#enjoy these terrible edits I threw together in like five minutes | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sassyduckqueen · 4 years

Text

Miraculous: Rise of Anatis Specials 2

Ok! I am issuing a spoiler warning as this is suppose to be set after season 3 and before season 4. However, I have tried to make so you lovely people can read it :D Anyway, I hope you peeps enjoy reading this. As a lot of you know, I'm not impressed with the New York special. There was a lot of cringy moments and honestly I felt like it was hyped up but didn't mean standards. Let's not get me started on the likes of Alya and Nino. I expected something on the lines of that with Alya as that's been her dynamic for most of season 2 and 3 but Nino, you disappoint me *shakes head in shame* anyway! There's none of that in here! Hope you peeps like it :D also I hope you like the chat names for Adrien, Kagami and Marinette. I'm especially proud of Dangernodel as it's a pun on Danger Noodle and Model. I laughed for about 5 minutes straight.

Edit: This is now the updated verison of the NY special

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Heroes Unite (New York Special)

"Since Paris doesn't want us, we go to the moon just like in my favorite book!!" Mr Pigeon declared as he stood on the Eiffel Tower as it headed to space. He looked down and narrowed his eyes as he noticed Anatis and Lady Noir hanging from the tower with Anatis' yoyo. Anatis was looking round trying to formulate a plan to defeat Mr Pigeon with his lucky charm.

"Annie, he won't be able to breath in space and neither will we," Lady Noir gasped as Anatis's luck vision lit up the book in Mr Pigeon's hand, a pigeon and the tower itself. He looked at his lucky charm, causing it to light up as Mr Pigeon made some terrible pun but he smirked."You have a plan right?!"

"Of course I do, kitty," He replied, retracting his yoyo so they began to free fall. "We need to bring him back to earth before he hurts himself,"

Lady Noir nodded and took out a triangle of cheese that was purple in color. At the same time, Anatis took out a macaroon that was the same colour. The two of them ate them and shouted out the words 'power up', transforming them into their flight suits. Like most of his special forms, his basic suit was the same but he had a helmet on over his face and his spots were a glowing blue. He also had blue detail on his mask, gloves and boots as well as a backpack on his back which gave him blue insect wings that glowed. Lady Noir had a similar base outfit to her normal design as well but she had more green detail across her outfit and also had a backpack on her back. She got bright green batlike wings and she had a helmet on her face too. Unlike Anatis though, who's hair stayed the same as his normal form, her hair became a glowing blue. The two sped off towards Mr Pigeon and the two.

"What's the plan?" Lady Noir called out.

"The akuma is in the book. I need you to destroy it as soon as he's distracted," Anatis yelled back, getting a nod of Lady Noir. He glided across to the tower and ran up it, throwing his yoyo round Mr Pigeon's hands. He used his lucky charm to secure it to the tower and scared the pigeons enough to cause them to fly. Using the coverage that the Pigeons provided, Lady Noir called on her power and grabbed the book, destroying it and releasing the akuma. Anatis freed his yoyo and caught it, purifying it and freeing it. He grabbed his lucky charm and threw it in the air. "Miraculous Ladybugs!!"

The item burst into the magical swarm of bugs and spread around fixing everything. Lady Noir and Anatis landed on the tower as Mr Pigeon turned back to normal. Anatis picked up the book and placed it back in it's place. Lady Noir walked over to him and smiled.

"Good job today, Annie," She grinned, making him look at her as he raised an eyebrow.

"Isn't it my job to tell you that?" He asked in a playful manner. She giggled a little before gently nudging him.

"You can still tell me that if you want," She grinned. He smiled before ruffling her hair, making her purr a little.

"Good job today, Kitten," He smirked before his earrings beeped their first warning. He frowned and turned to her, taking out his yoyo. "Sorry, Kitten, I have to go. You still up for patrol tonight?"

"Of course. Usual time and place?" She asked, getting a nod of him as her ring beeped. "Cool!"

"See you there then," He replied, getting a nod of her before he left the office and dived off the tower, swinging off into the city. Lady Noir let out a little sigh as she watched him go before jumping off the tower and heading to a nearby alleyway. She dropped her transformation and caught Plagg. He let out a tired sigh but peaked up the moment she handed him a chunk of cheese.

"You're the best, Dollface," He grinned as he began to devour it. Marinette smiled sweetly before slipping him into her purse and began to run off. She had to return back to school since the akuma had been defeated but even then, Mr Pigeon wasn't considered a high threat to her or Anatis. They had come up with a code in case they needed to contact the other before they arrived. Code Grey was for weak akumas such as Mr Pigeon and was named after him. Code Black was for akumas on the same power level as the likes of Lady Wifi. Code Yellow was for akumatized miraculous holders, named after Queen Wasp. Though Chloe had come leaps and bounds since the incident. She was actually been nice but not because of got her any favors but just to be nice. Sure, she still wasn't perfect. She messed up but since becoming friends with Marinette and Luka, Chloe was working on been a better person and unlike most people, Luka was not afraid to tell her off. If she threatened to call her father, he countered with a threat to call the Captain, which worked every time. As for the next code, that is code silver and was for high powered akumas such as Party Crasher. The next code was Code Blue and it meant either Mayura or a sentimonster and their final code was Code Purple. That was only used if Hawkmoth himself made an appearance. They came up with the codes after heroes day as that was all unexpected and they wanted to be better prepared. Anatis had also started to train the temp heroes both in combat and in calming techniques. They needed to be in control of their emotions. Sometimes, him and Lady Noir spend a good hour of so meditating together during patrol. They would often go through the battles and try to work out how to prevent future triggers. Thanks to Alya, they had set up a page on the Ladyblog to help people work through their emotions in a healthy way. However, they still hadn't found a way to prevent Mr. Ramier from been akumatized. They tried a lot but he seemed to have different triggers that weren't necessarily related to pigeons. However, they would go through the battle tonight. Marinette slowly down a little as she saw a new Adrien poster, making her smile and take a picture of it before she opened her messages.

Purrincess-Nettie: @Dangernodel Saw your latest poster. Love the new outfit in it

Dangernodel: Thanks @Purrincess-Nettie. Though I always prefer your stuff

Purrincess-Nettie: That's because I'm a genius when it comes to making clothes

Dangernodel: #truth #preach

Marinette giggled and shook her head before continuing to back to the school. She skipped over to Alya as the class began to head into the library. Chloe waved at her, making her smile and wave before she sat down next to Adrien and Nino. Alya sat down next to them and gently leaned on Nino's shoulder as Mr Damocles cleared his voice.

"As you all know, this week coming is the french American friendship week. You all did wonderful on your projects and as a reward, we have arranged for a five day trip to New York. Now you will be expected to do some school work and experience school in New York but this will also serve as a reward so we will be visiting famous locations and there will be free time to enjoy what New York has to offer," He explained, making the students grin excitedly before he handed permission slips to Miss Bustier. "We have already arranged a place to stay and the flights are booked. We just need your parents' permission to say you can go. Miss Bustier is going to hand the slips to you. Your parents will need to sign them by this weekend. A letter detailing the trip is also attached. Yes, Marinette?"

"Are we the only class to go?" She asked, making Mr Damocles smile.

"No, Mrs Mendeleiev's class will also be going," He replied, making her smile. That meant Luka will be going as well, along with Marc and Aurora. "We've already given out their permission slips and were about to give your class yours but Mr Pigeon interrupted us,"

At that, the whole class groaned in annoyance. Marinette took the permission as Adrien sighed, looking sad. However, Lila went to reject the permission slip as Miss Bustier handed one to Kim, who happened to be next to her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry but I can't possibly go to due to my charity work," She lied but Mr Damocles cleared his throat.

"Miss Rossi, we are aware that you are not allowed to go so please don't make up some story," He stated, making her frown. Marinette held back a smile. Lila didn't have as much power as she thought she had. She still hadn't been fully exposed yet but almost everyone took her stories with a grain of salt. Mr Damocles moved past her and handed slips out to the others as Lila continued to frown.

"What but sir, I'm not ly-"

"Expect you are, Lila," Marinette pointed out with the rest of the class nodding. Lila glared at them before huffing and folding her arms. She did actually want to go to New York but since she had been targeted by a number of akumas, her mother didn't want her to go too far from home. She had hoped to convince the class that she had to stay behind for a charity event so she could be the talk of the class but hardly anyone took her stories as fact anymore. Even Alya was taking her stories with a grain of salt. She huffed and crossed her arms as Marinette smirked at her before turning to Adrien. "Are you ok?"

"My father isn't going to let me go," He sighed, looking down as Nino rubbed his back. Marinette frowned deeply before grinning at him and winking in a very Lady Noir style.

"Leave that to me, Adrien. I'll convince him to let you come to New York," She grinned, making him sigh and shake his head, claiming it was no good. "Hey, you're my friend and I will not take no for answer. You know how stubborn I can be,"

"Everyone knows that," Alya joked, making her laugh before looking at Adrien and giving him a reassuring smile. "However, she won't be alone in this,"

"Damn right," Kim nodded, pointing to himself. "We're gonna help. Right, Alix?"

"Getting Adrien's dad to let him go will be a piece of cake," She grinned as the rest of the class cheered.

"Guys, I really appreciate it but this is my dad we're talking about," He stated but then he noticed the grin on Marinette's face.

"Which is why we're bringing in the big guns," She smirked, already texting on her phone. Mr Damocles went to tell her off but she grinned. "Kagami is down with helping us convince your father to let you come with us. Chloe, you ready to help?"

"Of course, I am," She grinned, making Marinette smile.

"Trust us, Adrien. We're getting you to New York,"

"Thanks, Marinette," He grinned before looking at the rest of the class, apart from Lila. "Thank you all of you,"

"Now that's been sorted," Mr Damocles stated. "Miss Bustier won't be able to join us due to medical problems but Mrs Mendeleiev will be substituting for her,"

Instantly, the class groaned but Mr Damocles hushed them.

"Now we need those slips in as soon as possible so please remember to get your parents to sign them," He explained, just as the bell rang. The class got up and left the room, heading to the locker room. Marinette grabbed her bag and skipped outside to meet Kagami. They needed a plan to get Mr Agreste to let Adrien go to New York. She hummed to herself as she sat on the bench, texting Kagami to meet her there before sending a text to her parents. A few seconds later, her mother buzzed back with permission. All she needed to do now was to get them to sign the slip.

"Mari!!" A voice called out, making her look over. Luka waved as he walked over, making her smile and jump to her feet. She threw herself at him, causing him to laugh as he caught her. "You ok? Your heartsong is so loud and exciting,"

"We're going to New York!!" She grinned, making him laugh. "Please tell me you're gonna be going right?!"

"Of course. I've always wanted to visit," He smiled, holding her waist. He quickly realized and blushed, moving his hands. "You're able to go right?"

"Yep," She grinned before frowning a little. "But I'm meeting Kagami to try and work out how to get Adrien's dad to let him go. Wanna join us? We're making a plan,"

"No plan, Marinette," Kagami stated as she walked over before nodding at Luka. "We head to Agreste Manor now and we don't take no for an answer,"

"Uh... no plan?" She gasped, not expecting that but Luka gave her a gentle smile. "You know what! Yeah, let's go!!"

"That's the spirit," He smiled before looking at them. "Still want me to come along?"

"Damn right, you're my emotional support musician," Marinette grinned, grabbing his hand and dragging him off. Instantly, his face flushed, causing Kagami to rise an eyebrow and follow them. She took her phone and began to text as she followed them.

DragonQueen: @Dangernodel heading to yours to take down your father. Also does Luka like Marinette? I think they would make a cute couple

Dangernodel: @DragonQueen I believe he does but seems to lack the confidence to tell her. I think he believes he's not good enough for her #lies #lukanette4ever

DragonQueen: Should we try to set them up together?

Dangernodel: I wouldn't set them up. That could backfire and hurt both of them in the long run but encouraging them could help. No to been pushy but yes to suggesting romantic things to them

DragonQueen: I see. We don't directly interfere but we encourage from the sidelines

Dangernodel: Exactly. Great minds think alike, my dragon

DragonQueen: Oh stop it, you danger noodle

"Kagami!! Come on!!" Marinette shouted, causing her to look up and join them. Luka's face was bright red but he was holding Marinette's hand and she seemed quite happy to do so. Nodding as she walked over, she reminded herself. Encourage from the sidelines. Enough to help but not to hinder.

(***)

"So that's why you should let Adrien go to New York!" Marinette gasped as she came to the end of her speech. Luka was staring at her with amazement, Kagami was nodding and Mr Agreste had his classic stony glare across his face. Marinette swallowed as she looked at him. He didn't looked convinced at all. Marinette couldn't help the thoughts that flooded her mind as she realized Mr Agreste was probably going to say no. Adrien would be so sad because he wouldn't be able to go to New York with his friends or his girlfriend. She went to add more to her argument but Mr Agreste held up his hand, silencing her. She nervously bit her lip as he glared down at her.

"Young lady, I -"

"We won't leave here until you agree to let Adrien go!!" Marinette declared with an expression of pure determination. "He deserves to go on this trip!!"

"Then it's a good thing that I've decided to let Adrien to go along with his classmates," Mr Agreste declared, making the three teenagers blinked as he smiled in a way that made them a little uneasy but the three of them just thought it was because he never smiled.

"You... have?" Luka asked as Marinette blinked.

"You three have... convinced me," He stated, smiling in that weird way. "Clearly, the three of you are good friends to my son. Now if you excuse me, I have to attend to some new designs,"

"R-right," Marinette nodded before smiling. "Thank you, Mr Agreste,"

He nodded before turning on his heel and walking off. The three of them walked out, still a little shell shocked by the fact that he was letting Adrien go to New York with them. The first one to smile was Kagami though, followed by both Luka and Marinette.

"We did it," She declared as they walked over to the rest of Marinette's class. Instantly, they began to cheer as they were happy with the outcome. Kagami turned to Marinette and smiled. "I shall inform Adrien of our victory against his father and tell him of your noble deeds,"

"I mean it wasn't really noble... he deserved to come along with the rest of us and now we can all hang out in New York!!" Marinette grinned, excitedly before turning to Luka. "I'm so glad your class gets to come along as well, Luka! We're gonna have so much fun together!! Oooh we can have hotdogs!!"

"I can't wait for it either, Mari," Luka smiled. "I've always wanted to see New York..."

"Oooh! We should do a sleep over on the night before we leave! Then we can get to the coach together!" She grinned, making him smile.

"That sounds great," He grinned, gently ruffling her hair. "Bakery or the boat?"

"How about the bakery? We can get some croissants for breakfast," She suggested, making him smile before Juleka cleared her throat, causing them to look at her. Rose was grinning as well.

"That actually works perfectly because me and Juleka were going to stay over mine," She declared before looking at Marinette. "Plus Luka can help you wake up on time since we all know you're terrible at getting up in the morning,"

"Hey!! That's not true!!" Marinette gasped as Juleka snored with laughter as she attempted to chase Rose. Unfortunately, she failed to see a loose stone in front of her and tripped over, flailing her arms as she began to fall but before she could hit the ground, Luka caught her.

"You ok?" He asked with concern as her face turned bright red. She stood up straight and rubbed the back of her head as she smiled nervously.

"I'm good," She nodded, looking at him before she smiled shyly. "Thank you,"

"No problem, Mari," He smiled before rubbing his own neck. "Anyway... I better head off. I have a shift to do tonight,"

"I didn't know you were working tonight," Juleka mumbled, crossing her arms but Luka shrugged.

"Took on an extra shift," He replied, unlocking his bike. He put on his helmet and turned to everyone. "I'll see you guys later,"

"Bye, Luka," Marinette smiled as he waved before he cycled off. She let a gentle sigh as she watched him go but jumped when Alya placed her arm around her shoulders.

"Girl, you have it so bad," She grinned, making Marinette blush as the rest of the class sniggered a little.

"You should see Luka," Juleka mumbled. "The love struck fool is head over heels for our favorite baker girl,"

"Luka... likes me?" Marinette asked but when she thought about it, it did make sense. Luka had wrote songs for her, always complimented her and of course, he had told her that she was the song in his head. She blushed as she remembered the words he said to her when Kitty Section performed at the Kidz plus studio but of course, she had been getting over Adrien then but now... well, now her and Adrien were best friends. He felt her brother and acted like it too but Luka... Luka was amazing. So amazing that she honestly thought he was out of her league and she loved her friendship with him. She felt like she could just be herself and he never thought of her in a bad way. He believed her when Lila returned and stood up for her when she began to bully Marinette again. He supported her and encouraged her but he only liked her as a friend. Besides, he had probably moved on from her. After all, until recently she was tore between him and Adrien. "I mean sure, he likes me. I'm his friend..."

"Girl, that boy likes you as way more then a friend!" Alya gasped with the rest of the girls nodding.

"Even I can see how smitten he is with you," Chloe added in, smiling a little. "It's ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous,"

"But so romantic too!!" Rose gushed, holding her hands together.

"I would say it is clear how Luka feels about you, Marinette," Kagami piped in, remembering Adrien's advice. Encourage but don't pressure. Help but never hinder. "Maybe you could use the trip to New York to express your feelings to him. Statically speaking, New York is the second most romantic city in the world. The first obviously been Paris,"

"I d-don't know..." Marinette gasped as a blush came on her cheeks. "What if he actually just likes me as a friend and I ruin our friendship by telling him that I'm in love with him?! What if he rejects me?! Oh, no! He'll hate me and refuse to hang out with me again!!"

"According to my calculations, there is a 94 % chance that Luka will accept your confession and return your feelings," Max piped in. "There is a 6% chance that he only views you as a friend and 0% chance that he'll reject your confession and end up hating you. I believe it is impossible for Luka to hate anyone, expect XY and Bob Roth but we all know why that is the case,"

"And Hawkmoth," Alix pointed out.

"Yeah but everyone hates Hawkmoth," Kim countered, making everyone nod before turning to Marinette. "Anyway, I'm sure that Luka likes you as way more then a friend. He'll be a doofus not to. Ondine totally agrees too,"

"Thanks, Kim," Marinette smiled as they walked down the street and towards the bakery. "Alright. I'm gonna head inside. I can't wait to go to New York with everyone,"

"See you tomorrow, girl," Alya waved as she walked off with Nino. Juleka and Rose said their goodbyes and headed off with Ivan and Mylene. Gradually, the rest of the class waved goodbye and Marinette headed into the apartment. She climbed the stairs and headed into the kitchen, gently kissing Sabine on the cheek before she sat down and began to discuss the school trip with her parents. They were happy for her to go as it was a great opportunity to see the US and it was a reward with the school. They sighed the permission slip and she placed it in her bag, ready for school tomorrow before she ate her dinner. "Actually... would I be able to have Luka round the night before I go to New York? Both of our classes are going and we figured we could do a sleepover so we can both get the coach together,"

"Well, he'll have to sleep in the spare room but I see no issue with having Luka around," Her mother smiled as her father looked like he was able to explode with excitement. Luka and Marinette had been growing a lot closer and it was clear to him that they had feelings for each other. Been the romantic that he was, he had already attempted to invite Luka to brunch and he fully approved of the boy. He was also so respectful and came across as a kind and gentle soul. "Tom, are you ok with Luka staying over?"

"Yes! Why don't we have brunch-"

"Papa, we can't," Marinette gasped, going bright red. "L-Luka isn't interested in me in that way and besides we'll have a plane to catch,"

"But sweetie-"

"Papa, we don't want another weredad incident," She stated, crossing her arms. Her father had accidentally walked in her talking with Anatis and jumped to conclusions. He had invited him to a romantic brunch but Anatis had rejected it. He tried to explain that he was just trying to check on Marinette after an akuma had destroyed her room and that he couldn't date her as a superhero. Because of that, he had to rejected Marinette and Tom got akumatized over it. Tom sighed but nodded in agreement. "Good. Now I have home work to do then I'm off to bed. Good night,"

"Good night, sweetie,"

~Meanwhile~

Luka couldn't help but smile and hum to himself as he cycled down the street. Tikki was sat in his basket, smiling a little as he came to the liberty. His shift had gone well and had been a little short but he wasn't complaining. He took the extra shift so he had decent spending money in New York. He parked his bike and locked it up before Tikki flew up and landed on his shoulder.

"You're in a really good mood, Luka," She grinned as he headed downstairs. The Captain was out at the studio and Juleka was on a date with Rose so she wouldn't be back til later, which he was glad about. He did not need her to tease him about liking Marinette.

"I'm excited, Tikki," He smiled. "I get to go to New York with Marinette and the rest of our friends,"

"New York?" Tikki gasped. "But who's going to look after Paris?"

"I already have a plan for that," He smiled, gesturing towards a black and red guitar case. "I'm sure Master Fu will be fine with Kaalki coming to New York with us. I'll also keep an eye with the akuma app. The moment it gets alert-"

"You'll use the horse miraculous to teleport there, take down the akuma and return to New York," Tikki gasped, grinning. "Very creative,"

"Well, I do have the goddess of creation as my friend," He smiled, making her giggle. "Anyway, Luka Couffaine will be in New York but Anatis will be in Paris as far as everyone else is concerned,"

“Well, we better head to Master Fu to ask him for the Horse miraculous,”

“That’s where we’re going,”

~Later that Night~

Lady Noir grinned as she ran across the rooftops of Paris and jumped across to the meeting spot. There was nothing like the feeling of the wind in her hair as she raced across the roofs. She used her baton to fling herself across the rooftops before rolling on the roof and standing up. She looked around and found that Anatis wasn't here yet. Letting out a little sigh, she sat down on the edge of the roof and smiled as she looked out at the Eiffel tower. It would be weird not been in Paris or meeting Anatis for patrol but she had to be in New York and honestly, she was looking really forward to it, especially with the fact that she will be with Luka. The sound of a yoyo jolted her out of her thoughts, causing her to look and smile as Anatis landed on the roof.

"Hey, kitten," He smiled, walking over to her and sitting down.

"Hey, Annie," She smiled, stretching. "I have some news for you,"

"Oh?" He asked, looking at her. She nervously bit her lip. Instantly, he felt worried. "Are you ok?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine... look I'm be going away for a few days," She stated, making him look at her as she pressed her fingers together. Instantly, she felt guilty as she realized he would be alone in Paris. "I'm sorry. I didn't think it through. You'll be alone to protect Paris... I'll just cancel-"

"There's no way am I let you cancel," He grinned, gently nudging her arm with his. "You go and enjoy your trip. As far as I'm concerned, you've earnt it so don't worry about me ok? I can handle a few days without you,"

"So you're not mad?" Lady Noir asked, making him frown a little. "Or disappointed?"

"Of course not," He smiled, scratching her ears. She began to purr and nuzzle his hand like an actual cat. "You're allowed to have fun, kitty and if I get really desperate, I can literally phone you and get your location then borrow the horse miraculous from Master Fu and come get you,"

"Good point," She smiled, feeling a little dumb that she forgot that but Anatis laughed a little, making her smile. "So shall we discuss Mr Pigeon?"

"Oh kwami. I'm not sure I want to," He gasped, shaking his head as he smirked. "51 times! How is a guy obsessed with pigeons our most akumatized villain?"

"Tell me about it," She giggled before the two of them began to do really bad impressions of him before laughing. She gently leaned on him as the two of them looked at the Eiffel tower. "At least, he's not very threatening,"

"True," He replied before looking at her. "So how long you away for?"

"Five days," She replied, looking at him. "You sure you'll be ok?"

"I'll be fine," He grinned, placing his hands behind his head. "It will be a breeze,"

"Ooh, someone's confident," She teased, making him grin before jumping up. "Wanna race to the Louvre? Loser has to buy ice cream!"

"You're on," He declared, jumping before the two of them ran off into the night.

~The Night Before the Flight~

Marinette laughed as Luka caught a piece of popcorn in his mouth, grinning as he chewed on the piece of candy. He grabbed a piece and threw it towards her. She attempted to catch it but failed, causing him to crack up with laughter along with her before she threw a piece of popcorn at him. It landed in his hair, making her giggle even more. He laughed as well before the two of them flopped down in the beanbags and looked up at her skylight. They had been spending the evening playing video games and watching films but Luka started the popcorn thing by catching one in his mouth and Marinette wanted to see if he could catch one if she threw it.

"Hey, Mari,"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks for having me around," He smiled, turning to look at her. She grinned and turned to face him. He moved and leaned on his arm. "Are you looking forward to New York?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure how I'm gonna sleep to be honest," She grinned, clearly excited. She was practically vibrating with excitement. "Are you?"

"Excited? Yeah," He grinned before flopping back down on the beanbags and placing his hands under his head. "It's been a while since I've been on a plane though. In fact, the last time was when I was a kid. We went to go visit my grandpa for his birthday,"

"Really? Where does he live?"

"Scotland," Luka grinned. "Right in the highlands too but he's a grumpy old pirate... Scotland is beautiful though,"

"I bet," She grinned. "I'd love to go to China at some point,"

"China? That would be exciting,"

"It really would. Oh, I could go visit my uncle Cheng," She grinned before yawning. Luka yawned as well but before he could get up, she moved and rested on him, making him blush.

"Aren't I suppose to be staying in the guest room?" He asked as he poked her gently. She looked at him before smiling in a cheeky manner before she snuggled against him.

"Yeah but you're comfy," She mumbled, sleepily. He grabbed his phone and set his alarm on it before placing it down. He started to hum gently as he ran his fingers through her hair. Within a few minutes, he could hear light snoring as Marinette had fallen asleep. He smiled gently as he looked at her.

"Cute," He muttered before closing his own eyes. He fell asleep almost straight away, holding Marinette as he did. Neither of them realized that her parents check in on her and took a photo of the two slumbering teens, cooing over how cute they looked. Once they had disappeared back downstairs, Tikki flew out and pulled a blanket over Luka and Marinette before snuggling back into his hoodie. Plagg, on the other hand, was already napping and dreaming of the American cheeses he would be trying when they got there.

~Next Morning~

"Ah!! We're gonna be so late!!" Marinette gasped as the two of them rushed out of the bakery. Luka was carrying their suitcases and Marinette had their croissants in her hands. For once though, she had been able to get up on time. Luka had helped with that as he often got up early anyway, usually to practice his guitar or his martial arts but this morning, he had woken her up almost as soon as he was awake too. Her father, however, tried to make them breakfast and attempted to get them to stay. Thanks to her mother though, they had managed to escape and were on route to the school. Marinette took out her phone and called Alya. "Hi! We're nearly there. You haven't set off yet?"

"Not yet, girl but Mrs Mendeleiev is getting impatient," Alya replied as they ran across the road. "Hold up... I think I see you. Mrs Mendeleiev, Mr Damocles!! Luka and Marinette are here!!"

"Just in time," Luka smiled as they rushed over to the bus driver. "Sorry for been late, sir,"

"You're just in the time," He smiled, helping them place their suitcases in the luggage area. Luka thanked him and helped Marinette onto the coach. She grinned and took her seat next to Alya as he sat down next to Aurora.

"That was cutting it close, Luka," Aurora grinned as the bus driver got on and began to drive. Luka couldn't help but smile as he was super excited. He had the horse miraculous on him and Tikki was happily curled up in his pocket. His phone was set to alert him the moment a live new report or an akuma alert went off and he was going to be spending five days in New York with his friends and of course, Marinette. Not that she was more important then everyone else. Aurora grinned as she gently poked his cheek, causing him to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "Sooo... you told her yet?"

"Told who what?" He asked as he glanced over to Marinette. She was happily chatting to Alya but grinned and waved when she saw Luka looking in her direction. He blushed a little but waved back.

"That you're in love with Marinette," Aurora gasped in a hushed whisper, making him look at her with surprise. She giggled a little at his expression.

"That obvious huh?" He asked sheepishly before sighing. "I haven't told her because she's still hung up on Adrien and I don't want to pressure her or make her feel uncomfortable,"

"Oh, you are too much, Luka Couffaine," Aurora grinned before looking at Marinette. "But I don't think she's... uh... "hung up" on Adrien anymore. Hey, you should totally use New York to confess your love for her,"

"Well, I kind of already told her my feelings but she hasn't returned them..."

"Well, maybe that's because she thinks they had an expiry date so she thinks you're no longer interested," Aurora pointed out, making Luka think before gently nudging him. "But at the end of the day, it's down to you. I'll still be your best friend and help you regardless of your choice,"

"Thanks, Aurora," He smiled.

"Though... I might steal her away at this rate!!" She grinned, making him pretend gasp.

"You wouldn't?!"

~Meanwhile, on the other side of the bus~

"Soooo anything interest happen between you and Luka last night?" Alya asked, wiggling her eyebrows. Marinette laughed and gently shoved her, shaking her head. "Come on, girl! Give me the deets,"

"It was just a normal sleepover, Alya," She smiled, looking over at him. He was talking to Aurora and glanced over to her. She smiled and waved at him, causing him to smile back shyly and wave back before she turned back to Alya. "We gamed, watched a movie, threw popcorn at each other... Luka is really good at catching popcorn with his mouth... and then we went to bed. He was suppose to be staying in the guest room but I kind of fell asleep on him,"

"So he stayed in the same room as you?!" Rose gushed, making Marinette jump. "Oooh!! So romantic!!"

"Nooo... it's just what friends do..." She gasped, blushing. Now that she thought about it, it really was romantic and it felt so nice been in Luka's arms and falling to sleep while he hummed softly and played with her hair.

"Sure," Alya grinned before smiling. "So did you just fall asleep on him?"

"Well... we were talking beforehand and he was humming and playing with my hair," She mumbled, making the girls go aww. She blushed even more. "W-We're just friends... right?"

"Maybe but do you want to be more?" Alya asked, making Marinette gasp and look away shyly. Alya frowned a little before deciding to change the subject. "So what's the first thing everyone wants to do in New York? I really wanna see if I can meet Majestia,"

"Majestia?" Marinette asked, looking at her best friend with a confused look. "Isn't that the superhero from the comic you read?"

"It is!" Alya gasped, nodding. "But like the miraculous comics, it's based on a real life superhero. Majestia and her sidekick, Uncanny Valley, protect New York, along with Knightowl and his sidekick, Sparrow. In fact, there's a whole super group called United Heroes! If I can, I would love to get an interview with one of them for my blog!!"

"But isn't your blog about Anatis and Lady Noir?" Rose asked, confused but Alya smiled.

"Not for that one. I have a lesser known blog called Heroes-Unite. Of course, it's no where near as populate as the Ladyblog but still," She mumbled, blushing a little as the class gasped and looked it up. With minutes, they were all following it. "Anyway, what do you guys want to do?"

"Me and Juleka want to go to the museums!" Rose grinned, happily before everyone began to tell them what they wanted to do before they all looked at Marinette, who blinked and smiled.

"Well, other then get hotdogs and hang out with everyone... I really want to take photos of New York. I think I can get some inspiring ones and hopefully I'll be able to make some new pieces based on it,"

"Aww!! That's gonna be amazing!!" Rose gushed, getting a nod of Juleka.

"I can't wait to see how it comes out,"

~At the Airport~

"So Marinette seems to think Luka isn't interested in her?" Kagami muttered as she stroked Adrien's hair. His head was in her lap as they were waiting to board the plane.

"And Luka thinks that Marinette isn't interested in him and that she's too good for him," Adrien sighed as Alya nodded before he sat up. He looked over at where Luka and Marinette were. They were smiling as they chatted, clearly comfortable in each other's company. Nothing like how she was around him. "They would make such a good couple,"

"I agree," Kagami muttered.

"We could try and set them up on a date," Nino suggested but Adrien shook his head.

"If it's to happen, it has to be a natural progression. We can't interfere directly,"

"But we can encourage," Kagami smiled. "The blueberries deserve to be happy,"

"Ok, everyone!! The plane is boarding now!!" Mrs Mendeleiev declared, getting everyone to bring to board. Luka smiled and helped Marinette with her case as they looked for their seats.

"Where are you sat?" Marinette asked, looking up at him.

"B31," He replied, looking at her.

"B32! Luka, we sat together!!" She grinned as they walked onto the plane. He smiled as they found their seats. Marinette attempted to lift her suitcase but almost dropped it until he caught it and helped her put it away. She blushed and rubbed her neck. "Thanks, Luka,"

"No worries, Mari," He smiled, putting his own away before the two of them sat down. Marinette, however, was playing with her hands and looking around. "You ok?"

"I... I'm really nervous..." She gasped. "Is it hot? It feels hot,"

"Hang on," He muttered, standing up and turning on the air conditioning. Marinette felt herself cool down as he sat back down before he faced her. "Better?"

"Much,"

"Is that your first time flying?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. Her song was all jittery and nervous. She blushed and nodded as the captain began to talk. "Don't worry. Flying's really fun and I'll be right here next to you,"

"Thanks, Luka," Marinette smiled, feeling a lot better as the captain began to talk, going through the safety protocols. She did up her seatbelt and smiled nervously as the plane began to move. Luka gave her a reassuring smile and held out his hand. Shyly smiling, she took it as the plane began to speed up. It suddenly jolted, making her squeeze his hand and close her eyes but then it went smooth again. Slowly, she opened her eyes and saw Luka smiling at her.

"We're in the air now," He muttered before flicking through the films with his free hand. "Wanna watch Miraculous: The Movie?"

"Sure," She smiled. He smiled back and pressed play, keeping his hand in hers as they watched the film. Marinette ended up leaning against him and gradually she felt asleep as the plane flew. When she next opened her eyes, she found a blanket over her but the seat next to her empty. She yawned and looked around, noticing everyone else was asleep but she couldn't see Luka. She carefully got up and made her way past the rest of the passengers. Alya and Nino were sleeping next to each other. Rose and Juleka were curled up in each other's arms while Mylene and Ivan snoozed near them. Marc had his head resting on Nathaniel's shoulder and Adrien was leaning against Kagami. Marinette smiled gently before she noticed someone stood at the rear of the plan. She frowned a little but realized it was Luka. He was stood on his own, looking outside the window. She blushed a little as he kind of reminded her of Anatis and how he would stand looking out from her balcony. She walked over and cleared her throat, making him look at her. "You ok?"

"Yeah... I just wanted to look out of the window..." He smiled, looking back. "It's like a whole different world up here. I like how we're sailing in a sea of clouds,"

"Yeah?" She asked before looking over. The sun was slowly rising so the clouds appeared in a golden light. Marinette couldn't help the soft gasp that escaped her lips as she glanced outside. It was so beautiful. She felt a sense of calm wash over her as she stood next to Luka and just looked outside. "It's really beautiful,"

"Yeah," He smiled. "I might write a song about it,"

"I should make a dress based on it," She grinned, making him smile before she gasped and pointed as a flock of birds flew by. He chuckled and smiled gently as she continued to look.

"I'm glad I can share this with you," He muttered, causing her to ask if he said something. He shook his head and looked back out of the window. He glanced down as Tikki gently poked his leg before grinning up at him and mouthed 'tell her'. Luka bit his lip and looked at her. He could tell her that he loved her. The sunrise was really romantic and everyone was asleep so she wouldn't be embarrassed. "Marinette, I ha-"

Before he could completely his sentence, the plane jolted causing the two of them to be slammed against the floor. Luka gasped and helped Marinette to her feet, making sure she wasn't hurt. The two of them looked outside as a blue man in an orange jumpsuit landed on the wing of the plane but before either could react, he placed his hands on the plane and caused the engine to stop working, causing the plane to go lob-sided and an alert to go off. Luka groaned as his back hit the side of the plane before he looked at Marinette who was stuck against the other side of the window.

"Are you ok?" He called out, making her look at him.

"Y-yeah... bit scared though," She replied.

"Don't worry, sweethearts," A female voice suddenly said, making them look to the side. A girl with three eyes was looking in the window. She was smiling as she looked at them. "We have the situation under control. Dear passengers, united heroes are here to protect you,"

In the distance, they both heard Alya gasp and squeal with excitement.

"Uncanny valley!!" She gasped. "The first superhero made with artificial intelligence! She was built by Majestia... which means...!"

Both Marinette and Luka looked at each other as Alya squealed but to their surprise, the plane stopped tilting and actually became upright again. As soon as they're feet were on the ground, Luka grabbed Marinette's hand and rushed back over their seats.

"Are you hurt?" He asked, concern in his face.

"No, I'm ok," She gasped, looking just as concerned. "Are you?"

"I'm fine,"

"Wow, Majestia in person!!" Alya gasped, making them look over at her. "So cool!"

"Well... at least, Alya's excited?" Luka mumbled as she looked out the window. He rose an eyebrow as Mr Damocles rushed to the bathroom but an explosion outside caught his attention. He quickly got up and looked out a window as a man dressed like an owl landed on the wing with a side kick. Alya confirmed that it was in the Knightowl and Luka found himself impressed as he captured the thief quickly. He watched as the three eyed girl fixed the engine, allowing a blonde woman who he guessed was Majestia to fly up as the plane was fully functional now. She flew over to the window with the three eyed girl and smiled.

"I'd like to welcome you to the united states and enjoy your stay," Majestia stated as she waved at them before flying off with the thief and the rest of the heroes. Almost instantly, Alya began to fangirl but Luka returned to his seat and turned to Marinette.

"You sure you're ok?"

"Well... that was a bit scary but american superheroes... how cool is that?"

"It is pretty cool," He smiled, nodding. Fortunately, the rest of the flight was normal and uneventful. They landed with no trouble and got their luggage almost straight away. Once in the airport, the classes were put onto another coach to drive them to the location they would be staying at. Marinette was sat back with Alya while Luka was sat with Aurora, who was happily chatting away about the heroes and the thief who apparently was called Techno pirate but she soon stopped talking and frowned as Luka sighed.

"You ok, guitar boi?" She asked, making him look at her.

"Yeah... I just... I tried to tell her but that thief turned up..." He sighed. "Why is it every time I try to tell her my feelings something goes wrong?"

"Hey, that's not the case. It was just bad timing on Techno pirate's end, not yours," She grinned before gently nudging him. "Besides, your luck will line up. Everyone knows you're the luckiest kid in school so just pluck up some courage and tell her,"

"Thanks, Aurora," He muttered, looking over at Marinette as she took in New York with glee and awe. His eyes softened as he looked at her. She looked beautiful as she smiled and pointed out things to Alya.

~Meanwhile~

"The little croissants are en route," Sparrow declared in the earpiece as Uncanny Valley flew towards the building's roof. She landed on the roof and turned into her human form. In it, she wore a cute gray skirt with tights and a pink faded t-shirt with three stars on it. Her hair had transformed into dark curls which she wore loose and she had ballet pumps on.

"Good, don't leave them," Knightowl ordered as the bus came to a stop. Sparrow fired their grapple gun and pulled themselves onto the roof as well before turning into their civilian form. She wore a faded blue jeans with a top that was styled similar to a baseball shirt. It was red on the arms and the main part of it was white but it had a yellow sun in the middle of it. Her hair was tied into two braids tied with leather binds. She grabbed her skateboard and head to join Uncanny Valley downstairs as the french kids came in.

"Two of them are missing," Valley stated, looking around before she noticed them at the door. Marinette was attempting to get her suitcase in while trying to get the door to open. Luka was trying to get her to let him help so she could open the door. "There they are,"

She placed her hand on the door switch and used her powers to cause it to open. However, Marinette ended up tripping and falling over her suitcase. Luka rushed over and helped up as it got the attentions of some of the other teenagers in there. A guy in gray pants, yellow shirt and a dark green jacket walked over and helped them.

"You guys alright?" He asked, getting a nod of Marinette as Luka helped her collect the things that fell out of her suitcase. She gave him a bashful smile as he handed them back to her. "Hey, nice hair dude,"

"Thanks," Luka muttered, helping Marinette to her feet before turning to Mason. "I'm Luka. This is Marinette. We're from Dupont high in Paris,"

"Dude, you're the French kids everyone's been talking about," He grinned, shaking Luka's hand. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Mason by the way. I'm here with my class too. We're from Armstrong High in Queens,"

"Cool," Luka smiled as Sparrow joined Uncanny Valley. She rolled her eyes as she looked at them.

"Urg!! Babysitting some tourists!" She groaned, placing her skateboard down and sitting down as she crossed her arms. "Don't they have something better for us to do?"

"Those two are made from each other," Valley stated as she sat down on the edge of the sofa, causing Sparrow to groan as she looked at Luka and Marinette.

"Seriously, Aeon, not again!"

"But I'm programmed to help people, Jess," She replied, a little confused by Jess's reaction. Jess gently placed her hand on her shoulder and smiled.

"Just stop meddling with people's private lives," She suggested, causing Aeon to frown a little before she nodded.

"You're right," She smiled. "Let's just follow the orders and protect the tourists,"

Both girls looked up as Mrs Mendeleiev clapped her hands, getting her class's attention.

"Listen up, students. You will go to your rooms by groups of four. Everyone, come take your artillery," She ordered, causing the students to come up to her and grab them. Once all of the students had their papers, she narrowed her eyes. "And when I come up in two and half minutes, you better be in your rooms with the lights out,"

A few of the class moaned and protested as they began to head towards the rooms but Mason leaned over.

"Hey, blueberries," He whispered, getting Marinette and Luka's attention. "We're throwing a little party on the roof if you're interested. Hang with us but be quiet ok?"

He smiled and looked over at Sabrina before winking at her then walking off. She went bright red as Alya walked over.

"I think there's an American boy who would like to see you there, Sabrina," She grinned as Marinette nodded. She smiled shyly and looked at her feet a little.

"You... you think so?" She asked as Chloe walked over.

"It's obvious," She declared. "And he would be totally ridiculous not to like you. Anyway, come on. We're sharing a room,"

"All of us?" Marinette asked as they headed to their rooms. Luka smiled at her as he walked with Nino, Adrien and Ivan. She waved at him, getting a wave back before they all headed into their room. She closed the door and turned to the other girls. "Ok, what's the plan?"

"Waiting til Mendeleiev has gone to her room then we're sneaking to the roof," Alya declared, getting a nod of the other two before she grinned at her phone. "The boys are down for it as well,"

"As are the rest of Kitty Section and the art kids," Marinette grinned as her phone vibrated.

"Kim and Max are planning to join us too as well as the weather girls and Kagami," Chloe confirmed as Sabrina listened to the door. As soon as they heard the door to Mrs Mendeleiev's room close, they all sneaked out and began to head to the roof.

"What's that noise?!" Mrs Mendeleiev suddenly shouted, causing the students to gasp and dive into random rooms. Marinette took a deep breathe as she heard the teacher come out before she went back in. She looked to the side, expecting to be alone and squeaked a little as someone was leaning against the door too. She calmed down as she realized it was Luka, who looked a little startled too before he smiled and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sorry, Mari. I didn't mean to scare you," He muttered before they both noticed they had wondered in someone else's room. The two girls were sat on the bed. One of them glared them while the other looked excited to see them. "Oh, we're so sorry. We were just trying to get to the roof but our teacher heard us..."

"Uh... hi... I'm Marinette and this is my boy- I mean friend! Uh... Luka... this is my Luka... I mean Luka... just Luka.." She gasped as he waved. The excited girl leaned over and smiled.

"See... they're made for each other," She attempted to whisper but both Marinette and Luka heard her. Marinette went bright red and started to mumble while Luka went completely silent and a little red as well.

"I think you broke them," The other girl stated, rolling her eyes. "I'm Jess and this is my sister, Aeon. Anyway, if you want to get to the roof without getting caught, you can take the stairs outside,"

"Thanks," Marinette grinned before grabbing Luka's hand which knocked him out of his trance.

"Uh... t-thanks..." He stuttered, making Marinette look at him. He honestly looked like he was about to hyperventilate but he gave her a soft smile. "Withdrawal..."

"Ah, yeah. You couldn't bring her with you," She muttered, making the two girls raise an eyebrow as Marinette opened the window. "Maybe someone will let you borrow theirs,"

"Borrow? Withdrawal?" Jess questioned as she looked at them. "Are you... ok?"

"Oh, Luka's a musician and music helps him... how did you put it?"

"Music is often simpler then words," He muttered, blushing a little. "I use it talk I guess..."

"Hmm..." Jess muttered before getting up and grabbing an acoustic guitar before shoving it in his hands. She then grabbed a second one. "Well, let's head to the roof and hear your music. Come on, Aeon,"

"Yay!!" She grinned, jumping up as Marinette climbed out the window. Luka thanked Jess, putting the guitar on his back before he followed Marinette with the other two behind them.

"Wow," Marinette gasped as they got onto the roof. It was lit up with fairy-lights and almost all of the students were there, talking and just hanging. Luka stood next to her and smiled, looking around as well. Alya and Nino were getting selfies with some of the students, the rest of Kitty section were sat with other musicians, playing music and singing. Kim was doing press ups against another kid with a few kids filming. Max was explaining Markov to others as Alix talked to a girl with bright green hair. Kagami was showing off her fencing skills and Adrien was talking in Chinese. Aurora and Mireille were chatting with other students too. Chloe and Sabrina were chatting with Mason and his friend. Jess and Aeon came over.

"Alright, music boi, let's see what you can do," Jess declared before she sat down and began to play an upbeat song which caused people to begin to dance. Luka closed his eyes and listened before opening them again. He looked around and smiled as his luck vision highlighted Ivan, Rose, a girl with a tambourine and a few other instruments. He walked over and whispered something to Ivan, who grinned and nodded before telling Rose and the tambourine girl then he grabbed the other instrument. He gave Juleka a flute and handed Adrien a ukulele before walking back over as Jess rose an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

"What I do best," He smiled before sitting down and closing his eyes before tapping his hand against the guitar. Ivan began to play and gradually the others joined in. Luka kept his eyes closed as he took it in before he began to play. The whole song was so upbeat and full of energy that it made people want to dance and clap in time with it. Jess couldn't help but smile as Luka skillfully played a melody that no one had ever heard before joining in. Aeon grinned and began dancing as the tempo got faster and faster. Luka smiled and glanced up at Marinette who was laughing and dancing with Alya and Chloe. He smiled and continued playing before the song gradually came to a natural stop, causing the students to clap and whistle.

"What was that song, dude?" Mason asked as Jess nodded. "Did you write it?"

"Uh... I just play what I feel... had to get the rest involved though since there's some many songs out here tonight," Luka muttered, making them raise an eyebrow but Marinette walked over and smiled.

"Luka can hear the songs in people's hearts," She explained. "What he just played is what he heard in the hearts of everyone here,"

"Whoa," Mason gasped as Luka smiled before he began to play a solo tune. Gradually, the others joined in again but the music came to a stop as something appeared in the sky. Luka stood up as Marinette stared into the sky. Adrien dropped the ukulele as Kagami stared with wide eyes as a flying machine came towards them. It was red and orange in color and a man with a matching suit seemed to be flying it.

"What is that?" Luka gasped as the rest of the classes surrounded them. Mason laughed and wrapped his arm around his shoulder.

"That is Hotdog Dan!" He yelled out as it landed. A parasol popped out as it turned into a food van, revealing the man inside. He had an orange and red mask on and was dressed as a superhero. His hair resembled flames and he was grinning.

"Hey, hey, hey. Hotdog Dan is here to get in the mood!" He declared, taking out his blades and began to serve up hotdogs. The students rushed over in a swarm and began to get his hotdogs. Adrien grabbed Kagami's hand and rushed over as Rose ran over to buy one for her and Juleka. "I'm the hero of Picnics and tasty food!"

"Usually, he teams up with Ketchup Boy and Mustard Girl but it looks like he's patrolling solo tonight," Jess explained before she glanced over. "You might want to hurry if you want to try one of his magic hotdogs though. They sell out in minutes,"

"Magic... hotdogs?" Marinette gasped as she looked over. A boy with red hair took a bit into her hotdog and then to her surprise, he blew out a bit of fire that resembled a dragon. A blonde girl took a bite of hers, which caused her skin to turn a glowing blue. She laughed along with her friends. Rose ate hers and literally lifted Ivan above her head while Juleka's hotdog allowed her to change her hair color into anything she wanted. Adrien literally gave him cat ears while Kagami gained a bit super speed. Another girl had a fire breathing one, allowing her to create a dragon from fire and Sabrina's gave her long hair with flowers into it, similar to Rapunzel. Marinette's eyes went huge with excitement before she turned to Luka. "We have to try those!!"

She didn't wait for an answer before she grabbed his hand and rushed over to Hotdog Dan as Alya and Nino walked over too. Hotdog Dan frowned as he saw the four of them.

"Sorry, guys, I only have two hotdogs left for the four of you," He frowned, disappointed but Nino shook his head and took out his cash.

"No worries, dude. My girl and I can take one," He smiled, buying them before he handed one to Marinette. "You can take the other. My treat,"

He winked and pushed Marinette's hand away as she went to give Nino a bit of money for the hotdog before Alya handed him half of theirs.

"Thanks, babe," He smiled as Marinette turned to Luka.

"Here, you should have it. I can get a hotdog later," She smiled, offering it to him but Luka smiled softly. He picked it up and broke it half. She blinked as he handed her the other half. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. There's no way I'm letting you miss out on these ones," He smiled, causing her to blush and smile back as she took the hotdog half. The two of them smiled as they bit into them. Almost instantly, they began to float up into the air. Marinette gasped and flailed around but Luka grabbed her hand as he gasped, surprised at the fact they were floating. Nino and Alya were laughing at their reactions but apparently, their hotdog had the effect of helium. Jess and Aeon couldn't help but laugh as Marinette gasped as she looked down.

"You were right," She mumbled, looking at Aeon and getting Alya's attention. "Those two are made for each other,"

"Oh, with those two, things aren't that simple," She explained in a high pitched voice which made both girls give her a questioning look. "Luka has been in love with Marinette for like... forever but Marinette had a huge crush on Adrien. However, she realized that she also had a huge crush on Luka but she wasn't sure how to deal with but then Adrien started to date Kagami and Marinette decided to let him go and move on from her crush on him. She still has feelings for Luka but thinks he only thinks of her as a friend and Luka thinks she's still hung over Adrien. Also they both think each other deserves better then themselves and that's not even including Marinette's crush on our local superhero Anatis,"

"Whoa... that's complicated," Jess nodded as Marinette began to relax. She spun upside down and grinned at Luka, who laughed a little too much that he floated away slightly. Marinette gasped and grabbed his hand, pulling him back to her. They both blushed as they looked into each other’s eyes, not realizing how close they were. Jess grinned as she looked at them then at her guitar. "Hey, squeaky,"

"The name's Alya but... yes?"

"Alya... cool... do they have a favorite song?" Jess asked as Adrien walked over. He took out his phone and showed her a song on his phone.

"They danced together at Chloe's party to that," He explained, getting a nod of Jess who began to play it. Luka gasped as he heard it. He looked down and saw everyone had started dancing to it as Jess played the song. He looked back at Marinette who was looking at the moon before she looked at him and smiled.

"We danced to this at Chloe's party," She mumbled, playing with her hands. "It's actually one of my favorite memories despite that akuma. I got to make macaroons with you..."

"It's one of my favorite memories too," He admitted, blushing a little before looking at her. The moonlight illuminated her, giving her an ethereal sort of glow. Her hair seemed a little bright then usual and she looked happy. Luka gently took her hand in his, making her look at him as he smiled. "Would... would you like to dance again?"

"Yeah... I would," She smiled, placing her spare hand on his shoulder. He smiled back and placed his hand on her waist as they began to dance. He spun her around, causing her to giggle before he pulled her closer to him. She carefully placed her arms around his neck and leaned into him. She couldn't help but smile happily as he held her close. She closed her eyes as they gently spun round in the air. Gradually, the effect of the magic hotdog began to wear off. Marinette gasped in fear, scared that they would just suddenly fall but Luka gave her a reassuring smile as they slowly descended from the sky. Gradually, their feet touched the ground but instead of separating, Marinette just smiled and leaned against him as the song continued to play. Luka smiled and closed his eyes as they couldn't to sway and move to the music, leaving the two of them in their own little bubble as Adrien and Kagami joined Nino and Alya. Kagami smiled as they watched them.

"They appear to be making progress," She stated, getting a nod of Adrien.

"I'm happy for them," He smiled as his cat ears twitched. "Luka helps ground Marinette but she helps him come out of his shell,"

"So he's pretty shy then?" Jess asked, getting a nod of the four.

"Yeah, he only recently started to go to school. He use to be home educated but after some time, he decided to join the school," Alya nodded as Rose gushed over them and Juleka just smiled. "I think shyness kind of runs in the family,"

"Oh?" Jess asked, looking at her.

"Well, Juleka is his sister. He's only older by her then a year so he's in the year above us but she's super shy too," Alya replied, nodding towards her. "I often forget they are Couffaines,"

"Couffaines?"

"It's their name and believe me when I say, they may be shy but Chaos is in their blood," She chuckled, making pretty much everyone smile or laugh. "I think that's why Rose and Marinette are drawn to them. They're pretty chaotic themselves. Marinette can be really clumsy and Rose... well, she is energy incarnate,"

"Sound like my kind of people," Jess grinned as Aeon nodded excitedly.

"You should meet the captain," Adrien grinned, making them look at him with confused expression. "The captain is the head of the Couffaine family. She is literally like a real life pirate. Ah what is it she says?"

"From Chaos comes creativity," Ivan piped up as he walked over with Mylene. "Marinette's parents are really cool as well,"

"Yeah, they run the best bakery in all of Paris," Adrien grinned as Jess listened. "The croissants are amazing,"

"Awesome," She smiled. "So what about you? What's your family like?"

"Oh... well... um..." Adrien muttered, suddenly looking sad. Kagami frowned and took his hand before turning to Jess.

"His family is a sensitive subject," She stated in her usual manner. "Could we change the subject?"

"Yeah, of course," Jess answered, nodding before she grinned. "Why don't you tell us about this Anatis dude you mentioned? You said he was a local superhero? Can you tell us about him?"

"Yes, we would love to know more," Aeon agreed as Alya practically shook with excitement. "Like does he work alone? Or-"

"He has a partner!" She gasped, taking out her phone and showing them pictures. "Anatis and Lady Noir! They're such badass and so nice too!! There's other heroes too!! Culpeo, Abellie and Leatherback are part of his inner circle but there's others too like Ryuko and Aspik!!”

"And we've lost her," Adrien smiled as he glanced back over at Marinette and Luka. They were still dancing and Luka had his eyes closed. Marinette caught Adrien looking and grinned at him as he gave her a thumbs up before closing her eyes and continued to dance.

~The Next Day~

"Soo how was your dance with Luka last night?" Alya asked as her and Marinette got off the bus. Marinette had been sighing happily all morning but neither girl had a chance to talk. After the party last night, they were all really tired so they went to bed pretty quickly and this morning, they had breakfast with everyone. Alya knew better to talk to Marinette about Luka when he was in ear shot.

"It was so romantic, Alya," She smiled, almost walking into something. She shook her head and turned back to Alya, who had gone quiet. "Do you- Alya?"

"Oh my gosh!!" She gasped, pointing to a teacher. "That teacher over there!! That's Dean Gate aka Doorman. He has the ability to transform any door into a teleportation passage! Oh, that is soo cool! Superheroes don't necessarily need to hide their true identity here!! Amazing!!! Ah, I have to ask him for a quote for my blog!!"

With that, she walked away as Marinette smiled. Luka noticed and walked over.

"Alya seems excited," He mumbled, getting a nod of Marinette as Alya talked to Mr Gate.

"Apparently, that teacher is a superhero called Doorman but his identity is public knowledge,"

"Really?" He asked, imagining what his life would be like if everyone knew he was Anatis. Marinette nodded. "How strange but I guess he doesn't have an insane miraculous user trying to steal his miraculous,"

"Yeah, that's true," She nodded, subconsciously stroking her ring before turning to him. "Shall we go inside?"

"Yeah," He smiled as they walked in, following the other students. Seeing Jess and Aeon there, Luka smiled and waved at them as they walked inside the area. Mr Gate clapped his hands and asked them to follow him as they walked through the museum. Luka couldn't help but look around as they checked out the displays. They made their way over to the special display that had been put up for the French American friendship week. The class came to a stop in front of the display as Mr Gate gestured to it.

"This is the famous saber of the marquis Lafayette," He explained, pointing towards it before he pointed towards a necklace. "And here is the necklace he presented to George Washington as a symbol of friendship between the French and the American people,"

Luka glanced over at it and suddenly, it was like a pulse when through his mind, causing him to groan and grip his head. His mind was pounding and he stepped back.

"Mr Couffaine?" Mr Gate asked, concerned as Marinette gasped, gently placing her hand on his arm. "Are you ok?"

"Y-Yeah... I just have a headache... I'm fine.." He gasped, looking up. As soon as he saw the necklace again, another pulse hit him and another like a wave, causing him to groan and stumble back as images began to flash through his mind. "C-Can... I get some fresh air?"

"Yes, of course," He nodded, causing Luka to rush out of the building. Marinette came with him and made sure he was ok. Once he was outside, he pounding headache disappeared, allowing him to breathe in. He assured that he was fine and that it was just a headache before sending her back inside. As soon as she was gone, Tikki flew out of his pocket.

"Are you ok?" She asked, concerned. He nodded and took out his bottle of water, taking a slip. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure," He muttered, looking at her. "I just... It felt like... I was getting hit by something... like some sort of energy and there were... images flashing in my mind. Tikki, it felt like magic,"

"That's strange," She mumbled, frowning. "Think you'd be ok to go back inside so we can look at it?"

"Sure," He nodded, getting up. She flew into his pocket and he headed back in. He headed back into the room where the display was, noting it was empty. He walked over but groaned again as the pulse hit him again. Tikki flew out and moved over to it, looking at it as Luka gripped his head. "T-Tikki,"

"Luka!!" She gasped as he fell to the ground. "Luka?!"

Flashes of the marquis and the necklace flashed through his mind as he gripped his head. His eyes began to change silver as he continued to see them before he started to make sense of them. He saw the Marque talking to a small creature he recognized as a kwami and saw how he used the power to help liberate people. Gradually, the images disappeared and he carefully sat up, scoping up Tikki.

"Are you ok?" She asked, placing her paw on his face.

"Yeah... I think it's a miraculous," He whispered, making her gasp and look at it but before he could explain more, his phone vibrated. He took it out and saw it was an akuma alert. He got up and ran over to a pillar to hide behind. He took out the sunglasses that were the horse miraculous and put them on, allowing Kaaiki to manifest as they changed into normal glasses.

"Hello, Master Luka," She stated in a bored manner. "You know the words,"

"Kaaiki, full gallop," He declared, causing her to be sucked into the glasses, transforming him into Appalo. With his transformation complete, he made a circle movement with his hand, creating a ring of energy around his wrist before he threw across the room as he focused on the Eiffel tower. "Voyage!!"

The ring transformed into a portal which he stepped through bringing him into Paris. It disappeared straight away as he looked down and frowned as the destruction the akuma had been making.

"Kaaiki, Dismount," He muttered, catching the kwami and give her a baby carrot as Tikki flew out. He turned to the two kwami. "Tikki, spots on!"

A red light engulfed him, turning him into Anatis before he looked at Kaaiki. She finished the carrot and gave him a nod. He took off the glasses and placed them in his yoyo before diving off the tower and swinging off into the city, following the trail of destruction. He landed on a nearby building as Robustus literally destroyed another.

"Robustus?" He whispered, frowning as that didn't make sense. Robustus was Max's Robot Markov but they were in New York with the rest of the class so how the hell did he get akumatized in Paris? Frowning to himself, he threw his yoyo in the air and called for a lucky charm. He frowned as he caught a length of rope before looking around. Robustus himself lit up then the rope and then a man on the street who was looking at the monster in shock. Knowing what to do, he swung down and used the rope to tied up the robot before landing in front of the man. His luck vision zoomed in on the man's watch and he frowned as he realized it was discolored.

"I... I didn't... I don't know how it appeared," The man gasped in shock, making Anatis frown. "I was just feeling low and then the next thing I know that thing appeared,"

"Can I borrow your watch?" He asked, causing the man to shake and nod but he suddenly tried to punch Anatis, causing him to grab his arm and take off the watch before he crushed it in his hand. To his surprise, it wasn't an akuma that escaped but an amok. He caught it with his yoyo before grabbing the ropes and throwing them up in the air. "Miraculous Ladybugs!"

The swarm fixed everything and the man looked confused as Anatis bid him farewell before he threw his yoyo and swung off. Once on the rooftops away from the scene, he opened his yoyo and took out the feather, examining it.

"Mayura..." He muttered, looking at it with a frown. "But why...."

His yoyo vibrated, making him open it and click on the notification. It was a live steam on the ladyblog, showing a bright blue villain with four tentacle like arms fighting uncanny valley and Sparrow in the museum. He frowned as he wasn't sure why it was on the Ladyblog but it seemed the villain was similar to Techno Pirate but more powerful. He frowned to himself but then Lady Noir suddenly appeared on screen, throwing her baton towards the villain. However, he knocked it back and grabbed her with one of his tentacle before slamming her into a wall. Doorman appeared on screen, calling for Sparrow, Uncanny Valley and Lady Noir to get through one of his teleportation portal but Techno Pirate grabbed Valley with one of his arms and declared her powers his before throwing her against the wall. He then destroyed Doorman's door and repeatedly fired at them with a move similar to her third eye. Sparrow attempted to jump at him but was caught and throw into a different room. Lady Noir rushed in to help him as Doorman rushed over to Alya, who was still filming.

"You need to get out of here," He declared, causing the live stream to cut off. Anatis frowned to himself and activated the dimension pocket in his yoyo. He took out the horse miraculous and put them on, allowing Kaaiki to manifest again.

"Kaaiki," He declared, holding out one of his hands before he held out the other. "Tikki... unify,"

He held his hands together, changing his spots to white as he merged the miraculous. His boots gained wing like details and his gloves got a white strip on them. His mask transformed into speed googles with darkened lens and he gained the horse shoe on his back. He drew the circle with his hand before opening the portal. He walked through and frowned as he stepped into the museum, just as Tikki manifested turning him into his normal horse outfit. He reached into his pocket and took out a cookie for her. She grinned and took it as he leaned down and touched the dust. Using his horse vision, he looked around for anything to stand out but to his surprise, he found the Doorman under an airplane model. He rushed over and lifted it off him before checking his pulse. Luckily, he was alive. He groaned and blinked as he saw him.

"W-Who..." He gasped in pain. "A-Are you?"

"I'm Appalo," He explained as he helped him to his feet. He glanced around and saw no one else in there so he helped Doorman out of the museum and to where the staff were. One of them rushed over and took Doorman off him as Tikki finished her cookie. He took out his communication device and opened it up, tracking where Lady Noir was. Apparently, she was on the New York times building which appeared to be on the other side of New York. A beep made him frown before he looked to Tikki.

"Tikki, you charged?" He asked, making her nod. "Alright. Tikki, Kaaiki unify,"

He turned back into his merged form, making a few people gasp before Kaaiki appeared, turning him back into Anatis. He took off his glasses and placed them into his yoyo before he took out a purple macaroon. Doorman rose an eyebrow as he ate it.

"Power up," He muttered, transforming into his Asteroid form before he turned to the stunned hero. "Doorman, get in contact with Majestia and let her know Techno pirate has escaped and is at the New Times building,"

"W-Will do," He nodded, getting a nod of Asteroid. "But... what are you going to do?"

"Help the heroes fighting him," He replied before he broke into a run. He threw his yoyo up and pulled himself into the air before flying off as fast as he can. He reached the New York Times tower, just as Techno pirate grabbed Lady Noir with one of his arms. Uncanny Valley was laid on the floor but she was broken. It appeared that Techno pirate had ripped in half. Sparrow was trapped in one of his other arms but appeared to be unconscious and Lady Noir was struggling as he tightened his arm around her. She gasped in pain as he heard a crunch as if something had broken.

"Say goodbye to your new friend, kitty cat," Pirate laughed before he dropped the unconscious Sparrow off the building. Lady Noir cried out and struggled even more but Pirate just laughed. Asteroid narrowed his eyes before diving down pass Pirate. "What was that?!"

He caught Sparrow and flew back up before landing on the roof.

"Spots off," He declared, changing into his normal form as he placed Sparrow down next to Valley. Pirate turned to him as Lady Noir gasped. "Hey! Big and ugly! Why don't you pick on someone you're on size?!"

"Annie!!" She gasped in relief. Anatis took out his yoyo and threw it up.

"Lucky charm!!" He yelled out but Pirate grabbed him around the waist. He grabbed the lucky charm in time and used it to blast a puff of air into Pirate's eyes, distracting him for a few seconds. He wrapped his yoyo around the ariel on the roof and Lady Noir used her baton and cataclysm to escape but it only damaged his arms. The two of them jumped across the roof, spinning their weapons as Pirate blasted them with Valley's power but before he could do any more damage, Majestia appeared and punched him, sending him flying throughout different buildings. Lady Noir groaned as she held her ribs, hissing a little. Anatis turned to her and cupped her face. "Are you ok?"

"I think he crushed my ribs but..." She looked over at Sparrow and Uncanny Valley, causing Majestia to look over. She let out a cry of despair and rushed over, crying as she held the upper body of Uncanny Valley. They heard the sound of a grapple hook as Knightowl appeared and stopped as he looked at the scene before he rushed over to Sparrow. He held the child in his arms before looking angrily at the two french heroes.

"What did you two do?!" He snarled, making Lady Noir glare at him.

"It wasn't us! It was Techno Pirate!" She argued. "In fact, Sparrow would be dead if Annie hadn't turned up! He saved him from been splatted on the ground! Ah!"

She gasped and gripped her ribs, making Anatis frown. He looked over at the scene before he took out the bike pump.

"Oh, what are you going to do? Fix it with a magical bike pump?!" Knightowl mocked.

"Exactly that," Anatis replied before throwing it up in the air. "Miraculous Ladybugs!!"

The bike pump burst into the magical swarm, which spread around New York, fixing all the damage before it swarmed around Lady Noir, Sparrow and Uncanny Valley. When it disappeared, Sparrow sat up and looked around. Uncanny Valley was repaired and opened her eyes, smiling as she saw her mother.

"Rebooting," She muttered as Anatis turned to Lady Noir, who was no longer in pain and completely fixed.

"Oh! Man, I love that feeling," She gasped as Majestia turned to Anatis.

"Thank you but... why are you in New York?" She asked, confused. Lady Noir gasped, panicked but Anatis stepped up.

"We were following a lead regarding Hawk Moth's identity. I suspected it might have been someone who had connections to New York and Paris..." He muttered, making the hero nod. However, Knightowl was angry as he stormed over.

"You two are dangerous!" He declared, causing Anatis to step in front of Lady Noir protectively. Sparrow, however, rushed in front of them too. "I suspect that Techno pirate had his power increased because of you!"

"No, they were j-" Sparrow tried to argue.

"So are you! You disobeyed and didn't call it in!" He growled before turning to Lady Noir and Anatis. "I don't care why you're here but I'm ordering you to revert to your civilian identities and hand me the source of your power! You'll get it back when you leave. We don't not need amateur heroes running around,"

"Firstly, you're super rude, do you know that?!" Anatis growled back, causing Knightowl to act surprised. Lady Noir smirked as she realized no one had ever spoke to him in that before. "And secondly, your protege tried their damn best and deserves a better mentor then you! And finally, don't you dare blame us for something that a villain did!!"

"Why you!?!" Knightowl growled before pointing at Anatis. "You liste-"

"No, you listen!" He growled. "Me and my partner are not to blame for a villain's actions and neither is your protege! In fact, they tried their damn hardest and probably didn't have a way to contact you but instead of giving them the benefit of the doubt and actually listening to what they have to say, you just assume that their actions were based on childish decisions without even knowing the full facts and to add insult to injury, you actually have the nerve to try and order me about!"

"Young man-," Majestia started.

"Anatis! My name is Anatis since neither of you bothered to ask," He declared, making Sparrow, Lady Noir and Uncanny Valley hold back giggles. Sparrow leaned over to Lady Noir.

"Is he always this sassy?"

"Oh yeah. You should have seen him when he ripped into the style queen," She whispered, causing Valley to gasp.

"The Style Queen? As in Audrey Bourgeois?" She gasped, making Lady Noir nod. Both of the New York heroes looked at him with awe. "Wow... he's so cool,"

"Oh yeah," Lady Noir grinned as Anatis continued to argue with Knightowl.

"Why you!" Knightowl growled but Majestia placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Anatis, I understand the frustration but you're not in Paris and you two are extremely dangerous," She stated, making them look at her. She looked to Lady Noir. "I don't know exactly what your power is but I saw what you did to Techno Pirate's arms and you... your power could be used to create danger-"

"The lucky charm doesn't work that way," Anatis argued, taking a step back as Knightowl growled and stepped forward.

"I understand but you need to surrender the source of your power," Majestia nodded. Lady Noir looked at him and she could see he wasn't going to win this argument. "We will return it to you before you go home,"

"That's all great and all," He muttered, looking around as Lady Noir stepped back with him, hissing a little. His luck vision highlighted an air vent. "But we can't trust you. Sorry, not sorry!"

He used his yoyo to hit the vent, causing it to smoke before he grabbed her hand and jumped off the building. The two landed on the ground and rushed over to the nearest manhole. He opened it and jumped inside with her, following. He heard Knightowl shout at them and follow but he didn't follow them into the sewers. They climbed down the ladder and as soon as they were on the ground, Lady Noir threw her arms around him.

"I'm so sorry!" She gasped. "I got you in trouble and-"

"Hey, it's ok," He smiled, cupping her face. "I'm just glad I was able to get there in time... are you sure you're ok, kitten?"

"I'm fine," She sniffed, nuzzling her hand. "My ribs don't hurt anymore... but why are you here in New York? I thought you were protecting Paris,"

"I was but... something wasn't right," He muttered, taking out the feather from his yoyo as they walked through the sewer.

"An amok?" She asked, frowning. "But you took care of it right?"

"Yeah but it was Robustus," He muttered, making her frown. "But Markov isn't in Paris. I checked to see if he and Max were. Not just that and it was a sentimonster created by some random dude. It seems that it was meant to look like an akuma,"

"That's... odd..." She muttered, handing him back the feather. "But how did you know I was in New York?"

"I saw the Ladyblog live stream and used the horse miraculous to get her then located you with my yoyo," He replied, getting a nod of her. "I'm glad I got here on time,"

"Me too," She mumbled. "According to Sparrow, Techno Pirate was... enhanced somehow,"

"Hmm," He muttered, frowning before looking at her. "You should head back onto the surface,"

"What are you going to do?" She asked, worry on her face.

"I'm gonna follow a lead in the museum. There's something I need to check," He muttered, getting a nod of her. She turned to leave but suddenly hugged him again. He smiled and hugged back before she walked off. Once out of view, he heard her transform back before she ran off. He took out his yoyo and found an exit that led to the museum. He ran towards it and detransformed, catching Tikki before he gave her a cookie and went to climb out of the sewers. He stumbled a little and groaned, making Tikki look at him with concern. "I'm ok, Tikki but I won't be able to use the Horse Miraculous for a while,"

"Here," She mumbled, breaking her cookie in half and handed him a bit. "I know you need a lot more then just half of a cookie but it should help,"

"Thank you," He smiled, taking it and gently patting her head with his finger. He quickly ate it then climbed out of the sewers. He rushed over to the museum but frowned as he saw police and another superhero. He recognized them as Snowflake. He walked over and gently tapped her on the shoulder.

"Yes?" She asked, looking at him.

"Could you tell me what happened?" He asked. "Why are the police here?"

"Oh, the saber of the marquis Lafayette, along with the falcon talon necklace was stolen by Techno Pirate but I'm not sure I understand why he wanted them," She mused, making him frown. "Hey, aren't you one of those french kids? I'll get Doorman to bring you back to the dorms! Hey, Doorman!"

Before Doorman could come over, Luka turned and bolted as fast as he could out of there. He jumped a little as thunder sounded and rain began to fall heavily, soaking him within minutes. He found a place to hide and took Tikki out of his pocket.

"That miraculous is missing," He stated, causing her to frown. "But I don't understand. Why did Techno pirate go after it and the saber? How did he get increased power? What's the connection?"

"Well, what do we know?" She asked, making him think.

"Techno pirate got increased power, stole the saber and the necklace and then disappeared again..." He muttered before his thoughts drifted to Paris and the amok. Why was there an amok made to look like an akuma? What was he missing? What was the connection and why was Mayura active instead of Hawkmoth? Wasn't he able to akumatize someone? Of course, he could. Plenty of dark feelings in Paris so why use Mayura? And why Robustus? He knew it couldn't be Marvok because he was here in New York... but of course, the rest of Paris wouldn't know that. They would just think it was the usual akuma attack but why go through all of this trouble to make an amok look like an akuma? It's almost like... his eyes widen in realization. Hawkmoth wasn't in Paris. He must be in New York and after that miraculous, which means Techno Pirate was akumatized. "Oh no,"

"Luka?" Tikki gasped, causing him to look at her.

"Hawkmoth is in New York," He gasped, making her look at him with shock. "We have to warn someone,"

~Meanwhile at the Lafayette building~

"Luka Couffaine?" Mrs Mendeleiev asked as she looked around the room.

"He's not here," Juleka muttered, frowning. Worry was clear in her eyes as she had no idea where her brother was nor was he answering his phone. The last she had seen him was at the museum when he went out for some fresh air due to his headache.

"Neither is Marinette," Rose gasped as Alya tried to get through to her as well. She looked at Juleka with worry. "You don't think that horrible villain got them?"

"I hope not," She mumbled as Jess and Aeon walked in with two women. One was blonde and dressed in green and the other had dark hair and dressed all in black. They seemed to be annoyed with the two girls.

"You had one mission," The woman in black growled, making Juleka frown as she noticed. "To keep an eye on the French Students,"

"We did and that's how we discovered Marinette and Luka are in love with each other. We tried to help but Luka got sick and we were interrupted by that supervillain. I still don't understand how he got-"

"It doesn't matter! You failed and disobeyed orders!"

"Barb, darling," The blonde woman stated, stroking her wife's face.

"Mother, I don't understand," Aeon stated, making the two women frown. "You always say that all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing. What did I do wrong?"

"My dear, by trying to help the french students, you ended placing them and yourselves in danger," The blonde woman explained as the woman in dark facepalmed. "Doing good doesn't necessarily mean fighting,"

"Yeah... well maybe we were just trying to help since you know it's our job!" Jess declared, glaring at them. "We're not babysitting... we're super heroines!"

"Superheroes! Who's mission was to keep an eye on the French students and you failed it!" Barb shouted, making Jess and Aeon look down. "You're forbidden to join in with the hunt for Techno Pirate. You're clearly not ready to leave the nest,"

"Uh! How I am suppose to be ready when you never let me spread my wings?!"

"No prohibits Anatis and Lady Noir,"

"And we almost lost you because of that,"

"No! We're almost lost her because of Techno Pirate!" Jess shouted, making both adults look at her in shock before she turned to Barb. "Anatis is right! You are rude and you're blaming us for Techno Pirate's actions!"

"Jess, my word is final," Barb growled before turning on her heel. "Come on, Olympia. We're expected,"

With that, the two of them walked out of the building, leaving Jess and Aeon alone. Jess sighed, defeated as the news came on. Walking over to the rest of the group, they saw it was the president, explaining that they would be postponing the French American week celebrations until Techno Pirate was captured. Majestia stepped forward, stating that she supported their decision and that it would be too dangerous to have any mass gathering. She asked everyone to keep safe while they would be patrolling the city. Alya sighed softly as the heroes talked on the screen before looking out of the window. She gasped and rushed outside as Marinette walked over to the stairs.

"Marinette!! Are you ok?!" She gasped as the rest of the class came out. Marinette looked up and gave them a small smile as Alya ran down the stairs and hugged her. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"Oh... no... I'm ok," She smiled as she looked up at the rest of the class as they gushed over her, happy that she was ok. However, she looked around at them, trying to see where Luka was. Her eyes widen as she realized he wasn't there. "Where's Luka?"

"He was with you right?" Juleka asked as Marinette frowned.

"N-No... he went out of the museum because of his headache but then that villain attacked. I only got away because Sparrow rescued me but I didn't see Luka..." She gasped, taking out her phone. It was low battery but she didn't care. She dialed his number and held it to her ear but to her dismay, it went straight to voicemail. "I... I have to find him!!"

"Marinette!" Alya shouted as she turned on her heel and broke into a run, heading in the direction of the museum. She didn't understand. He should have answered his phone. The museum was fixed thanks to Anatis but why wasn't Luka answering his phone?! She grabbed a bike and began to cycle as fast as she could to the museum but missed a turning, causing her bike to fall and crash. She weakly looked up but couldn't see Luka anywhere.

"Luka..." She whispered, looking down. "Where are you?"

~Meanwhile in Times Square~

"There they are," Luka gasped as he saw the heroes. He began to walk towards them but stopped when he saw Techno Pirate walking in the middle of the street. He frowned and ducked behind a dumpster to observe the screen. Techno Pirate was holding up his hands as he walked but weirdly enough, he looked different. His skin was completely black with white lines that resembled a mother board across it. His uniform had turned to a light brown color and he had wings that matched it's theme. He also had a break on his nose. Luka rose an eyebrow as he kept hidden.

"I wanna surrender!!" He shouted, making Luka frown. "I never wanted to stop the french American celebrations from happening!! If I have to lose my freedom for everyone else to celebrate theirs then fine... I surrender!!"

He spun around, looking as Luka narrowed his eyes. Something didn't feel right. If he was akumatized then why was he surrendering? What could this achieve? He looked around and noticed that the heroes were gathering around the pirate.

"Put me in jail!!" The pirate wailed, making him frown even more. Especially when the heroes began to surround the villain. Luka carefully stood up from his hiding place and began to back away. All of his gut was telling him something was very wrong.

"Don't be scared. I genuinely want nothing more then your freedom," The pirate stated as he looked at the heroes, like he wanted them to be there. He suddenly threw out his arms as eternal arrows appeared. "Liberation!"

The arrows threw out, hitting each of the heroes as Luka ducked behind the dumpster again, causing one to miss him by inches. He let out a sigh but then he heard the sound of buildings been crushed. He jumped up as Knightowl swung past.

"Can't park properly huh?!" He shouted, throwing a grenade under a car, causing it to blow up high in the sky. He jumped back as guns literally appeared out of the dumpsters and the manholes then Doorman ran past him, trying to decide where to go. Luka frowned and moved from his hiding place to another, peaking out. He frowned deeply as he saw all of the heroes basically doing whatever they wanted. Techno Pirate was stood in the middle of it, grinning as he looked around until a purple mask appeared over his eyes. He nodded and touched a lamp post, which glowed purple before all of the screens suddenly turned on causing Luka to gasp as it showed Hawkmoth on it.

"Anatis, Lady Noir... I'm in New York too," He stated, smirking evilly. "If you don't want the party ruined, you have no choice but to surrender your miraculous,"

"Tikki, spots on!!" He declared, standing up and transforming into Anatis. He threw his yoyo up to the nearest building and pulled himself onto it, dodging the guns that fired at him before using his yoyo to destroy them. He ran across the roof and jumped off it, swinging off into the city as fast as he could. He needed to find Sparrow and Uncanny Valley as he noticed they weren't there, meaning they weren't effected by whatever Techno Pirate did. He also needed to find Lady Noir as he would need her help too. He swung across the buildings until he noticed someone walking in the rain as if they were looking for someone.

"Luka?!" They called out, causing his eyes to widen as he realized it was Marinette. He dived down and landed near her, making her gasp. "A-Anatis? Wh-What are you doing in New York? Have you seen Luka?!"

"Luka's fine, Marinette," He smiled, trying to reassure her. She let out a sigh of relief. "But it's not safe to be out on the streets. Hawkmoth is active in New York right now and his akuma has somehow effected the heroes, making them... well... do what they want,"

"So they've gone... crazy?" She gasped, looking frightened. He sighed and nodded. "Oh no,"

"Yeah... I need to find Sparrow, Uncanny Valley and Lady Noir. They're the only heroes who haven't been effected by this," He sighed before smiling. "Anyway, let's get you to a safe place. Are you staying in a hotel?"

"The Lafayette building is where we're staying," She mumbled, gasping as he pulled her close to him.

"I'll drop you off on the roof then. Hold on," He smiled, making her blush as she held onto him tightly. He threw his yoyo and pulled her up into the air, rushing through it as he swung through the city. Marinette gasped as she held onto him, feeling a little bit of fear as she did. It was different to swinging through Paris. The buildings were much higher and it was colder too but she didn't have much time to think as they landed on the Lafayette building. Anatis gently pulled away from her and gave her a smile. "Head inside and stay safe, Marinette,"

"Wait!" She gasped as he went to jump. He turned to her and she blushed. "B-Be careful, Anatis,"

"I will," He smiled before jumping off the building and swinging off. Once gone, Plagg flew out of her purse as she frowned.

"Annie needs some help," She stated but jumped as Uncanny Valley literally landed in front of her. She quickly snatched Plagg from the air, hiding him behind her back.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Hawkmoth is in New York and we need Lady Noir," She gasped, making Marinette panic.

"Lady Noir?! Wh-Who's that?!"

"Lady Noir, your suit's quantum masking is designing to confuse human minds," She stated, turning in Aeon and causing Marinette to gasp in surprise. "But I am not human. Without you, we have no chance of contacting Anatis and I think we will need both of your to defeat Miraclonizer,"

"Miraclonizer?" Marinette asked. "Do you mean Techno Pirate?"

"Yes, he's been akumatized which means-"

"Hawkmoth's in New York. I know. Anatis informed me," She mumbled before letting go of Plagg and turning to him but to her surprise, Uncanny Valley didn't blink or even look at him. "Uh... Plagg? Is she ok?"

"Oh, yeah. She's fine. She just can't see me because she's a robot," He grinned, pulling a funny face at Valley's confused expression. "Anyway, what are we waiting for? Bug boy's gonna need a hand,"

"Good point," She grinned, holding out her hand. "Plagg, Claws Out!"

A green light enveloped her and she transformed in Lady Noir. She took out her baton and instantly called Anatis. He answered straight away.

"Kitten, Hawk Moth-"

"Is in New York. Yeah, I know. Uncanny Valley told me," She declared, getting a nod of him. "Where are you? We'll come and meet you,"

"Excellent. Me and Sparrow are hidden by the dumpsters near the empire state building," He stated, nodding. "Try and stay low. The heroes have gone crazy and are attacking almost everything so please be careful,"

"I will. See you soon, Bug a boo," She grinned, making him blush before hanging up. She turned to Uncanny Valley. "Alright, let's go and meet Annie,"

"Sounds like a plan," She smiled before the two of them headed to the empire state building. It took a bit longer then they expected but they managed to move past the heroes without getting attacked. As soon as they found the dumpsters, Anatis grabbed them and pulled them into the alleyway before making sure they weren't followed. Sparrow rushed over to Uncanny Valley as Anatis checked over Lady Noir, making sure she hadn't been hurt. She blushed a little as Valley gasped and muttered something to herself before Anatis moved over to them. He knelt down as Lady Noir joined him. "So what's the plan, Annie?"

"Incoming message from Hawkmoth," Uncanny Valley stated before projecting the video. Anatis frowned as he watched Hawkmoth declared that they had five minutes to surrender their miraculous or he'll start world war 3. "This is not good. We have no heroes available to help us. They have all been controlled by Miraclonizer,"

"Not controlled," Anatis muttered, making everyone look at him as he took out his yoyo and showed them a picture of Miraclonizer before he zoomed in and pointed to the necklace around his neck.. "His new look is from that. Judging by his look and his power, it's a miraculous that represents freedom or something on the lines of that,"

"What do you mean?" Sparrow asked, making him sigh. "And how do you know that?"

"I was there when he took out the heroes. He used the term Liberation and next thing we know the heroes have gone crazy but when you think about it, what they are doing kind of makes sense. Majestia is trying new things with her powers because she's been freed from her fear,"

"That explains the moon," Sparrow nodded. "But Knight Owl?"

"Taking justice to the extreme? Easy, he's been freed from moral code. Similar case with Doorman and the rest," Anatis explained. "And it's definitely a miraculous. That I'm certain about but if we have a chance to save the world from Hawkmoth and his world war 3 plan, we're gonna need to free the heroes. In turn, they can help us,"

"I take it you have a plan?" Uncanny Valley asked, making Anatis and Lady Noir look at each other.

"The plan is to reclaim that miraculous,"

"Well, that's all good but we can't get anywhere near him,"

"Well, that's because we need a lucky charm, right Annie?" Lady Noir grinned before he threw up his yoyo and summoned his lucky charm. He caught the key ring of Lady Liberty before frowning. Sparrow pointed to it.

"That's your plan?" They asked, clearly not impressed as Anatis looked around to see how to use it.

"We're suppose to beat the most powerful heroes with a key-chain?" Valley asked innocently before blinking. "Interesting,"

"Yeah, that's the plan or at least it will be once I know how to use it," He muttered, looking down at it. Uncanny projected Miraclonizer again to check on the count down, causing Anatis to look up at her before looking back at the key chain. "Of course... Valley, can you show me the blue prints of the statue of liberty? I need to see how it was built,"

"Sure," She grinned, projecting the blue prints. Anatis studied it before gasping and pointing to it.

"Look, there's a ladder leading up to the torch platform. We can use that to get to Miraclonizer undetected," He declared, getting a nod of everyone.

"We could use the horse miraculous to get in there," Lady Noir suggested but Anatis shook his head, making her frown.

"I won't be any good in the battle against Miraclonizer if I use it again," He admitted, making her frown but she nodded in understanding. However, Sparrow and Uncanny blinked and looked at them.

"Why doesn't Lady Noir just use it?" Sparrow asked but Anatis shook his head.

"The horse miraculous isn't compatible with the cat miraculous," He explained, making the two frown. "As for me, it takes a lot of energy to use it and I've already used it to get here. If I use it again, I won't have the strength to fight Miraclonizer. We have to find an different way,"

"Ok so what does the horse miraculous do?" Sparrow asked, making the two heroes look at them.

"Teleportation but you have to know exactly where you're going and right now we can only use it once," Anatis explained, making Sparrow nod before the two of them looked at each as an idea popped into their heads. They both said Doorman at the same time, causing Lady Noir and Uncanny Valley to look at them with confusion.

"Doorman can turn any door into a teleportal," Sparrow stated, getting a nod of Anatis. "With his ability, we can get into the tower unnoticed,"

"But Doorman only uses his power to sate his own curiosity now," Uncanny Valley pointed out. "He'll never agree to help us,"

"And we have no idea where he is," Lady Noir pointed out before she snapped her fingers. "But we could lure him to us. He mentioned that he's always wanted to find out what's in the safe in the statue of liberty but the key is in the Eiffel tower,"

"Of course! Use his own curiosity against him. Great thinking, Kitten," Anatis grinned, scratching her ears which made her purr before he began to look around. His luck vision lit up a box and some news papers. He grabbed them and shoved them into Sparrow's hand. "Make a gift wrap for this please,"

"Uh... right," Sparrow nodded before doing as told. Anatis looked around and a door lit up.

"Uncanny Valley, would you be able to unlock that door?" He asked, getting a nod of her. She rushed over and unlocked before he opened it to check it. Both Sparrow and Valley turned into the normal forms, revealing them to be Jess and Aeon. Lady Noir rose an eyebrow and Anatis just shrugged his shoulders before the two of them pushed two of the dumpsters by the sides of the door. Jess turned back into Sparrow and Aeon turned into Uncanny Valley as they placed the package down. "Head to Liberty Island. We'll meet you there,"

"Ok... be careful," Sparrow stated as they ran off before Valley grabbed her and flew off. Lady Noir looked up from her hiding place.

"So Sparrow's a girl huh?" She grinned, making Anatis shake his head. "Didn't see that coming. Why do you think she disguises herself as a boy? Not that's an issue... I'm just curious,"

"Curiosity killed the cat, Kitten," Anatis stated, ducking down as the door opened. Lady Noir did the same thing as Doorman poked his head out.

"Kids?" He questioned before seeing the box. He rushed over and opened it. "We know how fascinating you think keys are so we hope you like this one. Signed Jess and Aeon..."

He looked at the key chain before jumping excitedly.

"Of course!" He exclaimed, rushing over to the door. He closed it and reopened it. "That's where I should have started,"

He disappeared into it, leaving it open. Anatis and Lady Noir followed through but kept out of sight as he searched the office of the Eiffel Tower. He gasped and held up an old looking key. He attached it to the key chain then rushed back over to the door and closed it before reopening it again. He ran out, allowing Anatis and Lady Noir to follow. They tackled him down and Anatis tried him up with his belt before reclaiming the key chain. The two of them ran upstairs as fast as they could as they only had a few seconds left. He burst through the door and jumped onto Miraclonizer, grabbing the miraculous.

"I'll take that thanks!" He declared, ripping off him and pushing him off the tower. He turned back into Techlonizer as he fell but landed on his four arms as Anatis turned to Sparrow and threw the necklace. "Sparrow!!"

She caught it and landed on the ground, sliding down a staircase before jumping and landing. She put the necklace on and the kwami manifested before it turned around and faced her. They looked like a little falcon.

"Hello, fledgling. To call off my power, just say cool down and to transform say Liiri, wings of liberty," The little creature informed before she took off her Sparrow costume.

"Liiri, wings of Liberty!" She declared, causing Liiri to get sucked into the necklace before she created a mask that resembled a falcon's beak. She felt magic spread down her arms creating her outfit. It was a brown body suit with yellow and black boots and a black belt. A gray under-jack that resembled tail feathers appeared before a brown jack with tassels on the arms manifested. Her hands got covered with black gloves, completing her transformation into Falcon. Taking a deep breath, she held her hands out. "Cool down,"

She felt instantly the power of the Falcon miraculous subside before she rushed over to where Anatis and Lady Noir were. They were fighting Techlonizer, trying to get the controls for the nuke off him. He laughed and turned to them.

"Give me your miraculous!!"

"Never!" Anatis declared but gasped as Techlonizer pressed the button, causing the nuke to blast off. Falcon gasped as Anatis narrowed his eyes, a very dark expression coming on his face before he charged at him and began to fight him even more, gaining the upper hand. He wrapped his yoyo around him, allowing Lady Noir to dive at him as she summoned her power. She slammed her hand onto his cuffs, causing them to rust and break then a purple butterfly escaped from them and Techlonizer become Techno Pirate again. A second rope appeared around him as Knightowl appeared, allowing Anatis to remove his. He threw out his yoyo and captured the butterfly as the heroes watched. He then opened his yoyo and freed a now white butterfly before taking the keychain and throwing it up in the air. "Miraculous Ladybugs!!"

The key chain burst into the magical swarm and flew through the city, fixing all the damage as Majestia landed on the ground, next to Knight Owl who was watching with slight awe. Both hadn't really been paying attention when he used the power before but now they did. Anatis turned to Majestia with a worried expression.

"Do you stop the Nuke?" He asked. Majestia nodded, causing him to let out a relieved sigh.

"I threw it into the sun," She explained, making him smile before turning to Techno Pirate. "Now to deal with him,"

She took out a phone and made call. Within minutes, a police van turned up and took Techno pirate away, despite his confusion. Falcon walked over to Anatis, looking sad as she looked down and went to take off the necklace but he stopped her and smiled.

"I think you should keep it," He smiled, making her gasp in surprise.

"Really?!" She grinned.

"Yes," He nodded as Lady Noir moved next to him. "I know you'll use it for good. Also if you ever need our help again or vice versa, we can contact each other,"

He took out his yoyo and showed her that a new contact under the Alias Falcon had been added. She squealed and hugged him, making him laugh before she pulled away and hugged Lady Noir as well.

"Thank you!!" She smiled before frowning and looking to Knightowl. "But I disobeyed again, meaning I'll never get my weapons back, will I?"

"With that miraculous, you won't need them," Knight Owl replied before looking down. "And I was wrong. About all of you. My little sparrow was ready to become a fearsome falcon,"

"Ahh!! Thank you, Mum!!" She declared, making Anatis and Lady Noir look at each other before they both shrugged as she pulled away. "I mean-"

"It's fine. Besides, it doesn't matter anywhere. With that outfit, people will know that Sparrow is female and that the original Knightowl is long gone," Knight owl explained before taking off her helmet. "Maybe it's a sign that the time has come to embrace who we really are,"

"And even though it worries us, the only way for us to let you grow is for us to let you take chances," Majestia stated, gently pressing her head against Knightowl's before they both looked to Anatis and Lady Noir. "Thank you for inspiring them,"

"And please forgive us for misjudging you," Knightowl added in. "You two have a wonderful relationship and I was wrong to doubt you. You're welcome in New York and I hope we get to meet again but on better terms,"

"Thank you," Anatis smiled before holding out his fist. Lady Noir placed hers against his as the two of them looked at Uncanny Valley and Falcon before the two of them grinned and added theirs next to theirs. "Pound it?"

"Pound it," The three girls grinned as he smiled before Lady Noir turned around to Uncanny as she rubbed the back of her neck. Anatis rose an eyebrow as she only did that when she was nervous.

"About my secret identity..." She mumbled, making Anatis stare at her in shock. "You'll erase it right?"

"Of course. I understand that your secret identity is extremely important to you so as your friend, I promise I'll erase both yours and Anatis' secret identity as soon as we say goodbye,"

"Wait what?!" Anatis gasped, shocked. "How do you... know that?!"

"Your suit has quantum masking but that is designed to confuse human minds. Since I am not human, I can see who you really are," She smiled, causing Anatis to look at her with worry. "Don't worry. I haven't told anyone and I'll delete the information,"

"Please do. Not even Lady Noir knows who I am nor do I know her identity," He gasped before Lady Noir gently elbowed him.

"Relax, Annie," She grinned. "She'll delete the info and she hasn't told anyone. It'll be fine,"

"R-Right... I suppose I better get going... I should return to Paris," He nodded but Lady Noir frowned and grabbed his hand, making him look at her.

"Couldn't you stay for a little bit?" She asked, making him frown.

"I wish I could, Kitten but chances are Hawkmoth is probably going to go straight to Paris after this defeat and who knows when Mayura will attack again," He sighed, getting a nod off her. He smiled and gently kissed her cheek, making her blush. "Don't worry. We'll have a full catch up when you're back. I want to hear about the rest of your trip,"

"O-ok," She nodded, blushing as his earrings beeped. He saluted before throwing his yoyo and disappearing. Lady Noir sighed gently as she watched him leave before turning to the others. "Well, this kitty better disappear. Bye!!"

She ran off and disappeared as Uncanny Valley grinned.

"Those two are made for each other," She grinned, making Falcon roll her eyes.

"You said that about Luka and Marinette as well," She stated before grinning. "Come on, Matchmaker. We better get back,"

~Time Skip~

"Hey," Luka stated as he walked over to Marinette. She gasped and threw herself at him. He caught her and smiled as he hugged her back before he pulled away. "I'm really sorry I didn't answer my phone. I was kind of trapped until Anatis turned up,"

"It's ok. I'm just glad you're ok," She grinned, hugging him again. "I'll have to make Anatis some special cookies for rescuing you,"

"Hey, Luka! Marinette!" Jess called out, making them look at her. The Falcon Miraculous was around her neck and she seemed more free in a way. "Hotdog Dan's about to come by. You two should get up to the roof if you want to get some again,"

"Thanks, Jess!" Marinette called out before grabbing Luka's hand. "Come on! I'll buy us some!!"

"Are you sure?" He gasped as she pulled him up to the roof. "I don't mind getting them for us,"

"My treat, Luka!" She grinned as he landed. She ran over and ordered two. Hotdog Dan grinned and gave her two before serving others. Marinette handed Luka one and took a bit in hers, grinning as it allowed her to create fireworks. Luka laughed and took a bit of his, causing him to glow bright green. The two of them laughed before sitting down and watch the rest of the students. Luka smiled as he watched them but blushed a little as Marinette gently placed her hand on top of his, making him smile a little. "I'm glad we got to come here, even if there were some crazy moments,"

"Me too, Marinette,"

43 notes · View notes

ikenbar · 3 years

Text

Mr Love: Ike’s Choice CH 5 PT 1

Author’s Note:

Chapter five baby!! This is gonna be a fun one!! It is chock-full of fluff, angst, adventure, and thickening plot!! Only the best for Ikamara’s story B) I plan on taking lines straight from the game in this story. Normally I would make annotations but, after rereading the parts I have done that with, I have noticed that they can distract from the story. And because I have a lot of lines from the game in the coming chapters, I am just going to put the reference to the stages in the warning. If you have a problem with this, send me a message! Though I do write Ikamara’s story for myself, I also want to make the experience as pleasurable for any one reading as possible.

Thank you so much for the love and support for my story! Please read the author’s note (and the beginning of the story) on chapter one part one if you’re new here and would like to be familiar with the story!! :D

Enjoy Chapter Five!! :D

- Ike ‘n Bar Productions

Warnings: Words taken directly from Stage 8-1 from the game Mr. Love: A Queen’s Choice, there is also FLUFF!!!, sad children, ~✨🌈Gayness🌈✨~, and plot development that makes you beg for more but are sadly left on yet aNOTHER cliffhanger :D

Prologue:

The man in the white lab coat walked behind Marie as they made their way back down that familiarly dank hallway. They were quiet but that didn’t mean Marie would have it any other way. From all the medical talk and strange languages they spoke, silence seemed like the only thing she could understand anymore.

They came to a stop in front of a door. He opened it and gestured for Marie to go in. She timidly did so, allowing him to close it shut behind her and lock it. It was a simple room with two beds. Not much there but it was enough.

In one of the beds sat Marie’s roommate, and best friend. Normally the girl would be smiling and greet Marie with open arms, but today, she was just sitting on the bed, crying. Immediately, Marie ran to her side.

“What’s wrong?” Marie’s squeaky voice made the girl jump. She hurriedly wiped her eyes.

“Nothing.” The girl mumbled.

“Oh come on.” Marie jumped onto the bed and next to the girl, “You can’t say that right after wiping away tears.”

“...it’s just that.” The girl slowly began, “...I’m tired of the testing. I’d just wish they’d stop pricking us with those needles. You’re so lucky. Your skin is so thick, you don’t need needles.”

“Nah, I still get the needles.” Marie kicked her feet over the bed and kept her eyes on the ground, “I just have a special kind that's bigger.” The girl sighed and leaned on her shoulder.

“I just feel so…” The girl started, gesturing her hands uselessly, “... not safe.” Marie tensed slightly.

“You shouldn’t.” She said, making the girl look up at her, “You’ve got me! I will always protect you.” The girl smiled weakly.

“You promise?” She asked. Marie nodded seriously as she drew an ‘x’ on over her heart.

“Cross my heart.” She smiled. The girl sat up and threw her arms around Marie. Marie reciprocated the hug, making the girl laugh. The girls held their hug, indulging in the security of it.

“When we get out,” The girl said softly, “and we are no longer in danger, will you still protect me?" Marie held the little girl closer to her.

“Youri,” Marie said the girl’s name seriously, “There won’t be a moment where I will leave your side.”

Chapter five:

Part one:

I waited anxiously in my seat, tapping the mug of coffee in my hand. Youran and I had spent the past week talking and getting to know each other. In fact, there wasn't a day that had passed that we didn't talk. It surprised me how easy it was to talk with her. It was like we had clicked, becoming friends almost instantly. Almost as if we had already been friends before.

I had even told Youran about my family. Though I addressed them as my biological family instead of my foster family. I didn’t want her asking questions about my life as a foster child. Not because I didn’t want to answer them but because I knew that, if she asked, I would tell her everything.

It was strange to me. Never in my life had I been so open to anyone like that. It was almost suspicious. But every time I spoke to Youran, the suspicions left my mind. I would get this immense calm all over my body. It was something I had never experienced before. Something only she could give me.

But the suspicions and doubts were back. I met this woman while I'm being targeted and I just trusted her?! Just like that?! Plus, wasn't it weird that I feel so strange around her? Not to mention I had dreams about her right before meeting her! Could she have been someone from my past? Someone that wants me dead? One thing was for sure, waiting for her was a dumb idea. Especially if it meant potentially getting hurt. I still hadn't healed fully from Montu's attack last week. Waiting there like a sitting duck was a terrible way to get killed.

As I moved to stand from my seat, a chime came from the front door, making me look up. Youran pushed through the door, clearly in distress. Her hair was tied in a loose ponytail that fell just above a vibrant sundress that brought out her light brown eyes. She seemed to have put on some light makeup as well, my eyes being drawn to her flushed cheeks and glossy lips.

Panting slightly, Youran scanned the café until her eyes landed on mine. She smiled brightly. And, just like that, my suspicions vanished once again as that calm hit me like a truck. She came running over to me. "Ike!" Youran threw her arms around me, nearly toppling me over, "I hope you weren’t waiting long! I am so sorry I'm late. I slept through my alarm."

“It’s no problem.” I patted her head gently, “It happens. Besides, I... just got here. So you’re fine.”

“Great!” Youran jumped back and clapped her hands together, “Give me one second to order a drink then we can start hanging out!” I smiled and nodded. Hanging out? What are we, teenagers… she sure made me feel that way.

Youran smile brightened in return. She turned on her heel and hurried to the front counter. I watched her as she left. She looked cute with her hair up like-

I shook my head and dropped that stupid absent minded smile. What am I doing? Wasn’t I about to leave?! I cursed under my breath and held a hand up to my mouth. She did it to me again! How does she just change me like that? There has got to be a malice reason behind it…

After a moment’s hesitation, I stole another glance at Youran. She was looking at the menu intently, tapping her chin with her finger thoughtfully.

… Well... since I'm already here…

I took my seat again, sighing as I picked up my now cold, and nearly empty, cup of coffee. After waiting a minute longer, Youran came running back to the table. “Ok!” She said, taking a seat in front of me, “How are you?”

She seems so happy to see me...

“I’m good.” I smiled, “How are you?”

“I’m great!” She giggled, “Having coffee together was such a great idea! I feel like we only know each other through a phone screen.” I hummed in agreement as a barista walked over to us.

“Refill, mam?” She asked me politely. I looked at Youran.

“... Yeah.” I sighed, lifting my cup to her, “Fill ‘er up.” The barista complied. Once she had left, I sparked a conversation, "How’s the company, Youran?”

“Excellent thanks to your help.” Youran sighed, “Victor had little to nothing to correct from the report, all thanks to your edits. Of course, he guessed almost immediately that you had been the reason behind it.”

“Yeah, Victor’s smart like that.” I sighed, spinning my newly filled cup of coffee absentmindedly.

“What about you?” Youran leaned on the table and looked at me expectantly, “How’s Ike ‘n Bar Productions?”

“Not bad. We actually start filming a new tv show today. Bart’s already heading over now to scope it out.”

“Ooo! Nice! Who’s the cast?” Youran egged.

“Nope.” I deadpanned, “Not revealing anything until it airs.” I looked up from my cup and caught Youran glaring at me. She had her cheeks puffed out and her bottom lip over lapping the top one. I smirked. She was so cute when she was angry. “Alright, alright. You can come to the viewing party.”

“Really??” Youran beamed, making the pout I saw a distant memory.

“Yeah.” I sighed, “Why not?” Youran cheered and clapped her hands, sending a warm feeling in my chest.

“Oh! But watch out! You may not be able to get through the production so easily!” Youran’s voice sounded like she was telling a ghost story. She added her fingers waving in the air for extra spooky flavor. I arched my eyebrow.

“What makes you say that?” I asked, amused by her childish behavior. Youran leaned forward slightly and spoke in a harsh whisper, “Did you hear about that hacker that has been attacking the web?” My brows furrowed slightly. A widespread internet paralysis broke out in Loveland that week. It affected all websites in the city. On every homepage there was a signature by a hacker named ‘Key.’ “Apparently, there was word of the hacker affecting cell phones as well.” Youran continued, “Hacking into your phone and stealing emails and personal information.” I rolled my eyes.

“Hogwash.” I sighed, “It’s just people speculating and stirring up a commotion. Don’t think about it too much.” Youran nodded and took a sip from her drink. Though she agreed with me, I could still see worry knitted in her eyebrows. I instinctively reached out and brushed them. Youran looked at me surprised. I felt my face flush as I quickly retracted my hand.

“Sorry.” I stammered, covering my face with my hand, “You just… You have nothing to worry about. So you shouldn’t hold your face like that.”

“I don’t?” Youran asked, innocently.

“Of course not.” I said simply, avoiding eye contact and looking back into my cup, “Like I said, this is all speculation. This ‘Key’ is probably trying to make a name for himself. Pushing however hard he can to get people to notice him. You’ll be ok.”

“...And ...If I’m not?” Youran asked sheepishly.

“I’ll protect you.”

I froze. Those words fell from my mouth without me realizing it. They came so easily to me. As if I had said it a million times to her before...

Youran placed a hand on top of mine. I looked up at her. She was smiling sweetly at me.

“Thank you.” She said, softly. Her eyes sparkled, showing me she meant her thanks. I looked down. Her hands are so cold… I twisted my hand to hold Youran’s. “... Did you get your nails done?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Yeah!” Youran shone brightly as she leaned forward, “I had them draw little pandas on them! Aren’t they cute??”

“Adorable.” I ran my thumb over her nails gently, a soft smile settling on my face, “Adri has been wanting to get her nails done. You’ll have to tell me the name of the place you went to.”

“Oh! How is Adri doing?” Youran asked, pulling her hand away to clap her hands together, “Wasn’t today her first day at her new highschool?” I opened my mouth but was cut off by a buzzing that came from my blazer pocket. I pulled out my phone and looked at the collar ID. Ho boy. “ Speak of the devil.” I looked up to Youran, “Do you mind?” She shook her head and smiled politely. I thanked her and stood up.. after making sure I was out of earshot, I answered the call.

“Speaking.” I said resoundly.

“Hello?” The principal of Loveland Lake High, Mr. Olson answered seriously. He still sounded the same as he did when I attended that school, if not a little more warily, “Is this Ike?”

“What did Sam do now?” I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose.

Mr. Olson chuckled, “Ah, about that. It isn’t Sam I’m calling for this time. It’s Adrienne.” I froze.

“What happened?”

“Our new student was called to my office for cursing at her teacher and starting a riot in the classroom.” I groaned, “She has been suspended starting immediately. I tried calling Maria and Bart but neither of them picked up.”

“Maria is at a doctor’s appointment for Lola and Bart is at a shoot that I have to meet him at in less than an hour.” I checked my watch. “Are you sure Adri has to start today? Can’t she just sit in the corner and think about what she has done?”

“I’m afraid not.” Mr. Olson chuckled. I sighed and held my face in my hand.

“...fine. I’ll be over as soon as I can.”

“Thank you, Ike. I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”

“Don’t be. It wasn’t your fault. Adri on the other hand will be receiving a solid talking to that may make her into a saint…. I’ll see you soon. Goodbye.” I hung up the phone and growled to myself as I walked back into the cafe. “I’m afraid I’ll have to go.” I said as I approached Youran, “I have to go pick up my sister early from school.”

“Oh no.” Youran’s smile fell into a look of worry, “Is everything ok?”

“Yeah.” I grumbled, stretching my jaw to stop it from clenching, “My sister is just a jerk to the underpaid.” I sighed, “The school is fifteen minutes away. By the time I pick her up and take her home, I’ll have to go to a shoot. I’m really sorry.” Youran shook her head and smiled at me.

“It’s nothing you couldn’t help. I understand.” She said this with a sweet smile but there was no denying the disappointment behind her eyes. I clenched my hands into fists inside my pockets. It felt as if I had a string attached to my chest that prevented me from just leaving Youran there, making it nearly impossible to leave her side.

“... Do you have plans for dinner tonight?” Youran looked shocked by my sudden question.

“No!” She answered quickly.

“Good. Don’t make any. We can finish chatting then. And it’ll be on me. To make up for bailing today.”

“But I was late!” Youran quickly jumped to stop me, “I’ll pay!”

“I really didn’t care that you were late. I can-”

“But I do!” Youran puffed out her cheeks stubbornly. Though normally, the stubbornness of others angered me, she still somehow pulled a smile out of me.

“Fine. You can give me a ride there to make up for your tardiness. How does that sound?” I asked, lightly arching my brows. Youran nodded, her smile returning. “Good. I’ll text you the location of the shoot and you can pick me up from there.”

“Right!” Youran said, determinately.

“See you tonight then.” I said. I hesitated a moment, then gave her a quick pat on the head. Youran giggled, bringing a sharp blush to my cheeks. Not willing to let her see it, I quickly started walking to the door.

“See you!” She said, waving to me as I left. I waved back as I pushed through the door, making the chimes tinkle melodiously. I felt a warm smile spread across my cheeks as I walked to the car. Youran was so sweet and caring to me. It was a kind of warmth I hadn’t felt since... My smile fell slightly.

… I have never felt that kind of sweetness before...

Why did it seem so familiar?

(Next)

6 notes · View notes

ontheoddoccasioniwritestuff · 4 years

Text

Goodnight, Aaron (Aaron Hotchner x OC) Chapter 4

Summary: With Hotch’s blessing, Sebastian begins to assimilate into the Hotchner household.

Tagging: @sunlight-moonrise, @clean-bands-dirty-stories, @genevievedarcygranger, and @davidrossi-ismydad

Chapter 3 // Masterlist // AO3 Link // Chapter 5

Dropping Jack off at school proved to be the easiest thing in Sebastian’s day, despite not waking up past ten o’clock for the past few weeks.

Packing his possessions only took two hours in comparison to the literal hellscape that was the cleaning up. His tiny bedsit hid plenty of nooks and crannies that hoarded dust and grime. On his hands and knees, Sebastian scrubbed away with anti-bac spray and wipes in hopes that he would get his deposit back.

He really fucking hated cleaning. It always took him way too long. Probably because he got putting on a video for background noise – it had to be something he found interesting to help pass the time but not so interesting that he would be pulled into watching it. A fine wire to walk and Sebastian had terrible balance to match his attitude. There was also the fact that he would often put off cleaning with the excuse of doing it all in one big go.

Past Sebastian was a bitch and Present Sebastian was suffering because of it

After a quick lunch of his leftovers, he lay back on the floor and dialled for his best friend. She picked up after three rings and he whined loudly to her.

“Bellamy, help me. I’m drowning in used wipes in my shitty shitty bedsit.”

“Hmm, delicious,” and Bellamy hung up.

Sebastian didn’t bother ringing up to see if she’d appear in the room. He decided that he would find out if she was on her way or not in the next hour.

Turns out it only took twenty minutes for Bellamy to push the front door open with the tip of her wedges.

“Why’d you call me to help you clean? Sexist pig,” and she swung her leg over his head.

Sebastian didn’t bother trying to dodge, letting the air shoot past his ear, a few stray hairs fluttering in Bellamy’s wake, “Because Klaus would make more mess, and I love your scintillating company – did you bring anything?”

“I got me coffee and you Haribo’s.”

Just another reminder as to how all that kerfuffle with his work visa was worth it.

He clasped his hands together as if in prayer, “I adore you; I owe you my life.”

With a grin, Bellamy tossed the packet his way, “Give me a cloth and tell me about your new boss then.”

Another thing Bellamy brought was the tunes. She was mumbling lyrics as she scrubbed away at the skirting board, Sebastian harmonising in terrible ways. The tasks didn’t get completed much quicker, but it was much more entertaining for Sebastian. Who knew what Bellamy was up to before this, she didn’t tell him.

Bellamy tossed a bag into the garbage can and peered in despite the smell, “Somehow still better than my flat.”

“When are you moving out by the way?”

“Who knows, maybe I’ll move into your bedsit.”

“Don’t, landlord’s a prick.” And Sebastian looked over his shoulder, a belated measure

“Still better than mine.”

Bellamy stayed right up until all the belongings were crushed into Sebastian’s car and the door was locked by them for the final time. It was a very unemotional time when Sebastian tossed the keys through the letterbox, and they left down the murky stairwell together.

To say Jack enjoyed the sight of all Sebastian’s bags pilled together in the backseats was an understatement. The drive back, he was more elated by the tracks leaking from Sebastian’s stereo. His chatter on the drive back about the games in the playground filled the time, and Sebastian was drawn into the world of spies Jack had created.

The energy dipped when Jack and Sebastian had to carry all of Sebastian’s belongings inside. The lift worked, thank God, but Sebastian was still weighed down with his bags for life. Plus Jack could only carry so much. He was only somewhat eager to drag Sebastian’s wheelie suitcase down the corridors. And even less so was Jack to get on with his homework once the car was clear of baggage.

Sebastian sneaked a sly glance at Hotch’s list of Jack’s preferred snacks before he made up some apple slices with peanut butter. Gotta trick the kids into eating their five-a-day.

Somehow, after that snack break, Jack transformed his mood into “very understanding” about doing his science work - especially for an eleven-year-old. He listened to Sebastian’s reason, one he wished he’d thought about and listened to when he was Jack’s age, was heard.

The Lego break was greatly appreciated too. Especially since it was coupled with the front door opening at quarter to seven to reveal Hotch.

“Hi, Daddy!” Jack trotted over and hugged his middle.

“You’re home early,” Sebastian cheered from the kitchen counter.

“On time for once,” Hotch set his stuff on the side, and his gun into the drawer swiftly after. “Don’t expect it to happen often.” Then, as Jack went back to the dinner table, Hotch knelt down and removed a second gun from an ankle holster. Sebastian didn’t comment. He must have just missed that last time.

“What you doing, buddy?” Hotch joined Jack at the table, subbing in where Sebastian left off. He brought his own pile of paperwork with him. But it stayed in his briefcase.

“Math.”

“Let’s have a look.”

Sebastian’s cooking playlist continued with its lyricless songs. But it was turned it way down and Sebastian felt more self-consciousness about each song still coming up. Towards the final seconds, he would hover over the skip button before deciding that it wouldn’t be so bad if it continued.

One of Sebastian’s favourite songs came on, but he had very little time to enjoy it.

When Jack heard that it was playing, he bounced on his little butt with excitement, “Sebastian wants to get married to this song!”

Looking between Jack and Hotch, who was looking expectantly for an answer with a little grin, Sebastian noticed his jaw was slack and promptly shut it.

“I would like to have my first dance to this song,” He explained, a little slower than Jack who continued:

“We listened to it in the car! But he doesn’t like a bit in the middle so he’s going to change it.”

Sebastian bit his cheek and got back to stirring the cabbage around in the saucepan in a triangle.

“Is this it?” Hotch tapped his pen against the homework, “The part you don’t like?”

“Not yet,” Sebastian replied, “There’s a change from three to four beats per bar in a sec first.”

And, as if he wanted to make things even worse for himself, Sebastian began to wave out the time signature with the fork he’d been using in the saucepan. Hotch and Jack watched the movement the movement change from a triangle to a lightning bolt as the song shifted into its denouement.

“So maybe I’d have to get it edited,” Sebastian finished, his voice fading out the more he spoke.

He didn’t point it out when they reached the moment of upbeat, just before the closing bars that didn’t fit with the traditional wedding idea. Who knows? Maybe he’d be unconventional if he got married, jam out with his significant other on the dance floor.

But he wasn’t about to discuss that with Hotch - or continue it with Jack for that matter. And he didn’t look up from his cooking until it was done and ready to be served.

Hotch ate with them, sat beside Jack while Sebastian was opposite. Jack gave an enthused rehashing of this spy game’s narrative beats. His fork was his baton as he orchestrated a rich tapestry of how he and his friends crept about the playground together. Interjecting appropriately, Hotch offered him tips of the trade, like some hand signals to use while sneaking underneath the windows of the classroom.

“Did you move in alright?” He suddenly addressed Sebastian.

Prayed none of his food was stuck in his teeth, Sebastian replied, “Yeah thanks, I’ll probably be unpacking for some of tomorrow though.”

Jack helped Sebastian load the dishwasher after dinner while Hotch disappeared into his office. It didn’t go unmissed, the way Jack’s behaviour slumped as soon as his father turned to walk away from him.

However, when Hotch reappeared sans suit jacket and tie, Sebastian bit back his laughter. Not because he thought the sight was funny, but he was just so pleased for Jack as the two began setting up a film. It was such a beautiful event to watch unfold from the kitchen table, where Sebastian was flying his Minecraft avatar about the server in search of something to do. He wanted to ring his mum, but by the power of time-zones, he was rendered incapable. So instead he punched a tree until it fell.

“Sebastian! Are you going to watch with us?” Jack said, his neck craning as far as he could go to look at his nanny while he pulled the puppy eyes on him.

“Um,” Sebastian threw a glance at the horrendous clock tower besides Bellamy’s mansion, “I’m gonna work for a bit, sorry Jack.”

The puppy dog eyes grew wider – how that was possible, Sebastian didn’t know – but Jack accepted the answer with relative grace and settled with Hotch on the couch, his legs buried beneath a blanket.

Sebastian decided to start building, something productive. But the further he got into his project, the further he wanted to jump into the ocean because of how ugly everything he made turned out to be. The booming opening titles of a Star Wars film brought him back to the apartment, where Hotch was retrieving something from the fridge, barely giving Sebastian just enough time to switch tabs to his email before he walked behind him.

But then he stopped beside him and spoke under his breath, “You live here too now. You don’t have to worry about bothering us.”

“Ah, I don’t wanna encroach on your time with Jack. And I was just gonna go to the shops. You want owt?” It all came tumbling out of Sebastian’s mouth pretty quick.

“‘Out’?” Hotch repeated.

“Owt, anything, it’s slang for anything.”

“Oh, no thank you. We’re all set,” and he held up the chocolate bar in his hand with a little smile. Sebastian’s stomach tensed but he returned the smile and closed his laptop lid, off to his room to get his rucksack.

Hotch’s arm rested around Jack on the back of sofa. They took turns breaking a square off the chocolate bar, Jack occasionally going for another between

“It makes sense that ‘owt’ is ‘anything’, if ‘nowt’ is ‘nothing’,” Hotch remarked, his head falling back on the couch to look at Sebastian. He shot him back a single finger gun.

“Now you’re getting it.”

“You don’t have to keep your shoes by the door either.”

“Oh, your poor carpets,” Sebastian let out a laugh at his oh-so-very-lame comment, making eye contact with the dress shoes that rested beside Hotch’s feet in pewter grey socks on the floor.

The shop was only a ten-minute walk away and he knew what he wanted. Sebastian still looped around the aisles as if he did not know where his next minute would be spent on this mortal coil. Eventually he settled on a slice of banoffee pie from the bakery. He answered the phone at the till, not so subtly bringing up the subject of their Minecraft time to Bellamy on the other end:

“Have you been on the server yet?”

“No, I’m marking some homework. Why? You wanna hop on tonight?”

“Ah, I’m gonna wait until Jack is off to bed first.”

“I’ll keep you posted on how the little buggers do with their homework.” And there was a clink of a glass in the background, “But I’m telling you, if I read one more ‘Curly’s wife’s nails are red because red means danger’.”

“Make it a drinking game! Don’t, don’t do that.”

Sebastian just missed the rain on his walk back. Thankfully so because his hoodie wouldn’t provide much protection for himself or for his pie. Upon re-entering the apartment, he was greeted by Jack and Jack alone.

“You alright, bud? Where’s ya Dad?”

“He had to get the phone.”

Speak of the devil, Hotch returned to the sitting room with his tie neat in place and suit jacket returned on his back. As he collected his belongings from his safe, he caught sight of Sebastian, “I gotta go to the office, shouldn’t be more than a few hours.”

He kissed the top of Jack’s head and nodded goodbye at Sebastian before leaving. It was then Sebastian saw that the movie was paused and Jack was eating the last square of chocolate.

“Do you want to finish the film, or wait until your dad comes back?”

“Finish it, please,” Jack drooled a little and Sebastian grabbed a tissue to mop it up.

He poked away at the pie before eating it. The pair watched in quietude before Sebastian remembered the last of his snacks at the bottom of his bag.

“You want a Haribo?”

They went through the usual routine: the Millennium Falcon speeding away with the gang barely intact before the credits rolled, teeth brushing, Sebastian reading Where The Wild Things Are until Jack was dozing off and not fighting his nanny easing him lower into his pillows.

The ugly-as-hell clock tower was demolished in favour of making a little paddock for the cows. Bellamy joined the server and insisted on an extension to their little home.

When he realised how dark his room had gotten, Sebastian checked the time.

11:03.

He closed the lid of his laptop. Then he lay down on his bed with his eyes open and listened. Just his breathing and the beating of his heart were heard, slow and steady for Lord knows how long.

Then the front door creaked.

Footsteps padded across the floor, and the hall light snapped on. A shadow beneath the door passed by. He heard Hotch go into Jack’s room. Then the light went out again and a bedroom door closed.

Sebastian turned over and closed his eyes, now that he was ready to sleep.

#aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner imagine #aaron hotchner x oc #aaron hotchner fanfiction #criminal minds #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds fanfic #my writing #wc: 2k+#r: male #series #goodnight aaron

14 notes · View notes

bilgisticallykosher · 4 years

Text

Sanders Asides: Are There Healthy Distractions? reaction

Pre-anything: I'm not expecting to love this one as much as the last episode. Nothing terrible, but the disgusting trash man intro is just a hard thing to beat.

I’m expecting this to be SvS part 2. I'm expecting some sort of reaction and conclusion to Virgil's reveal at the end of DWIT. I'm therefore looking for any sign of confidence from Virgil immediately pointing to him being Deceit. I think it's likely not going to be addressed until late in the episode. Virgil angst until he comes back. Will Deceit be wearing Virgil's current hoodie? People have theorized that since he took notes on Roman's advice, it's possible for him to be better at pretending to be someone else. Especially someone who pops in, as opposed to rising up.

I'm also anticipating Thomas to come up with a different solution to the callback/wedding thing. Namely, Logan asking him if he'd just speak to Lee and Mary Lee, and ask to celebrate another time, more privately, and if he could go to the callback. Like, there's definitely a reason Deceit threw Logan in the back where he thought he'd have less influence.

I'm also waiting on Roman angst. We needed to meet another character (there's no way it wasn't Remus) before entering Roman's room.

OH GOSH they're doing animation, right? Or, another medium? That's gotta be for Roman's room! I was thinking maybe stop-motion or fluid animation. I'd also LIKE Deceit's name reveal, but I'm not sure we'll get that.

Post-title screen. I thought this was an old TS & Friends I'd missed. I, didn't love Frozen. This is an understatement. Okay. Still really like the name Sanders Asides, it's funny. That's. Hm. Well, it looks like Virgil. In a different outfit? Intriguing. So, distractions, like distracting yourself from wedding/callback? Also, "Are there healthy distractions?" Almost like "Can lying be good?" (At least, I have misremembered the title as "Can distractions be good?" at least five times already.)

Okay I'm also focusing too much on my theory and supporting it. I know Frozen has been used as a metaphor for Depression and/or other mental illnesses, so, maybe that's why Virgil's the focus in the title screen?

WATCHING! Y'know, despite the Jewish thing, I've only ever seen two episodes of The Goldbergs, didn't really get into- YES HELLO THOMAS. What. Is this an actual ad? Why does he sound like a pirate? HA! He acknowledged it. "What the hell is that accent?" Idk, a little Remus, a little midwest?

Okay, that was the opening? Wondering if the red jacket plays any special significance, or they just saw it and bought it.

I like the effects of the A. Virgil is. There already. Hnnnnnm. I dunno, man. This is supposed to be part of the chronological series, right? Oh it's a skeleton onesie! Canon onesie for Virgil!

WOAH EVERYONE! Ooh, Roman's Beast? I wonder if that'd change depending on what show either actual, or character, Thomas is in. They're all there! Different order, too!

OH MY GOSH is this taking place twenty minutes after DWIT? IS THIS DECEIT??? I failed at not pushing my theory, whoops. I'm still suspicious. (Roman's floppy horns.)

Literally nobody believes that you didn't put all Frozen answers in, Ro. "I don't wear those anymore, they're too childish." Still waiting on Logan angst, too… probably after Roman.

"Thomas is in a bad place" Virgil looks uncomfortable, but he also didn't seem so offended when Roman pulled his "twenty minutes ago" line. Well, it's definitely Logan, "Thomas is at home." Haha. Also, Roman's hood falling down was hilarious??

Okay, screw it, I'm pushing this. Virgil did learn last episode that repressing problems isn't the way to deal with them. But I feel like Deceit would also keep pressing for them to acknowledge why he feels bad? Also, Thomas's face, wow, discomfort.

I don't get the "Thomas in the movie" joke, it's a snowflake? "Or neutral." Burn! "This weird ice cutting song." Man, where's the Critic? "Externalization" he had a little smile, guys.

Some Logan vs. Patton tension AND some Logan vs. Roman tension. "Fear will be your enemy." Virgil looked at, Thomas, I think? Damn guys, this might actually be Virgil.

Okay I watched this four times, Virgil and Logan do not shout Joan. And Thomas does it sadly afterwards. "Passage of time," This might actually be Virgil!

I just choked! Oh my gosh, you guys, he is naked my throat hurts from not screaming. I'm having trouble getting over this. This cannot be a shock to anyone, but I want to hear him say "I sleep in the buff" several thousand more times.

"Did I screw everything up" oooh, I was wrong, it's Virgil, but who cares, buff. Thomas is looking at his phone, is it not too late for callback?

WOAH going right for Patton's throat! Ahaha, the tallies were hysterical.

"Why have a ballroom with no balls?" "*snrk*" Don't lie, Thomas, that's hysterical.

Patton's sadness and "without trust issues" hmmm. Shut out [her] whole life, is this supposed to be a comparison to anyone? Logan's "hey, yeah!" Is oddly hilarious.

Is the "he" that Virgil's talking about the director? "Well she really shouldn't be letting go of anymore of her clothing." Oh my gosh.

Oh, today is April 13th! The wedding is at night, so is he already missing the callback? ICE TOILET! Remus, my god. Also, just noting, minus hair and makeup, this is some easy Remus-ing for the crew. They didn't have to deal with the whole outfit.

Good point, Logan! This is not how Roman shows affection! Especially towards Disney! You guys, what if Roman is Deceit?... No, he hasn't been pushing the callback enough. But like. Beast/Prince symbolism? Hm. I'm watching him.

Wait, what the hell party? I, I'm confused, wait he's telling Thomas's friends? That doesn't sound like he's going to the wedding? Who is "he"? If he were missing the wedding, it'd be him talking about Lee and Mary Lee.

Unless he sent someone else to the wedding in his stead? So he could go to the callback? Did he send Deceit? That's. Unlikely. But misrepresenting his side? Idk idk.

"If he lied on purpose." MUSIC! Wait what's this about unsympathetic judgemental jerk? Who are they talking about??? This had better be revealed at the end. I went back, judgemental jerk used twice, and combative compatriot sounds like Deceit, what other "he" is there, but the Sides can't be seen by others, so????????

The music is still going. Rico? Oh, is that the answer? So is this unrelated to the wedding/callback? Okay, party isn't wedding. That was also an incredible act of breath control from Thomas. Standing ovation, dude.

Oooh, the grounding thing! Ice machine! Ice machine is one of my favorite Shorts characters, guys, I love him, he a loud boy. "Deodorant" *excited noise*... oh, no that's fine.

But I mean. Couldn't he do something now? Call or text an apology? Logan "have I mentioned that you called me cool yet" Sanders. Long ice powers list.

I just realized that the voting hat was Deceit's! I- oh, he's just literally off-screen. I'm. Fairly certain that I was wrong now, yes. Virgil hissy. Ha, they didn't want to do Deceit's makeup. Understandable. Oh, is this the animation thing?

"Love is an open wound" ooooh, nice. That was actually a cool re-write. In the buff. Is Thomas legit writing fanfiction now?

I do not like the holiday season, I'm Scrooge. I do love Joan, though! DARK SIDE SWEATERS I would legitimately never wear them. Ever. Because X-mas. But eyeballs and demons.

Logan angst is still incoming.

So, it was tied to the main narrative, but… Virgil wasn't addressed? So, is it just loosely tied, but not necessarily sequentially? It's real cute seeing them all hanging out together like on everyone's fanfics, and that had to be crazy to edit. And hey, the Frozen stuff was better with commentary. But I'm still waiting on SvS part two, I think. And post-DWIT "fallout," but I did really enjoy all of them together being (relatively) cute.

Sorry for being really focused on one theory. And, really, it's not like I'm disappointed with the episode. In and of itself, I liked it. It's just that I was expecting a direct continuation of the last two episodes, which this was not. And that's fine! I just, I hope we get that continuation. Like Thomas said, narrative has been building up for certain things, and they've been waiting on other aspects for a long time, so I'm sure they're even more excited to show them to us as we are to watch them. And have I mentioned editing? Must have been some job to do all that. Really great.

#new video reaction #character!thomas #sanders sides #ts spoilers #patton sanders #roman sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #janus sanders #remus sanders

18 notes · View notes

freckled-words · 4 years

Text

Count The Teeth - Part 11

Guys. I am genuinely wanting to dance. It took me over a YEAR to finish this story idea for an OC NWTB character, AND NOT ONLY DID I HAVE SO MUCH FUCKING FUN WRITING THIS LAST CHAPTER. I AM JUST SO STOKED THAT SOME OF YOU REALLY GOT INTO THIS. (Apologies if the ending feels rushed.)

I sincerely hope you all enjoy this last segment. Please do let me know what you thought of the whole all together. Please let me know how I can improve. What do you want to see more of in these stories? Any feedback is appreciated <3

This chapter is not edited (because I was too excited to wait)

PART ONE / PART TWO / PART THREE / PART FOUR / PART FIVE PART SIX / PART SEVEN / PART EIGHT / PART NINE / PART TEN

It had been the damndest thing when you left NateMare licking his wounds.

You’d gone to the driveway, and found a taxi waiting for you. The driver said the fare had been taken care of, and he was to take you wherever you wanted. When you asked him who had covered the tab, he said a well spoken gentleman had done so.

Seeing your disheveled appearance in pyjamas, the taxi driver became curious as to why you were there.

You went with an elaborate story. It was your birthday, and your asshole brother had kidnapped you and brought you here for a spooky adventure. You’d gotten fed up with his childish antics and had decided to leave. You added that it was likely your brother’s friend that had paid the taxi driver.

When you got home, you took a long, luxurious hot shower, and collapsed into bed. Your exhaustion was deeper than you’d thought, leading you to sleeping for a straight 12 hours.

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

4 months later…

It had taken him a month, but Mercer had kept his word. He’d found each of his victims that had been put into a coma, and brought them out of it. When questioned about what had happened to send them into the coma, they all had the same story. They’d been out at night, and they came across a man looking for directions. After they sent him on his way, they’d become dizzy, and passed out.

Authorities believed that the victims had been distracted by the man asking for directions, then jumped by a second person that knocked them out, and then drained them for blood. Reddit was running rampant with theories about a team collecting blood for the black market.

You supposed it was better than them getting freaked out about a rampaging vampire. The last thing the city needed were civilians taking up guns, pitch forks, torches, and stakes to go after people that were innocent.

In the following months, you remained on alert. NateMare’s promise of retribution had left a fairly strong impression. Armed with the knowledge of something to use against him, you’d setup a collection of weapons throughout the apartment.

In the kitchen you had a bucket of blessed water by the sink. In the living room you had a Super Soaker loaded with the stuff, and in your bedroom, you had a spray bottle at the ready. You knew it would annoy and delay him at best, but at least it was better than just standing around and letting him curse you again.

You were so intent on watching for hints of a smoke cloud, you didn’t think to watch for any bats.

Which was how Mercer caught you off guard.

You’d spent the day out with one of your friends, and had lost track of time. It was dark when you made the walk home. The night was overcast, and the wind was much colder as winter was settling in.

Despite your thick jacket, you still felt the chill. Your hands were stuffed into your pockets, and your shoulders were hunched up to your ears. Your attention darted between the people walking towards you on the sidewalk, and the people that were walking parallel to you across the street. Leaving no room to focus on your surroundings behind you.

An arm went around your shoulders, pulling you in against a tall frame. Startled you made a noise that was barely a word and some kind of squeak.

A familiar voice chuckled, making the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. You didn’t dare look up, not wanting to get caught by his eyes.

“What are you doing here Mercer?”

Mercer’s arm squeezed a little tighter, guiding you forward to keep walking.

He was greatly enjoying himself. You could tell from his voice as he replied, “Well hello to you too. Can’t a friend just come around for a visit now and then?”

“We’re not friends.”

“Oh, you wound me.” He lamented, without an ounce of actual dismay.

“Did you come here to get some payback for soaking you?” It was the first thing that came to mind, and you were kicking yourself for not bringing your tiny spray bottle with you when leaving earlier.

You caught sight of Mercer’s hand as he waved that thought off, “Not at all. I’ve gotten over that little trifle. As I said, I’m just here on a friendly visit.”

“At what point between you and NateMare trying to kill each other, did you and I become friends?” You could see your apartment building up ahead, and at this point, you were just utterly perplexed as to what was happening with Mercer right now.

He ignored your question, “I had some time to think while I went from hospital to hospital, and I’ve come up with a fun idea. One that I’m sure you’ll see the benefits of.”

You knew it was stupid, you could hear yourself calling it stupid, but when you both stopped in front of your building, you looked up.

The bugger was genuinely amused, smiling brightly and in all innocence. There was no glow to his eyes, and you didn’t feel any part of you go numb. He was playing nice.

You shrugged off his arm and moved around to stand in front of him, “And what idea is this?”

“Well, as we’re both aware, my dear baby brother is all in a huff about you letting me go. The set of lungs on that boy, I swear. My ears were throbbing for an hour after his hollering.”

You winced, but you weren’t surprised Mercer had caught that.

“I was thinking to myself about how much trouble you and he were, going around and messing about in my handiwork. Good job on digging up the family history by the way. Anyways, I thought I should probably keep tabs on my brother, make sure he doesn’t come barging in on me at some point unexpectedly. The only problem, is that I’m terrible at tracking idiots.”

You shuffled on the spot, getting colder by the minute. Mercer was clearly intent on dragging this out, and you doubted he’d just let you walk away. But you had no intention of inviting him inside.

“So I came to the only logical conclusion: You! I knew he was bound to come knocking on your door at some point, and figured I’d keep watch. I tell you, watching a mortal for a month is boring. Which is why we’re having this chat. Much more engaging than just hovering about bored out of my mind.”

Your blood pressure rose at his declaration of stalking you for the past month. You thought you’d felt eyes on you, and it’d made you twice as jumpy. Knowing it was this nuisance didn’t make you feel any easier.

Processing everything he was saying all together, you just about threw your hands up.

It was the same damned position you’d been in 5 months before, only now it was reversed!

“Clearly you two are related.” You grouched stomping your feet. The cold was seeping through your boots and socks, making your feet ache.

“I am not helping you find NateMare. You are not hanging around here to wait for him to show up! And I’m not getting involved with either of you again!” You didn’t care if the neighbors heard, for all they’d understand, it sounded like a romantic issue.

You spun on your heel and stomped up to your apartment door.

Just as you put the key into the lock, a decent sized bat flew around you and clung onto your chest. You looked back over your shoulder and saw no sign of Mercer. Glaring down at the bat you hissed, “You are not coming inside, let go and go away.”

The bat merely wiggled its ears, and much to your chagrin, he nuzzled against your coat. Even worse, it was adorable.

You heard people, more tenants that belonged to your building, coming up behind you.

Suppressing a frustrated scream you unlocked the door, and kept your body turned away from the approaching people.

You wrapped your arms around yourself, concealing Mercer as best you could, and made a beeline for the staircase.

Huffing up the stairs you swore at him, “You’re in so much trouble. I have a bucket filled with holy water in my kitchen, and it has your name all over it buddy.”

The impudent bastard gave a tiny squeak. One that conveyed no distress in the slightest.

A glance down, and there was no mistaking a smug smile, even on a bat.

You didn’t stop until you were inside your apartment, at which time you were breathless and sweaty under your coat.

“You make one damn comment about me being out of shape, and I will seriously drown you.”

“I’d very much like to see you try.”

You’d been locking your door, putting your back to the living room.

It hadn’t been Mercer that had replied.

Stiffly, you hit the light switch next to the door frame and peeked over your shoulder.

NateMare lounged back on your couch. His body was relaxed, but his expression was one that read: murder.

The sound of dripping drew your eye to the kitchen. Your bucket of holy water was on the floor, along with a puddle and some water that was dripping off the cabinet doors.

“NateMare-”

“Shut it.”

He got to his feet and stalked towards you, “You should consider yourself very lucky. Had I gone after you that same day, I would have happily ripped your esophagus out of your throat.”

You swallowed thickly.

“But I took some time to calm down, recover, and think about it. I changed my mind.”

He stepped closer, leaving two steps of distance between you, “I’ve come to realize that I enjoy having a minion doing my bidding. Unlike some other...people...I could name, I don’t have a host popping out brothers every damn holiday. Plus, you’re already semi-trained.”

He smirked and held up a hand. Smoke gathered in his palm, and formed a thick section of chains.

“Hell. No.”

You’d done this song and dance, and you were not doing it again.

Turning to face him, you pried Mercer from your chest and shoved him into NateMare, “Here, talk to your brother.”

Stunned, NateMare had dropped the smoke chain and grabbed Mercer on reflex.

Unprepared, Mercer didn’t have a chance to resist being shoved into NateMare’s hands.

The two stayed frozen, and dumbstruck to the spot while you threw off your coat and went to get your mop and bucket.

There was another second of silence until you heard, “WHAT THE FUCK?!”

There was enraged squeaking, a bit of scuffling, the sound of a grunt, and then silence.

When you returned to the kitchen, you found the two were gone, and your balcony door wide open.

You were in the clear. For now.

#THIS BITCH BE DONE #FINALLY #fanfiction #Count The Teeth #Mercer Battle #NateMare #NateWantstoBattle #NWTB #reader insert #Part 11

7 notes · View notes

maikatc · 4 years

Text

Black Sun Tale | Crimson Capture

Things are calm before a quiet storm, let’s just say that.

Remember this is only a first draft and has minimal edits, but enjoy! Comments and reception is always appreciated!

“Are you actually going to talk with them anytime soon?”

Oliver’s cold skin snuggled up against blankets; he read a book off of his shelf. “I’m trying to do homework, excuse me.” He frowned.

“It’s been a week, Oliver. They probably think that you already rejected them.”

He turned a page. “It’s not that I rejected them… I already looked through the situation but I still don’t know.”

Vittorino raised a brow. “And what did you get from looking through?”

Oliver ignored the question first, skimming through the dull read he grabbed. Though his thoughts blocked the pages the more he went on.

He sighed and closed the book. “I didn’t really get that much out of the interaction. But out of anything I can tell that Annette isn’t actually that involved with the group since she’s with busy with having an actual life. That and the two’s relationship is probably complicated since Annette doesn’t really try to get Ayu out of bad habits and they argue at little stuff like crazy; But at the same time, Ayu may have simply cared enough about not messing with Annette’s work after he screwed it up before, and didn’t want to bother her with something that’s technically unnecessary for him. Regardless of anything though, they’re completely inefficient as a team because their able-ness is terrible and Ayu’s right about not getting hopes up.” Oliver rambled words out in the matter of seconds, zoning out into his thoughts in the process. He took a breath at the end. “I can tell they have good intentions, but yeah they’re pretty much useless.”

Vittorino crossed his arms together with a grin, muttering, “You can definitely talk like em…” He emerged next to him. “You’re smarter for your age, I must say.”

“I just have good memory.” Oliver opened up his book again. “Doctors say I have a larger hippocampus than most. But I’ve been lacking in recent years compared to when I was little.”

“Yeah, yeah, makes sense,” Vittorino nods, “but either way, your friends will be- interesting to you at the very least. Trust me.”

Oliver scoffed, “I already know they’d be entertaining. It’s just that they’ll probably end up like all the rest. I already told you.”

“Okay then. Let me tell you in a different way then,” he groaned. “They’re not gonna be like the rest.”

A buzz rang from the corner of the room. Both Oliver and Vittorino turned towards the sound, Oliver quicker than the other. Oliver stumbled out of bed to check his phone. All there was another message from Annette, the third one of the week.

Yo Oliver, Ayu and I are hanging out in the alley again if you wanna join us (12:13pm)

“God, damn it,” the boy said under his breath. His fingers tattled at words, typing up that he was busy making new chord melodies. If it weren’t for someone interrupting him, he would’ve sent.

“Go with them for once,” Vittorino told him, “You’ll have better days that way.”

“… Will you stop talking if I do?”

“Obviously.”

Oliver’s face went flat. “You’re decent.” He edited the message:

I actually can today, but I was about to work on making some chord melodies so I’ll just bring my ukulele with. (12:15pm)

***

Oliver carried his worn-up uke strap over his shoulders. The day blistered in heat unlike the chills of before, though it didn’t stop him from wearing a thin coat.

The walk to Ayu’s still made his eyes go blurry from the distance. His legs gave in as always from another long week as they screeched in pain. He mumbled to himself with a deep breath, “Just don’t pass out in front of them.”

He clenched onto his ukulele strap as he stood back up from his slouch. The turn was straight ahead of him, and his predictions for what he would see was something he still couldn’t guess yet. “They won’t be that bad,” he figured.

“YOU MOTHER OF FUCK- HOW DID YOU DO THAT?” Oliver could still hear the same raspy voice from before in the distance.

“Hopefully,” he cringed.

Oliver walked into the alley, reluctantly knocking the wall for entrance. Annette and Ayu sat in front of one another, cards in their hands and scattered on the floor. Annette turned her head while Ayu looked over his own cards. “Oliver! Hi,” She stumbled up to greet him. “You came sooner than I thought. We’ve been playing Ono for a bit but you can join in if you want.”

“Ono…?” Oliver peeked across, sighting at the colorful cards closely. His eyes squinted at Ayu’s array of cards in his hands. He also peeked down towards Annette’s cards quickly to see her deck of five. He can literally just pull a yellow two. A grin curled up on his lips. “So, this is what a ‘gang’ does, huh?”

Annette’s eyes leaned toward the side, “Well, we usually goof around when there aren’t any attacks. It’d be too hard to track down when there’s only two people scouting. Right, Ayu?”

They both looked back to Ayu, and both found him fumbling to switch cards form the collector’s deck. Ayu blinked at them as he peeped his eyes in return, then groaned, placing the previous cards he had back to his hands.

“Goodness…” Annette sighed. “We sometimes play board games and figured today should be a game-day since you were coming over.”

“This was only Annette’s idea,” Ayu reminded.

She chuckled, “You’re even more competitive than me. Be quiet.”

Annette continued to ramble on to Oliver as he spaced out in the middle. He only interrupted her after a minute by saying, “Okay yeah, I’ll play. Get me some cards.”

Oliver beat them both by a landslide, Annette left with nine cards, Ayu left with thirteen.

“Oliver, how the heck did you do that?” Annette read over all the cards.

“Don’t worry about that,” he smiled, “You’ll learn how to use the right strategies at some point.”

“This is Ono! There are no strategies.” Ayu threw his cards over his head as he slumped to the ground.

“You out of anybody won’t figure it out.” He wasn’t even sneaky about cheating.

“Try me.” Ayu sat up with a smirk.

“Ayu, you don’t even know how to strategize on anything,” Annette laughed. Oliver played around with his case’s zipper until she asked him, “So you play ukulele, right.”

Oliver reluctantly nodded.

“I know some friends who have ones, but I barely see any guys with ‘em.” She waddled over to Oliver and his uke, arms swaying towards the case.

“Uh, yeah,” Oliver nodded, his smile curving, “No guy in my class can actually sing or do that stuff, so my class thinks it’s cool… but I was thinking of starting up guitar or piano though since it’s more practical-”

“So, you don’t just do tabs?”

“Uh, yeah.”

In the corner of his eye, Oliver caught Ayu scurrying off to a sketchbook and pencil.

“Can you sing a song for us? I wanna see how good a ten-year old is,” she giggled.

I’m tired though. “Sure.”

Oliver opened up the case, showcasing a small instrument. The paintjob was chipped off. The vibrant pattern that original shined was worn and blurred. Oliver picked it up, plucking and tuning with the scratched-up nylon. Tuning only took the matter of ten seconds.

Just a breath was fine for the young boy. His decision on the song gave him the memories of interrupted practices. Though with the plucked introduction, he began his song.

“Oh, my Red Maria. How long has back then been?”

A classic ballad. Oliver observed as Annette rang up with her ears with excitement in her face. Ayu tilted his head, in curiosity, his attention off the book.

“My life’s been dull without your blushing face.”

The chords and tabs slid through Oliver’s fingers like writing his own name. His eyes captured their expressions. While Annette’s face blurred in with every other he’s seen, Ayu had a calmed smile, everything else was unreadable.

“When we meet again, we can reach the stars as always…” He stumbled at a stop. Man, I forgot to figure out the short-stop. “The rest is just repeating so that’s about it.”

“That…” Annette stammered, “That was actually more than I expected.”

Oliver shrugged, leaning on his ukulele. “It isn’t that hard of a song.”

“I can’t play anything for crap,” she grinned, “Why are you just ten?”

“He’s turning eleven this week though,” Ayu corrected.

“Barely a difference!”

Ayu stuck his tongue out towards her. He gestured to Oliver. “I liked it.”

“Ah, thanks.” The responses were mindless and repetitive. “I usually don’t have people to listen so this is a nice-”

A ringtone began buzzing, stopping all the other noises crowding the alley.

Annette raised a finger, “Hold on a second.” She picked up her own phone from a small bag, raising it to her phone to answer the call. “Yo Jaiden, what’s up?... Oh lort- I forgot about that!”

“What do you think this is about?” Ayu moved over next to Oliver’s floor-seat.

“What do you mean?”

“She forgets extra stuff a lot, so it’s nice to pass time guessing what it is,” Ayu explained.

Oliver chuckled, “You really don’t have a lot to do, don’t you?”

“I’m betting a group project.”

The boy’s scent still wrinkled in Oliver’s nose. “Maybe it’s just…? I can’t think of one.”

“Well, she’s pretty predictable so I don’t think there’s that much to bet about anyways.” He pulled on his hoodie’s lace.

“Right…”

She combed her hair with his fingers. “I told you to remind me!... Okay fine, yeah this is a me problem,” she sighed, “I’ll get them today then we can work afterschool tomorrow, okay?... Okay, see ya.”

She groaned in her hands, but whisked back to Oliver and Ayu from behind. “Okay so I screwed up a bit,” she exclaimed, “and I have to go to the mall to get stuff for a project due on Friday.”

“That you forgot about?” Ayu eyed.

“Yeah, yeah, silence yourself,” she hassled. “Um… I don’t want to go since you’re here,” she darts Oliver.

“We can always come along,” Ayu said.

“Oh,” Annette hands opened up. “That’s actually a good idea. Oliver, do you wanna come with us?”

Do I really want to…?

“Do it,” Vittorino’s voice rang in Oliver’s head.

Damn it. “Sure.”

***

Shop lights blinded all around. Every store passed with its rows of sales and mannequins. Oliver walked along the outdoor mall, the sunny day in the Fall blazing onto his dimmed skin. The music echoed with aggravating speakers and pop ballads, and the sounds of voices rang through Oliver’s ears by the heavier crowd.

I can get through this for a bit. She won’t be long, he told himself. He clenched his fists as volumes went at screeches.

Annette hummed as she led both Ayu and Oliver, her walk swaying along with the music. All the while, Ayu’s hood covered over his head as he walked with his head down. Though looking down wasn’t that strange for Oliver, he’d done the same alone.

“It’s burning out here. How’re you in that hoodie?” He asked.

Ayu tilted his head towards Oliver. “I’m usually cold. Today’s not that bad but it’s still kinda cold.” He shrugged. “Besides, I can always bump into somebody and they can see my eye easier and I won’t get as bad of a sunburn.”

“Sunburn…?”

“My skin’s pale enough to get burned easily,” he raised and showed his boney hand, “not albino or anything but just sensitive.”

“I see.” Oliver’s brows furrowed. Damn…

“Okay!” Annette jumped. “You guys can do whatever you want. I gotta deal with the supply stuff.”

She grabbed her phone. “Oliver, I’ll call you when I’m done, alright?”

“Yeah,” Oliver nodded.

“Alright, then see ya!” She waved off before dashing away. Muttering of items got caught in Oliver’s ears as she ran.

“So…” Ayu kicked his leg, “You wanna do anything?”

Oliver stammered. Where would this guy even wanna go here? He shrugged. “Just somewhere quiet is fine, what about you?”

“Quiet,” he pondered, “I guess that could work… Here, let’s go.”

Ayu pulled on Oliver’s sleeve, dragging him to a map of the area. He asked, “Do you know where the bookstore is on here?”

“Ah,” Oliver’s attention zapped back, “It’s right there I think.” He pointed at the very corner of the mall.

“What’s it called?”

“Ferns and Hamlin’s?” It’s right there on the sign…

“Oh yeah,” Ayu gasped. “When was the last time I was even there?”

He gave a small grin, walking off from Oliver to a turn. “Come on,” he nodded off.

“Come on, kid,” Vittorino echoed.

Oliver followed.

***

“Even with clairvoyance, you’re terrible with directions,” Oliver groaned.

Ayu scoffed. “I can’t use it for anything other than monsters,” he looked away, “and that sucks too.”

Oliver brushed off Fall dust. “Regardless of whatever you have, that took us longer than needed.”

“Shouldn’t you know this place?”

“No,” Oliver answered, “I never go here. I go to Fair Woods and even that’s rare.”

“… How much do you go out?”

“Less than normal,” Oliver quickly replied.

“Sounds about right.” Ayu eyed Oliver’s hands. “You look pale even with your tan. Paler than before I think too.”

Well that’s for other reasons…

The two entered the shop together. Oliver immediately silenced from the soft music. The change of atmosphere contented him considering before. The aisles stacked with books barely held anybody else around as the cashiers only stood in patience.

“They’d have comics here, right?”

Oliver hiccupped once Ayu queried him. He only nodded off while reading over the signs. “Probably.”

Ayu stepped pass. “I think I can find it on my own,” he muttered, leaving Oliver at the front.

Oliver stared at space as the boy walked off, debating on what exactly to do.

“How’s it going so far,” Vittorino asked. His stature standing right next to Oliver right after Ayu’s leave.

Oliver’s face scrunched up. “They’re… fine, just like before. But that was the first time anyone’s ever mentioned me being paler than usual.”

“They’re people who can see a lot more than others can, remember?”

“I didn’t think that that’d matter in my case,” Oliver exclaimed. His legs began pacing through to the novel aisle. All that the aisle covered were teen-pandering novels involving the Wonder Chronicles and other stories that made it to film. As Oliver grabbed a book left in the corner, he turned around to find Vittorino already gone. He shrugged. Grabbing a book with a familiar title. “Heard this was good…”

Reading the sections, Oliver strolled to the comic area of the shop. The brightness of colors beaming from the graphic novels. In the corner, Ayu sat curled up with his knees, starting up a comic book from the very first page.

Oliver sat next to him, crisscrossed with a steady back. “Whatcha’ reading,” he asked.

Ayu perked up, his ear twitching. “Huh? Oh,” he closed up his book and pushed the cover straight at Oliver’s face, “It’s a Crimson Capture comic. I remember loving their old cartoon when I was younger so I’m giving it a shot.”

Crimson was unmistakable for Oliver. With their dashing velvet cloak and drawn-out, dark hair, they’d dash through cities to fight crime with only the power of their wits. All that could be known of their identity was hidden by their signature masquerade mask to run through the night.

While Oliver found the idea interesting, he could never take the vigilante seriously to most of his classmates’ dismay. So, all he replied with was a, “Cool.”

They both read with soft pop playing in the background. Minute by minute Oliver passed through pages. Though throughout the read, all Oliver could think of was, cliché.

It’d already turn to a good half-hour once Oliver slammed his book shut. “Lazy writing,” he muttered to himself.

He settled the book to the side, taking a breath as he grew self-aware in the atmosphere again. He shifted his attention back to the boy next to him.

Glancing for a second, Oliver could tell Ayu had only finished a decent quarter of the comic. His eyes held focus on the words as he continued to squint repeatedly.

“How come it’s taking you so long to read?” Oliver asked without thinking.

Ayu blinked, facing away from the book again. “Oh, it’s usually hard for me to read. Usually in stuff in small words.”

Oliver paused, processing the words Ayu had said. “You haven’t been at school for a while, haven’t you?”

“Nope,” Ayu laid his book down, “Stopped at around eight. Even back then I was bad, but they didn’t care as long as I had fun.” He chuckled at his own words.

Oliver hummed. “I was never like that.”

“Really?” Ayu’s voice grew deadpanned.

“I skipped a grade when I was younger for how fast I was learning, so everyone expected me to do everything well and didn’t worry.” Oliver patted on his ukulele case. “After skipping though, I started falling behind because of- this one guy… Do you know anybody named Faustus?”

Ayu blinked and scrunched up. “Who the hell names their kid Faucet?”

Oliver studied his reaction only to find confusion written on his entire face. He sighed, but chuckled from the name confusion. “He… was a weird kid. Popped up out of nowhere and talked to me whenever he was bored.” He chuckled to himself, “He looked like a tween emo-head too so that didn’t help anything.”

“Reminds me of stuff,” Ayu muttered.

“I liked him, though. He was fun, in a strange way.” Oliver pulled his chin up towards the cabinets, searching for words of memories. “He was kinda judgmental back then when I talked with him. Not sure why, but it could’ve been from either him being surprised of how smart I was for my age… or streets-dumb. I can’t tell.” His mind basked at the thoughts he had as a kid. The interactions he had with the white-haired kid baffled him for how unknowing he was.

Then sights of someone walking away and disappearing came before his eyes. Oliver nodded his head down again in expectance of what to come from the flashback. “He told me he had to leave right before I turned seven. Gave me something and went off. Haven’t seen him since.”

Ayu asked, his tone reluctant, “What did he give you?”

Oliver paused, biting his lip gently so it wouldn’t bleed again. “I can’t remember. I threw it away a bit after I’m pretty sure.”

A ring came from Oliver’s pocket. He picked up his phone, Annette’s name flashing at the front for a call, and flipped it open. “Are you done?”

“Yup. Luckily, it didn’t take that long so that’s good. I’m right by the food court so you guys can come up here.”

Fuck, we have to figure out how to get there. “Sounds good. See ya then.” He hung up, informing Ayu of what Annette told him.

Ayu groaned in response. “Why the food court?”

“I dunno, she just said to be there.”

Ayu wrapped himself around his arms and knees. “That’ll kill my stomach,” he muffled.

Oliver rolled his eyes.

They stored away their books together, not bothering to put them in the right place out of laziness, and exited the shop. As they walked, the crowd noise grew to Oliver’s ears once again.

“Fuck…” Ayu muttered, tugging on his hood.

“What?”

“I forgot about how loud this place is.”

Oliver tilted his head. “You’re bothered by it too?”

“More than traffic,” Ayu spat, “at least I got used to that one, kinda.”

Oliver smiled. “I have sensitive ears too. Sucks, doesn’t it?”

“Completely.”

Don’t worry about it. Mine’s probably worse than yours.

“No, mine’s worse…” Ayu mumbled to himself.

Oliver’s sights turned to the boy again. Did he just-

A hand pushed Oliver by the chest. He flinched as similar motions of back then popped back into his mind. The boy whipped his head around to see who gave him the money in his hands again. And all he saw was a man in a trench coat.

“What the hell, Vittorino,” Oliver spat. He ignored Ayu, who walked off without noticing a thing from what Oliver could decipher. Though as soon as he asked, Vittorino was already gone in a blink.

Oliver stared down at the money, the intentions unclear. He then shoved it in his pants-pocket and dashed off to catch up with Ayu.

The walk took shorter than the last, thanks to multiple bright signs directing towards the area.

As Oliver walked up steps to the court, he was immediately welcomed to the aroma. Though to his distaste, he passed it off.

“Dear God, that smells amazing.” Ayu purred, a slip of drool falling so slightly on his chin.

Well too bad for you, we don’t have any money- oh. A click formed in Oliver’s mind. He fumbled grabbing Vittorino’s money. “I have money if you want some food.”

“Seriously?” Ayu batted his head. His eyes shined despite one with dull grey.

Oliver nodded, opening up his hands to show his change to the boy. “It’s enough for the two of us. I’m pretty sure Annette can get herself food too.”

“Thank you,” he gasped. His smile was crooked but Oliver read it clearly.

“It’s really nothing,” Oliver exclaimed. “Here, I’ll call Annette right now.”

He dialed her number without looking at the phone and placed it against his ear. “You called?”

“Hey uh, Ayu actually wants some food here so I was thinking that we can eat together. I have money for him, don’t worry.”

Ayu shied away in the corner of Oliver’s eye. He fumbled with his hoodie’s aglet.

“That sounds great! I’ll get us a table and text you guys where. You get your food, he must be hungry.”

“Okay, I’ll talk with him about what he wants first off. See ya.” Oliver hung up to check up on Ayu again.

“You really don’t have to do this, you know,” Ayu swallowed. “I don’t need to eat.”

“No, it’s alright,” Oliver said, “Just tell me what you want and I’ll get you it.” Besides, I have no clue what else to do with this cash.

Ayu pouted but his stomach stopped him with a growl. He sighed and pointed, “Can we go to the Asian place over there?”

***

Ayu carried over his stacks of a meal while Oliver stared in a baffled state of mind. He himself carried only a small plate of food.

How was there fifty-dollars in there? Holy shit.

“My God, this smells delicious.” Ayu licked over his chapped lips. “Where did Annette say she was again?”

“Right there,” Oliver pointed out. Annette stood tall against her surroundings with her bright face. She waved as soon as her face met with theirs.

Oliver and company sat at a small table. Multiple families and friend groups surrounded them as they chatted about whatever. Steam and smoke from each and every store came seeking out throughout the entire area while toddlers cried for ice cream they wanted.

“So how did shopping go for you?” Oliver played around with the pork dish he ordered, taking small bites every two or three minutes.

“Not all that hard,” Annette answered, “Jaiden was yelling at me left and right about what to get though.” She chuckled while nom-ing a burger.

Ayu never entered the conversation the two were having. Majority of the time his face was stuffed with sushi rolls and salmon grills. Oliver glanced over the note.

Annette and Oliver continued conversing as Annette ate her meal. Though, as time went on, Oliver realized that there really was no use for him to get anything. He checked up on Ayu, who was almost done completely in the matter of minutes. His and Annette’s talking finished so he went and asked.

“How were you able to finish that much fish?”

Ayu chewed as he spoke, “I just really like sushi. Seafood in general…” He gulped. “Fish.”

“Enough to have that much?”

“I was in the mood. Plus, I feel like I’m starving so that’s for one thing.” He took his last bite, falling down on his seat as soon as he swallowed. “That was amazing. Thanks.”

Oliver eyed down on his plate and shoved it towards Ayu. “You can have mine too. I’m not that hungry so-” Ayu snatched the plate and wolfed it all down immediately. Oliver froze in response, shaken by the speed. “Damn.”

Annette laughed as she glanced off her phone. Though Ayu thanked Oliver again as he opened his first bottle of water.

Oliver sat next to him in slight disbelief. The animalistic tendencies being both interesting to watch yet questionable all the same. However, all he could make up in his head was, It’s alright. Don’t discredit the guy. You do the same stuff sometimes too. Just- worse…

All Oliver could read from him was a childish smile.

***

Four o’clock in the afternoon and the street bustling was as high as ever.

Oliver walked along silently, following the two ahead of him. He waited for anything to interrupt the dragging moments. An accident, Vittorino, him passing out, his expectations for something loomed throughout his mind.

Ayu and Annette chatted in front of him. They talked about some sort of show or story, just something Oliver had no knowledge of. Though from what Oliver could read, all the passion seeped out of Ayu’s weak voice as he talked. However, the conversation stopped at a halt as Ayu himself fell to his knees.

“Ayu,” Annette gasped out. She kneeled down supporting him.

Ayu began to shake, placing a hand on his right eye. He stammered whispers until he was able to form words. “Ende Street. Down the road. They’re over there.” He pointed with a dragged-up hand, weak enough to fall at any second.

“That’s so close,” Annette said, “Is it fine for you to stay here?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Ayu breathed out, “I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

She nodded and stood up, throwing the shopping bag she held to Ayu. She gestured at Oliver. “Come with me,” and she ran off.

Oliver stepped forward, but hesitated. He turned back to see Ayu again, down on his luck. The child clenched onto his ukulele strap unsure of whether to give it to him or not. Though in a rush, he dashed his way around still holding onto his instrument. He can look inside.

Catching up to Annette, he asked her, “Is he gonna be okay?”

“Don’t sweat it,” Annette assured him while running, “This happens all the time.”

As soon as her sentence ended, Oliver’s eyes stopped upon a gate entrance. Annette slowed her pace as well, signaling him with a hand and whispering, “Be quiet, it’ll be trickier for it to notice us.”

Oliver nodded. He took steps he himself could hear faintly. His case rustled against his back in inconvenience. From a distance, Oliver caught the sounds of deep grunts and breaths that grew louder as he drew closer to a clear view.

Annette whispered to him again. “Once you see everything, don’t freak out. I’ll deal with the monster for you.”

Oliver gulped. A realization crossed his mind. The scent that he picked up strongly in the area was of a familiar crimson liquid.

Taking a turn to the door took Oliver’s breath away. Bodies filled the bloodied floor with punctures in their chest. Their skin was grey like so many before. Their faces held frozen in shock for the rest of their time. A sick hole formed in Oliver’s stomach as his throat lumped together. Not again.

At the corner of his feet was that of a little girl and her family. Her rosy cheeks draining from her as her blood trickled down from her body. Oliver’s own skin turn cold. He bit down against his lip. This is just-.

“There.” Annette nudged Oliver, breaking him out of his trance. Her head faced upwards, causing Oliver to follow on his own still shaking. Though, what stood above was as unearthly as himself.

The creature was hunched, cradling its lean, sharp claws over its stick hands. Its skin was almost nonexistent, as a black mist surrounding formed its indescribable shape. Darkness was all you could sense from the monster. That, and the blood stained over its arms.

Oliver stepped back as the monster tilted its head over to them. Its face drooped down to an uncanny horror. Mists of white and red formed the eyes and fangs. The eyes stared directly at the two as Oliver held his breath.

“Stand back,” Annette commanded. Oliver stood frozen in his spot, gazing at his surroundings.

Annette drafted her feet closer to the monster. Their distances meeting in a confrontation. A breath suppled her movement as she planted her legs apart in an assertive stance.

“Isn’t he going to attack us,” Oliver whispered.

“Don’t worry.”

A hand drew from her side, locking itself into midair and fingers spread wide. “You need patience for aim,” she said softly. Though, the soft voice turned into a loud radiance. “Hey, Jumbo!”

The monster turned around in slow agony at her.

She yelled, “You wanna go back?”

A squeal was heard from the monster, crying in tone. Its bloody hands and legs pounced in a scream. But before it could form a dent on her skin or a creep of her blood, a silent blast distorted the monster from Annette’s hand. Twists and turns misshaped the formless beast down to a single sphere in the air. The monster cried before the little sphere was left, and it tortured Oliver’s ears and mind.

Once the screams stopped, Oliver pulled up his head again to view what was left. And the sphere was gone as soon as it appeared to him, as its remains flew away in black fragments.

Annette huffed, dropping her arm down. “That’s how… you kill a monster.”

She then crouched down to sit, taking her hands to a prayer. She turned her head back to Oliver, who only began to process what had happened for the previous two minutes. She told him, “You can join if you want, but I’ll be quick.”

Oliver’s expression softened as he was reminded of the true results of what happened in the place. For him, it was dead silent. No traffic, no chatter could be heard. All that rang through the two of them was the silence of the innocent.

He walked next to her and took a knee down to sit as well. And they prayed together for the lost lives.

***

“It’s a bummer we couldn’t get anybody today,” Annette sighed. “We were so close to it too.”

“I’m…” Oliver traced his words. “I’m sure the next time it’s close, it’ll be fine.”

Annette giggled. “Nah, this is normal for us. So, we kinda just go for effort.” She kicked a can out of her way, though it barely moved. She dawdled over her steps. “Ayu should be where we left him. He’s probably fine but now.”

They took a turn to the street where Ayu was left. The city-noise returned to Oliver’s ears as time went on. It would’ve only taken them 5 minutes’ time to get back to the alleyway afterwards.

“You know,” Annette started. Oliver turned to find her in a small smile. “You better get your powers soon. Speed like Ayu could be really helpful for the job!”

Oliver huffed a response. “I’d figure.” He followed his own steps, thoughts rambling throughout his head. But he was cut short by a familiar black-haired boy standing in front of him

“How’d it go,” Ayu asked. His hands were shoved into his pockets as he held a numb expression.

“We weren’t able to get anyone again,” Annette answered behind Oliver. “But at least Oliver didn’t panic first thing.”

“Oh yeah, how did it go for you?” Ayu shifted to Oliver.

“It was… alright, I guess.”

Ayu raised a brow. “Weird. I thought you’d be more scared.”

Oliver avoided eye contact. “Don’t worry about that. It’s fine.”

Together, they all went back to the alleyway. Its messy composition remained unchanged.

“So, this was a… decent meeting day.” Annette grabbed her things while talking. “Oliver, don’t get too worried about the entire monster thing. Or at least- don’t feel too bad about it.”

“Like I said, it’s fine,” Oliver swatted out. It’s not the worst. He glanced the time on his phone.

“Well, I’m about to leave myself as you can tell.” Annette waved with cards in her hands. “Are you gonna do fine for the rest of the day, Ayu?”

He shrugged. “It’s like any other day so yeah.”

“Then just don’t die.” Annette jumped after grabbing up her shopping bag. She took a step out of the alley and waved to Oliver and Ayu. “See y’all whenever.” She walked off without a trace.

“See ya,” Ayu replied.

Oliver didn’t say a word. His throat itching at the memory of the area death. I’m gonna be thinking about that all day, aren’t I?

“So, you’re going too?” Ayu sat down as he asked.

“Oh,” Oliver cut his thoughts short. “Yeah. My mom’s probably gonna come back from work soon.”

“Ah, well, have fun with her then.” He grabbed his sketchbook into his hand, starting to write with the pencil inside.

Oliver nodded. He dipped down his head in thought. “I may not be here for the next few days. So, see you eventually.”

“See ya,” Ayu said without facing him.

Oliver left. His small feet paced back home without any thoughts in his mind.

The door clicked, Oliver’s head poking out as he entered. The living room had no change since the previous year. He took his steps towards the couch in which he tossed his ukulele to a small pillow. Immediately, he lunged his body down to the cushions afterwards.

“God damn, this was a long day,” he groaned.

His eyes would barely lay open. His mind slowly grew hazy as his entire body went heavy.

“Not today,” he muttered. In a sigh, he pulled himself back together with the minimal energy he had. Stumping back, he opened his ukulele case and grabbed an item from an inner pocket.

A voice rang in his ears, not of Vittorino, but of a vivid reminder. “Don’t be afraid of what will come.”

Did you expect me to follow that?

He stumbled with his head down through the hallway. His stomach cried in pain.

“Just wait,” he told himself. “Just wait…”

He locked himself in the bathroom, facing himself against the sink mirror. The boy stared at his own deathly eyes.

I’m not gonna make it again, aren’t I?

Ten Dollars | Bread and Water | Red Eye | Next>>>

#writing #my writing #writeblr #writblr #writers on tumblr #black sun tale #bst #chapter 4 #gore warning #swearing warning #fish?#bst oliver #bst ayu #bst annette #bst vittorino #bst faustus?#faucet

4 notes · View notes

starwriter22 · 6 years

Text

Fearful of Love // pt. 1

Word Count: 2.4k

Genre: Romance/Angst

Author’s Note: There are 10 parts to this! I’ll be posting a part every day. I have done light editing to this and it’s quite old but I hope you enjoy nontheless! (ps. lawd he fine okie bye)

Prologue

The heart is a terrible thing…

The muscle that keeps you alive and yet makes your life a living hell, a muscle that causes you to think and make decisions irrationally, all due to idiotic emotions that bring nothing but headache.

It was a hard task, trying to ignore everything. It was difficult to ignore the obvious fact that I had fallen head over heels for you, to ignore the joy that rose in my entire being as I saw you every day, the pain in my chest, but soon it became impossible. The realization that my heart had taken over came far too quickly and it scared me to death. I wasn’t ready.

You broke through the brick walls around my heart in a mere few months. It terrified me that I enjoyed your company so much, that I enjoyed YOU so much. Even when I tried to push you away you never backed down. You were persistent, stubborn and I’ve never met someone so insistent on becoming closer to me and learning more about me.

But you didn’t realize just how terrified I was, how my heart has never bought me any good for long. You couldn’t understand and I hurt the both of us due to my fear. I hurt us both because of my stupid heart and my stupid, stupid decision to let you break down my walls and get to know the real me.

Why did I bring this pain onto myself?

-----------------------------------------------------

“We are all damaged in our own way. Nobody’s perfect. I think we are all somewhat screwy, every single one of us.” – Johnny Depp

November 4th

Some moments I wondered why I decided to go to college. Like in this moment, where I was leaning on the counter of the coffee shop I worked at, head throbbing and frustration at its highest point as I tried desperately to understand the math homework I had in front of me, the homework that my teacher decided not to explain to the whole class in full detail.

To be fair I didn’t have to go to college, the decision was completely voluntary.

‘Oh I’ll go to college and get my degree!’

It’s like I forgot the years of school hell I went through in my adolescence right after I graduated. All the useless homework and how goddamn stressful it was. College wasn’t any better, if anything it was even more stressful and irritating. Because how was math connected to a liberal arts degree at all?

Geeze, can’t I just drop out?

“Hey! What have I told you about trying to do homework while working?”

I cringed, the sound of my boss’s voice breaking the silence in the store. My head only got worse at the loud noise.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that nobody’s really come in and I really need to finish this assignment.”

A sigh left his lips as he walked over to the counter, his eyes scanning my work before moving up to me. “You look like you’re dying. If you work too hard your brain is going to pop.”

“I know, I know, you tell me that every time I come into work. Remember?” I closed my books, placing them back into my backpack behind the counter. “Besides I think my brain popped a long time ago. That’s why I can’t get these stupid problems right.”

Sympathy washed over his expression, and he rested his hand atop my head, ruffling my hair. “Go home, eat, take a break. You’ll get your assignments done. It’s time for you to get off anyways.”

I frowned, pulling out my phone to look at the time. 6 o’clock, did four hours really go by that quickly?

“Oh! I didn’t even realize!” I grabbed my backpack and tugged it onto my shoulders before untying my apron, handing it to my boss, “I’ll see you!”

He smiled, taking my apron and waving his hand to dismiss me, “Yeah yeah I’ll see you kid!”

“I wish your boss was as nice as mine.”

A smile stretched across my lips as I looked at the pouting boy in front of me, his hands moving furiously as he expressed his frustrations. “The only thing my boss does is yell at me all day. ‘Yah Jungkook go take this out’, ‘Jungkook stock these shelves’, ‘Jungkook you went over your break by five minutes, now go clean the restrooms.’ I’m a head cashier, my job description is to check out items, help customers and make sure my area is clean. I don’t work on the floor and I’m not a janitor, I don’t understand why he’s so insistent on making me do everything. Is it because I’m the youngest employee?”

“You know I would try and help you get a job at the coffee shop I work at, but your complaints are just too funny.” I said, laughing as he threw a napkin towards my face.

“Asshole.” He mumbled, swallowing the chicken he stuffed in his mouth before speaking, “So how is homework going?”

“Terrible, I’m going to drop out I swear.” I huffed in anger, “I don’t understand why my math teacher is making the homework so hard. Not only do I not understand the work, but I have to turn in 60 finished problems by 11:59 tonight. I even asked him after class for extra help, but he just told me to get a tutor or read the textbook.”

Jungkook laughed, “Some teachers are jerks. But you know I could just ask one of my friends if he could help you. He tutors me all the time.”

I shook my head, placing my fork down after I finished my food, “It’s alright, I think I’ll text Seokjin and see if he’s free. He’s always willing to help me.”

“Does this mean we can’t play Mario Kart together at your dorm tonight?”

“Jungkook, I’m pretty positive you have homework to do as well.”

“I do…but help me procrastinate I don’t want to do it.”

I rolled my eyes, pulling out my wallet as soon as the waitress came over with the check. I put my portion of the bill down before standing to my feet, deciding to text Seokjin while I waited for him to gather his things.

Hey Jin! Are you doing anything? I need help with my math homework. I don’t understand it at all :(-Sent 6:55pm

*new message*

Jin: I’m not doing anything at all! Meet in the library at 7:30 as usual? – Received 6:57pm

Yep see you t-

Suddenly my phone slipped from my fingers and onto the floor and I groaned as I felt a body collide with mine.

“Shit I’m sorry, are you okay?”

I bent down to pick up my phone, inspecting my screen for cracks before standing up straight. The voice that asked the question was deep, definitely unfamiliar. I raised my gaze to the guy who bumped into me, watching his eyes as they filled with more worry the longer I waited to respond.

“I’m fine, thank you. Are you okay?” I asked, a small smile finding my lips as he let out a breath of relief. A bright smile replaced the worried frown on his lips and for some reason the air suddenly seemed lighter in the restaurant.

“I’m okay.” He assured, before someone yelled out ‘Taehyung!’, his name I assumed being that he quickly said goodbye and walked to the person behind the shout.

A shove to my shoulders brought me from the daze I hadn’t even realized I was in, my gaze leaving the back of the guy who’d bumped into me and to Jungkook who stared at me in question. I shook my head, waving my hand to dismiss any worry before walking out the restaurant.

(*~~*)

“Hey Taehyunggie, since you’re an honor student do you think you could help me with my essay for history?”

“Don’t help him! He’s lazy, help me with my science homework. If I don’t finish this I’ll fail. We can even play video games afterwards and hang out, it’ll be fun!”

Jimin glared daggers at the group of Taehyung’s new found ‘friends’. In moments like these he really wished Taehyung weren’t so much of a people pleaser like himself.

The expression on Taehyung’s face displayed just how saddened he was by the questions he was being bombarded with. He knew very well that these students didn’t befriend him because they liked him, but because he was an honor student and they wanted to use him.

He understood this completely and yet here he was, quickly putting on a smile and nodding. Letting out a ‘Sure I’ll help you guys’ and avoiding Jimin’s burning gaze. He already knew what his best friend’s expression was, a look of annoyance and disappointment because he had agreed to do homework other than his own for the millionth time.

The table began to get louder as they all thanked him and after they ate and split the bill everyone gave Taehyung the assignments to work on. As they dispersed Jimin was the only one left and he watched as Taehyung put the newly retrieved assignments in his backpack before standing and walking out of the restaurant.

“You’re not going to do their homework.” Jimin said, walking alongside his friend.

Taehyung sighed, “I already agreed to it, Jimin. Besides the work I have today isn’t that bad. I’ll be finished with all of this by tonight and tomorrow if I work hard.”

Jimin stopped walking, grabbing Taehyung’s arm and looking at him straight in the eyes, noticing the sadness that was swimming in his brown orbs, “Taehyung those are not your friends, they’re using you just like everybody in high school did. I wish you would see that-”

“I do see that, but if they really need help then I won’t just leave them-”

“Taehyung they don’t need your help! They’re lazy assholes who think that they can just boss you around and get you to do whatever they want because you can’t say no! Why do you allow them to keep doing this to you?!”

Taehyung stayed silent. He understood Jimin’s frustration, hell he understood because he himself was frustrated. He had no idea why he couldn’t just say no, he knew very well that they were only using him and it would end like it always did. They would get their assignments done and then act like he didn’t exist until they needed his help again. He wasn’t even getting paid to do their homework; he was doing it for free.

It wasn’t like he was desperate for friends; he was completely okay with hanging out with just Jimin. He didn’t gain anything from doing this, he didn’t even like doing the extra homework. He did enough work in the classes he had to take for his major; music. There was really no excuse for it besides the fact that he was a complete pushover who was so use to people using him for his brain that it became routine to just say yes and do it.

“Old habits are hard to break.” Taehyung said finally, breaking away from his friend and walking into the dorm building. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He could hear the exhausted sigh that Jimin let out as he made his way to his room.

‘Clans can show how we still pick sexual partners or mates even today as seen in page 10, in the example it sssssssss’

Taehyung groaned, his forehead colliding with the keyboard of his laptop. He had finished his assignments and nearly all of the assignments that he was given. He just needed to finish this last one, a paper for history, and he didn’t feel like writing long drawn out intelligent ideas. In fact he would love nothing more than sleep being that it was a little past eleven and he had to wake up in a couple hours.

He hadn’t even realized he fell asleep with his head on his laptop until his phone rang, waking him up immediately. He didn’t bother looking at the caller ID.

“Hello?”

“Taehyung it’s Namjoon, what are you doing?”

Taehyung smiled, “Ah hey Joon, nothing much just trying to finish this assignment. Why do you ask?”

“I’m in Yoongi’s studio not too far from campus, we wanted to see if you would come and help out with a song we’re working on.”

His smile quickly faltered as he looked at the screen of his computer and the now thousands of S’s his face typed. He could finish it tomorrow right? He was itching to hear the song Namjoon was referring to.

“Yeah sure, I’ll be there in a few.” He replied, hanging up the phone and grabbing his sweater before locking his dorm room and making his way to the studio. It wasn’t too far, it was a small studio apartment Yoongi had rented that was not even a fifteen minute walk away from campus. He let Taehyung use it a few times to finish his assignments, while other times he usually just invited him (and sometimes Jimin) to listen to new songs he needed opinions for. He enjoyed visiting, it was a lot of fun.

He knocked on the door, listening to the barely audible music playing in the studio. It wasn’t until Namjoon opened the door did he hear the music loud and clear.

The soundproof panels Yoongi put up really worked well huh…

“I thought you had an assignment to finish?” Namjoon asked as he closed the door behind Taehyung, sitting back down next to Yoongi, who was writing, and watching as Taehyung pulled up a chair. Sighing as he flopped down in the seat.

“It isn’t my assignment.” He said, watching as a small ‘tsk’ left Yoongi’s lips.

Yoongi lifted his head from his notebook, turning in his chair to look at Taehyung. He noticed the bags under his eyes and the red tint in his eyes alerting the two upperclassmen that he was obviously tired, exhausted even. “Do you need me to tell these stupid fuckers to quit asking you to do their homework, because I will. You’re exhausted and have enough on your plate.”

Taehyung shook his head, “I’m fine, really.”

Both Namjoon and Yoongi gave him a look, showing him that they were anything but convinced.

“There’s going to come a point where you’re sick and tired of doing other people’s work for them and you’ll finally say no. I’m hoping that day comes soon, for the sake of your health and sanity.” Yoongi said, before turning back to his notebook.

Namjoon gave Taehyung a small sympathetic smile, patting his shoulder. “So about the song…”

#bts scenario #bts fanfic #bts fluff #bangtan scenario #bangtan boys scenario #bangtan fanfic #bangtan boys fanfic #kim taehyung fanfic #kim taehyung fluff #taehyung fanfic #taehyung fluff #V fanfic #V fluff #BTS V fluff #bts v fanfic

23 notes · View notes

kodieoirskott · 6 years

Text

Happy Birthday Daniel (:

Fact: Our little Daniel is 19 in a couple of hours (17 minutes for me) and I hope he enjoys his day to the fullest. Thus the reason for this short. It’s all over the place and even though it’s only 1600 words, it took me two hours to write?? Any way...

Holding tightly onto the valuable box, you hesitantly stared at the doorbell. It was the 2nd of April, and Daniel had turned nineteen today. You and he had celebrated your birthdays together since you met in freshman year of High School, but this year your ritual was bound to be different.

He had a girlfriend- And you were fine with it, he seemed happy to have found someone, but you wished it would’ve been anyone other than her. Cora was a gorgeous girl and had been super kind to you, but you had always felt that something was off about her. She was all over the Daniel Seavey. The one who disappears on international tours for months and the one with a golden voice. That Daniel she knew and adored. The other Daniel, the one you grew up with, the one Christian boy who would talk about life as if he had experienced 90 years of it… Cora didn’t know that Daniel and that was what hurt you. To you, it felt like the Daniel you once knew, was hiding in a place where only you could find him.

“[Y/N]?” Daniel called out from behind you.

Turning away from the doorbell you still stood in front, your eyes fell on the now 19-year-old boy. He was wearing his hiking shoes and sweat was dripping from underneath his baseball cap over his face. You smiled when you realized it was the baseball cap you had given him before he’d gone off on the Invitation Tour.

“Happy birthday!” You smiled, more genuine than anyone ever could be. Rushing to him, you threw your arms around him and hold him close. A content sigh left your lips as you felt his arms around you.

“Thank you.” He whispered, just as content as you were, “You are aware that I’m sweating, right?”

You rolled your eyes as you pulled yourself out of his arms, “Believe me. If it wasn’t your birthday I would have never put myself through such misery.”

He laughed and walked passed you, motioning for you to follow him. “So, I should probably get a shower.” Scratching the back of his neck, his eyes rested on you.

You quickly held out his present, “Just open this first?”

Daniel walked over and allowed you to push the small box in his hands. He grinned from ear to ear as he unwrapped the box. Peeking inside, he frowned lightly before looking up into your eyes again. Pulling out the small red USB, he now wore his eyebrows high. Daniel skipped over to the dinner table before opening his laptop and plugging his USB in.

You couldn’t help but hold your breath as he opened the file. Immediately your voice sounded through the speakers.

“Hey, little D.” As you watched over his shoulder, you felt your cheeks starting to burn. “Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be me confessing my love and asking you to marry me or anything. Instead, this is a fun little compilation of our friendship.”

He quickly turned his head to face you, simply because he wanted to see the embarrassed blush that had crept onto your face and yet he didn’t want to miss the smallest second of the video you had made him.

“But, you should probably hit the shower first. Knowing you, you just came back from a hike and are all sweaty as of right now. So, I’ll be here. Waiting. For you- Oh god, this better not turn into a love confession.”

You pressed on the pause-button when he didn’t. Looking at him with certain expectations, you motioned for the stairs.

He shook his face, “I want to watch this first.”

“It’s twenty minutes.”

“I saw.”

Rolling your eyes, you pressed the play button again, but before the full introduction was over, the front door burst open and an over-excited Cora rushed in.

Daniel put the video back on pause and got up from his feet, a wide smile on his face.

“Happy birthday babe!” Cora screamed perhaps a little too loud as she ran to Daniel. He held his arms out for a kiss or hug that never came. Cora stopped several yards away from him. “You are one smelly birthday boy. Go take a shower and then I’ll give you your kiss.”

From your point of view, Daniel appeared disappointed. Nonetheless, he seemed to cope. He sat back down to continue watching his video, but Cora stopped him once again.

“Babee,” she mumbled, “Come on. In the shower you go,” She paused and winked once, “I’ll give you your present once you’re all clean.”

Hesitantly, Daniel got up and closed the laptop. Smiling once more at you, he wrapped his arm around you as he held his laptop with the other. “Thank you so much, [Y/N].” He mumbled before he disappeared up the staircase.

. . .

Cora had occupied herself with some of her schoolwork which left you to wander around the house. Daniel was usually much quicker with taking a shower, so you ended up in his en-suite bedroom. You could hear soft voices on the other side of his bathroom door and curiosity easily took you to stand right in front of the door, your ear against the wood.

You immediately heard your own broken voice and recognized it from the video on the USB. It was recorded a couple of days ago, meaning that Daniel had nearly finished watching the entire video.

“It wasn’t the best idea to record this part of the video after editing it in its entirety.” You had sobbed quietly, “I- You’re an amazing friend, Daniel. You really are. God- Why am I crying?”

You had expected for Daniel to respond with a soft chuckle or laugh at some point, but nothing came.

“I love you. I honestly couldn’t have wished for a better friend. Happy nineteenth, little D.”

The bathroom door cracked open not long after, and out came the tall boy with his white bathroom towel. He looked up and jumped a step back. You immediately saw his glazy eyes and you had to force out a laugh, just to make the embarrassing scene disappear.

“You cried.” You pointed at him, before giving yourself a lame high-five. “That is what I call success.”

He rolled his eyes and grabbed a shirt before pulling it over his head. He eventually sat down next to you on his bed. His hands were folded together in his lap, something that you hadn’t seen him do for the past months.

“You are the best.” He said, almost embarrassed, as he looked at his hands.

“That’s a fact,” You nodded, confused at how quiet and reserved he behaved. “What’s going on? Did I embarrass you?”

He found your eyes again and shook his face ever so lightly, “No, no. It’s nothing.”

Jumping up to your feet, you grabbed his wrists and pulled him up. “Come on then, the boys are probably up by now and you still need to unwrap Cora’s present.”

But instead of following you, he pulled you back and his arms instantly wrapped around your torso again. “This was probably the best present ever.” He said, gently kissing your forehead.

. . .

“Wow.”

It had been the only thing that came out of Daniel’s mind and it had been repeated about four times now. He just kept pulling out ‘his and hers’ products. There were pillowcases, keychains and most importantly: bedsheets. It was a little odd, especially since it had become a fact that Daniel was a little obsessed with the same grey bedsheets. He wouldn’t get it over his mind to change them, his reasoning being that he liked it clean and simple.

Poor Cora seemed to have no idea that the chaotic bedsheets that stated how little his space on the bed would be, was a terrible gift for his birthday.

“Thank you, Cora-“ He said, sounding somewhat grateful, as she started leaning in for a kiss. Daniel got to his feet. “I actually wanted to talk to you about something, Cora.”

. . .

“You broke up with her?” You frowned, watching how an overall confused Cora was now pushing all the presents she had bought Daniel back into her car. “On your birthday?”

He groaned, “I know. I should’ve done it before she had bought me all- whatever that was.”

“Is Dani Boy being ungrateful?” You chuckled, using the nickname Cora seemed to love so endlessly.

Daniel shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know. Maybe- It’s just… It felt like she went on the first best webshop and ordered all that junk.”

You couldn’t help but scoff, “You cannot tell me that you broke up over a bad birthday present.”

He shook his head, “It’s not that. I just don’t feel as comfortable around her as I do around other people. And I couldn’t help but feel like she didn’t even want to get to know me.”

Biting your lip, you nodded.

“You saw that too? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Shrugging your shoulders, you didn’t know what to say. “You seemed happy. You finally found someone who you thought you’d want to spend the rest of your life with-“

He cut you off, “I’d want to spend the rest of my life with you too.”

You chuckled, “It’s different with me, you know that.”

[ I AM SORRY I WANT THIS TO BE CONTINUED, BUT I AM TIRED AND DANIEL’S BIRTHDAY IS ALMOST HERE AND I NEED SLEEP. ]

283 notes · View notes

rdale-fics--fuck · 6 years

Text

Lucky - FP Jones x reader | Sweet Pea x reader

Request: Can you write a fp one where the reader tries to get closer to him but he tells her she's too young for him and he's not interested so when she starts dating sweetpea he thinks she's trying to make him jealous but she's falling for pea and fp beings to regret his chance with her

Word count: 2837

Warnings: cursing, some angst, age gap at some point, implied sex

A/N: Loved this request! also not very edited oops ily

Forsythe Pendleton Jones, the second. A man you had admired since you were five. The man who you held in your heart since you were thirteen. Back then, it was a small crush, one nearly every girl had experienced at some point. Normally, that crush would dissipate quickly, but yours never did. The thought of pursuing your long time crush had never passed your mind until you were eighteen and a senior at Southside High. You had been a serpent for three years, following in your father’s footsteps much to the dismay of your mother. Your best friends were Toni Topaz, Sweet Pea and Fangs Fogarty, you were the Southsides ‘core four’ who truly just caused trouble and kept the life in the town. When Jughead came along, he slipped into the group with a struggle since Sweet Pea wasn’t a huge fan, but he eventually was welcomed into your group. Jughead was a great guy, but you felt uncomfortable being close to him when you had a crush on his dad. Yet, you were well aware you would either have to get over the crush, or just let your feelings out.

Today was that day, you were going to Jughead’s after school, and the gang was going to the quarry after, and you would have enough time to hang back and talk to FP alone. During your last class, you felt unbelievably nervous, scratching your arm out of habit until your skin was bright red.

“Yo, (y/n), are you good?” Toni asked, grabbing your hand to stop the scratching.

“Y-yeah, thanks..” You muttered, putting your class materials away. “We still going to Jones’ trailer after this?”

Toni ignored the sudden change in subject and decided to leave it alone, “yeah, us two are going to meet at his place and then we can ride to the quarry and meet up with Fogarty and Sweet Pea.”

You nodded as you listened to the plans for the night and smiled tightly when the bell rang. You rushed out of the school and to your bike, tossing your bag in the saddlebag, and placing your helmet on. You started your bike and drove off to Jughead’s trailer. You arrived about the same time as Topaz and Jughead and you kicked your kickstand down, hanging your helmet on your handlebar. Jughead led the two of you inside and you bit your lip nervously when you noticed FP’s motorcycle was home, which meant he was home as well. As you entered, you sat down on the couch and sighed.

“Do either of you want anything to drink?” Jughead offered, going to the kitchen.

“Sure, could I have a water, Jug?” You asked, resting your hand over the red, heated patch of skin on your arm. You had always had a habit of scratching your arm when you were nervous. You heard Jughead call your name and you turned and caught the water bottle he threw in your direction. “Thanks, Jones,”

You sipped your water contently until you heard heavy footsteps approach the three of you and you looked over to see FP. He was probably sleeping, considering he looked like he just rolled out of bed. “You didn’t tell me your friends were coming over, Jug.”

“We’re actually heading out in a few minutes,” He interjected and you bit your lip, taking the time to check FP out. He had taken a nap in a pair of jeans and a grey t-shirt with a flannel tossed over top.

“M’kay, just call me later so I know you’re alive,” Jughead nodded and grabbed his jacket and you felt a lump in your throat as you tried to think of a lie so you could buy yourself time alone.

“Actually, I might stay for a few, I have a few questions about my bike, I think your dad will be able to help,” You told Jughead, feeling your nerves increase by the second.

“Sure, sure. Meet us there, (y/n/n).” Jughead said as he tugged his jacket on, exiting the trailer with Toni.

You sighed and gently scratched at your arm and looked at FP. “You’re a terrible liar. I don’t know how Jughead didn’t catch that,” FP said with a chuckle, sitting next to you. “What’s going on? Do you not want to go out with them?” He questioned, nudging you lightly with his shoulder.

“I-well no, I do, I just..” You began but you couldn’t finish your sentence. Your stomach was in knots, your chest felt tight. This was it, you either confessed or forever hold your peace. He looked at you expectantly and you sighed, putting your head in your hands. “Just- I like you, a lot. And it’s not normal, FP. It’s not just a school-girl crush, I genuinely like you, and I care about you… I don’t know what to do.” You spouted off into your hands and you didn’t feel any better. The atmosphere just felt more tense after you confessed your feelings for the older man.

The room was silent for what felt like hours, even though it was mere minutes. “(y/n), you’re a teenager. I’m Jughead’s dad, hell, I’m old enough to be your dad.” You nodded and looked at him sadly and pressed your lips on his and pulled away when he sat still. “It’s wrong, (y/n). What you should do is find someone your age. This isn’t okay… Why don’t you go be with your friends,”

You held back your tears as you felt your heart break, standing up and exiting the trailer, defeated. WIth your helmet on, your tears struggled to trail down your face and you shook your head. You wouldn’t be able to make it to the quarry like this. You started the bike, kicked the kickstand up and rode the short way home. Once you arrived home, you felt relieved when you noticed a lack of cars, which meant your mother wasn’t home. You went inside and tossed your helmet and shoes off at the door and quickly moved to your room, laying down and crying over your first heartbreak. You felt your phone vibrate and you noticed it was Toni.

“Hey, (y/n/n), are you coming?”

“U-uh, no, I actually feel really sick… like I might vomit,” You weren’t completely lying, after having that horrific conversation, you felt like you might throw up your insides.

“Oh, okay. How about one of us stops by later?”

You felt obligated to accept, these were your best friends, “s-sure… have fun,” you said barely above a whisper before hanging up.

Toni had stopped by later that night and held you while you cried. She thought you were just crying from being sick, and you let her believe that.

For weeks you were sad and you became very distant with your friends, staying home and wallowing in your sorrows. They had become worried with you and decided to take you out to the Whyte Wyrm to comfort you.

“Topaz, I really don’t want to go-” you began until Toni cut you off.

“And I don’t care, you’re stuck inside moping around about something you can’t tell your best friends. You need to get out, (y/n),”

You rolled your eyes and nodded, standing up as Toni searched your closet for a outfit. As she reached the end, she grabbed a short skirt you never wore and smiled. “You’re wearing this,” She said, tossing it toward you with a cropped black band tee. You chuckled and changed into the outfit. You then slipped on black knee-high stockings and high heeled chunky boots. “Perfect,”

You blushed when you looked at your reflection. You hadn’t dressed like this in a long while, but you loved it. Your makeup had been done earlier since you had to hide your puffy eyes while you were at school. “Let’s go,” Toni grabbed your hand and dragged you out of your house. She was making you ride with her on her bike so you couldn’t ditch her later. You hopped on the back of her bike and she took you to the Wyrm. When you reached the bar, you felt sick. It was almost impossible you wouldn’t see FP tonight. You got off the bike and Toni frowned. “What’s wrong? Lighten up, (y/n/n),” She said gently rubbing her hand up and down on your back before leading you inside the familiar bar.

As you entered, Toni took you to your three other friends and you smiled weakly. Sweet Pea smiled, “welcome back, princess,” he joked, wrapping an arm around your shoulders. You normally would ignore his flirting, but you enjoyed it at the moment. Leaning into his body, you listened to your friends as they began talking as they normally would. You felt relaxed and began to feel happier until you noticed FP from across the room. You frowned and looked up at Sweet Pea, biting your lip nervously before moving closer to him than before. “What’s going on, princess, finally falling for me?” He joked and flashed you a smile. You rolled your eyes and smiled back, shaking your head playfully.

“No way in hell, sweets,”

“You sure about that, princess? I bet I could prove you wrong,”

Normally, you would stop that there and go back to whatever you were doing, but you felt compelled to make FP jealous, make him know what he was missing. “Okay, then prove it,” The next moments consisted of his lips on yours, kissing you passionately and then abruptly pulling away. “I might need a bit more convincing,” You winked.

“Nope, nope, no more convincing here, this is turning into porn,” Jughead stopped the two of you and shot you a look of confusion. “Also, you’re into Sweet Pea, like our Sweet Pea?” You shrugged and chuckled, Sweet Pea had always flirted with you, and the whole group found it hilarious since you never returned the attention. Yet, now that you were heartbroken, you were willing to delve deeper into his feelings.

Topaz laughed with Fangs, “I always knew you two would end up together at some point, you always had a thing ever since we were little.” You blushed and looked down. The two of you had just kissed, not asked each other out or gone on dates, just kissed. You slipped a glance over to FP and sighed since he seemed unphased. Unbeknownst to you, FP was pissed. He felt unusually jealous as you kissed Sweet Pea but he couldn’t bring himself to act on his emotions.

“Hey, let’s go dance,” you suggested, tugging on Sweet Pea’s jacket lightly. He smirked and nodded, walking with you to where other people had been dancing. You jokingly danced around to the song playing, laughing while he just watched you make a fool of yourself. You hadn’t felt happy since you had confessed your feeling for FP. The next song began to play and you clapped since you loved the song. When the beat dropped, you bent your knees and playfully twerked, your ass toward him as you did so. You giggled when he moved closer to you and you straightened up until he pulled your body against his and you began to grind on him. “That what you wanted, Pea?” you asked teasingly, swaying your hips. You didn’t receive a reply but you knew he was enjoying it and you stopped when the song stopped. You continued to playfully dance with him for a few songs before you decided to go back and join your friends again. Little did you know, as you danced with him, FP was watching with intensity, jealousy burning inside of him as he watched you. He was aware he was the one who denied your feelings, but it was for the best. At least he thought it was, but now, not so much.

“I think I just watched porn, straight up porn, starring my best friends.” Jughead said, shaking his head in disgust as you both sat down.

“Oops,” You said simply and shrugged, feeling a blush creep up on your cheeks. After a few hours, you covered your mouth as you yawned, “honestly, it’s getting pretty late. Topaz, want to take me back?”

“I could take you home, princess,” Sweet Pea offered and you nodded.

“Sure, that good with you, Toni?” You waited until she nodded and you smiled, walking out of the bar with Sweet Pea, leaving your friends behind, along with a jealous and regretful FP Jones.

Two months after the merging of the two schools, you grew much closer to Sweet Pea. You had become official, and were a power couple in the school, two serpents who were truly ride or dies for one another. Although you had pursued him as a rebound, you had revealed true feelings for him, and you wouldn’t have it any other way. He cared for you and you cared for him. You two were perfect for each other, you had a checks and balances system. You often controlled his anger, and he made sure you didn’t act out when you were upset since you were quite sensitive.

“Yo, (y/n)!” You heard Sweets call out and you turned around to face him as he approached you in the hallway.

“What’s up, baby?” You asked, kissing his cheek happily as you walked to lunch.

“Just wanted to see you,” He shrugged as you both walked outside to grab a lunch table with your friends. Fangs wasn’t here today, but Jughead and Toni were sitting with some of Jughead’s northsider friends. You shook your head and decided to sit with them since the had saved you a seat.

“Only one spot left, but I thought you guys could make do,” Toni said as she moved her bag from the spot. Sweet Pea sat down and pulled you onto his lap.

“If it isn’t the famous southside couple making an appearance today,” Veronica joked and you chuckled. She was right, neither of you would normally go to lunch, instead ditching to spend time alone or for you to take a nap since you always fell asleep in your classes if you didn’t.

“More like infamous,” Jughead corrected and you laughed.

“Hey, we aren’t that bad, Jug,”

“I beg to differ. (y/n), you two get in trouble all the time for skipping class together, or causing fights, or nearly fucking in the-”

You blushed and cut him off, “Okay, I get it, we’re a little much.” You giggled and turned your head to look at Sweet Pea. He was proud of you, proud to be reckless with you, and you loved it.

“Well, I’d like to hear this whole story about you getting caught nearly fucking somewhere?” Kevin asked and your eyes widened and you shook your head while the group laughed.

As per your tradition, you were meeting at Jughead’s trailer tonight before heading off to the quarry. You were in a crop top and short shorts, with your serpent jacket pulled over top. In this outfit, you could clearly see the serpent tattoo on your chest, directly above your heart. As you stood outside of his trailer, you approached the door and knocked until FP answered and you waved awkwardly. “Is Jughead home yet?”

“No, but come on in, he should be home soon,” you nodded and entered the trailer, sitting on the couch. You heard the sound of a motorcycle and you smiled, knowing it was Sweet Pea’s and you watched as he then entered the trailer, waving at FP before sitting next to you.

“Hey, baby,” you greeted, pecking his lips.

“Jug not here yet?” He questioned and you shook your head.

“Nope,” as you leaned into Sweet Pea’s chest, you felt FP’s eyes burning into you. You wished you felt validation from his possible jealousy, but you didn’t. Rather, you just brushed off the feeling of his stare and focused on Sweet Pea and his breathing. In an odd way, you were thankful for FP rejecting you. Although it broke your heart, and you will always have some feelings for him, no matter how small, it lead you to Sweet Pea. That heartbreak lead you to the person you loved.

When Jughead entered the trailer, he smiled when he noticed you two were already there. “Glad to see you aren’t ditching us,” he joked and you rolled your eyes.

“I would never,” you faked hurt and smiled as it was his turn to roll his eyes.

“I think Topaz and Fangs are meeting us there tonight since they were both caught up in something. So I guess it’s time to head out,”

You both stood up and followed Jughead out and you felt a weight lifted off your shoulders as you left the house. As if any pent up feelings for FP had left you as you left the house. Letting out a happy sigh, you looked over to Sweet Pea and smiled. You were very lucky.

#riverdale #riverdale imagine #riverdale x reader #riverdale one shot #FP jones #FP jones x reader #fp x reader #fp jones imagine #sweetpea #sweet pea #sweet pea x reader #sweet pea imagine #sweetpea imagine #sweetpea x reader #sweet pea imagines #riverdale imagines

1K notes · View notes

aj-diamond · 7 years

Text

Promptis Week: Day 2: Bed Sharing / High School Days

Rated: T (For Language and mild sexual themes)

Word Count: 2,418

Notes: Prompto is an insecure little chicken nugget. Once again, this was written and edited to the best of my ability. Enjoy!

Also can be read on: Ao3

@promptisfanweek

Hiding the Truth - (Sharing a Bed)

Seven months had passed since Prompto and Noctis had met. Quickly over time, they became closer. They went from meeting up a few times a week to meeting up pretty much every single day. They went from knowing nothing about each other to knowing almost everything about each other. They knew each other’s majors and goals in life, favorite and least favorite foods, each other’s favorite games, hobbies, favorite candy, birthday, family situations, past relationships… They had even shared things with each other that no one else knew about.

Granted, they were still only friends, well best friends, but it was okay. That didn’t stop Prompto from loving him like he did.

It was Friday night, both Noctis’ and Prompto’s favorite day of the week. Friday night was game night at Noct’s apartment (Prompto’s apartment was tiny, noisy, and honestly, just downright embarrassing compared to Noct’s. Noctis’ living room alone was the size of his entire apartment.). They would order take-out and play video games late into the night, usually until 2AM. Tonight’s games were The Legend of the Dragon Warrior and Space Defenders V.

Prompto quickly discovered that night, Noctis was hella good at, The Legend of the Dragon Warrior, but absolutely terrible at Space Defenders V. The guy couldn’t aim to save his life!

“L-look out!” Prompto exclaimed, leaning towards his left.

“I got it!” Noctis replied, leaning with him mashing the buttons on his controller. “Oh shit! Shit!”

“Gimme the controller, Noct! You definitely don’t ‘got it’!”

Prompto reached for the controller, and Noctis moved his hands, “Stop, you’re going to make me lose, Prom!”

“You mean like how you’re already losing already? Look at your health is depleting every second we-” He leaned back. “Pull up!! Pull the hell up!”

“I am pulling up!” Noctis argued, practically breaking the thumb stick.

“Look out for the…” Prompto watched the spacecraft on screen explode into millions of pixeled pieces, “Asteroid.”

Prompto sighed and leaned his head back against Noctis’ love seat. “How is someone who is good at literally everything, so bad at an arcade game like this?”

“I got to level 10, though!” Noctis tossed the controller in Prompto’s lap, he was flushed with embarrassment he thought Prompto couldn’t see. “I bet you can’t get any higher than that!”

Prompto turned his head and nodded at him, “I can. I beat the whole game, twice and have the high score of 3,767,900. I died only three times out of the ten possible times you can die.”

The other boy turned his head, “Y-yeah right! I’ll believe it when I see it!” The blonde was silent for a moment as he stared at the back of his head. He smiled fondly, Noctis was cute when he was embarrassed like this. It was such a rare feature he showed.

“I’ll bring my console with me one night.” he told him, poking the back of the shoulder.

Noctis looked back over at him, “Better, or I’ll think you’re lying.”

“And when has your ol’ pal Prom, lied to you?” Prompto lifted his head. “Never, not once. I’m an honest young man.”

His friend shook his head and laughed, “I mean, I guess you’re not wrong.” Noctis stretched. “Mmm, getting tired.”

Prompto looked down at his phone to check the time, then he looked back at him, “Already? It’s only 11:45PM.”

“Unlike you, chocobutt, I had exams all day. Four to be exact. Exams take a lot out of me.”

“I forgot you have exams like every other month Mr. Elite University Student.”

Yes, unlike Prompto, Noctis was in the elite classes at their university. Only people with above average grades, with money, or both (which this was Noctis’ case) could get in these special classes. Prompto neither had the grades or money, so he was just in the regular university classes. Which he didn’t mind that much, elite classes were a lot tougher than regular classes. He had no idea how Noct did it, regular classes were tough enough on him. He supposed it was just yet another amazing feature about him.

“Well, if you’re planning on heading to bed, I best better be heading out,” Prompto said, uncrossing his legs. “Don’t want to be the one that makes Noctis all grumpy at the world by depriving him of his beauty sleep.”

Prompto got up to turn off the game console, Noctis spoke up, “Prom, why don’t… Why don’t you stay the night? You’re welcome to stay.”

Yes, that’s right. Even though they were best friends, Prompto had never spent the night Noct’s place. He refused every time Noctis had offered.

Prompto wanted to, he really did, but the thought of being alone late at night with Noctis made him nervous. He would never force himself on him, no, never in a million years. But, he felt as if he would say something to him that would be offline or weird in the midst tiredness or something. Even if Noctis never saw him a romantic light, (why would he be romantically interested in him anyway?) he wouldn’t want him to go away and be out of his life completely. Just the thought of him not being there hurt him to the core.

Noctis continued, “I mean we’re friends, aren’t we? Friends can stay over at each other’s houses.”

The blonde nodded, “Well, yeah… but… I-” Prompto cut himself short. He had to think of an excuse fast, but nothing was coming to him.

“You can even sleep in my room. You don’t have to sleep out here.” Noctis told him before another yawn escaped him.

Prompto threw his hands up in defeat, “Okay, okay. I’ll stay… until you go to sleep.” he turned towards him. “No point in watchin’ you sleep. I mean I’m not going to sleep, I’m not even tired yet.”

“I’m starting to think you hate me a bit, chocobutt.” he said, pushing him in the direction of his room. “Just can’t stay the night with me, your best friend.”

Prompto stumbled forward a bit, “What a crazy notion, Noct. You may suck at one of the first video games I’ve ever played, but I could never hate you.”

“Can it!” Noctis pressed his hands into his shoulders, marching them into his room. Prompto laughed, briefly forgetting that he was now entering the room of potential (gods, hopefully, one day) lover. It was only when he heard the door close behind them, he realized where they were.

Within moments, Prompto’s hands began to shake, his throat became dry, and his mind was racing.

“Speaking which, have you ever been in my room? I don’t think you ever have.” Noctis walked past him, beginning to pull his shirt off. Prompto’s eyes widened as Noctis’ toned stomach, chest, back was suddenly, so very suddenly, revealed. Holy. Gliding. Chocobos!

He had to press his lips together to keep his tongue from darting out and running across them. Never had he wished more that he had his camera with him. The types of shots that he could get now.

Gods, did I just go there?! Prompto covered his mouth with his hand, he could already feel warmth spreading across his cheeks. He couldn’t stop staring at him, (he was so lucky that Noct was facing away from him) his eyes roamed up and down his backside. He swore to the heavens that Noctis was literally the most beautiful human being in the world. Whoever thought or said otherwise, could kiss his freckled ass.

Click… click…

Prompto’s ears perked and his eyes went lower, watching Noctis undo his belt and take it off. Oh! His pants were coming off now. The blushing blonde turned away quickly, he couldn’t dare watch him take off his jeans. He already knew that Noct’s ass looked great in those jeans he was wearing, (and not to mention feel great in them. He may or may not playfully, maybe sometimes deliberately, smack his ass a couple times… a few times… whenever the hell he could.) but to see him without them… he wasn’t sure his heart could take it.

Ziiip!

Prompto’s heart felt like it was going to burst. He listened as Noct took off his jeans and tossed them in the basket with his shirt. How could Noctis act so calm stripping off his clothes in front of him like this? He could only imagine… only imagine what he looked like now.

“You got awfully quiet,” Noct paused, then snorted looking towards him. “Prom, what are you doing?”

“I’m just admiring this great paint job of your room! You know me! This starving artist loves to appreciate a great paint job!”

“But… my walls are all… gray.” Noctis began. “How could you appreciate such a dull color? I mean, I like darker colors, but you… you’re more of a bright color kinda guy.”

Prompto glanced over his shoulder, making sure he was dressed again. He caught him in the middle pulling a pair of black sweats over his hips. Praise gods. He was a hundred percent sure that he would have to leave if Noctis would have ended up just wearing boxer shorts.

“Yeah, I dig bright colors mostly, but there ain’t nothing wrong with darker colors.” He turned back around and gave a small smile. “As a matter of fact, if I learned anything from being an artist slash hobby photographer when you combine certain bright colors and dark colors you make one hell of a masterpiece.”

“Oh, I know. I can tell by the work and photos you’ve shown me.” Noctis climbed onto his king sized mattress. “I think you’re a great artist already.”

Prompto ducked his head and rubbed the back of his neck, “Thanks.”

“Nothing but truth,” He yawned, pulling back his black comforter and gray satin sheets. “Are you seriously just gonna leave after I fall asleep? What if it takes me a while?”

“I doubt it will take you a while. You’re out like a light in ten minutes or less.” Noctis rolled his eyes, Prompto shrugged, sitting down in a nearby chair. “I’m not wrong, am I?”

“Shh, sleeping.” He covered himself up and rested his head on his pillow.

Prompto couldn’t help by laugh.

As predicted, five minutes after Noctis’ head hit the pillow, he was out like a light. It wasn’t predicted, however, that in only minutes after, he would be out too. Maybe watching Noct sleep made him sleepy himself or maybe he was more tired than he thought. Either way, he hadn’t seen that coming.

Another thing he hadn’t seen coming was the situation he was in now. At some point, he had woken up and gotten into his best friend’s bed. Because now, in this current moment, he laid right beside him holding him close. His arms were wrapped around his waist and Noct’s head rested comfortably against his chest, his hands gripped Prompto’s shirt.

The look of utter shock that was on his face (and he was a million percent sure there was a look of shock on his face) when he had woken up that morning was most likely, completely priceless. He almost screamed but didn’t because of the sleeping person in his arms. He didn’t have the heart or nerve of waking Noctis up, he looked so peaceful, so comfortable.

Prompto glanced over at the clock, it was almost noon. Knowing Noctis, he probably wasn’t going to get up for at least another hour or so. He was stuck in this position, stuck with Noctis in his arms. Stuck with his head resting on one of his many pillows that… smelled so nice. Stuck with his legs tangled up with his… brushing his fingers every so lightly against his lower back… listening to him to breathe… burying his face in his dark locks.

Was this really a “situation” so to speak? It was more like a fantasy come true. Well, at least one of a plethora fantasies.

Prompto scooted back a bit to get a better look at Noct’s sleeping face. He smiled gently, his heart swelled with emotion that only Noctis could fill his heart with. He lifted a hand up to his face, brushing away his bangs, “Is it weird that I think you’re extremely pretty at times?” he whispered. “You’d hit me if I called you pretty most likely.”

He stared into the face of sleeping man beside him, his eyes lowered slightly, “It’s not fair that you even get to look good even while you’re sleeping.” His fingers lightly brushed down his cheek. “Totally not fair Noctis Lucis Caelum. Why do you get to be so perfect?”

Prompto bit his lip, resting his hand on his cheek, “It makes me wonder would you even consider… a guy like me to be your lover?” he paused. “I’m not strong or super smart or good with people. I’m not the best looking either. I’m not perfect, not like you. No, I can never be like you.”

That was one of the main reasons (yes there were at least ten other reasons) that kept Prompto from confessing his feelings to the man. As Prompto learned more about Noctis and of his luxurious life, as he learned that he was used to only the best of the best and nothing less would do… he felt… as though he wouldn’t be good enough for him. Not as a lover, supporter, and sometimes he doubted himself as a friend.

Tears filled his eyes as his fingers spread across his back, “If you chose me Noct if you even considered me. I’d be the happiest guy alive. I… I would cherish you for the rest of my life.”

He closed his eyes, “Gods… see what you’ve done to me? Made me feel all this mushy, goopy stuff.” Prompt chuckled softly, brushing his thumb against his cheek. “Video games were the love of my life, then your ass came along.”

Noctis let out a content sigh and wrapped an arm around Prompto’s waist. He felt slender fingers curl into the back of his shirt. Overwhelmed with emotion, Prompto in return pulled him in close again, embracing him tightly. He buried his face into his dark locks, tears escaping his eyes. I love you… gods I love you so much.

Prompto knew it was probably going to be awkward between them when Noct woke up. But for now, he was going to treasure and cherish this moment. Afterall, he may never get another like it.

#promptisfanweek #day 2 #promptis #promptis fanfic #prompto x noctis #noctis x prompto #my writing

16 notes · View notes

stylo-xx · 7 years

Text

Eyes Closed (M)

G-Dragon: Angst/Small amount of fluff/Smut

PART 3: You Always Hurt the One You Love

A/N: All right this one is out before midnight for once! haha. This is finally a more Ji-Yong-centric part and I felt way too many feelings writing this but I hope you all enjoy none the less! xx

P.S. please by all means leave me your thoughts/comments about how you like/dislike how the story is going so far. I’d really love to know where I can improve and/or what things I am doing that you all like.

P.P.S this was the song that was playing in the car, give it a listen!

(Part One)||(Part Two-A)||(Part Two-B)||(Part Four)

(ORIGINALLY POSTED BY s-tttop)

Sitting in the rear seat of the black tinted windowed SUV, Ji-Yong absentmindedly played with the threads that were poking out from the rip on the knees of his jeans. The men accompanying him in the car sat in a comfortable silence as they were all far too exhausted from having been woken up so early; at least early to them. Just when they got comfortable being home, they get ripped right out of their comfortable bed sheets only to be shipped off to some other city. Another city, another photoshoot and yet it was still the same monotonous thing over and over again.

Donning his sunglasses Ji-Yong stared out the window and nodded his head to the faint sound of the music coming from the car speakers.

‘Haunted by secrets, my lips are sealed

All of your demons it turns out they’re real

The shadows on the wall, will watch me as I crawl

But you know how to make me come back

I’m just a monster that you’ll never fear’

He shook his head out of his thoughts; somehow they always managed to be about her. He couldn’t understand it really, he would drink to forget but he always remembered. Always. Even when he was drunk out of his mind he could swear he’d hear her call out to him, swear that he heard his phone go off and that it was her finally willing to talk to him. But somehow it always just managed to be his imagination. He thought it was like some kind of cruel joke his mind liked to play on him although he wasn’t sure if this was actually some sick, deep seeded pleasure he got from torturing himself or if he had just completely lost it. He couldn’t even sleep without seeing her, the only time he’d actually get a decent night’s rest was ironically when he was piss ass drunk, but even then the hallucinations of her in the room was like dangling forbidden fruit right before him that was always just barely out of reach. Like the other night at Seungri’s friend’s club he could have sworn he saw her in the distance intermingled with the other just as intoxicated people in the club. But from his seemingly permanent seat at the booth he knew she was just another hallucination; just a fever dream of attaining the unattainable. There’d even be instances when he’d actually get to the point in the night where he would ‘forget’ her long enough that’d he’d go home with someone for once, but in the end they were never good enough; they weren’t her. At times he’d even feel terrible because every single time without fail he’d picture her being the one he was taking out his frustrations on but none of his paramours or lovers alike could satiate the undeniable hunger within him. I guess ‘Misery’ simply loved the company but very rarely did he love to keep it.

‘Why won’t you ever let me leave?

Just fucking let me out

Every time that I’m out of reach she says “turn around”

“Yah, can you turn the music off…” he spoke.

The suddenness of his voice filling the car startled a sleeping Dae-Sung and Seungri; whom of which was drooling on Dae-Sung’s shoulder.

“Ahh, but Hyung that’s a good song it’s nice and mellow it was--”

“I can’t hear myself think” Ji-Yong cut off the maknae “besides I hate that song…”

Young-Bae threw him a half lidded side-eye.

“Yah Ji-Yongie-ah” the oldest of the five spoke up “If that song brings up bad memories you just have to say so…”

“Hyung!--” Ji-Yong readied himself to put up a fight, only for his actions to be cut short by a tired hand from Young-Bae on his shoulder.

“Hyung, do you really want to piss him off at this close of a proximity”

The eldest man simply shrugged and cozied himself up in his coat that was haphazardly strewn across his body.

Ji-Yong sighed and slouched back into his seat.

Seeing that the commotion had subsided the men returned to their previous positions as they tried to relax before a grueling day of getting unwillingly pampered and shoved into clothes that despite their appearance they were deceivingly itchy.

Ji-Yong sighed again and pulled his phone from his pant pocket, these days he had kept his distance from social media but every so often he liked to make an appearance to appease the masses on Instagram. Opening the app he scrolled through his photos to find a selfie he had taken previously, added a cute~ caption and posted it. As if almost instantaneously the number of likes he received was by the thousands; the thought of it almost made him want to chuckle. Curious what he had missed in his absence from the world of social media he decided to check the photos he had been tagged in; every now and again he’d find some kind of amazing fan art or just a hilarious edit of one of the members. Scrolling through there was a picture of him from an old concert here, a picture of him drunk with some fangirl there; just an unintentional collage of Ji-Yong. The further he scrolled the more he began to notice he had been tagged multiple times in some picture of two people kissing.

‘Dear god another dating rumor?’ He thought.

He kept scrolling past but seeing as I the amount of times he was tagged in that same picture, his curiosity had gotten the best of him. Only, I'm sure looking back he'd probably wish it hadn't.

And as clear as day, there she was; just as beautiful as ever but in the arms of another man no less. He felt an array of emotions, just seeing her in that state and just the thought of what had probably occurred between the two of them later that night made him sick. Feeling like his heart had tanked to the floor, a jealousy from deep within began to rear it's ugly head. Just what did this douche bag have that he didn't? He had, had to endure the pain of seeing her in magazines gallivanting around with the annoyingly perfect men of Hollywood but this just seemed to hurt him more somehow.

He scrolled down to read the comments.

‘Omo, she is so lucky!~’

‘WHo is that with her???? Damn! *faints*’

‘I totally know who that is (¬‿¬)’

‘Wtf how does she date all these people?!!!!’

‘I wish someone would kiss me like that (ಥ﹏ಥ)’

‘Pfffft well if this isn’t a fuck you to that dragon guy ╭∩╮(^3^)╭∩╮’

‘Wait how do you know who that is with her???’

‘Haha that’s Suho from EXO! My friend was at that party, she said she saw them together most of the night. She said Alex was pretty drunk and her and Suho were just like all over eachother *shrugs*’

‘What party?! DETAILS PLEASE!’

‘Some grand opening to some new club in Gangnam. I don’t have much details other than that, my friend is the one that lives in Korea not me (ಥ_ಥ)’

‘Holy shit…’ Ji-Yong thought ‘So--so I did see her the other night...it wasn’t just some fucked up dream I had’

He bent over in his seat and placed his head between his hands, all this time-- the past two days he had been mulling over and over again in his mind about that night when he thought he saw her and he actually had. He was mentally kicking himself for, for once not following his indiscretions and just going up to her. All this time, he could have heard her speak for the first time in months, he could have listen to her laugh, he could have been the one that was in that photo, he could have been the one that ended his night with her; but no, the better man had won.

‘Pffft, better man...’ he scowled ‘that ostentatious fuck…’

Sitting upright in his seat again, he clenched his jaw and balled up his fist so hard his knuckles went white. He couldn’t believe that once again this asshole was the cause to all his problems. He couldn't believe that he was stupid enough not to realize she was actually within reach and once again he had let her go. His chest started heaving up and down harder and harder the angrier he got.

‘ARGH!’ he pulled back his arm and took a hard swing at the plastic frame of the car window and completely smashing it in the process.

The other men in the car just looked at each other awkwardly at the enraged man’s outburst.

Noticing the blood cascading from from his best friend’s hand, Young-Bae went wide eyed.

“Ji-Yong-ah--”

“What?!” he clenched his eyes shut and with a shaky, unbattered hand pulled out his pack of cigarettes.

“Not to make the situation worse but, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” his best friend gestured with his hand “You crazy son of a bitch, look at your fucking hand! What the fuck Ji-Yong?!” rolling down the partition to the driver he demanded that he immediately take them to the hospital.

Managing to light his cigarette with one hand Ji-Yong spoke nonchalantly.

“Yah, Young-Bae I’m fine...I don't even feel anything…”

“Don’t even feel-- DID YOU ALSO LOSE YOUR FUCKING MIND IN THE PROCESS OF BREAKING YOUR FUCKING HAND BECAUSE THAT FUCKING WATERFALL OF BLOOD COMING DOWN YOUR ARM DOESN’T LOOK FINE TO ME!”

The other men in the car just continued to glance at each other awkwardly, not trying to make any sort of eye contact with the other two men.

“STOP FUCKING YELLING AT ME!”

“WELL I WOULDN’T HAVE TO IF YOU WEREN’T SO FUCKING OUT OF YOUR MIND--”

“YAH!” the eldest’s voice boomed “Young-Bae you yelling at this Pabo isn't helping. Ji-Yong, what-the-fuck? What the hell could have happened to you in the past five minutes that you go and not only break the company car but you break your goddamn hand?!”

With the cigarette dangling between his lips, he let out a sardonic chuckle.

“Have a look for yourself…” he said barely above a whisper and tossed his phone in their general direction.

Upon arrival the doctor had diagnosed that Ji-Yong had a Boxer’s fracture; in short he had broken the first two knuckles of his right hand. After pulling out the shards of plastic, stitching up the gaping wounds on his hand and wrapping his hand and forearm up in a cast he was free to go.

He sat on the edge of the hospital bed in an almost catatonic state, staring blankly at the linoleum flooring solely being consumed by his thoughts.

Young-Bae and a very cautious Seungri walked into the room slightly alarmed at their friend’s zombie like state.

“Yah, Ji-Yong-ah the doctors said you're free to go”

No response.

“We can go to TOP Hyung’s house and drink some wine and--”

“He's not supposed to drink while he's on the medication Hyung..” Seungri interjected.

Young-bae side eyed Seungri.

“We can watch a movie so you don't have to make an effort to talk to us?”

Still no response.

Seungri stepped forward and took a shaky breath before speaking.

“Hyung, I failed you. If you wanna hit me go ahead, I deserve it” he preemptively winced.

Ji-Yong pushed him away “I’m fine let’s go..” and he hopped off the hospital bed

“But Hyung aren’t you mad at me?”

“No Seungri, I’m not mad at you…” he kept walking toward the door somberly.

Seungri and Young-Bae glanced at each other and walked out after him

“But Hyung don’t wanna hit me? It would make you feel better” the maknae cleared his throat.

Jiyong stopped in his tracks turning to face Seungri.

“The only thing that would make me feel worse is inflicting undeserved pain on someone who’s done nothing wrong to me” he turned on his heel and continued toward the exit.

The other two glanced at each other again, Young-Bae simply mouthed ‘Do something!’

“Hyung if you're playing hard to get its working, just hit me! It's ok i swear!”

Keeping to his onset silence, Seungri received no reply.

“Ok well if you're not mad at me who are you mad at?!” Young-Bae smacked the maknae on the back of the head.

Not turning around he spoke in a monotone voice.

“Myself…” he pushed passed the frosted glass doors revealing a smiley Dae-Sung with a bouquet of flowers in hand and a just as ecstatic Seung-Hyun that were both happy to see their leader one piece; so to speak.

“Hey, there he is!” Dae-Sung motioned to hand over the flowers to Ji-Yong but he simply brushed him off and headed toward the town car in waiting.

“Aish, what’s with him?” Dae-Sung furrowed his brows “I thought the Oxycodone would’ve made him tolerable for once…you’d think that being who he is he wouldn’t let some girl get him like that..if I was her I wouldn’t blame her for not wanting to get back with that mess of a ma--”

“Yah!” Seung-Hyun smacked him on the back of the head “go get in the car!”

Dae-Sung rubbed the back of his head and mutter incoherent nothings to himself.

Walking up to the older man, Young-Bae placed a hand on his shoulder and sighed. Watching his best friend slide inside of the car, he couldn’t help but feel pity for him. He felt somewhat guilty. He had known she was back in Seoul, he knew about her and Suho but he didn’t tell Ji-Yong because he felt like he was protecting him; but it made him wonder if he was more so protecting himself. Protecting himself from what he wasn’t sure.

“What are we gonna do Hyung?”

Seung-Hyun blew a puff of air from his mouth “I really don’t know, I didn’t think he could get any worse but this just takes the cake”

Young-Bae bit his lip and nodded.

“Would talking to her at this point even help?” the eldest man raised an eyebrow.

The dreaded man sighed again “Honestly, Hyung I don’t think that’d make it any better. I know he says he always says he just wants to see her but truthfully I think talking her would make him worse if that’s even humanly possible…besides I’m pretty sure that is a lost cause”

This time the eldest man nodded.

“I spoke to Tim the day after the club and he told me Suho had come back that morning and checked on her and that he was laying it on pretty thick; flowers in hand and all--”

“Pfft, Jesus...” Seung-Hyun raised his eyebrows.

“He also told me that she texted Tim later that night telling him about how excited she was for tonight, that Suho was supposedly coming back from Paris and he was going to take her on a ‘real’ date..”

“Wah...that guy’s not fucking around huh?”

Young-Bae shook his head “Aish, Hyung I just wish he would stop being so stupid and talk to her! I mean I know why she doesn’t want to talk to him but if he really did love her as much as he complains about all the time then why not fight for her instead of letting this stupid picture get to him?! While he’s over here breaking shit for no other reason other than letting his fucking ego get in the way, this douche is over here getting the girl. The more Ji-Yong mopes and sulks in his own self pity, the further away she’s getting”

The older man shrugged.

“I can’t let this happen, not just because Ji-Yong is my best friend but I also just straight up don’t trust that guy. Tim and I both agree that we feel like he’s up to something...I just don’t know what it is yet” Seung-Hyun replaced his hand on the younger man’s shoulder and nodded his head. He didn’t really know what to say, while he loved Ji-Yong he hated this self-destructive monster he had become; he hated the entire situation to be honest. The entire thing had him confused, being that Ji-Yong was the one that ended things to begin with he didn’t entirely blame her for wanting nothing to do with him. On the other hand, knowing how much he loved her and how much he regretted letting her go for no other reason other than being a complete coward, he wanted his friends to be just like they were when they first started dating; up until that point he hadn’t seen Ji-Yong as happy as he was in a long time. Now, all he saw was the pathetic shell of a man he once called his friend, this new Ji-Yong wasn’t the same guy he had know since they were kids. He always feared that one day or another one of them would let their celebrity status get to their heads and being at the place Ji-Yong was at the time, he never would have guessed that G-Dragon was there to stay once the stage lights shut off. Now more so than ever. He never minded Ji-Yong’s partying ways, or his promiscuity but when it got to the point where G-Dragon became his scapegoat and it was his catalyst for hurting Alex, he just slowly began to resent him. Seung-Hyun knew everything, he knew about every spat, every little fight, every time they’d say words they never meant to each other; he knew everything.

“WHERE IS SHE?” Ji-Yong cried. “Ji-Yong calm down” Young-Bae tried to pacify his extremely intoxicated friend. “Yah! Young-Bae I fucked up, I FUCKED UP” he wailed with hot tears streaming down his face “I lost her, I FUCKING LOST HER” “Ji-Yong, jinja calm-down” “How the fuck do you want me to calm down when I ruined everything?! Ahh Young-Bae, I’m done!” “Done with what?” he furrowed his brows. “With this, with everything! I don’t wanna do this anymore!” “What are you talking about?” “Just let me drink until I can’t fucking feel anything anymore...I don’t want to feel anything…I’m fucking useless, all I do is fuck everything up” “No you don’t what the hell are you talking about?” “I-I screwed up” Ji-Yong slurred his words “she hates m-me, she hates me…” “Ok listen to me” Young-Bae took his best friend’s face between his hands “you are fucking drunk, just stop talking for a second and think about what you’re saying” “All I do is make her cry...” he said absentmindedly, completely ignoring his friend’s pleas. “Ok, Ji-Yong listen to me” taking his friend’s face in his hands again “Stay right here and drink this water ok? Give me a second a I’ll be right back” Ji-Yong simply nodded as he cradled himself back and forth on the hotel room bed. Stepping into the bathroom Young-bae pulled out his phone and quickly searched for Alex’s number. The phone rang three times before he got an answer.

‘Hello?’ her voice sounded hoarse. “Alex? Where are you?” ‘I’m with Jackson, Tim and Saige, why?’ “I really need you to come back to your room, please it’s Ji-Yong” A short pause came before she spoke ‘why...I don’t want to talk to him right now. Besides my flight back home is in like 45 minutes so, no” “Flight back home? What do y--” he heard a crash from the other room. ‘What was that?’ “Shit…” he swore under his breath. ‘Young-Bae?’ “Please just come back to your room, I don’t have time to explain!” ‘Young-Bae wait!--’ He hung up his phone and rushed back into the other room to find Ji-Yong held a broken bottle of whiskey in a bloodied hand. “Ji-Yong what the hell?!” he rushed to his best friend’s side “No, no! Put that down! Jinga look at your hand!” Ji-Yong swayed in place and sniffled “i-it’s not that bad, see” he held out his bloodied hand toward his friend. Just then a pounding came from the front door. Young-Bae rushed to open the door, revealing an Alex who looked out of breath.. “What the hell is going on?” she spoke as Young-Bae closed the door behind her. Not being able to stand his ground Ji-Yong swayed back and forth and stared at her in awe. “Oh my god Ji-Yong you’re bleeding!” she took several steps toward him and grasped the wrist of his bleeding hand. Not even batting an eye he continued to stare at her the words that were coming out of her mouth went completely unheard. “Oh my god um ok” she pulled him toward the bathroom “Young-Bae what the hell?! Why did you let him do this to himself?!” “Let him?! I was trying to keep him from doing anything stupid, and the one second I take my eyes off of him, to call you by the way, he does this shit!” he threw his hands up. She shook her head “can you at least find me a first aid kit or something? I need to get these little pieces of glass out of his hand” Young-Bae nodded and headed out the front door. “Tsk, Ji-Yong what the hell is wrong with you?” she held up his hand toward the light to get a better view “Here, let’s at least try to wash the blood off” Running his hand under the faucet, he’d wince every now and again but still he would always manage to find his way back to staring at her; admiring her facial features. “Ahh, ahh!” he winced again. “Oh shit, I’m sorry!” she looked at him with pleading eyes. As if completely forgetting the shards of glass in his left hand, he cupped her face with the other hand and stared into her eyes before leaning in for a kiss.

“Ji-Yong, no...” she pulled away from him “your timing is terrible, you really think that just because you’re and idiot with blood gushing out of your hand that means I’m not upset with you?” He closed his eyes and threw his head back. “What were you thinking anyway? You could have really hurt yourself…” “Would you have cared if I had?” he opened his eyes and leaned against the counter. “What the hell is that supposed to--You know what, I don’t want to fight with you anymore I just really want this night to be over” she sighed. He pushed himself off of the counter and stood right before her, once again staring into her eyes. He weighed his options in his mind before he bit his lip and went in for another kiss, only this time actually making contact. Deepening the kiss he placed his good hand on the nape of her neck and backed her up against the wall behind her. She hesitantly placed a hand on his bare shoulder and then moved up it into his hair. Pulling away to kiss her neck, he smiled to himself. “Mmm, Ji-Yong what about your--hng--hand?” “Fuck my hand...” he spoke into her skin. She let out a small whimper “I’m serious Ji-Yong” “So am I” he took his hand from her neck and placed it beneath one of her thighs and raised her leg up toward his waist. She threw her head back as her eyes rolled back into her head “Young-Bae is going to be back any second…” “We have to hurry then...” he took his hand and moved it up underneath her long hoodie and hooked his fingers around her underwear and yanked them off. He pulled away from her neck and looked her in the eyes and smiled, placing a peck upon her lips he reached between the two of them and attempted to undo his pants with one hand with no such luck.

“Uhm, could ya help me out a bit” he let out a chuckle.

She sighed and complied undoing the button and zipper to his pants. Going back in for another passionate kiss he pulled down his boxer briefs and pumped himself before entering her causing her to gasp into the kiss.

Not giving her time to adjust he started pulling in and out at a fast pace, completely forgetting about his mangled left hand that he rested against the wall. Her moans began to fill the bathroom as they reverberated off of the walls, he pulled away from the kiss and threw his head back letting out a few of his own grunts and groans. “Oh holy fuck…” his eyes rolled back into his head “I’m sorry for what I said earlier baby” She let out a whimper “Ji-Yong, shut--the fuck--up” He chuckled before he let out a loud moan “oh fuck, babe--fuck--I think I’m gonna cum” “Already?” she said breathlessly. He looked at her through half lidded eyes “Yes already--shiiiiit--I’m surprised I could even get it up I’m pretty fucked up right now” She raised an eyebrow “that makes two of us” His moans began to get louder and louder, he usually wasn’t one to be super vocal during sex but when he was she took far too much enjoyment out of it.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket causing her to pull it out to check who had messaged her. “Mmm--really? You’re gonna--ung--check your phone right now?!” She let out a moan as he picked up the pace “oh my fuuuck-- oh shit it’s--ung--Young-Bae” “What?” “I said--oh Jesus H. Christ-- I said it’s Young-Bae” she whimpered “He’s--he’s comiiing!” “Shiit” he threw his head back again. “J-Ji Yong you have like 45 seconds to get your shit together” He breathlessly nodded his head and began to pound into her harder and harder until he could feel her clenching around his dick signaling that she was just as close as he was. “Come on baby--fuck--cum for me” Pulling him in closer causing her to leave scratch marks along his back she could feel that warm pit in her stomach beginning to build before she completely unraveled around him. Seeing her in complete ecstasy and feeling her clenching around his dick was all it took for him to become undone. Riding out their highs, Ji-Yong slowly pulled out as his chest was heaving up and down rapidly. “Shit sorry, I was going to pull out before I came..” he said out of breath. Just as winded he was, she pushed herself off the wall and with shaky legs made her way toward the shower and pulled off the detachable shower head to clean up. He made his way toward her and held her from behind before placing a kiss on the top of her head. She simply nodded her head in a delayed reply. “Why--” he cleared his throat “why do you always come back to me?” She turned toward him “I don’t know…maybe out of stupidity?...” “You could have easily just let me bleed all over the place, flown home and not cared” “I guess that’s my problem...” “What is?” “I care too much…” she sighed “I can’t just leave you alone, what if you had hurt yourself worse than you did tonight? I couldn’t let myself live with that weight on my shoulders if something had happened to you…I would never want you to hurt in any sense of the word” He nodded his head “But what about when I hurt you? Doesn’t it make you angry? Doesn’t it make you want to walk away for good” “Of course it does, and sometimes I wonder if you do it on purpose because you want me to end things because you’re too much of a coward to. You are probably the biggest, most narcissistic pain in my ass that I have ever met and yet still no matter what and out of sheer lunacy I will always come back to you. Because I unfortunately fell in love with you...”

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

The car ride to Ji-Yong’s penthouse was a silent one, no one dared to utter a single word. When they arrived to his building Ji-Yong hopped out without a single ‘good-bye’ and headed toward the lobby; Seungri and Young-Bae followed suit behind him. Seungri cleared his throat “Hyung, are you feeling hungry?” “No…” he said in a monotone voice, not turning to face either man. “Cause if you are thre is no need to be shy about it! I’ll even cook the meat just for you!” No response. “Yah, Ji-Yong-ah you need to eat something eventually, you can’t be on the medication without it” Young-Bae furrowed his brow. “I said I’m fine…” he said walking into the elevator and pressing the button to his floor; the other two quickly hopped inside before the doors could close. Seungri and Young-Bae awkwardly glanced at each other, both determined to get their gloomy friend to at least crack a smile. “You know” Young-Bae smiled “now that you have that cast and everything, you can lie and say you fought a bear or something” Ji-Yong let a puff of air out through his nose. “Yea Hyung, you could say anything! I mean you could also say you punched a car but just leave out the reason why” Young-Bae smacked him on the back of the head. Ji-Yong raised an eyebrow. “Hyung...If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think she’s very happy with that guy anyway. Pretty sure I heard Rowan ask her that night what the whole deal with that guy was and Alex just said ‘wait what guy?’ Finally he cracked a smile. Seeing the reaction he got from his Hyung the maknae continued with more feeling. “AND, from what Sasha had told me Alex isn’t staying that far away from here” Ji-Yong went wide eyed and turned to look at the maknae. Seungri wiggled his eyebrows. “Whoa ok slow your roll there wingman” Young-Bae interjected “Don’t really think adding stalker to the broken fist is a good idea. I think he’s done enough for one day” “Tsk, come on Hyung!” Young-Bae looked at the hopeful look in his best friend’s eyes and sighed. “Look if you really want to talk to her, go tomorrow huh? I don’t think seeing you in a Chanel dress shirt covered in your own blood is a good look for anybody” Ji-Yong looked down at his shirt. “Ok he’s got a point there Hyung…” the maknae eyed him up and down. The doors to the elevator opened up to Ji-Yong’s floor and the three of them continued onto the hallway toward Ji-Yong’s place. Reaching his front door, he pulled out his keycard and opened the door and before the other two could come in Ji-Yong paused and turned to face the other two. “Thanks for looking out for me like you guys did today” “Hyung did I just imagine it or did he actually thank us for something?” “You know what Seungri I think he did” Young-Bae smiled.

“I know I haven’t been the best leader to you all, let alone best friend in the past few months but I want you know know that I sincerely appreciate you all putting up with me…” “That’s all we’ve been wanting to hear!” “Any time Hyung-ie~!” “With that being said, I want to be alone” Ji-Yong stepped inside and slammed the door before either of the other two could get a word in edgewise.

After the events that took place throughout the day, Ji-Yong wanted nothing more than to pour himself into bed. Getting to his room he shut the curtains, turned off the lights and mid taking off his shirt he winced at a sharp pain shot right up his arm; he had forgotten he broken his knuckles. “Tsk, well I guess this is ruined” he muttered to himself observing the damage he had done to his favorite dress shirt. He tossed it in the general direction of his waste basket and plopped face first into his bed. When had he gotten to this point in his life? When did he begin to feel so lonely in a room of thousands? The ironic thing was that he found solace when he was actually alone. Truthfully he had nothing to complain about, he had it all: fame, money, souped up cars, even all the women he could ask for. But despite everything he had, there was still one thing he was missing; her. He rolled over on his back and pulled out his phone from his pant pocket, scrolling through his photos he’d found some silly pictures he had taken of the members, the further he scrolled the more fond memories came clamoring back into his head. But there was one 30 second, black and white video at the end of his camera roll he never remembered taking. He pressed the play button and it was just himself on his bed staring into the camera. The Ji-Yong in the video looked to someone outside of the frame and smiled.

‘Babe what are you doing?’ the voice laughed. ‘Nothing just waiting for you’ he smiled again. ‘You are such a weirdo’ the voice laughed again. ‘Yea but you’re the one who made the mistake in dating me so--’ he raised up out of frame and when he came back down onto the bed he brought a giggling Alex down on top of him. He briefly kissed her before he tucked a wet piece of hair behind her ear. He moved the camera closer to their faces.

‘Eww Ji-Yong no, I look so gross right now I just got out of the shower’ ‘No way, I honestly wish you could see how I see you through my eyes’ ‘But if you’re looking at the world through rose colored glasses, all the red flags just look like flags’ He smiled again ‘I love you’ She sighed ‘I guess I love you too’ her eyes flickered to the camera ‘Okay, let’s just turn this off now’ ‘No baby wai--’

His screen cut back to the thumbnail. Of all the stupid things he had done thus far in his life, his biggest regret was the day he let her go.

#bigbang scenarios #bigbang imagines #bigbang fanfiction #bigbang fanfic #bigbang angst #g dragon scenarios #g dragon imagines #g dragon fanfiction #g dragon angst #g dragon smut #gdragon smut #gdragon scenarios #gdragon fanfiction #gdragon imagines #gdragon angst

157 notes · View notes

blueneonlightshow-blog · 7 years

Text

Tom’s Dating Advice

Marco looked around, still surprised by how modern Tom's home looked despite being in the underworld. While the cave had a red tint to it, there were arcade machines against the wall, the ping pong table he played against with Tom when he kidnapped him, a kitchen, living room, and a nice furnished table. If it weren't for the torture devices hanging from the wall, he'd say it looked almost nice to live in. The boy turned around as he heard Tom enter the room once more.

"So can I get you anything? Blood? Tormented souls? Hearts of the damned? Sparkling water?"

"Uh… I think I'll take the last one."

Tom opened his refrigerator, revealing several bags of blood, raw meat, glowing red orbs. Grabbing some sparkling water, the demon sat back down on the couch, tossing the drink to Marco, and continued to play his video games. "So what's up? Want to play another round of Space Ninja Extreme? I promise I won't cheat this time."

Marco rolled his eyes. "First of all, you always cheat. You never not cheat."

"I played fair last time."

"You melted my controller when I was winning."

"It's a legitimate strategy."

"Second…" the boy continued. "I'm actually here to talk about Star."

The demon raised an eyebrow, looking at him with his three eyes. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"Um… no, not with Star…"

Tom returned to his game, trying to dodge his opponent's attacks. "Then I'm sure you can handle it. Besides, you lived with her for a year. I'm pretty sure you're used to whatever she throws at you. Metaphorically, of course… and literally I guess... OOOHH! Look at that combo!"

"Ugh, Tom. C'mon. I need some help here."

"Why? I thought you said nothing's wrong with Star."

Marco shifted uncomfortably, distracting himself by watching the TV. "Well… there isn't…"

"Okay… well you better spit it out, cuz you're kind of distracting me from winning- Oooooh! Almost got me," he cheered.

Marco sighed. "Alright… so… Star and I are about to have our first date and-"

Tom lunged at Marco, dropping his controller and grabbing Marco's shoulders. The game played a sad note followed by a game over title card on the large flat screen TV. "Whoa, whoa, hold on. You're dating Star!? You two finally confessed!? Since when!?" he asked, shaking the boy.

"Get off!" Marco slapped his hands away and straightened out his hoodie. "She had this whole song thing and… look, I'll tell you later. I just need some help here. We're about to go on our first date tonight and I have no idea what to do! We hang out as best friends all the time, but now that we're… you know… together… I don't know what to do for our dates. And I don't want it to be the usual stuff we do, so I was hoping since you used to date Star, maybe you could give me some advice?"

"Why me? I'm sure you two will be fine. Just do what you normally do."

"Yeah, but… I don't know, can you help me out here?"

Tom nodded. "So what you're saying is you're too stupid to know how to date Star. Don't worry, man. I got you covered."

Marco glared at the demon. "Gee. Thanks, Tom. What would I do without you…"

He laid an arm over the boy's shoulder and walked him over to the couch. "Now lemme tell you how I used to do things. I was a real lady killer back then."

"Is that a pun or are you-"

"First tip! Get Star some flowers. She love flowers. I think."

The boy gave Tom a quizzical look. "You gave flowers to Star?"

He shrugged. "Well, I tried. Here's the story of our first date."

----------------

Tom spiked his hair up, trying to keep the perfect signature shape he always had. He wore his usual ripped shirt and dark pants, trying to keep it casual for the date. He looked at his watch, growing more impatient as time went on. "Ugh, where is she?"

He heard a sigh behind him. "Hello Tom."

He turned around and saw his 'girlfriend' Star Butterfly in her blue sleeveless dress. "Star!"

"Yeah, yeah, it's me. Let's just get this over with."

"Look, I know your parents set you up on this whole thing, but trust me, I'm not that bad of a guy. Here. I brought you flowers."

Star gasped, her eyes sparkling with joy. "Really!?"

"Yeah, check it out." He revealed a bouquet of roses slowly burning away into a stiff shell of charcoal. The demon breathed in the smoke and sighed. "Isn't it just wonderful?"

----------------

"You burnt your flowers…?"

"Yeah? So?"

"That doesn't sound very romantic."

Tom scoffed, crossing his arms. "What are you talking about? What could be more romantic than burning flowers? It's fleeting, it's ever-changing, it's warm, it's-"

"Tom, I don't know how things work down here in the underworld, but I'm pretty sure flaming roses aren't romantic…"

"Shows what you know about dating."

"Hey, for your information, I had a girlfriend before Star and I got together."

"Oh yeah? And how'd that work out for you?"

Marco scratched his head. "Uh… well…"

"Exactly. Now, as I was saying…"

----------------

Star was appalled by the burning bouquet. She waved her hands in the air, trying to blow wind onto the fire, but only managed to make it grow brighter.

Tom on the other hand was somewhat confused by her actions. "What are you… ohhhhh I get it. You want it to burn brighter! I got you, Starship." His eyes began to glow red. He channelled his energy into his hand, creating a roaring fire engulfing the roses. "This does look better!"

"TOM!"

He jumped back, startled by the princess's sudden outburst. "What?"

"Why did you burn those flowers?"

"I thought that's what you wanted! You were trying to make it bigger, weren't you?"

Star threw her hands up in the air. "Why would I want to make a bigger fire?"

"What's wrong with bigger fires? I think they're pretty cool."

Star sighed. "Whatever… let's just… get on with this date…" She pulled out her dimensional scissors and reluctantly entering through the portal.

"Uhh…. geez what's wrong with her?"

Tom followed after her, finding himself in Quest Buy. Several Mewmans, demons, monsters, and animal-like creatures ran through the busy intersection of the dimension with the occasional buyers being chased down by their killer gift cards. He let out a light chuckle, always finding it amusing to see someone making that mistake.

"C'mon, Tom, let's see what we can find around here," Star called out.

He smiled, making his way towards the princess. "Sure thing, Starship."

"Don't call me that."

"Aww, but it suits you!"

"Shhh shhh shh shh shush shush shush. No. No nicknames."

Tom huffed, the heat around him becoming slightly warmer from his annoyance. "Fine."

The two went through several isles of intricate products ranging from toys to weapons, food to potions, and much more. To any ordinary bystander, a trip to Quest Buy was always a treat. They could get anything in the universe and more in this one shopping dimension, but for Tom, it was a total bore. None of these things really entertained him. They were mere distractions to him, but Star seemed to enjoy window shopping. As much as he wished she had picked a better date spot, he did enjoy watching Star be amazed by each product on display-

----------------

Marco rolled his eyes, letting out a sigh. "Alright, alright, get on with it."

"Hey, don't interrupt me, I'm in the middle of the story!"

"Well, can you at least tell it a little faster? I kind of have a date with Star soon." He pointed at his watch, trying to get Tom to hurry up.

The demon ignored his request. "Every detail matters, Marco. What? You don't want to hear my advice on how to date Star?"

"I'm not sure if you swooning over Star is an important detail. Also… Starship? Really?"

He smirked. "Oooohhhhh, getting jealous are we?"

Marco scoffed. "What!? I'm not jealous! What would I be jealous of?"

"Heh, right. But man, she sure is something though, isn't she? Beautiful, funny-"

"Next."

----------------

"Oooohhhhh! Look, look! It's the newest edition of my all time favourite comic!"

Tom looked at the cover page before realizing what he was looking at. "Oh, this thing. Seen it. Ending's kind of lame."

Star looked over to her date with a confused look. "You've read it before? But it just came out today."

"I know the guy who makes the series."

She gasped, her eyes lighting up with excitement. "You do!?"

"Yeah. I paid him a visit a while ago. He was overdue for the underworld anyway."

The eagerness disappeared and was replaced with disappointment. "You… reaped his soul then?"

"Yup. All part of my job. Pretty cool, right?" he bragged, leaning against the bookshelf.

Star shook her head, rubbing her temples. "Okay… so… the guys dead cuz of you. Great."

"Don't worry, he told me the entire story before I brought him to my place. The main characters fight each other, but end up working together and saving their dimensions."

"TOM!"

The demon jumped. "What!?"

"You just spoiled the ending to my favourite comic!"

"No I didn't! That was just the set up for the bigger ending. Their dimensions fuse as one in the end."

Star glared at her date. "..."

"..."

"Yeah, this isn't going to work out."

----------------

"Wow, you're a terrible boyfriend."

"Oh yeah? How do you explain the fact that we went on five other dates after that?"

"Did Star ever ask you to go on any of those five dates or did you just bribe her parents?"

Tom opened his mouth to retort but soon closed it. "...Shut up."

Marco rolled his eyes. "Alright, so… lemme go over your notes. Star love flowers, preferably one that isn't on fire, likes to dimension hop, and I should enjoy the things she likes."

"Yeah pretty much."

"Tom, that's all stuff I already knew when we were best friends."

"Yeah, I know. Why do you think literally everyone thought you two were already dating?"

"Wait, they did?"

"Look, I'm sure you'll be fine. Just go on your date or whatever. You're gonna be late."

Marco looked at his watch, realizing that he was late by two whole minutes. He panicked, sloppily patting himself down, trying to find where he left his dimensional scissors. "Gah, c'mon where is it, where is it!?" He reached into his back pockets and pulled the scissors out, quickly thanking the demon before tearing a portal back to Earth. "Thanks a lot, Tom, I'll see you later!"

"Uh-huh."

----------------

Marco appeared from the portal, his eyes adjusting to the sudden brightness and vibrant colours of Earth. He looked around and saw Star waving at him in the distance, running towards him.

"Hey, Marco! Sorry I'm late. I was talking to Ponyhead about something and got kind of held up," she quickly said, trying to catch her breath. Little did Marco know, Star was doing the exact same thing as him, getting dating advice from Ponyhead before meeting up.

"Haha, n-no problem!"

The two stared at each other, a blush beginning to form on both their faces. This was the first time they would be meeting as an actual couple instead of best friends. Neither of them knew how this worked.

Star cleared her throat. "S-so…"

"So…"

"...Movies?"

Marco nervously smiled. "S-sure."

Star smiled back. The two began to walk over to the theatres side by side. Marco glanced at how close their hands were and moved closer to Star's side, hesitantly tapping her fingers with his. She responded by shyly wrapping her pinkie around his, the pair far too shy to publicly hold hands. They looked at each other with red faces and smiled.

Tom was right. He didn't need to worry. The two would find a way to make it work, just like all the times before.

#starco #star butterfly #star vs the forces of evil #svtfoe #tom lucitor #marco diaz #fanfic

14 notes · View notes

kyndaris · 3 years

Text

Treading Water

Please enjoy another short story. I’ve also uploaded this to my FictionPress for a better layout.

On a side note, I’ve almost finished writing Control State and will then proceed with the very thorough nature of editing my first conspiracy thriller story. To be honest, I’ve wanted to delete it several times but sometimes it’s good to try different things - even if they don’t work out or are as good as one would hope. To be fair, I didn’t have much of an idea for the ending and it probably shows. Let’s hope that my editing/ rewriting skills are up to scratch and it won’t seem as terrible as what I think it is.

----

The water was cold, chilling me right to the bone. My life seemed to flash before my eyes as it built up to this moment when I would have to sink or swim.

It was hard to breathe. Everything I had on me was pulling me down, dragging me into the depths of the river…

Most people have heard of the saying: ‘Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.’ It’s often used to allude to the fact that it’s unlucky for a woman to serve as a bridesmaid for two or more weddings. A harsh judgement, particularly if they haven’t found the one and settled down. The same can also be said of men. I can count on both my hands and a foot, the number of times I’ve been a groomsman to one of my friends. Yet, despite my best efforts on numerous dating sites, I’ve never been able to keep up a steady rapport for more than a month or two.

It’s both heartbreaking and a confidence-killer.

I like to think of myself as a nice guy. Charming, chivalrous, great listener and spinner of fantastic tales.

The one problem? Making them stay.

I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s my breath? That I love my job? Or perhaps I’m fundamentally broken, especially after what happened back during my teen years. Before mum passed away.

But I think the real kicker is something else. And not just in regards to my love life. I’m nearing forty and live with my married sister, her husband and their two terror toddlers. A live-in uncle, if you will. It has a few perks, I’ll admit. The low rent, the free food, shared Netflix subscription…

Yet, nothing else turns the ladies off faster than staying the night. For one, there’s absolutely no privacy. And two? Well, honestly, who’d want to bump into a possible future in-law while sneaking out at five in the morning, sore between the legs?

Some of my colleagues have asked why I haven’t moved out. Found my own place instead of trying to share it.

My answer has always been the same. This is my home. Mum left the house to both me and my sister. Built in the vein of the old Tudor-style houses of the early twentieth century, it’s a haven of memories. I wouldn’t part with it for all the money in the world, even if the cost of renting a place wasn’t so exorbitant that it would take out about 80% of my entire salary.

Perhaps if I wanted to start my own family, I might move out to the suburbs. For now, however, the house catered to my needs with the occasional annoyance. If it wasn’t my nephews trying to sneak into my mancave, it would be the in-law nagging about the upkeep for the one and a half rooms I’d commandeered as my rightful share.

God. Sometimes I wondered what Jennifer ever saw in Shaun. He’s rude, has a holier-than-thou attitude and is a goddamn prick just because he has a doctorate in economics. I hate how he thinks he’s so much better than me because he has an impressive six-digit salary. And if I could rip the smirk from his face, I would. Jen could have literally found anyone else and it would have been better. Well, perhaps not a drug addict. Jen does have some standards.

In any case, my one solace in a life mired by a myriad of difficulties was work. Admittedly, it was not initially my dream job. Over the years, however, it’s grown on me. The clientele, the fact that I’ve been able to make a difference in the lives of people from all walks of life, and the fact that I’m regarded as a valuable member of the team. I like to think that’s because of my natural inclination to fostering a positive atmosphere.

As team leader, it was my responsibility to make sure everything was running smoothly. Like I said before, I’m a nice guy. More importantly, I wanted to make our company the best there when it comes to delivering a vital service to the people of the city. And if that meant staying back for an hour or two, I’d gladly take it. Particularly because, in recent months, we had seen a lot of new staff moving through.

And, with my wealth of experience, it had fallen upon me to train them and ensure that the work they were doing was of the utmost quality. Simple, really.

“Joe, could you come into my office? We need to talk.”

I looked up from my screen. The sudden spike of annoyance I felt was quashed immediately and a smile graced my lips as I nodded briefly to Annie – a dear friend, now manager and acting head of our division. We had worked together for many years before she had received a well-deserved promotion. And unlike many others that had passed through, she knew the work and was willing to listen.

“Just a few minutes, Annie. I need to wrap up this last email,” I said. She gave me a nod before disappearing into her office.

Reluctantly, I turned my attention back to the essay that I had been composing. One of the main problems that I faced with the increased rotation of new staff was the significant dip in client satisfaction. Complaints had increased and the workload was piling up. And someone had to make sure that it didn’t reach an unmanageable level.

Enter: me.

I had been with the company for almost two decades. As soon as I had stepped out of university, diploma in hand, I had applied for the graduate program. Along with Annie, I had been one of the lucky few to be accepted. Ever since, I’ve remained with the company, working my way up the chain of command. With all that experience behind me, it seemed appropriate that I tackle the jobs that we were struggling to fill. I owed it to the one place that brought me solace from the goings on in my life.

At first, I’d start by adding a few minutes here and there to finish off urgent emails. A year later, and with new staff constantly churning their way through, it had become a good three or four hours extra every day.

Not that I’d complain, of course. But perhaps Annie had noticed all the elbow grease I was putting in to keep the company afloat, the clients happy, and making sure all the newbies were doing things right.

Once the email met my exacting specifications, I sent it off. Locking my computer, I brought my mug of coffee with me into Annie’s office.

There was a solemnity to her that I had never seen before. Hands tented before her and brow furrowed, she looked all forty-three of her years. The ring on her finger was a reminder that she had been married for fourteen of those and had two children. Though she had tied her hair back, a strand of grey had managed to come away.

“If this is about Laundale, I’ve just dealt with them,” I said as I sat down in the chair opposite hers. “Hopefully, by offering them a discount for the next job, we can regain a bit of our reputation and goodwill. I know we can always find another customer, but they’ve been with us for years. Besides, it was a simple mistake, easily rectified.”

“What? Oh. Yes. Thank you for that Joe.”

There was something amiss. I could sense it. “What’s wrong, Annie? Did I do something wrong? Things have gotten hectic, what with all the new staff that keep coming through and I’ve tried to train them as well as can be. And I know you didn’t ask it of me, but I’ve also been looking out for any disasters on the horizon, mitigating any damage as best I can. There’s only one of me, though—”

“Actually, that’s why I’ve called you in, Joe. We’ve had complaints.”

“Who? Belinda? Mary? Look. I get it. They’re not the best workers to have. I’ve been hovering over them like a mother hen trying to make sure they don’t slip up on the next big job. Offering them assistance, checking up on them, reviewing their work—"

“Joe, the complaints have been about you.”

“Me?” I asked, astonished. Who would be complaining about me? I was a valuable asset with the company. I knew the ins and outs of the systems. Knew how best to placate each client. It couldn’t have been about me. “That’s impossible.”

Annie leaned forward. “I’m afraid it is, Joe.”

“On what grounds?”

“Harassment. Bullying. Microaggression. And extensive micromanagement,” said Annie. “I’m sorry, Joe, but my hands are tied. I need to put you on leave while we investigate these claims.”

A hot flush enveloped my neck and my face. I rose to my feet. “Who was it? Who’s spreading these lies about me?” One hand slammed against the desk before I could rein in the impulse. I needed to know who would slander my good name after all the things I had done to keep the company afloat. I needed to know who would ruin my one sanctuary in the world.

“You know I can’t tell you, Joe. The complaints are anonymous. Even if I knew the names, company policy means I can’t disclose them to you.”

“This is bullshit, Annie. You know it is.”

Annie let out a sigh. “As I said, Joe, this is out of my control.” She reached out and patted my hand. “Look, see it as a holiday. We can put you on miscellaneous leave. Two weeks and you’ll be back. And this whole thing would have blown over. What we can’t do is give the impression that we’re sweeping this out of the rug.”

After all my years of loyal service and this was how they were going to treat me? I threw Annie a look that spoke of the depth of her betrayal. As she opened her mouth to placate me again, I left. Her small office was stifling. Behind me, the door closed with a slam and I returned to my computer.

Once seated, I took a few deep breaths. It was the only thing I could do to slow the panic that was gnawing at my gut and threatening to erupt. When that didn’t work, I retreated to the restroom. Closing the door to the stall, I sat on the toilet and pondered who would say such terrible things about me. I was Joe. The friendly team leader. Tireless to a fault. Always looking out for the good of the team.

I went through everyone in the office, trying to figure out the vindictive bootlicker that had sullied my character. A few came to mind. Belinda. Mary. Stephen. They were the three most likely suspects.

Yet to come out of the gates, screaming for their heads would only further paint me as the villain. To even ask around, after being seen entering Annie’s office, would make plausible their accusations. Shit. Shit. Shit. Trapped in a Catch-22, my only option was to do as Annie had bid.

Dejected, I flushed the toilet and left.

Whoever it was had ruined my life. I returned to my seat, logged in and looked blankly at the mass of emails that sat in our inbox. Clicking into my own personal work one, I had a look through all the other tasks that needed to be done in the coming days.

There was so much to do. But by the end of the day, Annie had made it clear that I was not expected to step foot in the office for the next fourteen days.

Without my guidance, how were we to keep the company going?

“Did you hear about Joe?”

My ears perked up at the mention of my name. I looked around. Near the kitchen, I spotted Mary and Samantha, engrossed in conversation. I ducked behind the partition before they could spot me.

“Shh! Keep your voice down. What if he hears?” said Mary.

“Let him. He needs to know that he can’t get away with these things. Ever since I joined mid last-year, I’ve felt his breath down my neck. His eyes on the back of my head. He won’t say anything that fits the description of ‘bullying’ but I can’t keep working like this.”

There was a pause. “I know. I heard the rumours, of course, before signing on too. Didn’t believe them until I witnessed it firsthand. Joe always acts like he can get away with anything because he and Annie started at the same time.”

“Do you think something might be going on between them?”

“There might have been something there but Annie’s been married for fourteen years. And happily, from all accounts. Still, I wouldn’t put it past them if they’ve got an arrangement.” Laughter followed. Then footsteps.

Hurriedly, I opened up a word document and began typing something nonsensical. As Mary and Samantha walked past, I gave them a jaunty wave, a forced grin stretching my lips.

The pair of them returned it, though Samantha leaned up to Mary’s ear to whisper something. Mary giggled; a hand pressed to her lips in a rare display of coquettishness that belied her nose for salacious gossip. It was probably another dig at my character. Or an attempt to smear the only good relationship I had in the world. The bitches.

I watched as they rounded the corner and disappeared from view, most likely returning to their seats and a full day of work. Immediately, the grin fell and I flopped back onto my chair. Any motivation for work had deserted me as soon as Annie had called me into her office. But the idea of taking a personal day when the day was already half done did not sit right with me. I would just have to power through and then ponder my life’s direction after I had clocked off for the evening.

As I picked up my mug, I found the coffee cold and disappointing. I spat most of it out. It seemed that I’d have to make a fresh brew. While I usually asked Rina, it seemed particularly poignant that I did it myself. After all, why add further fuel to the fire? They already saw me as a monster. Wouldn’t want another complaint of office bullying or harassment. And over a simple cup of black.

God. When had everything gone so wrong for me? Charming. Charismatic. Those were the words most of my friends had described me back in my university days. And they were the descriptors I had put into my dating profile. I was a bloody nice guy. It was evident that the birds in the office were too blind to see. Except, of course, Annie. She was the only one who really saw me. A shame, then, that she had married so early.

Jackson greeted me in the kitchen. A mature hire, he had joined the company shortly after Annie and I, though he had a wealth of experience behind him. Over the years, his hair had thinned and his stomach had become a solid beer keg. Despite all that, he had a mind like a steep trap. For that very reason, he had risen to the comfortable position of senior manager of Accounts.

Ever since I had known him, he took his lunch early. At 11.30 rather than the prescribed lunch hour. An empty Burger King wrapper sat before him.

“How’s the family?” I asked as I turned on the coffee machine and set a pod into it.

He finished licking his fingers. “Oh, the usual,” he replied in his deep sonorous voice. “They might be all grown up, but sometimes they’re just as helpless as when they were newborns.” He laughed at this, slapping one dark hand against his leg.

“And Lorelei?”

“As lovely as the day I first met her. Have I told you that it’s our anniversary next week? Think you give me some advice on what to get her in the next couple of days?”

I put my mug into the receptacle and pressed the start button. “Actually, I’ll be on leave for the next couple of weeks.”

The big man frowned. “During our busiest period? What the hell is Annie thinking letting you go like—oh. Right. That.”

“So, you know?” I tried to keep the question casual but my shoulders had tensed and the hairs on the back of my neck had stood up to attention.

Jackson nodded. “I’ll tell you what I told Annie. It’s utter bullshit,” he said. “The young people these days, they’re all bloody snowflakes. Can’t say anything without them turning around and going it ain’t politically correct. Whatever that’s supposed to mean.”

“Right? I’ve only been doing what’s best for the company. Helping them out, fixing mistakes.”

“It’s hard to see a good employee get punished for just doing what it takes. Don’t worry, Joe. It’ll all blow over. You’ll see. Then everything can go back to normal.”

His words helped soothe the ache in my chest. Blinking back the sudden onset of allergies, I picked up my coffee and effusively thanked Jackson from the bottom of my heart. It didn’t matter what the others said. I still had allies. And Jackson was the most stalwart of them.

The rest of the day passed too quickly for my liking. Before I knew it, the clock had hit 6pm and I was being ushered out of the door. Cut off from the one thing that brought me joy for the next two weeks. I hadn’t even managed to send a roster out to the team, to make sure that they would be on top of things before I returned before Annie had gently coaxed me from the computer and escorted from the premises.

It was as if I had lost a limb.

Too morose to head back home, I decided that my best course of action was to head to the local pub. A good drink was just the right medicine for dismay and heartbreak. And Hell, I deserved it. For too long, I’d put up with training new staff (and my two nephews). It was good to finally let loose after a long while. Maybe, if I was lucky, Little Joe would also get some loving.

Spirits buoyed, I headed for the Gold Lion. Though not too close to the office, good food and a plentiful of beer on tap, it was one of the best places in the city for a man needing to drown his sorrows. Beyond that, it also had a warm atmosphere of camaraderie even if it could get a little rowdy at times as people crowded around the TV sets to cheer for their favourite teams.

The walk was a lazy fifteen minutes. Out in the fresh air, I was able to contemplate my choices for the next two weeks. My sister and, by extension, her husband, could not know that I had been placed under miscellaneous leave pending an investigation into false allegations of workplace harassment. Shaun would have a field day and I desperately did not want to give him the satisfaction. Somehow, over the next few days, I’d have to come up with a plausible excuse. Or simply head to the local café to while away the hours.

I walked into the pub and was immediately assaulted by the sounds of the pokies and their bright flashy lights. Several minutes later, I had checked in and had nabbed a spot at the bar. In one hand, I nursed a pint of beer and was taking a look around at the clientele present.

Given that it was the start of the working week and that the evening was still young, the Golden Lion was still almost empty. A few families had trickled in, regulars perhaps, or tourists. As well as a few couples looking for a place that was relatively cheap. One group of rowdy rabblerousers settled around a table not too far from me. With nothing better to do, I gave into curiosity, taking a peek over my shoulder.

Four men, roughly around their mid-thirties, and two women, who looked much younger and more naïve. One of them had long blonde hair, tied into a neat ponytail. The other had a dark curtain of brown. She had almond-shaped eyes and small button nose. A jolt went through me. I knew her.

Yet no matter how I wracked my brains, a name would not come. Maybe it was the three mouthfuls I’d already had, or maybe I was finally entering the age of dementia.

Nor could I rightly say where I knew her from. She could have been a new employee that I trained or one of the lovely ladies I had swiped left on because they were too young or we had dissimilar interests. After all, I’m not a monster or a paedophile.

Still, the question remained: what was she doing here? And with such company?

She was a tiny little waif. Barely a woman in almost every regard. The men, on the other hand, looked like common thugs, born on the wrong side of the tracks. Two wore high vis vests. Their work boots covered in white. One of them had a scar that ran down the left side of his face. Another was dressed casually in a loose white shirt and a pair of cargo pants. Built like a bruiser, he kept his hair cropped short. The last had high lace-up boots. Metal chains adorned his pants. On top, he wore a studded leather jacket.

As I took another sip of my drink, I decided that the most prudent course of action was to keep an eye on the girl. There was no telling what possible danger she might be in as the night wore on. Spiked drinks, unwanted attention, coercive demands…

The list went on. Of course, not all men would stoop so low.

But, as a representative of the chivalrous sex, it was imperative that I demonstrated the side that the media tended to gloss over when they covered stories on abuse and harassment. Better yet, it would prove how wrong the allegations made at work would be. God, if I could pull this off, I could waltz into Annie’s office and have my due recompense for the slander to my good name and reputation.

As the night wore on, the men seemed to get louder and bolder with their lewd remarks as their faces grew red with drink. By nine, they could barely say anything remotely intelligible.

Both the girl I knew and the blonde appeared to grow more uncomfortable as time passed. Their wines sat untouched on the table. As the conversation turned towards their personal lives, the brunette exchanged a glance with her companion before they headed off to the washroom.

In their absence, the men were eager to compare the two. I couldn’t hear much, given all the other additional noise in the pub. What little I did catch turned my stomach. I pitied anyone who would ever deign to date them. Let alone marry the fools. They were worse than Shaun. And that was saying something.

When the women returned, they still seemed somewhat uneasy and shy. The men, on the other hand, had changed on the dime, upping the charm. It was like watching an experienced horse trainer trying to calm a few jittery fillies by plying them with apples and sugar cubes.

Another hour or two passed and I was on my fourth drink. Where once it had soothed my restless spirit, the beer now tasted cold and sour on my tongue. I pushed it aside, unable to stomach any more of the swill. And, in all honesty, I should have gone home. Jen would be wondering where I was. Though I came home late every night, I’d never stayed out after eleven. Even if I had a very good reason to stay longer. I eyed the brunette, worried about what would happen when I finally abandoned my vigil.

It was all well and good to march up to the men and give them a piece of my mind. But I was no fool. Why start a fight I couldn’t win? Even in a best-case scenario, I’d be thrown out on my arse with a new shiner. Unless these men did something more overt, my hands were tied.

Just as I rose from my stool, so too did the women.

“It was very nice to meet you all,” said the brunette. “Natasha and I had a lot of fun.”

“Come on, stay a little longer. The night’s still young,” cajoled one of the men. He was on his fifth Heineken.

She smiled politely. “Thank you for the kind offer. Unfortunately, we both have an early start tomorrow.”

The one with the scar rose to his feet. “Well, if that’s the case, it would be wrong to let you go home alone. You must have heard the stories, right? Why don’t we walk you back to your apartment?”

“Oh no. I couldn’t impose,” said the brunette. “Really, it’s not necessary. We can call a cab.”

“Nonsense. It’s the right thing to do, right lads?” He was greeted by a chorus of affirmatives and leering grins.

A cold chill went down my spine as my hands curled into fists. It was as if the present faded away and I could see how the future would play out. After all, the way they had dressed – particularly the blonde with her plunging neckline – I couldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t. These two women needed a knight in shining armour to save them. Jen would understand. Annie too, for that matter.

I followed them, tottering a little on my feet. Perhaps I did have a little too much to drink.

Stepping out into the night, the air was cold and brisk. I was grateful for my wool lined coat, a present from my mother so long ago. All I wanted was a hot shower and then to sleep off the hangover that was already brewing. Scanning the streets, I caught a glimpse of blonde as it crested the hill. They were headed towards the bridge.

Hand tucked into pockets and with my collar turned upwards, I hurried after them – terrified I’d lose them.

Cars zoomed past along the bridge. Up ahead, the group had stopped halfway between one pool of light and the next. From where I stood, several metres back pretending to look at my phone, it was hard to make out what was going on. All I knew was that it wasn’t good.

As I had shadowed the group, making sure I maintained enough distance that it looked like I was just any other person on the streets out late at night., I had seen the men laugh and joke – hands reaching down low for a cheeky pinch on the bottom or a gratuitous grope.

Something was wrong. I could feel it in my bones. Why else would they have lingered in the darkness for so long?

A scream pierced the night.

Immediately, I was racing towards the group. My heart was thudding a million beats a minute in my chest. Was I too late? In my haste, I stumbled on an uneven part of the pavement. A curse flew from my lips as I regained my balance. When I looked back up, the men had their grubby hands on the blonde Natasha. She was thrashing in their grasp – fear evident in her eyes.

“Hey! What the Hell are you doing? Let her go!”

One of the men, the punk, glanced in my direction. “She wants it, mate. We’re doing her a favour, yeah? If you play your cards right, you can have your turn.”

It was just the distraction Natasha needed. She freed one arm, her palm shooting up to break the nose of a man in a high vis vest. He let go, swearing under his breath. By the time he realised where her knee was headed, it was too late. Within seconds, he was bowled over clutching his crown jewels.

She spat on him and gave him another kick in the stomach, her teeth bared into a vicious snarl.

“The cops are on their way,” I said. It was a wild bluff. I was hoping to scare the men rather than fight them on my own. “Stick around a while longer, you and your fellas will have to explain what you were doing with these lovely ladies on a bridge in the middle of the night.”

“S’not a crime!”

“Think that’s going to fly with the authorities?” I gasped. “Or in a court of law?” My lungs burned from the exertion and a stitch had formed in my side.

There was a moment’s heated debate among the men. “Fuck it. Getting some pussy ain’t worth that much trouble. Let’s go. We can always try another day.”

I breathed a sigh of relief when they left. Jogging, I joined up with Natasha and the brunette. “How are the two of you holding up?”

“Could have taken all of them without your help,” said Natasha. She was breathing hard was caked in sweat. Her mascara ran down her face in thick streaks. “Still, thanks for the assistance.”

“And your friend?”

Natasha nodded towards the bundle of a girl curled into a ball. “I should have listened to Siobhan from the start. But I thought that she was just being too high-strung. Siobhan has been trying to deal with an overbearing team leader. I keep telling her that there are other places she could apply for work but she said she’d feel guilty for letting the team down. First job, you know.”

As the name left her lips, realisation struck. She was the one that had only just started at the company not two weeks ago. I remembered her as a starry-eyed graduate that was prone to repeated and costly mistakes. Last Friday, I had pulled her aside for a private chat on her performance and what she could do to improve. I had thought she had taken it well. No complaints had passed her lips and her eyes had been dry when she left the meeting room.

Maybe I had been wrong.

I crouched down beside Siobhan. “Hey, you’re safe now. Let’s take you home, all right?” I gently reached for her arm.

As my fingers touched her skin, Siobhan flinched back. Brown eyes locked with mine but it was as if she didn’t recognise me. With a feral growl, she knocked my hand away. I rose to my feet and started to back away. Siobhan seemed to have none of that. She came after me, hounding me with pushes and prods.

It was as my legs hit the railing that I realised that we were still on the bridge. Siobhan came at me then, her hand curled back into a fist. In my attempt to dodge out of the way, I overbalanced and, pinwheeling, went over.

Wind roared in my ears as the world turned upside down. As I impacted the water, the pain and the cold robbed me of breath. Panic seized me. And it felt like the more I swam, the further the surface was. I couldn’t tell where I needed to go. It was as if I was stuck in place. The more I tried to resist, the more tightly I bound myself as I sank further into the depths of the river.

The cold was like an eldritch force that sapped what little strength I had.

It didn’t help that everything I had on me only served to make me sink like a stone. But while they were a burden, I could not simply let them go. These were important reminders of my life. Many contained precious memories. To abandon them would be like cutting off a limb. An impossible act.

The last of my air vanished into the dark waters of the river and I knew my life was forfeit.

Why had I allowed myself to be weighed down by other people’s opinions and expectations? Why had I put myself into a position of no upward momentum for my career? Did I need to put so much responsibility on my own shoulders? If I had trusted the others in my company, perhaps fewer mistakes would be made. By hovering over every new staff member like a mother hen, I had more than likely hampered any possibility of growth or deterred them from the company.

And what did it matter that mother had bought me the coat during the year she had died?

Yes, there was a sentimental value to it and it kept me warm. But it was also the tool of my own destruction. What was more important? That I held onto a worn piece of clothing for nigh on eight years or that I live?

The answer was clear.

With the last of my ebbing power, I shed the heavy coat and the boots that Jen had got me three Christmases ago. All the things that I had carried with me for so long, I threw away. Life was more important than a few material trinkets. I could always get more if I wanted to after I made sure I survived. Frantic, I chose a direction and began to kick.

As my lungs burned, I made a promise to God that if he saved me now, I would do everything in my power to change.

Darkness filled the edges of my vision and it was an effort to keep holding my breath when I needed air.

I wasn’t going to make it…

…

Breaking the surface, I gulped in as much air as I could. For the first time, I relished how sweet it tasted and put into perspective all the things I had simply taken for granted.

#short story #treading water

3 notes · View notes