by its collar.

The dog immediately started growling and Sam dropped it as it grew into its giant form. Danny scrambled away, but it kept its eyes on the ghost girl.

She flew back as it snapped at her, holding her hands up. “Easy there!”

It crouched down, hackles raised and Sam prepared her ecto blasts.

Without thinking, Danny opened his Space Fold and the dog disappeared inside.

Sam hesitated, glanced at Danny, then shook her fist. “And stay gone!”

“You!” Valerie growled. “Whatever you are, get out of here! You and you're stupid dog have done enough!”

Sam scowled back. “The dog’s not ours. We’re a cat person.”

Danny frowned. I object.

Overruled, Tucker and Sam both said.

“We?” Valerie asked.

Sam gestured to herself. “We.”

“You’re referring to yourself as we? What a weirdo.”

“And here we were about to apologize for what happened to the lab,” Sam snorted and turned invisible. “Nevermind. Have a nice life.”

“You little freak!”

Danny and Tucker shared a look as Danny got up. “Well, I gotta go. Uh, my parents. They’ll want to know about the, uh, ghost sighting.”

“Ghosts?” Valerie asked as he went to his scooter. “Oh my gosh! Those were ghosts?”

“Yeah, hence the whole flying and invisibility and stuff,” Danny said before riding off.

“Why does he need to tell his parents?”

“Oh, Danny’s parents are professional ghost hunters. Kind of,” Tucker said awkwardly. “Didn’t you know?”

“No.” She watched the paler boy turn the corner then turned to Tucker with a flirtatious smile. “Is that offer of help still good?”

“Y-yeah, absolutely!”

“Where’s Tucker?” Sam asked as she met Danny in human form.

He shrugged. Tuck?

I’ll catch up!

The two rolled their eyes.

“How long do you think he’s going to be hanging around her until he realizes she’s not interested?”

“Too long,” Sam said and the two sent off. “Now, why’d you send the dog to the fold? I could have taken it.”

Danny shrugged. “You were going to blast it. You can’t blast a dog.”

“It’s not a dog, it’s a ghost.” She looked over at him with narrowed eyes. “We can’t keep him, Danny.”

“I don’t want to keep him. He’s a menace. I just don’t want to see him blasted.”

“Is that why you didn’t send him to the ghost zone?”

“I did,” Danny huffed. “He just got back out.”

“And now he’s trashing the fold.”

Danny tilted his head. “I don’t think he is. It’s quiet inside.”

“Whatever. You better not have anything of mine in there.”

Danny bit his lip. Did he return that spider plushy he’d borrowed from Sam to use as a pillow last week? “Maybe I should check on him.”

He ignored her glare as he slipped into an alley. After being sure no one could see him, he poked his head into the fold. Thankfully it hadn’t found the plushie, though it was chewing on the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick in its puppy form.

The dog looked up at him and started wagging its tail, so he quickly pulled his head out. “He’s good.”

Sam shook her head. “You’re lucky Audrey II’s not in there anymore.”

“Oh yeah, how’re the Fenton Shears working?”

“Perfect. Strangely enough, she actually likes to be pruned.”

“Yap!”

The two turned to see the ghost dog’s head sticking out of empty air. It gave a dog-smile before its head was replaced by paws making digging motions. Slowly a hole in the air formed, revealing the Space Fold. The dog jumped through the hole and into Danny’s arms.

“Woah!”

“I guess we know how it’s getting out of the Ghost Zone now,” Sam said, looking between the hole and the dog.

“Bad Cujo, no digging,” Danny said, shifting the dog into one arm and waving a finger in its face.

“Don’t name it!” Sam snapped. Then flinched back when the dog started to growl at her.

“No, no, it’s okay. Sam’s a friend.” Danny scratched the dog under its chin and it relaxed.

“You’re getting attached.”

“Am not.” Danny grabbed the edge of the hole and pulled it closed. “I’m just trying to keep it from hulking out.”

Sam made a disbelieving sound and knelt so she could see the dog better without getting closer. “It’s got the Axion Labs logo on its collar.”

“What? Oh yeah, I saw that earlier. It must have slipped my mind after the rampage.”

She transformed and lifted off the ground. “That’s the first place he hit. Maybe there’s something there that could help us get rid of him. He could be an old guard dog. We’ll check it out. Keep him calm.”

“Why me?”

Sam stuck her hand towards him and the dog started growling.

“Alright, fair. But what do I do with him?”

“Train him? Play with him? Take him for a walk? Ghost dog or not, he's still a dog… We think. Good luck!”

Danny glared as she flew off, then looked down at the dog. “Guess it’s just you and me… Wanna take a walk through the ghost zone?”

Cujo gave a yap and wiggled in his arms excitedly.

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

“I think I’m actually going to miss him. The look on Skulker’s face when he stole his leg was priceless.”

“What did I say about getting attached?”

Tucker rolled his eyes as he walked invisibly across the outside of a warehouse. “We still can’t believe this was all over a squeaky toy.”

“Just be glad I took care of it before something really bad happened,” Sam said.

An explosion just missed Tucker, who darted away with a yelp.

“TUCKER?”

He turned to see a woman in full-body red hazmat standing on a hoverboard holding a grenade launcher. He took off, but she followed. “We might need some help. There’s a girl here with a really big gun and she’s not setting off our ghost sense.”

“I’m not far. I’ll be there in a second,” Danny said and hung up.

“A human hunter? And it’s not Danny’s mom?” Sam asked.

“Nope. And she can see us while we’re invisible.”

A blast flew past him.

“Her aim isn’t good though. Can’t be our mom then, her aim is scary,” Danny and Tucker said as Danny came near.

Tucker turned a corner and Danny was there, raising a shield as the hunter threw a handful of throwing stars. Only a few made it to them, and even then they bounced off the shield.

“What? There’s two of you?” the hunter said, pulling to a stop.

“Duplication,” they said, shrugging.

“Wait? Is that Valerie?” Sam asked.

“Valerie?” they said, surprised.

The hunter flinched back. “How did y- It doesn’t matter. I’m ending you.”

The two shared a look, then Tucker held out his hand toward the hoverboard.

Nothing happened.

“Ugh, technokinesis proof,” they groaned.

She fired the grenade launcher at them and the shield shattered.

The two groaned as they pulled themselves out of their shared crater. “We can’t fight her, we’ll hurt her. She doesn’t seem to care about hurting us. Don’t we have a crush on her? Not anymore. We hate technokinesis proof tech. Well, at least some good came out of this. Now go.”

Tucker glared, but dove into the ground while Danny flew past the girl.

She took the bait and chased after the faster of the halfas, letting Tucker slip away.

As soon as his partner was safe, Danny waved at Valerie then began flying through buildings until the hunter, unable to go intangible, lost him.

{Fanning the Flames}

“I think we’re the only ones in the whole school who aren’t obsessed with Ember,” Tucker said as they passed yet another of their classmates wearing the rocker’s swag.

“I don’t get it!” Danny said with a frown. “She comes outta nowhere and suddenly she’s the biggest thing since iPhones! It’s so -”

“Infuriating how mindless pre-packaged corporate bubble gum is preventing true musical artists from being heard?” Sam interrupted.

“I was gonna say weird, but, uh, okay.”

“I’m with Sam. She’s okay, but there are way better groups out there who don’t get anywhere near enough spotlight.”

“We’re not listening to your Swedish pop-techno music,” Sam said. “I’d rather listen to -”

The trio stopped as they came to a school hallway that had been vandalized with posters, stickers, and banners for Ember McLain.

“Ember.”

Paulina came up to them wearing an Ember shirt with matching pants. She looked at Sam and scoffed. “Nice earrings. Sale at the 89 cent store?”

Sam’s hand came up to the Fenton Phones she was wearing. Danny’s parents had invented them to filter out spectral noise, but they also worked as wireless headphones and long-range communicators. The trio had taken to using them during lone patrols and ghost fights that separated them enough that their link couldn’t reach. While the boys only really wore them then, Sam wore them often since she thought they made great techno-goth earrings.

She dropped her hand and gave the popular girl an annoyed look as she stepped closer to Danny. “For your information, Paulina. They’re a gift. Danny gave them to me.”

“Really? He gave you earrings?” Paulina pointed between the two with a smirk. “I always knew you two losers would end up together.”

“We’re not losers!” Sam shouted and Danny added, “We’re not together.”

“Well now I feel left out,” Tucker joked as Paulina swaggered off.

“Shut up, Tucker,” the two snapped.

“Hey, check it out! The lovebirds are ganging up on Foley!” Dash snickered to Kwan.

“They can deny it all they want, but I saw Fenton kissing her when they snuck out at lunch yesterday,” Kwan snickered back.

Danny blushed and Sam jumped for the jocks while Tucker tried to hold her back. “It’s called QPR, you neanderthals! Welcome to the twenty-first century! A guy can kiss a girl on the cheek without it being romantic or se-”

“And we’re done here!” Danny squeaked and grabbed Sam to unsuccessfully help Tucker drag her away.

“Calm down, Sam. It’s not like any of us go around talking about our relationship,” Tucker said. “Of course everyone’s going to think you’re dating if they see you two kissing.”

“People shouldn’t assume things like that just because Danny likes to kiss us or the three of us hug!”

“It’s high school. Assumptions and gossip are the lifeblood of this place,” Danny said. “No need to kill Dash over it. Now stow the soapbox and let’s get to class before we’re late.”

Sam gave the two jocks one last death glare, but let her partners lead her off.

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

“This is insane,” Danny said as he, Sam, and Tucker stood in the school’s front doors, staring out at the crowd that had gathered around the truck Ember McClain had arrived on for an impromptu performance. “It looks like the entire school’s out here.”

He walked out and his breath misted in front of him. He glanced over to see his partners’ ghost senses going off as well. “Uh-oh.”

The trio looked around, but their eyes quickly locked onto Mr. Lancer, who was standing atop a fire hydrant with a megaphone to yell at the rocker.

“Attention, freakishly dressed teen idol! I order you to cease and desist!”

“Desist this, grandpa!” Ember yelled, fiddling with her guitar. She strummed it and a purple energy wave washed over the crowd.

The crowd turned to Lancer, eyes glowing red.

“Pride and Prejudice!”

“Ember’s the ghost? Oh my gosh!” Danny gasped.

“Another blow against mainstream media,” Sam said and the three transformed.

They took off, Danny saving Lancer from the horde and Sam and Tucker shooting towards the rocker.

It was rather easy to get her and her band into a thermos, especially when one of them could shut down her guitar and speakers with a wave of his hand and the other could wrap her in plants when she tried to teleport away.

{Teacher of the Year}

“Why were we up so late last night? We were playing Doomed. We were trying to beat… WE’RE CHAOS! HOW COULD WE HIDE THAT FROM US?”

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

Tucker’s eyes widened as he realized the noob he’d been helping play Doomed was Technus. “Oh, man, I could have been using my powers to cheat! Why didn’t I think of that?” He grabbed his phone and called Sam. “Sam! Did you realize I could be the ultimate cheat code?”

“Obviously. I’m surprised it took you this long to figure it out. What happened? Did you get pwned again? Wasn’t me this time.”

“No, Technus showed up in Doomed.”

“What? Where are you? I’ll meet you there!”

“Level three. Should we call Danny?”

“No, just let him study. Between my grab bag of secret power-ups and your ultimate cheat code, we’ll be fine. He needs to make up that test if we don’t want his parents to come sniffing around.”

“I still don’t get it,” Tucker said as he waited for Sam to reach his character. “Danny’s had straight A’s for years. Why would his parents be mad about one F? It’ll only take him down to a C at worst. My parents are just glad that I’m not failing.”

“The curse of being a family of geniuses I guess. All I know is that if I have to hear him complain about his grades almost falling to a B one more time, I'm decking him.”

#danny phantom #sam manson #tucker foley #valerie gray #danny fenton #Doppelgänger au

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allie1804-fan · 4 years

Text

Please Assist Me (Chapter 16)

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10 , Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15

Thanks to @ladyreapermc for her mention in “This is Not a Rom Com” of Neruda’s love poems - what a beautiful thing to discover!

Warnings: Angst

She Said

I stood in Keanu’s kitchen a couple of days later, tears streaming down my face as I read a verse from Neruda’s Sonnet 17. Keanu had put a print out in English inside this page. I’m guessing he’d only come across it in translation and I knew why this one meant so much to him, to us. I’d read it as a younger woman, before I really had a clue what it meant to love like this.

… so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,

so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,

so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

He’d often said how at ease I made him feel, right from the start of our romantic involvement and this poem articulated that closeness and ease so perfectly. I messaged him quickly. “sonnet 17!” followed by crying face emoji. I did a quick calculation of the time in Germany - he wouldn’t be working yet anyway as he had to quarantine for 2 weeks first. Hopefully he wouldn’t be sleeping. I hit send.

A moment or so later, a video call pinged in, which I accepted despite fearing I must look a state after the crying!

“Hey sweetie, I didn’t mean to make you cry!”

“It’s OK – they’re happy tears, kind a!! I smiled at him. “Miss you so much”

“miss you more!” he countered. “I am so bored, I’ve got nothing else to think about except how much I miss you!”

“Poor baby”

“What about learning the script? And training?”

“Script yes, you’re right, and some training is possible in the gym here … you at O now while I’m at H?!”

“well we have to be on rotation right?”

He kissed his fingers and blew me a kiss. He really is just the sweetest soul.

We talked some more then he let me go so I could get on with the household chores I was dealing with at his house. I wanted to get going quickly - being there was definitely harder than being at my home from a ‘missing him’ point of view.

In the first month, it was pretty easy to stay in touch which we did most days via a video call at the end of his working day . When the kids were with me we’d shift it to later at his end and do the call at our lunchtime so they’d have a few minutes to share their stories of the day. Often in the weekday calls, the other kids would realise that my two had disappeared and would hunt them down meaning Keanu was dealing with 5 kids muscling in on the call as the others didn’t want to miss out on video calling a movie star!

Once filming proper started though, the calls became harder to achieve as filming didn’t always go to plan and he was staying in an apartment a little way from the studios. I had been around movie sets enough in the past when I was a runner to know how chaotic it could get but I found weekend lapses harder to forgive.

One Saturday in July, the kids and I got ourselves all set at 9am but were left hanging with no Keanu in sight and no response from him to texts and messages. As it turned out , they’d added an extra day’s filming to the schedule and he’d intended to do the call from set as he knew he wouldn’t finish on time to do it from his apartment but had left his phone behind. Another time he fell asleep and a third he simply forgot!

When it was just me affected, I was merely hurt but when he forget, when the kids were excited to see him and share their achievements, my Latin hot temper got the better of me and I ignored his messages for 3 whole days. By day 4 (and after flowers and cards had been sent by him to apologise) his voicemail messages to me were getting frantic and I caved and picked up his call.

“Thank god you’re OK, I was about to send my sister round to check on you!, Listen you know I’m sorry I let you all down, I promise to do better. Please forgive me Sophia”

I stared at my hands, still fuming and feeling like we’d become an afterthought to him all those thousands of miles away.

“Sophia, please” he pleaded.

“You have to do better” I said pouting.

“I know sweetheart, I know and I will, are the kids there?”

I nodded.

“can I talk to them, tell them I’m sorry?”

I fetched them from the other room and soon saw they had far less difficulty with their forgiveness than me. That made me realise that maybe my righteous anger had been more about me and less about them.

Keanu gave them his full attention, looking at their paintings and listening to their stories. Soon we were laughing and everything felt more relaxed at last.

He Said

Boy did I fuck up. No wonder she was mad at me. I’d screwed up, missing calls 3 times and 2 times when the kids were involved - I thoroughly deserved her wrath. I sent flowers, cards and left numerous messages before finally managing to get her to pick up one of my calls after 4 days of the cold shoulder.

Luckily, she let me speak to the kids and it was clear they weren’t actually that upset. Their chatter and positivity relaxed the atmosphere and I capitalised on that, asking Miguel to give Eva a hug on my behalf to say sorry. Then it was Sophia’s turn as I asked Eva to hug her on my behalf. She dutifully squeezed her mother and Sophia looked over her shoulder straight at me into the iPad camera. I mouthed “Forgive me” and “Please” and saw her nod her head slightly, her eyes crinkling up as she smiled just a little.

“Ok kids, time to let me and Keanu have a chat on our own” she said, taking them back to the living room.

“So am I forgiven” I asked on her return, still slightly fearful of her reply.

“Yes, OK but Keanu how are we going to keep this going? There’s at least 3 more months and, god it’s so hard when you go awol. If we make the calls less often, do you think you can commit to them with more certainty?”

“Yes, yes, I promise. And you know I’d fly back in a heartbeat if I could to make it up to you but we can’t leave, even if there were time in the schedule, we have to stay put till the end”

“I know honey, I know”

“What else can I do?”

“Let’s just try to keep in touch properly, regularly. We knew this would be hard, our relationship is so new and this distance” she said, gesturing between herself and my image on the iPad “well it would be tough even if we’d been together longer”

“You’re not regretting starting it are you?” I couldn’t keep the quaver out of my voice.

Thankfully she shook her head “no” and I rubbed my fingers against the image of her face on the screen.

“I wish I could be there, touch you, hold you!”

“Me too”

She Said

Luckily, with fewer calls arranged and some focus on Keanu’s part, we didn’t have any more missed calls but it was still tough to keep things going over the next few months without any physical contact. Keanu was a class act when it came to long distance love though, regularly sending me flowers, books, more love poetry and hand written love letters of his own. He’d write them during downtime on the set and they helped quell the worries that had been growing about whether we could make this work longer term. I knew film shoots were often outside LA and, post pandemic I guessed there’d be a return to promotional tours and premieres in person. We were always going to have to deal with separation.

@fortheloveoffanfic @kindainlovewithkeanu @omg-imagine @iworshipkeanureeves @fics-not-tragedies @ficsnroses @keanureevesisbae @penwieldingdreamer @witty-wallflower @paperplanesandwallflowers @bitchyslut99 @ladyreapermc @toomanystoriessolittletime @fanficsrusz @keanuficfiles

#keanu reeves fanfic #keanu reeves fanfiction #keanu #keanu reeves #romance with boss

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destiel-love-forever · 4 years

Text

Day 1: First Date

Combined two prompts from two anons for day one on 14 Days of Destiel Valentine’s!! - "For the Valentines' prompts... First date?" && " This high class restaurant I’ve always wanted to eat at is doing a Valentines day dinner special that’s like half the price of a normal meal there and my ass is broke so will you pretend to be my date and come out to eat with me?"

Read Below or on AO3: HERE

“So,” Dean begins as he leans on the checkout counter to look at Castiel. “Any Valentine’s Day plans this weekend?”

As usual when his most frequent customer talks to him, Castiel ducks his head to hide his blush and tries his best not to sound flustered. “Ummm, no. Nothing special planned.”

“Any regular plans?”

“Nope.” Castiel laughs awkwardly, his hands shaking as he rings up Dean’s coffee and donut. It’s the same every night. 3 a.m., Dean in his police uniform, wrapping up another patrol shift, stopping at the gas station by his house – the one Castiel happens to work at – buying coffee and donuts. Castiel teases him relentlessly about the whole ‘cop with a coffee and donut’ cliché. It never fails to make Dean smile.

Castiel really likes making Dean smile.

It’s been two years of Castiel working this shift and Dean working his, the two of them seeing each other at least three or four times a week. At first it was Castiel fumbling and stuttering as he tried to ring up the officer with the gorgeous smile and witty remarks, but thankfully Dean’s insistence on small talk has loosened Castiel up.

A bit.

As loose as you can be when you’re head over heels in love with a man ten times out of your league that likes to flirt with anyone that moves.

“Do you have any plans?” Castiel asks politely as he waits for Dean to fish out his money.

“I don’t.” Dean leans further over the counter and Castiel finally looks up at him. He realizes that Dean isn’t trying to get his money. In fact, he doesn’t seem at all concerned about his coffee and donut at the moment. His eyes are locked on Castiel. “You don’t work?”

“Surprisingly I do not.”

“Great. Neither do I.” Dean grins. “Listen, this is gonna sound crazy but I promise I’m not trying to be a creep and come onto you, okay?”

Castiel laughs nervously, his heart in his throat. “O-okay.”

“This high class restaurant I’ve always wanted to eat at is doing a Valentine’s Day dinner special that’s like half the price of a normal meal there and my ass is broke so will you pretend to be my date and come out to eat with me?” It all comes out in a rush and for the first time, Dean is the one blushing instead of Castiel.

Well, that’s not entirely accurate. Castiel is still blushing, but Dean is at least joining him now.

“H-how expensive are we talking?” Castiel asks, doing a mental calculation of his current bank account balance.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll cover your half. I just can’t go alone. They’re only letting couples go.” Dean beams at him as if Castiel already agreed. “So, will you come with me?”

Castiel doesn’t even have to consider it.

“Yes.”

----

Dean has never seen Castiel outside of his gas station attendant uniform. Don't get Dean wrong, the little blue vest and name tag are adorable, but Castiel cleans up well. He's gorgeous, standing outside the restaurant in dark jeans and a button up with the top two buttons undone. The blue of his shirt makes the blue of his eyes pop even though it's dark outside.

He's breathtaking.

Dean has officially been launched from yeah that college kid is cute and I have a major crush on him to fuck, I might be in love with him...

"Hey," Castiel says softly, looking slightly uncomfortable. Dean can't exactly blame him. He's been staring at the kid like an idiot.

Dean clears his throat and pastes on a smile. "Hey. You look great."

"Thanks. You too." Castiel tugs at his collar. "I, um… I don't own a tie. Do you think this'll be okay?"

"It'll be perfect. You ready?"

When Castiel nods, Dean takes his hand and starts to lead him into the restaurant. He's only holding Castiel's hand because of the whole couple ruse, of course.

At least, that’s his excuse if Castiel questions it.

The host seats them at a small table in the back corner of the restaurant. The scene screams romance. From the twinkle lights strung along the ceiling and the live piano music to the rose petal covered table and the bouquet of flowers in a vase as the centerpiece. Once they've taken their seats and have been handed the special Valentine’s Day menu, the host leaves.

Castiel's first words are, "This place is gorgeous."

Dean swallows the flirty, "You're gorgeous," and just agrees with Castiel instead.

"So why this place?” Castiel asks. “I mean, yeah it's nice and the food is probably amazing, but why'd you want to come here so bad?"

"It's new. Small town like ours, you don't get that much. Especially like this. All we end up with are crappy diners or chain restaurants, but this chef used to work at a 4-star restaurant which is amazing. I've been wanting to eat here since it opened last summer."

Castiel leans forward and it's clear he's not faking interest. The fact makes Dean's stomach flip. "You must really like food then, hey?"

"Absolutely. It was actually my dream to be a chef, but it doesn't pay the bills, at least not starting out."

"I get that. I can barely afford to live and go to school full-time, even with my financial aid. Hence the shitty gas station job."

Dean straightens in concern. "You're going to school full-time? I figured you were only half or online or something."

"Nope. I go to school during the day. It's not so bad this semester, actually. Last semester I had a practicum, so I had to do all my coursework for my classes but then on top of that do 15 hours in a classroom every week. It was brutal." Castiel laughs to himself. "I survived on coffee and hatred.'

"Coulda fooled me. You're always so happy."

"You're the bright spot in it all." Castiel's smile falls. Panic makes his breath hitch in his chest, the shudder visible from where Dean is sitting. "I-"

"So, you're an education major then?" Dean asks, saving Castiel from the embarrassment. Or maybe just saving himself from sharing his own embarrassing confession that Castiel is his bright spot too.

Castiel bounces back quickly, relief relaxing his shoulders and allowing his smile to return. "Yeah, elementary ed. I'd love to work with 2nd grade but anything under 4th will be fine. Once kids hit 4th grade they turn into little assholes."

This catches Dean by surprise, pulling a laugh from him. Castiel was always so shy and soft spoken at the gas station. Now that he's opening up, his personality is really getting a chance to shine.

Dean is on a very slippery slope here.

It only gets slipperier when Castiel says with enthusiasm, "You know, you should really try out for one of those shows. Like MasterChef! I'm sure you could get some sort of leave of absence from work. There's no way all of those people just quit their jobs, you know?"

"I've actually thought about that…" Dean darts his eyes away, feeling the same as always when his dreams come up. "Michael told me not to waste the money flying out for the whole interview process or whatever, though. Said I'm housewife good, not actually good."

"Umm, who the fuck is Michael?"

Dean looks back at Castiel before answering. He startles when he sees the rage on the young man's face. "My ex."

"Well fuck him. Seriously? It's not up to him. It's up to Gordon Ramsay - or whoever else tests your food. I don't know how the process works exactly but it's not up to him. And he sounds like an asshole anyway. If it's your dream then you need to do it, Dean! Isn't the chance worth it?" Castiel shakes his head in amazement before laughing once under his breath. "And I bet you're really fucking good, too. He sounds like an asshole that didn't deserve you. You should go on that show and kick some ass and then do a little shout out video with a huge I told you so."

Dean needs to blink a few times as he tries to process the mini-rant Castiel just spewed at him. As the words sink in, his lips spread into a wide smile that borders on painful. "You've never even tasted my food. How the hell are you so passionate about this?"

"Because I care about you." Castiel's eyes soften for half a second, something deeper passing between them. Then they light back up with humor. "And if I can't make an informed decision without eating your food, I guess you'll just have to cook for me some time."

"Yes. I suppose I will. But then you'll owe me a meal."

"Oooh, no. No, no, no. Trust me. You don't want that."

Dean chuckles. "Can't cook?"

"I held my own for a while. I made a mean hot pocket. And toast. I'm like an expert at getting the toast just the right amount of crunchy where it's not too soft and it's not burnt either." He makes a chef’s kiss with his fingers, the sound loud in the air between them. "Then, sadly, my toaster became out of commission. So, it's mostly just cereal and pb&js for me. Unless my microwave decides to work, which is extremely rare."

"What happened to your toaster?"

Castiel looks up at him with both amusement and shame. "I may have gotten a piece of frozen waffle stuck in there and I can't figure out how to get it out, so every time I start to cook something it sets on fire…"

"On fire?" Dean's eyebrows shoot up as he laughs. "Jesus. Yeah, okay. I'll be the one cooking then."

"Perfect." Castiel picks up his menu and waves it. "We should probably actually figure out what we're going to order hey?"

Dean's immediate instinct is to say no. To ask Castiel if they can just spend the night talking. Who cares about the food?

It's a terrifying thought.

It's also exhilarating.

"I can get a bottle of wine for us to share," Dean offers. "Would you like red or white?"

The blush that warms Castiel's face is so familiar, setting Dean at ease. "I'm actually not of age. Only 20."

"Oh." Dean puts the wine menu down and laughs. "Well, then. Never mind."

"You can get some though! It won't bother me."

"I actually hate wine to be honest. Much more of a beer guy."

"Yeah, I can handle maybe two wine coolers before I'm a mess anyway. Total lightweight." Castiel's chin snaps up and his eyes bulge. "Shit! I mean - not that I'd ever drink, because like that's illegal - and I'd - well-"

Dean bursts out laughing. "Calm down, Cas. You think I never drank underage? Long as I'm not in uniform we don't have a problem."

"Okay. Good." Castiel takes a drink of his water, his hand shaking. It nearly spills when he tries to put the glass back down. "If it makes you feel any better, that's pretty much the sum of all illegal activity in my life. Unless you're counting the time I stole a chap stick because all my friends were stealing stuff, but since I felt so guilty about it that I went back 2 hours later and put it on the shelf again without ever opening it, I don't think it counts. So, I'm officially arrest free, officer."

Dean laughs. "Why does it not surprise me that you would do something like that?"

"Nerdy… I know."

"I was going to say adorable." Castiel flushes at his words, ducking his head. It's so goddamn endearing that Dean finds himself admitting something for the first time since it happened. "I was arrested once. When I was 15."

"Really?"

"Yup. Sent to a boy’s home and everything."

Castiel looks confused. Dean expects him to ask how he could be a cop then, in which Dean would explain the whole juvenile records being sealed thing. Instead, he surprises Dean by asking, "What did you do?"

"I stole some bread and peanut butter. Or, well, I tried to." Dean shrugs like it's no big deal.

Castiel doesn't brush it off so easily. He reaches a hand out and places it on top of Dean's where it rests beside his water glass. Dean stares at their hands pressed together as Castiel says softly, "You must have been really hungry. I'm sorry."

"It's uh... it's-," Dean needs to stop and clear his throat, suddenly overwhelmed.

"It's okay." Castiel squeezes his hand gently. Like a reassurance. Like a promise that he's there. Still there. Not going anywhere. "Is that why you love food so much? Because it was such a luxury growing up?"

Tears threaten Dean's eyes. Castiel isn't pitying Dean or looking down on him. There's no judgement.

Castiel understands.

"Yes," Dean whispers in relief. "Yes."

Before they can discuss things further, the waitress comes to take their order. Since neither of them have really managed to look at the menu, they’re both caught a bit in the headlights. Thankfully their choices are limited on the special menu for the night, making it easier to rush through picking things out. They stumble through an agreement on pan seared scallops for an appetizer before Dean orders a medium rare filet mignon with a side of three cheese risotto and Castiel requests the same.

Dean worries that things will be awkward now that the conversation was halted but it’s not. The moment the waitress is gone to place their orders, it picks right back up.

“Hmmm.” Castiel glances around the restaurant, the wheels in his mind clearly turning. “On a scale of one to our asses getting kicked out, what do you think the rules are in me taking out my phone at a fancy place like this?”

“They’ll probably just think our date’s going bad and feel bad for us.”

The little scoffing sound Castiel makes is endearing as he pulls out his phone.

Castiel starts scrolling through his phone as Dean is left to just stare at him. He laughs awkwardly after a minute. “Ummm, are we having a bad date?”

“What?” Castiel looks up at him in confusion before shaking his head adamantly. “Absolutely not. This date is the best I’ve ever had. Which is kind of pathetic… since, you know, it’s not real or whatever.”

“Feels real,” Dean admits.

Castiel blushes. “It does, doesn’t it?”

Unsure of what he should say, Dean redirects the conversation. “Well, if it’s not that, then what the hell are you doing on your phone?”

Instead of directly answering, Castiel says, “MasterChef auditions for the next seasons starts in October. Locations are L.A, Boston, Atlanta, Houston, New York City, and Chicago.”

Dean’s heart skips. “You’re looking into MasterChef auditions?”

“Yes.” Castiel looks up from his phone. “Didn’t you mention a while ago that your brother goes to Stanford? You mentioned you were going to visit him - I swear I’m not a creep, you mentioned it when-”

“It’s fine, Cas. Yes, he goes to Stanford.”

“Well then, there you go. L.A. in October and you can stop by and visit your brother while you’re at it.” Castiel beams at him. “That gives us nine months of preparation.”

Us.

“O-okay.”

“Okay. It’s a plan.”

A plan.

Dean decides to go out on a limb, wanting to check to see if Castiel means what he thinks he means. “So, you’re going to help me?”

“Help you? Psssh.” Castiel puts his phone away and winks. “I’m going to be your official taste tester.”

“Oh, you think so?”

“Yup.”

“And what exactly do I get out of this situation?”

“Other than my excellent taste testing skills?” Castiel’s smile freezes before dropping a notch or two. "My company?"

The way he says it, like he's suddenly very unsure of himself, breaks Dean's heart.

He reaches over for Castiel's hand now that it's free again, pulling it towards him so their intertwined hands can rest in the center of the table. "I'd say that's more than enough."

"Yeah?"

"Yes." Dean takes a deep breath to steady himself. "And Cas?"

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering if maybe you'd-" Dean pauses, looking away from that gorgeous face and bright blue eyes in case he's rejected. "I was wondering if maybe you'd consider going on a real date with me sometime? Like… ya know.. for real."

The pause that follows is so long that Dean is sure Castiel is going to say no but when he takes a chance and looks at Castiel again, Castiel is grinning. He nods enthusiastically as their eyes meet. "I'd love that. Can we count this as our first date though? Because I am terrible when it comes to first dates and this is already going so well."

Dean laughs in relief. "Sure.”

“Perfect.” Castiel pauses, raising an eyebrow at him. “You’re not just dating me for the discount on coffee and donuts, are you?”

The question is clearly teasing but there’s the slightest undertone of panic beneath it, as if Castiel can’t understand why Dean would genuinely like him.

That will be something Dean fixes. He doesn’t care how long it takes.

“No, Cas. I don’t give a shit about the coffee and donuts.” He leans forward and looks Castiel directly in the eyes. “Considering it’s 3 a.m., do you really think I’m coming to the station for coffee and donuts anymore? I usually eat half the donut, wash it down with a sip of the coffee – which is decaf, in case you were wondering – and then crash into bed thinking about the cute boy at the gas station.”

Castiel seems to puff up. “Really?”

“Really.”

“All this time?”

“Mhhm.” Dean’s smile fades as he turns serious. “The first time I came to the station was after a homicide. A man killed his wife. I’d been to their house twice before because of neighbors calling in the domestic abuse but the woman… no matter what we tried, she never pressed charges against him. Always took him back. Walking into that house that night and seeing her – shit, seeing her on the floor like that. It… wrecked me. I couldn’t get myself to go home after that. Just kept driving around. When I saw the station, I decided to stop on a whim. But then there you were, humming along to the song on the overhead radio as you arranged the candy display, and I was hooked.”

With a shake of his head, Castiel mutters, “That’s not true. That – you’re not serious.”

“It was a Tuesday. Winter. One of those nights where the air is crisp but warm so every inhale is relieved, not pained. I had to go to the station to change out of my uniform and into civilian clothes because I had blood on my shirt and it became part of evidence. I was in jeans and a ratty old flannel. It was the worst night of my career to this day, and one of the worst nights of my life.” Dean closes his eyes, letting his smile grow as he pictures the scene before him. “It was a Taylor Swift song and you were into it. Like, humming under your breath, shaking your ass, bobbing your head, into it. You had no idea I was even there. It was so… happy. You were just radiating this joy even thought it was the middle of the night and I doubted you were enjoying the fact that you were awake and working at a gas station. There was just something so freeing about you. I only used the bathroom because you were distracted and I didn’t want to pull you out of it, but the next night I came back in my uniform right when my shift ended and bought my first ever coffee and donut from you. And you-”

“Laughed and said, ‘a cop buying coffee and a donut?’ Is it your life mission to become a cliché?’” Castiel finishes, his voice taking on the same tone as it did two years ago. He smiles at Dean in wonder. “I was very proud of myself for that, by the way. I was so flustered because you were gorgeous, and I just knew I was going to say something stupid. When that came out instead, I was stoked.”

“Don’t worry, I figured out pretty quick it was a fluke.”

Castiel’s jaw drops. “Hey, now!”

“I’m just speaking the truth! You’re a god damn mess. Always dropping shit and stuttering and blushing.” Dean takes Castiel’s hand in his and smiles fondly. “It’s okay, though. I love that.”

After staring at Dean for a few seconds, Castiel shakes his head. “I can’t believe it. All this time…”

“Yeah, Cas.” Dean pushes forward, leaning across the table so his lips ghost against Castiel’s. “All this time.”

#14 days of destiel valentines #valentines day #destiel #fluff #cute #first date #prompt fill #better late than never #day 1 #cop dean #gas station worker cas #mutual pining

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coneygoil · 5 years

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The Home We Built Together, part 22

Two young Vikings. An arranged marriage. Hiccup always wanted to win the girl of his dreams, but not like this. Now he and Astrid must learn to live together and maybe one day, learn to love…

It was strange how an unexpected turn of events could bring two people closer together. When Hiccup imagined Astrid discovering he’d sided with the enemy, he hoped she’d understand and hear him out. He could hope all he wanted, but in all honesty, he expected her to be a ball full of rage and come slicing with her axe. Thankfully, the former happened and somehow, this crazy friendship with a dragon had brought him and his wife closer than ever.

Maybe it was the comradery of keeping an earthshaking secret between them. Maybe Astrid changing her attitude towards dragons had opened a door inside her to let Hiccup walk in further than he’d ever been. Whatever it was that had changed, Hiccup was enjoying every second of it.

He glanced at Astrid from the corner of his eye as they strolled through the village hand-in-hand. She insisted on walked him to the forge every morning instead of saying goodbye at the front door of their home. There were still traces of awkwardness between, unsure moments of bridled affections. Those moments were becoming less.

“Are you asking him today?” Astrid inquired as they approached the forge.

“Yeah.” They stopped at entrance their hands still intertwined. Hiccup sucked in a deep breath. “Are you ready for this if Gobber says yes?”

Astrid pressed her lips into a thin line, her gaze wandering before bringing it back to Hiccup’s face. “I’ve seen what you’ve accomplished, Hiccup. I know you can do this.” Her free hand cupped his shoulder, reassuringly. “We can do this.”

Hiccup beamed at her. Toothless trusted him. Astrid trusted him. Someone finally had faith in him.

Astrid tugged him to her, planting a kiss on his cheek. “Now, go to work!” She laughed, pushing him into the forge and jogged off.

Hiccup knew he’d never tire of the lightness rising in his chest as he watched her leave.

“Lookit ye two lovebirds.”

Hiccup jumped. “Ahh! Gobber! What’re you doing watching on us?”

“Ah, don’t get your knickers tied in a knot, lad. It’s not like you two were trying to hide your affections. It’s good to see you two falling in love.”

Hiccup’s eyes bugged and he nearly choked on his own saliva. Love? He’d been in love with Astrid long before this whole marriage ever existed. At least, he thought he was in love, but he’d come to realize his affection during that season of his life was projected onto an idea of who he thought Astrid was. Strong. Level-headed. An aspiring warrior. Well-renowned for what she was doing right. It also helped that she was incredibly attractive.

The way he viewed her had changed. He knew he loved her still, though it wasn’t as clear and to the point anymore. But the real question was, did she love him?

It was obvious she’d developed a fondness for him. She wouldn’t subject her lips to touch his or allow him to hold her in their bed if she didn’t share the same affection. She enjoyed his company. He’d never heard the ring of her laughter until they’d grown close, and he wished to hear it for the rest of his (most likely, short) life. She seemed content, but was Astrid really falling in love with him? Entertaining the very thought sent Hiccup’s mind reeling.

Hiccup pushed aside the massive revelation and focused on the task at hand. “Hey Gobber, who takes care of feeding the training dragons?”

Tinking tap noises filled the forge as Gobber flattened out a door hinge. “You’re looking at him.”

Hiccup nodded, scanning through the inventory pile of the day. “Me and Astrid were discussing taking on more responsibilities and thought maybe…feeding the training dragons could be one of them.” He pulled out a shield that needed some bolts replaced. When he turned around, he nearly jumped out his skin at the sight of Gobber right behind him, smiling widely.

“Exceeding at dragon training, taking on responsibilities, proving that you could be Chief material.” Gobber wiped a single tear from his eye. “I knew you had it in you.”

“Uh…thanks—” this was turning out to be the most awkward conversation he’d ever had with Gobber, and that was saying a lot. Hiccup diverted off this unexpected (and uncomfortable) ride to get back to the point. “So, where do you get the food for the dragons?”

“I mostly use the rejected fish from the daily catches. They’re put in a barrel on the docks.”

“Wait, that’s all you feed them? Rejected fish?”

“Basically.”

“Why aren’t you feeding them the food they need?”

“What’s the point, lad? They’re going te die anyway sooner or later.”

A chill crept down Hiccup’s spine at Gobber’s haunting words. He knew the training dragons would be killed one day, whether during a training lesson or euthanized, but that known knowledge didn’t make it any less horrifying. His thoughts zeroed in on Toothless and how he’d taken care of him the last few weeks. Hiccup made sure the Night Fury had everything he needed, not only food but affection and companionship. Those poor dragons locked away in the cages were underfed, lonely, and afraid. Hiccup was determined to change that. He would save those dragons from their ultimate fate.

***

Toothless grumbled as he dived down to scoop up another mouthful of fish. Hiccup patted his friend’s neck. “Oh, come one, bud. You’re doing some extra fishing for a good cause.”

The next morning before the sun had awoken, Hiccup and Astrid left for the arena to begin training the dragons without the prying eyes of the other villagers. It was a risky move, training the dragons with a chance of others catching them. But the arena was a fair distance from the early morning activities of the village. Maybe they had a shot at this without getting caught.

Hiccup stood in the middle of the arena floor sweeping his gaze back and forth, lost in thought. He had to choose wisely which dragon to earn trust from first. The Gronkle was smaller than the rest of the dragons (besides the Terrible Terror), and maybe it could be easily won over by a pile of tasty rocks.

Something kept pulling Hiccup to the Monstrous Nightmare. If he could earn the trust of the most dangerous dragon then the other dragons would likely follow. Taking a deep breath, Hiccup squared his shoulders in determination and strode to the Nightmare’s cage.

“You’re starting with the Monstrous Nightmare?” the voice of reason floated from the back of him. He glanced over his shoulder to find Astrid looking positively aghast. “Do you have a death wish?”

“You trusted me this far, Astrid,” Hiccup pointed out.

Astrid stepped up to him and poked him in the chest. “You’re right, but don’t make me have to bring you back from the dead just so I can kill you for making me a widow.”

He snatched her finger and pushed it back towards her with a grin. “Have I told you I enjoy your heartwarming encouragement?”

Astrid’s eyes flew skywards. “Just go already.”

The playful banter had eased the nerves that were building in his stomach. Hiccup wondered if Astrid sassed him on purpose to help with that. He turned back to the present task: training the Monstrous Nightmare.

On the cage door was a smaller door that swung out. Hiccup unlatched the door and immediately ducked as a flaming stream shot through the opening.

“Hiccup!” Astrid yelled, ready to run to his aid.

“I’m okay!” He got back to his feet and grabbed a fish from the basket nearby. “Hey, big guy,” he greeted with an air of friendliness, “I’m not here to hurt you. I want to be your friend.”

Hiccup stuck the fish in view of the opening. When no more fiery blasts flew through, he peeked his head up. The Monstrous Nightmare stood several feet away, watching him with sharp, cautious eyes. His nostrils flared causing a dusty cloud to stir up at his front feet.

“Are you hungry?” Hiccup kept his tone light. He stuck the fish further into the opening. “Do you like cod? It’s much tastier than those sad little herrings you were being fed.”

The Nightmare snarled and shifted closer.

“There you go,” Hiccup encouraged, emphasizing the fish with a shake to draw the dragon nearer.

When the Nightmare had drawn close enough, Hiccup tossed the fish his way. The clamp of the dragon’s jaws echoed off the stone walls. Hiccup smiled when the Nightmare looked at him expectantly for more.

“Astrid, go raise the lever.”

Raising the lever meant releasing the dragon. Releasing the dragon meant risking being flame broiled.

The playful exchange from a few minutes earlier had completely fled as a tinge of worry shaded Astrid’s words. “Are you sure?”

He’d faced certain death at the mercy of a dragon who should have taken his life with the snap of the jaws. But he was still alive and whole and that dragon was considered his friend. Hiccup couldn’t guarantee that the Monstrous Nightmare would take the same path, but he had to try.

He met Astrid’s concerned gaze. “If this goes wrong, promise me you’ll take care of Toothless.”

“That’s not comforting, Hiccup.” The edge in her voice was evident, but Astrid wasn’t making an attempt to stop him. “Of course, I’ll take care of Toothless.” Squeezing his shoulder, she added, “But promise me, I won’t have to.”

He couldn’t. No simple promise could keep a fierce and angry dragon at bay. No promise could shield him from the fiery blasts Nightmares were known for. Hiccup offered a tight-lipped smile that couldn’t convince a fish it lived in water. Astrid moved to fulfil his request and in a minute’s time she was on the rocky ledge hovering over the lever.

Hiccup backed up at what he prayed was a safe distance. Filling his lungs with a calming breath, he nodded at Astrid. The massive wooden peg lifted, and the cage doors swung open to reveal the frightening dragon that was adequately named for haunting nightmares.

The Monstrous Nightmare loomed ominously, puffing smoke, the orange eerie glow of its eyes staring right through Hiccup. Hiccup expected more of a reaction, for the dragon to rampage out on fire. But it remained calm as it glared sharply at him.

Hiccup had planned to take the affable approach; to show the Nightmare that he wanted to be his friend, throw in some lighthearted conversation like he had a minute ago when he offered the fish.

That planned changed the moment the cage door opened.

The Nightmare approached, it’s terrifying claws scraping the ground and head dipped into a strike position. Hiccup stayed planted in his spot a few feet away from the creature that could be his demise. The Nightmare’s hot breath blew over him.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” Hiccup reassured, and with every fiber in his being, he spoke the words that he had resolved to in his mind for weeks, “I’m not one of them.”

The Nightmare gurgled curiously, blinking its orange eyes.

Hiccup held his palm out in front of him and with one decisive step, his skin made contact with dragon scales. He hadn’t realized how fast his heart had been pumping. His face split into a relieved and overjoyed smile as the dragon’s nose pressed firmer against his palm.

His gaze flicked up to find Astrid. Both hands covered her mouth, her eyes round in shock and awe. He nodded at her in silent agreement and she returned the gesture.

Their crazy plan to train dragons may work after all.

tags: @martabm90 @chiefhiccstrid @lauracalabresi @drchee5e @celtictreemuffin

#httyd fanfiction #hiccstrid #arranged marriage au #the home we built together

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blankdblank · 5 years

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Anaticula Pt 33

Pt 1 - Pt 2 - Pt 3 - Pt 4 - Pt 5 - Pt 6 - Pt 7 - Pt 8 - Pt 9 - Pt 10 - Pt 11 - Pt 12 - Pt 13 - Pt 14 - Pt 15 - Pt 16 - Pt 17 - Pt 18 - Pt 19 - Pt 20 - Pt 21 - Pt 21b - Pt 22 - Pt 23 - Pt 24 - Pt 25 - Pt 26 - Pt 27 - Pt 28 - Pt 29 - Pt 30 - Pt 31 -

- Ok, naming this one 33 because i accidentally named two chapters 22, and to fix it all would be too exhausting for me, so continuing the Triwizard Year, hope you enjoy it. :D -

...

You barely had six hours until breakfast and with your lovely nap you dressed in the sweater on the top of your pile tugging it to rest over your worn jeans covering your boots and tall socks coated in Nifflers. Bag slung over your shoulder shifting in each step as you drew your hair back out of your face into a tall ponytail only to pause for a moment at the Gryffindor first years whispering about your being asked to the Ball.

Fred, “That didn’t take long.”

“How the hell-,”

Cedric glanced at you, “You got asked already?”

“Bryt asked me but I didn’t say yes.”

George, “School seems to think otherwise.”

Rolling your eyes you sighed and turned to head to the Great Hall catching a trio of Beauxbaton girls scowling at you in their hurried walk into the hall to choose the table farthest from yours. Sighing deeply you moved to your table catching the smirk on Alastor’s face contrasting Snape’s puzzled expression hearing the whispers while Barty Jr stared at you with chin planted in his palm trying to work it all out himself.

Whispers rippled quickly and on their own way to sit by their chosen partners the Krum brothers froze and asked those in their year speaking the most English for a translation of the gossip seeming so interesting to your classmates. “They’re saying Miss Black got asked to the Ball already.”

Sebastian’s grin dropped and Krum asked, “It was barely announced last night. Surely it must be a mistake. They can’t possibly be pairing up this early when it isn’t until Christmas.”

Sebastian shook his head, “Asked or not, I have months to change her mind. Find out who it was. Show that I am the better match.”

Viktor nodded patting his hand on his brother’s back alongside their friends who all continued onto the Great Hall. Straight to Hermione however he hurried, finding her thankfully by Angelina and Alicia instead of the guys, a grin eased onto his face and over the morning juice he managed to ask her right then, not willing to risk losing the chance.

Taking the spot by you, Sebastian held his grin and asked you, “Sleep well?”

Your head tilted, “Other than the gap for Ghoul Studies ya. You?”

He nodded watching as your finger trailed around the rim of your glass filling it with juice, “Yes. It is a good dorm. Nice beds, good view. You should come and see it sometime. We have all our best posters up and our brooms on display in the common room” after a pause he asked, “Even with our games being canceled this year would your pitch be off limits for training still?”

Lowering your glass from a sip you swallowed and said, “That was something I wanted to ask you about.” Making his brow inch up in your plotting smirk as you reached into your bag on your lap to pull out the folded quidditch chart, “How would you like to build some bridges?”

The guys all leaned in peering on at the schedule you had made with growing grins, giving them a wave after assigning their ranked house teams to fill in their spaces before you moved over to let Fleur take the spot beside you curious of your note as well. A grin eased across her lips and in a quick huddle all the Beaxs had eyed the copy you had made them and agreed to the two game a weekend schedule. Leaving your bag in your seat you walked over to the Professor’s table drawing their gaze from their plates with the Krums and Fleur behind you. A quick grin flashed across your face and Dumbledore inched up in his seat dapping his mouth with his napkin, “Miss Black, something wrong?”

“Not really. In fact we have a proposition.”

“Hmm, do tell.”

You passed him a copy of the chart and said, “We would like to play this year. All the teams, for all three schools. The games are set up and we all agree. Why leave the other students to just cheering on three of us when we could all benefit from a Tournament of our own.”

In looking at the chart Minerva said, “It certainly is a possible source of mutual entertainment.”

Dumbledore looked up at you, “Quidditch could very well be the thing to lace us all together. It is an admirable schedule and I accept the notion.” You all grinned and he said, “I will inform their Headmasters and leave the workout schedules to your captains.” You nodded and turned to take your seats seeing him stand and move further down the table to pass around it greeting the entering headmasters and share the news stirring smirks of their own.

Returning to his seat in seeing that you were all in the Hall now he stood clearing his throat, “Good morning students. If I might trouble you for a moment.” The hall fell silent in looking at him, “It has come to my attention that in the aftermath of our canceling Quidditch for this year just how dividing that could possibly be, a new timetable has been made and no doubt will be added to the afternoon papers, including the teams from our visiting schools. That is all.” When he sat again you shook your copy that multiplied and flew off in airplanes that unfolded for the other house teams with a copy for each Beax and Durm team as well.

Ron, “Two games a week!”

Hermione leaned over the table to steal a glance impressed at the time chart while Oliver beamed knowing his last year would be the best as he could play against the best, already mentally working out the training schedule in his head to check with the other teams later.

In all this however your eyes kept wandering to the same trio of Beauxbaton teens scowling at you through the elated chattering from the Slytherin table drawing more than a few glances your way.

In focusing on your classes and helping the teams to mesh their workouts on the one pitch before the first set of games the next weekend after this one you would be met randomly by Sebastian and Fleur. The older teens marveling at your workload, while theirs left them ample time to explore and relax at their leisure.

Friday had come and nearly gone into a third lunch with your ever changing table of friends all skating around the lingering topic of why you were asked so early to the Ball when it seemed that no one else known to be single had been snapped up so quickly. Once Double Charms was through you took your break and paused on your way from RoR passing the same scowling trio making you turn and head for Barty’s classroom to see if he could help you figure it out.

Out of nowhere Bryt walks up to you in Barty’s doorway making his head tilt slightly in his inching closer with Snape and Alastor not far behind from their conference, “Jaqi.” He wet his lips anxiously, “Well, Mum says I should just be honest, so here’s the dill.” He said with a sigh making your brow inch up through the far from subtle lean of a group of Durmstrangs through an opening of a courtyard to listen in, “Now my Gran is friends with Evangelinne’s Gran. And we’ve been friends since infants, and her Mum and mine both heard about the Ball and hoped for another picture of us. But see, when she heard about the Ball she’d already expected she’d go with me, knowing I’d pick a silver tux so she could wear cucumber green. But now she’s heard that I asked you and that really hurt her feelings and it took me a good day and a half for her to even talk to me again so, will you?”

Holding back from shaking your head you asked, “Will I what?”

“Will you not go with me to the Ball?” In his pleading grin at you a nod came from you and he darted off, “Thank you! I’ll invite you to our wedding!”

Shaking your head you walked into the classroom through the open mouthed Professors glancing from Bryt’s path to the group of Durmstrangs darting away. Following you inside Alastor teased, “I don’t think I’ve seen that boy draw breath once since I got here.”

Snape, “I think he’s mutated above the need for it.” He rubbed your back seeing your head on the desk as you groaned into your bag you’d set on it, “Are you alright?”

You raised your head and shrugged, “Well, seeing as when he asked me to go my answer was ‘um’ and somehow in that the whole school knew overnight, and then I had Sebastian giving me crying puppy eyes over the fact he’d missed asking me, when I hadn’t actually accepted the offer in the first place-!”

You groaned and set your hands on the desk looking to Barty who said, “You are a catch Love. Besides, I bet-,” his eyes rose to the doorway seeing Sebastian slide into a stop making him pat your hand and say in a forced seemingly teacher voice, “And if you have any more questions about that extra credit, just let us know.” Passing you a blank slip of paper now reading ‘Turn Around.’

Turning around you were subtly motioned out of the room to approach Sebastian who asked offering his elbow, asking in thickly accented English, “Would you like an escort to lunch?”

You folded your hand around it in shouldering your bag, “Thank you.”

Not two steps later Sebastian asked seeing a group of male teenagers approaching from further down the hall, “I was wondering if you would allow me to escort you to the Ball.”

“Oh-,”

His brows furrowed for a moment, “Oh? Someone asked you? Already?!” a look of panic flashed in his eyes when he turned to you missing the teachers leaning out the doorway watching you.

“No.”

He nodded, “No, no one asked you, or no you will not go?”

“No, I,” raising your hands you covered your face for a moment for a deep inhale and exhale before you lowered and settled them on his biceps making him smirk through a spreading blush, “No, I have not agreed to go with anyone, though Bryt did ask and then un-ask me. Anyways, I would love to go with you.”

He nodded then motioned you forward, “We should eat.” You nodded and walked with him and he asked, “How did this Bryt ask you so quickly? Do you share a common room?”

“Oh, no he caught me on our way to Ghouls Studies that night after dinner.”

“How did he ask to make you say yes?”

“I didn’t,” he looked at you, “Say yes. My exact answer was ‘um.”

“Um?”

You nodded, “Yup.”

“Then why did he-,”

You shook your head and shrugged, “Your guess is as good as mine. But he’s going with a girl from Beauxbatons now so no worries there.”

“Let us all hope she did not just say um.” Making you giggle widening his smile.

Finishing your courses out you found your way back to your dorm to head off to sleep. Though it was Gryffindor’s time for practicing in the pitch in the morning you were still, once breakfast and your Arithmacy course was through, would be off to do some laps both around and across Black Lake.

A quick change from your usual clothes had you in shorts and a sleeveless Puff jersey over your converse joining the full team in their own workout gear and jerseys for the easy start to your year of training to hopefully keep you up to standard against the visiting teams. Curiously the crowd of varied languages swirled around you with news rippling of your group headed out for a stroll to the Lake. Through the courtyards and exits the curious visitors all watched your stop under the tree for a quick few moments of stretching followed by your lining up to jolt off parting lips at the pace you began in.

Lap after lap past the random appearance of a few fire crabs in your paths you held your pace and positions for the twelve laps, ending back at the tree where you all removed your shoes and socks then turned back to the frigid lake stirring grumbles and groans that died the deeper you got to start your laps across the lake. Two full laps across and back again had the other students leaving while you and the twins pulled lists from your sneakers of plants and supplies in the lake you had been asked to fetch for the other Professors and Madame Pomfrey you clarified. Pulling a jar out the twins both drew out a swirl of gillyweed only to look up at Sebastian in his approach with a spreading grin.

“Tired?”

You shook your head, “No. Cushion start for the practices this year, just to warm us back up to the usual.”

His eyes lowered to the jar, “What is that?”

“Gillyweed.” Fred and George answered.

He looked to you, “We were asked to fetch some things for the Professors.”

George offered him the jar, “Care to join us?”

Sebastian quickly removed his boots and socks he left with his jacket waving his wand he drew over his clothes swapping them for a tank top and shorts. In a subtle flex of his arms he reached in and drew out a swirl he eased into his mouth and chewed it following you all into the water wondering if he had missed you eating your swirl of the disgusting plant he just swallowed after the terrible task of chewing the slimy swirl.

Under the surface he joined you trying to rein in his struggle to breathe that eased greatly when he sunk deeper at the forming of his gills. A turn of his head brought you into his sights with lips parting as a silvery blue tail sprouted under your shorts now turned into a mini skirt. Smirking in following after you he swam deeper into the water taking in all he could on the path listening to your description of each plant you passed and their uses explaining why you had to gather them. Lastly a huge supply of pearls were gathered and through his distant inspection of your curious Giant Squid he continued to swim after you towards the surface feeling himself shifting back. On the surface again you watched their coughing stroll up to the shore while you wiggled your legs completing your shift back along with the mending of your shorts from their skirt form.

Up to lunch after you had dried off with your wands you strolled through the castle passing off the collected items then you turned to head down to your dorm with Sebastian grinning in his stream of questions at all you were passing. The maze of halls in the dungeons especially interesting to him while you passed so easily through the maze complete with shifting walls and traps you had left one another in the continued battle with Slytherin at the opposite end. A wall of barrels puzzled him completely until he saw Fred knocking on one that opened revealing the door you passed through. Open mouthed he took in the homey common room packed with odd plants and random small creatures including a napping mooncalf curled up in a basket along the wall. Down the hall he followed you and inspected your portion of the shared dorm while you took your clothes from earlier into the bath to change.

Inching closer however he eyed the tail dangling from the hammock above your bed that pulled back out of his sight at the opening of the bath door. Pointing at the hammock he asked, “What-?” Looking up at it again his brows furrowed and he stepped to the side peering up at it only to look back at you when you moved past him to add your jersey and shorts to the basket of dirty clothes.

“The hammock is from a Nundu cub I was asked to take care of.”

“There was a tail.”

You nodded, “That would be Opal. She’s a bit skittish around new people.”

He nodded and glanced up at it again only for Fred to pat his back, “No worries, you’re bound to see her eventually.”

Realizing the time Sebastian held his place by your side for an escort out stealing brushes of his fingers across the sleeve of your grey sweater trying to build up the nerve to just grab your hand only to leave your side to join his brother for their own set of classes. In a trot you three went to join Cedric and the team for a session with Oliver and his team who had managed to gather up as much info on their teams as possible to strategize. Even on opposing teams it was a matter of school rivalry as well, and even in a less strenuous in structure compared to theirs, for which they were required to be in strict uniforms and follow daily stops for house meetings as well, you were determined to show you were no less skilled than they were.

Around the fireplace of the common room in a nightly smore party one of your first years peered at you curiously then asked you, “Is there a hex on the Southern Study Hall?”

With lips parted for a moment you shook your head, “No.”

He nodded then added, “Well I heard as a Morpher you can see things we can’t, and I’ve seen you avoiding it, even when everyone else goes in to look at the Goblet of Fire. And I just got curious.”

All eyes looked to you realizing they had noticed the same and had dismissed it, inhaling sharply you shifted your fingers around your still too hot to eat smore, “I, um, had a dream about it.”

“The hall?”

You shook your head, “No, the Goblet, it was an odd dream, more of a feeling really, just that it’s going to be hexed. And usually if things have been hexed I tend to be around them when it happens.”

Another girl asked, “So you’re hoping to avoid it?”

You nodded, “I doubt it would work like that, but still doesn’t hurt to try I suppose.”

The first year asked, “So you aren’t entering?”

“I won’t be seventeen till April.”

He nodded then looked around the room asking, “Who is entering?”

A few scattered sixth years and seventh years including Cedric raised their hands and you all nodded knowing each of them were extremely talented and in a great spot to represent the school if chosen.

By weeks end all of Beauxbatons old enough to compete entered along with most of Durmstrang between their courses. From Hogwarts as your dream rippled around through the houses only a few had entered publicly. Angelina from Gryffindor had done so already along with Cassius Warrington from Slytherin. The Age Line however was deemed a challenge possibly bested by a small brave few. S. Fawcett from Ravenclaw and Summers out of Puff had tried both being shot out of the line with full beards and white long hair sending them for those they knew to be the best in reversing jinxes to right the blunder quickly.

Alongside Hermione at her own request you sat chatting over a textbook she was using as cover to ask you for possible tips on topics to use with Viktor, who had agreed to help her practice her limited vocabulary in Bulgarian.

The open doors filled with chatter while you saw Cedric fresh from a meeting with the Puff paper, all of whom had joined him in approaching the Goblet. In an assuring nod from you he chuckled and stepped through the line drawing cheers, through which he stepped closer to add his slip of paper with his name and school on it into the flames that pulsed a brighter blue then dimmed again in his path out of the circle again.

Through the doors the twins hurry in cheering and waving the vials in their hands.

“Cooked it up this morning.” Under your breath you chuckled and rested your bent arms on your knees with your feet rocking on the edge of the bench in front of you in the tiered bleachers.

Hermione, “It’s not going to work.” With grins they climbed over the first bench and crouched behind her both sending you subtle winks.

Twins, “Really, and why is that Granger?”

Hermione, “You see that? That is an Age line. Dumbledore cast it himself, it’s hard to believe that it could be fooled by something as pathetically dimwitted as an Aging Potion.”

Fred, “That’s why it’s so clever.” Climbing down they approached the Goblet.

George, “Because it’s so pathetically dimwitted.” They both stand outside the line shaking the vials, “Ready Fred?”

Fred, “Ready George.”

They link arms shaking the vials they uncorked, both saying, “Bottoms up,” downing the potions before hopping through the line. Cheers sound through the hall, “Ready?” toss their slips of paper into the goblet that lit on fire in a burst of light knocking them out of the line before they began to wrestle over their now white hair, mustache and beard.

Giggling to yourself you caught their narrowed gazes at the Goblet, hoping that one of them could have been able to enter so that if you were right and you would get sucked into this somehow they could have been there with you. Propping your chin in your palm your eyes turned to the doorway, through which the Krums and their group of friends strolled through passed the Twins, who stood and tapped their wands to their chins reversing the jinx silently. In stolen smirks sent your way the Krum brothers both looked you and Hermione over in dropping their names into the fire before turning to head back to their next courses down the hall.

In his turn however your eyes locked with Karkaroff’s and your free hand subtly clenched around your thigh out of his sight remembering the warning you had gotten from your father, uncle and Remus to steer clear of being alone with him fully supported by Barty and Alastor. The latter pair alongside Snape made it their mission to keep him off your trail ensuring he couldn’t do anything to harm you.

…

Daily each Quidditch team had agreed to the training schedule for as far as the pitch went, outside of that your paths blended in your stolen training sessions that brought more and more attention each time with all of you trying to rank the other as far as who would win in the first set of matches coming up.

Finally in your own first training on the pitch the stands were full as in the buildup of tension had risen once the visiting schools had traced back your team’s progress through the copies of the papers in the library you clearly were the best with near straight House Cup wins since your first year. Having meant to have won on points alone until Ravenclaw stole it away two years in a row just barely when penalty points were factored in. In a firm dominating practice up against high soaring dummies you broke off your summer month dust falling back into your groove as a team showing that even in the simple maneuvers and basic try for a practice match to forty points in your secured time you were a team to be reckoned with.

Clearly up against you it would be a hard won victory yet the cocky brothers both on D1 team met up with you in your stroll back to the castle, with Sebastian and the other Durmstrang boys all still near to drooling since you strolled into breakfast in your Quidditch uniform. Just the image alone was appealing and after your practice with skill to match the position you had claimed made you all the more appealing.

Looking you over Sebastian said, “Our team is up first this Saturday.”

You nodded and grinned up at him, “Yes, I heard B1 is missing their usual Thief so you should have a great shot for the goals.”

Smirking at you he all but purred at you, “You will be cheering for us then?”

“I suppose so. Unless you’d rather I cheer for powder blue?” Teasingly you asked making his arm reach out to drape across your shoulders under your braided ponytail.

“No. Cheer for gold and green.” Making you smirk up at him settling against his side, “We share gold,” leaning in he said, “It is destiny why cheer for blue? Plus, out of all the teams we will go easiest on you. No need in dominating all four of your houses.”

Giggling under his arm your smirk mirrored those of your team as you reached over patting your hand on his chest, “That is a very kind offer, we will see just how long you are offering it but still, thank you all the same.” In a quick peck on his cheek you caught his face light up in a deep blush and you pulled out of his hold to turn to your dorm to change while he was joining his classmates up to one of their classes, “Enjoy your class, see you at lunch.”

In your glance back at him he nodded and you giggled at the closing of your team around you with sleeveless team robes billowing behind you in your path down the hall leaving him staring after you for a moment before turning to their class.

…

In the hushed halls of the school while all were in class in the early morning hours a stolen moment in the Southern Study Hall brought on the beginnings of a sinister plan that went unnoticed. Lunch stirred an unsettling clench in your stomach shared by Professor Trelawney floors above you who started to consult her crystal ball in hopes of understanding what or who was coming the school’s way.

But answers were far from helpful and in your place with your Bulgarian shadow sliding into your right side again opposite Fleur on your left you were far from able to try and meditate opening yourself up to any vision that might help to uncover what was coming. Especially when the papers arrived and Sebastian grinned widely seeing your peck on his cheek having been captured by one of the school photographers. In a glance over your shoulder Draco subtly motioned it was being added to the family scrapbooks making you giggle to yourself and turn back to your meal as Sebastian folded and pocketed his copy of the paper in a grin at you.

Saturday brought with it a divided school with breakfast dividing alliances to separate tables sporting the colors of which team they represented. Across the room you eyed your supposed rival for Bryt’s arm to the Ball, Evangelinne who was a Beater for B1’s team. Reluctantly Fleur sat in support of her own school, her worry was short lived as in the path to the pitch for the game you snuck a moment at her side comforting her in saying there was no hard feelings in the school rivalry, and alliances would shift the next day either way.

A stolen kiss on your knuckles later and the Krums were off leaving you to have your arm coiled up with Hermione’s in your shared path to your seats. Anxiously you sat running your fingers through your loose curls laying over your back to hide Opal, who was climbing out the neck of George’s sweater and strolled across his shoulder to yours curling up there excited to hear the match commentated by Lee Jordan, who like the other boys seemed torn between their admiration of the Krums and the Beauxbaton team, of which Evangelinne played professionally for France as well.

The chilly air blew right through you until you settled into your seats, all of you together working as living heaters making it more tolerable. A flash of red whizzed by and on their red Nimbuses D1 raced around the pitch and took their place relaxing at the cheers sounding around them. A flash of blue brought cheers from the opposing side of the pitch with B1 entering on blue Nimbuses. Hermione beside you asked, “How do they get colored brooms?”

You shrugged and replied, “Not sure. Might be special issued from their shops in their countries, special order probably.”

Back and forth in an explosion of cheers the game was neck and neck until Viktor soared off towards the ground and captured the snitch inches from crashing bringing a wave of cheers back again. Filing out again when you hoped you had time to take Opal back to your dorm. Right outside the pitch however an arm draped around your back and in a bubbly chuckle Sebastian asked, “There you are!”

At your side however in a familiar tail coiling up to the neck of your sweater his eyes dropped and when your hand covered his mouth they snapped up to yours catching your quick grin, “Shh.”

Your hand lowered and he whispered, “Is that a dragon?”

“Opal.” His eyes met yours again and his lips parted, “She was blinded as a hatchling.”

“The school knows you have her?”

“Unofficially, yes. She’s supposed to stay in my dorm this year to keep out of sight but she does love listening to the matches.”

He smirked easing his arm around your back to continue on again towards the victory cocoa and snacks in the Great Hall, “Your secret is safe with me.” His eyes dipped seeing her nestling under your hair widening his smirk.

All day you spent with the guys between your few classes sharing more about the creatures they had heard you encountered here. Most especially they wished to know more about Tulip only to be disappointed that this year the course on observing Tulip would not be available due to the Ministry being so involved with the school this year.

Dinner again split you up again and once your choir was over you took your usual patrolling spot and then went off to bed anxious to see how Gryffindor vs D4 would go the next day.

Harry, Katie, Dean, Ron, Angelina and Alicia joined Oliver in their stroll out to the pitch after a tense breakfast. Even with your budding relationship with Sebastian he still felt the need to support his fellow schoolmates and anxiously joined them into the stands opposite yours. Even younger and less experienced as a team with Katie and Angelina leading in the scores with Oliver’s flawless protection of the goal posts it was an easy win for them leaving the other teams stunned and curious as to how your other school teams would match up against theirs.

Pt 34

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gotstory · 5 years

Text

My 20 Year Old Idol Husband - Day 18 - I’m Fine

20 yr old Jungkook, at the top of his idol boyband career, has a secret only he & his bandmates know – An underground relationship, with you, a girl he met at a fanmeeting. Things get a little out of hand and you find out you’re pregnant.

Read: Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Day 4 / Day 5 / Day 6 / Day 7 / Day 8 / Day 9 / Day 10 / Day 11 / Day 12 / Day 13 / Day 14 / Day 15 / Day 16 / Day 17 / Day 18 /

It was a normal day for the boys as they shuffled around their studios, practicing or recording.

Namjoon in particular was getting slightly impatient.

(Last night - Namjoon)

"Alot could happen in 3 weeks."

Yoongi frowned, "couldn't she just come with us?"

Instead of waiting for Bang PD to arrive, he decided to drop him a text.

- PD nim, I have been thinking about our previous tours abroad and wondering if we can hire a billingual PR manager to come along with us for the next tour.

The reply was almost instantaneous.

- We have been thinking about it too and have someone in mind. But we found out the agency let her go and we still haven't been able to get in touch.

Namjoon took the chance and pushed for it.

- PD nim if you don't mind, I do have someone to suggest whom we have worked with during the last Europe tour. We can discuss this in detail maybe later today?

As he focused on waiting for the reply, his heart was racing a little.

Why am I being nervous about this? It's not even my girlfriend...

Just then the door of his studio shifted a little and in came Bang PD with a smile.

"Oh! PD nim! Were you already here?" quickly, a wide smile came over him as he stood to greet his boss whom he hadn't seen in some time.

As the older man sank down into the cosy grey sofa and squashed abit of the Van cushion under his weight, he spoke up in a light tone.

"Namjoon-ah, why are you bothering yourself with these matters when I've already got a whole team of staff to look into such things? It's not like you haven't got enough work on your hands."

Namjoon wasn't sure if he was being scolded for being nosy or was Bang PD trying to thank him for going beyond his scope.

He sat down and with a pressed smile, began to put forth some of his plans he had been working out in his head.

"Actually, PD nim, there's this one person we really hope to have along with us..."

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

Back in the agency where you used to be, things were running as usual. But your co-worker and bff, Fan, had been having a hard time coping with other reporters who had no interest in the music events they covered. It was mostly a touch and go approach that left her missing you, her partner in crime, even more. Days were getting tougher and she even entertained the though of leaving altogether since there was hardly anything else to look forward to.

As she packed up her stuff ready to leave for the day, her boss strolled by with a worried look.

"Hey boss, everything fine? You look like you just lost your company."

He smirked tiredly, used to her teasing. "Thankfully not. It's just that one of our Korean counterparts have been asking for Chae-rin and it was a pity I let her go. I don't even have anyone else I could send as a replacement."

At the mention of your name, she entertained some hopes of reuniting with you.

"Then just hire her back and send her over to Korea! You do know she's IN Korea right?"

Surprised at this piece of newly acquired information his brain quickly turns the numbers and realised that it clicked.

"But wait," he said, "didn't she say something about needing to rest for her health?"

Fan quickly brushed it aside, "well yeah but it's been awhile now she's probably fine. Why don't I call her for you just to... You know, see if she fancies something like that? Oh and, which company are we talking about here anyway?"

The boss ponders, "That sounds good, Fan. It's the one.... with Mr Bang and BTS."

Her breath hitches and chokes in surprise as he catches on quickly, "What's wrong? You alright?"

"Oh nothing!" she laughs, "I'm feeling just fine! I'm fine! Yea, definitely, just fine!"

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

I'm feeling just fine, fine fine...

You wake up to the sound of your new BTS alarm, it was your favourite song of the moment after seeing the elaborate choreography and how it was such a comforting yet emotional track. You look around and find a note stuck to your phone. It was neatly written and you recognised Jk's handwriting from the numerous letters he'd written over the last year.

'Noona, (they insisted I be fair and call you that) we won't be back early tonight because of the rehearsals for the tour schedule next week. If you get bored, just get a cab and let me know where you are. The hyungs and I will be at the studio so please have a good rest and eat well. Jin-hyung says he made some soup and the kitchen is yours. Please call us if you run into any trouble at all.

-JK'

Of course, it would be a surprise if these busy idols were mopping around their house in the peak of their career. You weren't even expecting to see them altogether, recalling what a feast it was last night which only showed how long it had been since they could all rest at home together in the same space.

Finally. Some time to explore the city!

You thought to yourself, slowly reading off the messages you ignored since the night before.

There were a stream of pictures and messages from your ex colleagues and friends, as well as a few from Jungkook mainly to check if you were awake yet.

Just then, your phone rang and to your surprise it was Fan. Excitedly you answered it with your croaky morning voice.

- Ahem, ah, ah. Hello!

- Oh gosh, Chaerin, sorry did I wake you up? I didn't check the time difference!

- Don't worry it's noon here. What's up? You hardly call!

- Yeah I know, it's only been like what... Less than a week since you're gone and I'm dying without you.

You laughed at her cutely exaggerated tone which you missed.

- 4 days to be exact. It's only like what, my 3rd day here? It feels like I've been gone forever though. I miss working already.

- Really? How's your... Erm... Body? Has all the... Discomfort worn off?

You pause at her overly cautious choice of words and found it strange.

- Are you with someone?

Fan smiled, knowing how sharp you were.

- Well yes, and I wanted to ask if you really MISSED WORKING WITH US SO MUCH THAT YOU WISHED YOU COULD COME BACK?

Placing deliberate emphasis on the keywords with her back facing the boss, Fan definitely knew what she was doing and wanted you to catch on it.

- You're in the office aren't you... With, let me see... At this hour, wouldn't there only be the boss left? Hang on, are you saying he wants me to come back? Oh come on...

Giving an air punch, Fan was more than excited even though there wasn't even a conclusion.

- Not just me but before you... TURN ME DOWN, I just wanted to know it might be because you're PLANNING TO SETTLE IN KOREA?

- What are you going on about, Fan? You know full well the reason why I was dragged here! of course I have to settle here with... Well, you know who! And eventually I'll have to find a job and---

Quickly, Fan cut her short and put the phone to the boss.

- OKAY OKAY! I got that I got that! Hang on yes yes!

Nervously, he took it and tried to be as casual about it as he could. Unknown to you, there was actually a huge sum of money behind the contractual agreement which BigHit had offered. One that made it harder and harder for him to turn down or ignore. He knew the ball was not in his court and he had to get you back no matter what it took.

After half an hour of lengthy explanations and persuasion, you finally got the full picture.

- So, boss, ah... I mean, erm John, you're telling me the Korean agency we worked with, wants you to post me there as a permanent PR manager for them, while you manage the press at the Europe office, is that it?

- Yes, that's exactly what it is but of course, I'd have to hire you in order for that to happen.

It sounded like a good plan that would help keep your time occupied with income while you got a legitimate work pass to be in Korea as how you needed to. Only thing was letting them know, you'd soon be needing to use some maternity leave and that could potentially cause issues.

- But there are so many PR managers in Korea, why us and why me in particular?

- Beats me! but I know you've always outshone in your abilities and it doesn't surprise me if you were headhunted directly by them. It's just that they probably didn't know you had left the country and man, their staff are so persistent! There were a couple of mails I missed around the time you left which I ignored, since well, you left, but they've called me countless of times this morning as if they can't even wait an hour longer for me to disclose your details. But I told them I'd have to speak with you first. You know, PDPA can be a real bitch these days...

It was true.

Personal data protection was such a sticky issue that never let anyone in this media line rest. Of course, it didn't make any business sense for the boss to let another agency poach his ex-staff when he could possibly leverage on it. Anyone would. But you still didn't get it - why you?

- Before we go on, Mr John, which agency is this that has put forth such a strange request?

As if haunted by the thought, he sighed and sank into a chair.

- Apparently they said the leader made a direct request this morning for it and it became urgent. Remember the boyband you covered at your first stint? What was it again...

He motioned to Fan asking for the name of the band and she quickly showed him her Season's Greeting calendar with the 7 smiley boys.

- BTS. That's right. The Bangtan Boys.

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

The day whizzed by and you were completely caught in the flurry of calls, and emails you thought you never had to open again.

In a matter of hours, you had set up your laptop and found a small empty area where you could sit comfortably and wasn't occupied by one of the boy's laundry or gadgets.

The call had ended abruptly when you told Mr John to send you the emails for your consideration since Fan was probably freaking out at both her roaming call charges and the surprise of it all.

The leader made a request this morning? That's not possible... Namjoon? But why?

Bewildered, you let the mails load by the chunks until you hear the arrival of new mail from your boss - you had always gave it a different colour code just so you'd never miss it.

As you clicked it open, you saw the unmistakable BigHit email signature and a long mail thread which you read every single word not missing any of it. You could tell it was written very directly due to the probably lack of English expertise from the local staff but was succinct and sufficient to get the point across.

It was simple. They wanted you to work for them - with lodging and everything else taken care of.

This is more than perfect!

After going through the legal and operational details over the phone with their representative, you carefully broach the subject of possible maternity leave, in the near future. To your surprise, they were not only supportive but assured you that even the expenses would be taken care of so long as you were returning to your duties after that. The only thing was that you would have to start work the day after tomorrow in view of the tour that was upcoming.

Another long flight. Packing after you've just unpacked.

With a small sigh, your eyes caught sight of the neat scribbles Jungkook left for your this morning and smiled to yourself. Well, it wasn't that bad if this meant you were able to be with him for the next 3 weeks. It had just been 3 days with the boys but the thought of not being able see, hear, and just be near him had grown so uncomfortable that it made you teary.

Hurriedly you shook these thoughts off and took a deep breath, picking up your phone to text Jungkook.

- Work hard for today Kookie, I've got some news for you tonight :)

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

Hours later, Fan sorts out her own paperwork and ties up loose ends in the office, and prepares to take the first flight out in the morning to meet you. Unlike you, she had to get on flight soonest in order to arrive on the same day you start work.

Looking through the texts, she remembered having Jimin's number from the time when she pressed Chae-rin for at least one emergency contact other than JK's, in the event where she wasn't contactable. Picking up her courage, she decided to send him a text of her arrival... After all that you've done for her, being there for you in this uncertain period of your life, was the least she could do, of course, with some help, a surprise appearance would be the cherry on the cake.

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

The doors of the apartment swung open hastily and you hear the familiar banter of Jin, Namjoon and J-hope, as they discussed formations for the concert. They were so loud it sounded more like a party than 2 people just talking.

'No, no, no... hyung, I'll change it and Taehyung will sit on Namjoon and me because -- AAAigoo Jungkook-Ah! Your big bag is in my face, watch it!' It was J-hope, the loudest of them all, sounding suddenly cautious at the silent arrival of Jungkook, probably squeezing through the door with his over-sized bag.

'Sorry hyung! You okay?' Without even looking back, he habitually kicked off his shoes and tried to mask his excitement of finally being able to see you at the end of a long day. Going straight to his room, he finds your bags sitting at the door, luggage zipped and packed like the day you arrived. With eyes wide in shock he starts going into every room in search for you and when you were nowhere in sight, he grabs his phone and starts calling you, frantically looking around the living room if you'd left him a note or something.

The older boys, especially Namjoon, calmly check out Jungkook's room to see what he was being flustered about only to be startled by sudden movements among the rack of Jungkook's black tee-shirts.

'OOH! OOH! OOH! What-what -- Ahhh... you scared me!' Hushed Jin who put a hand to his chest after seeing that it was you, hidden behind the clothes. He looked extra warm and fuzzy today, in a turtle neck and glasses you seldom saw him wear.

You put a finger to your lips and motioned for Namjoon to come closer as you whispered to them. 'The company told me about your request.' You said, to the 3 older boys who were crouched down with their faces inches from yours in the dim corner. You continued, 'I'll be moving to the empty apartment next door in the morning.'

'JJINCHA???' J-hope exclaimed only to be quickly silenced by your hand.

'But why're you hiding from Jungkookie?' Namjoon asked. 'You trying to make him think you're leaving? You want to prank him?'

You nodded. 'It's now or never, isn't it?' with a cheeky wink, the brothers nodded and stood up giving you an "OK" signal, and started going into their overly exaggerated acting mode.

Jin sat on the bed while Namjoon went out to look for Jungkook, and J-hope started talking loudly again. "OMO! Jungkook-ah~~ Why are all her luggages packed up again? Aigoo, Jungkook-ah!"

As the boys gathered, they thoughtfully positioned Jungkook's face in your view, a clear sign they had done this so many times for the camera.

Namjoon started on his worried low voice, asking Jungkook if there was something wrong or if there was anything else he hadn't told them about. Before Jungkook could even respond, Jin chimed in like a comedic duo with Namjoon, picking up line after line, not even letting Jungkook process what was happening.

'... and you know, its getting late now, where do you expect her to go? right? her bags are all packed and she isn't answering her phone, are you sure she didn't say anything else to you? Jungkook-ah, check your phone again, did you miss some messages?'

You watched as Jungkook stared blankly, trying to recall while he cocked his head to one side, eyes fixed on the packed suitacases in deep confusion. 'No... Noona only said she had something to tell me tonight, but... but...'

'Something to tell you? Ah! That's right, she has to go back home that's why these are all packed!' Jin added quickly.

'NO!' was Jungkook's only response and you could see J-hope trying not to laugh at the innocence of this man-child. He was practically about to throw a fit at his 'helpful' hyungs in his sheer helplessness. As he mumbled unintelligible words to reason out why it wasn't possible you would leave, Namjoon decided to give it the final blow.

Putting his hands over JK's shoulder, he brought him nearer to where you were hiding as if to tell him a secret.

'Jungkook-ah, actually, I spoke to Bang-PD about Chae-rin.'

Jungkook sucked in a sharp breath in disbelief as he shrieked in a high pitch tone you'd never thought he was capable of. 'You, WHAAAAT???? HYUNGGGGG!!!!'

He continued, 'so I told him that for your sake, and hers, she has to move out of this place. Jungkook, hyung is sorry, I really tried my best to speak up for you but I think we can't have a girl here.'

You saw the Jungshook gifs appearing before your eyes as he froze in place, not even attempting to refute all that he heard. You made a mental note to commend his loyal and abiding nature even though it seemed like Namjoon had just turned his back on him.

After awhile, Jungkook spun around, looking at the other boys, studying their faces before going straight to J-hope giving him a deep closeup view of his bright round eyes.

'Wohhh, too close, Jungkook, too close, what-- what--' As he observed the reactions of his brothers, he stood up, surveying the room this time calmly and with sharp eyes, he realised how they had been deliberately leaving an empty space in front of his clothes. It was only then that he faintly saw some colours hidden behind the row of monochrome clothes, and took a deep breath of relief.

'Noona~ I know you're there. Come on out now, you have some explaining to do.' He closed his eyes with a satisfied grin and mild annoyance, pointing in your direction.

Slowly, you emerged bashfully, to the wind-screen wiper laughs of Jin and J-hope.

'Sorry, Chae-rin, we're just really horrible at acting no matter how hard we try. But for now I think we will leave you to deal with our little Kookie, see you outside for dinner! Bye!' In the blink of an eye, the hyungs exited and shut the door behind them as you heard their quick footsteps scurry down the hallway.

It only took you half an hour to explain the situation to Jungkook as he took it all in.

'Are you saying you'll be travelling with us when we're on tour, and when we're back, you'll be staying beside us?' He summed it all up in a sentence.

'Well, y-yes.... but Jungkook I'm going to be a company staff from now on, you need to be mindful of that especially when we're around the other people. I will have real WORK to do, not just tagging along.'

The glee on his face was so evident that you weren't sure if he was really seeing the full picture. Giving you a total embrace, you could feel his muscles relaxing slowly in your hold while he buried his nose in your hair.

'I don't care about that,' he whispered, slightly emotional all of a sudden. 'As long you're not leaving, I know I'll be fine.'

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

The next morning, Jungkook headed for practice early, filled with newfound vigor. They go through their routines, new formations, have meetings back to back and work from sunrise to sunrise.

A staff also meets you at the apartment, rather surprised that you had made your way to the door.

'How did you manage to get here?' He asks, slightly puzzled since it was a very secured residence.

Flustered, you blurt out whatever came to your mind. 'Oh, I met Namjoon while I was coming and he showed me the way, ha... yea that boy has good a very good memory for these things yea?'

'Ah, Namjoon? Yea, he did? I heard he doesn't request for staff directly but he specifically asked for you to be brought in as soon as possible... You guys must be close huh?'

As he opened the door to the adjacent apartment, your eyes saw the largest and most spacious loft-like studio, with full-length glass windows and light day curtains blowing in, fully furnished, open concept space. There were 2 rooms in view and a small kitchen, and a balcony. For a place like Seoul, you knew this had to cost a lot being in the same building as the boys.

The staff continued, 'there will be another staff joining us tomorrow and it seems you both are acquainted. It hasn't been sorted out where she will stay but for now, please settle in here as your home while you work with us. Since you're friends with the boys already, I guess there is no need for us to introduce you?'

You brushed it off casually, 'yea you must have had so much to do with my sudden arrival, please don't worry yourself with these trivial matters. I'm thankful enough as it is that Mr Bang made these arrangements himself.'

'Sure, in that case I will leave you and if you need any help just call for myself of any of the managers. We'll see you at the company tomorrow, Ms Chae-rin.'

As he closed the door to your new home, you pick up the shiny new card that came with a long black strap. Your passport-sized photo greeted you back with the same smile as you read the words beneath it to yourself.

BIGHIT STAFF

Strategic Artiste Management & PR Lead (BTS)

This meant a promotion in your career; a new role - not to say the least, one you've proved your worth for, but more impressively,with a team under your lead, the one to call the shots on the bulk of their public appearances, personal welfare, and the first say over the boy's schedules.

As you go through the contract that you had read tens of times over before inking it, you shake your head in disbelief. This was practically the role of a highly paid corporate nanny over 7 grown boys that the world was fawning over.

But well, who's complaining? And you knew deep down, with Jungkook by your side, you'd be more than just fine.

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

Thank u for your likes, reblogs, reads and for waiting ... and I will keep updating this book!

Please feel free to leave me your comments and if you are going for LYinSG, see u there! :))))

This story can also be found on wattpad with my same username:

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