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#'no. are you stupid? we have this planned since high school. Anyway Raven do you want to go for brunch next Tuesday?'
rat-rosemary · 5 months
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I genuinely think that the fact that it would be Raven who would poison Apple made her destiny way less scary for her.
I mean, she was already kinda groomed into thinking it was perfect but think about it. She would be on very temporary pain, that is guaranteed to go away and bring a happy future, and the person that would put her trough that pain is someone she know and trusts and it's friends with.
To her, it's almost like Raven poisoning her is just a little unpleasant errand they will go through together and they will be both so much better when it's over. If they did go through with the destined story, I think Apple would genuinely be shocked that Raven would suffer for poisoning her
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ava-achlys · 3 years
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The Boyz NSFW Scenarios
Kim Sunwoo - Reflection [Requested]
Request: Strangers to friends (dom! Sunwoo), new kid Sunwoo meets the school troublemaker in detention. Tensions rise and antics ensue.
new kid! Sunwoo x bad girl! reader
Warnings: unprotected sex (wrap it up kiddos), underage sex, semi-public sex, slight praise kink, slight angst, mentions of bullying/misconduct/mischief
Sorry for the wait @l0v3bugch4nh33 but I hope you enjoy it! Thanks again for requesting 💖
What do you do when your position as the baddest person in school is threatened by some obnoxious newbie with equally obnoxious pink hair?
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Mr Lee sighs for the umpteenth time as you tap your foot incessantly. He glares at you, knowing full well he has no effect on you. Every teacher that's tried to talk some sense into you or punish you has given up and resigned to waiting for the day you graduate, which proves to be difficult since your grades were trash and your conduct was just as terrible. You had to repeat your senior year and it just meant you had more time to mess with the teachers and staff. Why hadn't they just expelled you? Well, you doubt it had anything to do with the fact that you'd been expelled from two other high schools already, and your parents had offered a large sum of money to the principal to keep you in this school until you graduate.
You hated studying, period. You hated how rigid the academic systems were, and you had little to no interest in anything. Not science, not languages, not arts. You just felt stuffy and controlled all the time. That was why you ended up terrorizing the other kids and even staff, just to feel alive and free. Smoking in the school bathrooms, skipping class, vandalism; just to name a few. You revelled in the way your juniors would scurry away if you so much as looked in their direction, and even some teachers would avoid you. You ran the school, and you were untouchable. Until about a week ago.
Some new kid transferred into your class with obnoxiously pink hair and a slight accent from the countryside. Who even transfers into a new school in their senior year? Anyway, some of the girls were immediately taken by his looks, whispering to each other about how cute he was, and your classmates began spreading mindless gossip about him.
I heard he was expelled for beating up some teachers
I heard it was because he set the school on fire!
I bet it's cause he slept with a teacher
You roll your eyes at their stupid words, effectively shutting them up with a glare. As your luck would have it, the new guy (Sunoo, was it?) was assigned to be your seating partner, something your teacher belatedly realized was a very bad idea. In horror, she reminded the class that it was a temporary arrangement and that she was revise the seating plan, internally vowing to keep you two as far away from each other as possible. It wasn't something for her to worry about, you thought. You had absolutely no plans to get close to the pink-haired fool who was not-so-subtly checking you out.
Days passed and you tried to assert your dominance by acting out even more than usual. You swapped all the locks to the gym equipment storage and started a food fight at lunch, earning you a week's worth of detention. However it didn't seem to faze him at all, and he went about his business, staying out of your hair, despite appreciating the view every time you walked past in your short skirt. So what if you weren't abiding by the school dress code? He himself had flaming pink hair, which apparently landed him in detention too, since he wasn't willing to dye it back to black or shave it all off within the stipulated time. That, and he was caught smoking in the boys bathroom. Detention within the first week of school? You had to applaud him, even if you decided you hated his guts for being indifferent and callous. Only you were allowed to be like that.
A knock on the door brings you back to the present, and Mr Lee huffs when he sees the fuchsia mop poke through the door. "So nice of you to finally join us, Sunwoo. Your seat is there. And I'm sure you're familiar with the rules of detention by now, most schools are the same," your teacher smiles, a fake saccharine tinge to his voice.
"Afraid not, sir, would you be so kind to inform me again?" Sunwoo drawls, his big round eyes blinking with faux innocence. You resist the urge to laugh at the way Mr Lee is fuming, sinewy arms ready to burst through his tight button-up and you swear you could see steam pouring out of his ears. "I do not want to hear a single word from either of you. Stay put, and maybe do some reflection on why you decided to be such menaces," he spits through gritted teeth, storming off through the door and slamming it shut, locking it from the outside. You groan, slouching into your seat as you fiddle with your phone, already bored out of your mind. Your eyes are on your phone but you can sense Sunwoo's gaze lingering on you again. It's not unpleasant, but it leaves you feeling hot, and you refuse to believe he's got that effect on you.
"You're an idiot," you mutter under your breath, your eyes still trained on your phone.
"Pardon?" his artificially sweet voice is back, taunting you with that drawl of his.
"Smoking on school grounds, getting detention in your first week? Rookie mistake."
"What if I did it on purpose? To spend some quality time with the mysterious bad girl everyone's been talking about?"
You scoff loudly and Sunwoo is still grinning annoyingly at you. He stands up and walks over to the teacher's table, plopping into Mr Lee's seat. "You're interesting." He stretches his long legs out, resting them on the table, putting his hands behind his head, sending a cocky smirk your way; and you can’t decide if you want to punch or kiss it right off his face. You roll your eyes, uncrossing your legs and you suppress a laugh when you notice Sunwoo’s line of vision goes straight to the spot between your legs. He licks his plush lips subconsciously, and oh, what you would give to feel those lips on your body. You spread your legs just a tad further, and the smirk on his face slowly drains away, eyes transfixed on the wet spot on your panties. “Fuck you, Sunwoo.”
“Yes, please,” he murmurs absentmindedly, his mind racing thinking about all the dirty things he wants to do to you. You scoff, crossing your legs again, about to curse at him. You’re no easy girl. Especially for someone like Sunwoo, with his stupid puppy eyes, fluffy pink hair, pouty pink lips, thick thighs straining through his tapered uniform trousers and- your thoughts were disrupted by his figure looming over you. He had crossed the room while you were busy listing off everything you found attractive hated in the boy. He stands before you, round eyes darkened with want, and his hand comes up to tilt your chin upwards, his thumb carelessly rubbing against your bottom lip.
"Are you really as bad as they say you are?"
"Don't try me Kim Sunwoo."
"No… I don't think you are. I think you're actually a good girl, hmm?" Sunwoo whispers, deftly unzipping his trousers and pulling his erect cock out, perfectly level with your glossy lips. He tucks a strand of stray hair behind your ear, and gently coaxes your head closer to his twitching length. Your mouth falls open unwittingly, and you can't help but lick your lips at the sight before you.
"Such a good girl only for me."
A shiver rolls down your spine at his deep voice, and you find your lips around his tip, lapping up his oozing precum, your hand grasping the base of his cock. Sunwoo lets out a shaky moan, his fingers twisting into your hair. “Fuck, just like that,” he gasps. You bob your head up and down, swallowing around his shaft, and Sunwoo’s pretty moans fill the classroom. He guides your head up and down his length, admiring the way your luscious lips are wrapped around his veiny member. Soon, he tugs you off by your hair, making a 'pop' sound as your mouth releases his dick. You look up at him questioningly, and his cock twitches at the sight of your spit-slicked swollen lips. "Don't wanna cum yet, cutie," he grins, dragging you by the shoulders to push you against the teacher's table.
You hop up the table and lean back, parting your legs wide to accommodate him. You pull your skirt up, and he pulls your drenched panties aside to dive in, licking ravenously at your slick folds, causing you to mewl and throw your head back, nearly hitting your head on the table. He slides your panties off and his free hand sneaks up your body to cup your breast, massaging it through your shirt and bra as he makes out with your pussy. You clamp a hand over your mouth to stifle your moans, feeling those plump lips close around your sensitive clit, and you can't help but writhe in pleasure. Sunwoo smirks up at you from between your thighs, balling up your panties and holding them in front of your face. "Open up~ can't be too noisy can we, or else the teachers will find out we don't hate each other as much as they think we do," he mocks you in a singsong voice. You open your mouth to rebuke, but he takes this opportunity to shove your panties into your mouth, prompting a disgruntled moan from you.
Your annoyance at being forcibly shushed fades quickly when he sticks two thick fingers into your pussy, clenching tight around the intrusion. He laps at your clit as he pumps his fingers, scissoring them to stretch you out, his other hand back to groping your other breast. Your mind is turning hazy from all the stimulation, and you can only grip onto the edges of the table as you drown in the feeling of Sunwoo's touches all over your body. He pulls away once he thinks you're ready, making you whine at the loss of contact. He straightens up and you wordlessly stare at each other with lust-filled eyes as he languidly lubes up his erect cock with your juices. You position yourself right at the edge of the table, holding your legs up and apart with your hands, presenting yourself to him.
Your pussy throbs as he approaches, lining up his cock with your entrance and he pushes in slowly. The stretch burns deliciously, and Sunwoo hurriedly pulls your panties from your lips, muffling your moans with his lips instead. The kiss is messy, spit and precum and teeth, as your pussy adjusts to having him fully sheathed inside you. You break apart, gasping for air, and Sunwoo is shaking from resisting the urge to pummel into you immediately. "M-move, Sunwoo, hurry," you whisper, and he nods, pulling out and slamming back in instantly, shushing you softly when you unwittingly moan out loud. He continues to fuck you at a brutal pace, balls slapping against your ass, and slowly you feel your arms start to give way. He notices this, and takes over, holding your thighs apart with a bruising grip as he drills into you. He buries his face in your neck, his hot breath and warm lips on your skin bringing you close to climax.
"You think you're so big and bad huh? The students fear you and the teachers hate you, but look how good you're being for me," he pants into your skin, groaning when you clench around him, clearly affected by his words. "S-shut it Sunwoo just- ahhh!" your words are cut off by a hard thrust into your g-spot. You hate him, for being a tease, for taunting you, for threatening to take your spot as the top dog in school, but most of all, for edging you. He chuckles darkly, pulling your hair so you look up at him with desperate, wild eyes. "Come on now, ask nicely and I'll let you cum, babe," he teases, hips still pistoning relentlessly into yours. You let out a frustrated groan, and you grab him by his collar, pressing your lips against his. "Let me cum, Sunwoo, wanna cum all over your pretty cock," you mumble against his lips, and it seems to do the trick.
His thrusts begin to stutter, and you smirk into the kiss, realizing that big bad Sunwoo likes being praised too. "Your lips were made to eat pussy, and you just love the taste of mine, don't you?" you continue, getting bolder, revelling in the way a shiver rolls down his spine at your words. He thrusts erratically, groaning lowly as you cling to his frame, burying your face in his shoulder to muffle your moans as you cum hard, clenching tightly around his cock. Sunwoo hurriedly pulls out before he cums inside you, jerking himself harshly to completion, growling and cursing as he paints the side of the teacher's table white with his cum. He falls forward, clutching the table as both of you gulp lungfuls of air as you come down from your highs.
"Fuck, that was-"
"Insane. We're insane for doing this, really." you finish his sentence. He snorts loudly, shaking his head at the sticky situation you had gotten yourselves into. Suddenly you hear footsteps and voices coming down the hallway, and you look at each other in horror. You quickly straighten your clothes, hurrying to put your panties on and wipe off Sunwoo's cum from the teacher's table with a gym towel you had in your school bag. Mr Lee opens the door to find the two of you sitting very peacefully apart, and with any luck, doesn't notice the messy hair, wrinkled clothes, flushed cheeks or the stench of sex and sweat in the classroom.
He chalks it up to you two delinquents being perpetually unkempt, and dismisses the two of you, as it was well past the time your detention should have ended. You and Sunwoo duck around him, uncharacteristically quiet and meek as you exit the school together. Once you make it past the school gates, you both break out into raucous laughter, still not believing how you went from hating each other to swallowing each other's faces in the span of one meeting. The smile on Sunwoo's face suddenly disappears as a thought crosses his mind. "Wait… was there a CCTV camera in that classroom?" he asks worriedly. "Yeah. There is." you reply casually, and a look of alarm crosses his face.
"Don't worry, it's broken though." you quickly assure him.
"What? Who broke it?"
A devious smile graces your lips and Sunwoo immediately understands, barking out another incredulous laugh. You two share stories about the trouble you've gotten into at your previous schools all the way home. Before you part ways, Sunwoo smirks cheekily at you. "So… Same time next week?"
You gnaw on your lip as you consider. Maybe there was space at the top of the food chain for two, and that you both aren't so different after all. You mirror his impish grin as you walk away.
"See you in detention, Kim Sunwoo."
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glitterfairy-21225 · 3 years
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In which Peter has a child while stuck in the mcu: *takes deep breath*
He’s definitely living with Wanda post WV, so she’s there.
I don’t know a lot about inhumans but I know a little. Maybe Crystal is on earth for some reason, or the royal family just invites Wanda to the moon after learning about Westview b/c they want the tea, I guess. But Crystal and Peter meet.
They don’t get married, they don’t even officially date, so when Crystal announces she’s pregnant literally everyone is blindsided.
Wanda’s reaction is the best. She doesn’t say anything, but it’s her facial expressions as this is all going down. Her facial expressions.
Peter panics. Obviously. He runs around frantically with no rhyme or reason. He trashed his room. He’s screaming at a pitch only Crystal’s giant dog can hear.
He confides in Wanda about his piles of daddy issues, compounded by the fact that he never told his father the truth.... And also the fact that he was a terrorist.
But now it’s like, what happens if he goes back to his universe. He doesn’t want to to be an absentee father.
So he makes a difficult decision to stay in the mcu for the child. He still wants to go back to the x men to make sure his friends and family know he’s okay, but he wants to stay with his kid.
In the wake of his decision, Peter is high on emotion and decides that he needs to go the extra mile for this fatherhood schtick.
So he and Crystal elope.
Literally. Everyone. Thinks. This. Is. Questionable.
They’re divorced before she gives birth.
Not even a bitter divorce, just a ‘Ok, marriage at this point was probably a mistake.....’ divorce.
He and Wanda binge watch kids movies that came out from after he was taken from the x men.
Labor time!
Peter’s definitely a ping-pong whatever. When Crystal cries, he cries. When she screams, he screams.
But then Luna is born and she’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen in his life, and he just can’t. He’s crying on his own behalf.
Crystal holds her first, and then Peter, and the first thing he says to her is with teary eyes, so loving, so tenderly, is ‘You are gonna piss so many people off,’ in the softest voice you can imagine.
When the rest of the family comes in to meet her, Peter turns on the Lion King music, which he saw in the binge, and holds her up.
Wanda gets to hold her next, and Peter’s all ‘Meet your Aunt Wanda, Luna!’ And it’s a moment, because yeah, Tommy and Billy called him uncle, and he’s made it clear he loves them as such, but that was when he was brainwashed, so this. This is such a moment for Wanda.
And Wanda misses her boys so much, but the amount of love she feels for this girl overwhelms her bad she really believes she’s not alone anymore.
Afterwards, the three of them (Peter, Wanda, and Luna) are all curled up on a hospital bed together. Like they would be if Peter was the one who gave birth, but instead they just stole a bed to cuddle on because they’re emotionally drained.
Crystal is giving them the side eye from the other bed like, *guys it’s my special day too.*
Peter looks down at his bundle of joy and decides to make a speech to her.
He takes a deep breath. ‘Luna Maximoff’ (‘We did not discuss last names, Peter!’) ‘Your father is.... the problem in every relationship he has ever had. Except for the ones with people who are bigots, those guys suck. And he’s gonna be problem in ours. But I promise you, even if I make a million mistakes, and I will, I will try my very best to make sure you are the one person in this family who’s life isn’t made up of one traumatic experience after the other. Because you are the love and light of my life.’
Awwww.
Oh and Wanda definitely has a himym moment where she looks back all the stupid stuff Peter has done and thinks, ‘That guys a dad now.’
Except her flashback was from that morning.
Of course, that doesn’t get rid of all his deep emotional baggage. And he’s so worried about messing Luna up that he’s a complete motherhen.
He rants to Wanda, ‘Let’s face it, you and I are both going to hell,’ Because even if he loves Wanda, he’s not gonna excuse what she did to Westview, and for himself he has self esteem issues. So Wanda is :000. But Peter just continues. ‘But I really don’t want that for her!’
Anyways, Wanda starts hearing her kids and that kicks off their next big adventure, with Peter reluctantly leaving Luna with her mom.
He writes her a final letter in case he dies so she knows he loves her very much. But don’t worry, Peter’s not gonna die, so this is just a character quirk for now. It’s always quirky until someone dies.
I know that the ‘X men see WandaVision broadcast’ thing should logically stop after episode seven, but for this we’re gonna say the broadcast showed the entire, actual show, with all the SWORD and Agatha stuff. And then it starts playing Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness! And there’s a flashback to Luna’s birth.
It’s been a few years, and the x men have already had a funeral for him, so seeing this is..... wow.
Raven’s long since spilled the beans to Erik about his son, and he’s not been taking it well.
So seeing that his son is not only alive and well, but that he also has a granddaughter, (and maybe even an au daughter) makes him cry in front of everyone.
Also, maybe the team was just a bit unappreciative of him, not enough for us to bash them, but enough to make them feel guilty. So seeing him thriving without them stirs up some emotions.
Also maybe he has an ex on the team, and it ended because Peter’s bad at handling things. For maximum feels.
They know from the broadcast that Peter plans to stay in the mcu with his daughter and that makes them all sad, but it’s a really good reason and they’re almost all sensible enough to accept this.... After a proper goodbye of course.
We’ll get back to Erik’s feelings in a sec.
They make a portal, and all go to the mcu to help out in the final fight. They reunite with Peter, who runs to get Luna, even though she’s not on earth, so that they can all meet her.
Erik holds Luna and goes ‘You will lead millions! Willingly or as slaves.’
It reminds him of holding Nina and he wishes he held Peter and it’s so special.
They say their goodbyes.
Meanwhile, Erik is conflicted, because his child (children) is staying in alternate universe and this is where his granddaughter is, so if he can’t convince them to come back to the x men verse then maybe the best thing he can do is move to the mcu.
But Charles a school to look after, so that leads a horrible question; Will Cherik have to break up again?
Doctor Strange just rolls his eyes and says fuck it, because reality is already messed up so why not? And he gives the Maximoffs a key to crossover whenever they want. And it only works for them.
So Luna has all the inhumans and all the x men loving her so much, with the best dad, aunt, and grandpas in both worlds.
And of course with the coolest cousins a girl could ask for!
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purple-baby-d · 3 years
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overthinking over you.
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Lee Donghyuck (Haechan — NCT) X female reader.
Genre: Fluff, smut.
Word count: 8,672.
Content: student!hyuck, student!reader, sportplayers!nct, kissing, first time sex (male), dry humping, foreplay, fingering, depictions of violence that may be upsetting for some readers, I kinda made Johnny a dick so sorry to y’all beforehand, just some lovely and probably cringey au to have a valentine’s day feast before valentine’s day because I realized I haven’t written an au for my best friend in a while and the 90′s Love era Haechan has been attacking me for long enough so I decided to do something about it.
Brief: Captain of the hockey team, Honor Roll student, an amazing friend and the pride and joy of his parents, Lee Donghyuck certainly has it all to other people’s eyes, but what about the girl he’s dreamed of? No, he’s pretty much a great overthinker for that. But now that she broke up with her boyfriend, will his head get on the way of him getting to her heart?
Dedicated to @theravengoddess, happy Valentine’s day, bestie! I love you and thank you for being with me through the ups and downs 💜
After some long hours of practice, the hockey team was finally sent to the lockers by the coach, the old man’s chest was filled with pride by his back-to-back champion, the Neo Cultural Tech All-Stars. But of course, he didn’t want his players to slack off, so he wouldn’t let them know that.
The man of the hour, Lee Donghyuck, got out of his warm shower to dress up and go home, finding his fellow team players in the lockers. “Hey, nice practice today, Hyuck”, Jeno complimented, patting his shoulder. “Thanks, man. You were quite impressive out there too”, he smiled at him. “You guys wanna crash at my place to study for the finals? My last brain cell died trying to figure out the Algebra study guide”, Mark sighed, pulling his red hoodie down as he slipped his arms into the sleeves. “I’m down, I seriously need divine help for that one”, Sungchan said, tying the laces of his sneakers. “Me too, the question is if our savior will be there to help us”, Yangyang teased, looking at his team captain.
The blonde looked at him with a little smile, shaking his head. “You guys are truly a pain in the ass”, he sighed. “Oh, come on, Hyuck! I’ll pay for the pizza”, Yangyang pleaded, truly concerned about his grades. “You know if I don’t get at least a B, I won’t be able to stay in the team, what are you gonna do without your heartthrob?” he asked while pouting and batting his eyes. “But WinWin has good grades”, Mark teased, making his fellows laugh and Hyuck sigh. “Fine, but if you start staring at your phone instead of studying, I will whoop your ass”, Donghyuck agreed, and the rest of them high-fived each other.
“Ayo, Ten!”, Mark called out, looking at the guy who had just gotten out of the shower. Donghyuck saw something weird in him, he looked as if he was in a rush. “We’re having a group study session at my place, Hyuck will help us with the Algebra study guide, you down?”, he asked. “I’ll have to pass, guys. Johnny is pissed, it seems like he and Y/N broke up”, he said, making Donghyuck stop in his tracks, shocked. “What? What for?”, Mark asked again, concerned for Ten’s stepbrother, the star of the school’s martial arts team. “You know Johnny, she probably found out he cheated on her or something, but I’m still his brother, so I gotta be there for him”, Ten sighed, getting dressed within five minutes with his hair still dripping wet. “Anyways, maybe the next time, take care, y’all!”, he said before rushing out of the lockers’ room.
Jeno looked at his blonde friend, knowing exactly what he was probably thinking. His seemingly hopeless love was finally available again, how exciting was that? However, he looked rather terrified, and it was because his overthinking head was working at full speed.
Oh God, is she okay? Did Johnny hurt her badly? Should I text her? What if she doesn’t wanna talk about it? What if she doesn’t wanna talk at all? What if she doesn’t like boys anymore after this? Irene started dating Seulgi after Junmyeon broke up with her, what if Y/N does that too? Should I go with her? But I already told the guys I would help them... Jesus, Lee Donghyuck, you’re such an idiot.
Lee Donghyuck had many virtues, sadly his biggest enemy was his head.
“Guys, I think we lost him”, Sungchan said, as he saw Donghyuck spacing out. “What?” he said, once he realized his surroundings. Mark patted his shoulder, “Lee Donghyuck, you’re truly one of a kind. If y’all ready, let’s go”, he said, and their group left the lockers and headed to the parking lot, where everyone got into Donghyuck’s black Jeep to head off to Mark’s place. However, the team captain was still thinking about his long-time friend, who he’s had a crush on for the longest time. He simply shook it off, he was a man of his word, so he would help his friends and once they’re done with studying, his head would be clear enough to know what to do.
Because there was nothing better for Lee Donghyuck to clear his mind than a good Algebra study guide.
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“Oh, man, thank God it’s over!”, Sungchan yawned, stretching after finishing the last problem of the study guide and the last slice of pizza left on the third box, “I get it all now, how did you do that?”, Yangyang asked, looking at Donghyuck with utter confusion. “Well, it’s quite simple if you actually get your head in it”, the blonde replied, saving the study guide back in his backpack before grabbing his phone, still wandering between texting you or not. It wouldn’t be weird, you’ve known each other since kindergarten and been friends for years. However, your ex-boyfriend, the widely-known playboy Seo Johnny, had kept you from talking ever since you started dating last summer, and honestly, Donghyuck didn’t want you to have problems because of him.
He loved you a lot to do that.
“I’ll see you guys tomorrow, Jeno, do you want a ride?”, you asked the only one within your group you knew didn’t plan on staying over at Mark’s or lived close enough to walk home. Jeno logically nodded, picking up his bag and saying his respective goodbyes. Of course, something seemed to click in Jeno’s head when Donghyuck offered to give him a ride home: you lived in front of his house. Obviously, he wasn’t going to point that out, knowing Donghyuck, he would take back his offer, and he honestly didn’t want to walk the ten blocks that distanced Mark’s place to his.
“You think I should talk to her?”, Donghyuck asked halfway through, looking at Jeno briefly as they got to a red light. Jeno sighed, taking his sight away from the window to look at his friend. “Honestly, Hyuck? You’ve been in love with her since fifth grade, you should gather the balls to tell her once and for all, it’s so fucking frustrating to deal with your overthinking ass head”, he replied, taking a deep breath afterward. What hurt Hyuck the most was knowing that he was right and that even after all those years, he’d always see you run into another guy’s arms.
First, it was Lucas, your boyfriend from sixth to eighth grade. He had a wealthy family and was the school’s fencing champion. And then, it was Johnny, who you’d been with since barely months after you broke up with Lucas. Sadly, it has always been the same for Donghyuck: as soon as he gathers the courage to ask you out, you’d already started dating someone else. You have a long, toxic relationship with the new guy, he breaks your heart, you go to him. It was the routine he was used to, the routine his thoughts reserved for him every time. But after parking his car in front of Jeno’s house, he decided that was about to change.
“You sure you’re okay? I’m sorry if I said something-”, Jeno tried to apologize, but Donghyuck cut him off. “It’s alright, Jen. You said what was in your head and I respect that, mostly because you’re right”, he sighed, looking down for a while before taking a deep breath and reaching out his hand for a small handshake with his friend. “I’ll see you tomorrow”, he grinned, as Jeno got out of the car. “Thanks for the ride, drive home safely!”, the raven-haired boy exclaimed as he walked into his house. Donghyuck stayed outside for a while, and while he did, he sighed as he kept thinking what was the right thing to text you.
But decided to let all of that go, he just typed the first thing that came to his head and pressed sent, locking his phone so he wouldn’t keep looking at it on his way home.
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“Johnny is a dick, and I think it’s time for me to say I told you”, Wendy laughed as you simply shook your head. Yeah, they all warned you, it’s true. But the truth also was you never really had super strong feelings for Johnny, nor Lucas, nor for any of the boys you’ve dated before. But then, why would you date them? Because you weren’t a fan of loneliness, and even though most of those guys were assholes —especially and at a ridiculous level, Johnny—, they wouldn’t miss the most stupid excuse to be with you when you were alone, which sadly because of your parents’ job was pretty often. “Yeah, I know I should’ve listened to you, Wen” you rolled your eyes as you threw one of your stuffed animals at your friend.
But as soon as she threw another one back, specifically the bear with the hockey team’s uniform, your eyes were about to bawl out. “Hey, be careful with this one!” you said, making sure it was still in perfect conditions. All of your friends looked at you, quite taken aback by your reaction. However, Demi, your neighbor, smiled a little before explaining your reaction. “All the other stuffed animals were from the idiots, but Lee Donghyuck gave her that one”, she sat next to you, as you both smiled while looking at each other. “Lee Donghyuck? As in the hockey team’s captain, Lee Donghyuck?”, Joy asked, quite excited. You nodded, letting out a small sigh as you thought of him.
“I’ve heard he’s gay, I mean, he hasn’t gone public about a relationship like... ever? And besides, he has rejected every girl that’s asked him out”, Irene said, quite as nicely as ever. “No offense, I mean, I’m obviously an ally... but, how come such a hot piece of cake like him has never dated someone?”. Seulgi looked at her girlfriend, quite shocked at her way to describe him. “Jeno told me he has a crush on someone since fifth grade, but he’s quite an overthinker, he needs to ask his left foot before moving the right one”, Demi chuckled, “But I think that’s cute, he’s been a good friend to Y/N as far as I’m concerned, and if he ever decides to step out of his shell, I bet he will be the exception to the all athletes are idiots rule”.
This last phrase stayed in your mind as Seulgi, Irene, Wendy and Joy left, as they had told Yeri they would go over to her house for a good spiriting session before the cheerleading championship you’d enroll into in a few weeks. You passed, you were scared as hell of those things, and honestly, you preferred to spend some quality time with your neighbor before she went overseas to a musical exchange program. “Ugh, I’m gonna miss you so much, bitch”, you said as you hugged her, making her chuckle. “Hey, I’ll be sending you as many pictures as you want, and I’ll buy you gifts while I’m there, I promise I’ll try every single street food dish London has to offer just for you”, she said, letting out a sigh as she watched through your bedroom’s window. “I’ll miss you and Jeno so much...”, she muttered. You playfully pushed her, “Hey, you’re with your wife right now! Stop thinking about your boyfriend, say you’ll miss me!”, you yelled at her as you both laughed.
Your phone vibrated as a message arrived, and you grabbed it from its previous spot in your bed. As you read who it was from, you simply smiled, something your friend didn’t miss out on. “Let me guess, it’s your gay best friend”, she mocked you, referring to Irene’s comment on the rumors about his private life. You simply looked at her for a second to return your attention to the text.
You typed the answer quickly, quite excited about the fact that he texted you first when it was usually the other way. Demi stared at you while you wrote the message, quite unsure as to why you looked so hyped up.
Hyuckie:
Hey, I heard about you and Seo, I’m sorry.
You felt a pillow being thrown your way, and you looked up only to find your friend looking at you, pretending to be pissed. “Hey, you’re with your wife right now! Stop texting your crush, let’s watch a movie!”, you laughed again at your silly “jealous” attitudes, and ended up turning on your laptop to watch a movie before going to bed.
You:
Hey... it’s fine, I was warned but I still did it.
How are you? I kinda missed you.
Of course, you’d chosen strategically to play the one movie Demi falls asleep watching so you could read Donghyuck’s answer to your texts, and you were a little too excited over it.
Hyuckie:
I missed you too, you should start cheering for the hockey team too!
Would you like to grab a bite tomorrow after class and catch up?
My treat ;)
You:
Are you asking me out?
You asked teasingly, making Donghyuck’s head insane as he laid in his bed, reading your message over and over again thinking about his next move.
Was it too soon? Is it too little? Should I say no? What if she was joking? What if she doesn’t want a date? What if I screw up and she never wants to talk to me again? Reply quickly, idiot! She’ll think you’re ignoring her!
Leaving his thoughts aside, he typed what his heart told him to and sent it, quite to your shock as you read it.
Hyuckie:
If I was, would you say yes?
Biting on your lip as Donghyuck’s hands trembled, you couldn’t hold back a smile. If your friend was right, this would end with the bad streak of dating idiots you’ve had so far, and you’d finally be happy with someone who actually gave you your place. So without thinking it any further, you replied something that made your friend’s heart skip a beat.
You:
Meet me tomorrow after class.
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“You asked her out?!”, Jeno exclaimed in shock as he read the small text conversation on Hyuck’s phone. He nodded, and Jeno showed a huge surprised face, “What? I thought that was what you wanted me to do”, the blonde said, quite not getting his friend’s reaction. “I’m just... shocked. I thought it would still take you weeks, days at least. Hyuck, I’m so fucking proud of you!”, he hugged Hyuck as he patted his back. “Damn, our little Hyuck is finally growing up, this and the fact that we slew those Algebra finals is a matter of celebration!” Mark said excitingly. “You just wanted an excuse to throw a party, didn’t you?” Sungchan rolled his eyes, smiling at his friend’s enthusiasm.
“I think I’ll catch up later, I promised Demi I’d be with her tonight”, Jeno sighed. It was a mystery to everyone why he looked so down lately, and it was merely because Jeno wasn’t the sharing type. He liked to keep his problems to himself, in his books it was alright because everyone had their own stuff to deal with. However, quite frequently, the exception to that rule was Donghyuck, but he kept things to himself whenever they were with the rest of the guys.
So once the guys headed off to the library to study a bit more for the rest of their final exams, Hyuck patted Jeno’s shoulder. “I know something’s off, Jeno”, he looked at his friend in the eye, which made Jeno sigh. “Demi is taking off to London for the summer break, and God knows how much longer”, he finally told him. “And I don’t mean to keep her here, because I know that’s her dream, and had it been mine, she’d support me until the very end, but...”, Jeno stared at the ground as they kept walking, not really wanting to say what sounded so selfish in his head, but was truly the only thing that he had in his mind. “You don’t want her to leave”, his friend completed, wrapping his arms around him.
“Jeno, if there’s something I know for sure it’s how much you and Demi love each other”, he chuckled, trying to cheer his friend up. “You’ve been together... God, for as long as I can remember. You’ll survive this, you just gotta let things flow”. Jeno looked up at him with a little smile, “How come you’ve never dated anyone and you still give great dating advice?”. They both chuckled, only for Jeno to look back at him and pat his back, “That’s some great advice, Hyuck, you should follow it too”.
As they reached the exit, both of them went separate ways. Jeno’s words kept ringing in the back of Donghyuck’s head as he walked towards the outdoor field’s bleachers, sitting down as he waited for you still thinking about how he would manage everything. He made an elaborate plan right after finishing the study guide last night, with his mind clear enough to let him make his choices without any further doubts. He took a deep breath and followed the little pre-game ritual he had ever since he started playing hockey: he looked straight ahead and emptied his mind from everything but what he had planned for the day: making sure you knew he’d treat you better than the rest of the idiots you’ve given your heart to.
That was his plan for the most important task he’s had to date.
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“Party at Mark Lee’s place tonight, girls!”, you heard Yeri exclaim as you got changed from your PE class in the lockers. The girls looked quite excited and you texted Demi to know if she would come as well, figuring that it would be somewhere in Hyuck’s plans for the night. “Someone looks quite rushed, do you have somewhere else to be?”, Joy asked you, as she slipped her red cropped turtleneck over her head. “I’m going on a date”, you muttered as the other girls looked at you, quite mesmerized. “A date?! With who?” Wendy had the courage to ask, and you smiled as you pointed at Donghyuck’s picture from last year’s yearbook. “Lee Donghyuck?”, Irene gasped, looking at you quite amazed. “Girls, there will be six more weeks of summer this year”. Your friends giggled as you shook your head. “I mean, you’re the first girl he’s asked out like... ever?”. You sighed as you put on some lipstick, blending it with the tip of your fingers.
Seulgi looked at what you were wearing and threw a piece of clothing at you, nearly making you smudge your mascara. “Hey!”, you exclaimed, quite shocked. “You don’t plan on going to Mark’s party later with that, right? Let alone to date the hockey team’s captain”, you looked at your plain red shirt and your white mom jeans, quite confused as you straightened the clothing ball your friend threw your way. “That’s my beloved white furry jacket, it will look cute with that and your matching bucket hat. And it will help you look like you made at least a little effort to look different today”. You dedicated her a little grin as you slipped the jacket on, finding yourself looking like a 90′s teen movie star. “Thank you!”, you told her, walking out the locker room as she yelled one final, “You better take care of it!”.
You jogged your way to the fields as you realized the bell rang twenty minutes ago, afraid of making Donghyuck think you’d forgotten or played with him. A part of you even thought he probably wouldn’t be there. However, you found him sitting in the bleachers, staring at his phone. “Hey, sorry, did you wait too long?”, you asked concerned, only to be greeted by one of his beautiful smiles. He got up, fixing his hair as he rushed down to your encounter, smiling your way. “I was talking to Jeno, I just got here”, he shrugged, a little white lie he made to keep you from feeling bad.
Because that’s how much he loved you.
“Oh, thank God, I was so scared...” you sighed, looking at him with a little smile. “Wow, I’ve seen you every day, yet you look so different”, you grinned, looking at how much his physics had changed from the little kid you remembered: he gained muscles, he was also taller than you remembered him to be, not to mention his golden-tanned skin looked somewhat more tempting than it did before. “Well, you’re still as beautiful as I remembered you to be”, he muttered, picking a lock of your hair behind your ear. That little moment had you feeling those cliché butterflies in your stomach like you’ve never felt them before. “Shall we go now?”, he asked you, reaching his hand out for you to hold.
His hands, good lord. You thought. There was definitely something about them that made you even more excited about holding them. As soon as you held his hand, it felt as if two pieces of a puzzle had been joined. As if the event was long overdue.
You walked over to the parking lot, where your jaw dropped as soon as you saw his ride. “Since when can you drive?”, you asked quite shocked. “I got my driver's license before the last championship, my parents gifted me this after we won”, he replied, opening the passenger’s seat door for you to go inside. “Wow, what a gentleman”, you said, acting as if it was a joke. But the truth was it somewhat made you feel good. No one had ever opened a door for you, and there was Lee Donghyuck, holding your hand to help you get inside his car after he opened the door for you.
Different from other guys you’ve had the chance to ride along with, Hyuck didn’t seem to care about your shoes being dirty when they touched the car, nor about you intending to touch the car. He made you feel as if his car was yours too, and you liked that. He closed the door once you got in and surrounded the car to get in the driver’s seat. You had this stupid smile on your face, and Hyuck noticed that. “What is it?”, he asked you, quite confused but still smiling. You shook your head, “Don’t mind me, I’m just recovering from the algebra test”. He chuckled, as he started the engine, “How come everyone says that? It was a piece of cake compared to the study guide”. You looked at him while laughing, shaking your head lightly. Ever since you were kids, Donghyuck was a genius with numbers. When the teacher asked him, he said it was because he liked to have an answer to problems, and that was when you knew you needed someone like him in your life.
However, due to the situation making you realize things in a totally different way, you surely were questioning the real intentions of that wish.
You stared at him as he focused on the driveway after lending you the AUX cable so you could choose the music, his focus unbothered even with your sort of intense glare. He truly looked like a 90′s boyband heartthrob. His sportslike red and white outfit along with the chains you remember giving him for one of his birthdays a while ago... he looked good. You also smiled a little as you noticed the color coordination you had unwittingly pulled off, you truly looked like a couple... and you liked it.
Donghyuck wasn’t blind, he noticed each one of your smiles but pretended not to since he liked to see you smiling, and his head was certain in the fact that you would try to hide them if he said something about them. “Where are we going?”, you asked him, quite curious about his intention. He wasn’t using any sort of GPS, so he knew where he was going, but that only made you more anxious as to where he was taking you. “Do you remember that place where your parents threw your birthday party in fifth grade?”, he asked, making you look at him with disbelief. “The arcade where I beat you in every single game?”, you giggled. “Yup, that one. I thought it would be nice to go back there, you know... for the memories”, he explained, only to add at the end, “and they also serve some great cheeseburgers”.
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The pure definition of the word “nostalgia” hit you as soon as Hyuck parked the car in the place’s parking lot. It was nearly empty, with just some employees going around to check on the games and some people eating in the cafeteria. “Wow, this place is exactly like I remember, they haven’t even changed the games!”, you exclaimed as Hyuck looked at your excitement with loving eyes. You looked at the guy beside you, taking your wallet out of your purse. “Well, the food’s your treat, then mine’s the games”, you said, you didn’t even let him say a word before you went over to the cashier to pay for the coins you’d play with.
The old lady sitting behind the desk looked at you with a kind smile, “That young man came in yesterday when we were nearly closing, he asked us to reconnect some of the old machines, now I get why”, she told you while looking for a few bags of coins, counting them in a machine that later poured them in a little cup. “He sure is in love with you, you’ve got quite a catch of a boyfriend”. You were about to tell her he wasn’t your boyfriend when you turned around, and your eyes found him focused on a crane game, not exactly knowing what he was so focused on getting but certainly going down the memory lane to a 12-year-old Donghyuck pulling an adorable teddy bear out of the game and giving it to you two days later with the hockey team’s jersey and his number in the back.
“I totally agree”, you muttered, smiling as you saw him pulling out the toy he’d gotten. He was so good at those games, at every game being honest. You still couldn’t believe you’d beaten him back in the day. Once the old lady handed you the coin-filled cups, you paid her and she handed you your change. As you counted the money, you realized something was off. “Excuse me, ma’am... you gave me extra change”. She shook her head, looking at you with that same smile. “Half of it is on the house, I let you pay the other half because the young man told me that you were quite stubborn”, she giggled, “Now, go and have fun! Live while you’re young”.
You smiled, thanking her as you walked back towards Donghyuck. He smiled back at your happiness, handing you an adorable stuffed animal. “How come you’re so good at those games?”, you asked him while giggling. “It’s just a matter of space measuring, calculating the probabilities of the toy slipping out or falling off the crane, choosing the most available toy out of the bunch... and I’m boring you”, he smiled nervously as he saw you looking at the toy, an adorable white bear with a red bow. You looked at him again only to find him scratching the back of his neck.
“You weren’t, I like that about you, Hyuck”, you answered honestly. “I hate it when people are overconfident while giving answers to those questions, like when they say ‘I just can’ or that sort of stuff”, he looked at you while you spoke, making you feel listened to. He was truly listening to every single word that came out of your lips as if it was the most interesting speech ever.
Because he loved listening to you.
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You spent every single coin playing different games, just like you did when you were kids, breaking your own records in every single machine you played in. You laughed the whole evening, and yet again, you managed to beat Donghyuck in every single game. “Booyah! In your face, twentieth game in a row!”, you mocked him, making your old little victory dance as he smiled, sighing. “Damn, you haven’t lost your touch”, he said, pretending to feel defeated, “Are you hungry yet?”, he asked you kindly. You nodded, and both of you made your way to the cafeteria, as you jokingly bragged about your smashing victory.
The old lady was patiently waiting for you to show up, with two gorgeous bacon cheeseburgers, french fries, and two milkshakes, what Donghyuck had told her to serve you the night prior. You looked at him in shock, “You remember all of this?”, you smiled as you sat down, thanking the lady when she left you your food. “It’s the house’s special, how could I forget it?”, he replied, as if wasn’t anything special. However, you knew deep down his intentions were all the opposite. You started eating, nearly crying at the sensation of memories flooding your head as soon as you gave it a bite. “It’s been so long since I’ve last had a burger this good”, you admitted. It wasn’t pretty usual for you to hang around these places anymore. It was pretty far away from your reach, yet Lee Donghyuck made it his task to make you remember the good old days.
“Why did you bring me here? I want the truth, Hyuck”, you demanded once you were done eating. He looked at you while taking a sip of his strawberry milkshake, swallowing before giving you an answer. “Well, a few years ago, on your birthday, your mother hired an entire show from the old animatronics because your friends loved them”, he started the story, one you certainly remembered. “However, you were scared shitless of them, so you ran out of the room as soon as the lights turned off for them to start the show. You thought no one noticed, but I did. And I ran behind you, only to find you looking at the zombie videogame your friends wouldn’t want to play with you because they didn’t like it”.
He looked at his hands, playing with his fingers as he left out a small chuckle. “Back then, you had this silly nickname for me, because of a bear you saw at the zoo that was named that way”, he said, only for you to complete his sentence. “Haechan”, you smiled, and he nodded. “You looked at me and smiled, and you said ‘Why are you here, Haechan? You should be watching the show, mommy thought you’d like it’. And I took out the coins I had in my pocket and told you-”. “I bet killing zombies with you is more fun”, you muttered, making him smile as you remembered it too. “Mom was so pissed she didn’t find me when the animatronics started singing the birthday song”, you chuckled, making him laugh as well. “That night, as we played, I remember thinking ‘wow, her smile is so pretty’, and it wasn’t until you first made that victory dance of yours that I realized how much I liked you” he confessed finally, leaving you speechless for a second.
You were that girl, you really were the girl Lee Donghyuck was in love with.
“You like me?”, you asked, still shocked. He nodded, not really knowing what to do with his hands. “I’ve been wanting to let you know for the longest time, but whenever I gathered the guts to do it, you started dating someone else. So I decided to keep it to myself, to be there for you as a friend if you needed me. Because even if it hurt me to see your heart break, I wanted to be there to help you fix it”, he explained to you, as the tears started coming out of your eyes. “You mean... when I started dating Lucas... you were planning to confess to me?”, your voice cracked, making him stop everything and reach out to hug you. He wrapped his arms around you and held you close, caressing your back. “Hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to say anything, nor to feel guilty or bad for me. I was upset, I’m not gonna lie... but I also decided to set you free. If you came back to me, it was because it was meant to be. And you came back every single time, so I waited until the right time until I finally decided it was now”, he told you, as you pulled back slightly to look at him in the eyes.
“Hyuck...”, you couldn’t manage to get any words out of your mouth, but he made you feel as if it was okay to leave him hanging after such an adorable confession. You felt like the biggest trash bag on Earth, and the way he treated you made you feel worse and at ease at the same time. “You need to heal, and I get that. You went through a lot with Johnny, and I know that. I’ll wait until you’re ready if you want me to, and I’ll totally leave my feelings aside if you want me to. I’ll leave it up to you”, he told you, caressing your cheeks and adjusting your hat back in its place. “Mark has a party over at his place, do you want to go?”, he asked you softly, wiping your tears away.
You sighed, looking down for a minute. “Hyuck, I’ll give you an answer, I promise”, you told him, which he let out a little giggle. “It’s truly okay, Y/N. Come on, Jeno told me Mark’s already bragging about his b-boy moves”, he told you, reaching out his hand again after leaving a good tip for the old lady, thanking her again before the two of you left. He always found a way to make you feel better, even when he was probably the most upset.
Because he loved you.
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“Yo, Hyuck! You came just in time for another round of beer pong!” Mark greeted his friend as he saw the two of you walking into the party, crowded as usual for one of Mark Lee’s parties. “You guys look fresh! Make yourselves at home, drinks at the kitchen, snacks at the table, dance floor by the pool, and the rooms upstairs are exclusively reserved for the hockey team, so you’re staying over tonight, I’m not asking”. Hyuck looked at him, “Sure, because you’ll get so drunk tonight we’ll have to babysit you again”. Mark stopped in front of him, patting his shoulder. “You know me so well, Hyuckie”, he said, messing up his hair before going back to the party. “Ayo, Winwin! Let’s go get more booze!”.
You looked at Hyuck. “Do you want anything to drink?”, he asked you, raising his voice slightly for you to listen to him despite the loud music playing in the back. “Just some Coke” you replied, and he nodded, walking over to the kitchen as you looked around for Demi, finding her sitting on a couch near the beer pong table. You hugged her, noticing she looked a little excited. “I want every last drop of the scoop, how did it go?!”, she asked you, her smile nearly going from ear to ear. “He likes me, Dem, I’m the girl Jeno was talking about. And I blanked as soon as he confessed to me”, you said, quite embarrassed. “He planned the most adorable evening ever, he did all of these adorable things for it to be perfect... and I couldn’t even say anything”. Demi looked at you concerned, only to change her expression as soon as her attention drifted to someone walking over towards you. “Girl, I don’t mean to be rude, but we really should-”, she started as she helped you get up, only to be cut off by a voice you knew pretty well.
“I see it didn’t take long for you to go over with someone new, huh?”, he told you, looking at you dead in the eye. “Well, the difference, Johnny, is that I at least waited until breaking up with you”, you replied, certainly not scared of him. “Lee Donghyuck? That shitball, seriously? So you’re messing up with my reputation for being some faggot’s cover?”, he asked you, chuckling at the idea, making Jeno and the rest of the hockey team walk over towards you as soon as they acquired awareness of the situation. “You ain’t not even a quarter of the man he is”, you replied and felt him grabbing onto your neck, freezing at the closeness. “Oh, yeah? That wasn’t what you said when I made you my bitch”.
“Hey, asshole!”, you felt released as someone pushed Johnny off of you. Demi held you protectively as Jeno walked over to the two of you, checking out to see if you were okay. “Oh, if it’s the man of the moment, I was looking for you to give you my congratulations, I guess some people settled with used things”, Johnny mocked, only to receive another push from Donghyuck. “You can say all you want about me, but leave her alone or else”. Johnny laughed in his face, “You? You will beat me? You would risk getting your ass kicked for some wasted-ass bitch? Face the facts, Lee! Lucas used her, I used her, God knows how many more have, she’s a fucking slut-!”, he was about to say something else when Donghyuck threw the first punch, with such strength it left Johnny bleeding. You gasped, knowing well enough Hyuck wasn’t the fighting type, let alone the type to start a fight, let’s not even mention starting a fight with the school’s martial arts champion.
As soon as he got punched, you felt your heart stuck in your throat. He tried throwing punches at Johnny, but the ladder returned them faster and harder. Jeno, Yangyang, Sungchan, and Ten rushed to break down the fight, looking at how Hyuck’s blood started to stain the floor. “Enough!”, Mark yelled walking into his house with Winwin and the booze they went for, with that authority voice that made him so respected and loved by everyone in his class. “Johnny, get the fuck out of my house! I give two shits, you have absolutely no right to disrespect my team captain, nor a friend of mine, nor a lady, not under my fucking roof! Get the fuck out before I call the cops!”, Ten walked him out before he looked for further trouble, mouthing a “sorry” your way. You rushed over to Donghyuck, looking at Mark once you realized how his face was bleeding.
“Do you have any first-aid kit?”, you asked him. “Upstairs, third door to the right”, he guided you. You held Hyuck’s hand and guided him over with you, quite concerned about the mess left. Jeno looked at you, knowing exactly what you were thinking. “We’ll clean this up and keep things going as if nothing happened, you go and make sure he’s alright”, he told you, “That idiot thinks everything so damn much, I can’t believe he didn’t think this through... just go with him, it’s gonna be alright” you nodded lightly. You would, you had to make sure he was alright because that fight made you realize just how different he was from every idiot you’ve dated.
Because it made you realize how much he loved you.
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Having taken off Seulgi’s coat to keep it away of the blood, you found yourself tending to Hyuck’s wounds in one of the bedrooms bathroom. However, he looked more concerned about you than he was about anything related to his well-being. “Stop”, you ordered. “Stop what?”, he asked, authentically confused. “You know it’s not the first time anyone slut-shames me, right?”, you told him, passing a cotton bud over a slit in his lip. At least once the blood was off, it didn’t look that bad anymore. “It’s quite curious, due to how many campaigns women around the world hold against it, to think that the first ones to publicly degrade me were all girls”, you sighed, not wanting to look at him as you spoke. “Every girl that liked Lucas, every girl Johnny cheated on me with, every girl who wouldn’t make it past the cheerleading tryouts...”, you cleaned the mess you’d made, throwing every last piece of cotton you’d used into the trash bin.
“At this point, you could even say I’m used to it. I would even hear made-up stories about how I would be up for gangbangs with Johnny and his friends, how I sold some old man my nudes for him to pay my college tuition, how I was the one who made Seulgi and Irene bisexual...”, you finally sighed, letting out the tears you’ve held back so long it started hurting. Hyuck noticed that, and just like he did in the cafeteria, he held you close. “I’m tired, Hyuck”, you finally admitted, and he caressed your hair. “I know”, he muttered. “I’m so fucking broken I’m afraid to break the only guy who’s ever really loved me right”, you cried out, just wanting to let everything out as you pulled away from his hug, wanting to look at him as you confessed what has been going on in your heart. “Because I fucking love you, Hyuck... but I’m not even close to deserving-”.
You were cut off by his lips crashing onto yours, a sweet and delicate kiss was what you got as a response. Once he slowly pulled away, he looked at you in the eyes, his hands lightly resting on your cheeks. “You deserve the universe and more, nothing less”, he muttered. The tingling sensation that kiss left on your lips was something you’d never felt after kissing anyone before. And it was the final push for you to finally give in, for you to finally let yourself be loved.
You pulled him close again, your lips crashing on each other as your hands wrapped around his neck, his hands falling from your cheeks all the way to your waist, hugging you the way you did with him. The kiss felt so natural you just sunk into it, as well as he did. Even when his head was going insane with all kinds of questions, he decided to shut them off and follow his own advice.
He’d let things flow.
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You broke apart only to guide Hyuck back to the bedroom, he looked at you as he read through your intentions. “Are you sure about this?”, he asked you, caressing your cheek. You nodded, looking at him with loving eyes. “This is the first time I’m a hundred percent sure I want to do this”, you told him. He took a deep breath and walked over to the door, locking it first than anything. He looked nervous, and what the girls had said earlier came to your mind.
“Is this your first time?”, you asked him, to which he nodded, an adorable blush tinting his cheeks. You smiled at him, he looked so adorable you wondered who was that intimidating hockey player everyone saw in the field. “It’s okay, just guide me wherever you feel like going, I’ll follow you”, you told him as you got close to him again. You learned to be cautious ever since you lost your virginity, you’d taken birth control very seriously since day one because your mother and your friends guided you to do so. So even now, when the moment came, you were calm knowing it would be alright, and you wanted Hyuck to feel that as well.
He held your waist, pulling you closer lightly and guiding you into a kiss that got more intense with time, he pulled away for a while only to sit down on the bed, pulling you into his lap to start kissing you again. Your hands grabbed his cheeks, caressing them as the kiss kept going. His hands ran down your back as the heat started rising between you, Hyuck’s kissing abilities were way beyond average, those lips of his felt like cotton candy against yours, and every time your tongue met his, you felt one step closer to heaven. He pulled you away briefly to strip down his torso, and your hands felt curious to wander around his strong build.
He played with the bottom of your t-shirt, looking at you before doing anything else. “Can I?”, he asked gently, his constant asking for consent made you even more sure you were doing the right thing. You nodded and helped him out pulling the red shirt off, revealing your black plain underwear. Once your tops were thrown somewhere on the bedroom floor, he went back to kissing you, his kisses slowly going down your neck as you reached your back to undo your bra, letting your chest fully naked for him to kiss. He took that as your consent, and his kisses went all the way down to your breasts as his hands caressed your back once more.
Little moans left your mouth as Hyuck started kissing sensitive spots of your skin, the fact that he used his mouth to roam around your skin was enough to make you feel like this was the best you’ve ever been treated in bed, and adding up the amount of love you could practically touch in him made you enjoy everything even more. You could feel something starting to press against your core as you started grinding over Donghyuck’s lap. “Fuck, you’re driving me insane, princess”, he groaned, in such a raspy voice it made you want more. You kept grinding against him, loving the small grunts that would come out of his mouth as he kept kissing you.
From one moment to another, you felt the bedsheets in your back, as Hyuck took off his pants, feeling the pressure of his throbbing erection painful enough to rush things up a little bit. Still, he managed to be somewhat delicate "throwing" you over the bed. Once there was nothing but his black boxers keeping him from complete nudity, he crawled on top of you, looking at the button of your jeans to ask "Can I?". You unbuttoned your pants while looking at the guy with a pretty smile, biting on your lower lip as he smiled at you, undoing the zip and taking the heavy fabric off your legs, then looking at your black lacey underwear to ask yet again: "Can I?". You giggled, sitting down only to reach for his lips.
He kissed back as your hand guided his to your dripping center. He looked at you, as his head made an effort to figure out what to do at this point, but remembering the shows he watched with the guys, he figured to start moving his fingers up and down, to his luck, on what turned to be your clit. Small moans made their way out of your lips, and due to your arousal, his fingers managed to slip inside you. He kissed you as he kept moving his hand at a medium pace until you pulled him away, only to leave him face up over the bed. You looked at him, playing with the elastic band of his Calvin Klein underwear.
"Can I?", you asked him softly, only for him to chuckle in embarrassment. He nodded lightly, making you smile as he watched your every move. Once his boxers were no longer a burden, you sat on his lap, making him curse as you started moving on top of him. "You'll set the pace", you told him, leaning down to kiss on his lips. And as soon as he aligned his throbbing erection to your entrance and slowly entered you, he swore he could see the stars. With his hands on your hips, he commanded you to go slowly, as you both moaned out how good it felt. Nice and slow, an expression you hadn't known before, certainly became your favorite after that night. And you kept kissing through the whole thing.
Because that's how much you loved each other.
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After that steamy moment, you laid next to him after he helped you cleanse, your body holding his closely as he kept your hand in his heart and his arms surrounded you, one of his hands playing with your hair. He looked at you adoringly, unable to find fitting words to how beautiful you looked to his eyes in that moment. You closed your eyes for a few minutes, listening to his calm, steady breath and feeling his heart beating under your hand. For a moment, he even thought you'd fallen asleep, and that made everything ten times better to him. You slowly opened your eyes, finding that adorable smile you loved so much.
You smiled back, looking him in the eyes. "I thought you would be tired", you muttered, caressing his chest lightly. "I'm way too over the clouds to fall asleep right now, Y/N", he replied softly, making you lean over to kiss him lightly again. You looked at the hour in the digital clock that sat on the nightstand, it was 1:27 AM and the party seemed far from over. The music was still as loud as it was when you walked into the room to tend his wounds. You chuckled as you thought about the people you'd left downstairs, "Do you think Jeno and Demi are waiting for us?", you asked Hyuck, making him laugh a little. "Well, I hope they sorted things out if they are. Jeno was quite concerned earlier", he sighed, making you think the situation through.
Demi would leave in just a few days for that summer program, and Jeno would stay for the hockey team's summer camp, which was pretty much mandatory if he planned to keep his place as a headline player in the team. You knew how important he was to the team, but you also knew Jeno loved your best friend more than anything. And you knew for fact distance wasn't compatible with relationships.
"I think Jeno bought that plane ticket in the end", Hyuck shrugged, making you look at him in shock. "What do you mean?", you asked him. "Well, ever since Demi first applied for the program, he talked to the coach about it. Of course, the coach took a while to understand his issues, but as soon as we won the championship again, he gave Jeno the greenlight", he explained you, staring at the ceiling as he spoke. "Mark and I offered to help him with the expenses, and the coach even booked him in a good hockey camp in London", he smiled at the thought. "However, he's held back because he knows how much this means to Demi, and he didn't want her to lose focus because of him. If there's one thing the coach taught us well, was to get our head in the game as soon as we entered the field, and he didn't want to keep her from doing that. But I think Demi and him talked about it today, because he looked happy while talking to the guys before the fight".
You looked at him still in disbelief, making him giggle. "Is there something on my face?", he asked, and you jokingly punched him. "I thought he and Demi would break up! How could you know about all of this and not tell me?", he giggled and held you close again, as you "fought back", pretending to be angry. "Don't be mad at me, princess. Jeno had his reasons to keep my love for you a secret from Demi, I had mine not to tell you about this", he asked you softly. "They will be having fun in London, you and I will stay here. I think we should join them downstairs if neither one of us can sleep, just so you can have the tea spilled from them".
However, you shook your head. "No, the door is still locked and I still want some sort of compensation for keeping me from knowing my OTP found a way to make it through the challenges of life!", you asked as you grabbed his cheeks, making him smile and sigh. "Say no more", he said, turning the lamp off before kissing you again.
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Happy Valentine’s season, everyone! If you love someone, let them know.
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jayz4dayz · 3 years
Note
41 midari and yuriko please
Of course! This one was a bit challenging for me because I didn’t want it to be something cliché like one of the characters throwing a birthday party or giving them a special gift. Hope you enjoy! 
Prompt: “You did all of this for me?” 
Thought You Should Know
Midari slammed the door to her shared dorm room, collapsing onto her futon and released a frustrated groan. She fucked up, all because she got caught up in the heat of the moment. And she regretted letting it happen. Seeing the look on Yuriko’s face was all she needed to feel overwhelmed and consumed with guilt and regret.
“Ikishima-san! Thank you for such a fulfilling gamble!” Yumeko Jabami gleamed at her. “I really thought you’d never change, but you proved me wrong. I’m glad you’re finally understanding gambling from my perspective and really gave it your all!”
Midari smirked, patting the raven haired girl’s shoulder. “Yeah, sure. It was fun, Yumeko.”
She had to be careful around Yumeko now, especially since she had tried to forget about her feelings for the gambling addict who she knew would never feel the same. Her feelings toward Yumeko had faded, but they hadn’t completely disappeared yet which was exactly why Midari tried not to feed into this treatment from the crimson-eyed girl. This attention from Yumeko was nothing more than the after rush of the dangerous-high risk gamble the two had just gotten finished with.
Besides, after months and months of talking, she had finally started to date Yuriko. In a way, this was partially her way of moving on from Yumeko. And although she hadn’t admitted it to anyone, not even herself, she was in love with Yuriko. She didn’t want her past feelings for Yumeko to get in between what she and Yuriko already have.
The two rounded a corner, close by to where Midari was supposed to meet Yuriko after the gamble. To Midari’s surprise, Yumeko clung to her arm affectionately. That didn't necessarily raise any suspicion; the younger girl often did that with her friends.
“Huh? What are you doing?” Midari asked monotone, though she was quickly growing nervous.  
“I would love to thank you properly, Midari-san,” Yumeko replied calmly. “Will you let me?”
Midari swallowed hard. Yumeko had never called her by her first name before. ‘Relax, bitch. This is all because of the gamble. Nothing more,’ Midari reminded herself.
“Okay, I guess,” Midari said slowly as the two stopped walking.
Without warning, Yumeko placed a gentle hand on Midari’s cheek and pressed her lips against hers. Midari’s eyes widened in disbelief, unsure what to do. She just froze.
Kissing Yumeko was like a dream. Exciting, unexpected; something she involuntarily participated in by allowing it to happen. Yet at the same time, the piercing feeling in her heart was not an enjoyable sensation nor was it from the excitement of kissing Yumeko. She recognized the feeling to immediately be guilt, an emotion she rarely felt. She knew this was wrong. Allowing it to happen in the first place was wrong.
Never once did Midari shut her eyes, which allowed her to catch a glimpse of Yuriko as she walked past them in a hurry. Her expression was pained and upset, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. The damage was done, causing Midari to break free from Yumeko’s grasp, lightly pushing her away. Midari was angry not at Yumeko, but at herself for allowing herself to be kissed by her.
“Why’d you do that?” Midari asked calmly.
In her heart, she was furious and guilty. She wanted nothing more than to run after Yuriko. But Yumeko needed to know the truth about why Midari no longer felt anything toward her first. All the same, Midari needed answers as to why Yumeko kissed her in the first place.
“See it as a token of my appreciation,” Yumeko grinned and leaned forward again. “I can give you more if you wish.”
“No, stop,” Midari denied, placing a hand on her chest to stop her. “I can’t.”
Yumeko backed away with a slightly hurt, but even more confused expression. “I’m sorry? Is… is this not what you’ve been wanting from me?”
It was. It used to be. At one point, Midari would have greedily allowed herself to be consumed by Yumeko’s new-found passion toward her. Now, she honestly wanted nothing to do with it, despite her conflicted emotions.
"You're a pretty damn good kisser, but I'm stopping this here. I'm dating someone right now. And as much of an asshole I can be, I ain't disloyal," Midari stated bluntly.
"Ah, I see," Yumeko commented, smiling in understanding.
The fact that Yumeko didn't even look upset or hurt by being rejected is what confirmed Midari's thoughts. Either way, Yumeko could care less about this it seemed. She meant what she said about the kiss being a token of appreciation. A simple thanks was all this was.
"Yeah," Midari replied. "And the person I'm dating is Yuriko who just saw you kiss me, so I've got some explaining to do."
"Oh, my deepest apologies!" Yumeko exclaimed, dramatically raising a surprised hand to cover her mouth. "I didn't know you and Nishinotouin-san were seeing each other!"
"No one does," Midari huffed. "Next time we gamble, Yumeko, you don't have to thank me."
"I understand," Yumeko nodded and left.
Midari stood in place for a moment, thinking about how she was going to approach Yuriko now. Yuriko saw what happened; it'd be hard to convince her that what happened with Yumeko meant nothing. Even if it was just one kiss, she feared how much damage one little kiss could inflict.
"Fuck, I gotta fix this," Midari muttered under her breath as she walked off.
Midari pinched the bridge of her nose as she played back the memory over and over. Yuriko's expression looked so heartbroken and Midari expected to receive a text message from her any minute now saying that she was cutting ties with her. She didn't know where Yuriko went after she was caught; she had searched for her only to come up empty handed and all of her calls and texts were ignored or unanswered.
The Beautification Officer looked up from the futon when the door to her dorm room opened and Sayaka sluggishly walked in, placing her backpack to the side. Sayaka looked exhausted, but happy, no doubt returning from the President's dorm.
"This is unusual for you, returning to our dorm after a fuck session with the Prez," Midari commented.
"I had to come back to do homework and we were in the student council room, not her dorm. And we weren't just doing that," Sayaka smirked. "We were also snuggling and saying how much we love each other. Kirari even shared her love for me through a poem she wrote."
Usually, Midari would recoil and cringe from such sappy nonsense or relentlessly tease the Secretary for being "such a fucking lesbian". However, hearing Sayaka mention that made Midari think of Yuriko, causing her eyes to tear up.
"That's... that's great, Sayaka," Midari murmured, shifting her position.
Sayaka gave her an odd look before sitting down next to her, leaning her head on her shoulder affectionately. "Something's wrong. You're acting off."
Midari chuckled weakly. She never understood how Sayaka was able to decipher her emotions even if she was fairly good at hiding them. She appreciated her friendship with her and trusted hardly anyone else to know her inner emotions. Sayaka was trustworthy; the two had endured quite a bit with each other, both helping the other out in whatever situation.
"I fucked up," Midari admitted plainly. "I let Yumeko kiss me."
Sayaka sat upright, staring at her friend with wide eyes. "Jabami kissed you? I mean no offense by saying this, but why would she?"
Midari shrugged and slumped down in the futon. "After rush from the gamble maybe? I don't know and I don't care."
"You're sure?" Sayaka asked hesitantly. "I know your feelings for her are... complex. Especially since you're involved with Nishinotouin-san now."
"Yeah, tell me about it," Midari snorted. "I thought I understood Yumeko, but I guess I don't now. And you know what? I regret letting it happen."
"Obviously you didn't enjoy it, right?" Sayaka asked curiously.
"I would have if I still liked her and not Yuriko," Midari grumbled. "But it doesn't matter now. Yuriko saw her kiss me. I don't know what to do really."
"You love her, don't you?" Sayaka questioned in all seriousness.
Midari groaned. "Love is such a stupid emotion. I don't want to love anyone."
"You didn't deny it," Sayaka teased, poking Midari's cheek playfully. "I know love when I see it."
Midari lightly slapped her hand away. Sayaka of all people knew the trials and tribulations love often brought with it. She had been waiting for Kirari to confess to her for three long years after all. Midari wasn't patient or romantic like that. She wanted Yuriko to know the truth about what happened and the truth about how she felt immediately. She just didn't know how to tell her.
"Yeah I know you do," Midari scoffed. "The President practically undresses you with her eyes every time you two are in the same room together."
Sayaka coughed and looked away, blushing. "A-anyway, I suggest you tell her exactly how you feel about her and that the kiss with Jabami meant nothing to you. Write a letter or maybe even buy her a gift as a romantic gesture."
"Pft, I don't do that sappy shit," Midari rolled her eyes. "I'll talk to her tomorrow at school or take her out for tea and talk with her then."
"Yeah, about that," Sayaka muttered. "She's leaving the city for a few days."
"What?" Midari glared at her. "She would have told me that."
"I thought you knew," Sayaka blurted out, and then sighed once she saw Midari shake her head. "She dropped by the student council room just before I left and informed Kirari that she will be taking a leave of absence. It was unexpected and didn't sound like it was planned."
"Fucking hell," Midari growled, standing up. "I know where she's going."
"Where?" Sayaka asked curiously.
"She's gonna go visit the Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto where her family lives," Midari briefly explained. "She always goes there when she's in a dire stressful situation or needs to get away from life here at the academy."
"Kyoto? Isn't that a seven hour journey from here?" Sayaka frowned. "You'll miss school tomorrow."
"Think I give a shit? I can't wait two weeks for her to come back. She needs to know now," Midari huffed, grabbing her bag.
"Good luck. I will inform the President about your absence," Sayaka assured her.
***
After confirming with Yuriko's club members that she did indeed leave to Kyoto, Midari purchased the first train ticket available to get to Kyoto which happened to be at midnight later that night. She didn't care. It was better than nothing. She knew she would arrive a day later than Yuriko, but that didn't matter. She needed to see and talk to her. Since Yuriko was still avoiding her calls and texts, this was the only way to do so.
Yuriko sighed as she knelt down in front of the temple's fountain, focusing on the light ripples on the water's surface to keep her intrusive thoughts at bay. She was heartbroken; there was no easier way of putting it. What she witnessed the day prior was sadly not something she wasn't expecting to eventually happen. She knew Midari had complicated feelings for Yumeko. Yumeko now returned those feelings apparently. Maybe Yuriko was wrong in believing Midari had moved on.
'Why does love have to be so hard? Hurt so much?'  Yuriko thought bitterly. She remembered the look of shock on Midari's face as Yumeko kissed her. She remembered how Midari didn't back away or immediately pushed her off. Regardless of the fact that she didn't see Midari kiss her back, Yumeko was the one to kiss her. Surely Yumeko had finally returned Midari's affection. Why else would she kiss her?
And Midari must have still felt something for the gambling addict. Yuriko knew the one eyed girl considered what was happening, thought about her confused feelings for Yumeko. She didn't instantly push her away and yell at her, saying she no longer felt anything for her and moved on. She allowed it to happen.
Yuriko felt a tear slip down her cheek, raising her arm to wipe it with her kimono's sleeve. Midari had stopped trying to contact her. Yuriko intentionally ignored her calls the day before because she knew if she heard the voice of the girl she loved, she would break down and start to sob. She believed she already lost her heart; she didn't want to lose her dignity along with it.
With a deep inhale and exhale, Yuriko tossed a coin into the fountain. She silently wished that when she woke up the next morning, she would be at Hyakkaou and discover all of this had been just a horrible dream. Before she stood up, she heard someone panting heavily, quickly approaching her.
Turning around, she saw a familiar figure jogging toward her. She blinked in disbelief. Perhaps the sleep deprivation from receiving no sleep the night before had finally gotten to her. There was no way this was Midari running toward her.
"Yuriko!" Midari panted. "Wait hold on a sec, let me breathe. F-fuck I'm outta shape."
Yuriko stared at the panting girl in confusion. Midari looked awful. Her clothes were horribly disheveled and Yuriko recognized them to be her Hyakkaou uniform likely from the day before. She was intensely sweating as if she had just ran ten blocks which Yuriko didn't doubt. But why was she even here? More importantly, how was she here?
"How did you get here?" Yuriko asked softly.
"Oh, well you see, I went through hell and back to find you," Midari wheezed, still breathing heavily.
Yuriko raised a brow at her. "Is that so?"
"After buying a train ticket late last night, I showed up around seven in the morning with no sleep because I was fucking paranoid that I wouldn't actually find you. Then I had to fuck around with an Uber driver because he refused to take me to the shrine because of morning traffic so I had to jog here. It took me a good hour to get to the shrine, not to mention climb up those fucking huge ass stairs," Midari explained, very much still out of breath.
If there was one thing Yuriko learned about Midari was that she was not a selfless person. If it did not benefit her in any way, she wouldn't do it no matter what it was. She rarely considered the feelings of other's unless she truly cared about them. And she was here now with no other motive except to see Yuriko. She wouldn't do that for just anyone.
"You... you did all of this for me?" Yuriko asked slowly. "Why?"
Midari sighed. "Sayaka said I should have bought you something or do something sappy to show my true feelings, but fuck the romancing bullshit. I love you and I thought you should know. This was the only way I could tell you since you've been ignoring my calls and messages."
Yuriko opened her mouth to speak, but she was cut off.
"And yes, I know I deserved that. I fucked up and... and I'm sorry, Yuriko," Midari finished explaining.
Yuriko could see that Midari swallowed her pride to tell her all of this. She meant every word that she said, but Yuriko still had her doubts about one thing in particular.
Yuriko hesitated. "So, you love me? Not Yumeko?"
"Yes," Midari huffed. "Why would I go through all this hell if I didn't? What happened with Yumeko meant nothing. She kissed me, but I no longer love her. I love you."
"I love you too," Yuriko smiled lightly. "And I'm sorry for overreacting."
"No, technically you didn't overreact," Midari shook her head. "If I saw you kissing someone like Yumemi or something without knowing the context, I'd be pretty upset and do something crazy like leave the city for a while too."
"Yumemi?" Yuriko chuckled. "She is perhaps the last person I'd kiss."
Midari shrugged. "I don't know, it was an example."
"Do you know who the first and only person I would kiss is?" Yuriko smiled, walking toward Midari.
Midari smirked and scoffed. "If it ain't me, then I've come a long way for nothing."
Yuriko giggled before pecking Midari's lips. "It is you."
"Yeah? Wanna give me a proper kiss then?" Midari teased.
"Perhaps," Yuriko said slyly walking away. "After you get cleaned up. I'm sure a trip to my family's private onsen would be nice."
Midari caught up with her, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Hm, maybe you should join me. That would make it so much better."
"Don't push your luck," Yuriko warned with a side glance. "But... we'll see. I think I'd like that."
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ghostlypawn · 3 years
Text
anyways heres all the quotes alice by heart takes from the books (bold is the abh lines/as close as they can be and ‘///’ means theyre from seperate scenes of the book merged together)
Chapter One: Down the Rabbit Hole. Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading-
So she was considering in her own mind, (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid,) whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a white rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.
There was not a moment to be lost: away went Alice like the wind, and was just in time to hear it say, as it turned a corner, “Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it’s getting !” 
It was the White Rabbit returning, splendidly dressed, with a pair of white kid gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other : he came trotting along in a great hurry, muttering to himself as he came, “Oh! the Duchess, the Duchess ! Oh! won’t she be savage if I’ve kept her waiting !”
Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking: “Dear, dear! How queer everything is today! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is, Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle!”
“I could tell you my adventures—beginning from this morning,” said Alice a little timidly: “but it’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.”
“Who are you?” said the Caterpillar. This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, “I—I hardly know, sir, just at present—at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.”
“The first thing I’ve got to do,” said Alice to herself, as she wandered about in the wood,“ is to grow to my right size again; and the second thing is to find my way into that lovely garden. I think that will be the best plan.”
Very soon the Rabbit noticed Alice, as she went hunting about, and called out to her in an angry tone, “Why, Mary Ann, what are you doing out here? Run home this moment, and fetch me a pair of gloves and a fan! Quick, now!”
It was the White Rabbit, trotting slowly back again, and looking anxiously about as it went, as if it had lost something; and she heard it muttering to itself, “The Duchess! The Duchess! Oh my dear paws! Oh my fur and whiskers! She ’ll get me executed, as sure as ferrets are ferrets! Where can I have dropped them, I wonder!”
“Come, my head’s free at last!” said Alice in a tone of delight, which changed into alarm in another moment, when she found that her shoulders were nowhere to be found: all she could see, when she looked down, was an immense length of neck, which seemed to rise like a stalk out of a sea of green leaves that lay far below her. /// “...now I’m opening out like the largest telescope that ever was! Good-bye, feet!” (for when she looked down at her feet, they seemed to be almost out of sight, they were getting so far off).
They were indeed a queer-looking party that assembled on the bank—the birds with draggled feathers, the animals with their fur clinging close to them, and all dripping wet, cross, and uncomfortable.
“ Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.” “How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice. “You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”
Alice crouched down among the trees as well as she could, for her neck kept getting entangled among the branches, and every now and then she had to stop and untwist it. /// “I quite agree with you,” said the Duchess, “and the moral of that is—‘Be what you would seem to be’—or, if you’d like it put moresimply—‘Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.’”
They are waiting on the shingle—will you come and join the dance? Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance? Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, won’t you join the dance?
“You can really have no notion how delightful it will be When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters, out to sea!” But the snail replied “Too far, too far!” and gave a look askance— Said he thanked the whiting kindly, but he would not join the dance.
Oh, how I wish I could shut up like a telescope! I think I could, if I only knew how to begin.” For, you see, so many out-of-the-way things had happened lately that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible.
At this moment the King, who had been for some time busily writing in his note-book, called out “ Silence!” and read out from his book, “ Rule Forty-two. All persons more than a mile high to leave the court.” /// “I can’t help it,” said Alice very meekly : “I’m growing.” “You ’ve no right to grow here,” said the Dormouse. /// “But then,” thought Alice, “shall I never get any older than I am now? That’ll be a comfort, one way—never to be an old woman— but then—always to have lessons to learn! Oh, I shouldn’t like that !”
Alice gave a little scream of laughter. “Oh, hush!” the Rabbit whispered in a frightened tone. “The Queen will hear you! You see she came rather late, and the Queen said—”
He sent them word I had not gone (we know it to be true): If she should push the matter on, what would become of you?
“No room! No room!” they cried out when they saw Alice coming. “There’s plenty of room!” said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table. The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he said was, “Why is a raven like a writing-desk ?” /// “Have you guessed the riddle yet?” the Hatter said, turning to Alice again. “No, I give it up,” Alice replied : “what’s the answer?” “I haven’t the slightest idea,” said the Hatter. “Nor I,” said the March Hare. Alice sighed wearily. “I think you might do something better with the time,” she said, “than waste it in asking riddles that have no answers.” “If you knew Time as well as I do,” said the Hatter, “you wouldn’t talk about wasting it. It’s him.” “I don’t know what you mean,” said Alice.“Of course you don’t!” the Hatter said, tossing his head contemptuously. “I dare say you never even spoke to Time!”
Then came a little pattering of feet on the stairs. Alice knew it was the Rabbit coming to look for her, and she trembled till she shook the house, quite forgetting that she was now about a thousand times as large as the Rabbit, and had no reason to be afraid of it.
“Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!”
“Cheshire Puss,” she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. “Come, it’s pleased so far,” thought Alice, and she went on, “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to walk from here ?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. “I don’t much care where——” said Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you walk,” said the Cat.
Alice laughed. ‘There’s not use trying,’ she said: ‘one can’t Alice laughed. ‘There’s not use trying,’ she said: ‘one can’t believe impossible things.’ ‘I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. There goes the shawl again!’
However, she soon made out that she was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she was nine feet high.
“ I’ll tell it her,” said the Mock Turtle in a deep, hollow tone: “sit down, both of you, and don’t speak a word till I’ve finished.” So they sat down, and nobody spoke for some minutes. Alice thought to herself, “I don’t see how he can ever finish, if he doesn’t begin.” But she waited patiently. “Once,” said the Mock Turtle at last, with a deep sigh, “I was a real Turtle.”
...“we went to school in the sea. The master was an old Turtle—we used to call him Tortoise—” “Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn’t one?” Alice asked. “We called him Tortoise because he taught us,” said the Mock Turtle angrily; “really you are very dull!”
“Herald, read the accusation!” said the King. On this the White Rabbit blew three blasts on the trumpet, and then unrolled the parchment scroll, and read as follows:—
“Let the jury consider their verdict,” the King said, for about the twentieth time that day. “No, no!” said the Queen. “Sentence first— verdict afterwards.”
... “Don’t let him know she liked them best, For this must ever be A secret, kept from all the rest, Between yourself and me.”
At this the whole pack rose up into the air, and came flying down upon her; she gave a little scream, half of fright and half of anger, and tried to beat them off, and found herself lying on the bank, with her head in the lap of her sister, who was gently brushing away some dead leaves that had fluttered down from the trees upon her face.
“Oh, I’ve had such a curious dream!” said Alice, and she told her sister, as well as she could remember them, all these strange Adventures of hers that you have just been reading about; and when she had finished, her sister kissed her, and said, “It was a curious dream, dear, certainly : but now run in to your tea ; it’s getting late.” So Alice got up and ran off, thinking while she ran, as well she might, what a wonderful dream it had been.
19 notes · View notes
jlalafics · 4 years
Text
“Katniss and Peeta’s Excellent No-Baby Adventure”-an Everlark Fic
For @drivebyanon who requested this prompt: Peeta and Katniss go on a date and leave the baby home with a babysitter for the first time 😄
(I totally relate...)
Summary: Peeta plans to give his wife the best date night ever. Katniss decides to name it. Everlark with a smattering of Hayhanna, Odesta, Gadge, and few other couples.
Peeta stood up as his wife hastily entered the restaurant.
“I’m sorry, babe!” Katniss kissed him quickly, all the while taking off her blazer and revealing her black date night dress. It was a cute number with a simple silhouette and cap sleeves. It was also the only decent dress that fit her after Rye was born. “Meeting ran late. Then, Beetee caught me as I was getting on the elevator. Seriously, it’s Friday. I mean, get out of the office—”
“Don’t worry about it.” Her husband pulled out the chair for her and signaled over their server. “You can drink, right?”
Katniss nodded excitedly. “Oh yeah—I have pumped for the next two days. I am ready to forget this whole week.”
Peeta sat down as the server came up to their table. “She’ll have a glass of Riesling.”
“What’s going on?” his wife asked immediately. “It’s too early in the evening for you to want to get laid.”
“Okay…I have some good news and some bad news,” Peeta told her. “Which one first?”
“Bad news, of course,” Katniss replied as she placed her napkin on her lap.
“Katie had to cancel on us.” He let out a slight breath. “Actually, all our usual high school kids had to cancel when I tried to find a replacement. It seems a number of kids at Panem High caught a case—”
Katniss was genuinely curious. “What? Head lice?”
“Chlamydia,” her husband told her. “So, Katie is grounded for the rest of the school year until she’s off to college.”
“Oh Katie…” Katniss shook her head. “Is it horrible that I’m a little relieved? It’s not that I wanted her to get something that could have easily been prevented with a condom. But I was also thinking that we have to clean everything out in the house in hopes that Rye wouldn’t get lice.”
“No, my big concern is that she invited guys over,” Peeta explained. “I checked all the outside cameras. No one that we didn’t know has entered the house.”
The server reappeared placing her glass in front of her. “So, who is currently watching our child?”
“Drink that first.” Katniss took a long swig. “The good news is that I found a great babysitter. She is more than capable and can actually stay later than Katie could, anyway.”
His wife’s gaze went steely. “Who, Peeta?”
“Johanna.”
“Johanna!” Katniss exclaimed. “She’s never watched a kid in her life. And when did she pop back into town?”
“She is Rye’s Godmother,” Peeta pointed out. “And she’s family. I may have also told her that she could stay for a couple of days.”
The last bit of information was said in such a rush that Katniss almost didn’t catch it.
Peeta hoped she wouldn’t.
“Well…” Katniss took another large gulp from her glass. “…I’m sure she won’t be that bad.”
She downed the rest of her drink.
++++++
Johanna Mason looked at her nephew in the bassinet beside her. He was fast asleep, the mobile above him playing softly. She could tell that her stepbrother had doubts about her ability to watch her nephew, but Johanna was sure that he was blowing it all out of proportion.
Rye was just a baby; he ate, slept, and pooped. This was not a big deal.
Then, the mobile broke.
And the crying began.
++++++
Peeta and Katniss ordered their usual; lamb for her and chicken for him. When their plates arrived, he took the radishes off her salad and she grabbed half of his fries. They caught up on work and she told him about some of the new cases that they were taking on at the firm. He told her about some of the commissions that were coming since his latest gallery show.
Everything was going great in their professional lives and—after many years of trying—they finally got the baby that they’ve been waiting for.
Halfway through dinner, Katniss made a suggestion. “Should we call and check on the baby?”
Peeta reached over, placing his hand over hers.
“Katniss, I’m sure everything is alright.” He looked around the restaurant before leaning forward. “You need to relax, because you’ve been working so hard especially since going back to the firm.” Peeta could tell that she was already trying to come up with ways to get home. “Tell me. What is something that you’ve really wanted to do but couldn’t because you just had a baby?”
Katniss searched her mind. “Um…maybe see a concert…go on a rollercoaster…go dancing?”
“That’s a lot,” Peeta replied grinning. “Let’s do it.”
Right after he texted Johanna.
++++++
‘How’s it going?’
Johanna quickly looked at her phone screen on the coffee table. In her arms was a wailing Rye Mellark, his face red and his bright blue eyes full of tears. She patted his sweaty raven hair as she stood up to pace the floor.
“Baby Boy, it’s just a mobile—” He wailed louder. “I’m sure we can find an alternative song…”
Except Johanna didn’t know any songs.
The next text came in: ‘Should we come home?’
With her free hand, she picked up the phone and pressed the speech-to-text icon.
“’We’re fine. The stupid mobile broke, but it’s okay. Do not come home. One of us should get laid and you two haven’t been alone for six months.’”
She threw the phone on the couch.
“Okay, Rye,” Johanna said to the weeping six-month-old. “Auntie Johanna doesn’t know all the Twinkle-Twinkle bullshit, but she does know her Black Eyed Peas.”
The fussy baby lifted his head to her expectantly.
Okay, she had this.
“Whatcha gonna do with all that junk…all that junk inside your trunk…”
++++++
“Where are we?” Katniss asked as they walked past the long line of people.
“You wanted to see a band, right?” They headed towards the box office. “Are there any tickets left?”
The attendant—a curly-haired teenager—gave them a buzzed smile.
“We don’t have anything on the floor,” he said. “But we do have some VIP tickets left. You get a private booth and unlimited drinks.”
Then, the boy told them the price.
“We cannot afford that,” Katniss told her husband.
“We can and we’re doing it.” Peeta kissed her gently, earning an appreciative hum from Katniss. “You pushed our kid out of your vagina. It’s the least I can do.”
She already knew she would say yes.
But first…
“Let me just text Johanna really quick about feeding Rye.”
++++++
‘Make sure that you give him the spinach that I blended for him. Thanks!’
Two rounds of ‘My Humps’ had quieted her nephew down and by the end, he had actually giggled at her.
When he wanted to be, Rye could be adorable.
They were currently in the kitchen as she warmed a bottle of Katniss’ breast milk—ew—and searched for the pureed spinach in the fridge. Rye sat in his highchair, plastic spoon in his grasp.
“Alright, we’re going to feed you this spinach that your Momma made for you,” Johanna told her nephew, pulling out a small container. She blanched seeing the green mush but went to the baby. “Yum…yum…”
Opening the jar, Johanna put her nose to it.
“Oh, gross!” She looked to the baby. “She makes you eat this?”
Rye put his spoon in his mouth and chewed.
Johanna put the concoction in the garbage. “Oh whoops…looks like you dumped it in the garbage.” She went to the fridge and looked at the other labeled jars. “What do you think of peaches for dinner?”
The baby pulled the spoon out his mouth and gave her a gummy smile.
Holy shit. Her ovaries just exploded.
++++++
“Wow, these seats are amazing,” Katniss gasped as they entered the balcony. “And we’re practically next to the stage.” She turned to her husband. “Thank you so much. We probably won’t be able to send our son to college with the amount you paid, but it was well worth it.”
Peeta shrugged, a smile against his lips. “Well, we’re just going to have to hope that he’s stupid, so we don’t have to worry about it.” He reached, wrapping an arm around her waist to pull her against his chest. “I love seeing you smile.”
“If you’re trying to get laid—” Her arms wrapped around his neck. “—it’s totally working.” She pressed her lips to the corner of his mouth. “I love you so much.”
Peeta’s lips went to her temple, wondering how he ever got someone as beautiful, inside and out, as his Katniss. He lingered against her skin for a moment before lifting her chin to meet her eyes.
“You two are the cutest fucking couple that I have ever seen.”
They turned to find two women by the entrance curtain of their box. One was dark-haired and wearing a green moto jacket with a silk tank and leather leggings. The other was a long-haired blonde. She was wearing a white dress, an oversized jean jacket, and combat boots.
“I didn’t realize that there were four seats here,” Katniss said suddenly. “Sorry! We were just about to makeout in the box.”
“Not that I wouldn’t love for you to continue but my fiancé is about to come on stage,” the brunette informed them. “I’m Annie Cresta and this is my friend, Madge Undersee.”
Peeta nodded at the two. “I’m Peeta Mellark and this is my wife, Katniss.”
The quartet shook hands before taking their seats with Peeta sitting at the end.
“So, your fiancé is in District 4?” Katniss asked.
“He’s the lead singer,” Annie said proudly. “Madge’s man is on drums.”
“So cool!” Katniss replied before turning to her husband. “I can’t believe we’re sitting with people who know the band!”
“I bet Rye is going to love hearing about this,” Peeta replied, putting an arm around her.
“Who’s that?” Madge asked.
“Our little boy.” Katniss pulled out her phone to show them her lock screen featuring their cherub of a son. “He’s six months old. This is actually our first time leaving him for the night…” Her eyes filled slightly. “I kind of miss him.”
“Aww…don’t cry Momma.” Madge gave her a smile. “I’m sure he’s doing fine.”
“Thanks.” Katniss sniffled. “Blubbering was so not part of ‘Katniss and Peeta’s Excellent No-Baby Adventure’.”
“Did you just name our date?” her husband asked in amusement.
Katniss shrugged. “Yeah…”
“Pretty cool. What else do you two have planned?” Annie asked curiously.
“Katniss wanted to go to a concert…go dancing…go on a rollercoaster…” Peeta listed.
“You know what?” Madge suddenly said. “I think we can help you. After District 4’s set is done, you two are coming backstage with us.”
Peeta looked to his wife who nodded excitedly.
“I’ll text Johanna that we’re going to be late.”
++++++
‘Don’t wait up. We’re at a concert and are going to hang with one of the bands after their set is over.’
“Whoa. Your parents are so extra,” Johanna informed the baby, who was laying on her chest. She was prone across the couch, one hand on Rye’s back and the other on her phone. She placed it on the armrest above before grabbing the remote. “They need a fun night.” She stopped flipping when her eyes caught a movie obviously filmed in Hawaii, the island sunset so achingly familiar. “I was just there. Left a man…thought he might’ve been the one. I guess I’ll never know.”
Rye let out a content sigh, burrowing against her contently.
Johanna kissed the top of his head.
“I much prefer snuggling with you, anyway.”
++++++
“Before we finish for the night, I wanted to sing one last song,” Finnick, lead singer of District 4, said. “My beautiful fiancée Annie is here tonight—” There was riotous applause and Annie blew Finnick a kiss from her seat. “It’s kind of a special night for us, so I wanted to sing a cover of our song.”
Thresh, on keyboard, started the beginning of the slow tune as Finnick put mouth to the mic, his eyes on the woman at their box, whose green eyes were glowing with love.
“My heart is filled with so much love…and I need someone I can call my own…” Finnick crooned and there was a collective sigh among the crowd. “To fall in love—that's what every one's dreaming of I hold this feeling oh so strong…”
Peeta leaned over to his wife, who watched the performance and was mouthing the words. It was a popular song when they were teenagers.
“Did you want to dance?” he asked her suddenly.
Katniss turned to him. “Here?”
Peeta stood up, offering his hand. “Yes, here.” Urged by Madge, Katniss took his hand and stood up. He pulled her close, wrapping an arm around her waist as his other hand entwined in hers. “I’m surprised I didn’t get more of a fight.”
“Well, you’re only trying to check things off my list,” Katniss replied, her chin resting on his shoulder. She pressed a delicate kiss to his neck, and he shivered at the spike of pleasure that raced through his body. “Is there anything you want?”
“A little girl?” he suggested, and she drew away from him in shock. “Kidding…for now. Let’s have a few years of seeing if we even like that little meatloaf at home.” Katniss giggled at his words. “Instead, I’d like to practice.”
She raised a brow. “Practice.”
He pulled her close, his mouth brushing over hers. “Thoroughly…until you’re too tired to practice…tonight.”
Katniss laughed breathily. “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of practicing with you.”
++++++
Five Hours Earlier…
He packed his bag methodically, trying to think of the many ways to beg for her back without looking like too much of an inconsiderate dumbass. She had told him that she wanted more, and he argued with her; told her that they agreed on it not being forever.
So, Johanna left and took whatever was left of his mangled heart with her.
She had mentioned going to the mainland to see her brother and his family.
Going to his laptop, Haymitch typed in the last name ‘Mellark’, finding the address easily.
A knock on the door sounded—his taxi was here.
Now, he only had five hours to figure out how to convince Johanna to marry him.
+++++++
“Finnick, come meet Peeta and Katniss Mellark,” Annie said, her hand entwined with the bronze-haired man. “Mellarks, meet my fiancé. Finnick Odair.”
The man gave them a bright smile. “Nice to meet you two.” Finnick shook Peeta’s hand and kissed Katniss on the cheek. “I heard you were having an ‘Excellent No-Baby Adventure’.”
“I told you that name was cool,” Katniss crowed to her husband before turning to the couple. “Yes, we’ve already gotten 2 out of the 3 things out of the way.”
“Madge mentioned that you two wanted to ride a rollercoaster.” A dark-haired man with steel eyes approached them. “Gale Hawthorne.” He shook their hands before turning to Finnick and Annie. “Did you tell them where we’re going?”
“No, but they’re coming with us whether they like it or not,” Madge declared, wrapping an arm around Gale’s waist.
++++++
On the way to their destination (in a limo!), the Mellarks met the rest of the band.
There was, of course, Finnick, who was the lead singer and Gale on drums. Cato was on bass and Thresh was on keyboard. They had all met in high school and formed the band after graduation, deciding to try and break into the music industry in oppose to attending college.
They were steadily gaining popularity, their latest single getting regular radio play.
“We’re heading to New York after this to speak with an actual record label,” Finnick told them, his arm around Annie. “Hopefully, it will all work out.”
“In the meantime, I’ve booked them some gigs to keep us living in the lap of luxury,” Annie added. “We’re here!”
Katniss looked out the window and her smoky eyes widened. “Holy shit.”
Thresh chuckled. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”
“The girls are here!” Cato added excitedly.
The Mellarks stepped out of the limo in a daze at the sight of the amusement park before them.
“Whoa, they really did help with the list,” Peeta said, putting an arm around his wife. “Ready to ride a coaster?”
They joined the group and were introduced to Clove, Cato’s wife, a petite woman with a messy bob who was obviously pregnant underneath her navy sheath dress. Then Thresh introduced his wife, Finch; a tall redhead with sharp eyes who looked very statuesque in her gold lamé dress.
“We’re all set,” Finch told them, walking them through the turnstiles to get into the park. The place had obviously been closed for hours, as the usual litter of parkgoers had been cleared. However, the place was still lit up.
“What’s going on?” Peeta asked as they stopped in front of a large water fountain. Across from it was a two-tier carousel.
“It was a sign of good luck that we met you two,” Annie told them brightly. “Because Finnick and I are getting married.”
Katniss beamed at the two. “When?”
A blond man rushed over, a piece of paper in his hands. “I had to print out my certification at one of the ticket booths. Are we ready?”
Finnick smiled at the couple. “I guess now.”
Madge quickly explained that the amusement park was where Finnick and Annie had their first date and that they kissed at this exact spot where they would also get married. Marvel, their last-minute guest, was Annie’s cousin and the officiant.
So, it came to be that in front of a beautiful lit carousel, Annie and Finnick married.
Peeta wrapped his arms around his wife’s waist as they watch Finnick sniffle through his vows.
“Feels like that was just us,” he said.
“You cried a lot more,” Katniss replied softly before turning her head to press a kiss to his lips. “Thank you for marrying me.”
“Thank you for giving me that little meatloaf at home,” Peeta said into her hair, watching as the couple exchanged rings. “You two are the best things in my life.”
“By the power vested in me and the hopefully legit internet site that ordained me, I now pronounce you husband and wife,” Marvel announced. Everyone applauded, the guys letting out whoops of excitement. “Finnick, you may now kiss your bride—just not too much tongue, because she’s my cousin and that would be really gross to see.”
“Then avert your eyes,” Finnick told the man and Marvel chuckled before turning away.
Pulling Annie into his arms, the new husband dipped her down before planting a kiss to her lips, unaware of the cheers around them.
++++++
Johanna awoke to the doorbell ringing. She looked down, finding Rye still asleep, his mouth slightly open.
Sitting up carefully, Johanna readjusted so that the little one was in the crook of her arm before standing up and heading to the front door.
Maybe the couple had forgotten their keys?
The doorbell rang once more.
“Hold your horses,” she muttered before reaching to turn the knob and opening the door. Her mouth fell open at the person before her. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Can we talk?” Haymitch asked. “I mean, I came all the way here.”
“No one asked you to,” Johanna muttered, patting Rye’s back. “Plus, I’m obviously very busy.”
“I wanted to,” the man before her said. “And he looks like he’s out for the night.”
“Of course, he is. Rye has spent most of the night asleep on my chest,” she retorted.
“I can relate.” Johanna couldn’t help but chuckle at Haymitch’s words. “Can we please talk?”
“Fine. But if you wake him, you die.”
She widened the door.
++++++
The air was cool from their seats.
“Last thing checked off the list for ‘Katniss and Peeta’s Excellent No-Baby Adventure’,” Peeta said as they ascended in their coaster cart. The newly minted Odairs had the front cart but if they decided to go again, he insisted that they get the front.
“I’m really starting to have doubts about going on this roller coaster,” Katniss said, gripping the railing in front of them. “However, I think this has been a really cool night. I’m looking forward to the next one.”
“I promise there will be another adventure,” he told her.
Katniss leaned over to kiss her husband, no longer caring that they were at the crest of the roller coaster, ready to tip down into the unknown.
They were ready for whatever came next.
FIN.
I really wanted to have ‘Date Night’ vibes (you know the movie starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell) because I think that they had such great chemistry.
Music:
“My Humps” –The Black Eyed Peas
“Shower Me with Your Love”—Surface
All the popular girls in my high school used to do this hula dance to this song and I kind of imagine Annie being one of those girls doing that hula dance during a school talent show and Finnick just falling in love with her in a grass skirt. I thought that it would be cool if that was Finnick and Annie’s song since they’re from a coastal district.
Thanks for reading.
115 notes · View notes
zebrabaker · 4 years
Text
Choosing Destiny; Part 3
Here we go!
Raven followed Vil down the halls of the dorms, trying to ignore the stares of those around her. There were dozens of boys lining the halls, peaking out of various rooms, staring at her and whispering to each other. There must have been at least a hundred of them, all staring at her like she was…interesting. This was so weird. Less than four hours ago, she had been the most hated person at school, now she was the interesting new girl.
“Raven, dear, are you okay? You look rather stunned.” Vil asked, setting a hand on her shoulder.
“I’m fine! Just a little overwhelmed.” She answered, rubbing the back of her neck. “I’m only ever the center of attention when it’s bad.”
“That’s nonsense, mademoiselle. Here, you’ll be treated far better than that.” Rook smiled, ruffling her hair a little, making her giggle.
“Rook! Her hair was perfect!” Vil snapped, hands flying to fix Raven’s hair. Raven suddenly froze, grabbing a random lock of hair and pulling it in front of her face, before groaning.
“My magic wore off!” She huffed, letting the hair fall.
“What do you mean?” Epel asked.
“I usually use magic to keep a small glamour over my hair, adding in purple streaks. It makes me look more like my mom. Without it, I get confused for a Royal.”
“But…you are royalty.” Epel pointed out.
“Not Royalty, a Royal. Ever After was divided by civil war for a few years when I was young. The first faction was the Royals, typically Princesses and Prince Charmings, or those who got happy endings. They were led by Snow White and her husband, James Charming. Then, there were the Rebels, monsters, beasts, witches, and other villainous beings. They, well, they were led by my Mom. As is, I don’t look much like previous Evil Queens, I look more like a Royal, even a Princess Charming if you push. Hence the heels, and the glamour and makeup.” Vil hummed to confirm he was listening around a mouthful of bobby pins as he quickly braided her hair back.
“So, wait, your mom led a civil war?” Rook asked. “What was she fighting for?”
“Huh? I…I don’t know. After the Rebels lost, my Mom was locked away for good, and everyone was forbidden from even mentioning the war. We don’t even learn about it in school much. It’s seriously taboo to talk about it. My visits with Mom were all heavily monitored so that I wouldn’t accidentally let her out of the mirror dimension, so I never got to ask about it. She just said that she hoped I would follow in her footsteps.” Fiddling with the end of her braid once Vil was done, Raven frowned a bit. It had always bothered her, never knowing why her mother was serving a life sentence.
“Well, now is not the time for such heavy matters. We have an audience waiting on you, and Headmaster Crowley has called a meeting for all Dorm Leaders tomorrow morning, and has requested your attendance.”
“Okay. Um, before we begin, how many people are going to be asking me questions?” She asked, biting her lip.
“Oh, only about one hundred eighty!” Vil cheered, steering her by the shoulder into the main room from earlier. Raven gulped. This was so not what she had planned for today!
X0X0X
Raven had been seated in a plush plum-colored armchair in the center of the room, opposite the fireplace. Everyone was gathered around her, making her feel painfully claustrophobic.
“So, where are you from, Princess?” One voice asked from the back of the crowd.
“Well, my Dad rules the Good Kingdom, so I grew up in the palace. It’s technically split in half between Mom and Dad. I was raised mainly by servants, since Dad wasn’t too happy with his destiny, and Mom was locked away. I learned a lot of valuable skills though. I can cook, clean up after myself, I can balance a budget, and my Nanny taught me to play guitar and a few other instruments.”
“Could you play for us, Princess?” One of the boys near the front asked.
“An excellent idea!” Rook cheered.
“I…I guess? I should be able to summon my guitar if you’ll all give me a minute.” Raven stammered, cheeks and ears stained red with blush.
“Only if you don’t mind, mademoiselle,” Rook assured her, setting a hand on her shoulder.
“Not at all, I don’t get to play much, so this will be nice!” Raven patted his hand, before closing her eyes. What Raven did not see, however, was the vivid purple aura surrounding her as she murmured in the ancient tongue her mother had taught her. The purple aura around her began to condense into a tight mist, before taking the shape of a guitar. With a loud popping of displaced air, a plain purple guitar appeared in her lap. There was a floral pattern painted around the hole, which looked to be done in shades of silver and grey.
“It worked!” Raven cheered, running her hands down the strings. “What do you guys want to hear?” She asked, looking at the crowd. Sadly, she got no answer, as the entire crowd was captivated by the way her lavender eyes sparkled with happiness in the light.
“Why not play your favorite song, Princess?” One of the boys who helped her earlier asked.
“Okay!” Raven chirped and began to tune the instrument. “This is one my Mom used to sing to me each night, before she was sent away. Sorry if I’m not very good.”
“I’m sure you sound lovely, Raven,” Vil assured. Raven shrugged, before beginning to play.
“Where the Northwind…meets the sea~.” Raven’s voice was…enchanting, high and sweet and pure. “There’s a river, full of memory. Sleep my darling, safe and sound. For in this river, all is found. When all is lost, all is found~.” The whole dorm was silent, staring at the tiny angel whose voice seemed to come from heaven itself. As her song wound down, she seemed to come out of a trance. “Where the north wind meets the sea, there’s a mother, full of memory. Come, my darling, homeward bound. Where all is lost, then all is found. All is found, all is found…” Raven, who had kept her eyes closed as she sang, slowly opened her eyes.
“Raven, that was most wondrous!” Rook cheered, clapping wildly.
“Rook is quite right, dear. I simply must record you playing for my MagiCam sometime.”
“I will not lie to you; I have no idea what that is.” Raven giggled. “So, Vil said you guys had questions for me?” She set the guitar aside, folding her hands in her lap and smiling at the crowd.
“How did you get here?” A redhead asked.
“Ah, I was practicing my magic and got scared…something went wrong, and I wound up in the woods here. I was wandering for hours when I found the school, and Rook helped me to the nurse. After that, headmaster Crowley said…something about enrolling me? He had me sorted, and then called Epel here to escort me to the dorms. Honestly, it’s been an intense few hours!”
X0X0X
As Raven fielded questions, Epel kept a close eye on her. She was being nothing less than the epitome of polite, answering all the questions she was asked, but her shoulders were starting to slump.
“So, Princess, do you have a boyfriend?” One of the boys further back called. Raven suddenly went a deep red.
“Or a girlfriend?” One closer to the front added.
“No! The one guy I kinda like is…not interested in me. He would never be.” Raven smiled in a melancholy way.
“What? Dear, you’re royalty!” Vil gasped, clutching his throat like a lady of old England.
“I’m also the daughter of the Rebel leader, Vil, and he’s expected to be the next Prince Charming, as in the guy who marries Snow White. Not exactly an ideal relationship.” Raven sighed a bit. “Anyway, anyone else have questions?” Several hands shot into the air, making Raven giggle.
“Vil, hey!” Epel whispered, tugging on the taller boy’s sleeve a little. Vil raised an eyebrow at him, keeping his attention on their resident royal. “Raven looks pretty tired, and she’s had a long day. We need to make sure she gets her beauty sleep, right?” Vil tensed at the magic words.
“Alright, that’s plenty of questions for now! You can all get to know Raven later; she needs her sleep.” There was a collection of disappointed groans, but everyone slowly bid Raven goodnight, trickling out of the common room in clumps and batches.
“Thanks, Vil. I was starting to get pretty tired.”
“Of course, dear. You will, of course, be joining me for my evening skincare routine. I create my cosmetics and skincare products, so they’re top of the line. Epel, Rook, go make sure that Raven’s room is completely ready.” Both boys nodded and walked off, leaving Vil to lead Raven to his bathroom.
X0X0X
Vil eyed Raven as he gently scrubbed off his makeup. She was eyeing his array of skincare products with great interest, and yet there was a wary air about her. Going through the steps, he explained the ingredients of each product, along with their general purpose.
“-and this one contains apple extract; its purpose is to serve as a sunblock of kinds.”
“I…can’t use that one,” Raven muttered, burying her face behind a curtain of her hair.
“But Raven, you’re so pale! It cannot be safe for your skin to be out in the sun, exposed to the light.” Vil tutted, crossing his arms.
“It…it’s stupid, but I’m allergic to apples. Just the skin makes me go into anaphylactic shock, I can’t be anywhere near them. Like I said, stupid. Who’s ever heard of the evil queen not being able to handle apples?” Raven chuckled a bit, but Vil could see in her eyes that this deeply bothered her.
“Well, in the traditional tale, the one I was taught, the queen tried a myriad of ways to dispose of Snow White, like a cursed comb or an enchanted corset. Besides, you said you didn’t sign the book, so there’s no point in fretting.” Vil shrugged, handing Raven a face cloth. “If you can’t use that one,” Vil made a mental note to dispose of the bottle later. He was responsible for this sweet girl, accidentally sending her into shock would be terrible. “then try this. Cucumbers and pomegranate juice. Works wonders.” Yes, Vil was determined to protect this girl.
Once they had both cleaned their faces and applied a variety of things that Raven was very confused by (Vil had looked like a ghost when she said she usually just used soap and water to wash her face) Vil had asked her to wait in the hall while he checked his room for something. He stepped back out a moment later, holding a bundle of shimmery cloth in both hands. “I want you to have this, dear. It’s my back-up robe. We typically eat breakfast as a dorm in our pajamas, but it isn’t appropriate for a young lady, especially a princess, to be seen in her pajamas. Speaking of, do you have appropriate sleep clothes?”
“I can just change this into something, don’t worry!” Vil paused, before sighing.
“If you insist. Good night, Raven dear.”
“Good night, Vil!” Raven chirped, making an about-face and walking to her room, closing the door and leaning back against it with a sigh. Summoning her guitar had taken a lot out of her. It was a complicated spell normally, but with the odd barrier between here and Ever After, it had nearly knocked the wind out of her. Not to mention the endless questions, she honestly didn’t understand! She wasn’t special, she was a villain! Even Dad had been wary of her most of her life! Summoning the dregs of her magic with a sigh, Raven switched her transfigured dress into a comfortable set of sleep pants and a tank top in a shade of teal that made her desperately miss Maddie. Throwing the robe Vil had given her (it was lovely, a rich purple with gold patterning and a large gold sash) over the back of a chair, she slumped over to the bed and collapsed onto it, groaning at how soft it was. This had certainly been one hell of a day.
X0X0X
The knock at the door came far too early. Groaning, Raven dragged a pillow over her head and rolled over, effectively tangling herself in the comforter.
“Mademoiselle Raven, breakfast is ready!” Rook (he was the only one with a habit of speaking French, oddly enough) called through the door. “Vil also needs to escort you to the dorm leader meeting today, so you won’t have much time for breakfast.”
“Just two minutes and I’ll be out!” She called back, sitting up with a silent huff.
“Alright! Vil had me bring you a basket of shower things, I’ll leave it out here for you.”
“Thanks a million, Rook.” Raven slowly swung her legs over the edge of the bed, shivering when the cool floor came in contact with her feet. Thinking fast, she transfigured a random dust bunny she spotted from the corner of her eye into a pair of slippers that matched her pajamas. Grabbing the robe from the chair at the last second, Raven swung it over her shoulders, tying the sash as she made her way to the door. Upon opening the door, the first thing to catch her attention was the basket of bottles set on the floor. There were three bottles and a few washcloths, along with two large fluffy looking towels, a toothbrush in a sealed bag, and a container of toothpaste. On closer inspection, the bottles, which contained a pearlescent powder blue substance, were shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. Heaving a sigh of relief, Raven set the basket on the vanity and stepped into the hall, absent-mindedly wrangling her voluminous hair into a set of pigtails. Looking around the halls, she cautiously followed the source of the noises she could hear, voices and the clinking of dishware. After a few minutes of wandering, she found a large dining room filled with several circular tables, each filled with boys in pajamas. Along the furthest wall was a long table, loaded with foods of all kinds. Raven had barely set foot into the room when she heard Vil call for her.
“There you are, dear! Come sit down, we need to eat.” He was seated at a larger table in the middle of the room, with Epel on one side and an empty chair on the other. Raven slowly made her way over, conscious of all the eyes on her.
“Good morning, Raven.”
“Good morning, Epel!” Raven responded with a smile. Without Epel, she probably wouldn’t have gotten to go to bed till much later last night.
“I already got you a plate, so dig in,” Vil commanded. Raven complied, beaming at the selection in front of her. There was a strip of bacon, an omelet, and a small bowl of what was likely yogurt, topped with nuts. Honestly, it looked like a breakfast she would have at home, with Cook. Picking up her fork, Raven took a moment to observe those around her. Vil’s manners were impeccable, while Rook’s were decent, and Epel’s made her want to cringe a little. Despite being the next Evil Queen, she was still a princess, and had been given almost four years of etiquette lessons as a kid. From what she could see of other tables, it was a mixed bag.
“I can’t lie, I’m pretty happy to see a healthy breakfast. At Ever After High, it’s all sweet foods and pastries every morning. Most of us Rebel kids can’t stomach it, but the Royals love it, so we don’t ever get anything good.” Raven commented, cutting up her omelet into small pieces.
“Really? How odd, here every dorm takes a weekly poll on what to have for breakfast each week. Headmaster Crowley would never exclude an entire group of students like that.” Epel scoffed, wrinkling his nose.
“Indeed.” Vil sniffed. “I can’t imagine that’s very good for their skin, either. Ah well, you’re here now, Raven, and that’s all that matters.” Raven smiled a little. Yeah, this wasn’t so bad, not at all.
X0X0X
As soon as Raven finished eating, Vil shooed her off to get ready for the day, making Raven giggle. He may act vain, but the boy was rather maternal. Once she was back in her room, Raven quickly hopped in the shower, pleased to find that the shampoo and conditioner Vil gave her were not heavily scented, but instead smelled faintly of jasmine. After she had rinsed the last of the conditioner, Raven hopped out and spelled one of the towels to dry her hair as she brushed her teeth. For some reason, her magic was working far better here than it ever had back home. Not once had something gone wrong. It was odd, being able to rely on her magic. Shrugging it off as a problem for later, Raven spelled her clothes clean and transfigured them into the same clothes as yesterday, this time pulling her hair into a four-strand braid. Sliding her feet into her heels, Raven made her way back into her room proper right as someone knocked on the door.
“Just a second!” She called, trying not to glance at the mirror on the vanity out of the corner of her eye. She’d need to get something to cover that with. Raven opened the door to see Vil, wearing an odd layered outfit, waiting on her.
“You look lovely dear. Now, we barely have time to do your makeup, but I’m nothing if not capable under pressure.” Vil grabbed her shoulders and spun her about, guiding her over to the vanity. Raven sucked in a deep breath at seeing herself in the reflection. She neverlooked in mirrors if she could help it, especially for long periods. With the glamour out of her hair and no lipstick, she almost looked like her half-sister….
“Now, I’m thinking a natural look, we’ll leave your lips bare, but a touch of highlighter and blush will look lovely. Hold still, this won’t take five minutes.” Vil’s words snapped her from her thoughts, making her shake her head a little. With expert precision, Vil swiped a brush across the top of her cheekbones and along the bridge of her nose. After a few more swipes, he clicked the compact in his hand closed, smiling.
“I am too good. Alright, take a look and then let’s be off, it would be rude to be late.” Vil was so busy packing his things back into his purse that he didn’t notice the slight panic in Raven’s eyes when she realized that she needed to look in the mirror. Taking as quick a glance as possible, Raven stood and pushed the chair in.
“Ready when you are!” She chirped, folding her hands in front of herself.
“Alright then, let’s be off! I can say with certainty that the other dorm leaders will adore you.” Vil said, smoothing a few flyaway hairs out of Raven’s face.
I hope so… Raven thought. 
@keiwahikari
@sayuricorner
62 notes · View notes
carnationcreation · 4 years
Text
Bad Timing (Adam Park x reader)
Masterlist
TITLE: Bad Timing (Adam Park x reader)
Prompt/summary:  (MMPR Season 2 episode 29, Goldar’s Vice Versa) Reader is the team's stand-in medic and is trying to ask Adam to the Vice-Versa dance. Lord Zedd has other plans.
Word Count: 2,276
Warnings:  none
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“It’s about time the girls had to ask the guys to the dance,” Rocky said leading the boys to a table at Earnie’s juice bar.
“Who are you going with?” Billy asked. 
Rocky smiled and leaned back in his chair, “Jessica Peterson, I can’t believe she asked me. What about you Adam?”
Adam sighed, “I don’t think I’m going…”
“Why not?” His friends asked.
“No one’s asked me yet, and I don’t think anyone’s going to,” the boy said.
“Don’t feel bad Adam, no one’s invited me yet either,” Billy said.
Adam gave a sad smile, feeling a little bit better that he wasn’t alone in his struggle. But just as Billy said that, Laura Scottsman approached the boys table asking to speak to Billy alone. Adam leaned his head into his hand watching the blue ranger walk off only to return with a smile on his face, “Hey guys, Laura just asked me to the dance!”
“Atta boy!” Rocky said high-fiving Billy.
“Looks like I’m the only one without a date, even Bulk and Skull are going if those weird girls ever catch them,” Adam sighed.
“Don’t worry Adam, someone will ask you,” Rocky tried to console his friend.
“I gotta get going, later guys,” Adam said standing up and walking off.
His friends shared a sigh. (Y/n) watched Adam leave and hurriedly approached the two boys remaining at the table.
“Hey guys,” (Y/n) said, the boys looked up and smiled, “Where’d Adam go?”
“I’m not sure, he’s been bummed out that no one’s asked him to the dance,” Rocky said.
Billy smirked at the youngest member of the team, “Why haven’t you asked him yet (Y/n)? Everyone knows you want to.”
“Oh I hope not everyone,” (Y/n) sighed while pulling out a chair to sit down.
“Everyone on the team at least, I think Aisha has made it her mission to try and set you two up,” Rocky chuckled.
(Y/n) blushed, “I was actually gonna ask you guys to help me think of an idea to ask him to be my date…”
The two boys smiled before Rocky said, “You don’t need anything fancy (Y/n), just ask him outright and he’ll say yes.”
“You don’t know that!”
“Yes we do! He’s had a crush on you since you started helping Alpha out in the power chamber,” Billy said.
“Last time I patched him up after a fight he wouldn’t even look at me, or talk to me.”
“Adam’s just a shy guy, you’ll figure it out (Y/n),” Rocky said.
“I sure hope so, anyways I’m gonna go find Aisha. She might be able to help.”
(Y/n) stood up with a sigh and went to track down the yellow ranger.
_______________________________
Kim, Adam, and Aisha sat at Earnie’s the next afternoon. Aisha had spent all of their first period trying to convince (Y/n) to shoot her shot with the handsome black ranger. Eventually Aisha resorted to telling Adam Sarah Diaz might ask him if he shows up to Volleyball practice, all while (Y/n) stood next to her and listened. It broke (Y/n)’s heart at how hopeful Adam looked after Aisha told him, and (Y/n) decided that it was gonna be that day she asked him. 
So here they sat at the juice bar. Aisha kept her eye on the door waiting for their team medic to show up with the poster they had made. 
“Lord Zedd has the worst timing ever,” Kim groaned.
“Tell me about it. It’s too late now, Sarah’s probably gonna ask someone else,” Adam said. 
“Oh Adam don’t give up, I heard from a little birdie that there’s someone else planning on asking you,” Aisha smiled.
“You mean (Y/n)? They better do it soon before Sarah gets to him first,” Kim laughed.
Adam blushed at the mention of their friend, they were the first person Adam wanted to ask him but after he saw them with Aisha yesterday he wasn’t sure at all if they were even interested.
“You guys I gotta go, catch you later,” Kim said, grabbing her bag. The other two rangers waved as she walked out. 
Cheers were heard from the main floor of the gym, grabbing both the rangers attention, “Hey what’s going on over there?”
“Let’s check it out,” Adam said.
They both stood up and walked over to see a girl practicing karate. Adam watched in awe. Her black hair shone under the lights of the gym, and her suit was crisp and clean. Her kicks were swift and graceful, she finished her routine and the crowd clapped for her. She grabbed a bag off the floor and walked up the steps towards the teens. 
“Hey,” the girl said, “do you mind if I join you? I’m new in school and I don’t know many people yet.”
“Sure, I’m Adam and this is Aisha,” Adam smiled.
Aisha held out her hand for the girl to shake but she shoved her bag into her and grabbed Adam’s instead causing Aisha to scoff.
“I’m Sabrina, it’s nice to meet you Adam,” she smiled, “I heard you’re one of the best martial artists at Angel Grove High, maybe you could show me a few moves?”
Aisha’s eyes widened as she saw (Y/n) walk in. After looking around (Y/n) spotted Adam and began to walk over. 
“Sure,” Adam said. He and Sabrina began to walk away, leaving Aisha still holding her bag. 
“Hey!” she yelled as she tossed the bag back to the new girl who only smirked in response. The pair walked down the steps and right past (Y/n) causing them to look confusedly at them and back at Aisha.
“Who is that?” they asked.
“I really don’t know, but she seemed only interested in Adam.”
(Y/n)’s eyes began to water and Aisha put her hand on her friends shoulder, “Let’s see if we can still use that poster.”
Adam practiced with Sabrina for over an hour and a half. Aisha and (Y/n) sat at the juice bar, the poster tucked away in Aisha’s bag for later. Sabrina finally grabbed her stuff to leave and the two walked up to Adam on the matts. The boy couldn’t wipe the smile off his face and (Y/n) felt a sting in their chest.
“Oh Adam!” Aisha said in a sing-song voice, waving her hand in his face, “Reality to Adam!”
“She’s great isn't she?” he said after he pulled his eyes away from where Sabrina had just left. 
“I’m not so sure about her,” Aisha said. 
“Come on, give her a chance,” Adam said, “(Y/n), tell her.”
(Y/n) took a deep breath in when they heard their name from the boy, “Yeah let’s just give her a chance Aisha. As long as she makes Adam happy.”
Aisha looked sadly at (Y/n). Adam broke the silence, “Why don’t you guys come hiking with us tomorrow? So you guys can get to know each other better.”
“Alright, I’ll give her a chance,” Aisha said. (Y/n) and Adam shared a smile before he walked away.
“Are you okay (Y/n)?”
(Y/n) began to feel tears form in their eyes, “I’m so stupid Aisha, I should’ve asked him earlier and now I’ve lost him.”
“Maybe she just wants a friend? Let’s just see what happens tomorrow,” the yellow ranger said as she put her arm around her friend. 
(Y/n) could only nod.
_________________________________________
The next day was a nightmare.
(Y/n) ditched the poster since they couldn’t bring a bag with them. After they met up with Adam and Sabrina both (Y/n) and Aisha could tell that the girl did not want them there. From hitting Aisha in the face with her arm, to flat out ignoring (Y/n) when they said something, it was clear that Sabrina was showing her annoyance at their company. 
“Why did you have to bring them along?” Sabrina scoffed to Adam.
“They’re my best friends, I just wanted all of you to get along.”
“Well, don’t hold your breath,” the raven haired girl scoffed.
The group finally got to a grove of trees but stopped in shock when Goldar and puddies appeared in front of them, “Where are you going?”
“Take cover Sabrina!” Adam yelled, “You too (Y/n).”
(Y/n) felt another pang in their chest, but tried to get behind the tree anyway. 
“Thanks for the advice, power ranger. But I can take care of myself!”
The two stared in confusion that soon became shook as the girl morphed into a gold suit before walking over to join Goldar. 
“What’s going on? Who are you?” Adam yelled.
“Scorpina! And I’m your worst nightmare.”
Before the three teens could react, Goldar swung his sword and they were tied up to the tree by a glowing rope, “Soon your friends will come to your rescue and that will be the end of the Power Rangers!”
Adam grunted as he tried to move his hands, “I can’t reach my morpher.” 
“Me either,” Aisha said.
 “Let us go you witch!” (Y/n) yelled.
_________________________________
It didn’t take long for the Rangers to figure out there wasn’t a new girl at Angel grove. After checking in with Zordon they found out that Sabrina was actually Scorpina. The rangers got to the park as fast as they could to save their friends.
“Are you guys okay?” Tommy yelled.
Goldar interrupted before the three hostages could talk, “So glad you all could join our little farewell party!”
“Go for it guys,” Adam said.
“Hang tight,” Tommy said, “ you guys handle the puddies, I’ll take Goldar and Scorpina.”
“Right! Let’s do it,” Rocky said. 
“Worst day ever,” (Y/n) sighed as the rangers ran off. The group began knocking out puddies left and right. 
“Why do you say that?” Adam asked. Tommy narrowly avoided a blast from Goldar. 
“I had big plans for today and I don’t even know if I should do them after this.”
“What were they?” Rocky did a flying kick in the air knocking Goldar to the ground. 
“Well… I was gonna ask someone to the dance, but he seemed interested in someone else.”
Kim landed a blow on Scorpina, making her lose balance. 
“Can’t hurt to ask, the least he’ll do is say no.” 
“I guess you’re right,” (Y/n) sighed. 
The group finally knocked out the last of the puddies. Billy ran up to the tree and used his power lance on the ropes setting his friends free. 
“Way to go guys!” Aisha said.
“Let’s do it Aisha! Zordon teleport (Y/n) to the command center,” Adam said. 
Adam gave (Y/n) a thumbs up before she was transferred to the ranger’s base, then jumping back into the action with his team.
(Y/n) felt a pit in their stomach as they watched their friends battle the two monsters in the megazords. Once the battle was won the rangers returned to base, and (Y/n) began her usual check up on each ranger. After everyone was cleared for injuries they quickly gathered their things and left causing Adam to wonder what was bothering them. 
______________________________
It took Aisha and (Y/n) two hours to get ready, with the first 45 minutes being Aisha convincing (Y/n) to go regardless of if she asked Adam or not. (Y/n) left with a single red rose tucked away for later. 
Adam stood with Tommy and Kim at the dance. The awkwardness was present as Adam knew he was third wheeling with the star couple of Angel Grove high. 
“Oh cheer up Adam, things could be worse,” Kim said.
“Yeah you could be going to the dance with Scorpina,” TOmmy joked as Adam shuddered.
“Hey, as long as I got my friends, everything will be cool.”
The lights were low and the music was bumping as the (Y/n) and Aisha walked into the youth center. They quickly found their friends in the big crowd of students.
“Wow (Y/n), you look amazing! RIght Adam?” Kim said.
Adams mouth was slightly open, practically drooling over their long time crush. Kim nudged him in the side breaking him from his trance, “Yeah you look awesome.”
(Y/n) smiled shyly.
Before (Y/n) could pull the rose out completely, Sarah Diaz approached and tapped Adam on the shoulder. (Y/n) pressed their lips together and turned away from the boy, but not before Adam could see the item they had in their hands. 
“Hi Adam,” Sarah said shyly, “I was hoping you’d be here.”
“Sarah, hey. Where’s your date?” Adam said nervously. 
“Um, I actually came here alone…”
Aisha stood watching the whole situation go down, she watched as (Y/n)’s eyes began to tear up again and she knew Tommy and Kim saw it too.
“Well I uh,” Adam said, he looked back at (Y/n) and saw their back turned to him, but he could still see the stem of the rose in their hands, “I actually came here with someone, but if you want you can stay with my friends.”
(Y/n)’s eyes looked up in confusion at their friends. The rangers looked at each other before shrugging.
“Oh, well that’s alright. My volleyball friends are here so I can just chill with them. It was nice seeing you Adam, (Y/n)’s really lucky,” Sarah said.
Adam turned back and tapped (Y/n) on the shoulder. 
“I’ve been meaning to ask you for three days,” (Y/n) said as they held the rose out to the boy, “Lord Zedd just has terrible timing.”
Adam smiled as he took the rose into his right hand. Aisha sighed before exclaiming, “Don’t just stand there, ask them to dance!”
The two chuckled before Adam reached up and brushed (Y/n)’s hair back and placed the rose behind their ear, “Would you like to dance (Y/n)?”
“I’d love to.”
57 notes · View notes
rambling-rabbit · 3 years
Text
My Raven (Vampire Diaries oneshot)
Word Count: 2k
Pairings: Elijah x OC, and then Klaus x OC
AN: I forgot this is based on two songs: One Headlight by The Wallflowers (though I really like The Ready Set’s cover) and Snuff by Slipknot. I went through some stuff in high school lol. And that’s a reminder; I wrote this like 6 years ago. I heavily edited it, but I don’t think it’s a great piece of writing by any means. Anyway, I hope y’all enjoy!! :)
(I also think I wrote another part to this, so if anyone wants that I can dig it up)
So long ago, I don't remember when.
That's when they say I lost my only friend.
"I can't lose you, Elijah!" I yelled after him, black hair whipping around as I frantically tried to catch his face through the trees. He couldn't leave me, not like this. He promised. "Please, don't go." I could hear the vulnerability in my voice, where it hadn't been present in years. I felt sick to my stomach; he shouldn't be able to do this to me. I can’t believe I thought I was getting my happily ever after.
They say she died easy of a broken heart disease,
As I listened, through the cemetery trees.
"I'm sorry, my love. I must," his voice whispered out of the trees and I tried to follow him, but my legs were stuck like cement to the grass. The compulsion wouldn’t even let me sink to the ground to cry. "Our love is forbidden, and you are not safe with me." That didn't stop him from asking me to marry him, though, did it? "Don't fret, I will find you again." The overwhelming freezing sadness I had felt before was leached out of me and suddenly replaced with an anger that shot through my system, burning my blood. All I had done for months was fret about him; his father was out to kill him and he was finally deciding to leave me behind! I clenched my fists at my sides and breathed in slowly.
"Don't lie, 'Lijah!" I yelled out into the void, my voice stronger and clearer than before. "This is our goodbye forever." I could feel the heavy truth of my statement ring throughout the clearing. Sudden soft footsteps sounded somewhere to my right, but I resisted the urge to look at the man who had toyed with my heart for so long. "What are you waiting for? Leave already." My voice held no emotion anymore, even as tears dripped down my cheeks.
"I'm sorry," Elijah said again, sadder this time, and my heart cracked at the ridiculous amount of sincerity I thought I could hear in his voice, "I love you with all of my heart." I resisted an urge to snort, feeling a manic need to start laughing. If he loved me that much, he wouldn’t be doing this, and we both know it. "I give you my word that I will find you again," I gasped in a breath. His word meant everything to him. I immediately crushed the sprout of hope I wanted so badly to let grow in my chest. "Good-bye, my Raven." Then, he was gone, and the world around went black.
I looked up a few minutes later to see a new figure standing at the tree line. I got up mechanically and walked over to him.
"You seem different," he stated, smirking, no doubt having heard my and Elijah's conversation, "I wonder what could have happened?" This bastard, the man I had always thought of as a brother. How could I have been so stupid as to never see the monster inside. Every emotion in me seemed to bubble up all at once, it was overwhelming. I couldn’t focus, it felt like my brain and heart were being ripped out of my body. Closing my eyes, I focused on the absence I had been holding onto before. Meeting his eyes again, I could see he was taken aback at the coldness inside.
"Oh, nothing," I bluffed, turning around and walking away, "Just found a reason to turn off my humanity." I glanced back at him and smirked, the same smirk I had always seen on his face. I had learned from the best.
It always seemed such a waste,
She always had a pretty face.
I wondered why she hung around this place.
I woke up with an immense headache, again. My dream faded fast, but I knew what it meant. I glanced around and noticed my clothes strewn everywhere, but his were nowhere to be found. The shower turned on, and I silently moved into the middle of the floor. That dream could only mean one thing. 'Lijah was searching here. He couldn't find me so easily.
It was my fault he was so close. What was I thinking, crawling back to this bastard again? I sent a look of disgust at the door, even though it was fully directed at myself.
Using vampire speed, I picked up everything and got dressed. The skinny jeans came back on, along with the blue tank top and leather jacket. My sneakers were found in a vase and I had to pause for a moment to wonder when that happened. My nose crinkled as I realized the clothes in my own hotel room would have to stay there for quite a long time if I plan on getting out of this city before Elijah finds out I'm here.
If you love me,
let me go,
and run away before I know.
I could see the entrance to the hotel lobby. Freedom was in sight, mine for the taking. He wouldn't be able to question me on last night and Elijah wouldn't find me. Perfect.
"Hello there, love," his British accent almost made my knees buckle. I tell myself it's because it sounds so much like his brother's.
"What do you want, Klaus?" I asked snottily, trying to be nonchalant and pretend that nothing happened between us only a hand-full of hours ago.
“Why so cold, darling? Once upon a time we were almost siblings.” He gave that smile, the one made of slicing malice that gave a glimpse of the monster hiding inside. Although it seemed strange that he would bring up my previous engagement instead of the previous night, something about Klaus’s demeanor let me know that he’s the reason Elijah found me so quickly.
My heart is just too dark to care.
I can't destroy what isn't there.
“Yes, but unlike Kol or Finn, I don’t like you.” I answered, putting a bland smile on my face as I tried to hide how anxious I was to sprint out the door and never look back.
"Harsh, love." How does he know I love when he calls me that? I flinch inward at my own thoughts; now is not the time to get distracted. There isn’t anything to love about Klaus. He's a monster, murderer, and there's not a scrap of humanity in him! "I just came to say good-bye, Raven, since you seemed to have forgotten." I held my breath when he paused, watching that stupid smirk creep across his face. "But, about last night -"
"No!" My face heated at the thought of where that sentence was going, and I frantically glanced around, glad I hadn’t attracted too many stares. "It was a moment of weakness and it shouldn't have happened." Images from last night zoomed through my brain and I was incredibly glad that vampires couldn’t blush. 
"Now, see, I would believe you," Klaus took a few steps closer until I had to look up at him, "if this was the first time." He paused to see if I would interrupt, his dark eyes searching mine, but I wasn't entirely sure what to say. "May I remind you of just a few months ago when we didn't leave my room for three days except to hunt? Or how about New Years?" he was talking low so no one around would hear, but my advanced ears heard everything perfectly. He brought up some fair points, but I could never let him know what those nights meant to me. I laced my fingers behind my back so he wouldn’t see them shaking as I focused on breathing evenly. "And let me just say, the best was probably the night Elijah left you." Klaus's voice turned even colder than mine had been. The blood drained from my face and my mouth went dry. He had no right to bring that up. The worst night of my life played in my mind over and over again, bringing back the pain and the heartbreak that made me turn my emotions off in the first place.
I went to finally say something--what, exactly, I wasn’t sure--but this time he shushed me. "Just, give in and be happy. That's all I want from you, Raven. Be happy." He coaxed. There was an odd sort of tone in his voice; I would call it sadness, except Klaus was incapable of such a human emotion. "Don't keep running away every time we meet up." My breath went shaky as I thought about it. Being with him was as natural as breathing, even as he set my blood on fire and everything in me screamed to hold on tight and never let him go.
Klaus, the beautiful and blonde vampire, who could massacre a village and then turn and look into my soul with such softness it hurt. Why was it so hard to say no all of a sudden? It wasn't compulsion, but that was the only explanation for why I hadn't run away already. He was the reason my life ended, the reason I don’t have anyone to care for. He doesn’t deserve any compassion, not after everything he’s done. I shouldn’t want to lean in and press our lips together, order him to take me back to his room. I should care that Elijah is here, searching for me, and for the life we never got to have together. My head is spinning, and that wave of emotion I pushed away so long ago threatens to pull me under again.
If you still care,
don't ever let me know.
"I can't." The words sounded forced and weak, even to me. I clear my throat and look into his crystal blue eyes. "I can't." This time it comes out more firmly, and I can see a dash of hurt behind his usual facade. "Elijah was my true love.” The lies tumble from my lips, but I find strength in their falsehood. “Anything with you was done because of weakness and because I was emotionally unstable. Goodbye, Klaus." I pick up my bag and start walking away with my head held high. After all, I learned from the best.
We'll run until she's out of breath.
She ran until there's nothing left.
She hit the end,
it's just her window ledge.
Klaus sped in front of me and stared into my unemotional brown eyes. I could see the panic on his face for that split second, as if he really didn't want me to go. There was a world of words he was conveying, all too much for me to comprehend. Then, his features flattened, he stepped aside, and I walked out, trying not to show how surprised I was that Klaus let me see past his wall of emotional protection, even if it was only for a moment.
The second I was outside, tears started streaming silently down my face. I loved Klaus, almost always had. Ever since the night 'Lijah left, when he tried to help me pick up the pieces. I’ve pretended to forget how his actions affected me that night, but it was the first time I had felt alive since becoming a vampire. I thought my love for him was like a brother until that night, when I found out that my love for Klaus was so intense it scared me.
We wouldn't ever work, though. I sniffled and wiped my eyes as I stood against the wall outside the hotel. It would never work out. He was only after me as an ally. At least, that's what I keep telling myself. He was all for the kill and the power. How do I know he won't just kill me when I'm no longer useful? I can't trust him. My excuses feel weak, but they’re all I have.
Not bothering to glance around, I take off, already picking my next destination and leaving all of my problems behind.
If you still care, don't ever let me know...
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rosierocks30 · 3 years
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Hidden: Chapter 15
Chapter 15: Always and Forever 
(Eve)
Eve or Natasha was staring at the amber liquid drink in her mug. She had been into deep sorrow of heartbreak. Ever since he left, she hasn’t left the room. Today, it was my first time being out of the room since that day. Natasha couldn’t tell what day it was. To her, it felt like years had passed by. Maybe this was for the best. They both are generations apart. She’s from the future and Eren is from here. What business does she have here anyways? The grey eyed woman should focus on trying to get back her timeline before encountering her grandmother or grandfather. Shit, if grandpa Levi finds out, she’ll get a beating in their spars. 
Eve took a sipped from her mug. She sighed then pulled out some change to pay the ale. The Ackerman from the future couldn’t enjoy her beer. Once she paid, the woman started to walk away to who knows where. 
Her life before ending up in the past was basically what the life of an New Yorker heiress was. There were parties, going to the best prestigious private schools, and of course any high class social events. It was every debutante’s dream. She never liked it but it was her medicine in dealing with her ill grandmother and her PTSD. 
Natasha remembered that tragic day when she lost her mother and baby brother. Her father had died a year before their death. He was an assassin like their ancestors were before. When she was a little girl, Eve had wanted to follow her father’s footsteps including her grandfather’s, but they never allowed. It had frustrated her. Both her grandparents had told her to just be a normal girl with careless dreams and living life to the fullest. Whenever she had visited Paradis during her vacations, there were many arguments between her and grandpa Levi and grandma Historia. They see things way differently than her. At first, she doesn’t get why they are preventing her from choosing the path she wanted to take. 
The last time she saw them, a huge fight had led their relationship delicately. 
(Flashback) 
It was a normal evening in the palace. She was spending time with her grandparents and her aunts and uncle along with her younger cousins. Everyone was enjoying their meal. Usually the kitchen staff cooked their meals, but tonight her grandmother Queen Historia decided to cook. At one time, the staff gave up in preventing her grandmother from doing anything, especially cooking. 
“Natasha, I’m so happy that you decided to make time to visit us from your studies at the University.” Her grandmother, Historia began to speak. 
The young woman glanced up at her grandmother. Queen Historia was in her late 50’s about to reach her 60’s soon. Her grandma still has her angelic beauty that she was known for as her age hasn’t ruined her beauty. Her blonde hair shined with some silver strands but she was still a goddess, well in the eye’s of the public. 
“Well, I need to be away from the city life in NYC for a while.” The American sipped her wine. She heard a familiar scoff from the head of the table on the right. Her grandfather, the once famous Captain Levi Ackerman of the Survey Corps and Assassin Master of the Brotherhood Paradis stared at her. Natasha frowned then set her glass of wine with a bit of force. 
“Ok, what now, grandpa?” Her tone sounded annoyed from her own grandfather’s attitude. 
“I’m not stupid for the real reason you decide to come to visit all of the sudden.” Levi glared at her oldest granddaughter. Oh great, here we go again. The college student rolled her eyes at him since she knows where this is going. 
“Praise tell oh dear grandfather.” Her sarcastic tone was showing. Now, the rest of the family groaned as they knew there would be a fight between Levi and Natasha. 
Historia sighed but continued sipping her wine. Levi was now in his 70s. His face had aged well even though he had scars on his face during the war.His once raven hair was now grey. No matter how he looked, Historia had and always will love her husband. They both had gone through so much that their bond was too solid to be broken. There were times in their marriage, both older couples did unthinkable things that would have caused their relationship to end. But their love story will be known for centuries.
“You came here not because of your studies. Instead, you’re here from another scandal you decided to get away from. You can lie to us, but your grandmother and I know what happened in New York.” Levi said in a stern tone which the atmosphere became heavy. 
Before Natasha could say anything, her uncle interrupted the conversation. 
“Dad, I don’t think it’s the best time right now. The children are here.” her uncle reminded Levi that the younger kids are here listening to this argument. Natasha adores her uncle since he was the most understanding out of his siblings. Her aunts are a bit too modesty. They always reminded her to be ladylike with modest manners. Do her wrong she loved all her family, but they always find something that’s not up to their standards. It just drives her so insane. The only reason she is still visiting them because they are the only thing close to her father, Atticus Ackerman the eldest child of her grandparents.
It’s not her fault that she was raised in a society that you can express freely to be who you are. But in her case, she can be a bit too wild even her grandma Virginia Stark nee Potts aka Pepper, the CEO of Stark Industries. In a way, her nana had once told her she was just like her grandfather, the late Tony Stark who she had never got to meet. What she learned about him. He was wild, eccentric, very intelligent that he had the tendencies of hacking into governments top projects to benefit his cases when he gets into trouble or just cause. After all, her being a smart mouth had always ended up into an argument with Levi as he’s the type not taking anyone’s bullshit even hers. 
“Tch. We’ll have to cut this family dinner short. Natasha, you will meet me and your grandmother in my office in 10 minutes.” He said as his chair was pushed back to get up. He glanced at his wife who nodded at him and got up too. They walked out of the dining room. Now only her uncle, aunts, cousins were still here. 
“Tsk tsk niece. If you would have acted a lady not a hussy-” Aunt Frieda Ackerman said. Uncle Erwin hissed at his older sister. “Frieda that’s enough! What’s got into?” 
Frieda scoffed then got up and called her son who’s 10 years old to follow her. The little blonde child obediently goes after his mother. Meanwhile Natasha was looking at her meal from trying not to lose control and snapped at her auntie. Her other aunt had been too quiet. The good thing, she’s not too bad compared to her Aunt Frieda. Aunt Krista finally broke her silence. 
“Sweetheart, she doesn’t mean that. She’s just worried about you.” Her blonde aunt was always the peacekeeper in the family. Her hand was on her huge belly as she’s not that long to be due. Her husband, Aaron Arlert, one of brightest soldiers in his generation and the son of the late Commander Armin Arlert of the Survey Corps and Master Assassin; his wife former Marley’s Warrior and Assassin Master who died long ago too. Both of them had passed on due to the Titan’s curse. Her auntie is excited for her first child. 
“Are you sure? She seems so convinced I’m ruining our family’s reputation again. She needs to stop being so bitter around everyone just because of her marriage problems.” Natasha mumbled. Both her uncle and aunt gave a disappointing look as it was uncalled for her to bring up Frieda’s marriage issue with some high class dickhead who happens to be a Marleyan. Natasha believes her estranged uncle is only using her aunt because she’s a princess, the next heir to the throne. By law, it was supposed to be Natasha as she’s the only surviving child of the late crowned Prince Atticus. Since the government officials had passed a law to prevent her from taking the throne after her grandmother either abdicated  the throne or passed away. 
To be honest, she doesn’t want the throne. If she chooses between the throne or being the next CEO of Stark Industries then she’ll prefer being the next CEO. If there was a third choice it’s neither. The Eldian-American wanted to find her own path. She doesn’t like her future being planned for her. She’s a free-spirited woman, but to certain relatives apparently she’s a rebel brat. 
“Natasha.” He scolded at his niece. Natasha sighed and got up from her chair. “Goodnight by the way if I don’t get to see you for the rest of the night.” Before leaving she goes to hug her twin cousins from her uncle who are around 7 years old. Both boys hugged her back and said goodnight as she finally walked out of the family dinning room. 
The brunette walked through silent hallways which in her opinion it gave her the creeps sometimes. Some halls have guards on duty. The heiress just ignores them since her grandparents are probably waiting for her to scold. Ugh! She’s passed 18 and yet; they treat her like some misbehaving kid. Whatever had happened on the video was not what it seems. The media loves to fuck her over since she’s a royal and a Stark. They enjoyed milking out every ‘scandal’ she has been in.
The grey eyed heiress made it to the doors of grandpa’s office. The old man had been retired for a long time after the war. Seriously, why can he find some hobby instead of getting up on her case. She grabbed the handles to open the doors. Her grandparents are already sitting down while sipping their cup of tea. 
“Tch. Finally, you were taking your time to get here.” Levi said as he set his cup of tea on the coffee table. 
She rolled her eyes at his comment then went to sit on the couch to glance at both older couples. Her eyes landed on the already cold cup of tea for her to drink. The heiress doesn’t mind since it’s basically drinking iced tea without sweetening or added flavor. She waited for them to speak while sipping the cup. 
Historia took a glimpse at Levi then back to her granddaughter. “Sweetheart, we’re worried for you. This is not just any light scandal you have been in. This scandal involved you and some man being taped while having sex. Of all the things, this I can’t tolerate anymore of your wild party life. You forget you’re a royal and a member of the Ackerman clan.” 
The younger Ackerman wanted to scream from the frustration she felt. That tape was not how they think it happened. She didn’t know the guy was filming her. It's a crime for what that asshole did, but of course they don’t understand. Her grandparents are from different generations with different perspectives than hers. 
Don’t they understand how this made her feel? On that morning, she was watching tv at her apartment eating cereal when the headlines started to show. She felt sick and betrayed. How could he do this to her? The guy, Darren, is nice and charming. She thought he was different. Nope, her taste in men is like a pattern of bad karma. Natasha had texted him but didn’t respond. When she decided to go to his place, he was busy entertaining some friends. Oh the rage in her came out. She made everyone leave and once it was just her and him; there were arguments and some plates thrown at him. Low key she could have given an old Ackerman ass kicking, but that would lead to getting arrested.
After the drama, she didn’t come out of her apartment due to paparazzi and noisy people. Her poor grandmother was expecting her to visit. It was too much to the point her PTSD returned. Her psychiatrist suggested she go to the safest place for her. So she packed up to spend some time with her paternal grandparents and prayed they would listen and understand her what she was going through. Sadly, none of those didn’t happen. Her other grandmother doesn’t know yet. She made sure it keeps it that way. The heiress doesn’t want her nana to get distress since her cancer has returned and is becoming worse. Now, all she hears was their rants as she zoned out from all these events had happened. 
“Natasha? Natasha? Are you even listening?” Historia tried to get her granddaughter’s attention. 
“Oi, brat. Answer your grandmother.” He used his infamous authoritative tone. The college girl snapped and glanced at both of them. 
“You know, only Uncle Erwin had asked me how I was feeling. He listened to what really happened and didn’t judge me. Both of you, had not once asked me how I am feeling since the scandal was broken. I was hoping my family would be a bit understanding and listen to me because I would never sink myself to that. All I got here was I should be ashamed of myself or take responsibility. And guess what, I had been feeling ashamed and disgusted because the whole world saw me exposed and it was without my consent. If this conservation will lead to more scolding and family’s reputation then I’m done here.” She gets up to roughly palace the cup on the saucer then walks to the doors to open. The heiress slammed the doors. 
Fuck everything here. If she can go somewhere to be safe and herself, then it will help her not to lose insanity. Natasha didn’t feel her tears were falling. The heiress kept going until she was outside in the royal private garden. The distressed girl sat on the bench to let the tears become sobs. 
“Mom...Dad..if you were still alive, would you believe me? Would you understand me when I need it the most? I’m just tired of everything. I missed you both…” The brown haired woman whispered as her eyes stared up at the stars. 
Natasha loved to be in the garden whenever she’s alone. It’s helped her clear her thoughts and calm her emotions. Right, in front of her a mini section of lavenders. It was her 16th birthday present. Its scent was soothing and relaxing. They’re one of her favorite flowers along marigold and winter roses. While enjoying the stars and the flowers, her phone rang. She pulled out from her pocket jeans and answered. 
“Hey Stella, what’s wrong?” her tone instantly changed to concerning. 
On the phone a woman who’s one of her friends and coworkers for S.H.I.E.L.D. “Hey Natasha, I know you’re on vacation but you need to come back. The Time machine had not been working.” Stella said on the phone. 
“Have you tried rebooting or shutting down the machine?” Natasha said, trying to figure out the solution. 
“Yes, I did it a few times. Also, I add fuel before doing anything. I need it to have it running by tomorrow.” Stella said with anxiousness. 
“Just send me the data on my phone and I’ll check it out what’s the problem. If it’s something too serious, I’ll fly back to the Headquarters to fix it.” Already, browsing her phone to check the data that was being sent to her. 
On her mother’s side, she got the brains, but on her father’s side the physique of a fighter. Growing up without alive parents had made her determined to learn to be prepared to protect herself and any loved ones that matter to her. The heiress had joined S.H.I.E.L.D around after high school. At first, she was stubborn to be part of the next generation of the Avengers until Director Maria Hill gave her old videos of her late grandfather, Tony Stark aka Ironman. 
Beside being named after one of the original members, Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow, also gave her another reason to join. Both of them had made sacrifices to save the planet and the population. The least she could do was to honor them and not to let their death be in vain. 
After searching up to find any problem that was causing the machine not working, Natasha sighed and called back Stella. 
“Hey Stella, it’s a bigger problem than we thought. I’ll catch a flight asap. I’ll see you later then.” Once the call was over, the woman got up to go back to the palace to pack up to leave 
By the time she got to her room packing up, a knock was heard. “Come in.” She said. 
Historia opened the door to enter then closed it. “Natasha...we owed you an apology.” The queen noticed her granddaughter packing up her things. 
“Are you planning to go back home already?” She was concerned. 
“Yeah, there’s an emergency that needs me.” the heiress sounded vague.
“Oh dear, is Pepper getting worse?” Historia frowned from being worried for the older woman.  
“No and thank god it’s not that emergency. I just need to go.” The truth was only nana knew about Natasha being part of the Avengers. If her Eldian grandparents were aware, they would become overprotective and prevent her from joining. It’s best this remains a secret plus she’s a grown woman who can make decisions. 
“Honey, if your leaving became the argument earlier, we are sorry. Please don’t leave. We’ll hear your side of the story in the morning.” The blonde queen pleaded with her only granddaughter to stay. Historia had missed her. They may have differences, but her love for her is big as the rest of the family. Her fear was seeing her granddaughter going into a dark path. 
Natasha sighed as she finished packing. “It’s not a fight, grandma.” 
“Then what is it?” She said as trying to understand Natasha. She has become very mysterious and distant towards everyone except her only remaining son and her youngest daughter, Kuchel who is taking an internship in Hizuru for political foreign affairs as her major. To the rest, Natasha shuts them out. 
“It’s just work. A colleague of mine called me and said that they found some documents but it’s in some ancient language they haven't seen.” The heiress said. 
“Can they send it to you through your phone or laptop?” Historia said. 
“No, they are old and ancient so they’re fragile. I will have to look at them closer and decode into English.” The young woman hated lying to her grandmother. If she told her the truth, more drama would erupt and right now; the young Ackerman wasn’t in the mood for another drama. 
Of course, Historia felt her granddaughter was not being honest to her, but she will let it slide. Maybe after she comes back, they will talk about it. 
“Alright then. Do you need the driver to take you to the airport?” Historia offered her help. 
“Yeah that would be appreciative. Thank you, grandma.” The dark haired woman said. 
After she left the palace, Natasha arrived at the International airport. The heiress got through security measurements until she finally entered her terminal where the plane awaits for passengers. She goes find her seat number. As Natasha Ackerman took her seat, a man who was already seated by the window had taken a glance at her. The heiress was minding her own business until she saw the man staring at her. 
“May I help you?” She said annoyingly. If this is some under covered paparazzi, she’ll throw him out of the window. 
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare at you.” He went back to reading his book.
The brunette also went back to reading but she took another quick glance at the man which by the way, he was hot. He probably has long hair since it was tied into a bun only a few strands of hair sticks out from the forehead. The one thing that caught her attention was his emerald green eyes. 
For hours the flight was boring. Not once has that hot guy haven’t started a conversation. She probably made a bad impression. She made a yawning sound since dawn is about to rise soon. The heiress can take a couple hours nap before the plane arrives at her destination. Her eyes slowly closed as she fell asleep. While in a deep sleep, her head slowly leans to lay on the hot stranger’s shoulder. A light deep chuckle was heard along a few words. 
“Always and forever, Eve.” Natasha doesn’t know whether it was a dream or not. The way it sounds had made her feel safe and sound. It was the best two hour nap she ever had. When she woke up, almost everyone was gone including the hot guy. She was about to get up, but the woman saw a winter rose on her lap. The heiress picked it up and smelled the rose. This strange man was mysterious and smooth. Whoever was this guy, he made her day. 
(End flashback)
Eve had looked back from the events that lead to now. The time machine that she helped to make it work had glitched which sent her to this era. Luckily, it was in Paradis, but it was the time where this side of the world was going through a huge change that caused a huge war. She remembered World History about Eldian history along with those affected. What’s worse is that she encountered and fell in love with one of the notorious historical figures, Eren Jaeger. The brunette let out a frustrating scream then kicked the poor little rock on the ground. 
“Damn you, Eren. Why did you have to walk into my life?” She sighed. How long had she been here? Weeks? Months? It felt like years and Eve just missed home where she can cuddle up in her bed while eating coffee flavor ice cream with oreos while watching some cheesy romantic movies on Netflix. 
She saw a group of people with green caped hoods. The Ackerman from the future quickly hides within the trees. The heir decided to climb up to hide better. As she was about to grab the branch close to her reach, it snapped which she fell from the tree. Eve closed her eyes to wait for the hard fall. Instead, she opened her eyes to see a very familiar green eyes. 
“Eve, you should be careful. These woods are dangerous. What are you doing here by the way?” Eren said while carrying her in bridal style. 
The heiress realized Eren had caught her from falling. This feels awkward and painful. His hurtful words were still fresh on her mind. She glared at him then scoffed. 
“I don’t need to explain myself to you so I would appreciate it if you would put me down.” She said with a cold tone. 
Eren wasn’t amused with her coldness towards him. After all, he did leave things on bad terms. “Did you follow me? Damn you woman. You just can’t take a hint of rejection.” 
Oh no. He did not just say that. Natasha’s pride begins to boil with rage. That asshole has some nerves.
“Excuse me? Like hell, I would follow you! Seriously, are you this much of a dick? You know what. I’m just gonna leave.” She humped, then turned around to leave. Eren stopped her by grabbing her arm. 
“Hey, wait. It’s best to come with us since you’ll get yourself lost here.” She glanced at him annoyingly. 
“I can handle myself, thanks.” She said stubbornly. 
“Eve, I’m serious. I don’t want you to be alone in the woods especially when we’re at war.” His tone had become a bit aggressive due to her stubbornness. 
“Why do you care? You left me at the inn. You made it clear that all I was someone to warm up your bed.” Tears were threatening to come out, but she was holding in. 
“I care enough for an innocent being in the crossfire when shit goes down.” Eren said. 
“How fucking noble you are?” She said sarcastically. 
Eren grunt from her attitude. Without saying much, he gripped her arm to drag her to where the Garrison and MPs soldiers were making campgrounds for the night. 
“Hey, let go! Eren, where are you taking me?” She was trying to free herself from his strong grip. 
“You ask too much.” He grumbled. They reached the campsite. 
“Jaeger! Who do you have here?” One of the garrison soldiers shouted as they were spotted. 
The heiress gave up the struggle as Eren took her. “Just a bratty acquaintance that I know back at Trost.”  This made her scoffed at him. 
“Oh hello there, dollface. I’m Rick. What’s your name?” Great. This random soldier is hitting on her. She was about to say something, but Eren beats to it. 
“She doesn’t like being called a dollface.” Eren was getting irritated. 
“But I don’t mind introducing myself. Hello there, I’m Eve. it’s nice to meet you.” Her tone became too flirty for Eren already glaring at her. She finally jerks her arm off from his grip. 
Rick blushed from Eve’s bold gesture. “That’s a pretty name.” 
Eve gave one of her man-eating smirk. “You don’t mind showing me around the campsite, soldier.” She wrapped her arms around the garrison soldier’s arm which he gladly led her to the campsite leaving a very moody Eren behind.  
(Eren)
Oh the inner conflict he’s struggling with not grabbing Eve and claiming those addictive lips. This isn’t just a cute jealousy that he usually gets. This is the angry jealousy. Damn her, she definitely can get him under his skin. Eren closed his eyes as he took a deep breath to calm down. 
“Don’t lose it. Fight.” He mumbled to himself. 
Eren started walking. Connor stopped him. “What’s wrong? You look like a bobcat ready to attack.” 
“It’s nothing. I just have a headache.” The titan shifter walked away. Connor glanced to see the strange girl talking to the fiery red hair soldier. 
While Eren was walking to start making his tent, a cough sound was heard behind him. He turned around to see it was Commander Dok. 
“Oh hello Commander Dok. Is there something you need to talk about?” Eren gave his attention to the Commander of the Military Police. 
“Yes. Matter in fact, why did you bring a stranger to our secret campsite? We don’t know if the girl is a spy for the invaders. Her accent is not from here or even Marley. I know you want to redeem yourself for the betrayal and the atrocities you have caused in Marley. You’re making it difficult to have my complete trust in you and it’s not just me feeling this way. Commander Rico Brzenska of the Garrison branch also had her mistrust with you.” Niles said. 
“Commander, I understand you and Brzenska are on edge, especially the templars that took over the island. Eve is not a spy I assure you. She probably followed me since we left on bad terms. She’s harmless. Both of you have nothing to worry about.” Eren took a glimpse at his ex who was still being too friendly with the other soldier. 
Niles sighed and nodded. “She’s your responsibility if she does anything suspicious, Jaeger.” 
Eren nodded in response. “Of course, sir.”  
Niles walked away to let the titan shifter finish setting his tent. Again, the Eldian man took a sneak peak at the spunky woman. She was finally alone which it ease his agonizing heart. He knew this was his fault for leaving her after the promises he told her in their pillow talks. Eren felt the guilt for breaking her heart as the scene of her reaction when he told her off. 
It’s like the Path pulled them together. He can try to distance himself from her, but in the end she will always be in his thoughts. When he met her, Eren was frustrated and distracted. His distraction became curiosity to finally get to know her. Eren quickly focused back on his tent as Eve glanced back at him. Both are stubborn when it comes to their relationship dynamics. He always was the strong, protective alpha hero while as for her; she was playful, fun, and loving. There was another side of Eve that he noticed in their weeks of being together. 
The sky started to get a bit dark as the sun slowly set on the horizon. Rico Brzenska glanced at the new girl. 
“You. Go be useful and bring firewood.” She ordered Eve which the heiress became annoyed but got up to go into the deeper woods. 
“Jaeger, go make sure she does it.” Rico said to Eren who already started walking to follow Eve into the deep woods. 
Eren kept walking on the thin path of the woods as it gets dense the further he’s away from the campsite. The woods looked lush green with trees and old huge trunks that laid on the ground for centuries covered in green plants and wildflowers. The moist made the temperature drop a bit cooler, but to the titan shifter it doesn’t bother him. He was getting irritated from not finding his girl- no, she’s not his...anymore. 
“Where is she?” He whispered then a familiar purple skirt caught his attention. He turned to spotted Eve picking up a couple of sticks. Slowly, Eren walked towards her. 
Eve was aware Eren was tailing after her. She gets up and pretends he doesn’t exist. It only took a few steps for the atmosphere to change between them. Eren felt his predator desiring his prey. All she was a manipulative, promiscuous, vixen. Eren may be the type to get mad easily, but with her it was another level. He remembered earlier the way she flirted with Richie or was it Ricky? He doesn’t care to know about the soldier’s name. Eren watched her pace speed up  until she sprint into running. She had dropped the sticks to speed further. Eren ran after her. The adrenaline of chasing her made his bloodstream pump more. 
Eren smirked when Eve trip but recovered from placing her hand on the tree. Her breathing was shallow from the running. He was already behind her pressing his chest on her back which she became stiff. 
“I know what you were trying to do earlier with that soldier.” His voice became raspy. He can hear her heart beating faster. His warm breath tickling her ear and neck. 
The heiress bit her lips from not letting out a single moan or sound. Oh god, he’s making it harder to hate him. Of course, she can’t hate him. He’s always known how to drive her crazy for him. How his sexy voice made her panties ruin. She let her eyes closed to continue listening to his godly husky tone.  
“You have been pissing me off, baby. Trying to make me jealous huh?” A growl had escaped from his lips. 
“Trying? I had no intention of making you jealous.” Eve finally speaks. 
“Don’t play dumb with me, Eve. I know you. I gotta give it to you. You’re persistent. There’s one question that’s bothering me the most.” He said
“What would that be?” She said. 
“Why didn’t the power of the Founding Titan work on you to erase your memories of me?” Eren had that question from the back of his mind since he caught her from falling from the tree. 
Eve had stayed quiet again. She is trying so hard to not want to answer that question. It should affect her since she has Eldian blood in her. Unless, she is a descendant of the Ackerman clan like Mikasa and Captain Levi. 
“I want you to be honest with you, Eve.” He tried to change his tone to softer for her. All she did was laugh like it was the funniest joke. 
“Honest? You are a funny guy to be demanding me to be honest with you, Eren Jaeger.” Her grey eyes glared dangerously in a way that’s familiar to him again. 
“Ever since I met you, you haven’t been honest with me either. You didn’t want to tell me of your plans whenever you claimed you had meetings to go. Recently, you have been pinning me on the tree because you got possessive of me. For a man who claims to have no feelings for me; this shouldn’t bother you whether who I flirt with.” Both lock their eyes in a staring contest. 
“So if you want me to be honest then you fucking better stop with your bullshit of pushing and pulling my heart. I know you still love me and feel that desire just as much I feel for you. Eren, whatever this secret it is, I will share your burden. I love you so much that I don’t want you to feel alone in this secret plan you needed to do. Maybe, I can offer you another alternative if you need it.” Now, her tone became compassionate. 
“There’s no alternative way if there were I would choose the best and safest one.” He said. 
“How would you know that? Have you considered it?” She said. 
“No, but trust me I know. I have the knowledge of truth. I saw how the future will become if I don’t do it.” He was getting frustrated. A part of him wants to tell her, but it’s too risky for anyone to know even for her. Eren doesn’t want anything terrible to happen to her. Just as she said, he loves her. 
“Then tell me what did you see in the future? I want to understand you. Let me in, please.” Her hands are placed on his cheeks to gently caress them.
“I can’t. Please, understand that. I want to protect you and our people. It’s better than my brother’s method on saving Eldians.” He scoffed at the idea that Zeke had to save the Eldians. 
“What was your brother’s plan? Can you at least tell me that?” She was curious what his brother had in mind to save the Eldian race?
“He wanted to sterilize all Eldians in order to stop the curse by dying out slowly and peacefully.” He explained. 
“That’s an indirect genocide.” She was a bit distrubed. 
“We don’t deserve to die out so in a way I betray my brother by doing this. That’s the future I want to see where Eldians are free from the curse and are at peace to live and enjoy this world that’s our birthright.” He said. 
“No, we don’t. Nobody deserves to be annihilated as well…” She whispered. This caught his attention. Does she….had she figured it out what’s his plan?” His green eyes glared at her. 
“You knew it. How did you figure out my plan? Eve, you have been mysterious since we met. So tell me, who are you for real? Is Eve even your real name?” His tone was skeptical. 
“I...Eren, if I told you, you might think I’m crazy or making shit up.” Her eyes looked afraid  but not because of him. 
“I don’t think whatever you’ll say will top for the crazy shit I have seen through the Path, but you can try to humor me.” Eren still giving a pinning stare. 
“First of all, Eve is my name. Well, my middle name. I’m Natasha Eve Ackerman-Stark. I’m the granddaughter of Queen Historia Ackerman nee Reiss and King Consort Levi Ackerman. Basically, I’m from the future.” Natasha waits nervously for his reaction. 
Eren blinked at first taking in this information. He doesn’t know what to say. It kind of made all sense how she had strengthened, sharp aiming skills. Now that he observed better, she got Levi’s colored eyes but her eye shape could be more on her mother's side. He would have not believed her if he hadn’t seen her Ackerman traits that gave away. That also makes sense in why she was immune to the Founding Titan power. He can’t believe she’s from the future. What actually happened? Did his plan work? Are we free? These questions were taking over his thoughts. 
“Eren...please say something.” Natasha whispered in worry. 
“I’m just taking all in from what you just said. So their baby survived? Wow, if Levi finds out I slept with his granddaughter; I don’t think he’ll let me live.” He chuckled at that thought. The heiress grumbled at that thought. 
“Yeah well, he got no saying about my love life.” her tone sounded resentment. 
“Do you have a good relationship with Levi?” He was curious. 
“Not really. I don’t have a good relationship with them. Our mindsets are a bit different.” She doesn’t want to talk about her issues with her grandparents yet. 
“I’m sorry to hear that.” He said. “So what happened or is that against  the rules when you traveled to the past?”
“We are still cursed but with good foreign relations with the rest of the world, the United Nations are now involved in managing to make sure who gets to inherit the nine titans so any babies with the blood of Subject Of Ymir won’t inherit when they are born. There’s still discrimination but segregation like in Marley had become illegal including every nation since a special law was passed to protect ever Eldians.” She explained. 
“Ah I see. So what happened to me?” If he somehow tried to wipe out the rest of the world except Eldians then there’s a chance he would not live. 
“What the history books say, you were executed for treason to the military and to my grandmother as she represents the nation of Paradis, but I heard rumors that they fake it to please the other nations as their agreement for the treaty Paradis have with the rest of the world. You were known as a war criminal and anti- humanity to everyone who studied history. Some say you are still alive and locked away in the deep deep grounds in a secret lab being studied like a labrat until the curse kills you.” Eren grunted. In the end no one was free. They were still cursed and he probably was a slave to be a test subject for titan science. 
“That doesn’t sound right. I should be dead either way since I have a few years left.” Eren said. 
“I wish it was true the rumor so when I do go back my time, I can free you.” her tone sounded sad. She thought what the future Eren will be like? Is he cold? How do they treat him? But like he said, he’ll be gone way before her existence. 
 It’s best to just appreciate he is here and ok. She grabs his hand to press her palm to his. Eren looked down curiously at her. He let her do whatever she tended to do with his hand. 
“I’ll be dead so you don’t have to worry about freeing me.” He whispered. Eren pulled her gently to have their bodies pressed against each other. 
“When are you going back to your time?” He continues. 
“Um, I don’t know...the thing is I came here accidentally. I was helping a colleague with a time machine, the facility I worked at. So, I’m stuck until I figure out how to get back home.” She doesn’t want to leave even without him. 
“You know, I never planned to fall for you, Eren Jaeger. You are nothing like what history has taught us. You’re much more humane than most people my nana used to deal with as a CEO.” Her arms wrap around his neck which his hands place on her hips. 
“Same, you have been a distraction to my plan. In a way, history has changed because of you. The world better be thanking you for that.” He said jokingly. Eren kissed her forehead affectionately. “Eve or I should call you Natasha?” 
“To be safe, let’s stick to Eve.” She said. 
“Alright, but I want to say I’m sorry. I’m sorry for hurting you. I don’t mean to say these words at the inn. I thought it was best for you to hate me so you don’t get closer to me when I did plan on going through eradicating the population except Eldians. WHen I realized that I have fallen for you, I got scared thinking of losing you. I did the same with Armin and Mikasa. Armin forgave me but Mikasa; I don’t think she will ever.” Eren confessed. 
“Eren, I forgive you. I felt relieved you still feel the same way about me as I do to you. Don’t give up on Mikasa, a person who has cared about you for a long time will not easily hold a grudge against you. Just give her time, but don’t be scared to tell how sorry you are and as for her forgiveness.” She punched his arm which he rubbed his arm. 
“Hey what was that.” He pouted. 
“That’s for you being an idiot in believing all the people who cared about you will hate you easily for planning an apocalyptic disaster. I know you said there’s no other way, but can you try to consider it? I don’t want to lose my other family. I know they didn’t do anything wrong. Some didn't deserve it.” Eren sighed. If the outcome hasn’t happened as he hoped for then maybe he’ll consider it.  
“The only thing I want to know is how will the curse be broken?” Eren wants to be cursed to be destroyed to free their people from being hated and feared by the rest of the world. That's one of his big concerns. 
“We’ll figure it out together. Plus, I have a talent for finding very hidden documents. So we’ll make sure our people will not have to worry about it.” She assured him and gave one of her warmth smiles. 
“Jaeger! Eve! Where are you?” A familiar voice was heard by those two. Eren pulled Eve to hide behind a very wide tree as they saw Ricky or whatever his name was. Now Eren’s mood had shifted to annoyance. 
“Seriously, why does he have to come? He’s probably volunteering to be close to you.” He grumbled. Eve blushed embarrassingly. Yeah, she does have flaws to pissed off people or make them jealous. She felt guilty for making him feel that way, She was so hurt that she wanted to see him be hurt too. 
Eren noticed her face blushed which made his annoyance become irritated. He possessively wraps his arm around her waist to hold her closer to him. Once the garrison soldier gives up and goes back to the campsite, both are alone again. This time Eren turned her to face him. She was about to speak when his lips crashed against hers. The fiery feeling spread all over her body. She moaned how passionate and deep his kiss had become. Her fingers move up to his long hair to run through it. Low key, seeing Eren this jealous made her belly flutter. The way his green eyes become intense and darken; it’s just too irresistible for her. Eren pushed her against the tree to pin her again. The pleasure consuming both as the lusting feeling drunkenly blinded them. 
Eve was her own person that Eren knows, but he’s possessive. He wanted to leave his markings on her so others would back off. Their dynamic is like those impulsiveness couples that are addictive and passionate with each other. He loved how her body responded to his touches. It’s like only he has the power to make her tremble and beg for more. The same vice versa as how Eve acts towards him. In a way they are both similar. They made be in the woods but that won’t stop to go further. Their bodies already yearn for each other. His hands had unbuttoned her blouse to run his tongue all over her exposing breasts. 
Soft moans were coming from her own lips. She was panting loud and heavy. It made Eren’s prides swell from seeing her looking like a hot mess. His hand goes under her purple skirt to feel how soaking wet her panties are. His lips hovered to her ear. 
“My dollface is so wet for me. Isn’t that right, baby? Come on, speak.” He said huskily. 
“Mmmm I-I...Eren.” She struggled to form a sentence. He chuckled how lost she is from his touch. His finger slides her panties down as one of her legs is removed so only her panties dangle on the other leg.  
“Come on, babe, answer my question.” He teased her. Eren resumed attending her nipples with his mouth which Eve let out a squeal. 
“Fuck...Eren I-I a-am w-wet for y-you.” Finally she completed her phrase. 
“Good girl. Remember I’m the only one who can make you wet.” He continued whispering to her. All she could feel was his fingers inside her deep. She started to rock her hips grinding in and out of his fingers. Eren is amused at how eager she is for him. His finger was covered in her warm slick when he pulled out to see. 
“Eren, I need you.” She began to make way to his pants from undoing it. He stopped her then pinned her hands over her head on the tree. “Why should I allow you to get what you want? You've been a bad girl earlier.” 
“I’m sorry, I’ll be a good girl.” Eve biting her lips. She’s definitely a seductress. Eren’s manhood throbbing to be free in his pants. He grunts at being allured to her desire. He planned to just tease her to learn her lesson. 
He subconsciously begins to unbutton his pants to pull down a bit low enough for his cock to be free.  Eren hiked up her long skirt to have her leg lift to be placed on his hip while inserting his cock into her hole. The heiress tilted her head up to moan how good it feels to have him stretching her walls. He stared into her eyes as his hips began to thrust hard and deep. They feel the blissful sensation from being so intimated with each other. He kisses her neck as the woods are now dark but the moonlight shines on where they stand. To Eren, Eve looked like a goddess of the night seducing a man like him. He loved how the moonlight soaks into her skin that gives off a glow. He continues thrusting into her with a bit more roughness. He doesn’t want to speed up to make this mystical sight before him last longer. Her chocolate brown hair spread on the tree trunk. He listens to the echoes of her moanings  and whimpers. 
Yes, she is his. No matter the outcome; they always belong together. He’ll fight for that. 
“You’re always mine. Even when we get separated, you’re mine. I love you always and forever.” He proclaimed. 
“You’re always mine too. Just don’t ever pull that shit on me again. I love you always forever.” The titan shifter saw her tears fall and he kissed it from the guilt he felt how he treated her even if it was for her sake. 
Eren sped up a bit more to increase the high of pleasure for both of them. “Ohh god ohh fuck Eren.” Her moaning became loud while he growls and groans. Finally, he let out a moan when he made a release inside her soon after Eve came as well. Both stopped to rest for a second then slowly Eren pulled out to clean his tip before tucking his cock back into his pants and button again. 
Eve started to slide her panties back up then button up her blouse. She fixes her long skirt appropriately and her hair to look presentable. 
“Oh shit, it’s dark and I’m gonna get yelled for not bringing sticks for the fire.” She forgot what was her main purpose being in the woods. “You can be such a distraction.” 
Eren winked then grabbed her hand to lead her back to the campsite. “I’m not sorry. We’ll get some on our way back to the camp.” 
Along their way back, both of them gather many sticks of wood to burn for the fire. By the time they got to their destination, Rico glared at the both of them. 
“Well well, are you both done fucking like two animals during heat season? Next time, bring the woods when I order too. Seriously, you both have some weird kinks in being loud enough for anyone very close to hear.” Luckily, her voice wasn’t loud for anyone to hear her calling both couples out. Eren and Eve blushed embarrassingly from being scolded like misbehaving teenagers. After Rico finished scolding, she left them alone for them to place the wood close to the pit. Eren let Eve for her to put some wood into the fire to make it big to warm around the campsite. He walked to where Connor was resting against the log. “You look happy for once.” Connor glanced at him. Eren had a smile from the event that happened in the woods. “Yeah.” 
“Good, don’t let her get away. I had a woman like her, but I was stupid enough to push her away. Don’t make the same  mistake I did, kid.” The Assassin closed his eyes to resume his nap. 
A/N: My fingers are hurting from typing so much lol. I’ll just leave it like this and let you think about how you guys like this chapter. I know guys wanted to see more of Levi’s ancestor journey. I will do that in the next chapter and add more of Historia too. Enjoy this chapter everyone and happy valentine’s day!!!! Thank you for the reviews and kudos! Also, I have been planning to add Avengers into the crossover. I am just waiting for the right time in the story.
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spideypool504 · 4 years
Text
Reckless
Audacity
Part 1
Aideku
Aizawa x Izuku
||
"Izu. You've got to come out. It's been two weeks!" He can hear Kacchan banging on the door outside of his new apartment. 
Because he had to move out.
Because the love of his life cheated on him.
Then lied to him and then convinced him that it was his fault that he cheated. 
He was doing fantastic and life couldn't be better. Please know how sarcastic he's being. Because he uses sarcasm now. 
It's the fifth time Kacchan had come over this week. He had let Izuku stay with him for a few nights but he didn't want to impose on his best friend right after he'd basically cut the man out of his life for his asshole husband who he still loved. So he found an apartment not too far from Katsuki's which was convenient for multiple reasons. It was close to his job when he went in and avoided everyone and just go on patrol till he was forced to go home. He had to keep up his appearances because he worked too hard to claim his title as the symbol of hope to just let it slip away from him. Even when he was working the night shift for his manipulative asshole husband he still worked hard to maintain his status in the hero community.
He owed it to himself, Katsuki and all the other little kids that grew up with a less than ideal life. Katsuki fought with him when he switched his hours to night shift because it meant he wasn't able to do the day raids needed to take down villainous operations when they were least expecting it. They did raids at night but the ones that really truly made differences were the ones they did during the day. The ones to take down the drug lords and sex trades and human trafficking rings. Katsuki was pissed at, not so much Izuku but at Shouta. Him being on the outside of the relationship but having a close bond with both of the men, he saw what was happening and almost went on a rampage. The only thing that kept him from blowing the raven's head right off his body was Izuku's broken and desperate eyes begging him not too. 
He should have done it anyway and dealt with an angry Izuku. 
He and Katsuki had come so far since their middle school days of the blonde being his bully. Katsuki came out with it the summer before they started high school and admitted to him he was gay and terrified that Izuku would look at him different so he'd bullied him to try to get Izuku to leave him before he could hate him for reasons he couldn't control. The dumb ass came to his senses after his father had gotten sick and he thought he had no one he could really turn too. Till he found himself subconsciously walking to Izuku's house a few blocks down. He took one look at his best friend's concerned freckled face and knew he fucked up. 
The blonde cried in his best friend's arms the entire night and spilled his soul to him the morning after. Izuku punched him in the arm hard enough to bruise and explained to him why he was stupid. Izuku could never hate him for being gay because he was too. Izuku explained to him that Katsuki could honest to Kami cut off his arm and he'd still be Izuku's best friend. They laughed and cried some more and then got up to make themselves and Izuku's mom breakfast. 
They'd been inseparable from that day on once more until all of this with Shouta happened. Izuku had felt so guilty for abandoning his best friend. He felt ashamed and scared that Katsuki would hate him for leaving their friendship for his marriage.  Katsuki tried to explain to him that there was nothing and no reason  that could ever make it okay for Izuku's husband to step out of their relationship. Tried to get him to see that his husband was making up excuses but Izuku didn't want to hear any of it at that time. He screamed and yelled and swore up and down that it was his fault that Shouta cheated. That he wasn't giving his husband and their relationship enough attention and focusing too much on becoming the symbol of hope. He cried in Katsuki's arms sobbing that it was all his fault and Katsuki simply told him, "I hate what he's done to you" before he let go of Izuku and walked out of their shared office in their agency they built from the ground up together like they always dreamed of doing. 
Izuku didn't bother to put on a shirt as he made his way towards his front door. He turned the latches and undid the deadbolt and let the door creak it's way open to allow his best friend back into his life finally. 
"Fucking finally, Nerd. I've been knocking on this door since Sunday. It's Thursday." Katsuki shuffles Izuku backwards and back into his apartment not letting Izuku say anything otherwise. "This place is disgusting. We're cleaning up and then heading out. And don't fucking fight with me. You need out of this place and I will drag you by your damn ear if you try to say a damn word against it. Try me Izuku." Kacchan glare at him from across the room. Blankets, empty  ice cream cartons and pizza boxes litter the floor between them. When Izuku just nods and gives him a watery smile Katsuki huffs and gestures him to come hug him. Izuku runs over to him and is about to wrap his arms around his best friend but is stopped by a hand to the face shoving him back. "Nope. You smell gross. I've come up with a new plan. You go take a fucking shower, I'll clean up and then we head out." Izuku is shoved towards the hallway where his bathroom and bedroom are located. "You need to not smell like the inside of an elephant's ass." 
With that Katsuki walks back to the living room and kitchen where he hears garbage bags being opened. Izuku huffs in determination to not waste his life away in this apartment anymore and grabs a pair of bright orange boxer briefs and heads to the bathroom to take his shower. 
Izuku doesn't really own anything black or dark grey anymore, it hurt to look at the colors that the love of his life wears on a daily basis. He still had black jeans, dishes, his favorite coffee mug,  underwear and undershirts and such.  It would be ridiculous if he didn't have anything black or dark grey in his possession,  but he just can't stand to look at the colors anymore. They don't bring the comfort they once did, the sense of belonging and home. 
He also changed his shampoo and conditioner scent, his soap, deodorant and threw out his favorite cologne. He didn't want a single thing that reminded him of his husband. He wanted to find and be Izuku Midoriya  once more. He's been Izuku Aizawa for so long, been 'Kitten' even longer and he doesn't know who he is without Shouta anymore so he's decided to start fresh and new. It hurt so much. Almost everything around him  had his heart clenching in pain and dread. He misses sleeping next to Shouta, missing sleeping all together. It took more than a lot to get used to sleeping alone and he was contemplating getting a dog to share his space with. He'd have to move out of this apartment and find a pet friendly one but it would be worth it to have someone to share his home with again and find some sense of normalcy. 
He quickly finished his shower and towel dried himself off, slipped on his underwear and stepped out the bathroom to head back to his bedroom to get clothes. He made his way in and found a set of clothes laid out on his bed. 
"You don't know how to dress yourself if it's not your hero costume." Katsuki was leaning against his door frame with his arms crossed and signature scowl on his face. "Get dressed, I'm done cleaning. We're heading out in fifteen." Katsuki closes the door and Izuku is left to himself once again. 
He looks to the outfit and thanks Kami that Katsuki didn't go crazy with the outfit and it actually looked really comfortable. It was his dark purple acid washed skinny jeans, and a  pastel purple t-shirt that had 't-shirt' written across it. He's surprised to see it, he knows how much his blonde friend hates those shirts.   He quickly gets dressed and was proven right, that it was indeed comfortable. He was grateful. He grabbed the hoodie hanging off his closet door handle and walked out the room to his now spotless and citrus smelling living room. 
"How did you-" He turns to Katsuki with a raised eyebrow but was cut off with a glare. 
"Don't question my magic. You'll insult me and my abilities." There was movement coming from the kitchen but Katsuki was standing still in front of him in the living room.
"You mean my magic, right?" Shouto comes walking around the corner out of his kitchen with a small smirk in the corner of his lips.
"When did you-" Izuku starts to question when his other best friend appeared inside his apartment but is once again cut off. 
"I'm the one that called you and started cleaning before you got here so no, my magic, you bastard." Shouto rolls his eyes and gives them a rare wide smile. 
"Sure babe. My bad." Shouto makes his way into the living room and brings Izuku into a warm hug. "Katsuki told me you finally let him in and called me over. You were still in the shower when I got here so I helped clean up. How're you holding up?" Shouto pulls back from the hug and looks at him with a deep concern. 
"I'm doing great. Can't you tell?" Izuku gives the couple a shaky smile and takes in a deep breath trying to keep the tears right where they are behind his eyes. He's pulled into the hug again with a second set of arms wrapping around both him and Shouto. 
"You don't smell like an elephant's ass anymore but what in the fucking hell is this smell combination you've got going on?" Katsuki wrinkles his nose and Shouto's nose scrunches in distaste when he finally catches a sniff of Izuku. 
"I love you Zu, but  uh ew." Shouto slowly releases him and takes a step back along with Katsuki. 
His ears turn a bright red from embarrassment. "Shouta was the one that always got the shampoo, conditioner and body wash. It was always the same thing and I had an anxiety attack when I tried to shower with it all last week. So I grabbed random things off the shelf and said 'fuck it'." He shrugs his shoulders. 
The two across from him cock their heads to the side and scrunch their eyebrows in confused concern. 
"Fuck it"? The two asked him in unison. 
Izuku shrugs and turns towards his front door to put his favorite red shoes on. He misses the look the couple share behind him and the silent conversation they have. It's interrupted when Izuku's phone lets out a quiet jingle that slowly gets louder till Izuku declines the call. He looked upset to the duo behind him and knew who was trying to get a hold of Izuku's attention. 
"Give me the phone." Shouto startles the other two with his blunt and forceful voice. He's set his face to stone and holds out his hand, waiting patiently for Izuku to comply to the demand. The phone starts to ring again and Shouto narrows his eyes at the green haired man standing in front of him. "Now, Izuku." With that he's handed the phone and walks out of the house with a promise to be back momentarily. 
"How many times have you answered his call?" Katsuki is soft with his words and puts a hand on his shoulder. 
"To many times. He won't give me a real reason why he did it. Or why he lied to me. He won't explain anything just keeps asking for a second chance. I can't Kat. I can't look at him the same and I feel like all of this is my fault." He's taken into Katsuki's arms once again just as his voice breaks and the tears finally start to fall and stream down his face. 
"I'm sure Sho is going to have him stop. He needs to first give you time to process the fuckery he did and then he needs to accept whatever decision you make for your relationship." He's given a squeeze around his shoulders and he sobs loudly into the blonde's chest. 
He cries for a few more moments and by the time he calms his breathing Shouto is back in the house and has slipped his phone into his back pocket and joined the hug. "Everything hurts. All over. I can't stop crying. I can't sleep." He lets out a frustrated growl and roughly drags his hands through his hair, pulling as he went. "I already know what I'm doing but it's so hard. I can't look at him the same. I don't want him to touch me. I just-" He takes a deep breath and deflates. "I just want a divorce. I don't think I could trust him again like I used too. He cheated on me and then succeeded in making me think it was my fault and let me destroy myself for a whole six months. He was ready to let me throw away everything. My career. My passion. My best friend. Everything." He clenches his hands by his sides and he clenches his teeth in ways that his dentist would despise. "He can tell me he loves me all he wants, but you don't do what he did to the person you love."  
Shouto is behind him and rubs his hands up and down his arms, trying to sooth the brokenhearted man in front of him. The dual haired and blonde have seen the once ray of sunshine in front of them cry more times than they could ever count but these cries were different. These were from deep in his soul and heart wrenching, the sorrow he let out had them both seeing red. Such an amazing human should never feel the way he does. He doesn't deserve what happened to him. 
"We'll help you, Izuku." Shouto brings attention to himself with the promise he makes.
"With whatever you need. We'll be here for you." Katsuki adds on for good measure. He lost his best friend for half a year. Over his cold dead body was he allowing anything else to happen to his friend. "We love you, Zu." 
Izuku gives Shouto's hand that stopped on his shoulder a squeeze in thanks and gives Katsuki a wobbly and watery smile. "Thank you. I appreciate it you guys. I appreciate the both of you." 
It's quiet for a moment before Katsuki reaches the absolute end of the amount of mushy he could handle. "Alright! Enough crying! Let's go. We've got shit to do. Starting with getting you something normal to fucking shower with, fuck!" He storms off towards the front door and only pauses to put his shoes on before he's got the door open and demanding for the other two to hurry up. 
Shouto rolls his eyes and ushers Izuku towards the door. "Let's go before he leaves us and we have to walk to wherever the hell he plans on going." There's a chuckle in his voice and Izuku has no choice but to giggle because they both know that Shouto speaks from experience for the both of them. They grab Izuku's set of keys and quickly lock up before running to Katsuki who already had his car running and looked like he was about to drive off without them.
That day on Katsuki and Shouto went over to Izuku's new apartment and made sure he wasn't falling any further into the depressive hole he'd dug himself into. They helped him file for divorce and let him cry himself out in either of their arms after they all three went down to the courthouse to turn in the paperwork. It would be another week before Shouta received the paperwork but Izuku was determined to go through with it. 
He was taking a stand for himself and not backing down to the sweet words that his soon to be ex husband begged him to come back with. The sweet man he once saw in Shouta Aizawa was skewed and he didn't think he'd ever be able to let him back into his heart the way he had him for 15 years. Maybe after Izuku healed and felt more like himself he would sit down with the man and try to get actual answers from him but for now he didn't want any half asses excuses. He didn't want the begging. The apologies that didn't seem as heartfelt as they seemed. Izuku still loved Shouta but he couldn't trust him, couldn't believe in his words any longer. 
For now Izuku had what he wanted and needed. He had himself. He had his childhood best friend that would literally kill for him. He had his herteochomatic best friend that has proven time and time again he'd stick with Izuku through whatever life threw at them. He had his agency he built and ran with his now two best friends after bringing Shouto in as a shareholder over the company. He had the children, young and full grown adult looking up to him as he slowly changed how the world worked. He had found that he had all that he needed staring at him in the face for the longest time. 
And he found that he didn't need Shouta to make his dreams come true. All he needed was himself and the support of his friends. 
*BONUS*
"Give me the phone." Shouto stared at the device in Izuku's hand trying to restrain himself from taking it from the man. His best friend was hurt more and more and not being allowed to mourn and heal every time that phone rang. He was pissed. The phone lit up and started ringing once more with Shouta's name displayed across the screen. That wasn't even a full minute from the last call that rang through the near empty apartment. 'Keep the flames in check Sho. You're inside a very flammable apartment right now.' "Now, Izuku." 
He's finally handed the ringing phone and he doesn't hesitate to step past the broken green man and step outside. Izuku doesn't need to hear what he's got to say. 
He slides his thumb across the screen to answer the call and puts the phone up to his ear. Before the expletives can flow out of his mouth he's interrupted. "Kitten I know. You don't want to hear it but please. Please come home. Let's work on this. I miss you. The kids miss you. We just want you back home. We can work on this. This doesn't have to be our end." He can hear that the man is tired. That makes Shouto happy. 
"You've got some fucking nerve, Shouta. Your balls must drag on the fucking ground for you to be calling Izuku back to back for only he knows how fucking long." He can hear the man on the other end try to make a rebuttal or comment or something but Shouto's not having any of it. "No! How fucking dare you!? After what you did? Where the fuck do you get off dragging Izuku's heart and soul through a damn minefield and then have the audacity to call him and try to make him feel bad leaving you? This is your last call to Izuku. This is your last call to him till he calls you. And I swear to whatever deity there may be if I find out you've tried to come and see him I will skin you alive till e very single nerve you have is on display and then let Katsuki do whatever the fuck he wants. Using him as an excuse to manipulate Izuku. The only reason you're still walking around right now Shouta and aren't in a wheel chair, hospitalized or otherwise is because that would hurt Izuku even more than you already have. Try me Shouta. I really fucking dare you too." His teeth are clenched and he's nearly panting with trying to keep himself from bursting into furious flames. Shouta used to be a good friend of his, truly. But Izuku is his best friend that drug him out of a dark place and saved his life in more ways and times than he could possibly keep track of. Izuku came before all and above all. 
"I understand." Were the last words he heard before he heard the line go silent. Shouto takes a few deep breaths and flexes his hand that isn't holding Izuku's phone and calms himself down before he steps back into the apartment he'd just left. 
He walks in to a loudly sobbing Izuku wrapped up in his boyfriend's arms. He looks Katsuki in the eyes and see them on fire. Katsuki had been taking all of what's been happening harder than Shouto but that was to be expected. Shouto just took a few steps forward, slipped the phone in Izuku's back pocket and joined the hug. 
They were going to do everything they could to get the ray of sunshine back, come hell or high water. 
That was a promise.
51 notes · View notes
ryqoshay · 3 years
Text
Tri-Arame: Valentine’s Day
Primary Pairing Trio: YuuAyuSetsu Words: ~4.2k Rating: G, mostly. I’ll leave the T/M’ish stuff to your imagination... Time Frame: February of their 2nd year in high school Story Arc: Stand Alone
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Author’s Note: I couldn’t quite get this one done in time for the official holiday. I kept interrupting the flow with what I believed to be too much introspection, but I didn’t want to cut it completely, so I would write a new part to include it. And I still ended up dumping a bunch at the end. Que zura, zura...  At least it’s still February, so... better late than never?
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“Ayumu-sa~n!” a voice called from behind.
The redhead turned to see a raven-haired girl walking briskly to catch up, waving wildly as if it would make it easier to spot her in the mostly empty hall. Running would likely have been quicker, and her excited aura made it seem like she wanted to do so. However, Setsuna was a rule follower, or at least tried to present herself as such, so hastened walking was her best solution.
“What’s up, Setsuna-chan?” Ayumu asked, pausing by the clubroom door.
“I finished my book, so you and Yuu-san can borrow it now.”
“That was quick.”
Setsuna grinned as she reached the other girl. “It was so good I couldn’t put it down.”
Ayumu leaned down a little. “Did you stay up too late again to do so?” She asked, noticing poorly concealed dark spots under cendrée eyes.
Had the other girl really gone around all day looking like that? Ayumu would have probably said something in the morning had they walked to school together like most mornings recently. However, Yuu had made them late and they had missed their usual train.
“Uhm… maybe…?”
“Geez, what am I going to do with you two?” Ayumu sighed.
“Two?”
“Yuu-chan stayed up too late last night as well, working on a new song again.” Ayumu explained. “Then, she overslept. That’s why we couldn’t meet you this morning.”
Setsuna’s eyes sparkled in a way that made it harder to tell she was actually sleep deprived. “I can’t wait to hear it.” Apparently, her excitement for a new song had overridden her disappointment in not being able to walk together.
“That wasn’t the point.” Ayumu shook her head but couldn’t help smiling at her friend’s enthusiasm anyway. “You two need to take better care of yourselves.” Though she’d fussed over her childhood friend for years, over the last few months, Ayumu had found herself worrying over Setsuna as well, since both girls shared a few bad habits.
“Thank you for your concern.” Setsuna acknowledged honestly, something Ayumu appreciated as Yuu wasn’t quite as responsive in that area. “But I’ll be fine once I move around a bit more.” She made a few motions mimicking the upcoming practice session. “And before I forget…” She reached into her bag.
“Oh, what’s that?” Fluttering paper caught Ayumu’s eye as the other girl pulled out her book.
“What’s wha…” Setsuna looked down. “Eh? Nothing!” She dropped down to fetch what looked like a flyer from a local store. “It’s nothing!” She repeated, stuffing the page back in her bag. “Please forget you saw that.”
“Was that an advertisement for a Valentine’s Day sale?” Ayumu felt a little bad about pressing the issue that the other girl seemed desperate to avoid, but she couldn’t ignore the alarm that suddenly chimed in the back of her mind. “I think I got the same one the other day.”
Pink blossomed across Setsuna’s cheeks as she held Ayumu’s gaze. “… Yes…” She admitted after a moment. “But, uhm… please don’t tell the others, alright? I was hoping to keep it a secret that I was going to make chocolates for everyone.”
The tiny bells became a blaring klaxon. “Do you want to make them together?” Ayumu offered. “I was planning on picking up supplies on my way home today since Yuu-chan has to stay late on cleaning duty. We can make everything at my place if you want.”
The last part seemed to catch Setsuna’s attention. “Do you already have molds and mixing bowls and that kind of stuff?”
Ayumu nodded. “I’ve made chocolates for Yuu-chan for many years, but with exception of the molds, the rest of the equipment is fairly standard for baking.”
“That would save me the expense of buying my own…” Setsuna mused.
Ayumu tiled her head with curiosity. “You don’t already have…?”
“Oh, sorry, we don’t do much cooking at my place since my parents are often busy with work.” Setsuna explained. “We have a few of the basics, but nothing like the double boilers and such that I saw recommended online.”
Ayumu nodded. “We have those.”
“So, you’re alright letting me use your equipment?”
“Of course.” Ayumu smiled. “And I think it will also be more fun to bake together as well.” She decided not to explain her ulterior motive of keeping an eye on the exceedingly enthusiastic experimenter. “If you don’t mind keeping my own secret of what I’ll be making for everyone.”
Setsuna laughed. “My lips will be sealed.” She made a motion as though pulling a zipper closed over her mouth.
With that decided, the two girls entered the club room to begin practice.
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“Ah, here we go.” Ayumu pulled a few bars off the shelf. “I’ve used this brand before and it works well.” She made sure the other girl saw the items before she put them in her basket.
Setsuna nodded in affirmation but continued to scan the shelves.
“Anything in particular you’re looking for?” Ayumu inquired.
“The ones in the ad…”
“Oh, those will probably on display at the end of the aisle. Shall we check?”
“Alright.”
The two made their way to the endcap display.
“After I saw them in the flyer, I checked online and found some good reviews.” Setsuna explained as she picked up a few packages.
“That is dark chocolate,” Ayumu observed “so it won’t be as sweet as milk. But we have plenty of sugar at home if you decide you want to add some.”
“Alright.” Setsuna acknowledged. “Next up is bacon.”
“Bacon?” A new siren wailed in Ayumu’s mind. “Why would you need…?”
“Another reviewer linked to some recipes that suggested adding creative things like bacon instead of normal sea salt.”
“I think, for Valentine’s Day chocolate given to friends, we should stick to the <K.I.S.S.> principle.” Ayumu said the acronym in English.
“<Kiss?>” Setsuna repeated as a question.
“<Keep It Simple.>”
“What about the other S?”
Oh, right… Ayumu suddenly worried if Setsuna would take it as an insult. “<Keep It Simple, Stupid.>” She explained somewhat reluctantly.
“<Keep It Simple Stupid.>” Setsuna considered for a moment. “That makes sense. Love is complicated enough as it is, as shown so often in anime. And Valentine’s episodes always include some sort of drama or misunderstanding. So, keeping things simple is probably a good idea. And kisses are associated with Valentine’s as well. Yes, it definitely all makes sense.” She nodded, having reached her conclusion. “Alright, I’ll keep it simple.”
Well, that wasn’t exactly the explanation I would have gone with… Ayumu thought to herself, but if it works for her and keeps her out of trouble in the kitchen… She also found herself amused by how Setsuna always seemed to view the world through the lens of anime. Or idols. One or the other, sometimes both. It was rather cute, despite its absurdity, or perhaps… maybe because of it?
“I guess that also means no Tabasco sauce, parmesan or pickles?” Setsuna suddenly added.
“No. Definitely not.” Ayumu shook her head. What the heck kind of article suggested putting those kinds of things in Valentine’s chocolate?
“Hrm, I read the Tabasco or any sort of chili could represent burning passion.”
“Are you looking to convey burning passion to the others in the club?”
Setsuna blinked as though having just realized the implication. “Well… burning passionate friendship maybe?”
“Maybe Setsuna-chan is capable of that kind of thing.” Ayumu laughed. “But for now, why don’t we stick with the <K.I.S.S> principle?”
“Alright.” Thankfully, Setsuna didn’t seem too disappointed by having her ideas dismissed.
“So, shall we look at things to use for decoration?” Ayumu offered.
“Yes.” Setsuna agreed with a smile.
----------
“You know, I’m surprised you don’t do this with Yuu-san.” Setsuna commented as the two girls were setting up in Ayumu’s kitchen.
“Yuu-chan doesn’t have much interest in baking, or cooking, really.” Ayumu explained. “For Valentine’s, she just buys chocolate from the store.” She chuckled at memories. “However, she has actually made a bit of a tradition of buying the same kind for a few years now.”
“I can understand that. Traditions are fun.” Setsuna nodded. “And I had originally intended to buy chocolates for everyone this year, but then I got that flyer and it inspired me. I started researching things and got even more ideas and the more ideas I got the more I wanted to try making them myself.” She smiled. “Thank you again for letting me use your kitchen and equipment.”
“You’re most welcome, Setsuna-chan.”
With double boilers arranged on the stove and molds on the counter, the girls got to work. All the while, Ayumu kept a careful eye on what was being put in each pot, ensuring no extraneous ingredients were added. Thankfully, Setsuna seemed to be content with the items they had purchased. Perhaps the K.I.S.S. principle really had struck a chord with her?
Setsuna hummed happily to herself as she stirred her pot of chocolate before dipping in the thermometer as Ayumu had shown her a few minutes ago. “Oh, 31.5 degrees.” She announced.
“Perfect.” Ayumu responded, moving over to the stove. “Let’s give it a quick taste.” She dipped in a spoon. “That’s wonderful, Setsuna-chan. I hadn’t considered using dark chocolate before, but this is really good.” She smiled as the other girl bounced with excitement at the praise. “There’s a boldness that really suits you.”
“Boldness?”
“Here.” Ayumu held out what was left on the spoon. “Taste for yourself.”
“That is really good.” Setsuna agreed. “So, how is it different from yours?”
“Let’s find out.” Ayumu found a different spoon, dipped it into her pot and tasted it before holding it as well.
“Hrm… If mine is bold, then Ayumu-san’s is sweet.” Setsuna giggled as a thought occurred to her. “Not all that different from us on stage as school idols, don’t you think?”
Ayumu felt heat rise in her cheeks. “Maybe…”
“Anyway, yours is really good too, Ayumu-san.”
“Probably not as good as one made by someone like Kanata-chan.” Ayumu thought out loud.
“Ayumu-san.” Setsuna’s voice suddenly became stern.
“Eh?”
“That’s no good.” Furrowing her brow and putting a hand on her hip, Setsuna took on a commanding aura that made her seem bigger than her otherwise diminutive stature. It was something at which she excelled when performing on stage, but this was different. “You should have more confidence in yourself, Ayumu-san. Your chocolate is wonderful, and everyone will be grateful to receive it.”
“Oh…”
Setsuna didn’t seem satisfied with that response. “And I don’t just mean confidence here in the kitchen, by the way. You’re one of the hardest workers in the club, both academically and in school idol activities.” She paused for a moment. “Though I suppose I have read a lot of comments from your fans about how they think your bashfulness is cute and part of your charm. But they also appreciate your determination, so even they would have to agree that you should have more confidence in your abilities. Anyway, my point is that Yuu-san is going to love your chocolates. So will Kanata-san. And Kasumi-san. And all of the others.”
“And Setsuna-chan?” Ayumu couldn’t help a bit of hopefulness in her voice.
That seemed to throw Setsuna off. “I… Well…” Her hand fell from her hip and her brow unknitted. “Of course, myself as well. I just tasted it and told you it was good, right?” She paused again. “It’s not going to change in flavor when it hardens, right?”
“Not really, if we did things right, which it looks like we did. It won’t have as strong a smell when it’s solid, but it will still be good.” Ayumu assured with a chuckle. “Some of the toppings and decorations we’ll add in a bit will compliment things, but the chocolate itself will remain essentially the same as it now.”
“Oh, alright, that’s good.”
“Shall we get this stuff in the molds before it hardens in the pot?”
Setsuna nodded in agreement and the two began the next phase of their project.
“So, how long will these take to cool so we can reuse the molds?” Setsuna asked as she set a tray in the fridge.
“Reuse?”
“For the next batch.”
Ayumu realized that Setsuna still had several bars of unused chocolate. “How many were you planning on making?”
“I wanted to make some for the student counsel as well. And one more.”
“One more?”
“Is that the biggest mold you have?” Setsuna indicated one far larger than the others.
“I think so.” Ayumu picked up the tray in question. She had not personally ever used it for chocolate due to its size, rather for baking small cakes or cookies. “Who would this be for?” As soon as the question left her mouth, she began dreading the answer.
“Oh, uhm…” Pink dusted Setsuna’s cheeks. “I wanted to make a special one for Yuu-san” Ayumu’s breath hitched. Of course it would be for… “and Ayumu-san.” Oh… “If you two don’t mind sharing, of course.”
“No… that’s fine…” A different type of regret crept through Ayumu’s mind.
“I consider you two my best friends.” Setsuna admitted, glancing away somewhat sheepishly. “Of course I cherish the friendships I’ve made with the others in the club, but you two are different, and I wanted to do something different to show that. I actually had you two in mind when I first considered making all these.” She looked up. “Sorry for spoiling the surprise, but I guess that was inevitable when I agreed to come here for this project.”
“Well, it will still be a surprise for Yuu-chan.” Ayumu offered, as she attempted to suppress her unease.
“That’s true.” Setsuna agreed. “I hope you two like it.”
“I’ve already tasted it, so you already know what I think.” Ayumu pointed out.
Setsuna grinned as her usual cheerfulness came back on the rise. And as was often the case, her smile was contagious, so Ayumu couldn’t help returning one of her own, which made her feel better as well.
“Alright, let’s prepare some of the decorations while the first batch cools.” Ayumu said, moving over to the counter.
“Right.” Setsuna agreed as she followed.
----------
“Good morning, Yuu-chan.” Ayumu greeted her childhood friend on the other balcony.
“Mornin’ Ayumu…” Yuu yawned in return, rubbing at her eyes.
“Another late night?”
“Mmm…”
“What am I going to do with you two?” Ayumu sighed.
“Mm? Two?”
Huh, déjà vu. “Setsuna-chan stayed up too late the other night finishing her book.”
Yuu’s eyes lit up. “Oh, she said she was going to let us borrow it when she was done.”
“She gave it to me already.” Ayumu explained. “I’ll let you have it this weekend when it doesn’t matter as much if you stay up too late.”
Yuu pouted and Ayumu couldn’t help laughing lightly at the adorable reaction.
“Anyway, it’s good you’re up in time today. Setsuna-chan and I worked hard yesterday and want to give you your gifts as soon as possible.”
“Oh yeah, that’s right. One sec…” Yuu turned as if to head back into her room.
“Just go ahead and get ready, Yuu-chan.” Ayumu called after her friend. “I’ll see you at the stairs in a few.”
“Alright!” came the response from the other side of the divider.
Not more than fifteen minutes later, Yuu came barreling down the stairs, buttered toast in her mouth like she was cosplaying an anime character.
“Yuu-chan, your ribbon is wrong…” Ayumu stopped her friend so she could adjust the bow. “There we go.”
“Thanks Ayumu.” Yuu replied with a chewing grin.
“Geez, and you’re getting crumbs…” Ayumu picked two pieces off Yuu’s cheek and ate them.
As if not even noticing, Yuu finished her breakfast and reached into her bag. “Happy Valentine’s, Ayumu!” She said, proudly presenting a package.
“Thank you, Yuu-chan.” Ayumu accepted the chocolate.
Sure enough, they were the same as years prior. She loved the tradition and as such, the brand had become one of her favorites, though she only indulged in it once a year. And, as per tradition, she quickly opened the package, removed one piece and ate it. She then took out a second piece and offered it to the person who had just given them to her.
“Mm, those are always so good.” Yuu commented. “I’d say they’re my favorite, but there is one kind that is better.”
Ayumu smiled as she knew the implications of the compliment, as if Yuu’s expectantly excited expression wasn’t enough of a giveaway. Thus, she reached into her own bag and produced one of the chocolates she had made the previous evening.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Yuu-chan.”
“That looks as amazing as ever.” Yuu observed as she accepted the chocolate. After quickly opening the package, she broke off a sizable piece, split it in two and offered one back to Ayumu. Same as the year before, and the year before that. “Yes, Ayumu’s chocolates really are the best.” Yuu said after swallowing.
“Shall we go meet up with Setsuna-chan?” Ayumu asked.
“Of course!” Yuu agreed as the two headed toward the station.
----------
“Setsuna-chan!” Yuu called, spotting their friend leaning against the same pillar as every morning since the three of them started walking to school together.
“Good morning, Yuu-san, Ayumu-san.” Setsuna bowed politely as the two approached.
“Good morning.” Ayumu replied with a smile.
“Happy Valentine’s!” Yuu cried, pulling out a package that looked to be the same size as the one she had given Ayumu a little while ago.
“Thank you.” Setsua accepted with a smile that rivaled the size of the gift. “May I open it now?”
Yuu laughed. “Of course!”
Ayumu couldn’t help paying close attention as the paper was removed to reveal… sure enough, it was the same brand. Yuu had given them both identical gifts. And that bothered… no wait, did it actually bother her? Strange. Several months ago, it absolutely would have. But now…
“These are really good.” Setsuna’s voice caught Ayumu’s attention again. “Want one?” She held out a pair.
“Don’t mind if I do.” Yuu replied.
Ayumu dismissed her initial thought to point out that she already had some of her own, due to Yuu having given her a box back home. Instead, she smiled and accepted the offer. Setsuna had melded all but seamlessly into their habits of sharing snacks so of course she would continue now.
“Thank you.” She said before taking a bite.
“Ayumu already knows, because she helped me make it, but I have something for you two as well.” Setsuna reached into her bag.
“Woah, that’s not just for…” Yuu started.
“It’s for both of you.” Setsuna finished.
“Oh, yeah, that makes more sense.” Yuu started unwrapping. “Still, this is amazing, Setsuna-chan. You put a lot of work into this.” She admired the decorations for a few moments.
Ayumu couldn’t disagree. She’d watched Setsuna pour her heart into practically professional level details. What she lacked in traditional taste, Setsuna more than made up for with an exceptional, though esoteric aesthetic.
“It’s almost a shame to eat something like this.” Yuu continued.
Setsuna laughed. “It’s fine. Eating it is the point. I hope you like it.”
“I’m sure it will be fine. Let’s see…” In a similar manner to what she had done with Ayumu’s chocolate, Yuu broke off a piece, but this time divided it into three. “There we go.”
Setsuna and Ayumu accepted their shares and the three popped their pieces into their mouths at the same time.
Yuu started to chuckle after she swallowed. “Looks like the brand I’ve been giving is going to be bumped down another notch.”
Setsuna tilted her head and blinked with a silent question.
“Ayumu’s is already ahead on my favorites list, but now Setsuna-chan’s is as well.” Yuu explained.
Ayumu found herself wondering about her own list of favorites. Setsuna’s chocolate really was delicious and Ayumu took a bit of pride in knowing she had helped rein in the adventurous chef so as to produce something that good. Also, Yuu was correct that it was better than the store-bought kind she gave. But was that all enough to edge out the sense of nostalgia Ayumu felt every year from Yuu’s gift? Or did it simply bring them both to the same level? Would she feel the same if she had left Setsuna to her own devices where she would have likely used bacon, Tabasco – seriously, what was her obsession with Tabasco? – paremesan, pickels and deities only knew what else?
“Oh, is that the time?” Yuu asked, her attention focused on one of the various displays around the platform. “We should get going so we’re not late to class.”
“Wait,” Ayumu spoke up before the other two started moving “I still have to give mine.”
Even though she likely knew it was coming, even though she had already helped taste test the batch and witnessed the decoration process, Setsuna bounced a little with an excitedly expectant energy. Ayumu noted how similar the behavior was to Yuu’s earlier reaction.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Setsuna-chan.”
Setsuna tore into the package with equal enthusiasm as with the first from Yuu. And like before, a piece was broken off and shared among the three before they started walking toward their school.
While her two friends seemed filled with festive fervor, something else held Ayumu’s thoughts. Certainly, she was happy that her friends were happy, and she was sure to smile when either directed their attention toward her, but something felt off. And not only was it different than what she had felt in months before, she couldn’t decide if it was better or worse.
----------
So, the packages of chocolates Yuu had given the other girls in the club had indeed been the same brand, but in smaller packages. And she had given Ayumu and Setsuna the same size. Did that mean that Yuu viewed them the same?
Ayumu pondered the day’s events as she made her way to her room to prepare for her bath.
Yuu had said, months ago, that Setsuna was not more important to her than Ayumu. And while Ayumu had trouble believing the statement at first, as more was revealed, she came to realize the truth in Yuu’s statement. However, that still did not rule out the possibility that Yuu considered the two of them equally important.
Thus, Ayumu found herself conflicted. On the one hand, there was the old familiar feeling of fear that she might lose Yuu to someone else… not that Yuu was actually hers, but… It was the feeling that had spiked in the days before the festival due to that misunderstanding with Setsuna and the same one she had tried hard to quash after things were made clear.
She didn’t want to be upset with Setsuna though, because as far as she could tell, the other girl had no intentions of stealing Yuu away from her. In fact, Setsuna had been nothing but honest and sincere in her desire to be close friends with both of them.
And that lead to the other hand, where Ayumu had come to truly enjoy the time the three spent together, often missing Setsuna’s presence when it was just her and Yuu. Heck, inviting Setsuna over to make chocolates wasn’t even the first time they had spent time together without Yuu, and there was no denying how much fun Ayumu had that evening.
So, did Yuu see her and Setsuna the same? Did Setsuna see her and Yuu the same? For that matter, did Ayumu see the other two the same? And if they did all see each other the same, what did that mean for them as friends… or lov…?
Despite there being no witnesses around to see her face, Ayumu felt like she needed to hide the fact that she was blushing at the thought of a relationship beyond what she already had with her two friends. And some of the activities that might be involved with such a relationship.
Certainly, this wasn’t the first time she had imagined such things between herself and Yuu, but it was the first time Setsuna had made an appearance in such fantasies. And Ayumu couldn’t deny that the ideas held an amount of appeal. Quite a bit of appeal, actually. Far more than she anticipated.
Ayumu leaned back in the tub and allowed her thoughts to continue meandering through various scenarios, several of which became more than slightly sensual. By the time she was finished with her bath, she was quite ready to crawl under the covers and fall asleep.
But first, she needed to send her nightly message to Yuu. After hitting Send, she was about to set down her phone and don her pajamas when a thought occurred to her. She switched conversation threads and sent a similar good night message to Setsuna. Then, with a smile, she placed the device by her pillow and finished getting ready for bed.
The two other girls had responded by the time Ayumu crawled into bed so she read their messages before pulling up the covers. Finally, as sleep started to take over, Ayumu found herself looking forward to the next day so she could see Yuu, and Setsuna, again.
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Author’s Note Continued in Followup Post
2 notes · View notes
seagreen-meets-grey · 4 years
Text
When Lightning Strikes Ch. 8
When your life is nothing but a cloudless sky, lightning can come and strike you so unexpectedly, you won’t even know what hit you.
Or: When Hiccup and Astrid meet, it is as if lightning strikes.
[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] [Chapter 6] [Chapter 7] [Chapter 9] [Chapter 10] [Chapter 11] [Chapter 12] [Chapter 13] [Chapter 14] [Chapter 15] [Chapter 16] [Chapter 17] [Chapter 18] [Chapter 19] [Chapter 20]
Crossposted on ao3 and ff.net
_______________
Her parents weren’t home when Astrid arrived. Letting herself in through the backdoor, she scanned the place, grabbed a handful of chocolate chips from the living room table and trudged up the stairs to her old bedroom that now served as a guest room.
The sheets were clean and not a single wrinkle dared to disturb the still sea of cream-colored linen. She felt like she just walked into one of the catalogues her mother had stacked in the giant, neat bookshelf downstairs. The only thing missing was the overly enthusiastic model having the time of her life feeling the fabric, and the book and glass of water decorating the nightstand to give a domestic impression. Looking around, Astrid found only the fine layer of dust on all surfaces betraying the perfect picture.
She dropped her duffle bag onto the tidy floor and let herself flop onto the mattress. Taking a deep breath, she could smell the detergent; the same one her mother had been using for as long as she remembered. Suddenly, she felt fifteen again, but in a room where no sports clothes and equipment littered the floor, the desk wasn’t covered in books and school supplies, and the walls weren’t decorated with pictures of friends and family and her rigorous, color-coded life plan.
Most of the photos now hung in her own living room, in-between several new ones, her wedding picture framed in the middle. The giant poster of her life plan was collecting dust amidst old furniture and boxes stuffed with her old toys in the basement two stories below. It wasn’t like that thing had worked out, anyway. Be the manager of an elite swim team at thirty? She still had a few years to go, but considering how she’d been training the same team of kids for a while now, that goal didn’t seem very realistic.
Not that that wasn’t the only part of the plan, which she’d designed way back in middle school, that hadn’t gone as she’d once been sure it would. The plan had considered boyfriends during her years of building her career, but no marriage and kids until she had the position she wanted. When Eret had proposed to her years before she’d even come close to that goal, and she’d said yes, she’d practically blown the whole plan to bits. And with everything else unexpected that had happened to her around the same time, she’d realized she couldn’t meticulously plan her whole life.
She pushed memories of that brief period away by jumping up and connecting her phone to her old stereo. To loud music, she danced through her room with a rag and a bottle of cleanser, singing and polishing every surface and every corner to the beat.
When she was done, she moved the party downstairs and set the table for dinner. In the past year and a half of being a wife, she’d jokingly donned an apron once a week and put her hair in an old-fashioned bun, waving a spatula around and putting on the act of a housewife from the fifties, much to her husband’s amusement. But both of them knew she only did this so she could practice her cooking skills, because she was too proud to admit that she didn’t have any.
Which was why there were pots of gratinated cauliflower, potatoes, and corned beef on the table when first her mother’s, then her father’s car appeared in the driveway. The meat had ended up too dry, but that’s why she’d prepared enough sauce in wise foresight. All in all, she was very proud of her achievement.
Her parents did a double-take when they came in and followed the clang of dishes into the kitchen where their daughter was washing pots and pans, surrounded by an utter chaos of cooking ingredients and supplies.
“Surprise,” Astrid grinned at their baffled reactions.
“I knew that was your car outside. What are you doing here?” her father asked. “Not that we’re not happy to see you, but you haven’t been to Berk in months.”
Her mother hung her jacket in the hallway and put her keys in the key holder under the cupboard with the spices, taking in the sight before her. “Did you cook?!”
“You don’t have to act so incredulous.” Upon both her parents’ raised eyebrows, she rolled her eyes. “Yes, I made dinner and it’s not poisoned. Now would you please eat it before it gets cold?”
Drying her hands on her apron, she took it off and joined her curious parents at the table, ignoring their slightly doubtful expressions when they eyed the food.
She took a bite of potato and reached the same conclusion as her mother. “Way too much salt,” Wilma commented, scrunching her nose. “But the sauce is delicious.”
Although she didn’t like to hear it sometimes, Astrid had always appreciated her mom’s honest criticism. It’s how she knew what she could do and what needed to be better. There was no talking around bullshit in the Hofferson house.
Which was why she held her chin up high and sat upright, conveying the notion of confidence and an abundance of shameful failure that she had to hide, while they all bravely put more sauce on their food. She celebrated her small victory when every pot was clean and every stomach full.
“Are you staying the night?” her father asked, scraping the last bit of under-salted cauliflower from his plate.
“Actually, I’m gonna stay a bit longer.” She immediately felt two pairs of eyes set on her face as she started collecting plates and cutlery. Unperturbed, she looked up and shrugged. “Eret’s on a convention for two weeks and I didn’t want to sit alone at home all day. And since you keep asking me to visit more, I thought I’d swing by for a while.”
“Since when are you sitting at home all day?” her father asked. “Don’t they have any dogs to train at the moment?”
The long answer would have been that ever since the Breakneck Adventure Park over in Bog had opened and the Raven Point Zoo had had a series of vandalism cases, the popularity and financial situation of RPZ had forced every department to cut salaries, even over in the attached dog obedience school Astrid worked at. Either a whole lot of people needed to get a dog that they needed help with training really soon, or their PR team had to come up with a better solution.
She settled for the short answer. “Not really.”
Her father looked like he wanted to discuss her occupational situation further, but she really didn’t want to get into it at the moment. She missed the dogs. Talking about her issues wasn’t what she came here for; it was rather the opposite. She wanted to distract herself, push away everything she seemed to be failing at.
“Do we have cake?” She opened the fridge and a few cupboards, coming up empty.
Her mother shook her head. “There’s ice cream in the freezer.”
Astrid made a half-hearted attempt at checking, but she didn’t really want ice cream. Ice cream was for summer days and break-ups, and neither the former nor the latter applied to her right now. If she wanted to overstuff herself and quiet the craving she’d had since last night, she needed cake. And if there was none in the house, she would find a way to get her hands on it somehow. With a determined nod, she set her agenda for the next day.
She slept until noon, went shopping for ingredients, and looked up the easiest cake recipe she could find; one even she couldn’t mess up. It ended up a little too crispy anyway.
Trying not to think of what Eret might be doing or not doing at any given moment, she flipped through every magazine her mother had during the next three days, even the catalogues. Still asleep when her parents went to work, they usually found her lounging on the couch when they came back, or dozing in the hammock in the garden.
Her mother asked her about Eret at least twice a day and Astrid quickly grew tired of telling her that he was doing fine. She knew what her mom wanted to hear from her, but she wasn’t going to open up that can while she was browsing through the latest IKEA catalogue for the fifth time as if it was the most fulfilling activity in the world.
On her fifth day back at her parents’ house, she went into battle with the kitchen again and baked three cakes – the first one ended up too dry, the second was perfect except that she forgot to add sugar, and the chocolate cream she added to the third was way too sweet. She ate the whole thing that night and regretted it in the morning when she woke up feeling sick and frustrated.
Pushing away any stupid upcoming worries related to sickness in the morning, she finally decided to leave the house. If everything she’d left at her own house was catching up to her at her island of refuge, she wanted to do nothing else than run. Channel everything into her muscles, kick at the ground with every step, show the world that this was something she could do perfectly.
She got up and opened the window, then got dressed while the fresh air cleared her head and chased away the queasiness. After she splashed cold water in her face, she already felt much better.
When she came downstairs, her parents were sitting at the breakfast table reading the newspaper, the radio playing the usual morning program in the background. Surprised that she was up so early on a Saturday compared to the past days, they eyed her running gear while she poured herself a glass of orange juice.
“Aren’t you going to sit with us?” her mother asked.
Astrid shook her head and chugged down the juice. “I’ve been neglecting my training. I have to catch up.” She knew that her mother wouldn’t object to that. And it wasn’t as if she was lying; she did need to train more, especially now that the swimming hall was closed for renovations and her assistant had taken over training the kids at the place that belonged to that damned theme park in Bog. Heaven forbid she betrayed her principles and supported that place in any way, shape or form. But if she sat down now, she might have to listen to her mother asking her about her home life once again.
“But tonight we’re going out for dinner, okay?” her father shouted after her when she’d already grabbed a banana and was halfway out the front door.
“Sure!” she yelled back and then she was gone.
She ate her banana and stretched on the lawn before she put the peel in the trash and fell into a brisk pace, heading down the street. Running felt invigorating, like throwing off a heavy coat and allowing her cells to be injected with life again.
A soft morning breeze caressed her skin and the beams of the May sun on her back promised another warm day, even though the browning leaves in the front gardens she passed were screaming for it to rain.
The whole city was in bloom. Streets were glowing in white, pink and lavender, rich greens adorned the trees, petals and pollen were flying through the air, and Astrid was glad she didn’t have any allergies. A particularly beautiful patch of blue, orange and yellow flowers made her slow down for a moment, listening to the bumblebees buzzing around the vibrant colors. Breathing in the pleasant fragrance, she continued down a narrow path towards the park.
She hadn’t bothered to bring her phone and headphones, taking in the performances of various arias pleasantly filling her ears from every direction. A family of ducks crossed her path at the entrance of the park, heading for the lake that stretched through the whole park like a still river. The water was glistening in the sun, its smooth surface disrupted by water birds going about their morning activities and various insects dancing at the top. Plenty of people were already out and about, runners like her, people with their dogs, a few families. A young couple with a child in a stroller caught her eye and she ran faster.
Concentrating solely on the road and the rhythm of her feet and breath, she shut out everything else, as if she were wearing blinders. She counted to ten, sprinted, slowed down, started anew, until her lungs began to burn and her feet were stomping harder on the gravel.
Life was good. Despite her payment cuts, her mostly self-imposed lack of exercise, and what happened last weekend at home, she was okay. A failure wasn’t a failure if she could overcome it. It was just a minor hiccup on the road… Ha.
One and a half years later and even the word made her stomach drop. She was back in Berk, not just in the outskirts to get to Raven Point for work, to the swimming hall for training, or to her parents’ house for one afternoon. If she didn’t want to return to a quiet house where she would anxiously wait for her husband’s return, she would have to get over her paranoia that she could run into the one person in all of Berk she didn’t want to see. Or rather couldn’t allow herself to see.
One and a half years and he was still on her mind. Not every day, sometimes not even for weeks, but he was like that annoying mosquito in her bedroom that, no matter how often she killed it, always respawned the next night. Perhaps if she kept comparing him to obnoxious, bloodsucking insects, her feelings about him would finally change.
She should have brought music. Then she could have just turned up the volume of the most energetic songs she had on her phone and drowned out every thought. Although the rush of running had shaken the layer of lazy languor from her limbs, she’d opened the corner of her mind that she’d successfully blocked with ignorance up until now.
She started counting her steps, just to have something to focus on in order to keep her mind from spiraling.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…
She was at forty-nine when she evaded an old couple on their bicycles, and an ice cream cart on the other side of the lawn caught her eye.
It wasn’t so much the cart that made her heart stop out of the blue, without any preamble. It was the tall figure waiting in line, it was the auburn hair burning on his head like fire in the sun, it was the magnetism that instantly made her recognize him by pulling at her soul like the moon pulled at the ocean.
She tripped and caught herself on the next best thing, which happened to be a young man with dark hair and a dog leash hanging around his neck like the world’s longest, ugliest open tie.
“Whoa, there!” The guy put a hand on her arm, a flirty grin on his face. “No need to fall for me, although I understand why you might.”
Momentarily confused, she blinked at him flexing his bicep and unabashedly checking her out. “What?”
He winked. “You should come to the gym with me some time to work out, you look like you work out.”
“What?” she repeated, her brain only slowly catching up to the situation. Her head turned by itself, seeking out the ice cream cart, but there was only a kid delicately balancing two huge cones with ice cream running down his fingers. She blinked. Had she only imagined – no. There he was, a few paces to the left, coming towards her. Coming towards her.
She completely froze, her line of sight pinned to his face, ears deaf to the lame pickup lines still coming out of the guy’s mouth like a waterfall. Then he looked her way, and the moment blue eyes locked onto green, she was transported back to Dagur’s party where she’d felt like a bolt of lightning had shot straight through her.
He stopped short and stared with wide eyes, mouth slightly agape, face white as linen. Time slowed down, an eternity of mere seconds passed, the universe narrowing down to its only two inhabitants.
“Hey, are you alright?”
The guy’s voice yanked her back to planet Earth and she realized she was still holding onto his shoulder, spacing out in the middle of the path like an idiot. Her heart started to beat again at full capacity and she remembered how to fill her lungs with oxygen.
“I… sorry,” she stammered and bolted, lightning fueling her, and she sprinted and sprinted, away from the green emeralds boring into her back. Out of sight, out of mind, until she had used up all of her adrenaline and her legs gave out underneath her.
_______________
Hiccup’s understanding of space and time momentarily vanished. Gravity was an illusion. Down was up and up was down. Were dragons real? Words had no meaning. Tuna was a lie. A frying pan was a kind of bird. Colors tasted like witchcraft. The eyes of Astrid Hofferson were even more captivating than he remembered.
He was certain only that last one was true. It was a mystery to him how his heart was still beating. He didn’t register the ice cream escaping his grasp and painting a trail down his jeans onto his shoes. He was too occupied staring after the blonde ponytail swinging on her back, shorter than he remembered, as her frame became smaller and smaller until she rounded a corner and was but a fading melody riding the waves of the aftershocks she caused to his heart and soul.
“Dude, people are staring!”
Hiccup blinked a few times before shaking the haze off his brain and following the source of the complaint to the man in front of him.
“Did you shit your pants or something? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Checking just to be sure, he shook his head. No, he did not shit his pants. He wasn’t so sure about seeing a ghost, though. With an awkward cough, he returned to reality and frowned at the sticky stains on his clothes. Typical.
“Who– who were you just talking to?” he carefully asked his old friend, hoping desperately he hadn’t imagined her.
Snotlout’s face changed from embarrassed to overconfident in the blink of an eye. “That hot chick over there?” With his thumb, he pointed over his shoulder in the direction she had just disappeared to. “Yeah, she totally digs me. Wouldn’t admit it, but she did.”
“Did she tell you her name?”
“Psh, Hiccup, my man. Names are for second dates only.”
Hiccup raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “Let me guess, she didn’t even talk to you and only accidentally bumped into you?”
Snotlout opened his mouth, closed it, then turned and whistled for his dog.
“Thought so,” he mumbled and followed Snotlout to where the man’s dog was pulling so hard on its leash it wasn’t exactly clear who was the master of whom. Before they made their way back to Snot’s apartment, Hiccup looked back once more, as if the remaining ghost of her presence would show itself and talk to him. But she was long gone.
On their way back into the city, Hiccup barely said a thing, still miles away. But it wasn’t like he was needed to fill the air with conversation since Snotlout was talking nonstop. Hiccup managed a comment here and there, but if he’d been asked what they’d been talking about when they reached the apartment, he would have been unable to answer.
The inside of the apartment was, to his nonexistent surprise, a mess. Dog toys and barbells were lying everywhere, one side of the rundown couch was full of dog hair, and it smelled of bacon and sweat. But what struck Hiccup the most was the nearly bald fir tree in the corner. Dry needles covered the ground and mismatched baubles and an assortment of cheap wooden decorations were desperately clinging to the twigs like a last lifeline.
“Really? Still?” he asked while Snotlout put dog food in a bowl. “I thought you wanted to throw that thing away weeks ago.”
Snotlout shrugged. “Eh. Didn’t seem worth the effort. It’s almost Christmas soon again, anyway.”
“It’s May, Snot.”
“So? As soon as I buy a new one, I just have to put the balls from one tree to the other. No need to cram everything back on the shelf.” He opened a can of coke and flopped onto the clean end of the couch.
With a defeated sigh, Hiccup decided to free the tree from its misery and started with taking off the wooden stars. In the background, Snotlout was scrolling through his phone and slurping his coke.
“Snot.”
“What?”
“At least bring me the boxes these go in.”
He heard a series of groans and shuffling, a few choice swear words, then an armful of cartons were unceremoniously dropped next to him and the slurping started anew. Sometimes, Hiccup wondered why they were friends. But some bonds just seemed to miraculously never break.
His mind wandered to the park again, to the blonde ponytail highlighted by the sun, to the two blue orbs circling his thoughts ever since. He was electrified in such a familiar way, his heart speeding up again at the mere memory of her frozen face as she stared back at him.
“I think it was Astrid,” he blurted out, for fear he would burst if he didn’t voice it.
The slurping stopped. “Who?”
“The girl from earlier. The one you probably drove off with your obnoxious flirting.”
Snotlout was quiet for a moment. “Am I really that awful?”
Hiccup had to smile despite himself. That was why he was still friends with Snotlout Jorgenson. Because as irritable and annoying and full of himself he was most of the time, underneath all that there was a boy who actually cared. Cared what women thought of him, what his father thought of him, even what Hiccup thought of him. It was rare that he showed his vulnerable side and Hiccup always made sure not to tease him about his honesty, aware of the trust his friend put in him.
“Depends on what you said this time. Maybe stop diving in full force every time a woman so much as glances at you. Usually, they don’t like that.”
The slurping continued, followed by a loud belch. “I can’t believe I’m taking advice from you. You’re not exactly the king of the ladies. And if that in the park was Astrid, then I can’t even begin to tell you how far out of her league you are.”
Hiccup didn’t need to be told that. He’d always known that she was unattainable for him, just not for the reason Snotlout thought. There’d been a connection between them, and if he’d considered it only a hopeful fragment of his imagination at first, he’d definitely felt it the last time he’d seen her.
“Jingle bells, Hiccup smells, Astrid ran away. She will never love you back and Snotlout is the king!”
“That’s not what happened.” Hiccup regretted telling him about her. In his defense, though, that had been after Snot had put extra rum in his tea during the Christmas party thrown by the neighborhood they’d grown up in together. And if the woman from the park had indeed been her, then he refused to believe that she’d run away. General running, that’s what she’d been doing. The athletic kind.
“Jingle bells, Astrid smells, Hiccup ran away. He is such an idiot and Snotlout is the king!”
“She doesn’t smell,” Hiccup mumbled, overwhelmed by the sudden memory of her flowery scent when he’d stood so close to her under the canopy. When he’d come to her wedding in an attempt to make peace with the fact that they could never be together. Because he’d been too late; because it wouldn’t have mattered. She loved another man that she would spend the rest of her life with, and coming to her wedding day of all times to tell her he wanted to be that man would not have been fair. She’d made her decision and he couldn’t just tell her what to do.
Maybe he really was an idiot.
A part of him wanted to drill Snotlout for details, ask what exactly she’d said, if she’d said anything at all. Ask if she still had a nose speckled with tiny freckles and ask if her eyes still resembled a clear blue summer sky.
But he didn’t. He’d sworn to get over her, and so far, that had worked… Or maybe not, he’d just chosen to ignore it and to tell himself he wasn’t still thinking about her.
“What about Angela?” it came from the couch, accompanied by the metallic crinkling sound of an empty can. “She seemed to like you. Or Crankyhead McPurplepants.”
“You mean Kristy?”
“If she’s the cranky one with the purple pants, then yeah.”
Hiccup shrugged. “None of them worked out.” A few months ago, he’d downloaded a dating app and dived into the world of online dating, only to delete his profile and create a new one every other week in a vicious cycle of loneliness and breakups when none of them could smother the fire for long that she’d started within him. He was completely and utterly hung up on a girl he barely knew and yet felt deep in his heart every time a storm was raging through the sky and bolts of lightning illuminated the night.
And if he spent the majority of the next day on a bench in the park where he’d seen her yesterday, then that was just a coincidence. Because even the prospect of being friends with her seemed impossible, and who was to say he hadn’t merely imagined her? Maybe he’d seen someone who looked a lot like her, maybe even a cousin or some kind of doppelganger designed to torment him.
But she didn’t show up again. His stomach was growling and he felt restless, his right leg jiggling up and down like a bouncy ball on a sugar rush. Who was he kidding, anyway? He was just being pathetic. Giving up with a heavy heart, he left the park and went to the only place in Berk that sold his favorite cheap sandwiches on a Sunday evening.
Entering the main kiosk at Berk Central Station, he headed straight for the fridge, deciding between turkey and tuna, and ending up grabbing both sandwiches. It was only when he turned around that he caught sight of the small corner with the drugstore products.
Her hair was hanging over her shoulder in a slightly messy braid that she kept absentmindedly fiddling with. The jeans she was wearing had a large coffee stain at the side. The letters on her hoodie read Berk Vikings Swim Team and a year in Roman numerals. She was frowning at something on the shelf in front of her.
He blinked once, twice, to make sure it was really her, here, in this very kiosk, at this very moment in time.
Before he could overthink it, he walked up to her and, only hesitating for a few seconds, reached out his hand to touch her shoulder ever so slightly. She winced the same moment he pulled back his hand from the shock that had just rushed through his fingertips at the contact.
She turned around in question and time froze once more.
He swallowed hard. “Hey.”
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Case #014278 “The Bird House”
Summary: "Statement of Rita Langston regarding what she referred to as the Bird House. Original statement given August 27, 2014. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.
Statement begins."
-in the style of a Season 1 script format episode, no spoilers except for some themes
Warnings: Blood, Canon-typical violence, paranoia, fear of being watched, grotesque monster, eye-trauma, peer pressure, taxidermy animals, canon-typical fear
Fandom: The Magnus Archives/TMA
Characters: Jonathan Sims (The Archivist), (Martin, Tim, and Sasha are only mentioned), Original Characters for the sake of the statement
Word Count: 5,302
Ao3 Link
[Click]
 Archivist: 
Statement of Rita Langston regarding what she referred to as the Bird House. Original statement given August 27, 2014. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London. 
Statement begins.
Archivist [Cont.]:
I really don’t know why I’m here right now. I know what I did was stupid, but I don’t know why I’m telling you this. [Slight Pause] I guess...I guess because you’re the only people who will believe me. 
This is what you do, right? All the supernatural and spooky stuff? If I had met you before I would have chocked it up as a load of hogwash, but now…I’m not so sure.
See really I was just being a stupid teenager, a stupid kid really. I’ve never been very bright, not because I wasn’t smart. No, I aced all my classes. No, I was stupid because I did stupid things. Dangerous things. Things that will get you in trouble. 
I wasn’t a stranger to the odd bet and occasional peer pressure. Didn’t have much restraint if I’m being honest, didn’t care much. Just kept looking for something thrilling to do to keep from being bored. I should’ve stopped, but I didn’t. I guess this time I took it too far.[A break, as if considering] Well, not really. All I did was be somewhere I clearly wasn’t supposed to be, not that unusual for me. But I guess trespassing was going to have consequences one of these days.
[A deep breath in and out]Maybe I should give you some context. See, I mentioned I did a lot of stupid stuff, yeah? Well, a lot of that is due to my buddy, Nicole. [Slight breathy laugh] Nicole and I got into all sorts of trouble, mostly me though, since I was the one they bet to do most of the stupid things. Like the time they bet me to egg Mr. Benedict’s house because he was being a real arsehole to them after they flunked their last test. Or the time Nicole bet me to skinny dip in the Thames in the middle of the night because they said it’d be funny. Not sure how funny it was, but you get the idea. 
The point is that Nicole and I did this sort of stuff all the time, so it wasn’t that odd to me when they bet me to go into that house. 
See, there was this house that we noticed coming home from school one day. We had decided to change up our route home to pass by the market and pick up some snacks on the way to my house since Nicole was planning on staying over that night. Coming back from the market, my backpack full of the snacks we had bought with Nicole’s pocket money, we passed a house we had never seen before. I had lived in this area my whole life, and I had never seen this house before. Neither had Nicole, and we were both pretty confused, especially with how big it was.
It was large, and wooden, and dark brown, and looked sagged down with age, as if it had been there centuries but then recently restored. It had recently rained too, y’know, so the wood looked even darker and more sinister against the steely gray sky. 
And, though I don’t think I noticed it at the time, there were an unusual number of birds around the house. Y’know, crows perched on the shingles, ravens circling overhead, even the odd owl or two tucked into the corners of the high rafters on the porch. It was bloody creepy, I tell you. I think at first Nicole and I just assumed it had been newly constructed and we just hadn’t passed by the area in a while, but as we got closer, we got a better look at the detail on the thing, and it seemed down right Victorian. It had all the, I don’t know the word exactly, but all the fancy things that you could tell it had been built to look Victorian. I think it also had all these intricate carvings on the posts and the trim on the roof and porch that you could just tell. So my point is that we could tell it wasn’t new. And the whole thing was surrounded by this iron gate, real old fashioned thing and went up to about my mid section. Real brazen old thing, and I could tell it’d be so easy to jump over, that it was basically begging to be trespassed in.
If I’m being perfectly honest here, the thing was a little weird, but not enough to be too bothered by, not enough to just Waltz in. I was planning on excusing it to just not noticing it before due to the Mendela effect, or whatever it is that I’d heard about online, and going home, but apparently Nicole had other ideas. They told me that they would bet money it was haunted. I didn’t really believe in ghosts that much, but as old and grand as the house looked I wouldn’t have doubted them if they had walked in there and came out screaming that they had seen one. I’d said, yeah, I could buy that, but that we really had to get home if they were going to stay over. They asked me if I was scared, and I said no. Thinking back, I can’t remember if I was really scared or not, but knowing what I know now, I know I definitely should have been. 
They asked me to prove I wasn’t scared, and I asked how? I already knew what they were going to say, but I let them say it anyway. They said I could prove it by going into the house. I asked if now was really the best time, didn’t we have to go home? They proposed a compromise. We would go to my house so my parents wouldn’t worry, but then after dark, when everyone was asleep, we would sneak back here and I would go inside and Nicole would stand watch. I said this didn’t really seem like a fair deal to me, since Nicole was making all the rules, but Nicole said it was compromise enough to prove I wasn’t a coward. I didn’t know if I agreed with that, but I didn’t like being called a coward, and, like I said, I wasn’t shy to the forces of peer pressure. Besides, even I had to admit I was curious. Eventually I agreed and we put Nicole’s plan into motion.
Sneaking out wasn’t that hard since this was hardly the first time Nicole and I had done something like this, and to this day, I still don’t know if we were never caught because we were just that good, or if my parents simply didn’t care, but either way we left the house without issue. 
We made sure to bring torches and Nicole brought my bag with the snacks we had bought because they said they’d get bored and hungry if we were out there all night. We walked to where we last saw the house and I swear it looked even more ominous at night. With it being cloudy and all, it was real dark too, the only light other than our torches being from a street lamp a block away. Gave the house a weird looming feel to it. And...I know it seems weird, but it felt like the house was watching us. As we got nearer it just seemed real quiet and you could just barely see the outlines of all the birds perched on the house. It felt like they were watching us, and waiting for...something. At the time I didn’t know what. [Static, barely audible, slowly starts to buzz on the recorder]
Regardless, the closer Nicole and I got, the more nervous I became. I started to worry someone was looking at us through the windows of one of the other houses nearby, that they would somehow know what we were doing. I don’t know why thinking about that started to freak me out, I’d never been afraid of getting in trouble before. Not really. I’d done enough stupid stuff to almost forget to be afraid of getting caught, but for some reason with this house...I don’t know. What we were doing wasn’t even supposed to be that bad, just walk into a probably abandoned building, prove I wasn’t a coward, and walk out. Nicole seemed to be feeling some apprehension too, but I knew that we were both too stubborn to not go through with it. Not after they had bet me. We were both too competitive for that.
We got to the iron gate and Nicole gave me a bit of a look, as if to tell me to ‘get on with it’. I rolled my eyes at them, but jumped over the gate regardless. This is where things got really weird. 
[The static begins to grow slightly more audible, but still deftly in the background] 
I suddenly felt as if all the birds perched on the house were watching me. As if all their heads turned in unison to look at me. I couldn’t tell this for sure, like I said it was dark, but it just gave me this feeling. 
[Static fades away almost imperceptibly] I must have frozen up or something because I heard Nicole ask what the fuss was about? I said I didn’t know, something just felt...off. They taunted me and said I really was scared then, and for a moment my anger and pride overcame my apprehension. I shot them a glare then strode off towards the front of the house, ignoring the prickle on the back of my neck that made it feel like someone was looking at me. I reached the front door and Nicole asked what I was waiting for. I know it’s a bit childish, but I stuck my tongue out at them for that, then I gave a tug at the door. 
It was unlocked for some reason, though at the time I thought that made sense because it was likely abandoned, and I opened the door. I turned back one last time to look at Nicole’s face as I gave them a smug look and I went in.
As soon as I passed the threshold, a breeze rushed behind me and pulled the door closed. I think at this point it was starting to set in how much of a bad idea this was turning to be, but I had made my bed now, might as well lie in it.
[A deep, steadying breath] I turned on my torch and swallowed thickly as the dusty air sank down my throat. In the torch light it was just as creepy indoors as it was outdoors. Everything seemed to be made out of the same dark, old wood: the walls, the floor, the ceiling, it all began to blend together. The furniture seemed to be made of a dark red velvet and was covered in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs. I thought back to Nicole’s earlier theory about the house being haunted, then I shook my head. Just because it was a spooky old house didn’t necessarily mean there were ghosts, it just meant it was creepy. I thought about turning around now that I’d gone in and going back to Nicole, since I’d technically done my end of the compromise. Then I thought of their face and their taunting and how they’d make fun of me for being in there less than five minutes, and I stubbornly resolved to stay in the house as long as possible, I’d show them I wasn’t a coward. 
My mind made up, I ventured further into the foyer then turned into the living room. I shown my torch around and saw what I would consider to be a ‘classic haunted house’ aesthetic. There were stuffed birds on pedestals and mounted on the wall and in ornate, decorative cages. Crows and ravens and owls and ducks and mocking birds seemed to be looking at me from almost every surface. There were portraits too, portraits that lined the mantel to the fireplace in the center of the room. Portraits of more birds, not in flight as you’d expect of a painting of a bird, no they were close ups and side views so the viewer got a real detailed view of their eyes. And that’s another thing, whoever had decorated this room had positioned all the stuffed birds and the portraits so it looked like they were watching whoever walked in from the foyer, looking at them straight on. 
[The static faintly begins to fade in again]
I was very unnerved by this, already feeling an uncomfortable ‘watched’ feeling, like someone knew I was in their house. But the house still looked like it hadn’t been lived in in years, so there couldn’t have been anyone there. As I stepped further into the living room, I half expected the birds to turn their heads to continue watching me, but they kept diligently looking at the same spot in the foyer, which I’ll admit, did relieve me somewhat. 
There were doors on either side of the walls to the left and right of the living room, and I thought as long as I was staying, I might as well explore. So I did. I pulled open one of the doors to the left and looked down to see a long hallway. I stepped forward and the old wood creaked under my sneakers, and I suddenly felt very sure I wasn’t alone. [Static volume increases ever so slightly] I’m not sure what did it since I had done a load of things that would have drawn someone’s attention since I had been there, had there been anyone, but in the very instant, I didn’t just feel it, I knew I was being watched. 
I didn’t know where and I didn’t know who, but there was someone in this house with me, and they knew I was there. That overwhelming realization sent me off on a quick pace down the hall because for some reason, I felt if I went back to the room with the birds, it would give away where I was. It...it’s silly but, I thought whoever knew I was there would be able to see me through the birds’ eyes, like they were security cameras or something. So I took off down the hallway, for some reason now so sure I was being watched, chased even, and now overtaken with this urge to hide, to run, to make sure I wasn’t being watched anymore, that no one was looking at me.
[Fear begins to lace into his voice] Doors lined the hallway, blurring past, my squeaky footsteps giving my location away to the presence I felt was drawing ever nearer, looking at me, judging me, tracking me, knowing me. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew something was following me. I didn’t like it. Feeling seen. Exposed even.
I opened one of the doors to my right and ducked inside, shutting off my torch and holding my breath.[A beat of silence] After a moment, the feeling passed, and I breathed out, [Audible exhale as he continues] feeling slightly more at ease now that there was a door between me and whatever was causing me to feel like I was being followed. I thought rationally again that there likely hadn’t been anyone in this house in a long time, so I was probably just overreacting. I hadn’t heard anybody else’s footsteps, I hadn’t heard any breathing, so no one was chasing me, I was alone. That’s what I told myself to help keep myself calm, otherwise I'd have nearly had a heart attack. [Static that had been faintly buzzing in the background fades again]
After another few minutes of heavy breathing, I finally turned my torch back on and looked around the room I had hid in. 
It looked to be a study of some sort. There were bookshelves and a desk with  a couple of what seemed to be thick old volumes of childrens’ stories strewn about its surface. There was also a small table with an ornately detailed tablecloth surrounded by chairs and also piled high with books of different sizes and shapes and colors, though they all looked incredibly old. I got closer to investigate them, the books I mean, because while they looked like ordinary books, something just seemed not-right about them. The children’s books on the desk were most visible as they had large illustrated covers that were the easiest to see from a distance. As I got closer though, I saw what unsettled me about them. 
Most of the covers depicted children laughing and playing, or otherwise some vaguely-cartoonish animal, all together each volume remaining unique in comparison to the others around it, except for one feature. The eyes. [The whine of the recorder can be heard along with a brief, but audible crackle]
The eyes on all of the figures were too large, and they looked like they had been pasted on from another drawing. Staring at them, it just filled me with this overwhelming sense of dread. It felt like as soon as I had made eye contact with them, this one novel with a girl in pigtails on the front in particular, that I was suddenly known. Like all my secrets, all my thoughts, all the things I would never tell a single soul, they were all found out. [Voice becomes slightly more hysterical, more fast, more afraid] That by looking at them, they now had all this information, my whole life, and it had been sucked up and written down for anyone to read. Anyone to know. It made my skin crawl. I couldn’t stand it, I had to look away,[Suddenly sounds exhausted] I thought...I thought it might help to ease the sudden pain and fear from realization of being known. And just when I broke eye contact, that’s when I heard it.
Faintly, just outside the door, I heard the smallest bit of breeze, and I knew, I knew it was the thing in the house again. I’m not sure how but I did. I quickly dived under the table with the tablecloth and turned off my torch again. There was a slight pause, but then I heard the tell-tale creak of a door opening, [in the background we can barely hear the faintest creak] and I knew that Something was inside. 
[Voice drops to that of a whisper] I stayed as still and quiet as I could, and I’m not sure how long it was, but it was enough for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. I couldn’t tell what it was, but I had the feeling that something was in the middle of the room, just waiting for me. I was hoping and praying it didn’t know I was there, when I looked up. My eyes had adjusted, but it was still dark, even so, I could just barely make out the underside of the table and the tablecloth. I squinted to try and make it out and lifted up my hand to touch the table. [An inhale] My stomach sank. I had been right. Under the table, I thought I had seen dozens upon dozens of eyes carved into to underside of the table, and the intricate designs on the tablecloth that were too hard to see properly from afar were thousands of tiny embroidered eyes. And I was hit by an awful realization.
Whatever it was just outside the tablecloth, it saw me. It knew I was there. It had been watching me the whole time. And it knew I was under the table, it was just waiting for me to figure that out. 
As if on cue with my realization, I felt the thing in the room draw closer, and, agonizingly slowly, begin to lift the edge of the tablecloth. 
I felt panic begin to swell in my throat and I didn’t know whether to freeze or push myself back to the far end of the table to create as much distance between me and it as possible. I barely had time to make up my mind however, because a long, slender, black cone-shaped thing jolted beneath the cloth and grabbed my ankle.
At this, I thought, to hell with standing still, and I began thrashing and squirming and clinging onto the legs of the table as it began to drag me out. [In the background we hear the soft sound of a person being dragged along a wood floor, interlaced with a now growing static] Wasn’t enough though, and as I got pulled further and further out, I realized what had grabbed my leg was a giant black beak.
And that beak was connected to an enormous bird. It loomed over me, feathers pitch black except for a frill around its face that made it look as if it were wearing a pure white mask. And the mask accentuated the most striking feature about this living nightmare-bird, its eyes. Its eyes were stunning, an indescribable color, and very very large.
Sharp too. It felt like they pierced my very soul, as if I were being slowly torn apart and digested the longer I looked into them. I felt overwhelmingly like this bird was learning everything about me, pulling it out of me, like it was eating my thoughts, experiences and memories.[The crackle of the recorder becomes more audible and weaves its way into his voice]
I was overcome by fear. I didn’t know what to do. I think I would have just sat there in terror and let it pull out everything I had ever known if it weren’t for my torch. It must have bumped the ground just right, or maybe I squeezed it on in my immobilized panic, but it turned on right then. [Static abruptly cuts off]
Light flashed into the creature’s eyes and it blinked and recoiled at the sudden change. It wasn’t much, but it blinking seemed just enough to break me out of my stupor. I fell back, standing and leaning as far away from the thing as possible.
I stumbled into the desk and my hand brushed against something. Might’ve been a pen, might’ve been a letter opener, all I know is that it was long and sharp. My torch was dropped on the ground from when I retreated, but it still lit up the room. I went to look back at the creature and it seemed to have just enough time to recover because it let out an unnatural, guttural screech, and looked back at me with those God-awful eyes again.[Voice becomes more hysterical again, almost enraged] I couldn’t stand it, couldn’t stand being looked at, couldn’t stand it being there and knowing it. It filled me with such fear and rage. Next thing I know the thing tries to leer closer, and I think this was the point where it was too much.
There was another guttural screech, but this time it was coming from my throat and it was burning it raw. I lunged for it with the thing in my hand. [Voice increasing in volume and emotion until it’s practically shouting] I just couldn’t stand it looking at me anymore. Couldn’t stand its Goddamned eyes looking at me anymore. I couldn’t stand it! Couldn't stand it! Couldn’t stand it! [A deep, steadying breath]
It’s kind of foggy what happened next. I’m not sure how many times I stabbed that thing before I dropped what I was holding, but it was certainly enough to blind it. [A sick sounding, terrible whine starts faintly in the background] God, it made such...awful noises, and the space where its eyes used to be oozed this terrible, thick blood. It was slumped down and seemed to be moaning with pain. I was horrified. I knew I had to get out of there.
I ran past it and through the hall, not looking back until I reached the door to the living room with all the birds. I slammed the door shut behind me and saw all the stuffed birds seemed to be recoiled on their perches in pain. Even the portraits seemed frozen in awful terror as their now hollow eyes dripped blood. 
I bolted into the foyer and out the front door, sprinting across the lawn and leaping over the iron gate. I didn’t stop until I heard someone shout and grab my arm. I spasmed again, trying to pull them off me, until I realized the person who caught me was talking to me and sounded familiar. It was Nicole.
They had to practically tackle me to get me to stop, and I think they were going to make some joke about me being scared when I saw the blood run out of their face as they realized I was covered in blood. Thick, dark, blood. 
They jumped away from me and asked me what happened. I don’t know what I answered, if I answered at all. I was in a right state.  And for some reason I still had the terrible feeling we were being watched. I looked around desperately, I’m sure I looked right paranoid to them. I’m pretty sure I was stammering to them about this and that but I don’t remember what. Eventually I just said I wanted to go home and they helped me back to my place. We washed the blood, or whatever it was that was oozing from that thing, off of me as quietly as we could in the bathroom, and we never told my parents. I still haven’t. 
I wasn’t able to talk about anything for the next few days. Nicole kept coming over and prompting me, but I don’t know if I was just in shock or some of that same fear of them knowing, them judging me, that kept me from talking. I think I eventually told them their initial ghost theory had been right, because I don’t know what else could’ve been inside that house. They looked...disturbed, though maybe also intrigued, I don’t know, I was only partially looking at them since I hadn’t been able to force myself to make eye contact with anyone since that night. 
They recommended I come here, said they had heard this place investigated all sorts of paranormal happenings, and it might help with getting what happened off my chest, since I still hadn’t told them the whole story. I said I wasn’t sure, but we all know how that conversation ended, given where I am now. I always gave in so easily to peer pressure.
The thing is though, this did help me get things off my chest. [Slightly panicked] But...I can’t help but equate it to that terrible feeling from before. Being here, I still have that terrible feeling of being watched. And after you handed me that pen and paper when I walked in, I started pouring my words out, easily, and I feel once again, that I’m being known. I. Do. Not. Like. It. 
You have my statement now, so quit looking at me. Quit it! Please, please I just want it to stop. Maybe then, I can finally have some peace. 
Statement Ends.
Archivist:
I’m not sure what to add to this statement. We were unable to locate the house that Ms. Rita Langston claims she encountered as the address she provided does not exist. I had sent Martin to investigate the general area described where Ms. Langston’s neighborhood is, and he reported back that there was no such house to be found, even after searching in circles for what he said was two hours, so it appears we have a dead end there. Though that doesn’t seem that unusual given the nature of how Ms. Langston claims it appeared. We were also unable to get a follow up interview with Ms. Langston as she stated she ‘wouldn’t be going to that hell-hole again’, in reference to the institute, when Sasha tracked her down. However, with some digging, Tim was able to locate Ms. Langston’s friend Nicole, whose full name we discovered was Nicole Frank, and ask for details regarding her case. 
Nicole confirmed that Rita and them had seen what looked to be an old abandoned house pop up in Rita’s neighborhood and that they had dared Rita to go inside. According to Nicole, Rita was in the house for about thirty minutes before running out at a full sprint. She did not respond to Nicole’s shouts and said they were forced to grapple her to get her to stop. They also confirmed that Rita had a thick, dark substance of some sort splattered on her arms and shirt and began babbling incoherently when they questioned her. What I find most disturbing about this apparent confirmation that prevents me from writing this off as some prank by a couple of juvenile delinquents is that Nicole provided a video that confirms what Nicole had witnessed at least. Apparently they were playing on their phone whilst waiting outside the house and heard a noise. Wanting to have footage to tease Rita with later at being scared, they pressed record just in time for Rita to run out of the house.
The video is a minute and twenty-four seconds long and shows a 14 to 16 year old woman, who Sasha confirmed to be Ms. Langston, running out of an old wooden house. The video continues as the camera starts to shake, as presumably the person holding it began chasing after her, until the camera is dropped suddenly at what Nicole claims to be the impact where they tackled her. The camera now is facing upwards towards the blacked sky and after that all we have is the audio before the camera moves a bit as Nicole picks up their phone and stops recording. I’ll play the audio for you now.
Audio Transcript:
[Heavy breathing and mumbling]
[The audio sounds distant and not close to the phone, as if it had been dropped nearby]
[A scared and almost incoherent female voice, presumably Rita Langston]
“Please, no, gotta get away, it..it’s blind, it’s blind. I think I killed it. Oh God, Oh God, stop, stop, no, get away...Stop it! Stop looking at me! Looking..looking at me…”
[Another voice, presumably Nicole Frank]
“Rita? Rita! What the hell happened in there? Snap out of it!”
[The muttering continues but becomes quieter and trails off]
[We hear fabric rustles and the sound of a small scrape on the tarmac, presumably as Nicole picks up their phone, and the audio abruptly ends]
Archivist:
While there certainly seems to be supporting evidence of this event occurring, there’s not much we could follow up on. The books in the house are what give this case most of its credence, though, as any of them could potentially be Leitners, [Slight pause] and if they are...well, it’s probably a good thing we can’t find that house then. If I’d found a study full of Jurgan Leitner’s books, I’d have half a mind to burn down that house myself. I have far too much experience with Leitners to know how dangerous they can be.
If some person or creature encountered a particularly dangerous Leitner, it is not outside of the realm of possibility to consider they might have transformed into the creature Ms. Langston described. And if they did...well...I pity the monster on the receiving end.
[Click]
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doyoungbunnyagenda · 4 years
Text
Crown Of Thorns; Bed Of Roses - k.dy: Chapter 1
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Summary • Alcohol and late-night rendezvous were the only things keeping the young princess Y/N stable. Doyoung was an actor finding his relief his in cigarettes and dark streets. Ever since meeting one night, they both have spent their time picking up each other’s pieces and building each other from the ground up. When Y/N thinks her life is back on track, her childhood demons come back to bite her, however this time they have a proposal. That had to do with her father, herself and a shotgun... When Doyoung tries to rescue her from her demons, he puts himself in equally as much danger.
Pairing • actor!doyoung x modernprincess!reader
Genre • drama with a whole lot a angst and small traces of fluff. royalty!au
Word count • 3k
Warnings • underaged drinking(depends on where u live), drug usage, swearing, mentions of death, mentions of corrupt governments, arranged marriage, dialogue-heavy
Songs to listen to • War Crimes, Watch What Happens Next, I Felt Younger When We Met all by Waterparks I’m a big parxs fan okay, don’t judge
A/N • @original-jomi , @elite-puppy-seungminnie So this is what I’ve been doing for the whole Christmas break. This was so much fun to write. And as this is written by me, there is barely any fluff (like four lines in total). Well nevertheless, I hope you enjoy!!!
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Winter 2017
“You think you can control me like I’m some doll of yours, where you play dress up and chuck them with whatever man you think best, I’m an adult for Christ’s sake.” She shouted at your father lounging on the expensive couch like he owns the entire country which he did.
“Come on, princess it’s only an arranged marriage, nothing out of the ordinary.”
She let out a scoff at the sound of his words.
“So do you even care about me as a person? Are you even putting my happiness into consideration, or do you see me as a business transaction, a peace treaty?” She questioned starting to get to her wit's end with her Dad’s attitude.
“No the point is you fall in love during the marriage, have you seen the Jung family? I remember going to that wedding and they were arranged.” Her protests fell silent.
“If you need more examples, me and your mother we‘re arranged, look where it left us.” The King proclaimed.
“With my mother dead and with a father who only cares about his own safety and nothing else.” She gave her father an ice-cold glare as he remained stunned on the couch. Before he could open his mouth too, argue back, She spoke,
“I don’t care about what you think anymore, I’m not marrying any man you decide to put with me and that’s final, not that you’ll listen anyway.” You cut him off while storming out of one of the many royal places situated, in the middle of the capital.
In her hand, she made sure she had her black face mask and her designer beanie that she received as a gift from one of her friends. Quickly, you darted out of the house, ignoring her father’s angry desperate pleas for her to listen to him, getting quieter and quieter the further she ran. She fixed her mask on her face and went down the back passageway behind the mansion. If anyone went through the front way, they definitely would’ve been caught by security. The builders were stupid enough not to build a security system at the back of the mansion. Breaking in was a piece of cake, all it took was a jump and they were in. The girl leapt over the hedge and made it out of the courtyard, her feet landing on the pavement with a thud. No one could tell who she was and it felt good for once.
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Strolling the midnight streets of her country, she turned around the block of some random fast food place. The silence of the city was something she craved. The world around her felt too loud, so she treasured the time she got alone to herself. She just wished Her dad could understand from her perspective. Her point of view. Not his own twisted perspective. 
Hers.
 It was her life he was handing over not his own. Ever since the princess was born your dad traded around her like poker chips. Anything and everything that would improve public opinion about him and his family was on the table. 
Signing her up for any elite activity he could think of. Horse riding, she started at the age of seven. Archery, she had already won several gold medals in national tournaments. By the age of 13, she was already a world-renowned child ballet dancer. On top of all of that, she had to get extremely high grades, it didn’t matter if she couldn’t, she had too. It wasn’t like the king was doing it to better his daughter's future. He only cared about his image and how he can make his family look like a trophy family when it was far from the truth. Totally forgetting that the country still hasn’t forgotten about the ‘indecent” 13 years ago.
Nights like this were nights where she enjoyed getting drunk off her head. It was always fun to drink your problems away. Wandering into the liquor store, she always visits because they didn’t ask for ID. She swore they knew she was underage. As she once walked in with her ‘friends’ from private school one Saturday night many moons ago, buying out the whole store's stock luxury red wine. From one of the shelves, her hand grasped a bottle of hard liquor, shaking slightly as she grabbed it. You went up to the cashier and slammed a tenner on the counter, then left, leaving them very confused and alone in the shop once again. Her mask was now resting on her chin. She popped open the bottle and lifted the top of its neck to her chapped lips. The burn that ran down her throat felt electric, giving her body an instant buzz. She continued to wander down this lonely road, occasionally taking swigs from the drink. She knew it was irresponsible to go out at this time of night and get so drunk she couldn't stand up straight, but it was a means of escaping her reality. And trust me she would take any chance she got.
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“Stupid father” The girl mumbled as she ambled and staggered down the streets. The bottle of liquor was long discarded on some random roadside and her mask was perched on her face. She somehow made her way to the shadiest part and poorest part of town. The level of unemployment was so high in this area that many people had resorted to other (less legal) means to keep themselves alive. She honestly didn’t blame them, when the rich were using all their tax money to live a lavish lifestyle, they were in the corners starving, outcasted by their government. The only thing they should be expected to do is rebel. She mumbled another curse word before stumbling into an alleyway collapsing on the floor. She was tired. She had been awake since 6 am in the morning. She swore her dad barely understood the basic concept of sleep. Her head banged against the flimsy garage opening behind her. The princess let out a curse at the sudden pain surging through her head accompanied by a pulsing migraine.
“Problem?” A low voice from above her spoke, his tone laced in darkness. her eyes remained plastered onto the floor, too shy to look up at the person above her. 
“A shy one, I see.” The person said to themselves, they sighed deeply again at her persistent silence and spoke once again,” Not replying when you’re spoken too, is quite impolite, with the clothes you’re wearing I’d expect more of your upbringing.” The person rudely remarked.
“Excuse me, who are you to say that?” She said, with a look of offence evident in her eyes. 
Abandoning her shyness, she got the courage to look at the person who dares to insult her. If only they knew who she was. When she looked up everything she was planning to say got caught in her throat. To only be replaced by a gasp. Their presence was intimidating, to say the least. A male from what you could tell. His shoulders were broad and his eyes a piercing shade of dark brown. If it wasn’t for the moonlight, she could have sworn his eyes were as black as the world around him. Tuffs of raven hair could be seen slightly poking outside of his midnight stained hat. If she didn’t look close enough, he could be mistaken for invisible. A cigarette was held in his nimble fingers and he brought out a lighter from his back pocket. He held it to his lips and lit a spark on the end. After he took his hit, the man looked back at the girl before him.
“You realise staring is also quite rude?” The man sighed sarcastically. She remained silent. “I expected a rich girl like you to know better. Do you know how many people I know who would love to wear that coat or hat of yours.”
She scoffed,” What right do you have to say that. Have you seen yourself? Your hat, no normal person could afford that here. Who’s a credit card is that coming from hmm?” She drunkenly slurred.
The man sighed at your state and chucked lightly.” I’m self-made man, no trust fund, no inheritance, nothing of that sort. I worked my life from the ground up and see where I am now.”
“Smoking a blunt alone in the most dangerous part of town? That definitely sounds like The Life to me.” She said.
“That’s right buttercup, I’m living the life aren’t I?.” He laughed and looked into your eyes. A warm feeling crept up in her chest and a small smile that he could not see graced her features.
“But what do you mean alone, I’m talking to you right? Or has the spice gotten to me and I’m just talking to a ghost.” He joked.
“That latter obviously.” She rolled her eyes and laughed along with her.
“I like your sense of humour, what’s your name?”
Her eyes went wide. If there was one thing he couldn’t know it was her name, it was too risky, her family’s perfect image would be cut in half and plunged into disrepair.
“No can do, it’s a secret.” She teased and playfully put her finger up to her mask. “What about you?” She questioned
“That’s a secret too, I’m afraid.” The man said while mimicking your action.
After laughing at their childishness for a couple of minutes. A comfortable silence filled the air. She observed the slight rise and fall in his chest as he took a couple more hits of the drug and discarded it on the ground and stomped out the tiny flame with his foot. She would blame it on her drunken self, but he reminded her of a prince. A prince you would find in a somewhat twisted modern fairy tale. With all his money he practically could be classified as one. He had a dominative aura which she couldn’t help but challenge. The man could obviously take a joke which was a welcomed change to what she was had known and gotten used to for the whole of her life. For once the girl felt comfortable. Unrestricted. At peace with her thoughts and it wasn’t the alcohol, it was because of him.
“I wish I could be you, you seem so carefree, I want your life.” She said, out of the blue.
“I’m not, trust me, it’s just because of the drugs, I’m not like this, I’m not the person your seeing now.”
“I don’t believe that.” She said her words breathy.”I believe this is your true self when drugs and alcohol get involved, there’s no hiding from yourself. The mistakes you make when your drunk and high aren’t mistakes, they’re not late-night regrets-“
The man interrupted her drunk ramblings and said,” So if me finding myself in the bed of my best friend’s roommate isn’t a mistake, then what was it?”
“It was what you wanted to do, ignoring all the consequences of the morning. When you're under the influence, your common sense is replaced by pure desire. You don't think and that's good, right? It's hard to think with a raging headache."
He sighed,” No that’s not it and I know from experience, your deepest desires aren’t always the best for you and the people around you. The life you are describing is the life you want to get away from..."
“Am I mad for wanting to kiss you right now?” She said unexpectedly, causing a slight gasp to escape from the man next to her.
“Yes, you’re crazy.”
“I would like to I think I’m perfectly sane.”
A blush crept on to the apples of his cheeks for the first time that night. His following words were stuttered. He was flustered.
“Your mother and father must have really gone wrong to create a child like you.”
“Just father here.” You replied 
“What about your mother?”
“Dead.”
“How long?”
“13 years...” she paused before taking a deep breath and continuing. “13 years dead, 13 years of hell for me. I swear ever since she died a switch was flipped in my father. Never known why.” She sighed looking down at the gravel floor.
“13 years ago, I was a runaway. Home was never the safest place, it was for the best. I’m pretty sure my parents didn’t even go looking for me.”
“Seems the both of us have had shitty up upbringings. I guess that makes us equal"
“Well then, about that kiss...” the man trailed off-topic.
“What about it?” You laughed slightly.
“I can’t kiss someone whose name I don’t know.”
The cheesy grin plastered under her mask was embarrassing. She pretended to think about it, but her answer was already set the minute he finished his sentence.
“Well in that case I guess-“
She felt a buzz in the back pocket of her black jeans and went silent.
“Oh, shit-“ She blurted out surprised that someone would call her at this hour. She checked her phone and saw it was her cousin Youngho. She rolled her eyes at the thought of her dad calling Youngho to sort her out, being too lazy to do it himself. She opted to answer the call and lifted the phone to her ear.
“Y/N, Where the fuck are you!?” He shouted from the other end of the line. She winced at the loud noise before continuing.”
“Somewhere, I don’t know.” She shrugged her shoulders and saw the man next to her stifle a giggle.
“You’re so stupid, it’s 4:29 am and you don’t know where you are? I'm so done with you. I’m tired of being woken up at 4 am with your father screeching at me to go pick you up.”
You heard your cousin sigh tiredly.
“Well it not my fault he doesn’t have my number, he could care less about where I am.” She argued back.
“Shut up and tell me where you are,” Youngho said defeatedly.
“You know where the 603’s last stop is, I’m near there.” She finally remembered.
“The most dangerous part of town, I see. Whatever I’m coming to pick you up hang on in there.” He said before hanging up.
“Your dad doesn’t have your number even my father was better than that.” The man next to you commented at your conversation.
“Does it look like my dad even gives two shits? He hasn’t bothered to get my new number after I changed my phone a year ago.”
“You don’t deserve that no one does.” He sympathised with her.
“Now you know why I run away. But it’s almost 5 am and I haven’t slept in 24 hours and I don’t fancy passing out on the streets so I think it’s time for me to leave.”
“Fair enough, see you never...” He paused as if he was waiting for her to say something.
“Y/N.” She said firmly 
“Doyoung.” He stated as she walked away from him, leaving him to wallow in his own thoughts and feelings.
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She stumbled to the bus stop where she said she’ll meet Youngho. Her head rested against the metal pole and she sighed. A sigh full of contentment. Remembering what happened moments earlier, her heart warmed her chest and started to beat faster than had ever been. She felt lightheaded. Duplicates of what was in front of her kept appearing in her vision. Like some weird fever dream. Her eyes were about to flutter shut, bringing her into a dream-filled sleep but she was brought back to reality by a low but loud car horn ringing in her ears.
“Get in,” Youngho said, his tone clear and flat. Her cousin turned down the tinted windows of his Mercedes Benz and looked into her eyes with no emotion what so ever. She tried to search for his the usual bright look in his eyes, normally twinkling constantly rain or shine. But all she found was black. Pits of charcoal staring into her own. Because of her wasted state, the only way she could respond was with a laugh. Youngho continued to look unimpressed.
He pushed out the door of the car, for the girl to stumble in and hit her head on the headrest. Even though he found his cousin’s fumbling and slurring funny at times, he needed to keep a straight face.
“For fuck's sake Y/N, you’re so wasted that you can’t even get your seat belt on, here let me help.” Youngho sighed. He draped the seat belt over her half-asleep body and clicked it into the latch. He sat back in his seat and ran a hand through his brown locks. She looked up at him and noticed defined black circles under his eyes. He looked about as tired as she was. He yawned before speaking again.
“I’m tired of acting like your babysitter Y/N. Why can’t you just grow up and stop stupid stunts like this?” Youngho pleaded, tiredness laced in his voice.
“If you don’t want to feel like my babysitter, then stop acting like my dad, you’re my cousin. The three years between us doesn’t mean that much.” She protested weakly.
“Someone has to care about you, Y/N. Your dad is obviously doing a terrible job so that just leaves me, your amazing older cousin.” He chuckled hoping to loosen the atmosphere. It obviously worked as she started to smile again.
“What would I do without you?” She giggled
“Crash, burn and die,” Youngho said before placing his hands on the wheel.
“Just make sure not do this again,” He followed up,” We’re going to my place, by the way, it’s closer. Your dad was like a feral dog to me over the phone. Y’know there are much better ways of getting back at him.”
“Like what?” She questioned eyes half-open and mouth agape leaning her head against the window.
Instead of an answer, you were greeted with nothing but the sound fresh raindrops beating the window from outside and the sound of Youngho hitting the gas pedal and speeding off, into the night.
In due time, the young princess fell into a deep slumber, filled with cigarette dreams, expensive wines, cherry red lips, everlasting nights and a man named Doyoung.
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