#there were a few rabbits around while the girls were homeworking but they were gone by the time they'd finished

[apostatesims]

first family outing ! jem’s a great dad but i think he was going a bit stir crazy cooped up in the house all the time, and more or less jumped at the opportunity to show the girls the Wide Open Spaces. but since i personally am i cruel and terrible god, most of the adventuring came after forcing them to finish their homework lol. 

juliet reminds me of miss frizzle, and i imagine her mentoring style is just as deranged.

[rachaelswrites]

The Past is in the Past

Epilogue

Spencer Reid x Daughter!reader

Warnings: None (let me know if I miss any)

A/N: Surprise! I decided to post this chapter a few days earlier as a thank you for reading, liking, and enjoying this series! I’m sad it’s over but as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. Thank you for all your support during this❤️❤️. Also, sorry this is so long. I wanted to wrap it up in one chapter and I got a little carried away. Anyways, hope you enjoy the end of this series!

It had been two months since Georgia's murder. You were allowed to go back to school but Spencer let you stay home for a while. Word about your involvement in the murder had spread around the school and while you were officially cleared, it did’t stop the rumors from spreading. You had every intention of going back. You enjoyed school too much to miss it just because a few teenagers wanted to gossip. The main reason why you hadn’t gone back yet was you just weren’t ready.

Witnessing Georgia die and then having to deal with the mess of the case and the memories from Mexico took its toll. Throughout the years, your dad has helped you find a therapist that worked for you. It was difficult due to the nature of the trauma and events you’ve been through. Most child psychologists weren’t equipped with the knowledge of how to handle the problems of an FBI agent, especially the one of Spencer Reid. Luckily enough, one of the bureau’s therapists happily took you in. You would see her once a week, or more when something had happened.

In the last two months, you had gone to see her at least two times a week. Spencer was getting worried for you and wanted you to start feeling better. He knew it would take time to cope with what you saw and dealt with, and also having to deal with your confession of holding in your memories. 

You were different now but he expected that. The profiler in him was telling him it takes time and you just need more but the father in him wouldn’t let him wait. He wanted the old you back. The one who could talk and talk about anything you found remotely interesting. The girl who reminded him so much of himself. He hated the one who was standing in the kitchen in front of him. Quiet and shy like a scared child. One who didn’t give him the best hugs after a long day of school and work. The one who never seemed interested in going to the BAU where her family was. The one he didn’t recognize.

“Have you gotten your work for the week yet sweetheart?” Spencer asked you. He was gathering up his satchel and jacket so he could leave for work. It was the fifth week you were doing all your school work from home. You’d be by yourself all day until he got home. He hated this also.

“Yeah there’s not much,” you mumbled, “I could probably finish it all today.”

Spencer nodded, “Well that’s good right?” he asked, hoping to get you to talk a bit more today. It was hit or miss when it came to you talking. Sometimes you’d hide out in your room all day and not say a word, other days you’d be out and around the apartment, but not much talking.

You nodded in agreement and waited for him to see if he would say anything. You wanted to say something but you couldn’t form the words. Anything you tried to say brought you back to two things. Georgia and Mexico. In the span of seconds, your brain could link homework to school and then to Georgia and then her death. Or it could connect Mexico to needles to the doctor’s office to your dad having PHDs to your dad working at the FBI. Talking leads to a rabbit hole you didn’t want to fall into.

“Okay,” Spencer said, “I’m heading to work now. I’ll see you when I get home,” he slipped his jacket on and then his bag, “I love you Y/n.”

“Love you too,” you mumbled, not looking in his direction. 

~~~~~

Once Spencer arrived at work, Penelope came up to him. Out of everyone on the team, she and Luke were the ones most concerned about how you were doing, “How is she?” Penelope asked.

She followed Spencer as he walked to his desk, setting his bag down on his desk, “She’s fine,” he said, “Nothing different.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked again, “I feel awful knowing that precious little gem is feeling down.”

“She just needs some time Garcia,” Spencer said. He felt like he was on repeat for the past two months. Garcia had great intentions and he appreciated it but he didn’t know how she could help you. He didn’t know how to help you himself, “I know you want to help her.”

“Well if she ever needs some Penelope TLC you know where to find me,” she said. It was killing her that there was nothing she could do but she understood.

“I will,” he said, sitting in his desk chair and pulling out files to read over. Penelope squeezed his shoulder and went back to her lair.

“Y/n didn’t want to come this morning?” Matt asked, coming into the Bullpen for the day.

Spencer shook his head, “I didn’t ask her today. I figured she’d say no.”

“She doing any better?”

“No but she’s not doing worse.”

“That’s a step in the right direction,” Matt pointed out.

“Yeah,” Spencer agreed, “I just wish she was doing it quicker. I know she needs more time and that’s okay but…”

“I get it,” Matt said, “I can’t imagine how I’d deal if my kid went through something like that. You’re doing better than I could. The two of you will get through this. You’re both strong and have handled worse.”

“Thanks,” Spencer said. Matt took that as his cue to head to his own desk and start his own work. 

Spencer turned his attention back to the files littered on his desk but he couldn’t concentrate today. His mind kept running back to you. He would always worry about you but recently he’s been doing it more and more. 

After an hour of him sitting and trying to get through his paperwork, he had to do something else. He set the papers down and then pulled out his phone, pulling up his contacts and finding your name. It rang a few times before you answered. 

“Hey,” you said quietly. 

“What are you up to?” he asked.

Back at the apartment, you just shrugged, even though your dad couldn’t see you, “Nothing really.”

“You’re not doing your school work? I assumed you’d finish it by now.”

“I’ll do it later. I don’t feel like it now,” you explained.

“Okay well I just wanted to check in on you and see how you were doing.”

You sighed, “I know, I’m sorry.”

Spencer furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, “Why are you sorry Y/n?”

“Nevermind,” you mumbled, “What time will you be home?”

Spencer noticed the change in topic and he wanted to ask what you meant but didn't push, “Probably close to six-thirty. Is that alright?”

“Yeah. See you then,” you said, hanging up the phone without hearing a response. You tossed the phone next to you on the couch and flopped over, landing face first in the pile of pillows at the end. You let your tears fall and soak the pillows, not caring about the mess being made.

Back at the BAU, Spencer thought calling and checking in on you would allow him to focus on his work but after that phone call, it was no better than before.

He leaned back in his chair and ran his hands down his face, trying to rack his brain for ideas. He tried remembering things he read from psychology textbooks and profiling manuals but he had done all those already. He wanted so badly to help but he was starting to get frustrated and give up. He wasn’t frustrated with you, he was quite the opposite but he was frustrated with the cards you both had been dealt.

Spencer looked up from his hands and his eyes landed on one of the framed photos on his desk. It was one from when you were eight, almost nine. It was from the FBI baseball game Derek had dragged him into. The photo showed you, hoisted up on Derek’s shoulders with your dad standing next to you. You had your dad’s baseball hat that Derek had given him and you had it on backwards, like Derek did. 

The idea suddenly hit him. He set the frame back down in its place and got to work, hoping to pull this off.

~~~~~

For the rest of the day, you stayed in your room. You ignored the school work you said you’d get done but you weren’t too worried about it. The work wouldn’t take you more than a few hours. You chose to spend your time alternating between reading books or trying to get some sleep. You had a few more hours until your dad would be home and you knew he’d want to talk about your earlier phone call. 

At around six-thirty, you heard the front door open and shut, then footsteps walking towards your room. You throw your blankets over your head and used your pillow to block out the voice.

“Y/n?” 

You hoped maybe your dad would come in and see you were “sleeping” and try again later but several seconds later, there were knocks on your door.

“Y/n open the door.”

You continued to ignore the voice but it kept calling your name and knocking on your door. You were getting angry. He wasn’t taking the hint that you weren’t in the mood to talk so you threw off the blankets and pulled yourself out of bed. You stomped over to your door and swung it open, “I don’t want to talk!” you snapped, much more loudly than you expected. 

“Well hello to you, too pretty girl.”

You looked up to see Derek, standing in the doorway of your room, “What are you doing here?” you asked, more confused than angry.

“At least give me a hug before you start to question me,” he replied, opening his arms up for a hug.

You walked into his arms, letting him hold you close to him. Reid had filled him in on what happened on his flight over. His heart broke with every detail and now that he was here, he’d do anything in his power to make up for not being there in the first place. He had made a promise to you years ago, when your dad was shot in Texas, that anytime you needed him, he’d be there. The last two months had been that time but he wasn’t there.

Derek pulled away but you still kept your arms wrapped around his torso, “Y/n look at me,” he said softly, “I’m so sorry for what you’ve been going through these past few months. It’s not fair.”

“Why are you sorry? You didn’t know,” you argued back. You didn’t need anyone else getting dragged down and feeling the way you did. This was your problem. You should be able to deal with it yourself.

“Because I should have been there for you. I should have been there when your dad was arrested,” he said.

“But we didn’t tell you. We didn’t want to bug you.”

Derek scoffed, “How could you bug me? You and your dad are my favorite people besides Hank and Savannah. I’ve told you so many times before.”

“Yeah but they’re your family,” you said back.

“You’re my family also,” he said, moving his hand to cup your cheek, “And I know I wasn’t there before but I’m here now.”

You shook your head, “My dad’s worried isn’t he? That's why he brought you here.”

Derek smiled at you, “You always were too smart for your own good pretty girl. Still are.”

“I know he’s been trying but nothing has been working,” you explained, “I don’t want to disappoint him anymore.”

“Let’s sit down,” Derek said, walking from your doorway and into the living room. He sat on the couch, leaving enough room for you to sit next to him at the end of the couch, “First off, your dad is not disappointed in you. Not about how you’re feeling and most certainly, not about what happened before.”

“He told you about that?” you asked.

Derek nodded.

“I don’t know what to do, Derek. I want to be back to normal like before but I can’t. And I know it hurts Dad but it hurts me also.”

“You know what I think it is?” Morgan asked, “I think you’re so scared that you’re stopping yourself from opening up. I don’t know what you’re scared of but there’s something.”

“Neither do I!” you exclaimed, “And it’s horrible because I can’t fix it. I can’t fix it and it makes me go crazy. I’m getting help and I have amazing people in my life who are trying to support me but I can’t do it Derek, I can’t.”

“Hey,” he said softly cupping your face in his hands, “Look, I don’t care what you’re so scared of but I do care about seeing the old Y/n back. And the way to do that is to tell someone what’s going on,” he said. He used his thumbs to wipe away the stray tears that were falling down your face, “I know that genius brain of yours is probably moving a hundred miles an hour nowadays but I think your dad can keep up.”

“But I-”

“Uh un,” Derek interrupted, “No buts. You, are going to stay here while I go get your dad and you two are going to talk. It’s the only way he can know how to help you and before you try to argue with me, you know all the textbooks say I’m right.”

You huffed, knowing he was right.

“Your dad just wants to help you Y/n. Please do it.”

“I will,” you said, I just don’t know how to tell him.”

“That’s okay. You don’t have to do it by yourself. Let him lead the conversation if you want to,” he said, standing up, “You okay with that?”

You nodded. You wanted to do this but you were still afraid. If Derek wasn’t pushing you to do this, you knew it would never get done.

Derek walked over to the front door and opened it, stepping into the hallway for a second before your dad appeared. Spencer walked in and closed the door behind him. He walked into the living room and sat down next to you.

He was only seated for a second before you spoke, “I’m sorry,” you blurted out. 

“Y/n you have nothing to be sorry for,” Spencer said, “You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“I should have talked to you sooner. I should have known better than to hold in everything. You’re a profiler and I should have known you were the best person to help me. I ruined everything,” you rambled, “If I had said something three years ago, none of us would be in this situation. It’s all my fault,” you didn’t realize you had jumped from the couch.

Spencer grabbed your hands and pulled you back in front of him, “Y/n look at me,” he demanded. He wasn’t angry with you now, he just wanted to be absolutely sure you were listening, “This has nothing to do with what you did or didn’t do in Mexico three years ago. It’s not important anymore. You need to stop bringing it up,” he said.

“But-”

He cut you off, “Listen to me. I know you’re dealing with a lot right now with all the stuff that happened two months ago and everything that’s been coming up but right now, the only thing I care about is making sure that you’re okay and you’re not going to go and do something crazy. That’s the last thing either of us need,” he said, “You need to let that go and help me help you.”

You pulled yourself out of your dad’s grip, “Why are you getting mad at me?” you asked.

“I’m not mad at you,” he replied, softening his voice a little. He wasn’t meaning to be snappy with you. It was just hurting him to see you like this, “I’m mad at this situation and I’m frustrated that there isn’t anything I can do to help you,” he explained, reaching for your hands again, “The one thing that would really help would be if you could just open up and explain what’s going on. I know you might not be ready but I’m here. I’m not going to judge you or be upset with whatever you say.”

“It’s just too hard,” you said, letting a tear roll down your cheek, “I want to dad, but I can’t.”

“Hey,” Spencer said softly, reaching up with one hand to wipe your tears off your face, “I understand but you have to promise me, whenever you’re ready and want to talk, you have to tell me. You can’t shut down. I get too worried about you.”

“You always worry about me,” you said lightheartedly, trying to lighten the mood a little.

Spencer cracked a small smile, sensing what you were doing, “Well I’m your dad. That’s my job, sweetheart.”

“That’s a cheesy line,” you pointed out.

Spencer scoffed, “Are you going to criticize everything I say?”

“Only if I have to,” you said, cracking a smile of your own. Things were already starting to seem normal, even in that short amount of time.

“But seriously,” he said, cupping your face in his hands, “You promise to talk to me and let me know what’s going on?”

You nodded, “I promise. I should have done it sooner dad. I’m sorry for that.”

“It’s okay,” he said, moving his arms to wrap around you and pull you into a hug, “All that matters is that we’re moving forward. That’s all you can really do.”

“Thank you,” you said, returning your dad’s hug by wrapping your arms around his neck.”

Spencer smiled and placed a kiss to the side of your head. He was getting the old you back already, and he couldn’t be happier.

“Well I’m glad to see this,” Derek said, re-entering the apartment, “All you needed was a little Derek Morgan encouragement,” he walked over to where you and your dad were, “Now, can I get in on this Reid family hug?” he asked.

“Yes,” your dad said at the same time you said, “No.”

Derek looked over at you, a look of shock on his face, “Excuse me pretty girl. Since when have you ever denied one of my awesome hugs?”

“You said it yourself Derek. This is a Reid family hug only,” you shot back.

Morgan looked over to Spencer, asking for his help.

“Don’t worry,” Spencer said, “She’s in one of her overly critical and analytical moods today. You’re always welcome in a Reid Family hug.”

“Well only if it’s okay with this one here,” Derek said, motioning over to you.

You pretended to think it over before nodding, “Oh I guess it’s alright.”

Derek scoffed, “You guess?” 

He was already in the process of pulling your dad off his feet and bringing him into a hug. He then reached for you and pulled you in, hugging both you and your dad as tight as he could. He hated seeing the two of you in so much pain. Over the years, you’ve been through more than enough but at this moment, everything in your pasts were gone and now, you could move on.

Taglist

@thatsonezesty13 @galactaghost @the-girl-wh0-cries-w0lf @herecomesthewriterwitch

[vulprose]

so after much discussion with nine and a lot of spiraling down the rabbit hole i think i’ve decided on what the fuck is up with sucrose’s previous best friends, and the story that stems from it. i’m just gonna make a bullet point list of hcs that fall under this umbrella, and it’s going under a readmore because it’s going to be long, and because it’s going to be dark. seriously, heed the warnings.

cw for death, child death, fire, burns, & heavy trauma

sucrose had two best friends that had been by her side since early childhood, their names were anja and eleanor.

she learned to navigate the world with their help and relied on them heavily for social interaction in a way that felt entirely non-judgmental. the three girls were attached at the hip constantly through much of their lives.

anja was sweet, wholly welcoming, constantly smiling and full of energy. eleanor was gentle, soft spoken around groups of people, but she was also jealous of the other two girls, sometimes lashing out at them in fits. despite this, they got on rather well.

cw! when the girls were about 15, a fire broke out while the three were having a sleepover at anja’s house. the family was asleep, the three girls included, all of whom were on the second floor of the building. sucrose awoke before anyone else did because her fox genetics make her senses of smell and hearing much better than the average human’s. by the point that the smoke had gotten to the girls’ room however, the house was up in roaring flames. sucrose woke up both friends amidst her panic, and anja immediately ran down the hall to find her family members. that was the last time sucrose saw her. frantic to get out, and too afraid to follow anja into the smoke, sucrose grabbed eleanor’s hand and made her way to the stairs. at some point between the bedroom and the top of the stairs, a wooden beam fell from the ceiling, separating the two girls and landing on sucrose’s arm. that was the last she saw of eleanor as the floor beyond it caved in. the burning wood broke bone and seared skin, but she managed to get it off of her and she stumbled down the stairs, walking across half burned flooring before reaching the front door. severely burning her palms on the metal of the door handles, sucrose couldn’t feel anything anymore, and she collapsed just a few steps outside the house.

when sucrose woke up, she’d already been taken to healers and was being treated for her injuries. she had no memory of the fire and was having trouble understanding what had happened to her, and her parents had to give her the news that no one else in the house had survived that night.

trauma being what it is, sucrose still has no waking memory of that night. her mind has painted a picture in place of those horrible memories, a story she tells when asked about the incident. “i wasn’t there.” she’d had homework, her mind tells her, she’d had to decline the invitation and stay home to be ready for a big project. truthfully, she *had* been working on a project for school when she agreed to stay the night. she did have homework due, homework she never ended up finishing and turning in.

on this note, sucrose attributes her burn scars mostly to lab accidents, though the burns on the soles of her feet built up a different story over the years. she tells herself she has clear memories of that night, but in truth her survivor’s guilt and her trauma have rewritten her life story in a way that hurts her less, keeps her safe. she’d argue if someone told her she was wrong.

her goals for alchemy follow a childish fantasy, one her mind has played for her over the years anja and eleanor have been gone, and frankly she isn’t sure what she wants to be able to accomplish. some optimistic part of her says that maybe alchemy will allow her to replicate her friends and the relationships they had, while the rational part of her reminds her that it’s impossible. she current goals are to make a utopia under the ideals of her two late friends, a place where she can go to exist an pretend they’ve been around all along.

eventually, she will grow out of this idea. she will realize she’s been fooling herself all these years into thinking she has any power over life or death, when she does not. her focus on bio alchemy allows her to decide to create a better version of this world not for the friends she lost too soon, but rather for those who still live in teyvat, those who could use her knowledge and skill to better their lives.

despite this, she never does recover her memories from that night, not fully.

[killiansprincss]

The Perfect Gift

Happy Valentines Day to all! So when you’re Single AF like me what better way to spend the day than to write about CS spending Valentines Day? So here it is, Captain Swan with Captain Beauty friendship. 

SUMMARY: When Killian learns about Valentine’s Day and Emma won’t go into much detail, he consults Belle who helps him plan the perfect gift for Emma. Pure Valentine’s Day Fluff. Also on A03

Set in the 6 weeks of peace, let’s say Valentine's Day was during this time.

Killian Jones liked to think he was getting the hang of this strange world. Emma had given him a talking phone to contact her when he needed to. Well he’d mastered the Emma button, and half the time she would answer. But most times he would leave a voice message.

He was also getting Belle to help him understand texting, she had described it as writing a letter that is delivered instantly and Emma can read it and reply with a letter of her own when she sees it. There were also funny little drawings when you could send in the text, Belle had said the name before but he couldn’t remember-it was a funny little name. But they had faces, happy, crying and even little heart drawings which he liked to send at the end of his letter-text-to Emma. He saw the way her face lit up when she opened one in front of him once, and he wanted that reaction every time so he continued to use them.

On the topic of hearts, Killian was seeing them all over Storybrooke lately. It was overnight almost, heart shaped teddy bears had appeared in the stores, and even Granny’s was decorated with them. Everything was decorated in pink and red, was this normal for this world? Or was there some strange love curse that had affected the town?

“What’s with all these hearts popping up around town?” He asks Emma when they’re having breakfast at Granny’s one morning.

Taking a break from her stack of pancakes, “It’s Valentine’s Day next week. It’s a stupid holiday we have in this world don’t worry about it.” Emma didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, she had never celebrated Valentine’s Day before unless she was catching a perp and she didn’t want to stress Killian out about it-he was busy figuring out how to save the fairies, Valentine’s Day wasn’t important.

But that didn’t explain the hearts. What was a celebration of hearts all about? And why was Emma so against it?

He turns to Belle, hoping she’d have the answers.

“Valentine’s Day is a holiday this world celebrates. The hearts are popping up over town because it’s a holiday about love, you ask someone you love or like, to be your Valentine. You normally get each other a card and a present maybe, or even go out for a romantic dinner.” Belle explains. Killian assumes she must not be feeling great about this holiday of love after banishing the Dark One.

“So I’m supposed to ask Emma to be my Valentine? And get her a heart shaped gift?” Killian liked the idea of this holiday. Even though those 3 special words hadn’t been spoken yet, he knew how Emma felt about him. He also wanted to show Emma how much she meant to him.

Belle chuckles as she looks through one of her books. “You don’t have to get her something heart shaped. But you could get her something special-something you know she likes or would like. Some girls receive jewellery from their boyfriends, or knowing Emma she may appreciate a Granny’s gift card!”

“Would you help me? I want to find Emma the perfect gift for this Valentine’s Day.” Killian assumed considering her past, she hasn’t celebrated the day in a while and wanted to make sure she knew she was appreciated, and loved (just without saying it, he didn’t need Emma’s walls going up when he was working hard to knock them down)

Belle smiles at her friend. “I’d love to help.”

__

And so Killian sets out to find Emma the perfect Valentine’s Day gift. He considers what Belle said about a Granny’s gift card, but that’s not special enough. No Emma deserves something better.

He finds a card straight away, it’s two Swans kissing with a heart above them, feels appropriate and will hopefully make her laugh too. He wants to see that spark in her eyes he gets to see when she’s happy. While they had only been courting, or ‘dating’ as Emma calls it, for a few months he still couldn’t believe sometimes that they’re together. He never thought he’d see her again when they were cursed, and seeing her at her door in New York was one of the most incredible feelings, even if she didn’t know who he was.

She didn’t judge him for his past, she never did, even before they were together. She understands that it wasn’t always a pirate's life, and that he experienced loss and heartbreak the same as she had. For once in his 300 years, he had someone know the pain he had gone through, he could open up about his abandonment without the other person feeling sorry for him. Emma was abandoned too, so she understood how it felt to be alone.

He looked in the Jewellery store on Main Street to see if there was something that screamed Emma. Sure there were beautiful necklaces and bracelets, but he didn’t want to get her just anything, she wasn’t just anybody: she was Emma, his Emma. She deserved the world, and that’s all he wanted to give her.

Until he comes across a locket. The locket in the store is worth more than the doubloons he carries around (which only Granny seemed to accept), but an idea struck in his head. Sure his ship was gone, but he did keep a few things before he traded it to Blackbeard. And one of those things was a small locket his mother had. It opened up to reveal a small drawing of her and his father on one side, and on the other side was Killian and Liam.

“How would I go about filling a locket?” He asks Belle that afternoon. He didn’t have many possessions coming back to Storybrooke, but he could fit a surprising amount in his leather coat, including said locket, so he finds his old jacket at the back of the closet and finds the locket in one of the pockets.

He shows Belle his mother’s locket and she takes a look at the drawings inside and smiles fondly. Like with Emma, Belle doesn’t pry into his past-she knows he was also a man before his days as a villain that had lost people. “At Granny’s tonight, I will get my camera and take photos of you all, I’ll say it’s for an album full of memories. Then I can print the photos out and cut them into small enough shapes for the locket.”

“Thank you Belle. I appreciate it. How are you feeling about this day? I know it can’t be easy considering the Dark One and all.”

“I actually won’t be alone on Valentine’s Day.” She says shyly, Killian tries to think who could have caught her eye in Storybrooke. “Will, uh Will Scarlet has asked me out, and I accepted.”

Killian smiles, Will was an annoying bastard but he was a good guy and would treat his friend right-far better than the Dark One ever did. “I’m happy for you.”

“Thank you Killian.” She smiles. “And Emma is going to love the locket.”

__

That evening the extended Charming family meet for dinner at Granny’s as they do every Friday. Henry is complaining about homework, Regina is dealing with mayor matters, and Killian and Emma are just happy. They share some rum while Emma talks about her day, how she was called to The Rabbit Hole to break up a fight between Leroy and a bartender who wouldn’t serve him anymore alcohol. Killian tells her that he and Belle are making progress on freeing the fairies-Belle was still working on a translation.

They hadn’t talked about Valentine’s Day since his original question, he wanted to surprise her, which is why he acted none the wiser when Belle walked into the diner with her camera.

“Everyone, get together. I want to make a scrapbook!” She says gesturing for everyone to pose.

She gets Snow and Charming to pose for a picture. Then Emma and Killian, then Emma Killian and Henry and a whole bunch of other combinations until she decides she’s happy.

“Do you have any idea what that’s about?” Emma asks Killian once she leaves.

“Not a clue luv.” He lies putting his arm around her, pressing a kiss to her head, hoping she doesn’t become suspicious. Weirder things have happened in this town.

__

The day before Valentine’s Day, Belle shows him the finished locket. On one side, a picture of Henry and his grandparents and the other side was a picture of himself and Emma. He hoped she would look at it and be reminded that she had so many people who loved and cared about her. They had peace for now, but who knows how long it will last before the next monster or villain comes to town.

Emma stays with Killian on the night before Valentines. Something about not wanting to walk in on her parents. So it gives him the perfect opportunity to give Emma her gift in the morning.

“Ugh What time is it?” Emma stirs in her half awake sleep. Killian had been awake for almost an hour, excited for the day, and to give Emma her gift.

“It’s almost 7 luv.” He kisses her head as she stirs, clearly wanting more sleep. “And Happy Valentine’s Day.”

Her eyes almost immediately open at the sound of those four words and groans. “What have you been told? It’s really not that big of a deal this day.”

She sits up in bed, worried to see what big romantic gesture Killian had planned.

“But Swan, I wanted to know if you would be my Valentine?” He asks with his cute pouty smile that makes Emma weak. He fixes his Hook on and then grabs a card and a rose from the drawer.

Emma groans, this is exactly what she was afraid of if she mentioned Valentine’s Day. She wasn’t good at the whole displaying emotions and expressing love, and there was also the fact she had never experienced Valentine’s Day with a boyfriend before. Being on the run with Neal, they didn’t exactly do romantic dates, especially not Valentines Day ones.

She can’t help but smile at her pirate boyfriend, taking the rose as she gets out of bed to kiss him. “Thank you. You really didn’t need to do this though.”

She opens the card and can’t help but grin at the two Swans. It makes Killians day already, just seeing her smile first thing in the morning, and the way he was able to make her smile. “That’s adorable.”

“I may have one other thing too.” He says, pulling out a white box wrapped in red ribbon from behind him.

“Killian!” She groans, he had already done too much.

“Open it.” He says handing it to her with a grin as wide as ever.

She takes the small box and unwraps the ribbon that he so clearly didn’t wrap-A hook for a hand doesn’t seem like it would wrap a bow as neatly as this one, she wonders who he got to help in his master plan. The lid to the box opens and she finds a silver locket wrapped among white tissue paper. It’s a little rusty but cleaned as best as it could be-clearly it’s not new or bought from a store here.

‘ A. Jones ’ is engraved on the back.

“Alice Jones. My mother. This was her locket.” Killian explains.

Emma opens up the locket to see the photos Belle took the other night. Well that explains what that was about, and who had helped him plan all this.

Inside the locket, her parents and Henry on one side, and her and Killian on the other. They all look happy, and in all honesty this was the first picture she had seen of herself where she looked especially happy.

“Killian. It’s beautiful, but I can’t accept this. This was your mother’s, the only thing you probably have of hers.” She thought he had spent all his doubloons that people of Storybrooke still seem to accept-but this was worse, it was something that belonged to the woman who knew him before he was a pirate.

He had never mentioned his mother, this was the first time she had heard her name. She must have been pretty important, and another death that broke Killian.

“Nonsense love. I couldn’t think of a better person my mother would want her locket to go to.” He takes it from her hands and opens the clasp, gesturing for Emma to hold her hair back as he clips it round her neck.

Emma admires the pictures, the people she loved most were in it. It was a beautiful gift. It was the first time anybody had given her something so sentimental.

“I officially win the award for the worst girlfriend ever. I didn’t want to make a huge deal out of it, and didn’t want you to feel pressured.” She tells him.

“I get it Swan. You didn’t have many people in your life before you came to Storybrooke. I don’t know much about this holiday, but Belle told me it’s about spending it with the people you care about, make them know you appreciate them.” He’s careful not to say the L word, it may be the day of love-but that doesn’t give him an excuse to say it before Emma’s ready herself.

It was though Killian was looking into her soul or something. He got her, really got her. One of the only people who understood her. “You didn’t need to get me anything really. You traded your ship to come find me-your home. You literally win boyfriend of the century with that one.”

“I didn’t do it to win points Emma. I traded the Jolly because I knew you were more important. And you don’t need to get me a present in return, you being with me is the best gift I could ask for. I never thought I would be happy after Milah was killed, but these last few months with you have been the best few months of my very long life.” He pulls her closer to him with his Hook and kisses her softly. She wraps her arms around him and enjoys the kiss.

She was falling. Hard. It would be easy to say those three little words to Killian right now. She was sure she felt it for Killian. But she had never felt like this before, even with Neal. She had told Neal ‘I love you’ countless times, but now she wonders did she truly love him? Because the feeling she gets when she’s with Killian is incredible, she never felt this way with Neal. She loves seeing the way his face lights up when she talks to him, the way his blue eyes shine when he speaks about the Sea. She loves how much he cares about Henry, and how often he takes him out sailing-he didn’t have to do any of it, but he did.

He was such an ass when they first met. It feels like a lifetime ago when she tied Captain Hook to a tree and climbed a beanstalk with him. But he changed, she saw the way he changed over time. And slowly she realised that maybe he wasn’t a bad guy, they weren’t so different. Both abandoned, both heartbroken and both mending their broken hearts together, with each other.

“How about you come over to the Apartment tonight? My parents are out and Henry is babysitting Neal at Reginas. I’m not that great a cook but I can attempt grilled cheese.” She says smiling at Killian.

“Sounds wonderful love.”

Killian was happy.

So damn happy.

After Liam and Milah were gone, all that mattered was killing Rumnplestilskin, until he met a stubborn blonde who changed his life forever. He slowly started to see that being a villain wasn’t all it used to be, and that he could be the man he once was.

When Henry brought Emma to Storybrooke and told her she was the saviour who needed to break a curse, she never expected it would be true or lead her to her happy ending. A happy ending she also didn’t realise would include Captain Hook. Fate was a funny thing. But she was finally happy, and for once was excited for her future.

[shellyseashell]

GOLD RUSH

Chapter Three - Not As Bad

Note: @kotlc2021collab here’s the third chapter!

Masterlist

TIRED OF LINH and Marella and deciding to get some work done, Sophie had left the cafeteria after she finished her lunch. She had promptly gotten a text from Grady, saying that they needed to talk whenever she was available. Since she still had fifteen minutes until lunch ended, she decided to call him.

“What did you need to talk about?” Sophie asked once Grady had answered.

There was a silence on the other side, and for a minute Sophie thought Grady might not have heard her. But before she could repeat herself, there was a sigh and Grady said, “It’s about Iggy.”

Sophie froze. Iggy, her rabbit, had had health problems in the past, but they’d never been too serious. Still, bringing up Iggy and anything negative made her heart pound. She’d had Iggy for years, ever since she had been adopted. He’d been one of the things that had helped her adjust. Why she’d been allowed to get a rabbit and not a dog, she didn’t know. “What about Iggy?” She was almost afraid to ask.

“He’s sick again,” Grady said, confirming Sophie’s fears.

Taking a deep breath, Sophie leaned back on the shelf behind her. “How sick?”

A pause. Sophie’s heart felt like it was trying to escape her chest, and she was sure she’d get kicked out because of how loud it was pounding. The silence was too long. And then, “He’s probably not going to make it, Sophie.”

There it was. Her worst fear confirmed. Iggy was dying.

“I’m sorry I told you during school,” Grady said quietly.

“No, I’m the one who called you,” Sophie said. “Thanks — thanks for telling me. I’ll see you at home.”

She hung up. Sophie stifled a sob as she slid down the shelf and curled her knees up to her chest. The library was most definitely not the place to cry, but she didn’t have the energy to get up. Iggy was dying. Iggy was dying. It was the only thing she seemed able to think of, and she didn’t even hear the footsteps approaching her.

“Sophie?” Out of all people, it had to be her.

Wiping tears off her face, Sophie stood and leveled her glare at Biana. She was surprised to find the girl looking at her with concern. “What do you want?”

“Are you okay?” Biana ignored her question.

Sophie crossed her arms over her chest. “Like you care.”

Biana glared at her, but her expression quickly softened. “Look, you’re clearly upset about something. Better to tell someone what’s wrong, even if it's someone you hate.”

Sophie had a lot of arguments against that logic, but the fight had drained from her, and she slumped back down on the ground. “Iggy is dying.”

Biana sat down next to her. “Iggy is your rabbit, right? Fitz has told me about him.”

Sophie nodded. “I’ve had him since I was adopted. He’s had health problems in the past, but they’ve never been that bad. Now, though . . .”

Biana placed a hand on Sophie’s arm. “I’m sure your parents will do their best to help him.”

It was the only thing they could do.

Sophie let out a sob she muffled with her arm, and Biana did something unexpected. She hugged Sophie. Wrapping her arms around her and pulling her to her chest. Sophie stiffened, not expecting that sort of affection from Biana, but soon softened and started crying.

Biana let her cry. She let her cry and cry and cry some more. She wasn’t sure how long she lay there sobbing, but somehow, when her breathing was even and she could see again, Biana was still there. Though she hated Biana, there was something oddly comforting in curling up against the girl and letting her comfort her. She didn’t want to leave.

But she knew she had to, and she might as well not make this awkward.

She pulled away from Biana, ignoring how she looked disappointed. “What were you doing here anyway?”

“I was coming to do research,” Biana said with a small grin. “Guess you had the same idea, huh?”

“Yeah, until the whole ‘Iggy is probably going to die’ thing,” Sophie said, her eyes welling up again as she choked out the words. Sophie coughed and blinked away the tears. “But we should look for some books while we have time.”

Biana nodded, and so they got searching.

They didn’t talk the rest of the time, each girl absorbed in their task. As Sophie flipped through the various books, her mind wandered to both Iggy and Biana.

Iggy, because she didn’t know what she’d do without him. Of all the animals to die, it had to be him. Not that she wanted any of them to die — each death brought on a wave of grief, even if short lived. At this point, she should have been used to animals dying and not being able to do anything. It was a normal occurrence. Still, this was Iggy, and Iggy was different.

And so was Biana. Biana, her enemy, had seen her crying and hadn’t laughed. She had comforted her, and made sure she was okay. She didn’t know where the sentiment had come from. For as long as she could remember, it had always been a constant rivalry. Biana hated Sophie, and Sophie hated Biana. Neither had ever been bothered by it, and neither questioned their feud. But now, something about Biana felt different. She didn’t seem as bad. She almost seemed nice. Like they could be friends.

Sophie wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

———

THAT NIGHT, ONCE her homework was done and cross country was over and she had nothing to occupy her mind with, Biana found her thoughts wandering to Sophie. She’d never lost a pet, and the closest she’d come to losing someone was when her mother divorced Alden, and that hadn’t been awful.

Though she couldn’t sympathize with what she was going through, Biana knew Sophie holding in her feelings wouldn’t work out in the end.

She used to bottle her emotions when she lived with Alden. It often resulted in her snapping and letting her emotions out at once. Which usually meant yelling at someone and only rising the already high tension between the family. But when Alden was finally gone, she had finally let go of all her emotions, and it felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

She hoped Sophie wouldn’t do the same.

Biana sat leaning over the counter in the kitchen of their small apartment, that they had moved to to get away from the memories of Alden. Della cleaned the kitchen in front of her, and Fitz sprawled out on the couch behind her.

The apartment was only a few rooms. The kitchen and living room combined, one half of the room holding a couch, some chairs, and a TV. The rest held the table and kitchen, a counter with bar stools spreading the two. Down one hall was the front door, and down the other were four bedrooms — Fitz’s, Biana’s, Della’s, and a guest room, which would sometimes double as Livvy’s when she was spending the night and felt Fitz and Biana wouldn’t want her sleeping with their mother.

Tonight, though, Livvy wasn’t there. It was just the three of them.

Della looked over to her. “You alright, Biana?”

“Huh?” Biana said, snapping out of her thoughts. “Oh, yeah, fine, I guess.”

Della placed the dish in her hands down and turned her full attention to her daughter. “What’s up?”

Biana sighed, and explained what had happened today. Once she had, Fitz said, “I should go check on her,” and left to his room.

Biana stared at the counter in front of her, trying to sort out the knot in her stomach. She didn’t understand why she was so worried about Sophie. Sure, she knew grieving a pet couldn’t be easy, even if they hadn’t yet died. But she had never cared about what Sophie felt before, so why should she start now?

“You seem to have a lot of thoughts about this,” Della said.

Biana nodded. “Yeah. I guess — I’m just so worried about how Sophie is handling it, and I don’t know why. We’re not friends, we don’t get along, I hate her.”

“And why’s that?”

Biana sighed, ready to give the reasons she always did, but paused when she couldn’t remember what those reasons were. Clenching her jaw, she glared at the space in front of her.

“That’s what I thought,” said Della. “You don’t actually hate her. You just feel like you do because of some rivalry or something that happened when you were younger. But you don’t hate her.”

Biana considered this. Honestly, she couldn’t remember ever really, truly hating Sophie. And she knew what hate felt like. It was the blood boiling, gut clenching feeling she got even thinking about Alden. The one that made her want to punch something and run away. The one that had torn apart her family and stopped her from having a childhood.

She had never felt like that with Sophie. It was always a slight disliking — annoying, but something she could deal with.

Maybe she didn’t hate Sophie. Maybe she was so similar to Sophie, liked her more than she should, and didn’t know how to process that, so she channeled it into hate and anger. In the past, channeling her emotions that way had not gone well.

Biana nodded slowly. “I — I don’t think I hate her.”

“I didn’t think you did. You should try talking to her, being her friend.”

Biana nodded. Maybe she should.

As if Sophie had read her mind, she got a text from her then saying, Want to come to my house after practice tomorrow to work on the project?

Biana, a smile on her face, replied, Yes.

Taglist: @salt-warrior @pai-shodown @cinderswrench @shadymcsilverbangs @cindersassasin @healing-winston-pratt @just2bubbly let me know if you want to be added or removed!

[ahgaseda]

enough | three

even if everyone else leaves me, you’re enough for me, you’re my only one, stand by me forever, only you, just you...

summary : to survive as a single woman in the big city, you resort to letting rich men pay for your company, but never anticipated that your first client would be the boy you once loved, Jinyoung.

warnings : strong profanity, explicit dialogue, references to prostitution, mentions of gang activity, graphic sexual content, potentially triggering elements involving mental health, panic attacks, etc.

miniseries chapters : one / two / three / four / five / six / seven

Frustration was the understatement of the year.

After Jinyoung kissed you, he avoided you for the remainder of the evening. You were left to wallow in hurt and self-pity. Being faced with how badly you had damaged him, frankly had wounded you as it rightly should have.

His driver, a chatty trouble maker named Yugyeom, who towered over you and flashed a hundred-watt smile, but you learned very quickly he would be a great source of comfort given his willingness to gossip endlessly about his boss.

As the car drove into the night, Yugyeom kindly asked how your evening had been.

“He wouldn’t have sex with me,” you lamented, hoping for a laugh and relieved when you earned one.

After an amused chuckle, Yugyeom told you, “He may be a ruthless asshole, but he’s still a gentleman.”

“Yeah, but… you know what he’s paying me for,” you trailed unsurely, wondering how much you could divulge with this new acquaintance.

Yugyeom shrugged, clearly unbothered by your current “profession,” and gabbed, “The boss isn’t a rabbit. In fact, he’s rarely horny.”

Skeptical, you frowned and sighed, “Good to know.” Turning back to the window, you watched the city around you blur into one cohesive whirlwind of color and activity.

“Well, that’s what happens to guys who are smitten with a girl they can’t have. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

Biting your lip, you murmured, “No, I wouldn’t.”

Yugyeom chortled, “Yeah, if he finds that girl, then I retract my statement.”

Your brow furrowed and you abandoned the window in favor of his face. “Which statement?”

Yugyeom turned to you, taking his eyes off the road momentarily, and said, “About him not being a rabbit.”

You laughed aloud. If your memories of Jinyoung were any indication, his sex drive was through the roof. There were too many times you met up with him between classes to have a quickie and too many nights of parking in his rickety truck on some old back road with only the fireflies to see what sins you committed together.

A personal favorite you thought of often was the summer night he had filled the bed of the truck with blankets over a worn-out mattress. In the pitch black darkness of the moonless night, the two of you were a tangled mess of limbs as you fumbled around to get busy.

“Ouch,” he said, coming to a stop between your thighs.

On your back with your legs in the air alongside his hips, you held his face between your hands and asked frantically, “What? What happened? Did I hurt you?”

Jinyoung snorted and you wished you could see his face. You could barely make out his form above you in the darkness.

“How could you hurt me? You’re on the bottom,” he teased in his heavy dialect.

“I don’t know,” you exclaimed, embarrassed. “I’m new at this. You always say I’m tight. What if I break your dick?”

Jinyoung laughed hard and you grinned at the sound.

“Please, don’t ever break my dick. There wouldn’t be enough therapy in the world to help me recover from that,” Jinyoung retorted, stealing a kiss and accidentally bumping into your nose.

“Ow,” you squeaked, pinching your nose until the pain began to fade.

“I’m sorry!”

“Why did you say ‘ouch’ in the first place?” you asked with irritation.

Jinyoung winced and groaned, “I think a mosquito bit my ass.”

You giggled.

Snapping out of your memories as the car came to a rolling stop, you took in the sight of your new home. The vertical condominium was wedged between a row of identical copies, all neutrally shaded with stark black gates and railings.

Yugyeom pressed a button on a small hob before handing the device to you. The garage door began to open and he maneuvered the car slowly inside.

“Here are your keys,” said the chauffeur after he unlocked the door for you, handing the key ring to your outstretched fingers. “I bid you adieu.”

You bowed in gratitude and replied, “Thank you, sir.”

The house was too big for your liking; much too generous for a single person to live in. The main living space was almost larger than your entire apartment. As you meandered through the new residence, you smiled when you took note of your personal items stationed throughout.

While with Jinyoung at his penthouse, the movers had transported all of your belongings in a matter of hours. At first, you thought this would infuriate you - strangers putting their hands on all of your things. Then, you remembered you didn’t actually own much.

Stepping into a small room adjacent to the bedroom, you couldn’t fight a broad smile when you surveyed the office space. Your textbooks were stacked neatly and your school supplies were no exception. Sitting on the rolling chair, you did a few turns before releasing a deep sigh and closing your eyes.

Maybe this overgrown house wasn’t so bad after all.

For the next two days, you settled in, making the place feel more like a home and less of a work perk. You brightened the rooms with color and light, taking pride in the place that Jinyoung was essentially lending to you.

But you constantly checked your phone, wondering why he hadn’t called or even texted. You resorted to drowning yourself in homework and exam prep, hoping to distract yourself from the endless thoughts of Jinyoung and his dumb, handsome face.

Even as you sat in class, the monotony of your physics professor faded into static, pushed away by memories of Jinyoung and his adorable laugh. How many years had it been since you heard him laugh? You grimaced. Jinyoung at that conference table looked hard and severe, like he hadn’t laughed in years.

That saddened you; the idea Jinyoung had been living a life without love or laughter. To keep the tears from your eyes, you focused on thermodynamics and forbid Jinyoung from your mind.

On the third afternoon, you finally got the call you had been anticipating.

Briefly, you stared at the phone and counted the seconds in your head, knowing he would despise having to sit through a few rings. “Yes, my lord?” you finally answered.

Jinyoung droned while he chewed his lunch, “Yugyeom is gonna bring you here. Be ready in 15.”

Feeling he was already about to hang up, you yelled, “I’ll need more time.”

Indignant, Jinyoung grumbled, swallowing whatever was in his mouth and asking, “What the hell for?”

“To shave my legs,” you deadpanned.

There was a pause, followed by a stern, “Don’t bother.”

Then, he hung up.

Frowning at the phone, you proceeded to spend an hour preparing yourself for the visit to Jinyoung’s penthouse. Whether or not you were actually going to have sex with him, you adorned yourself as if it were an ever-present possibility.

This game of his had hopelessly reeled you in.

Yugyeom arrived to get you in a sleek black car and you found him a comfortable place to sit in the grandiose living area. When you told him the fifteen minutes allotted would not suffice, he whipped out his phone and offered to keep himself busy whilst you took your sweet time.

Yugyeom was easily becoming your favorite person, especially when he commented at what a good job you had done breathing life back into the abandoned condo. The two of you gabbed about abstract art and the mint colored record player on your nearby table. Yugyeom was passionate about music and recommended an entire list of vinyls for you to give your ear to. He seemed to jump on board your plan to keep Jinyoung and his almighty ass waiting even longer.

Over an hour later, you stood in the cold, glass box that took you to the heights of the residential tower. Your freshly-shaved legs did not tolerate the chill well and you suddenly wished you had opted for pants instead of the high-waisted shorts.

But hell, your outfit was on point. The v-neck shirt was tucked into your navy blue bottoms and your favorite push-up bra was here to work, leaving little to the imagination where your cleavage was concerned. You had gone up a cup size leaving home, and you damn sure wanted Jinyoung to notice. But to avoid looking too blatant with your bare legs and perky breasts on display, you wore a crisp blazer over the ensemble; vaguely casual.

“Alright, I’m here,” you announced as you walked into the penthouse apartment. “Let’s do this.”

Perched in the kitchen, Jinyoung continued to eat his apple leisurely, raking the knife over a chunk before taking another bite. He leaned back against the sink, ankles crossed in a pair of tight-fitting jeans.

For the brief seconds you passed in front of him, Jinyoung did a full head-to-toe scan of your presence, lingering over every curve of your form and resisting the urge to nod his approval. With the trail of delicate, fruity scents following you, Jinyoung surmised you must have just come from a long, hot shower.

Unbuttoning your blazer, you propped your forearms on the counter directly next to him, sticking your ass into the air and glancing over your shoulder. Drumming your nails on the surface, you whined, “I’ll have you know I’ve had a very stressful day.”

Rolling his eyes, Jinyoung sighed, “I never would have guessed.”

Though he stood at your side, he felt miles away. You sashayed your hips a little, inevitably drawing his attention once more, and murmured coyly, “I’ve heard rage sex can help with that.”

“So can a nap.”

You grumbled at another battle lost, standing up straight and stealing the apple from his hand. After taking a loud bite, you murmured, “The boy I knew couldn’t keep his hands off of me.”

Without missing a beat, Jinyoung snatched the fruit back from your grasp and chuffed, “The girl I knew would never have traded her body for money.”

You nearly choked.

Jinyoung cut another piece of the apple and forced it into your parted mouth, saying, “You shouldn’t bite into an apple. It’s bad for your teeth.”

You watched him saunter away, noting the broad expanse of his shoulders and the way his dress shirt hugged every line and angle. Once upon a time, you knew how it felt to sink your fingers into his back, to anchor yourself to him in every way possible as he took you to the heights of ecstasy.

You also knew how it felt to let him hold you, to comfort you when you needed his love most. Jinyoung was no stranger to you waking up in the middle of the night screaming, doused in sweat as your dreams turned dark and violent. There were too many things you had seen in your lifetime and your mind could never forget them no matter how hard you tried.

Jinyoung was just another frightened kid, no different from you, but he knew what to say and what to do. You would rest your head in the bend of his arm, your smaller frame tucked to his body as he rocked you back and forth. He would murmur the most delicate of words until you drifted back to sleep.

The memories of how passionate Jinyoung could be with you, how mindlessly in love you had once been with each other, brought a fresh surge of frustration into your chest and the sensation radiated through your body to the point you felt heat behind your cheeks.

Vexed by his dismissals, you trudged toward the door, drawing his confused attention momentarily as you shouted, “I’m going with Yugyeom to get food!”

The sound of the door slamming ricocheted through the apartment. Jinyoung stood rooted in place, watching where you had just stormed out, and nonchalantly took one last bite from his apple before tossing the core into the trash bin.

God, you drove him crazy. He loved you to the point of madness. Everything you did was both certifiably adorable and yet absolutely infuriating in his eyes. This little game he played with you was the highlight of his life at the moment. He was finally reunited with a sense of peace now that he could see you again, but he had no intention of giving you absolution any time soon.

You plopped into the passenger seat, greeting a surprised Yugyeom as he had been playing on his phone. You took the mobile from him and proceeded to finish his round of Candy Crush, asking him to take you to the nearest convenience store for snacks.

“You were barely in there for two seconds,” Yugyeom said, revving up the engine.

You groaned and explained, “We argued already. He annoys me.”

Yugyeom chortled.

“Your phone is ringing,” you told him a moment later, seeing Jinyoung’s photo on the screen. “It’s the asshat.”

“Answer it then,” Yugyeom smarted, focused on the busy street he turned onto.

You did as told and chirped, “Yugyeom’s phone.”

Surprised to hear your voice on his driver’s line, Jinyoung said, “You didn’t take a guard with you.”

You rolled your eyes and whined, “I’m just going to buy snacks. How much trouble could I possibly get into?”

“What’s he complaining about?” Yugyeom asked with a laugh.

Hoping Jinyoung would notice the difference, you drastically softened your tone when speaking to Yugyeom, “We didn’t bring a babysitter.”

“Mr. Muscles is in the back,” Yugyeom replied.

“What?” you exclaimed, turning around.

Sure enough, Jackson the burly security guard was resting atop the seat, an arm tucked behind his head with his eyes closed. Though after hearing Yugyeom, he lifted a hand and waved his fingers to let you know he was well aware of the situation.

You giggled and quipped, “Unbelievable.”

“Alright then,” Jinyoung sighed, satisfied you had enough escorts for a measly trip.

“Why are you even worried about me?” you asked spitefully, grateful for the distance between you and Jinyoung at the moment. “I’m sure I’m easily replaceable.”

“I’m not having an argument with you over the phone,” Jinyoung replied calmly. “Though you sure are a lot braver whenever you’re on one.”

You scoffed, but had no rebuttal. It was true. After a nervous pause, you stammered, “Want anything from the store?”

Jinyoung barked, “Yeah, three or four bottles of soju. I’ll need them if you’re planning on staying longer than five minutes this time.”

“You bastard,” you fired back. “I offered you my ass on a silver platter and you would rather talk about apples.”

Yugyeom and Jackson both made noises of amusement, though the latter still kept his eyes closed in an attempt to catch a nap.

There was absolutely no fluctuation in Jinyoung’s voice when he grumbled, “Yeah, because nothing turns a guy on like his girl flopping onto the kitchen counter.”

Bristling with fury, you snapped, “How would I know what turns a guy on? It’s been years since I slept with you.”

“Me?” Jinyoung questioned.

“Huh?”

Jinyoung shifted his weight, drifting into his bedroom, and asked, “I’m the last person you slept with?”

Immediately, you realized what you had said and fell rather spectacularly into a panic. “I’m gonna hang up now.”

Jinyoung countered in a low threat, “Don’t you fucking dare.”

You pulled the phone from your ear and stared at the screen, biting your lip as adrenaline rose in your chest. After a few tense seconds, you pressed the phone back to your cheek and whispered, “Yes.”

Jinyoung was clearly off balance after your confession, because his tone was tender and soft when he spoke, “No one else has touched you?”

Pinching your lips together, you wrestled with what to say. Had he assumed you had moved on from him? That you had gotten into bed with other men in an attempt to forget about him?

Firmly, you replied, “No.”

It was true. You had found and lost love with Jinyoung. You knew you wouldn’t find it with anyone else - you would only find it where you had left it.

Now, it was Jinyoung’s turn to be silent. After a moment, he murmured, “I didn’t know that.”

Why did he sound skeptical? Did he think you were lying to please him?

Wrath reared its ugly head again and you snapped, “Oh, I’m sorry I’m not a massive slut. Does this lower my street value?”

Jinyoung snarled, “Careful...”

“Wait, it should raise my worth, right? I’m sorry…” you trailed with a hollow chuckle to hide your wounded pride. “I’m not up to speed on prostitution practices.”

Running out of patience, Jinyoung hissed your name.

Squeezing the phone, you shouted into the receiver with loathing, “The last girl you paid to fuck you, should I call her for some advice?”

“Oh, shit,” Yugyeom suddenly exclaimed, slamming the breaks as a car darted out in front of him.

You screamed when the vehicles collided and inadvertently dropped the phone onto the floor between your feet. While you lurched forward from the impact, your taut safety belt shoved you back into the seat. Fortunately, you and your companions were unscathed.

“Real nice, Yugyeom,” Jackson chastised, opening his door and stepping out to survey the damage.

“Don’t get out,” Yugyeom told you as you reached for your handle.

You nodded, watching the man in the opposing vehicle storm up to the car you were in and slam both of his hands on the hood. Jackson approached him, speaking diplomatically, but the other man was shouting, motioning between the two of them.

“I wanna go back now,” you spoke shakily, eyes on the drama unfolding.

When his polite manners didn’t do the trick, Jackson braced his hands on the man’s chest and shoved him away, warning him to settle down or there would be consequences. After handing the stranger a few bills from the wad of cash in his pocket, both parties returned to their vehicles amicably.

“What are you paying him for?” Yugyeom exclaimed with discontent as Jackson slid back into the car. “We had the right of way!”

“Just go before the police show up,” Jackson ordered, reaching into his back pocket with a groan when his phone began to ring. He patiently answered, “Yeah, boss? No, we’re fine. She’s fine. It was a tiny collision. She does? No, she seems alright to me.”

“I’m right here,” you grumbled, glancing over your shoulder. The concept of Jinyoung being worried about you warmed your icy heart for a moment, but you were still too annoyed to let the gesture soften you.

“I will keep an eye on it,” Jackson whispered, then hung up.

“He told you about my history with car accidents, did he?”

Jackson relaxed back into his seat, like nothing had happened, and said, “He just told me to watch out for the signs, that’s all.”

“I’m fine,” you asserted. “My reaction is totally normal.”

“Really?” Jackson persisted. “Because my hands stopped shaking already. How about yours?”

You glanced down at your lap and saw your quivering fingers, immediately folding your arms and gazing out the window.

Stepping into the penthouse after a short return drive, you came face-to-face with a livid Jinyoung. Before he could utter a word, you sassed, “You won’t get rid of me that easily.”

He narrowed his eyes in reproach. “That’s not funny.”

Putting your hands on your hips, you dodged him and sang in a taunt, “It’s a shame you’ve lost your sense of humor, among other things.”

Jinyoung’s sharp tongue was not to be underestimated and he was quick to retort, “Yeah, it must be out there fucking what’s left of your dignity.”

You scowled, enraged.

Jinyoung planted his feet, crossed his arms over his chest, and asked sternly, “Why haven’t you been with anyone else?”

A ripple of nerves shot through you and you deflected, “Are we really gonna have this conversation now?”

Jinyoung would never admit it, but he was overcome with feelings toward you. You had stayed faithful to him. Even though you left him, you had made no attempts to replace him. Every fiber of his being was drawn to you, desperate to have you in his arms.

“Why not?” Jinyoung finally pressed, advancing toward you.

Folding your arms, you stuck out your hip and tapped your foot. “Have you been with anyone else?”

Jinyoung wagged his finger. “I asked you first.”

“No, Jinyoung,” you admitted with a heavy sigh, abandoning any ideas about lying to him. “I haven’t been with anyone since you. I’m not capable of trusting another person that much.”

Harshening his expression, Jinyoung sneered, “Trust is a funny thing, isn’t it?”

You bristled, reading his tone.

“I’m suddenly reminded of how much I trusted you until the day you jumped in that truck and ran away from me.”

You threw up your hands, assuming he was back to the game, back to his desire to punish you. Exhausted, you choked, “I wasn’t doing it to get away from you.”

Jinyoung scoffed, “Really?”

“Don’t talk to me like you fucking know me,” you yelled, drifting toward his room for much needed solitude.

Jinyoung’s gaze narrowed, fire coursing through his veins when he hissed, “I’m the only one that knows you.”

With a roll of your eyes, you stomped to his bedroom and slammed the door behind you. Plopping down on his bed, you fell to your back and focused on calming your racing heart. Because arguing with Jinyoung didn’t scare you - it excited you.

When you were with Jinyoung, the two of you got into fiery debates rather often. Both of you were reckless with your emotions, quick to indulge your tempers given the right situations pushed the right buttons. You and Jinyoung were adept at flinging sharp words and insults, but you never felt fear or emotional injury from your sparring with him. Jinyoung was the boy who held your heart. You knew he would never break it.

At least, not until you broke his.

Voices drew your attention a few minutes later. Jinyoung had made no attempts to engage further with you and you were slightly disappointed. Meanwhile, you had been grappling with the spikes of adrenaline still holding your attention.

It amazed you how little compassion your own brain had for your emotional well-being. Whether it be a small collision or even a fake car accident in a film, seeing either would bring back every visceral detail of the day you learned how dangerous your home had become.

The van had slammed into your truck, totalling it with ease. Your head hit the window and a concussion nearly faded your vision to black. Before you slipped into unconsciousness, your body alerted you to more impending danger - of men dragging you from the wreckage with no intention of rescuing you.

Jinyoung would never understand your hatred for the gangs. Not unless he had been through what you had endured that day.

Snapping from your dark thoughts, you opened the door and stepped toward the living area. You needed to see Jinyoung, needed him to anchor you back to reality. No matter the hurt and pain between you and him, he was the uncontested safest place in the world.

“Jinyoung,” you called unsurely, voice shaking as the conflict grew louder.

In your three days of being one of Jinyoung’s “employees,” you had only met Bambam once and all you knew about him was his handling of Jinyoung’s business relationships. He seemed to be the orchestrater, the man with his hands in every cookie jar.

At the moment, Bambam was shouting, visibly enraged. Even though his anger was not remotely directed at you, your instinct was to cower into the corner to make yourself a smaller target. As you paced backwards slightly, head down in submission, Jinyoung clocked a weathered glance at your movements.

While Bambam continued to rant, you thought of your mother - the way she screamed at you and her voice would carry through the house, ricocheting from every surface to the point you thought you were surrounded. At the memory, your breathing began to shallow and you stared at the floor.

“Stop raising your voice,” Jinyoung warned his friend, but his eyes were fixated on you.

Oblivious, Bambam persisted, “I’m sorry, but this is the biggest screw up since…”

Jinyoung cut him off to snarl in reproach, “Shut up.”

You remembered the way you had screamed when those men tore you from the car and the sound flooded all of your senses until you truly believed you were back in that same place all over again. The memories were snowballing, piling one after the other until you were buried under an avalanche of trauma.

“Jinyoung,” called Jackson worriedly, having finally noticed you.

“I know,” Jinyoung answered as he made his way over to you, grabbing your arms and guiding you to the floor. “Sit. Sit.”

To everyone in the room, you looked like a startled animal, eyes wide and chest heaving for breath. Following Jinyoung’s instructions, you wouldn’t call what you did sitting, per se. You more or less collapsed to the ground; your legs folding under you like a lawn chair.

Frantic, Yugyeom asked, “What’s wrong with her?”

Jinyoung pushed some of your hair out of your face and answered, “She’s having a panic attack.”

“Because of me?” Bambam blinked.

Yugyeom was quick to scold, “No, you idiot. You’re just the cherry on top of a milkshake from hell.”

Clenching his jaw, Jackson turned to Bambam and added, “There was a little incident earlier.”

At the phrase, your mind gave you rapid glimpses of the car accident and your chest tightened all the more. Many pairs of eyes were on you now and your brain warned they were systematically draining all of the oxygen out of the room, robbing you of much-needed air.

“No, no, don’t look at them. Look at me,” Jinyoung demanded, cupping your face. “I’m the only one that matters. I’m the only one here.”

You wanted desperately to wrangle your breathing back to normal. You screamed at yourself in your mind that you were overreacting, that you were spiraling out of control for no rational reason.

“Everybody, get out,” Jinyoung ordered under his breath, careful not to shout in your presence as he seethed before you.

Shuddering, you choked in an attempt to gulp in more air.

Jinyoung gripped you, gentle but secure, and ordered, “Hey, hold my arms and close your eyes. Focus on breathing.”

You winched your eyes shut and imagined waves lapping on some distant shore. Even in your mind, the place you tried to seek was dark with storm clouds, the ground quaking when thunder boomed overhead.

“That’s it. Just relax. I’m right here with you.”

His voice seemed muffled by the rushing of blood in your ears. Your skull pounded, oversaturated with survival responses.

Jinyoung watched your face, relieved to see you were settling down in response to his words. Once upon a time, he was adept at saving you from yourself. Shushing your whimpers softly, he sighed, “I won’t let anything happen to you. You’re safe, baby. You’re safe with me.”

The panic gave you one last spike of terror, a final attempt of claiming you. You hyperventilated in response, shaking at a fresh onslaught of adrenaline, but it was subdued and losing its power.

Jinyoung brushed his thumb through the tear rolling down your cheek and said, “Breathe.”

His voice echoed in your head, drowning out everything else.

“You’re doing great.”

You relaxed, breathing steadily.

Jinyoung angled his body, pressing two fingers to your wrist and seeking out your pulse. Satisfied at the speed, he ordered, “Open your eyes now.”

Your eyes cracked open slowly, tears escaping your lashes and streaming down your face. Meeting his penchant stare, you rasped, “Jinyoung?”

“Not now, sweetheart. Just focus on you,” he calmed. “We have plenty of time to talk.”

Composing yourself, you took a deep inhale and released the air. Feeling marginally better, you joked, “This day fucking blows.”

Jinyoung chortled briefly. “I know.”

Letting your hands slide from his arms, you began, “I’m sorry about what I said earlier. I got carried away.”

Jinyoung fervently shook his head. “Don’t apologize.”

Both of you got to your feet, the room thick with tension of a different kind. A smile forced its way to your lips as you had caught a glimpse of the old Jinyoung - the boy who loved you more than himself and never failed to drive away your nightmares.

Calling his name, you reached out for him and stammered, “Can we… just stop being angry with each other?”

Jinyoung exhaled, morose. Giving your hand a squeeze before letting go, he explained, “You’re angry with me. I’m angry with you. Time will fix that.”

You watched him escape into his adjacent bedroom and you followed without any doubts.

For minutes that passed much too quickly, you had been safe and sound in Jinyoung’s arms. Even now, every aspect of his body language was open and inviting. If you wanted to rush back into his embrace, you had no doubt you would be welcome to do so.

Noticing you had shadowed him into the bedroom, Jinyoung studied you and asked, “You good?”

“I’m fine,” you assured him with a nod. “I promise.”

“Alright, then,” he replied, turning to leave. Your presence was suffocating him. He had too many desires toward you at the moment and he didn’t want to act on them yet. This was a slow burn - a power play he had to win in the end.

You sat on the edge of his bed, looking down at your hands and relieved to see they were no longer shaking. Rubbing your fingers together, you watched Jinyoung pilfer his pocket for a cell phone, dialing a number.

“Stay here and take it easy. I’m going to send everyone home,” he told you passively, striding out of the room before you could answer.

You nodded your understanding and listened to his footsteps fade away. Resisting a smile, you glanced around the room and mulled over the silly boy you loved. He was already trying to repair his harsh exterior, forcing any buffer he could to keep you from seeing he was still the soft, kind Jinyoung you knew.

Your overwhelming desire at the moment was to kiss him - to press your lips to every inch of his face and neck until he wrapped his arms around your waist and kissed you with the fire and passion you knew he possessed.

A moment later, Jinyoung returned to the bedroom, relieved to see you hadn’t moved. Giving you a look over, the two of you merely studied each other, neither uttering a word. Where did you both stand in this relationship now?

Jinyoung could see the affection in your eyes. He had soothed your fear and rage in one moment of tenderness and vulnerability. He wanted nothing more than to hold you, to cradle you in his arms and let you fall asleep under his watchful gaze. For the past four years, he had been denied your warmth, parted from the feeling of your skin against his. Meanwhile, his heart - which he had started to believe was long gone - ached in his chest, twisting with need at the sight of you before him.

When Jinyoung shifted his weight, you knew he was a split-second away from finding a reason to crash on the couch; to put some distance between the two of you in order to hold on to his need to punish you. Longing to keep him close, you called, “Can I ask you for something?”

“Mm-hm,” he hummed, eyebrows raised with curiosity.

Your eyes were alight with hope as you posed the request, “Let me sleep in here tonight.”

And there it was. Mulling through indecision, Jinyoung decided he could lose a battle or two if it meant he would still win the war. After what happened over the course of the day, there was no way he could deny you any longer.

Ultimately, Jinyoung shrugged, feigning indifference, and he surrendered. “Fine.”

Blushing, you quipped to ease the tension, “I won’t make any moves on you, I swear.”

“Take off your jacket,” Jinyoung countered lowly, without missing a beat.

“Okay,” you replied, slipping out of the blazer as your brow stitched. “Why?”

Jinyoung salivated at the sight of your body in the tight outfit. He wanted to bury his face in your full breasts and grab handfuls of your plump ass, but managed to keep his composure for the time being.

Judging by the emotionless look on his face, you had absolutely no idea of the dirty thoughts racing through his mind. Jinyoung was momentarily daydreaming of all the many, many times he had taken pleasure from your body and given you back more in return.

Jinyoung began rolling up his sleeves, like he had a job to do that would undoubtedly require him getting his hands dirty, and replied, “I will give you a taste of what you want.”

Confused, you weren’t entirely up to speed yet with his shift in disposition and you searched his expression for an answer. “And what is that?” you questioned innocently.

“Put your hair up.”

You cocked your head, curious.

“Put your hair in a ponytail,” Jinyoung spoke slowly, almost patronizingly, when you failed to obey and pointed at the crown of your head.

With a roll of your eyes at what he could be playing at, you did as told and pulled a tie from your wrist to restrain your hair.

Jinyoung approached you, nose-to-nose, and surprised you when he reached around your head and grabbed the ponytail in his fist. You groaned at the sharp, forceful contact and braced your hands on his chest.

“Strip,” Jinyoung ordered, nipping at your lips.

Eyes widening, you could hardly believe your ears and you complied with his demand as if it were your body’s natural reflex. Jinyoung kept a solid hold on your hair and kissed you with abandon, smiling against your mouth when he felt you trying to shuffle out of your shorts.

Jinyoung cupped your jaw as he slipped his tongue along your bottom lip, teasing you for entrance. Rather than give in, you leaned into him and shoved your tongue into his mouth, stumbling as your shorts landed around your ankles. Jinyoung chuckled at your mindless urgency and the sound registered in your chest, causing you to smile while you played with his tongue.

His hand fell from your cheek, landing on your clothed breast and palming at the mound before grabbing the hem of your shirt and yanking it to the side to expose your bra. When you heard the material rip slightly, you broke from his mouth to gasp, but in the next instant, his palm was on your waist and stroking up your bare stomach.

The heat of his touch traveled up to your head and clouded your thoughts. You could hear and feel every harsh thump of your racing pulse in your ears. Your heart was clenching in your chest, celebrating at the taste of victory. Jinyoung was touching you. He was kissing you with the fervor of someone that had never stopped loving you.

Impatient, Jinyoung released you just long enough to spin you around, facing you away from him. You called his name, heat fogging your mind even more from the rush of arousal of his rough grip on you. Jinyoung guided you to his dresser, pushing you into it with the insistence of a man starved for the feel of your body beneath his.

Your hands collided and fumbled with his as both of you made it your mission to get you out of all your clothes. When you reached behind yourself to fiddle with his zipper, Jinyoung grasped your wrist and brought it to the dresser, pinning you there.

Jinyoung was completely clothed when he pressed to your back. It was symbolic - you were naked and wholly vulnerable, but he was guarded and concealed.

Bracing yourself on the dresser, you closed your eyes and hummed with pleasure, shivering at the feel of his warm, roaming hands on your body. His palms skimmed and traced every expanse of your bare skin, touching you with the seasoned experience of a boy who once knew every inch of you intimately.

Jinyoung groaned at how soft you felt against his fingertips. You hadn’t changed at all. He could see every shaky breath you took and thrived off of the effect he had on you. Sensing you were desperate for his touch, Jinyoung kissed beneath your ear and coiled his arms around your naked waist like a noose.

“I want you to know something,” Jinyoung murmured, tonguing a path up the side of your neck while he tangled a fist in your ponytail. “But first, don’t utter a word.”

You nodded your understanding and submitted to his dominance, purring when his hand lowered between your legs.

“I’ve fucked many women since you left me,” he sneered in a low whisper. “None of them could fill the emptiness you left behind.”

A rancid taste took root in your mouth as the revelation weighed heavily on your heart. Other women had slept with your man. There were whores out there that knew how it felt to have him inside them. You clenched your jaw and checked your anger, because unadulterated rage was beginning to boil in your chest.

Smirking at the way you stiffened against him, Jinyoung teased his fingers beneath your lower lips, chuckling devilishly when he felt the dampness and warmth of your flesh. He coated his digits in your arousal, playfully teasing your entrance until your hips jerked forward involuntarily toward his hand.

Feeling you getting riled up, Jinyoung chose to growl in your ear, “I closed my eyes every time, imagining you on top of me, but I knew better. They weren’t as warm as you. They weren’t as tight as you. They didn’t make those sounds I know you make.”

You wanted to be aroused by this. You would have preferred his words to fuel your ego, but you were too busy being absolutely infuriated. The territorial streak you possessed flared and you quickly pushed on the dresser in an attempt to loosen his hold on you.

Jinyoung chuckled, releasing his grip on your hair to reaffirm his arms around your waist. “Where are you going, baby?” he teased against your neck.

Irritable, you growled, “You fucked other women?”

Jinyoung was thrilled to hear your envy and he squeezed your bare breast to annoy you some more. “Of course, I did,” he replied with a spiteful edge to his voice as he pushed his way into your entrance. “You weren’t around.”

You were momentarily distracted from being angry when his thumb rolled your clit and a tiny whimper left your lips. Jinyoung pumped his digits into your wet pussy, stroking your sweet spot with the pads of his fingers.

After a gasp at the feel of your walls stretching around his penetration, you clenched your jaw and spat, “You are the only person I have ever been with. You’re the only person I’ve ever fucking kissed, Jinyoung.”

Jinyoung snickered and sighed on your shoulder, “Are you jealous, sweetheart?”

“No,” you smarted bitterly. “How could I be jealous of what’s rightfully mine?”

Thrumming at your declaration, Jinyoung grinned with pride and whispered, “Would you feel better if I told you I just used them to get myself off? I never concerned myself with pleasuring them?”

That did little to mollify you and you told him as much. “You were still inside them.”

“I didn’t come in any of them. Couldn’t risk that.” His voice dropped to a whisper when he added, “I miss coming inside this gorgeous bitch though.”

You shivered at his words, biting your lip as you remembered the times Jinyoung would say the dirtiest, nastiest shit to turn you on. Meanwhile, your memories also reminded you how it felt to push Jinyoung over the edge, to feel him losing himself on top of you. With a wiggle of your ass against his crotch and the obvious erection trapped in his pants, you whined, “I’m still mad at you.”

Jinyoung crowded your back a little more aggressively, sinking his fingers into your warmth down to the base of his knuckles. Chuckling at the way your legs quivered and you struggled to keep balance, he teased, “Well, I suggest you get over that in the next two minutes.”

Squeezing the corners of the dresser, you cried, “What do you want from me?”

“Right now, I just want you to relax,” Jinyoung crooned, stroking his free hand across your breasts and toying with your hard nipples. “I really wanna watch you come.”

“Mm,” you moaned, bidding yourself to ignore how angry he made you and focus more on his fleeting desire to pleasure you.

Jinyoung sank his teeth into the base of your neck and tongued at the crimson mark forming. Inhaling the scent of your hair, he growled, “You always looked so beautiful when you came for me.”

Listening to your pussy squelching around his fingers, you panted, “Jinyoung, I’m wet enough. Take me.”

“Who are you telling?” he chided, his fingers moving at an even faster pace. “I’m the one with a hand between your legs.”

“Jinyoung,” you moaned, desperate.

Jinyoung rolled your clit with this thumb and groaned in the back of his throat at the feel of your arousal dripping down his hand. “Tell me what you want,” he sighed.

“I want...” you stammered, releasing little noises every time his digits plunged into your core, stroking your walls good and rough.

You knew what you were about to say. You had passed beyond want and settled into need. Winching your eyes closed and sinking your teeth into your lip, you imagined how it would feel to make love to him after all these years; to feel yourself one with him again.

You craved it on a primal level, mouth watering at the mere thought.

When you failed to answer, Jinyoung seemed to read your steamy thoughts and released a shaky, aroused breath on your neck, rumbling, “Tell me.”

“You inside me,” you confessed without hesitation.

God, he wanted that. Your pussy was warm and welcoming around his fingers. He knew your cunt would clamp down on his cock in a vice grip.

His hips stuttered, smacking into your bare ass from behind in a seeking thrust. His body wanted nothing more than to go on autopilot. Feeling your naked skin and your undeniable heat pushed him to the height of his tolerance.

But Jinyoung was well in control of his priorities and pitilessly reminded, “I am inside you.”

Rolling your eyes with annoyance, you whimpered, “That’s not what I...”

With a vengeance, Jinyoung shoved his fingers deep inside your walls to match his words, “You want my cock?”

“Yes,” you cried out, moving your hips to match the speed of his hand.

Hunger gripped his voice as he continued, “You want this thick cock to fill you up?”

“Yes,” you shouted, grasping the corners of the dresser until your knuckles began to ache.

“No.”

Blinking in surprise, you exclaimed, “What?”

“I said no.”

Frustrated, you bounced your hips, driving to meet his fingers and simultaneously ensuring your ass coaxed against the bulge in his jeans. Though you weren’t clueless as far as this power struggle between you and your ex-boyfriend was concerned, you asked, “Why?”

“You know why.”

The moment those words left his mouth, Jinyoung bore down on you, wedging you underneath him with no way of escape. You howled his name and pleaded for mercy when his hand picked up speed, drilling against your sweet spot while his thumb rubbed your clit borderline viciously.

The orgasm slammed into you, consuming you - mind and body. You moaned at the top of your lungs, the sound abruptly cutting off as you shook in his arms. Your back curved against his body and you pushed at his hand frantically when the stimulation became more than you could bear.

“Oh, god,” you sobbed, fluttering limply onto the dresser and burying your face between your arms. Jinyoung was still ever so slightly sinking his fingers in and out of your heat, coaxing the aftershocks out of you while he rutted his clothed cock along your ass.

“Good girl,” he snarled almost inaudibly, fighting a grin at how hard you had climaxed from his fingers alone. You were extremely sensitive, which led him to believe this was the first orgasm you had experienced in quite a while. And he wasn’t wrong.

Jinyoung kept his body draped over yours and grabbed you by the throat. His lips were wet with saliva as he blazed a trail up the side of your neck before whispering, “I would love nothing more than to fuck the shit out of you. To stretch you open with my cock and fill you with cum like you want, but I won’t. Not until you beg me and not a moment before you admit you were wrong for leaving me the way you did.”

Tears pricked your eyes from the ministrations of his thumb rolling your engorged bundle of nerves, but were spurned even further by his words. You merely lay there with his body overtop yours, feeling the cold of the dresser against your breasts, and wishing to all the heavens he would just take you.

But more than anything, you wanted him to forgive you.

Jinyoung withdrew his hand and wiped your juices off on his jeans carelessly before opening the drawer at your side and finding a roomy shirt for you to wear.

“I’m back to being mad at you,” you hissed after finally lifting yourself from the dresser.

Jinyoung said nothing, though he gave you a stern, unaffected look before pulling the sweater over your head. You lifted your arms into the air and allowed him to dress you. Then, you shuffled to his bed.

You were disappointed but obviously not surprised when he didn’t join you. Noting an outline of the hard dick in his jeans, you watched him step toward the bathroom and considered pressing your ear to the door to listen to him relieve himself.

“By the way, I lied,” Jinyoung said as he stood in the open doorway.

Shifting under the blankets, you asked with indifference, “About what?”

Jinyoung settled his gaze on you, licking his lips at the sight of you sated and comfortable in his bed, and confessed, “I haven’t touched any women since you. I don’t have anything to give to another person. You took it all.”

Then, he closed the bathroom door behind him and left you to your solitary thoughts, missing the sight of the victorious smile that claimed your swollen lips.

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a/n : this story was previously Lacuna on my old blog, minheoney. I’m really excited to finally finish it! This fic was my baby for so long and I’m ridiculously happy to give it a new home :)

Hey there, beautiful! If you enjoyed this, please leave a like or reblog or follow me! Or maybe buy me a coffee so I can keep writing? Or check out my masterlist here for more stories! Thanks for reading :) - Katya

This work is fictional and for entertainment purposes only, but is licensed and protected under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial-noderivatives 4.0 international license. Any instances of plagiarism will be dealt with accordingly. Do not re-post or translate without my permission.

{ copyright 2018-2020 © ahgaseda // all rights reserved }

[agentofscifi]

 Success is the Best Kind of Revenge

I didn’t want to feel smug, I really didn’t, but I just couldn’t help the pin prick of smugness. My entire classes sat around, horribly disappointed in our Lycée classroom. Many of them had gotten responses for Universities jobs, and internships over the winter semester. They hadn’t turned out well. 

Alya had applied to a job at a newspaper, applied to three internships and sent four university applications out. She lost every one of them. Nino hadn’t gotten his internship either nor did he get into the music school he wanted. Kim had a scholarship and college acceptance revoked, and the two other Universities who had been offering swimming scholarships pulled their offers back too. Ivan and Myléne had both been under investigation over the break for charity fraud. Though they were cleared, no other charities wanted their help and their university had pulled their acceptance out. 

Rose’s eyes were still red and raw looking. Prince Ali had cut all contact with Rose and she was denied from her music schools. All of Max’s scholarships and every since school he applied to, all fourteen of them, pulled back their acceptance. Nathaniel’s comic strip was no longer being printed and there was a pending copyright suit. Sabrina was under investigation too, for theft, breaking and entering as well as illegal photography. Her university denied her as well. She assisted Lila and Alya in harassing me over the past few years. Adrien was sitting in his seat, a numb sort of look over his face as Nino patted his shoulder. Lila, however, was the only happy one in the class. She had a firm grip on Adrien’s arm as she chatted to an unset Alya about how she helped catch Hawkmoth with Ladybug. 

The only reason I knew all of this was because of their parents. Despite their children no longer speaking to me, my classmates' parents and siblings were still in good relations with my family. Their parents had described their disappointment and confusion to my parents after all of the university issues. 

I was sitting in the back with a sad looking Juleka, an annoyed Alix and an over smug Chloe. A weird sort of girl group that formed as the rest of the class refused to grow up. I wanted to feel bad, I really did, but honestly, they made their own graves. I tried to warn them, I tried to keep them from this. They choose the fool’s gold. 

Alix, Chloe and Juleka came to the light. Chloe figured it out the quickest, many of Lila’s lies had holes in them. Chloe saw the holes quite easily. Juleka became wary of Lila after Luka met her. Apparently, Lila’s inner song is like nails on chalkboards and dying kittens. As for Alix, she had asked Lila about the Rabbit Miraculous only for Lila to tell her that it was wielded by a man in the future. Either way, they all saw what was really going on. 

Mrs. Bustier walks into the room just as the bell rings, a large smile on her face. “Hello everyone. I hope you had a good break. Did everyone do their homework?” Most of the classmates looked down at those words. Our winter break homework, making a list of options for after Lycée this year. Normally we’d have private meetings about all of this today, while the rest of us worked in the library. Mrs. Bustier decided that our class would share our options with everyone else. 

“Well, would anyone like to start? Alya?” Mrs. Bustier gives a big smile to my former best friend. 

Alya’s face pales and she mumbles for a second before clearing her throat. “I, ahh. I’ve decided to take a year off, to do a year of work. There’s a grocery store that has some openings for me and the Zoo where my Dad works is hiring summer people for the gift shop and concessions.”

Mrs. Bustier’s smile drops. “Alya, what about your internships at the newspaper, or the one at TVi?”

Alya looks down. “I didn’t get them.”

“What about Goldsmith University in London? Or Cardiff University? Of the University of Amsterdam? Or ESJ Paris? You were looking forward to all of the programs these schools offered.”

Alya’s hand on the desk clenches. “I didn’t get in.”

Mrs. Bustier’s smile was completely gone now. “What?”

“All four Universities denied me. I didn't get into any of them.”

“Oh.” Mrs. Bustier blushes a deep red and looks around to the room before settling on me. She nudges her head towards Alya, telling me to comfort my classmate. 

I raise an eyebrow at her, causing her blush to deepen. She did that everytime I reminded her, either subtly or not, that she couldn’t put all of her responsibilities onto a child. Regardless, I spoke up. I really did feel some pity for the class. “I’m sorry about that Alya. Try again next year. A job or something might help boost your application.”

Alya whips around and glares at me. “I don’t need your pity! I’ll be fine! Unlike you, you’ll just be a nobody. I bet not a single University in the whole world wanted you!” I sigh and glance over at Mrs. Bustier. She remained silent as Alya rips into me. Typical. 

Chloe lets out a small laugh. “You’re one to talk.”

Alya’s face heats up again and Mrs. Bustier finally cleared her throat. “Well, let’s move on. Nino, what about you? What about that school in America?”

Nino rubs the back of his head. “I, uh. I heard back. They don’t think I’m ready to start at Musicians Institute in Los Angeles. I didn’t get the internship either, the one in Hollywood. My parents are letting me keep my DJ work up next year, but I have to find a job.”

Mrs. Bustier’s smile is obviously forced now. She’d spent the whole break bragging about her classmates on social media and in an interview. So far, the class was not doing so well. “Rose? How about you? What music school are you going to?”

Rose immediately starts to tear up. “None of them! Julliad didn’t want me! Neither did the Royal Academy of Music or Royal College of Music in London. They said my music wasn’t good enough!” 

Rose was just about sobbing at this point in front of me. Juleka looks even more sad and I agreed with her. Rose’s lyrics were actually pretty good, until Lila got a hold of her. Now the music was less inspiring and unique. 

Mrs. Bustier looks up at me. A desperate plea in her eyes. I look away almost instantly, pulling out a small thing of tissues. I pass them over to Rose’s shoulder, getting a soft thank you in response. Juleka pulls out her phone and starts to text. More than likely offering a shoulder for Rose to cry on after class. 

Mrs. Bustier fumbles with her hands for a minute, looking around the class. “Sabrina, what about you? Do you still want that social justice degree?”

Sabrina drops her head into her arms. “No. I’m not going to University next year. My father wants me to stay in Paris with him until next year. He’s...worried about me.”

Mrs. Bustier’s eyes are a little more frantic now. “Myléne! Ivan! How about you two? Where do you hope to go to University next year?”

Myléne sinks in her seat. Ivan glances around the room like he’s hoping someone will help. No one does. “We’re ah, taking a year off too. Our summer volunteer trip in Africa fell through also. So, we’re sticking around for a while. Looking at our options.” Myléne nods. 

“Oh, good for you.” Mrs. Bustier looks around the room again. She avoided us. No surprise. Unlike the rest of the class, we really didn’t get much time to discuss our future with Mrs. Bustier. She seemed to be focusing on the students she believed would be going somewhere. “Kim! How about that swimming scholarship?”

Kim flushes red too. “I uh. I’m not going to be swimming in the fall. I’m thinking about some basic classes at a local university.”

“What about the scholarship?”

Kim’s eyes darted around, briefly looking at me, before continuing on. “I lost it. There were some issues, I didn’t qualify anymore.”

“Nathaniel! What about you? Did your new comic strip kick off?”

Nathenial’s head drops to his desk and he moans. The whole class stares in shock. Nathenial shakes his head on the desk, another moan emitting from below the red hair. 

“Max!” There’s a look of comfort in Mrs. Bustier. Her smartest pupil would come through, wouldn’t he. “How about you?”

“I got denied. All fourteen schools denied me!” Max had a slight crazed look in his eyes. As I looked closer I could see how unkempt me was. His suspenders were a little askew, his hair wasn’t quite as controlled as usual, and his glasses weren’t straight. “Me, the kid who made an AI was denied from MIT, Stanford, Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, Berkeley, University of Tokyo, ETH Zürich, California’s Institute of Technology, Technical University of Munich, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Nanyang Technological University, Princeton, and Grenoble Institute of Technology. All of my scholarships, gone!” A hysterical laugh rips through Max as he sits in his seat. 

Mrs. Bustier franic look was back as she scanned the room once more. She briefly looks up at the four of us then shakes her head. Alix rolls her eyes from across the row. Obviously Mrs. Bustier thought we’d all be failors too. Instead, she looks at Adrien and Lila. 

“Adrien, what about you? Any University plans?”

Adrien’s mouth opens and closes a few times. “I’m moving in with my Aunt. I plan to teach piano to some kids in the fall. I have some… stuff to do with my father’s company this summer. I don’t think I’ll be going to a University anytime soon.”

“Lila!” Mrs. Bustier’s voice is high and cracking. “What about you? Still doing charity work? Going to University?”

Lila gives a huge smile to the whole class. “Yes. I’ll be working in Achu for a little bit this summer. I got into a few schools in the U.S, France, England and in Italy. I’m not sure where I want to study yet, but I’m sure I’ll be the next best thing in Fashion. Opps!” Lila looks up at me. “I’m sorry Marinette! I didn’t mean to offend you.”

I give a small, fake smile. “Don’t worry Lila. It’s fine. Maybe I’ll see you next year? What schools did you get into?”

Lila’s fasade drops slightly. “I, uh. Parson’s in New York, and um, Central Saint Martins in London, and um Accademia Costume e Moda in Rome. I decided to go to Central Saint Martins.”

“Impressive. I didn’t send anything to the Accademia in Rome, but I’m happy to see someone else got into Parson’s and Saint Martins.” My smile is a little sharp. I could afford to fake my congratulations when I knew that Lila’s tower was about to collapse underneath her. 

“Marinette, you got into Parson’s and Saint Martins?” Mrs. Bustier’s smile was back and slightly crazed. “Which one of those will you be going to?”

“Neither. I did get into Parsons school of design in New York, as well as Central Saint Martin’s in London, but I’m not going to either of those.”

“What school will you be going to?” Mrs. Bustier’s eyebrows are furrowed. 

“The London College of Fashion. I got into ESMOD in Paris, Istituto Marangoni International in Milan, as well as Parson’s School of Design and Central Saint Martins. I thought about staying in Paris, but I just wanted a little distance. You know, spread my wings.  I didn’t feel like going to New York either. It’s pretty far away. I almost agreed to go to the school in Milan, but I think I’m going to hold off on that school until I go to get a Master’s Degree. So, it was between London College of Fashion and Saint Martins and I just liked the London College more.” 

“Oh, that’s fantastic Marinette!” Mrs. Bustier’s enthusiasm returns in full swing. 

Alya snort ruins the moment. “If she’s even telling the truth.”

Lila blinks and then looks back up at me. “Yah, that’s true. How do we know you’re not lying. You’ve been doing that alot the last four years.”

Mrs. Bustier smile turns into a frown and she instead gives a glare meant for a child. “It’s not nice to lie, Marinette.”

A smirk earns its way onto my face. “I’m not lying. I don’t care if you believe me or not, but I’m not lying. I’ll be in London, come Fall, studying to be a world class fashion designer.”

Alya snorts again. Mrs. Bustier gives me an exasperated look, but freezes as she meets my gaze. Any sort of appreciation or respect for my teacher was gone, replaced by annoyance and I hold Mrs. Bustier’s gaze for over a full minute, causing the woman to fidget. 

Chloe finally nudges me and clears her throat. “Well, I finally decided where I’ll be going in the fall. I even have a roommate picked out.” She nudges me with a smile. 

“No way you’re going to University.” Alya’s teeth are bare as she all but growls at Chloe. “Who would want you?”

Chloe shrugs. “Oh, you know. Harvard, Stanford, Cambridge, Oxford, INSEAD, Bocconi University, and the London Business School. I’m going to the London Business School. It’s ranked third in the world for Business studies. The only places above it are Harvard and INSEAD, but I don’t want to move all the way to America quite yet and I was not staying in a town less than an hour from you all.”

The whole class looks at Chloe in surprise. That was something they never realized. Chloe didn’t put work in when she was younger because she didn’t have to. Everything was given to her until Lycée when our teachers finally started to push Chloe. Now, she was a budding business woman already helping me with my MDC company. 

“No way!” Max looks up at Chloe. Anger in his eyes. “How did you get in and not me?”

Chlor rolls her eyes. “I’m fluent in French, English, Italian, Spanish, Mandarin, as well as Portugese. I have a 4.00 GPA and perfect grades in all my classes. I got all A* grades in my A level exams to get me into the Schools in London. I even took the ACT and SAT for the Universities in America. I got a 33 on the ACT and a 1520 on the SAT. I have been helping my Daddy with the hotel for over three years and I’ve had three different internships.”

The whole class is staring at Chloe. They wanted to argue, but Alix cuts them off first. “Well, if we’re done arguing about how Chloe got into top Universities. I’m attending Cambridge in the Fall, just like my Dad and brother. I’m also tagging along on a dig in China this summer. There’s this old temple the Louvre is investigating with several other museums and colleges.”

The class just stares at her, completely complex. Alix shrugs and looks at Juleka. “Juleka, your turn.”

Juleka pulls her hair back and clears her throat. “I’m attending Guildhall School of Music and Drama, in London. I’ll be studying music and production arts. I’ve also been signed to a modeling agency in London, so I'll be doing that too.”

“So, you’ll all be living together?” Myléne looks at us curiously. 

I shake my head. “No, Alix and Juleka will be living on Campus this year, in the dorms. Chloe and I will be sharing an apartment however. Our schools are only 30 minutes apart when walking.”

“We’ve already found a place. 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a large kitchen. Mari gave me the Master Bed and Bath so she could convert one of the extra bedrooms into a studio.”

Alya scoffs. “You doing anything else this summer?” She tries to sound strong, but it comes off a bit flat. 

“We’re all doing a Graduation trip to Italy, you know, because we couldn’t go on the class one. Juleka’s mom and Marinette’s Grandmother are chaperoning. We’ll be touring all of Italy over a month.” Alix gives the class a smile as someone knocks on the door. 

Mrs. Bustier gives us a small smile and goes to the door. There’s a gasp and Mrs. Bustier slowly backs up. There’s four police officers just outside the classroom door along with a small collection of people. Two of the people have a strong resemblance to Lila, and another person has an Italian look. Another three people all standing together, looking over the class. Principle Damocles is present as well, looking very pale. More people are filtering in and I realize it’s the parents of most of our classmates. Each set of parents comes and stands next to their child or sits on the bench with them. Juleka’s Mom gives me a little wave as she sits next to her daughter. 

Principle Damocles clears his throat. “Students, if I could have your attention please. There have been some... issues over the break that need to be addressed.”

Alya perks up. “Have you finally come to deal with Chloe and Marinette? They’ve been bullying poor Lila for years.”

“No.” One of the women who had been surveying the class turns to look at Alya. “We’re here for a variety of reasons. First of all, several students in this class are under investigation for a variety of charges. Second of all, almost every single one of you has ended being denied from every college you applied to. Lastly, We’re here to deal with the improper and naive mindsets that your Principal and Teacher have. Especially considering Ms. Rossi. Speaking of which.” The woman turns to Mrs. Bustier. “I’m not even going to touch your bluntly stupid way of dealing with bullies. That will be handled after all of this. Right now I’m going to ask why you threw every single rule about parental contact and special privileges out the window. You do not give students special privilege for medical conditions if they do not have doctors notes. You do not just ignore the fact that you can’t contact one of your students parents by anything but email. You don’t ignore when one of your students disappears willy nilly when every she feels like it.”

Mrs. Bustier opens and closes her mouth. “Who are you? I’ve been in contact with all of my students' parents.”

“I am Amelia Vaux, the Superintendent of Education in France. And no, you have not been in contact with all of your student’s parents. The email Lila Rossi gave you is an email she set up. Mrs. Rossi has never spoken to you, received an email or signed anything for the school. The woman is still operating under the assumption that your collége closed down for months at one point.”

“I, what?” Mrs. Bustier looks completely lost. 

“Lila Rossi gave you a fake email and a fake phone number for her Mother. Lila Rossi’s father is not asstrange, despite what she has been saying. Lila Rossi has a clean bill of health according to a doctor's visit over break. No tinnitus, no arthritis, no sprains, no breaks, no vision issues, no hearing issues at all. The worst thing she’s had was a bad case of influenza when she was 11. Of course, this is ignoring the fact that the girl was diagnosed as a pathological liar and with antisocial personality disorder when the girl was 13 years old. It’s in her medical file and her student file, along with a warning about the girl’s bullying habits.”

Everyone was staring at Mrs. Vaux up front, the parents looked sick and my classmates were staring in disbelief. “No,” Alya is shaking her head. “This can’t be true. Marinette is the liar.”

Mrs. Vaux turns from Mrs. Bustier and look at Alya. “Actually, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng was telling the truth and has unfairly suffered for it for years. From what I understand, most of this class had vandalized Mrs. Dupain-Cheng’s belongings or stolen things from her. All on the words of Ms. Rossi, who’s lies could have been proven false by a google search. Jagged Stone is allergic to cats. Prince Ali only runs children’s charities. I could continue.”

One of the women in the room clears her voice at this point. “If I may, I am here on the behalf of several people of various nationalities.” She sets a pile of papers before Lila and Alya. “These are cease and desist orders for the both of you. The Ladyblog must be shut down and deleted on the ground of libel, slander, and a violation of rights. As for Ms. Rossi, you have multiple charges of libel, slander, illegal photography, and a variety of charges you order to be sent to famous people who don’t know you.” Lila was paling quickly. “You also have a case of breaking and entering, theft, copyright violation and assault.”

“I have diplomatic immunity. All you can do is kick me out of the country.” Lila stands up from her seat, a smug look on her face.

“No!” A woman with a heavy Italian accent frowns at Lila. “We have revoked your diplomatic immunity. You will be charged here, in France, and will serve out your sentence in a French Prison. Italy already made a mistake when they let you have therapy for your original incident instead of time in a juvenile detention center. We will not make that mistake again.”

A police officer clears his throat and looks over at Lila. “Lila Rossi. You are under arrest for breaking and entering, theft, copyright violation, assault, destruction of property, libel, slander, charity fraud and terrorism. Hawkmoth had a camera in his lair. We have videos of you visiting his lair. He also confirmed that you willingly took akumas, helped him akumatized people and a variety of other things.”

Lila stands frozen as the police officer cuffs her hands behind her back. She finally snaps out of it as she looks towards the other two Italian people. “Mamma! Pápa! Do something!”

The woman takes one look at Lila and then bursts into tears. She’s full on sobbing into her hands. The man simple lays a hand on Mrs. Rossi and levels his daughter with a deadly stare. “No Lila. We cannot help you out of this mess.”

Lila gaps and then glares at her father. “Why not?”

“You’re not a child anymore, Lila! You’re over 18! There’s video evidence of your crimes! That blog is filled with your lies! You can’t lie your way out of this. You can’t get off scot free! You’re being charged with terrorism!”

Lila gaps for another minute then screams. A blood-thirst, angry scream as she whips around and glares at me. “You! This is all your doing Dupain-Cheng! You stupid bitch!”

I level with Lila’s glare. “Yes. I got the ball rolling. You see, when you broke into my room before break and stole my designs so you could add them to your portfolio for University, you didn’t realize that I had a video camera set up. I got on camera, breaking and entering, theft, and copyright violation. I gave the evidence to the police. I didn't expect all of this, but I’m not sorry.”

Lila screams again and starts to fight the police, forcing the second cop to help grab Lila and drag her from the room. Lila’s parents follow them out, with the Italian woman giving the class a nod before following. The lawyer gives Mrs. Vaux a nod and follows after them. 

The other two police officers exchange looks before one clears his throat. “When investigation Ms. Lila Rossi, all of you were brought up. Most of you have broken a variety of laws at the behest of Ms. Rossi. Whether you knew that you were breaking the law or not doesn’t matter. Most of you destroyed the property of one of your classmates, more than once. You also physically assaulted her on more than one occasion. We have the video footage to prove it.”

Several parents were moaning now, forlorn looks on their faces as they started to realize the consequences of their children’s actions. 

“Oh, my god!” We all look over at Max who looked a second away from hyperventilating. “I wrote my University admissions paper about a project Lila worked on. She gave me all of the data!”

Max’s mother moans. “You didn’t look up any of it!”

Max flushes. “She said it hadn’t been published yet.”

Max’s mother mumbles under her breath. “This is why all those Universities denied you! This is why you lost all our University acceptances and scholarships! Because you took the word of some Italian classmate above your own common sense.”

“Max thought that a napkin could cut his eye.” Chloe starts to file her nails, ignoring Max’s mother, who was now staring at her. “And he wears glasses.”

Max’s mother moans once again, and slumps onto the steps next to Max’s seat.

The police officers exchange looks once again. The first one continues his speech as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “Due to the fact that most of your crimes were committed when you were a minor and were against the same person. There will not be any fines or jail time for any of you.”

There’s a large collective sigh through the room. Nino’s mother looks like she’s praying. Mrs.Vaux clears her throat. “While that may be true for legal terms, you are all on probation. One step out of line and you will be expelled from this school. You will also all have to complete anti-bullying seminars to graduate. Mrs. Bustier is also no longer your teacher. Mrs. Aveline will be your homeroom teacher for the rest of the year.” She gestures to one of the women behind her. “Mrs. Fortier is your temporary principle for the rest of the year. Mr. Damocles is no longer your principle.”

Rose hesitantly raises a hand. “Why are you firing Mrs. Bustier and Mr. Damocles?”

Mrs. Vaux’s frown deepens. “None of this would have happened if the two of them had done their jobs. Ms. Rossi’s habits were clearly outlined in her student file. If either of them had bothered to do their job correctly four years ago, we wouldn’t be in this position.” Rose nods meekly, sinking back into her seat and leaning into her mother. 

The police officer clears his throat again. “Now, while none of you will be fined or be serving jail time, you do have to serve a certain number of community service hours to complete within the next six months. If you don’t complete the service hours, you will be fined for the crimes. Your parents have already agreed to the terms we will lay out for you. However, because all of you are over 18, you can try to bring this to court.”

Alya turns and glares at me. “This is all your fault!”

Alya’s mouth grabs her by the shoulders and jerks her around. “Alya. You will complete these service hours. If you get convicted you’re looking at thousands in euros of fines and almost a decade of jail time.”

Alya gasps. “What did I do?”

The second policeman glances down at a clipboard. “Libel, slander, damaging of property, theft, and assault.”

Alya stares at the man, going slack in her seat. It was like the consequences of everything she’d done of the past four years were finally hitting her. 

The second policeman clears his throat once again. “Alright. Rose Lavillant, Ivan Bruel, Mylène Haprèle, Nathaniel Kurtzberg and Max Kanté, you will have to serve 50 hours of community service over the next six months. Nino Lahiffe, Lê Chiên Kim, Alya Césaire, and Sabrina Raincomprix, you all will be serving 100 hours of community service.”

“Ms. Césaire, by court order, your Ladyblog will have to be deleted as well.” Alya gaps at the officer and goes to stand, but both of her parents hold her down. 

Mrs. Vaux sighs, and moves her gaze up to the four of us at the top. “Ms. Dupain-Cheng, Ms. Bourgeois, Ms. Couffaine, and Ms. Kubdel, you will be switched into Ms. Mendeleiev’s class for the remainder of the year. I believe it would be best for you to be out of this environment.”

All four of us nod and start to pick up our things. The rest of the classmates stare at us. “But, who’s going to be class representative now?” Rose looks close to tears again.

I shrug, pulling my bag over my shoulder. “The job goes to the deputy now.” 

The whole class shifts to look at Alya, who pales once again. The four of us walk down the stairs to the near silence of the room, our parents trailing after us. As soon as we were out the door several people started yelling in the room. 

I knew I should care, and part of me did, but I just felt happy that most of this was all over. It took four years, but finally, everyone knew about Lila. I hadn’t felt this light in years.

Ch. 2 ~~~~ Ch. 3

[twdeadfanfic]

First and Last Pt.20

Daryl Dixon x Reader

Summary:  There’s only one girl that Daryl has ever fallen in love with, the one who had to leave him and break both their hearts, and the one he’d tried his best to erase from his memory so it wouldn’t hurt that bad. There’s no way he could have guessed that he’d find her again, more than seventeen years later, after the world went to shit and the dead began walking, both their lifes different that what they used to be.

Tags: Sequel to my mini-series “The first to blow your mind.”  You can find it in my mastelist and read it before this or after it as a prequel, or you don’t need to read it.. Daryl’s POV. My usual combo of slow-burn, fluff and angst. Slight canon deviance. Light smut.

Chapter: 20/28 Updated on Monday and Thursday.

You can find my masterlist with more chapters and fics in the description of my tumblr.

*

Taking watch must be one of the most boring things Daryl was ever told to do. There was nothing else for him to do though, he had gone hunting the day before, coming back with a few squirrels and a few rabbits that were now stew for the next couple of weeks, so he didn’t really need to go out again. Still, he wanted to go further one day, far from Alexandria’s smells and noises, and get a deer that would feed them for longer.

But it wasn’t too urgent, and so when Rick had asked him if he could take watch in the north of the wall, he had thought he should agree instead of going looking for something else to do, no matter it was boring.

That, and the fact that Y/N were with Sasha on the east lookout and if he leaned over the railing and looked through the scope, he could see her. He hoped she wouldn’t mind…he didn’t want to watch her, he was just…curious, he couldn’t help it.

When Y/N had been delivering the stew rations to the people’s houses, she had stopped on his family’s. Rick was there, and somehow he and Y/N had ended up talking about her work at the pantry, and Rick seemed to have noticed that Y/N wasn’t that happy working just there. He’d offered her a job taking watch, it was safer than going out on runs when she hadn’t been training for that long, and also he’d said Sasha might train her with the sniper rifle from there.

Daryl leaned over and squinted, looking at the other lookout. He could see Sasha and Y/N talking, holding the rifles and aiming beyond the walls. Before, he’d seen them studying the rifles or something like that, he wasn’t sure from that distance. Next time that he looked at them, it was because he heard a gunshot. He looked through his own scoop and saw a walker dead on the ground. He dropped the rifle and squinted again to look at them. Sasha seemed to be celebrating, so Y/N had shot the walker. Damn yes. She was always making him proud. She was good with the knife and now she was going to get good with the rifle too.

“Are you really spying on your girlfriend?” Came Lisa’s voice from downstairs. “With a sniper rifle and all, like it’s not creepy at all?”

“Shut up, I ain’t spying on no one.” He grumbled back, flustered.

“Whatever you say…”

Daryl just scoffed again and he didn’t bother saying anything else.

By the time his shift ended and someone else came to take watch, Y/N was still with Sasha up there, and so he decided to go back home.

Home…He had been living with Y/N and Jane for a few days now, and it still sounded strange. Not in a bad way, no, not at all, just strange. He didn’t think he had ever had something like that. Never thought he’d get to have it.  But there he was.

Dawn and Jane were sat down at Robert’s porch, reading or doing homework, or Daryl wasn’t sure what. They waved at him before focusing back on whatever they were doing, and Daryl walked into Y/N’s place…which he guessed was kind of his place now…but he always called it Y/N’s anyway.

There was a book on the coffee table, the same one she’d read a thousand times before already. He needed to ask Glenn if he thought there’d be a place where he could go on a run and find books, by now he was sure Y/N had read every book in Alexandria. That one was one of hers, though, one she liked, Aaron had gotten it for her a long while ago. Daryl picked it up carefully and began to read it while he waited for Y/N to come back.

He hadn’t been reading for long when finally the front door opened and closed, and Y/N walked into the living room. “Hi there.”

“Hey.” He smiled at her, leaving the book on the table again. “How was training?”

“You tell me,” Y/N smirked and Daryl found himself blushing. “I know you were looking.”

“I…uh…it ain’t…” He babbled, but Y/N just chuckled and sat down on the sofa next to him, wrapping an arm around him to snuggle to him…so maybe she wasn’t mad.

“It was good…it wasn’t as difficult as I thought. I mean, it’s difficult, but I managed to land some shots. I like it. Sasha’s a good teacher. But damn, my arms hurt now…and my shoulder and my neck.” She complained with another chuckle, pulling back to roll her shoulders.

“Come here.” Daryl tugged at her until her back was to him so he could place his hands on her shoulders to try and ease the knots away.

“That feels good…” Y/N murmured as she tilted her head forwards and pushed her hair to one side so he could move up her neck. “Didn’t know you gave massages and that you were good at it. How’s that you never gave me any all those years ago? Or did you learn after I left?”

“I didn’t learn…I ain’t good.” He just went by instinct.

“Well, I beg to differ,” Y/N almost purred and Daryl couldn’t help how good about himself it made him feel.

After a while of easing the strained muscles as best as he could, he began just caressing her skin, not that she seemed to mind, she was still smiling with her eyes closed, humming contently from time to time. He leaned closer to kiss her neck softly, and she chuckled softly, tilting her neck to give him more room.

“If this’s what I’m gonna get every time I go training with Sasha, I’m going to go up there every day.” She murmured, chuckling quietly and he didn’t say anything, just trailed kisses over her neck until she pulled away.

She didn’t go far, though, just turned around so she could face him. She smiled, reaching out to run her fingers through his hair, shifting to straddle him, and then she was kissing him. When their lips parted, she arched her neck, the hand that she had at the back of his head pushing him closer to her neck in case he didn’t catch the drift, and he chuckled against his skin before kissing it.

“That is, time’s up,” he teased, pulling back. “You just put down a couple of walkers meters away from you with a sniper rifle, it ain’t such a big deal.”

“Oh, isn’t it now? Okay, next time you’re shooting your crossbow and you need to reload but walkers keep coming, you’re gonna be begging me to shoot with my new discovered great aim, and I’m not going to do it.” She grinned.

“Bullshit, you wouldn’t let me get eaten.”

“Sadly, I’m too attached to you, it’s been a problem...for the last seventeen years…” She sighed dramatically before chuckling and bumping his nose, and then leaning to nuzzle it with hers and Daryl took advantage to peck her lips.

“It was a big deal, though, you did great today with the riffle,” Daryl said as he caressed her hair, he wanted her to know he was proud.

“It’s really not that hard, the scoop does most of the job…”

“Nah, nah, you still need skill.” He shut her before she could put herself down. “But if you want to try a riffle that ain’t a sniper one, a gun or something, we can. We can go out one day, take a silencer, practice.”

“Yeah?” Y/N asked and Daryl hummed a yes, nodding. The more weapons she knew how to use, the safer she would be, he wanted her learning everything she could, and he knew she wanted it too. “Can I try the crossbow too?”

Daryl nodded, it’d be more useful than a firearm if you asked him, silent, and you could make your ammo. He’d teach her to do that too.

“I’ve been wanting to try that thing since…forever.” She giggled. Daryl scoffed, but he couldn’t help his smile at her. “And when I’ll find that my aim with the crossbow is great, I’m getting more massages?”

“I don’t know…” He teased but he was already leaning to kiss her neck again.

He trailed soft kisses over her neck, getting more daring with every little, beautiful sound that she let out. He gently sucked on a spot behind her ear and was rewarded with a quiet moan that made him smile against her skin as he kept kissing and biting her flesh ever so softly, he couldn’t help how he loved to make her feel like that. Her hips began to rock gently against his, making his pulse speed up. The hands that he had on her waist moved to run under her shirt, stroking the warm skin of her hips and belly, which made her writhe harder on his lap.

She placed her hands on top of his under her shirt, moving them up until he reached her breasts. Daryl was hesitant, fingers trembling as he swallowed hard, but she made him press his hands against them before encouraging him to slid his hands under her sports bra.

Once he got the cue, Y/N took her hands away, placing one on his shoulder, while she ran a finger across her own next with the other, signaling him to keep going. He smiled and went for her neck again, harder this time, placing open-mouthed kisses over her neck, he couldn’t stop himself, but she didn’t seem to mind, if he could take her moan as a cue, while his hands moved over her breasts, fingers trembling ever so slightly.

Then, though, she was pulling away, and Daryl looked at her confused. She was breathing hard, looking at him in a way that made his heart beat faster. “I’m not doing this on a sofa,” she murmured. “Bed, now.” Before she could get up, though, Daryl did, making sure to wrap his arms under her thighs to hoist her up with him, and Y/N laughed as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

“Okay, I like this.” She grinned. “It’s kind of hot.” Daryl scoffed, blushing as he tried not to let shyness take over him, and he began walking them both to the stairs. “I can walk up myself.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” He began walking up the stairs without putting her down.

“This is fun but if you drop me I kick your ass.”

“Ain’t dropping you, woman, stop complaining.” He stopped to gently bit at her neck, making her laugh.

Daryl kept walking up the stairs and to her room…his room now, too, even if it still sounded strange in his head, and he carefully let her fall onto the bed. She grinned at him, sitting up and pulling her shirt over her head, followed by her bra, and Daryl swallowed hard as he looked at her. She gave him a shy smile, biting her lips before she popped open the button of her pants, sliding them down her legs along with her underwear and throwing it to the floor near her shirt.

“Are you going to come here or are you just going to keep staring?” She teased nervously, her skin blushed pink. “Because I might hide under the coverts…”

Daryl kicked himself into movement, joining her in the bed, somehow hesitant of placing his hands on her bare skin as he kissed her. She leaned back on the bed, her head landing on the pillow, and she pulled him with her, kissing him again, and he couldn’t help himself from groaning softly into her mouth when her hands ran under his shirt, caressing his stomach and up to his chest before she began trying to pull it off him.

He complied, taking his shirt off, and Y/N sat up slightly to kiss his chest, up to his neck, and Daryl bit his lip as another quiet moan escaped him. She leaned back onto the bed again, her hands caressing his skin again, this time stopping at the buckle of his belt. “Can I?” She whispered and Daryl nodded, swallowing hard. She unbuckled his belt and after another nod from him she opened his pants, and Daryl helped her take them off him.

He crawled on top of her again before he could be overwhelmed by the need of hiding under the covers, as Y/N had said, and he kissed her deeply, letting one of his hands slide down to caress her bare thigh, and he gasped when she wrapped that leg around his hips, pulling him down even closer to her.

“Okay?” She whispered and Daryl couldn’t find his voice but he nodded.

Without stopping looking at him, she placed her hand on top of his on her thigh and then she guided it between her legs until his fingers founder her center and she let out a shuddered moan at the contact. Daryl’s breath picked up, his heart beating even faster as he let her guide his movements, letting out all those little sounds that drove him crazy.

Soon she was letting go of his hand, allowing him to keep going on his own, and Daryl was sure he could never be tired of seeing her writhing and squirming under him, rocking her hips as she panted, quiet moans leaving her lips from time to time. He leaned down to kiss her, he couldn’t get enough of her.

Her eyes were shut closed, her mouth open as she panted, but then her hand reached down to stop his movements and Daryl frowned at her, worrying he’d done something wrong. “Did I-” She didn’t let him finish, tugging at him to fall down on top of her and kissing him hard.

“I want you,” she whined against his lips before kissing him again, still panting, and her words alone made him groan, nodding wordlessly again. She didn’t miss a second, reaching down between them to guide him to her, making him groan again at the contact, and when he finally buried himself in her, he had to kiss her to stifle the moan that left his lips.

She was panting and whimpering against his lips too, her hands clutching at his shoulders as he began to rock gently against her, ever so careful with her, until she arched against him, her leg around him pulling him even closer, and the moan that left her lips when he picked up the pace sent shivers through him. She felt so damn good, had something ever felt that good…

Daryl was glad she was already close because, with the way she was making him feel and all those sweet sounds she was letting out, he knew he wouldn’t last long.  She was breathing harder, harder, arching to him and then she cried out, her nails scratching his shoulders, digging into his skin, and when he kissed her neck again she let out another of those moans that he loved, shivering under him as her thighs squeezed his hips, coming undone.

It didn’t take him long to follow her, his mind vaguely registering that in fact, this is how people got pregnant and that’s the last thing you needed in that world, and he barely remembered to pull out of her before he finished, groaning and falling on top of her. She was panting just like him, her arms holding him to her as one of her hands caressed his hair, and then she began placing little kisses on the top of his head, his temple, his cheek…

Daryl couldn’t stop his smile, nuzzling into her neck. If he’d ever felt this good he didn’t remember. He snuggled to her, eyes closed, enjoying the way in which her fingers caressed his skin and the buzz running down his body, before his brain was actually capable of forming thoughts again.

“You could get pregnant,” he blurted out…great, wonderful, just great, he had to open his mouth and that had to be the first words that come out of it. Great.

Y/N snorted. “You trying to tell me something?”

Daryl blushed up to his hears again. “I…I…”

“No, no, I know, you’re right,” Y/N stopped his babble. “I’m sorry, I get a bit carried away I guess…” She chuckled shyly. “But you’re right, we’ll be careful, okay?” He nodded and she smiled, kissing his lips.

He snuggled to her again but she tried to pull away way too soon. “Where’re you going?”

“To get cleaned,” she said, trying to move from under him but he didn’t let her, he was too comfortable like that. “Shower.” He just snuggled more into her and she let out a giggle, holding him tight and kissing his head, but then she was trying to move away again, and again he didn’t let her. “Daryl, come on,” she half whined half laughed.

She tickled his side, making him yelp and roll away from her. “You’re mean,” he grumbled and she laughed, grinning and pecking his lips before sitting up and getting up from the bed. He got up from the bed too, heading to the window to check that Jane and Dawn were still on Robert’s garden, though he couldn’t really see into his porch from there.

“Afraid the kids are gonna walk on us?” Y/N teased and he just shrugged, but yeah, he’d die of embarrassment probably. “They’re probably at Robert’s, it’s okay.” She walked behind him and wrapped her arms around him, kissing his shoulder. “Plus, the bedroom is locked, if Jane walks on us I’d have to crawl in a hole and never get out.” She chuckled and Daryl nodded at that. “Now, come to the shower. I’m not asking.”

Daryl snorted but he didn’t fight her, letting her take his hand and walk them both to the bathroom. She turned on the water, stepping into the shower once it was warm and he followed her, watching as the spray of water fell over her, thinking once again how beautiful she was, until Y/N pulled him closer to her to stand under the water too.

Y/N stopped the water and took the bottle of shampoo, dropping some onto her palms and rubbing them together to create suds. She ran her hands through his hair, rubbing gently but firmly, and Daryl heard himself purring but he couldn’t feel embarrassed, her fingers playing with his hair felt too good. Once she seemed to deem his hair clean enough, she poured more shampoo onto her palms and began washing her own hair.

“You don’t trust me to do it?” He joked.

“Didn’t know you’d want to.” Sure, he had never washed anyone’s hair before, but he might as well try now, and so he began to run his hands through her hair and rub carefully at her scalp like she’d done to him, smiling when she hummed.

“I’d stay like this for hours if it weren’t because we’d freeze…” Y/N murmured before pulling away from him to take a bar of soap and run it across his body, lathering his skin, and Daryl’d be lying if he said it didn’t feel damn good too. When it was his turn to wash her body, though, he was almost shy about it, for some reason, his eyes following the soap as he moved it over her skin, getting more confident when she closed her eyes and smiled.

Once they were lathered, Y/N turned on the water again, raising the shampoo and soap off them. She got out of the shower and tossed him a big towel while she wrapped herself in her bathrobe. He followed her back to the room, watching how she took out some clean clothes for him from her closet. He didn’t know where she had gotten them from, he’d moved to her place with just his usual bag and what he was wearing, but she had made sure she had clothes for him. He was grateful she had thought about him but it felt a bit strange too, after so long having only what he had inside his bag…Alexandria and everything in it still felt a bit strange, but not bad, not anymore.

“It’s getting late,” Y/N said as she got dressed. “I’m going to pick up Jane, can you get started with dinner?”

“Sure thing.”

*

Plot, what’s plot anymore. Also I know some of you wanted more Jane and Daryl, and I promise they have quite a lot of scenes together in future chapters, but Y/N and him are kind of in “honey moon” phase, you know.

If you liked it and have a moment, please let me know your thoughts!

As always, excuse my english, is not my first language.

If you want to be (un)tagged let me know.

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[dailybeastarsthings]

Chapter 4 - Can This Day Get Any Worse? 4.1. It's Not Easy Being A Bunny

The school’s cafeteria is one of the main areas where all students can meet with each other without any boundaries. The area was designed to be able to serve all kinds of animals regardless of their species and sizes. The main area was dissected into three larger levels, which looked like platforms. They were bordered by wooden walls planted with succulents and tiny shrubs to create a greener atmosphere. The roof was made out of glass to ensure that natural light can always get inside. In the four corners and the middle of the cafeteria, there were large oak trees planted with decks on multiple branches. This served as the dining area for smaller animals, such as mice, squirrels or songbirds. The tree was specially developed so its leaves would rarely fall, in order to avoid any accidents.

The cafeteria was packed for dinner, as usual. Students lined up at the kitchen ladies, who served them the food. The meals were specially chosen and prepared to satisfy both herbivore and carnivore students. Each day, there were separate meals for carnivores and herbivores. Today, carnivores were given steamed soy beans, egg salad, black bean pastries and milk, while herbivores were given vegetables boiled in soy milk, fruit parfaits and orange juice. Of course, if a carnivore student preferred something from the herbivore menu, they could change their meals and vice versa.

In the mass of animals, there was a small Netherlands dwarf rabbit girl. Her name was Haru. Her fur was pure white with no marks or any other colors. Her eyes were pitch black. One could easily get lost in them, wondering what thoughts were being kept secret behind them. She was quite short even for her species so she wore shoes with thicker soles to add to her height. As she walked along the line, her uniform was flowing in the air.

Today’s dinner is my favorite, I just can’t wait to eat it!” she thought. “Now I just need to find a place to sit.”

She paced the area for free seats and found three tables with free seats. First, she walked up to a female mongoose student.

“I’m sorry, may I sit here?” Haru asked.

“Umm… Sorry, but I’m waiting for my friend” the mongoose replied.

Next, Haru walked up to a feline student, who didn’t even pay much attention to her. It seemed like she recognized her and since the situation was too awkward for her, she just went back to eating without saying anything.

Haru was a bit annoyed, but she still had one option, a group of rabbits.

“Hey, may I sit with you, please?” Haru asked them.

But they were so busy chatting they didn’t even hear her question. Haru’s ears drooped but she wasn’t the type of girl to get upset over a situation like this. She walked outside and sat down on the stairs to enjoy her meal.

“Oh well, I’m sitting alone behind the building but at least the food is delicious” she thought as she was eating her meal in silence. She suddenly heard another student calling for her. It was her roommate, Sally.

“Haru! There you are.”

“Oh, hey, Sally. Are you heading back to the dorm?”

“Well… umm… yeah. Why are you eating your food alone in this place? Don’t you think it’s too dangerous for a small herbivore like you to be alone after the incident?”

“Well… It’s better than eating alone in the cafeteria. Anyway, if you’re so worried about me, why don’t we have dinner together?”

“Oh… Sorry, I can’t. I can’t be seen together with you. Everyone in the school knows what you did.”

“Well, that figures” Haru sighed. “Everyone’s been avoiding eye contact with me for two days now…”

“Mizuchi is really mad about it. Take it from your roommate, okay? Try to act less resilient.”

And with that, Sally walked off without saying goodbye, leaving Haru by herself. Haru lost herself in her thoughts…

“Is it just me? When an animal is as small as I am, their body will sometimes shake uncontrollably from the pressure of their own heartbeat. If I were to just follow my instincts, I would just keel over and never get back up.”

Haru sighed. For the first time, she felt lonely. Yet she was determined to not allow it to get to her and stand up from this situation even stronger. She finished her meal and went to the main building. She still had some homework to do for tomorrow and wanted to finish it in the library. As she was going up the spiral stairs for small animals, a walnut shell fell down in front of her. And then a couple others followed, but this time, they landed straight on her head.

“What the…”

“Oops, my bad! My hand slipped” said a high-pitched voice.

“Did you get hurt?” asked another one.

“Oh, you’re probably fine, aren’t you? No doubt some boy will come running to save you!” a third added.

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m fine” Haru replied. “Nothing you do can hurt me.”

Haru continued her walk up the stairs, trying to ignore the laughs of the other three girls, but she suddenly came face to face with them. It was Mizuchi and her two allies, a black cat and a raccoon. Mizuchi was a harlequin rabbit and a pretty popular student in Cherryton. If anyone, she could completely destroy someone’s reputation with a gossip in just a few days’ time.

“I guess all of your friends are ignoring you…” she said. “And yet, you’re still holding out quite well. But you do understand your situation don’t you? No one wants to deal with you” she said with the most satisfied smile on her face.

Haru didn’t mind the harsh words Mizuchi threw at her just now. She picked up one of the walnut shells and threw it at her.

“Yeah, yeah. I don’t have time to deal with you or your little friends so bye” Haru said while passing the others without even looking at them.

“Hey! I’m not finished with you!” Mizuchi yelled.

“If you’ve got enough time to spread rumors about me, you surely have enough time to make up with your boyfriend.”

“You have no right to say that! You’re the one who split us up in the first place!”

“I’m sorry, but he’s the one who kissed me. I don’t know what you were told and I don’t really care either” Haru said while turning around with a smug look on her face. “Still, a buck who’d get infatuated over a little kiss isn’t worth much if you ask me.”

And that was it. Right then and there, Mizuchi was destroyed and she knew it. The frustration caused her two-toned face to turn completely red. She picked up the janitor’s water bucket and threw the water at Haru, who fell to the ground.

“Listen well. We were a harlequin rabbit couple. Harlequin rabbits are an endangered species. We’re on a completely different league with obvious pedigree. And yet you, a plebian dwarf rabbit, went and destroyed that couple! How dare you! We’re going to spread rumors that you’re messing with other male students as well.”

Haru was not surprised by Mizuchi’s reaction but she was still a bit upset. Her clothes and fur were dripping wet and the other three were laughing at her.

“Let’s go girls” Mizuchi said. “You should really pick yourself up from the floor, Haru. Or don’t. It suits you anyway.”

And with that, the terrible trio was finally gone. Their footsteps echoed in the corridor for a few moments but with each passing second, they became quieter. Haru stood up and looked at herself. Her clothes were dripping wet. Fortunately, the water didn’t get into her bag, so at least her schoolwork was safe. She looked for the nearest restroom and walked inside. She went inside one of the stalls, closed the door and hung her dress on the door. She sat on top of the toilet seats and started the rest of her homework.

“Well, it’s not the library but at least no one should bother me here” she thought.

It didn’t take Haru to finish her school work. She completed an essay and two multiple choice exercises and was ready to go. She reached out for her uniform, which was almost completely dry. She got dressed, exited the stall and washed her hands.

“I don’t want to go back to the dorm yet… I’ll just spend some time around the back of the gym” she thought.

She looked in the mirror and took a good look at herself.

“When males see this face, they start to approach me thinking »I want to help her« or »I want to protect her«… But when they realize that I’m different from their fantasies, they use me and eventually leave. Right… The winners of this world are the animals who live by their feral instincts. I was destined to be a loser. I lived a life of being used as fodder for other animals.”

It was already late when Haru exited the main building. It was really quiet all over the school and only a few lights were on in the dorms. A thin layer of mist was resting lightly on the ground, deterring from Haru’s way as she took her steps towards the gym. It almost felt to her like even the mist didn’t want to touch her anymore. She reached the gym and headed towards the fountain in front of it.

Haru was always mesmerized by the dancing water. She didn’t know why, but she enjoyed looking at it for hours, enjoying the sight of the little drops being painted into colorful gems by the surroundings or silver tears by the moonlight. It was a place where she could calm herself down in all cases – exams, arguments, family life… But the peace and harmony didn’t feel the same this time. She felt as if someone was watching her. She heard a rustle from the gym’s entrance.

“Someone’s here. But who could it be? Do they know who I am? Do they want to hurt me? Or… can it be the one who killed that alpaca?”

She heard the rustle once again… The other one moved closer to her… Tears started to flow from Haru’s eyes. Her legs were trembling. She wanted to run but her legs wouldn’t move – they were heavy as stones.

“I’ll let you have me… But please… Just once in my pathetic life…Give me a reason to run away in fear… Give me a reason to cry in fear… Give me a reason to value my life…”

With all these thoughts in her head, she started running towards the arches. She couldn’t even make two steps though when she could feel her body being grabbed by large hands with sharp claws… She was trapped. And yet, she felt completely calm.

“Could you understand what valuing your life is?” she thought. “He doesn’t understand. He doesn’t have to. I can feel that his desires resonate with mine. I’m just glad they are not here to see me like this…”

[kindness-ricochets]

SoC Hospital AU

First & most important, thank you to a friend for sensitivity reading this (not putting a name because I don’t have permission to do that, but you know who you are <3). Even so: I am a cis writer including a trans character, so if there’s anything wrong or inappropriate in the fic, please tell me. It is never my intent to cause anyone offense.

TW: misgendering (some out of ignorance, some less so), allusions to suicide attempts

This place was too cold. Jesper lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling, with the covers pulled up to his shoulders. The crocheted blanket didn’t really keep him warm. As he tried not to die of boredom, he slid his fingers into the gaps and out, wriggled them all the way through and—

Crap.

He looked at the blanket. How had his knuckles made it through the weave only to get stuck?! Jesper tugged at it, but ultimately needed his other hand. His stitches hurt when he sat up.

It wasn’t like he had nothing to do, either. His homework was right there. A guy couldn’t even have appendicitis these days without a little APUSH reading to go along with it.

He poked at the stitches and resolved not to do it again.

The hospital was a boring place. Presumably the surgery itself had been a little more exciting. Jesper barely remembered it. How was that for a bit of luck?! One of the most exciting things to happen in a guy’s life and he was all delirious! So now he sat on a semi-comfortable bed in a too-cold room. He had a window, at least, not that he could see much through it. A curtain was drawn across the room long-ways, like he might get jealous of that empty bed and… and race them or something. Yeah, like rig up an oxygen tank and have a two-bed hospital race, that would be cool!

He wasn’t going to, but it was fun to imagine.

Jesper knew he should do some reading. Exams and all that. But he knew it was pointless, to. His mind would wander after a few minutes. And if he was being honest, he didn't actually want to study. Didn't he deserve a break? A proper sick day?

So he leaned back and decided if he was stuck on his own, he might as well entertain himself. He sang to himself. He started with “Walk the Line”—picked up courtesy of his father, who hadn’t even been born when it was first released, but played Johnny Cash all Jesper’s childhood.

It was a good song, anyway.

Jesper waited a moment after the end of it, pausing for an imaginary audience.

“Thank you so much, it’s an honor to be here tonight. Now, for my next hit, this is ‘Party in the CIA’ by Weird Al Yankovic…”

And obviously he had to do a few moves, it was a song that just begged for finger-guns, imaginary sunglasses, and pretend tie-straightening. He limited the moves after an objection from his stitches, but that in no way limited his good time. Except, Jesper had only got to a line that always got him—“We got snazzy suits and ties/and a better dental plan than the FBI’s!”—when he heard… laughter.

Jesper stopped the song.

“What the—I thought I was alone!”

There was no answer.

“Well, now I know I’m not, so you might as well speak up.” And ideally his roommate could confirm his age. Jesper was seventeen, so they had stuck him in the pediatric ward. He hoped he wasn’t bunking with a kid—that would be… weird. Plus he’d have to work on not cussing.

“H-hey,” said the other guy. He sounded a little younger, but Jesper couldn't be sure.

“Hey! So you like Weird Al?”

“Who?”

“Weird Al Yankovic. Never mind, never mind. How old are you?”

“Sixteen.”

“Cool, I’m seventeen. So what’re you in for? I had my appendix out.” And his roommate was close to his age, so he had someone to hang out with! Jesper glanced at his APUSH book, then back to his fingers tugging at the blanket.

“Did it hurt?”

Jesper hadn’t initially said it was appendicitis. He hadn’t known. He thought he just felt miserable, but he didn’t want his parents to worry. By the time he couldn’t pretend anymore that he was okay…

“Nah. They knocked me out, anyway. I’m just bored.”

“Me, too.”

“Want to play Twenty Questions?”

“Sure. You pick something first.”

“Got it. It’s a person.”

The game continued for a while. It wasn’t Jesper’s favorite game in the world, but it kept him occupied—that and toying with the blanket—even as they got into an argument over whether or not “a field” counted as a thing. It totally did, a specific field would have been a place, but this was a kind of place, which was a thing. 

“No, a place is a place, you can’t just decide a place is a thing!”

“Yeah, if it were a specific place, but it’s not a place. It’s a category of places.”

“So a room would be a thing, but this room is a place?”

“Glad we agree.”

“That is ridiculous.”

Jesper laughed. He was about to retort that it wasn’t ridiculous, it was logical, when the door opened. 

“You look cheerful,” Aditi Hilli reported, coming to sit on the edge of his bed. “How are you feeling?”

“Good. Just cold and my stitches are itchy.”

“Itchy means healing,” she said, smoothing a hand over his hair. 

“There you go, siding with medicine again!”

He knew she only had a minute. She wasn’t treating him, that would be a severe conflict of interest, but she had found time in her shift to stop in. So Jesper didn’t waste time groaning. He didn’t even put up a fuss when she hugged him.

“Are you dizzy or in any pain?”

“No.” It was a medical question, but he understood that it was a mom question, too. It was a how are you question with more detail.

“Have you—”

“Ma, I love you, but I am not talking to you about pooping.”

“Honestly, Jesper, I changed your diapers.”

“Ma!”

“After an appendectomy—”

Jesper grabbed the pillow and wrapped it around his head like massive earmuffs as he informed her, loudly, “Not listening! Not listening!”

She shook her head at him and checked his chart. Okay, fine, she knew she could get that information. He still didn’t want to have the actual conversation. Seriously, was nothing sacred?

She set down the chart. He set down the pillow.

“I’m glad you’re okay, little rabbit.”

Jesper slumped just slightly. It was easy to shrug off being sick, but he knew his parents had genuinely been scared. He should have told them earlier, but that was easy to say in hindsight. But he was already enough of a disaster. Telling them meant giving them one more thing to worry about, and he had expected to hurt for a while and recover on his own.

“I love you, too. I’m fine, I promise, just… bored. Do you have my tangle? Or my zippers?”

“No, but your father’s coming to see you after work. He wanted to stay but I knew you wouldn’t like him hovering.”

“Thanks for taking care of us.”

“I’ll ask him to look for your things. Do you know where they are?”

“Um… y’know… I think I have a couple bracelets in the bathroom, and my tangle might be in the back pocket of my jeans. I’m sick,” he reminded her, playing up his ‘sick face’ to avoid hearing about how he needed to clean his room. He knew that. He didn’t mean to leave it a mess, he just kind of… forgot. The mess was organic. 

“I’ll ask him.”

She kissed his forehead and left. There wasn’t a lot of down time in hospitals. Well… there was. But it all went to patients.

After a moment, Jesper said, “So… you heard that.”

Great. His anonymous roommate had heard his ma talking about his messy room. Among more embarrassing things.

“She seems nice,” his roommate said. “My mom’s a nurse, so I’m used to… you know, being asked about symptoms.”

“Great, I can’t wait to hear about whether or not you’ve pooped.”

“I’m not here for poop-related reasons.”

Jesper laughed.

***

It was much later when his roommate’s mom visited. Jesper’s da had been in and gone. Like Aditi, Colm was glad to see his son recovering. He had a more frank, less clinical way of saying how worried he had been. He brought Jesper a hat and socks for the cold, and two zipper bracelets and his infinity cube, so the nothingness of the room stopped grating on his nerves quite so badly. The feeling was difficult to describe—it was like having this emptiness building up against him so he couldn’t find a space to exist.

Jesper would always find something to fidget with, but knowing he had dedicated fidgets at hand softened an edge.

The roommates couldn’t see each other, but they could both see the door, so Jesper saw the woman with curly red hair come into the room and head over to his roommate.

“Hey, sweetpea.”

“Hi, Mom.”

That was… not his roommate’s voice. This voice was softer, higher, and a little nervous. Jesper couldn't help having his interest piqued by the shift. Sure, Jesper changed his tone with his parents, but he still sounded like Jesper. His roommate sounded like a stranger.

“How are you feeling?”

“Fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m fine.”

“Okay. I… ———… we love you.”

Well, damn, his roommate was a girl! Jesper thought back over their conversation, searching for anything he might’ve said that he maybe shouldn’t’ve.

“I love you, too, Mom.” She sounded like it hurt to say.

“If this is about what your father said the other day, he… he needs you to be patient with him.”

“Okay.”

“He’s trying.”

Jesper was, by now, sitting very, very still. He knew this conversation wasn’t meant for him to hear, but in a small room, he couldn’t exactly not hear what was said a few feet away. So he tried to stay quiet and not make them feel self-conscious—and, if he was being completely honest, he was curious.

“Why do you excuse everything he does?”

“He’s not perfect, but he loves us. You’re still his little girl.”

“Okay.”

“———.”

“Could you just leave me alone, please?” said his roommate, in what Jesper could only describe as an amazingly rude way.

“———.”

“If you had to lose me or leave him, who would you pick?”

“That’s not fair.”

Jesper’s roommate said nothing.

“I’ll come back later. I hope you feel better then.”

Jesper settled back on the pillow and closed his eyes, doing his very best impression of sleeping. The door opened and closed, and they were alone. He stayed quiet for a moment, absently turning his infinity cube over and over in his hand. He had wanted to go back to talking with his roommate… but now he didn’t know what to say. That had been a heavy conversation to just ignore.

Then he realized his roommate was crying.

“Hey,” Jesper said. “———?”

She didn’t answer. 

“You okay?”

“That’s not my name.”

“Oh.” Jesper looked at the cube, clicking idly in his hand. He had no idea what was going on. “My name’s Jesper, but I guess you knew that since my ma visited. You want to play twenty questions? I got a good one. C’mon, you’ll never guess!” he wheedled.

After a moment, his roommate sniffled, then asked, “Person, place, or thing?”

***

“I feel wronged.”

Jesper snorted. Yeah, that was about the most accurate summary of their current situation. He still hadn’t seen his roommate, but they called to each other across the curtains. The entire situation looked brighter in the morning light. Jesper felt better. His body was rapidly putting the surgery behind him.

Even sunshine couldn’t fix the picture in front of him, though. Last night, his da had brought him food from home. No such luck today: Jesper sat up in bed, mournfully regarding the hospital’s breakfast tray.

He lifted the toast and gave it a shake. It wriggled.

“I think they steamed the toast,” he said.

His roommate laughed. “Think they toasted it first?”

Jesper set the toast aside. “You eating yours?”

“I can’t.”

“Me too. The apple looks okay.”

“Looks are deceiving things.”

Jesper bit into his apple and shuddered. He carefully removed the piece of fruit from his mouth, trying to pretend he hadn’t felt that mealy hellflesh. 

“Cereal and milk it is!” he announced. “I got Corn Flakes. You?”

“Rice Krispies.”

“This is blatant favoritism and I won’t stand for it!”

“You just had surgery, you’re not supposed to be standing at all.”

“Wow,” Jesper said, not at all appreciating that. It was true, but… wow.

He poured the mini box of corn flakes and carton of milk into his bowl. The breakfast tray was a depressing sight. There was steamed toast and an apple that was an insult to other apples. Still, at least he had juice to look forward to and the jello had been pretty good.

Halfway through his Corn Flakes, he asked, “So what are you in for, anyway? I had my appendix out.”

“I was sleepwalking—it’s dumb. I thought I was eating Skittles.”

“What were you really eating? Steamed toast?”

“Aspirin.”

“Oh, shit.”

“I was sleepwalking.”

“Yeah, totally,” Jesper said, trying to sound like he believed it. 

A while later, once the salvagable parts of breakfast had been endured, Jesper’s roommate appeared around the curtain, leaning on an IV stand. She was small, the sort of girl who looked like she would never be more than 5'. She had freckles and a curly red-gold ponytail, and if Jesper was being completely honest, she was cute.

“Want to play cards?” she asked.

“Um—I…”

“Oh.”

“I didn’t mean—”

“No, it’s cool.”

“I have a gambling problem,” Jesper blurted out. “I can’t… it’s really… I have a problem. But if we keep it chill?”

“Sure. How about Go Fish? No one gambles over Go Fish.”

Gamblers would gamble over anything, but she sounded so sweet and optimistic, he didn’t want to ruin her bright outlook.

“Sounds good.”

She sat on the end of his bed and dealt. 

They made it a few rounds without chatting much, then she said, “I’ll tell you my name, but you can’t tell anybody.”

Jesper wanted to ask why she was trusting him, but instead said, “I won’t.”

She leaned nearer and whispered it. Jesper had suspected something like this. He appreciated having it confirmed. Now that he knew, he rearranged his thoughts about his roommate to use the correct pronouns.

“Wylan’s a cool name.”

Jesper’s roommate smiled at his cards, a smile that was determinedly interrupted with a scowl.

“Not as cool as Jesper,” he continued, “but still pretty cool. You want to play again?”

By that afternoon, they had both seen their mothers again. Wylan’s mom seemed to really love him, Jesper thought, even if she did use his deadname. The visit still left Wylan withdrawn, but Jesper talked his new friend into another round of Go Fish. It wasn’t such a fun game. It was about the company, though said company remained gloomy. He had a scowl like thunder.

“Here, I have an idea.” Jesper pulled off his beanie. “Do you want to…?”

Wylan took the hat, pulled it on, and tucked his hair up under it.

“I hate feeling it,” he said. “That’s probably stupid, but I hate it! It’s stupid. You have long hair and you don’t look like a girl!”

“You don’t look like a girl, either. And you don’t sound like a girl, I thought you were a guy until I heard your mom say your name. Which now I know isn’t your name,” Jesper added. 

The stormclouds began to disperse. 

“When I was a kid, I used to imitate cartoons.”

“Oh yeah? Can you still do it?”

Jesper didn’t have to hear the answer—which was just as well, because Wylan didn’t give him one.

“Do one for me! C’mon, just one.”

Wylan shifted, keeping his eyes on their forgotten game of Go Fish. Then he said, “Meep meep!”

“Pfft, Road Runner doesn’t count.”

“Road Runner’s a cartoon!” “You said one word and it was onomatopoeia!”

“Okay, yeah, but… okay. Okay.” Wylan took a deep breath, settled his shoulders, and stared at the sheets with a deepening blush as he said, “Duck season! Wabbit season! Duck season! Wabbit season! Wabbit season! I say it’s duck season, and I say, fire!”

Jesper laughed. “That’s really good!” he said. He wasn’t laughing at Wylan, but because the impression was so good, almost like different people when Bugs and Daffy spoke. Besides, the cartoon was a classic. Wylan must’ve known, because he smiled.

[hanahaki-neko]

Company | Megumi

The first time he summoned the divine dogs

note : a drabble i write bc a friend of mine suggested the idea of how megumi first discovered his technique. i had fun :D

He was around 6 or 7 when it happened,or at least that’s what he remembered. He had little to no memory about his mother,only able to see her face through very few photos taken by his father. Toji remarried another woman somewhere along the line and that’s how he met Tsumiki. Everything else was really a blur to him,how his step-mother was just suddenly gone and not long after his father returned home less and less,for whatever reason. Today as well Megumi returned from school after a relatively long walk with Tsumiki and entered their home to find their father slouching over the couch watching whatever was on the TV screen,beer in hand. He ignored him to make his way to his bedroom and left his school bag on the bed while he took a shower to refresh himself after a long day. The messy haired kid came back to the living room with a towel over his shoulders to find his father no longer there. Just Tsumiki in the kitchen cooking dinner for both of them.

“Where’s dad?” Megumi asked.

“He said he’s going out. Not sure when he’ll come back.”

He frowned at the response. This was nothing new to them,but still the kid felt a bit hurt. Toji would leave the house with nothing much but a small bag and wouldn’t return for days,weeks,sometimes even a month. Some other times Toji would come home drunk and would drink the days away before leaving the house again,not caring about the bottles of alcohol laying on the floor and carpet. On a rare occasion he’d see strange disfigured creatures around the house that he was unfamiliar with,before they disappeared just as fast as they had appeared. Megumi and his sister had gotten used to taking care of themselves and even to the point of raising themselves since they don’t really have anyone to help with homework or even house chores since they didn’t know where their parents were most of the time,nor they knew how they were doing.

Night falls and he’s now alone in his room. Megumi didn’t want to disturb Tsumiki who’s sleeping,so he decided to entertain himself who just so happens to have one of those sleepless nights. His hands moved around to make various shapes,so that when the shadow cast by the dim moonlight hit the wall a silhouette of different animals could be seen. Dogs, rabbits, birds, elephants and really any shape he could think of. "They could be your friends if you’re lonely." He knew how to do this because Toji taught him how to do it. Megumi often does this to pass time so he’d feel sleepy or just to cure his boredom. A good thirty minutes later and he felt his eyes getting heavy. Megumi pulled the blanket over him and lay down on the soft and fluffy mattress.

“I would prefer it if they’re home more often.” he murmurs to himself before finally falling into a slumber.

This goes on like a well-oiled machine. His father going out and not returning for a while,doing whatever. Him and Tsumiki taking care of the house by themselves. Megumi sometimes sees these strange creatures from time to time. It became the normality Megumi has been accustomed to and he didn’t really mind. He hoped his parents,or at least his dad would at least spend a bit more time at home. He wasn’t really close with his father but any other company other than Tsumiki would be nice once in a while. They barely talk unless it was necessary and Toji doing whatever he pleases just left them with less interaction.

On his way home this time,he got bored of walking back alone. Tsumiki had gone home first to cook and he had some extra work to do at school so what's he gonna do? Having nothing better to do and no one to talk to he started making shadow puppets to pass time as he continued his little walk. He felt his shadows moving a bit too unnaturally and Megumi quickly looked back only to find nothing wrong.

'"i'm probably just tired." He thought nothing of it and returned home.

Tsumiki and Toji welcomed him as he walked through the door and put away his shoes. After cleaning himself up Megumi walked into the living room to see his father carrying a bag and already putting on his shoes.

"You're going out again already?" He asked.

"Yeah." His father didn't say much.

"It's barely been a week." Tsumiki said.

"I got a work offer,so I had to go out to get some good cash so we can keep buying groceries."

Megumi frowned. He was never really close but hoped at least Toji would stay a bit longer. He usually leaves the house in intervals of two or three weeks since his return. And something didn't feel right. There's uneasiness clouding his head. Sensing his son's worry Toji knelt down and ruffled his already messy dark hair.

"Look,i'm gonna finnish this as soon as possible then i'll come back,alright?"

Megumi only nodded at the remark.

"Good. Be nice and don't do anything stupid while i'm gone. I don't want you worrying Tsumiki." Toji said before making his way to the door.

"I'll be back before you know it."

That was the last time he saw his father.

Both of them waited for a few days,a week,and soon it turned into a whole month,until almost three months had passed. Megumi and Tsumiki kept returning to an empty house,their father nowhere to be seen. His sister kept telling him that he'll probably be back soon and just make sure the house is cleaned so they wouldn't get scolded if he comes back. The days continued with Megumi often staying up late while his sister was already asleep,hoping his father would come home soon.

"Liar." he croaked out, wiping a tear away.

He'd sit alone in his room,sometimes looking out the window to see if he's home from this so-called work yet. Sometimes he wonders if he met some other girl and just decided to live with her,completely abandoning him and Tsumiki. He felt hurt, betrayed even. And to relief himself of these emotions he decided to entertain himself to sleep with the shadow puppets. It always helped him in these situations so why not.

He clapped his hands to form a wolf,when his shadow started moving vigorously. Megumi,scared, scrambled away and ended up falling off the bed with a thud. The dark shadow moved along the floors and soon started to form a shape of two dogs. Or was it wolves? The shadow manifested into two wolf dogs before him. One having pure white fur and the other pitch black. Megumi was scared with both hands defensively over his face when he saw both of them approaching him.

He only took a peek when he didn't feel anything for a short moment to find both of them… bowing to him? He was beyond confused. He then noticed the triangle marks on their head,a right side up for the black one and an inverted triangle for the white one. He didn't feel any malice from both of them,which just confused him even further.

"Hello?" He called out.

The wolf dogs stood up and just blinked at him. They were big,towering over Megumi easily. But their gaze was somewhat protective and kind,which eased him a bit. The kid reached out a hand to try and pet them,to which the white dog moved forward and he felt the soft fur against his palm. It wasn't long before both of them were nuzzling him,tickling Megumi which made him giggle. Both of them pulled back as Megumi just sat there examining them. He didn't know much other than they just suddenly seemed to come from his shadow. Suddenly both of them growled and faced another direction.

"W-what's wrong?" He asked,worried.

He saw on the corner of the room,that same disfigured creatures hissing at him,or rather,the dogs? It somewhat looked like a fly or the likes of it and the white dog jumped and bit through the creature,as it dissipated into a black smoke and disappeared.

He was too little to put the puzzle pieces together. What was going on right now,he had no idea. But when he saw both of them walking to him and nuzzling against his skin,he just knew for certain that he felt warm and safe in their care,for whatever reason he has yet to know. Without thinking much Megumi climbed back to his bed and patted the mattress as if to call them. Both the wolf dogs followed suit and climbed the rather spacious bed for a kid and two big dogs. That night he slept well among the two divine dogs,a small smile crossed his face before he fell into one of the nicest sleep he ever had in a while.

"Don't be silly Megumi,there's no way a dog would break into the house. I would've known about it."

"I swear i saw them. There's two of the dogs and they slept with me."

"Maybe you're just dreaming."

“I’m not!”

He was a bit angry and pouted before walking away,knowing this debate was pointless. Megumi had woken up the next day to find both of them gone without any trace. He tried to tell his sister about it but she wouldn't believe her. True it seemed like a fever dream or some sort. Maybe it was just some things he imagined about. But he couldn't help but be curious about the whole incident.

That night he stood alone in his room, feeling a bit nervous. It's a tiring day today at school and their father had yet to return. He was feeling lonely and didn't want to disturb Tsumiki simply because she had an exam tomorrow,and that she told him not to disturb her. Megumi recalled the previous night,how he had done the shadow puppet of the dog and that's how it started. He did the same thing again tonight trying to make sure it was all real. He wasn’t expecting much out of this,but sure enough his shadow started moving again. He was still surprised thought not as much this time,and took a step back as he watched the shadow form into the two wolf dogs he saw last night. Megumi stood there in awe and shock as both of them approached him before embracing him in some sort of a hug.

Megumi couldn't help but smile as he drifted off into a slumber. He might try to find a time to tell her sister about this,but for now he's just happy to have some company for when he's feeling lonely.

[kyoka-jirou]

Traitor!Kaminari Denki x Reader

hey guys! this is my first one-shot, let me know if you like it please! anyways, onwards to the great unknown!! :3

(Slight nsfw, not the full.. you know… just a lime(ish) but yeah lol)

———

“Hey, y/n!” Yao-Momo called out from across the circle of 1-A girls that had collected in the common area.

“Hmm?” you replied, lifting your head up from the beige carpet.

After a stressful day in Hero Training, you’d been relieved to find yourself without any homework, leaving the rest of the night off. Usually your socially-challenged self would jump at the chance to cower in your room, surrounded by pocky and books about a prince in shining armor. But, tonight was Yao-momo’s birthday, so you had to suck it up and be happy. 

As hard as that might be.

You and the rest of 1-A had finished dinner and cake in the dorms early, and decided to talk until it was time to go back to the dorms for the night.

“Do you want to play never have I ever?” Yaoyoroza asked, a mischievous glint in her eye. You shrunk back. This can’t be good.

“….No.” you replied meekly. She glared like the she-demon Mira herself.

“Hmm?” she asked pointedly, “I couldn’t quite hear you.”

You shivered, “I said sure!”

“Great!” she chipped. “I’ll go first!”

She scanned the group of girls that hadn’t already left in fear. You were jealous.

The ones that hadn’t managed to escape remained; Mina, Ochako, Tsu, and Jirou.

You all glanced around the room and shivered. Playing games with a matchmaker was never quite ideal.

With the click of her tongue, Momo started the game.

“Never have I ever… cheated on a test.”

You watched as Mina put her first finger down, yelling out an ‘aww man!’

“Mina!” Ochako gasped, “Really?”

Mina grinned sheepishly, looking up from her fiddling fingers. “Hehe, sorry Ururaka.”

“My turn.” Tsu said cheerily, “Never have I ever… dyed my hair. Kero.”

“Aww man!” You said, putting a finger down. Remembering the year you’d dyed your hair (h/c), you shivered. It wasn’t that you didn’t like it, you had loved it, actually. It’s just that your littler cousin once tried to eat it, thinking it was cotton candy..

Snapping out of your thoughts, you looked around to see if anyone else had done the same.

Then, you spotted Ochako with one of her fingers held down.

“Ochako!” You shouted, “When did you dye your hair?”

She sighed, “We don’t speak of it..”

You decided not to push further. Based on her facial expression, it was best not to ask.

The game continued on, everyone had gone repeatedly, until you all had one or two fingers up.

It was Momo’s turn.

“Never have I ever.. had a crush on someone in our class.”

You sighed, putting down your last finger.

The game was finally over for you, and you were planning on getting a good night’s rest before the USJ trip tommorow. Since the villain attacks, you guys had been there quite frequently, so that you were prepared for anything.

Speaking of a crush-

Starting to get up, you noticed everyone’s smirk on their faces.

“What?” you asked.

“Soo,” Mina smirked, “Who’s the lucky guy?”

You choked. Oh you have got to be kidding.

“U-uh..” you replied shakily, a dark red blush starting to creep up your neck. 

“No one..”

“Y/n..” Momo warned, a murderous glint in her eye.

Shit shit shit shit…

“Hehe… umm,” you started, “Well, I had a lot of fun tonight-”

“Y/n.” Ochako warned, “Give us the name.”

You sighed, knowing you had one last resort.

Without missing a beat, you shouted, “Look over there!”

They turned their heads in the random-ass direction you had pointed, but by then you were already gone.

You used your quirk, Sinkhole, to make a portal straight into your room.

Your quirk was useful in getting out of situations quickly, but you could only portal when you weren’t in contact with anything. So, as long as you could jump into the air, you were good.

“Oh thank god.” you said, calming your heart rate.

After that whole experience, you were ready to curl up into your bed with your copy of ‘The Little Rabbit That Could’ and sleep. Yeah, that sounded alright.

As you looked up, you saw a computer in the back corner of the room, and shelves you knew didn’t belong there. You realized that in your haste, you thought about- someone else’s room.

And it wasn’t your own.

“Y/n?” you heard from behind you.

You froze.

This was his room, after all, who couldn’t remember the voice of their best friend?

“Hi?” you said questioningly, still not looking over your shoulder.

There was silence for a solid minute or two.

“So.” Denki started. “What'cha doing?”

“Umm.” you started, sweating from nerves. “I was..”

“You were what?” he asked, voice joking and light. With your luck, he was laughing at you. 

This is so awkward.

“Well,” you started, beginning to turn red with shame, knowing that Denki was probably thinking you were being a creep.

“Is there anything you’d like to tell me you weirdo?” he spoke lowly, yawning a bit, probably just about to go to bed. Obviously not anymore.

You heard a weird sounding ruffle and a creak, like he had gotten out of his bed.

How the hell were you supposed to explain ‘accidentally’ appearing in his room?

Suddenly, you felt a warm, but firm grasp around you.

“So you do know?” he said, holding you extremely close to him. His hot breath flew past your ear, making you unconsciously bite your lip.

‘Holy shit,’ you thought, ‘what the hell did I just myself into?’

You looked back at him, noting that we was wearing a navy shirt and some, heart pants. Typical Denki.

“Well, yeah,” you continued, going along with whatever the hell he was thinking. 

He tensed, holding you closer.

“Shit,” he whispered, sending a shiver down your spine.

What the hell is going on right now..

“Shit,” he cursed under his breath, subconsciously moving his hand to hold your other arm down. “Shit, shit, shit.”

He spun you around so you could see his eyes. He looked- scared, and upset.

“This is gonna be bad,” he began, running his free hand through his hair, “You were never meant to find out.”

You froze.

"Hold on.” you said, prying out of his grasp to face him. “What are you even talking about?“

Your voice broke near the end in confusion.

"What?” he whispered, turning to look at you. His eyes widened.

You slowly started to back away.

“What’s going on, Denki?” you asked him, voice trembling.

He looked at you pained. “It isn’t what it sounds like..”

“Really?” you started, “because right now it sounds like you’re wrapped up in something bad.”

He flinched, his yellow hair falling over his eye. “I can explain.”

I gasped when the pieces finally clicked into place.

“You’re the one who told them when we’d be at the USJ, and the training camp!” You continued, taking a few steps away from him, hitting the wall softly.

He looked at you, pained.  

Knowing that he was probably about to kill you or something, you clenched your eyes closed and pressed your back to the wall, violent shivers rocking your body.

All of a sudden, you felt his hand grab your shoulder.

You looked up through terrified teary eyes.

He gazed into your eyes. “Please forgive me.”

His electric golden eyes watered in the slightest bit, and he placed his head to yours.

“Y/n.” he whispered. That’s when you realized that he was crying.

Through all the shock, your head cleared. This was Denki, your best friend since grade school. He wouldn’t do anything like this without a reason.

You wrapped your arms around him, and he tensed. You thought you’d done the wrong thing, until he returned the action, and you were both sharing an emotional hug.

It’s funny to think that’d just two minutes ago, you’d been smiling, and having no idea what was to ensue.

And now, you were trying to figure out what to do next.

“I’m so sorry.” he whispered into your shirt, “I couldn’t do anything.”

“It’s ok.” you mumbled, “You’ll be ok now.”

He pulled back, “You don’t understand!” he started.

“They said if I didn’t give them what they wanted, they’d take you instead.”

Your heart stopped, “What?”

He nodded.

“I just, I couldn’t lose you.” he started. “You’re the only person that’s truly been there for me.”

You gave him a soft smile. “Denki..”

“I love you.”

You looked up, shocked.

“What?” you asked, eyes opening incredulously.

“I love you.” he repeated. Placing his hand underneath your chin, his lips met yours in a crash of emotion.

You gasped into the kiss. It was soft and sweet.

His tongue glided over your bottom lip, pleading for entrance, and you gladly let him in.

He pushed you flush against the wall, pinning your hands above your head with one hand. While he was fighting for dominance in your mouth, his free hand roamed your back.

You moaned in pleasure as he pulled away.

“I-I love you too.” you started, gasping for breath, “I always have.”

His grin lit up like a christmas tree as a tear rolled down his cheek.

Almost immediately, he came back around with another kiss. His hand still prevented you from moving your arms, but you didn’t mind. His other hand now roamed just your lower back as he pressed closer to you.

You let out another moan as he started to pepper your jawline with kisses, using his free hand to move your head.

You flushed with embarrassment at the lewd sound, but he just hummed with a dangerous smirk.

“Do that again.” he rasped into your ear between kisses, and you tried not to just moan at the sound of his voice.

It wasn’t until he started to nibble at your ear when you let out another moan. Your cheeks flushed yet again.

He purred against your throat, tilting your head back.

“You like that?” he asked huskily, continuing to slowly nibble on your ear.

“Y-yea.” you replied, biting your lip as he hit a sweet spot.

You could feel his smirk against your jawline.

“Again.” he commanded, starting to lick at the shell of your ear.

“Mm..” you groaned, biting back a small moan.

“What did I say?” he growled into your ear. The vibrations against your throat paired with the soft breath past your neck sent a shiver down your spine.

Deciding that was enough there, he slowly moved down to your collarbone, littering your neck with flowering kisses.

He kissed up your collar bone until he reached the dip in the center of your throat.

At this point, you were a panting, sweaty ball of nerves. He looked up at you and smiled softly at your slightly swollen lips, and the hickeys he left behind.

He sighed, letting go of your arms and stepping back a bit to let you calm down.

“Man,” you started once you caught your breath, smiling, “I knew you were a playboy, b-but this?”

He smirked cockily, giving a small glance to your neck before his gaze returned to yours. “What can I say, I’m good at what I do.”

You rolled your eyes, finally feeling a bit of fatigue. You stumbled forwards, and he caught you in his arms.

“Woah.” You breathed out as he laid you softly to the ground, and you stared up at his soft grin.

“-Easy there.” he chuckled, “You should probably get some sleep.”

You nodded, smiling. “Can I stay here for tonight?”

–

It’s funny how things can change in less than an instant. Suddenly, as you laid with Denki in his room, you realized how lucky you were. Lucky to have an amazing guy like him in your life. Lucky to be free.

And you knew that Denki would never be free unless you both had help. So, you both planned to come clean to Principal Nezu, and hoped it worked itself out.

But for now, you just relished in the feeling of safety and love that radiated from him, as you laid protected in his hold.

I guess you could say he was your fairy-tale prince.

————

Ok, yeah, I’m a sucker for Denki, he’s my baby

Umm, anyways, lol. Hope you guys enjoyed it! My ask box is always open, and I’ll write almost anything. Obviously the plot will be better than.. whatever the heck this was.. but umm yeah! 

Thanks, and drink some water!

- alice

[the-fiction-witch]

Spooky Times 24 : Witches Oak

REAL LIFE: COUPLE: TBS X READER RATING: DARK

Not Much Used to happen in this little town, But sometimes that’s because far too much happened long ago.

The room was hushed, the tweeting of birds and the patterning of occasional rain both muffled by the window and pulled curtains. The room is dark with only the light of a few glow in the dark green stars stuck to the ceiling and walls. A rustling from the corner of the room and a huge glass tank, however, filled with sawdust and toys. The Quiet sounds of breathing from under the mangled mess of blue space bedding.

“ADAM!! You’ll be late for school!” The Shrill voice from the stairwell screamed

“Uuuuummm Five more minutes mum!” I groaned back cuddling my blanket tighter

“Now Adam! And Remember you have to drop your sister off at preschool” She yelled back

“Fine” I sighed, I slowly swung my feet around slipping them into my cosy slippers as I forced myself up from the bed and stretched as I went out my bedroom across the old hallway to the little bathroom. I stared at my face a while my eyes barely open and my hair a mess, I brushed my teeth and washed up as quickly as I could before hopping back into my room and getting dressed. Slipping on an old pair of jeans, My Plain blue shirt and then my light blue Patterned overshirt. I fixed my hair best I could, slipping on my glasses and opening my curtains. It looked dull and grey as it did almost every day.

I Sighed and cracked the window to let some air through grabbing a handful of birdseed from the bag and dropping it outside the window letting the pile sit on the ledge.

I grabbed the lid for the tank and put it down grabbing two little treats from the box and watching as two little hamster heads popped out the sawdust from the tunnels they had been building

“Goodnight Marco” I smiled giving him a treat which he happily took and hid in his cheeks “goodnight Polo” I smiled giving him one too “You guys get to bed, it’s late for you” I smiled putting the lid back on. I grabbed my backpack from the floor and stuffed my homework from my desk into my bag before heading downstairs.

My mother sat at the table with her cup of tea and my sister in her high chair eating something I wasn’t sure what with her unicorn bowl and spoon.

“She’ll be late,” My mother said

“I know mum, I had to feed Marco and Polo” I answered, picking up my little sister and starting to put her yellow raincoat on, sitting her on the sofa and slipping on her little pink wellies.

“Your money’s on the table,” she says sipping her tea

“Thanks, mum,” I smiled, taking the coins and stuffing them in my pocket. “Come on Eliza,” I said, picking her up and heading out the door.

The streets are empty and hardly a light on with any of the houses. I put Eliza down and let her walk along the street beside me as we headed along the road until we reached the edge of the forest walking down the little paths through the trees listening to the birds in the trees and the crunching of the leaves below my feet.

Eliza ran off as usual so I sighed and ran after her. She sat at the tall withered old oak tree, the bark and branches twisted, the leaves falling to the earth with shades of orange and green. The roots breaking through the ground the earth broke open where the roots are too strong.

“Hello Miss Oak” Eliza giggled as she looked at the tree as the little black and grey bunny rabbit hopped from the burrow under the tree roots,

“Hey Mrs oak” I smirked getting a carrot from my backpack snapping it in half and throwing it to her “Come On Eliza” I smiled picking her up and heading down the path, I noticed the little bunny following us “No Not you Mrs Oak” I laughed so the bunny hopped back to its burrow and we carried on through the thick forest. The path got a little more well-trod so I put Eliza bath down letting her run as we passed the old rusted gates of the Old Graveyard, the twisted iron covered in years of ivy and stinging nettles. Eliza ran off inside so I sighed following her though the little paths littered with old gravestones and flowers, till she stopped by one so broken and weathered the name and dates where unreadable. She stopped and sat down clapping her hands and soon enough the little blonde bunny hopped out from behind the stone

“Mr Gravestone!” she giggled

“Hey Mr gravestone” I laughed, throwing him the other half a carrot “Come on Eliza else we’ll be late,” I told her, picking her up and heading into town.

I kept Eliza close to me cuddling her close to me as we crossed the little roads and hurried down the empty stone streets until I reached the little daycare centre

“Good Morning Eliza” Mrs Smith smiled

“Hey Mrs smith, sorry I can’t stay I got to get to class,” I told her handing Eliza to her

“Of course you have a nice day adam” she smiled

“I wanna go play with Mr Gravestone and Miss Oak” Eliza giggled

“I know, well you have to stay here, I’ll come to get you after school okay?” I remember so she nodded and headed off down the grey pavement towards the school.

Nothing much went on that day, just the usual Friday bored out of my mind as my friends were always gone on Fridays for the club stuff they do. I sat on the MDF desk slowly taking my pen apart and putting it back together over and over while pretending to listen to my History teacher as she went on and on about the importance of local history without ever actually telling anyone any. Everyone in the room was as bored as me except Melody who sat at the front of the class, her glasses perched on her nose, her dark brown Pigtails happily sitting on her shoulders, her hands neatly folded on the desk in front of her. I stopped looking, not wanting someone to see me looking at her even if I had a mild crush on her but I never let anyone know I don’t want to die a horrible painful death for admitting to liking the school nerd girl.

“Fine, you kids want important local history? Something that appeals to your bloodthirsty heads” she asked I glanced up curious what she was talking about “Then I shall tell you of the documented tail of the Witches oak”

“The Witches oak? Miss Linea Everyone knows about the witches oak it's a bedtime story” one boy commented from the back

“Then, by all means, You tell it, Arthur,” she said

“The Town used to have a resident witch, who stole babies, ate children and put spells on the town until the major ran her out of town on some waggon” he explained I sighed and returned to my pen

“No! That’s not the story at all” Melody argued

“Go On Miss Abernathy,” Miss Linea told her

“Many years ago, the town had a resident witch, she lived out in the woods” she began and I perked up a little more watching melody as she spoke “she made potions for the town, as a healer, until one day she gave the whole town the wrong potion in an attempt to murder them all, she only killed one child in her attempt, and when the town confronted her she put a curse on the town, the crops died, the water got contaminated, the mines ran dry and the livestock all died. So the towns People took her out to the witches oak and Hung her for her crimes” she explained

“Very good Miss Abernathy, However that was not the end of it,” Miss Linea said “In her dying breath she cursed those who had doomed her to the fate of hell and said each of them would die a horrible death, and within the month every one of her accusers was found dead in a most Horrific way”

The bell then went so everyone gathered their things. I shoved my work into my bag and headed out towards my locker for my stuff when I heard a voice as I was unlocking it,

“Hey Adam,” I turned and saw that the melody stood with her books, I tried not to blush and smiled “Hey Melody, what’s up?” I asked her

“I was wondering if you could walk me home?” she asks “You walk through the woods don't you?”

“Uhh yeah I do” I nodded “But Uhh…. I have to pick up my little sister from daycare”

“It’s okay, I can wait” she smiled

“You sure?” I asked grabbing my stuff and she nods “Okay, let’s go then”

I gathered my stuff and locked up my locker as we both slowly walked out of school heading out into town as the darkness began to crawl into the town “So why did you want me to talk with you today?” I asked her

“Well with the nights growing much darker this time of year, and having to walk through the woods by the witches oak tree it’s rather scary” she explained

"Yeah especially when you remember that spooky story for history class" I blushed

But at that exact moment the sky cracked and a storm erupted on the horizon breaking the buildings destoryin tree's I saw the terrifying dark clouds on the horizon "The Tree! it's where the storms coming from, something is happening tonight" I said "Come on" I told her making her follow me grabbing my sister on the way till we reached the tree and instantly I was in another world...

"This is the only place I ever felt happy" she says "but not anymore"

"Why not?"

"It's full of bad memories now" she says a tear falling down her cheek

"There wasn't anywhere else?"

"No, everywhere else was just the same"

"What about your mother? Didn't you want to see her?"

"No… I never knew her, she died when I was born"

"What about your father?"

"He wasn't very nice to me… he blamed me for her death, and was unkind to me"

"There must have been someone who looked after you? Who was kind to you?"

"One"

"Y/n?" I heard from behind the tree where Y/n sat two hands appeared from behind the tree covering her eyes as she read her book making her giggle

"Hehee stop it!" She giggled

"His name was Thomas" she smiled as the boy popped out from behind the tree to give Y/n a hug

"You seem close?"

"We where, we used to come here and cuddle" she laughed "he used to promise me that he'd marry me" she blushed as he gave her cheek a little kiss

"Why didn't you?"

"Because I died before he could"

"Ohh I'm sorry"

"You remind me off him" she smiled "he was always sweet, kind to me… he was a very open mind"

"You miss him?"

"Every day"

"Don't you want to go see him?"

"I'm not sure I can"

"Why not?"

"I'm sure he moved on once I died" She says

I looked to the book finding the day she was hung she looked away as it turned to the red sky the rope in the tree, Y/n being forced to walk towards it

"Y/n!! NOOO PLEASE!! Please she didn't do anything!! Nooo!! Y/nA!!!" He screamed men holding him back so he couldn't intervine

"It's the last thing I remember, My Thomas, crying, screaming as I was hung" she explained "please...tell me… what happened to him"

I turned the page and continued to read

"Days later Thomas Sangster was found under the Witches Oak Tree, having hung himself in the night" I read "he wanted to be with you Y/n he hung himself so he could be with you"

"Then… then why is he not here?"

I looked to the book and read the rest of it "he was cut down and burried in the graveyard with his other deceased family members" I read "you see Y/n that's why he hasn't been here all these years, he wanted to die with you, be with you for all eternity, but his family dragged him away and burried him somewhere else So you couldn't be together"

[skittles1229]

THE EVER CHANGING STORY OF LUNARIS (reader insert romance)

SOME OF THESE CHARACTERS AND PLACES ECT. DO NOT BELONG TO ME, THEY WERE MADE BY LUNARIS GAMES FOR THE INTERACTIVE VISUAL NOVEL "WHEN THE NIGHT COMES" AVAILABLE EITHER FROM THIER WEBSITE OR ON ITCH. THE COVER IS ALSO FROM LUNARIS GAMES (ITS THIER PIN SET FOR SALE ON THIER SITE)

https://www.wtncgame.com/collections/pins-charms/products/wtnc-holo-sparkle-charms

This is a project I started to maintain my boredom so ill be using the characters from a really great visual novel called when the night comes written by lunaris. go check it out! ill be writing about all the characters including you being the x reader. after I've introduced the plot and characters and if i have enough readers, ill let you guys pick who I right the first romance ending with, the endings will probably have a bit of smut so if your just wanting to know the story you don't have to read the romantic endings

____________________________________

Chapter One: Unwelcome Start

        My feet are killing me and its hot and dark, I'm walking through unfamiliar woods. All I can smell is tree leaves decaying and pine. To fill you in without telling you my life story and having a pity party, I'm one of the few shifting Dire Wolves left. We are a dying breed since people and monsters were coexisting now, I'm over joyed about the mixing of the populations but as the wolves breed with humans our ability to shift is slowing leaving as the generations grow. I on the other hand wasn't liked by much of anyone. I grew up around old town human folk. Both parents had been killed by townsfolk and luckily the little who girl found me as a puppy was nice enough to bring me to her home. That little girl became my life. Her blonde hair reminded me of wheat in the fall and she smelled of old moth balls and freshly cooked bacon. Kasey was a lonely child born a bastard and then left alone when her mom left into town one day. She didn't come home that night. She had the kindest eyes. They say eyes are the window to the soul and hers was broken and glued back together so many times that you couldn't recognize her original beauty. She brought me to a little cabin back in the woods where I stayed with her and her grandmother.  I stayed out of school because at the time freaks weren't exactly normal. I learned everything through Kasey and her homework as I grew up. We played in the old field through the woods and down an old forgotten gravel road. She would always tease me about my ears but she loved my big bushy tail. Kasey was a pure soul and sometimes id have to remind her how special she was especially during the times to come. She became ill in late fall, losing her ability to walk and becoming more and more pale from the lack of sunlight. We were told she had an immune issue that couldn't be fix with the medicine we had then and magic was a cure but was also out of the question since anyone who was seen as a witch was seen as a harm to the community and burned at the stake. It wasn't that way in the big towns with lots of people coming and going bustling about, but down here in the boon dock of the forgotten swamp everyone had the same opinion. anything new and different was and and therefore had to be destroyed.

         When I was around six Kasey succumb to her unfortunate circumstances in her sleep and she took her welcome with her. I think that maybe it was one of the few mercies I've ever seen god do for someone. After she died the grandmother, already being on her last years, passed not long after that. With nothing holding me to that little shack in the woods I moved on. I was never given a name and so along the way I've figured out who and what I am. Remind me to tell you that one later on, I've been walking for a few days with my satchel made from rabbit fur with old shoe laces holding it together, Kasey in her better days stayed bored in her old pink bedroom reading the same book she had on the old bookcase in the living room. Her grandmother went to the market in town most days to sell her vegetables. she would bring us home sweets and toys. For Kasey's birthday she bought her a bag of fabric rabbit fur and some thread and needles to teach her to sew hoping that would cure her boredom. A few months before she passed, she hurriedly finished off the synch bag with one of her shoelaces from her boots. That bag is the one I have with me now. My clothes and few days worth of food is in it as well. I had been shifted into my wolf form going on 48 hours now and my (F/C favorite color ) fur was now stained with mud and leaves from the nights sleep in a dug out hole. The last sign of civilization was back in my home town. it was now night time again and had seen no sign of a town any where close. It was getting dark and my joints were burning from the pain of walking. I quickly found a soft spot in the ground digging up a little hole to lay in for the night. The woods around me creaked with shifting wood and wind rustling the foliage. Harry had become the governor a while back suddenly disappeared recently in his home base in Lunaris. That's where Kasey's grandmother went for hours everyday to be a part of the market so I decided to see if there was anywhere I could stay and maybe get a job and start a life for myself. All this time I had no real name, Kasey never named me. She wanted me to be able to choose it for myself and I'm now 20 in human years. Our bodies aged in human instead of dog years another kind of pro with the watering down of the generations. I had gone through all of Kasey's family and school friends, even people she heard the name of by passing by in church, I'd heard all the names and thought about them and said them all out loud the see how they role off the tongue and I finally settled on (Y/N) tonight. 

      I had fallen asleep at some point and shifted back into human form curling around my bag to protect it from the outside. Suddenly the ground around me started to shake and the foliage covering the entrance to the den started to shake loose and fall in. At this point I'm wide awake and have my back to the wall and head in a snarl towards the entrance not knowing why or what had shaken the ground so harshly. I smell a fowl smell that reeks of something I've never smelled before. It began to burn my nose like alcohol or whatever grandma had in the wash rooms for spring cleaning. I heard twigs breaking and a long groan that howled with the wind. My heart was racing not knowing what to expect to come through the entrance and that's when I saw the light from the moon blocked by a large shadow. I braced for a fight when suddenly it let out a yelp of pain as I see two or three other shadows chase it to the right of the hole. Lots of yelling from men and women can be heard along with lots of new smells. All of them had hints of sweat and fear but some of them were odd. One was carried in on a breath of lavender and honey and the other of burnt wood like a fire place. One also smelled like chocolate and for a split second I smelled the familiar canine sent, Another wolf or maybe a half breed Lykan. I laid there and listened as the group seemed to quickly dominate whatever that creature was and if there's a group of hunters then there has to be a town. I wait for the noise to die out before I stick my head out of the hole to check my area. I look at the position of the moon and start to get a better idea of how long I was asleep. I think it must have been at least 3 in the morning. I grabbed my bag and pulled myself out of the hole, shaking off loose dirt and changing myself back into that big furry wolf I've become used to and walk towards where I heard the commotion to catch the scent of where they had gone. The creature they fought was dead on the ground covered in its black oozing blood. It looked like a genetic mutation of some kind gone very wrong and the smell almost could knock you out, if your a dog that is. I heard a snap of a twig in the distance and that's when I caught the scent of a dying summer, decaying flowers and dying memories. 

      I see a blue glow coming from an object a few feet in front of me hidden in the darkness of the trees, whatever it was it made it very clear that I was unwelcome and that I was seen as a threat. I bent neck down feeling the hair along my spine start to stand on end as I snarled my teeth in the direction of the ominous blue glow. Suddenly the tense feeling in the air dropped, you could feel the tension melt away and in that second the strange creature pushes forward into the moonlight. A man with golden eyes and a mechanical arm moves forward looking with his hands raised. "My names Finnegan and I know you wont hurt me because your not just any wolf am I right?" The sudden question brushes me as weird and out of place but regardless it only makes me all the more persistent that he not come any closer. He stops in his tracks and sits in the tall grass he had been previously standing in. We sat there like that for what seems like forever and he seemed to feel talkative because he asked question after question. I looked around to think of what direction I wanted to go in order to get away from here .

     "You know it would be easier to go to Lunaris." he said picking at something under his nails. I look at him tilting my head, can he hear my thoughts? I didn't think humans could do such things but he didn't look like a human. Not with the fangs like that and those pointed ears. "No I'm not human I'm a vampire, I live in Lunaris with my friends. I actually have a Lykan friend as well so you wont be alone." I bent my ears back in annoyance, tired of the vamp imposing on my thoughts. I decided I would speak with him but not in this form. As a Lykan I could still stay able to protect myself and be able to speak to this other freak of nature in front of me. In order to do so I'd have to get away from this vampire long enough to cover myself. Almost instantly the vamp got up causing me to jump. "There's a graveyard a little ways from here, you can shift and change in the maintenance shed. As I'm sure you heard earlier there are some odd creatures in these woods so ill walk you to town myself. Then I can take you to Ezra and have him give you a once over." he began to walk and turned around about five feet away to ask if I was going to follow, I decide that this town might be a start to a weird series of events. We made our way through the woods to a small path of cleared trees and some sand, we followed that to the graveyard behind a large church like building and that's when I saw the small shed. "I'll stand behind the shed towards the woods I'm sure nobody is awake so you shouldn't have to worry about townsfolk." I shifted back into my Lykan form and hurry into the shed. My (hair length) (H/Color) hair fell over my face as I shoved myself into my tight jeans and put my long sleeve white shirt on. my ears still sat on the top of my head and my tail is swishing back and forth in anticipation of how this town was going to accept a new comer and a freak at that. I threw on the hoodie I had found hanging on a tree on my way out of my old town, probably left by one of the boys in the old town. I smoothed my fur down and walked out of the shed with my bag in my hands, I peaked my head around the corner and caught the golden eyes of the man called Finnegan as he's leaned against the shack with his arms crossed. 

      I walk up to him with my arm wrapped around my bag and offered him the other. "My names (y/n), sorry about the weird introduction but I really just have no clue where I am or where I'm going." he grinned and studied me before opening up and talking again. "You cleanup really well don't you (y/n)." I simply lowered my head as a response and shrugged my shoulders. " It would suck to have to stay as wolf all the time because I'm just to ugly to look at as a Lykan." he laughs flashing his fangs and approaching me and taking my hand pulling me closer to him to where we were inches apart. "Ugly is one thing you aren't, if your this pretty as a Lykan then I cant wait to see you in human form" he then snuck his arm around my waist turning me around as he began to walk to the town. "How did you know I could do that?" I stopped him and I could see his grin form as he turned around to meet my eyes. "I've been alive a long time (y/n).  when the old man who sired me was alive he'd tell us stories of the dire wolves that lived in the forest in the mountains. He would tell us stories of how they had almost repopulated in a town not far from here, completely unannounced to the world growing among the town folk." he looked away suddenly his essence changed from one of wisdom and confidence to one of remorse and sadness. He began to walk once again motioning for me to follow. "That is until the townsfolk caught wind  of such rumors. He banded together the higher ups and went through exposing half the town to be," he grimaces as if saying the name leaves a sour taste in his mouth, "werewolves as the humans put it."  We had just made it through a small alley leading too a large stone road. This is the first time I've heard the real story aloud of what happened to my parents that day. Suddenly I  didn't feel much like talking anymore and the vampire noticed this as we made it to the closed up and dark market side of town. Large tents and shacks were on both sides of the road, I'm sure it looks much nicer when its open and bustling with people. "I'll have to show it to you." he says suddenly again answering my thoughts as if id said them aloud. "You know Finn I love your interest in me but I think its kind of of rude to read others thoughts right?" His eyes suddenly dart away and clears his throat, "Not if the person has particularly loud thoughts but I do see what you mean. Nasty habit it is, been aiming to fix that." We both laugh for a bit and then he heads for a door on the right side of the road raising his metal arm to touch the door. When his hand makes contact, Finn says a few words in another language and his arm burst to  life flowing with blue lights. The door makes a noise and a shield seams to lower into Finn's hand as he opens the door. He pulls me in and I'm immediately overwhelmed at the smells around me, some fragrant like perfumes and others dirty like burning wood. He had shelves of boxes and books, homemade spells and food with jars of candy lining the shelves.

     Finn puts the wards back up and leads me to the kitchen where he sits me down at the wooden table across from the couch and the wall covered in art work, "Wait here while I run upstairs and get the witch you just relax and think if anything hurts or needs to be looked at." with Finns vampy speed skills he vanishes up the stairs to get this so called witch, I certainly do hope I don't meet the same fate as my parents once did in this town years ago. I here rustling and movement up the stairs as a dark skinned man comes running to me with worried eyes and open arms. he cups my face in his hands and scans me over for any sign of blood or wounds. "Finnegan she looks alright, you made her out to be as if she'd been attacked." He looks back at Finn letting go of my face in order to hit him in the head just enough to scuffle his hair. He then turns around to me and straightens up his robe and his curly mop of hair, I hold out my hand to introduce myself and he grabs it with both hands pulling me in with a smile. "I'm Ezra and this my little spells and Knick knack shop." he has a strange contagious happiness that causes my worries and doubts to slip away. He rubs his hand through my hair making his way to my ears checking for ticks and mites since my ears are much different  from human ears. "Are you ok," He says we a worry filled smile and motions me to sit down, I obey as my feet have become numb after so many days of walking. He reaches into his shelves and pulls  out a kettle and a metal box of herbs and tea bags for homemade blends. "Go on love what happen? Why are you out in the woods at this hour?" I yawned in response of all their questions and simply said, "No disrespect Ezra but I'm exhausted and my feet are throbbing, I think the walking has caught up to me." He nods knowing what I mean. Ezra hands me a cup of tea and some cookies from a jar up in the cabinet. "Right I'm sorry. Let me help Finn out and I'll come back and run you a bath with herbs and salts to get you well rested and ready for tomorrow." He and Finn stepped to a hatch underneath the rug in Ezra's common quarters.  I took a few cookies sneaking them into my bag so that I can eat them later as well, they were ( favorite kind ) cookies and i couldn't resist the temptation to stuff my face. 

        Finn calls my name waving as he disappears into the hole and Ezra closes it back up and covers it again. "Alright now to get you all set, come with me up stairs." I follow behind slowly hating every step up those stairs but it was well worth it when I made it. He had a big circle tub surrounded in stone, it looked to be able to fit two people and the water come up pretty high. The twinkling lights hanging from the ceiling were different shades of blue purple and pink with a magical blue flamed candle hanging on the wall in a glass case. The tub was filled with steaming water and flower petals, the room smelled of pine and mint with citrus chopped up into slices and dropped into the water. Bubbles had covered the top of the water like snow and smelled like lavender and honey. His bathroom was pure happiness and love expressed in his home. "Now this bath should help your muscles not be sore in the morning and it should help you fall asleep tonight, I hate to ask but should I check you for ticks or scratch's anywhere on you?" I shrugged as my body was still covered in fur and it could be hiding anything but I was so self conscious about my body that I wouldn't dare ask for his help with this task. I point my head down and hugged myself as if to comfort myself. Ezra looked at me with kind eyes and hands me a towel, "Its ok if you aren't comfortable with it, just promise me you'll come and let me take any off for you. They carry lime disease and other things that can harm you!" as he goes to grab the handle to leave I grab his arm. I muster up all the courage I can and whispered, "Can you stay and help me Ezra?" He smiles and blushes slightly, wrapping me in a hug, "of course!" He closes the door and stays turned around as I take my clothes that I have on now off and grab the robe from the wall and cover myself. "Alright your ok to look now." I say in a small voice. "Alright I'm gonna start with your legs and work my way up and after your done you can use my cats flea shampoo to make sure everything is clean and gone. I nod my head agreeing and let him begin, he rubs his soft hands over my paw pads massaging as he goes looking for any bumps or imperfections. He comes across a tick that had made itself at home on my inner thigh , he poked and prodded at it for a few minutes but it was resistant to all his attempts. "You know fur is great but I just don't think I could do a full body of it." He laughs and I return his joke with a giggle of my own. "Would it be easier if there was no fur?" I ask searching his face for his reaction.  At first he looks confused and he seemed to be racking his brain for what I could be saying. "Well I'm certainly not going to shave you if that's what your asking." he smiles and we both laugh. I trusted Ezra I didn't sense any type of misjudgment or threat coming from this simple witch. 

     I began to shift into my human form and my leg grew smaller in his hand and the once thick course fur is now bare soft human skin. The robe that was a perfect fit before, is now hanging down off my shoulders. It draped around me like a sheet and Ezra had stayed quiet so far, only staring wide eyed and enchanted at the sight. My hair falls in front of my face as I smile at him, "Is that any better?" He's still not said a word so far, just staring at my face and rubbing my legs searching for the fur that was no longer there. "Now how did you do that? spell? hallucinations? Are you even a wolf?" He seems stunned and unsure of what to say, he did however have lots of questions some of which I could answer and others was searching for myself. We talked while taking the ticks that had made themselves at home on me off finally, burning them as he went. his hands glided over me like soap and his hands felt like heaven against my skin.  "I'm honestly stunned I didn't think of it before you told me, I remember in school they use to mention small things about dire wolves but they never dove into that chapter which I guess was because you guys were believed to have died out long ago. but behold!" he places some bubbles on my he'd and smiles so wide that his eyes look squinty. "your here1 So obviously the world didn't lose all of its beautiful one of a kind dire wolves." What a sweet happy minded guy, he seemed to only be able to see the silver lining and if he could see the other side of things then he hides his emotions very well. It didn't take much for the mud and dirt that was previously there to fall away into the soapy water. Ezra had gone to make himself a cup of tea and was waiting in his room for when I was done. My hair had been shampooed and I washed my body with the bar of soap sitting on the side of the tub. It was green and purple but see through, there was a small flower in the middle and there seemed to be small beads in the soap that came out as you washed. It smelled like roses and vanilla, the smell reminded me of Ezra. Soon I got out and dried myself off with the lavender towel Ezra had left behind, throwing the robe on and heading to where Ezra had said his room was. He had laid out a large t-shirt and a pair of women's shorts? I hadn't seen a women in here before and no-one had said anything about a wife or girlfriend ... maybe they were a friend of his, at least that's what I'm hoping. As soon as my head hit the soft feather pillow I drifted off into a deep sleep, filled with dreams of of cookies, flowers, and Ezra? oh, Finnigan as well. Seems I simply cant escape the happenings of tonight or the past. My memories slowly drift back to that little blonde haired girl I had loved once before.

(A/N) The picture at the top is of the characters mentioned in this from the game when the night comes. if you haven't read it You should defiantly take a look before you dive into this so that you can fall in love with the characters before reading other peoples interpretations of their personalities. I personally feel like I couldn't dream of reaching the level of dedication that the creator of the game had for their characters.

I also have a second chapter out on wattpad you can find it here.

https://my.w.tt/i2iNayX8mbb

[queen-of-my-goofball-army]

Sibling Day!

Hi everyone! This is the first request that I had for one of my fics that I wanted to write. It wasn't an official request but rather something that came up in conversation with the creator of Kai, one of my best friends in the entire world, @bio-hazard0us. She wanted a sibling day with Kai and Mitsu and that's what she got! I am still open for requests and I have only gotten one other one so if anybody has any ideas I'd love to hear them!

Kai: Hey tiny, I have a free day tomorrow with no homework. You. Me. Sibling day. I��m on my way to Vlad’s to get the requested day off-campus. I laughed a little bit at my brother’s familiar pushy nature. It was true, since he had started dating Katsuki it was rare for him to get any spare time with me apart from his boyfriend.

Me: Sounds good! I don’t have anything spectacular planned either. Really all I was going to do was study for Dadzawa’s next test on Thursday. I sensed you’re a nerd teasing comment coming back my way and I stretched my arms above my head the words blurring together.

“And you’re done for the night,” Denki told me pulling me back from the chair that I was sitting at knowing that I was working myself towards exhaustion.

“This is even starting to look more nonsensical to me so I can only imagine what it’s doing for you right now.” He pulled me back from the desk and carefully sat me over in my beanbag chair. He had texted me earlier on in the night wanting just some company while he studied. I knew that he was trying to get better grades without using Ari as a tutor.

“Thanks, Denks. I am getting really tired of just looking at words right now. This was nice though. It’s been a while since it’s just been you and me.” I reminded him and he just hugged me tightly to him. I smiled softly at my best friend that had always been there when I needed him to be.

“I know and I’m sorry that I’ve been spending so much of my spare time with Ari. It’s hard to explain how it feels when I’m around them other than soulmates.” I smiled softly at my best friend nuzzling his cheek lightly.

“You’re fine! I know how it is when you’re spending too much time with your partner. I’ve been neglected Kai as well he’s getting super on my case about it. It doesn’t help that now he’s dating Kats so it’s hard for us to get us time. He’s making a sibling day tomorrow.” I mentioned it to my best friend who leaned his head against my shoulder.

“It’s been a while since you’ve done those with him. I’m surprised that he hasn’t kicked open your dorm door yet demanding that you spend time with him yet. He’s probably too busy sucking face with his own boyfriend.” I lightly shoved him making a playful gagging sound that was way too over-exaggerated. I heard a soft knock at my door.

“Milady, it’s fifteen minutes until lights out time.” My boyfriend reminded me from the front door and Denki sighed before he extracted himself from my side.

“Always have to be such a buzzkill emergency exit Iida. See ya tomorrow Mitsu!!” He gave me a mock salute on his way out the door a light spring in his step. I watched him cross the way to the B dorms and couldn’t help but smile at him.

“He’s probably going to go and spend the night with Ari. Either he’s over there or they are over here.” I laughed a little bit at my boyfriend’s thoughts.

“I can’t really blame them, my knight, they are still in their honeymoon phase as a couple. It has to be difficult to spend time together as well since they are in different classes. The only class that they have together is lunch.” Tenya sat down next to me and I instantly snuggled into his side lightly. He kissed my forehead gently.

“I know it’s just shouldn’t he worry about getting caught?” I laughed a little bit hugging my boyfriend’s body towards mine.

“You haven’t known Denki nearly as long as I have but you’ve probably realized by now the sheer chaotic energy that he has. If he wants something he’s going to do everything within his power to get it. Besides he has permission from Dadzawa anyways so it’s all good.” I laughed a little bit as my boyfriend just smiled down at me.

“You always call him that outside of class, is that because you’ve known Shinsou for so long?” I nodded my head with a small laugh.

“Yep! He’s always been like my second dad so that’s why I squished his name. It’s super difficult for me to not call him that during class especially when I’m tired. Sometimes I’ll catch myself and Denki will have to kick my chair lightly. I was helping him study for the test on Thursday.” Tenya parted my hair softly between his fingers.

“You were helping him study?” I nodded my head with a small smile realizing that my best friend had forgotten his phone which was still in the bucket.

“He wanted my help, I think he’s trying to do better in school impress Ari. He has the motivation now. He wants to be the kind of hero that can protect his partner and I love that for him. He might be an idiot but damn it if he isn’t my lovable idiot. I’d do anything for him so of course, I offered to help him.” Tenya just smiled softly at me nuzzling my cheek.

“I’m just glad that you’re happy milady. It’s a good look on you.” I beamed back at my boyfriend taking a deep inhale of the calming scent that always surrounded him.

“I feel a lot better. I think I just needed a little bit of a break away from it all. I’m feeling more like myself after the cultural festival was well. It’s been a lot for me so far even just within these last three months. I went from mentoring under the man that I spent my entire youth looking up to, to losing him in the blink of an eye. It was hard to come back from that and I still cry thinking about it.” I put my hands into the pockets of my favorite sweatshirt. The perks of being still the same height that I had been both vertically and horizontally was that I was still able to fit into large children’s clothes. This was something that I had carried with me that was my favorite piece of hero merchandise. My Miss Joke hoodie went everywhere with me when I wasn’t in class.

“I know that it was a lot for you. I’m just glad that you eventually came around and came to me when you needed some help. I think that I’m going to let you get some rest though for tomorrow. It sounds like your brother and you have a sibling day planned?” I nodded my head kissing him gently before he rested his forehead against mine.

“The first one on our own in a really long time. I think it’s the first of this year officially because usually when we hang out Kats is around. I think it’s good that he’s taking a day just to spend with his favorite sister.” I joked and Tenya just laughed a little bit at me nuzzling his nose against mine with one last parting hug before I was left on my own. I picked up the picture that my mom took of Kai and me on the first day. He had me braid his hair that morning and we had gone to school in our selective favorite hairstyles. I took my hair out of its ribbons putting them next to me on my bed. Grabbing my Sir rabbit I snuggled underneath my blankets. The morning sunlight streaming through my window caused me to smile brightly. It was a sibling day! I had always looked forward to these when I was younger. I went through my closet humming a little bit to myself. I picked up my gray and white striped shirt and matched that with its pink skirt counterpart picking up my baby pink hair ribbons and brushing out my hair into the familiar Tohru Honda style that I felt most comfortable with by now. I heard the shave and a haircut coming from my door and knew instantly that had to be my brother and I flung my arms around his neck.

“Oof! Tiny, hey, it’s okay, you startled me and you’re a lot stronger than you look.” Kai caught me with practiced ease and hugged me tightly right back.

“Your damn right I am. I just missed you that’s all. I feel like I’ve barely seen you in the last few weeks.” He kissed my forehead with a small smile on his face fingering one of the ribbons in my hair shaking his head.

“I buy you one set of ribbons because of a joke that I thought was funny and I create a monster.” I stuck out my tongue at my brother grabbing my greek sandals and baby pink cardigan to tie the whole outfit together.

“These were the set of ribbons that you bought for me. It was just a simple joke but I grew to love the style. It suits me. What do you have in mind for today?” I asked my brother who looped his arm through mine and I closed my door.

“You’ll see when we get there I want to keep today a surprise for the most part. All I’m telling you is that it’s our favorite places when we were kids. I felt like going down memory lane when I was telling Katsuki about all of them earlier on the week.” I smiled softly at him tilting my cheek to rest on his shoulder even if I had to stand on my tiptoes in order to do it.

“Hero mini golf?!” I asked him excitedly and he just laughed a little bit at me pushing the hair behind my ear that was sticking out.

“We’ll see tiny, you always used to kick my ass at that game when we were little kids but I might have the room on the schedule for it.” I walked next to my brother hanging off his arm as he nuzzled my cheek with his.

“Not my fault that you were always a sore loser Kai. I don’t make the rules of mini-golf other than having fun there are no rules.” I joked and I saw Hitoshi and Litzy sitting on the couch him leaning against her and Eri on her lap watching Elena of Avalor.

“Hey, guys! Having your own sibling day?” I greeted them and Eri looked towards me with a bright smile on her face.

“Hi, miss aqua!” She greeted giving me a tight hug and I picked the little girl up dropping my brother’s hand for a second.

“Hey, there kiddo! I’m here as well.” Kai waved his hand a little bit awkwardly next to me and Eri smiled a little bit nervously at him.

“Hi, Mr. Kai.” I saw my brother’s heart melt at the small smile that the girl was giving to him and I softly handed him the little girl that we had helped save together.

“We are actually! Are you both heading out?” Litzy asked me and I saw her brother leaning against her shoulder lazily texting Django.

“Yeah, I wanted to do the things that we used to do when we were really little kids together. At least all the stuff that we still can do.” I smiled softly at my brother as he put Eri back down on the ground before taking my hand in his.

“Are you two going to that ice cream shop?” Hitoshi asked me from the couch and I smiled softly at him leaning against the furniture.

“I don’t know and if we do yes I will bring you back some of the sugary cold goodness that is themed to Dadzawa. I promise.” I promised the purple-haired hero in training and I saw him slowly start to smile at me.

“We’re not waiting until everybody and their mother wants ice cream. Just be lucky that she loves you troll hair.” I heard Hitoshi mutter oh thanks like I haven’t heard that one before and led my brother out of there before it became a full-blown insult argument.

“Why must you always pick a fight with him?” My brother just sighed a little bit blowing the fringe out of his hair.

“Because as a kid I just felt like he was always trying to take me away from you, you know? It was that possessive side of me that was like no I want you to just stay with me always. It wasn’t until you met Pikachu that I realized how twisted and fucked up that was. Now I don’t know how to go backward from here and how to make him start to even like me.” He explained a little bit to me about how he had thought about my best friend for all these years.

“Kai…” I cradled my brother’s cheek with a small smile on my face. I thumbed lightly at the small burnt patch of skin that was right underneath his left eye.

“I know it sounds stupid but for a really long time, it was like you were the one person that mattered to me. So when you met Hitoshi the year after you first met me it was like, do I even matter?” I had never thought about the fact of me meeting my best friend a year after I met my brother. It did make so much sense all of the sudden and the way that he grew up…

“I am so, so sorry Kai… you know that I love you right? More than anything? I know that sometimes I forget to say it because I feel like why should I say something that is as obvious to me as breathing. You’re more than just my brother to me. You’re the most important person in my life. More than Hitoshi, more than Tenya, more than anybody else. I could never, ever replace you with anybody or anything. I might have other friends now but none of them read me as well as you do. I can even fake a smile enough to get Hitoshi to leave me alone. Not you. You have never once fallen for one of my fake smiles when I’m too tired and my brain is too fuzzy to deal with anything at that moment in time.” I reminded my brother and he just looked down at me his eyes filling up with tears and he wrapped his arms around me tightly.

“You shouldn’t need to apologize for me being a possessive asshole. I just wanted to wrap you up in bubble wrap and tell everybody to stay the fuck away from my sister sometimes. I was like that a lot when you first started dating orange juice. Your fake smiles suck ass anyways, I don’t see how anybody falls for them. You only do them when you’re about to keel over.” I rolled my eyes softly at my brother as his arms just held me there. I couldn’t blame him for the extended hug. We hadn’t hugged in a really long time.

“I know I need to figure out a better coping method at some point. I’d rather just be happy and have fun today.” Kai just smiled softly at me kissing my forehead before pulling back from the hug and fixing the fringe on my bangs.

“Alright, you pick the first song.” He tossed me his phone which I carefully caught taking one of his headphones. We had always played this game in public ever since we were little kids. It was a game that our mom started where she gave us our first set of MP3 players when we were in elementary school and one of us would pick a song and the first one to crack lost that round of the game. I scrolled through his phone before a small smirk appeared on my face. My brother had a soft spot for 80’s hairband rock and roll and this was certain to make him crack.

“Gunter gileben glauchen globen… alright I got something to say.” My brother gasped at me for my cruel and unusual punishment.

“This has got to be the most not fair thing that you have ever done to me. That should be against the rules mom raised us on old school awful bands.” I stuck my tongue out at him putting my hands in my pockets to stop myself from doing the air guitar. It was extremely hard to not bop my head to the familiar beat of the heavy metal song but I could see my brother’s resolve slowly but surely start to crack at the seams.

“Rock of ages, rock of ages, still a-rollin', rock n’ Rollin…” My brother cracked at the sound of the familiar lead-in and I watched the color slowly start to drain from his face.

“In my defense, that song as a first try was absolutely one hundred percent uncalled for. I call practice round.” I shook my head waving my finger at him teasingly. He would never admit to the fact that he actually didn’t hate the music that he was raised on, actually just the opposite. I had it on good authority that he surprisingly loved a lot of my favorite artists.

“You can’t call a practice round after the fact Kai so sorry hun. You still cracked at the chorus.” I teased lightly and he just sighed a little bit taking his phone from my hands with a mischievous glint in his eyes that swore I would receive the wrath of my brother when I heard a familiar piano rift through the headphone in my ear.

“Oh no, no, no, no, I hate you so much right now this is not right…” I whined and my brother just laughed in that familiar soft way of his.

“You shouldn’t have played dirty then if you know who you’re playing with.” I sighed just hoping that I wouldn’t crack too early.

“Yesterday was a good day, it’s after midnight and I’ve got you on my mind, Come with me and never go away every day we will find yeah. Just the same way you love me…” I bit my lower lip to refrain myself from belting out the familiar love ballad at the top of my lungs. The internal part of my brain was also at the moment cursing our mom for playing Journey so much when we were children.

“Just the same way you love me…” I sang softly and my brother smirked snapping his fingers in a winning motion.

“It’s one to one now loser.” He lightly stuck his tongue out at me and I sighed petulantly pouting kicking a rock on the ground.

“I actually wanted to talk with you though. We can play more towards the end of the day and I think it’s best to end on a tiebreaker for later. I’ll just remember what we already picked, hard to forget since they’re such cheap shots.” I looked over at my brother finally taking him all in. He looked good, happier than I had seen him in a really long time.

“Kats is treating you good?” I asked him and watched as the scarlet blush went across his cheeks as well as the small nod.

“Yeah. He’s amazing, I never really thought that I’d actually find somebody that made me genuinely happy. I thought that I’d have to fight the guys after you off with a stick before that happened.” I laughed a little bit at my brother as he closed the gate behind him that left the school.

“You never had to fight them off with a stick. I’ve always been too much of an airhead and too driven for people to come up to me. I think I just had a certain type that I didn’t even know that I had until Tenya. You’ve always gone for the hot-tempered tsundere’s though.” I poked his still bright pink cheek and he sighed a little bit. “Says you, Miss Tamaki is the best host.” I flushed a bright pink at the memory lightly bumping his hip with my own.

“Oh shut it, I still say that the goofball type is the far superior archetype. I mean it’s hard to top it at least for me.” My brother just laughed a little bit at me resting his cheek against my head bending down slightly.

“Face it tiny you’ve always been the easy type. They just have to make you laugh and your putty in their hands. It’s your type.” He shrugged it off and I felt the flush of embarrassment across my cheeks biting back an insult that I thought was way too harsh and beyond light teasing.

“Fine, you win this round of bickering since I don’t want to take it too far.” I put my hands up in surrender and my brother blinked a little bit at me.

“How are things going with orange juice? Any better?” I nodded my head with a sad smile on my face. I knew that my brother had given up a lot of his own free time to make sure that my relationship was working and it broke my heart.

“It is better than it was a month ago. Sometimes I still worry that I’m bothering him and he’ll have to come and talk to me himself and bring me out of my own head. It’s scary how much I love him, Kai. He’s it for me.” My brother laughed a little bit at me nuzzling my hair with his cheek. It was always so easy to communicate with my brother about the minimal things in life that were bothering me. He was the nonjudgmental type at least when it came to me.

“I could tell that he was it for you the first time that I saw you two holding hands under the table and talking trying to look all discrete and shit. You really suck at lying to me tiny so of course, I was able to see right through that. I was just glad that you stopped mooning after Pikachu if I’m being entirely honest.” I rolled my eyes with a soft smile at Kai's scoffing. I heard a familiar ping on my phone and saw that it was Tenya making sure that I remembered my sunscreen and snacks in case I got hungry throughout the day.

“He’s definitely the mother hen type of partner. Exactly what you need in a boyfriend though because you suck at taking care of yourself.” I sighed a little bit because he was way too right. I did forget to take care of myself especially when it came to remembering to eat and take breaks.

“I’m glad that I got over my unrequited love and the same thing with Hitoshi. As much as it brought the two of us closer together all three of us are happy in our own relationships now. I couldn’t be happier with Tenya when things are working mainly when I’m not too scared to communicate.” I sighed a little bit and he kissed my hairline.

“It’s fine to be scared. I want you to remember that. It’s alright to figure out things by yourself. However, it’s not okay to completely ignore your partner and their needs. I know that you’re still learning that somebody would actually want to be with you sis and recently life hasn’t been very kind to either of us.” I nodded my head twiddling my fingers together in the familiar nervous fashion. I saw us standing outside of the familiar breakfast place that we had always gone to when we were kids.

“Come on tiny, I called ahead and made reservations yesterday. Hopefully, this place is still just as good as it was when we last came here when we got accepted. Not that their menu or your favorite thing ever changes.” I lightly pffted at him hearing the familiar laugh that always made me laugh right along with him.

“Oh, you! I remember you two, it’s nice to see you both again. How’s high school treating you both?” Since we had been coming here for so long and it was a small business they always remembered who we were.

“It’s going well ma’am thanks for asking.” My brother told her for me and I sighed gratefully at the fact that he was always so open about doing little things like this for me when I was too nervous.

“I saw you both on the news recently when that hero passed away. I’m so sorry for both of your losses. That must have been very hard for both of you especially you Mitsuki.” I nodded my head but smiled softly. It was something that while it hurt, got easier every day. I would always miss him but I was at least able to get sleep without nightmares and I was going to therapy now where I could talk about my feelings and emotions.

“There has been a small change to our hero menu but I think that you’ll like it.” She winked at me leading my brother and I to our favorite both towards the back and I looked to see what had changed.

“I’m not changing my order. It’s the same thing that it’s always been Plus Ultra pancakes…” My brother trailed off when he saw what was right below his favorite order and he tapped to where the pancakes were. I looked at them and saw my brother’s favorite but right below that was something that I had never seen before. In a place that was unanimous for never changing their menu they actually had.

“Bright side of life pancakes…” I felt tears suddenly well up in my eyes not able to stop the tears from flowing.

“He would have been happy, I remember him telling me that sometimes he would come here and get the All Might pancakes.” I smiled sadly at my brother as he ran a finger over my knuckle to remind me that it was okay to cry. Even if you were in public it was still alright to get emotional over things like this. I took a picture of the menu and texted it to Mirio with surprised emojis.

“I think he would have been happy too. I still miss him, so much. But it’s become something that at least I can easily talk about.” Kai nodded his head understandingly and the waiter came over to take our drinks. I flipped to the drinks and saw that there was a new lemonade.

“She’ll have the green apple lemonade.” My brother smiled at me as if reading my mind and the waiter just nodded.

“I’m so proud of you tiny. I know that you shut down for a little bit there but so did I. I’ve been talking to Jin a lot more and he’s a good listener.” I blinked a little bit in confusion before the idea of it all made me smile.

“He’s a good person despite his history. He did the right thing leaving after what happened with Kats. I didn’t know if I could trust either him or Violet before but now I can’t think of any two adults that I’d trust more other than Dadzawa and Dadzashi.” My brother laughed a little bit at the familiar pet names for the two people that had helped raise us to be heroes.

“I still remember when you first found out that Eraserhead was Hito’s father.” I laughed a little bit at the memory of an excited seven-year-old me practically vibrating.

“I was a sucker for the underground heroes when we were kids. I never got behind the hype of the overly popular ones other than All Might or Miss Joke. It was a bit of a pain to shop for me and mom had to do a lot of it by going to people that would make specific things. You were always the easy one Kai. If it had All Might’s brand on it you wanted it.” I lightly teased and my brother just scoffed at me knowing that I was right.

“As if you didn’t turn into a jumping bean whenever you saw Nighteye on something.” I laughed a little bit tucking a lock of platinum hair behind my ear.

“I had the excuse that very little amount of Nighteye merchandise was made. You had absolutely zero because his merchandise is literally everywhere. I love you Kai but it’s the truth.” My drink came and I felt tears come to my eyes at the fact that it came in a glass that I would get to keep.

“It’s a new thing that we’re starting where we have specialty glasses made for our drinks that the customer can keep. You two will match.” I smiled softly at the fact that even close to eleven years later my brother and I were still matching in every way, shape, and form.

“Cheers sis, to sibling days.” I clinked my glass with his taking a small sip from the drink. My eyes widened at the tart but still the good flavor of the lemonade.

“Trade?” I offered and he nodded taking a sip from the side of my glass and I tried the familiar blend of strawberry and blueberry lemonade.

“Have you finished Mic’s English assignment yet? I still have no idea what I’m going to do for mine yet.” I sighed a little bit nodding. I had finished it late last night. It wasn’t due until the week after next since it was a big project.

“It was really hard for me, I’m going to have Mirio read it before I turn it in. Writing about who inspired me to be a hero was obviously very hard for me.” I told him and he sighed along with me running a hand through the end of his ponytail.

“I’ve never even met All Might and now it’s nearly impossible because he’s no longer an official teacher right?” I shook my head. He was still a member of the staff but just couldn’t teach us as All Might anymore.

“I could have you meet him if that’s what you want! It might be good for you Kai. You helped me to meet my hero, it’s only fair that I repay the favor back to you.” I reminded him and I watched his eyes go wide and a small blush of admiration across his cheeks.

“You’d really do that for me…” I laughed at my brother nodding my head taking his hand in mine. I would have to talk to Midoriya since he was the one that was closest to what was once our country’s number one hero.

“Of course I would Kai, you’re my brother, my best friend, and the person that I would do just about anything for. If it means that you’ll get to meet your hero then so be it. I’ve met mine and I want for you to experience that same thing. Especially when your hero is as awesome as All Might.” I joked and my brother sighed a little bit smiling softly.

“I truly have the best little sister in the entire world.” I rolled my eyes softly at him. He still never let me forget that he was technically a goof five months older than me.

“What do you want to do after this?” I asked him and his eyes positively sparkled at the seams. I could see the bright expression on his face.

“That is for me to know and you to find out. Drink your sugary beverage and quit asking me probing questions.” I smiled softly at him shaking my head looking at my specialty cup. It had a chibi version of my favorite hero as well as the motto that he lived by.

“How was the Studio Ghibli museum?” Kai swiftly changed the subject to one of my favorite topics of conversation. Last week one of my dates with Tenya had led to me doing something that had been on my bucket list since I had first heard about it.

“It was so amazing oh my god! I wish that I could have taken pictures. But, I did buy you something.” I reached into my Loungefly backpack that I had picked up themed to Miss Joke and grabbed the object. My brother’s favorite movie had always been Castle In The Sky, he loved the idea of pirates ever since we were kids so growing up he had always wanted to be a member of the Dola Gang. I had picked out a handful of favorite items that I told my boyfriend that I would buy since they were for my brother.

“Holy hell, these are awesome! I love them…” My brother trailed off looking at the two main figurines that I had picked out for him. One of them was of the robots that are on Laputa and the other was of Patsu catching Sheeta.

“I’m so glad! I had to demand Tenya that I buy them myself since they were for you. I’m so glad that you love them. I was a little bit nervous. I got the Howl and Sophie version of that figurine for Denki. He loved him too.” I showed him the picture of everything that I had picked out for my dorm room and he stopped at one of the items.

“You bought a Baron?!” I nodded my head showing him a better image. It had been the most expensive purchase that my boyfriend had made.

“I tried to talk him out of it but he insisted on buying it for me especially after I told him how much I was obsessed with the character when I was a little girl. I also picked out Fio’s airplane! Ever since Shizuko built her’s it’s inspired me.” I showed him the mobile that I had bought. I often spent an extended amount of time just gazing at it.

“I still can’t believe that she actually built the fucking thing. Did she ever figure out what she’s doing with it?” I nodded my head with a small smirk. I had been so excited for her when she had told me about it and now I couldn’t wait to tell my brother.

“Apparently, somehow Goro Miyazaki got wind of her little invention and he wants it for the museum! He wants to put it on display!” I cheered and my brother’s eyes widened comically before the muttered holy shit left him.

“What did her parents say about the whole situation?” I sighed a little bit shaking my head. This was the part that wasn’t pretty.

“They told her that she couldn’t do it. That it would be just sitting there collecting dust. I think that it would be incredible though, like can you imagine? Shizuko worked so hard to make that machine and she did it. It should be shown to the public don’t you think?” I saw my brother nod his head and he whipped out his phone and instantly started texting, probably our favorite techie in question.

“She said that she’s actually going through with it. They want it on display next week. She’s going to have dismantled and reassemble it there. I’m going to offer to help her. I mean it’s a free pass to the museum grounds. Denki is helping her as well. This could be her big chance, to meet the man behind the magic.” I smiled softly at my brother. He had always stood by Shizuko and whatever she wanted to do. I think but was because he related to her and the way that she struggled to be heard by her parents. He understood that and the fact that he did never failed to break my heart.

“I think that she’d really appreciate that Kai! It’s a great idea, I think Django is probably going to help her out as well. He’s been wanting to go and get some Kiki’s Delivery Service merchandise.” I laughed at the memory of the Romani-American goofball that had stolen the heart of my stoic but loving best friend.

“Do you think that the man himself might see it?” I shrugged because anything at all was possible. Shizuko would probably faint if he did see it but it would be absolutely amazing for her. I couldn’t think of a person that was more deserving to meet him than her.

“He just might! He goes to the museum often even if it’s just to the gardens. I can’t think of a single person that is more deserving to meet him than her. Other than PJ his films are what keeps her going. It’s why she hasn’t lost the light of childhood that she carries in her eyes.” My pancakes appeared at the table and I looked at them wide-eyed. They looked absolutely delicious and I grabbed my fork instantly taking a bite from them.

“’S good!” I encouraged the waiter and Kai just laughed a little bit at me shaking his head. He tried his own familiar All Might pancake nodding his head at the familiar flavor.

“Thank you Pip from Enchanted, hasn’t mom told you hundreds of times to not talk with your mouth full,” I smirked a little bit at my brother waving my fork feeling the joke that was coming on.

“About the same amount of times that she has told you to watch your language.” I taunted and he just rolled his eyes at me with a small smile on his face.

“At some point, you just stop listening to her and it just becomes white noise. Especially when it’s me and it’s like talking to a brick wall.” I laughed at my brother shaking my head at him before cutting into my breakfast of sugar. We ate our food in the familiar companionable silence that we were used to doing back at home. It was easy for me to just sit quietly in the company of my brother since it was something that I had grown up with.

“I’ll pay.” He told me and before I could open my mouth and protest he had already laid down his credit card.

“I am taking you out on a sibling day, thus I get to pay for everything that you want.” He reminded me and I made a mental note for me to take him out the next time so that I could pay him back somehow.

“Come on tiny, we’ve got people to do and things to see.” I laughed a little bit at the familiar word backward that we had picked up from our dad. That had been one of the older ones from when we were smaller children and we had been going on a road trip when our mom had lightly teased him that it could be taken out of context.

“Next stop is the train station since we have to travel for a little while to reach our next destination.” He told me and I blinked a little bit in confusion but gave my student ID to the machine and it let me through the turnstile.

“I started watching Fruits Basket with Katsuki, mostly because he walked in on me watching the first episode when Kyo appeared.” I smiled softly at the fact that my brother was able to share one of his favorite shows with his boyfriend.

“I haven’t gotten around showing it to Tenya yet mostly because he’s never really watched anime, not even Miyazaki. So we’re starting off slow and I need to share with him more of the world that we grew up with. I’ve only been able to show him Totoro and Kiki’s so far.” I sighed a little bit since I had taken a huge handful of steps backward. My brother saved me a seat next to him and rested his cheek on my shoulder.

“I think that starting with the master of animation is a good idea especially if he hasn’t seen any anime ever. He loves you though tiny so I’m sure that he’s having just as much fun as you are with him. Did you have to explain a lot of the exhibits at the museum to him?” I nodded my head with a small laugh since I had to do a lot of explaining when my boyfriend took me to visit the museum of my special interest.

“All he really did was look at me all soft like the way that you tease me he does. I think that my next one might be Castle In The Sky. I have a feeling he’d really like that one.” My brother smiled softly at me entwining his fingers with mine.

“He does look at you like you hung him the moon and stars. At first, I really didn’t get it, it made me uncomfortable. I didn’t know whether or not that I could trust him. But then he followed through and I learned that this guy isn’t going anywhere and he clearly loves my sister so I might as well face it. She’s not going to be the pure and innocent baby anymore. And no I did not mean that as an insult before you get all sulky on me.” I smiled softly at my brother because for a time I was worried about the way that Katsuki would treat my brother despite me knowing that he was different.

“I was afraid for a small amount of time that Kats would hurt you as well. I know that his bark is way worse than his bite and everything but I was still a little bit weary. You two were so competitive at first it was tiring to keep up with you two when I would train you both.” In hindsight, I should have known that they would both be super chaotic when you put them together at first.

“I’m still not sorry about that and I blame him for picking a fight with me. It was not something that I wanted to do. Plus he got super sick due to me and I still feel awful about that…” I rubbed my brother’s back gently with a small smile on my face.

“But he still forgave you and look at where the two of you are at right now. I’m so proud of you Kai. I know that you’ve struggled a lot when it comes to self-love and why you want to be a hero but you’ve still come so far. You’re making friends of your own free will! Look at your relationship with Ari, I never told you that you should be friends with him. I encouraged you to befriend Shizuko because I felt like she needed another person fighting for her in her corner. But with Ari, you did that all on your own.” I saw my brother slowly start to relax into the comforting touch.

“They’re a really good person. I can totally see why Pikachu is so smitten with them if I’m being entirely honest. I saw him cuddling Ari before I left the B dorms to go and get you and I swear my heart melted.” I laughed a little bit at my brother because just about every time I saw them cuddling my heart melts.

“I can totally see that. They usually cuddle on our couches to the point where I think Kats is low-key jealous because he’s constantly bitching about it. You should come over to my side more often.” I teased lightly and the colors flush across my brother's cheeks.

“I’ll think about it…” I smiled softly at my brother. I knew that come tomorrow I’d see him and Katsuki on the couch opposite what was already becoming our class's number one OTP. I felt the train come to a slow and gentle stop and my brother instantly led me up the stairs making the broad hand gesture.

“The hero museum…” We hadn’t been here since we were really little kids. It was something that we would do whenever we had done something really good in school. I used to love coming here with Kai because it was mostly themed to All Might and his little eyes would light up.

“Come on tiny, it’ll be great just you wait. There’s something in there for you too! I checked and there are two new exhibits.” He led me to the front of the line and paid for the two of us to go in after showing them our student IDs and getting the hero in training discount. I had thought that the clerk was looking at me a little bit suspiciously like they recognized me or something. My brother quickly led me into the familiar front room where all the exhibit halls were. The floor was the familiar All Might colored and my brother seemed to be waiting for me to realize that something was different so I looked around and felt tears come to my eyes.

“It’s a permanent exhibit here now. You might need these.” He handed me a packet of Kleenex that he had brought with him from home in the familiar Miss Joke packaging. I took my brother’s hand and went through the entrance with all the other children that were wanting to see my hero.

“Welcome everyone to the Bright Side Of Life exhibit!” The worker introduced us standing at the front of the auditorium.

“We’re here to honor a hero that was long overlooked throughout his life, Sir Nighteye. Once the sidekick of All Might he created his own agency that was dedicated to helping the police save children from bad situations. He loved the smiling faces of children and they were what originally made him want to become a hero. For our exhibit, we have the last interview that he ever gave before he passed away. You will see three young heroes in training that worked with him on his last job as well that go to UA Mitsuki Haruka, her brother Kai Haruka and Mirio Togata.” I blinked in confusion before the information settled into me. I remembered that he told me about this interview that he had come up right before our fight against Overhaul. He told me that he rarely did interviews but this one was different and he knew it. The lights went dark and my brother put his arm around my shoulders comfortingly as I saw my hero.

“Why is my catchphrase to always look on the bright side of life? Well, it’s a song from a British comedy troop Monty Python. I’ve always loved smiling and jokes despite my usually cold exterior when I’m doing hero work. This song got me through a lot of bad times so when I hear from a fan that it helps them out as well that just means that I’ve done my job. It’s only been my catchphrase for the last six years. Before that, I didn’t have one.” I felt tears come to my eyes and we weren’t even a full minute into the interview yet. This was going to be really hard for me to sit through.

“Hero work to me isn’t all about the guts and glory. It’s about the feeling I get when I save a child. When I first see them smile at me and thank me for getting them out of that situation. That was what I loved about being All Might’s sidekick was that I got to save the lives of children.” His smile as he looked down at the photograph that was sitting on his desk all warm and soft brought a tear to my eye.

“My fan base is small but they’re loyal. They’re always there when I need them to be. I got extremely lucky I think. Two of my biggest fans turned out to be two of the strongest heroes out there. They work for me now and I couldn’t be happier to see them. Why don’t we go and visit them right now?” The interview led him down the hallway to his training grounds where my brother and I had been training.

“Good work Kai! Your sister is going to try for a water whip in the next few seconds so I’d block it.” I laughed at the memory and how petulant I had been.

“Oh sure, you’ll help him meanwhile I have to do this on my own?!” The auditorium of people laughed at me along with the hero that was the focus of the interview.

“I helped you yesterday Mitsu, you’ve got to do things on your own sometimes!” I saw Mirio watching the two of us with this look of pride as my hero went down the stairs to sit by his protege.

“This is my protege Mirio Togata, he’s a third-year and he brought Mitsu a few months ago. How’s she doing Mirio?” My friend smiled at the hero who had changed both of our lives growing up. I saw his grin at me.

“She’s amazing!! She’s going to be a super awesome hero once she gets older, I mean she is right now but I just have a good feeling about her.” I saw Midoriya fighting along with us and Sir smiled softly at my classmate and friend.

“Midoriya is the newest recruit around here he just got here last week but he already shows amazing promise for the future. I know that he can be a great hero, all four of them can.” The video faded away until it had stopped on his smile.

“We have a lot of Sir’s personal items for our exhibit that we were able to get our hands on so we’d love for you to tour around!” The worker explained and Kai took my hand softly squeezing it and leading me through the front doors.

“Alright tiny I know that you can do this. I’m really proud of you Mitsu and it’s going to be really exciting for you!” He comforted me and led me through the front doors to the exhibit. The first thing that I saw was a collage of all the different pictures. I froze when I saw one of me and my first day when Mirio had insisted that the three of us take a selfie.

“Hey, you’re the water hero in the video!” I looked down slightly seeing a small girl in front of me with a gap between two of her teeth.

“That I am sweetheart, it’s very nice to meet you.” I got down on her level as she fumbled with her pamphlet and a blue gel pen.

“Can you sign my pamphlet?” I laughed a little bit and my brother just smirked a little bit at me kneeling next to me.

“Not even a full hero yet and you’re already signing your first autograph. I’m Kai, I’m her brother.” He introduced himself to the girl and she fumbled with an orange gel pen.

“Can you sign it too Mr. Kai? You have a really amazing quirk! I saw you both on tv when you were fighting Chiasaki.” I smiled sadly at the small girl signing my name and doing the watermark that I was already fond of underneath my name.

“Of course…” My brother signed his hero name underneath mine with a small smile on his face. I leaned against his side a little bit as the little girl went skipping to show her mother what she got from us.

“That was unexpected…” I squeezed his hand softly and he leaned firmly against my side. He knew that it was only the beginning and even though I was dreading this part of being a hero I knew that it was mandatory.

“I wasn’t expecting that either but it made me really happy. I think that there’s a line forming though little brother.” I teased lightly and I saw a small boy coming in front of my younger brother. Kai knelt down so that he could sign his playbill.

“I have a dangerous quirk as well…” The young boy admitted and my heart broke looking at him. Kai just smiled kindly at him.

“Do you want to be a hero as well?” The little boy nodded his head and I got down to look at him as well. I gave the little boy a low high five.

“I know that you can do it! Being a hero isn’t about the quirk that you have, it’s about the heart that you have.” He pushed a lock of hair behind his ear with a small smile on his face. Kai put his arm around my shoulders comfortingly.

“I didn’t think that I had it takes to be a hero either. I didn’t understand what it takes to be a hero either until I met this one’s hero. He taught me so much about being a true hero. It’s not about the vanity of it all but the things that you’re able to do in order to save people.” I leaned against my brother’s side as the little boy looked up at us with tears in his eyes.

“Thank you very much, Mr. Kai!” He went back to his mom animatedly telling her about what he had just experienced.

“Do you want to see the rest of the exhibit?” I asked my brother who nodded his head and retied his hair into his ponytail the streaks of green in his hair showing off and matching my streaks of blue.

“I do if that would make you happy. This is something that I wanted to do for you. I know that I dragged you through All Might’s exhibit here way too much when we were children. This is your turn to do the same thing to me.” I laughed a little bit fingering the end of my skirt and one last small boy came up to me.

“I have a water quirk as well!” He showed me a little bit of what he could do with his quirk and I got down to his level.

“That’s amazing! I don’t meet a whole lot of water quirk users they aren’t as common as they once were with so many varieties out there now. I’m glad though. That means that you’re going to work hard and one day become a hero right?” He nodded his head as I signed my name with my watermark across the bottom of it. I tried to make it look similar to my quirk as his older sister picked him up.

“He really loves your work, this is his fifth time coming to the museum when I’ve babysat him this month. I always let him pick where to go and this is what he always says. You’ve really inspired him. He didn’t think that he could ever be a hero until he saw you skidding past on your water on the news with the USJ.” His older sister told me and I bowed before the little boy hoping that one day he would become a hero and would join the small number of water heroes that we had.

“That’s great! I’m so glad that I was able to inspire you. I can’t possibly understand why because that’s the first time that somebody has ever told me that but thank you for your love and support either way.” I thanked him and my brother just took my hand with a small sigh.

“You don’t know why tiny come on, you’re one of the most inspirational people that I have ever met.” I sighed running a hand through my long platinum-colored hair.

“Kai, I know that but you’re my brother and you're supposed to say those kinds of things to me.” My brother put his arm around my shoulders pointing the painting in front of me.

“Hey, I recognize that artwork!” He reminded me and I looked at the picture next to it. I felt my heart melt and tears come to my eyes. It was my painting that I made when I was ten.

“That’s my painting…” He kissed my cheek with a small smile on his face. I linked my finger through his with a small smile on my face.

“It is tiny! That’s your signature right over there.” He reminded me and I laughed a little bit at my best friend.

“I had such bad handwriting back then, I can’t believe that’s the painting that bubble girl picked for this exhibit.” My brother leaned his cheek against my head with a small laugh. He slowly walked me to the next slide when I saw him fighting alongside All Might.

“I remember this fight, it was one of the first when they had to save a quirkless child…” I felt tears come to my eyes because that was so much of me when I was younger. I sympathized with the girl in the video and saw a lot of myself in her especially when I was younger being quirkless myself for a really long time.

“You watched that fight so many times, you still were watching it even when I got there. I could see why though you saw yourself in the girl and wanted to be saved by your hero. As much as you were like Nausicaa growing up you were every bit the little girl that you always were.” I stuck my tongue out at my brother and he lightly pinched at my cheek.

“Oh like you didn’t watch the same All Might fight thousands of times once you found your favorites. It’s no different.” I mocked and he just shrugged it off not even ashamed to admit the fact that I was right in every way. “Here’s his old costume!” He told me and I looked over at the old suit and tie that he used to wear back when he was a sidekick and had yet to find his own sense of style.

“I loved his old costume. It was something that I associated with him but I do love his new costume more because I feel like it suited his personality a lot more. It was bright and boisterous a lot like his true personality. I feel like he buried and hid a lot from me even after he learned that he could trust me. I miss him so much Kai…” My brother nuzzled his cheek a little bit further into my hair squeezing me against his side.

“I know tiny, I miss him too. But he’ll always be with you in your heart as cheesy as that sounds when you say it out loud. I think of it kind of like Mufasa with Simba. Remember who you are…” I laughed a little bit at my brother lightly shoving him.

“I still love that movie and you will leave it alone. I know that you’ve watched it to death but I also know that if you had to have a favorite Disney movie that would be it.” Kai just heaved a heavy sigh as if I had just figured out that he wasn’t nearly as tough as he made himself out to be.

“Just don’t go spreading that shit around, Katsuki already teases me enough as it is for watching Fruits Basket. Even though he watches it with me now.” I smiled softly at the idea of the grumpy Pomeranian growing adjusted to having my brother in his life.

“I’m glad though that you two are getting along so well. It puts me at ease. I used to really worry about you that you’d never find love. I know that you were always secretly lonely especially in middle school when I started making other friends than Hitoshi. It wasn’t something that I planned on happening but I suddenly became somebody that people wanted to be friends with. I think a big part of it was making friends with Denki on the first day of school. He’s a bit of a social butterfly.” I joked and Kai just sighed a little bit but I could tell that he understood.

“You’re super social too, you just get overly anxious about things that don’t even really matter. You let your brain get ahead of what you actually want otherwise you’d be pretty normal. I started off being really mad at you, I thought that you forgot about m on purpose. But you never truly forgot about me. You just got busy which is different. I realized that you deserve to have your own life away from me. I learned a lot through you mostly that it’s okay to grow up. We grew up together but remained children. And that’s how it’s always going to be tiny. I’ll always be there for you whenever you need me.” He reminded me and I felt tears come to my eyes as he lightly thumbed them away.

“Cry baby…” I stuck my tongue out at him lightly swatting his lower arm glaring down at my shoes with a sad smile.

“Come on Kai, we still have more things to see around here!” I dragged him to the next section of the Nighteye exhibit which talked about how he had created his own agency. Even though I was already extremely familiar with his story it was still one that inspired me. He had come from being a sidekick to doing something truly amazing with his life.

“And so will you tiny, you’re already going to take over his agency with Mirio.” I looked at my brother realizing that I had said that aloud.

“Are you sure that you don’t want to join us, Kai?” My brother shook his head smiling softly at me leaning his cheek against my hair.

“No I’m alright, I’m sure. I would much rather maybe work with Katsuki one of these days. I don’t think I have the emotional strength to constantly save children from bad situations.” He squeezed my hand with a small smile on his face.

“Wow, already planning your future with our favorite tsundere?” I teased and he just sighed a little bit a bright pink blush on his cheeks.

“Well I-shut up!” I laughed at my brother as he followed me to the next booth over that had all the different types of merchandise that he had sold while he was alive.

“I can’t possibly judge you hun, I have done the same thing with Tenya so I don’t have a leg to stand on.” He laughed a little bit at me squeezing my hand. Kai snuggled a little bit further into my side moving one of the locks of hair out of my face.

“At least you two have been dating since you first started the school year. Me and Katsuki have been dating since last month.” I looked at my brother with a small smile on my face. I couldn’t believe that my brother had actually found happiness, even if it was with the last person that I expected it to be.

“Well you know as much as I do that I have problems in my relationship too that we’re working through. He makes me a better person and I’m so happy around him.” Kai smiled softly at me leading me to the last of the major exhibits here. It focused on various clips of him saving children when he became the sunshine hero.

“There we are again tiny!” He told me and I smiled softly at the moment on the screen. It was him, Mirio, Kai, and I getting ice cream together taking a break from the stuffy office work. I walked out of the room and something in the gift shop caught my eye.

“Can I peak into the gift shop really fast?” He sighed but nodded his head as I bolted for the gift shop and found the pillow that I was looking for. This was a new item. It was in the shape of a sun and had his glasses on them.

“Hand it over tiny, I’ll get it for you.” I sighed dejectedly wanting to pay for it myself but not wanting to break out into a heated debate in the middle of the gift shop.

“Do you see anything that you want Kai?” My brother paused looking at the All Might pillow that was in the bin next to the Nighteye ones. They were also a new design, they must have made them to match one another.

“I want to get that one.” I laughed a little bit at my brother biting back the teasing jab that I had inside of me.

“I’ll get it for you then. If you insist upon buying me everything then I want to buy you at least one thing. Hand the pillow over.” He tossed me the pillow and I laughed a little bit at my brother taking it up to the register to buy it for my brother.

“Here you go Kai, one more thing to add to your ever growing collection.” He mimed his hand with a higher pitched voice only changing my name instead of his.

“I know that I have a problem, it’s not my fault that there is hardly any merchandise for him. Where to next oh navigator? Back to the train?” My brother tapped his foot a little bit checking his phone for something.

“How about mini golf?” I cheered dragging him out of the museum as he fumbled a little bit with how fast I was going.

“Tiny slow the hell down I can’t keep up with you when you get like that.” I stopped outside of the train station my brother heaving for breath.

“Geez, you get so excited about the weirdest things. It’s just miniature golf. You always kick my ass anyways.” My brother leaned against my side waiting for the train to appear and I just sighed a little bit apologetically.

“Sorry, I guess it’s just been a while since I’ve felt this happy. I put on a brave face and a smile but it feels more forced now I guess. When I’m not around Tenya it’s just like oh there’s a person coming I’ve got to put on that fake smile and tell them that I’m fine.” Kai tucked a lock of hair behind my ear and I saw him sigh a little bit.

“You don’t have to do that shit around me. I hope that you know it’s normal to not feel happy all the time. I know that you’ve been through a lot lately but you’ve not been coming to me for help. Did you eventually decide what you’re going to do therapy wise?” I nodded my head with a sad smile on my face. I had already scheduled my first appointment for it on the first official day of summer break.

“I decided that Mirio made a really good point and that I can’t keep living like this. I need help Kai. I know that I do. It’s been four months and I’m still not getting any better. I’m still stuck in mud and I can’t get out.” Kai bundled me up in his arms making quiet noises to try and comfort me. He was always the person that could do the best job at getting me out of my own head. It wasn’t the easiest job in the world, especially lately but I still loved that my brother was able to do it so effortlessly.

“I’m really proud of you. I’ve been thinking about seeing a shrink myself for my own anger problems. I want to be better. I want to be able to see you with your other friends and not feel this burning sense of possessiveness. It’s not healthy. I’m already working on making more friends in my class. Mostly with Ari’s friend Honenuki. He’s a good guy.” I laughed a little bit against my brother’s chest at the memory of the boy that looked so unique.

"Litzy has a major thing for him, they’ve only met a few times though. I hope that she gets over her shyness around him really soon. I think that they’d be super cute together.” My brother pulled back from the hug just doing one more quick once over to make sure that I was alright physically.

“He likes her too, a lot. Ari teases him about it all the time. For somebody that spend basically the better part of four weeks mooning after their partner they sure are cocky.” I laughed a little bit at how self assured the partner of my best friend had turned out to be.

“Part of me hopes that Litzy will get to have her quinceanera for the entirely selfish reason that they’ll get together in the process.” Kai leaned against me waiting for our train to approach the station and I felt the familiar gust of wind. This was a much faster train then the one that we had taken to get here. I always loved sitting on the bullet train and watching the world go by.

“Come on tiny, I know that you hate having to stand on these trains. Let’s go snag us a pair of seats.” I followed my brother to the back of the train sitting down next to him. I leaned my head against his shoulder once we were seated kicking my legs back and forth.

“I heard that the mini golf place has a new course themed to Nighteye. Do you want to see it or would you rather be surprised.” I muttered softly be surprised next to him. I can’t really say that I was surprised with all the new things that were going around for my hero. There was a reason that people said we don’t even know what we have until it’s gone.

“It seems that everybody is doing things for him. It makes me a little bit angry if I’m being entirely honest.” I blinked in confusion at my brother as I watched the world go by outside of the window with rapt attention.

“Why? I mean I’m not exactly surprised. People never appreciate the underdogs while they’re here. It’s just something that I’ve become accustomed to. I’m just glad that he’s getting the love that he so deserves now. Besides, that hero mini golf course has a bunch of courses for different heroes.” I shrugged it off like it was nothing but Kai just leaned against me.

“I think it’s because he worked his ass off. If I hadn’t have been such a big All Might stan I might have joined your side across the road. After knowing him as well as we did it just seems like the world’s biggest coup out. I know that you’re happy because you get to celebrate his life but to me it just is offensive. It just seems like they’re milking his legacy sometimes. That segment at the museum wasn’t what I was expecting it to be. They barely even mentioned the things that he did in his life only how he died.” I hadn’t really thought about it at the moment but my brother has usually made a decent point. He had always seen things through a more cynical pair of glasses while I was the more optimistic type.

“I don’t think about that but you’re probably right hun. I’m sorry that you’re feeling that way. I wish that people celebrated him when he was here too. But I’d rather it be the way that things are. I was his biggest fan and that makes me happy. I was there before everybody else. That makes me the trendsetter.” I joked hearing my brother’s soft laugh.

“I love you Mitsu.” I smiled softly. He hardly ever used my real name it was almost always the nickname that he gave me when we first met ‘tiny’. He only said my name when he reminded me that he loved me.

“I love you too Kai. More than anything.” Kai took my hand in his and I felt the familiar comfort from my brother coming off him in waves. The bullet train came to a steady stop and I stood up dusting off the hem of my skirt as we walked to the mini golf course.

“Alright prepare to go down this time, I’m ready.” My brother threatened and I rolled my eyes already picking the Miss Joke designed ball and putter.

“You best be ready to eat those words, this game is one of the few that I’m confident at. I love playing miniature golf. We start at the Thirteen?” My brother nodded his head going first and made it through the hole. I saw his eyes light up with a bright cheer.

“Hole in one! I got a hole in one, suck it.” I rolled my eyes at him softly chuckling at him. Leave it to my brother to be absolutely obnoxious over the littlest of things. I putted my ball watching it go the same route that my brother did before sinking into the hole as well.

“What?!” I heard my brother’s indignant squawk but unlike him, I would not a show-off about this. I grabbed my ball walking along the sidewalk to the familiar next hole.

“That was just round one tiny, I will beat you at this game.” I softly laughed at my brother retying my right ribbon.

“We’ll just see about that, now is not the time to get cocky Kai.” I watched him put the ball through the right of Miss Joke’s laughing emoji eyes. I heard the familiar laugh that went along with it as he skipped over the hole.

“Aw, man!” I laughed a little bit at my brother moving to stand next to him and I went through the middle of the bright smile. I watched as the ball softly rolled to the hole.

“You went a little bit too hard through the left side. I’ve learned that when playing this hole your best bet is to shoot it through her smile. True you won’t get the laughter sound effect but you will get a hole in one.” I taught my brother watching as I saw him angrily try to get the ball into the hole. I shook my head at the familiar impatience levels that he had.

“Also this is not the game to play angry.” I teased him twirling a lock of hair that was sticking out of my ribbon.

“Yeah yeah tiny, move along.” I chuckled lightly at him as he finally made the shot that he wanted. I walked down the pathway seeing the next shot. I felt a tear come to my eye when I saw the group in front of us make the shot and the notes of Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life come out of the speakers.

“I didn’t know that they were going to do that…” I handed my brother a tissue and he just dried his eyes and went for his shot. He went through the ramp and out the other side into the hole on his first try. Seeing my brother smile softly at the sky.

“Thanks for everything…” I smiled softly at my brother pushing his foot lightly out of my way since he was blocking my path to success. It went up the ramp and out the other side of the sunshine and saw that it also went through the hole on its first try.

“Can I take a picture of the course?” I asked one of the workers and he nodded his head as I took the picture editing it and posting it with crying emojis to my Instagram.

“This next hole is new too! It’s a FatGum one!” I told my brother excitedly since I had been following the hero since I met him when we went after Chiasaki together.

“Really?!” My brother sprinted to catch up with me as he went first and it stopped just before the hole and I saw the lines of irritation go over his face.

“Don’t let it get to you little brother. I might miss this shot too.” I reminded him as I made the shot stopping even farther back and shot him the look you see expression.

“See? Sometimes I miss the shot too and you don’t see me throwing a childish fit.” My brother put his arm around my shoulders with a small smile.

“You’ll still beat me at this round anyways. It’s just how it works sometimes.” I watched my brother make his shot and he went into the hole. I went after him hearing the sound effect that made me smile. They had recorded his voice saying great job. I knew that Ei would love this course so I sent him a picture of it with exclamation marks.

“How is Kirishima doing by the way? Has he made a move on Mika-chan yet?” I shook my head with a heavy sigh.

“It looks like they are going to be pining after one another for quite some time brother of mine. At least you’re not best friends with one of them.” I joked and watched as my brother went first into the Best Jeanest course.

“No but I talk with Mika a lot, she’s cool.” I laughed a little bit at my brother knowing that was the closest thing to a compliment that the shy girl was ever going to get from my usually surely brother.

“Can we get ice cream after this?” I saw my brother nod his head and I cheered with a bright smile on my face. We would have to get back onto the bullet train to go to the hero ice cream shop close to school. It was hard to believe that it was now early afternoon. We had gotten an early start to the day but still, it felt like the day had flown by and it left me wishing that it hadn’t. I made a mental note to start doing these siblings' days more often. I made it through the Best Jeanest course in three tries. The holes started to get tougher from here on out. I almost never got a hole in one doing the All Might course which was the last one.

“Whoever loses has to buy it. I’m only saying that because I am for sure going to lose since you’re kicking my butt right now.” I chuckled at my brother as we went to the Eraserhead course, another newer one it looked like. It was right before the older All Might course. It made me really happy that Dadzawa was getting the respect that he had worked so hard to earn. It made me happy that this place was still making new courses and scrapping the ones that were no longer relevant. I was relieved to see that they had replaced the Endeavor one with a Hawks one. I saw next to it one for the bunny hero Mirko one next to it.

“This one could be difficult…” My brother thought to himself before just taking his best shot and going through the right ramp that would lead him to the hole in one shot.

“Kai! That was awesome, I don’t think that I’m going to get a hole in one in this one despite my admiration for this hero.” I bit my lower lip trying to go through the right wing that would lead me to get a hole in one in the Hawks course.

“Come on baby, come on baby, come on baby…” I muttered watching it spiral around before deciding that the luck was on my side and it went into the hole.

“Barely went through it Kai, you were all in that one. I thought that I wasn’t going to make it.” I walked with my brother watching a younger family at the Mirko course. The younger brother was trying to get it through the proper ear that would get him to the other side.

“Does that remind you of somebody?” I jokingly asked my brother who heaved a heavy sigh running a hand through the base of his ponytail.

“Can it tiny.” I laughed at my brother as the little boy made it through the right ear and got a hole in one as his parents picked him up encouragingly. My brother went next as my phone buzzed and I got a series of surprised emojis from Ei.

“Tiny, your turn to try, I made it there but not a hole in one. I should have known not to trust the rabbit.” I laughed at my brother and went down the left ear that caused me to go straight to just outside the hole.

“I think I can trust the rabbit. There are very few females in the top ten heroes right now so I’ve got some mad respect for her. Thanks, Miro!” I thanked the hero giving her a thumbs up and my brother just chortled with laughter at the fact that I had just thanked a miniature golf course. He went through the end at the second try and I just lightly putted through it.

“Now we have to do this beast, this looks like a nightmare happened. I think Hitoshi would still get a kick out of it though. There are so many paths how do you know which one is the perfect one. And of course, they had to make it above the water on purpose just to screw me over.” I listened to my brother’s ranting and laughed a little bit as he overanalyzed the hell out of the course in front of him. He eventually decided to aim for the perfect ramp that he thought would take him to the end course before the bottom opened up and I let out a shocked laugh when his ball went straight directly into the water.

“OH, YOU SON OF A BITCH!” He ranted and I couldn’t help but fall into hysterics of laughter. This was just too priceless.

“Alright laugh it up tiny, this is highway fucking robbery.” I glared at my brother jerking a thumb behind me at the parents with kids behind us. I watched all the color drain even farther from his face.

“I’m sorry about my brother ma’am. He gets really irritated with this game and didn’t know that there were children behind us.” I lightly smacked my brother upside the head in a chiding fashion and he just huffed a breath sitting down at the end of the course to wait for me obviously stewing his own fumes right now. I made the shot that would allow for me to stick the landing on the other side and smiled brightly when it didn’t wind up like my brother’s shot in the water. My brother just smiled softly at me as I made the final shot.

“Good job tiny, but can you get through the All Might course.” He taunted and I saw the familiar behemoth course.

“I’ll let you know when I get there.” I sighed a little bit angling my ball to go right through the middle and let out a sound of surprise when it did.

“No way!” My brother got excited right as the ball went into the proper hole at the end of the course. I gave my brother a tight hug, usually, this was the course that put me into the water because I would do it in the wrong fashion.

“Good job tiny! I’m proud of you.” Kai cheered for me as I crossed the course and got my ball. He handed in our cards to the worker and we went on our way back to the bullet train to get some ice cream. This time we spent it in companionable silence. That was the best thing about my relationship with my brother it led to me being able to not have to talk if I was getting too tired. He ordered my ice cream for me and we went back to the UA dorms.

“I’ll see you soon alright tiny? I promise I’ll eat lunch with you more often and drag Katsuki with me.” I laughed a little bit at my brother.

“I’ll hold you to that, thank you for today Kai. It was amazing!” I thanked my brother taking my new stuffed animal and he just shrugged it off.

“It was nothing, now go give that to Hitoshi before I never hear the end of it.” I balanced my best friend’s ice cream and handed it to him with a wink on the way back to my own dorm room for some much-needed downtime after all the excitement of the day.

[unrestedjade]

Mermay Kuwameshi nonsense

Damn, the month’s half over already! I’m rereading Pet Shop of Horrors, rewatching Yu Yu Hakusho, and coincidentally obsessed with Kuwabara/Urameshi. So! Half-assed crossover time. Maybe Count D has a second location in Japan?

 Kazuma wasn't sure how long the pet shop had been there on the edge of Chinatown. It looked like it had been in that storefront for years, but he couldn't remember seeing it until a few months ago. Maybe he'd just missed it, but he didn't think so. He liked animals. If the place had been there the whole time, he'd have gone inside at least once, just to check it out.

He also wasn't sure why he hadn't checked it out. He tended to pick up his pace when he passed by, trying to put space between himself and the shop for no reason his rational mind could come up with. It was just a pet shop. Yet for some reason it hit him the wrong way, sending a cold shiver up his spine whenever he neared it.

Today he was feeling it again, the unpleasant tickle crawling through his nervous system urging him to go, walk faster, get away. It was getting irritating, to tell the truth. Was it haunted, or something? A haunted pet shop? That could be a thing, right?

Regardless, Kazuma wasn't about to have his rep endangered by a place that sold goldfish and bunnies. Today he was gonna go in there. He'd settle these creepy-crawlies once and for all, and get his walk home from school back to normal.

Yep. He was gonna walk inside in just a minute. Just a few seconds. Gonna walk right in!

Boy, it was darker in there than a pet shop really should be, wasn't it?

Growling at himself in annoyance, Kazuma forced himself to step forward. It was just a pet shop, for god's sake.

It was dark inside, for sure. Heavy curtains draped over the windows and walls cut not just the light from outside, but the noise, too. Kazuma could hear the sounds of traffic and activity outside, but it seemed so far away, like the inside of the shop was in its own little world. Weak lamplight played across the deep red drapery, the corners of the room vanishing into shadow.

The shop had all the expected stuff. Bird cages with canaries and parakeets. Cages for the rabbits and puppies and...ferrets? Did pet shops have ferrets? This one did, apparently. What was weird was the rest of the furnishings. Aside from the animal cages, there was a kind of seating area-- a sofa, a couple chairs, a fancy coffee table. The place looked more like a fortune teller's place, or a brothel out of one of his sister's romance novels that he definitely didn't sneak to read and then skip over half the pages because he got too embarrassed. Covering the smell of animals was the heavy scent of incense.

There was no sign of the shopkeeper that Kazuma could see. Was this place actually open?

A hallway led farther back. Way farther back, with fancy, painted doors leading off to the left and right every few meters. The place was a lot bigger than it looked from the front. Kazuma called out a tentative hello, in case someone mistook him for a thief, or something. God, he hoped this place wasn't actually a front for a brothel, or he'd be so mortified he might die on the spot.

Someone answered him. "Hello?"

Kazuma jumped at the sound of a male voice, and felt immediately foolish. Of course someone else was in here! The door was open, wasn't it? Following the voice, Kazuma found himself in a side room filled with fish tanks on heavy iron racks. Though he'd sworn he heard someone speak, there didn't appear to be anyone in here. Just the tanks.

There was no lighting in the room other than the lamps on the fish tank hoods. They cast greenish, shifting light across the floor, the ceiling, and Kazuma himself. The light flickered, making the whole room look as though it were submerged underwater. Most of the tanks were occupied. A few contained what looked like koi, others held angelfish, guppies, or fighting fish. A few others held fish Kazuma couldn't identify other than they were ugly and off-putting, with mouths crammed too full of teeth and oily black scales. Some fish seemed to change somehow when he looked away from them, shifting and melting at the corner of his eye.

There was one enormous tank running the length of one wall. The glass was overgrown with algae, shading the water emerald green. Something moved inside. Something big, pacing the length of the tank back and forth. Was it a shark? It seemed large enough-- a little longer than Kazuma was tall.

"Who are you?"

There was the voice again! Kazuma looked for the speaker, and nearly leaped out of his skin when a guy popped his head over the side of the enormous tank.

"Wh-what are you doing in there?" It was a stupid question, maybe. But what else were you supposed to say to a guy who suddenly yelled at you from a fish tank?

The guy pushed a mess of dark, wet hair from his eyes. He looked about Kazuma's age. A part-timer? "What are you doing in here, stupid?"

Kazuma's temper flared, but the question was a fair one. He was the one who'd decided to poke around. "No one was out front, so I thought I'd look around." Maybe this was a back room only employees were supposed to be in, but it wasn't Kazuma's fault that this shop was run so sloppy. There wasn't even a sign posted. If the place was open, then the shopkeeper should be where customers could see them!

"Heh." The guy leaned his bare arms on the rim of the tank. Scum from the tank stuck to his forearm. It looked like it was a real mess in there. "Not much to see, is there? This place sucks."

"It kinda does," Kazuma agreed. He ventured a little closer, looking for the shape of the huge fish through the murky glass and not finding it. Wasn't this guy worried about it biting him? "What are you doing in there, cleaning? It looks like shit."

The guy laughed. "Tell me about it! Nah," he said, grinning. His teeth looked weird, like they were sharper than they ought to be. Or probably they were just crooked. "If the owner wants it clean, he can do it himself. Not like I'm getting paid to be a maid."

Okay, now Kazuma was really confused. Did the guy work here or not? If not, what the hell was he doing splashing around in a fish tank?

"You here to buy something?" The guy's smile wilted, like it wasn't an expression he was real used to making and he couldn't keep it up long.

Kazuma shook his head. "Just curious," he said. He didn't mention the creepy feeling he got every time he walked by this place. Or the fact that the tickle up his spine hadn't gone away yet. If anything, it was getting stronger, harder to brush aside.

The guy seemed to perk up a little at that, which was weird if he was an employee after all. Shouldn't he want Kazuma to buy something?

"What's the weather like today?"

Kazuma blinked. That was a weird question. "Uh...sunny? Why don't you go outside and look?"

"Can't," the guy said simply, leaning his chin on his arms.

"Your boss that much of a slave driver?" Kazuma asked, frowning. "Won't let you walk outside for a minute? There aren't even any customers in here right now."

The guy smiled again, briefly, and his teeth definitely weren't normal. Kazuma stared without meaning to. Had he filed them down? Why were they...pointy?

"Hey," the guy said. "What's your name?"

"Kazuma Kuwabara," Kazuma said. "Do you go to school here? I haven't seen you around before."

"Nope," the guy said, shaking his head. His wet hair sloshed along the surface of the water. It was really long, for a guy. Or a girl, for that matter. "Name's Yusuke. You got somewhere to be, Kazuma Kuwabara, or can you stick around for a few? I'm bored as shit in here."

Kazuma had homework to do, in fact, but it wasn't like that had ever been a pressing concern. It wasn't every day he met someone new, much less someone who seemed kinda cool. Sarayashiki wasn't a school people wanted to transfer their kids into. "I guess," he said, still looking out for any sign of that big fish. Had it hidden somewhere in the tank?

"You scared of water, or something? You don't gotta stand all the way over there," Yusuke said, chuckling. There was a swishing sound, like he was kicking his legs under the water.

Kazuma wasn't scared of water. He just had a weird feeling about the fish in that tank, that was all. Still, it wasn't like it was gonna launch itself over the side at him, right? This wasn't a Jaws movie. If Yusuke was safe where he was, Kazuma could get closer. So he did, moving to lean on the glass. The tank came up to his chest, and the glass was seriously thick, almost the width of his palm. It must have weighed a ton. He peered into the water, but it was just more murky green. He could make out what he thought might be sea grass or something, and a few chunks of driftwood for decoration, but no fish.

"What are you looking for?"

"There's a big fish in here, so..." Kazuma trailed off, finally taking a look at Yusuke up close. His teeth really were sharp, it wasn't a trick of the light. Serrated, like steak knives. The dim, shifting light from the tank lamps glinted too well off slimy skin, and with his arms raised Kazuma could see three long gashes following the curve of his ribs. They weren't bleeding, just flexing in time with his breaths. His long hair fanned out behind him in the water. Beneath the surface, where Yusuke's body was shrouded in murky green, a massive tail swayed lazily back and forth.

Yusuke watched Kazuma's eyes widen, smirking. "Find that fish yet?" A tail fin as wide as Yusuke's shoulders gently broke the surface of the water, gray and sleek. Softly, it slapped back down, splashing some water on Kazuma's uniform jacket.

Kazuma could give a shit about the jacket right now. "Um," he said, blinking while his brain tried frantically to catch up with his eyes. "Are you...a mermaid?" It felt stupid to say it out loud.

He felt even stupider when Yusuke burst into loud laughter. "What? I'm not a mermaid, you idiot!"

Kazuma could feel his face redden. Great. He'd met this guy all of five minutes ago and he was never gonna live this down. He knew he'd never let it go if someone said something off-the-wall crazy like that to him. Mermaid? If he was lucky, Yusuke would just assume he was drunk and not terminally stupid.

After a minute, Yusuke got a hold of himself, reaching up to dab tears from the corners of his eyes. "I'm a merman. Genius."

"Whatever, I was just joking anyw- wait, what?"

Yusuke pushed back a little from the glass, pointing one clawed finger at his own chest. "You see any boobs? I'm a guy."

Kazuma sputtered. "I know you're a guy, stupid!" Alright, he was gonna wake up in the middle of math class any second now. This shit had officially gotten too weird to be real. 

"Seemed pretty confused to me," Yusuke said, with a smirk and a shrug.

"Are you really half fish under there?" Kazuma didn't have space in his brain to get too mad about accusations of being dumb right now. He was too transfixed by the dark shape of Yusuke's tail moving under the water. Was it a trick? A...a costume, or something? They had to do that for mermaids in movies, right? There was no way it was real. Even if Kazuma's Bizarre Crap Warning Tickle was now a full-body shiver.

"I'm all me, not half fish. But whatever." Yusuke shifted his grip on the rim of the tank, pulling himself closer to Kazuma. "You want a better look?"

Kazuma nodded brainlessly, and had a half second of utter confusion as Yusuke gripped his shoulders. Then he was pulled forward, down into the water, a cold shock slapping him in the face and a moment of vertigo as his feet left the floor.

It didn't occur to him to hold his breath. In unconscious panic, he tried to take a breath, choking on cold water instead. Yusuke floated just below him, his laugh ringing through the tank, surrounding Kazuma in mocking sound. Sure enough, tan skin gave way to two-tone gray just below his waist, a large tail bumping against Kazuma's thrashing legs. It looked pretty damn real from here.

Yusuke's grip on Kazuma kept him from reaching the surface, only a few inches overhead but still too far. Panicked from lack of air, Kazuma lashed out, landing an awkward punch square on Yusuke's nose. The merman's head snapped back, his hair tracing the arc of his movement, but he didn't let go.

"Aw, quit freaking out, will ya?" Yusuke's voice filled the tank as he shook his head to clear it. A trickle of blood drifted from his nostril to dissipate in the water. "Thought you said you weren't scared?" He pulled Kazuma closer, like he was gonna take a chomp out of him. Kazuma froze, bracing for teeth, but Yusuke only pressed their lips together.

Kazuma knew he wasn't getting any air, but at once the water stopped burning in his lungs. He could breathe, somehow. Which was a lot to process on top of his first kiss and also maybe drowning, and also this guy was a goddamn mermaid. Too close to focus on properly, Yusuke's eyes glittered with mischief.

A hand grabbed the back of Kazuma's collar. He was hauled from the water, coughing and sputtering. He dragged air back into his lungs, though it almost felt too harsh. Too dry. The man who'd saved him helped him clamber over the rim of the tank to collapse to his hands and knees on the floor.

"I'm sorry," the man said, voice smooth and lilting as Kazuma heaved up more tank water. "You'll need to stay well back from the displays. Some of the animals are dangerous."

Water streaming from his hair and every stitch of his clothing, Kazuma blinked up at his rescuer. The shop owner was a tall Chinese guy, dressed in fancy silk robes and wearing...was that red lipstick?

"Did you have an appointment?" the owner said, polite and distant, like he hadn't just saved Kazuma from drowning or getting eaten or whatever had been going on. Casually, he flicked water from the sleeve of his robe and pushed a lock of his straight, black hair behind one ear with manicured nails. "I'm afraid you'll have to come back another time if not. I'm quite busy at the moment."

"It's your own fault for leaving me stuck in here with nothing to do," Yusuke chimed in, looking at Kazuma over the edge of the tank once more. He smiled like he'd just gotten away with something, or like he'd just told a real groaner of a joke. Kazuma stared back at him, unsure how to feel. 

The owner shot Yusuke an exasperated look that seemed to say 'I'll deal with you later.' His eyes were different colors, one dark and one light. Kazuma had been too surprised by the lipstick to notice at first. The guy was like a creepy, pet-shop-owning David Bowie. His presence filled the room. With slight surprise (because most of his sense of surprise had already been taken up by Yusuke) Kazuma realized he was kinda scared of this guy.

"How come," Kazuma rasped, throat aching. "How come you got a mermaid in a damn pet shop?"

The owner turned his attention back to Kazuma, frowning down at him. "That's a very rare and very aggressive species of shark from the Japan Sea. You shouldn't have approached the tank so carelessly."

Knees shaking, Kazuma pushed himself to his feet. "Bullshit," he said, wringing out his jacket. "I may not be the smartest guy around, but I know that's not a fish. Fish ain't people. That's a damn mermaid."

"It's merman," Yusuke grumbled. "Dumbass. Get it right." He was still staring at Kazuma as if he were the only thing worth worrying about in the whole room. It was a little intense, but Kazuma found himself staring right back. Now that he wasn't under the water, he wasn't scared anymore. Not that he'd been that scared! It was surprising, that was all! Anyone would have been just as put off as he was!

The owner took a small step back, putting distance between the spreading puddle of dirty water and what looked like very expensive shoes. "I see." He studied Yusuke for a moment, thoughtful. "Have you ever kept saltwater species before, young man?" he said, addressing Kazuma. "The initial setup can be somewhat onerous, but it's quite rewarding. Many people find that watching fish swim helps alleviate stress."

True enough, Kazuma hadn't been stressed about school or anything else when he'd been pulled into the tank, except for getting eaten or drowned. Real soothing. More importantly... "You're trying to sell him?"

"This is a pet shop," the man said, as though Kazuma were five years old and also incredibly slow. "The shark seems to have taken a liking to you, or there wouldn't have been much left of you for me to pull from the water. What do you say?" He stroked his chin, completely at ease with this insane situation. "We can discuss a fair price, along with a care guide and contract you'll need to abide by, of course."

For some reason, the idea of someone buying Yusuke outright was even more unbelievable than the whole being-a-mermaid thing. "You can't just sell him! He's a person!"

Yusuke leaned out over the edge of the tank, a curtain of black hair dripping onto the floor. "Aw, c'mon! Don't be a cheapskate! Just get me outta here before I go outta my mind. It's boring!" He was leaning so far out, one hand clutching the edge of the tank while the other reached to tug on Kazuma's sleeve. His gills were already starting to wheeze awkwardly in the dry air.

"And what am I supposed to do?" Kazuma shot back. "Carry you home and hide you in the bathtub? You're huge, man!" It was stupid anyway. Even if Kazuma had a whole swimming pool at home, it wasn't right to keep Yusuke locked up like that. If mermaids were real-- which apparently they were, and Kazuma wasn't going to be over that for a long time-- then they should be in the ocean, right? Of course Yusuke was miserable in this stupid little tank in a room with no windows, and no one to talk to! He wasn't some goldfish, or something!

The man smiled, small but genuine. He turned to Yusuke, gently shoving him back to the water when it looked like he was about to overbalance and fall from the tank. "It seems your mind is set on this one?"

"Yeah, this guy's an idiot, but he's alright." Sulking, Yusuke lowered himself in the water, wetting his gills. "Anybody else you shove at me is getting eaten, got that?"

"And just like that," the man said, with a helpless gesture, "the decision is made for me. As you can see, this particular specimen is something of a liability, so I'm willing to offer you a favorable deal to take it off my hands."

Kazuma had just about enough money in his wallet for a sandwich from the convenience store. He knew he wasn't gonna be able to cough up the cash to get Yusuke out of here. Still, he couldn't walk away. Yusuke's eyes were burning a hole through him.

"It's gonna have to be a hell of a deal, mister," Kazuma said, finally dragging his eyes from Yusuke to look at the shop owner. "I don't even have a job, and I'm pretty broke."

The shop owner only smiled. "I'm sure we can reach an agreement."