#what does Mrs. Drought have to do with her

[inspectorspacetimerevisited]

With Emerald’s origin deliberately left unexplained,

Inspectators will be left to speculate as to her true parentage.

[ahsokaismyqueen]

Reunions and Future Plans Pairing - Steve Harrington x HendersonSister!Reader Summary - For the first time in a long time, you and Steve haven't seen each other in three weeks since you started college. So he decides to surprise you. Word Count - 2.2k Warnings - Just some slightly smutty situations! Steve Harrington x HendersonSister!Reader Masterlist

You stumbled into your dorm room and landed face down on your bed. It had been possibly the longest week of your life. You’d been going to classes for three weeks now, and the material was starting to get more difficult. You’d spent ages in the library, but had finished your first essay. Now you were looking forward to laying down with your book until it was time for your nightly call with Steve. 

Which is why you almost didn’t get up when someone knocked on your door, but when they knocked again a couple of seconds later, you let out a groan, knowing that they weren’t going to go away. “Please tell me you didn’t forget-” but when you opened your door, your eyes widened in disbelief and a smile formed on your face. “Steve?” 

There he stood, a bundle of flowers in his hand and a grin on his face. “Miss me?” 

You threw your arms around his neck, tugging him inside. “Of course, you dummy!” Missing him didn’t even begin to cover it. You talked to each other, either with cerebro or the phone, and you weren’t far away enough that you couldn’t drive to see him whenever you wanted, but you hadn’t gotten to see him since you started classes. It was a big adjustment going from seeing him almost every day to not at all, and you were kinda hating it. 

Steve dropped the flowers on your table before he reached under your thighs to lift you into the air. “Calling me a dummy doesn’t make me think you missed me that much.” He said, but the tone in his voice told you he was teasing. 

“You know I use it as a term of endearment.” You said, nuzzling your nose against his. A giggle left your lips as he started carrying you back towards your bed. 

He placed you down like you were made of glass, wasting no time as he settled between your thighs. “You could try being nicer though. Like, ‘oh Steve, I’ve thought about you everyday, and I can’t stand it when we’re apart.’” 

You tangled your fingers in his hair as he hovered over you. “What about if I wrote Mrs. Steve Harrington in my notebook like fifty times? Does that count?” 

Your words took him aback, and you had to fight back a laugh at the expression on his face. “Did you actually do that? Because if so, I want to see.” 

“Mhmm, I guess you’ll never know.” You teased, pushing some of his hair back from his face. You still couldn’t quite believe he was here, looking down at you like you were a river he’d found during a drought. You were sure your expression was similar. “But, if I was trying to be nice, I’d tell you this is the happiest I’ve been in three weeks, and I’ve missed you so much I thought I might be going crazy. Because there’s no logical reason I should be missing you like this when you’re only a phone call or half an hour away.” You wrapped your legs around his hips, tugging him closer. “But I have.” 

Steve’s smile was radiant. “Damn, I was going to say Robin and your brother are driving me crazy without you.” 

“Jerk!” You fake glared at him, shoving him off of you. Of course it was a tiny bed, and there was nowhere for him to go other than against the wall, so he ended up pulling you with him onto your sides. 

“A jerk who loves you.” He said, and you couldn’t help but smile as he nuzzled into your neck and pressed kisses against your skin. “A jerk who was so depressing that Robin couldn’t stand the sight of it any longer and gave him the rest of the day off as long as he promised to come see you.” 

“Robin gave up a Friday night for you?” Robin had very few Friday nights off because of band, and the fact that she gave one up for Steve was a big deal. You definitely owed her the next time you saw her. 

He nodded, pulling back enough to look at your face and tuck some hair behind your ear. “Everything’s harder when you’re not around. I can’t concentrate at work, my brain feels like mush, I think Keith almost fired me the other day when I almost let an old lady rent Friday the13th instead of 16 Candles-”

You gasped, slapping your hand over your mouth to hide your grin. “You didn’t.” 

“I knew the movie had numbers in it! I just . . . couldn’t remember how many.” Steve replied, groaning. 

Unable to hold it in anymore, you let out a giggle. 

“It wasn’t funny!” But you could tell by Steve’s voice he was about to laugh as well. 

“You almost traumatized an old lady, Harrington. It's a little funny.” You said, not trying to hide your smile anymore. 

“It wasn’t on purpose!” Steve wrapped his arms around you and rolled you onto your back once more, resting his head on your chest with another groan. 

Reaching up, you ran your fingers through his hair with a soft smile. God you loved him. Ten minutes ago you’d been so exhausted you didn’t think there was a thought left in your head, but one hug from Steve Harrington and all of the stress seemed to melt from your body. “I’m really glad you’re here. Have I said that yet?” 

“Mhmm, I’m glad I’m here too.” He said, and butterflies started flying around your stomach as he leaned over to nuzzle his nose against your breast. 

Three weeks without having sex with Steve had been absolute torture, and your body lit up almost at once with his touch, but your gaze was drawn back to the door. Letting out a sigh, you stopped him. “Steve, as much as I wish we could do that right now, I have no idea when my roommate is coming back, and I don’t know her well enough yet to let her see your ass.” You joked after Steve’s hand slipped under your shirt. 

His hand moved back to a more respectful place on your hip. He pressed one more kiss to your breast that had you desperately wishing you had a single apartment, then placed his chin on your stomach, looking up at you. “Okay. What were you planning on doing tonight?” 

You shrugged, and your fingers began to massage his scalp. “Nothing really. I finished my essay so I was just planning on reading my book the rest of the night.” 

Steve’s eyes had closed as you touched him, and at your words, he turned his head so he could rest his cheek against your stomach. “Sounds good. You do that, and I’ll stay right here.” 

Raising your eyebrows at him, you couldn’t help but grin. “Are you going to fall asleep on me, Harrington?” 

“Maybe,” he tightened his arms around you, burrowing into your stomach like a pillow. “Sleep better when I’m with you.” 

“I’m not sure if I should be offended by that or not.” You weren’t. Not at all, because you knew that you slept better with him too. It was why you slept in one of his shirts every night. He didn’t know that though. 

Steve grumbled something that you couldn’t understand, but didn’t open his eyes, so you reached over and grabbed your book. 

You had no idea how long the two of you laid there. You weren’t even sure if he was asleep or not. He didn’t move much, and you were wrapped up in your latest fantasy novel. It was only when you reached the description of a boy with dark curly hair whose main language seemed to be sarcasm did you lose focus. “Hey, Steve?” You said quietly in case he was asleep. 

“Mhmm?” He said. 

“Have you seen the kids any? Max, Lucas, Mike, Dustin? It feels weird not looking after them, and Dustin . . . hasn’t talked to me much. Mom says he’s out every time I call.” 

Steve sat up a little then so he could look at you. “I think he’s joined some club at school. He hasn’t talked to me about it much, but it’s him, Lucas and Mike. Haven’t seen much of Max.” His hand brushed up and down your outer thigh in a comforting motion. “You don’t have to worry about them, you know?” 

“Easier said than done.” You said, letting out a sigh. “I feel like I’ve been helping take care of those kids my whole life, and with the way the last couple of years have gone . . .” You shook your head before looking back at him. “I keep waiting for something to happen.” 

He pressed a soft kiss to your stomach, “if it does, we’ll deal with it then.” 

You smiled at him, and started to get back to your book when Steve spoke again. 

“Can I ask you something sorta off topic, but also not really?” 

“Of course.” 

He hesitated and that made you curious. Steve didn’t often hold back on saying anything, and the fact that he was now piqued your interest. “Do you want your own kids? Not right now.” He quickly added, “I mean . . In the future.” 

This time you were the one who hesitated. You had thought about it of course, how could you not? You’d spent so much of your life looking after kids, you couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like to have some of your own. Then Steve came into the picture and suddenly the kids you were picturing had features, some of yours and some of his in a perfect mix. You couldn’t help but wonder if he pictured the same. “Yeah. Definitely.” You admitted. “What about you?” You asked even though you already knew the answer. 

He grinned, and his eyes took on a far away look, like he was picturing the future. “I always dreamed about having a big family. Kinda hate being an only child and seeing how close you and Dustin are . . . I want all my kids to have that.” 

You’d never really thought about the fact that Steve was an only child, and what your relationship with Dustin must look like to him. To know that he loved it so much it was what he wanted for his own kids made you smile. “All your kids, huh? That implies more than one.” 

“Yeah,” he said, still lost in his daydream. “I always pictured like five or six.” 

Your eyes widened in disbelief, and your fingers stopped moving in his hair. “I’m sorry, did you say five or six?” 

Your words seemed to snap him back to the present, and he grinned sheepishly at you. “I probably shouldn’t have said that part should I?” 

“No! I mean -” You didn’t ever want Steve to feel bad for telling you something. “It’s just . . . That’s a lot. I guess I never thought about the number I wanted.” And if someone had asked you outright, five or six wouldn’t have been the number that came out of your mouth. “Why five or six anyway?” 

His face flushed, and he gave you a look like you should already know the answer to that. 

Dustin, Max, Lucas, Eleven, Will, Mike . . . Hell, if you counted Erica that was even seven. Suddenly, thinking about all the kids Steve wanted didn’t seem like such a big number. “You know, for someone who claims to hate being the babysitter all the time, you sure do seem to love it a lot.” 

Steve’s body relaxed once again, and he pressed a tender kiss to your stomach. “I think it has a lot to do with my co-babysitter.” 

“Well your ‘co-babysitter’ would like to see how she feels after one.” You told him, shaking your head. 

A grin started to form on Steve’s face. He crawled up your body, leaving little kisses in his wake until he was hovering over you, his hands on either side of your head holding his weight. “Henderson . . . Are you implying that you want to have kids with me?” 

Your eyes widened as your earlier words caught up with you. You hadn’t meant to imply that, but you had. This time a flush was on your cheek. “I - um . . .” You tried to think of what to say, but the only thing you could think of was, “shouldn’t you be freaking out right now?” 

His smile grew as he leaned closer. “Why would I be freaking out? You’d be the best mom ever.” 

Your heart rate must have spiked at least 120 at that. You grabbed a hold of his hair, tugging him down to meet your lips in a passion filled kiss that left you both breathless and desperate for more. When you rolled your hips against him, Steve groaned, pulling away abruptly. 

“Come back to Hawkins with me for the weekend.” He pleaded. 

You let out a little laugh. “Steve . . .” 

“I’ll drive you down, and drive you back up Sunday. My parents are at a conference, and if I have to go back to that house by myself I might actually lose my mind.” He said, leaning down to press his lips against that spot on your neck that drove you crazy. 

“You’re so needy, Harrington.” You teased, “it’s a good thing I love you so much.” 

Steve pulled away from your neck and nuzzled his nose against yours. “You just admitted you’d consider having kids with me. I need to be inside of you as soon as possible.” 

Needless to say, you both were in Hawkins in less than an hour.

[gatheringbones]

[“Turns out that being a lesbian outside of the privacy of your own home was quite hard. I’m not talking about the various manifestations of homophobia—oh, that old thing. I’m talking about scoring. Picking up chicks. (As it turns out, I would come to prefer the type of woman few would recognize as female, the type who would cheerfully deck you if you called her a chick, but might, if I were lucky, see me as such: a chick, a babe, a femme fox.)

In the oeuvre of Mr. Spillane, being a lesbian seemed so easy, like shooting fish in a barrel. In my favorite lesbian novels, No Blonde is an Island and My Gun is Quick, all a gal had to do was brush up against another woman by the water cooler and, watch out, the sapphic sparks would surely fly. Lesbianism was something any woman could do, no special equipment, messy creams or liquids were required.

But when I walked into my first dyke bar in New York City, I had a rude awakening. It was like transferring to a new high school. No, it was worse than that. A new junior high school. You walk into the class on the first day and everyone turns to stare. Your clothes, your hair, the way you move, it’s all wrong. You have to change everything or die a horrible and lingering death.

I guess the moral of this story is that there are some pursuits, such as lesbianism, that one can’t learn from a book, no matter the author. A more crass sort might make some tasteless jokes at this juncture about “boning up” on lesbianism, or about “hands-on experience,” but the reader can be assured this dyke will not sink to that level.

I watched the other women dancing, talking, flirting. All transactions were conducted in a lingo as incomprehensible to me as straight guy sports speak. My late-seventies disco fever look was out of place here. Everyone looked like they’d raided the closet of their bigger, older brother while he was out repairing refrigerators.

I was the only one wearing makeup.

Someone approached me: “This is a gay bar.” I shriveled up and a gust of wind blew me out into the street.

I had no skills. No lesbian skills. I was stared at, rather than cruised, at the bars. I couldn’t find a way of singnaling to another dyke that I was open for business, a friend of Dorothy, in the life, on the bus. Let alone desperately horny.

Somehow I managed a few invites to lesbian parties. I’d figured out that wearing lipstick was wrong, but I was still doing it. I’m such a congenital WASP that my lips disappear without makeup; I couldn’t imagine having sex without lipstick. I had tried to pull a lesbian look together: oversized second-hand men’s clothes, an unbuttoned black vest, but Annie Hall does not work on someone five feet tall.

Nor could I play softball. When something is thrown at me, even if it is specifically designed for that purpose, I automatically duck. All I had going for me in the lesbian skill department was ownership of a cat. Enough to break the ice, but not cinch the deal.

Certainly I couldn’t just come out and ask some other dyke to show me the ropes, so to speak. The seventies were still going on even though it was now the eighties. Feminism and lesbianism had kind of merged, become one big multinational entity with Andrea Dworkin as CEO. You had to be sneaky to get laid.

Yikes. It had been so easy with men. All you had to do was bend over at the bowling alley and something would happen.

After two years, the drought ended. I saw a sign that advertised: “Double-X-Rated Christmas Party for Women.” The party was held in the basement of a Catholic church. Perhaps the priests had passed out upstairs and had no idea what was going on. Or perhaps the priests were the drag queens working the bar. Nevertheless, I was there as soon as the doors opened. And the doors were not the only thing that opened.

I walked into the basement where the party was taking place and saw rows of thrift store tuxedoes, second-hand prom dresses. The doorperson made it clear that these outfits could be borrowed for the evening. After they checked their coats, many party-goers were borrowing outfits from the racks and disappearing into the bathroom to amend their attire. As the evening went on, I noticed more and more women trading in their flannel and denim for sharkskin and taffeta.

At this, my first encounter with the women who produced the WOW Festival and would later open the WOW Cafe in a tiny linguini-shaped storefront on East Eleventh Street, I fell in love. In love with all of the women, with their outrageousness, their unruly desire. I wanted desperately to be a part of whatever it was they were doing…if the WOW Cafe had been a support group for lesbian skeet shooters, that’s what I’d be doing now.

Instead, I found theater, or it found me. And the theater, it seemed, offered a wonderful solution to my involuntary celibacy: the casting couch. In theater you are encouraged to have sex with as many people as possible; it’s an integral part of the process. At least at WOW it seemed like the shows were almost an afterthought to the flirting, a byproduct of the endless parties where women of every imaginable gender rubbed up against each other.

This last paragraph reads like a natural cue to cross-fade to the Story of the First Girlfriend, doesn’t it? At this point, I should see a stranger across a crowded room, our eyes should lock, and the violins should swell like wieners on the grill. But this scene isn’t part of my coming-out story. Who even remembers my first girlfriend? Not me. I remember lots of bodies, I remember rooms lit by lots of small lights, and above all else, I remember lots and lots of Rolling Rock. This movie doesn’t end with a soft-focus closeup on two women kissing; this is a coming-out story that crescendos into a crowd scene. It’s a wide-angle shot. The climax of my coming-out scenario isn’t a closeup on a lesbian couple but a panorama of a lesbian world.”]

holly hughes, from what comes first, from a woman like that: lesbian and bisexual writers tell their coming out stories, 2000

[simply-ivanka]

What Kamala Harris Believes

The Vice President’s political record reveals the views of a California progressive.

Wall Street Journal

Democrats are rapidly unifying behind Kamala Harris as their party nominee, yet the Vice President remains relatively unknown to most Americans. That means it’s important to look at her record to see what she believes.

As VP she’s closely identified with the Biden agenda, for better or worse, and she embraced that record in remarks on Monday. She said President Biden’s first term has “surpassed the legacy” of most Presidents who have served two.

So mark her down as endorsing the spending blowouts that caused inflation, the Green New Deal, entitlement expansions and student loan forgiveness. Until she says otherwise, we should also assume she’s in favor of Mr. Biden’s $5 trillion tax increase in 2025.

The Vice President’s four years as a Senator from California are another window on her worldview. She sponsored a bill to create a $6,000 guaranteed income for families making up to $100,000. Another Harris proposal: A refundable tax credit that would effectively cap rents and utility payments at 30% of income. Liberal economists panned the subsidy because it would drive up rents.

She co-sponsored legislation with Bernie Sanders that would pay tuition at four-year public colleges for students from families making up to $125,000. This is more honest than the Administration’s back-end student loan cancellation. But it would cost $700 billion over a decade and encourage colleges to increase tuition.

Another Bernie mind-meld: Single-payer healthcare. Ms. Harris co-sponsored his Medicare for All legislation paid for by higher income taxes. She tweaked Bernie’s plan when running for President in 2019 by extending the phase-in to 10 years from four and exempting households making less than $100,000 from the “income-based premium.” But it would still put government in charge of all American healthcare over time.

As a San Francisco Democrat, Ms. Harris shares the state’s hostility to fossil fuels. She used her power as California Attorney General to launch an investigation into Exxon Mobil over its carbon emissions. In 2019 she endorsed a nationwide ban on oil and gas fracking, which would cost tens of thousands of jobs and cause power outages like those that often occur in her home state. Expect this to be a GOP talking point in Pennsylvania.

One question to ask is whether the Vice President wants to restructure the Supreme Court. She said in 2019 she was “open” to adding more Justices, but that idea doesn’t poll well. Does she agree with Mr. Biden’s mooted plan to endorse “reforms” to the High Court that would make the Justices subject to Congressional supervision?

Mr. Biden famously put Ms. Harris in charge of border policy, and we know how that has turned out. Rather than push for border policy changes, her first instinct was to blame the rush of migrants on “root causes” in developing countries, including corruption, violence, poverty and “lack of climate adaptation and climate resilience.”

Climate change makes the U.S. border a sieve? Apparently so. “In Honduras, in the wake of hurricanes, we must deliver food, shelter, water and sanitation to the people,” Ms. Harris declared. “And in Guatemala, as farmers endure continuous droughts, we must work with them to plant drought-resistant crops.” These “root causes” take decades to address, and in the meantime she had nothing to say about actual border security.

Ms. Harris’s foreign policy views aren’t well known, or perhaps even well formed, apart from promoting Mr. Biden’s policies. While she has backed the Administration’s military assistance to Ukraine, she has equivocated about support for Israel. In March she chastised Israel for not doing enough to ease a “humanitarian catastrophe.” Leaks to the press say officials at the National Security Council toned down her speech’s criticism of Israel.

She lambasted the Trump Administration for killing Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Gen. Qassem Soleimani, claiming it could lead to bigger war in the Mideast. The killing chastened Iran’s rulers instead, at least until the Biden Administration began to ease sanctions and tried to repeat the 2015 nuclear deal.

It will be especially important for the press to ask Ms. Harris about her national security views. If her handlers control her as much as White House advisers have Mr. Biden, we’ll know they’re afraid that the Vice President might not be able to handle the scrutiny.

A fair conclusion from all of this is that Ms. Harris is a standard California progressive on most issues, often to the left of Mr. Biden. Perhaps as she reintroduces herself to the public in the coming weeks, she will modify some of those views. She would be wise to do so if she wants to win.

Given the rush by Democrats to anoint Ms. Harris as their nominee, the press has a particular obligation to tell the public about who she is and what she really thinks. Does she believe California is a model for the country?

[television-overload]

of our own making

(an X-Files fanfic)

Chapter 4/34 - phone battery

[Read on AO3]

After a bit of a drought of decent cases, their latest, honest to goodness X-File was a welcome distraction. It hadn’t taken too long to wrap up either, which was a double win for Scully, who could only handle so many nights in a dilapidated motel room in a row. With the case now solved, more or less, all that remained for the morning was a bit of paperwork and a drive to the nearest airport to get back home.

“Your mom called me last night,” Mulder says, sitting in the driver’s seat of their rental car.

“Last night?” Scully asks, furrowing her brows. “What for?”

“It was when we got back to the motel, after your phone battery went dead. I told her to give it a few minutes and try again, give you a chance to get it charged.”

Scully doesn’t respond immediately, and when Mulder turns to look at her, he sees a puzzled look on her face, a crease forming between her brows.

“She didn’t call you?” he asks, matching her expression and turning his attention back to the road.

“No,” Scully answers, concern marring her features. “What did she say?”

“I think she was going to ask you something about Christmas, figuring out plans or something,” he says. “I did mention we were on a case, maybe she decided she’ll just call when you get back and aren’t busy.”

“Probably,” Scully says, then sits back in the passenger seat and gazes out the window at the passing scenery.

He steals another glance at her, thinking about the heavy weight that hung over his brief conversation with his future mother-in-law on the phone the night before. It really had been a short talk, with her asking if he knew where Scully (rather, Dana) was, and then how he’s been doing since his unwitting brain surgery. 

He made polite conversation, of course, but keeping such a gigantic secret from a woman like Margaret Scully has a way of making one feel guilty for things they aren’t even guilty of. If the call had gone on much longer, he fears he would have started confessing like a Catholic over the phone, and he couldn’t have that.

Clearing his throat, he asks, “You think we should tell her about us?” then quickly corrects, “I mean– the adoption, eloping…”

She shakes her head. “I don’t think so. Not yet,” she answers.

He shoots her another glance—only for a moment—but to be honest, that wasn’t the answer he’d been expecting. 

“I know you said you don’t want a big wedding or anything, but if you want to tell her, you can. I doubt she’d give you any real trouble for it,” he reasons, having a hard time believing Mrs. Scully would be anything but supportive once everything has been explained to her.

“It’s not that. I just—” she struggles to explain. “With Emily, it was so stressful and confusing for her. I don’t want to put her through more of that unless…”

Ah.

He reaches over and places his hand on top of hers, which rests on her knee.

“Unless you’re absolutely sure this is going to work out,” he finishes, and she nods, grateful she doesn’t have to conjure the words herself.

“There are so many variables at play here, Mulder. Any one of them could go wrong,” she says. He knows she’s mentally making a list, calculating how likely each factor is to throw a wrench in their plans. She’d be here a while if she wanted to plan for every possibility, but that won’t stop her from trying, he knows.

He squeezes her hand once. “I hope you know that whatever happens, you don’t have to worry about me. I’m not going anywhere.”

That earns a small smile, and she looks down at her lap in that way that she thinks hides her blush from him. Thankfully, it does no such thing. 

“No, the Mulder variable is one that I have on good authority is fairly constant,” she says, not quite meeting his eyes.

“Oh? And are those findings available in a peer-reviewed journal article, Dr. Scully?” he teases back. “If you don’t cite your sources, I’m afraid your claims may be dismissed as unsubstantiated by the wider scientific community.”

“I’ll have to get back to you on that,” she says, “I’m still working on gathering all my evidence. Research takes time, you know.”

“Maybe run some more tests,” he suggests.

She reaches out, running a hand through his hair, gently brushing over the place where his head had been drilled into.

“I’ll try to keep it less invasive than your previous experiences,” she teases, a small smile pulling at her lips. 

He breathes out a laugh, forcing his focus back on the road instead of on the feeling of her nimble fingers tousling his hair.

-.-.-

Their discussion picks up again on the plane, perhaps serving as a distraction for his partner who isn’t all that fond of flying.

“You agree with me, don’t you?” she asks.

He gives her a look, his best impression of the Skeptical Scully Brow.

“Is that a blanket statement? Because in general, no, I think that would be factually incorrect, Scully, that’s kind of our whole thing.”

“I mean,” she says, rolling her eyes, “that we should wait to tell people. At least my family.”

He turns toward her. That she’s bringing this up again shows that it’s something she’s really worried about. If it’s reassurance she needs, he’s happy to give it to her.

“Sure, Scully. You know them best.” Really it isn’t his place to decide this, but if she’s asking, maybe she wants it to be. They will, in a way, be his family too if all this works out.

She takes a deep breath, her usual flying anxiety momentarily forgotten in favor of whatever new kind of anxiety this was. “I just mean– If we even get approved, and if we get matched with someone… there’s always a chance the birth mother changes her mind at the last minute,” she says, talking through the scenario aloud. “This will be hard enough with just you and I to worry about. I don’t want to have to think about protecting my mother from heartbreak on top of everything else.”

He has to suppress a sigh on hearing her pessimistic view of what he’s hoping will be a very joyous process. But then again, this is what he loves about her. She’s the yin to his yang. The day to his night. Together, they cover all their bases, leaving no stone unturned in their search for the truth. Why should this be any different? He won’t get very far on nothing but blind hope. She’s here to ensure they are prepared for everything, come what may. Unfortunately, that means her taking on an extra burden of worry, one he hopes he might help alleviate.

“We can wait to tell them,” he vows, hoping that will put a stop to her spiraling. “I’m with you on this, don’t forget. We’re a team.”

She leans back, her head resting against the back of her seat, a sign he knows means she’s relaxing a little.

Success.

Still, the idea of telling no one at all feels dangerous. They need to have someone in their corner besides each other, for a whole slew of reasons. Character witness, taking time off work, filing necessary paperwork so that everything looks totally above board when they make it official… Really, there’s only one person he feels they have to tell, and that’s—

“What about Skinner?”

She turns her head to look at him, confusion playing on her face. “What about him?”

“I think we should tell him. Sooner than later.”

Maybe he should have planned out his pitch a little better. He can tell she’s not immediately drawn to the idea. He should have made up a list of reasons why it is a good plan, not just blurted out his half-formed thought before it was ready.

“But Mulder, what if they split us up?”

He turns in his seat, his attention intensifying. “That’s why we only tell Skinner. Ask him to keep it quiet in case things don’t work out.” She’s gonna need more than that. Think! Tap into those persuasive skills! "But, Scully, there’s going to be times we might have to take an afternoon off for a meeting or something. It will be easier if he knows.”

His focused gaze implores her to consider it. 

“I won’t let him split us up. It won’t happen.”

He can’t promise that, she knows, but they know Skinner well enough by now, don’t they? Sure, there may have been times when their trust in him wasn’t so strong, but it has been years now. Surely he would keep this to himself if they asked, right?

“Okay. You’re right…” she says tentatively, turning over his proposition in her head. “Just Skinner. No one else?”

His pinkie finger finds its way to hers and nudges it playfully. When she looks up at him, he smiles.

“Just you, me, and our big, bald boss makes three.”

~~~

SURPRISE - that was a short chapter, so here's another to make up for it

Chapter 5/34 - rulebook

“Hold on, go back to the IVF,” the follically challenged Assistant Director says, his hands tented in front of him. His brows furrow in concentration, and he breathes deeply through his nose, looking up at the two agents across the desk from him. “In vitro fertilization, right? So you’re saying—”

“Agent Mulder and I attempted to conceive a child through scientific means last year, yes.”

Scully’s answer is straightforward, perhaps hoping it will be like ripping off a band-aid. Judging by his stoic reaction, his pursed lips, the vein popping out of his forehead… her nonchalance does not really soften the blow.

His gruff voice returns after a moment of staring at them, his expression unreadable. “Right. Okay. Just wanted to make sure I was understanding.”

“It was unsuccessful,” Scully offers, continuing. “The ova that were fertilized unfortunately were not viable, probably due to the inconsistent storage conditions in which Mulder found them.”

“Yes, that– that’s where you lost me. The part about your abduction and then the cancer…” He sets a hand on top of one of the files Mulder had brought him, as if any of the words in that folder made a lick of sense to him.

“Believe me, sir, it’s just about as confusing to us as it is to you,” Mulder says.

Skinner clears his throat, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. 

“Well, I’m very sorry about what happened to you, Agent Scully. I suppose that also explains the existence of… well…”

Emily. A story he never had fully explained.

“Yes, Emily was somehow part of all this. She was an experiment, never meant for me to find.”

Skinner balls his hand into a fist, tamping down the rage he feels bubbling up inside. “These men need to pay. What they’ve done to you– to you both… ”

“With all due respect, sir,” Mulder breaks in, “we’re not here to talk about revenge. We’re just trying to move forward.”

That’s… a surprisingly healthy outlook, coming from Mulder. What had Scully done to him? Whatever it was, the man owed her a heckuva lot more than whatever her last birthday and Christmas gifts had been. 

“Of course, I’m sorry,” he apologizes. “So, what is it that you were asking for?”

The two basement-dwelling agents glance at each other, words being passed unspoken between them. It’s unnerving, the way they do that. Downright spooky.

Evidently, they come to the decision that it’s Mulder who should say the next part.

“Well, since we’re looking into adoption, sir, we thought it might be easier if we got married.”

Silence fills the room, an inadvertent staredown commencing between all parties.

“Married.”

Mulder nods. “That’s right.”

Scully is sitting bolt upright in her chair, a picture of professionalism on the surface, but in conjunction with the topic of discussion, it feels distinctly forced. Mulder, on the other hand, is bouncing his knee so severely that it’s a wonder he hasn’t worn a hole in the carpet below him yet.

“We just don’t want there to be any issues here on the bureaucratic side of things, if at all possible,” Mulder adds. “In fact, we’d prefer to keep this quiet, at least until we know if this will work.”

Skinner presses his lips together, shifting his gaze between them once again. 

“Well, your personal relationship will have to be disclosed to HR at some point. I can pull some strings—”

“Sir—”

“Although it would have been good to know a little earlier on. Say, around the time you were making some pretty serious medical decisions that may have affected your ability to do your jobs…”

“Sir, I—”

Mulder’s attempts to interrupt go unnoticed. 

“You know, I have to commend you. You’ve really kept up appearances around here. I had my suspicions, of course, but you continued on like normal, I almost wouldn’t have guessed—”

“Sir, we’re not actually… together.” Finally, Mulder is able to get the words out, leaving an awkward hush in their wake.

Skinner leans forward, turning his ear toward the younger man as if he hadn’t heard him the first time. “What do you mean?”

A pink tinge blooms on Mulder’s cheeks. “We’re not– Sir, this marriage is a formality, to make the application process easier and hopefully give us better chances of getting approved.”

“A formality,” Skinner repeats.

“Yes. We– We’re just trying to do whatever’s best to improve the odds that this works out.”

One of these days he’s just going to disappear to Cancún. Seriously, he’ll do it. This can’t be good for his health. He suppresses a groan, storing up a massive eye roll for whenever these two idiots leave the room. Only they could think up something like getting married and adopting a child platonically . Not to mention everything else they’d evidently been doing when left to their own devices.

“Right. That’s– Okay, sure. So then, the IVF…”

Scully pipes up. “I asked Mulder, and he agreed to help me.”

“As a friend?” He feels like this bears clarification.

“Is there something against that in the rulebook?” Mulder asks challengingly.

The look he gives them in return is withering. “I don’t think there’s a rulebook for all the insane stuff you two get up to, but I might have to make one, after this.” The two of them have the decency to look chastised at this, though he knows from experience it will do no good in the long run. “You know this is not normal, right?”

“Come on, Skinner, when have I ever been referred to as normal?” Mulder laughs.

“ You , I might expect this from,” he says, pointing a finger in his direction. “It’s Agent Scully that surprises me. You’ve really done a number on her, haven’t you?”

He takes a little solace in the fact that all this IVF business happened under Kersh’s watch, not his own. Imagine if it had worked…

“Will you help us or not, sir?” Scully asks, impatience beginning to make her uneasy in her seat.

He waves a hand in the air. “Yeah, yeah. I thought this day might come at some point, but… definitely not like this.” His mind is wandering already, thinking back to any signs he might have missed, things that may have gone wrong in his career to lead him to this exact moment. “You have my blessing, or whatever it is you came to get from me. You need anything, just ask.”

Scully lets out a sigh, and her shoulders visibly relax.

Mulder moves to stand without another moment’s hesitation, bouncing up with far more energy than a man of his age should have. “Thank you, sir. I promise, this is the last time we ask you to cover for us.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Agent Mulder,” Skinner warns, though his words contain no malice. If anything, he’s resigned.

As much as these two make him tear his hair out (what little he has left), he holds a certain fondness for them that is undeniable. 

“And, hey– I’m happy for you. Seriously. The things I’ve seen you go through over the years, everything you’ve lost… You deserve this. Even if I don’t understand it.”

Mulder holds out a hand for him to shake. “Skinner. Thank you. Really.”

He nods. “Good luck with everything. And if you need any advice on adoption, my ex-wife’s sister has gone through it before. I can get you in touch, if you want.”

“We’d really appreciate that.”

They’re gone before he knows it, heads bent toward each other in secretive conversation before they’re even out of sight. 

Skinner lets out the eye roll from earlier, leaning back in his desk chair in exhaustion.

They’d figure it out sooner or later, of that he is certain. It’s just taking a little longer than he expected, that’s all.

-.-.-

"I want to get married Christmas Eve."

The proposition comes out of nowhere on a Thursday afternoon, and Mulder nearly spills his coffee mug all over his desk instead of setting it down gently like he was trying to do.

"Next week?" he sputters, the burning liquid nearly going down the wrong pipe.

She purses her lips. "...That's when Christmas is, yeah Mulder."

"I knew there was a reason that guy on the street corner with the bell was dressed as Santa Claus," he jokes, wiping a few splattered droplets of coffee from his tie.

"Mulder..."

"Okay, okay,” he says, dropping the jokester act. “But don't you want to spend the day with your family?" he asks.

She shrugs. "Maybe.” Her eyes are locked on the desk in front of her, pointedly avoiding his concerned look. “I'll go for a little while, but they don't... understand me like they used to. Maybe it's just me, but when I'm with them for too long, I get this sense that they're... afraid of me. Or somehow uncomfortable around me. Ever since Emily..."

He stops her. "That's their problem, Scully. I'm sure they don't mean it."

"I know, it's just... hard."

He bites down on his bottom lip to hold back the slew of words he'd like to say to Bill Scully, Jr. He knows that's not what Scully needs right now, as much as it would make him feel better to have a go at him.

"Is that why you went ghostbusting with me last Christmas?" he asks, his heart softening at the thought. 

"I don't know, maybe a little,” she shrugs. “It helped get my mind off things." She looks embarrassed to admit such a thing, but it only serves to make his heart twist in his chest. 

"Well, too bad we don't have more time to plan. Could have had a Christmas Eve wedding in a haunted house," he deadpans.

This succeeds in getting her to look at him, and she emits a nervous giggle he doesn't often hear. "Absolutely not.”

He grins, leaning back in his chair and twirling a pencil between his fingers. "Come on, don't you think Maurice and Lyda would like to know we’re getting married? I'm sure they'd have a field day with all our issues from the past year."

"Stop it, that didn't really happen."

"Well even if it didn't, I found it enlightening."

"Good for you. No, the courthouse will be fine."

They fall silent, the jovial atmosphere settling.

"And you don't want to invite your family?” he asks, clarifying. "Since they'll be in town?"

She shakes her head. "No, I think it should be just us."

Just us. He likes the sound of that. But still, one problem remains—

"Alright, so let me get this straight... you want to get married—to me—the one day a year your brother is in town? Are you trying to get me killed?"

Her lips quirk up at the corners. "He won't find out, Mulder."

"You like the danger of it, don't you?” he teases, leaning toward her. “You're a rebel at heart. I knew it. Probably snuck out every night in high school to run around with Johnny from the football team."

She stares at him unwaveringly, not dignifying him with a response. "Is it a yes or a no?" she asks, arms crossed in front of her.

He sobers, meeting her eyes with startling honesty. "I'll marry you any day of the year, Scully,” he says, and it's the truth. It has been the truth for years now. “Just remind me to wear a cup in case he figures it out."

"You're ridiculous."

-.-.-

The next week passes in a blur. Arrangements are made, paperwork acquired, work winds down for the holidays, and for once, Mulder isn't bored out of his mind this time of year.

"I was thinking… for tomorrow..." her voice crackles over the phone.

"Not having second thoughts, are you?" Mulder asks, his tone light and teasing despite the tinge of genuine concern he tamps down.

"No, of course not,” she assures him. “I was thinking, I'll need an excuse to leave Christmas at my mom's."

"No problem,” he says with a shrug. “I'll give you a call and make up some case we have to work."

He hears her sigh and gets the distinct impression that his suggestion was somehow wrong. "I can't ask you to do that,” she says. “They already blame you for last year."

"Gee, that's reassuring,” he chuckles, leaning back on his leather sofa. He adjusts the phone cradle on his chest, stretching the power cord to its limits.

"Not all of them, but, you know—"

"Bill."

"Yeah."

He waits for a second, but when she offers no further thoughts, he asks, "Then what do you suggest?"

She waits a moment more before responding. 

"Before you say anything, just listen to what I have to say…”

Oh boy.

"Why does that not give me a good feeling?" he muses aloud, his fingers twirling and tangling with the cord on the phone.

"The only way for you to be in the clear is if you're... with me, when we get called away."

"Scully—"

"We can just leave straight from her house, it's closer anyway."

"All excellent points, except for one thing..."

"Skinner can call us in."

Silence. He wants to argue but he can't.

"He already knows what's happening, I'm sure he'd be happy to help us," she reasons.

"I'm not gonna be able to talk myself out of this, am I?" he asks, a wry smile on his face. He's all out of excuses. 

"Mulder, if this works out... Well, there's a chance that by this time next year, we'll be a... family... of some sort, anyway. You might have to get used to it."

The word family sends a thrill right through him. He never thought he'd have one of those again. Never in a million years.

"You're right,” he says regretfully, running a hand over his face. “And it's not that I don't like your family, Scully, it's just I'm not sure they like me back."

"My mom loves you,” she says decisively. “And we'll only be there a few hours anyway. The courthouse closes early for the holiday."

He closes his eyes. He can't believe he's about to agree to this.

"Alright, I'll go. Just so you can get your thrill in doing something wildly irresponsible and rebellious right under your mother's nose."

She protests, "That's not why I—"

"I know you, Scully,” he teases. “You're not as strait-laced as you like to pretend."

After they hang up, Mulder stares up at the ceiling, lost in thought. His stomach flutters with nerves, unrelated to his worries about crashing a family gathering in the morning.

‘I am getting married tomorrow,’ he thinks. To Dana Scully.

It's a Christmas miracle.

~~~

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[ashesandhackles]

HP Reread - Order of Phoenix (part 1)

OOTP - Chapter 1,2,3

love how oppressive the atmosphere is from the beginning. It's a drought and Harry is lying in a flowerbed that is dying. It's also a great way to show Harry's desperation for news. Also that he scavenges newspapers from rubbish bins :(

Vernon grabs Harry by the throat and Harry has to magically throw him off. ( Harry takes care to "stop short of the point at which Uncle Vernon's outstretched hands could resume their strangling"). Not the first time the threat of physical violence exists from Vernon.

Harry feeling comforted by Sirius' letters even though they are just as empty of news. (also amusing that Harry recognises the hypocrisy of Sirius asking him not to be rash XD the "do as I say and not as I do" parent)

Harry's neighbours being terrified of "that Potter boy" who they have been warned is a hooligan (and they keep muttering about his "delinquent" appearance). Petunia will also refer to Snape as "that awful boy": drawing similarities in how they are perceived in the Muggle world.

"This is night Diddykins. That's what they call it when it goes all dark like this" LOL

Right after Dudley taunts him, hits him and Harry fully feels his hatred of 14 years for him, Harry's first instinct is to yell at Dudley to come back when they are in danger. I love how his priorities immediately shift when he knows someone is in danger.

Harry casts a spell without a wand in his hand.

As angry as he is with Ron and Hermione, it is their faces that gives his Patronus the force it needs.

This is the book where Dudley faces a Dementor, and is implied to grow up and reflect in the next two books. I think this is significant: especially because this is the book James is also humanised. We get a lot of fandom complaints about how we don't get to see James growing up - that it is told, and not shown. James (and Lily) are meant to be thematic ghosts, Harry will never fully know them and that's the point. And bullies grow up: Dudley did, and so does James. (Harry makes the Dudley-James connection in SWM, and then later on compares James to Ron.)

Is Mr. Tibbles a Kneazle? The cat warned Mrs Figg when Mundungus left.

I really feel for Harry - who gets a "mingled feeling of dread and anger" when Dudley names him. And the odd feeling of calm he gets when he is threatened with the worst - the risk to his wand.

The awful boy Petunia is referring to is Snape.

I really, really love the moment between Petunia and Harry here, where her walls crumble and she shows fear of the man who killed her sister.

Love that Dumbledore sends a Howler: and it is described as an "Awful voice" that filled the confines of the kitchen. I've always interpreted that Dumbledore is surprised by how much he cares about Harry, and this is a moment Dumbledore allows himself to be angry with Dursleys, in particular, Petunia. (I back this up with his admission at end of the book: "I cared too much about you" - and I think him loving Harry was a surprise to him)

Harry addresses the first letter to Sirius, second to Ron, and third to Hermione. I think the order is who he feels most ownership of. Sirius is his.

Harry feeling guilty about being irritable with Hedwig <3 although now I want a Hedwig POV of how she pecked Sirius, Ron and Hermione after Harry asked her to xD

Kingsley talks of James with familiarity, even though he was not part of the Order before.

love how Tonks and Mad Eye are interacting this chapter. She is the charmingly impertinent protege, questioning his paranoia. XD

Remus being cheeky by calling Tonks "Nymphadora". He had to have known at this point that she wants to be called Tonks.

Elphias Doge: Dumbles friend who he was supposed to travel with prior to Ariana's death i think? Also comments on Harry having Lily's eyes.

love that Remus, quite like Sirius, also reads the expression on Harry's face and answers the thought.

we also get the info that Ted Tonks is a slob, while Andromeda is so neat that she gets socks to fold themselves.

the chapter, even with threeway dynamic with Tonks, Kingsley, and Mad Eye, also places Tonks and Remus as a team.

Chapter 4,5,6

There is no keyhole or letterbox in Grimmauld Place, but Remus taps the door with his wand and chains clatter. Something Orion added or Dumbles?

"it was as though they had entered a house of dying person". Thanks for that JKR. But also - its about the Ozymandias vibe of the dying line of Blacks.

aiyooo, Harry being momentarily happy at the sight of them but the reminder they were sworn not to tell him anything, so he pays attention to Hedwig and ignores both of them. Hermione and Ron, bless them, try to get him to talk because they both see how broody he is lol. They even exchange looks that Harry catches XD

Also, Ginny's favouritism for Bill. Bill's opinions "settle the matter" for her.

Ginny, the good liar. (she accuses Crookshanks of putting Dungbombs on the meeting door, when it was her to Mrs Weasley) I think its such an interesting shade of her - and combined with the offscreen storyline in CoS, gives a good dimension to her.

aww Harry feels ashamed of shouting at Ron and Hermione because they both look nervous when everyone is gone :( and the fact that he is apologetic is immediately picked by both of them, with Ron shaking his head (similar to GOF where harry cuts him off before he can apologise) and Hermione assuring him that they really did try.

Snape is in the center of the Order group: his work is crucial to the Order.

What a charming portrait, this Walburga. Also, what a fun introduction to Sirius this book : "blood traitor, abomination, shame of my flesh" "Hello Harry. I see you met my mother."

Mundungus wakes up from sleep and reflexively agrees with Sirius as though they were in a meeting. Lollll.

Walburga puts a permanent sticking charm on back of her portrait, Sirius has permanent sticking charm for his very specific room decoration. The apple doesnt fall far from the tree, lol. (Thanks @artemisia-black this particular insight)

Crookshanks takes the time to greet Harry and jumps into Sirius' lap :<3 best friends.

The moment Sirius says he is stuck inside the house for a month, Harry immediately frowns. The boy knows what it is like being stuck inside a house that does not want you.

Snape taking jibes at Sirius by asking him how the cleaning is going, lol. "how is the cleaning going?" "fuck off"

Bill being the family peacemaker when Mrs Weasley drops Percy's name and Mr Weasley immediately freezes. Remus being cute and handing her a plate of stew after the awkward moment.

"Harry heard the sarcasm in his voice, he was not sure anyone else did." The way Harry is so attuned to Sirius.

lol at Hermione and Ginny requesting favourite noses from Tonks.

the discussion between Bill, Mr Weasley and Remus about goblins is so interesting! Both Bill and remus have practical POVs, while Arthur is more of an idealist, emotion driven. Also love that Remus identifies himself among oppressor of goblins by saying "we", when he himself is a class of people oppressed by the wizarding society. Gentleman werewolf <3

LOL at Mrs Weasley throwing a Look at Sirius about Mundungus and he immediately Gets It ("She still hasnt forgiven him for slipping off duty when he was supposed to be tailing you"). The two hosts of the house having an issue and Harry is like "what is happening?" XD

Sirius is also so attuned to Harry. He knows that the first thing Harry would do is start asking questions about Voldemort the moment he arrived.

"Harry's been trapped in that Muggle house for a month": the way both Harry and Sirius intimately know what this means.

"it is not down to you to decide what's good for Harry": it's interesting to me how Molly challenges Sirius' guardianship here. There is an element of possessiveness over Harry they both show - but I wonder if Molly is also a bit shaky cos of loss of Percy at the moment, and stress of war.

Arthur is so allergic to conflict that he will take his time cleaning his glasses before deciding on a reply lol. Remus ends the conversation by rephrasing what Sirius said. XD

Remus deescalates the tension in this scene, but he is also offended on behalf of Sirius (he speaks "sharply"). Also Molly recognises that she has gone too far in the scene, her lip trembles after she says this and the next time she addresses Sirius, she is trembling then too

Sirius and Remus tag teaming to tell Harry info. (also they exchange a look when Harry asks about the weapon. I know Sirius answers this, but Remus also takes ownership of this moment - "we said too much" and thats an interesting characterisation moment for me for Remus)

love the bitterness in Sirius' voice about how Ministry does not want to face the fact that Voldemort's back. He is so angry - on his behalf, on Harry's behalf. Most of his anger about how his life has turned out is directed to the Ministry.

lol at Dumbledore not caring what they do as long as he is not taken off Chocolate Frog cards.

Fred betting that Ginny is lying awake waiting for Hermione to tell her EVERYTHING XD

Phineas makes his presence felt even though his canvas is empty: he snickers during the argument, and they can hear him sleep. I suppose for portraits: they can hear things of the canvas they are connected to even though they are not there?

"he's got the Cruciatus curse for causing pain. He doesnt need anything more efficient than that." Oh Harry.

lol at Sirius and Molly being extra polite to each other after their disagreement.

love the moment where George sees Harry watching Fred pocket a Doxy, and explains their products and experiment to him.

"my mother didn't have heart. She kept herself alive out of pure spite" :( "I've had enough": something harry says in POA when he leaves.

Alphard gets blasted off posthumously for leaving Sirius gold lol.

"my idiot, soft enough to believe them": the way Sirius minimises his brother's agency and leaves the blame at his parents' door about Regulus being a Death Eater. "i bet my parents thought Regulus was a right little hero for joining up at first"

Harry, sensing Sirius' feelings actually asks him tentatively about Regulus' death: "was he killed by an Auror?" also when Mrs Weasley comes back with lunch, Harry remains with Sirius.

Sirius getting angry at the suggestion he is related to Bellatrix. And yet, the interesting thing narrative does in the books is evoke strong parallels between them - the exhilarated laugh before their defeat, the good looks being wasted but also traits that don't get pointed out as much: first borns of their family who chafe against the rules of the society they are born in. Bellatrix becomes #girlboss terrorist while Sirius rebels.

Ginny slamming the creepy musical box lid shut: her experience with the enchantment of the diary coming to play a bit here.

i love all these little descriptions of how they are waging a war against the house and how visitors stayed to help: Tonks with a murderous ghoul, Remus with a grandfather's clock and how Mundungus redeemed himself in front of Mrs Weasley by saving Ron from purple robes that tried to strangle him.

ah Harry actually wants to ask if Sirius would come to the hearing as Snuffles. I LOVE THEM.

Chapter 7,8,9

Scrimgeour- the head of Auror office and Minister for next book - is onto something. He is asking Tonks and Kingsley "funny questions."

why is there no fanart of Arthur in a bomber jacket and pinstriped trousers?

ok, I am a little endeared by Mrs Weasley attacking Harry's hair with a wet comb and asking whether it ever lies flat XD

Sirius trying to cheer Harry up with a joke about seeing to Amelia Bones for him, and Harry actually smiles weakly. I am sorry, I think this entire book I am just going to be savouring all the Sirius-Harry.

the magical fountain where goblin, house elf and centaur "look adoringly up at the witch and wizard". implicit power dynamic even in the lie. #imperialist moment

Magical Maintenance giving them two months of hurricanes when they wanted a pay rise Imao.

Kingsley and Arthur interacting as if they dont know each other is really cute, especially when they do sotto voice for the real info they want to give. Also, Kingsley asking Arthur to pass a magazine for Sirius :<3

a demonstration of Arthur's standing in the Ministry: his office is smaller than the broom cupboard and his request for window is denied.

for future plot point: the regurgitating toilet (whose culprit will inform Umbridge of the DA meeting), and Harry sees Bode!

they changed the time and venue of Harry's hearing to a courtroom they dont often use. Dumbles will imply they were trying to sabotage Harry next chapter.

the courtroom Harry is in, is used for terrorist trials of back in aftermath of first war (there are even chains on the seat "threateningly" clinking at him). Arthur had implied they haven't used it for a while, and this really drives home how much this trial is meant to sabotage Harry's chances as well as unsettle him.

Umbridge in shadow. A foreboding introduction to antagonist of this book.

I love that when Harry sees Dumbledore, there is a hopeful feeling in his chest that he connects with the phoenix song. It's beautiful imagery, an indication of how safe he feels with Dumbledore. Also callback to Priori Incantetam in GOF.

Harry suspects that Mrs Figg had seen a picture of a Dementor, and that she was coached about what she would say. Dumbledore relied on the Ministry not knowing about whether or not Squibs can actually see Dementors for Mrs Figg's speech. Love how Dumbles uses their ignorance against them.

When Dumbledore suggests that the Dementors being there wasnt an accident, Umbridge's shadow moves. Nice.

Dumbles gets "cool" when Fudge hints at not having Hogwarts under Ministry control.

Love that Dumbles overturns the power dynamic of the room and tells the Wizengamot to make a decision after he was done talking.

Dumbles basically runs out without giving an indication to Arthur how the trial went. This is possibly because Arthur is already suspected of being close to Dumbledore, so he wouldnt want to stick around and relay info.

"Harry felt winded" at the sight of Lucius Malfoy, the man who was both witness to and jeered Harry's predicament at the graveyard, and just weeks after he told Fudge that Malfoy was a DE. and Arthur, bless him, can sense Harry's feelings, because he holds his shoulder in a warning.

Ron is so happy about Harry being cleared that he is serving mashed potatoes onto everyone's plates <3

Sirius. I love the detail that both Sirius and Harry (later in the book) retreat to Buckbeak's room when they are both upset.

Hermione getting increasingly bothered by the twins dragging Ron, that she speaks up angrily <3

I really love this little moment of Harry sitting and probbing his own feelings about Ron getting the badge instead of him. There are so many things happening here - one Harry is a bit competitive, so I can imagine him taking a hit that his best friend has overtaken him in something. But I think it's (strongly implied) because he feels overlooked by Dumbledore (which is a theme through the book). Kingsley and Lups conversation at the dinner confirms Harry's feelings.

I like all these little hints about Ginny's comfort with Sirius. She includes him in a conversation when she is with Tonks.

And Sirius is also right beside Harry. I love that Harry is this little duck who just gravitates to where Sirius is in the room.

Harry feeling "doubly fond" of everyone in the room when he is told that James was not a prefect either. At this point in his journey, so much of his identity is rooted in who his father is.

Moody showing the Order photograph and recalling tales of gore lol. (Lups is on a different side of the photograph than Jily + Wormtail)

I really feel for Mrs Weasley in the Boggart scene. It is described so vividly too, as is Harry's initial reaction to seeing Ron's body.

Sirius keeps staring at the patch of floor where he had seen dead Harry (a memory of James' dead body intrudes? or a future where he imagines failing Harry? Both is possible)

Lups gently comforting Molly, while Sirius's offers his version of practical comfort - that its only a matter of time when Voldemort moves into open, and he will see he is wrong.

The chapter ends with harry thinking how he feels old after looking at that picture of the Order of Phoenix and Mrs Weasleys' Boggart. The full weight of the stakes they are facing hits him.

Chapter 10, 11, 12

Padfoot snapping at pigeons, chasing his own tail and scaring cats for Harry's entertainment <3 (also Lee says, "Nice dog, Harry!" and Sirius wags his tail "frantically". I cant deal with how cute this is.)

and when Harry is about to leave, "the great black dog reared onto its hind legs and placed his front paws on Harry's shoulders" :( and then Sirius chases the trail until it rounds the bend. How did it get from sweet to painful already.

Ron becomes "intensely interested in his fingernails" when both Harry and him realise it is going to be their first Hogwarts ride without each other, since Ron has to go to the Prefect's carriage. And then Ron being anxious at leaving Harry behind and implies that he'd rather be with Harry ("I'm not enjoying it -I'm not Percy"). I mentioned in prev discussion about Ron's awkwardness about being a prefect in wake of Percy's departure, and the "I'm not Percy" line shows it so deeply.

Ginny being really sweet! She asks Harry to look for compartment, encourages Neville to come with them into Luna's compartment. And while she did call Luna "Loony" privately outside, she was all smile-y inside the compartment. And when Neville goes, "I'm nobody", Ginny intervenes and introduces Neville to Luna. (btw this book is full of very organic Ginny character writing! I really like how she is integrated here)

Love that Harry audibly groans after Cho leaves, seeing him covered in Stinksap. Ginny noticed, of course and goes, "never mind" and cleans it up after. (Also, we have a parallel scene in HBP where Harry, instead of being embarrassed to be with Neville and Luna, defends them in front of Romilda Vane)

Ron comes back and just plops himself next to Harry after his hour at the prefect carriage. :hug_blob:

Harry excited to read the article Kingsley thought would amuse Sirius. XD and after the first line he is like: "Since when had Sirius been a singing sensation?"

"Tell me how it feels to be second best to Weasley, Potter?" Love that Hermione is nettled by this - she is angry on behalf of both Ron and Harry. And then when Malfoy mentions "dogging", she actually stands up. She is so worried about Sirius :( (she mentions before that she thinks he shouldnt have come with them)

Harry and Hermione share a look about Malfoy saying "dogging" and they are both unnerved.

Luna offering to help Harry manage the pets as everyone else is gone :heart: love the little moment in the end where she assures him that she can see the Thestrals too.

"seeing Hagrid again was one of things he was looking forward to the most." Oh harry <3

lol @ Hermione and Luna, intended foils, are on same page about Hagrid's teaching skills.

cute atmosphere detail about students taking note of each other's new haircuts etc after a summer away. Its details like that gives it a school feeling.

"Who's that?" : Hermione meets her antagonist for the year: Umbridge.

Even with bitter feelings, Harry is soothed to see Dumbledore. Such intense feelings of safety are associated with Dumbles. (also love the detail of Dumbles throwing his beard back over the shoulder to eat, lol)

the trio smirking when Dumbles warns that Forbidden Forest is out of bounds ("few older students should know this by now too" XD)

McGonagall and Sprout annoyed that Umbridge is interrupting Dumbles speech (which is obviously intended as a power move). They also exchange a glance during Umbridge's speech.

"I'll be her friend as long as I don't have to borrow that cardigan" Parvati lol

The speech was interesting and very subtle with how the Ministry is pro-pureblood: she refers to magic as a generational thing within wizarding community ("the treasure trove of magical knowledge amassed by our ancestors").

Dean <3 love that he sides with Harry and assures him, but is also unable to say a bad word about Seamus since he is a friend. He is a good guy.

love how in sync Harry and Ron are here: Harry can tell from Ron's silence that Ron doesn't find the idea of stopping Fred and George inviting, and Ron responds for Harry when Hermione asks what's wrong, because Harry couldnt say it. (also Ron especially doesnt want to stop Fred and George - which he was happy to do previous book with the whole blackmail business - because of the large absence of Percy and reminders of Percy)

Hermione thinking its best to know what the enemy is saying and reading the Prophet. Really getting a lay of the land here. Its incredible how political her arc is.

love that George mentions that one of the reasons they came back for their 7th year is because they didnt think Molly could take them leaving the school early after the whole debacle with Percy.

lol @ romione banter. Hermione lays into them for not paying attention in class, and Ron compliments her brains and memory, and while she says, "don't give me that rubbish" because she knows what Ron is doing, she also looked "mollified" lol. XD

Cho did not have a good summer either, and I like that Harry recognises the connection in someone else who would be affected by Cedric's death.

love that as resolutely as Umbridge is ignoring her, Hermione keeps her hand in air . And the book is so boring, everyone ends up watching her XD. Also, Hermione not opening a book feels like her form of protest lol.

the moment Hermione confronts her about her course aims, the trio is in sync. Ron exclaims, "we're not going to use magic?" + Umbridge does the power move of asking students to raise their hands if they want to speak in class. And Harry, Ron and Hermione's hands are up.

Dean being the VERY BEST, by both backing Harry's assertion when he was cut off, and defending Remus when Umbridge makes a jab, and then saying they still learned loads from Fake!Moody. XD (also Parvati spoke up too. These two are the bold kids)

Harry standing up and speaking up against Umbridge and the whole class is holding a breath. Seamus is half scared, half facinated. Neville says later on in DH that Harry speaking up when he felt things are wrong "gave people hope".

lol at Harry repeating Umbridge's speech and interpretation of it, and McGonagall immediately knows he knows this because he listened to Hermione XD

[inkybinkyboink]

urinetown beach day headcanons!

"but that was 2 days ago"

SHSHSHZHSHSHZSHZHSHHS

SHUSH

okay so i think the concept of the beach in urinetown is really interesting because there's a drought.

but the beach would still like...have to be a thing because oceans dont just dry up

so i think it would be really interesting to observe the change in who attends the beach. because you'd need a car to get there- accessible beaches are probably much further away than normal

the beach becomes an elitist thing. only rich people go to the beach. it's a luxury

so when cladwell is like, "hey, i'm going to the beach", hope is like "say more right now."

she refuses to go unless bobby can go with her, "it's my road or the high road daddy"

which then leads to mrs. pennywise getting in on the beach trip, which then leads to the poor tagging along

lockstock sees this and goes "poor people going to the beach? it has to be a coup. i'm going to follow behind them to make sure nothing bad happens."

cut to barrel squeezed into the passenger seat already in his beach clothes and a flamingo pool floaty around his waist

little sally somehow ends up in the backseat and no one notices she's there until she wakes up from her nap halfway there and almost jumpscares lockstock to driving off the road.

and that's how caldwell b. cladwell ends up taking an entire gang of strange, ragamuffin-like bumbling idiots to the beach with him (and his entourage ofc ofc, i just KNOW ms. millenium serves cunt at the beach)

mr. mcqueen is afraid of the water, and the sand, and anything beachy, he hates it. he does paperwork at the beach, and then starts crying when sand gets on it

bobby makes sure hope reapplies her sunscreen like the world will end if she doesn't

meanwhile, he forgets his own and burns like a fucking piece of dry grass

they're not there for twenty minutes and the poor have already buried tiny tom up to his neck in the sand

little sally scares them all by floating in the water and pretending she's dead multiple times

barrel looks like he's ready to go swimming for the entire day, but then a single piece of algae touches his foot within the first hour and he immediately taps out

lockstock's like "ooo i'm gonna do my cop job at the beach, i'm gonna guard the rich people" and then immediately conks out on a towel

fipp is surprisingly good at skipping rocks

hope brought all the snacks, and she shares, serves, and slays.

hot blades "i know how to swim (and then almost drowns)" harry

little sally builds a really good sandcastle and then barrel kicks it and she throws sand in his eyes

the poor bury lockstock in sand while he's sleeping like they did with tiny tom

hot blades "you mean there's been water this whole time!? (tries to drink it and throws up because he didn't know it was salty)" harry

little becky spends a lot of time looking for sea shells because she think they'll make nice room decor for when her baby arrives

cladwell reads his book the entire time and pretends his day isn't being ruined by the chaos of what he tried so hard to forget about

bobby strong thinks that he's going to be eaten by a shark and it takes him an hour to coax him into the water

the only swimming concept that poor man can grasp is a pitiful doggy paddle

everyone is fast asleep on the drive home and it's the most peaceful quiet thing you could possibly imagine.

[hezzabeth]

"I don't think that's it. Here, let me show you something," Revati said, gesturing for her sister to follow.

Dityaa, who always found silence terrifying, spent the brief walk chattering away.

"I don't know if I should continue things with the Duke; he is adorable and very sweet, but I've been stabbed and bruised," Dityaa said, more to herself than to Revati.

"Exactly," Revati agreed.

"Of course, it would be nice to live in a romantic villa with a wardrobe filled with gowns," Dityaa added, touching her dress.

"You do love gowns, and that one is starting to look a bit shabby," Revati smirked.

"Don't judge me for liking feminine things! You act like a warlord but you still make lipstick out of ash and oil," Dityaa snapped back.

"I don't judge you for being girly! I judge you because you spend your life acting like one of the drunk moths hanging around our lampposts," Revati argued as they turned a corner.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Dityaa demanded.

"You go to balls and seduce dukes, ignoring the fact we are trapped here for the rest of our lives!" Revati said. It was something she had thought many times but never said. Mars had been long ago terraformed in pockets with massive stretches of freezing wilderness between countries and settlements. Older Landon had been built miles away from the nearest city in the middle of an AI machine zone. The only way to reach the park was, of course, by driving or on a high-speed floating train.

"I don't ignore it; I remember more than you do! I remember us running towards the gates trying to get the last train out! I remember watching people leave the park on foot thinking they could walk to the city," Dityaa replied. Sometimes, the Hardi brothers would discover the old bodies of tourists frozen solid in the wasteland. They would, of course, rob them and then rush back towards the park before night fell. Sometimes late at night, Revati could see the distant city lights. It didn't change the fact it was still a day's walk away.

"What's that?" Dityaa suddenly asked, stopping her tirade.

Dityaa had spotted the Android.

"I have no idea; it said it was looking for its daughter," Revati admitted as Dityaa stooped down at the Android curiously.

"Daughter? Can androids have a baby?" Dityaa asked.

"I suspect it was a human using the Android as a surrogate. The voice didn't sound like an AI appliance," Revati admitted.

"It looks familiar, doesn't she?" Dityaa asked.

"It looks exactly like the portrait of the lost princess in Whistleton," Revati said as Dityaa carefully touched the Android's face.

"No, it's more than that," Dityaa said in a soft dreamy voice.

Revati merely leaned down, grabbing the Android's broken legs.

"Go get the balloon cart and push it back here," Revati said.

"You're not thinking of taking it back home, are you? Amma will kill you," Dityaa protested.

"Obviously I'm bringing it back! I need answers," Revati snapped back, and Dityaa marched off.

The second she vanished around the corner, the Android's metal eyes fluttered. Its hand tried to grab Revat's wrist before falling dead once more.

******

A forest had engulfed Baker Street. A romantic, sunlit forest with twisting trees covered in puffy, bright yellow blossoms bursting from upturned cobblestones. Dotted among them were smaller, dark trees heavy with bunches of magenta berries. Two of the feral children had already attacked the berries, their lips a deep purple.

Dityaa stopped helping Revati with the popcorn cart and started skipping towards the children. Revati sneezed loudly as the pollen hit her nose. She hated to admit it, but it was all rather pretty.

A few feet away, Brigadeiro was working outside the greenhouse along with the school students and Dusk. Mrs. Gupta was glaring at them with firm disapproval. “Does that fool have any idea how much water plants use?” She grumbled to Revati, who was pushing the cart towards everyone.

“I told you, Mrs. Gupta, these are all drought-resistant native Australian plants,” Brigadeiro replied as he stooped over an upturned cobblestone, spraying the mud below. There was a faint rustling sound, and a bush burst from the earth. The bush had peculiar finger-like mint-green leaves. Seconds later, it was covered in hot pink fleshy fruit.

“They look like your hair,” Revati remarked, faintly startled by the entire thing. “Here, try one,” Brigadeiro replied, picking a piece of fruit and handing it to Revati.

“I was only gone for less than an hour! You’ve turned the entire street into a jungle” Revati pointed out.

[torreshalstead]

On a crowded street in 1944 - Chapter 5

Summary - The four walls of Upton’s General Store were all Hailey knew although she longed to see what else life had to offer. When a handsome soldier walks through the door, she thinks he might just be the answer to the life she wants to have. But it was 1944 and the country was at war. Would fate smile on her or would her heart be another casualty of the war?

Chapters - 5/15

Notes - we are now fully entering our letter era so happy reading! ❤️ AO3 Link

July 1944

Waiting for Jay’s next letter felt like waiting for rain in the middle of summer, painfully slow and every letter through the mailbox felt like the next cloud that would end the long drought. The first week she had almost grabbed the letters out of the mailman’s hands until her father had scowled at her for opening the door in her nightgown. After the first week the days seemed to drag, anytime she failed to see the newly familiar handwriting adorning an envelope, her stomach would drop a little further and her smile would shift from her face.

She had tried to write a letter to him so when his arrived she would be able to mail it back to him immediately and not put him through the torturous wait that she was enduring. But she found she didn’t have the words. How do you write a response to a letter you are yet to receive? How do you explain to someone that you only got to experience a short amount of time with, that they have forever changed your life?

Dear Jay

That sounded too impersonal.

Dearest Jay

That sounded like she was just repeating his words back to him.

Jay

She had scratched that out as quickly as she had written it, the scrunched up piece of paper ending up being singed by the candle to save herself the embarrassment of her parents finding the remains of the letter.

My Dearest Jay,

Everyday I have waited for your letter to arrive, to read your words again and know that you are okay and what we have isn’t just a dream.

Thank you doesn’t seem enough for the gift of the book, Mr Periot really does know how to solve a murder and Agatha Christie writes like no one I have ever read before. I shall keep it safe for you so when you return, we can read it together back on our bench.

Life in Chicago is just how you left it, the summer is hot and unfortunately you are the only person to ever have offered me a cold soda. I wouldn’t accept one from anyone else now anyway. My father is at least being kept busy with his new business deal which gives me plenty of time to read and reread your notes. I think I know them by heart by now.

I hope this letter brings you joy and makes you smile, just as yours does to me.

I eagerly await your response.

Yours forever,

Hailey

It wasn’t perfect and her handwriting wasn’t as neat as it could be, if her mother ever saw it she would probably be rapped across her knuckles, but it was honest. She had left enough space between the final paragraph and the sign off to include a response to anything he had written in his. The letter was carefully folded and hidden in the book along with the one she treasured from him.

The newspapers were full of stories of the war, of the pride of the nation who was fighting for freedom overseas. But among the positive, there was always a list of names of those who would not be returning home to their loved ones.

Every night when her knees hit the floor and she clutched her hands tightly together she prayed he would come home safe. Come home to her.

——————————————————————————

Hailey had made a decision that checking the mail for his letter was the reason it had yet to arrive, somehow she was the cause of the delay. So she pushed the thought of him and his letter to the back of her mind and continued to work through her everyday life, ignoring the fact the feeling of his lips on hers was still filling her dreams every night when her head hit the pillow and her eyes fluttered closed.

‘Letter for you Hailey,’ her father said in passing, dropping the letter onto the counter as he headed to the back door. He must have picked them up this morning and forgotten to hand them over, it was already past 2 in the afternoon. He had Jay’s letter in his possession for hours before giving it to her.

There were hours when his words were within her grasp and she hadn’t known.

‘Thank you father,’ she choked out as she picked out the letter with trembling fingers. It was his handwriting. It was finally here.

‘I’ll be late tonight, help you mother clear up after dinner,’ he grunted as he closed the door behind him. Hailey didn’t know why he wasted his breath, she always helped her mother. It was he who always seemed to fail to remember that the dishes did not wash themselves in the same way that the food was not magically cooked or his clothes magically cleaned and mended.

She folded the letter and slipped it into her pocket - she couldn’t read it now, the store was still open and a customer could appear and need assistance. But she could feel it burning a hole in her dress, the need to rip open the envelope and read it immediately was almost more than she could bear.

But she also wanted, no she needed, to read it alone.

Getting through the rest of the day was like trying to walk through molasses. Every customer seemed to need more help than the previous one. Hailey spent 20 minutes trying to explain the difference between evaporated milk and milk powder to an elderly gentleman who decided to buy neither. She had to clean up a spill from where two kids had decided to shake up their bottles of pop after purchasing them and causing them to spray all over the front of the counter. Each task was more painful than the next.

‘Hailey dear,’ her mother appeared downstairs just before the shop was due to close. Her mother usually stayed upstairs and away from the store, Hailey was never completely certain why but she seemed to find many a task to occupy her time upstairs.

‘Yes mother,’ Hailey smiled, her fingers brushing the corner of the envelope tucked into her pocket. Warmth spreading through her chest at the contact.

‘I was wondering if you’d like to take a walk with me this evening?’ She asked with a gentle smile.

Hailey was taken aback. She loved her mother but similar to how she didn’t come down to the store often, she frequented the outside of their small bubble even less. The idea of being even more delayed from reading Jay’s letter was not appealing but spending time with her mother, that she valued deeply.

‘I’d love to,’ she said softly, knowing that the words on the page would still be there later.

‘I’ll pop down again in a couple of minutes when you’ve closed up,’ she said before turning heel and walking back upstairs.

Hailey wondered what had brought it on but she wasn’t going to question it, they very rarely got to spend any time together.

——————————————————————————

The pair strolled in a pleasant silence down the street, glancing through shop windows and smiling at passers-by.

‘Shall we pop into Mrs Smith’s? Her mother offered and Hailey’s mouth fell open in shock.

‘Really?’ Her mother knew of her love for reading but also knew of her father’s distaste for it.

‘Your birthday is not far off, if you find something you like, maybe it can be an early present for you,’ she smiled, holding open the door for Hailey who passed through it with a wide smile.

‘Miss Hailey, how lovely to see you,’ Mrs Smith said loudly from her position behind the counter. There were stacks of books towering around her, to the untrained eye it looked like chaos but Hailey knew that Mrs Smith knew where every single book was in her store - give her the title or author and she could point to it immediately.

‘Afternoon Mrs Smith, mother and I are just going to have a look around if that’s okay?’ She asked, aware it must be close to closing time for her as well.

‘Of course dear,’ she winked warmly and settled back down to continue to organise the stacks.

This was one of Hailey’s favourite places, the smell of the books, the walls covered with stories that could take you out of Chicago and to somewhere else entirely, she’d spend every hour here if she could.

‘Anything you like Hailey,’ her mother whispered to her with a gentle squeeze to her arm.

‘Are you sure?’ She confirmed, it was so unlike her family to offer to buy her anything. In the back of her mind she wondered what had brought this on. Yes her birthday was coming up, her 18th birthday, but still she expected some material which her mother would fashion into a new dress for her. That’s what she got every year, and she treasured each one even though she knew they always choose the material with the cheapest price tag. Frivolous spending was not something the Upton patriarch approved of.

‘I’m sure,’ her mother nodded.

Hailey pulled her into a tight hug before letting her go just as quick and almost bounding down the aisle. As she walked through the stacks, her fingers dragging along the untouched books, with their perfect spines and untouched pages, she was struck by a sudden thought.

Jay had promised to buy her a new book. She had never owned a new book before and she desperately wanted her first to be from him. She wanted all her firsts to be with him. To accept a new book from someone else, even from her mother, it felt like a betrayal.

But how could she explain to her mother that she didn’t want to accept her very generous gift because she was waiting for a gift from someone she couldn’t know for sure was ever going to return home. That felt rude.

Rude or betrayal. Neither were qualities that Hailey ever wanted to embody.

But her heart won out.

She headed to the back corner where Mrs Smith kept the second hand books. If she could select one of these then she could persuade her mother it was the one she desperately wanted, and as long as Mrs Smith didn’t admit to having a new copy tucked onto a shelf, her mother needn’t know the difference.

Some of these pre-loved books were in a better condition than the ones she had hidden in her wardrobe. She read through the different titles, pulling a few out to flick through their pages before settling on an almost pristine copy of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. She had been wanting to get her hands on it for a while but the deliveries always arrived in perfect condition so she had been out of luck.

‘Did you find something Hailey?’ Her mother asked as Hailey found her down the home help section looking at the culinary books.

‘I did,’ she said, holding out the chosen book with a smile.

‘This is used,’ her mother noted, ‘it’s your birthday, I can get you a new one.’ She offered with a smile the hid the shame that she wouldn’t normally buy her daughter something unless someone else had owned first.

‘This is the only copy Mrs Smith has,’ she lied and hoped that she wasn’t about to be caught out, ‘but it’s almost new,’ she said with a smile. ‘And I really want to read it,’ she added.

‘If you’re sure,’ her mother asked with a smile. ‘If it’s what you want then it’s what you get.’

With her almost new book tucked under her arm and Jay’s letter still safe in her pocket, they headed back towards the store. Once they were back inside their little apartment, Hailey turned to her mother.

‘Thank you,’ Hailey said, meaning it truly. ‘I’ve had a lovely time with you this evening.’

‘As have I Hailey,’ her mother smiled. ‘I’m sure you are desperate to start to read that book so how about I give you a call when dinner’s ready?’

‘You don’t want me to help?’ Hailey asked, again shocked by her mother’s kind offer.

‘I’ll be fine,’ she said, hanging up her purse on the hook by the kitchen door and swapping it for her apron. ‘I’ll see you in a short while.’

Hailey didn’t question her again and hurried down to her room, closing the door quickly behind her and placing the book on her nightstand. Pulling out Jay's letter, her hands were trembling again.

She had spent weeks imagining what he had written but now the moment was here, a tiny part of her was worried. What if it didn’t contain the beautifully crafted words of love that she had hoped for, what if it was short and blunt and impersonal. All the possibilities swam through Hailey’s mind.

Swallowing deeply, she carefully pried open the envelope, careful not to rip the return address - 3rd Battalion. She would need that to ensure her return got to him safely.

My dearest Hailey,

Firstly please accept all my apologies that this letter is so delayed in getting to you. I won’t bore you with the details but it took us a while to get settled, I shall leave it at that. But please know that every day I wasn’t writing to you, my thoughts were full of you and the short time we spent together.

I hope you liked your present and the book has provided you some hours of enjoyment. I meant what I said, when I return I shall buy you the books you deserve. You deserve everything good Hailey.

All the boys over here have pictures of their sweethearts that they keep in the pockets over their hearts, they say it keeps them safe but I believe it’s so they feel close to them. I don’t want to ask but if you ever wish to gift me a picture of you, please know I will keep it by my heart every moment. You have left a permanent mark there already.

I hope summer is treating you well and you are enjoying yourself and smiling a lot - a smile like yours deserves to be worn with pride.

I do hope you meant it when you said you would write to me, I patiently but eagerly await your response.

You have my heart,

Yours forever,

Jay.

Hailey fell back onto the bed, clutching the letter over her heart.

He had her heart as well and she knew in that moment that he always would.

[gingersnap2010]

Yandere Platonic Lelouch x male Autistic! Kid! reader (Code Geass)

Name: Lelouch

Type: Platonic, Protective, Possessive, Delusional, Obsessive, and Controlling

Nickname: Name, possum, chaos in the flesh, and lord of discord

 Lelouch at first has no idea what to make of you. He probably meets you at one of Nunnally’s special classes. He’s shocked to discover your just a kid. Though with your needs it makes sense why you were here since Nunnally attending special classes for people who need it had greatly increased. 

 When he finds out you are autistic, he isn’t very sure what that means. He literally has to ask more than a dozen people, before researching it online himself.

 Eventually, you come over with Nunnally for dinner and he gets to see your quirks in action. You eat out of a compartment box, which has the correct amount of portions you can handle. You hate veggies with a firey passion, more so than his hatred towards his father. You proceeded to tell him your conspiracy theory on the veggie industry and how they will take over the world. 

He pretended to be interested even though he had absolutely no idea what you were even saying to him at the rate you were going. He learned you talk fast and loud when excited. Personal space is a word that is not in your vocabulary, also privacy.

You are very blunt and see the world bluntly, if Nunnally needs help getting into her nightgown. You offer with absolutely no intentions of doing anything funny with her. It makes sense for your age but with sex questions well…

He’s worried that no one has told you about how babies are made. Only to be proven wrong with your very open discussion on the topic. He learns you like being prepared for future events, your boldness of sex. Is a copping measure to make sure you don’t do sex wrong.

 He finds it endearing in a strange way.  Though you couldn’t discuss sex so often, then again you were one to discuss open issues in society so he doesn’t mind. Though he does keep ohgi the hell away from you!

However you have no table skills, you use sporks only, with the occasional spoon for deserts /cereals, and soups and a knife for meats. You have a variety of strange interests. You know more about zero than the average joe, which makes him sweat like you wouldn’t believe. 

Then there’s your animal hobby, you just love possums hence the nickname. He actually learns more about the animal than he used to because of you. Then there's the time you spout some random ass animal fact out of the blue and it catches him off guard. 

“ Hey lelouch! Kangaroos pause their pregnancies in times of drought! Isn’t that neat?!” you yelled rushing into his bathroom as he was getting out of the shower.

Cue him being perplexed as to why you are there and then you follow up

“ also there’s soap on your-” he cuts you off before you announce it to Nunnally

“ ah I see thanks name! Got it!”

“Also Nunnally says hi!” you chirp

“ hi back!” Lelouch yelled trying to cover himself 

Then there was the whole fancy dinner incident. Truthfully he should have told Milly you wouldn’t understand caviar.

” Where are the nuggets?”

“ name this is a fancy restaurant they don’t have chicken nuggets,” Lelouch whispered

“ macaroni?” you ask

“ no,” Suzaku said eyeing you 

“ Is there a kid's menu?!” you shout at the waiter, who turns confused

“ oh my god……” Milly groaned

“ Can we go to Mcdonald's?” you ask

Lelouch smacked his head on the table.

He  becomes your dad, without realizing it. He’s like Mr. mom, seriously he figures out a schedule for you after he convinces your guardian to let you move in. May have used his geass for that. 

Your social skills are zero to none, and so, is the perception of volume.

“ HEY LELOUCH!!!! NINTENDO!!!!” you scream happily pointing to a  pokemon manga

“ name!! shush we’re in a library!” Lelouch hissed 

 When you get hurt or sent to an area he’s gonna wreak havoc on, that's when yandere mode goes on full. He keeps you locked up after that. He feels a bit guilty but he may use your trust in him, to make you stay away from the television if he’s not there, and so on. But it’s honestly for your own good. 

He goes permanently after a bullying situation at school where someone calls you a retard after you did not understand something. He was livid at the person and has a smile the next day when they are found dead. 

This is a good display of his protectiveness, his delusion is in the thinking you are like Nunnally who he perceives is made out of glass. So instead of helping you in a way that would let you become more independent, he caters to your needs.  

  Don’t like watching movies if there's a sad moment in it? Perfect he’ll set up animal documentaries, and animal learning shows instead.  Or craft shows, you name something g rated he’s got it hooked up to the tv. C.C. is like a mum to you so he sees you often cuddling up to her. It makes him jealous, though when you cuddle him he gets flustered easily. He’s shy about hugs sometimes.

C.C. basically gets you stuff to keep busy with, she also teaches you about the history she had experienced. So your understanding of history greatly improves, and you learn a few more languages. She also is great to teach you anything since she is patient and mellow, and has also learned various teaching methods over the years. 

So while your skills don’t improve with people, academically you skyrocket. You're able to get your point across faster with higher-thinking words. Such as parched, instead of thirsty, and so on. It helps you fit in with the higger standing kids when you do go outside so that’s a plus.

  Lelouch calls you chaos in the flesh after the tube city incident in the club room, your idea which you somehow convinced Milly of. Then again she’s had outlandish ideas too. Was to make a giant system of tubes for hamsters. Then set them loose across the school as animal enthusiasm and awareness. 

  You also drench yourself in paint and tried to paint with your body. So yeah, chaos in the flesh. He calls you the lord of discord for the poker game incident that drove him and Suzaku up the wall. When they learned you had somehow been playing with Uno cards. Then said Yahtzee at the end. Truth be told he should have guessed that smile did not seem to get the point of the game. 

C.C. then congratulated you on the discord you created. Hence the nickname.

 You also hog the blanket, yeah you sleep in his bed. You have trouble sleeping alone. Your mind at night tells you that if someone is there they will protect you from whatever monster may come after you. You are not wrong in his case, but the point still stands. Every night you also sleep walk so he has put up baby gates and extra walls, in order to prevent you from getting hurt.

 When he becomes king, he’s hesitant about how you’ll take his death. Since you seem not to deal with the concept very well. So he may tell you he’s gonna be back. This is before he knows he's got code. You also like stealing his hat and sitting on the throne with your favorite drink and people watch. It spooks the guards that’s for sure. 

 You also like playing with the limo’s buttons. Much to the annoyance of the driver. Your favorite thing to do though is to sneak under his robes without him knowing then pop your head threw them scarring him every single time!

You also take a fancy to watch sleeping beauty. He’s not sure why though….

When’s he back with memories and code, you launch yourself at him before kola hugs him. He’s trapped by you and knows it. It takes bribing from Suzaku before you even consider letting go. You watch him like a hawk since he was gone for so long. 

  Lelouch sighs and lets you lay on him as he walks with C.C. to their next location. Yeah, he’d figured out how to keep you with him, so you ain’t dying anytime soon. When you ask what the funny tattoo is for, Lelouch just tells you it’s like a bracelet.

C.C Has dubbed you The Jelly bean of absolute Mayhem. You like it cause it makes you sound powerful, as you try to imitate what Lelouch does with his eyes. Lelouch just sweats in confusion when he sees you trying to act all threatening. 

He tried teaching you chess once, and he watched in horror as you ate the pieces. C.C. learns you are more of a tic-tac-toe person. You do it in the dirt with a tree branch you found.  The most recent incident was when you managed to find a possum and wanted to keep it. It liked you, but it hissed at Lelouch with fiery hatred! The possum had to go, but he got you a plushie which you dubbed mrs. possum.

All in all, not the worst yandere…. right?

[crimsonblackrose]

.

On the one hand I'm happy Daniel finally got a pool with water in it, on the other hand LA is like in a constant drought.

The kids are having croissants, omelettes and fruit for breakfast, which is very cute.

Espresso clink is my favorite

How long do you think it took between episode 1 and 2? Not like in filming but in actual canon? Because:

That's a sign, and window decor. And Johnny's on a super tight budget. So did he just hand paint/stencil that all himself? Who made his sign so fast? I mean half the time signs take forever to go up. Also kebab places signage is totally different.

Miggy in his LA dodgers jersey is giving Daniel in his Halloween day outfit. It weirdly doesn't have a number. I don't know sports, don't they usually have a number?

The amount of interior work Johnny did is huge. Like he put mirrors up? The mats are down. His little silhouette karate guys are all over the walls.

Every time I see that box of trophies they're going to multiply. Now I see 5.

I think...despite everything his stencils were crooked:

Maybe it's the camera angle.

Do you think Daniel and Mr. Miyagi had to fill out all that paperwork for insurance and certification before they opened out Mr. Miyagi's little trees? I suppose we never actually saw it open officially, just the set up, and they actually got a lease from a realtor, not a handshake with a dude outside of a strip mall.

Daniel spent his summers playing in a broken fire hydrant next to his Aunt Tessie's.

Do you think Daniel picked out Encino Oaks on purpose since he'd been there once? (It is supposed to be the same country club right?)

Amanda and Daniel like Dirty Martini's ice ice cold.

Aisha drives her father (Isaiah's) Q5

The summer party they're at they go to every year, so it's annual event with magicians and clowns.

Junior year Johnny didn't lose a single point in the All-Valley.

Miguel tells his mom he's on the debate team

Johnny recommends Guns 'n Roses and while doesn't seem to own a phone or know what one is does know what a ring tone is.

Kyler still has a bruise on his left eye from fighting Johnny, which makes me think not a ton of time has passed between episodes, and Johnny spent a lot of time decorating.

So Daniel drives an Audi but I guess they also have a big silver van, that he also drives.

Moon has a 'channel', I guess youtube channel? I wonder since it was originally a youtube red if they could've done a silly little spin off channel with extras and content.

One thing I've noticed, I don't think Daniel and Amanda have a lot of kitchen storage space, i.e. cabinets and what not. Thus:

All the pots and pans and tools are hanging on the wall. The amount of noise that must make.

So Sam's in trouble for throwing a party, but it kind of looks like Daniel cleaned up the whole thing by himself. That's a weird parenting choice.

Newspaper clippings that Daniel framed include: "Mystery Dojo with Single Student Defangs Cobras" with a photo of Daniel and Mr. Miyagi and the other says "Local Valley Champ Defends Title Against Karate's Bad Boy" Which has Daniel versus I guess Mike on at the tournament.

It's interesting that the flashback lesson they show is of Daniel teaching Sam how to break boards. Since that's arguably the worst lesson he ever got from Terry Silver and not something he probably learned from Mr. Miyagi. It is thankfully something a whole lot easier than =what Daniel was doing in TKK3.

"Never give up your defense, beware the spinning hug move" is just so adorable.

Yasmine was driving a Range Rover that hit Johnny's car. And the fact her dad just bought her a new car...

I dunno, I don't think Daniel particularly over reacted to a bunch of strangers in his house and wearing his clothes and also Sam telling him she wasn't expecting him back so early and then he was the one to clean up and she's just sitting talking to her friends.

LaRusso Friday family dinners is cute.

I also like that they talk about the boys she texting.

Daniel tells Sam she's 'Jersey tough'...but she's born and raised Californian.

This school lunch is pringles, a banana, a hostess cupcakes, Organic chocolate milk and what looks like maybe a cheeseburger?

Look at these babies (affectionate) and their yoohoo. They've also been given two trays and a plastic sporks. What is this school? Clearly you get some options because both of them got fruit cups (different types) and the main course differs since Elis got something else. I guess you also get to choose between pudding cups and hostess cupcakes? I did not get this many options in school. Also like most of the other kids who brought their lunch just have brown paper bags.

Sorry lots about the food but why would Miguel be offered organic Valley chocolate milk and these everyone in the above shot has yoohoo? Why are there that many chocolate milk options?

So...the popular girls drink apple juice from juicy juice and the nerds drink different brands of chocolate milk? Because literally everyone's drink choice is by table. Lol even Kyler has the same apple juice when he sits with them. What's with that?

Karate lesson one "cobra strike" which seems to be a lunge and the "bite" a punch to the nose, mouth or neck. Kudos to Johnny for getting an actual punching dummy.

I feel like this is the first little kernel of Johnny's 'some mercy' when he looks at Miguel after this example and goes 'uh for only extreme situations' rather than go for the throat.

Johnny did not correct Migue's hands. His thumbs are sticking out.

Robby goes to North Hills High and the vp is Carla Jenkins and Robby has molly on him.

It's kind of funny that Johnny doesn't know what that is, but also makes sense seeing as he rolled the tiniest joint on the planet for the first film.

Like Johnny Robby wears band t-shirts, specifically Misfits.

So plot issue. Small one. Johnny is literally only a few feet away when he's taking this phone call where he says he's this kids dad and yet a big sticking point later is that Miguel doesn't know Johnny has a kid.

Daniel being such a sweet infodumping foodie nerd with his fancy yanagi knife. He made: sashimi he calls "Larusso ponzo toro" which uhhhh is like the fanciest sashimi ever. Omg I didn't realize this is what he tried to feed Kyler before. This is like....wagyu. It's extremely expensive bluefin tuna. Holy moly Daniel what the hell? No wonder Sam and Amanda look so excited. That makes making it for Kyler who doesn't like sushi/fish so much more of an oof, that was such an expensive purchase.

Is that the pickled ginger and wasabi?! They're huge! Daniel for the size of fish you got that's ridiculous. You gotta realize that's ridiculous right bud? Also is that just a bowl of soy sauce? Like a whole bowl?

Daniel didn't like sushi as a teen. (Then why the heck would you buy the rolls royce of fish for a teenage guy you don't know anything about other than your daughter is texting him????)

All these teenagers lying really get Johnny in even more trouble than he already is in.

Uh...so Miguel lives in what apartment 109 and Johnny lives in apartment 2. How does that make sense?

Johnny wrote down that the karate dojo is for teaching karate to anyone who wants to learn karate which is very...him since he doesn't kick anyone out and keeps Stingray.

Dojo is at 6 Herons Nest Reseda meanwhile his apartment is 7428 Saticoy street Reseda. Dude writes in big blocky all capitalized letters for everything which, thanks, easier to read.

So what is the idea here? Daniel leaves his fancy toro behind to go confront whoever owns the cobra kai studio? Is he expecting Johnny or is he expecting Kreese or heck even Silver? Did Kyler tell him any thing else? Did Daniel stay through finding Kyler some fish sticks or something?

They may have been awful Johnny but they were still teenagers.

Daniel is surprised someone is calling Johnny sensei. Like what are you expecting this place to be Daniel? A place without students? A museum? You thought Johnny just moved into a strip mall and decorated it like a dojo because that's gotta be what his house would look like? Or again, did he think someone else was the sensei and Johnny just happened to be around?

[whywishesarehorses]

A Mustang Crisis Looms in the West

With too many animals on public lands and too many on the public’s hands, the federal wild horse management program is short of money and palatable solutions.

By Dave Philipps       Published March 22, 2020

CHALLIS, Idaho — Dawn broke over the peaks of the Lost River Range, revealing a chase in the wide open valley below. Seven wild horses crashed through the sage, dark manes billowing in the golden light, pursued by a government contractor in a glossy helicopter that dodged left and right like a mechanical Border collie, driving the band forward into a hidden corral.

Within hours, the captured mustangs had been sorted, loaded onto trucks to be stamped with an identification number and sent to the Bureau of Land Management’s wild horse storage system. And the helicopter was back out hounding the hills for more.

All over the West, similar scenes have played out as the federal government fights to control the number of wild horses roaming public lands. Managers say they need to keep the herds down so they don’t destroy delicate native species habitat and threaten the livelihoods of ranchers.

But in recent years, the Bureau of Land Management has been losing that fight on two fronts: It hasn’t been able to round up nearly enough horses to limit the wild population. And it doesn’t know what to do with the ones it has managed to capture.

The roundup operation itself is strikingly efficient — a helicopter and a few workers in jean jackets can catch scores of mustangs in a day. The bureau rounded up 7,300 in 2019.

But once they are caught, they have to be fed and cared for. And the costs and frictions of having so many animals on the government’s hands — 49,000 at last count — have pushed the whole wild horse program toward collapse.

The rented pastures and feed lots where they are kept now devour more than two-thirds of the program’s budget, leaving little money for anything else, including looking for ways to get the bureau out of its current fix.

Low on cash, the bureau cut roundups drastically in recent years. But officials acknowledge that the move just made matters worse, by allowing the population on the range to grow rapidly. There are now about 100,000 wild horses and burros on public lands — more than at any time since the days of the Old West. The government reckons the land can sustain only about 27,000.

Bureau officials warn that the mustang herds are a looming catastrophe for the land, and there is no cheap or obvious solution. Capturing all the excess horses and caring for them in storage for the rest of their lives could cost up to $3 billion. Doing nothing may prove costly, too.

“If we don’t get this controlled, it’s just going to get worse,” said Alan Shepherd, the on-range branch chief for the wild horse program. Mustangs have already destroyed fragile desert springs in some places, and the birds, snakes and butterflies that depend on them, he said: “We are going to get to the point where the public lands are going to be almost unusable by anything.”

Mr. Shepherd started his career 30 years ago working on an emergency roundup on the Nellis Air Force Base missile test range in southern Nevada, where drought and overpopulation killed thousands of mustangs.

Now, near the end of his career, he worries that more herds are headed for a similar collapse.

Wild horse welfare groups argue that the crisis is largely invented. They say the government sets its population targets artificially low to justify mass removals that serve the interests of cattle ranchers and distract from other public land policies that are far more damaging.

“It’s a bait and switch,” said Suzanne Roy, director of the American Wild Horse Campaign, a group that has lobbied against roundups. “They say wild horses are an existential threat; meanwhile, they are loosening regulation on energy extraction. We do agree that roundups are creating a crisis in management, but the claims of overpopulation and horses starving are just not borne out by on-the-ground observations. Generally, the horses are doing pretty good.”

Crisis or no crisis, the number of horses on the range has risen into uncharted territory. Mr. Shepherd estimated that while 7,300 horses were captured in 2019, 17,000 foals were born. “We’re not even keeping at status quo,” he said.

In the early frontier days, wild horses in the West were too numerous to count. Explorers saw herds running on the Great Plains, likening the sight to the roll of waves in the ocean. On early maps, vast areas were labeled simply as “wild horse desert.” Later, as the region was settled, the herds were hunted down. Many were shipped east to pull city streetcars in places like Manhattan. Others were slaughtered for dog food and fertilizer. By the 1960s, only a few thousand mustangs were left.

Congress granted federal protection in 1971 to the remaining herds, which were nearly all on Bureau of Land Management land. With few predators and no hunters to cull them, the herds began to rebound, and land managers realized in the 1980s that they were quickly outgrowing the patchwork of public land allotted to them. That is when the helicopter roundups began.

At first, the program appeared sustainable. The bureau publicized an adoption program that found homes for captured horses, and the wild population stayed relatively constant. But news reports in the 1990s revealed that most of the “adopted” horses were actually going to slaughter, often while bureau employees profited. Regulations were tightened, and a backlog of unwanted horses began to build up on rented pastures in the Midwest.

Some conservative lawmakers from rural districts have pushed the bureau to euthanize excess horses or sell them for slaughter, but those steps remain widely unpopular and have not gained traction in Congress.

The bureau has told lawmakers repeatedly that it could create a sustainable program if Congress budgeted enough money to reduce the wild population to 27,000. Three times in the past 30 years, Congress has done so. Each time, though, the efforts were tripped up by dizzying costs and lawsuits from animal welfare groups.

Now the bureau is asking again. William Perry Pendley, its acting director, is a longtime conservative activist and lawyer who sued the bureau a number of times on behalf of ranchers before entering the administration. In an interview, he said he favors a proposal to remove more than 70,000 horses from the range over five years.

“Right now, it’s the ‘Sorcerer’s Apprentice,’” he said. “We’re carrying water and not getting anywhere.”

The bureau is in talks to open two huge feedlots to hold thousands of horses. But it is unclear if Congress is willing to spend billions to store unwanted horses, especially if an economic downturn drains public funds. Bureau staff say privately that they expect the population on the range to continue to grow toward disaster.

It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. More than a decade ago, government auditors warned that the cost of storing captured horses would “overwhelm the program.” A 2013 report by the National Academy of Sciences urged the bureau to shift away from roundups and start using readily available and inexpensive fertility control drugs, which are typically administered by dart gun annually in the field.

Bureau leaders acknowledged the warnings and promised to embrace fertility control drugs, but their use actually declined in the years after the report. Less than 1 percent of the program’s current budget is spent on them.

Nearly all of the fertility control now happening on wild horse ranges is done by local volunteers, often retirees, who have learned to wield dart guns in the field.

That includes Andrea Macki, a visual artist who has been darting horses in the Challis herd for more than five years. She says the fertility control treatments have slowed reproduction rates by half, and could do more.

“It’s the obvious solution,” she said as she squinted through the dawn light to watch the helicopter rounding up horses she knew. “I wish the B.L.M. would invest in it, instead of all this.”

Bureau officials say that darting tens of thousands of horses in the field each year is not practical, and would take years to shrink the herds as much as a roundup can in a few days. Congress approved a $21 million increase in the wild horse program’s budget for this year, with the stipulation that the money would be released only when the bureau submitted a five-year plan that includes increases in both roundups and fertility control.

The bureau has also taken steps to dispose of captured horses, including deals that may be sending horses quietly to slaughter. It has ramped up sales of horses it deems unadoptable, charging $25 a head. In 2019 it sold 1,967 that way, often by the truckload in bulk sales; officials have refused to say who the buyers were.

Mr. Shepherd say the bureau tries to screen out slaughter buyers, but acknowledged that it does nothing to monitor the fate of horses after sale.

The bureau also created a program that offers $1,000 to anyone willing to adopt a horse.

Together, the sales and adoptions put about 7,000 horses into private hands last year, not enough even to keep pace with roundups, let alone draw down the number now warehoused.

On the edge of the wild horse range in Challis in central Idaho, Jackie Ingram, a rancher, has shared 168,700 acres of public land with the mustang herds for 46 years. Each spring her family drives hundreds of Black Angus cattle up a steep road through Spar Canyon to graze the high, windswept hills on Bureau of Land Management land.

In some years, she said, the wild horses left so little grass to eat that other wildlife disappeared, and her family had to cut back their cattle herd.

“We like the horses, but we also want to protect the land,” she said. “Every time they do a roundup, we’re happy. If the horses get to be too numerous, it affects the sage grouse, the elk, the antelope and us. All of us depend on the grass.”

[ktheist]

1 | play me like a toy [m]

title inspired by blackpink’s sure thing cover.

⟶ read the last part, all yours to enjoy, here.

muses. mafia heiress!reader x ex-mafia!director!hoseok

genre. age gap factor. chaebol-mafia family au. arranged marriage au. office au. modern au.

words. 5.8k

warnings. contains smut. mentions of gun use. mentions of cheating.

verse. knj. ksj. myg. kth. pjm. jjk. jhs. 

synopsis. 

sit still, look pretty. 

such were the words your maid-turned-mistress of a mother has ever taught you. the mindless marionette mask worked for the most parts. but when you find yourself hanging by a thread - or is it the beeping line of your dying father’s heart rate monitor? - you decide it’s time to shed off that mask and seek han group’s infamous loyal dog that went off radar 17 years ago.

jung hoseok.

alternatively;

“marry me or be killed.”

“is there a third option?”

“we fucked but you were too drunk to remember so that option’s invalid.”

x

jung hoseok is in a dry spell.

there was no doubt as to whether he could score a date, get laid and maybe even have his nightstand to call him up again exactly the week after.

the issue was time.

with his boss and longtime friend getting married, he ends up coming to work with a different pile of papers on his desk every day. well, it was his idea to sign a promissory note that if kim namjoon ever found a woman he loved and married, hoseok would take half of the ceo-ly workload so his overbearing boss could enjoy his honeymoon and truly, as hoseok would put it, live.

the order went a little differently but namjoon found a hole in the way the sentences were worded that got him flying away to the caribbean and leaving hoseok to fend for himself in these trying times.

oh, and it’s almost hit the third month of the newly weds going mia.

in the first place, he didn’t think namjoon would hold the agreement over his head like he was flexing a few hundred thousand dollar’s worth of lawsuit.

but the man did just that and now hoseok is slaving over his nine-to-five which actually tend to drag on till ten or, if he’s lucky, even midnight. sure, he got promoted from head secretary to director but he’s wondering if this endless cycle of coming back home only pass out in the bed and wake up earlier than a parent with a toddler - is worth it.

hoseok groans, his hand grabbing around for his phone to put a stop on that obnoxious alarm even if it’s just for five minutes before he has to hear it again.

and grab something he did, but this so called phone feels too soft to be a phone and shapes like an cup but softer and - he puts more pressure to his grasp out of confusion -

“mhm, what the hell?”

- it complains in a groggy voice too.

almost as if pricked by a needle, hoseok leaps right out of bed, sending the duvet flying to the floor and revealing the naked woman - you - who’s stretching her limbs whilst her face scrunches in displeasure at the rude awakening.

“__-___?! wh-what the- what are you doing in my bed?”

x

“so you touched my boob,” you say, legs crossed and arms folded over said boob.

“i-i-” it’s the first time you’ve ever seen hoseok opened his eyes so wide - he has pretty eyes. especially when they’re brimming with fear and bashfulness, “i’m sorry, i have no excuse.”

he hangs his head low.

“why didn’t you touch the other one?”

it’s then, when hoseok’s eyes snap up to you, gaze searching for a sign - any sign, to confirm that he misheard that, does the man realize that you’re messing with him.

that, and you doubling over with laughter trickling out of your mouth should be affirmation enough.

“god, you should’ve seen your face, hobi!” you’re still holding your stomach when hoseok’s shoulders stiffen and his round eyes turn sharp.

“that’s not something you joke about, ___,” he says, it’s easy to mistake his sternness with anger if you didn’t know him your whole life, “are you gonna let it go every time someone disrespects you? mr. han would’ve snapped their neck in half-”

“hoseok, come on,” you cut him off with a dismissive hand, “none of those gory talks about snapping necks and pulling out nails. that’s the reason i end up here in the first place.”

it’s the way silence lulls into the room and hoseok looks at you with the hardest knitted brows and eyes that seem to have retracted his soul far back into his memories, as though searching for something - that makes your heart drop.

all sense of humor now gone.

“you don’t remember what happened last night... do you?” the last part is just an addition to ease your throbbing heart.

if you’d left it as a statement, it made it more real that he did forget.

just a man, sitting at a half empty bar, three shots of vodka in and hostility in his voice that could’ve killed but so very hoseok of him, “that seat’s taken.”

aloof. distant. and every word in the book that described a man who didn’t want to be bothered and he drowned himself in alcohol.

“i’ll leave once the owner comes back,” you’d slipped into the seat anyway, despite the heat of hoseok’s stare.

not paying any heed, you ordered yourself a margarita.

“it’s been awhile, hasn’t it, hobi?”

that’s when he turned to you. truly looked at you.

“do you perhaps have a little sister who,” his eyebrows began to knit as if the screws in his head started turning, “would be about your age by now... ____?”

you didn’t really catch up. all you could remember was hoseok’s calculative stare as he watched you down one drink after the other. the the chilliness of the margarita somewhat soothing the burning sensation as it went down your throat.

“that’s the fifth for you,” his large hand covered yours, stopping you from picking up the glass as he cautioned you.

“yeah? i’m only stopping if i have something else to occupy my mouth with.”

in his distracted state as he tried to make sense of what your words meant, you lifted the glass to your mouth and downed the last of your drink.

and then, you stood up, walked the tiniest distance between your seat and his, grabbed him by the collar and crashed your lips on his.

you remembered your confidence dissipating like air with every second passing without hoseok so much as responding to your kiss.

maybe it was the shock.

because one that passed, you found his arm around your waist and his lips kissing you harder than you kissed him.

you stumbled into your car, not caring if yeojun had a front row view from the rearview mirror of the things that transpired at the back seat. you barely remember the walk from the parking lot to his apartment.

those sweet whispered promises. the hands that burned your skin with every touch. those eyes that pierced right into your eyes, as if invisible hands reached into your soul and grasped it in his palm.

“mine,” hoseok husked, voice sending ripples of pleasure dripping down your legs. he’d thrust himself balls deep inside you, like a beast who hadn’t had a drop of water since the drought, “you’re mine from head to toe.”

if that wasn’t enough, he fucked you raw until you were at your limit and he’d just... stop.

“hoseok, why-” you’d been breathless, skin glistening with sweat and knees trembling to give in but he’d banded an arm under your torso and held you to him so your bodies remained connected even if none of you moved.

“you think i’d just let you cum so easily?” he placed a hand on your ass, as if warning you what would happen if you’d pull away, “after all these years... you grew up fine as fuck.”

he’d languidly pulled out of you, as if knowing how torturous it felt for you with his fingers on your clit that sent electricity through your veins.

“what is it, hm? is it the kang’s or is it the seong’s? i guess the rumor about boss being hospitalized was true,” his words barely registered in your mind as his index finger touched your back and traced down your spine whilst he started thrusting in and out of you agonizingly slow.

“please, just fuck me,” you’d hissed, pain and pleasure and frustrations mixed in your voice.

“hm, still as tight-lipped as ever, huh?” he’d sounded completely relaxed as if the smacking sound that echoed in the air as his body slammed against your deliciously - didn’t affect him in the slightest.

as if he took no pleasure in fucking you. as if this was only for your poor little soul that came running back to him because you had no one to depend on.

“y-you have to- ah! s-swear your l-loyalty to- oh my god,” it was last night, while the citylights poured through hoseok’s window, his room was directly across another apartment building.

“loyalty, huh?” he tested the words on his mouth, as if it was a foreign candy gifted to him as present.

his body feels hot against your back as he lowered himself flush against you, his breath fanning your sweat-glistened skin, his voice brushing the shell of your ear, “you should know i’m yours as much as you’re mine. nothing i wouldn’t do for you, kiddo.”

he’d used that nickname he’d used to call you as he fucked you into his bed, and sent you moaning his name like you wouldn’t know any other name.

anyone could’ve seen.

neither of you cared though.

well-

you throw your gaze out at the twenty storey building, noticing a man vacuuming the living room three units to the left from the unit directly across from hoseok’s. above him, two kids, a boy and a girl are jumping around while holding an airplane in their hands.

-until now, that is.

hoseok had become an entirely different person last night. no - rather, he’d returned to you as the man you’d always kept in that special spot in your heart and locked it up so no one would be able to see past your steel schooled expression and the devil may care nature.

“i...”

your gaze snaps back to hoseok once again. he parts his lips for the briefest moment, as if to say something but clamps them shut again. the way his eyes gleam with guilt is enough to tell you the unspoken words that hang in the air.

and yet, your heart hardens like the steel mask you often wear on your face.

“and... to think i gave you my virginity too...”

the silence that lapses between you is tangible.

“sike, i’m kidding,” you grin, brows rising to the ceiling but when hoseok doesn’t so much as laugh or frown - he simply looked at you like a parent disappointed of his child who still didn’t see why what she did was wrong - you tilt your head to the side slightly, “or am i?”

“ugh, you’re no fun,” you throw your head back after failing to gouge a reaction from the man who screamed bloody murder as if you’re some street rat that he was so close to calling infestation control.

“i need to meet mr. han,” he announces after a whole solid minute of sitting on the edge of the bed with feet planted on the floor.

“what for? what are you gonna tell daddy? ‘i’m sorry i took your daughter’s virginity, sir, it won’t happen again?’“ you watch him get up, tongue unconsciously slipping out and sweeping over your bottom lip as you watch the curve of his ass as he walks to the closet and disappears into it.

“were you really a virgin?” he comes out dressed in fresh crisp button down tucked in a pair of black pants, a contrast to his rolled up sleeves, creased shirt and disheveled hair from last night.

“i don’t know, did it feel like i was?” you shoot him a coquettish smile.

the gentle protrusion of his adam’s apple bobs up and down, his lingering gaze on your crossed, bare legs not going unnoticed by you. you’re donned in last night’s dinner dress that hugs your curves and stops mid thighs.

but his gaze is gone too soon.

“you’re not seriously going to daddy, are you?” you tug on his sleeve just before he steps out of the door, “hobi, i’m just kidding, i’ve been with multiple guys before you,” the way his brows threaten to knit into a frown doesn’t go pass you but it’s gone too soon, “and does daddy like the idea? he’s not fond of it, but he knows he can’t stop me from doing whatever i want with my own body.”

the beep of the door as he opens it rings in the air as he looks at you in the eye, “did any of those men work for mr han?” 

only silence follows his reply as you bite your lower lip, hesitant.

“we can’t hide this- mr han might already know. he has eyes and ears-” hoseok steps out of the door only to stop dead in track when he sees at least half a dozen men lined up in front of his apartment in black suits.

“good morning, miss ____.” they bow at exactly 90 degrees angle like robots.

“-everywhere...” hoseok trails off, eyes scanning the area on high alert.

“don’t worry, they’re not daddy’s men. they’re my men,” you raise one hand, index finger pointing to the ceiling as you shoot them an expression void of any smile.

they seem to understand that as they dip into a bow again, the leader, yeojun, stops in front of the elevator when he and his men would have joined you in any other circumstances.

“it’s not about saving my own ass, ___,” hoseok begins.

the way his arms cross over his chest makes his sleeves wrap deliciously around his biceps.

his deep brown eyes appear like a hazel storm under the sunlight that pours from every crevice of the parking lot where the elevator stopped at. “mr. han asked me to protect you from everything and i’m sure he hired someone else after i left to keep trash men away from you... and to think i did exactly what he wanted me to protected you from-” 

“hobi,” nimble hands hover over his chest before you gaze up at him through your lashes, making sure to give it a slow, innocent blink before speaking, “i didn’t regret what happened last night. and you trying to apologize for someone i’m not sorry kind of hurts.”

“i’m sorry i didn’t think of it that way...” he trails off, lips pressed in a straight line as though deep in thought.

“if it makes you that uncomfortable, i won’t talk about it but promise me this stays between us, please?” you hold up a pinky finger like you would when you were younger.

the smile that makes its way to hoseok lips causes your heart to palpitate just when it’s barely calmed down.

his pinky finger is much larger than yours as it hooks around yours in a promise, a ghost of a smile tugging on his lips. as if he’s still unsure if he should be making any promises. as if he’s unsure if he should be hooking his pinky with yours instead of pushing you as far away from him as he could. but before he can come to a conclusion, a voice reverberates into the air.

“miss ____.”

the sound of hoseok sucking in a sharp breath rings in your ear as a dozen men in black suits bow at the sight of you.

before another word comes out from anyone else, you speak, voice echoing against the walls.

“listen up you sons of bitches, if i find out any of you snitched to daddy, i’ll make sure your wife, your husband, your kids, your grandparents, hell even your neighbors pay for it. got it?”

a round of rigorous “yes, miss!” follows after the splitting silence that hovered after you finished.

turning around, almost getting lost in those pretty, star entrapped eyes of his, you smile, “see, they’re loyal to me.”

“uh, i can see why.” it’s the humorous tone that finally wraps around hoseok’s words that makes your heart clench painfully.

he’s still the same hoseok you know.

some things never change.

“well, i’ll lend you one of my cars,” you say all of a sudden.

almost as if hit by a foul ball, hoseok’s eyes widen, “shi- what time is it?”

you don’t expect much when you check your phone, the digits on the screen staring back with a 9-something am - you don’t care to check the details, “late.”

“fuck, i was so focused on gathering enough balls to meet mr. han - i need to get the papers i was supposed to look over for today’s meeting,” a string of curses follow hoseok’s scampering retreat. and you simply watch in your spot - he’s always been such a klutz, forgetting the important details and scrambling to get what he’d forgotten and just remembered - done.

before the doors of the elevator close and swallow him in its belly, hoseok’s nimble fingers slip between the shutting gap, making the doors split open again, “oh,” he says, as if remembering something, “you don’t have to do that - i can drive, i got a driver’s license like, eons ago.”

right.

when he left, he was only 18 and had nothing more but a duffle bag filled with all his belongings and an acceptance letter of the university he applied to.

hoseok had been driving you around everywhere before that. he got pulled over by a cop once but your father easily handled that.

jung hoseok’s been with you for as long as you remember.

you recall bawling your eyes out and clinging onto his leg, begging him not to leave because your nanny left and you found out a few months later that her body was found washed up along the river bank near her hometown.

mr. kim, the gardener quit and said he wanted to visit his kids but the whole family ended up dying in a fire.

everyone who left ends up dead.

pushing the somber feeling that’s threatening to pull the muscles in your face into a frown, you shake your head, an amused smirk tugging on your lips as you mask away every other feeling.

“you really don’t remember anything, do you?” somewhere in that innocently clueless gaze of his, you search for a lie - it would’ve been better if he lied about forgetting for whatever reason.

but when the genuinity over pours from those pretty eyes, you push away the gnawing feeling in your heart, “we were both shit faced drunk last night so we came to your place with my driver and you left your car at the bar’s parking lot.”

“oh shit,” he begins punching the button on the inside of the elevator, “i won’t take long, i pro-”

the metal doors gradually shut, cutting off what he was about to say.

x

“p-please, i’m sorry, i’ll do anything...” the man’s words got blurred out as you stare out the window of his medium sized flat with a master bedroom, a room and a bathroom connected to the common area.

it’s been a week since you met hoseok. you want to be mad that he doesn’t call, especially after not seeing each other for so long and finally reuniting only for him to forget everything about that night.

but you didn’t even give him your number and you may or may not be mad that he didn’t think to ask.

a bloodcurdling scream drums against your eardrums, making you physically flinch as your head snaps towards the man lying on the ground with his mouth wide open and no longer any sound coming out.

his head is titled at the new guy who’s standing over him with a baton gripped in one hand. the sight itself makes the pit of your stomach churn.

“god fucking damn it, yeojun,” you shoot a glare at the head bodyguard, “didn’t you teach him rule number 1? make no sound, catch no attention?”

at that, yeojun snaps his fingers and two of the bodyguards closest to the new guy - soon? soobin? was his name? - approach him. one of them places a firm hand on his shoulder whilst he kicks soobin behind his knee, sending him kneeling with a thud.

“i’m sorry, miss ___, it seems soobin,” ah so you did get his name right, “needs to join mr. yoo here in learning a thing or two about obeying orders.”

yeojun doesn’t even flinch when one of your donned-in-black bodyguard strikes one of their own at the back of his head with that baton they usually carry around their waist.

soobin’s face scrunches up painfully as he breathes out through his nose, teeth gritting together.

“you boys, break some things and you, get the car ready,” with that, the bodyguards hovering over the middle-aged borrower and soobin begin scampering around, toppling shelves over, pushing vases to the ground and breaking plates in the kitchen.

“you were too nice,” yeojun murmurs underneath his breath once you’re in the hallway, the sound of glass shattering and furniture breaking still echo off the walls.

“i shouldn’t even be doing this shit anyway. who does he think i am? sending me to take care of small fries...” agitated, you shoot yeojun a glare.

to which he only responds with raised eyebrows, as if asking if you’d go against your brother’s orders just because you’ve never liked to see violence yet violence follows you everywhere.

“let’s see.... richest bachelor, heir to han group, one of the biggest conglomerate family that runs the underground ring...” the black haired man starts counting off with his finger until you swing your purse to his side.

“which side are you on? me or my chanyeol’s?!”

laughter trickles down his lips as he follows you into the elevator. somewhere in the distance, the hallway faintly rings with the fading sound of mr. yoo’s helpless pleas.

x

when you arrive at kimcorp, the secretary shoots up from your seat, her smile is gorgeous and welcoming but the knitted set of brows above her eyes do a poor job of hiding her anxiousness.

odd.

you didn’t use the han name to get past the receptionist, only mentioning “hoseok is expecting me, tell him i have something of his he’d really like back.”

was it the lavish dinner dress? was it the couture handbag?

“ah, it’s the fox fur, isn’t it?” you twirl on your heels, lips curling prettily as you narrow your eyes at the startled secretary.

she’s standing there like a thief caught red-handed. as if her worst nightmares came true the moment you started saying something besides the “i’m here to see jung hoseok.”

“i-i’m sorry, ma’am?” her shoulders tense up and her smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

“nothing, it’s nothing,” you put on a billion dollar smile - one that she seems to be struggling to wear.

before the poor thing peed her pants, you turn around, your back on her and push on the double doors of the office with a white plate that spells out “head director jung.”

the syllables of your name roll off the mouth of the man behind the large desk that almost takes up half of the room, piles of documents stacked up on either sides while the middle section is cleared for a mac and a macbook perched directly in front of him.

“you sound surprised, didn’t the receptionist tell you i was coming?” you put on your best smile even as you watch him push a button on a smaller-than-a-palm-sized remote directed at the cctv and dash for the blinds and close them so that the secretaries facing his room won’t have any visual access to what goes on from now on.

“yeji didn’t specify who,” he says mindlessly, still peeking through the blinds - possibly to check if anyone noticed the sudden move.

somehow, hearing the name of another woman leaving hoseok’s lips doesn’t sit right with you.

“since you easily told her to send me right up, i assume you have an idea of who it was,” a devious smile tugs in the corners of your lips as the sound of hoseok sucking in a sharp breath brushes your ears.

as he was in the middle of turning around and facing you, you managed to catch him off guard and trap him between the window and yourself. the ridges of his toned abs brushing against your front torso with only layers of clothing separating you.

the warning tone he uses to say your name with is music to your ears.

he sounded like the old him. the old hoseok who’d drive his fist into anyone’s face without batting an eye. the old hoseok who would turn to your crying frame with the sweetest smile and hand you back your backpack that fell on the ground amidst the struggle of trying to bite and kick your kidnappers in the shin.

“i missed you, you know?” your voice is tinged with playfulness but your heart skips a beat like a schoolgirl with a crush.

“i-i... we...”

the words get stuck in his throat the moment your lips brush his. what surprises you is the softest sigh that leaves his mouth before a large hand buries itself in your hair, pulling you close until he’s tasting you. licking your bottom lip as if asking for something he didn’t need to ask for in the first place.

his free hand grasps your ass as if he’s been dying to feel your soft cheeks in his palm. you part your lips for him, tasting the faintest sense of cigarette in his breath.

hoseok tends to smoke when something bothers.

you hope it’s you. you hope he lays in bed at night, staring at the ceiling. you hope you’re all he thinks about.

by the time you pull apart, you’re both heaving for air. a soft thud drums in your ears as hoseok leans his head against the blinds-covered-window. you press your cheek against his chest, face hot.

one of his hands sits on top of your ass as if paying his overdue respect for your body but yet unwilling to let you go. the other rests on the back of your head, his thumb mindlessly caressing your scalp.

“hoseok?” you’re the first to break the silence.

he simply hums in response, “hm?”

“i can’t give it back,” you turn your cheek to bury your face in his chest, your voice coming out muffled, “i can’t give back your freedom.”

x

“so you’re saying you can’t let me go...” hoseok echoes the words you say to him.

but the way his lips curl into a pleased smirk and his white shirt creasing at the front from having your bodies pressed together a moment ago, gives those words a different meaning than you intend them to.

somehow, the distance between you seems smaller.

“thanks miyeon,” hoseok’s smile switches to that of a kind, considerate superior.

miyeon, the woman who guided you to hoseok’s office returns his smile. but you don’t miss the cautious gaze she throws your way before slipping out of the room after setting down the tea cups.

he’s back to himself. the kind that jumps at every little sound and tends to wear a frightened puppy look almost too often.

“no, rather...” you trail off, chanyeol’s face burning at the back of your mind - your brother, the heir to han group and the man that will marry you off to the kang’s in order to mend the strain in the family ties as soon as your father breathes out his last breath.

you shake your head, a smile on your face, “it’s been awhile, how bout catching up over lunch?”

and so it goes, you visit hoseok every few days in a week. at times you tell the secretary to keep your visit a secret so you could surprise him, you’d end up catching him neck deep in work yet he still manages to pull off the rolled up sleeves, two buttons undone and slicked back hair with a single strand falling over his forehead, its tip grazing those set of strong eyebrows.

when you knock, he looks up and the tension in his brows seem to fade away. he shoots you a dimpled smile as if he’s been waiting for you to whisk him away from work.

and you do just that. arm looped around his, you both walk out of his office like lovers.

hoseok talks about his past - the one you’re not part of - fondly. as if looking through a lense of something he never dreamed he could have.

at first, he attracted the wrong kind of crowd with his permanently set furrowed brows. but then he finds things he enjoys doing outside of classes that he couldn’t get to enjoy when he was with han group.

dancing, tracks, boxing and more. he likes that rush of adrenaline that courses through his veins. 

and you tell him about the meetings and gatherings and social events to maintain your relationships with the vassal families. they’re usually attended by the women of the han family which means you and han chohee would be smiling and laughing together in front of the wives and daughters of the vassal families before taking off that loving step-mother-and-step-daughter facade once you walk out of the vicinity.

your lunches and dinners are spent with trips down memory lane, filling the other in on the moments each of you miss in each other’s lives. and for a moment, the hoseok in front of you who flinches at the sight of bugs and little, random noises feel familiar.

that is, until you hit your one month reunion mark.

chanyeol’s been gathering support of the vassals by personally accepting their invitations.

his presence easily overshadowed yours and yeojun confirmed that your father’s condition isn’t getting any better.

“i need you to come back and work for me, half of the men would drop everything and follow you,” you stare at the girl staring back at you on the surface of the tea. she bites her lips and you feel the faintest taste of blood in your mouth.

eyes snapping to his calculative ones - as if he already knows what you’re going to say before the words even pass your lips, “i need you by my side so i can take over han group.”

the hoseok sitting in the single couch next to you with parted legs and feet planted on the dark carpeted ground fits the head director setting better than the inked skin, cigarette smoke and gun-in-waistline setting you’re about to drag him in.

“you’re willing to go against chanyeol to become the head of the family?” he asks, eyes clouded with a sort of emotion you can’t pinpoint.

hoseok’s always been an enigma. his mind, a maze you’ll never end up figuring out.

guess that part of him is still the same.

“it’s not a choice for me to make,” a clean click! resonates in the air as you place the gun you’d pulled from your garter, point facing him, index finger on the trigger, “you have two though.”

it’s the way his eyebrows rise whilst his eyes glint with amusement tells you that hoseok - your hoseok - is still somewhere in there.

throw a sane man into an asylum and he’ll start going insane. put a mad man  back in society and he’ll trick you into believing he’s sane with his warm, dimpled smile.

“marry me or be killed,” you say simply.

that amused glint is still there, granted, it shines faintly compared to the caution that overflows from those sun-hit brown eyes as they fix themselves on the gun perched on the see-through coffee table before they travel to your knuckles, to your arm and meet your steel gaze.

his the softest protrusion of his adam’s apple drops and rises again as he swallows, “is there a third option?”

“we fucked but you were too drunk to remember so that option’s invalid.”

the air is dense with tension. it fills up your lungs and almost causes your chest to cave. you’re not sure how long to stay there, stiff and still like a rock with your back straightened as if your etiquette teacher was hovering right behind you with a long, wooden ruler that’d be ready to strike your arm at a slump of your shoulders.

but liberation comes to you in the form of a phone call.

“___, we have to go, th-the boss- the doctor says he’s not gonna make it through the night.” it’s the first time you’ve heard yeojun stammer as if he hasn’t quite yet recovered from the shock of the news he’s relaying to you.

“are you sure?” you can almost hear the thump of the organ in your chest slowing down before it ceases to throb completely, “you know how bad chanyeol wanna fuck me up, he could’ve made the doctor tell you this because he knows you’ll tell me and if... if i rush there and daddy’s laughing that obnoxious laugh while trying to make pass on the nurse like he usually does...”

yeojun grunts, “yes, ___. i have men planted there as patients, nurses, janitors and they all say the same thing - that the doctors are rushing to the vip ward and they’re trying to make it look like your usual hourly check up but it’s not... look, this is the real thing. if we mess up, there won’t be another chance. now, did you convince hoseok to come back?”

almost as if reminded that you’re not the only person in the room, your eyes snap to hoseok whose eyes are already fixed on you with a concerned expression.

“he’ll come back.” with that, you hang up the call.

“i’d love for you to think it through for a few days, realize this isn’t really a life you want and come to me on your own to sign our prenups,” you say casually, placing down the teacup and slipping your phone back into your handbag as if you’re getting ready to leave the tea party, “but...”

but before you can lift the gun and fully point it at him, a large hand covers yours. his warmth seeps through your pores and makes your body feel warmer.

“the gun’s a bit excessive,” his breath fans your face as your eyes fix on the supple skin of his neck.

it’s as if invisible hands reached out and held your head in place, forbidding you from tilting it and gazing into his eyes. his fingers reach over the back of the gun, grazing your hands.

a click cuts through the silence.

“at the very least, unlock the safety,” his teasing tone doesn’t match his saddened eyes.

and just as you thought you’d closed the distance between you and him, the circumstance forces you to take five steps back.

[hxlyhead-harpies]

Brilliant (F.W.)

Pairing: Fred Weasley x Ravenclaw!Reader

Summary: Fred needs some help with school work

Word Count: 2.2k

Warning: None

AN:  Hi everyone! Please just pretend that Fred didn’t get banned from quidditch in his seventh year please and thank you.

It was no secret that school was not one of Fred Weasley’s strong suits. He’d much rather spend his time goofing off with his brother, playing quidditch, or planning for the shop than spending countless hours completing assignments and studying for exams. He simply had better things to do. And while he knew that his future laid outside the realm of academic achievements, not everyone quite believed him. Or more accurately, believed in him.

So that was how he ended up in Snape’s office after class, the potions professor staring at him with his arms crossed and McGonagall looking down at him.

“Mr. Weasley do you know why we have called you here?” McGonagall asked sternly. Fred squirmed slightly in his seat.

“I’m not sure Minnie,” he said with a cocky smirk, “I may need you to enlighten me.” Snape scoffed from the other side of the desk.

“Well, first of all, I must remind you that my name is Professor McGonagall and you shall not call me by anything else,” she said seriously. Fred’s grin never faltered. “But it has come to attention that you are failing potions,” McGonagall said. Fred was surprised for a moment. He knew that he wasn’t doing particularly well, but he never imagined that he was failing. He turned and saw Snape smirking at him.

“If you have any interest in passing my class and graduating, I expect you to get a tutor,” Snape said eventually, a hint of smugness entering his tone. Fred frowned. The thing was, he didn’t intend to graduate. He and George were planning to leave in a few months anyway, was it really worth the hassle?

“I think I’ll pass on the tutor,” Fred said, making a move to leave the office. A hand grabbed his shoulder.

“Not so fast Mr. Weasley,” McGonagall warned. Fred turned to face her.

“Yes Minnie?” he asked with an annoyed smile.

“If you want to continue to play quidditch this year, I suggest that you take Professor Snape up on that offer and get a tutor,” McGonagall said with a frown. Fred froze.

“What?” he asked, slightly panicked.

“If your grade in potions does not improve to at least an acceptable, I can not let you participate in the quidditch season,” McGonagall explained. Fred let out a long sigh.

“Fine,” he grumbled, “Just give me the place and time.”

Fred was dreading having to go to the library to meet his tutor. It was early on a Saturday morning and he’d much rather be out with George and Lee than meeting some stuffy tutor in the library. Snape had told him who would be assigned to help him and Fred couldn’t help but grumble at the name. (Y/n) (L/n). (Y/n) was top of their year and the current Ravenclaw headgirl. She had taken an unspeakable amount of points away from Fred and his brother and she was always the first to raise her hand in class. She was the kind of person who was so smart that it was almost obnoxious.

Truly, he was in no position to judge the girl. He really did not know her and most likely had never even spoken to her outside of class before. But he was mad that he had to trudge across the castle at eight in the morning and that he actually had to open his books for once and the easiest way to cope was to blame it on her.

When Fred arrived at the library he saw her sitting in a corner. He was surprised to see that she looked just as tired as he was- her hair was messy and she was rubbing her eyes with the heel of her hand. She yawned as she spotted him and waved him over quickly. As he made his way over to her, Fred couldn’t help but chuckle. She was wearing a completely oversized jumper that covered her hands with the sleeves. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair looked as if she had run her hands through it countless times already. If anything, she looked more miserable than him.

“There you are,” she said as Fred slipped in a chair across from her.

“Sorry if I’m late,” he grumbled, plopping his books on the table.

“It’s fine,” she responded, “Snape had no business scheduling this session this early in the morning.” Fred laughed.

“Not a morning person then?” he asked. She groaned and shook her head.

“Not at all,” she said, scrunching up her nose. Fred’s bad mood slowly started to disappear. (Y/n) pulled out a roll of parchment and her quills, motioning for Fred to do the same.

“I figured that we could start the essay that’s due in two weeks, that way I can get a feeling of where you are,” you stated. Fred pulled out his materials. If he was being honest, he didn’t even know that there was an essay due in two weeks.

“Okay,” she started, opening up the textbook. “We have to write an essay detailing the process of how to make a befuddlement drought,” (Y/n) stated. Fred furrowed his eyebrows. He thought back to the previous class when he and George had royally screwed up that exact potion.

“Can you tell me what goes into a befuddlement drought?” she asked, peering up at him expectantly. Fred just stared at his parchment, completely and utterly clueless.

“I have no idea,” he said, turning to take a peek at her textbook. (Y/n) jumped to cover the recipe with her hands. He looked up at her, confusion etched into his face.

“Come on Fred,” she said, “I know you know this.” Fred scoffed.

“You’re giving me too much credit (L/n),” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. (Y/n) just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Oh come on. You’re incredibly smart I’m sure you know this,” she said, raising her eyebrows at him. Fred audibly laughed at this, causing Madame Pince to shush him.

“I may be many things,” Fred said, “but smart is not necessarily one of them.” (Y/n) narrowed her eyes at him.

“Oh come off it Fred,” she said, “I’ve seen your products, you’d have to be incredibly smart to make them.” Fred furrowed his eyebrows.

“That’s different though. I’m not good at the things we have to do in class,” Fred stated.

“Just because you have trouble with classwork doesn’t mean you’re not smart. I couldn’t do half the things that you and your brother do,” (Y/n) replied. Fred scoffed.

“Oh come on! You’re basically the smartest witch in our year. You always get top marks in potions,” Fred said, making another reach for the textbook. She swatted his hand away playfully, an endearing gesture that made him smile.

“That’s because I’m good at following directions. I always do what people tell me to do,” she said, staring at him intently.

“Isn’t that the whole point?” Fred asked, leaning against his hands. (Y/n) shook her head and laughed.

“Of course not, Fred! If I was told to make a potion but I wasn’t given a recipe, I’d fail. I’m good at memorization but I don’t genuinely have a good understanding of the subject,” she said. Fred frowned, not quite understanding. “I know that you’re better at potions than me because you know what ingredients to put together to make a specific kind of reaction, I could never do that,” she explained further.

“Fine. I guess I have a general understanding of the subject. But I still don’t know the recipe for the befuddlement drought and I need to pass this essay if I want to play in the match next weekend. So if you could kindly hand this over,” he said, reaching once again for her book. She snapped it shut and laid her arms across it.

“Okay let’s think of this differently,” she said, “If you and your brother wanted to make a potion for your business that was supposed to make whoever ingested it extremely confused and disoriented, what would you put in it?” Fred leaned back in his chair, mulling over the answer.

“I guess some scurvy grass? Maybe some sneezwort?” he said after a moment. When he looked back up at (Y/n), she was smiling widely at him.

“Exactly!” she proclaimed. Fred’s jaw dropped slightly.

“Wait really?” he asked, leaning towards her. (Y/n) opened up the textbook and flipped it towards him. She dragged her finger to the top and traced the words on the page.

“You just named the two key ingredients,” she said proudly. Fred smiled at her, feeling his pride swell slightly.

“See,” she said, “I told you that you were smart.” Fred let out a chuckled.

“Eh, still not sure about that. I am devilishly handsome though,” he replied. She scoffed at his response before turning back to the book. And then, quietly, she murmured, “Well I think you’re brilliant.” Fred froze at her words and flushed deeply. They were spoken so softly that he wasn’t sure that he was even intended to hear them. The ardent way in which she mumbled those words and the soft determination behind them made it sound as if she was stating a fact, a rule of the universe. It sounded as if she was sure that sun rose in the east, that the sun set in the west, and that Fred Weasley was brilliant. The compliment was unlike one he had ever gotten before. So earnest and so simple. Fred wasn’t sure if he had ever even been called smart, let alone brilliant, before this morning, and he was certain he had never heard it so impassioned. The way that (Y/n) muttered the simple phrase almost made him believe it.

Fred began to look forward to his early morning tutoring sessions with (Y/n). Sure, he felt like he was learning and improving at the subject, but mostly he just enjoyed her company. She was funny in a softspoken way, her small quips sneaking up on him and making his face hurt from smiling. She was sweet, always reassuring him that he was capable of learning the material. She was also very cute, with her large sweaters and sleepy eyes, blushing whenever he flirted with her. He was almost sad to think that if his grades improved he would have to stop seeing her. Never in his life did Fred think he would enjoy studying this much.

The day that Fred turned in his potions essay, (Y/n) gave him an encouraging smile from across the room. He had written the whole thing by himself, recalling the information that he and (Y/n) went over in their sessions. He had never been so confident in an assignment and had never been so excited to turn one in. He wanted nothing more than for (Y/n) to be proud of him.

A few days later he got the essay back, Snape dropping it upsidedown on his desk. Fred snapped his eyes up to meet his professor’s, who only grimaced in response. He suddenly felt exceedingly nervous. What if his work hadn’t paid off? He didn’t want to face you if he had done poorly.

As he flipped over the parchment he could barely contain his smile. A large E sat across the top of the page. Exceeds expectations.

As the entire class filed out of the classroom, Fred waited for (Y/n) by the door. He leaned against the wall of the dungeons, waiting for her to pass the threshold and escape the classroom. When (Y/n) finally walked out, Fred scooped her up in a hug before she could even register that he was there.

“Fred!” she squealed as he picked her up and spun her around. When he placed her back onto the floor, his hands still on her waist, he couldn’t hold back the happiness that he felt.

“I’ll take it that you did well?” (Y/n) laughed, her cheeks flushed and eyes bright.

“It seems that I have exceeded expectations,” Fred stated, puffing out his chest. She chuckled, her hands still clutching the fabric of his cloak.

“I’m so proud of you!” she said, staring into his eyes with the ghost of a giggle still gracing her lips. Fred threw his head back.

“I’m so excited I could kiss you!” Fred shouted with a laugh. If it was possible, she flushed darker.

“Fred!” she exclaimed, swatting him lightly in the chest. Fred captured her hand before leaning closer.

“I’m sorry darling but I’m not sure if I can help myself,” he said softly, a smirk playing at his lips. (Y/n) rolled her eyes at him.

“You get a guy one good mark and suddenly he’s falling at your feet,” she grumbled, sending him a playful look. Fred laughed heartily at her joke.

“Very funny smarty-pants,” he replied. She looked up at him, smiling widely. She took one look around the deserted hallway before she took Fred by surprise and kissed him herself. She pulled him closer by his robes and stood on her toes to reach his tall frame. Fred gripped her waist tighter and melted into her, smiling slightly. After a moment they broke apart, blushing and smiling widely.

“Eh not bad Weasley,” she said, patting him on the shoulder.

“Not bad?” Fred sputtered, caught off guard by her response.

“But don’t worry. I’ve already proven that I’m a magnificent tutor, I think I can help you out with this too.”

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

Taglist: @durmstrange​ @theweasleysredhair​ @bellaacunaa​

add yourself here

[hezzabeth]

Next story part of Saying Farewell to Armageddon

A forest had engulfed Baker Street. A romantic, sunlit forest with twisting trees covered in puffy, bright yellow blossoms bursting from upturned cobblestones. Dotted among them were smaller, dark trees heavy with bunches of magenta berries. Two of the feral children had already attacked the berries, their lips a deep purple.

Dityaa stopped helping Revati with the popcorn cart and started skipping towards the children. Revati sneezed loudly as the pollen hit her nose. She hated to admit it, but it was all rather pretty.

A few feet away, Brigadeiro was working outside the greenhouse along with the school students and Dusk. Mrs. Gupta was glaring at them with firm disapproval. “Does that fool have any idea how much water plants use?” She grumbled to Revati, who was pushing the cart towards everyone.

“I told you, Mrs. Gupta, these are all drought-resistant native Australian plants,” Brigadeiro replied as he stooped over an upturned cobblestone, spraying the mud below. There was a faint rustling sound, and a bush burst from the earth. The bush had peculiar finger-like mint-green leaves. Seconds later, it was covered in hot pink fleshy fruit.

“They look like your hair,” Revati remarked, faintly startled by the entire thing. “Here, try one,” Brigadeiro replied, picking a piece of fruit and handing it to Revati.

“I was only gone for less than an hour,” Revati pointed out.

“I know, if I had more time, I would have been able to turn that old fountain into a herb garden,” Brigadeiro said with a small shrug.

A fresh, salty-sweet flavor hit Revati’s tongue, and she swallowed loudly, staring at the fruit with astonishment. “It’s so unusual,” she said after a second of shocked silence.

“Enchylaena tomentosa, otherwise known as Ruby Saltbush; they used to grow wild all over the deserts of Australia,” Brigadeiro said as Revati devoured the rest of the berry.

“Australia? Is that one of the smaller Saturn moons?” Revati asked, and Brigadeiro chuckled.

“No, it’s an ancient old Earth country,” Brigadeiro said. As far as Revati knew, nobody had stepped foot on old Earth in almost a thousand years.

“Don’t laugh at me, you thought a dog was a shoe!” Revati snapped back, tossing the rest of the fruit onto the earth. The bush rustled, and a branch grabbed the bright pink berry, shoving it into the dirt.

“Is it supposed to do that?” Revati asked, faintly horrified.

“Oh yes, it’s just reabsorbing its nutrients! All plants are modified to be self-sustaining,” Brigadeiro said cheerfully, and he reached into his jumpsuit pocket once again. This time he pulled out a tiny, slim plastic box. He held it up to his eye, and it made a clicking sound.

“What’s that?” Revati asked suspiciously.

“Oh this is just my seed vault! I did my master's thesis project on native Australian plants,” he said as he showed Revati the inside of his vault. The inside of the box was filled with tiny balls of clear goo, each with a speck inside.

“Why are you doing this? These seeds would be worth a fortune on the black market,” Revati asked, and Brigadeiro shrugged.

Here's the corrected version of your text:

"The least I can do after you saved my life is to build a self-sustaining garden for your community," he said, plucking one of the gel balls out before closing the ball with a snap. "Besides, it’s fun! Gardening has always been my passion," he added as he walked to the old fountain.

Juniper and Aurora were busy filling the fountain with volcanic Martian dirt. "You agreed to help him on this project? I thought you hated him," Revati whispered to Aurora.

"Shhh! I don’t hate him! I just don’t want you getting into a mess! I’m willing to like anyone who makes us more food," Aurora hissed.

"Miss Juniper! Will you say our prayer before the planting?" Bridgadeiro asked, and Juniper rolled her eyes.

"Fine, O Goup, Divine Goddess of Fertility and Wellness. Bringer of cosmic balance and nurturer of all that grows. We seek Your bountiful grace and nurturing embrace. To foster life’s richness wherever it flows.

In Your lush gardens, where seeds turn to flowers, Grant us the strength to cultivate with care, To nurture each bud and blossom with love, And rejoice in the abundance we share.

May Your fertile essence inspire our lands, With a symphony of life, vibrant and bright, Guiding our steps in the dance of creation, Under Your watchful, life-giving light. Amen." Juniper finished.

"Amen! That was lovely! You could be a high priestess," Bridgadeiro smiled.

"No thanks," Juniper replied as Bridgadeiro pushed the gel ball into the soil. Bridgadeiro then pulled out the bottle of serum, which was now half empty. "Two pumps," Bridgadeiro smiled, pumping the soil. A vine-like plant with sharp leaves sprang out of the fountain, seconds later covered in heavy greenish-yellow vegetables. "Bush banana, very high in protein, but it tastes best cooked," Bridgadeiro smiled, gesturing to the plant.

Bridgadeiro reached for his seed vault again, and Revati grabbed his hand. "No, you've given us more than enough! Stop wasting your serum," she said firmly.

"What the hell is that doing here?" Nanni's voice suddenly screamed. Nanni was standing next to the popcorn cart, pointing at the broken android.

"We found it in the maze, right after I sucked a bunch of black sand out of Queen Victoria’s bosom," remarked Dityaa. Dityaa was sitting on the ground, fashioning a flower crown out of several yellow flower-covered twigs.

"Actually, I found it first. She warned me that something called 'the spider' is coming," Revati explained. Nanni was trembling, shaking her head from side to side.

"You need to burn that thing! The only good thing that came from it was your sister!" Nanni said, and Dityaa glanced up, looking faintly confused.

"I came from that? Didn’t I grow in Anna’s body like Sissy?" Dityaa asked curiously, and Nanni pursed her lips together.

"No, you grew in that maternity droid… lots of babies did before the war," Nanni said evasively.

"I did! Then we should save it, we should dress it up and put it on display," Dityaa smiled. Dityaa slowly got up and then tenderly placed the flower crown on the android's head. "Your mother can't see this! Go make a fire right now," hissed Nanni, ripping the crown off.

"It's made out of solid metal! I can't make a fire hot enough to burn it," Revati pointed out.

"You have no idea! This thing killed over a dozen people! It destroyed ripped their hands off!" Nanni grimaced, kicking it.

"Really? It seemed more interested in saving us," Revati said dubiously.

"It's an empty shell, you can't trust emptiness! It could be filled with anything," Nanny said firmly, and Aurora cleared her throat slightly.

"Mistress?" She asked.

"Hmm," Revati replied.

"We could take the android to the blacksmith forge; they would be able to melt metal," Aurora said with a small shrug.

"The blacksmith forge, the one in the medieval faire? I'm not in the mood to have rancid urine thrown all over me," Revati shuddered.

"They use it to brush their teeth," Dityaa said helpfully.

"I know a back way of getting in, I use it when I visit my girlfriend," Aurora admitted, blushing bright red.

"Girlfriend?" Revati cried with surprise.

"Yes, she's the daughter of the guy who plays the castle's beekeeper," Aurora admitted with a small shy smile.

"Is that where our honey comes from?" Revati asked, and Aurora nodded meekly.

"Well, you are a lady full of surprises!" Revati said, and Aurora looked pleased.

"I always meet her at noon; we have plenty of time to get the android there," Aurora said. Revati glanced up at the sky. "It’s hard to tell what time it is; the trees are blocking the sun," Revati grimaced with annoyance. "It's 10:32 AM circus Martian time," Bridgadeiro said helpfully, flipping over his wrist. A glowing clock had been tattooed onto his skin. Revati flinched, and Bridgadeiro smiled reassuringly.

"Don’t worry! It’s just a standard tattoo clock; it doesn’t think for itself," Bridgadeiro said reassuringly, and Revati sighed with relief.

"Can I come too? I’m dying to see the inside of Medieval faire!" Dityaa remarked.

"Only if you go clean yourself up; you’re starting to smell like a blocked drain," Revati firmly replied.

"I smell like vanilla and fresh flowers!" Dityaa shrieked back before storming off in the direction of their home.

"Medieval Faire. Before the tornado, Revati only ever visited Medieval Faire once a week. Revati would slip her hand into her father's, and together they would head down to trade carrots. Father had at one point asked if they wanted any tomatoes, and Lady Morganna shrieked it was "new world poison." Out of all the actors, the residents of Medieval Faire were the most authentic.

[kinkyjaems]

Officer Johnny

Word count: 4.9K

johnny x fem!reader (feat. taeyong & doyoung)

Includes: Smut, a bit of fluff I guess, him praising you

You're sitting at your desk as always. Answering phone calls, reading and signing papers, the endless click of your computer mouse. Nothing interesting has happened. Your life is a bore. You work in a police station but you ran charge of going through cases and catching all the bad guys.

You work in a room full of men who you're allowed to boss around. One of them being Johnny Suh. The flirtatious cop that you know I strong to get in your pants. Although he’s not one of those guys in a pussy drought, no, he’s a really sweet guy your glad to have around not only at work but outside of work too.

Taeyong walks over to your desk slapping a case folder on your table. “We have a case” He huffs, clearly tired. “Johnny, Doyoung, come over here” As soon as the two males reach over to your desk, Taeyong starts explaining the case. “Wen Junhui, although is Chinese, owns the biggest drug trade in Korea. He’s here in Seoul right now but will later make his way to different parts of the country for his business. The department has been getting information on him for over a year now and now that we’ve finally found his whereabouts, we must catch him because not only is he recklessly selling drugs, he’s killing innocent people.” Taeyong starts showing you all pictures of Jun and you must say he’s a very handsome guy but you know his ass should be in jail for the better.

“Now,” Taeyong starts again. “He’s not in Seoul for much longer, he’s only here for a little get-together with some of the people he works with and others who’s are interested in buying” Taeyong places a huge duffle bag on the tableland unzips it to show its glory. There were stacks over stacks in that bag. All three of your mouths open in shock. “We're gonna use this money to pretend like we're there to buy drugs” He explains. “Why can't we just enter the get together without the money?” Doyoung asks. “Well, it's a little suspicious if we go in there without a purpose since we're not acquaintances with Jun so we must act like we want to buy his produce” Taeyong looks at you and Johnny. “And by we, I mean you two” he points at you both with his flat smile.

You two look at each other and back at Taeyong. “I thought we were all going together,” You thought. “Again, it might look a little suspicious, plus you two should go as a couple” You agree, wanting to help out. Your fake names are Naeun and Minhyuck. “Alright, so the party is tomorrow in the afternoon so you two should be ready to go”. 

You head home after a long day of planning. You were nervous about tomorrow. Being in a house full of ruthless gangsters who won’t hesitate to pull a gun to your head and shoot you. This was risky and there’s no denying it but your glad you weren’t doing this alone and felt a lot safer having Johnny around with you.

You plop onto your bed letting out a large huff as your eyes start to fall shut. Your eyes fly open as your phone starts to ring. Its Johnny. “Hello?” You answer the phone. “Hey, baby, what’s up?”

You can tell he was smiling through the phone. “Baby?” You laugh. “Yeah,” he says. “From tomorrow onwards, me and you are gonna be a thing and we need to get into it” You furrow your brows at his choice of words. “Onwards,” You ask. “You never knows what's gonna happen” He starts. “You need to expect the unexpected” He explains. “Whatever makes you sleep at night, babe” You tease and he laughs. “What are we gonna b wearing tomorrow by the way?” You ask. “I've got nothing in my closet” You not the type of person to go to parties, hence why there’s not much party clothing in your closet. “Taeyong said they already have outfits at the department so don’t worry about it. Sleep well tonight okay? We have a big day tomorrow.” You wish him goodnight and hang up the phone, instantly falling asleep.

You arrive at the station making your way to your office desk. You can feel your heart banging against your chest. You see your best friend Karina holding a beautiful black dress in her hands and walking over to you. “Are you ready?” She asks. “Yes,” You replied, not knowing if you were lying or not. “I'll leave you to get ready but call me when your done” Tayeong exits the office with Doyoung by his side. DDDD

You hear a door open and look to the side. Johnny enters the room, wearing a black on black suit that looks very expensive. A silver watch on his right hand with an ocean blue center and ring that were divided equally on each hand. He looked beautiful. “You okay, babe?” He smirked. “BABE?!” Karina squealed which made you jump. “He’s just trying to get into character” You laughed. “This wasn’t part of me getting into character” He placed his hands in his pockets. “Get ready and ill be with Taeyong” He exits the room and you turn to Karina who is now shaking the shit out of you.

“HE LIKES YOU” She squeals. “You need to start acting like a woman. Dressing up, wearing makeup.” She lectures you. “I'm not gonna try to look good just for some guy okay? We're just gonna finish with this little mission and get back to work” The big smile that was once plastered on her face, has now disappeared. “Ugh, fine. But if you sleep with him you better tell me” You playfully slap her arm and laugh together.

Karina does the finishing touches of your makeup and steps back to get a better view of you. “I can't believe it” Her hands covered her mouth and she runs to hug you. “You look so good,” she says. “Thank you” You smile. You have to say, Karina did an amazing job with the makeup. You make your way over to Taeyong who was patiently waiting for you, but no sign of Johnny. “Wheres Johnny?” You ask. “Wow,” You look over behind you and see Johnny eyeing you up and down. You were wearing a black silk dress with a big slit in the front, accompanied by a very light smokey eye and rose-colored lipstick. “You look great” You two are unable to get your eyes off each other.

You hear Taeyong grunt in the background and both your attentions are now on him. “Shall we go?” Taeyong leads the way into the garage where his car is parked. Johnny sat in the front while you sat in the passenger seat along with the bag of cash and Taeyong starts the car and heads off. You were quite the whole ride, Tayeong and Johnny conversing a little but it wasn’t something you were interested in doing in.

You were looking out the window until you felt a pair of eyes on you. You turn to see Johnny looking at you and rain your brows in confusion. “Oh, um I just wanted to tell you the plan but I guess I got carried away” Your face starts you heating up and you curse your pale skin. “Okay, so when we walk in we need to find Jun. Once we do I'm gonna start off by asking him about his drugs and seeming interested in them. While in a conversation, you excuse yourself to go to the bathroom when actually you need to find some documents that have information on where he’s gonna be land tomorrow. Got it?” He asks. “Got it” You reply.

You're parked in front of the mansion you have to say it was beautiful. It was packed with people from different parts of the world. The modern house was white and lined with gold details, making it catch your eyes instantly. Expensive cars were parked outside and giant window panes lines across the front.

“I'll be waiting out here. Once you get the info, you come straight back here” Taeyong explains. You both exit the car together walking over to two big males standing by the gate. “May I help you?” One of them asks. “My name is Minhyuck and were here to attend” Johnny remarks confidently. “What business do you have here and who is she” The other one points at you. “This is my girlfriend Naeun and we’re here to invest”. “With what money?” He asks. Johnny lifts up the big duffle bag he has and unzips it for them to see. They nod their head and opened the gates for you both.

You both look at each other before parting ways. You were in charge of looking outside while Johnny looked inside. You reach the part of the garden when most of the party is taking place. People were dancing and bumping into one another. You stand by the drink table holding your head high for a man named Wen Junhui. Before you knew it. You felt someone grab your hips and pull you towards them. “Hello~ beautiful” This man was clearing drunk. His breath smelt of strong rotting vodka. “Get off of me” You use your hands to push him away, which only made him angry. “Your gonna be mine today” He leans in to kiss you until he’s interrupted by a hand that punches him across the face.

Johnny pulls you behind him. “Get the fuck off of her you filthy bastard” His eyes wear dark with anger. You’ve never seen Johnny like this. “Johnny-“ You were interrupted by a voice calling you and Johnny. “Minhyuck and Naeun!” The man shouting was the man known as Wen Junhui. He looks at you with welcoming smiles and calls you over to sit at the table. Johnny obeys and walks over. You look down to take a seat but then feel an arm slither and an arm on your waist pulling you down onto Johnny's lap. You were a bit taken back knew you had to stay in character.

“So” Jun starts “I heard you wanted to buy some stuff of me. I got the best in the city, all you want”. “I am very interested in your products as I’ve heard it's the best quality, Mr. Wen” Johnny smiles at Jun. As they talk you start to feel something underneath you poking your ass and it's not along time before you realize it's Johnny's needy bulge. You ignore it and excuse yourself for the bathroom.

You enter the house. It was covered in the red carpet all the up until the two-way shimmering stairs. “Wow” You gasp. You look around to make sure there aren’t any guards around to catch you. Once you see the coast is clear, you quickly head up the stairs trying to make less sound as possible with your heels. “Brown door with a golden knob” You whisper to yourself. You move around the mansion trying not to be too loud as your heels lightly clack.

You finally found what you looking for, twisting the swinging golden knob allowing you to enter. You were presented into a room with multiple file cabinets. “Investment, partnership, blacklist, travel plans” You read all the labels trying to find the right one. You open the drawer marked ‘Travel plans’ and scanned the papers looking for destinations. “Oh dear,” You hear a familiar voice and turn around to see Jun holding Johnny tightly around his arm, giving you an evil smile. Two big men as backup behind him.

You still have the important file clutched in your hand. “You know what happens to people who try to snake their way around me” He lifts up his gun to point your face and you look at Johnny in panic. Before you knew it, Johnny lifted his elbow up and knocked Jun on the face, knocking the gun out of his hand. The big men in the back going for Johnny as he tries to fight him off with his back to you. Jun picks up his gun to shoot Johnny, when you kick his back, making sure to point your bottoms heels at him.

He looks at you in anger and takes a shot at your legs, barely missing as the bullet goes through your dress. You look down in shock. “DID YOU JUST SHOOT MY DRESS?!” Anger started filling you up all because he ruined this beautiful silk dress. You take off your heels and start smacking him on the face.

“Don’t” smack “fucking” smack “ruin” smack “my” smack “dress”. You now straddled on him repeatedly hitting him with your heel. You bring your hands down to his nipples, strongly twisting them and he shouts in pain. “Don’t you dare touch a woman!” You continue beating your fists on his chest until you feel a pair of hands slither around your waist lifting you up and over their shoulder. 

Johnny runs out with your over your back. You see them chase after you and use this opportunity to take one of your heels that was once hugging your feet, and throw it at the men. Once Johnny is outside the mansion, he places you back on the floor, grabs your arm, and pulls you into the car where Taeyong was patiently waiting.

You quickly drive off and see a black van full of men chase after your vehicle. Taeyong opens your sunroof and hands you a gun. “Use this to get rid of them” He handed you a handgun and you stand up so your upper body is out of the far.

Not wanting to kill anyone, you aim for the two front wheels while being careful of any bullets that might be coming your way. The black van gets slower and slower until it's a little black dot in the distance. You lift your hand over your head to form a heart. Johnny and Taeyong hysterically laughing at your gesture.

You sit back down and a loud huff escapes your mouth. “Did you get the file?” ask Taeyong. You reach into the pockets of your once beautiful dress that now has a hole in it and pull out a sheet. “Got it” you answer. “Yeahhh” Johnny claps. “Dude, she was wrecking that Jun guy. She used her heels as a weapon, I’ve never been so scared” He giggles. “This is why you shouldn’t mess with me” You point at your feet that’s missing one heel.

“So, where his next destination?” Tayeong asks. “He’s gonna be in Busan tomorrow, it says here he’s there for a meeting” You explain. “Alright great, ill make sure a hotel is booked.” He replies. “Separate rooms” You point out. “Oh come on babe, relax a little and share a room with me” Johnny wines, pouting his lips at you and you give him a cold stare as he looks away.

You enter your shared office getting ready to change as you pick up your clothes and head to the bathroom while Johnny just changes outside. You say your goodbyes and exit the department, waiting outside looking frustrated while trying to get a taxi. “Do you want a ride” you turn to see Johnny with a warm smile? “Oh, N-no it's okay. I don’t wanna trouble you” You kindly define his offer. “You're not troubling me” He replies. “Without your amazing fighting skills, we wouldn't have gotten the destination file” You lightly smack his chest and take up his offer.

The whole car ride to your house was quiet until Johnny breaks the silence. “You know” Johnny starts. “I know this is a bad time to tell you this but lately I've been thinking about how much I wanna take you out.” He looks at you nervously. “So.. when all of this is over, do you mind if I do?” You look at him and you smile from how nervous and cute he was. You don’t usually see Johnny like this. He’s usually so confident with everything he says. “Id love to” You smile at him.

You once again say your goodbyes and head inside going straight for the bathroom where you wash off your makeup and dress into some comfy pajamas. You get your suitcase out of your cabinet, placing some essentials in before you go to bed, ready for the next day. You eat breakfast in bed while watching your favorite show when you then get interrupted by a text from Taeyong.

Taeyong: Hey, are you ready?

You: Yeah. I'm gonna head out to the office soon.

Taeyong: Instead of the office, come to the train station where I and Johnny are waiting

You: Okk, Ill be there

You get your suitcase and head out, taking a taxi to the subway station. You arrived at the station and greet them both. You stand infant of the waiting train as Taeyong explains where you’ll be staying and other important information for your stay at Busan.

You and Johnny enter the train and took a seat. Johnny helped place both your luggage in the overhead stowage and took a seat next to you. It was a 2-hour train ride to Busan. You lay your head back against the seat as the train starts moving. “Hey, I have a question” Johnny looks at you. “Why not you wanna share a room with me?” He asks. “Is it because you wouldn’t know how to stop yourself?” He smirks and you smack his chest. “No,” You say. “I think you won’t be the one to stop yourself”. Johnny shrugs his shoulders. “You're not wrong” He leans slowly. “Hello, would you like something to drink” The attendant interrupts? “No thank you. You?” He turns to look at you. “I'm good, thank you” You answer with a smile.

You have an hour left of the train and you look vide bialy tired from staying in the same place. Johnny pats his shoulder, letting you use it as a headrest. You rest your head comfortably on his shoulder, slowly dosing off. He brings his arm over your shoulder and rests his head onto yours.

You finally arrive in Busan. Johnny nudges you lightly to wake you up and exit the train. You both wait outside the Busan train station for your ride. “Still tired” Johnny laughs and you hum in response with your eyes half-open. He pulls you into a hug, wrapping his arms around you while you rest your arms around his waist as support.

The car finally arrives and takes you to your hotel. You exit the car looking at the place as Johnny helps take out the luggage. “Are you sure this is the right place?” You ask Johnny. You were standing outside a small motel. Johnny stands next to you looking up at the structure in front of you. “I guess?” He replies. “Let's got check out our rooms”.

You two walked inside a were welcomed by an old lady. You politely greet her and check-in. “Okay, here is your key for room 24” She smiles as she places one key in Johnny's hand. “One room?” You ask. “I think we booked two”. “Unfortunately we don’t have another room available” She apologizes. “If you want we can-“ “It's okay, we’ll take the room” You smile, not wanting to trouble the lady. 

You walk into your room. The walls were painted a beige color. As you walk in you see a bed to the right, facing you, and a small TV opposite the mattress.

The station was so busy that it was already 6 PM. You changed into a hoodie and shorts before plopping yourself on the bed, thinking about how you gonna sleep tonight. As you were lost in thought, Johnny exits the bathroom wearing a plain black t-shirt and gray sweatpants, with his bulge being very obvious. How could someone look so good in something so plain simple? You thought. “What do you wanna do to pass the time?” You ask. “Do you wanna check out what movies they have on the TV?” You nod your head at him in approval.

You sit up at the back of the bed giving room for Johnny to sit next to you. Johnny starts scrolling through the different genres of movies, listing them as he goes. “Horror, romance, comedy, porn-“ He looks at you with begging eyes and you shake your head in disapproval. “How about a horror movie?” You suggest. Johnny nods and finds a movie that appeared to be 2 hours long.

It's about 7 PM and your 1 hour into the movie. You feel a pair of eyes on you and turn to look at Johnny. “What?” You quietly ask. He starts to realize he’s staring at you and stress. “Oh um, I-I was just um wondering if you were cold” He makes up an excuse and you laugh knowing very well that wasn’t it.

“Why are you laugh,” He asks with a little smile. “Nothing. It's just cute how you made an excuse to ask if I was cold when you were staring at me” You look at him to see he looks almost panicked. “N-no,” He says. “You even stuttering” You point out. “N-no I'm not” You laugh at him. He straightens his posture. “You think id be staring at you because of how beautiful you look in just a hoodie and shorts. How I can even focus on the movie because I can’t take my eyes off you. How I want to kiss your lips so bad and cherish your body forever. 

The smile that was once on both your face is now gone. Johnny leans in closer to the point where you can smell his fresh laundry detergent. Your lips meet together and move in harmony. He brushed your hair out of the way with his hand and places it on your cheek. He swipes his tongue across your lower lip, asking for permission to enter. You grant him permission by opening your mouth wider and your tongues fight each other for dominance as he takes the lead. “A little aggressive aren’t you?” He smiles again your kiss.

You slither your hands around his neck to get a better angle to dominate him but he reaches his hands behind you, lightly tugging your hair as a small moan leaves your lips and your head leans back. He smirks at the sound and starts trailing wet kisses up and down your neck until you were interrupted by a phone call from Taeyong.

He stops what he’s doing as he goes to answer the phone and you grunt in annoyance. “Hello?” He answers the phone. “Yeah we arrived, we’re just watching a movie to pass the time. Yeah okay, sounds good. Bye,” He hangs up the phone and turns to you. “We should go to bed. We need to wake up pretty early tomorrow” You felt kind of sad but you had a job and needed good sleep in order to do your best.

You get under the blanket and watch as Johnny goes to the couch, using an extra pillow and blanket to sleep for the night. The room is dark and you couldn’t help but think about how you wanted Johnny's arms wrapped around you as you slept, or even better, his lips all over you.

“Johnny” You call out. “Yeah” He replies and you sit up. “Do you mind if you sleep next to me tonight?” You see a black figure sit up on the couch, not hesitating to comb over and climb in bed next to you. “Miss me?” He teases you. “Yes,” You reply as you attach your lips to his. He adjusted quickly and kiss you back. This time even most passionately. He pushes you down so you're underneath him and he’s hovering on top of you with his hands roaming freely on your body.

Your hook your arms over this neck and let your fingers tangle around his hair. You bring one hand down to the hem of his shirt and lightly tug at it, gesturing for his to take it off. He sits up on top of you and brings his t-shirt over your head. You look at his toned body while placing air two hands on his shoulder and slowly feeling down his chest. He then roves your hoodie, leaving you only in your bra. “Fuck, you’re so beautiful” He pants, diving back into your mouth before moving to your neck.

After placing kisses cross your neck, he starts sucking on your skin like honey, making sure to leave marks with not one place untouched. He moves down placing kisses down your chest and onto your stomach until he reaches your pants. He looks up at you for permission to remove it and you nod, taking your bra off too. He pulls your pants to the side and teasingly breathes on it making your head go back.

He reaches his left hand over to your breasts, slowly massaging them before gliding his tongue across your fold. You let out a soft moan as Johnny repeats this gesture with his tongue. He starts sucking on your clit slowly and softly making sure to get every inch before sliding a finger in there and gently thrusting it in and out.

You start to lose your patience as you try to move your hand down to your slit but get stopped by Johnny's big hand. He places your hand to the side and thrust his finger and faster while flicking his tongue on your wet slit at an exceptional speed.

Your back arches in pleasure and you start to close the gap between your legs until Johnny pushes them open and digs his tongue inside or you even harder, which causes you to moans out his name uncontrollably loud. “I'm about to cum” You say in between moans.

Johnny takes this as an opportunity to place his pointer and middle finger inside of you, quickly thrusting until you come all over his face. He uses his tongue to clean you as if your juices were his treasure. He sits up and looks at you before crawling his way closer to your face. You can see your glimmering juices on his face as he uses his tongue going in a circle, getting it all off “You taste so good, baby”.

He re-attaches his lips onto you. You didn't care that he just ate you out and now his tongue is in your mouth. He slips out of his sweatpants and reveals his giant cock. He stands at the edge of the bed before you come over to replace his hands with yours. “Spit on it” He demands, and you obey spitting on his tip before spreading it across his whole length.

You started by tracing circles with your tongue at the top before slowly doing down on him until you manage to take all of him in. You use your free hand to massage his balls earning a low moan from him. Every time you reach the tip, you make sure to swirl your tongue around the top before going back down to the base.

He tangles his hand in your hair and starts taking the lead, going slow at intros but then quacking his pace. You start to deep throat him as he praises you with every move. “Fuck, your os good” he bites his lips. “Look at me” You look up at him and his hands go faster. You realize he likes it when you look at him as he fucks your mouth. 

Tears start welling up in your eyes and you feel his cock twitching inside of your mouth as his hands get weaker. You give him a hand by robbing your head up and down until you feel a warm sensation fill your mouth and his head leans back. You swallow every last drop of him and he brings his hands on your neck, lightly pulling you up to kiss you. “Can you lay down for me princes?” He asks and you do exactly that.

He quickly grabs a condom from the suitcase and glides it across his cock. He sits in front of you, pulls one of your legs over his shoulder, and slowly enters your heated core, earning a moan from boh of you.

He adjusts himself and starts thrusting in and out of you, again, starting off slow but then picking up his pace. The room is filling with loud moans and the sound of your skin slapping together. He reaches over to your breasts slowly massaging them one by one before smacking your ass as he cusses loudly. “Say my name” He speaks, in between shaky breathes. “J-Johnny, fuck” You moan out loud. 

“Johnny, I'm close” You let him know, and make sure he’s balls deep instead of your, earring a scream of pleasure from you. You feel him twitch inside of you as come all over his length, not long before he finishes too. You're both panting heavily as you try to regain your energy. He stands up taking the condom off before throwing it in the nearby bin. 

He cleans you up first, making sure your okay and comfortable, before helping himself. He helps you to his t-shirt that he was previously wearing and throw on his sweatpants, laying nectar you and pulling you in his arms. “You were so good,” He says and you giggle. “I'm happy there weren’t any other rooms available” You reply and he kisses you once more before you both fall asleep, ready for tomorrow morning.

Thank you for whoever suggested this story! I couldn't create a small short story so I decided to do this- @_@