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pastelspoon31 · 4 months

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Chapter 6: What a nice neighbour! (Older!König x Younger!Reader) - NSFW

tw: age gap (early 20s reader, AT LEAST mid-40s König), manipulation, non-con, somnophilia, drugging, gullible reader :(, a little bit of pseudo-incest, pretty much dead dove, again.. SUPER ICKY

A/N: Starting off with a little insight from König’s perspective before somno-ing our reader again ^_^

Chapter 5.5 | Chapter 6 | Masterlist

König sometimes wonder if you were genuinely that naive, or if it was a façade to get him to continue with his games.

But that was none of his concern, of course.

…Well, sort of.

He enjoyed the current dynamic between the two of you more than he'd like to admit.

Besides, it’s not like it’s his fault that you kept coming back to his place after each encounter, is it? There must be at least one braincell in that pretty little head of yours that was blaring warning signs, and yet here you always find yourself in his place somehow with your innocent, clueless, dumb smile on your face.

…Or were you just acting dumb?

Oh, that would be an entirely different case, wouldn’t it?

But, whatever. He had his fun, and he would continue to have his fun, and it was only a matter of time before he'd have his next encounter with your pretty little cunt, whether you liked it or not.

He could only hope that you'll make the right choice, and keep coming back.

You did enjoy spending time with your father figure afterall, don’t you?

Ah, his little hase.

What a good, stupid, clueless little girl.

———

"Would you... date an older woman?" You laid in König's lap giggling in an almost ditzy manner as you asked.

Spending dinner at his place again, you both somehow ended up on his couch playing a game of truth or dare- but it was mostly truths since the both of you were comfortable enough with each other at this point.

"I have, liebling." He chuckled. "Why, are you jealous?" He teased.

"You have?" You let out a little gasp, purposely ignoring the following question. “How old? I mean you're pretty old yourself so..-"

"Hey!" He playfully smacked your forehead as you giggled.

"Well, if you must know, she was a beautiful woman in her mid forties."

"So you have a type?" You tilted your head.

"Not exactly." He chuckled. "She was just.. someone I relied on for a bit while I was in the process of getting over my late wife," His tone was a bit somber as he talked about it, his hand stroking your hair.

"I see... Sorry, I didn't mean to bring back any memories."

"It's alright, liebling. You're too young to be worried about the past. It's not a burden for me anymore, so don't let it be for you." He continued caressing your hair.

"How about you? Would you.. date older men?" He tried not to smirk at the idea.

"I would," You answered almost immediately, "I mean, if they were attractive, then I wouldn't mind."

"So what you're saying is, if an old geezer asked you out, you'd go for it?" He teased as he looked down at your scrunched up face.

"Geezer? Who taught you that word?!" You chuckled as the wine in your glass sloshed around.

"You're not the only one who can use the internet, hase." He grinned, and you laughed.

"You're right. But, if the man is a geezer, I wouldn't. Maybe a gentleman who's a bit older, but not a geezer."

"Ah, so a gentleman who's a bit older." He hummed, pretending to not know who you were talking about.

"Yeah. Like, someone who knows a lot about the world, and is experienced." You continued, oblivious to the growing smirk on König’s lips.

"Someone like an old war veteran?" He asked, his hand now trailing down your back, rubbing it gently.

So comfy…

"Yes! Like an old war vet- I mean, yes, someone like that. I wouldn't mind. I mean, not really." You babbled, giggling as a strange fluffy feeling starts to cloud your mind.

Someone capable, ready to settle down- Maybe even already financially stable!

You were not against working together with your partner to achieve financial freedom but it's just easier if it's not an issue to think of anymore right?

But of course, that was not your main criteria! You were not a gold digger!

As long as that someone is nice, takes care of you, loves you..

Someone who is reliable, strong, and can teach you the ropes on things you don't learn in school.

Someone like König, perhaps.

...

Someone like König?

"Not you though, you're like.. my father-figure so you don't have to feel weird about asking." You quickly countered after a brief period of awkward silence.

"Oh, is that so, hase?" He smiled, "You're a very honest girl when you're drunk. And what makes you think I would have any interest in you that way?" He chuckled.

...You definitely read him wrong.

Shit.

"I didn't say that! I mean- well, you're my dad. But like, not like a real dad, I mean.." You blushed and turned away, hiding your face in his thigh. "Ugh.. I hate it when you tease me like this.."

"Aww, but hase, it's cute." He chuckled.

"Only you think it's cute.."

"So if I asked you, you'd say no, hm?" He asked, his hand still stroking your hair.

"No to what? I mean- I'm sorry, I'm not making sense, am I?" You laughed.

"Do you want me to be blunt, liebling?"

"You always are.."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." He took your glass and set it on the coffee table before pulling you to sit up on his lap. The fuzzy feeling in your skull making your head almost too heavy to hold up by yourself, making you lean onto his shoulder as you looked up at the older man with a dazed expression.

“Hm..?" You blushed as you looked at him. "What do you mean..?"

"Don't play coy with me, liebling." He held you closer. "I'm asking if you'd be okay with being more than a daughter."

Well, that was unexpected.

"I.. I mean, I guess." You frowned lightly. König sure is being a bit weird right now.

Afterall, what does he mean more than a daughter? Like a real daughter? What a silly suggestion! He’s obviously German so there’s no way-

"You guess? Don't tell me you have no feelings for me, hase?" He faked a sad look.

This feels.. strange. He has feelings for you? That can’t be right..

"Of course not! It's not that, König, it's just.." You blushed, "I'm just not sure if I'm.. Ready."

"For what?" He stroked your hair.

"Well, everything.." You sighed, and looked down. "You're like a father to me and you've been helping me a lot and.. and-"

"And? There's more, hase. What's on your mind?" He rubbed your back soothingly, and you felt yourself relaxing under his touch.

"I feel guilty."

"Guilty? What for?" He frowned.

"Because I.. I.." You felt yourself blushing harder.

"I've been feeling weird about you." You admitted, your voice quiet.

"Weird? In a good way, I hope."

"I mean, yeah.. You're a really good guy. You're like, perfect. Too perfect." You sighed and leaned into him closer.

"And... Sometimes.." Your drunken mind struggled with your rational side, wondering if you should reveal something that had been plaguing you for a while.

"Sometimes what, hase?" He hummed.

"I've dreamt.." You contemplated telling him.

He wouldn’t judge you, right? He promised that he never would so technically.. It should be safe to tell him, especially with all the other things you have trusted him with!

"About what, liebling?" He cooed, rubbing his hands down your arms.

"At night.. Well, every night.. I have been dreaming about you.." Your voice was soft and meek as you spoke.

"I see.." König couldn't help the grin that was growing on his face.

"But, it's not.. It's not like a normal dream. Like... More intimate," You hid your blushing face in his shoulder, the alcohol finally loosening you up.

Or rather whatever the hell that König had added to your drink, again.

"More intimate, hm? Like what, hase?" He couldn't stop grinning.

"Like.. Like the dreams where it feels really real and you're touching me and it's.. I wake up and the um.. white sticky fluids I told you about.." You trailed off in embarrassment.

"Ah.. So you've been holding back details the other day when I was checking you.."

"I'm sorry.." The embarrassment and guilt was unmistaken in your tone as you looked away, eyes barely open.

"Oh, hase, don't be. It's only natural." He kissed your forehead, his hands stroking the back of your head.

"I'm sorry.." You apologized again, still trying to look at him in the eyes.

God, your head felt so heavy.

"Don't be.." He continued to hush you, "It's normal. And there's nothing to feel guilty about. It's only natural that you'd have sexual urges." He cooed, trying his best not to sound so excited.

"It's embarrassing, König.. M’not.. Not.. Hmm..” König felt his cock harden as you head tilted to the side, your consciousness slowly slipping away right before his eyes again.

"Oh, but why?" He chuckled, "I'm like your father. Of course, I wouldn't get angry. It's just another thing that happens. You can't control it.." He cooed as he

"Mmm.."

"Now, don't worry about a thing." His eyes glinted with excitement as he saw the crushed pill in your drink take effect once again as your eyes struggled to stay open.

"It's okay. Everything's fine, liebling. Just close your eyes and relax.."

You could barely nod and let your eyes close as König stroked your hair, humming softly.

"Just drift off to sleep, hase.." He continued his hypnotic strokes, his humming sending you to a dreamless state of bliss.

"That's a good girl.."

When he was certain you were out cold, König laid you on the couch and carried you upstairs to his bedroom.

"Let's see how wet that cunny of yours is tonight, hm?" He chuckled as he laid you down and carefully took off your clothes.

"Ah, and look at that.."

You were dripping already.

"How sweet.."

He spread your legs, and began lapping at your folds.

"Oh, sweet liebling.."

His tongue pushed past the barrier of your cunt, lapping at the slick walls, sucking on the soft skin.

"You taste so fucking good as always.." He groaned, his hands holding onto your hips.

"I bet you were thinking about me fucking your little brains out, weren't you? You've been such a needy little girl. Dreaming about your König fucking you all the time." He continued licking and sucking your sweet little cunny, his chin already wet with your slick.

"Such a needy little girl, hase.."

König pulled away from your dripping pussy, a string of saliva and your juices still connecting his mouth to your glistening pussy.

"Look at the mess you've made, liebling." He tutted, and grabbed a cloth.

"Soaking my bed and leaving a mess on the sheets.." He cleaned the slick up, and wiped his chin clean.

"And you didn't even realize it, did you? Dirty girl.."

"I wonder, would you be embarrassed if I showed you a pictures of this, hase? What if I woke you up and showed you how dirty you were, hm?"

"I wonder what you'd do, hase."

"Maybe, I should take a video and show it to you so you can see how much of a mess you've made.." He tapped his cockhead on your swollen clit. “I do have a big collection of just you,”

"It's quite the sight to behold, afterall," The older man chuckled to himself.

"But then again, I can't be too cruel. I don't want you to panic and run away from me." He smirked, his cock throbbing as he rubbed it between your folds.

"After all, I'm not a monster. I just.. get a little bit ahead of myself sometimes.”

He pushed past your tight entrance, feeling your wet walls fluttering around his massive throbbing cock as he bottomed out.

"A-ah, hase.." König let out a low groan as he buried his cock inside of your cunt, your pussy clenching tightly.

"My pretty girl.." He praised, his hands grabbing onto your hips.

"You're a natural born whore for me, aren't you?" He cooed.

"Tight and wet for your König.." He slowly began pulling out.

"A-ah!~" You were unconscious, and yet the sounds you were making were so lewd.

"My sweet, pretty girl.." He thrusted back in, letting out a moan.

"Fuck.. Fuck, hase..!" König groaned and thrusted his cock into your tight hole, feeling the slick walls of your pussy gripping him.

"I'll fill you up nice and full, liebling.." He grunted, his fingers digging into your skin.

"F-fuck.. Hase.. You feel so fucking good..!"

"I can't wait to have you begging for my cock.." He moaned.

Your face was scrunched up as you whined in your sleep.

"You'll be mine, won't you?" He grunted as he thrust harder.

"Won't you, liebling? You'll be my sweet, pretty whore and you'll come to me whenever you need to be fucked, hm?" König smirked as he heard you whine more in your sleep.

"You'd do that for me, hase? Let this old man take care of you? I'd give you everything you ever wanted, liebling.. All the gifts and treats.."

"You just have to be mine." He pulled your legs up and bent them towards your chest, fucking into you harder.

"Ngh, f-fuck.. Liebling..!" He groaned, his fingers digging deeper.

"You feel so good, hase.. I'm close.. You'll take my cum, won't you, hase? My pretty hase.." You let out a soft moan and clenched around him, and König groaned.

"F-fuck..! I'm coming.." He gasped, his cock throbbing.

"Take my cum, hase.. Take it all..!" He spilled inside of you, filling you up with his seed, his cock still pulsing.

"Mm.. Mein liebling.." He gently put your legs back down and pulled out.

"Oh, hase.. Such a sweet girl.." He murmured and rubbed his thumb over your cunt, the swollen lips glistening with slick and his cum.

"So dumb and trusting of your König.. Letting him fuck your brains out without knowing.." You remained unconscious as he pushed the cum back into your abused cunny and put your underwear back on, giving it a couple soft pats right above your abused clit for good measure.

"Don't worry, liebling. You won't remember a thing.." He chuckled as he pulled the rest of your clothes back on.

"And when the time is right, you'll know everything.." He gave you a sweet kiss before pulling you onto his chest, falling asleep himself.

———

"König?" You woke up feeling disoriented and confused, seeing yourself in König's room.

"Liebling." König smiled warmly at you, "I'm glad you're awake. I was a bit worried you'd pass out and miss your classes today," He was getting ready himself, pulling on his t-shirt.

"Uh.. What happened last night? I don't remember anything after dinner.." You tried to sit up but were met with a sharp pain in your lower body.

"Ouch.." You whined softly. König smirked to himself as he heard you complain but played oblivious as he sat down beside you.

"What's wrong, hase?" He feigned concern.

"Ugh.. My stomach hurts.. I think it's the wine.." You rubbed your tummy with a soft pout- A sight that made König’s cock twitch in his pants.

If only you know all the ways you drive him crazy…

"Ah, you must have drank too much. You fell asleep while we were playing, so I brought you up here." He lied smoothly.

"I see.." You winced in pain from the growing headache throbbing in your head.

"Would you like some medicine?" He offered.

"No, no, it's okay." You groaned lightly as you sat up- Immediately felt something gush out of your sore pussy, making you panic.

"Ahh! K-König!-”

"Hase?"

"The.. T-The stuff.. It's there again-" You whimpered, feeling like you wanted to cry.

"The what, liebling?" König looked at you with a calm smile.

"T-The sticky fluid.." You felt embarrassed, but knew that if you didn't tell him, he'd probably scold you.

"Ah, hase.. Did you dream about me again?" He cooed and cupped your cheek, his thumb rubbing against it soothingly.

"Y-yes.."

"Oh, liebling.." He hummed, and pulled you closer, "It's okay. It's normal, ja? There's nothing to be embarrassed about." He smiled.

"But.."

"But, what, liebling?"

"I made a mess.."

"Oh, hase, it's okay. I'll take a closer inspection and we'll get that sorted out, okay?" He smiled sweetly.

"O-okay.."

"Now, spread your legs, hase. Let your König take care of you, ja?”

#call of duty #neighbour könig #könig smut #cod mw2 #konig #König x reader #könig cod #könig mw2

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a-cupof-jo · 10 months

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Play Action - Teaser

Football Player!Jung Jaehyun x Sports Analyst!Fem!Reader

Genre: grump x sunshine, falls easily x doesn’t know what love is

Warning(s): none

Teaser WC: 1.5k

Projected WC: 15k

Play Action Playlist

Part of the Picture Perfect Image Universe

Summary:

Jung Jaehyun wouldn’t know hard work if it slapped him in the face. He has an unnatural talent as a Tight End- I should know- but he has gotten off easy. So when a drunken night leaves his image in a lest-than-stelar light, who better to fix it than the Angel’s exclusive date-for-hire. I would not let myself be pulled into a football players life again, but Jaehyun makes it hard to stay away.

A/n: rough edit sorry :/

I have loved Jeno Lee for 93 days.

I love the way he makes me laugh and how he is always attentive to me. He never makes me feel bad when I don't want to go out or if I am feeling so overwhelmed with work that I can't make myself function properly. We weren't best friends, it was something different between us.

Mutual respect and appreciation drove our relationship. I could not put my heart in more capable hands. They were more competent at steering that bus than any other emotion I know.

We were steady and knew exactly what was expected of each other. With him, I feel happy and in control of my life, of the future and what it holds.

There weren't many times Jeno wasn't smiling, but I liked to think that I only added more joy and happiness to his life. I celebrate his victories and let him lay his worries on me.

Celebrating is what we were doing tonight. No matter how much I tended to avoid crowds and large gatherings, I would put on my brave face. This was important to him, and me, to us. Months had been put into this to make it possible.

He wouldn't judge me for my tardiness- much. No one likes to admit their faults, but luckily when they are on display, you don't have to. Which is why I'm sure he already assumed that I was going to be late, but the street vendor had been busy and I couldn't resist the roasted pecans.

Adrian Young Memorial Stadium was magnificent. Tall pillars and exterior walls built of locally sourced quartz and the limestone exuded the quiet strength that came from the neighboring mountains. It held a long tradition of hosting some of the most spectacular moments of football history, a tradition that the Angel’s intended to keep.

A long quiet hall greeted me as I pushed through the authorized personnel only hallway. It wasn't unfamiliar, but as I took in the boards boasting years of excellence and the man that made this team great it was hard to not feel small, insignificant.

Glancing at my watch, my groan echoed around me.

It was official- I was the worst girlfriend ever. If I ever had any doubt before, it was now gone. 20 minutes late and showing up nearly empty handed to the biggest celebration of the last 20 seasons.

Maybe nobody would notice the slightly disheveled woman racing down the hall. It’s not like I was an important figure that would be missed, not in a room full of professional athletes. Stopping where laughter and cheers spilled from the doors, I counted back from 10, pulling lightly at my shirt to straighten it. Calm, cool, composed, that was me. I was a woman that exuded confidence. They would not see me faulted. Which is why I decided that 5 more minutes without showing my face would be better than arriving looking like I had just been caught in a wind tunnel.

I wish I was one of those women who always had it together. They could run 5K and jump into a board meeting right after. These were the women that ran the world, and made sure everyone around them knew it.

The cool sink water trickled down my scalp as I worked to slick down the curls that had broken free of the updo I had twisted my hair into. Bathroom mirrors had a good way of letting me know that I looked worse than I felt. Splotchy red cheeks and a slight runny nose no amount of paper towels shoved up my nose would solve was really the look I was going for tonight. Thank you, January.

Reapplying the light layering of makeup I had slapped on this morning didn't take long, but I couldn't convince myself to pull away from the vanity. My lipstick was perfect and not an eyelash was out of place, yet I couldn’t push away the gnawing that I would never hold up in the eyes of those in Jeno’s circle, in Jeno’s eyes.

“Come on, Y/n,” there was nothing to be worried about. Jeno would be patiently waiting, not worrying in the slightest that it would look weird that his date was missing. His teammates would be too focused on getting as much alcohol in their system in as little amount of time as possible. I would not be participating in that endeavor. Getting plastered in public is asking for something to go wrong. I did not need my image having “party animal” attached to it.

“Who does he think he is demanding that I quit my job? That bag of shriveled up- oh,” wide eyes blinked at me as the door to the bathroom slammed open. The badge that hung from her hip confirmed that she was a member of the Angel’s team. If I remembered correctly, Marketing and PR, under that brick Vanessa. “Sorry, I didn’t realize anyone was in here. I find that venting is best performed in front of an audience and I thought that it was just going to be my reflection tonight But now you’re here. Do you mind? It’s just-there is this man that I was trying to help- if he would just let me, but apparently all my ideas are stupid and not worthy of a mighty Angel. See if I try to help him again. I mean what kind of person says that ”

“You’re fine,” the timid smile I tried to give looked more like a grimace as I glanced one more time in the mirror. She had steamrolled me and there was not an inkling idea how I was supposed to respond to that. Rushing to the door I considered thanking her for finally kicking my feet into gear. Even if it was by the desire to get away from the word vomit she had thrown at a virtual stranger. “I am just going to leave.”

She cringed at me as if realizing her faux pas, “Have a good night.”

I had to get out of there.

Now I was definitely not running down the hall, but I could have broken the record for fastest speed walk I’m sure. So much for freshening up. It wouldn’t matter, most of the people I was going to be interacting with would not remember this night anyway.

Pausing in front of the door, I tried to fix my face to exude happiness and openness. I was inviting. I was there to celebrate and have a good time. I would not make people think I was trying to escape the entire night.

“No,” the woman’s voice barely rose above the music blasting through the music. My stomach dropped at the panic lacing that word. “You need to stop. Don’t say it.” The cracked closet door in the hall pushed just farther open. If something happened to her then-

“What? You don’t want me to tell you I love you? I have been in love since before I had a name for the feeling I get in my chest when you are around. There has not been a time that I have not loved you. You must see that.”

Blood rushed to my ears as I approached the door. Fear poked the back of my skull and my throat went dry.

“Jeno,” my heart sank as her voice cracked. “I can’t”

“Why?” There it went. My heart shattered on the floor, stomped on by a man who loved someone else.

“There are so many reasons! Your job and reputation, mine, the fact that you have a girlfriend!”

"She's not you!" Heat raced up my chest and ignited in my face. My chest heaved as I pulled in a wet breath. I watched, aching, as he leaned forward, cupping her cheeks, “She’s a fake girlfriend. You know that Y/n is a fake girlfriend. She is a friend. All I see is you.”

Right.

Fake.

As I wipe at the tears that have pressed at the corners of my eyes, I spin away from the door and scowl as I come face to face with Jaehyun, the Angel’s laid back Tight End and one of Jeno’s closest friends.

I would not look foolish in front of him, getting teary-eyed at the knowledge that my fake boyfriend loved his social media manager. Look him in the eye, raise your chin, don’t let it wobble, keep your feet straight and limbs loose. I knew about this, Jeno has not taken me off guard. I would convince myself of this and Jaehyun would be none the wiser.

“Excuse me,” voice clipped, I pushed past the man that towered over common-folk. “I have a party to be attending.”

Finally pushing through the doors a grin presses at my teeth and I mentally correct my mantra for the night, reset my racing thoughts and remember that I am there for one reason.

I have faked being in love with Jeno Lee for 93 days and everyone was going to believe it.

#jaehyun x reader #jaehyun fic #jaehyun fluff #jaehyun angst #jung jaehyun #nct 127 fluff #nct 127 fic #nct u fic

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flipfic · 6 months

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Father's day

It's father's day! While I don't know if the Witch Hat Atelier universe has father's day, I thought a cute fluff fic with the father's and daughters would be so cute!

Enjoy!~

Awoken by the feeling of fingers brushing across his forehead, Qifrey’s eyes quickly fluttered open. Greeted by the face of his closest companion, his best friend, his Watchful Eye, and his lover, his shoulders relaxed into the plush pillows underneath him. Light filtered through the other man’s short, dark hair. “How long are you going to sleep for?” Olruggio asked affectionately, leaning over the still dreaming Qifrey.

“It’s not often you ask me that.” Qifrey mumbled, bringing his hand to rub the sleep from his eyes. “Surely there’s some kind of special occasion I must be missing for you to be up so early…”

“Perhaps.” Olruggio said, and at a closer glance, he was dressed. In fact, he was hardly in bed at all. He was simply sitting atop the fluffy comforter the two of them shared to wake Qifrey up.

Qifrey sat up, raising his brows and grabbing at Olruggio’s cloak curiously, tugging the cloth to pull the scruffy man closer. “You’re dressed. You’re never dressed before me! Really, what is the occasion?” It wasn’t that Qifrey was naked, only in his pajamas. Still, unacceptable compared to Olruggio’s cloaked body. “It’s not our anniversary, don’t worry.” Olruggio chuckled, gently pushing at Qifrey’s chest to settle him, knowing all too well he’d work himself into a frenzy if he forgot something so serious. “Nothing like that. You need to calm down.”

“Calm down? Oh, it’s a birthday, isn’t it? Who’s? Not one of the girls, I promised them I’d never forget again! Oh, poor Richeh was heartbroken when I nearly forgot it last year!” Qifrey reached to his nightstand to try and find his glasses, hoping the girls weren’t too distraught at his forgetfulness. Yes, he had been busy lately, but that was no excuse!

“Qifrey, my love, calm down.” Olruggio said once more, but the sweet tone simply made Qifrey melt back into the other’s warm embrace. Who needed glasses?

My love. The two of them never called each other such things. The occasional ‘dear’ or ‘my friend’ was exchanged, the latter of which was dropped after their first kiss… Really, why did it take them so long to kiss? They’d been friends forever before that moonlit night just outside their home. And to think the girls saw it… the squeals nearly broke every window in the house, they heard it from outside! Olruggio began to develop a spell for squeal-proof windows, though Tetia assured them it was a one-time thing. Yet the next quick kiss on the cheek between the watchful eye and their teacher resulted in the same squealings from at least three of their children. The point is, nicknames, affectionate terms, none of them were regularly used. As long as they had been together, they were saved for important moments. Private things said when united as one, when sharing secrets or other such moments. Or… as Olruggio had discovered, to ease Qifrey’s worries.

Qifrey must have been lost in thought, as Olruggio chuckled deeply and pressed a gentle finger between his furrowed brows. “Darling, please,” The affectionate word made Qifrey shiver. “Don’t doubt your memory. You’ve not forgotten anything. Nothing to worry about.” A gentle kiss placed on Qifrey’s forehead eased the tension he felt building.

“Then, what is it? Why are you up and dressed? If I’ve not forgotten anything?” Qifrey knit his brows, only to have that damned finger pressed between them once more. “Well-” Olruggio began, only to be interrupted by their door slamming open (thank goodness it was a strong door, Qifrey worried it’d splinter into a million pieces with that kind of force).

“Happy Father’s Day!” Four voices cried in unison.

“Father’s day?” Qifrey gasped.

“Father’s day!” Tetia confirmed with a big nod. “Happy father’s day, Professor Qifrey and Olruggio!”

Qifrey began blinking away tears of pure joy. “Oh, girls!”

Olruggio laughed and beckoned the girls onto the large bed, Agott was trusted with carrying a tray of breakfast for the two, and carefully set the tray on the bed once the other girls had finished shuffling about. Porridge, cup purin, fruit juice, scrambled eggs in sandwiches with sweet breads!

Qifrey raised a brow and cast a skeptical look up at his lover. “They made this all themselves?”

A gentle hand tilted Qifrey’s head back down at the breakfast feast. “Of course. The girls wanted to show you how much you mean to them.”

“You too, Master Olly!” Coco beamed up at him. “You’re our dad, too!”

Qifrey’s lip trembled. From any of them, this was… so special. Any of them thinking of him and Olruggio as fathers would bring him to tears, but all of them coming to celebrate them as fathers?

“Oh, Master Qifrey! Don’t cry!” Tetia said, “W-We didn’t mess up the food that badly! Master Olly helped!” “Hey!” Olruggio huffed. “That was supposed to be our secret!”

“No, girls. It’s all wonderful. Thank you, all of you!"

#witch hat atelier #atelier of witch hat #tongari boushi no atelier #qifrey #oruggio #wha tetia #wha agott #wha richeh #wha coco #orufrey #witch hat qifrey #witch hat olruggio #witch hat tetia #witch hat richeh #witch hat agott #witch hat coco #witch hat atelier fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction

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androgynousblackbox · 2 months

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Welcome to Hazbin Vale. 8 [Appleradio, Radioapple]

"Salutations, my dear beloved listeners. Isn't just wonderful to being able to wake up and see such a splendid day like the one we have today? The sky is so clear, birds are singing and everywhere you look there is a friendly face.

As long you don't look in the wrong places, that it. Like maybe inside of a rock that is clinging to the ceiling with all it's might, holding together the whole ceiling! I hope the promise of it giving away and crushing your young little heads kept you all entertained enough while staying there.

Such a pity for those who didn't listen in our past broadcast and didn't know about the community center not being available anymore.

Oh, but don't worry too much, there won't be any need for a service for them today or any other day. The workers already took care of everything so everyone who ever missed them or care about their pathetic lives can rest easy, crying in the corner on their room as they should so nobody else has to hear it. No doubt filled with all the memories of those that are never returning and regrets over everything they can't change anymore.

I almost get giddy just thinking about it.

Do you see, my friends, this is why we come together in this stations of ours. You should know by now that when we are together here, everything will be just right and the raccoons won't have to gnash their teeth into a surprised face.

If they still end up with a face, though, at least it will be after you have been properly warned. Isn't that what counts in the end?

Ah, but those deaths is not the only good news that we have for today, dear listeners! As all of you should know, for a few months the toy store that was abandoned was bought and in the process of renovation by our local toy maker.

After a lot of working, painting, rebranding and whatever else, the new toy store is finally opening it's door for the public.

Rejoice.

I… won't be going to the party inauguration.

But, Alastor, I can hear you scream with reckless desperation. This is definitely going to be news worthy! The tiny toy maker invited everyone in! There is going to be food and child appropiate drinks and even some bouncy castles!

Well, my dear listener, for as much as seeing kids potentially breaking their ankles and giving each other more than one black eye is entertaining, I am afraid I am sitting this one out. Instead I will be sending one of our production assistant Niffty to take a few notes and see how it goes.

A real gal that one! Don't ask me what she is chasing half of the time, though, I have no idea! She came with the building. I think. Or she was a homeless woman who came in from the window. One of the two!

She has been living on the attic most of the time, where we save up old records, and it's a lovely woman once you get to know her. More than one time she and I shared a nice cup of coffee as the announcements were playing.

Well, I was drinking it at least. She just stared at me with a permanent smile and didn't blink the entire time, not even when a fly landed on her eye. I don't believe she was breathing either, HA HA!

Ah, I am sure that kids will love to meet her. Although, if I can give just the tiniest bit of advice, maybe don't leave her alone with any scissors. I can't promise anything not splattery if you do that. Or do, if the party gets too boring at any point.

Which reminds me, I have to ask a certain chief officer to keep an eye on her. Just to make sure that she comes back safe, you see. If she gets a little bit too excited, don't worry, she doesn't bite.

Usually.

She might still do other things that none of us can imagine. But at least it won't be our problem.

Yes, she will be my little corresponsal at the party. Everyone please be as receptive, talkative and kind to her as you would with me. Remember that I am always listening, even if I am not there.

As to the reason why I won't be attending the party, it's obviously because I am taking care of my diet, of course! Lately I have been indulging a little bit too much on so many sweets. A very unlike me thing to do, as you all know.

I just can feel the risk of my teeth rotting inside my mouth already, thinking about all that sweet I had shoved into my mouth with too much carelessness. The sickly, disgusting, nauseating sugar that doesnt belong on my plate anyway. A plate that was made to contain meals of a red and darker variety.

Without any stupid shiny condiment on top.

Yes, that is right. I am finally giving it up.

I just can't keep pretending like that was the kind of man I am, dear listener. It will take probably a little bit of time to get back to a normal routine before the sweets invaded everything I see and think about, but! I have full trust that with a bit of willpower and concern for my health, I will manage to get that saccharine taste out of my mouth for good.

Frankly, I don't even know what I was even thinking getting involved with those kind of food in the first place.

Maybe was the golden wrapper? The blue sugar? The gentle little sounds that it made when I taste it? The way that it seemed to taste me as if it was finding something sweet too?

No, no, that couldn't be. What a delusional thought is that. My, couldn't be that I am also catching a fever? Such irrational and stupid ideas don't seem like me at all.

All the more reason to not go partying. It could be contagious for all I know. And we don't want that, don't we?

I will be fine. I managed to have a perfectly decent life without any sweets before. I had not a single complaint. Waking up at the same hour, preparing for work, come here and share with all of you whatever was worth knowing about our beautiful small town was all I could ever ask for. Why would you ever attempt to mess with perfection such as that?

Without any tiny feet coming down the hallway or a hand reaching for my shoulder while the coffe is brewing. Without anyone pulling on my leg to show me their new piece of art or my arm to show me their latest idea. Always pulling. My feet somehow moving along with it.

My house was fine without all of that extra noise.

I don't need sugar and cream, dear listener.

I don't need it. I never did.

In fact, I will probably do even better than before. Just getting back on the old savoury goodness that I have come to know will put me good as new in no time.

So! That is my resolution from now on and I am sure that my teeth will appreciate it just as much as my stomach. Other people might find it disagreeable, but I have made up my mind to this.

I was never meant to taste that sweetness anyway. It wasn't made for this tongue.

I am still hungry, unfortunately. I might never stop being hungry. But now I at least know that my food is elsewhere.

Now, the weather…"

#radioapple #appleradio #duckiedeer #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel lucifer #lucifer x alastor #hazbin hotel AU #hazbin hotel nifty

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moumouton4 · 2 years

Text

A little Dance In The Cave - Part 2 || Newt Scamander x fem!reader

A/n: It's my third fic and yes I'll keep counting

Summary : After the events in the cave that put you and Newt on edge. You have to be patient to finally find a moment together, but it's not easy when you play a crucial role in the plan to stop the most powerful wizard of all time.

Part 1 is here

Masterlist ⚜

Warnings : This is another slowburn but nothing too graphic

I don't give permission to repost my work, if you want to share it just reblog it

Words count : 1361

Drawn in by the firm but gentle grip Newt had on your arm and waist, you followed Theseus as he walked toward Hogwarts. He seemed to know what he was doing there, so you didn't let yourselves get left behind.

The more you walked towards the castle, the more memories started bubbling in your mind. The shapeshifting classes with Professor McGonagall where you excelled, the defense against evil classes with Dumbledore, and of course your friends with whom you did the four-hundredths with. You also remembered the parties, ooh yes the grand Hogwarts parties from Christmas to the prom. You chuckled at the memory, Theseus had invited you and of course you had accepted. You were very close before... before he left school four years before you and became very busy with his new job at the Ministry. He had the skills, he was one of the best and he still is.

But you knew that a separation was to be expected, you were 4 years apart and on a school scale that meant a separation at some point. Fortunately or unfortunately for Theseus, he had a brother who was 8 years younger than him and therefore only 4 years younger than you. You got along very well and very quickly. You had common passions like nature and animal watching.

While you, a Slytherin, used to somehow have little talks with snakes, cats and ravens, the young Hufflepuff preferred to study them, to take care of them in remote parts of the castle. It was only a matter of time before you started dating and... "No, no, we'll stop getting lost in our thoughts" you thought.

As you walked up the stairs the large door opened and Dumbledore appeared in the doorway. After he greeted Theseus, he walked towards you and Newt and smirked when he saw his hand on your hip. Newt noticed and removed his hand, keeping the other firmly holding yours.

You entered in the colossus place and after seeing some students having lunch in the Great Hall, you walked through the corridors to the Room of Requirement, guided by Dumbledore.

And just as Newt thought it wouldn't be long before nightfall and to finally get some good quality time with you, he was forced to sit through 4 hours of Dumbledore's speech about his former friend and obviously ex, the great Grindelwald.

He himself worried from time to time knowing that he would retain absolutely nothing from this interview. His gaze was constantly shifting between you and them, your lips and them. Oooh how they'll feel against his and... "No we'd better stay focused we're talking about something important here, the world depends on and... but she'd be so beautiful squirming under... okay stop" he struggled with his internal thoughts

And you could feel it, his gaze on your body, certainly full of love - but he was eye-fucking you nevertheless - his firm hand on yours and his breathing against your cheek. Theseus was smirking at you he knew how much his brother liked you but he didn’t know he was this is open about his feelings with you.

It was a huge relief when you finally went outside to the place where you would spend the night. A place that was none other than the house of Dumbledore's brother, Abelforth. At first glance, he was kind of cold and the more the evening went on, the more you could see in his eyes that he was a good person but only broken. Good but broken, those words echoed in your mind and you thought of your friend Queenie, you missed her very much and as you looked at Jacob who joined you soon after you arrived at Dumbledore's brother's house, you couldn't help but feel sorry for your other friend. They were meant to be together and you knew he would do anything for her.

As if Newt saw the sadness build in your eyes, he gently took your hand under the table and slightly squeezed it. He looked around at everyone and told them that you were going to leave for the evening and after saying goodnight to everyone you headed to the guest room that Aberforth had designated for you.

Once in the room you went to settle on the bed and took off your heeled boots that were hurting your feet terribly. Meanwhile, Newt closed the door and took off his suit jacket. When he turned around he saw you from behind taking off your vest and waving your wand. He hung up his jacket and when he turned around again he saw you in... a nightdress !

"What ? It’s time to go to sleep" you smirked while batting your eyelashes it sounded more like a question

For a second he froze and stared at you with a hungry look. You felt weak in the legs and before you could figure out what was going on he was in front of you and put his hands on your cheeks. And as you put your hands on his shoulders he leaned down and caught your lips in a fiery kiss. After a moment he pulled back and you saw a thin blush on his cheeks.

"Sorry but I've been waiting for this all day... i-is it okay ?" he stuttered when you leaned in to kiss his cheeks "More than okay and I wouldn't complain if you did it again" you giggled

He smiled before kissing you again with more fervor if it was possible, your hands moved to wrap around his neck. He gently moved you back to the bed and when your legs hit the bed you dropped down. This new position allowed you to wrap your legs around him to bring his body closer to yours. By doing this you earned a groan from him. And things got out of hand, his hands went to the top of your nightdress trying to pull down the straps while yours went dangerously low on his pants...

When suddenly, the door swung open in a wooosh, revealing Jacob gasping on the other side, he must have had to run to get upstairs. But it didn’t matter to you, as you squeaked hiding under the sheets Newt stood up and straightened his posture smoothing his clothes not to attract the attention of Jacob who looked at you with big eyes.

"Um if I'm interrupting I can come back later... well no it's weird... s -start what you were doing again we'll talk about it tomorrow... I'm s -sorry..." he stuttered as you gently cut him off only poking your head out from under the sheet "Jacob don't we teach muggles to knock on the door before entering ? "he shook his head sheepishly

As for Newt, he was red, the tomatoes had better watch out. Jacob apologized to you one last time but couldn't help but wink and give a thumb up to Newt. When he left Newt locked the door this time and made sure it was sealed.

You got out from under your sheets and repositioned yourself on the bed waiting for Newt to come back. You summoned your wand to cast a soundproofing spell in the room and it took a few moments for your boyfriend to recover from his emotions. The tension rose quite quickly from there. Perhaps knowing that you might be disturbed again you dispensed with the romance, you’ll have all your time when you’ll be back home. You soon found yourself out of your nightdress and he out of his clothes.

Newt took the time to look at you though, recalling the events of the day with Theseus in the cave, then the dance to escape the manticores and Dumbledore's never-ending story speech... You had been through a lot already and there was still so much to come. You didn't know when you'd get the chance to have a room to yourselves again. So you dedicated yourself to making the best of it, thanking every second the soundproofing spell that would spare you from strange looks tomorrow... other than one Newt knew Jacob would give him.

A/n : Thank you for following me throughout this journey I hope you liked it 💜💙

Taglist : @malfoyscamander , @cl0vr , @ilovemanypeople , @glossy1pearl

#fantastic beasts #newt scamander #newt scamander x reader #fluff #miri-writes

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you-are-my-joy · 2 years

Note

helllo i recently(today) stumbled across your empress work and then read it in a day to later venture onto your page to find out that you’ve been deeply hurt(( and i know that maybe people told you that but trust me when i say that the problem isn’t with you , it’s no where near you. i’m sure you are an amazing human being, you are an amazing friends, person author and many more things. i know it’s hard to move on past those who hurt us and let us heal, but please don’t be to harsh on yourself as you trully deserve the best in this world.

we, humans, are interesting and sometimes to complicated to dwell on our actions. what he did was absolute terrible and you didn’t deserve this so i hope you won’t waste your time contemplating what went wrong because none is because of you((

with lots of love,

(let’s call me your guardian angel if you will as i will pray for you health and well-being ! i’m sure you will one day meet someone who will fully appreciate you, until then that someone will be me.)

Hello :)

I know it's been a long time since I've last updated but so much has been going on in my life that I've never been able to find the time to write, much less have the free time to do anything really.

I appreciate the concern very much, but don't worry about me my dear, I've gotten over him quicker than I thought I would haha

I've come to the realization that even if we were together for a very long time and we've had some good memories, he's never actually been the best boyfriend looking back on it. I think rather than missing him as a person, I think I more so missed the feeling of comfort he once gave me.

It's hard when you were once able to be so vulnerable with someone only to suddenly lose that comfort out of no where. But in the end, I was able to find comfort in my closest friends and cousins who were there for me when I needed them the most 🥰

Actually, a little life update, I've been recently seeing someone else who's been treating me a lot better than my ex has 🥰. He was actually there for me when I needed someone to talk to and he had no problem dropping everything to listen to my troubles. He's confessed having feelings for me two weeks ago and we've been talking ever since <3. I think I like him a lot haha

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kjpurplepineapple · 2 years

Text

Boom! Another chapter done! This one I actually had to go back and edit because I had a funny idea that I saw as a missed opportunity in the original. Basically it has to do with why Four is split here: there's supposed to be a running joke where he consistently tricks the others into thinking he's 4 quadruplet brothers rather than 4 parts of one person. Only a small group knows the truth at this point in time, and they are all making bets on how long he can go before the rest start to catch on. I thought it was funny at least... Anyway here's the second chapter.

Linked Keys - Chapter 2

"Did you see which way the guy went after he turned you into a wolf, Twilight?" Time asked.

"No. I saw that he went north of town but he vanished almost immediately. He could really be anywhere." Twilight shook his head sadly.

"What about that monster we heard that one woman talk about? Shouldn't we be on the lookout for it too?" Future asked.

"Yeah, uh… I think that was just me. Sorry. I did get spotted by a few people in town while I was a wolf, and people have never taken kindly to that form." Twilight apologized.

"Hey, don't be sorry. That just means there's one less thing for us to worry about as long as you're on our side." Wild smiled, patting Twilight on the back.

"This is so weird…" Future muttered, distracted.

"The fact that we're all in the same place at the same time?" Twilight asked, "Because I actually think I remember meeting both of you at some point. Of course, like with Future, Time was sort of a ghost when I met him, but I know it was him. I recognize that armor."

"And you met me as a wolf, I recognized that form when you were trying to get the sword from Future. I really appreciate the help, by the way. It was nice having a little friend there to watch my back after being so lonely for so long…" Wild added.

"It's not just that. I've actually grown pretty accustomed to the idea of meeting all my predecessors. That's something my Key kind of threw me into back home. I'm talking about this whole thing. Like… none of us know where we are, or how we got here. Our best guess is that it was the doing of some sorcerer and the Keys. We don't know who we're up against, we don't know who else is here. I don't even think we're in Hyrule anymore! All we know is that we're here, there's something weird going on, and we're probably going to end up being the ones to find our own way home." Future ranted, "Doesn't this… uncertainty… bother you guys? At all?"

"Once you've been on enough adventures, you learn to just roll with it. Figure out your own way as you go along." Time said.

"No, he's right. We really don't know anything, and as someone who woke up from a century-long nap with no memory whatsoever… it's kind of scary not knowing anything." Wild agreed.

"Well as long as we all stick together, we can make it through. Strength in numbers, right?" Twilight asked, "We'll figure something out."

"Heh. I like your optimism." Future chuckled.

“Somebody! Help!” Someone suddenly cried out nearby.

“That doesn’t sound good.” Wild commented. The four Links looked around in an attempt to figure out where the call had come from. Something small and pink darted out from a bush just off the side of the path. It was a pink rabbit wearing red and green clothes along with a green and blue hat. It moved so fast it nearly knocked Future over before stopping as it noticed the four of them, and turned back.

“Please, travelers, you’ve got to help! My party was ambushed by monsters not too far from here. One of us is wounded, and our healer has gone missing!” the rabbit spoke, much to the surprise of the group. Still, even if a talking rabbit was strange, the four Links listened to his plea.

“Show us where your friends are. We can help with the monsters.” Time volunteered. The rabbit smiled as if relieved, and led them in the direction he’d come from. Three other people were in some sort of camp, completely surrounded by monsters that, for once, one of the Links recognized: a handful of bokoblins, two lizalfos, and a single moblin, all seemingly from Future’s era. The monsters outnumbered the people in the camp about 5 to 1. The two fighting appeared to be a young man in a combination of chainmail armor and a green tunic with a blue scarf around his neck, and a teenage boy wearing a blue shirt, tan capris, sandals, and a red bandanna. A third in green flower-patterned clothes, seemingly closer in age to the boy, was sitting down on the ground, leaning against a log and clutching at a wound in his side. All three were similar in appearance to the four heroes who had just arrived, giving them the impression that they’d just discovered three more Links.

“You three help with the monsters. I’ve got a potion, I’ll tend to the injured one.” Wild said. Time, Twilight, and Future all nodded in agreement, drew their weapons, and leapt into the fray. The monsters should have been easy to beat, especially for a group of boys who have defeated far worse things, but for some reason, it was like they couldn’t land a single hit.

“What the heck? My sword isn’t doing anything!” Future shouted.

“What are these things? They’re definitely not ordinary monsters!” Twilight agreed. Then he saw it: a glowing dark blue symbol on each of the beasts’ foreheads, in the shape of several overlapping, swirling circles with a strange inscription surrounding them. He could only guess these monsters were being enhanced by magic, and told the others that.

“So what do we do?” Future asked.

“My guess, aim for that symbol on their foreheads! That looks like a weak point.” Twilight said. To test his theory, he struck the symbol on the head of a bokoblin in front of him. With a hissing sound, the blue light dissipated, as did whatever aura of magic surrounded the monster. With that gone, the bokoblin fell in one strike. Knowing this, the rest of them were able to take out the remaining monsters with relative ease. Of course the lizalfos and moblin were a bit more of a challenge, but nothing the boys couldn’t handle.

“That looks like the last of them.” The one in the blue scarf said, finally sheathing his weapon. The others followed suit once they were fairly certain there were no more.

“Sorry I wasn’t much help, you guys…” The boy in the patterned tunic sighed. He seemed to have recovered quite a bit thanks to Wild’s potion.

“Don’t be. They caught us completely off guard. You’re the only reason we weren’t completely destroyed at the start.” The younger boy said. He turned to the four who had come to help, “Thanks, by the way. I doubt we would have made it out of that in one piece if not for you.”

“Not a problem. Always happy to help.” Time said. Twilight was tending to the lighter injuries the people at the camp had sustained in the fight. The group then noticed the sun beginning to set. They weren’t sure how time passed in this place, but it was clear it would be dark soon.

“You guys can stay here with us for the night, if you want.” The kid offered.

“Yeah, after something like that in broad daylight, I would advise against traveling at night.” The man in the blue scarf agreed.

“Thanks. That’d actually be nice. We could use a break…” Future said.

“What are your names, anyway?” The boy in the patterned tunic asked as the others set up camp and got a fire started. The four Links looked at each other uneasily.

“Uhhh…” Wild hesitated.

“Well… Let’s just say knowing our real names could get confusing. You can call me Twilight.”

“I’m Future.”

“I’m Wild.”

“And I’m Time.”

“Oh, cool. Dang, I wish we had thought of cool nicknames like that. It’s been kind of confusing for all of us, too, since somehow we all share the same name. We've just been using our titles as heroes for the most part. I'm the Hero of Winds, the bunny is the Hero of Legend, our other friend who isn't here right now is the Hero of Hyrule. Four's got a couple of different names but he's got this cool sword he calls the Four Sword so we call him Four.” The younger boy said.

“Actually, it’s ‘Green’. You see, I’m actually not the only Hero of the Four Sword. I have three brothers– We’re quadruplets– and we actually share that title. So you can call me Green.” The boy in the patterned tunic corrected. Wind looked like he remembered something, and mouthed the words “Sorry, I forgot”.

"I also have several names but we decided on 'Hero of the War Across the Ages'." The man in the blue scarf said proudly.

"We just call him 'Warriors'." Green whispered.

"How about we stick with 'Wind', 'Legend', 'Hyrule', and 'Warriors', since those are the names you used when I met you in my world." Future suggested, pointing to the youngest, the bunny and the man in the blue scarf respectively. Something seemed a little off about Green, but Future couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

“Wait, don’t tell me. Are you all named Link too?” Wild asked.

“Yeah, how’d you kn– Ohhhhhh, I think I get it.” Wind grinned.

“Apparently there’s something happening that’s brought all of us to the same place. Future thinks it might have something to do with an artifact he had before, and Twilight believes it has something to do with a sorcerer he met in the village earlier who cursed him.” Time explained.

“You too?” Legend asked. Several of the boys jumped, having almost forgotten Legend was there.

“You were cursed? Is that why you’re a pink rabbit, or is that just a thing here?” Wild asked jokingly. Legend didn’t think it was very funny, and bounced up on the log Wild was sitting on to smack the hero in the face.

“OW!” Wild scried, reaching for Legend to hit him back. Legend leapt out of reach, however.

“Yeah, he doesn’t like when people joke about the whole rabbit thing. Apparently his true form is that of a Hylian, like us, but just before we met him, he had a run-in with that sorcerer and, well…” Warriors explained.

“I just can’t catch a break! It’s always one thing after another! All I want to do is go home and live a peaceful life, but noooooo, Hylia’s always got something new for me. Now we’ve got this magical maniac Nihrie trapping us in another world, I’m stuck in bunny form again, and I’ve had it!” Legend ranted, stomping his fuzzy little feet angrily.

“Wait, say that again? What did you call the Sorcerer?” Future asked.

“Magical Maniac?” Legend tilted his head in confusion before he realized what the kid was asking, “Oh! Nihrie. That’s his name.”

“Nihrie… That name ring a bell to anyone?” Future asked hopefully. The others all shook their heads. Future sighed in resignation, "Well it was worth a shot." Then he suddenly remembered something,

“Wait, but I thought there was only one Hero of the Four Sword.” He commented.

“Greenie would want you to think that, wouldn’t he?” Another boy who looked almost identical to Green, only wearing a blue tunic, stepped into view of the camp. Two more followed behind him, both also nearly identical in appearance, differed only by the colors they wore (red and violet).

“Where the heck were you guys?!” Green stood up and approached the trio. It was clear that the three of them must be his brothers.

“Uh, where the heck were you, Green? Trying to ditch us again?” The one in blue asked.

“I don’t know about that, Blue, Green’s usually pretty good at following us around. But it is odd that we turned around for one second, and you and the others were gone.” The one in violet added.

“He totally ditched us. I think he wanted to get back at us for what happened last time by leaving us to die in the middle of nowhere. Some hero he is.” Blue glared at his green-clad brother.

“Blue! Vio! Please, I’m sure this was an accident. Green wouldn’t leave us behind on purpose!” The one in red interrupted, “R-Right, Green?”

“Red’s right. I didn’t leave you guys behind.” Green nodded. Red smiled.

“See? We must have just gotten lost. Wandered down the wrong path. We were following the Hero of Hyrule, right? Wouldn’t be the first time he's gotten himself and one of us hopelessly lost since we met him.” Vio said.

“Uhhh…?” Twilight asked, staring at the four of them with confused looks.

“Oh. Yeah these are Green’s brothers. We call them Red, Blue, and Vio.” Wind explained.

“Just some silly nicknames Red came up with a while back based on our favorite colors, because it was the only way anyone could tell us apart.” Green explained, gesturing to the different colored clothes that each quadruplet wore, matching their nicknames.

“Ah, I see. Well, it’s nice to meet you.” Twilight said.

“They came and helped us when we were ambushed by monsters.” Green said to his brothers, who appeared equally confused at why there were three new people in camp.

Nobody realized Wild had left until he returned with an armful of mushrooms and a small bundle of sticks.

"What's all that for, Wild?" Twilight asked.

"Dinner. I'd make something tastier, but I'm low on ingredients and didn't think to buy anything back in town, so we're gonna have to settle for mushroom skewers tonight." Wild said as he stuck several mushrooms onto a stick and began roasting them over the fire.

"Are you sure those are safe to eat?" Warriors asked.

"Positive. Believe it or not, I have quite a bit of experience out in the wild. That's… where the nickname came from. I've survived days on nothing but mushrooms, fruit, and hunted animal meat. I know all the best recipes with even the most simple ingredients, as well as what's safe to eat and what isn't." Wild said confidently as he handed one of the skewers to Future. He began roasting a second, which he then passed to Twilight.

The eight of them sat around the fire enjoying their mushroom skewers, which were surprisingly good. They all ate in silence until a rustling in the bushes caught their attention.

"What was that?!" Future asked. Time quickly stood up and drew his sword, approaching the sound cautiously. This is what they got for letting their guard down…

"Hey guys? Where did you go?!" Someone called out. Another boy with messy, light brown hair popped out, then screamed and backed away when he saw Time standing there with his sword drawn. Obviously Time had startled him.

"Hey, there you are! Look who finally decided to show up!" Warriors said.

"Yeah, where were you?! We could have all died if it hadn't been for these guys here. Mind explaining where you've been?" Legend asked.

"Where I've been?! You guys are the ones who left me behind!" The newcomer shouted back.

"Says the guy who has stated before that he likes to wander off without a map." Blue argued.

"It's not like we had one anyway! And we did kind of leave him behind. Don't get mad at him for that!" Wind said.

"Alright, break it up. BREAK IT UP, I said!" Future stepped between the five of them, as did Red. They all glared at each other for a moment, but stopped arguing.

"You're in luck, I had just enough mushrooms for one more skewer." Wild announced, handing one to the newcomer, who took it, but looked slightly confused.

"Oh, these are the people who helped us out when we got attacked earlier today. Their names are Wild, Future, Time, and Twilight." Warriors explained, "Guys, this is Hyrule."

"Nice to meet you all. Thank you for taking care of my new friends." Hyrule said.

"Nice to meet you too." Future smiled.

"So do they know about the—" Hyrule started to ask.

"Nihrie? Yeah. Seems he's caused some trouble for them too." Vio sighed.

"Green! You've got blood on you!" Hyrule suddenly cried out, rushing to his friend's side.

"Nonono, it's fine. Wild already gave me a potion. I'm all good now." Green said. Hyrule sighed with relief.

“You got hurt?!” Red and Vio cried out at the same time.

“Yes, but I’m fine. Potion, remember? It was just a little cut on my side, it healed up just fine!” Green argued. His brothers eventually backed off, Blue rolling his eyes and scoffing at their concern. It would seem he and Green did not get along very well.

"So… I take it we're all sticking together from here on out?" He asked, looking around at the others.

"I mean… It can't hurt, right? Especially with those powered up magical monsters. It would be good to have some extra manpower. Besides, I'm used to commanding a large army." Warriors shrugged.

"Whoa, hang on, whoever said you were going to be the leader? I vote for Time." Future butted in.

"Let's not fight, please. Who leads us is irrelevant, and is probably only going to cause conflict. Whoever thinks they know what they're doing is free to take the lead. But we're not worrying about that now. It's late, it's dark. We've got stuff to do tomorrow. Let's get some sleep." Time sighed.

"Someone should stay up and keep watch." Warriors said.

"Good idea, Wars. Why don't you do it?" Legend asked.

"That's fine, just be sure to wake someone else up to take over for you if you get tired." Time said. With that, the boys all gathered closer around the fire for warmth, got into the most comfortable positions they could, and fell asleep while Warriors circled the camp with his sword drawn, keeping a close eye out for any sign of monsters or any glowing blue marks.

#loz fanfic #Inspired by LU but...#not lu #oc link #links meet #LinkedKeys

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risukadarlin · 2 years

Text

[yuugen romantica] saikouchou vol. 7: zakuro - track seven

7; the mask you can’t take off

masterpost

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　✿

[00:04] Oi.

Can you hear it?

An enigma wrapped up in festival music.

That is…

The voice of a mask that can never be removed.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　✿

[00:20] I can’t believe it’s already been a week.

We barely even got to enjoy the festival in the end.

It’s fine, I guess. We always have next year.

Oh, did you hear?

Those two are going on a trip soon!

To Nanagasumi Springs, I think.

They use well water there, which apparently brings good luck or something.

Either way, I’m just glad they’re getting on well.

Yeah.

They’re finally together, after all.

[01:02] The mask that can never be removed.

Eventually, a second part was added to the story.

Nobody tried to even go near the man who became one with the mask.

However, one day, a young girl appeared before this lonely man.

They fell in love and lived happily ever after.

[01:31] It’s true, after all.

They both looked pretty happy.

I think horror stories like this are a good thing.

Oh, that’s right!

That mask lives at her house now.

She asked the shrine and they said they only needed it during the festival.

That priest is so understanding it’s almost suspicious.

Well, it’s none of our business.

Decades, huh?

That’s a long time for a human.

The fact a love like that finally ended in a relationship just proves how strong love is.

We’ve going to grow old together too…

Huh?

Well, I guess in terms of appearance, you’ll definitely look older.

But don’t worry.

I don’t plan on letting you go, even when you’re an old woman.

Shut up.

I know it’s not like me.

But…

Let me say things like this sometimes.

No matter how many years or decades pass, my feelings won’t change.

I’ll still love you in 100 years.

I’ll spend my whole life telling you that.

I only have one bride.

I only have you.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　✿

[03:44] Ah, come on.

What are you stretching like that for?

You might fall.

I’d have gotten it for you if you just called for me.

Come on.

Here.

Hold it properly.

Huh? I’ve seen that before somewhere?

Wait… Is that from ages ago…?

I got that at the festival for you, right?

You still had it.

No, there’s nothing wrong with that.

We have some pretty good memories of that time.

And, if anything… I’m happy you did.

Why are you laughing?!

I'm not embarrassed!

More importantly, what shall we do for dinner?

We might as well get something at one of the festival stalls, right?

Yes, of course!

Watch your step!

You need to be careful in your old age.

Oh, right!

Pass me that hair ornament.

I'll put it on for you.

Well, anyone looks good when they're wearing fancy clothes, I guess.

No, don't take it off!

I never said it didn't suit you!

No matter how old you get, it looks good on you.

You're coming out with that on.

Your hand.

Now then, let's enjoy this festival as a couple - without interruptions!

My lovely wife.

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fromprison2002 · 4 months

Text

Story

Green Fields by Maria Hummer

We were told to pay attention to things that were different, and it seemed to me that sex was no longer the same. Now, we always wondered if someone was watching. It wasn't clear to us which sections were private, and how the technology worked. It was also hard not to picture our real bodies somewhere in the frozen dark, motionless while we moved together here in the seeming warm.

I brought it up in my sessions with the Reverend. He told me he was surprised it had taken me so long to ask. The others had worried about it in Cycle 1.

‘Which Cycle are we in?’ I asked. It was difficult to keep track.

‘Cycle 3,’ said the Reverend. ‘I understand your concern, but of course nobody watches you. It was part of the privacy agreement we signed at the start. Don't you remember?’

I did. That is, I hadn’t until the Reverend mentioned it. The memory was there, but it felt very far away. And maybe it was. We hadn't been told precisely how long the experiment would take. We wouldn't know until we were unfrozen at the end, our bodies still in their thirties and our minds at god-knows-what age. But the money was good. Sam and I would be able to afford a nice wedding and a honeymoon to Hawaii, and only one of us would need to work while the other stayed home with the kids we hoped to have. That is, if we were still fertile at the end. It was one of the risks.

Our life together before the VR world was still clear in my mind and I looked back on it often: Sam and me walking together to rehearsals, our first kiss in the snow, our apartment above Shipley Automotive, taking care of each other through winter fevers. Our memories made in the VR world were less acute, but we were happy, we had each other, and we never got sick. Only couples were accepted for the experiment — ‘deeply committed couples’, in fact, and there was a test we had had to take to determine how committed we were. One of the questions was: ‘If you were offered a place in heaven without your partner, would you still go?’ We both selected ‘no’. The other people in the experiment were Manny and Biake, childhood sweethearts who wanted the money to raise a family, and Susan and Letitia, who planned to start a business together when they got out. ‘I just hope no one else thinks of our idea in the meantime, said Letitia. The six of us were sitting around the table in the communal space, experiencing - it was difficult to think of it as ‘eating’ — dinner. That day it was paella, wafting cartoonish puffs of steam. There was obviously no need to eat, but the routine kept us sane. It was for this same reason that we retired to our own rooms after dinner to watch TV with our partners and sleep.

‘What's your idea?’ asked Manny.

‘I'm not telling you,’ said Letitia. “You'll steal it if you get out first.’

‘If I remember it, said Manny.

There was an order of departure from the experiment that none of us understood. We had all begun at the same time, but so far we'd already said goodbye to two couples, including a pair who had had to leave several days apart from each other. I tried to ask the Reverend about it in our sessions, but he wouldn't explain.

‘Were contractually obliged to tell you everything when you wake up,’ he said, ‘but not before.’

The Reverend was the only one who came and went between worlds. We knew he had assistants, but none of them ever joined us here. If the Reverend needed help with something in the VRW, he'd use one of us. It’s what we were there for.

We all had our tasks. We weren't allowed to discuss them with anyone but our partners, so [ wasn't sure what everybody else did all day. I wasn’t even really sure what Sam did, because his task was to assist the Reverend, so it required an additional level of secrecy. I was adept at spatial reasoning, according to a massive test I'd taken before the start of the experiment, so my tasks usually involved exploring buildings or landscapes. I wandered through forests, fields, gardens, palaces, and rooms whose doors never led to the same place twice. I was often given the same bright green hillside with purple blossoms and blue sky.

Sometimes I'd hike for what seemed like hours and never reach the top. Other times I'd take just a few steps and suddenly be heading down the other side. There was a stream in the hillside landscape. Sometimes it was at the bottom of the hill, sometimes not. I walked around, picked flowers, skipped stones. Often the flowers would disappear moments after being picked; other times they refused to be picked at all. Once the grass wouldn't give at my footsteps and I had to walk gingerly along the tips. These were glitches and I was supposed to record them out loud. ‘Glitch: grass doesn’t bend when I step on it.’ ‘Glitch: stream floating one foot off the ground.’ ‘Glitch: tree swaying like a loose rope.’

Once in a while the glitch was so astonishing - like one time when the landscape just ended and I found myself walking and not walking through a weird grey nothing - that I would forget to record it, I would just look around with my mouth open.

After each of these sessions I filled out a short form. The form would ask me to report, for example, if I had seen a bird, what it had been perching on, and what colour it had been. Often I couldn't remember. We had all signed an honesty agreement before entering the experiment and I didn’t want to forfeit my payment by getting caught in a lie, so I would write, ‘I don’t remember. Many of my completed forms were filled with I-don't-remembers.

Every week - every month? year? it was difficult to tell — we would have a Group Challenge. On these days we would gather in the Reverend’s workshop, where he gave each of us an envelope with our instructions inside. Find the cat. Search for and report any instances of the colour blue. Sometimes we'd all have the same task, but other times they would be conflicting, like when Letitia and I were told to make sure nobody went in the caves, and everyone else had to try to get into them. Teamwork, problem solving, conflict resolution. The Group Challenges often took place in landscapes I had explored, and some of the challenges seemed to be timed, because back in his Workshop the Reverend would comment on occasion, ‘In record speed.’

We begged to be told how long in Outside Hours - OH for short — these challenges took, but the only thing the Reverend ever told us in real OH was that our nights were three hours long. ‘Enough to dream, he said. But I never did.

Some people had difficulty adjusting to the VRW in the beginning. Letitia begged for the chance to video-call her sister, but we weren't allowed to contact anyone in the RW. It was all there in the contracts we signed. Letitia grew depressed. She began to eat whenever, whatever she could. There were no consequences like gaining weight, but the Reverend still called her in for extra sessions. VRW or not, sadness is still sadness. An addiction still an addiction. Sam and I were relatively fine. Our families respected our decision and we had no regrets. The tough part for me, though, was getting used to walking without feeling myself walk. In the VRW if you wanted to move in a particular direction you thought about it and it happened, but you didn't feel your knees bend and creak like you did in the RW. I was a dancer. I was used to the sensation of my own body in space. I mentioned this to the Reverend.

‘And does that get in the way of your enjoyment of life here?’ he asked.

I thought about it. Really, it was more than just the walking and moving. It was the sex. Our bodies didn't feel like bodies in each other's hands. I missed our clumsy knees, our animal stench.

‘I would say it does,’ I replied.

But that was in the beginning. Either the Reverend followed up on my comments and tweaked the programming, or I just got used to it.

‘Do you think the Reverend is real?’ I asked Sam one evening in our room.

The window was open to some simulation of a warm breeze. The brilliantly constellated night sky was like a mix between a Van Gogh painting and the kind of stars you remember from childhood.

‘He's not physically real, no, said Sam. ‘But neither are we.

‘But is he a representation of a real person, like us?’ I asked. ‘Susan thinks maybe they're testing artificial intelligence. They want to see how long we all take orders from a thing without realising.’

‘How do you know Susan is real?’ said Sam.

‘Because we met her,’ I said. ‘In the orientation, in the RW, remember? The day before they - before the start of this whole thing.’

It was still difficult to say before they froze us.

In the RW Sam was a musician. He had been in the orchestra for one of my dance shows, and that was how we'd met. In our VRW apartment he'd been given a piano, a sleek baby grand, something we could never afford outside. But when Sam sat down to play, the music sounded awful. It sounded like a piano, but it was too perfect, too much in tune. He asked the Reverend if it could be fixed, but the Reverend had trouble understanding exactly what the problem was. He said he would look into it, and the piano stayed the same. The music was supposed to be confined to our apartment, but at times a glitch meant that I could hear it in a different section of the world. Sound was something the programmers seemed to have real trouble with. In the RW, sound waves are born and die in a fixed location as dictated by the laws of science. But in the VRW the laws had to be carefully programmed, which meant details were often overlooked. Sometimes I would hear Letitia and Susan talking even though they were nowhere in sight. Other times I would be startled by someone suddenly appearing behind me because the programme didn’t generate the sound of their footsteps.

Occasionally bigger glitches happened. Like I'd roll over in bed and fall straight through the floor, landing in some half-finished chamber with walls that started and ended nowhere. Sometimes I would get stuck in a terrifying loop, first in one place and then suddenly in another, or I’d see Sam in two places at once, or I'd hear his voice behind my shoulder saying something he’d tried to say an hour ago, or even further in the past. One time I saw a duck near a pond in one of my landscapes, nuzzling its head under its wing. As I stepped closer it turned and looked at me and I swear it had the face of my grandmother.

The system crashed once, very early into the experiment, and we all blacked out for a while, hearing nothing, seeing nothing, only aware of the passing of time. When the world flickered back, I found myself climbing a spiral staircase in a tower. Manny was waiting at the top. One by one the others arrived too. Sam was the last, followed soon after by the Reverend. Then we all turned around silently and went back downstairs, ending up in the familiar common room. Susan thought maybe we had all woken for a moment in our boxes. The Reverend would neither confirm nor deny this.

The system almost crashed again in Cycle 2 when Letitia, leading a ‘revolt’, tried to force an overload by bombarding the programme with requests. She recruited everyone to her cause ~ even me, even Sam. Nothing much happened, just a few warning pop-ups sprouting at our feet and sailing into the sky, bearing cryptic codes like P2overDS1. The Reverend stopped us before it could get too far.

‘I appreciate this is difficult for you,’ he said, ‘but please bear in mind the agreement you signed. Any action taken in opposition to the spirit of the study puts you at risk of forfeiting your end payment.

‘Tell us what you're testing,’ said Letitia. ‘Tell us how long it’s been.’

‘We will', said the Reverend.

Then he told us he had a surprise. A brand new programme had just been finished, a flight programme, which every single one of us had been requesting since the start. We spent a happy day ~- a happy week? ~ soaring around a sunny hillside, whooping and laughing, and the revolt was forgotten. Flying - it felt so familiar. Like all the dreams I wished I'd had.

We entered Cycle 4. I couldn't remember how many cycles there were supposed to be in total. I wanted to ask the Reverend in my sessions, but it was beginning to be embarrassing how little my memory retained. It seemed like every session I asked him a question I'd already asked, possibly several times before. Often these questions were about Sam.

‘We might be having trouble in our relationship, I said.

‘I know, said the Reverend. ‘We discussed this last time.’

‘Oh. And what was your answer last time?’

He said something but I wasn’t listening. In fact, I’d already forgotten my question.

‘Is there anything else?’ he asked.

‘No,’ I said. ‘Yes. Why do we call you the Reverend?’

The Reverend laughed. ‘This question again,’ he said.

I felt annoyed. It wasn’t my fault I asked the same questions again and again. Weren't the programmers supposed to be working on memory retention?

‘You know, he said, ‘you're actually the only one who calls me that.’

‘Tam?’

‘My name is Alexander.’

‘Why do I call you the Reverend?’

‘I don't know, he said.

It was time for a Group Challenge. We met in the Reverend’s Workshop for our envelopes. I opened mine. It was blank.

‘Excuse me, I said.

‘No time for questions,’ said the Reverend.

He opened a door to a small room and told us to wait inside. The door closed.

We all looked at each other with tight smiles. Things were always a little tense at the beginning of a Group Challenge.

I wanted Sam to put his arm around me but I knew he wouldn't. Lately he’d begun to seem very far away. He didn't talk to me as much as he used to, but he couldn't share what he was working on with the Reverend so there wasn't a lot we could talk about. We used to pass the time reminiscing about life before the experiment, or planning our wedding for afterwards, but lately when I mentioned these things he got strange and quiet. I wished our real bodies weren't in separate boxes, in different rooms, because at least physical closeness makes emotional distance easier to bear. The first thing I wanted to do when the experiment was over was hold Sam, really hold him, smell his neck, smell his hair.

The door opened again. It led to what seemed to be a train station platform.We walked onto it. There were three benches. Manny and Blake took one, Susan and Letitia took another. I sat down on the third and expected Sam to join me but he didn’t. He paced around, and then stood in front of a map and tried to read it, squinting his eyes. A habit. Squinting wouldn't make things any easier to read here. I joined him and we looked at the map together. It was all slanted and skewed, like we were looking at it through moving water.

‘Guys,’ said Blake, ‘this is our train.’

A train was pulling into the station. No one was driving it and there were no other passengers in its six cars.

‘How do you know?’ said Letitia. “Was that written in your envelope?’

‘I just know we have to get on.

The train doors slid open and we entered. We saw that the seats were labelled. Blake and Manny sat beneath their names. Susan and Letitia saw their names further down the car. I followed them. They sat down and I kept walking. In the next car I found my name above a seat, but it was all by itself. I didn’t see Sam’s name anywhere. That's when I realised he wasn't following me. I was all alone. I looked around. There he was, on the platform. The doors were already shut.

‘Wait,’ I said. ‘We need to wait for Sam.’

I ran to a window and called to him to get on. He just smiled and shrugged, lifting the piece of paper from his envelope: Don’t board the train. I didn't like what was happening. We had never done a Group Challenge without Sam. I tried to open the train door but it wouldn't budge. ‘Open,’ I said. And then, ‘Glitch. Door won't open. Please open door.’

The train started to move.

‘Wait,’ I shouted. Sam got further away and then he was gone. The train sped up, heading for a tunnel. The tunnel was dark. Everything dissolved. I could hear the train running on the tracks but I could no longer see or feel anything. And then I was struck with a sensation so intense I knew instantly, horribly, that it was real.

My body tingled. My fingertips, my toes. Everything tingled like I had been plugged into an electrical socket and was being turned on. The roar of the train grew louder.

‘Sam, I tried to yell, but no sound was made.

* * * * *

Voices first, and then the light. People talking. Shadows as hands passed silver instruments above my head. The light. I felt it in my entire body like a cramp.

‘She’s back,’ someone said, and the room quieted down and emptied until it was just me and a woman in a white coat.

‘Sam,’ I croaked.

‘Shh,’ said the woman. ‘Relax. Take your time.’

I blinked. Or maybe I fell asleep, because when I opened my eyes the woman was in a different part of the room. I asked for Sam again. It was difficult to find the energy. Everything felt slow and heavy ~ my body, the air around me.

‘Try to relax, she said.

I turned my head and saw a window. The world outside was dull, grey, lost in a cloud. It was all wrong.

The woman said something but I didn't catch it.

‘What?’ I said.

‘What?’ she said.

‘You said something.’

‘You mean when I asked if you wanted anything to eat? That was almost half an hour ago.’

‘No, you said...’ I could barely get the words out. I choked, then started to retch. The woman hurried over with a bucket and caught my vomit. She wiped my face.

When I opened my eyes again there was a different person in the room, fiddling with some things inside a drawer.

“Where's the Reverend?’ I asked. My voice didn't sound like my own.

The person looked up. ‘Who?’

‘The Reverend.’

The person didn’t answer. He just wrote something on a clipboard and walked away.

I slept again.

When I woke, someone was coming into the room. The woman in the white coat. She sat beside my bed and crossed her legs.

‘How are you feeling?’ she asked.

Feeling. How was I feeling? I didn't know. There was too much. The heat of my legs under blankets. The whirring of machines in my room and down the hall. The beat of my heart, which felt too fast. An ache in my elbows and knees. A thirst so powerful I felt it everywhere.

‘Water, I said.

She smiled and brought me a cup. I needed help sitting up, and then when I tried to drink the water I coughed most of it back up. She patted my back gently until the coughing was done. I tried again, and managed to drink most of it.

‘There you go,’ she said. She wrote something down on a clipboard. ‘Are you having trouble with the passage of time?’

‘What?’

‘What?’ she said. Her legs were crossed the other way now. When had she shifted?

The clipboard in her hands was gone.

‘Glitch,’ I said.

‘There are no glitches here, she said.

‘But I saw...’

‘Just rest,’ she said, standing up. ‘We'll talk more later.’I didn't want her to go. I needed some questions answered, but I couldn’t remember what they were.

‘Wait, I said.

She turned and waited patiently.

‘Where...’

I needed to know where something was. No, someone. Someone important.

I could feel it right in the centre of my chest. My heart. Sam.

‘Where's Sam?’ | asked.

‘Later,’ was all she said. She left the room.

The night was impossibly long. I knew it was night because the grey outside the window had turned black. There were no stars. I slept a little, and I woke to black. I slept a little more, and woke to still more black. How long could one night be?

I was suspicious of everything around me. I didn't know if it was truly the real world, or if it was a Group Challenge gone horribly wrong. I was too weak to get out of my bed, so I waited.

After a fourth waking, the light outside had finally changed. People moved around outside my room. Finally, the woman in the white coat entered and said my name.

‘There’s someone here who'd like to see you, she said.

I tried to sit up. My heart fluttered, expecting Sam. But instead a grey-haired woman walked in. She had a cane. Her face was familiar in a way I didn't like. She said something to me.

‘What?’ I said. It was hard to make out because she was crying.

She covered her mouth with her hand and said something else. It sounded like maybe she was saying my name.

‘Grandma?’ | asked.

She shook her head no. The woman in the white coat led her out.

When she came back, the woman in the white coat said, ‘Alright. I’m ready now.

I was confused. ‘For what?’ I asked.

‘Didn't you have some questions you wanted to ask me?’

Did I? I wasn't sure.

‘Who are you?’ I asked.

‘We went over this yesterday,’ she said.

‘I thought the programmers were going to fix the memory problem,’ I said.

‘The Reverend told me.’

‘The memory problem is fixed. But you're in the real world now.’

I looked around. Things were dull and grey, yes, but they were too sharp, too clear to be anything but virtual.

The woman was speaking to me. I knew I should focus on her words but it was difficult.

‘I need to see the Reverend,’ I said. ‘Is the Group Challenge over yet?’

‘Yes,’ said the woman. She frowned. ‘It’s all over. The experiment is done.’

‘The Reverend always talks to us when the Group Challenge is over.

‘You're talking to him now. As I have explained.’

I felt sick. [had a stomach ache, and then it moved to my head. I had a queasy head.

‘It’s all over?’

‘Yese’

‘That can't be right.’ I was remembering something. Something from long before. ‘Sam and I were supposed to wake up in the same room. You... they told us. We were going to wake up together.’

There was a tap on the door and someone else came in. Another person in a white coat. ‘How's it going?’ he asked the woman softly, as if I was sleeping and he didn't want to wake me.

‘Her memory retention,’ she started to explain, also in a whisper, but I missed the rest of her words.

They whispered together for a while. Most of it was nonsense but I caught the phrase, ‘four other test subjects’.

‘Five other test subjects,’ | mumbled.

They looked at me.

‘There are six of us. Me and Sam and... Where's Sam?’

My words were garbled, and my attention was too; I wasn't sure my question was fully understood, and I struggled to focus as the woman in the white coat answered it.

‘What?’ I said.

She pointed at a stack of yellowed papers on the bedside table. I picked them up. The edges of the papers were curling and they were held together with a rusty staple. It was the agreement that Sam and I had signed before entering the VRW. I flipped through it and saw that some words were underlined in fresh ink: ‘strictly confidential’, ‘waives the right to discuss, share, or otherwise acknowledge’, and then, towards the end, ‘death’. This last word was underlined twice. I read its sentence carefully.

‘Both parties acknowledge that they are embarking upon the assignment as a deeply committed couple and, further, in the event of one party’s failure to complete the assignment, be it for reason of illness, death, or otherwise, the other party agrees to complete the assignment in full...’

I couldn't read any further. My eyes skipped to the bottom of the page, where Sam’s and my signatures had been scrawled. The ink was faded.

Something strange was happening to my eyes. They were leaking, making my cheeks wet. Alarmed, I was about to ask if this was another horrible side effect. And then I remembered tears.

‘What were you testing?’ I asked, but there was no one there to answer my question. I was alone.

I found that another piece of paper had appeared on my lap. A pamphlet. Onthe cover was a picture of a familiar hillside. Words on the top said: Welcome to Green Fields... And then on the bottom:... forever!

I let the pamphlet fall to the floor.

I stayed still for a while, just lying there. More tears were coming but they stopped eventually. Then it occurred to me that I'd already done so much lying down inside the frozen box that I didn’t want to do it any more. I thought about sitting up. I was confused when my body didn’t move, but then I remembered I would have to do it myself. That's how things worked here. I pressed my palms to the bed, tensed my muscles, and pushed myself up. For the first time in a lifetime I could feel my own heaviness and pain.

0 notes

hiauntyimissyou · 1 year

Text

im on my period and i feel so emotional

im fighting with my "bf" and i told him i dont want to see him anymore, i want to mean it

i started thinking about you and getting sad, but i dont want to get sad when i think of you so i'll think of the times we had together.

when we sat in ba ngoai's house and mom and dad went out and you babysat us, i didnt know it then but now i know there were times you babysat us, and it was an honor being watched over by you. i would ask when mom was coming back when she was gone too long, but now i cherish our memories more than ever and wish we had more time together. the fact that i love you so much and i only have memories of 2 times i went to vietnam although it was more. it's true they say you remember the people who take care of you. like being a dog's favorite person because you feed it. how you would feed me and ask me what i wanted to eat and go and get it for us. thinking back now i realize when i knew you you were a little older than I am now, you had to be about 40 when i last saw you 20 years ago. i didn't realize how much time was running out, i was immature in thinking we would all live forever and have so much time together that i could just take my time and come around when i finally were done with all my plans and goals here.

mom told me about your final moments or as much as she knows, i keep playing them over in my head. how i imagine it played out and piece together the setting from videos of your house from you funeral videos and try to visual it. i dont know why the elements had to be against us that day/night. if we were awake we would not have let it happen the way it did, let you slip away the way you did. but we were sound asleep, it was out of our hands. we let the people around you make decisions that were careless and let it get to this point. but no one knew what was waiting. if i knew then what i know now, how many things i would do differently, have someone to care for you, put you up somewhere safe and where you can still have your dogs. make sure you went to the doctors regularly. when u had hospital visits before, i just shook them off, when mom or dad was hospitalize before, i didn't make it any big thing, being here so used to seeing people come in and out of hospitals, thinking nothing tragic could just suddenly happen. if i was more informed of how life was in vietnam, i maybe could have done more. but i had my head so far up my ass worrying about first world problems over here like why my boyfriend was acting strange and why i get so irritated with people here. when none of those problems could even compare to losing you and realizing how detached i have been from people who actually care about me, who actually want to see me, spend time with me, love me even though you havent seen me in 20+ years.

i watched an unexpected journey, the hobbit. thorin coming back to his kingdom he hasn't seen in 20 years, all the memories, all the nostalgia.

i watched movies and shows and when death is brought up, it actually means something to me now, good to know but at what cost?

i make plans to come back in 2 years, i will see you again, i will light you an incense, i won't want to leave your side.

i don't want to know death and grief anymore, bc i know them bc you died. life is so painful when you think of how you can't go back in time, how you can't do things differently. i accept all my regrets, all the pain and the stupid mistakes and decisions that make me the broken person i am today, i accept them all and don't with to change them, all the people that have hurt me, all the people i have hurt, i take it all proudly, if only it meant to be given a chance to change your fate, to change the outcome of that unfortunate night, to save you, to still have you here. even wishing to speak and see you one last time is not enough, i don't want just want just one last time, i want things to go back to how they were. i don't want to know death, i dont want to know your death. i hate september now, i hate the 28th now.

please don't worry, or be sad. i just want you to be happy and i want you to pass on, i dont want you to hold you back, ever, you have what you want bc you deserve it. I'm better now i promise, i see things with new eyes and reserving my heart for what is worthy. i love you so much.

when i go back, i'll visit the place we were when we were physically together. you rest easy. i think about you and dont ever want to stop

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darlingpwease · 2 years

Note

Oh damn, I knew that for a female ferret going into estrus was hard on them, but I didn't know that it can kill them :((

Heather's is good! It was one of my first musicals, and I still have a soft spot for it haha. I've only met one other person who's listened to shitoo though!! Have you listened to Maretu? Kikuo? KurageP? toa? emon(Tes)? John?

I don't mind listening to music in languages I may not understand, I love French songs even though I may not understand it, I'll check out some of the artists you mentioned!!

Popular St by Glass Animals is a song I've been enjoying a lot recently, I also discovered this artist, Maye recently, her voice is beautiful! Magic City Hippies, Gorillaz, Childish Gambino, Kevin Abstract, Cuco and Samsa are good artists I've been listening to recently, too.

I'd mention more but I'd probably just ramble about it lmao.

I had a dog! He was super sweet tho, biggest sweetheart ever, and would never bark despite his breed, he was an old soul!

Kids definitely have their moments, but they're so sweet :))

When I was younger I would love to swim and play on the beach, I swam out once tho and looked down, and now I can't really go near the ocean haha. It freaks me out, maybe I'll get over it one day? I'm fine watching it from afar for now though.

-panna cotta

of course, I don't want to sound like an accuser for ferrets, but if people usually know that they are very wild and biting, then some people usually forget about the details that a female cannot get out of estrus without getting pregnant and alive.

I had a case in my childhood when my friend had a female ferret and she died, and this is not the most warming memory, even if I was already a little apathetic to animals at that time </3 just in case, if it so happens that you will have a ferret and she will be a female, sterilization is mandatory for them — or she will bring cubs every estrus </33

do not know toa, john and man(Tes) </3 thank you, sweetie, for the recommendations, however; I will allocate time for them — it is rare to meet people who also prefer such performers <3333 any recommendations are desirable and approved

did you listen miy_yuu?

from a very, very personal point of view, I recommend nautilus pompilius, especially "breath", "atlantis", "chained together". just thinking out loud </3 /pos

thank you for sharing, precious panna cotta!!! finally, my list will expand (•̀⌄•́)

do you know those moments when your head hurts from listening to the same thing? don't know how common this phenomenon is, — haven't searched for information about it, — but it happens to me; when you know the text so perfectly that it plays ahead in your head, and for some reason it always makes me feel a headache.

why am I saying this?

share more with me, honeyheart!!! (੭ु ›ω‹ )੭ु⁾⁾♡ I'm sitting and patiently waiting!!! /pos /hj

* of course, if you don't want to, you don't have to do it. "everything is voluntary", right?

ah, he sounds very sweet,,,, such a good boy

really? never barked? I've heard of such dogs, but this is the first time I've met to hear about it from someone I know;;;

that is, we have a similar experience, mmm? <33

I have had several times when I almost drowned in the sea (none of them was my fault — in my defense I will say), but never once was I even worried about the water, while irrationally afraid of animals. our brain is such an amazing thing, isn't it, honey bun? </3

what about you? do you have things that you, from experience, should be afraid of, but in fact you somehow don't care?

#❖.my jewelry #✮.panna cotta <3

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segara-asa · 2 years

Text

The Variable

“Each guy stamped the passport of my heart. “You’re worthy.” Stamp. “You’re enough.” “You have not failed completely.” Stamp, stamp.”

One evening, the cafe was already closed yet we were still glued to our seats and continued our talk.

"What is your variable for that?" you asked with a teacup in your hand. I noticed you have a snake tattoo on your wrist.

"There was a person that asked me the same question. He asked me why I categorized people and what is my variable for that."

I took my cigarette and lit it before I answer your question. You pull your hands and tuck them under your armpits. Your serious look while waiting for my answers is actually the least I expected.

"You know, we have to choose our people carefully. We can't let anyone mess up our energy. We don't want other people's troubles to get into our life. I want only those trustworthy and reliable people, who respect my boundaries, their boundaries. Because, hell. 'll do the same too."

You nodded and continue your listening.

"I was friends with jackasses, cheaters, people with no dreams, manipulative, chatty, and nosy. I thought life is supposed to be fun and adventurous. About being different and free. We share good and bad memories, all together hand in hand. I like how I can rely on them like they relied on me. But that was when I just started to experience the world outside my little bubble house. I got my first salary and I'm off having the best time of my life."

"But there will always be some danger lurking around near us all the time. I'm a chaotic person by nature but that does not mean that I have nothing to care about. I wasn't proud at all of how I lived my life during my first 2 years out of my parent's house. Some people I followed almost got me into roadkill because of reckless driving. One of them tried to sell me for money. I was dragged to fighting scenes and was almost put under arrest after being friends with a drug dealer."

"I strive to be different but being a criminal and problematic is definitely not the list."

"Cutting ties with those people was hard. But even harder when I tried to make new friends. I am always worried that sooner or later they'll drag me into their problems once we get closer. So I started to categorize people."

"Took some time to notice the problematic patterns in new people I befriend with. My first impression of them is always about the vibe check. They must gain my trust and vice versa. But if none of us make the move from strangers to acquaintances, I will leave them be. I mean, I'm not here to entertain uninterested people. And then, we will see from there."

"I understand," you said. "I think everybody does that."

"Of course. But I took it to another level, unfortunately."

"What do you mean?"

"I watched their behavior and I marked their pattern. I calculated how many times they annoyed me, I weighed how many times they realized they annoyed me, and I summed up how many times they used their common sense, I always have numbers for each people."

"What? That's ridiculous. How did you do that? Has anyone kept a good score then?"

"Only a few. And even fewer stays in my life. Maybe, in fact, I adjust myself so I can stay in their life. Because I value them the most."

"So you have another variable inside each category then? Like sub variable under sub variables?"

"Yes. In the end, the questions are always the same. Are those mistakes forgivable or not. Does it cost me my peace or I can still tolerate it? What is the number until they reach my limit? I'll make the decision after calculating those variables. Either to cut them or leave for good."

"Do you tell them about this? Like when you cut them?"

"Sometimes. When they are being persistent. But I didn't tell them the exact reasons. I just avoided them or simply told them I needed time for myself. Because you want a rounded peace. Not a broken one that you have to sweat for that. People change all the time you know. Things are better left unsaid. I don't want problems so I won't invite one just because I am on the right side like what I thought."

"That makes sense. And it's very basic too. Removing ourselves from a situation where our peacefulness is disturbed. I do that too but I didn't think much of it."

You took a final sip of your tea and finally lit your last cigarette.

"Everybody has a different approach. Lately, I always bring this topic into a discussion with people I am on good terms with. I feel bad about cutting people so suddenly without them realizing that I took an exit from our friendship. So I choose to show them my boundaries. If they accept it, they can tell me theirs. If not, totally no problemo for me."

"Same thing with romantic-partner or when we are in a romantic relationship. If you won't meet me halfway, then here's the exit door. Although I want you so bad, I am ready to give you my heart, but I'm not here hunting a dead pray. Vice versa."

“To be very sure in anything in life, always suspect and re-suspect, test, and re-test; just like the gold burning process for its purity.”

Denpasar, 21 September 2022

Sidenote:

If you ever decide to feel— feel this: I love you. I always have. I always will.

Not because you're charming, beautiful or lovable. But because I choose you. Every day I wake up and I choose you— again, and again, and again.

But if you cannot feel, and if you never feel this, then know: I do not love you. I never have. I never will. Because you're not worth my love.

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reimagine7 · 3 years

Text

Adopted by whom?

Warnings: lighty mentions of physical abuse

This was my third camp, I was really excited. Even though I knew these womens for only a year, they became like family to me, a few of them were even closer, like Mal and Rose, probably because we are closer to age, so we have a lot of fun together. Tobin and Christen are like moms for me, since the first day of camp they took me under their wings and were super protective, they were worried about my school work and if I ate well or if I drank enough water, even after camp they kept talking and asking how I am, and I talk about them so much that my moms got jealous, and said they are my team moms.

I told this to Tobin and Christen, they laughed at it and began to call me their daughter, so I started to call them mom. They wanted to meet my parents but that didn’t happen yet. Why? Because I didn’t tell them that I am adopted, or that I have two mothers, let alone that one of them is none other than Shannon MacMillan. I know I should but it is a sensitive topic for me and I'm scared that they will treat me differently after they find out about it. That’s why I haven't told anyone on the team about it yet, but I'm thinking about doing so after this camp.

“Kid!! I miss you so much” Tobin ran towards me and gave me a big hug. “Mom, we talked yesterday.” “I know, but I can't hug you on facetime.” “Okay, I miss you too.” “I don’t get a hug?” Christen asked and opened her arms for me to hug her, so I did. “Mama I miss you too.” “Hi sweetie. Excited for camp? How is school?” “The same, boring but my grades are good. And I can't wait for everyone to get here.”

“Siisss!!!” Rose and Mal scream as soon as they spot me in the looby and come running. “Rose!! Mal!! How are you guys?”. We jumped on each other and ended up in the ground on a group hug. “Hey, you weren’t as excited when you saw us. I feel betrayed.” Tobin complained pouting while watching our interaction. “Kids get up before you hurt each other.” Christen separated us and pulled us up. “Sorry mom, but I love you too.” I said to Tobin who still had a pout on her face, so I went and hugged her again.

The rest of the team were finally arriving in the lobby of the hotel, we were talking when Jill spoke up and designated our roommates for this camp, and I was with Tobin. We went up and went to our room. We had lunch soon so we chilled and talked for a bit in our room, until it was time for lunch. So here we are, everyone eating and having fun talking about everything.

On the table was Sonnett, Rose, Linds, Sam, Mal and myself. Sonnett was telling everyone a funny story about her family.

“I’m serious, we were at this party and I kept annoying this girl, who was a douchebag. I forgot about it and started to dance and have some fun, but then suddenly a boy cornered my sister and I heard the girl saying she was the girl who annoyed her and he was about to push her when the parents stepped in. Long story, but in short my sister ended up two days grounded because of that.” “You never told them the truth?” I asked her. “A few years later. They grounded me as well, that was not fun.” “I wish I could have a twin sister, so we could switch places all the time.” Rose commented. “I wish I could have a sister.” Mal complained.

“At least you have your parents all to yourself. You are the favorite.” Sam complained only to be mocked by Linds “Someone is grumpy because it’s not the favorite child.” “And you are?” “Of course.” “Alright, this is not what your brother says.” Sonnett interfered with a smirk. “But I'm for sure not the favorite, my parents don’t hide it.” “Me neither, I’m sure they love me but I have my doubts about who their favorite is. It’s probably Wilma, I don’t blame them.” Everyone laughed at Rose's statement.

Until Mal asked me a question. “What about you Y/n? I’m sure you are your parents favorite.” “Yeah, I don't know. My brother is 10 so... pretty tough competition.” “Wait! You have a brother?” Sonnett asked incredulously. “Yeah.” “Why have we never heard about it? We actually never heard much about your family Y/n.” One of them asked me. Shit, why do I have to open my mouth. “I don’t want to talk about it.” I tried to avoid their eyes so they would know that I didn’t want to talk about it. But Sonnett didn't get it. “Why not? Your parents can’t be that bad?” “Sonnett!! Shut up. Y/n/n, that’s okay, if you don’t want to tell us you don’t have to.” Lindsey said, trying to make me look at them. “But you know that you can tell us everything right?”

I didn’t want to talk about it, and if I stayed one more minute here I would cry, so I decided to leave for my room. “Yeah… I...I think I’m going back to my room. Bye.” “Y/n. Wait! We are not talking about it again. Come back.” Rose tried to stop me, but I stood up so fast that I didn’t even register my surroundings. So as soon as I turned around, I bumped into Ashlyn and her juice spread all over my shirt. Fuck! Ash began to apologise, but now I could feel everyone's eyes on me and all I wanted was to get out of here. “Sorry Speedy, you turn so fast. I…” “That’s okay.” I interrupted her, got free of her hands and walked as fast as I could out of the dinner room.

No one's pov

Meanwhile at the youngies table.

“That was odd.” Sam broke the silence. “I didn’t do it on purpose.” “We know Sonnett. Should we follow her? Or talk to Tobin?” Lindsey asked, trying to comfort Sonnett who was blaming herself for her teammate's outburst.

“Too late for that. Tobin is already coming on her momma bear mode. I’m always scared when she is like this.” Mal spoke looking at Tobin with wide eyes.

“Girls, what happened to Y/n? Why did she get out?” The girls looked at each other until Rose decided to answer Tobin’s question. “We don’t know exactly. We were talking about our families and when we asked about hers she got weird and said she would go to her room.” Tobin sighed and nodded. “Thanks, I will go check on her.”

Tobin pov

I knocked on the door and opened it, when I entered the room I saw Y/n laying on the bed looking at the ceiling.

“Hey, kid. What’s going on?” “Not now Tobin, I just want to be alone for a minute. I’m fine.” “Yeah, you’re not.” Y/n shakes her head and asks. “And how do you know that?” “For starters, you get out of the dinner earlier than usual and without saying goodbye. Then you call me Tobin, you never do that only when you’re not okay.”

With that Y/n sighed and sat on the bed. “It’s just a hard topic for me.” “Your family?” I asked, trying to understand, she just nodded her head.

We stayed in bed for a minute. I waited to see if she was giving me anything else, but that didn’t happen. “Fine, if you don’t want to talk about it, I get it. But let's at least take this shirt off.”

I helped her get up to take the dirty shirt off, but then I looked at her back and saw some scars on it. I was about to take a better look but she quickly pulled back down, trying to hide it. But it was too late, I had already seen it.

“Y/n, what are those marks on your back?” “Are from soccer.” She told me, not looking at me. “I’m not buying it. Tell me the truth.” “It’s nothing Tobin. Give up on this.” “Nope. Right there, you call me Tobin again. Come on kid, you know I won’t give up so soon. So buy us some time and tell me what’s going on.” “It’s hard, Tobs.” “And I’m here by your side, you can tell me everything. But I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on.” “Everything is fine now, it’s already in the past. But I'm still learning to trust people, so I normally don’t talk about it with others. I want to, but when I do I cry and I don't want to cry in front of the team.” “Kid, we will never judge you for crying.” “I know but I never had this, not until three years ago. So it is hard to let people in.” “What do you mean? You wanna tell me about it? “

She hesitated for a minute but nodded. She was about to say something when my phone rang. I looked at it and turned off the call, it was Christen but I couldn’t talk right now.

“It’s okay if you need to go. I’ll be fine.” Y/n told me in a low voice. “I’m here for you kid, you can trust me, after all i’m your mom isn’t I?” “Yeah. You are. It’s not actually complicated. It’s just that, my dad abandoned my family when I was 7, a month later my mom found out she was pregnant. Things were already tough, but my mom did everything she could for us to be happy, but a year later she died in a car crash.”

Tears began to fall from her face, so I put my hand on her back trying to comfort her.

“I’m sorry for that Y/n/n. You don’t need to keep going if you don’t want to.” “I want to tell you everything.” After a minute she stopped sobbing and spoke again. “Well, after that my father didn’t want us so we ended up in foster care and that’s why I don’t like to talk about my family. Is not because I don't trust you, but is because for most part of my life I didn't quite have one. I have just a few memories from my biological mother and I had to take care of my little brother during seven years of my life. Is not simple to talk about it. I was abused from the age of 8 until I turned 14 years old. That's where my marks are from, they hit on me just because they wanted to.”

I hugged her, but didn’t say a thing, I knew that’s what she needed right now. After a few minutes I spoke up. “Kid, I had no idea that you passed through this all. But I want to tell you that this doesn't change our relationship, I still love you and will fight everyone who messes with you, and you know Christen will as well.” “Thank you Tobs.”

After a minute of silence, I decided to ask her what I was scared to ask. “This is still happening? I want to do something about it. I won’t let any of this happen to you again.” “No, three years ago me and my brother got adopted. I told you the truth when I told you that everything is good now. They are amazing and are helping me to get better.” “That’s good. That’s why we never meet them? You didn’t want us to know your story?” “Yeah, that’s one of the reasons.” “One?” “Yeah, well the other one you will understand when you see my moms.” “Your moms?” I asked, still not sure I had heard it right. “Yeah, I got adopted by two moms.” “Oh, Megan will love this.” “I know.” “You want to come back for lunch or do you want to stay here?” “Stay here. Can we just watch a movie?” “Fine, but I choose.”

I jumped on top of her and got the remote so I could choose the movie. “No way, we are on my bed, so I choose.” She got the remote from my hands. “No no, I'm your mother so I choose.” “There’s nothing to do with it. I won’t give it to you.” “Yes you are.”

With that I began to tickle her, trying to get the remote back. Then there was a knock on the door and it opened, but we were too occupied to see who it was. “Okay kids, let's stop the fight.” Oh, that’s Chris. “Tell that to Tobs, she is the one attacking me.” “I see.” Christen separated us. “How are my girls? I’ve been told that I should come here to check on you both, but by the look of things I guess that is all sorted out now.” I looked at Y/n and she had a smile on her face. “I think we are better now right?” “Yeah, much better. Thank you Tobs.” “Of course, I'll always be here for you.” She hugged me and I gave a kiss on her head.

“Oh, I feel left out now.” “Sorry Chris, but Tobs will tell you everything later. But I know I can count on you as well. I’m going to change my shirt now and wash my red face.”

Y/n stood up and left the remote on the bed. “Yes, I got the remote.” I could see Y/n shaking her head and then closing the bathroom door, Chris came to me, gave me a quick peck and asked me what happened.

Your pov

I went to the bathroom to change my shirt and clean myself, and I could hear Tobin telling Christen a little bit of what I told her. “‘What was that about?’ ‘The girls were talking about family stuff on the table and the topic is a little complicated for her. She lost her mom really young and lived in foster care most part of her life, and just recently got adopted. I tell you more later, don’t worry about it.’” I’m glad I finally got to share my story with someone else, and it is no surprise that the two of them were the first to know, I like them a lot.

While I was in the bathroom my phone started to ring.

“Kid, your phone is ringing and is your mom. She wants to facetime.” Tobin yelled from the bed. “Which one?” I yelled back. “Humm… mom Mac?!” Oh, maybe that is a great time to introduce them.

“Could you answer for me? I’m almost finishing.” “Me?” “Yeah, you didn’t want to meet her? That’s the time. She wants to talk to you both as well.” There was a silence in the room, until Chris spoke. “I don’t think that is a good idea.” “You’ll like to talk with her. Don’t you trust me?” “Fine.” Tobin answered me and accepted the call, ready to talk to my mom.

“Hi hon… Oh, hi Tobin!” I could hear my mom speaking. I was already changed, but I wanted to see their reactions while meeting my mom. “Hi… wait your Shannon MacMillan.” Toby speaks and stays with an open mouth. “Yes, and I was told that you are my daughter’s roommate. Oh, hi Christen I didn't see you before. How are you doing?” “Your daughter?” Now was Christen's time to stay in shock. “Yeah Y/n. Is she alright?” “Yeah, but… what?” Tobin was speechless, so I decided to intervene.

“Oh hi mom, sorry I was in the bathroom.” “Hi honey and taking by Tobin and Christen's faces I believe you hadn’t told them about me, am I right?” “Maybe? I actually didn’t tell anyone on the team, I dodged their questions about my family. You know how I am, I wanted them to get to know me first.” “I know.” “But I had told Tobin almost everything, I just kept your name out of it. She saw my scars and made me explain it.” I lightly elbowed Tobin, trying to take her off her transe. “Made you?” I think it worked. “Y/n!!”

“I’m kidding, kind of. She just got overprotective and wanted to punch the person who made me those, so I had to explain the story to her.” “Yeah, I was right she is definitely your team mom. And don’t worry Tobin, they are already taken care of.” Tobin laughed and poked me in my sides “I told you, now even your mom agrees with me. But I gotta say this is kind of crazy.” “Whatever, that doesn't mean you can choose the movie.” “Movie?” Mom asked, not quite understanding what we were talking about. So Chris came to the rescue. “When I got here they were in a tickle fight, because Tobin wanted to choose the Netflix movie and Y/n had the remote.” I completed it. “Christen saves me, but then Tobin got the remote, so it looks like we will be seeing her movie.”

“Seems like you’re having fun. I just called to tell you that the thing you buy on the internet has arrived, I hid it in the garage. I'm sure your mama won’t find it there.” Great, my mama birthday present has arrived. “Cool, and is everything ok?” “Yes, as we expected. We’ll call you later to talk more, I just took that I was alone now so I could warn you.” “Thanks mom.” “Bye honey. Bye Tobin and Christen.” “Bye Shannon.” They say in unison.

So I turned off the call and looked at them, they had a surprised look on their face so I got ready for the questions. Mainly the questions were about why I didn't tell them or the team about it, how I ended up with them and I had to explain my whole story again for Christen. In the end, it was already time for team meeting and we were getting ready to go.

As we waited for the elevator, I remembered to ask them something. “Guys, please don’t tell the team nothing about it.” “Why not? Speedy, I already told you that they won’t treat you any different.” Tobin scolded me. “I just... I will tell them when I feel comfortable, but for now just keep this secret for me. Please mom!!” “You can’t pull the mom card like this.” “Why not? You told yourself that you’re my team mom.” Tobin kept staring at me until she gave up. “Fine. But I think you should at least tell them about your mom, because if they find out about it from another person they're gonna be mad.” Christen punches Tobin in the arm. “Tobin! They are not gonna be mad at you Y/n. Just at the moment, and then they will just fill you with questions. But the last part is going to happen either way.” “Oh, so different from what I said.” Tobin said with sarcasm, but Christen sent her a killer look. “Sorry! But if by any chance, someone annoys you because of who your mother is, tell me and I will kick their ass.” Tobin told me with a serious look.

“You mean if they mocked me because Tobin Heath is my mom?” I tried to contain my laugh. “Oh, shut up!!” She got my head and began to rub it. “Mom stop!!” “Kids stop with it. Let’s go or we are gonna be late.”

With that we entered the elevator and I could see that Chris had a worried face on. My story must have affected her, she has a sad expression, so I decided to lighten her mood a little bit. “Oh Christen, you don’t need to be mad. You and mom are a couple, so that means you are my mom as well.” I hugged her and she kissed my head. She tightened the hug, and I knew some tears were rolling down her face. “Thank you Y/n, you for sure can come for me anytime you need. I’ll always be here for you.” “I know. You’re the mom I listen to but also the mom who grounds me, and Tobin is the mom who takes me out of the ground, and also the one who tries to cover my mess.” Christen rolled her eyes, understanding what I was trying to do. She cleaned the tears that had fallen out and shook her head, but now with a smile on her face. Tobin on the other hand protested. “I would never do that Christen!” “Why can't I believe that?”

With that the elevator door opened and Christen got out first, then Tobin raised her hand for me to hit it. I love these two. We got to team meeting and discussed our training sessions, how our week is going to be and other things. The meeting took about an hour. After it, the whole team went to dinner, me and Tobin were talking about the conversation we had early about my past soccer teams and how my mom is a crazy fan, so we got our food and sat at some table don’t even looking to see who was on the other ones. But as we were talking Christen, Megan, Ash, Julie, Ali, Alyssa and Carli sat at our table as well.

“I’m telling you Tobs, once she got so mad about a bad call that she almost got inside the field to yell at the referee, luckily my 9 years old brother stopped her.” Tobin was laughing her ass out. “I would die to see that.” “Who did that?” Megan asked, breaking the bubble we were on. I then noticed everyone else that was on the table with us.

“What?” I asked, not quite sure what she was talking about. “Who almost got in the field?” “My mom.” “Oh…” “She seems cool.” Ash responded. “She is, when she is not mad. Despite that, she is awesome, my family is really supportive.” “Your brother plays soccer as well?” Alis asked. “No, he hates sports. But he loves to cheer for me, so he goes for all the games he can.” “Oh, this is so cute, I would love to meet him.” JJ awed with my answer. “He for sure will love to go to the mall with you and Chris, I can guarantee that he would be a better company then Tobs.” “Hey kid! You are just as bad as I am.” Tobin protested. “Ok you're right. But I’m telling the truth, he and my mom go on walks for hours.” “I’m certainly taking him out when we meet him.” Chris gave me a wink, letting me know that this was for sure happening some time soon.

“And who encouraged you to play soccer? Your mom or your dad?” Alyssa asked, wanting to know more about my family. I took a big breath and answered her. “Oh, it’s a little more complicated than that. But I can for sure tell you that it was not my father.” “Why is that? He doesn't like sports?”

I take a look at Tobin and Christen and them both nod their heads encouraging me to tell them. “No, it’s because… I don't have a father, at least not one that I care about.” “Sorry I didn’t want to put you through that.” Alyssa told me with a worried expression. “That’s fine, I'm ok with that now.” “So is it just you, your brother and your mom?” Ali asked. “Well, my moms.” “Excuse me?” Megan almost spilled all the water she was drinking with the new information. “My moms. Me, my brother and my two moms.” “Oh, that is awesome. I already liked you before, now I like you even more.” Megan cheered and high five me. “Because of my parents?” “Yeah, you were already cool, now that I know that you for sure support my community you got points with me. Tell me about them!” “They are awesome, I've only been with them for three years, but they changed my life when they adopted me.” Ops! Shouldn’t have said the last part. “Wait, you are adopted?” Ali asked. “Yep.”

“Who is adopted?” Emily asked while getting close to the table. “Y/n” Alyssa answered. “What? You never told us.” Mal and the other youngies were all surrounding us now. “That’s why you run away during lunch?” I looked around and by now the whole team was at the table listening to the conversation.

“So about that…” I look at Tobin and send her a ‘help me’ look, she quickly understands me and steps up. “Guys, less questions okay? If she hasn't told us about it yet it’s because she is not comfortable with it, so let’s give her time.”

Everyone nodded, but Megan was still interested in my family. “Fine, but I want to know more about your moms okay?” “That I can do, but I think you already know at least one of them.”

I took my phone and showed her a picture of my family. Her mouth drops and she passes the phone for Ash, who passes to Ali, who passes to Carli, who finally says something.

“Wait a minute, your mom is Shannon MacMillan?” “Yeah.”

Everybody's jaw drops, except for Christen and Tobin because they already knew, and the questions started again. I finally told them my story and Tobin was right, they were really supportive and of course asked a lot of questions, but I'm fine with it. They are my family now.

#uswnt x reader #uswnt imagine #tobin heath x reader #christen press x reader #woso x reader #preath x reader #woso imagine

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chanandlersstuff · 3 years

Text

The seasons pass and the heartbreak too

Pairing: Charles Leclerc x Reader.

Summary: Life its a funny thing or maybe whats meant to be will find his way back together.

Word count: 1.927

Author’s note: This is the second part from this one and I was thinking that those two deserve some closure, so it will be one more part and that's it. Hope you like it. English is my second language so sorry for the misspellings. The song that inspired this part is "Nineteen" from Dylan, it's really good and some parts of it are on the story.

After leaving Charles at the airport that day, you didn't hear from him anymore until maybe the next year because having almost the same group of friends it was pretty hard not to know about him. One day while you were on a long call with Pierre he told you that he was dating a beautiful girl and that he seemed happy. That instead of breaking your heart completely made you happy because he was happy again. The love you had for him prevented you from being sad about it. Pierre also told you that Charles was having a great season and that also made you happy. Months passed and you didn't hear from him. You were getting better and better at your dream job, becoming more important in the business. The F1 life was little forgotten in your life but always alive in the back of your mind.

Summers, birthdays and seasons passed and Charles was achieving all his F1 goals. One night while having dinner with Pierre in some part of the world talking about life he told him that you were dating some guy and that you were happy. Charles’ fork stopped mid air when he heard the news and to Pierre surprise a smile appeared in his face, a genuine smile. He was happy for you, after all the last time he saw you was nearly three years ago and he didn't hate you, he had incredible affection towards you but that was it. Charles had no love interest in his life anymore but none of that had nothing to do with you.

Sometimes he wondered what were you doing with your life, if you achieved all your dream goals, if you were fine, all that kind of stuff. Even one time he almost dialled your number only to see if you had the same number and if you would answer him but that idea turn into a stupid one the second he almost tuch your contac name. You, on the other hand, while exploring new places or when you saw something that you thought would be fun for him, you couldn’t contain your brain from thinking about him and smiling. His name always on your phone but never used. Happy memories from the time you spend together, while being friends and lovers, no hold grudges.

One day while you were crossing the street, coffee in hand and sunglasses in your eyes, your mind deep down in work, someone shouting your name brought you back to reality and the voice was so familiar. You lowered your sunglasses to see better and when the window car next to you lowered too your heart seems to beat a little slower or everything happens in slow motion. He was there in his matt black Ferrari with the Monaco flag across the car and the 16 on one side. Charles Leclerc in the flesh, shouting your name in the red light of a street. With a smile on your face you walked to the passenger side of the car and you crouched a little to see him better.

-I wasn't entirely sure it was you.- Charles said smiling.

-So you took your chances shouting at me I see.- He nodded and you laughed. -How are you?

-Fine, fine. What about you?- The two of you were smiling like little kids on Christmas night.

-I’m fine too.- Looking at his face you notice that he hasn't changed that much. His face was more mature and his beard from a couple of days the same as you remembered. The honk of other cars brought you back to reality -It was fantastic to see you again but I'm going late to a meeting and those drivers are getting pissed.

He frowned a little and moved his head to see the cars behind him. -Oh. Yes, it was great seeing you again.- He smiled and you smiled back. You straightened and took two steps back. -WAIT.

-¿Yes?- Your voice was sweet.

-You ....eh....we….- You giggle because he was the same nervous Charles you remember when you were little.

-¿Yes Charles?.- He laughed and cleared his throat.

-I was thinking if you could give me your number.- You raised your eyebrows. -To stay in touch I mean, if you want of course.

You smile and from one of the pockets of your bag you pulled out your card. -Gimme a call whenever you want.- Your fingers touch and a familiar, not so forgotten, feeling travels through your bodys. -Bye Charles.

A week later you were walking towards him in whiteh trousers and shoes, a black tank top, sunglasses and hat. The “friendly lunch”, as he said, was in a restaurant in front of the water and the summer in the air made the day perfect. It wasn't a date at all, it was two friends who hadn't seen each other in a while catching up.

With a bottle of water in the middle, because he had to drive and you weren’t going to drink wine alone, the conversation flowed as easy as all those years ago. Laughs that made the stomach hurt and tears appeared in the corner of your eyes while the two of you remembered long time memories and funny histories.

The way he kept switching languages as easy as breathing and the sun that was coming down, illuminated your skin making you glow in his eyes and your smile, gosh it was the brightest smile he'd ever seen. Everything was so easy going and funny, like a picture perfect. As if the two of you have never walked away from your lives, as if you have talked every day for the past few years.

-Do you remember that night when we went to that awful party and we ended up drinking coffee in that spot we used to like so much?- He said when you came down from the laughter.

-It was the same day that your mum almost kill us because we were minor and we stunk at cigarettes?- The scene coming to your brain as it was yesterday and he nodded. -Oh yes, I remember. Some dude spilled his drink in my dress and it had a huge stain on it.

-Yes, that blue dress looked so beautiful on you.- You didn’t remember the color, but apparently Charles did.

-I was a mess Charles.- You tried to argue with him.

-A hot mess.- He said in a low tone hoping, praying that you didn’t hear him but you did and didn't say anything about it trying to not ruin the nice day you were having.

-Do you remember that day you called me late at night to pick you up at that random bar?- You said and he burst into laughter at the memory.

-Oh god yes. I almost came out of that bar crawling and you were there waiting for me in that empty street.- Charles said, scratching his head.

-Were only one streetlight worked properly.- You add in a funny tone.

-You were there with my jacket and two blankets and a worried face.

-Because it was freaking cold, like freezing.- You said laughing and he did too. -I don't remember why you were there and I could bet you don't remember either because you were so drunk that you forgot the reason.

-I remember that the next day I had the worst hangover of my life and I swore that I would never drink that way ever again.- Charles grabbed the glass from the table and drank.

-I remember that you were insufferable the next day, like I couldn't even look your way and you were already whining like a baby.- You said and he laughed.

-And the night you were so stressed about that exam and I told you to run away with me?- You frowned. -That I “kidnapped you” and took you to that little dinner and we stayed there for like 5 hours.- You were smiling but didn't say anything or move an inch. -The dinner that was like from the 70s or 80s, with neon signs and rock music.

You nodded with your head. -Can I be honest with you?- He nodded. -All I saw that night was you and how your eyes seem to change color with the neon lights. He didn't say anything but smiled brightly at you and blushed a little.

If you were honest you remember all too well the things you did together. The little lies to your friends telling you didn't like him when you clearly did, the big fights in those summer days where everything complicated and all the mistakes were made and how he always said “You and I, that’s all the matter. No one else, just you and I” and how he told you “You are the only one I want” when you were agreeing to that strange summer deal.

-Do you remember the day we spent in your granny’s garden looking at the stars in that white old sheet?- You said looking at water.

-Yes, we spent hours talking about our big dreams and desires.- A little silence fell between you two. -I really hope you achieve everything you told me that night.- The fact that he seemed to remember what you told him that night told everything that you needed to know.

-I did, most of them I did. I hope the same for you.

-I achieved some of them and I’m doing others this year.-

But the truth was that both of you made promises and dream things together, thinking that you would stay friends or lovers forever. Always by the other side, cheering their wins and being there when they lost but life wanted other things.

-It seems that we both remember a lot of things from years ago.- You said in a nervous tone trying to cover the inexistent awkward silence.

-Of course I remember. How could I ever forget it.- You tilted your head. -How quickly and hard I fell for you.- His tone was so tender and the smile he was giving you was something from another planet.

-Charles…- You played with the napkin in front of you.

-What? It's true, I was never capable of lying to you and you weren't capable either so tell me what's on your mind.- You stayed in silence for a couple of minutes trying to find sense about them.

-Loving you wasn't a waste. Yes hearts were bruised and mistakes were made but I will do it all the same.- You said and smiled at him.

-I don't.- The look on your face must be a hurt one because he rushed his next words. -Because at the end I lost you, everything we were. Friends, lovers, partners, everything lost for years.

-But we are here now.- You said in a slow tone.

-But for how long?- You opened your mouth to talk but he interrupted you. -A week? Ten days? You are going to get back to your job and I have to get back to race, it's the summer deal all over again. And I do not say this because I want to be your boyfriend again or whatever we have been years ago, I say it because I want my friend back. You know how many times I almost called you to tell you everything that was going on with my life, to tell you that I needed you when shit hit the fan? A thousand times. I do not want you in my life if you are going to be entering or leaving it as if it were a candy store. I want you permanently in it and I want to be in your life in the same way. Be there for you when your work is going well and when you cry from stress like all those years ago but this time physically. I want you here.- At this point he was moving his hands freneticaly and raising his voice a little but the only you could do was looked at him speechless absorving his statement and your stupid heart racing as fast as he drives his car in the weekends.

#charles leclerc #charles leclerc imagine #charles leclerc imagines #charles leclerc x reader #formula 1 x reader #Charles leclerc x y/n #Charles leclerc x you #f1 imagine #formula one imagine #formula one fanfiction #formula one one shot #formula one x reader #formula 1 x you #f1 x you #charles leclerc drabble #charles leclerc fanfic #charles leclerc f1 #charles leclerc one shot

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sorryimananti-romantic · 3 years

Text

Mist | Choi San | Chapter 1

Pairing: Choi San x OC (Seohyun)

Genre: supernatural (ghost), romance, high school

Trigger Warnings: paranormal, death mentions, violence

Words: 7.2k

Disclaimer: I do not own anything except my original character and the story. I do not own any gifs or pictures used.

Full story on Wattpad (don’t spoil here if you read there too)

chapter directory

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Seohyun kicked a pebble with her boot, sending it flying in the air. The black cat following Seohyun meowed as it wandered between her legs, rubbing itself along her naked legs. Seohyun kicked another pebble, and the cat meowed louder.

"I know, I know," she said, sighing, "I shouldn't have helped him."

The cat's grey eyes twinkled and it jumped a little to keep pace with Seohyun. She adjusted her sunglasses with the tip of her finger and tucked her long hair behind her ears, keeping her eyes fixed to the ground in hopes of finding more pebbles that she could kick.

Seohyun's hands went to the straps of her school bag on her shoulders as she finally found one, and she smirked. "Hey kitty, I'm gonna kick this one real hard."

As if the cat understood, it sat near her to watch the scene. Seohyun aimed her foot, sending the pebble flying with full force as a short laugh escaped her. She waited for the satisfying sound of the pebble hitting something hard, but a wail of pain answered her instead.

"Oops," Seohyun grimaced as she motioned the cat to follow her, trying to flee before she was caught. However, luck was rarely on her side.

"It was you, right?" She heard a boyish voice call out. She sneaked a peek, seeing a group of colourful heads belonging to boys that grew larger and larger as more joined them.

"I thought I hit one? Why are there so many..." she muttered, then turned back, bowing her head in a quick apology and turning again to run away, almost tripping on the cat and it howled in pain before following her.

"Hey, stop!" She heard voices, and she just sped up. She had enough to worry about.

"Where are my ghost friends when I need them.." Seohyun muttered under her breath as she sped up, cursing mentally. She could hear steps draw closer by every second, and she finally turned abruptly, making the group of boys stop dead in their tracks, bumping at each other.

"I apologized, what do you all want now?"

"You never apologized," the blue haired one said.

"Why do you think I bowed? To thank you?" Seohyun retorted. The blonde snickered, earning a kick in his ribs from not one but two of them.

"We couldn't see from so far, at least apologize properly!"

"Alright, alright. Was it you who got hit?"

"No, it was-"

Seohyun sighed out loud. "What got you so worked up then, if it wasn't even you?"

"He's my friend?" The blue haired boy said, making it sound more like a question.

"I told you all not to make a fuss, it's not like she did it on purpose," Seohyun heard one of them say, and her eyes shifted towards the boy with black hair, the eyebrow slit further defining his sharp features. Indeed, he was hurt. There was a painful scratch where the pebble must have grazed his cheekbone.

"Ah, so it was you..." Seohyun bit her lip. She thought she should apologize properly, so she bowed properly this time, and got up. "I never meant to hurt anyone. I'm sorry."

His eyes burned holes in her even though she wore sunglasses. He pursed his lips, nodding. "It's okay, just be careful next time."

She nodded. "Can I go now?" She didn't wait for an answer and turned, motioning the cat to come along, who meowed.

"Wait!" The eyebrow-slit boy sat down on one knee, motioning the cat to come to him, who gladly obliged and Seohyun rolled her eyes. He smiled at the cat, rubbing its head and offering it a biscuit, which the cat graciously accepted, munching right into it.

"Do you even give your cat food? It's so thin."

"It's not mine," Seohyun said and the boy's head turned up to look at her, curiosity in his eyes obvious. "It followed you rather gladly."

Seohyun just shrugged, looking away from his gaze and observing the group now. They were all dressed in school uniform like her, but it looked like it was a different school. She internally smiled at the interesting mix that stood in front of her.

"San, let's go," she heard the red-head call out. San, she thought.

"I need to go now too." Seohyun said, waiting for the boy to stop playing with the cat.

The boy- San- got up and said, "You said it's not yours. Can I take it then?"

Seohyun almost said yes, but hesitated. It was true the cat was not hers, but at this point, she could call it hers, the way it always followed her around whenever she was out. She had rather grown attached to the constant presence of her black furry friend.

"Uhh, I mean you could, but..." she bit her lip as she looked back as if for help, and then turned back to the boy. "This cat is my only friend."

Seohyun hated how it had almost come as a whisper, but the boy looked like he understood as he nodded, taking a step back. "I'll see you around then," he smiled sweetly at the cat, who meowed at him.

Seohyun finally turned, not bothering to check if the cat followed her or that boy, San. She was too scared to check. But when she heard the cat meow and rub at her legs, she smiled in relief.

"I'll feed you more now, I promise," she smiled at the cat.

Meanwhile, San watched the odd pair walk away in the distance.

"So rude!" the blue haired boy said, and everyone laughed. San turned and shook his head. "Not my fault you decided to act like my parent, Hongjoong."

"Doesn't look like she's from our school, but isn't it the school near the place we usually go to eat dinner?" The blonde asked.

"Yeah, it looks like it. You're treating us to dinner there tomorrow. You remember, right Yeosang?"

"You're always hungry for food Wooyoung, how could I forget?" He answered.

The group started to walk their way, talking about their plans for dinner, but San couldn't stop thinking about the girl with the grey streaks in her hair, the girl who had no friends other than a black cat. He unconsciously shook his head, finally paying attention to his present.

----------

"I said I'm sorry!" Seohyun yelled, "Now you leave my hair, and I'll leave yours."

"You first," the woman replied.

"Together, okay? One, two, three- YOU! You lied!"

"You lied too!" The woman shouted, and pulled at Seohyun's hair, earning a satisfactory groan from her.

"It's not like you can feel pain! You're a freaking ghost!"

"Doesn't mean I'm not insulted," the woman smirked, "Alright, I'll leave you first, and you leave no more than a second after, otherwise I'll make sure you feel the pain you love." The woman let go of Seohyun's hair and Seohyun did so right after, taking quick steps backward as she massaged her head.

"Bitch..." she muttered, and the woman laughed out loud.

The woman- ghost- had been keeping Seohyun company for about two months now, occasionally popping out of nowhere and leaving just as abruptly. At first, Seohyun had tried to help her in some way, help her move on and come to terms with her sudden death by accident, but the young woman had quite a difficult death and she was the first of a kind- a ghost with amnesia. No memories of how she had died and why she hadn't moved on.

Seohyun had to admit that she had grown used to her presence. She often found herself narrating her uneventful day to her, just like today, when she had excessively complained how useless of a friend she was and how none of her ghost friends had ever done her a favour. Somehow that had turned into an argument and then to them resorting to pulling each other's hair our, except her ghost friend couldn't feel any pain since she was, well, a ghost. Dead.

"I mean," Seohyun continued, fiddling with her hair, "it would have saved me from embarrassment had you popped up and helped me out there."

"What could I have done?" The woman sat down on the pavement, the black cat gladly jumping on her lap as the woman ran her hands through her fur. "It's not like anyone else can see me."

"Hello? You could have made me disappear."

"You know it's not good for your health. Why do it unless absolutely, absolutely necessary?" The woman glared at her.

"YES! That was absolutely, absolutely necessary. There were 8 of them! I was alone!" Seohyun whined and the woman just ignored her.

"Unnie~" Seohyun sat down near her, and the woman slid away from her.

"I told you not to call me that. I have a name, and it's Jiwoo."

"How can I call you by your name? You're much older than me." Seohyun grinned.

"And that's why I don't help you. Because you're a stubborn one. Also, I'm pretty sure I'm not that old."

"That's rich coming from you," Seohyun retorted, ignoring the last remark, "I'm not the one refusing to move on just because I can't get enough of worldly pleasures."

"And that's my cue to leave you alone, like you always are. There's a reason you don't have friends, Seohyun." Jiwoo got up, putting the curled cat on the pavement.

"I do have friends-"

"I'm talking about human friends. Your sharp tongue and stubborn heart, it's about time you change that."

"I-" Before Seohyun could complete, Jiwoo disappeared. Seohyun sighed, her heart sinking a bit at her harsh but true words.

There was indeed a reason that she had no friends. And it wasn't her ability to see ghosts.

Seohyun pulled her knees to her chest, shutting her eyes. She wanted to disappear.

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

Senior year of high school was supposed to be tough, yes, but Seohyun had to face challenges other than academic ones.

And it wasn't just the fact that she had no social life at all; she only had a group of people she could interact with if need be, otherwise she was perfectly content on being on her own. She had no problem staying amused in her own company.

The problem was with Seohyun, though not directly. It was the problem that she could see and interact with some of the dead. And the dead made sure she got in trouble if she didn't hear their woes and skipped school to maybe find them something (or someone) they had an attachment to, or didn't take them to their loved ones immediately.

She had often tried to reason with them; she tried to explain that she was perfectly aware how bad they must have it, but she had it worse since she was still alive, and with life came unforeseen consequences, such as having to face her mother if they caused a scene (which they usually did), or if they tried to grab her attention by any means necessary, such as causing her desk to fall, her stuff to fly (where she would immediately have to either hold it or pretend to have thrown it).

She tried, oh she tried so hard to tell them to wait until she was free from school and then she would do whatever they asked her to, but no. Apparently whatever they wanted to do was more important than her school, her reputation (already in ruins), everything. There rarely was someone patient enough, and those she made sure she looked after properly. Like Jiwoo.

She wished Jiwoo was here so she could get rid of the old wrinkly man in front of her. She was trying to focus on her mathematics but it was hard to when a fat belly blocked her vision. And she couldn't even say anything out loud, so she just sent daggers through her eyes, the message in her eyes clear. But the old man just smirked, continuing to block her vision.

Seohyun sighed and turned the page of her notebook, scribbling in it, then turned the notebook to the ghost in front of her. The man was short so he didn't have to bend as he read what she had written.

"IF YOU COULD STOP PESTERING ME FOR A FEW MINUTES YOU WRINKLY OLD MAN I CAN'T FOCUS ON MATHS BECAUSE OF YOU"

The old man smirked, and Seohyun wished she could kick him somewhere he would surely feel pain even though ghosts couldn't feel pain. She was so absorbed in thinking of ways that she could make this ghost feel pain that she didn't notice him take her notebook and run away before she could snatch it back.

As soon as Seohyun noticed, she jerked in her seat, stopping herself from getting up and following him. He stopped a few feet away, teasingly coming closer and closer, the frown on Seohyun's face getting deeper and deeper until he stopped near the girl sitting in front of her, tore a page from her notebook and gave it back.

And then he did what she dreaded. He made a ball out of that paper, aimed at the teacher, taking one last look at the very satisfying horrified face of the girl who could see ghosts but refused to help them, and threw the paper ball at the teacher with considerable force, hitting him on his head.

The teacher turned, running his eyes across the classroom, not missing how everyone was glancing between the teacher and Seohyun, who folded her arms rather defensively, silently praying he wouldn't actually pick the paper ball. But the teacher bent down, and it so happened that he was also old, and a bit wrinkly, so when he read the scribbled message, his face went red.

"Who was it?!" The teacher pushed his glasses up his nose-bridge and watched as the students hesitantly pointed to Seohyun, who sank deeper into her chair, as if somehow a pit would open and swallow her.

"You meet me in my office after class." The teacher shook his head in disappointment and continued where he left.

Seohyun was given a warning, and it was her second. She had only one left before she would be kicked out of school (if something big happened, which usually did if she waited for the third warning) so she decided it was time for her to move on again.

And this time she dreaded. It was always a hassle to explain to her mom what had happened. Her mom knew she could see ghosts and when she was little, she had tried all sorts of methods, of almost all religions she could think of, hoping her only daughter would turn out normal, but she had failed. But now she liked to pretend that she had forgotten all about it, and when Seohyun told her she had gotten into trouble, she would silently nod and get her to change schools before something big happened and it got written in her school record.

So a few attempts from the old ghost trying to get her in trouble and a few days later, Seohyun was finally free of struggling. She changed schools. And tomorrow would be her first day, hopefully the last time she had to change schools before her senior year ended. Before high school ended.

Seohyun was still dressed in her old school's uniform when she went to her new school to submit her files and make sure everything was good before her first day. She had her baseball cap on this time, making sure she would hide most of her face since a lot of people would be staring at her. It was normal to stare when someone from another school came.

The black cat found her once again, following her as she walked to the building. Seohyun motioned the cat to stay and it obeyed, watching the girl walk into the building.

From a distance, San and his friends were watching the whole scene. They had recognized the girl not by her face, which was half-hidden anyway, but her cat and the grey streaks in her hair.

"Let's hope she doesn't attack you with a pebble again," Yunho snickered, and San smiled, his hand unconsciously going to the now faint scratch on his face.

"I'm not going to your rescue if that happens," Hongjoong said and Seonghwa chimed in, "Neither will I."

"I never asked you anyway..." San trailed off.

"The cat looks like it wants to escape," Jongho pointed his finger at the hoard of girls that gathered around the poor cat. "Poor cat."

"San, you should go bring the cat. It would recognize you," Mingi suggested and San considered. The cat was worth saving.

A few moments later, San was back with the cat in his arms. The cat did recognize him. He bought the cat to the boys, who lightly patted her one by one, taking turns so she wouldn't feel scared.

After about five minutes, the boys heard someone clear their throat right behind them. They turned to see it was that girl.

"Aren't you the same group from that day?" Seohyun wondered out loud.

"The cat was scared because people were gathering around her, so we brought her here," Yeosang said.

"That's... kind of you," Seohyun met eyes with each of them, and the boys got a proper look at her face for the first time without her glasses. She had light eyes. The shadows beneath her eyes were dark, which contrasted with her eyes rather strikingly.

"What were you doing here? You're not from our school," Wooyoung commented.

"Oh, I'll be joining from tomorrow..." Seohyun realized somehow she's ended up in the same school as the boys. "What class are you in?"

"Senior year, all of us," Wooyoung replied, and they didn't miss her groan.

"I'm guessing you're senior year too," Seonghwa asked, earning a nod of confirmation.

"How ironic. What if you end up in our class?" Yeosang wondered.

"God forbid," Seohyun shook her head, making them smile despite her remark. "Now, should I leave the cat here, or..."

"Does it have a name?" San asked, rubbing under the cat's chin.

"Uh, no actually," Seohyun faltered when she saw San give her a disappointed look, "I just call her kitty. You can give it a name if you want to."

"I'll think about it," San shifted his arms to hand the cat over to Seohyun, and she took it, placing the cat on her shoulders, waiting until she sat around her neck like she usually did.

"I guess I'll go now," she met eyes with San for the last time, noticing the mole on his eyelid. San nodded, and she muttered an awkward bye before walking past them, cursing at herself mentally for being so awkward with them.

"It's you who got me in trouble, you dumb cat," she muttered under her breath. The cat didn't even bother reply.

The boys watched her leave, and Yeosang finally spoke, "I have a feeling she'll be in our class now. Oh, how the tables have turned."

"Interesting," Jongho smiled, "Does San have a new friend now?"

"The cat? Sure." San smirked.

"Ah, let's see how that changes," Jongho retorted, smirking back.

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

Seohyun tried to calm her nerves as she looked at herself in the mirror of the girls' toilet in her new school.

The nerves always got the better of her whenever it was her first day at a school. It usually took her about three days to get comfortable with a new environment. Seohyun sighed as she wiped her sweaty palms on her black skirt, staring at her light brown eyes. She wished she could cover them with her sunglasses so she could avoid the excessive eye contact with humans and ghosts. Sadly, she couldn't do that in class.

She finally took a deep breath and somehow managed to make herself walk to the office, where she met her homeroom teacher, a middle-aged woman. She walked along with her to her class, and the teacher smiled warmly at her as she nudged her to come along.

They entered the class and watched as the boys and girls went back to sit at their seats, the room slowly falling silent. The teacher cleared her throat.

"Good morning class, we have a new student today. Please introduce yourself."

Seohyun, who had been looking down the entire time, finally gathered whatever courage she had and ran her eyes along the class as she finally spoke.

"Good morning, I am Lee Seohyun. I hope we can get along well."

"Alright, why don't you find yourself a seat?" The teacher said and Seohyun nodded, looking at the few empty seats and considering her choices.

Her first priority was to sit as far away as possible. Preferably by the window. There was one empty seat in the furthest row, but it was next to the seat by the window already occupied by someone-

It was one of those boys. She only knew San's name for now, and it was the blonde one. She quickly scanned her other options and decided this was the best for now.

As she made her way, she realized the 8 of them were all sitting around the empty seat that she was about to sit on. San was in front of her, the strawberry blonde on her other side, the rest around them too. She wondered if the seat belonged to one of their friends so she quietly asked the blonde, "Is this seat free?"

He shook his head and she internally sighed in relief as she settled herself, focusing on whatever the homeroom teacher said, trying not to stare holes at the back of San's head, until she left a few minutes later and she slumped back in her chair.

San finally turned, raising his brows, "What a coincidence."

Seohyun shrugged, straightening her skirt. "Ironic, really."

"Is there a reason you changed schools?" The blonde turned towards her, resting his head on his hand as he looked at her curiously.

"Uh," Seohyun hesitated as she tried to recall her excuse for every time someone asked her this, "for convenience. It's closer to home."

"That's an interesting reason to change school," he replied, earning a shrug.

"Maybe she doesn't want to tell you why exactly. Am I right?" San locked eyes with her, his smirk growing.

"Maybe," Seohyun teased back.

"How's your cat?" She heard someone call, and she looked at the black haired boy.

"It's not exactly mine, but it's fine. Probably."

"That's... reassuring. I'm Wooyoung by the way. This is Yeosang-" he pointed to the blonde next to her, "San, and that's Yunho next to you."

She looked at Yunho and he waved shyly. "That's Seonghwa," he pointed in front of him, and when Seohyun nodded, he continued, "The blueberry is Hongjoong, the red one is Jongho, and that's Mingi over there."

Seohyun nodded slowly, looking at them all slowly. "Yunho, Seonghwa, Hongjoong blueberry,-"

"I heard that!" Hongjoong shouted, turning around and making a pout at Seonghwa. Ignoring him, she continued, "San, Jongho in the front, then Mingi beside him, Wooyoung and Yeosang. I got it."

"You're quick," Yunho grinned. Seohyun wished she could tell him that it was because of the several hundred ghosts she had met and had promised never to forget their names.

"So the 8 of you are friends?" She asked, and San nodded. "Why was this seat in the middle empty then?"

"Mingi used to sit here but his eyesight got worse so he moved to the front."

"Well, that explains..."

Their teacher walked in, a man in his 30s, and she found out he was to be her math teacher. At least he's not old and wrinkly, she thought as she took out her notebook.

---------

The rest of her day was uneventful, except for the break when the boys asked if she wanted to join them but she didn't. She said she had to go to the office, but that was a lie. She wanted to take a breather.

When they left, she looked again at her options. She was already regretting sitting among the group of friends. She was going to be a disturbance to them, or something even worse. She didn't want them to think she was weird. Not yet.

She surprised herself at the thought. Why did she care? She had never cared before. But she told herself it was probably because she had a few encounters with them before and it would be weirder if they found out now. That she was strange. They'd probably stop talking to her very suddenly. That part always hurt her, which was why she always avoided making friends.

Seohyun shook her head and looked at the empty seat in the middle of the room. The spot was out of question. Being in the middle of the room meant she could be surprised from anywhere by those damned ghosts.

Then there was one in the very front with the wall. She could go there, but...

She felt more comfortable here. The spot was perfect. The problem was the boys. They were in for disappointment.

She saw some girls staring at her. They were probably considering if they should talk and make friends with her. But Seohyun was in no mood for friends, so she just put her head on the desk and closed her eyes.

She almost drifted to sleep when she heard someone put something on her desk. She got up and saw that it was San. "We figured you didn't have time for lunch, so."

Seohyun looked from the bread and juice to San, and back at the food presented to her. "Thank you, that's uh... very kind of you?" She looked at San and Yeosang, and they laughed shamelessly at her.

"You don't sound so happy," Yeosang commented and she shook her head, sipping at the juice to prove her point as she said, "No, actually I'm glad, but it wasn't necessary."

They just shook her head at her, smiling as they absorbed themselves in some discussion. Seohyun silently ate the bread, wishing she could disappear because she didn't even know how to thank people properly.

At that moment, Jiwoo the ghost appeared, and Seohyun muttered, "About freaking time."

Jiwoo laughed and said, "I see you're having a good day."

"And I don't expect you to ruin it, so please live up to my expectations for once," Seohyun hissed, keeping her voice as low as possible, but it still made Seonghwa look at her once before he focused back on his friends.

Seohyun sighed. She couldn't write in her notebook now because they would definitely see it. And she couldn't talk. So she just folded her arms as she slowly sipped on the juice while Jiwoo danced around the classroom.

As soon as the bell rang indicating the end of the day, Seohyun sighed in relief. The day was over without any incident. She slowly packed her bag, thinking about her promise to meet a new ghost after her school. It was a girl about her age, and thankfully she understood what school demanded of her, so she had promised to not disturb her.

"You look ready to go to your bed and fall right asleep," Yeosang commented.

"Tell me about it," Seohyun muttered, wearing her bag and making her way out of the class, the boys not far behind.

San watched Seohyun walk as if she was in a hurry but couldn't care less at the same time. She would speed up, then slow down again, and repeat.

"Are you in a hurry?" Wooyoung asked her, falling in step with her.

"Uh, not really. Just can't wait to get home," she said, but her voice didn't match what she said. She sounded the least excited to do that.

"Long day, huh?" Wooyoung said and she finally passed him a smile. "So you know no one at this school?"

"Well," she said, "I am new."

"Well, you can be our friend. Only if you want to."

She stopped in her track, making San almost bump in her, and she muttered a sorry to him as she continued walking again. San decided he would join them now.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"Not sure you'd like me as a friend."

"And why do you think that?" San looked at her curiously.

Seohyun sighed, "I'm... how do I put it? I don't think I need friends. But that sounds rude. I don't mean to sound rude, it's just... better if you all don't mind me. I'd only be a bother and make everyone uncomfortable."

"We don't mind. We weren't all friends from the beginning. The group grew larger with time."

"And why do you think you don't need friends?" San asked.

Seohyun looked at him, then looked away, trying to avoid his steel gaze. "Not the type of person anyone would like as a friend."

"We won't know until we try though," Wooyoung said and smiled at her, making Seohyun wonder why the world didn't have more Wooyoungs.

"No harm in trying, right?" Yunho, who was behind her, vouched in.

Seohyun stopped to look at the odd group of friends, who were all smiling cheekily.

"You sure, blueberry?" She asked Hongjoong, who gasped in surprise. Yunho laughed out loud.

"If you don't call me blueberry, then why not?"

"Blueberry." Seohyun said and turned to walk away, hearing everyone laugh and make fun of Hongjoong. She saw the familiar figure of the ghost she had decided to meet, and she motioned with her eyes to turn to their left.

The ghost understood and it waited for her to turn left too. Seohyun looked back once at the boys who were now a good few steps behind, and she turned left, hoping no one had seen her, saw the empty road and joined hands with the ghost. She felt the familiar feeling of her heart sinking and her stomach flipping as the ghost teleported her to where it wanted to go.

The boys, who did notice her turning left in a hurry, followed soon after, only to find a very empty road with no where she could have gone or hidden.

"She did turn left. Right?" Mingi asked.

"She did. Didn't she? Or am I losing it finally?" Jongho muttered.

"Maybe it wasn't her?" Wooyoung suggested.

"But it was her. The grey in her hair..." Yunho said. "Maybe she turned right?" He looked at his right, where a few students were walking too.

San had been watching her and he was very sure she had turned left. Where she had gone... was a mystery.

"Strange..."

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

"That's... horrible."

Seohyun stood in front of a small house, the white walls glaring back at her. The ghost, a young girl only her age, had just teleported her to an empty alley near this house, which belonged to her best friend. The ghost had just finished telling her how she had died; a road accident by a drunk driver. Since she had died an untimely death, she couldn't do anything about it except mourn over her own death.

"But... people who die in such accidents usually like to make sure justice is served, and get the perpetrator punished. Don't you wanna do that?"

"Oh, I did," the girl pushed her long black hair back, "my parents are doing a good job there, so I wanna let them continue. I don't... want them to know that I'm still here. They should find their peace with all this."

"Wow," Seohyun couldn't help but be amazed at how thoughtful this girl was, "that's very wise of you actually. So what are we doing here?"

"I checked on my friend, Chaeyoung, and it seems like she's not... doing well. I want to somehow let her know that I'm okay. I think that's when I'll be able to move on."

Seohyun, for once, felt actually sorry for the friend. She didn't have a best friend so she couldn't relate, but having someone like that in your life and so suddenly losing them... must be very sad.

"Okay, let's do this," Seohyun said, taking a deep breath and taking off her baseball cap off. She smoothened her uniform and finally rang the bell.

"What if someone else is home, and she creates a ruckus-"

"I checked, she's alone for now." The girl said, and again, she mentally applauded the girl for being so thoughtful.

"Hey, what was your name again? I mean how do I introduce-"

At that moment, a tall girl sporting a bob and puffy eyes fresh from crying opened the door.

"Hi," Seohyun said.

"Do I know you?" Chaeyeong asked.

"You don't, but I'm here to talk to you. I heard your friend recently passed away-" Seohyun paused when Chaeyoung rolled her eyes and attempted to shut the door at her face.

"Wait!" Seohyun said and Chaeyoung paused.

"My name is Soojin." The ghost finally said, and Seohyun looked at her once, catching her nervous stance before turning back to Chaeyoung.

"You might not believe it, but Soojin is here," Seohyun said, and Chaeyoung pursed her lips. "And I don't have all day, so I'll just prove it. Soojin told me some stuff only the two of you would know. How you had a crush on her brother for the longest time, how you want to meet your childhood best friend who's moved to the States, how-"

"Wait," Chaeyoung stepped out, "How- when did Soojin tell you this? Are you Soojin's friend?"

"My name is Seohyun. and I'm sure you've never heard of me from Soojin," Chaeyoung nodded and Seohyun continued, "Soojin is here. She hasn't been able to move on to the afterlife or whatever it is ahead because she can't stand seeing you in pain and blaming yourself because you invited her over to meet with you. She wants you to know that her parents are doing a great job at making sure the drunk driver gets punished, and she wants you to know it's not your fault."

Seohyun watched Chaeyoung's eyes fill with tears at that, and she put a hand in front of her mouth as tears fell, "She's really here?"

"Right here," Seohyun pointed towards where Soojin stood.

"Can't I see her?" Chaeyoung asked, "I want to see her one last time. If I can."

"I'm afraid not," Seohyun sighed, "I don't know if that's possible. But she can see you and hear you right now, just like me. So I'll leave you to say your last goodbye. You can call me when you're done, okay Soojin?"

Soojin nodded and Seohyun went into the little garden in the house to give them some space. She watched as Chaeyoung cried and spoke to her best friend for the last time, falling to her knees. Soojin couldn't touch her, but she patted her head and it was like Chaeyoung could actually feel it.

Seohyun looked up at the cloudy sky. For once, she wished it was sunnier.

After a few minutes, Soojin called out to Seohyun. She awkwardly patted Chaeyoung on the back, and Soojin started speaking as Seohyun told Chaeyoung that Soojin loved her, and yes, it was her who kept sticking their photo back at the wall to give her a sign, and she wanted Chaeyoung to stop talking to the walls because she won't be there to listen to her anymore and that would only make her look crazy (at which Chaeyoung laughed).

"I don't have a best friend, but you guys, you both had something special. And I'm saying this from my self, that I hope you cherish the bond you both had in your heart and really move on. Do what you want to, because life is short," Seohyun said and smiled.

"Thank you. I'll do my best," Chaeyoung wiped the last of her tears.

"She's going now," Seohyun said, "She wants you to smile so that's the last thing she sees."

Chaeyoung smiled as tears fell from her eyes, and Soojin said, "This fool. I told her to smile."

"Stop being so petty, Soojin, she is smiling!"

"What did she say?" Chaeyoung asked.

"She said she asked you to smile, not cry," Seohyun said and Chaeyoung burst out laughing.

Soojin thanked Seohyun for helping her, and she watched as she shut her eyes, and disappeared in an instant.

Seohyun sighed, and Chaeyoung understood. "Thank you, Seohyun. I hope we can meet again?"

"Oh, you don't have to do that," Seohyun shook her head, "I just hope you'll have a good life ahead."

"I feel bad for not doing anything for you, maybe I could take you for some coffee next time?"

"Well, actually," Seohyun looked around, "there is something you can do. Can you tell me where I am? And can you call me a taxi?"

-----------

It turned out Seohyun was actually quite a while from home, so Chaeyoung ended up paying for the taxi because she felt bad for Soojin being so thoughtless when she teleported her here (at which Seohyun admitted Soojin was one of the wisest ghosts she had encountered). About 40 minutes later, Seohyun decided to drop by at a food street, because she was starving.

Seohyun walked through the hustling street, various food carts lining the street, several restaurants and cafes amidst them. She decided jjajangmyeon would do, so she sat alone at the table in the street, waiting for her meal. She was too tired to look at her phone so she just watched the people walking and eating.

She wished Jiwoo was here. Better than having no company. She wouldn't admit it, but she had grown quite used to her company. Jiwoo still hadn't been able to recall her memories of who she was and how she died, and why she was still hanging around. So Seohyun had left her at it.

Seohyun was so lost thinking about Jiwoo that she didn't notice Seonghwa, Hongjoong and Mingi approaching her until they stopped right in front of her.

"Of all the places," Seohyun wondered out loud, not caring how it might sound to them.

"It seems like we were meant to meet today," Mingi said dramatically, and Hongjoong slapped his arm as he said, "It looks like you haven't gone home yet. Isn't it very late?"

Seohyun sat back in her chair, putting one leg on top of the other. "And what do you care?"

"Ah, so that's what you meant when you said people don't like to have you as a friend," Hongjoong said, and Seonghwa gasped at his friend as he scolded him, but stopped when Seohyun laughed out loud.

"Since you're here, are you gonna take a seat or will you be continuing to walk aimlessly?"

"I guess we'll take a seat," Mingi said, and they all sat and decided to order food first.

"Aren't you cold?" Seonghwa asked, as he noticed how Seohyun put her bag on her bare legs.

"I am. But I'm okay," she said, and Seonghwa shook his head as he started to take off his jacket. "Oh please, I'm okay, I'll feel really bad if you do this."

"Nonsense, this is an extra layer anyway," Seonghwa handed her the jacket and she realized it was true; he did have many layers on him. So Seohyun put his jacket on her legs, muttering a thank you.

"So what's your story?" Hongjoong asked, and Seohyun raised her brows as she said, "You first. I'll talk after I have some food."

"Alright then," Hongjoong said, and told her how they all had been classmates since elementary, with Seonghwa and Hongjoong being friends since that time, until Wooyoung and Yeosang who had also been friends joined, then one by one the group grew.

"Interesting," Seohyun said, "And the 8 of you... How do you get along peacefully? I can't even get along with one."

Mingi pfft-ed at her. "We aren't exactly saints ourselves, but with us being 8, it becomes hard to take anyone serious."

Seohyun scoffed, "So the reason you all get along so well is because you all don't take anyone serious."

"Basically, yes," Mingi answered proudly, and food was served. Seohyun hungrily dig in, and Seonghwa scolded her for eating so quick.

"So with Seonghwa as a mother figure of the group," Seohyun began, "I can imagine why there is peace among all of you."

"Ha. ha. Very funny," Seonghwa rolled his eyes but Hongjoong and Mingi laughed, agreeing with her as they said, "She's not wrong."

She watched them bicker back and forth and wondered if this could really work out. They seemed very tightly knit, and she felt like an intruder. She wasn't even sure if they would feel comfortable with her. Why had they even asked her to be their friend?

"It really does show. That you've been friends for a long time," Seohyun commented, fiddling with her noodles.

"It does, huh?" Mingi smiled at her.

"Can I ask you something?" Seohyun said, and they nodded, "Why did you ask me to be your friend? I mean, you guys look okay as you are now. You don't need an extra friend in this group of yours. So why ask, and why me?"

"Well, how do I put it..." Hongjoong wondered out loud.

"You've got good aim," Mingi said, and for a second, Seohyun was lost before she realized.

"I didn't do that on purpose!" Seohyun's eyes were wide, and Mingi told her that he, of course, was joking, But he winked right after, which made her wonder if that was actually one of the reasons.

"Our group needs a girl. There are too many boys." Seonghwa said, and Seohyun raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sure there's no lack of girls in your school."

"There isn't... but they are too... girly?" Hongjoong seemed to think how to put it, and Seohyun folded her arms.

"And what if I am girly too?" Seohyun countered.

"You're just the right amount of weird. Yeosang already clicked so well with you. San loves your cat. You sit in the middle of us. You have no friends. Now you can't avoid it."

"Wow, okay," Seohyun finished her noodles as she thought about what they had said. "And what if... we don't get along?" Seohyun asked.

"We're not exactly forcing you, are we?" Hongjoong asked and she nodded, "If you like to stay alone, then fine. But Wooyoung, it was his idea. And he really knows when a person needs a friend."

"Oh," Seohyun realized what he meant. She looked like she needed friends.

"Plus, we do get along well, don't you think?" Mingi smiled.

"Well, what can I say, except that you'll find me really weird. And okay, I can try. But one day, you're gonna wonder why you even thought we could be friends. You'll wish you'd never asked me."

The three of them stared at her. Seohyun stared back and once again, the three of them burst out laughing.

"We're already regretting. Was it so hard to make friends, Hongjoong?" Mingi asked.

"I don't even remember. Wow."

Seohyun couldn't help but laugh as she thought how it was gonna be. It was true. No one took anything serious.

Maybe they'll never find out about her ghost problems then.

Or maybe they'll never believe her.

----------

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