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hippiemisfit · 5 months

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Hush (J.K.) 20

Chapter 20- The Next Day

pairings: jungkook x oc reader

word count: 4,651

warnings: angst, fluff, jealousy, hints at a bigger picture, girl from jungkook's past

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I woke up the next morning at about 8 and started to reminisce about last night.

I can't believe that happened. I doubt know what came over me but I don't regret it at all.

I turned and looked beside me and saw that I was all alone but I wasn't surprised. I know that Hoodie is a busy person being the actual Death and all so I didn't expect him to be here anyway. Thank God it's Saturday and I don't have to go to that hell hole called school or I would've definitely been ditching again today. I got up, grabbed my towel on the end of the bed, and headed to the restroom for a quick shower.

I placed my towel on the sink and turned on my playlist, putting it on shuffle, and hopped in the shower. In Your Eyes by Snoh Aalegra came on and I started to sing along.

♪Woo, woo, woo Ayy, woo Yeah, yeah

Some days are easier to fake it I find it hard to think when you're brought up I know it takes a heart to break it (yeah) But you took that and some more when you gave up♪

By the time I got out the shower, I had sang at least three songs in my mini concert. I grabbed my towel off the sink and wrapped it around me before wiping the condensation off the mirror. I don't know why my reflection caused me to gasp, but it sure in the fuck did. I mean, I know he was sucking on my skin pretty good last night but I wasn't expecting my neck to look all bit up like this. You could barely see any of my brown skin, I think I count like 10 and that's just on my upper neck area alone. My chest area is a whole another level but what can I say, it felt good in the moment. I lightly touched one and winced.

Yep, glad there's no school today because I'd be damned if I have to cover all of these up.

I stopped staring at my neck long enough to wash my face and brush my teeth and then went to my room to get dressed. I peeked at my phone real quick and I'm glad I did because Jungkook texted me saying that he was gonna come over to hang out at 9 ten minutes ago. Well its currently 8:45 so I better hurry up. i quickly put on some lotion and ran to my closet. I grabbed my black crop top turtle neck and some distressed shorts. I put my hair into a messy bun and put on some hoops.

By the time I slid my puma slides on, i heard the door bell ring. I ran down the stairs and swung open the door, being greeted by a similarly dressed Jungkook. I scanned him from head toe; he was wearing a black turtle neck of his own but his was paired with black dress pants and dress shoes. He was even wearing a pair of glasses to top it off.

He looks like he walked straight out of a kdrama, cue the internal fangirling. Is it hot out here or is it just me cause damnnnnn.

I cleared my throat when I noticed that he was eyeing me up and down too. I moved out of the way to let him in and he slid by me. As soon as I closed the door and turned around, I was pinned against it and was met by his lips crashing on mine. I was taken back at first but melted into the kiss. Just as I started to get deeper into it, he pulled back and gave me a cute bunny grin.

He pulled out his phone

:sorry u just look really beautiful. i couldn't help myself

I giggled, "It's ok, you're looking pretty good today yourself. You weren't peeping in on me while I was getting dressed this morning," I asked jokingly.

He shook his head

:lol nope but what a coincidence huh

I shook my head," Haha yea what's the chances huh. Well, are you hungry? I could make us something."

:actually that's why I came over here. I wanted to see if you wanted to go out for breakfast.

"Yeah, I'm down. just let me feed and walk Poco real quick and we can go. You can have a seat while I'm gone, he usually doesn't take too long in the morning." I said going to get Poco out his crate.

With all that happened last night I'm glad that Poco was here. I don't know what I would've done if I was just here alone. As soon as I put his dry food in his bowl, I heard his crate open and next thing I knew I was almost toppled by him.

He tried to lick my face but I lightly pushed him away, laughing at his antics. "Poco chill. Morning breath is real kid. Here let's take you for a walk and then you can come and eat."

I went and grabbed his leash from the key ring and told Jungkook that we would be right back. We went down our usual route which included walking past Carter's house. Just my luck he was sitting outside on the porch but he was so engrossed into his phone , he didn't notice us walk past.

Poco did his business and we turned around to head back home. This time though, Carter was looking up and we caught eyes but I diverted mine. I quickly walked to my front door and went to open it, fumbling with key a little out of nervousness. I heard Poco start growling and I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Carter had crossed the street and was making his way towards us. His steps faltered when Poco barked at him.

"Hey can we talk real fast?" I heard him ask.

I let out a small sigh as I turned around to face him. He didn't look too good with bags under his eyes, showing a lack of sleep. I was about to ask him what was wrong when I saw him glance behind me with a weird look on his face. I turned around to see Jungkook standing behind me.

How did I not hear the door open?

I expected to see Jungkook glaring at Carter but instead he had a twisted smirk on his face. I slightly elbowed him and he looked down at me, smirk vanishing. He opened the door wider for me to go past. I stayed put and turned to look back at Carter but Jungkook grabbed me by the shoulder and guided me into the house. I tried to fight his grip but it was strong as I also tried to push past him. He turned me around to face him and I was met with a harsh glare. I took a step back in shock at his behavior and his eyes softened at my movements. I shook his hands off of me and yelled out to Carters, "I'll talk to you later," before I walked away from them both. I released Poco from his leash and he immediately ran to his food and drink bowls.

I heard the front door close behind me as I walked into the kitchen for something to drink. By the time I started to drink my apple juice, Jungkook was in the kitchen looking apologetic. I ignored him and continued to drink until he was ready to actually apologize.

He finally pulled out his phone and started typing.

: I'm sorry if I scared you and for glaring at you. I just don't like that boy

I shrugged my shoulders, "I understand that you don't like him but it looked like wanted to say something to me but then you stopped him with your aura."

: my aura?

"Yes. Your aura was coming off as aggressive as fuck even I could tell and it wasn't even directed at me at first. I wanted to hear what he had to say. I can fight my own battles Jungkook, I don't need your help."

I saw his jaw clench, : I never said that you needed my help but as your boyfriend it's my duty to protect you and that means from anyone

My eyes widened slightly, "Boyfriend? When did you become my boyfriend? I don't remember you asking me out?"

It was his turn to shrug, : didn't need to. Last night solidified our relationship

"Last night?" I asked confused. "What are you talking about ?"

He smirked and tilted his head, : like you don't know

The fuck is he talking about? Wait, it can't be. Is he-

He patted his hand against the counter, tearing me out of my thoughts : we kissed last night remember after we spent all day together too

Ooooohhhh

I nodded my head in somewhat understanding, "Ohhhhk, well that doesn't mean that we're dating. You didn't even ask me out."

He smiled and leaned against the counter, :well then if I just did. Be my girlfriend?

Should I say yes? I don't know? Hoodie is always going to be in the picture and I don't know if I should subject Jungkook to Hoodie's wrath buttttttt I also really like Jungkook too.

He snapped his fingers before shaking his head, : how about we see how breakfast goes and then you can tell me then?

I nodded in agreement, "Sure, let's go."

I said goodbye to Poco and made sure I locked the door. I got ready to head to my car when I noticed another car next to mine in the driveway. It was a black 2023 Mercedes Benz EQS- class.

This car isn't even out yet and this person already has one. Was it there when I took Poco for a walk earlier?

I just shrugged it off and walked up to the driver's side and saw Jungkook grinning at me before he rolled down the window.

"Well I can see that you got your car." I said.

He nodded his head and motioned for me to get in. I quickly headed to the passenger side and climbed in. When I fastened my seatbelt, he shifted into gear and took off.

"This car isn't even out yet, how'd you get so lucky?"

He just shrugged in response.

"Hmm, I was looking at it for if I wanted an upgrade but I saw how expensive it was and I didn't feel right buying a car for what I could spend on a house." I started to run my fingers across the upholstery, "I like these seats, especially the color of them. The whole interior really, my favorite colors are black and purple."

I turned to look at him when he didn't respond but then remembered that he doesn't talk. Talk about face palm.

He reached over and grabbed my hand, lacing my fingers with his. He brought our intertwined hands up to his mouth and kiss them. Woah if I was any lighter, I'd be red as Rudolph's nose.

I cleared my throat, "Is your Bluetooth connected to the radio?"

He nodded his head yes and nodded towards the radio dial. I reached over and turned it on, hearing GOT7's NaNaNa start playing through the speakers.

I gasped, "You listen to GOT7 now?! Look at me rubbing off on you," I said jamming to the song.

He looked over at me and smiled before turning his attention back to the road. I had my little jam session and I gotta say his music taste is on point. It's almost like he got one of my playlists on his phone. Kehlani, Audrey Nuna, and JoJo came on and by the time we pulled up to our destination, I didn't even want to get out of the car.

When he parked the car, he turned and looked at me before reaching over to me. I closed my eyes in anticipation of a kiss but was thrown off when I heard my seatbelt unlatch. I opened my eyes and saw he was still in close proximity to my face and was trying to hold his laughter. I rolled my eyes and pushed his chest but he didn't budge. He leaned forward and pecked me on the lips causing me to break out into a huge smile.

I felt my cheeks getting hot and started to fan myself to cool them down. He pecked me again this time on my cheek and then leaned back to undo his own seatbelt. With burning cheeks, I hurried and got out of the car. I took in our surroundings and looked at the restaurant he brought us to. It looked like a nice place from the outside, from what I could tell so far. Hopefully their food is good.

"The Hoodied Figure, that's a weird name for a breakfast place," I said reading the sign. Jungkook grabbed my hand and took me up to the entrance. He opened the door and motioned for me to go in first.

"What a gentleman," I said, lightly brushing against him as I went in. I walked up to the unmanned hostess station and waited for them. I felt Jungkook come up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and leaning his head on top of mine. I placed my hands on top of his and we started to lightly sway to nonexistent music.

I took in the decor and I have to say whoever decorated this place has good taste. It looks like your typical diner but with a twist, everything is dark. From the black tile on the floor, all the way to the black chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The only pop of color is the waiters outfits which are blood red.

After a couple minutes, the hostess finally came up to us. She was pretty, brunette with green eyes and a slim body. I can already see how this is going to go because she barely glanced at me but of course Jungkook had all her attention.

"How many?" She asked, staring into his soul.

I waved my hand in her face to get her attention and she looked at me like I was shit on the bottom of her shoe.

"Two, obviously ma'am. And if you couldn't tell he's with me but I don't see how you couldn't given that his arms are literally around me," I said sickly sweet with a forced smile on my face.

She looked me up and down and rolled her eyes. "Table or booth," she asked.

"Booth," I said glaring at her. She mirrored my expression while slightly rolling her eyes, and turned to take us to our booth.

As I was sliding into the booth, she slammed my menu on the table and lightly placed Jungkook's down. Oh so this bitch wants to fight.

I cracked my neck and was about to go the fuck off on her until Jungkook placed his hand on top of mine and shook his head no. I rolled my eyes and decided that mean mugging her would work for now but she has one more time before I fuck her up.

"What can I get you to drink," she asked Jungkook twirling her hair around her finger.

He just blankly stared at her and then looked over at me to answer her.

"He'll take a water with no ice and the same for me." I said.

She snapped her head to look at me, disgust emitting from her aura, "Um, I was talking to him not you. He can speak for himself, he doesn't need you."

This time I didn't even bother to put on a fake smile when I responded, "First of all, I don't care who you think that you are but you have one more time to talk to me like you are crazy and I will fuck you up. Second, he's mute meaning he doesn't speak so yeah he does need me to speak for him. And lastly, you're the hostess anyways, why are you over here taking drink orders? So if I were you I would go back to my post before I get the manager called on me for being rude to a customer. And while you're at it, go ahead and call our actual server over here since you have nothing to do."

She looked taken back but quickly fixed her face and finally walked away. I watched her storm off and then turned my attention back to Jungkook who just looked amused.

"What?" I asked a little harshly.

He held up his hands in surrender before pulling out his phone. :easy there tigress, I mean no harm lol

"Sorry," I mumbled , "She just pissed me off with her bony ass." I crossed my arms and leaned back in irritation.

: her ass was kinda bony wasn't it? 😂

"Yes," I said throwing my hands up dramatically, "I knew I wasn't the only one who thought so."

:good thing I have a thing for someone with some curves huh?

"Have you ever been here before?" I asked.

He nodded his head, :when I first got here I came to this place and I've kinda made it my spot. The food here is pretty good, you'll like it.

"Hmm well if it is good then I'll definitely have to come more often."

:yes but only with me. Your man.

I looked up at him and he winked at me. I smiled and shook my head, giggling. I was about to respond when our waiter arrived.

"Hello I'm Taehyung but you can just call me Tae, I'll be your server today. What can I get you guys started off with, any appetizers or drinks?"

"Sorry I didn't even look at the menu yet but we'll both take a water with no ice," I said looking up and seeing a familiar face.

It was the blonde from the diner the other day. He works here? I took in his appearance and I just have to ask God why he keeps toying with me and my emotions, bringing all these good looking men into my vicinity.

I guess he could tell that I was lowkey checking him out because he gave me a big smile, " I know you don't I?" he asked me.

I shook my head slightly, "No do you?"

He tapped his chin and then snapped his fingers in recognition, "Yeah you were at the diner yesterday," he looked over at Jungkook, "with loverboy here too. Sorry that we stole him for a few minutes, just needed to talk to him about something."

"Oh about what?" I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, "Oh nothing for you to worry about, Mahj. Just work stuff."

I shook my head in confusion, "What do you mean work and how do you know my name?"

I turned to look at Jungkook who looked like he was about to blow a fuse, "You guys work together?"

:somewhat

Taehyung read the message too and laughed, placing his hand on Jungkook's shoulder, "Somewhat? I'm offended friend. We work together almost every day. Well I mean when he's not busy doing other things and like I said we're friends."

Jungkook threw Taehyung's hand off his shoulder and gave him a death glare. I could see Taehyung's face smile falter a little from his gaze but when he looked back at me, it was back to a thousand watt smile.

"I'll be back with your drinks," he said before heading away.

I glanced at Jungkook and it looked like he was still fuming. I reached over to grab his hand but I yelped when it felt like his hand was on fire. I blew on my hand and made eye contact with an apologetic him.

:sorry. Sometimes I just run hot when I get worked up. Is your hand ok?

He reached out to touch it but I just pulled it closer to me.

"Yes my hand is fine just a little hot is all. What type of work do you and Taehyung do?"

He looked hesitant to answer but he still started to type : we're in the business of picking up people

"What do you mean picking up people? Like y'all drive Uber or something?"

: haha not necessarily but I guess you can compare it to that but most of our "customers" aren't happy to be catching a ride

"Must pay really well huh Mr. exclusive car." I said jokingly.

He cracked a smile and nodded, : money means nothing to me. Anything you want I can make it happen

I was about to respond when Taehyung came back with our drinks. He placed them down gently and then pulled out his notepad.

"You guys ready to order?" he asked.

I smiled sheepishly, " I actually never looked over the menu still but what do you recommend?"

"Well if you're into eggs, you should get the egg overload. It comes with the cheesiest eggs you've ever had with French toast and bacon."

"Ok, I'll take that. Jungkook do you know what you want?" I asked turning to him.

Before he could type, Taehyung beat him to it, "Oh I already know what he likes to get. Remember we work together," he said winking.

I saw Jungkook's and eye twitch but he didn't make a move. Taehyung took our menus and headed to go put in our order.

I started to look around some more to people watch. I turned my head towards the kitchen that was to my left and locked eyes with someone who I would rather not see sitting at the bar.

Jimin.

The second we locked eyes he put a weird smirk on his face.

What the hell is he doing here?

I guess I was staring at him because Jungkook turned to see who I was looking at. Jimin glanced at Jungkook shortly just to wink at Jungkook and then stared at me again. I felt uncomfortable under his gaze and quickly adverted my eyes.

God's definitely got to be playing with me.

I could see him advancing from my peripheral and pretended like I was very interested in my nails.

There was a light knock on the table before I heard a throat clear. "Hey Mahj and Jungkook right? I didn't expect to see you two here, have you been here before?" Jimin asked.

"No this is my first time," I said keeping my eyes locked on the table, "Just wanted some breakfast you know."

Jimin placed his hand on my chin and turned my head towards him. He smiled gently and said, "There's those pretty eyes. Why are you trying to hide your gaze from mine? Aren't I one of your boyfriends?"

I slapped his hand off of my face and glared, "Well why would I want to look at someone who tried to break into my house last night and threatened to kill me? And consider your boyfriend card revoked."

He had the audacity to look confused, "What are you talking about? I don't even know where you live so how could I have been at your house last night?"

Now it was my turn to be confused, "Jimin, it was clearly you outside of my house last night. There's no way it could've been anyone else."

He shook his head no and just as he was about to speak Taehyung approached with our food.

"Hey Jimin," he said placing our food on the table and faced Jimin, "I'm surprised you're up this early given how late we were out last night. I barely made it in myself."

I whipped my head towards Taehyung, "Wait, you guys were out last night? Together?"

He nodded slowly, "Yeah we went to a bar and then to a house party," he quirked his eyebrow up, "Why?"

"She claims that I was outside her house last night trying to break in and kill her. Which is crazy because I don't even know where she lives and I would never do that even if I did." Jimin said.

"Huh well do you want to see pictures from last night to prove his innocence?" Taehyung asked.

"Yes," I said.

Taehyung pulled his phone out of his back pocket and unlocked, proceeding to open up his photos and hand it to me.

"Swipe left and you can see all the pics from our night."

I scrolled through the pictures and saw that their story oddly added up. There's pictures of them in a bar and at someone's party, each of them time stamped within the window that Jimin was outside my house last night.

I looked up at Jimin and mumbled an apology before handing Taehyung back his phone.

Jimin patted my head, careful not to mess up my bun, and said, "I forgive you. I know our last encounter wasn't all that pleasant and I might've scared you but I was just doing what I was-". He stopped talking to curse and reach down to rub his ankle, glaring at Jungkook who was staring at me.

"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, I'm sorry for acting out of character yesterday." Jimin said.

"It's fine, I guess. Sorry I accused you of doing that. Maybe it was someone else," I said placing my head in my hands in confusion.

"Hey it's ok. Anyway enjoy your breakfast you guys. Come on Tae, I need some coffee." Jimin said walking away, pulling Taehyung away with him.

I glanced down at my now cold eggs and got trapped in my thoughts.

If it was Jimin outside of my house last night then who was it? And if it was just my mind playing tricks on me, then was last night in the tub a figment of my imagination too? But it makes no sense because Hoodie was clearly there last night and the banging and the screaming. And it was clearly Jim-

I was torn out of my thoughts by a caress of my hand. I looked up to see Jungkook looking at me with concern in his eyes.

:hey don't let them ruin our day. Eat before your food gets too cold

"Ok," I said trying to clear my mind. "You're right , let's just enjoy this day. You know you look really good in those glasses. I've been meaning to tell you since this morning."

———————————

"You don't think he's mad at us for crossing the line do you?" Taehyung whispered to Jimin as they were walking away.

Jimin slightly shrugged, "I don't know but if he tells hyung on us it's your fault." He said sitting back at the bar.

"How is it my fault?" Taehyung asked sitting beside him.

Jimin poked Taehyung's chest, "You're the one who kept going on and on about how we work together and shit."

Taehyung pushed Jimin's hand off of his chest, "Yah like you weren't half ass apologizing for something you actually did do and were lowkey dropping hints about it."

Jimin put his hands up in surrender, "Hey like I told her, I'm just doing what I am told. And good think he told us to actually take some pictures to show her proof or we would've been fucked."

Taehyung nodded in agreement, "Yeah I am too. Whatever he has planned next I hope she's ready for because this is light work compared to what he could do."

Jimin sighed and looked over at Mahj who was flirting with Jungkook, "Yeah whatever his master plan is, I hope they're both ready for it."

#jungkook smut #jeongguk smut #jungkook x black reader #jungkook x plus size reader #bts smut #bts x black reader #bts x plus size reader #bangtan smut

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sirowsky · 2 years

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The Lost Island

Chapter 9 - Evil

Summary: In your efforts to save the tribe and each other, you and Marcus have beaten the hornets nest, and now they're coming for all of you.

Author's Note: It would seem I'm on a roll! And this one's a pulse-raiser, peeps, so prepare yourselves, please.

Rating: Mature 18+ONLY Warnings: graphic descriptions of drowning, angst, seamonsters, allusions to character deaths. Word Count: 5196 Masterlist (this story) Author’s Masterlist

Things did get better between you and Marcus after that talk. He stopped ignoring you and started trying to treat you like just another person, which might not have been what you wanted, but at least you were making progress. Nani was no longer forced to chose which of you to spend time with, since you were now capable of being in the same room together, but you noticed that his interest in her seemed to have gotten stronger, while she was attempting to keep a respectful distance.

You worried that it was because of you, and she shouldn’t have to turn away from someone just to avoid hurting your feelings.

“If you like him, please don’t let me stop you from pursuing that.”

It was your turn to stand watch at the beach, although there were benches out there now, so it was more like sitting watch, and she’d come to keep you company for a while. She’d been telling you more about her family, and the conversation had drifted into previous love-interests, which of course had led to the question of current ones, and she’d attempted to gloss over it.

“I do like him, but I don’t think he likes me as much as he thinks.”

“If you’re worried that he’s only after your body, don’t be. He’s not like that.”

She tilted her head in that ‘no shit’ sort of way, before a small smile graced her lips.

“No, I know. I just feel like he’s looking for something, and I’m pretty sure I’m not it.”

“How would you know? Without trying, I mean.”

“Because when he looks at me, especially when we’re alone, I can see this… longing, in his eyes. Something he wishes for, and if that something was me then that longing would be aimed at me, but it isn’t.”

It hurt you to think of the two of them together, so you couldn’t keep your heart from leaping, just a bit, at the thought that you wouldn’t have to see that. But then you felt bad, because you still wanted Marcus to be happy, even if it wasn’t with you, and Nani was a good person for him. Solid. Someone that would hold him up when he needed it.

“It could just be that he misses his late wife.”

“I don’t think so, I feel like he’d be more melancholic if that was the case.”

“Sorry, I don’t mean to push the issue, I just don’t wanna be the reason that he can’t have some joy again.”

Was it really just a few weeks ago that you could barely stand him? Maybe those evil fishes had wormed their way into your brain as well. But then again, that wouldn’t account for the ache in your chest.

“Do you still not think that the two of you can ever be friends? Because he seems much more comfortable around you now.”

“I gave him what he wanted, which helped. But don’t let him fool you, that guilt is never gonna go away. He might allow it less and less control over him, but he’s never gonna be able to look at me without seeing the things the Kaiaka made him do. It was his hands that did it, and I can’t even imagine how that must feel.”

“And what about you?”

“What about me?”

“What do you want?”

You sucked in a deep breath while you considered that, and it escaped in a sigh that wreaked with longing.

“I just wanna go home. I want my desk and my screens and my bowl of candy.”

She gave you a very sceptical look.

“That’s it? That’s what your life is?”

“No, those are the things that comfort me.”

“A desk?”

“Hey, I do a lot of important things from that desk, and it’s not like I’m glued to it.”

“Around here important things are finding food and protecting one another.”

“Yeah, well I protect the people that protect the world. There isn’t that much foraging involved in my work, though, but I did once spend an entire day looking for a specific type of ice-cream for a very pregnant Lavagirl. That was a hell of a day.”

She chuckled, but the humour quickly evaporated.

“I don’t know who that is, but she sounds… hot. Seriously, though. Don’t you ever dream about more? I mean more than work, more than just getting through the day.”

You took a minute to really think about that, and the answer you found made you sad.

“I dream of a family. Just that. I don’t really care what it looks like, I just want someone to come home to. Someone to lean on when I’m tired, and to be leaned on. To know I’m… wanted.”

“Is it your trust-issues that get in the way of that?”

“They certainly don’t help.”

“Do you know where that comes from, or why you react like that?”

“Unfortunately. I was betrayed by my own parents, that’s where it started. They lied about everything, but I never knew it. Not until they got arrested on my sixteenth birthday, for breaking and entering and stealing. Turns out these sweet, caring, good people were master criminals, and everything they’d given me was stolen, or bought with stolen money, and I’d never even suspected anything.”

“That’s awful! Parents are supposed to be your safe place when you’re young. They’re supposed to be your shield against everything you don’t know can hurt you, they’re supposed to be your teachers and guides and your biggest supporters. If they made you feel like all of that was a lie, then I absolutely get why you struggle with trusting people. I’m so sorry you went through that, Mana. Was it just you? Where you alone through all that?”

“No, I have a big brother, Chris. He had already gone off and joined the military and was deployed very far away when all that happened, but he tried to help me as best he could. I didn’t make it easy on him, though. From one day to the next, I suddenly didn’t trust anyone, even him, and he’d been the best big brother you can imagine. But then, when I turned eighteen, he suggested I join the military too. Because he thought that the structure and discipline would help me manage my own fears, and he was right.”

“You were a soldier?”

“Yeah. I wasn’t the best fighter or shooter, since I don’t really like the idea of hurting people, but I outshined everybody on the training courses. And pretty soon they decided that I’d be more useful as a trainer than a soldier, so that’s what they made me. And it was fun and interesting and educational, but it wasn’t me. So, pretty soon I left the military all together and looked for work in the private sector, and quickly discovered that I had good instincts when it came to seeing dangerous elements. In both places, and people. So, a few years later, I was asked if I’d consider taking on the enormous responsibility of safeguarding the super’s headquarters, The Heroics, and somehow it felt like I’d been waiting for it. Like I was supposed to do it. And I’ve been trying to prove myself ever since.”

“Why would you need to prove yourself when you already got the job? Isn’t that proof enough?”

“It should be. But I just keep thinking that… I’m not good enough. I haven’t done enough. Maybe because they’re supers and I’m not, or because I’m a woman, or because life’s just a bad dream that you don’t get to decide when you wake up from.”

Okay, that went dark very quickly. You hadn’t meant to say that, you hadn’t even realized that it might be how you really felt. You glanced at Nani and saw a concerned brow.

“Is that how you see yourself? Like someone who’s just waiting to wake up in the hopes that the next life might be better?”

“All I know is that no matter how much good I do or how hard I work, it never feels right. Like something’s missing, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out what it is.”

“Maybe you need to-…”

She fell silent as a strange sound came with the wind, and you both stopped breathing while you listened. For a second it was just an indistinguishable whisper, and then it gradually cleared into the chilling sounds of screaming people. You were staring at each other when the realization hit, and without a word, you both took off back to the village. Even though almost four weeks had passed since that blade was removed from your shoulder, it still hurt to use it, and a full-on sprint for an entire mile was agonizing, but you forced it to the back of your mind. Of the two of you, you were the faster runner and you got there a few seconds before her, but it made little difference to the helplessness that met you. The entire tribe was outside their houses, some clawing at their own faces and chests and others were on all fours, coughing so hard that they were vomiting, or maybe coughing up liquid. And some were already laying on the ground, fighting to breathe, but in such bad shape that they couldn’t possibly survive. You hurried to the closest person, a young man, on his knees while desperately trying to brush something off his face. But when you grabbed his hands, thinking that he was suffering some sort of delusion, you suddenly noticed tiny droplets of water trickling up his neck and into his mouth and nose. And when you followed their path, you could see that water coming up all the way from his legs. No matter how tightly he pressed his lips together and tried to pin his nose closed, it still got in, there was no stopping it, and it wasn’t going into his stomach. They were being drowned, on dry land a mile from the ocean. You let go of his hands as soon as you understood, to let him fight as he needed to, since there was nothing that you could do for him. But then you felt drops moving over your hands as well, crawling up along your arms, and you felt panic begin to flood your system. You’d already drowned twice since the plane-crash, and quite nearly a third time if not for Whelma, and you weren’t keen on trying again. But just as you were about to lose your shit, something invisible but soft and light as silk brushed over your skin, starting at the top of your head and slowly gliding down the length of your body, underneath your clothes somehow, chasing the water out of its way and keeping it out once it fully covered you. Bewildered, you looked around and your eyes soon fell on Marcus, standing in the centre of the village with his head bowed and sweat beading on his temples. His hands were open but held in a rigid pose by his sides, as he tried to use his powers to protect as many as he could. You didn’t know much more than he did about his new abilities, but you guessed that he was forced to try and protect everyone individually because they were being attacked individually. And that a force-field covering the entire village wouldn’t be enough to keep the Kaiaka from using the existing water in the ground or even in the tribe’s own water-troughs, to continue drowning them, one by one. But he wasn’t strong enough or experienced enough with these powers, to be able to reach everyone, and maintain their shields for however long the merepeople could keep this up. You didn’t even consider that anyone else could be responsible, this was right up their alley, and they were more than cruel enough to attempt it. They had to be stopped and you weren’t going to be able to do that from the village. But as far as you could tell, you were the only one still standing. You’d lost sight of Nani after you’d rushed to help the young man, and everyone else that you could see were either on their knees or worse. Marcus’ shields were enough to keep the water off them, but he couldn’t expel what had already spilled into their lungs, and even if it had only taken him minutes to realise what was happening, that would’ve been enough to already cause permanent damage. How the hell could you stop this? The damned things were under the sea, and you didn’t have gills! An idea

suddenly came to you, and your mind ran with it so fast that it felt like getting smacked in the head. You had nothing but an article you’d once read about diseases in fish, to go on, but it was all the hope you had at that moment, so you darted over to Marcus.

“How far away can I go before your powers can’t reach me anymore?”

“No clue. Why?”

His voice was as strained as his muscles, with the sheer physical effort of keeping so many separate fields working at once.

“Because to my knowledge; fish don’t like spores.”

His head snapped up and his eyes bored into yours, already following your line of thought, and the danger it would put you in.

“Don’t even think about it, Pita.”

“Can you do it?”

“I don’t know!”

If he couldn’t shield you that far away, you’d die if you attempted this, but what was the alternative?

“I have to try. Stay with me as long as you can.”

You were already backing away as you spoke, and you caught the sudden horror in his eyes before you turned and started running, taking the northern path. You followed those woven roots until you reached the vampire tree, standing taller than all others in the jungle, and without hesitating, stepped right up to it. The trunk had the same pattern in its bark as the roots, while the large golden leaves had ordinary straight veins. The flowers resembled Asian lilies but were about twice as big and had a little sack at the centre, stark orange against the bright white petals. The vines hung deceptively still, strewn over the larger branches and looking for all the world as though they were merely decorative. But the colour gave them away, because they had the same silver hue as the damn fish-people. Thus far, the only evidence you’d seen of the island’s connection to them. As Akela had warned, a thick plume of dark red spores was released from those sacks the moment you got close enough, filling the air around you until it got hard to see, and for half a second you doubted the intelligence of your own idea. But Marcus must still have you in his grasp because it all accumulated on you, drawn to you like pollen to a bumblebee, without getting into your lungs. You waited for as long as you dared, not wanting to torture Moreno more than necessary, and then set off jogging back down to the beach, hoping the air wouldn’t dislodge too much of the toxic spores before you got there. It was hard not to go back into a full sprint, but you’d felt the shield fall off you on your way to the tree, probably because you’d moved too fast, and if that happened now, you were dead. You hadn’t really considered how you were gonna get the stuff into the water, since the surface tension was likely to hold it off like it did with ordinary pollen. But you felt driven, almost involuntarily so, to do this, and you didn’t have the luxury of doubting your instincts right now. When you got to the water, you stopped to consider your options, and right then, five dorsal fins appeared just thirty yards out, neatly lined up next to each other and moving in perfect synchronicity. Without further deliberation, you ran straight into the ocean, dropping to swim after just a few strides since it got deep quickly, and you somehow weren’t surprised to see the spores glued to you even under water. Whelma reached you in just a few seconds, swinging around behind you to make it easier for you to grab onto her and as soon as she felt your weight dragging along her side, she re-joined the others. As if on cue, just a few hundred yards from the beach, they all breached simultaneously, taking a deep breath, so you followed suit, and then they dove.

<><><><><>

Marcus had never in his life felt so inadequate as when he stood there, in the middle of the village that had saved both your lives in several different ways, but which he was now failing to save in return. He’d been talking to the Chief when they’d suddenly heard screams from outside and had run out to find out what was wrong. They’d found one of the women that you’d been learning to cook from, stumbling out of her house in a complete panic, scratching at her own face and trying to keep her mouth and nose closed as if bees had been attacking her. She’d been so uncontrollable that no one had been able to get close to her, and then the cough had set in. What started as a wet cough, forcing her to open her mouth, soon escalated, until only seconds later, a pink liquid had spilled past her lips. At that point, she’d lost so much strength that she’d collapsed to the ground, just as a dozen others had succumbed to the same panic, and it had taken them too long to realize what had caused it. He’d tried to shield the village, but the Kaiaka were manipulating the water out of the very ground, out of their own drinking water, and he just couldn’t keep it out, there were too many sources. So, he’d started wrapping shields around each person he could find, but the fluid that had already been ingested was too late for him to stop, and even under his protection, they were dying. Then you and Nani showed up, the latter heading straight for her father, on his knees and already unlikely to make it, whereas your training and experience had you level-headed and looking for information, answers, solutions. But the solution you chose to run with was the fucking vampire tree!? Your mind worked a lot faster than his, and he knew that you were grasping, because there really wasn’t much hope, especially not as his strength was already being tested. But this was crazy. He wasn’t even clear on what it was you intended to do, but he knew that it was a desperate and dangerous play, and he really didn’t know if he’d be able to help you. But you were practically bred to protect, it was ingrained in your every cell, stemming both from your personal experiences of feeling abandoned and betrayed, but also from your hope to keep others from experiencing those same things. So, he knew that there was no stopping you. The further away you ran, the harder it got to keep the energy flowing to you and he lost his grip on you twice before you got there, just because you were moving too fast, and he couldn’t keep up. He hated that as the villagers succumbed to the damage caused to their bodies, he no longer had to protect them and could divert more energy to you. But he had to do it, because now the spores were covering you. Meaning that if he dropped the shield at any point on your journey back down to the beach, you’d die. Marcus had never stretched himself so thin before. The delicate strings that tethered him to you took more and more strength to hold on to the further away you got, and by the time you reached the water and dove in, he was on his knees, shaking from head to toe. Knowing that it you went any further, he’d lose you. But then something very strong connected to you. Something big and powerful all on its own, and through your touch, it was connected to him as well, allowing him to use its energy to strengthen the threads and stay with you, as you moved even further away. He didn’t know exactly where you were, or who it was that was helping you, or what you were up against, but the mere possibilities were enough to make him breathless with fear. You could be facing the entire Kaiakan population for all he knew. And no one had any idea how powerful they’d be within their own element. Dammit, Pita… what the fuck were you doing? All of a sudden, that big powerful thing that connected to you on your end was gone, and you were so far away that without that extra strength, he just couldn’t hold on to you anymore. The strings snapped like rubber bands stretched past their limits, and you

were gone. He almost lost the remaining villagers too, in the shock and fear of having lost you, along with the sheer exhaustion, but he managed to keep those last few shields up, by not much more than the skin of his teeth. Although, he wouldn’t be able to keep them up for more than a few minutes, at best, as his vision was already getting blurry and too dark. But what pained him the most, even among all that death, was not knowing if you were still alive. He was still so confused about who and what you were to him, but he knew that you mattered. And not just because he owed you so much or because of everything you’d suffered for him. You mattered just because you were you. The one that had pissed him off practically every day for nearly two years. The one that fought him on everything, just to make sure he never got away with anything without having to earn it. You were the one that took all the supers back down to the ground, by constantly outshining them in terms of wits, contemplation, planned and measured actions. You mattered because even though he was confused, and even though he was plagued by guilt, no matter how many times he’d told himself otherwise, he simply just liked you.

<><><><><>

The whales didn’t make a sound as they dove, moving fast but dropping gradually, giving you time to equalize pressure as you went. But you weren’t a particularly experienced diver, and the deeper you went, the harder it got. However, it didn’t take long before you spied lights ahead and just seconds later, a structure appeared. Like an undersea castle, lit by some form of bioluminescence coming from the bottom, what you assumed was the Kaiakan ‘village’ came into view, and the orcas went straight for it.

It was bigger than it looked from a distance, continuing behind the front tower into tunnels and burrows further into the ocean bedrock, which rose like a minor underwater mountain following the initial structure. As if an alarm had been set off by your proximity, they suddenly swarmed out of their keep by the hundreds, moving as quickly and agile as dolphins, but with the drama of a paradise bird trying to attract a mate. You assumed that the way their hair and tentacles were splayed was to make them appear larger, their silver-like colours reflecting the lights probably a spectacle enough to chase off most ocean-dwelling predators, but it did nothing to deter you. You were running out of air and your head was hurting because of the pressure, but you ignored it and held on tight as Whelma and her posse kept going straight for them. Somehow, you just knew the exact moment to let go of her, and when you did, the whales all broke off their attack and darted for the surface, but you were glad for that. Because just two seconds after you let go, and the closest evil fish was about to wrap their hand around your throat, Marcus lost his hold on you and the spores were flung from you in every direction as though the energy he’d encapsuled you with had been a bomb. The Kaiaka were engulfed in an undersea cloud of red, and within moments started to cramp and spasm when their bodies were confronted with the toxins. When you’d encountered that one female with Marcus that evening, you’d noticed that they didn’t seem to have any gills, which had to mean that they absorbed what they needed from the water, through their skin. That would seem to have been an accurate assumption, because boils formed on their skins in no time, growing until they burst, and as their skin broke it was as though water rushed into their veins where their blood poured out, and turned their bodies to stone. As though the very thing they needed to survive, was also deadly to them. Well, that would be doubly true if you counted the vampire tree, which they clearly needed for something since they kept feeding it, but which was now also killing them. You only waited and watched long enough to be sure it had worked, before you started swimming for your life, going straight up to reach the surface as fast as possible. You could hear the orcas speaking now, and you wondered if their silence had been the equivalent of radio-silence in the military. If so, then considering that they’d remained quiet all the time you’d traveled with them towards the island, it would seem as though they were familiar with the merepeople even before you came along. That the whales knew how to avoid getting their attention. One of the smaller ones came to your aid as soon as you were clear of the spores, pulling you up gently, and you were slightly impressed with yourself for remembering to exhale all the way up, since you really weren’t a diver. It had almost become a familiar feeling by now, that first deep breath after being submerged, and you relished it, feeling like life returned to your body with the oxygen you inhaled. But there was no guarantee that all the merepeople had been affected by the spores, meaning you weren’t necessarily safe in the water. So, as soon as you’d gotten your breath back you let go of the whale and started swimming for the shore. Once there, you walked halfway up the beach and turned around to see if Whelma was still close, but you couldn’t see any of them. You needed to get back to the village and see if anyone was still alive and if your stunt had worked in terms of stopping the manipulation of the water. But just as you took your eyes from the sea and was about to turn back to the jungle, a movement caught your eye. You automatically stepped backwards when something that was quite clearly a Kaiakan, but about twice as big, with no tentacles but instead four arms, and two twisted horns on its head, emerged from the sea and using those arms, started walking up on land. It stopped while the end of

its ten-foot-long tailfin was still submerged, and then a voice sounded inside your head, loud enough to make you instinctively cover your ears, even though it made no difference.

“Murderer!”

The hypocrisy of that word, spoken by this fucking thing that was likely the leader of a species that had regularly and methodically lured people to their deaths, was enough to make your frayed nerves spark and your blood boil. You dropped your hands and stepped forwards again, until you were even within reach of those monstrous arms, but you didn’t care.

“How long have you been here? How many humans have died here? How many have you fed to this island with no remorse or consideration, like we’re nothing more than meat?!”

“It is our mother; we cannot live without it! It is not our fault that this world can not sustain it without blood.”

“This world? Wait… what are you? Where do you come from?”

“It does not matter; we cannot go back.”

“If you’re from a different dimension or something, there might be human scientists or people with powers that can help you get back.”

“You would never help us!”

The thing suddenly threw all four arms into the air and sent them crashing down on either side of you, making the ground shiver under their combined strength. But you didn’t flinch.

“To save both of us from all this needless killing – of course we would.”

The thing merely shook its head.

“Ozsha have been here for centuries. We have seen humans fight wars and betray your allies. We have seen you take what does not belong to you. We have seen you kill for pleasure and sport. We do not want your help.”

“Then we both carry on being murderers, and nothing ever gets better.”

“Humans are weak, we will destroy you and take this world for Ozsha!”

Its clawed fingers reached all the way around your waist when it grabbed you, but in the next second, it suddenly fell forwards and crashed down onto the sand, dropping you as it tried to work out what was going on. Whelma and one more of the orcas had beached themselves, bitten down on either side of its tailfin, and were shuffling themselves back out to sea, dragging the monster with them in painfully strong jerks and tugs. She was trying to protect you, so you ran up the beach to be sure the thing couldn’t reach you again and watched with a sense of trepidation over what would happen once the monster was back in its element. While it was in the shallows, the forceful twitches with which the animals were dragging it along, meant that it constantly lost balance. But in the deeper water it could manoeuvre itself more naturally, and you saw it begin to fight back, clawing at the whales with all four hands. It only got that one chance, though. Because before it could try again, the remaining three orcas were suddenly behind it, in full attack-mode, delivering massive body-tackles, bites and powerful swipes of their tailfins, at its back, neck and head. They kept it up until Whelma and the other one let go, and then all five of them swam off, but you could see that blood spilled from at least one of them as they made their escape, so the thing had managed to hit them at least once.

“I owe you another one… Thank you.”

Your whispered words weren’t likely to reach the group, but you needed to say them anyway, before you abandoned the beach and once again ran through the jungle, wondering what, or who, would be left to meet you when you got there.

—————

Link to Chapter 10

Thank you for reading, and I’d love to know what you thought :) My tag list is always open. Have a wonderful day/night!

@deadhumourist @idreamofboobear @bison-writes @dornish-queen @ladyphantom96 @sarahjkl82-blog @shsoba05 @cannedsoupsucks @toomanystoriessolittletime @tintinn16 @nolanell @prostitute-robot-from-the-future @myfavpedrothings

Picture Credit: I can't find it! If you happen to know who created this amazing piece of art, please let me know!

#the lost island fic #marcus moreno #marcus moreno x reader #marcus moreno x fem!reader #marcus moreno x female reader #marcus moreno x you #we can be heroes fic #we can be heroes #fantasy #adventure #enemies to lovers #pedro pascal characters #pedro pascal fic #pedro pascal

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tinyboxxtink · 3 years

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"Black Magic" *Part 6*

Part 5

Part 7

Okay so this one's a bit shorter, but like I said I want to try and keep it a "day" a chapter. Also, I don't think you want this day to be ANY longer.

....I'm so sorry.

Also also---- I'm going out now. I'M SO SORRY.

I'll post another chapter tonight....be strong my babies!

Side note how perfect is the gif with the angry barba and the smirking Olivia....I mean.... what?

Tag List:

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@omgsuperstarg

@chasingeverybreakingwave

@gibbs274

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-------

You arrived at the door of Rafael's office early once again, knocking this time. You looked like a million bucks. You had taken at least an hour to get ready, your outfit, your hair, your makeup. You were ready to make a move. You knocked again. There was no answer. He should be there, maybe he didn’t hear you. You knocked a little louder. Where could he be? You decided to take a peek and peer open his door to see the most horrifying sight:

Rafael and Olivia, making out on his desk. They both snapped back when they heard the door open.

“Y/N!!” He yelled angrily. “Don't you knock?”

“Oh.. oh my God I'm so sorry sir I'm really sorry. I just brought your morning coffee sir,” You were upset, embarrassed , confused , distraught unable to speak, unable to think.

“Well you should learn not to peep on other people Y/N,” Olivia gave you an evil smirk. “I should get going anyway baby,” she rubbed the lipstick off Rafael's lips. “I have a long day.”

“Oh but I'll miss you carino,” Rafael whined while rubbing his nose against hers in a disgusting fashion.

“I know baby, but maybe we'll have lunch?” She messed with his collar.

“You can count on it,” Rafael growled seductively, smacking her butt as she walked towards the door. “Two can play at your game,” she whispered at you as she walked out

Oh my god. Oh my God oh my god!! How did she know? How was it possible? So many things went through your head at that moment.

“I um, I left something at my desk,” You lied quickly as you headed out the door.

“Olivia!” You called after her angrily suddenly overwhelmed with courage. She stopped and turned and stared at you

“Really? Got some balls on you now do you?”

“What did you do?” You demanded.

“I didn't do anything to him.” She acted innocent. “He just realized that his feelings for me were there all along,” she batted her eyes mockingly. “Isn't that what you did?”

“It's not real!” You barked. “You know it's not real. It'll wear off by tomorrow,”

“Oh I really don't think it will” She held up a water bottle in her purse and it was filled with a….purple liquid? Yep it was purple. Why was it purple? Did she make it stronger? Oh God how strong did she make it?

“Olivia you can't do this to him. I stopped and realized if it wasn't real, I didn't want it.”

“Oh that's bullshit.” She rolled her eyes. “You just brought him his morning coffee. You and I both know that it has that stuff in it. You just needed to refill him but I got there first.”

“No that's not true! You yelled, tears stinging your eyes now. “And he loves me. I know he does.”

“Oh my God you are delusional,” she laughed.” Look I'm happy you had a fun day yesterday but you’re out of your league here, sweetie. He's mine and he always will be? Got it?” She smirked again, then turned and stomped away in her heels leaving you there speechless.

----

You were furious, you were confused, you were upset and then you realized that you had to still continue this day as if nothing was different. Nothing was wrong. You wondered how strong Olivia's stuff was. You wondered what the rules were. Did it block out his feelings for you completely and only focus on her? Did it wipe any memory of you and him at all? Could you break it? You had so many questions you needed to call Chloe but you know you couldn't until your break so you sucked it up and walked back into Rafael's office.

“I'm really sorry about that so earlier,” You did your best to keep from crying. He looked at you with an almost look of disdain.

“Yeah well you really need to be more professional, Y/N.” He scoffed.

"Now you really need to get me copies of these prepositions by noon so that I can go to lunch with my beloved and then go to court.”

“Your beloved?” You spat unintentionally, wanting to gag.

“Excuse you?” He gave you an angry look.

"Look I know that you have some kind of crazy crush on me, but you need to learn that what me and my girlfriend have is something you can't get between so you really need to either control yourself or I will relieve you of your services.” He glared at you.

You couldn't breathe, you felt your heart beating in your chest and your ears. Your palms were sweating, you were having a panic attack. What the hell did she put in her concoction? How did she make him turn so harshly against you?

“I... Yes sir, sorry sir, right away sir,” You whispered grabbing the papers from him running out of the office.

Finally after you got Rafael his copies and he stormed out of his office to go meet his “beloved”, you took the break to call Chloe in tears.

-----

“Oh My God, what happened honey?” She asked, immediately hearing your sobs over the phone.

“She did it,” You sobbed.

“Who did what now?”

“She found the spell! Or some spell. I don't know what she did. I don't know how she could have-- I don't know what she did!!!” You kept sobbing uncontrollably not being able to form coherent thoughts.

“Okay, I'm going to need you to slow down,” Chloe said in a calming manner. “Breathe honey. Use your words. Now explain to me exactly what happened,”

You took several deep breaths trying to compose yourself so that you could explain what was happening to her.

“I went into Rafael's office this morning, and he was making out with that vile woman,” You sniffled.

“What vile woman?”

“Olivia, his ‘beloved’,” you rolled your eyes through your tears.

“His beloved?”

“It's some woman that he works with, and apparently has been in love with him forever. She somehow, I don't know how, figured out what we did to him and she somehow found her own spell. Which I'm pretty sure is not the same one, because it was a purple liquid. AND she not only created feelings for her, she made him hate me!!” You continued to sob.

“...Oh,” Was all Chloe could say.

“OH…?!” You scoffed. “I thought you said that magic laws frowned upon spells like that, controlling people's free will!”

“It does! Good magic anyway,” She sighed.

“What the hell does that mean?” You yelled angrily.

“Well I mean you know there's good witches and bad witches,”

“Oh my God, what in the Wizard Of Oz fuckery--”

“I don't know what to tell you honey. That's how it is. There's good magic and there's black magic. Black magic is all selfish and self-indulgent and instant gratification. She must have gone to somebody who deals in that,”

“Who could it be?”

“I don't know! It's not like they're listed in the yellow pages! WAIT-- Oh my God I think I might have an idea,” Chloe suddenly paused. “...But you're not going to believe me,”

“Oh my God what does that mean?” you asked wearily.

“Well.. you've seen all the movies right? You know like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White,”

“Oh God. Are you seriously going to tell me that true love's kiss can break the spell?”

“Well.. you really don't have any other options right now, do you?”

“CHLOE those are Disney movies for fuck’s sake!!”

“Hey, remember Once Upon A Time? THAT was the ‘real world’, and true love’s kiss brought magic to our world!” Chloe pointed out.

“THAT’S A TV SHOW!!!!!”

“I don't know what else you want me to say here babe. But you should do it. Unless you want to lose him forever to this “Olivia” person. You said that she had a lot of it, right? She could keep this up for as long as she wants. AND the more she gives him the stronger it's going to be and the harder it is going to be to break. I mean he might end up really hating you and firing you, and then your whole life will be ruined. You not only need to break this spell for you to be happy, but before it impacts your entire life,” Chloe warned.

“Oh my God, oh my god…” You whimpered. “I should have never done this.”

“Hey chin up this will work out I'm sure of it!” She said in a chipper tone.

“Okay Jiminy,” You rolled your eyes as you hung up and went back to your office. You did your best to continue with the rest of the day, trying to stay out of Rafael’s way. Which wasn't hard, considering that he was in court most of the day. Around four he texted you and told you that he was no longer in need of your services for the day so you could go home early. Oh also he just HAD to add that he was going to go out with Liv. You wanted to vomit. You headed home and went to brainstorm with Chloe.

-----

“Okay so I've been researching black magic. Chloe had papers sprawled out all over her bed when you came home. “She must have used a combination of love and hate spells.”

“Wait, so you mean actual love spells? Like actually creating fictitious love? Not just magnifying what he felt for her?”

“Correct” she nodded. “I don't think he ever had real feelings for her.”

“Well he said that she and him had a thing, and that he thought about her like that when they first met. So maybe it was going off of that,” You shrugged sadly.

“Another thing we need to figure out is how to get the rest of the potion from her somehow,”

“And just HOW do you expect me to do that?!”

“I don’t...I don’t know,” She shrugged, sifting through her research.

“Chloe, give me something you DO know,” You rubbed your temples; this was giving you a migraine.

“Okay… well, maybe if I talk to my other friends they can figure out a way to counteract the effects even just a little, if you're not willing to or unable to get true love's kiss,”

“Oh God--”

“Hey, I'm just saying”

“Whatever.” You sighed. “My head hurts, my heart hurts, everywhere hurts Chloe,” You whined. “I just want this to be over,”

“Okay honey just-- just go get some sleep, I’ll figure out a game plan for you to use tomorrow,”

“Okay...thank you,” You gave her a small hug and went to your room.

You went to bed with a deep feeling of dread.

#rafael barba #rafael barba imagine #rafael barba x you #rafael barba x reader #rafael barba fanficton #law and order svu #law and order svu fanfiction #black magic

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flashlightbaee · 3 years

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Magical // chapter one (the vampire diaries)

first 21 chapters on Wattpad now! user: mscvro

discription:

[Book 1]

QUOTE| ❝I'm Nike❞ ❝Like the goddess of victory❞

━━ 歡迎

. . . Witches in Mystic Falls are nothing new. Hell the entire Bennet family originates from there. Amongst other supernaturals, they are considered great helpers and sometimes even dear friends. Will the new witch in town be able to find her place in the strange town.

❨ multiple x fem!oc ❩

❨ the vampire diaries ❩

❨ season 2 - probably 8 ❩

❨ ©️ mscvro ✧*.｡ ❩

Disclaimer

this story will narrate the protagonist story over many seasons/years in the tvd-universe. there will be multiple love interest for her but everything is "realistically" paced and mostly follows the plot of the show(s). if you want something that is solely focused on a love story and faster paced maybe try my other stories. if you decide to read, i am thankful that you take on this journey with me.

have fun!!!

"Honey? Are you ready to go to the masquerade ball?" Kira Rose asks her daughter who is staring at herself in the mirror, trying to figure out whether all of her hair is curled or she missed a strand.

"In a minute. Even though I'm still not keen on going. Mom, I don't know anyone here." Nike complains. Her mother sighs.

"One more reason to go. Maybe you'll find some friends." Mrs Rose walks up behind Nike and begins to caress the girl's arms. "Just like a normal girl."

"But I'm not normal, mom. I'm a witch." Nike says and turns around, deciding that her hair is fine. She gives her mother a look before grabbing her back. "It's hard to make friends when you have magic in your veins and trouble keeps on coming your way."

"That's why we moved, baby. So that you can have a fresh start. Just give it a try, okay? For me." Mrs Rose smiles softly.

"I will try but I don't guarantee for anything."

"Good enough for me."

Nike soon comes to regret her promise. The Masquerade ball is boring and not being able to see anyone's face makes this whole getting-to-know-thing even harder. With a glass of lemonade in her hands, Nike paces through the hallways and watches the other guests drink, talk and dance. No one catches her interest until she spots a blonde girl, standing next to the staircase.

She isn't wearing a mask and can't seem to take her eyes off a blond boy who is joking around with two girls. Nike studies her and tries to figure out whether she is an Ex-girlfriend or secret admirer. Soon the boy catches her look and sends her a small yet awkward smile which the blonde replies.

However, as soon as he turns around to walk off with the girls, her smile fades and turns into an almost regretful expression. Nike first hesitates but finally walks over to check on the girl. After all it's only appropriate and she has proof that she at least attempted to find friends.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asks. The blonde jumps in surprise but then nods.

"Yes, it's just my Ex-boyfriend...long story. Thanks for asking." she forces a smile but still seems genuine. "You're not from Mystic Falls, are you? I've never seen you around."

"I just moved here from New Orleans with my mom."

"Uhh, well, welcome then." The girl smiles widely.

"Thank you."

"I'm Caroline, by the way. Caroline Forbes." she introduces herself and extends her hand.

"I'm Nike Rose. Nice to meet you." They shake hands.

"Nice to meet you too. Do you go to Mystic High now?"

"Yes, Monday is my first day," Nike says and Caroline opens her mouth to say something when her phone peeps. She pulls it out of her little back and looks down at it.

"Nice meeting you, Nike. I gotta go. See you on Monday." she says as she starts walking away. "I'm really sorry." Nike doesn't even get a chance to reply when Caroline has already disappeared in the crowd.

"That went well." The brunette mumbles to herself and takes another sip from her lemonade. As she is starting to feel hungry, she makes it her mission to find a Buffett. The only one she can find is in a room full of candles and a massive mirror. It almost looks like a room in one of the castles she visited in Europe.

The room is completely empty except for a girl and a woman who are having a rather heated conversation. Assuming they are mother and daughter, Nike walks in, grabs a muffin from the desk and is about to leave when the conversation catches her attention.

"Look, I have no interest in fighting you." The woman says.

"Then stop the spell you put on my friend." Spell? Nike silently leaves the room and hides behind the door to keep listening to them without having to fear them seeing her. If there is another witch in town that could either solve many of her problems or cause a bunch of new ones.

"Give Katherine the moonstone and I will."

"Why are you helping Katherine? Don't you know what she is?" The woman gives her a challenging look.

"Tell your friends to hand over the moonstone and all will be groovy." She attempts to leave but the girl blocks her path.

"You're not leaving this room until you stop the spell." The woman sighs.

"I don't wanna hurt you."

"No, I don't wanna hurt you." the girl seems really serious about this and is very brave to challenge a much older witch like this.

"Look, I don't have a choice. The bitch saved my life, and now I owe her. I have to pay up." She wants to leave again but the girl grabs her arm, making the woman look up shocked.

"You have the moonstone." The girl quickly let go. "I can sense it on you." The woman grabs the girls hands and the lights start to flicker. "Do you feel that? You can trust me. Give it to me. It's ok."

"Even if I do, what are you going to do? You can't give the stone to Katherine. Trust me, you cant." Nike studies the woman's face and soon finds that she has no answer.

"I think, I can help with that." She gathers all her courage and steps out from behind the door. The witches give her a shocked look.

"Who are you?" the girl asks anxiously.

"I'm Nike. I'm a witch too." The girl eyes her for a moment.

"I'm Bonnie. This is Lucy." she says and slowly starts to walk over to Nike. "What did you mean, you can help?"

"Well, I overheard your conversation and I think I might have an idea how to fix your problem."

"Why would you want to help us?" The woman asks and crosses her arms in front of her chest.

"Because witches need to stick together." Nike shrugs. "Do you want to hear about my idea or not?" Bonnie and the woman share a look and then nod.

"Shoot."

#the vampire diaries #the originals #stefan salvatore #damon salvatore #caroline forbes #bonnie bennett #tvd #katherine pierce #elena gilbert #jeremey gilbert #klaus mikaelson #elijah mikaelson #rebekah mikaelson

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yurtletheturtlehenderson · 5 years

Text

Scars That Heal || Eddie Kaspbrak x Reader Series

• Ch. 4: Bust A Move •

TRIGGER WARNINGS: sexual assault implications. This very first scene with Beverly involves her and her father, and her fear of him doing something to her. If you'd like to skip I have marked the end of the encounter with this: [●●●] When you see this marker, that means it is over and you can read the rest of the chapter in peace. This chapter will begin with this scene so if you are skipping, proceed to scroll until you see the marker.

A/N: you certainly will not hurt my feelings if you skip the scene. This was a very difficult mindset to get into myself and I struggled a lot emotionally with writing it. But I promise, the rest of the chapter is heartwarming and fun and overall is the foundation of friendships and significant to Y/n's arc, her induction into the Losers Club [including her link to Henry and what "makes her a loser" and the budding relationship between her and Eddie.

WORD COUNT: So big I had to add a word count, 7849. Oof, take some breaks peeps.

×××

With a terrible sinking feeling and a churning stomach, Beverly walked through her front door. She tightened her grip on the plastic bag she held behind her back, praying her father wasn't around to see what she had bought. As she crept through her apartment, scanning for any signs of life, she absentmindedly heard the words of the children's program echoing throughout the residence.

"Toilet and bath water travel down the drains and into the sewer." The front closed, not as quietly as Bev had hoped. "The sewer is a fun place to play with all of your friends. Just follow the water into the drains and down into the sewers you go."

The words of the cheerful program hostess echoed off the walls and went unnoticed by Bev. "When you're with your friends in the sewers, you can be as silly as a clown!"

She poked her head cautiously into the living room, it was empty.

"That's right, it's the word of the day."

Bev walked quickly and briskly down the hall, nearing the safety of the bathroom when the large looming figure of her father appeared. Beverly met his eye, fear settling in her chest as she gulped.

"Hi, Daddy." Her voice came out in a choked whisper, a side only her father could bring out in her.

"Hey, Bevvie." His eyes flickered down at her grocery bag and back up at her. "Whatcha got there?"

Her eyes fluttered down to the concealed box of tampons in the bag, knowing, no, dreading this day. This is what she had feared would happen. Why, she cursed herself. Why the fuck hadn't she just done this in the safety of Y/n's apartment?

"Just some things,"

"Like what?" He took the bag from her hands and rifled through.

He grinned suddenly and his eyes zeroed in on Bev. She felt her whole body stiffen in terror. He knew now. And there was no telling what he would do. Her eyes drifted to the wall behind him, and there they stayed, much too frightened to look him in the eye. His rough and calloused hand touched the side of her face and she fought her instincts to recoil, knowing better.

He brought her in close, and he closed his eyes. He took a long lingering sniff of her hair and she felt the icy cold grip of fear grasp her heart. Tears pooled in her eyes and his hand fell to her long red hair, and he now held it in his palm. She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up, fear prickling her skin and he stroked her red locks with his thumb, possessively.

"Tell me you're still my little girl."

Two little words, she told herself. Two little words she had to say and it and he would be on his way. Hopefully.

"Yes, Daddy."

"Good."

His palm returned to the side of her face, and he motioned her away. A flooding sense of relief washed over her and she slipped around him and disappeared into the safety of the bathroom.

Her palms gripped the sink, and the running faucet almost completely covered the noise of her distraught sobs. Her salty tears that fell from her cheeks landed in the sink and were carried down the pipes along with the rest of the running water. A long and slender pair of silver scissors lay next to her palm on counter. With a shaky hand, she brought the scissors up to her loose hair.

The hair that he strokes, the hair that he smells, and the same fucking hair that draws every unwanted eye in town, including her own father. Grasping a long lock of hair, she hesitated. Only once. But countless memories flooded her at once. How many times he looked at her, how he looked at her. No. No more.

She snipped a lock of hair and she smelled the whiff of freedom it brought. The feeling disappeared just as quickly as it had come but and was soon replaced by more spite. Spite and fear.

"This is what you did," she whispered, cutting another chunk of hair. "This is what you..."

She grabbed another chunk of hair, eagerly. Desperately.

"This,"

Another lock gone.

"And this,"

She kept her eyes on the sink, watching wisps of orange hair circle the drain before disappearing. She angrily grasped larger chunks of hair, working feverishly. The hair fell from her head so fast, it began to pile up in the sink. Sobs racked her body and her hand returned to her head and she realized there was no more.

For the first time she let her herself look at her reflection. There stood a sad and frightened young girl. Beverly ran a hand through her shortened hair, lingering on her scalp as she adjusted to the new feeling. Her once long and gorgeous head of hair was no more, choppy and uneven curls was all that was left. It was short and messy, not unlike hair she'd find on most boys at her school.

Good.

[●●●]

Y/n didn't know why she bothered looking in her drawers for clothes, she barely had any in the first place. Decent clothes at least, just about everything she owned was second hand and it was not uncommon that they were torn slightly in places.

She wondered why the hell she was nervous in the first place. Then her fingers found the familiar nylon of the swimsuit fabric, and she sighed. Right.

Y/n and Bev had agreed to go swimming with a bunch of boys they barely knew. It wasn't that hard to connect the dots when they mentioned where they were going, it was the quarry after all. But it never quite dawned on her until now, that she was going swimming with several boys she barely knew. Even though Bev would be there, that wasn't exactly a comfort. She never quite had her friend's confidence.

Despite her home life and all the nasty whispers that floated through town, Beverly didn't let it affect how she saw herself, a quality Y/n admired. The same couldn't quite be said for herself. She could barely afford to go to school at Derry High, her family worked paycheck to paycheck just to send her to school. And she didn't like to talk about it, but Beverly had time and time again lent her money for little things that she couldn't afford herself. In fact, she had a few old jackets and shoes that Beverly had given her.

The two girls were more than thankful for their friendship, both a perfect fit for one another, like two pieces of a puzzle. Each of them were able and willing to give the other what they could provide, whether it was some borrowed money, or a safe haven away from a leering father, and of course a never ending source of love and support. But of course, occasionally, no matter how hard she fought, the little green monster wormed its way into her mind. It always managed to pluck her most treasured memories with Bev, and stain it with jealousy, rotting it with envy and disgust. It picked at her confidence and fed her venomous lies that completely contorted their friendship.

Like the only reason people knew about her was because she was friends with Beverly. It was the beautiful Beverly Marsh and ol' What's Her Face. She would occasionally catch herself wishing she could draw attention like that, but she quickly dismissed it. No, she shook her head, ridding herself of the thought, no it's not worth it. She reminded herself of all the horror stories she had heard from Bev, and had witnessed for herself, in the many years of their friendship.

Sure, she was easily noticed by cute guys at her school, and that was fun and exciting at her age, but she was also noticed by older men. Men like Mr. Keene, and he was only one example in dozens of men all over town. Not to mention her own father. Any time the little green monster returned, it diminished itself in the pity Y/n felt for her best friend. But that didn't mean it wasn't hard for Y/n to hear the many names she had been called. "Filthy little tramp!"

And not to mention the countless side glances followed by surprise from boys - and girls - that she had in fact been there standing next to Bev the whole time, and they only just noticed her. She was always the sidekick. "So ditch the street rat and we'll go to the movies, you and me."

Anytime anybody thought she couldn't hear them, they spoke ill of her. Hell, not even then, most people didn't care if she overheard. Usually, they were trying to persuade Bev in one way or another to leave her behind.

"What is she, your little puppy dog? Just tell her you're sick or somethin' and you're home free,"

"Look, you're friend seems... nice, but she doesn't fit in with us. Either come alone or don't come at all."

Of course, Beverly never bought into that crap. Y/n was too important to her, she was Beverly's saving grace after all. And there was no way in hell she would let anyone talk about Y/n that way.

"Then I guess I'm not coming." She'd reply. "If you really need a date so bad just take the stick up your ass,"

Y/n smiled at the memory. Oh, how she relished in the shock on their faces. That particular comeback had them running away with giddy laughter as they wove through the halls, the angry trio of boys after them. They found sanctuary in a small hiding spot behind the school where they remained until the trio gave up and went home with slightly deflated egos.

This was another reason Y/n was ashamed to have these thoughts, Beverly clearly cared for her and would be very upset to know she thought these things of herself.

As Y/n pulled her worn out jean shorts over her bathing suit, she searched her bed for the t-shirt she had set aside. She slipped it on and as she looked in the slightly cracked mirror she felt a small bud of confidence blooming in her chest.

Beverly had her back, and she had hers. And she knew if Richie ever made some comment about her, Bev would shut it down if she hadn't first. The bud of confidence spread in her chest as she could feel herself being persuaded.

That was, until she noticed the tag on the outside of her shirt. She sighed exasperated, and quite frankly, rather exhausted. Y/n hadn't gotten much sleep the previous night. If she tried hard enough, she was able to push the memory to the back of her mind and forget, but only for the day. Then of course, if was time for her to go to bed. Then every detail of what she saw, what she felt, was amplified in the silence of her room. She flinched at every creek in the walls, every car that passed by.

And she didn't dare move her feet out from under her blankets, no matter how hot she felt. Of course, this ended up being one of the reasons it was difficult to fall asleep.

Y/n counted herself lucky she fell asleep at all. And yet, the thought of being unconscious, completely unguarded and unprepared, where anything could happen - anything could get her - was just as unsettling. She wished Beverly was there with her, but she knew she had to sleep alone eventually.

Right on cue, she heard the soft rap on wood come from down the hall in the living room. Beverly was here. Casting one last glance at her reflection, and her shirt now fixed, Y/n took a deep breath and made her way to the front door. She made the mistake of glancing at the carpet and the faded red stain and she felt a sudden prick of fear in her heart and the sudden hyper-awareness of her injury. Trying not to give it much thought, she took a deep breath returning her attention to the door, swiftly stepping over the spot on the carpet.

Her attention focused on undoing the many locks on the door, she failed to notice her friend's new look through the window. It came as quite a surprise to Y/n, having only known Beverly with long hair. She would have brought it up if it wasn't for the look on Beverly's face.

Her eyes were on the ground and when the door opened, Bev slowly met Y/n's eye. She recognized the look in Bev's eye, a look that screamed 'I really don't want to talk about it right now.' A look she had given to her not too long ago herself. Y/n plastered on a smile and broke the small moment of silence.

"You ready?"

×××

Richie Tozier does not hold back when it comes to spitting contests. Himself, Stan, Bill, Ben, and Eddie were standing at the cliffs edge, stripped down to their underwear and Richie was first up to bat. He did not shy away from whatever method he needed to conjure the spitball, no matter the foul noises he made in the process. He reeled back and launched the spitball over the cliff, and the rest of the boys followed suit.

Eddie flinched when his own mucus landed on the rocks near his feet.

"Oh, my God, that was terrible. I win." Richie exclaimed.

Eddie looked at him, dumbfounded. "You won?"

"Yeah."

"Did you see my loogie?"

"That went the farthest!" Richie argued, gesturing where he spit. "It's by distance."

"Mass. It's always been mass."

Richie began sputtering in disbelief, but Eddie continued.

"Who cares how far it goes? It matters how cool it looks, like it's green or it's white or juicy and fat."

Ben cringed, and he met eyes with Bill who gave him a look that said 'see what I have to put up with?' He shook his head, shutting down the conversation before it continue further.

"Who's first?"

There was a brief moment of silence and the boys looked over the cliff into the emerald waters, contemplating the jump.

"I'll go!"

They turned their heads to see Beverly Marsh and Y/n L/n. Beverly had been the one to speak and she dropped her bike to the ground before discarding her dress. Their eyes widened and Beverly smiled.

"Sissies," she laughed.

She broke into a light jog, the boys parting like the red sea and she launched herself off the cliff.

"What the fuck!" Richie exclaimed.

They looked at the water in which Beverly had disappeared, completely dumbfounded. Suddenly and in perfect sync, they looked to Y/n, almost expecting to see her do something equally surprising but she merely gave them an odd look. She set down her bike and shifted on her feet uncomfortably.

"What?"

They all broke out of their gaze, rather obviously, and tried to look anywhere but her, knowing they'd been caught.

She had to remind herself that she wasn't the only one who would be undressed, and everyone else, besides herself, already was. Taking advantage of their distracted nature, she quickly slipped off her shorts and t-shirt, making sure to slip out of her shoes as well.

"Come on!" Beverly's voice was distant, but it grabbed everyone's attention.

Bill was the next to make the jump, followed by Ben. Next was a less than eager Stan, leaving Richie, Eddie and Y/n who had cautiously joined them at the edge. Richie looked between Eddie and Y/n, then back to the water.

He sighed deeply, taking a step forward and removing his glasses, and tossing them on his pile of clothes.

"Well, fuck" He took a deep breath and jumped off the cliff, leaving Eddie and Y/n alone.

They shared an equally nervous look with a few uneasy smiles. Y/n peered over the edge, scanning the water for a safe space to land. As she waited for the moving figures of Richie and Stan swimming away from the landing zone, Eddie couldn't help but look at her. Observing the small crinkle of her brow and how unsure she felt, he felt his own fears vanish. Something inside him wanted to make her feel less nervous, and perhaps that was his own way of deflecting his own fears but he didn't care.

"I'll go if you go," he offered.

She looked at him in slight surprise, and a small smile tugged at her lips. Y/n looked between Eddie and the water, shifting weight off of her bad leg. This smile was less forced, and genuine, it was thankful. And Eddie felt a wave of nerves bubbling in his stomach, not at the jump, but the kindness in her eyes, and the way she mentally built herself up.

She nodded and they both gazed at the lake below, everyone was looking at them now. They had cleared a space and Eddie and Y/n could hear the remarks being made by their friends.

"On three?" She asked, quirking a brow.

"On three." He nodded, backing up slightly. "One,"

Y/n suddenly shook her head, stepping back and spoke at a rapid rate, cutting Eddie off.

"Fuck, if I wait that long I'll change my mind. Let's go," Without warning, she grabbed his hand and jumped off the cliff, giving him no choice but to jump with her.

It never even occurred to Eddie that he could have let go of her hand.

Eddie felt his heart leap into his throat and he was certain time stopped still as he was suspended in air. Perhaps it was the sudden change in view and the fact he was practically pulled off the cliff and how high he was above the water, or maybe it was her hand around his - no, nope. It was the height, definitely the height.

On their way down he gasped in fear at the rapidly approaching water and he felt her hand leave his as she braced for impact. Eddie tried not to think of the millions of germs in the water, and he could feel the thousands of bubbles grazing his body as he sunk deeper into the water. When he emerged he gasped for air, reminding himself to steady his breathing, less he have an asthma attack. He realized his throat was sore and that he must have screamed the whole way down.

He looked round at the cheering figures of his friends, whooping and cheering them on. Though he tried not to panic when he counted only five figures above the surface. Just before he could ask where she was, Y/n burst out of the water next to Ben, gasping for air.

"Holy shit!" She wiped her face with her hand, clearing the drops of water obstructing her vision.

"Took you long enough," Bev smirked.

Richie nodded. "Yeah, too bad you guys missed out. We were just about to pack it up and call it a day."

Eddie rolled his eyes and Y/n sunk further into water, all the way up to her nose.

Y/n concentrated on kicking her legs and her arms moved back and forth under the water keeping herself afloat. The others, specifically Richie and Eddie, had already launched into another debate.

"Do you have any idea, how filthy this water is. We'll be lucky if we don't contract something, I am serious right now. So forgive me if I am a little hesitant to jump into this cesspool of germs and bacteria. Not to mention the several loogies that are floating around here somewhere, or did you forget already?"

"Oh sure, now you're worried about loogies, Mr. 'juicy and fat'"

Bev, who had begun looking around her in confusion and slight concern, spoke up. "Loogies?"

"Juicy and fat?" Y/n asked disgusted, her face scrunched up, looking questioningly between Richie and Eddie.

Eddie blinked once, and shook his head. Desperate to change the subject, he diverted his attention back to Richie, pretending Y/n hadn't heard that.

"Besides, if we weren't careful enough, we could have seriously hurt ourselves jumping from that height. Even if we knew there were no rocks in the water, a fall from from anything higher and we could have died, I'm not doing that shit again. If you want to go swimming, fine by me, but I'm not jumping anymore, I'll just meet you guys down here."

"Don't be such a drama queen Eds, you jump a million times if it meant you had a pretty hand to hold on the way down and you know it, "

Y/n looked to Richie, her brows furrowing and she was thankful the water was already concealing her pink cheeks. Eddie, unfortunately did not have the same luxury.

"Fuck you, Richie,"

Richie smirked. "Eddie, please, now's not the time for romance."

Eddie's face scrunched up and he splashed Richie in the face, who had began chuckling at his friends response. Immediately, he retaliated with a splash of his own. Unfortunately, it hit Stan who frowned, and splashed back. It wasn't long before the entire group was involved, save for Y/n who was giggling off to the side where she was free of any water hitting her face.

"Alright, alright," Stan waved his arms around, signaling for a truce. "Alright!"

Everyone settled down and the water began to calm.

"We should-" Stan was briefly interrupted by splash to the face, and he stopped to glare at Richie and sighed, wiping his face. "Chicken, we have enough people, who wants to play?"

"Me against wheezy first," Richie jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at Eddie, who had in fact been wheezing. "I need to defend my title and he made it awfully clear last time he thought he could take me,"

"I can asshole, I already told you. I had an asthma attack, if I hadn't I would have won and you know it."

"Wanna prove it?"

"Oh, it is so on, dickhead. Same circumstances, same partners, Stan come on!"

Already regretting his decision to bring it up, Stan fell in line with the others as they entered shallow waters. Bill lifted Richie on his shoulders, and Stan lifted Eddie. Beverly had swam over to join Y/n and the two girls watched the chicken fight with great amusement.

Y/n almost didn't notice the quiet figure of Ben, who had joined them off to the side. He had been neglecting to speak, but she recognized the longing look of wanting to fit in. She smiled, and swam over to join him. He seemed surprised she had joined him, but he returned the smile, albeit a bit nervously.

"How's your stomach, Ben?"

"Huh?" Ben gave Y/n a funny look, but before she count point out his stomach injury, it seemed to click "Oh! Oh, yeah, uh, it's feeling better, thank you. What about you? H-How's your leg?"

"Better, thank you."

A genuine smile tugged at her lips, feeling herself relax at the company of the boy. Y/n had barely known him, but she was intuitive enough to know that he was timid and kind. And though she was enjoying the new company of the other boys, it was nice to have a more relaxed presence. Though there was Stan, but Y/n had yet to get to know him.

Their attention was pulled back to the chicken fight when they heard a sharp yelp and felt the water shift around them. And there sitting atop Stan's shoulders, waving his arms triumphantly was Eddie, whooping and hollering.

A smirk grew on Y/n's face at this. It only grew wider when Richie emerged.

"Foul!" Richie exclaimed, pointing at Eddie and shifting effortlessly into another persona. "Aaaaand Kaspbrak is outta the game!"

"What? What the hell are you talking about?" Eddie asked, waving his arms slightly.

"You pushed me, that's a foul."

"That's the whole premise of the game! Of course I pushed you!"

"You know what I mean, dillhole, you shoved my shoulders! That's a foul!"

"No, that's allowed. The attackers get to use any means necessary to knock the opposer down, that's stated very clearly in the rules!"

"Show me this rule book Eds, cause it's sounds an awful lot like you're making this shit up just because you can't win without playing dirty!"

"Or maybe you just can't stand the fact that I beat you! I'm the one with the title now, aren't I?"

"Oh, is that so-?"

Ben, who had been growing uncomfortable from the heated argument, spoke up nervously. At least he tried to, but Y/n was the only one who heard him so she cleared her throat, grabbing everyone's attention. Ben seemed relieved.

"Why don't we just do new teams?"

"G-good idea," Bill spoke up, and he looked around the small group. "W-who wants t-to go next?"

"Oh, I want to play!" Bev smiled walking against the water into the shallower parts of the water, but she stopped briefly, looking over her shoulder. "Ben, do you want to be my partner?"

Ben tried to hide his blush, and he shyly nodded his head. "Uh, sure, yeah."

Ben joined her, but she began looking around. "Alright, who's opposing?"

Beverly caught Y/n's eye, and gestured hopefully over. Y/n smiled nervously and shook her head, her lips pressed into a firm line, and Bev shrugged.

"Alright then, Richie, why don't you play us, if you're clearly an expert."

"Gee, I would but my shoulders are killing me, I think I'm out for the season,"

"Grow up, asshole, just go." Said Eddie, who had dismounted Stan's shoulders.

"Well, since you asked so nicely," Richie said. "Bill, you're up."

"W-why don't we let someone else g-go?"

"Why? S'the matter with you?"

Bill shrugged. "N-nothing. Just thought I'd l-let someone else go."

Richie gave him an odd look but shrugged it off. "Fine,"

Richie then spotted a Y/n, at least who he assumed was Y/n - he didn't have his glasses after all - who was hiding in the water, despite how shallow it was. It finally clicked that she had barely said a word since, well, since she and Bev showed up, he realized. She seemed different, she held herself differently than how she was in class. In class, she usually was able to keep up with his quick wit. He never told her this, but he enjoyed her company. He pegged her as someone who was quick witted and didn't take shit from anyone, and he admired that.

But now she was quiet and reserved. Hell, she must be sitting on her ass right right now just to stay under the water. Richie didn't understand this. Now facing her, he dug his hand in the water and splashed her face, ripping her out of her thoughts, and she looked at him startled.

She had to wipe away the fresh water droplets running down her face, and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"What the hell?"

"Come on, I need a partner and Denbrough bailed. You're up."

She scoffed, slinking deeper into the water.

"Come on, whatya', chicken?" He quipped, quirking an eyebrow.

If he knew anything about this girl, she wasn't one to shy away went it came to making a comeback. Sure enough, she rolled her eyes and raised her head ever so slightly so her lips were above the water.

"No, I'm not, that's why I'm not playing." She said snidely.

He smiled triumphantly to himself, considering it a win he was able to get her to speak more than three words.

"Come on, toots, it'll be fine. We'd make a great team!" He exaggerated a dopey grin and gestured for her to join him.

Richie may have been blind as a bat, but he could tell she was considering it. She looked around at everyone, who was watching the exchange expectantly. Y/n didn't know if it was everyone's stares or the fact the fact she was genuinely tempted but she gave in and made her way over to him.

Richie, who still wasn't completely sure is she was moving or not, gave her a cheeky wink, and pushed his luck even further. "I'll let you be on top,"

Richie expected a comeback or a even a scoff from her, not a pair of hands roughly shoving him into the water by his shoulders. Naturally he figured, one of his friends had done this, tired of his antics and found a unique way to shut him up, but then he felt a pair of legs take a seat on his shoulders and he knew it was Y/n.

Once he was sure she was secure he rose up out of the water, gasping for air when he reached the surface. The others, cheered her on, welcoming her to the fun.

She nearly tipped over as he readjusted in the sand, but she grabbed onto his hair by his scalp and he winced.

"Ah, watch it! I am quite fond of my scalp, you know,"

"As long as you watch that trashmouth of yours Tozier, one more comment like that and I'll drown you," she peered over his head, giving him a light but slightly teasing glare.

Nevertheless, she loosened her grip and he blinked a few times, his scalp tingling. "Duly noted,"

Nobody seemed to hear the small chuckle that escaped Eddie who had been watching, quite impressed with her ability to shut the boy up. He'd have to ask her how she does it.

"Alright, come on, we gonna play or what?" Bev asked, despite the grin that worked its way onto her face.

She too was happy to see her friend coming out of her shell, she could tell she had been nervous and Richie proved to be a big help, much to her surprise.

"It's on, we have got this in the bag!" Richie bragged, getting into position across from Ben.

Richie cast a glance up to his partner and smiled cheekily, batting his eyelashes. "Right babe?"

Immediately she whacked his head with her hand and he winced once more. "What did I just tell you?"

"Alright, alright! Jeez," He tightened his arms around her legs, securing her in place and he took a step forward towards their opponents. "But do keep in mind, we are on the same team, you want to hit the other players"

He missed the eye roll she gave, but nevertheless she smirked, shaking out her arms, getting ready for the match.

Bill, who usually announced the beginning of a round, did just that. With one simple word, the girls locked in on one another, theirs hands interlaced and they each pushed with all their might.

There were several close calls, on both teams, but they always persevered. Unexpectedly, Richie took a few steps back, and Ben, confused by his tactic, stepped forward after them. Though both of them moved slowly, their speed affected against the water, and Y/n nearly tipped over, but her balance was regained when Richie leaned forward and ran forward against the water, tipping Y/n forward and giving her more momentum.

Catching Bev off guard she was able to prove successful in her efforts to push her over. Beverly came tumbling off of Ben's shoulders, and almost kicked the poor boy in the face on the way down. Richie and Y/n cheered victoriously, and even Ben cracked a smile at their unexpected move.

Eddie, who had found himself rooting for them, despite his previous grudge against his old opponent, whooped and hollered at their win. Bill and Stan cheered as well, and Beverly broke the surface, a big smile on her face.

Y/n had already forgotten her nerves and felt a swelling sense of comradery and a growing respect for her partner.

"Alright, ready to put this to the ultimate test?" Richie asked, addressing his partner and the rest of the group. "New champs, versus old champs,"

Y/n smiled, looking to Eddie and Stan hopefully, now completely invested in the fun. Eddie felt a swell of confidence and gave in, Stan joining him.

"Fine, but no playing dirty," Eddie mocked, looking at Richie.

Richie smirked. "No promises,"

Eddie, who now struggled to climb onto Stan's shoulders, scoffed.

Eventually, everyone was situated and Eddie suddenly felt a small flurry of butterflies in his stomach that he briefly mistook for nausea. But he realized that it was in fact butterflies when he saw Y/n opposite him. They were brought closer by their respective partners who stepped forward, preparing for the match. She glared playfully at him, a small smirk on her lips and she outstretched her arms ready to fight. He hadn't realized the match had begun until he was forced to scramble for balance on Stan's shoulders when she went for his arms.

Their hands interlaced for the second time that day and now he was certain his racing heart was caused by this. Nevertheless, he pushed those feelings aside, reminding himself he wanted to beat Richie again, but the motivation to do so was weaker this time. Though he didn't let this shake his competitiveness so he matched her strength and the two laughed and grunted as they both tried desperately to push one another down.

Each of them found the other to be a surprising match for themselves. They would often find themselves going for the same opportunities only for the other to be prepared for it. Everyone was now completely invested in the match, everyone cheering them on though they didn't quite know which team they were rooting for.

Eventually, Stan and Richie had had the same idea and moved in closer in an attempt to push the limits. Both Richie and Stan were beginning to lose interest in who would win, eager to give their arms and legs a break. When they both moved in closer, hoping one of their partners would take advantage of the distance and strike, but once again the pair had the same idea. They leaned into the momentum, each giving one last push and much to everyone's surprise, they both fell on their backs, crashing against the water and earning a small sting from the contact.

Y/n sunk into the water, slower and slower and she felt her back lightly hit the sand. She felt something graze her ankle, her bad ankle, and before she could stop herself her eyelids ripped open. She flinched in the water, pulling her leg away and she had to blink several times just to adjust to seeing underwater, her heart pounding in fear. But much to her relief, right where her ankle had been, she saw a piece of plastic poking out of the sand, swaying back and forth.

She would have breathed a sigh of relief but she saved her breath and returned to the surface. She had already lost a small puff of air when she had inadvertently yelped at the contact the plastic had made with her foot.

Her small panic seemed to have gone unnoticed by the group and everyone had begun milling about, getting lost in their own conversations.

Y/n looked around at her new friends, and she felt a warmth grow in her chest. By now, she had joined them in deeper waters, once again slinking back into the water but this time it wasn't from fear of judgement but staying cool in the warm June sun. Everyone was lost in their own conversations but she knew she was just apart of this group as everyone else was. As she looked around at all the smiling faces, she relaxed.

An unexpected laugh escaped her as she saw Eddie holding Richie under the surface and she swam over in their direction. Richie popped up for air and slapped the boy away, though he still wore a goofy grin. Eddie, unlike Richie, was unaware of her approach, a fact Richie declined to give away.

Y/n was now just behind him, a sly grin on her face and Stan, who had noticed her intentions, called out Eddie making him turn around.

Sure enough, he whirled around, his face half a foot away from Y/n and she splashed the unsuspecting Kaspbrak boy in the face. On instinct, he whirled back around, only for Richie to do the same and he desperately wiped his face.

"What the hell is happening!" It came out in shriek that amused everyone in the group.

Richie and Y/n both let out a chortle of laughter, and soon even Stan had joined in. Though he didn't know whether or not it was from the excitement he felt or the fact the trick he had fallen for that twice in a row, Eddie began to feel the effects of his friends contagious laughter ripple through himself. He shook his head, hoping the smirk he was fighting would be shaken off as well but no matter his efforts, is was glued on his face.

Though something in Stan compelled him to get back at Richie - who was enjoying all too much the fact he now had help in teasing Eddie - that he decided to splash Richie without warning. Perhaps it was because he wanted to catch Richie off guard, like Richie had done to him earlier. No matter the reason, Stan enjoyed doing it anyway. Richie retaliated and and yet another water war had begun.

Y/n wore a smile as bright and warm as the sun above her as she looked around at her new friends, more than grateful she had fallen down the steps and met these boys. Y/n chuckled at their antics, grabbing Eddie's attention. He hadn't realized he had been staring until she turned to meet his eye. His first instinct was to pretend he hadn't been looking but instead he broke eye contact briefly and chuckled weakly and he smiled at her.

Y/n didn't seem to mind, and she smiled back and her shoulders moved slightly as she chuckled.

"It's okay," His pulse quickened, scared she was speaking of his staring. "I won't splash you anymore,"

He chuckled and nodded slightly, words failing him. He directed his attention to Richie and Stan and her gaze followed. They were both struggling to submerge the other under the water, past them, Bill and Beverly watched equally amused.

Y/n yelped when she felt a small nip on her foot and she quickly retracted her leg. Oh, come on! She swam backwards, eyes scanning the water though it proved to be useless. The others joined her side, worried expressions on their faces.

"W-what happened?"

"What's wrong?"

Eddie, who looked particularly worried and rather startled, knowing he would regret going swimming one way or another, began scanning the water backing up.

"What! What is it?"

"I think something bit me!"

Everyone began shifting around the water and Ben, with a burst of bravery, disappeared under the water and began searching.

Y/n was curious as to why these kids heard about something lurking in the water and biting and somehow thinking it was worth exploring, but a part of her was curious too. Bill soon joined the boy underwater and Y/n had almost begun to grow worried when Bill popped back up, pointing where Y/n had been.

"It's a turtle!"

×××

Not long after they kids found the turtle lurking at the bottom of the quarry, their skin began to prune and their limbs grew tired from swimming.

The boys, who had come prepared with Bill's boombox and Eddie's towels, the kids had dried off. The boys had all found a spot on the rocks and after much persuasion, Beverly had convinced Y/n to sunbathe with her.

Her confidence from earlier had waned, but at the time, the boys were far too distracted fighting over the radio channels and what they wanted it on.

Tuning out the guys, Y/n allowed herself the distraction Beverly provided with small talk. The two had been laughing about the day's events and Y/n had even begun to drift off. She hadn't realized how tired she was until she had lied down. After all, she had only gotten roughly three hours sleep the prior night and her limbs had grown exhausted from swimming all day, her leg especially.

Unaware of how much time had passed, Y/n stirred awake when she realized the lyrics of Young MC's Bust A Move had slipped into her subconscious.

"These here's a jam for all the fellas, Tryin' to do what those ladies tell us,"

Stan, Richie, Ben and Bill look on in disbelief at the two beautiful girls sunbathing before them. How did this happen, they wondered.

"Get shot down cause ya overzealous, Play hard to get females get jealous,"

Eddie, who had yet to find a seat, stood frozen next to the guys. He blinked several times, trying desperately to look anywhere but their direction, Y/n especially, though he couldn't help but steal a few glances. An act he felt ashamed of.

"Okay smarty, go to a party, Girls are scantily clad and showin' body"

Y/n felt a yawn escape her and she covered her mouth with the back of her hand out of habit, her eyelids fluttering open. She had to squint, her eyes readjusting to the light and her stomach did a small flip when she felt several pairs of eyes in her direction.

Timidly, she turned her head slightly to see the boys all staring at them. She felt her skin flush and she was sure she had turned pink, but the boys seemed even more mortified and they looked away, pretending not to have been staring at them.

Beverly's attention was drawn by the noise of several throats clearing, and she was aware of how silent it had been. She tilted her head and made eye contact with Y/n, giving her a knowing look from behind her sunglasses accompanied by a small smirk.

Y/n sat up, her bad leg stretched out and she pulled her other leg close to her chest, while Beverly had rolled on to her stomach. Richie began digging though Ben's stuff, holding a fake microphone to his face.

"News flash, Ben," he was now speaking in his posh reporter persona. "School's out for summa!"

"Oh, that?" Ben asked, looking at the evidence he had collected from the library. "That's not school stuff."

Richie pulled out a postcard of Derry, a picture of the standpipe on the back. "Who sent you this?"

Before he could read what was written on the other side, Ben had snatched it back. "No one. Give it..."

Richie didn't think much of it, his attention fell to the blue folder sticking out of Ben's backpack and he eagerly pulled the folder out.

He opened it up, Stan and Eddie peeking over his shoulder to take a look.

"What's with the history project?" Eddie asked, curiously.

"Oh," Ben shrugged looking around at the group who was now listening intently. "When I first moved her, I didn't have anyone to hang out with,"

As Ben spoke, Richie handed the folder to Bill who had shown interest.

"so I just started spending time in the library."

"You went to the library?" Asked Richie, his face scrunched up in confusion. "On purpose."

Y/n scoffed. "Don't listen to him Ben, he's just insecure that he can't read above a fourth grade level."

She sent Richie and smirk and a wink, knowing full well of his intellectual capabilities. Something she had picked up in the year spent in class with him. He was in fact a very bright kid, despite his poor manners and his inability to not speak out of turn. Richie just rolled his eyes.

"Well, I wanna see." Beverly got up from her spot on her towel and took a seat next to Bill.

Stan had caught a glimpse of the scratchy handwriting on the old photograph Bill and Bev were looking at.

"What's the Black Spot?" He asked.

"The Black Spot was a nightclub that burned down years ago by that racist cult."

"The what?"

"Don't you watch Geraldo?"

Y/n chuckled at the utter disbelief and surprise on Eddie's face and Richie met her eye, joining in. He was just about to give him more grief when the pair heard Bill begin speak.

"Y-y-your hair..." He had been talking to Beverly, but Y/n couldn't help but listen in, curious herself to why her friend had cut it.

Before he could finish, Ben jumped in and Beverly peered over to meet his eye. He smiled warmly at her.

"Your... Your hair is beautiful, Beverly."

Her face had been neutral throughout the entire exchange but she smiled politely at the boy, tucking a loose curl behind her ear.

"Oh, right. Thanks."

No one but Y/n seemed to notice the awkward looks exchanged between Ben and Bill, and her lips pressed into a firm line, feeling awkward having witnessed this herself.

Richie, whose attention was still on the folder that was now going unread by Bill, gestured for it.

"Here, pass it."

Bill complied, folding it up and passed it back to Richie. Y/n used her hands to shift herself up onto her feet, walked over and took a seat across from Eddie, facing everyone in the group. Richie was now shifting through the folder, Stan leaning over his shoulder for a look.

"Why is it all murders and missing kids?" Richie asked, passing the folder to Stan.

Y/n, who had shifted off her bad leg, readjusting so she was leaning on her arms and her legs outstretched in front of her, was now listening intently to Ben.

"Derry's not like any town I've ever been in before. They did a study once, and it turns out, people die or disappear six times the national average."

Everyone had been listening, and the group all fell silent for a brief moment, a quiet shock falling over them. Bev was first to break the silence.

"You read that?"

Ben shifted on the rocks, ever so slightly, and nodded. "And that's just grown-ups. Kids are worse. Way, way worse."

Y/n's eyes had fallen from Ben to the ground, where they trailed over to he bandaged ankle and she gulped.

"I've got more stuff if you wanna see it." Ben offered.

Eddie's gaze, which had been worriedly fixed on Y/n and the frowned etched on her face, was torn away to the others, shaking his head 'no' and hoping they didn't say yes.

They did.

+++

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idealisticrealism · 4 years

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Hello! I hope you are doing fine. So I read the new chapters of Into Flames and ... oh boy, oh boy... I'm not gonna lie, when I read chapter 3 my first reaction was similar to the one Remi half-expected from Weller: a psychopath creeping into the house where Sawyer was sleeping with a knife. And, I am not gonna lie again, I was a bit puzzled about Kurt's reaction in chapter 4. His sister and her son were sleeping in that house. And Remi just decided to go there and threaten his father after (1)

Oh, ReviewerAnon. I freakin love getting to hear your thoughts on this story. And funnily enough, I literally thought of you the very day before you sent these Asks, wondering if you were still reading along, and I was so excited to see the notifications show up less than 24hrs later. Given the length of your messages-- not to mention the undoubtedly very long responses I will be giving to your questions/comments about IF-- I’m going to put the rest under a Read More so people don’t have to scroll past a huge block of text. But to any of my followers that are reading IF, feel free to read this and even add any thoughts you might have, bc there might be some interesting (and spoiler-free) things for you to discover if you want to look below the cut :)

So I read the new chapters of Into Flames and ... oh boy, oh boy... I'm not gonna lie, when I read chapter 3 my first reaction was similar to the one Remi half-expected from Weller: a psychopath creeping into the house where Sawyer was sleeping with a knife. And, I am not gonna lie again, I was a bit puzzled about Kurt's reaction in chapter 4. His sister and her son were sleeping in that house. And Remi just decided to go there and threaten his father after a two sentence discussion with Weller. Determined to get an answer Weller hadn't gotten, in a way he never dared to. It made me uncomfortable. So I gave it a couple of weeks and thought about it. And in some way it made sense. Because she loves him and she realized that he could never be a whole person again until he got an answer that would allow him to put the past behind him. And he would never get an answer because he could never put a knife in that man's throat and demand it. And the past and that man would continue to hunt him. The same past and man that had pushed him to almost take his own life. So she does what he can't do and he accepts it because he understands it comes from a place of love and more importantly because he feels it in his bones that he would never have an answer in any other way. Or at least that's how I saw it.

Oh man. I have so much to say about this and I hope it’s going to make sense. Firstly, my immediate response to you not liking Remi’s actions was “Nooooooooo” because I’m always sad when someone doesn’t enjoy something in my writing. But I’m so delighted that you actually gave it the benefit of the doubt and thought about it from different angles rather than just dismissing it as a poor writing choice, and honestly the conclusion you came to is pretty much exactly what I was going for! But to say a bit more about it, because I can’t help myself lol: firstly, though we haven’t had much opportunity to see it in either fic, Remi is fiercely protective of kids (even while having very little idea of how to interact with them), given her history with the orphanage and Shepherd’s parenting etc. Literally from the moment she heard his story about Taylor in the cave, she knew that she would have gotten the truth out of Bill by any means necessary if she had been in Weller’s shoes, and would also have made Bill pay dearly for it. When she discovers at the safehouse that Bill is practically within reach, there is no question for her that she has to do this for Weller. Not only does she love him and want him to have closure, but she feels that she owes it to him to do what he can’t-- to her, Weller saved her, showed her that she wasn’t just the irredeemable monster that Shepherd had created; but she also knows that her darker side is exactly what is needed for this, because only someone who was a little bit monstrous could do what was necessary to get the truth from someone like Bill. By doing it herself, she ensures Weller will get the answer he so desperately wants and needs, all without ever tainting his soul or his conscience. Did a part of her also almost hope (even as the thought terrified her) that doing this terrible thing would make him turn his back on her once he learned of it? Honestly, I think so, even if just a little bit. Because yes, she loves him, but she is still half-convinced that she is the very thing he needs protecting from, not to mention that she is insecure as hell, and if he left her now because of this, that would be easier to bear than him leaving her later bc he just ‘lost interest’ or fell for someone else or whatever.

As for Weller’s reaction-- despite their grim nature, he sees her actions for the gift of love that they are, sees her taking the burden of doing ‘evil’ onto her own shoulders in order to both heal his old wounds and prevent him gaining new ones. And honestly, when he learns of it, I don’t think her going into the apartment with Sarah and Sawyer gives him even a moment’s concern-- firstly, he knows she would have used as little force as possible with Bill, because he knows her and knows that she’s not needlessly cruel, and also that she cares what he thinks of her, so there would have been no doubt in his mind hat she would have been very restrained in her approach. He knows, too, that with her level of skill, Sarah and Sawyer were bound to never even know she was there. And if by some unlucky chance they did discover her, it would probably all be fine-- Sarah knows and trusts her and so would listen to what she had to say, and Sawyer was little enough that he would believe pretty much anything that this gentle and pretty lady said, especially if his mom was also awake to say she was Uncle Kurt’s girlfriend. (Btw let’s not forget Bill would be rendered unconscious the moment he made a peep, so it’s not like either of them would walk in on him squealing like a stuck pig with her standing over him covered in blood and holding a knife).

But aaaanyway TL/DR; Remi Briggs would do anything to protect Kurt Weller from literally any form of harm, regardless of the cost to herself, and Weller recognises this and would never turn on her for doing so, even if she did it in a way that others might condemn. He just accepts her and finds his own ways to protect her in return, because that’s what you do for the people you love.

A question here: why do you think he never threatened his father for an answer when he was sure about what he had done? Why didn't he put a gun to his head? He must have thought about it. Perhaps, when it came to that man Weller would always feel like a 10-year old boy with no power over his paternal figure? Helpless and hopeless?

Oooh boy, time for a fun fact: my first idea for Weller’s ‘dark secret’ wasn’t that he tried to kill himself. It was actually much like what you said; sometime when he had grown into a tall, broad-shouldered teenager who almost physically rivalled his father for size and was no longer paralysed by his fear of him, he was going to finally snap, attack his father and threaten him with a gun to get him to tell him the truth about Taylor. Then, either he would have the sudden realization that he had also become a violent monster just like his father and immediately back off, or Sarah would unexpectedly appear and interrupt the confrontation, following which Weller would run off and enlist and basically banish himself to the other side of the world in shame/to protect her and others from himself. When I thought about it, though, I decided that him actually going through with something like that didn’t really fit with the image of Weller I had in my head (even a traumatised and angsty and hormonal teenaged Weller) so I changed the plot to have him nearly kill himself instead. The subtext of that moment, which I never actually explicitly wrote but was definitely there in my mind, was that the reason he nearly killed himself and then later ran away to the Army was because he wanted to kill his father, wanted to attack him just like I described above, and was so horrified by that urge-- and by the belief that it meant that he truly was his father’s son, just another violent monster like Bill-- that he ran as far and fast as he could and then focused his entire life around helping people (as much as one can while in the Army... though that’s a political debate for another time), trying to stamp out or at least outrun that part of himself. Obviously that’s a level of complexity that you guys never really received bc I never actually told you-- but actually as I write this, I actually now know exactly where and when I will include it in the future. So I guess you did just get a teeny spoiler there haha :P

Anyway... Chapter 5 was AMAZING. I love how much she loves Weller and I'm so glad that she just went ahead and said it. I love that it is important to her that he knows that she feels the same. What a difference a few weeks, a good man, and the generous love of that man can make to a broken person... Remi has come a long way. I also LOVED the interaction between Emma and Remi but I kind of also wanted a glimpse of Remi's thoughts on the necklace and what Emma's gesture meant to her.

“What a difference a few weeks, a good man, and the generous love of that man can make to a broken person”-- Yes!! You have literally captured the entire theme of FTA and IF. I started writing FTA purely because I wondered what kind of person Remi would have become if she’d met Weller earlier. The assassination attempt by Orion was a turning point in her life, one that (in canon) drove her back to Shepherd and to the ‘dark side’. But if it had led her to Weller instead, and to the side of good... what else would change, not only for her, but for all of them? Exploring that in IF has been awesome, partly because I get to right a lot of wrongs, but also because I get to take two traumatised people who have suffered a lot in their lives and let them start to heal together, and just be happy and stupidly in love?? The whole thing is pure bliss, both for them and for me lol

Also I get what you mean about wanting to know Remi’s reaction to Emma and the necklace, given that we never got to really see it bc that scene was all from Weller’s POV. I will do my best to address it someday, and I think I even have an idea of where it could happen....

The tattoos in chapter 6 were indeed EXTRA but they are drunk in love so go ahead with all the grand dramatic gestures...

Dude, you have no idea how hard I fought with myself on that one. The sensible side was all “Laura, no, it’s so lame and over-the-top! Don’t do it! Everyone will roll their eyes and be unable to take you seriously ever again!” while the fluff-loving little fangirl in me just repeatedly cried “But I wanna!!” Which was clearly enough argument to convince me, given the sappy romantic that I am lol. (A decision that was helped along by a little encouragement from the ever-awesome @chibinoyume). And as it turns out, people seemed to enjoy the whole tattoo thing, thankfully! I think the fact that these two are clearly very much in the ‘Honeymoon Phase’ helped out there, as did the fact that the tattoos could technically be viewed as a reminder of their journey/survival rather than just specifically of each other. But man, I wish I could have gotten to write Remi’s indecision as she paced around the spare bedroom for a couple of hours trying to decide whether to tattoo herself or not lol. Because (much like my own little internal debate haha) she wanted to do it, but felt that she shouldn’t want to do it, and was also nervous about the reaction if she did. But anyway, I may very well end up writing a oneshot of that moment someday. We’ll see.

Chapter 7 was so much fun! Thank god for shared bathrooms and extra doors and kudos to Remi for claiming what obviously belongs to her. She loves him and he loves her and good for them for not holding anything back. Life is too short and they wasted a lot of years already without love in their life.

I agree completely!! These two have both lived so much of their lives in emotional isolation-- I mean, yes, Weller had Sarah and Sawyer and Emma, but like I said earlier, he had deliberately kept his distance out of fear and shame, and then by the time he started to realise that he wasn’t his father, he was so used to being far away that I think it just made sense to stay that way. So when he and Remi found each other and experienced that deep sense of connection for the first time, they might have shied away from it at first, but once they accepted it, no one was ever going to be able to make them let go. They are each others’ person, and always will be, even if they both get afflicted by insecurity at times!

Also hell yes about the shared bathrooms!!! I know I could have written it that way regardless, bc I’m the author and I can do what I want, but having reality actually back me up on it was amazing lol. I’m pretty sure you asked several weeks ago what the bedroom/roommate situation was like at Quantico and I couldn’t tell you back then, so I’m glad I finally got to share the answer with you haha!

And although I am sure other readers are ready for team bonding and first friendships (at least for Remi), I am here for Mayfair. Mayfair is an absolute queen and has shown more caring and love for these two than their parental figures ever did. I am now gonna go ahead and selfishly say what I would like to see: I'm here for both of them (together and separately) having a heart-to-heart with Mayfair. I'm here for Remi sincerely saying how much she appreciates everything Mayfair has done for them, although she owed her nothing. I'm honestly here for them to send Mayfair flowers and chocolates and maybe a new scarf. I want grand gestures! One of the greatest failures of the show, in my opinion, was the lack of healthy relationships between people of different generations. It's pathetic that almost every person over 40 turned out to be a villain and every single parental figure (except Emma who we saw for like 2 seconds and Bill Nye) failed miserably their children (I am not even going to talk about killing Mayfair). Our relationships are not just with people of our age, our friends or siblings. We have important relationships with our parents, our aunts, our older colleagues or friends and we often turn to them for love and advice and encouragement and maybe to get yelled at for doing stupid things. Why on earth could we not have that on Blindspot? The team is great and everything but Mayfair's relationship with Weller was amazing (and I guess her relationship with Patterson and the others, if they cared to elaborate on time and not after death). So please please more Mayfair in the story... (They will have weekends off at some point, right? And they will need protection. A safehouse, right? I am sure Mayfair can have a beachhouse or a lakehouse or a house on the top of a mountain where they can go spend the weekend safely because Mayfair is the head of the NYO and she has to have extra security, right? I will pay money for a Remi-Mayfair talk about her relationship with Weller and how it has changed her but also confiding to her about what kind of future she sees with Weller after Orion is defeated.)

This is a really interesting point, and I honestly hadn’t noticed until now just how many of the older characters turned out to be absolutely awful, or if they weren’t, got quickly killed off. I will forever be bitter about Mayfair’s end (I held onto denial about her death for so damn long, sigh) and that was one of the things I wanted to rectify in this story. Mayfair is an amazing part of the team and an incredible character in her own right. Though with that said, I honestly hadn’t planned for her to be in the Quantico-based chapters much at all, purely bc she’s a busy lady and NYC is several hours away, but after getting your asks I had an idea for a very Mayfair-focused chapter and I think you’re going to enjoy it a lot. Well, I hope so, anyway!

Finally, with the way these two are behaving I'm half expecting a marriage proposal and a yes before the question gets fully asked and I will be like "I mean yeah... it makes total sense after 6 weeks together..."

Hahahaha I love that you would be on board with a Reller engagement already! I get what you mean; they’ve been A Lot lately, especially bc of all the uncertainty of their changing situation, but I think once they settle into Quantico life they’ll tone it down a notch lol. Plus, it definitely is still early days, and there’s a lot that these guys have to figure out before they could get to that point! I can neither confirm nor deny that a proposal will happen by the end of the fic (mostly because I legitimately don’t know yet lol-- I have about 20 chapters to write before we even get near to the end, so I’ve got lots of other things to be focusing on for now haha). But with that said, if I do include one, I hope it’ll be done in such a way that it makes you go “Yes. This is right. This is exactly how it should be.” And if I don’t include one, I promise I’ll make it very clear that they’re committed to each other regardless ;)

My friend, you are crazy talented. Insanely talented. And I can tell how much you enjoy writing this story. So kudos to you and here's to many more chapters of Remi and Weller (and Mayfair...) This message is waaaay too long but I wanted to write for a few weeks now and finally I had some time to write down my thoughts. I hope this is okay. Stay healthy and safe! ReviewerAnon

Oh man. Honestly, the fact that you have so many thoughts and feelings about this story is one of the biggest compliments I’ve ever received (although you saying I’m insanely talented is definitely another huge one!!!). Thank you so much for taking the time not only to read my work, but to think about it, to analyse what you feel about it and why, and for coming here to tell me your findings! You’re right, I do absolutely love writing this story and inhabiting this world with these characters, just as I love sharing that world with you guys! I truly hope that you continue to enjoy the journey, and that you will feel comfortable to continue sharing your thoughts about it. And of course, I hope that you are happy and well in whatever corner of the world you inhabit, just as I am in mine!

Until next time x

#Blindspot #Blindspot fanfic #Into Flames #Reller #reviewerAnon #ask #this was amazing aaaaaaaaaaahh #sorry for the word vomit lol #as you can see I can discuss this story and this pairing endlessly haha

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rainbowglittr · 5 years

Text

Senior Year: Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"How many times do you think she's going to flip her weave?" I asked Kiara. We were walking to class "with" Tyler and the she-devil. They were ahead of us in their own little world of weave flipping and exaggerated facial expressions.

"Maybe 50 most likely 30 if we're lucky." We both rolled our eyes.

"How long have you liked Tyler?" Kiara asked.

"Hahaha cute. Since......never!" I laughed. " What would make you think that?"

"Um, the way you look at him like he's the last piece of cheesecake in the world. The way you look at Mariah like she's the one who took the last piece of cheesecake."

"I do not! That's not jealousy! That's pure hatred! You need to get your eyes checked." I scoffed.

"Don't you dare lie! I know you do! You hate Mariah 98% because she's a terrible person, and 2% because she's with Tyler and you wish it was you!"

"Um, not true. What is true is that I do like Tyler as a FRIEND, a BROTHER! I don't like that she's with him because he deserves better. Isn't that obvious?"

"That you like him, yes.To people that know you, yes. To people who don't know you, yes."

"I dont know what you're talking about but I do have a class to go to."

"Don't pretend like you don't know. You know you like him."

"I DO NOT LIKE HIM!!!!!!!!!" I shouted. A couple people turned around, luckily Tyler and Mariah were still in their own world.

"See what you do?"

"No. You're in denial, you're in denial!"

"Nope!!!!!"

"Whatever."

"I'm not even giving up until you admit it."

"Guess you'll spend the rest of your life doing this, then. As much as I'd like to further debate the matter I have a class good day now!" I said running into the class just as the bell rang.

"YOU'LL ADMIT IT EVENTUALLY!!!!"

"NOPE!!!" I yelled back. I made my way to my seat. And unfortunately looked up just in time to watch as Tyler and Mariah kiss. Yuck. He walked in and sat down next to me.

"Hey budddddyyyyy." He said.

"Hi."

"Wow please contain your enthusiasm, it's getting to be too much!"

"I'm in math class, I have no enthusiasm."

"Well then, Ms. RayOfSunshine!"

"I feel like you want something from me....."

"Indeed I do. I'm in some serious shit."

"Aren't you always?"

"That's beside the point. Anyway, Mariah is expecting an amazing date tonight and I have no idea what the hell I'm going to do." He said. I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes. I REALLY can't stand her.

"Give her an amazing date? I don't know what you want from me."

"Please please help meeeeee. She will kill me if it's not perfect! Come on you're a female, she's a female. You have to have some type of idea." He gave me his stupidly cute hopeful grin.

"Fine, what does she like? What did you do for your last date and did she like it?" I said sighing.

"We went shopping and she loved it and she likes shopping." Again I tried not to roll my eyes, of course she liked shopping, of course.

"Well where did you-"

"Attention Class! Take out your worksheets from last night we are going to go over them right now, please." Said our teacher Ms. Rosenstein. I went to go pull out my homework that I probably did completely wrong and when I looked up at my desk Tyler had passed me a note.

"Really Ty? Really? How desperate are you?"

"VERY!"

I rolled my eyes and scribbled on the paper.

where did you take her last time?

Some mall she wanted to go to. she mentioned some other mall today shore hills or something.

I read it then started to think. He's an idiot it's Short Hills Mall and super expensive.

How much money do you have? I wrote and passed it back.

I don't know enough I hope like 150. I Can borrow some from my brother

Borrow some from your brother take her to SHORT HILLS MALL then take her to one of their "casual restaurants" then BOOM you got a date. P.s.it's Hella expensive!!!!!!! :-)

I wrote and passed it back. Then turned my attention back to math. We we're doing some crazy x over y divide by the radical ridiculousness. Tyler tapped me

"Thank you I love you so much!" He whispered with his hand on my shoulder."

"I know you do. I am me afterall."

"Seriously thanks you're a lifesaver! You're amazing."

I smiled and said "You're not too bad yourself, Ty."

We went back to x over y divide by the radical crap.

_//////////////////////-

Thirty minutes later as soon as the bell rang guess who I saw? If you guessed phony and annoying weave flipper then you guessed right.

"Oh sweetie there you arrrrreeeee!" Her annoying PHONY high pitched voice screeched. I didn't even try to stop my eyes from rolling, I swear her voice make me want to stab my ears out.

"Hey baby. You're looking hot today." More like basic I thought. She really wasn't that cute. She was a couple inches shorter than Tyler who is 6'0. She had very light mocha brown skin. And her weave was dark brown at the roots and slowly turned blonde. I won't lie she was pretty but there wasn't much to her other than that.

"Oh thanks baby. How's my hair?"

"Great."

"Just great? I thought it was at least gorgeous."

"I hate to interrupt the love fest going on here but are we going to lunch or?" I said.

"Oh Jaleia, there you go again, still here. How about YOU walk away and we'll catch up, yeah?" Said Mariah.

"Yeah, I'm not in kindergarten so no need to talk to me like I am. I'll be at lunch. Bye Tyler. BYE Mariah." I said walking away. She makes sick. Like puke, vomit, and bodily fluids. I started walking to the cafeteria, I stopped at my locker. Once I got there I stood at the front of our table. Mariah and Tyler had already gotten there Mariah was sitting in my seat but I ignored her.

"Sup." Said Tyler who was the first to notice my presence.

"Hey Ty." I said. I cleared my throat and spoke in a loud voice.

"Attention table of mis amigos. My birthday is in one week shortly before the dance. This has been your warning."

"I think we all got the text reminder and other not subtle hints." Said Kiara.

"That means I'm doing my job and you will never forget my birthday!" I replied.

"That's cute that you have to remind your friends to remember your birthday. You'd think that they would care enough to remember, but I guess not." Said Mariah. She fake smiled at me.

I smiled back and said "That's cute that you think that you have friends or that they'd care about your birthday."

She glared at me and I have her my "bring it beeyotch" look. She looked at Tyler with puppy dog eyes and whined "she's being rude to me again, baby."

"I thought they taught people to stop whining in like kindergarten but I guess not." I said to Kiara.

"Jaleia that was so uncalled for, can we just be nice for once?" Said Tyler.

"I was telling the truth, number one. Number two, I didn't start anything. If you can't handle the heat stay out the kitchen." I said.

"Seriously!" Said Tyler.

"Watch it pretty boy" I said.

"So where's Jesse?" asked Robyn.

"He's writing said he got inspired and had to write it down right away." Said Tyler. Jesse was super musically talented. He played five instruments, sang, wrote songs. He wants to work in the music business one day. I hadn't heard many of his songs but the ones I have heard were pretty deep. He likes to be alone when he writes, he even has special pens and notebooks for songs and he hardly lets anyone see them.

"Can't wait to hear it." Said Kiara. Mariah's face turned bitter for a moment.

"Well it's nice to get a break from people every once and a while" she said. She didn't like him because he was one of the only guys who weren't impressed by her looks. And didn't try to hide it.

"So when do we get our break from you?" Robyn asked.

Mariah laughed and said "You're so funny!"

"That wasn't a joke but okay." Robyn said. I started laughing. Mariah was glaring at me.

The bell rang and we all got up to leave.

"Bye peeps!" I said. We all split in different directions. Except for me and Tyler, we both had the same gym period.

"Can you try to be nicer Mariah she didn't feel like you like her?" He said.

That's because I don't.

"Yeah well I'm trying, sometimes she does not make it easy." I said.

"I know she is kinda over the top but she's really sweet when you get to know her,I promise."

I doubt that Tyler, I really do.

"I'll give her a chance, okay?"I said.

"Thanks."

"Whatever."

//////////////////////////

Later that night before I went to take a nap my phone vibrated.

I Looked at the screen.

Text From TylerBaeRules:

Great idea she loved it. Thanx :-)

Something panged in my chest as I read those words. I was glad it went well, I really was. I just wished that Tyler realized how terrible she really is and that he would be with someone else better. I don't know why she bugs me so much but she does. Everyone thinks it's because I'm in love with Tyler but that's not true at all. I've managed to get along with all of his past girlfriends. Sure I might be a little disappointed that Mariah takes up most of his time so we don't have time to hang out like we used to but its not because I'm in love with him. Its because he's my best friend and I kinda miss spending time with him. I sighed and flopped on my bed.

Text To TylerBaeRules:

no prob. Anytime, glad you had a great time! :-)

Text From TylerBaeRules:

G2g at her house ;-)

Text To TylerBaeRules:

Eww.....bye!

Text From TylerBaeRules:

Prude! Don't be mad......

Text To TylerBaeRules:

YOU ARE DISGUSTING!!!!!!!! :-[

He didnt respond. Two seconds later I got another text.

Text From KiaraBestie:

I know you like him.

Text To: KiaraBestie

What's in the past is in the past.

#black writers #writer on tumblr #writer #writing #my writing #blackgirlmagic #black love #teen #young #young adult #wattpad #high school #fiction #friendship #friends

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forkanna · 5 years

Link

[AO3 LINK] [EF LINK]

WARNING: Sensuality.

CHAPTER 8

By the time Anna arrived home, some of the good cheer had disappeared. Only a little, and mostly because she'd come to the realisation that she had actually wanted Punz to stay over. The thought in the car about hands in pants was true, but that didn't mean that, on some level, Anna wasn't aching to touch Punz again… and now that some of the self-hatred was fading, she sort of maybe wanted to be touched, too. Even without that, being close to her all night long sounded like bliss.

Too late now. That was something to face another day. Anna's only thought was to kick her shoes off in the front hall and to find her mom, maybe talk to her for a little while before going to bed. She really didn't have the mental capacity to do anything more, such as gaming as rarely as she did that. Or even staring at Netflix on her phone for a while.

But she couldn't find Elsa. "Mom?" she called out in the hallway. No answer. Maybe she was in the master bath, getting ready for bed. Luckily, the house did have two bathrooms, which had been not enough when the kids were little but was a good number now.

A light was coming from under the door. Anna crossed to it, raising a hand to knock…

"Oooh…"

Her entire body stilled when she heard that moan floating out from the other side, cutting through the sounds of the exhaust fan and the running water. Was she okay? Or was she… more than okay? The noise could have been either one.

But part of Anna knew it was a lie she was trying to sell herself. She knew that noise. Had heard it before. There was only one reason Elsa had ever made a sound like that.

A moment later, when she heard, "Ohhh, YES," she had her confirmation. For a few seconds, she hovered there, indecisive. What was she supposed to do in this situation?

But eventually, her good sense kicked in; her mother was taking care of her urges. Privately. Face burning red, Anna sent herself out of the bedroom and into the hallway. God, what was she supposed to do? Elsa knew she was going to be home – it didn't take long to drive to Punz's. Maybe she thought Anna would be having her own fun with Jennifer, so she would have a little longer to see to her own needs.

Regardless, the fact remained that Elsa was currently engaged in acts no proper daughter should ever want to witness, and yet here Anna was, nipples pebbling and core clenching. Fuck, this was bad. How was she supposed to move on when Elsa sounded like that?

Eventually she managed to make herself move into the kitchen. Water. A nice, cool drink would help calm her down. Three glasses of it and a wealth of pacing back and forth later, however, and the only thing she had succeeded in doing was making herself need to pee.

Luckily, at that time Elsa emerged from the shower, already dressed in a silky blue night gown with a fluffy white robe over the top, feet stuffed into slippers that matched the robe. Apparently, she must have been at the very end of her 'activity' when Anna heard her if she only took that much time afterward to wash up and get dressed.

"Oh!" she said in some surprise when she saw Anna standing in the kitchen. "You're… already back? I thought you and Jennifer… well, anyway. How did it go?"

Swallowing hard, Anna forced herself to smile. Between the pressure in her bladder and the memory of what she practically walked in on, her entire body had a bad case of The Tinglies. But she was determined to act as normal as she could.

"She's fine. I mean, I can see how you'd think we'd want to, like, say a longer goodbye in the truck… but, um, I wanted to end tonight short and sweet. On a good note, I guess?"

Elsa nodded a few times as she opened the refrigerator to get the milk. Since when did they get milk in glass bottles? It had always been cheap plastic jugs for the McFlys. "Well, it can't be helped. You both need a little time, her especially."

"Y-yeah." She shouldn't be staring at Elsa's round ass… "Time. Crazy thing."

"If I knew you'd be back so fast, I wouldn't have taken my time in there." As she poured the glass, Elsa avoided Anna's eyes. At least she wasn't lying to her, but Anna had a feeling what she meant was, 'I wouldn't have gone to town on myself if I knew you might be in the house when I finished.'

"Yeah. I've been here a while; at first I thought you might have gone out."

"Sorry. As I said, if I'd known…"

Anna shrugged, leaning back against the counter with her nearly-empty glass of water. "It's cool. You can… take all the time you need in the shower. Why not? It's your shower. This is your house. Showers are… good!"

As she raised the milk to her lips, Elsa's eyebrows did knit slightly. But she made no remark as she took a long, slow drink. God, this was even worse than watching her ass. Anna couldn't draw her eyes from Elsa's throat, watching it bob as she swallowed. When Elsa finished, there was a fine milk line atop her lip.

It took all of Anna's willpower not to whimper when a delicate tongue popped out and licked it off.

Maybe it was obvious to Elsa, because she flushed and lifted a hand, rubbing off any remnants. Anna cleared her throat and hastily stammered, "I should- I should go, y'know. Been a, um, a busy week and all…"

It was a pathetic excuse, but it was obvious by now that Elsa knew that Anna knew. She gave a weak smile and a nod. "Of course. You can sleep in tomorrow, unless you're going to Merida's?"

Honestly, Anna hadn't thought of it – and neither was she in the mood to stand there and discuss it. "Sure, I'll um, I'll let you know tomorrow?"

She waited just long enough for Elsa to wish her a good night before escaping into her bedroom. Only once she was in there did she remember: she had to pee. But she had already said goodnight! Biting her lip, she tried to suppress the urge as long as she could, listening for Elsa to leave. Or really, suppress two urges, but taking care of one would make the other one worse.

It took forever. By the time Elsa did close the door to her own bedroom, Anna was dancing up and down on one leg. Breathing a sigh of relief, she practically sprinted to the bathroom.

Why did she have to turn into such a weird, awkward creature every time she was around Elsa now? She knew the reason. Not liking it didn't mean she was ignorant. But they both knew it was for the best that they keep their hands off each other; Elsa just believed that a lot more fully and completely.

Even after brushing her teeth and changing into pyjamas, Anna still couldn't get the urges to leave her alone. Not without taking the appropriate measures – and there was no possible way to keep Elsa's voice in the tub, her ass in that robe, out of her mind. How was she supposed to live like this?

~ o ~

The next morning, she felt a little more optimistic. Elsa was going to be her mother, and something like a friend, no matter what happened. That was a fact. A few weird moments of sexual tension could be forgiven as long as they kept working on them.

"So," Elsa said when Anna stumbled in to join her at the breakfast table, where she was already sipping coffee and scrolling through news articles on her phone. "You heard me last night, hmm?"

Anna froze. No. She couldn't possibly mean they were going to talk about this now. Right?

Giving a nervous chuckle, Anna tried to play it cool. "Oh yeah. About um. Merida's. I haven't… decided if I'm…" She trailed off when it became apparent that Elsa was incredibly unimpressed by her attempt to play it off.

"You know I'm not talking about that, Anna," she said. Then she sighed and pat the table, inviting Anna to take a seat. Once she did, her mother continued, "I'm sorry you bumped into that; I really thought I had enough time before you came home. And I'm definitely not upset, sweetheart. I just feel like… like ignoring this situation completely only makes it worse?"

At that, Anna snorted. "What, so I should have bust in on you like, 'Hey, need a hand'?"

"NO! God, Anna. I just mean– you clearly know. And I know you know. So I think it's healthier to discuss the issue before we set it aside." Then she paused. "You didn't… do the same, did you?"

Crossing her arms, Anna looked away. "I don't have to answer that."

"Yes, you do. If you stayed to listen in…"

"Oh, THAT!" she squeaked, plopping down harder into the chair than she meant to. "Geez, no way! I mean, not that you didn't sound- it's- y-yeah, I heard you, but then I left when I realised what I was listening to, okay? I'm not some kind of, of… peeping Tom, but with ears, or uh… whatever!"

Sighing, Elsa reached over to pat her hand. "It's alright, I understand. After what happened in my dad's Gremlin, I'd be a moron to expect all the feelings to vanish. That's not what I'm asking of you."

"It's not? Like, it kinda sounds like it is… sometimes… I dunno."

"No, it's not. But we can control our actions." Her thumb caressed Anna's hand gently, and she whispered, "Our feelings can't be helped. But we can help how we react to them. Do you understand?"

After a tense moment of enjoying her mother touching her hand, probably too much, she let out a shaky sigh of relief. "Okay, I'm really glad you said that to be honest, because I'm still finding it super hard to forget… things. And ignore things. Like, hearing you last night?" But she bit her lip, cutting off what she had been about to say.

"Go on. Not all the time, but right now… maybe it would be better to release some of that pressure." Elsa cleared her throat and shrugged, cheeks only a little pink. She had mentally prepared for this, it seemed.

"You sounded hot. Like…" This might be her only chance. Might as well go all-in. "Like I wanted to bust the door down and help finish you off. And yeah, I had to do the same thing after I got to bed… but I still wished it was you."

At first, Elsa didn't say anything. Her eyes shut briefly, and she looked… pained. Almost as though she were thinking back to last night. Probably scolding herself.

"I'm sorry," Anna said, voice a rush. "I promise I wasn't trying to think about you when I- I mean, maybe at the beginning, a little, but definitely Jennifer was there at the end. I swear. Uh…"

Elsa had paled, but turned away before Anna had much of a chance to look at her. When she didn't say anything, Anna felt a little panic rising in her chest. "Mom-?"

"I still remember," Elsa interrupted. It seemed that she couldn't bring herself to look up.

"Still remember what?"

"I still remember… how you sounded that night," came the soft admission.

Anna's eyes felt like they were bulging out of her skull. She swallowed, trying to find the words that wouldn't come. Staring at the side of Elsa's face, she finally settled on, "Holy shit."

"You don't know how many times I've thought about it, Anna… how often I've remembered that moment with Tori."

The name did help. Not a lot, considering they both knew Anna and Tori were the same person now… but it put it into perspective. Her moments of reminiscing had probably been mostly before she figured out they were the same person.

"But not as much now?" Anna guessed.

"No. She sneaks in when I least expect her, but… I try not to do that now that I know. Just doesn't seem right. But that doesn't make the memory any less magical for me, Anna."

Clearing her throat, she scooted a little closer, just enough so that she could stretch her arm across the corner of the table and touch Elsa's arm. "Why tell me this now?"

"Because… I don't want guilt to be the reason."

"The reason…?"

"The reason that we don't make a mistake." Finally, she turned back, and her face was more composed. Though she was still pale, other than her rosy cheeks, she was smiling gently at her daughter. "We shouldn't feel bad for what happened in the past, or even how we feel in the present. Just… be more careful for the sake of our future."

"Oh…" Biting her lip for a moment, Anna then whispered, "Does that mean we can't fall asleep in the same bed anymore? Since it's kinda… dangerous?"

"For a while. But!" Her other hand came up to hold aloft an index finger. "I have faith that won't always be a problem. We can get past this. We already are, a couple of setbacks notwithstanding. Just… for a little while, okay?"

Mute, Anna nodded. She didn't want that. And now that Punz knew and was somewhat accepting… she didn't ever want to hurt her girlfriend. But at the same time – and by that very same token – it hurt to have to push Elsa away to do it. They could be a regular family. Anna knew they could.

But what if… she didn't want to? Or, rather, what if she wanted to, but she also wanted the other stuff? Watching Elsa go back to glancing at the news, Anna's eyes traced her jaw, her lips. The incline of her nose and her bright eyes. Despite the age, Elsa was still a beautiful woman. She deserved more than a farcical marriage – full of love, no doubt, but still not really real anymore. Maybe she had Punz, but there had to be something she could do for her mother.

Coming to a sudden decision, she stood up. "We need to get you a date."

"Hmm?" she muttered as she took a sip of her coffee.

"A date. You know, more time with a lady-friend who's not me. So your urges have somewhere to go? A-and I'll do the same with Punz, and it'll get easier. Like you said."

Finally, Elsa looked up at her with a very mild surprise in her eyes. Then she smiled, truly pleased. "Oh, Anna… you're sweet. But I'm fine."

"Really? I mean, the way your sleepy self tried to bang me says maybe you're not." When her mother's lips pursed, she held up a hand. "Just making a point. What if you had another sexy redhead to bring home? Maybe Ariel…"

Laughing now, Elsa set her phone aside to focus fully on their conversation. Seeing Anna pout, she hurried to tell her, "I do appreciate what you're trying to do. Just… well, my daughter having to fix me up with someone to keep me from grinding on her… well, it's a little funny, isn't it?"

"Well… okay, yeah, maybe a little."

"Besides, Ariel is no longer interested. She went back to Eric, they have a daughter. But I suppose I wouldn't have minded trying things with her a second time if given the chance."

"Yeah, and like, you got with dad and had me! Nothing's impossible. But Ariel's not the only fish in the sea. Oh, we should totally make you a dating profile! This is gonna be fun!"

~ o ~

It was not fun.

Well, that wasn't strictly true; making the profile itself was fun. OkCupid had a tonne of stupid questions, and they had a good laugh answering some of them. Others were more informative than Anna was prepared for.

"Oooh, up for a bit of poly action, are we?" she asked, leaning over her mother's shoulder. Elsa snorted a laugh.

"Well, I am technically still married, you know," she said. Anna's eyes widened.

"Do you need to, like… tell Dad?" she asked.

Shaking her head, Elsa turned back to the computer. "No. We came to some clear agreements a very long time ago. The last time we were together was not recently. I think… more out of respect for his feelings, I haven't chased after anyone. I also think he would understand why I'm only now taking advantage of it…"

Anna nodded, thinking. "I'm still just kinda amazed that you and he actually… worked out. I mean, no offense to him – he's a pretty good looking guy – but you were like, uber-lesbian in '85."

"Bisexual," she chastised gently. "But are you kidding? That was your doing, Tori." When Anna didn't respond right away, instead merely lifting an eyebrow, Elsa turned from the screen to fix her with a slight smirk. "Oh, come on. You gave some very specific advice to me on several occasions. It sounded weird to me at the time, but since then I've figured out why."

"Huh? What do you-"

"Three children, three years apart? Drinking is something I should never do, not just that I ought to be a little careful? The thing about setting fire to the rug? When you never came back, I started wondering… well, all kinds of things. That you were some kind of guardian angel who had only come to earth long enough to help me be a better person… help me be true to myself. Lots of scenarios that I had no way of proving or disproving."

Elsa was looking away, embarrassed. But Anna didn't laugh. She didn't think it was at all funny, or silly. Her voice was soft as she whispered, "I don't feel like an angel. Just some dumb kid who really screwed up. Did… you really think I was one?"

When Anna couldn't quite meet her eyes, Elsa gently pulled her youngest daughter onto her lap; just as she used to when Anna was small. She looped her arms around her daughter and held on tightly, and eventually Anna embraced her back.

"You are an angel. Just… a more earthly, common, human one who's allowed to make a mistake. Don't beat yourself up so much; thought we agreed on that."

"We did, we did." Clearing her throat, she tried to settle in and get comfortable, despite how much she was enjoying her new seat. "So, you really followed my advice? I was just… I mean, it was stupid for me to give it, I changed the future, but… I like this version of my life better. So, um, all's well that ends well?"

"Mhmm," Elsa hummed, squeezing just a little tighter. "You're my little angel. And considering how my life – and yours – could have turned out… I think a little tension is acceptable. I'd rather love you a little too much than not enough. Plus, the advice about children was to make sure you saved our future, so it wasn't all selfish. Which it not only is, but it's better."

The words brought a smile to Anna's lips, and she cuddled in a little further. "Yeah, this is… better," she agreed softly.

"Glad to hear it," she whispered very softly. Her voice was very slightly husky, almost sensual, which sent shivers down Anna's spine… but a moment later, she found out why. "Now, what do you say we close this web page and make plans for tonight?"

Her daughter drew back to glare down at her, seeing a pleasant, casual face gazing up at her. "Elsa Baines-McFly… are you trying to flirt your way out of posting your OkCupid profile?"

"Flirt? Me?"

"You are!" Elsa turned away, still affecting an innocent air, so Anna only laughed and hugged her more tightly. At least they could joke about things now, a little. "Nope. You're posting it, we already put in the work."

"But I'm not really that interested in just… finding some random person online," she finally sighed. "I guess I could try it, but just don't forget that I'm not expecting it to go anywhere."

"Totally fine! It doesn't have to work, but if it does work…"

"Yes, yes, then I can bang someone else and stop running around this house like a cat in heat."

Nodding, Anna pet over her mother's hair. "Even though I don't mind that, I know you do. So, like… it's a good plan. And if it doesn't work at all, we'll move on to another one, right?"

"Right." Elsa leaned up to kiss Anna's cheek, making both of them blush very lightly. Then she turned back to the computer, Anna still seated on her lap. "So what's left to do here? Telling them my blood type and social security number?"

"Nooo," Anna giggled. "Now we gotta find you a girl!"

It was a little trying, at first, navigating the site. Not for any technical difficulties; no, Elsa merely seemed nervous. A slight unwillingness to actually take that step and strike up a conversation.

Anna wanted to offer to leave. She wanted to give Elsa some privacy to browse and look and maybe see if someone caught her eye. But the seventeen-year-old in her was excited to watch, too. Like moving house or getting a new car, there was a thrill that came with watching Elsa step out of her comfort zone and try new things.

Also some of the women looked really good and a few were definitely Elsa's type. A couple might have even been Anna's type, if she weren't already committed to Punz.

By the time they gave up the search, Elsa had two potential dates. Neither one had initiated a longer conversation yet, but she put out the feelers. It was better than nothing.

"Now get off my back," she giggled as she swivelled the chair out from behind the desk. "And my lap."

"What if I want to stay?" Anna asked, a little playfully flirty again.

"Then you'd better start paying rent to live in this chair with me. And figure out a way to make us lunch from here."

The truth was, Anna just really loved the nearness. Having this with her mother the way they never could before. And more, obviously. But she also knew Elsa was right, they needed to go on about their day.

~ o ~

Which they did. After a light lunch, Anna called up her maybe-girlfriend to ask what she wanted to do. When she offhand mentioned the shoe-shopping idea that had been tabled, Punz leapt at the idea so enthusiastically that it made Anna laugh. Maybe there was hope for them, after all.

So an hour or two later, they were in Elsa's sensible car picking up Jennifer from her house. She bounced out, and this time she had a little suitcase with her.

"Oh, what's this?" Elsa said with a slight smile. "Did our itinerary change a little?"

"Just… thought about your offer from before," she said with an eager grin. "Anna was right about last night being a little soon after we patched things up, but tomorrow's Sunday, so… no reason I can't stay longer tonight. But this is just a precaution; if I end up going home, I can just unpack it again. No big."

Shaking her head, Anna turned around to prod one of the knees poking out from under her lavender skirt. "Somebody had big plans and didn't text."

Punz grinned. "Maybe…" she said, all coy.

Anna felt a goofy smile cross her face. It stayed there all the way to the shopping mall. Even if she'd wanted to hide it away, it would have been impossible. It really felt like things were going to work out.

Naturally, though, the shopping didn't stay just on shoes. They went there first – several shoe stores – before moving on, so at least it could be said that they did what they'd set out to. Elsa bought a pair of sensible flats, and another pair of heels. They weren't very big, but they would still go nicely with any smart-casual, bordering-on-formal outfit. Like, say, the kind of outfit one would wear on a date.

Anna bought herself a new pair of sneakers, mostly because they were half-price and bright green, but also because hers had become a little wrecked during her time in 1985. They were cheap and shoddy and the best they could afford before she'd gone and changed everything. It was nice, being able to get something that wasn't three seasons old and a size too small.

Contrary to what she'd expected to happen, Punz didn't hang back. She offered suggestions and laughed and smiled, and it felt so natural. Like a day with her mother and her girlfriend, and there was no weird time-travel business to drag them down. She even let herself get ganged up by the two McFlys, their shared 1980s experience manifesting in them choosing the worst combination of clothes that she could think of. Anna had laughed as she held up a denim vest, complete with a white longsleeve shirt.

"It's not that bad," Anna assured her. "But you definitely could have fit in back then with these."

Punz had looked unconvinced, but she put them on all the same; she even tucked it into her pants, posing and shooting a smirk. Anna just wanted to kiss her – even moreso when she actually bought it.

Her own willingness to try something new was partly how they managed to cajole Elsa into trying on a few more interesting styles that she had tried to avoid. At first, she had barely slipped one on and then off, and they laughed about that. It wasn't until after they went to try on some clothing – Punz picking up a pale blue jacket and a Harry Potter tank top – that they finally got her to cave.

"I'll look ridiculous in these," she said, looking down at the newest boxes as they made it out to the car. "Can't believe you talked me into buying any of them at all."

"You looked so cute, though!" Jennifer was gushing. To her credit, it wasn't only because she thought Anna wanted her to say that; she honestly thought her girlfriend's mother needed them.

"You did, Mom. Seriously. I was kinda skeptical about the ankle boots, but they're all killer. Plus winter's coming up anyway, right?"

"Those boots are hardly winter boots!" she laughed as they got in. "But… thanks for the vote of confidence, girls. Between this and those outfits Anna talked me into, it's like I'm on Extreme Makeover."

While they drove away from the mall parking lot to pick up some Chinese, Anna nudged Elsa's upper arm. "You are. Extreme Makeover: Family Edition!"

"Not that you needed one, Mrs McFly," Punz piped up. Anna could see her mother give a small, but warm, smile.

"Thank you, Jennifer," she said. "I don't know what kind of shenanigans Anna would have wheedled me into if you weren't here."

This time, it was Punz's turn to blush. Anna could see it in the rearview mirror. It was really nice, watching them get along. Some part of her had been terrified that it would be awkward; that Punz would be distant and Elsa would be a try-hard, desperate to prove that the whole situation wasn't as fucked up as it seemed. But that hadn't happened.

Perhaps because they already had a rather good relationship before this. Elsa obviously approved of Punz, and Punz definitely seemed to respect Elsa. It was far better than Anna could ever have hoped for in her old life.

They decided not to bother eating at the restaurant. It was much more comfortable to drive the ten minutes home and actually have a nice meal. If Anna were honest, she was kind of craving something home-cooked, but any occasion where Elsa wasn't drunk or hungover was a cause for celebration in her mind.

It wasn't fair, but it was hard to undo a decade of training. Making sure the floor was clear; that Elsa always had a glass of water on her bedside table. Of drawing the blinds and keeping them shut. Tiptoeing about the house lest she get caught in the middle of her mother's hangover. And it would continue to be challenging. Getting used to the fact that Elsa was different wasn't too bad. Changing how she reacted to things… not so easy.

After dinner and a nice chat, during which they mostly just talked and laughed about random, inconsequential things, they popped a bag of popcorn and retired to the living room to pick a movie. They had finally started trying to talk about the time travel incident a little more, after carefully avoiding it the past few days. Anna could understand; it had taken that long for Punz to adjust.

"And you really couldn't tell she was related to you?"

"Why would I have any reason to suspect that?" Elsa was saying as she set the bowl down, then went back for a tonic water with lime. Yet again, when she got out the tonic Anna was waiting for her to reach for a bottle of vodka or gin, but she skipped that step and went straight for cutting up a lime fresh.

"You're right," Jennifer sighed as she leaned back against the counter next to Anna. She automatically looped her arm around her waist. "Like I said, I'm not trying to… y'know, judge or anything. I've never been in a time machine, so what do I know?"

Smiling slightly, Elsa dropped the citrus wedge into her drink and stirred it in with the ice. "Well… of course I felt an immediate attraction to her. Like a magnetic pull. Me being a senior in high school and definitely not a parent, I had no reason to suspect it was because she was family."

"Yeah, um… I did read up on that Westermarck thing since Anna told me about this. And obviously that has nothing to do with, like, going back and forth through time, but it kind of… like yeah, people are drawn to similarities in each other. So if you see a girl who kinda looks like you, but is different in ways that you like… I guess…"

Anna could tell she looked a little ill to be admitting these things. The whole idea of Anna doing anything non-familial with her mother was still going to be hard for her. So she jumped in with, "Yeah, she has nothing to feel bad about. I'm the one who was an idiot and didn't know how to say 'no' to my own mom."

"Not an idiot," Elsa gently corrected. "Just horny."

"MOM!" Even Punz giggled a little. "Oh, not you, too!"

"Well, you didn't hesitate very long before you went for it with me," Punz needled gently. Anna knew her freckles were disappearing into her blush, but she still pursed her lips and turned away. "Though… I definitely fully understand why you didn't want me to get you back."

"What?" Elsa asked mildly. "Anna didn't let you return the favour?"

Punz shook her head. "Nope. I mean, don't get me wrong – I tried. But she was pretty adamant about uh, 'putting space between the events'." Looking over at Anna, who hadn't said a word, she placed a fond kiss on her cheek. "At the time I was super put out, but I guess it makes sense now, doesn't it?"

Elsa returned, tonic in hand and sitting on the armchair. It had been a silent agreement that Anna and Punz would get the sofa to themselves – and considering where the conversation had gone, it hasn't been a bad idea.

"It didn't feel right. I mean, it'd only been the night before that we were in the car, and…" she trailed off, more for Punz's sake than anything else. They didn't need to go into details.

It was actually Elsa who spoke first, though. "Oh, Anna. You shouldn't punish yourself like that," she said, taking a sip of her drink. Momentarily, Punz's grip tightened. She still didn't speak, though.

"I'm not punishing myself!" she argued. "I just didn't think it was very fair. What if I started thinking about- while she- a-and anyway, why is my sex life so topical? There are more subjects than this one we could talk about!" Then she turned to Punz. "We signed Mom up for a dating site today. Let's see how that goes."

"Oh, you did? What about your dad…?"

At that, Anna turned to Elsa. The older woman put her drink on the coffee table and looked gently at Punz. "Understands. And would be kept in the loop, if such an occasion developed. I'm not going to hold my breath, though."

At that, Punz smiled. "Well, I hope you find a nice girl," she said, and there was genuine honesty in her tone. She did hope Elsa found someone. That thought alone was pretty heartwarming. And then she said something that neither McFly women expected: "If she's anything like Anna, she'll be great."

"We both agree there," Elsa chuckled, though she still looked a little surprised that Punz had drawn that comparison. "Regardless of our encounter in the 80s, my Anna is a wonderful person. Tempted to go into the future and pick up the version that would be my age."

Both girls went silent at that. Elsa took a sip of her tonic water, then seemed to notice that they were shocked, so she lowered the glass very slowly. "I… was joking. Please tell me you know that I'm joking."

Swallowing hard, Anna managed, "Well… I mean… that's pretty… wow."

"You mean a girl like Anna, right?" Jennifer attempted with a nervous laugh, hands white-knuckling on her glass of juice.

"I didn't mean either one seriously!" Elsa exclaimed. "God, haven't we messed around with the timeline enough?!"

"My mommy loves me," Anna muttered to Punz, making them both laugh – even if the latter still was a bit pale. Elsa merely rolled her eyes and went back to her tonic.

"Someone pick something to watch before I find a movie from the forties. How do you feel about Humphrey Bogart?"

The threat seemed to make Anna snatch for the remote right away. The 80s was as far back as she ever wanted to go, both physically and in terms of movies or TV. However, Punz surprised both of them.

"Like 'Casablanca' or the original 'Sabrina'? I'd watch anything with a Hepburn in it."

The two McFlys looked at each other for a moment, before Anna frowned. "I've, uh, I've never seen 'Casablanca'," she admitted. Both Elsa and Punz's face twisted into dual expressions of shock. And some horror, which just made the fact that she'd never watched the classic worth it.

"Well, I suppose that's that," Elsa said with a smile. "'Casablanca' it is."

TO BE CONTINUED…

#Fractal The Future #fruipit #forkanna writes #Back to the Future #elsanna fanfiction #elsanna #jess the writer #nsfw-text

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