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Harley D. Dixon 26

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📖Chapter List.

Author's Note.

We. Are. Back!!

It's been almost six months!! 😶 Motivation comes and goes, but I'm very happy to be posting again. Like I said in a comment on Ao3, this book is too special to me to ever abandon. Thank you for your patience!! 💙

When Rick kicks the stool out from under Jim's feet, there's a simple crunch sound, and then he's dead.

I watch from afar as his body dangles from the rafters like a doll filled with sand, wondering why I thought it would be louder. It feels like I can breathe again. As if I've had a noose of my own wrapped around my throat until this very moment. Jim's dead. He ain't a threat. Just dead and dangling. Silence pours out across the farm. It feels strangely comforting; a hug from somebody you thought you didn't like.

I know Dale would disagree. I don't gotta ask to know he didn't want this.

If he weren't under six feet of dirt and bugs right now, I think I'd tell him I'm sorry.

Not just for Jim having to die, but also for being angry. He knew it never did nobody any good to be angry. If I hadn't told Carl to leave that muddy walker alone, wanting it to suffer and pay for some crime weren't even its fault, then maybe Dale would still be here.

I kinda realize in this moment that I don't care if dead people don't gotta see bad things. Because Dale ain't get to see the good things anymore, either. Like books and soup. Hugs, jokes. The baby, once it's born. Neither does Momma or Sophia or Shane.

It's like Jim said. I should be dead by now. On account of all laws of nature and chance, I should be long dead.

But obviously, I ain't.

And I'd be a stupid, silly, brainless little girl to not think that makes me at least a little bit lucky.

As I fiddle with the metal buckle of my overalls, Dad and Rick carry Jim outta the shed, their hands hooked around the dead man's armpits and ankles. Carol's probably thinking something like, He's with his loved ones now. But I ain't Carol, and I don't believe in heaven, so all I'm thinking is, I hope it didn't hurt. I've never had my neck snapped before, so I wouldn't know. They shuffle over to the pile of wood and walker bodies, tossing him on top, dusting their hands off on their pants. They's gonna burn him. No graves for them that ain't family.

Good. We have enough of those, anyway.

Dad and Rick turn away from the pile, their faces largely blank.

Before they can see me, I stand from my spot near the fence and scurry away, because I know I'm not meant to be watching.

That morning, everybody gets busy doing something. Whether it's bringing supplies into the house or cleaning a grimy rifle, nobody's twiddling they thumbs. There's something about putting work into a thing that needs it that clears the mind, I guess. Stops us from thinking about Jim, anyhow. Me, I help out by going around with a basket of fresh fruit, handing them out to anybody who wants some.

The first people I swing by are Rick and T. They've begun reinforcing the fences together, using old metal sheets and planks of wood to barricade any weak points they find. They gratefully take a juicy pear each, leaning against their handiwork to bite into the sweet flesh, groaning at the taste. Something nice happens in my chest when I see them smile. It's like looking at a puppy. You just can't be sad.

"Wow, this is good," T-Dog nods, turning the fruit over in his hand. "Thanks, Harley."

Rick doesn't say nothin', but I'm just glad to see him enjoying himself. Even for just a moment.

I head over to Patricia and Carol next, who are scrubbing at some laundry over by the trees. I earn myself two more smiles when they take a couple peaches, leaving them to their own devices and making my way through everyone else. Herschel, keeping Maggie company as she hangs up some wet clothes over a line in the sun. Jacqui and Lori, tidying up camp a bit, preparing lunch. Jimmy, polishing guns.

When I give a pear to Dad, who's fixing some of his crossbow bolts, he kisses my cheek as thanks.

And Beth. I don't forget her. She sits in the bay window of her bedroom, nibbling away at a green apple.

I know eating a good piece of fruit ain't never stopped nobody from wanting to kill themselves, but everything counts.

I've only got a peach, apple, and a pear left tumbling around in my basket when I approach Glenn and Andrea. They're stood around the hood of Dale's RV, frowning into the rubber tubes and gears like there's a jigsaw puzzle in there, muttering to each other.

"You gotta tap it three times," I think he's saying, pointing at something, "And—"

"— And give her a twist," Andrea sighs, throwing her hands up. "I know, I know."

Glenn notices me out the corner of his eye. He doesn't light up exactly, but the tension leaves his shoulders. "Oh. Hey, Harley."

"Hey." I give a little smile, holding out the basket. "Y'all want some fruit?"

"Ugh. Yes, please."

They each pick one out, leaving me with the apple. I toss the basket onto the nearby folding chair and bite into its waxy skin, the sugary juices leaking down my chin. It's sweet as candy. Well, from what I remember candy tastin' like, anyway. It's delicious.

Andrea seems to agree. "God. Remind me to always become stranded on a farm with an orchard."

Glenn bites a chunk out of his peach as he takes the screwdriver from the blonde, scooting around her to stand in front of the exposed engine. "Here. Let me have a go... Dale told me that in these old vehicles, the points get corroded."

I wipe my sticky chin, watching as he pokes around with the small tool.

Dale knew everything there was to know about this RV. Whenever it broke down, he didn't even need to check beneath the hood before he knew exactly what was wrong with it. Hell, even I've picked up on its quirks by now, and I know jack about vehicles. There's all sorts of screws and bolts and duck tape crammed into the poor thing's inner workings, but it just refuses to die. Like a stubborn old mule.

A bit like Dale. No matter how many times ya put that old man down, he'd come back ten times stronger.

"I let him down," Glenn suddenly sighs, and it's easy to know who he's talking about.

I glance over his shoulder, through the front windshield. Dale's ridiculous amount of souvenir air fresheners still hang from the mirror. Oklahoma. Illinois. Missouri. Kansas. That ain't even half of 'em. We used to tease him about them, but he always just laughed us off and recited some philosophical quote from a dead guy about how memories feed the soul, or whatever.

Nobody ever understood it when he said stuff like that, but I still know we all miss it.

"He was proud of you," Andrea tells him; then me, "Both of you."

I sheepishly look away, picking at the stem of my apple. No, he weren't. But that's nice of her to say.

"That's easy for you to say." Glenn shakes his head. "You had his back."

She doesn't know what to say for a moment.

"Well... All I know is that there's no way he didn't know how much we all cared for him, even in the end. He was too smart for that."

I got no doubts about that. He knew everything. Knew everything about the RV, about poetry, about us. He was just one of them types of people. I only wish I hadn't argued with him that day, but I argue with Dad all the time, and he still loves me. So, can't all be bad.

Glenn pulls back from the engine with a resolute, "Welp... That should do it."

When Andrea climbs inside and twists the key into the ignition, I'm proven right. This old RV just refuses to die.

"Well done, Glenn," I smile over the noise of the engine. "You did it."

He turns to me with a smile of his own, looking proud of himself.

After that, he and Dad leave the farm to search for a hearing aid.

Maggie hands them a list of houses they can try their luck in, and then we exchange the usual goodbye hugs and kisses before waving them off. There ain't no use in sitting around, wondering if they're going to get bitten and die because of me, so I leave to find something I can distract myself with instead. Luckily, Rick and T-Dog are more than happy to let me help them out with the fences.

If we're gonna get serious about staying here at the farm, we're gonna have to make some upgrades.

I obidiently tail them as they work, lugging around a bucket filled with rusty nails to pass to them.

"You know, Harley," Rick grunts as he hammers a scrap of metal to the wooden posts, "Carl still ain't stopped chewin' my ear off about all those things you taught him the other day. If I have to hear the word 'mushroom' one more time... I'll go crazy."

I pluck a nail from the pile and hand it to T-Dog.

Just to be annoying, I say, "Mushroom, mushroom, mushroom."

"Hey. Watch it." He scolds me, but not very well. He's smiling. "Anyway. You two ain't on good terms right now, are you?"

I raise a brow. "How'd ya know?"

"Well, I figured you'd be playin' with him right now if you were. And to be honest, he's been in a bit of a mood lately."

I huff a little, silently cursing Rick's parents for making him like this. "We squabbled. That's all."

He hums thoughtfully.

"Whenever I argued with my sisters," T-Dog tells us, "They'd start messin' with me. They'd hide my Xbox controller. Eat my snacks."

Rick chuckles. "They sound nice."

"Yeah, you could say that," He chuckles along with him. "A real pair of peaches."

"Well, Carl ain't done any of that," I suppose, adjusting the bucket in my grasp, "But he did call me a stupid baby."

Rick turns to look at me. "What?"

"He snitched on me about the shed and called me a stupid baby. Then I told him I hated his guts."

As I stand there, he fixes at me with a funny, What am I going to do with you?, sort of look, until he returns his attention to the work at hand. "Well, he was right to 'snitch' on you, but I'll have a talk with him when I can. It's not okay to name-call."

"I think it's 'cause he's gonna be a brother soon." I think aloud. "He said he's gotta protect me."

T-Dog argues, "You got all of us here to protect you. Boy's got nothing to stress about."

"I know. He just likes bein' somebody's keeper."

Hammering the last nail into the metal, Rick gives the thing a bit of a shake to test its strength, pleased to see it won't budge.

"Okay, I think this one's good." He decides. "Let's move onto the next one."

As we gradually make our way down the fence line, we continue chatting away about other useless things. The weather, future plans for the farm. Something we don't talk about, though, is the baby inside Lori's belly. I don't think Rick wants to think about it, let alone talk about it. He must be mulling over all the hundreds of things that could go wrong. As the leader, that's his special talent.

By the time we reach the area around the barn, I'm not listening to the conversation anymore. It's difficult to concentrate on making out their voices for such a long time, so I just tune myself out, absentmindedly gazing past the two of them, into the field.

That's when I notice something off about the burning pile.

It's still sitting there, a boring bunch of wood and junk, but the problem is I can't seem to spot Jim's body on it.

I know they didn't move it to some other place, and it's definitely not been lit on fire yet, so it can't be that.

When Rick holds out his hand for me to pass him another nail, I leave him hanging. He frowns down at me in concern; confusion. I think he says my name, but then he follows my gaze, followed suit by T-Dog. I can tell the exact moment they catch on.

"Okay," T-Dog levels with nobody in particular, holding up his hands, "That's creepy as shit."

"Stay here," Rick wearily tells us, before jogging away to investigate.

I don't need to be told twice. Clutching the bucket to my stomach like it's a teddy bear, I huddle closer to T, letting him step in front of me as if a chupacabra is gonna pop out from under the debris and gobble us all up. We watch Rick approach the burn pile, creeping up on it, concerned he might wake it up. He peeps this way and that, the hammer held tight in his grasp, ready to strike.

Was Jim bit, I find myself wondering, Was he bit, and we just didn't notice?

No. No, that can't be right. If he was bit, he would've turned long before we had the chance to hang him.

Rick flinches backward. He gawks at his own two feet. I think he might've crossed paths with a snake, or even that chupacabra, but then a hand shoots out from behind the burn pile and we learn the thing tryna bite him ain't an animal. It's got black hair and a grubby red shirt, a pair of milky eyeballs. It's Jim. He crawls after Rick like he's tryna avenge his own death, his neck still swollen and wrong.

Once he's absorbed his own shock, Rick brings the hammer down on Jim's skull, but he's fresh, so it's not mushy like it is usually. He has to bludgeon him two, three, four more times before the bone cracks open like an egg, wet brains dribbling down his face.

We all catch our breaths. I don't think any of us were prepared to watch Jim die twice today.

"Where was the bite?" T-Dog calls out, sounding like he's about to barf all over himself.

Rick kneels to check under Jim's shirt, flip him over, roll up his pant legs, because of course he does. There has to be a bite.

But when he stands, he calls back, "I can't see one."

There's a gaping pause between us all.

"Well, it ain't on his ass cheek, is it?"

Rick raises a brow as he steps over the body. "You wanna go check, be my guest."

"Nah, thank you, man." He answers drily, eyeing the blood dripping from the head of the hammer. "Well, what the Hell happened?"

Instead of telling us he doesn't know, or offering up a theory, Rick just sighs. He tosses the hammer into the little wagon we've been pulling along with us, rubbing at the faint wrinkles on his forehead. I remain hiding behind T-Dog. I know there's no snake or chupacabra to be heard of, and now, not even a Jim. But I don't like the danger in the air. The danger of something being wrong and not knowing what it is.

Rick lowers his hand, gaze landing on me. He keeps it there for a moment.

To be a walker, you gotta get bit. I can't see one. Everyone knows that.

"Come on," He eventually mutters, reaching to take the heavy bucket from me. "Let's get back to the house."

"Rick, what's wrong?" I whine as he grabs my hand. "We ain't workin' on the fence no more? Why?"

T-Dog snatches up the handle of the wagon and hurries after us.

"Don't worry about it, honey," He soothes, giving my fingers a squeeze. "The grownups will handle it, okay?"

Rick says this, just like he always has, but all he does when we get back to camp is eat lunch and talk to Maggie about our progress on the fence. I decide it's not a big deal. I trust him. Maybe he's just waiting until me and Carl aren't around to talk with the other adults about it. Maybe Jim did somehow get bit while he was in the shed. Maybe it really was on his ass cheek. I won't pretend to know.

In any case, I dig into my scrambled eggs and buttered bread without giving it much more thought.

After lunch, the three of us go back to working on the fence, anyway.

"Hope you enjoyed the apple."

With her forehead resting against the window, Beth gazes down at the farm, like some lonely angel peering down at another world. The afternoon sun gently contours the subtle curves of her girlish face, which isn't looking nearly as dreadfully pale as it did before.

"I did," She answers sweetly, smiling as I come to sit next to her on the thin cushions. "Thanks, by the way."

I give a shrug. "Yer sister says peach and pear season's just about up, so all we's got for a while is apples, anyway."

She surprises me by giggling at me, a pretty tinkling sound that suits her. "That shouldn't be a problem for you, right?"

My cheeks go warm. "Huh?"

"I saw you," She explains, a fondness in her eyes. "Chowin' down on that apple just before."

"When I was wit' Glenn and Andrea?"

She nods. "You were smiling. It was nice."

I contemplate calling her a stalker, but all that comes outta my mouth is an amused scoff, rolling my eyes and turning to look out the window. I understand why she likes it up here. I can see the whole farm. People milling about camp, chickens pecking at the ground. And off in the distance, the herd of black cows dotting the paddocks like little beetles, munching on bales of hay. And quiet. Precious quiet.

I glance at the distant treeline, thinking about the recent whispers of the horde. I brush it off quick as I can.

I steal a glance at Beth, instead.

That little smile is still pulling at her lips, a lively glint in the soft green of her eyes.

For some reason - mainly my talent for speaking without thinking - I ask her suddenly, "Do you still wanna die?"

She stiffens ever so slightly, and I only have a few short moments to feel awful about it before she meets my eyes.

"I just mean," I continue, wishing I ever knew the right thing to say. I think back to when Carl was in my exact position, asking nicely for me to not do what Beth did. He also threatened to smack me in the face, but I don't imagine that would go over too well with Beth. Neither would shouting at her like Dad. So, I just do something stupid, another one of my talents, and I improvise. "I been worried about you. Not, like, pity or nothin', but... I know how you feel. And after Dale... I realized that just 'cause people die, it don't mean I gotta die, too. It ain't a reason to wanna die. It's a reason to wanna live. 'Cause I'm just glad I ever knew Dale and Sophia and everyone else that died at all."

I feel encouraged by her glassy expression to keep talking. Not that I could stop myself if I tried.

"So that makes us lucky, y'know. Yer Momma's dead. My Momma's dead. But we loved 'em, and you can keep lovin' other people, but not if you're in a grave somewhere. Besides, it would just pass it on to them that would miss us. Not worth it, if ya ask me."

When I finish my word puke, she pins me with a tense, watery look that makes my insides cramp up.

"Maggie told me," She says, "That if I decided to keep living, that I'd find moments where I'd know I made the right decision."

She takes a deep breath, chuckling afterward.

"I think this is one of those moments," She decides.

"It is?"

I feel a weird sense of pride. I know me and my stupid apple and bad advice didn't singlehandedly solve anythin', but I was able to make her realize she don't got nothin' to regret by surviving her own mind, and that's more than enough for me.

I nod, trying not to smile, because this is supposed to be a serious moment. "Good. That's... good."

Her chuckles turn into laughter. "Why you so awkward all the darn time, Harley?"

Then I'm being wrapped up in a hug. I hate hugs. But this one ain't too terrible.

When we part, I ask her, "Are we friends?"

She seems to find that funny. "'Course."

"Well, my Dad and Glenn are gonna be gone for a few more hours," I tell her, "So, we should play something 'til then."

Beth warns me that she's seventeen years old, so she might not be able to play the same way me and Carl play, but that's okay. We don't have to play pretend or anything. We can do something she likes. Apparently, that's painting our nails. I have to try not to pull a face, but I guess I end up pulling one anyway, because she bursts into giggles and pulls me to my feet. I'm not the biggest fan of girly things. It's just not what I grew up with. I'm used to scuffing my nails while climbing trees and playing in the dirt, not painting them. But I'll give it a go.

"What's your favorite color?" She asks me, setting me down on her bed and rummaging through her desk.

"Yellow," I chirp.

"Actually," She lilts, pulling out a little bottle of yellow polish, squinting at the label. "It's Electric Spring Citrus."

I scoot over to make room for her on the bed, presenting my nails to her.

The afternoon slips away easily after that.

Nighttime paints over the orange sky.

Me and Beth have migrated downstairs by the time the sun has disappeared beneath the farm, lured in by the domestic commotion of dinner being prepared. It's soup again. I recognise the smell by now. While we wait to be served by Maggie and Patricia, the rest of us gather around the coffee table, ribbing each other as we break the rules of a card game Jacqui suggests. Carl keeps cheating by lying about what cards he has, but he's too dumb to realize he'll have to show them to us at some point. I laugh hysterically when he loses.

"You weren't listenin' to the rules, was ya?" I enjoy taunting him as he goes red. "Typical!"

He complains, "Shut up, Harley!"

"Okay, okay," Lori placates, doing a very bad job of hiding her smile behind her fan of cards. "Settle down."

I almost don't think about Dad and Glenn or Dale or Sophia or Shane or Momma for the whole game. By my standards, that makes for a good time. Carl continues losing miserably, whining even more miserably-er, while Jacqui beats us over and over again.

I'm reminded of the night we had our first dinner together - The one where Patricia made everyone feel super uncomfortable, and then I almost died. It's hard to believe this is the same house and the same people. Probably because it's filled with laughter.

We continue playing even through dinner.

When I lose for the fifth time, I take my bowl of soup and retire to one of the sofas, settling in next to Rick and quietly sipping at the warm broth. He sends me a bit of a look as if to ask me if I'm okay, probably reading my face in that weird way he got, noticing I'm thinking about Dad and Glenn. I reply with a simple nod. He doesn't seem satisfied with that response, but he can't do nothin' about it.

It's too noisy in here for him to talk to me, and neither of us know a single lick of sign language.

So, he just gives me a thumbs up and hopes it gets the point across. They'll be okay.

Eventually, even Herschel gets roped into playing.

"Hey, I actually happen to know a thing or two about this," He tells us, before proceeding to eviscerate Jacqui at her own game.

We all go awww, as she throws down her cards.

"Darn..." She sighs. "You weren't lyin', old man."

"As Jesus as my witness," He holds up a hand, "I never lie."

Lori asks, "Where'd you learn to get this good?"

"I used to spend a lot of my time in bars, young lady." He explains. "I got more than enough practice finessing card games."

"Well, I'd say it paid off."

He raises his fluffy white brows. "They used to call me Great-Hand Greene back in the day, you know."

Everybody in the room can't help but laugh.

"Now, Daddy," Maggie exclaims, "That's a lie!"

Great-Hand Greene calmly enlightens her, "It surely isn't."

This is the moment headlights turn into the driveway. Everyone turns to look. My heart squeezes. Dad and Glenn. The two lights come to a sudden stop, watching us like two eyeballs through the dark. The sound of doors slamming. I place my bowl on the coffee table and hurry out of the lounge room, followed by some other footsteps. But when I reach the foyer, the door bursts open without my doing.

Dad first, then Glenn. Both of my lungs deflating in relief, and then both of them knotting right back up again.

"That horde's headed this way," Dad wastes no time in announcing, "And it ain't stopping for nothin'."

Everybody freezes. A horde? The horde? Headed our way? Right now?

Rick pushes past everyone. "You saw it?"

"Trust me, man." He jokes dryly, shaking his head. "You can't miss this thing anymore."

"There were hundreds of them," Glenn agrees, frantic. His hair is suckered to his forehead with sweat, even though the season's turned. "We were over by Mallory Road when we caught wind of them; got us stuck for a couple hours until we could slip past."

"Not that it matters now," Dad snides.

Maggie asks, "Were you able to get the hearin' aid?"

He gives a nod, but nobody's paying attention. "Bits and pieces."

"Patricia," Herschel orders, our card game long forgotten, "Kill the lights."

We follow Rick out onto the porch. The night welcomes us with a cold gust of wind. At first, I can't see much of anythin', but then the lights blink out one by one and my stomach drops into the floorboards. On the other side of the field, leaking out from between the trees, are bodies, bodies, and bodies, so many it's not worth trying to count. They make the group on the highway look like a couple of stragglers.

As the masses of feet stumble up the driveway, I'm hit with the feeling that our fences aren't going to save us.

"I'll get the guns." Andrea mutters, and I think that feeling has hit everyone else, too.

Rick runs off in the direction of the cars. It's where we've kept our bags of emergency supplies for a time like this. Does that mean we're gonna leave? Or are we gonna fight? Is it even possible? I didn't even get to finish my soup. That feels important, somehow.

"Maybe they're just passing." Somebody stupidly guesses. "Like that herd on the highway."

"Should we go back inside?"

"Not unless there's a tunnel downstairs I don't know about." Dad drawls, gazing out. "Horde this size will rip the house down."

I worry up at him, "Daddy, I don't want it to rip the house down."

He shushes me, putting a strong hand on the nape of my neck, squeezing reassuringly. I let it calm me. I feel a fool for panicking, but if there were ever a time to panic, it would be now. I cling to him as Andrea dumps the bag of guns on the floor. She passes them out to everyone that got two thumbs and a brain. Maggie, Glenn, Dad, Rick. Jimmy. Even Herschel. Nobody is being left out of this fight.

Not even me and Carl. A gun is pushed each of our hands. You know how to use it, I remind myself.

"This the plan, then?" Dad confirms with everyone, because it's crazy. "We take 'em all on?"

Andrea passes me a loaded mag. I don't have to count the bullets inside to know it's not enough.

"We have guns. We have cars."

"We kill as many as we can." She's on board. "We'll use the cars to lead the rest of them off the farm."

"The burn pile," Glenn adds, "There's a bunch of kerosine and matches down there. We could lure them into the barn, set it on fire."

Rick climbs back onto the porch. "Bags are all packed. If things start to get hairy, we can leave."

"We're not leaving." Herschel argues.

"Herschel—"

"This is my farm." His voice booms as he pumps a pair of fat bullets into his shotgun's chamber, fire in his eyes. "I'll die here."

"Alright." Dad lilts over the droning rumble of death incoming, looking around for objections. "It's as good a night as any."

I get herded into Maggie's car. Dad gives my face a kiss and slams the door shut. I bump the mag up into the chamber. I know how to use it. I do. Two more slams. Glenn at the wheel, Maggie in the passenger seat. I've shot two walkers before, when I was out in the woods with Shane. I just have to do it again. And after that, again and again until they're all gone. Glenn stomps on the gas. The car screeches forward, ripping through the grass, barrelling into the night. I don't even bother buckling myself in. That's not how I would die tonight.

"You got enough ammo back there, honey?" Maggie fusses, digging through the glovebox and throwing me a spare.

"Thanks." I catch the cardboard box, trying not to shiver as Glenn rolls down all the windows. Groans and wind flood the car.

He shouts, "Start shooting!"

Just like that, gunshots erupt from all possible angles.

I grip my pistol tight, aim it out the window. You're gonna hold it like this, Shane's voice tells me, Firm. Confident. You're the one in control, here. I'm in control. My home's bein' invaded by the dead, and a horde this size might rip the house down, but I'm in control. The car spins. I lurch. It's hard to aim like this, but I gotta try. I line my eye up with the wobbling sight. I breathe in and out.

I squeeze. BANG.

I can't even tell what I hit, or if I hit anything at all, but it don't matter. I squeeze again. BANG.

Glenn weaves us in and out, around, through the horde, never getting too close, never veering too far.

In the other car, T-Dog, Andrea, and Carl. They swerve around us, shooting down every dead bastard they can hit.

I squeeze. BANG.

BANG, and again, BANG, and again, BANG.

The jaw of a nearby walker explodes off its meaty hinges. It swings around. It trips. It slumps. I've killed it.

"How we doing back there, Harley?" Glenn calls out. "You okay?"

"I— I'm fine!" I shout back, pulling my body back into my seat to reload.

I peel open the box of ammo. A curse falls from my tongue when the little bullets go tumbling onto my feet, rolling under the seats. I quickly snatch them up, shoving them into the mag. On the other side of the car door, fireworks of gunpowder and bullets, squealing tires and breaking bones, a blazing Hellfire lighting up the sky. Orange and roaring. I notice it, then. Dad. Rick. That must be them. They've set the barn on fire. It's cracking and falling to pieces, a burning church. The walkers fight to get inside like it's the last Sunday on Earth.

An important beam succumbs to the flames, snapping in half like a broken twig, bringing the rest down with it.

I hear wood breaking, and then there are chickens running lose across the field, screaming, flapping.

I squeeze and I squeeze and I squeeze. BANG.

A rotten old man crumples to the ground. BANG.

A lady's shoulder bursts open, a pop of bone and muscle. BANG.

A girl with one of the poor birds in her mouth, choking on feathers, dead. BANG.

For every one we kill, five more are there within a heartbeat to replace it. Glenn's foot falters on the pedal, and we come to a crawl, and then a stop, unable to do much but watch as the farm is consumed. This is a losing battle. There's no other type.

Herschel said we weren't leaving tonight, but that can't be true. I guess he is a liar, after all.

"We gotta go," Maggie's shaking her head, the tears in her eyes collecting like little pearls. "We're not gonna win this. We gotta go."

As if only to prove her point, the barn collapses once and for all. I almost feel like crying.

"I'm sorry, Maggie." Glenn says weakly.

Yeah. Me, too. I gaze out at the oak tree, still standing bravely; the little wooden crosses clueless beneath it.

As Glenn drives us back into the chaos, my pistol stays in my lap. I don't got any bullets left, anyway. I just sit there, watching everything pan by. Mine and Dad's camping spot, tucked away in the distant trees, just how we liked it. The crumbled fireplace where I talked to Dale for the last time. The shed. The swing outside it me and Carl used to play on. The orchard. The patch of dirt where Sophia died.

I wish I had the power to know when things were gonna end. That way, I could've savoured my last day.

It's not as cool as the superpower's them people in Carl's comics got, but it's the one I'd want.

It was silly. Working on the fences today with Rick and T-Dog made me think we were gonna be okay.

When I look up, we're approaching the house. Jacqui's sitting on the porch steps all by herself, staring out at us.

Glenn pulls us in close, getting out and hovering around the hood of the car, waving her over. "Come on! We gotta go!"

I crawl across the seats and shove open the door. "Jacqui? Come on!"

She's not coming. Why is she not coming? The door is open. We can all leave together. When I call out her name again, she convulses ever so slightly, as if she's got a bad cough but doesn't wanna let it out. I feel my face fall all at once. Her arm gives out, slumping from her neck, into her lap. I notice the blood first, all ten gallons of it, and then the bite. Her muscles spasm again. Oh. No, no, no.

"Jacqui?" I call out uselessly, but Glenn's already back in the driver's seat and Jacqui's already dying.

"C-Close your door, Harley," He orders, slamming his own.

She's dying. We can't stay here. I know both these things, but it still takes everything in me to pull the door shut.

After that, the deaths just keep coming. We drive past Patricia as the horde pull her into their mouths, Jimmy as he stumbles from the RV, clutching at his open throat. There's nothing we can do for any of them, but we manage to reach Carol just in time. She climbs into the seat next to me, and we ask her if she's seen anybody else, but she hasn't; she hasn't seen anybody.

Turning my face to the open window, I let the wind dry my tears, seein' as my Daddy ain't here to do it for me.

The faces of the horde pass by, a sea of rats on a burning ship.

I want to go collect my things. I want to pet the cows one last time. I want to do everything we won't get to.

My body lurches all on its own, then.

A face in the crowd. It's different from the rest. I'm not good with faces or names, something my teachers used to grumble over, but I'm good with this one. That one walker, tucked in with the rest of them, wearing the Police cap. It's Shane Walsh, dead and walking.

How? How is that possible? Why are the tears back tenfold, now?

Lit by the moon and the flames, I see his broken cheekbones for the first time since that day, the way they're bulbous like apples, mishappen like clay. Everything about him is wrong. His nose is broke. Clothes all mussed up. Ribs pouring. His eyes are glossed over. He don't seem to mind his broken body, or the fire, or the smoke. He just wants what all other walkers want. To bite into something. It's him, but not.

I almost want him to look at me. I clutch my locket, wanting our eyes to meet just to make him prove it.

This just can't be true. He didn't get bit. He got shot and beaten, but he didn't get bit.

As if I've willed him to do it, he looks my way.

"Carol," I croak, watching as he noses at the air like the animal Dad always said he was, "You got any bullets left?"

I feel something being placed in my hand. It feels just like the locket, but colder. I shakily load it into the chamber; lift the gun. I believe in you, His voice is back. Now line your eye up with the sight. I stare down the barrel, carefully placing his face on top of the sights. I only have this one bullet. I can't miss. Not only because I need to put him down, but because I think I want to make him proud.

Breathe, I take a deep breath, In and out.

Damn it. These fuckin' tears, they're messing up my aim. I smack them away and line up my shot again.

And squeeze.

BANG.

All the air rushes outta my lungs as his body hits the ground, disappearing amongst the horde.

I lower the gun.

Carol's already looking at me before I glance her way.

When we peel onto the highway, I can still see the flames burning over the tops of the trees, like some old religious painting.

Maggie breaks the silence. "What if nobody else made it?"

Nobody answers. I preferred it when the only noise in the car was the gentle humming of the engine, but I can't blame her for asking. We got no idea who else made it out alive. The four of us are all alone out here. Ain't no phone number we can just dial to ask if they're alright.

"They made it," Glenn eventually just decides, staring out at his high beams on the dark road. "They had to."

"Well, how are we going to find them?" Carol asks innocently, petting my hair as I lay my head in her lap. "They could be anywhere."

Maggie sighs. "We could circle back to that place I found y'all on the highway?"

"No," Mumbles Glenn. I can see his finger tapping against the wheel. "No, the horde came from that direction."

That's where our ideas run dry.

"Glenn?" I whine, clutching at my temple. He glances at me in the mirror, concern in his eyes. "My head. The ringing. Hurts."

He makes a troubled sound. "It must've been all those gunshots... I'm sorry."

Carol suggests, "Maybe we should just stop somewhere for the night."

There's a pause between them, but it's a short one, because it doesn't take much for Glenn to agree. He's musing to himself about how we can't drive all night. It would be a better use of gas to drive in the daylight. But really, we all know it's because he's a big softie.

He pulls us into a little nook on the side of the highway, killing the engine and turning on the ceiling light.

"I'm sorry," He says again, as if he put the ringing inside my head himself. "Maybe there's something in the supplies?"

Maggie unzippers the bag at her feet, pushing around the stuff inside it, shaking her head. "Just some water. Thirsty?"

I shake my head.

"I think we should all get some sleep." Says Carol, her voice a whisper.

Yeah. A good sleep sounds really good right about now. I think we've earnt it. Georgia will still be here when we wake up.

"Okay." He reaches up to press the ceiling button that turns on the moon, its dim white light spilling across the console in the dark. We all loosen slightly, completely exhausted. "We can just pick up again tomorrow. I'm sure the others are doing the same thing."

"Goodnight," Maggie tries to smile, reaching around her seat to stroke my shoulder.

"Goodnight," I mumble, echoed by Glenn and Carol, and then it's silent.

I close my eyes.

No eggs and buttered bread for breakfast today. Just a stale granola bar I gotta split with Carol, and a sip of water I gotta split with all three of them. After we take turns peein' in the bushes outside, we're back on the road again, and we're on it all day.

I don't know where we're going. I don't think Glenn knows, either.

I'm starting to think we might be driving all night, too, by the time we run into the others. That's right, the others. Herschel's shitty old pick-up truck is parked in a swath of brown leaves on the side of the road, right next to Dad's truck and bike, and another grey car.

When Glenn pulls on the brake, I think we're all crying happy tears, but I'm too busy crying happy tears to notice.

I climb out, grinning, running into my Dad's arms.

"Harley," He sighs in relief as he picks me up, squeezes me tight. "I knew they'd take good care of ya."

"I knew you'd take good care of you," I giggle, hooking my chin over his shoulder.

"How did you guys find each other?" Glenn marvels.

"Well, when I saw their little Toyota goin' the speed limit," He nods behind him, "Figured there just had to be a cop at the wheel."

As chuckles break out between the group, he places me back on the ground.

Maggie asks, "Where's the rest of us?"

"We're the only ones that made it so far," Rick answers, and it's now I notice just how much smaller we are now; barely ten. We're just as alone as we were when it was just me, Glenn, Maggie, and Carol. No shelter, no food, no direction. Feathers in the wind.

"Where's Andrea?"

Lori shakes her head. "She was with us at the farm, but we got separated."

"Did you see Jacqui?"

Jacqui. Poor Jacqui. Maggie, Glenn, and I share a look without even meaning to.

"It was awful, Dad," I mutter, the memory caught in my throat, "We found 'er by the house, but we had to leave her behind."

Glenn explains, "She was bit."

"They got Patricia, too." Beth says. "Took her right in front of me. I was holdin' onto her, Daddy, but they just..."

"We saw Jimmy, too." Maggie sighs as Herschel wraps her little sister in a hug. "He was in the RV. It got overrun."

"But, you guys definitely saw Andrea?"

"There— There were walkers everywhere," Lori seems sorry to say, "But, yeah. We saw her."

"Well, we have to go back for her."

Rick argues, "We don't even know if she's still there."

"She ain't." Dad butts in. "She's either somewhere else or she's dead."

"So, we're not even gonna look for her?"

"No. We gotta keep moving." Rick agrees. "There's walkers all over the place."

Maggie scoffs, "That's an understatement if I ever heard one."

"I say we head East." Dad suggests, pointing vaguely in the direction of the sinking sun, cresting through the fog. "Head East, and stay off any main roads like this one. Bigger the road, the more walkers we gon' run into. The more assholes like this one."

He lifts his hands from where he's been resting them on my back, swinging the crossbow off his shoulder.

"I got him." He grumbles, sending a bolt through the stray walker's nose.

"Well, I hate to tell you guys," T-Dog scratches at his head, "But we been riding red for the past hour."

"We can't all fit into two cars."

Rick decides, "We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning."

"Spend the night here?" Beth hisses, shivering lightly. "I'm freezin'."

"We'll build a fire." He gestures at my Dad. "You can go out lookin' for firewood, but stay close."

He raises a greasy brow. "I only got so many arrows, man. We can't just sit here with our asses hangin' out."

"Watch your mouth," He snips.

Glenn raises his hands at the group. "Everyone just stop panicking, and listen to Rick."

"Look, Glenn and I can go make a run right now," Maggie placates, "Try and scrounge up some gas so we can get back on the road."

"No." He shuts her down. "We stay together. God forbid something happens and people get stranded without a car."

That other side of Rick is back - Someone I might as well start callin' Second Rick; Scary Rick - and everyone can tell. It's the same one that was outside the shed, telling us with no room for argument that he was going to execute Jim. He's tense. He's a rubber band pulled tight, his eyes darting from face to face, just waiting for a flash of disagreement from somebody for him to pounce on.

I make sure he don't find one on my face. I'm not keen on upsettin' him.

Glenn's a little braver than me, though, because he says incredulously, "Rick, we're stranded now."

He shakes his head. Not listening. Not accepting it. Just, No, no, no.

"I know it looks bad," He reasons, even though we don't need to be told. "We've all been through Hell and worse. But we found each other. I wasn't sure. I really wasn't, but..." He scans our faces again, a little less coldly this time, taking us all in. "But we did it. We're together, and that's all that matters. We'll find shelter someplace. It's gotta be out there somewhere. It's gotta be."

But we had shelter already, I feel like shouting at him, I don't want another one.

"Rick, look around, okay?" Glenn's voice raises. "There's walkers everywhere. They're— They're migrating or something."

"There's gotta be a place not just where we hole up," Rick doubles down without care for what he's saying, smacking his knuckles into his palm. "But that we can fortify. Hunker down. Pull something together for ourselves. Build a life for each other."

That's what we tried to do at the farm. He should know that. He was the one fixing the fences with me.

"I know it's out there," He says angrily, as if that place he's talkin' about is hiding just to spite him. "We just have to find it."

I muster up the courage to voice my thoughts.

"But, Rick," I say, "How many those places we already been?"

He shakes his head again. "We fooled ourselves into thinking they were safe. We won't make that mistake again."

At the quarry, our mistake was being too close to the city. That was way back in the beginning when nobody had died yet, and we thought we just had to wait it out until the army came. But they didn't. And after that, our second mistake was trusting Jenner. We wanted answers, but we almost lost everything trying to get 'em. Then, the farm. I guess that was a mistake, too, now. You never know 'til after.

I don't say anything to that. It's cold, and I'm hungry, and I don't want to argue any more.

He's pleased with my silence. "Okay... We make camp tonight here; get back on the road at the break of day."

Carol murmurs something.

Whatever it was, Beth agrees with her. "What if walkers come through, or another group like Jim's?"

"Speaking of Jim," T-Dog fixes Rick with a look. "We ever gonna talk about him?"

Lori's confused. "What do you mean? What could possibly be left to talk about?"

"We saw him turn," He's happy to reveal to everyone. "Thing is, though, he wasn't bit."

"How is that possible?"

"Shane, too." I blurt. "I— I saw him when the farm went down."

Lori turns her gawking expression onto her husband. "What the Hell is going on?"

He's not looking at any of us. He's glaring at some ordinary pebble on the ground, brooding, hesitating.

Then, "We're all infected."

What?

It's so vague and profound that nobody knows what to make of it.

My Dad does us all a favor and squints at him. "How you mean?"

"At the CDC," He confesses, his voice a hoarse whisper that I can only just make out, "Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it."

We all carry—? The germs that make the dead ones come back? We all carry them?

He's been lyin' to us this whole time. The CDC, that was months ago.

Sometimes, lying ain't just sayin' something. It's not sayin' something. Daddy taught me that the night I told him I'd had a good day at school, and then come dinnertime, I let it slip that Ethan, the boy that sat behind me in class, had actually punched me in the belly that day at lunch. He got so mad. He ripped off my shirt. There was a purple blotch on my pale skin. Then he taught me how to punch boys back.

That's what Rick's done. He's hidden a purple blotch from us, and now we should be angry.

Carol steps forward, her silver brows pinched. "And you never said anything?"

I consider my body. I don't feel sick. Not like I did when we thought I was bitten.

Rick lamely asks, "Would it have made a difference?"

Yes, I think, but he already knows that.

Glenn accuses him, "You knew. You knew this whole time."

So, that's why Jim and Shane woke back up. You don't gotta get bit. You just gotta die and come back with enough to be able to bite.

That means even if you jumped off a bridge and all your bones were broken and you died, you would still come back.

My—

My Momma would'a still come back.

"How could I have known for sure, huh? Until we found Jim, I had no proof Jenner was even tellin' the truth. You saw how crazy that mother f—"

Glenn cuts him off. "That is not your call. Okay?"

"When Daryl found out about the walkers in the barn," Lori adds, "He told everyone as soon as he had the chance."

Rick don't care. "Well... I thought it best if people didn't know."

Glenn and Dad look right at me. Like they've both thought the same thing I have. They're the only ones here that know what happened to my Momma. I remember telling Glenn about it at the CDC. Momma. We were outta the city when it happened. It was the night the world ended twice. First when we got the call, and again when our neighbours tried to eat us. It's a lot of people's worst ever night. It's mine.

I won't ever know for sure, but I'd be kidding myself if I thought the rules didn't apply to my Momma.

At least we know that if any of us were to die, the others would make sure we didn't turn. Survivor's honor, or whatever it's called.

The silence goes on for so long that he just gives us one last look over, turns, and walks away. Nobody cares where.

Dad crouches; looks up at me. "You okay, baby?"

"Yeah," My voice wobbles, but I'm telling the truth. "I just... Don't wanna think about it."

Glenn clears his throat. "Well, it looks like we don't have much of a choice about this. We need to set up camp."

As everyone slowly breaks off to do their part, Dad takes my hand and leads me over to his motorcycle. "Got somethin' for ya."

Oh, right. The hearing aid; bits and pieces.

I'd almost forgotten.

"I hope it ain't complicated," I tell him, fiddling with my craggled ear. "Maggie said Herschel don't know about this stuff."

"We'll figure it out." He promises, before squeezing my hand and letting it go. "I ain't even sure if they work."

He opens the saddlebag, taking out a wrinkled plastic bag. He reaches in and pulls out what looks like an unusually shaped piece of skin-colored plastic with a rubber bulb on the end. And two other hearing aids, one brown and one purple, the type I'd recognise.

He stuffs the bag away and tucks some hair behind my good ear, making room to stick the first one in.

"I think it goes like that." He leans in closer, messing around with something on the back of it. "How do I—...?"

Something clicks.

All of a sudden, there are birds in the trees.

My eyes go wide, jaw dropping, gawking out at the forest like I've never seen one before.

A grin sneaks its way onto my face.

"The birds," I muse quietly, taking in the sounds of their distant chirps. "I can hear 'em, Dad."

It's not perfect. It's not as crisp as it was before. I think the batteries are low. But I don't care. It's still one of my favorite sounds.

He's smiling faintly up at me. "Good."

"Dad, your voice!"

"My voice?"

"I forgot what it's s'posed to sound like," I giggle. "It's so loud. And annoying."

He snorts, giving my butt a smack for being silly. "Well now when ya tire of my naggin', you can just pull that thing out."

As quickly as it had come to life, it makes a crackling noise, a sudden beep, and then there are no more birds.

I pluck the aid out my ear, giving it a bittersweet look. It didn't last forever, but it was nice while it did.

He mumbles something; then, louder, "We'll find some more batteries soon. Sorry, baby."

"Don't be sorry." I say. "It was perfect."

After packing them back into the saddlebag, we leave to collect firewood together. I imagine the sounds of the birds around us.

Night comes. We can't stop it.

I pretend we're camping.

We're not stranded. No, we just decided to go on a camping trip together because we thought it would be fun. That's why we're all huddled around a campfire in the dark, instead of sleeping in our beds at the farm. I'm curled up against Dad's stomach, which is better than a bed, I think. Beth's cuddled into her Dad's side, too, staring into the flames while Maggie and Glenn whisper to each other beside them.

I wish we had a deck of cards. I wish any of us would wanna play.

We got nothing but a wall of stone to protect us from the forest on the other side, but I pretend that away, too.

I just focus on the sound of an owl hooting somewhere off in the trees. I bet it ain't scared. Owls; they know the night.

Tomorrow, we're gonna have cheap steak and ketchup for breakfast, and then Merle's gonna let me sit on his shoulders just like always.

"We're not safe with him," Carol suddenly mutters, and that's not something I can pretend away. I'm back here, now, and we're stranded. No steak. No ketchup. No Merle. "Keeping something like that from us. Why do we need him? He's just gonna pull us all down."

Maybe I don't wanna be camping, anyway. It's good enough right here, surrounded by the people I care about.

"Nah." Dad's voice is a rumble in my lower back. "Rick's done alright by me and mine."

I cuddle further into him, shuddering lightly as he rubs my cold arms. His leather vest don't make a great blanket.

"You're his henchman." She reminds him. "And I'm a burden."

He scoffs. "And Harley?"

"You both deserve better," She says softly, her face pensive in the orange light.

It don't matter what we deserve, I told Shane when he said the same thing.

Unamused, Dad pries, "What do you want?"

"A man of honor."

"Rick has honor."

They leave it at that. I think they wish we had a deck of cards, too.

The owl hoots again.

Then, a branch breaks.

CRACK.

I straighten.

"What was that?" Beth murmurs worriedly. "Was it a walker?"

We all stare off into the dark, ready to fight whatever might come out of it.

"Could be anythin'," Dad mumbles as he stands, readying his bow. "Could be a racoon. Could be a possum. Could be the Easter bunny."

Carol hugs herself. "We need to leave. I mean, what are we waiting for?"

"Which way?" Glenn asks.

Maggie points at the thin trees behind T-Dog. "It came from over there."

"That's back from where we came."

"Yeah."

"The last thing we need is for everyone to be running off in the dark." Rick scolds us, reminding us he's here. The light from the fire washes him in flame, the dried blood on his forehead glistening with sweat. "We don't have the vehicles. No one's travelling on foot."

"Don't panic," Herschel soothes us all calmly, still clutching his shotgun.

Maggie argues, "I'm— I'm not sittin' here, waitin' for another herd to blow through. We need to move. Now."

"No one is goin' anywhere," Rick snarls.

"Do something!"

"I am doin' somethin'!" He retorts. If he really was that rubber band, this is the part where he would snap in two. "I am keepin' this group together. Alive! I've been doing that all along, no matter what. I didn't ask for this. I shot my best friend for you people, for Christ's sakes! For you Daryl, and you, Harley. I was the one that took care of Jim. Me! Everything! Everything has been on me!"

I know I said we were supposed to be angry with him. But, actually, I think we're just scared.

Lori's holding Carl's head to her chest. Dad stands in front of me, as if he doesn't want me to see. T-Dog, Glenn, Maggie; all with their mouths sealed shut, not sure where to look, or what to say. Is this really the same Rick that comforted me at dinner?

"Maybe you people are better off without me." He shrugs, taunting us. "Sure. Go ahead."

I've never had to be a leader before. I did have to kill Shane, but Rick's done so much more for us. I'm not better off without him.

"I say there's a place for us out there, but maybe—" He's just rambling, now. "Maybe it's just another pipe dream. Maybe I'm— Maybe I'm fooling myself again. I'm just as much a sucker as Shane was. But, hey, why don't you go find out yourself?"

He sweeps his hand behind him, presenting us with the forest.

"Huh? Send me a postcard."

I can't hear the owl anymore. I think it flew away.

"Go on. There's the door. You think you can do better? Let's see how far you get."

I pull the leather of Dad's vest up to my face, shyly peeping over the top of it; breathing shakily. I don't want to see how far I can get. I want to stay right here with my people, whether we're starving or not; freezing or not. I think everyone else does, too.

Or at the very least, they want to stay here where there's a warm fire and guns.

"No takers?" He lilts. "Fine. But get one thing straight. If you're staying—"

He pins every single one of us with a look.

"— This isn't a democracy, anymore."

That word Dale used. The one that means things is fair.

Then he sits right back down where he was before, like he didn't just threaten to abandon us all.

Slowly, everyone else sits back down too, because there's nothing else to do. We all heard him. We can't leave. When Dad settles in behind me again, I squirrel into his chest, his arms wrapping around me. There's no sound except for the branches crackling in the fire and the heartbeat beneath his shirt. I don't know where we go from here. But I do know Dad will keep me safe, and Rick will keep the group safe. He's worked himself raw and bloody to make sure we survive. The fish fry, the CDC, the highway, Shane, the fall of the farm. All of it.

We didn't survive all that bullshit just to fall apart now. There's still something out there for us.

We just have to find it.

Author's Notes.

I sincerely hope you enjoyed 😊

I'm sad to see the farm go, but we had a nice time while we were there.

Please leave a comment! I'm anxious to hear from you all after so long :)

#the walking dead #twd fanfiction #fanfic #daryl dixon #daryl dixon daughter #twd #daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl dixon twd #angst #rick grimes #reader #original character #daryl dixon x reader #twd daryl #daryl fanfiction #daryl twd

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gabzlovesu · 2 years

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ღ ━ 𝐅𝐓𝐋𝐎𝐆: 𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐒

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Gabby is sick and has to quarantine. Without her there to help manage the chaos, the boys struggle to deal with each other while also taking care of her.

"Umm, I don't think chicken noodle soup is supposed to look like that," Jean comments as he peers over the edge of the pot. Instead of having the iconic yellowish-brown color, the soup looked grey and had a concerningly thick texture.

"Nobody asked for your opinion horseface. And for the record, Gabby loves it — she finishes the whole bowl everytime I make it for her."

Nanami had already given up on trying correct Keigo's mistakes and he honestly just couldn't be bothered today. So he found company with the only other chill person in the apartment: Ukai.

"If only he knew that Gabby has been pouring the soup on the plant by her bed," Ukai snickers out, eyes never leaving the shonen jump magazine in his hand.

"Awe don't tell him, it'll crush him. Just let him think he's doing well taking care of her, it's the only way he won't reek havoc upon us."

A loud sneeze brings all of their attention to me as I emerged from the hall, finally seeing something other than my room and the bathroom in last 5 days. "Calm down, I have my mask on," I mumble with my stuffy nose.

"No offense Gabby, but you look like shit." Ukai wasn't trying to be mean, he was just being honest. I had a pair of old pajama pants and one of my college sweatshirts, which have both seen better days. Don't even mention my hair which was tied up in a sloppy pineapple with my headscarf and stayed like this for days; there was no point of doing my hair if I wasn't going out.

"Yeah, well I feel like shit."

Before I could get any further Jean comes up and starts spraying me with lysol. I swear he was planning on emptying the whole can on me if I didn't start swinging on him. "Jean stop! What the fuck are you doing?!" I hate the smell of lysol and it causes me to start coughing into my mask, which results in him doing another quick spray. I glare at him.

"You're a walking germ bomb. You're not even supposed to be out here! Who's supposed to be guarding her door?" He looks at the other three guys as if it's their fault.

"Jean, it was your turn to sit by her door," Nanami says dully. He wanted to be far away from the idiocracy, desperately needing peace and quite which has been rare these past few days.

Jean replies with a soft 'oh' and turns his attention to something else, hoping everyone would overlook his mistake.

"I just want some orange juice. Can you all handle that?" The tiniest request might prove to be a challenge for some of them.

Ukai offers to fix my drink and even takes the extra measure of getting some tylenol when he notices me holding my head in pain.

"Gabbyyyyyy, wouldn't you rather have some yummy soup instead?" Keigo turns from the stove and smiles at me as he holds out a bowl of his homemade soup.

I'm so glad that he can't see my face under my mask because it twists up in disgust and I struggle to hold back a gag. The memory of the horrid taste was something I didn't want to revisit. "No I'm still full from the soup you gave me ealier Keigo." I hate lying to him but I know he was trying his best.

"That's fine dove. Just know there's a whole pot waiting for you whenever you want it okay," he chirps and flashes an innocent smile. Oh hell no. I look over at Nanami, begging for him to get rid of it with my eyes; he get's the memo and signals that he understands.

"It's freezing in here. Aren't you all cold?" It was warmer back in my room under the confines of my comforter and the additional blankets that wrapped me up in a cocoon.

"It's literally 75 degrees in here. Go back in your room, germ bomb."

"Shutup before I cough on you."

"Come here so I can take your temperature." Nanami dawns his own mask and sticks the thermometer under my tongue. "It's high — 102.1, however, the tylenol should help break your fever." I let out a sigh in frustration. "I know it sucks, but it's going to get better sweetheart."

"What's that smell?"

All of them start sniffing the air and looking around. "It smells like something is burning." And then we all look over to the stove.

"Hey birdbrain! You left the fucking towel on the stove!"

I groan out in pain, "There's no reason to shout, Jean. Please stop."

"Well at least I didn't start the fire this time," Ukai smirks as if that's a big achievement.

Nanami quickly puts the fire out while the rest of them stand there like idiots.

"C'mon you need to get back in the bed." Ukai escorts me back to my room and makes sure I'm settled before gently closing my door.

"She's asleep," he notifies them so they'll hopefully keep their voices down (which didn't happen, it's literally impossible for them to do this).

"Im concerned about how much she's sleeping. And her fever is still high." Nanami pinches the bridge of his nose, his frustration and fatigue evident.

"She'll pull through, she's a tough cookie." Ukai returns to his weekly jump issue but the moment of peace is short lived.

Keigo bursts through the door with a large box. "I have gifts!!!"

"Keep your voice down, dude."

"Sorry. But I called in a favor at the HPSC and I was able to get us a bunch of stuff." He opens the box to show them all of the items inside. "There's plently of N95s, disinfecting supplies, medicine, and a couple of other things that might be needed."

"I wasn't expecting something like this from you, nice job you winged bastard." Jean delivers a rough pat to Keigo's back. Nedless to say a fight broke out. Even when I'm sick there's no peace.

Nanami and Ukai actually brokeup the fight but only because they thought the loud commotion was going to wake me up, though I was knocked out and didn't hear a single thing.

𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐉𝐎𝐈𝐍 𝐌𝐘 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓? 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄!

taglist: @angwritez, @riozakii, @misss-chrisss, @hungrynessforfics, @dejwrites, @rinhoes, @iloveitblackbhna, @protectpancakes, @presidentmonica, @oliverwritesstories, @nneedynymph, @sintiva, @indiecursor, @po3ticb3auty, @nanaminshousewife, @rxxicole, @gemimaya, @thenerdyrebel, @pixiikitty, @dabilovesme, @seyawrld, @4ngrysgf, @daichisbunnybaby, @urwifey2, @ar1nat0rs, @picayunne, @kurtaclangobrr, @kookieflvr, @woahhajime, @ambrodias, @tyga-lily

#ftlog #crack series #˳೫˚ — selfships #gabby + nanami 💗#gabby + ukai 💗#gabby + keigo 💗#gabby + jean 💗

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leerongrong · 4 years

Text

❥ 𝐍𝐂𝐓 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 – sending them the wrong text

⌜ mark ⌟

mark watches from the corner of his eye as you tap at the screen of your phone, a shy smile present on your face. he's waving his hand side to side, trying to get your attention, only to pout when he fails to. he perks up the moment his phone dings, opening it to see multiple messages from you.

[11:45] you sent a message.

i think the sun's starting to get to me

[11:45] you sent a message.

the more i look at him the more he shines

[11:46] you sent a message.

nvm that I CANT TAKE MY EYES OFF OF HIM

[11:46] you sent a message.

did you see him smile when he saw watermelon? the smile he had while eating them :((

[11:46] you sent a message.

and not to be nsfw but the more i look at him,,, the hotter he looks??? is that even possible????

[11:46] you sent a message.

he was so small so cute when we first met in 5th grade

[11:47] you sent a message.

fuck i think im in love with him i think im in love with mark

[11:48] you sent a message.

i think im in love with my bestfriend

he started off confused, eyes flitting from the first of your texts, slowly dragging themselves to the end. his small pout slowly turns into a smile, to a full blown grin when they finally reach the last of them, when they finally reach his name.

"holy." mark started off with mumbles, his head turning from you to his phone so fast he might get whiplash. "she- she's in love with me.." the farther he gets through his sentence, the louder he becomes, catching not only peoples attention, but also yours. "she's freaking in love with me!"

your furrowed eyebrows is the first thing he sees, running across the pool and straight to you, barreling into you and accidentally sending the both of you into the water. you're both spluttering when you break through the water's surface, your face an expression of disbelief while his is of pure joy.

he doesn't regret pulling you down with him, sealing your lips in an underwater kiss that tastes of watermelon and grape ice cream.

⌜ renjun ⌟

the soft glow of your phone disturbs renjun. the only source of light in the otherwise dark theater room, playing the movie you begged him to watch with you. he's rolling his eyes in annoyance, still gripping the half finished popcorn, hands coming back and forth from his mouth towards the salty snack.

soon after, the soft tapping of your fingers against the screen takes his interest off the movie. renjun's eyes sneak a peak, slightly leaning his body against his head rest so he could take a better look at what has your full interest.

[19:06] you sent a message.

leee jenooo

[19:07] you sent a message.

as cheesy as it sounds,,, the movie's right in front of me but the one view i want to see is him

[19:07] you sent a message.

i know its stupid to say but i just feel...happy whenever im around him

[19:07] you sent a message.

it doesnt matter where we are it freaking doesnt matter what we're doing and it FREAKING DOESNT MATTER WHO'S THERE WITH US

[19:08] you sent a message.

all i know is that when im with him im happy

[19:08] you sent a message.

it doesnt matter if it's all gray and blue hes the splash of color and thats all i need..

[19:09] you sent a message.

im all soft for him like this,, i just wish i could tell him 🙃

the slight ringing in his ears should worry him, along with the excessive warmth that's suddenly spreading through his body, face, and ears. the slight twitch of his fingers should too, as if his body is reacting in a way only you can make him, as if it's finally accepting the pull.

the clearing of his throat startles you, making you instinctively hide your phone in the corner of your seat. your eyes zoom in on his reddening face, leaning in closer to make sure, amidst all the darkness. "renjun? what's wrong?" pressing the palm of your hand to his burning forehead. "do you have a fever? junnie, you should've told me."

renjun's still stubbornly looking at the screen, taking a deep breath and doing a countdown before he takes your hand in his, intertwining the two as your eyebrows furrow.

he starts leaning in, coming closer and closer to your face that it makes you lean back in your seat, trying to look away from his face. "i think this isn't a good date," he whispers, "how about we go on an official one tomorrow?"

the wide cinema screen is the audience to the scene renjun puts on, leaving a peck at the edge of your lips as shy smile spreads on his.

⌜ jeno ⌟

[09:08] you sent a message.

i love it when jeno smiles

[09:08] you sent a message.

i mean :: have you seen his smile? those pretty cresent moon eye smiles that's just so freaking cute it makes me want to kiss him all over

[09:09] you sent a message.

and not be weird or anything,,, but his height is perfect. imagine running into his arms and just being all warm because we all know jeno gives the best hugs 😫

[09:09] you sent a message.

is it weird to think about hugging and snuggling with your best friend? to think about how pretty his smile is and how you want to kiss away his cute pout?

[09:10] you sent a message.

yes? no? mark, i think i'm in too deep here..

the minute jeno reads your texts, he's out the door. he doesn't care about the thunderstorm going on outside, he doesn't listen to his member's shouts about bringing an umbrella. all that's running around his mind is you. all he can think about is how he desperately wants to hug you in his arms, so tightly he knows you're going to start to whine. all he wants to do is to kiss you. after 5 years of pinning over you, he finally has the chance to.

he's met with water the moment he runs out in the rain, not caring about the thunder and wind that's pelting down his body. he's soaking wet when he reaches your front door, drenched in water as he knocks and is met with your cutely confused face.

"lee jeno!" your eyes are as wide as saucers, quickly starting to tug him inside when you see his condition. "what are you doing you idiot?! you could get sick!"

he doesn't give you much time to talk (or to start hitting him for being stupid) when he puts his hands on your cheeks and pulls you into a kiss, the atmosphere reminding him of two lovers running through the rain to see each other in movies.

the cold and fever he gets the next day is worth it, especially with your cuddles and chicken soup to get him through the day.

⌜ haechan ⌟

[07:10] you sent a message.

i may be in love with donghyuck

[07:11] you sent a message.

i think he's just the most sweetest, funniest, dorkiest guy with the most perfect smile and laugh

[07:11] you sent a message.

the one who brights up my day (ironically), my full sun

[07:12] you sent a message.

but love is such a fickle thing <3

he wouldn't notice at first, too busy goofing off with chenle and mark, until jeno points out his phone buzzing and lighting up with notifications. the biggest smile would light up his face, so bright and wide, and he just freezes in his place, not even moving or looking away from his phone that it makes the others worry.

starts jumping and squealing, shoving his phone into the other's faces to show off your text when he finally breaks out of his stupor, heart beating so fast renjun tries to make him take deep breaths before he passes out.

doesn't care when his members tell him to carry out with caution, that it could be one of your usual pranks. all he can see is you and him, going on dates and cuddling. after all, it isn't every day your bestfriend (whom you have feelings towards) since diapers confesses.

[07:44] haechan sent a message.

so you have a crush on me😏

[07:44] haechan sent a message.

i'm not surprised, i AM a natural charmer

[07:45] you sent a message.

WHAT

[07:45] you sent a message.

HOW THOU FRICK

[07:46] you sent a message.

wrong message wrong person sorry haha

[07:47] haechan sent a message.

"i am in love with donghyuck."

[07:47] haechan sent a message.

"sweetest, funniest, dorkiest guy with the most perfect smile."

[07:49] you sent a message.

i MAY be in love. MAY. not AM you narcissistic freak

[07:50] haechan sent a message.

i MAY be in love with you too

ends up taking you to the carnival for your first date, winning you stuffed animals and dragging you on rollercoaster after rollercoaster (definitely not because he likes the way you wrap around him whenever you get scared), finishes the day with a photobooth and a kiss on the ferris wheel.

⌜ jaemin ⌟

the coffee shop is relatively bustling, people going in and out the moment they receive their orders, or stay inside to enjoy their cup of coffee. you and jaemin being the latter, both your perspective orders on the brown wooden desk, along side your thick biology books.

your book has been untouched for the last hour, notes and highlighters thrown onto it as you tap at your phone, eyes flitting from the screen to jaemin's face every few moments.

[07:22] you sent a message.

we're currently studying biology

[07:23] you sent a message.

oh welp im lying,, he's learning biology and i'm relearning all my favorite things about him

[07:23] you sent a message.

that was so cheesy- ive been spending way too much time with nana 🤧

[07:23] you sent a message.

he's mumbling something about adjectives to explain biology

[07:24] you sent a message.

the one three adjectives i can explain is him

[07:24] you sent a message.

focused, motivated, oh and most definitely cute

you don't seem to notice jaemin's eyes on you, a coy smile on his lips as he checks his nonstop buzzing phone, slightly giggling at how you seem to not notice you've sent your texts to the wrong person.

"if I had to choose between DNA and RNA, i’d choose RNA because it has u in it.” his sudden voice startles you, making you yelp and raise your head to look at him in bewilderment. "we fit together like the sticky ends of recombinant DNA.”

"excuse me, na jaemin." throwing a raised eyebrow at him along with a sarcastic chuckle. "but i don't understand smart talk."

"you must be a red blood cell because you take the oxygen away from my lungs straight to my heart.” the coy smile he sends you doesn't solve anything, and it takes you moments until you finally start to catch on to his quips.

"DNA spelled backward is AND, as in… me AND you"

jaemin's blinking, breaking into a laugh that shakes the table just enough to spill some of his coffee onto his notes. an excited grin breaks out on your face, butterflies flying in your tummy as his eyes glaze over with a sudden emotion.

"my sudden protracted cardiac arrhythmia tells me i love you."

⌜ chenle ⌟

5 minutes to his last buzzer and chenle's looking for you in the bleachers. his eyes are searching through the crowds of people, trying to find you in his signature red and white jersey, only to pout and huff when all he sees is unknown people waving at him, perking up seconds later when his phone vibrates.

[15:30] you sent a message.

look at him down there!

[15:30] you sent a message.

he looks like a freaking super star

[15:30] you sent a message.

hes THE ace,,, hes MY ace ohmygod :((

[15:31] you sent a message.

i just want him to know that whatever happens hes a winner in my heart yaknow??? not as if hes gonna lose i mean my chenle is the best one out there!!!!

[15:32] you sent a message.

pray for me bcs if he does win im gonna give him a big fat smooch :)

the coach calls for him before he has time to process your message, casually dragging him to play for his last round. his eyes are flitting from the score board, with a big red 60 vs 60 displayed, to the hoards of people. his eyes land on your for a second, the moment enough for you to send him a victory smile and thumbs up.

it's only in the last seconds when he scores the winning goal for his team does he celebrate, running away from the sports ground and leaving his confused team behind as he purposely looks for you. it's when you crash into his arms does he lift you into them, pressing a disorienting kiss onto your lips, with his teams roaring cheers as the background.

"i'm your chenle, i'm your ace!" it takes a minute for you to process his words, clicking two and two together before your jaw goes slack and an embarrased groan escapes from your lips. chenle grins when you bury your face in his chest, shaking you in his arms with all his added excitement. "can i have another kiss?" he peeps down to take a look at you, sending a bashful smile.

⌜ jisung ⌟

"park jisung this isn't funny!" you're sprinting down the stairs, a fair distance away from jisung who's already reached your kitchen, running for his life with your phone in his hand. "give me my phone back! jisung, i swear to god!"

the big laugh that erupts from jisung only gets to you even more, trying to run even faster after your neighbor whom you have had a crush for since childhood. all the while jisung is having the time of his life, running to your living room and cramping his lanky body into the first place he thinks of hiding, wedged between two sofas.

jisung's putting in your password, his birthday, and he's opening the message you've just received from renjun, reading your most recent chat with the chinese boy.

[14:09] you sent a message.

i dont know jun...

[14:09] you sent a message.

what if me confessing only makes us awkward?

[14:10] you sent a message.

i dont care if he rejects me, its jisung we're talking about here! he wouldn't hurt a fly! i dont think he'd break my heart that much..

[14:10] you sent a message.

i dont want 10 years of our friendship to go down the pipe just because of some stupid crush i have towards him

[14:11] you sent a message.

what am i going to do jun?

it takes jisung a moment to read between your texts and another minute to process that the boy you have a crush on, is in fact, him. the more he thinks about it, the more jisung regrets being a slow poke because the moment he finished, you're bounding in between the sofas and taking your phone from him.

there's a moment of silence, of you staring at the phone now in your hand and of jisung staring at his feet, shuffling and pouting his lips.

"jisung, i like you."

"i would never break your heart."

it's the day you became both jisung's bestfriend and lover, with him taking you on a date to the park later in the afternoon.

417 notes · View notes

a-chlolix-blog · 2 years

Text

Scarabée and Kitty Claws AU

Kung Food. The World's Sabotaged Chef.

Thanks to Sabine, Marinette knows how to speak chinese, so she doesn't need a translator to talk with Wang Cheng.

Since this is their first time meeting each other (Sabine & Tom sent him lots of pictures of Marinette as a baby), she is abit worried that he wouldn't like her.

While in the car ride to Le Grand Paris, she actually asks him if he could speak french or english, which he replies with "not very well".

Marinette actually acts as Wang Cheng's translator during the interview.

There were two people who aren't big fans of the dish Wang Cheng decided to make.

Qiang Liu - A bitter competitor who lost by getting a low score. Who just so happens to be in Paris as well.

Chloé Bourgeois - When she found out soup was the dish that would be served, she got her dad to kick her from the jury.

~~~~~~~Earlier that day~~~~~~~

Plagg: I don't get it. I thought you LOVED judging people.

Chloé: Soup. I HATE soup!

The judges were still André, Jagged Stone, Fang, Marlena, and Alec.

The judge represents the younger generation is now XY Roth, much to Jagged's dismay.

Aside from Marinette, a few other teens from their high school was there as well.

- Alix. She was invited by Marinette with promises of meeting her uncle and trying the soup.

- Adrien. He was there to comfort Chloé, but also becomes amazed by Wang Cheng.

- Sabrina. She's also there to comfort Chloé. She blames Chloé's mother for making her hate soup in the first place with her "Style Queen Diet Tips' Soup Recipes."

- Alya. She's there to watch her mother judge the soup. Nora and Jalil are watching Ella and Etta while she's there.

Marinette was talking to Alya and Alix about how she thinks her uncle doesn't like her because she saw him literally pick apart the flowers she gave him.

Adrien who was listening while standing with Sabrina and Chloé, walks up to Marinette and talks with her.

Adrien: You know I read something about Chinese Chefs putting flowers in their soups. Did he put them in his pockets?

Marinette: Now that I think about it... yeah, yeah he did!

Adrien: I'm sure your uncle thinks you're incredible.

Marinette: ... Thanks Adrien.

Chloé who is quite bored, tells Sabrina she's going to her room and leaves.

While Chloé goes to her room (to take selfies of herself as Kitty Claws), Qiang Liu walks into Ithe kitchen after Wang Cheng finishes the soup (& tastes it).

Wang: Qiang Liu? What are you doing here?

Qiang: I just want you to know there is no hard feelings. You'll win fair and square *holds out his hand for Wang to shake*

Wang: How respectful. *shakes his hand*

Qiang: Also, you great-niece wants to talk with you. She should be outside.

When Wang leaves the kitchen, Qiang then begins to sabotage his soup by adding all sorts of ingredients to it & puts the lid back on before Wang got back.

Wang: She was not there.

Qiang: Sorry, I must have translated wrong. *quickly leaves*

When the judges try the sabotaged soup, they obviously hate it & give it low scores.

When Wang tastes his soup again, he realizes that it was sabotaged and tries to tells the judges.

Of course they don't believe him.

Marinette, Alya, Alix, Adrien, and Sabrina run up to Wang and try to comfort him.

Marinette: Uncle Cheng, we know it's not your fault. We will find out who sabotaged your soup!

Wang: Shame is on Celestial Soup. I shall never be World's Greatest Chef! *walks back into the kitchen*

Marinette: No, Uncle Cheng! *turns to the others* I've heard it's horrible to lose face in China....

Alya, side hugs Marinette: Well then, let's get started on that investigation.

With the promise of being able to find out who sabotaged his soup, Wang Cheng is akumatized into Kung Food.

He's powers are still the same and his minions have the same weapons.

Now that XY's here & has eaten the soup, his weapon is Cake Pop Poppers that he throws.

If you're hit with one, you'll be trapped within gooey cake and icing.

While Marinette and the others were questions those in the lobby, Kung Food made his presence known with his rice ball camera.

Before anyone (including Qiang) could leave, Kung Food's minions cover the entire hotel in caramel, keeping everyone inside.

Then Marinette and the others find out the Wang Cheng is Kung Food.

Kung Food: Once my minions find the one who ruined celestial soup, they will be main ingredient! Everyone will eat my soup and become my minions!!

Marinette: Uncle?!

Alya: Now we REALLY need to find out who sabotaged your Uncle's soup.

Sabrina: We have to hurry.

Alix offered to look for Wang so she could go hide and transform into Scarabée.

Chloé as Kitty Claws looks out by the pool and sees an obvious akuma preparing soup in it.

Kitty Claws: Really good thing I didn't transform back. *sneaks out of the room without being seen*

Kitty Claws goes down the emergency stairs and runs into Scarabée & lands on top of her.

Kitty Claws: Fancy meeting you here, Itty-Bitty.

Scarabée: KC? When did you get here?!

Kitty Claws: I... just wanted to watch the show in person, I've been here all day. What's going on?

Scarabée, gets up: We're about to find out. *helps Kitty Claws up*

The two heroines that walk back to the lobby and up to Marinette, Adrien, Alya, and Sabrina.

Alya manages to keep herself from freaking out as the two heroines talked with Marinette about the situation.

Marinette: My Uncle's soup was sabotaged and because of that, he's been akumatized.

Scarabée: Do you know where his akuma could be located?

Marinette: I think in his chef's head?

Scarabée: That'll be where I look first. Have you found out who sabotaged it?

Marinette: Not yet...

Alya: I've got a theory!

Adrien: Let's hear it.

Alya: What if it was Chloé!

Adrien & Sabrina: ....

Kitty Claws, internally: DAMMIT CÉSAIRE. IT WASN'T ME!

Alya: Think about it, she left while the soup was being made. And she's suddenly off the jury when a soup is being served? She totally got booted because of the soup! According to Sabrina, Chloé isn't the biggest fan of soup. She clearly sabotaged the soup so it wouldn't be served in her daddy's hotel.

Sabrina: As much as that theory makes sense, I don't think that's the case.

Alya: Why not?

Sabrina: If Chloé were to wanna cause trouble, she'd have me cover for her.

Marinette: That's true! Sabrina didn't try to talk to us when Chloé left at all.

Adrien: There's also the fact that Chloé asked her father to remove her from the jury when she found out a soup was being served. She even sent me and Sabrina texts saying, "I'm free from Jury Duty! They can eat their soup, I'm not going anywhere near it!" earlier today. *shows Alya the texts*

Alya, shocked: ... Oh.

Sabrina: She told me she went to her room... isn't Kung Food making his soup with the pool? Do you think she escaped?!

Kitty Claws: Don't worry! when I went to transform, I saw her running down the emergency stairs. She should be fine.

Adrien: Shouldn't we find her so she could help us investigate?

Kitty Claws: NO! I mean...

Scarabée: Chloé may not look it, but she's quite fit and capable. She should be fine on her own.

Kitty Claws: *blushes*

Scarabée: Besides, *pulls five ear pieces out the sides of her yo-yo & puts one of them in her ear* I'm gonna need you four to continue your investigation. Tell me when you find the guy. We gotta get to this guy before the minions do. *gives Marinette, Alya, Sabrina, and Adrien an ear piece* Until then, we'll go take care of the akuma. Hopefully before his target is found.

Before Scarabée could run towards the elevator along with Kitty Claws, Sabrina grabs her arm.

Sabrina: A friend of ours named Alix went to go look for Marinette's uncle. Do you know if she's okay?

Scarabée, internally: FUCK!

Kitty Claws: Wait, Alix went up there? Why didn't you tell us that first?!

Scarabée: Don't worry, I... saw her on my way down & told her to go hide! *quickly takes Kitty Claws' hand & runs towards the elevator*

Hawkmoth had explained to Kung Food who Scarabée and Kitty Claws are, tells him they're gonna sabotage his soup, and that he should add them to the recipe.

A mind controlled Jagged Stone was sent after them. While a rice ball camera followed around Marinette's Investigation Team, know they were looking for the one who sabotaged the soup as well.

A mind controlled XY was sent to secretly follow those four around.

After Kitty Claws pushes one of the elevator buttons multiple times, the two heroines realize it's jammed.

Then Kung Food appears on one of his rice ball cameras to talk with Scarabée and Kitty Claws, telling them they will be ingredients in his soup, but they'll have to try his other "dishes" first.

The elevator door opens to reveal a mind controlled Jagged Stone with a giant sword made out of seafood

When Marinette's Investigation Team sees this, the quickly run away to continue investigating AWAY from the fight.

Kitty Claws, barely dodging Jagged's sword: Usually, I love seafood. Now, not so much!

Scarabée and Kitty Claws manage to beat Jagged Stone (after getting that sword out his hand) & puts him in the supply closet, puts a chair in front of the door, and goes onto the elevator.

Kung Fu is then shown footage of Jagged being trapped & the two heroines going into the elevator.

He then sends André after them.

Meabwhile Marinette's Investigation Team noticed a person who was avoiding them since they started their investigation was moving futher and futher away & they decided to follow him.

Unaware that they were being followed as well.

Back in the elevator, Kitty Claws was asking Scarabée on a date.

Kitty Claws: After we're done for today, we should totally go get sushi, Itty-Bitty. That seafood sword made me hungry.

Scarabée: As tempting as that is KC, I'm hanging out with friends after this.

Kitty Claws, pouting: Shame... I would've paid for the both of us!

Then the elevator suddenly stops. When it opens, a mind controlled André is there wielding a string of sausages and potatoes.

While those two were forced out of the elevator to find him, Marinette's Investigation Team had the guy (Qiang Liu) whose been avoiding them cornered.

Marinette of course gets him to confess to sabotaging the soup. Which of course Kung Food heard.

Marinette's goes to turn on her ear piece to tell Scarabée they found the guy, only for a mind controlled XY to come out from hiding and throw a cake pop at her, which of course traps her in gooey cake poppers.

Alya, turning on her ear piece: Scarabée! We've got the guy, but XY's trapped us with cake- *gets hit with a cake pop & trapped*

Scarabée and Kitty Claws were able to defeat André (same as canon cause that scene was funny).

So she got Alya's call. But before they could go back to the lobby, Kung Food send Marlena & Alec to fight them.

Alec's weapon is still a crossbow that shoots exploding stinky cheese bombs.

Marlena still has her a bow that shoots candy arrows.

These two mind controlled judges were ordered to use their long distances weapons to keep Scarabée and Kitty Claws from getting to Qiang Liu while XY quickly took him to Kung Food.

While Scarabée was going against Marlena, she catches a couple of the candy arrows with her hands and cracks them in half.

This of course distracts Kitty Claws.

Kitty Claws: That was so cool, Itty-Bitty! *gets hit with a cheese bomb* EWWW!!!

As the two on two fight goes on, Alec and Marlena are defeated like in canon.

Scarabée and Kitty Claws then take the elevator up to fight Kung Food.

When they get up there, Kung Food starts lowering Qiang Liu into the soup.

After Kitty Claws uses her baton to cut the ropes, Scarabée catches him before he falls in, puts him down, and he quickly runs away.

Kung Food: NO! The soup will be so favorless without main ingredient!!

Scarabée: Come on, Mr. Cheng! I'm sure you're better than this! I'm positive that your great niece is worried sick.

Kung Food: I am Kung Fu! Marinette will appreciate her investigation not being a waste of time!! *runs at Scarabée and Kitty Claws with Sushi tonfas he pulled out of his bag*

While the two heroines fought Kung Food, Scarabée managed to get his tonfas and throw them into the soup.

He then pulls a cheese bo staff out of his back and uses it to fight Kitty Claws.

Kitty Claws: Scarabée! All the weapons are coming from his bag! *knocks the bo staff out of his hands*

Scarabée: Then get ready to destroy it, KC!

Kung Food: I would like to see you try! *pulls a giant pizza sword from his bag*

Scarabée and Kitty Claws: ...

Scarabée then quickly uses her Lucky Charm and gets the same Lucky Charm from canon.

Kung Food: How are you gonna beat me with paper?!

Kitty Claws: I wanted to ask you the same thing about that sword!

Kung Food: *angrily swings his sword at two, only for Kitty Claws to block it with her baton & for Scarabée to jump on it*

The ladybug heroine is then thrown on to one of the chairs by the pool.

She figures what to do, covers the now long cheek in the soup, and ties it around Kung Food, which causes him to grab his sword.

Kitty Claws then quickly uses her Cataclysm on the bag, quickly destorying it.

Scarabée thrn takes his hat off and rips it in half. And like Marinette guessed it, the akuma came flying out.

Scarabée then purifies the butterfly and uses the Miraculous Cure to fix everything.

When Wang turns back to normal, Scarabée gives him his hat back, Kitty Claws takes a selfie with Scarabée & the two heroines quickly leave.

Later on, Qiang Liu is arrested (knowingly trying to make a bunch of people sick with food IS a crime).

Wang Cheng is also given another chance to serve his soup. He even shows Marinette how to make it.

The judges (of course) loves the soup & Wang Cheng wins.

He then anounances that he'll be naming his soup after Marinette, who quickly runs over to him & hugs him.

Marinette, Alya, Alix, Sabrina, and Adrien are then served their own bowls of "Marinette Soup" & happily ate it.

Chloé just watched the show from her room.

Happy that, Adrien Sabrina and Alix are having a good time.

Inspired by: @emdoddles @princess-of-the-corner @muggle-born-princess @dcschart @justanotherpersonsuniverse @symphonic-scream

Requested by: @everything163

#Miraculous Ladybug #Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir #Chloé Bourgeois #Chloe Bourgeois #Alix Kubdel #Chloe x Alix #Chlolix #Aloé #Scarabée and Kitty Claws AU #AUs #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Wang Fu #Adrien Agreste #Alya Césaire #Alya Cesaire #Other Characters

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babygirlkiki1016 · 3 years

Text

Masterlist

Prologue

Chapter 1: The Company

"Do you have to leave?" Lani asked as she handed me my bag, she was always the nervous one.

"Yes, it's important. Take care of things while I'm gone, I have faith in you Lani. I'll be back before you know it." Lani was like a younger sister to me, the one always hiding behind the older one. While I was going to be missing, I put her in charge of the kingdom. She knew how everything worked, she was always there next to me when I was taking care of business anyhow. Of course, after a few days of traveling to the shire I wanted to turn back to see if she was alright, but I knew I had to keep going. And eventually, I stood in front of the green door with a dwarven letter carved into it. Taking a deep breath I knocked, and the voices I had heard went quiet. It's just a bunch of dwarves, nothing to be worried about. The door opened to reveal a hobbit, not as tall as me but he was up to my shoulders.

"Uh, c-come in." He steps to the side, and I walked forward, they must've been expecting me. Setting my bag down by the front door, I took in everything. It was small and cozy, I wish my home looked like this. Continuing on I came across the thirteen dwarves Gandalf had mentioned.

"This is Y/n Y/l/n, I believed she could be a wonderful asset to our quest." The raven-haired man couldn't keep his eyes off me, it was like he was dazed, now that I think about it every dwarf's gaze was still on me. Including a young man about my height, maybe even taller. I smirked, hello handsome, my cheeks burned a shade of crimson as I realized my thought process. Gandalf nudged the man to get his attention, and he snaps out of his trance.

"My name is Thorin Oakenshield, it is a pleasure to meet you, my lady." He bowed his head slightly, giving me a small smile.

"You won't be saying that in a few seconds," I muttered, Gandalf swallowed nervously as he said his next words carefully.

"I should mention, that Y/n is also...The Queen of The Digonisks. The Soul Of The Black Dragon." Everyone's eyes widened, but no one said a word except the blond man in the back.

"What's a Digonisk?"

"There dragons, and murderers." Thorin glared at me with a fire in those blue orbs. I just rolled my eyes, of course, that's what he thought of me. Yet how could we be the murderers when their kind slaughtered mine? "I want her out, that filth cannot come on this quest with us."

"'That filth' has a name you know, and for your information, it's not really up to you now is it?" I exclaimed, he went to protest but Gandalf held out his hand to silence him.

"She can help us Thorin, she has the ability to take down Smaug. She might be the only one who can."

"I don't care." He abruptly stood, not even a foot away from me. "Leave, or I'll strike you down where you stand." Silently, I conjured a dagger and placed right against his side making him gasp.

"You'll be dead before you can even draw your sword, you should be thankful I came to help. I could've easily said no and let karma continue it's pace. Especially after what your kin did to us, you took my home, killed my people! Your no better than Smaug himself. Now sit." I forced him back into his chair, his hand gripped tightly on his blade. He wants to play does he? Bring it on.

"Enough!" Gandalf stood, making the room fill with darkness. "I brought her along, and so she shall stay, if you try to lay a hand on her I won't hesitate to lay one on you." He was furious, but as he sat back down the room turned back to normal. Each dwarf was scowling at me, except the two in the back. Right, they don't know the history between us.

"It was nice meeting you, your majesty." I bowed, and turned back towards the door. "I'll be outside, tell me when we're leaving."

"Wait! You haven't even heard about-" Gandalf stands but I raise my hand, silencing him. "At least stay and listen." I stopped, I already new of their quest, there was no reason for me to be in this room. And none of them probably didn't want me to stay anyhow.

"You can sit by us." The man in the back offered, patting the seat next to him with a smile. The other's hissed at him but he ignored their comments, making my way to the end of the table, I sit between him and the blond. Both were slightly blushing, and staring at me with those beautiful eyes though trying to make it less obvious. Thorin continues to eat his stew, making very little eye-contact with me.

"Perhaps we could do introductions? I still only know two of the people in this room."

"Right, that would be best." Gandalf agreed, and he pointed to each individual as he named them off. "Here you have Thorin, the leader of our company. Bofur, with his brothers Bomber and Bifur, then Dwalin, Balin, Gloin, Oin, Dori, Nori and Ori. Then last but not least the two next to you, Kili and Fili." None of them seemed happy, if looks could kill I would've been dead the moment Gandalf mentioned what I was. When Gandalf named off Kili, he winked at me while slightly smirking. I winked back making him look away embarrassed, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself.

"What news from the meeting in Ered Luin? Did they all come?" Balin asked, looking over at his king, who nods.

"Aye, envoys from all seven kingdoms."

"And what did the dwarves of the Iron Hill say? Is Dain with us?" Dwalin asked, Thorin hesitated as he stated his answer.

"They will not come." The other dwarves become visibly upset, I decided that this might take awhile. So I played with the little flame that came from my finger, it didn't burn me for I was immune to fire. I was in my own mind, my own little world while humming a melody.

"Can she please leave?" I heard Thorin whisper, leaning closer to the wizard. "She does not belong here." Gandalf knew nothing would get done if I stayed, so he gives me a pleading look. Happily I left the table, and headed back outside, it felt nice out here. Sitting on the pavement I watched the stars, they were a lot farther away now. My kingdom was high up in the sky, higher than the mountain of Erebor. It's far above the clouds where no eye can see, Gandalf made it that way with the help of my mother's grimoire. He made what's called a floating island, only digonisks and wizards can enter. I heard the hobbit door open, and out came Kili with a bowl of food.

"Here." Kili smiled handing me a bowl of stew. "I thought you would be hungry, so I brought you some stew."

"I'm not eating that, especially not from a dwarf." He slowly brought it back to himself, he seemed upset for some reason.

"It's not poisoned if that's what your worried about." He muttered, sitting down next to me. "Here I can test taste it." He quickly took a bite, showing that it wasn't fatal. He handed it back to me with a look of hope.

"Thank you." I took it from him, and hesitantly took my first bite. It tasted delicious, even my people didn't have soup made like this. "Did you make this yourself?"

"Ah no, Bombur made it, mostly for us but I figured you were hungry." Well at least he had some manners, he's certainly more nicer than Thorin. "Don't worry about my uncle, he just, he told me why he hates your kind. Even though that happened, you weren't the one doing the killing."

"Of course he's already spreading rumours." Kili glanced over at me with curiosity. "How about you hear my side of the story. Believe which ever one you want, it won't matter." Cause soon my people will be set free, and each and everyone of you will be filled with guilt. "My kin aren't killers, the village of Hargen had been over run by orcs. We were the first ones to respond to the crisis, and we had driven out the enemy. Yet when the dwarves showed up, Thror believed it to be us who slaughtered them. That wasn't the case, blinded by rage he started rumours about us, saying we weren't peaceful and that we were murders. There already had been rumours, but that was mostly because Digonisks are extremely powerful. The people of Middle Earth knew that if we tried, we could over power them. When they started making rumours, they thought that we would go hide in the shadows. Yet we stilled stayed strong, and when that wasn't enough..." A single tear slipped down my cheek, the horror that occurred in that building was enough to make someone insane. I quickly wiped it away, I can't let him see me weak. "...The dwarves became the true monsters, them and mankind had invited us to the grand ball. I was only a child then, but I remember I was so excited to see the tiny men that roamed our world. Most of us had showed up, and when the doors closed the explosions started."

"...I'm sorry you went through that, but if you hate dwarves so much. Why come and help us?"

"There is something in that mountain that proves my kin is innocent. Reports from Thror himself about what really happened that day. And I intend to find it, so my people can be free once again. That's the main reason why Gandalf brought me here, he showed me a letter from Thrain. Explaining where to find the reports." He looked back to sky, wondering what to say next. I continued to eat my stew, and once I was finished he offered to take the bowl from me.

"Come back inside, surely if you explain to my uncle what's in that mountain he won't hate you as much." I hadn't thought of that, but what if he decides to go burn the papers before I get there? Though he seemed like a respectful man, and if we are going to be working together on this journey then he has to see me as an ally.

"Alright, might as well give it a try." He smiled and grabbed my hand dragging me along with him. "K-Kili wait!" He seemed more excited than I, as we passed each dwarf grimaced at the sight of me.

"Uncle!" Kili exclaimed catching Thorin's attention, he immediately separated our hands. Stepping infront of his nephew he pulled out his sword, pointing it at my neck.

"I suggest you put that thing away, wouldn't want a wizard and a Digonisk fighting you now do you? I have come to show you something, it might make this trip a whole lot easier." He didn't budge, reaching into my cloak I pulled out the same scroll Gandalf had brought me. Thorin slowly took it from my hands and undid the ribbon, his eyes widened in shock at his father's handwriting.

"How did you get this?" He looked back to me, he had hope that his father was alive.

"Gandalf gave it to me, it's the main reason I'm here." Thorin seemed to be more at ease with me in the room now. Did he actually believe his father's words?

"What does is say Thorin?" Balin asked coming closer, Thorin couldn't believe his eyes. Gradually he handed the scroll back to me, and all I saw was remorse in those blue orbs.

"It was written by my father, he says that in my grandfathers room the truth about her kind remain. The real reports about what happened that day in Hargen, if this is true then..." He couldn't finish his sentence, a thousand emotions appeared at once.

"This doesn't mean anything, it could be a lie. Those reports could show something different, but we still don't know if the evidence lies in the mountain." Dwalin interrupted, making the furious look on Thorin's face return. Well so much for that, Gandalf sighs in disappointment. Even he had hope that Thorin would be reasonable, I went to head back outside but Thorin grabs my arm.

"If your coming with us, then you have to sign the contract. I won't be responsible for your death, nor do I feel like dealing with a bunch of angry dragon slayers." Balin, kindly handed me a piece of paper, inside read the rules and what not. They would not be responsible for anything that happens to me, which was fine but if I were to die who would set my people free?

"I want to add something to this, if I am to go on this journey and I die. You must set my people free, get the reports from your grandfather's room and show everyone that my people are innocent. That is all I ask." He seemed shocked at my request, although I didn't want to trust him with this kind of task it was the only way my people would be safe after I'm gone.

"Get me a pen." He grumbled, using my magic I summoned an ethereal white feather. He watched as I wrote down my terms and signed it, then when I handed him the pen he couldn't help but stare at it. It glowed brightly in his hand, never had he seen something like this. After examining it he signed his name on the line, then handed the pen to Balin who signed it as a witness.

"Welcome, Queen Y/n to the company of Thorin Oakenshield." He smiled, that made me feel somewhat welcome. At least he has manners like Thorin's nephew, maybe all dwarves aren't so bad.

"Your welcome to stay inside, get as much sleep as you can. You'll need it for the journey ahead, I have a feeling we're going to be needing those wings of yours." Gandalf suggested but Kili and Fili perked up at his comment.

"Wings? She has wings?" Kili asked coming closer, taking off my cloak I spread them. "I didn't even realize the you could fly!"

"They look a lot smaller when folded, but yes I have wings. There easy to hide under a robe, and not very noticeable." He reached over to touch them, I flinched slightly as his fingers ran over the scales.

"May I?" Thorin asked with a light blush on his face, how could the king under the mountain have rosy cheeks? I nodded, watching him cautiously as he ran his hand over my skin. He let out a small smile as he stretched them farther to get a better look. "They're huge, how could they be so small when tucked away?" He muttered, but when he realized he was getting a little into this he stepped back. That stern look returning to his features. "Get some sleep." That was the last thing he said before walking away, at least he's somewhat warming up to me. I settled in the corner of the hobbit's house away from everyone else, surrounding myself with my wings to keep me warm. After a few minutes of silence, I heard voices again except this time it was the dwarves singing a song. "Far over the Misty Mountains cold. To dungeons deep and caverns old. We must away ere break of day. To find our long-forgotten gold." Thorin's voice was most audible, and for some reason, it soothed me.

"The pines were roaring on the height, the winds were moaning in the night. The fire was red, it flaming spread. The trees like torches blazed with light." I sang along, which made the dwarves silent. The song wasn't unknown to me, everyone outside of the shire knew the story of Erebor. After a moment they sang along after I joined, but softer than before. Maybe because they loved my voice? Or maybe my voice soothed Thorin and he wanted to hear more, as he reassured me.

@fili-is-my-lover @lunariasilver @kirenia15

#the hobbit kili #kili imagine #fili x oc #fili and kili #thorin x reader #thorin oakenshield smut #gandalf #the company #bilbo x reader #the hobbit x reader

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ssamie · 3 years

Text

thirteen. “til death do us part”

kozume kenma x fem dazai!reader

(bsd x hq)

tw: mentions of suicide, jumping off a bridge ;-; (nobody dies tho)

masterlist. suicide freak!

"well what happened afterwards??" kuroo asked kenma

the boys were in kenma's room chilling and playing games while kenma tells kuroo about his confession "uh.. nothing really" kenma said with a sigh

"she didn't respond but she didn't really reject me either" he said "she had a call from her agency saying they needed her for something and she had to leave"

kuroo was visibly disappointed at the result, patting his friend's back as he let out a sigh "well, like you said, she technically didn't reject you" he said "plus, she's been fawning over you for a long time. im pretty sure she likes you back"

kenma furrowed his brows and shrugs. "sure i guess.." the pudding head muttered

"cmon, kenma! don't get all sulky on me now!" kuroo exclaimed. the boy laid back on the bed and pulled out kenma's phone, placing it between them and began counting

"ten.. nine.. eight..seven.. six.."

"what the hell are you doing?" kenma deadpanned "im counting down the seconds it takes before y/n tells you to meet up or something" kuroo explained

".. five.. four.. three.."

"im pretty sure it doesn't work like that-" he was cut off by the loud ringing of the phone. the caller id was shown, revealing it to be y/n herself. kuroo jumps up and cheers, yelling and howling in happiness as he ruffles kenma's hair

"kenma, i told you!!" kuroo exclaimed excitedly "dude, i should be a fucking psychic"

"no, you shouldn't"

kenma picks up the phone with shaky hands. he sends kuroo a wary glance, who simply gave him a thumbs up in return. his trembling fingers answered the call, and then pressed the phone to his ear

"h-hello? y/n?"

"kenma! how's my favourite pudding-head doing? ow-" she asked

kenma furrowed his brows as he heard her wincing from the other line, undoubtedly from pain. "um.. are you okay?" he asks worriedly

"oh yes, of course i am" she answered way too quickly for it to not be suspicious "but i do need your help for something.. come to the same bridge from last night" she said in a serious tone

kenma gulped as he made various frantic gestures to kuroo, silently asking for his help. though kuroo was no help since all he did was smile blankly while holding up two thumbs up

"um, okay! do i go there now or..?"

"yup! bye-bye ~"

kenma then let himself drop to the ground as soon as the call ended. he felt like turning into a puddle and drying up from the nervousness flowing through his whole body at the moment

"k-kuroo.." he mumbled "dude, you okay?" kuroo asked with a chuckle "like i said, y/n is definitely responding to the confession!"

"yeah okay-" kenma grumbled

"but please help me up. 80% of my nervousness is now in my knees. i can't stand."

kenma nuzzled his nose into his hoodie, covering half of his face as he nervously approached the riverbank. like he said beforehand, his nervousness has traveled down to his knees and it seems that it still hasn't left.

"hey hey hey ~ over here, kenma!" she yelled

kenma looked up to see her waving her arm around like a madman. though, one of her arms were in a sling, and she just looked quite roughed out more than usual

he jogged over to her with a frown while eyeing her obvious injuries "hey, what what happened to you?" kenma asked her

"oh this? this is nothing" she said with a laugh "i somehow broke it during a mission last night, but not to worry, the ever so lovely yosano-san cured me" she laughed nervously

"ah yes.. yosano-san.." she shuddered

it left kenma thinking of what could have possibly been so bad about getting cured. though he left it be and paid no mind.

"so why did you call me?" he asked her. he was feeling quite anxious at the moment and he was feeling very thankful that she wasn't acting indifferent towards him

"well, i called you over for multiple things" she said

"firstly.."

kenma gulped as she paused dramatically, leaving him to anticipate whatever it is that she has to say

"i need you to play this game for me so i can pretend to be better than chuuya." she stated with a straight face. she then handed him her phone, which had the game's chat open and had chuuya laughing and teasing her

chuuya's messages consisted of 'you're such a fucking loser' and 'you suck balls' among others.

"what?" kenma sweat dropped

"please! that munchkin will get too happy if he wins one more time!" she pleaded

kenma sighed but did as he was told. he was playing the game while she watched him with sparkling eyes "kenma! you're a lifesaver!" she exclaimed once she had won the game

"could you imagine me losing to chuuya?!" she scoffed out with a grin "gosh! my ego wouldn't be able to handle such torture!"

"now, secondly.." she paused once again "eat this ramen with me!"

kenma sweat dropped as she had randomly pulled out two cup ramens, which for some reason are both hot and in well condition

"where did you even get that?" kenma asked her with a soft laugh

"that's a secret! but did you know-" she mused "the reason i got this for us is because ranpo-san told me about it. apparently, its a 'deathly spicy ramen' and he wanted to refer it to me"

kenma blinked at her but smiled anyways "wow. so then im assuming you're expecting us to die from this?"

"its worth a shot!" she cheered. she handed him chopsticks and sent him a cocky grin "i'll let you know i can handle spicy food quite well"

"so if all else fails, i packed a ghost pepper just in case-"

"please put the pepper away <3"

kenma sighed as he reluctantly ate the ramen, slurping on the noodles and soup as tears brimmed his eyes "im not very good with spicy food.." he muttered as he fanned his mouth

"finish it!!" she exclaimed, though tears has also brimmed her eyes

"you're in the brink of tears too!" he groaned in agitation

"these are tears of happiness! i can almost taste the death looming over us!" she exclaimed with a grin

after finishing the very spicy ramen, she had unfortunately concluded that it was, in fact, not deadly. in the end, the pair had to run to a nearby food stall to buy some drinks

and as they were drinking, y/n had once again perched herself onto the flat surface of the metal railings, letting her feet dangle as they watched the sunset in peace

"y/n.. about last night.." kenma muttered out nervously

"ah yes, your confession?" she chuckled "no need to worry about that. i already know what im gonna say.."

kenma blinked in shock, frantically averting his eyes from her and to the ground as he felt his anxiety rocketing

"which brings me to my third reason of calling you over.." she said "kenma, there's something i need to tell you" she said

her expression had gone aloof and the playful smile on her lips has now faltered "what is it?" he gulped

she took two steps back as she looked him in the eyes. her (e/c) orbs not seeming to give any hints as she peered at him

"y/n.. if you're gonna reject me then-" he was, of course, cut off once again as she suddenly pulled her 'injured' arm out of her sling and popped it out to wave at him

"boo!" she cooed out with a dumb smile

"what the hell." kenma replied as he blankly stared at her

she laughed and slipped the sling off, folding it neatly before casually throwing it down the bridge "did i have you fooled?" she chuckled "anyways.. about that statement you didn't get to finish.." she hummed

"what makes you think i would reject you?" she asked him

her bandaged hand patted the spot next to her, indicating that she wanted him to sit. following her wishes, kenma hesitantly sat next to her.

he was fiddling with his fingers as a huge and overbearing wave of silence washed upon them. fortunately for him, she wasn't looking so she couldn't see his trembling body, and the nervous look on his face

"well, i kind of assumed you don't like me since.. you kinda left me hanging last night.." kenma muttered

"hm, i did do that.." she hummed back quietly "what would you do if i said i liked you back?" she asked him

kenma couldn't see it, but it seemed he could basically feel her cheeky smile appearing "um.." he stammered

what would he do? he didn't really know. he didn't plan that far ahead. and kuroo was nowhere to give him some awful but doable advice.

"i-i don't know.." he stuttered out. kenma could feel himself heating up. its like his cheeks was on fire as he felt bursts of embarrassment and butterflies banging on his stomach.

"would you kiss me?" she mused

kenma froze up. he looked up at her, face beet red and eyes as wide as saucers, as he mumbled incoherent words

"well- no? i don't really know how to do that-" he stammered "or yeah- if you want- or um- i love you."

she chuckled and slowly faced him with a gentle smile "i love you too, then" she laughed

kenma has officially blown a fuse.

his face exploded into a bright red as he felt all the weight of the pressure and anxiety leave his body

"so, do i get my kiss now?" she asked teasingly

"uh well-" kenma muttered with a sheepish smile "i dunno how-"

he was cut off by a hand grabbing a tuft of his hair from his nape. her fingers tugged on his faux blonde locks as she pulled his face closer to his

"itadakimasu~" she cooed out

kenma.exe has stopped working.

once her lips had pressed onto his, his whole body tensed up. though a total contrast to his reaction, she was quite calm. obviously calm enough to shove her tongue down his throat.

their kiss was short but sensual. he took notice of how deliciously addicting her tongue danced against his. he definitely needed to ask where she got all those kissing skills from later on.

he may not like the answer since it was from chuuya, but let's not get into that..

she pulled away after a minute, her grip on his hair loosening as she pressed one last peck on his parted lips. she backed away and licked her lips to tease him.

"oh my" she cooed at him "if i would've known you taste this good, then i would've kissed you much sooner"

"u-umm.." kenma muttered bashfully

he was blinking sluggishly as his fingers lightly graze his lips, reminiscing in the feeling of hers against it.

"y/n.. will you be my girlfriend?... please?" he asked in a quiet and flustered tone. all the nonexistent confidence he had before has now fully evaporated away.

"of course." she mused

"wait-really??" kenma asked her with a look of disbelief and sheer happiness

he bit back a smile as he looked up to look at the setting sun, then back at her. her features were illuminated by the soft golden rays, making her look simply ethereal, atleast to him.

kenma was then brought back into reality as he felt the soft skin of her hand and the textured bandages touch his.

she intertwined their hands and brought it up to her lips, pressing a soft kiss to his knuckles. she chuckled at him as he turned his head to the side, trying to hide his blush from her.

"til death do us part." she grinned

"okay, that was very sweet.. but when it comes from you, it kinda seems like you're about to kill us both-"

without uttering another word, she pushed herself off from the railings she was sat on, and tugged him along with her.

"y-y/n?! y/n!" kenma shrieked as he felt himself free falling in the air. his grip on her hand tightened as he nervously recoiled into a ball. the cold air hit his skin in the most nerve wracking way, leaving his skin with goosebumps and shivers tingling down his spine.

"so this is what it's like.." she mumbled

kenma looked over to her, the panic in his eyes gradually fading as he was met with her warm and love-filled orbs. she held the most tranquil and peaceful smile as she looked at him with a sense of joy and plenitude.

"y/n.." his lips quivered as he gripped her closer

she simply smiled at him as both of their hair flew erraticly due to the wind. the sound of the flowing water got louder and louder

until finally, they hit the surface with a huge splash.

she faintly heard loud and ragged breaths coming from kenma as he swims back up for air, hastily paddling against the strong current to drag himself and, her as well, back to land.

"I KNEW IT! ARE YOU CRAZY?! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!" he exclaimed once he catched his breath

she laid down on the grassy ground beneath them and closed her eyes. she had a faint smile on her lips as she mumbled under her breath

"double suicide.. im definitely not dying unless it feels like that.." she whispered

kenma's demeanour softened at her words. he laid down beside her with a huff, tucking his wet hair behind his ears and doing the same for her.

"if we're gonna kill each other, atleast tell me first." he sighed "also, drowning is definitely scratched off your list"

"well, you look like you can't swim so.." she chuckled playfully "that's not a valid excuse" kenma sighed, though a fond smile etched itself on his lips

they probably looked quite strange to other's perspectives, if anything, they looked like dead bodies that had washed up to shore.

but they didn't really care.

"also, that was a very weird assumption. do i really look that lanky to you?"

"yes <3"

kissing scenes are so weird to write, or at least for me ;-;

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slowlyreadinghouseofmirth · 3 years

Text

Page 7

In truth, he had never liked her as well as at that moment -> Selden's affections here are plain to see, made so especially by subordinate clause 'in truth' which conveys an honesty and freshness about his feelings. Most importantly, he likes her when she is being her true self, unconventional, and willing to take risk. It's likely informed by his disillusion with high society and finding commonality in someone willing to disregard its etiquette. This is where Lily is unique.

There's also this sense that Selden likes Lily because she is impulsive and this sparks his curiosity to try and understand why she does the things she does-- understand Lily as a person.

He knew she had accepted without afterthought: -> This reaffirms Lily's lack of hesitancy, which alludes to how willing she is to be in Selden's company. It also shows how comfortable she is with him as she is aware of the rumours that could occur but never merits them with being a possibility, showing great trust.

Alternatively, being aware of the risks and having not afterthoughts could suggest that she doesn't fully understand the risks' depth and nuance as in future the situation at Monte Carlo would suggest, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

he could never be a factor in her calculations -> there's a colon that separates this clause from the previous one which suggests this is an explanation for Lily's certainty. To me this would point more towards Lily not really associating the risk of rumours with Selden because she trusts him so much. i.e she does not think of him when she thinks of the risks. But given that they are going up to his apartment it seems strange that Selden would not think himself a factor in her decision. It's therefore possible that he thinks that Lily does not think of him worthy of great consideration.

Also the noun 'calculations' would suggest a lot of thought had gone into the decision where it was previously implied it was one of impulse. This seems like Selden thinks that Lily is playing an intricate game, which further demonstrates his curiosity about her and need to understand her.

there was a surprise, a refreshment almost, in the spontenaity of her consent -> This further contrasts Selden's perception of Lily's 'calculations' and I think the narration is a fine weave between objective reality--where Lily is impulsive-- and Selden's subjective perceptions-- where Lily appears impulsive but there is something more complex informing her decisions. I think this is meant to show that Selden is blinded somewhat by his affections for Lily, seeing things deeper than what are there or what everybody else sees. Alternatively, we as the reader lack Selden's sight into the complexities of Lily and so she is introduced to us as other people see her, which isn't well at all, and we have to learn how Selden sees her. It's a challenge to care for Lily as he does.

The spontaneity invokes a light hearted and refreshing feeling of being in love which mirrors the honest of truth mentioned earlier.

So there's Selden's surprise at Lily being so spontaneous which draws back to a previous point about she is unique for being impulsive almost reckless. It's like we get a sense of her character and her environment from how the two are at odds with each other. Lily is impulsive; noone else of her class should be like that. In a way that makes her free from the system and yet shows her struggle against it but ultimately her struggle will be more defining.

She noticed the letters and notes heaped on the table -> I assume that this is a reference to future letters although I don't know if they would be the same ones. If they were, I don't even have the mental capacity to unpack that. Just the thought that Lily's fall is inevitable, that even when she is happy, having a nice time, an unknown omen lurks within the same room that will bring her sorrow... oh its symbolic, for sure. But I don't want to think about it.

Lily sank into one of the shabby leather chairs -> the verb 'sank' shows how at home Lily really is with this kind of surroundings, how the shabby whilst not fashionable or expensive, is comfortable. From this we and the the pile of letters we get an image of a a slightly disorderly but well-lived in home. This is one of the tragedies where we see the possibility of what her future with Selden could look like where it is unconventional but Lily is comfortable at home even with it.

"How delicious to have a place like this all to oneself! What a miserable thing it is to be a woman," -> I love Lily's exaggerated turns of phrases like 'delicious' and the exclamations; I think Wharton's emphasis on these exaggerations is to capture Lily's innocence through her speech by making it similar to that of a child who is easily excitable.

Again with the exaggeration but this time with 'miserable', we get the sense that Lily has found the world difficult as a woman to live in but miserable seems too strong of a word, certainly at this stage in the book and is sort of hidden within her other hyperbolised expressions. Maybe this creates a kind of cry-wolf situation where, when Lily properly starts to struggle, people don't take notice not only because it wasn't the done thing to do to talk about struggles but also because of her melodramatic personality, everyone thought the same stuff was happening as it had before and Lily was making a big fuss over nothing.

There is repetition of 'miserable' in association to being of female sex further down the page which is another example of Lily's melodrama. But at this point we as a modern audience start to question if she is actually alright (or at least I did). I'm not sure if a contempary audience if the time would have given the strict taboo over discussing any kind of struggle financial/physical health etc. let alone the discussion of mental health. From the impression I get of the time, the only real source of outlet for people struggling with mental health beyond self medication was art, which makes me wonder as to the position Wharton is writing this from.

she leaned back in a luxury of discontent -> The juxtaposition of 'luxury' and 'discontent' raises an important theme that wealth does not equate happiness and that Lily is not happy as a socialite but happy in the company of Selden, and that actually money is the source of Lily's unhappiness. In this specific context, she is lamenting her lack of freedom to live the lifestyle that Selden does.

"Even women," he said "Have been know to enjoy the privaledges of a flat." -> Putting the discourse marker directly after the subject of 'women' breaks it apart from the rest of the sentence and emphasises the extraordinariness of women being able to live independently. But it also raises the possibility of it and suggests that Selden thinks Lily is extraordinary and unconventional enough to achieve the possibility if she chose to.

"Oh governesses– or widows. But not girls– not poor, miserable, marriageable girls!" -> Again we have the breakdown of womanhood into distinct classes like governess, widows, and girls,which creates the idea that there's no intersections between any of them and is a reflection of of societies fixation for categorisation which loses sight the complexity of situations and problems. And it also makes it easier to place social stigmas like those on governesses and widows. Those stigmas are made apparent here but in contrast to how Lily describes girls, being a governess or a widow seems desirable.

In the list of adjectives 'poor, miserable, marriageable', marriageable is equated to these other adjectives and we see that Lily associates marriage with a poverty of kind, of the heart.

It's also interesting that Lily talks about herself as a girl where Selden speaks of her as a woman. Lily plays up her innocence as she has probably been taught to to make desirable marital match, but with that Lily carries around an air of immaturity and naïvity; she's still very child-like. Perhaps that's a part of her that's trying to cling to her youth so she doesn't have to face her future where she will need to marry to survive. Lily sees her adulthood as a constraint on her and her desires whereas Selden sees her potential.

"you mean Gerty Farish," she smiled a little unkindly. "But I said marriageable–" -> Okay so definitely a little tone deaf on Lily's part buts she's honest to a fault and her honesty is refreshing and entertaining.

I'm no expect on autism and don't claim to be but there's something about Lily's mannerisms here that reminds me of people who I know and am very close with who are autistic. And it makes me wonder if Lily was autistic and neurodivergence was recognised in her time if her fate would have been any different.

"Her cook does the washing and her food tastes if soup. I should hate that you know." -> I just love the imagery of the first sentence, it strikes my funnybone. I guess it also illustrates that Lily's privileged upbringing if she thinks this is a bad situation to live in.

Okay I'm going to bring in a bit of a technical term to describe the verb 'should'. So it's a modal verb (expressing possibility based on context) but specifically a deontic modal verbal, meaning that Lily's hate depends on social rules. When she says she should hate it it implies that society wants her to hate it but she wouldn't necessarily hate it. That's what that verb phrase implies in today's english, but language has changed since the time it was written so it may not have been written with this meaning, especially as a signifier of an older text is the use of modal verbs in places we wouldn't today and a lot more of them.

The shift from Selden's reflections to the quick dialogue and short simple sentences of action creates a lively and charged atmosphere that feels almost flirtatious in its rhythm but by the nature of the content is more domestic (preparing afternoon tea). The balanced turn taking feels comfortable in that they both have equal power in the conversation, being allowed to say what they want to and being listened to. It goes towards simulating what a possible future could be and also shows how happy they are in this moment.

#House of mirth #hom blogging #hom meta #Page 7 #Okay so I'm writing out these explanations ant half two in the morning off an emotional high/low of finishing sex ed s3 so apologies #I also did an English exam today so I may be more formal than usual sorry

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yzkhr · 3 years

Text

Love Language miniseries for Shinran!

I dedicate this corny and cringe worthy miniseries to @meitanteisachi for giving me inspiration through her gifset and her wonderful fanfictions.

Acts of Service- a language that can best be described as doing something for your partner that you know they would like, such as filling up their gas, watering their plants, or cooking them a meal.

"Not sick, huh?"

Shinichi glared as Ran leaned back from the table, unamused. He was working on a difficult case in their—now only his— mansion, when she showed up unannounced after he forgot to attend school. He was wearing his school uniform but lost sense of time being too absorbed at the new case Inspector Megure gave him.

"I told you I'm fine." he avoided her scrutinizing gaze, being stubborn. Ran wouldn't have any of it however, bringing her left hand to her waist like a stressed mother.

"Fine? You're burning hot and your face is even redder than a traffic light!" she argued and his face produced an even darker shade, acknowledged.

He wanted to protest and retaliate how can it not be when she literally put her face in front of his without any sort of warning, brushing his unruly bangs upwards with her soft hand and letting their foreheads touch as he froze while she remained unbothered.

The detective restrained himself however, not wanting any further embarrassment to occur.

He heard a sigh from Ran, forcing him to turn around. She was now arranging the stack of messy papers and documents, bringing them to side.

"Oi, what are you doing?" he frowned as he stood up from the swivel chair and held Ran's hand to stop her. It didn't go unnoticed how Shinichi flinched at the coldness of her skin.

Ran eyed their physical contact before giving him a stern gaze.

"I'm fixing all of these so you can rest. You won't be touching files until your fever's gone." she effortlessly shook his hand away, continuing.

"Ran, I told you I'm fine. I have to end this case cause if I don't---"

"Then you can let Megure-keibu and the other officers to handle it until you're well again." she was consistent at putting all the paperwork aside, not even sparing a glance.

"I told you I'm fine didn't I? It's just a fever."

Finally done with her task, Ran faced him with an expression that resembled his mother way too much for his own comfort.

"You're not fine. You have a horrible fever and along with it is a terrible headache. You didn't actually expect to read all of these with those blurry eyes of yours, did you?"

She squinted, gesturing at more than fifty papers on the side. He opened his mouth to deny her claims but retreated seeing her eyes squint even more, as if challenging him to lie. Ran was right. He'd been trying to ignore the throbbing of his head and the haze in his vision while reading through the entire case.

He sighed as his misty eyes finally having the time to observe her. She was still wearing their uniform, which means she went here as soon as classes were over. He suddenly remembered an important thing.

"Wait, don't you have an upcoming Karate competition? You have training everyday after school right?" he smirked internally, finding out a plot hole.

But instead of seeing a look of panic and rushing out the of the doorway like Shinichi expected her to do, Ran simply grabbed his hand towards the door making his cheeks turn red out of surprise and something he would never dare name of.

"I'll just skip it for today. Besides, I have something more important to take care of." she squeezed his warm hand, hinting what—or who— important thing she meant.

Blushing even more at the implication certainly did not make his illness any better.

After a few stumble here and there, they finally got to the bedroom in one piece. Minutes seemed like an eternity, with his headache feeling like he was being hammered. He was freezing and sweating at the same time not knowing if he should undress or add more layers. It was good thing that Ran immediately slumped Shinichi down the bed, and started removing his blazer.

Wait, what?

"Umm..." he spoke weakly, but still complying and accepting her help. He thought that she was done but she suddenly kneeled in front of him and leaned in, making Shinichi hyper aware of everything around him. Her hands went straight to his uniform which he did not predict. She was now untying his neck tie, making their faces inches apart. She was so close that he could feel her breathing at the open part of his longsleeve. Despite his mind telling him not to, Shinichi's eyes went directly to her face, which seemed too focused at her task, with her slightly furrowed eyebrows and violet orbs concentrated at undoing the knots. He would never admit it, but Ran looked too innocent and pure that it was killing him.

It didn't help that her scent was literally intoxicating him. A combination of honey and lemon, Shinichi noticed. Flustered and a bit shameful, he looked up,having butterflies in his stomach with his childhood friends' soft and nimble hands slowly removing the fabric from his neck.

He jolted awake when she begins unbuttoning his polo however. On instinct, Shinichi took a hold of her hands before they can go further. Shocked and confused, Ran looked up.

"I," he breathed heavily. "I think I can do this myself, Ran."

As if broken by a spell. Her face instantaneously turned crimson red at the realization that Shinichi might have thought she was the one with the fever. She stood up straight away, turning around and making a beeline to the door. She had been uptight all day that he was a bit glad the usual Ran came back.

He wanted to laugh at her reaction but was too tired to do so. Even slightly moving drained him, but it didn't mean he wasn't capable of undressing himself.

"I-I'm sorry! I got lost in my thoughts! I'm going downstairs!" she squeaked and left in an instant, closing the door with a loud thud.

Now alone, Shinichi struggled to move his shaking hands to undo the buttons. After a few more attempts, he was finally able to fully strip and drag himself to the closet. Nauseated and feeling like the world weighed on his shoulders, he randomly put on a white pajama and went straight to his bed, curling a bit like a kitten. His eyelids getting heavier and heavier, Shinichi closed his eyes, immediately falling asleep.

"Shinichi? Shinichi?"

Hearing a faint voice from behind, Shinichi turned around languidly and opened his eyes, meeting a concerned Ran.

"Hmm?" he hummed, still sleep deprived.

She brought up a steaming hot bowl of food, smiling.

"I cooked you chicken soup. Sit up, you have to eat." she ordered gently.

Despite feeling pain all over his body, he obeyed, knowing that he needed energy. Sitting up groggily, Shinichi faced his caretaker.

Ran sat beside the empty space of his bed, chicken soup in her hand. He frowned at the sight of the food.

"You still cooked my favorite style? Even though you know I won't be able to taste it anyway?" she shrugged as a response, bringing a spoonful near her and blowing weakly.

"Well, you might not be able to taste it but your stomach will surely enjoy it, so why not?" something in his chest swelled after hearing such words. Still, he kept it to himself.

After a few more blows, Ran brought the spoon near his mouth, gesturing for him to eat it. Face flushing and coughing slightly, Shinichi took a bite at the soup. Albeit tasteless, he couldn't help but smile mildy, knowing the effort put in.

Ran laughed a little looking at him as well, but said nothing and continued feeding him.

After five minutes or so, the bowl was finally empty. She told him that he could have just ate half but Shinichi argued that he was hungry(he really wasn't but he would never stand having a food Ran cooked for him go to waste but he'll die before she even find that out).

He was now inclining back to the comfort of his own bed when Ran spoke.

"Seriously, don't overwork yourself Shinichi." she berated, masking her worry with exaggeration as she arranged the plate and the soup, slowly making her way outside.

"I wasn't, I just got a little busy that's all." her saw how Ran rolled her eyes at his excuse as she replied.

"A little busy? You rarely get sick. I was so close to believing you were invincible to fevers." he scoffed at her remark, being defeated with yet another fact. Maybe the pain he felt was a lot worse than he expected.

"Look, I'm glad that you're trying to save as many people as you can but you also can't forget about yourself." he winced at the obvious disappointment and seriousness of her scolding. Instead of meeting her gaze that bore holes into him, he averted his stare into the lamp.

"I'm fine."

"No you're not. And besides, if you don't take care of you, think of all the people that will need you but won't have you." he stayed quiet, getting her point. Shinichi knew it was irrational being stubborn and pushing himself to the limits but he just couldn't help it. He may be a cocky bastard as a lot of people call him, but he wasn't someone that can stand not being able to help when he clearly can.

He sighed, giving in.

"Fine. I promise I'll take better care of myself." his answer seemed to satisfy Ran as she smiled contently.

"Good." as he heard the creaking of the doorframe, Shinichi instinctively flipped his head towards the sound.

"You're leaving?"

He didn't know why, but an infallible amount of upset coursed through him at the thought of Ran leaving. She paused by the door and looked back, inclining her head to the side.

"You want me to stay?" she teased in a light-hearted manner, making Shinichi's cheeks flushed.

"N-no, just wondering.." he played it cool by keeping his voice even, now being reminded how pathetic he must have sounded like asking her if she was leaving.

"I'll stay. After all, someone has to make sure a certain mystery otaku doesn't go back to the library just because he's feeling a little better."

He glared at her jesting and turned to the other side, lying down.

"Barou, it's not like I can do that with my entire body in pain."

Ran laughed, knowing she annoyed him enough.

"Then that's more reason for me to stay right?"

Before he can even think of a reply, she already closed the door and all Shinichi could hear were the sound of her shoes walking downstairs and the erratical beating of his heart he hoped was a side effect of the fever and not..... entirely something else.

#Shinran #1/5 #Fluff #Sickfic #detective conan

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thirstofgames · 3 years

Text

kitty and the jailbird

#️⃣2️⃣

-IT'S A MATCH-

A blank chat popped open and Damien stared at it for a second. He had honestly not expected it. The girl actually swiped him right. He looked at the clock impatiently; he did not have much time left in the library. There was a loud shout from the hallway, his muscles tensing, ready to hide the phone and bolt at any second.

He regretted that last question right as he pushed send. It sounded so bitter in his head now. It was a dating app after all and she was a good looking young woman.

you there?

...

hello?

busy flirting with your other matches, huh?

And there it was all about to end, the hot topic of his whereabouts. And the swift and cruel rejection that followed. It had already happened one too many times! Could he go through his again? Was it worth it? His palms were sweaty, but he never felt so cold. If the ground could just open up and swallow him whole before she finished asking...

No, sorry

Just a little surprised we matched

you can unmatch if you want

Well, what I want is to talk with you 😊

Your profile caught my eye

what part?

Your profile pic at first.

Most guys can't pull off the broken, deep and scowling thing

But... looks good on you.

you don't look so bad yourself-

but then I read your description...

and I have to know something

shoot 🙄

It was a simple Yes/No question, but it took Kate way to long to answer. She bit her lip, thinking hard on the possibilities. It was such an unfair question though. She was not going to leave, but was not going to pursue anything with him until she knew what he was in for and how long he was going to be locked up. She'd wasted enough years waiting up on others...

I'm just a little confused 🤔

Are you really in jail?

you gonna leave if I say yes?

It really depends...

A bittersweet smile spread on his lips. What was he expecting from a girl like her? She probably had a nice job, a supporting family and tons of friends and... an actual future. Why would she even consider wasting her time with him? The little time he had left... Better to just pull off the band aid!

She felt to bad! She hadn't meant to disregard his feelings, but wasn't it fair to let her know what she was getting into? She didn't even know what he was expecting from the conversation they were having... She was curious, but she didn’t want to lead him on.

okay, let's just say...

the orange pants and barbed wire are real

OMG

I have so mane questions 😱

here we go...

What did you do?

Wait, where do you even hide your phone?

STOP!

enough with the interrogation, alright?

I'm just curious...

sure, but i'm more than just a prisoner

a little respect goes a long way

Kate’s heart sank. He was hot, but the prison was a serious issue... She supposed people were not lining up to get to know him. He seemed pretty well rounded and mannered, but he was very defensive about his crime. Did that mean it was something really bad? But he was on a dating app... so maybe he was getting out soon?

You're right!

I'm so sorry 😓

Let's change the subject

Why don't you tell me what you're looking for

hmmm

What?

i'm thinking...

nobody's really asked me that before

Seriously?

most people stop talking to me when they find out i'm locked up

i don't really blame them. i'm rough around the edges.

She didn't say anything for a while and Damien started wondering if he should just close the damn phone and leave. He should also probably take a break from Lovelink after this... it clearly wasn't doing him any good. Dark thoughts swarmed his mind and he had to close his eyes and head his head back against the bookshelf to get rid of the harrowing feeling. Like he was falling in an endless pit...

The screen showed him typing and deleting several responses. Kate pursed her lips, impatient. Had she said anything wrong? She’d never spoken to someone who’d been locked up, she was still unsure what could trigger painful memories, or just remind him that he was... not free. But he said he just wanted to chat and his profile mentioned 'deep conversations'...

Okay, I'm not running away, for now

but...

But I can't really make up my mind

If I don't know anything about you

So...

alright

honestly I'm just looking to talk to someone from the outside

it can get pretty boring in here, just waiting around the clock

Let's be friends then 😊

I'll be your window to the outside world

If that's alright with you...?

Damien sighed on the other end. Beggars can’t be choosers. It was a step in the right direction though. Maybe he was not going to find the love of his life at the very fucking end of said life. He was not living in some fairytale! He was still going to die, alone and forgotten.

But maybe... just a little less alone at the very end of his road. One friend meant more than none and maybe, just maybe... he could tell her his side of the story. Eventually. She seemed patient and understanding enough. Let at least one person out there know he did not murder his own father.

sure

that's more than most

Of course a pretty thing like her got a lot on attention... She was only chatting up with him because the others were offline-

but it must have been pretty bad to be such a long sentence

you still can't tell me what the crime was?

look, i've been making my own rules my whole life

you better ask what crimes I DIDN'T do

wow...

i'm no bragging or anything, just letting you know where I'm at

anyways, I'm more interested in what you're all about

what are you doing on an app like this?

Honestly...

I was about to uninstall it right before we matched 😅

you already found the one?

or no luck at all?

Well, I went on a few nice dates...

i see

Suddenly his experience on the app seemed less awful. Maybe it was not the right place. Or perhaps it was just the place for a misfit like him, here with all the weirdoes and con artists.

And then they ditched me for their exes

Just my luck 😂

Oh and I swear to god if I see one more vampire 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄

vampires?

Yeees

You wouldn't believe some of the things I saw...

OMG, one dude was actually dresses up as a centaur

I...

don't even want to ask

There's also the 'prince' scam going around

Dudes claiming to be the heirs of some

Made up countries and asking you for money

It wasn't quite a rejection, but it still hurt a little. She already mentioned twice she was only interested in him as friends. She didn't need to spell it out every few minutes! But she was the only one...

Met some nice people too ☺️

Actually became good friends with some

Which is nice since I just moved here

were did you come from?

Pallay 💜

you're a long way from home

I know 😢

I suppose it was getting kinda lonely

My friends and family come visit when they can

But that's not a lot...

what brought you here?

Got a really good job opportunity

But I didn't quite realize how far away I'd be

So yeah, to answer your question from before...

I'm kinda just chatting with new people

Made more friends than anything else lol

Hope that's aright with you 🤗

A smile crept on his lips. An actual, genuine smile. How long had it been since he had any reason to? God, it felt good to talk to someone! Someone who didn't know him, who didn't shout 'walking corpse' after him, didn't judge him. He almost felt like his old self. Almost.

i'm cool with that

Great!

Looking forward to getting to know you, Damien 😄

so let's get to it

tell me about yourself

hobbies, favorite food, anything

my hobbies are always changing 🤔

I start something new every month or so

Oh, and I started volunteering at a vet lately

🐱🐶💕

With a friend I made on this app

it suits you

Hmmmmm how would you know?

We've only just met

just a hunch

I could secretly be evil 😈

you couldn't hurt a fly

besides, I've seen evil and believe me

you're not it

I'm guessing you're not going to elaborate on that

Are you?

see, you know me so well already

Smartass 😝

At lest until she finds out.

And I love food 🤤

Who doesn't? lol

But picking a favorite is like... impossible

I do have one hell of a sweet tooth 🍫🍬🍦

I'm soooo jealous

I miss making my own meals

That's right! You probably just have a cafeteria.

I'm so sorry 😓

it's cool

i'm glad we have something in common

Is there any food you miss?

Wait... was there even steak in that picture? Kate felt her ears burning, the fluffy pajamas studently itching at her skin.

just makin my own in general, being in charge in the kitchen

Damien scrolled quickly through his phone, the memories leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. He nearly didn’t send the photo. It felt like so long ago, a different time...a different person. But it felt so good to remember! To be reminded of the more happier moments when he had all his life ahead of him! And showing her a piece of his past may make her curious enough to stick around for a while longer.

He hit Send.

-Tap to download photo-

Looks... delicious

you like steak?

Oh yeah, the food 😳

Wish I could have a bite of that hahaha

So not so shy and innocent as she claimed. Good to know. Even if it didn’t lead anywhere, which he had to be realistic about - he was on death row after all - it was still fun. The most fun he’d had in a long while. It felt...nice.

HA!

i wish you could too 😏

The door of the library swung open hitting the opposite wall. The guard in charge could be heard arguing with someone. At least four voices. He had to move fast.

I'm really hungry now 😅

good

Kate stared at the screen, the little green light besides his profile picture going grey. She scrolled through the conversation as if to make sure she hadn’t just imagined it. She tapped the picture he’d sent, a small smile creeping on her lips. He looked so... normal. Well, more like smoking hot, but she expected some kind of dump, or some greasy repair shop, not Greek sculpture level abs. The boy should come with a warning! She was a sucker for bad boys, but had she gotten so bad that she was now considering a fucking convict? What if he was a murderer or something??

shit!

???

someone's coming

gotta hide my phone

talk soon

Be careful! 🙏🏻

Her ice cream, forgotten on the coffee table, had turned to soup.

What had she gotten herself into?

#lovelink #damien jones #kitty and the jailbird #austin russo #counterpart

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cherryeol04 · 4 years

Text

My princess || Hwang Hyunjin

Genre: Fluff || Hyunjin x Cherry

Warnings: none

Word count: 1.6k

Mangos Note: Cherry, love!!! I wrote this for you and I hope you like it!! I hope I didn't miss any details you told me add in. I hope you like it Cherry! Sorry for any mistakes, this is unedited, like all my other fics...Love you always💖💖💖

You're my princess, but I'll treat you like a Queen

It was a normal, boring day for Cherry. She woke up, got ready for work, and left her thouse at the time she was supposed to. It was like any other day for her. The café she worked in was completely empty. It's usually a lot busier than this. So busy, that she'd be running back in forth just to make one good coffee for a customer. Cherry sighed, as she put her head down onto the nearby counter. Her pink hair, covering her face. Cherry started to feel a bit sleepy, and didn't realize that someone had came in.

"Uh..excuse me?"

Chery shot her head up as she heard a voice. She locked eyes with a boy she never seen before. She's never had him before in her café. What she did know, that he was beautiful. He was a prince. He was perfect. His perfect face, his perfect jawline, his perfect lips, his perfect body, everything about him was absolutely perfect. She has never seen anyone so perfect.

"Uh..Miss?" He waved his hand in front her her face. Cherry snapped out of her thoughts, realizing taht she was staring. She looked away from the boy and blushed.

"You can do this Cherry." She told herself before turning back at the boy with a smile.

"Hello! Welcome to Sunset Café! What can I get for you?" Cherry asked sweetly, making the boy smile a bit from her enthusiasm.

"Hmm...What's popular here..Cherry?" His eyes trailed to her name tag. Her heart fluttered as her name rolled off his tongue.

"Well, our sunset iced caramel macchiato is very popular, also it's our special today!" She pointed up at the menu. The boy looked at it closely before making his decision.

"Alright. I'll take that please." He smiled, while pulling out his wallet.

"That will be $3.50. May I get your name?" Cherry shyly asked.

"Ah yes! My name is Hyunjin." He gave a sweet smile. "Alright Hyunjin, your coffee will be finished in a few minutes!" Cherry gave him a sweet smile before leaving to make his coffee.

As she made his drink, she couldn't help but keep looking at him. He was just so attractive. Cherry could only imagine him and her as a couple.

"Hyunjin! Your sunset iced caramel macchiato is finished!"

The boy came running towards the counter to grab his drink. He took a sip out of it, before looking back at her with wide eyes.

"Waahh. This is amazing Cherry!" Thank you for recommending this." He said shocked. "I'm glad you like it Hyunjin!" She smiled, lightly blushing.

"You're so cute~ I love your hair...I think it suits you perfectly. Only some people can pull off a pink hair, and you certainly did." He winked at her.

Cherry was squealing and fangirling on the inside, but she tried to keep her cool on the outside.

"I'll be coming in often, keep me in mind." He told her before leaving.

"Oh I'll definitely keep you in mind." She thought

It's been a few weeks now, and Cherry has seen Hyunjin almost every day, he ordered the same drink every day. And he made sure, she took his order only. Today, Cherry too the day off, and she wanted to relax because she had a huge headache. She had to run to the convenience store to buy some painkillers though.

As she looked through the medicines, seeing which one will last longer. Someone had tapped her shoulder. She looked up from the medicines and saw a person with a mask on. Did she know this person?

"Uh..Do I know you?" She asked the mysterious person. "You don't recognize me?"

Cherry looked closer at the person, only his eyes were showing. She knew who it was immediately after seeing that mole under his left eye.

"H-Hyunjin?" Cherry looked at him confused. "Yay! You figured it out!" Hyunjin pulled down his mask, only to reveal his smile that she adored the most.

"What are you doing here?" You asked. "Well, I didn't see you at the café today, and I asked some of the employees there. They said you call in sick." Hyunjin frowned.

"Are you feeling okay?" He asked, as he touched her forehead. "Oh god! You're burning up! Let's get you home." Hyunjin took the bottle of painkillers from your hands and went up to the cashier.

"Hyunjin, you don't have to." Cherry told him. "You are burning up Cherry, I'm going to take care of you until you're better." Hyunjin said as he handed the money to the man.

Hyunjin grabbed the pills and grabbed her hand before rushing out of the convenience store.

"Where do you live princess?" Hyunjin asked. Cherry blushed at the pet name he called her.

"My house is just down the street." She shyly told him.

When the two arrived to her house, Hyunjin told her immediately to get into comfortable clothes and get cozy into bed.

"Hyunjin, I can-"

"Go to bed. You disobey me, there will be consequences." He demanded. Cherry could see how dark his eyes got when he told her that. She immediately went to her room.

Cherry changed and layed in bed, waiting for her prince to come in the room. She started to get worried because Hyunjin may have a hard time looking for stuff. It's not like he's been in her house before. He walked in here like he owned the place.

"Hyunjin?" Cherry called his name as she exited her room.

"Cherry! I told you to stay in bed!" Hyunjin signed. He quickly walked up to you and pulled you close.

"What's wrong? Why are you so bothered by me being here? D-Do you want me to leave?" He asked. Cherry shook her head immediately.

"N-No! Of course not!" She responded. Hyunjin looked at her with a brow raised. Cherry brushed immediately after realizing what she had said.

"I-I mean..." Cherry blushed, turning away from Hyunjin.

"You're so cute Cherry. Get to bed, I'll be there in a bit." Hyunjin ruffled her pink hair.

"Do you need any help though?" Cherry asked him. "I'm okay. Just go rest for me. Okay?"

Cherry nodded in response before leaving to go to her bed room. Cherry layed in her bed for a few minutes, until she heard the door open. She saw Hyunjin holding a bowl of soup in his hands and she saw the medicine poking out of his pocket.

"Here you go Cherry. You should eat. I'm sure you haven't eaten yet." Hyunjin said, as he placed the plate of food down. At first, Cherry thought he was going to leave and let her eat, but instead, he picked up the spoon and started to feed her the food.

"O-Oh Hyunjin I can feed myself. Don't worry about it." Cherry told him.

"Nope. Open up Cherry. I told you earlier that I'm not leaving until you get better." He said, as he placed a spoonful of soup in her mouth. Cherry looked at him shocked. She didn't know he was such a good cook. It was probably the best soup she's ever had.

"Waahh. This is so good Hyunjin! Where'd you learn to cook like this?" She asked him. "I learned it from a friend. They cooked me this every time I was sick." He told her.

Hyunjin continued to feed Cherry, until she was all done. He handed her medicine and some water, which she took easily.

"Thank you so much Hyunjin, you really didn't have to. I feel a lot better now. I'm sure you have something to do." Cherry told him, making hin shake his head.

"I'm free today. Plus, I want to hang out with you. I always wanted to get to know you better anyways." He smiled at her, making her blush.

"You're so cute Cherry~ With your pink hair, and adorable smile. You're so cute." Hyunjin pinched your heated cheeks.

Hyunjin layed next to her in her bed. He wrapped his arms around her, making Cherry fangirl on the inside. He put on a movie that he recommend and held her close.

"Cherry, I have to tell you something. But, I'm afraid it'll ruin what we have." Hyunjin sighed. Cherry looked at him concerned.

"You could tell me anything Hyunjin. I promise, nothing will change." Cherry gave him a warm smile. "Promise?" He asked, she nodded in response.

"Well, I really like you Cherry. When I first saw you, I absolutely loved your pink hair, and I didn't see your face yet or anything. When I finally saw your face and I got to know you better, I started to fall for you, and I didn't even realize how much I liked you until I constantly started to come in, just to see you and talk to you. I came in, I ordered the same thing everyday just to see you. At first, I didn't really like it because it wasn't so sweet. But, somehow every time I came in to see you and order the same drink, the drink got sweeter every time I saw you." Hyunjin blushed as he told her.

Cherry couldn't believe what he was saying to her. She was so shocked. She never would've thought he would feel the same.

"Hyunjin..." She whispered. "Ah I shouldn't have told you. I should get going-"

Cherry pulled him into a kiss. She could see that he had wide eyes, but she slowly close them when he kissed back. She never would've thought she would get a taste of his perfect lips.

"Hyunjin, I really like you too. When I saw you, I thought you were a prince. You were just so perfect, I knew I wasn't good enough." She told him after she pulled away from his lips.

"Me? A prince? Well, if I'm a prince to you, than that makes you my princess. You'll be my princess, but I'll treat you like a queen."

With that Hyunjin pulled Cherry into another deep kiss, and held her close. He knew that he wouldn't ever let her go. Cherry was the one he wanted. Cherry was his true queen.

#for cherry #from mangos #mangos and cherry #cherry x hyunjin #cherry = hyunjins princess #hyunjin #mangos #i love you cherry #i hope you like this #submission

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fragmentedshards · 5 years

Text

The Final Curtain, Chapter Six

Matilda Livesey and the Dinner Party

Undertaker was used to the general gloom that pervaded his shop, but he wasn't sure how he would adjust to his returning solitude. He helped Matilda pack her remaining belongings in a carpetbag, thinking how much he would miss the magenta-haired woman.

"I'm sorry it turned out to be this sudden," the mortician apologized as he placed Matilda's nightdress on top of her other clothes. "Apparently external circumstances have interfered with one of the servant's ability to work tonight, and they need you to start immediately. I realize I should have asked you before volunteering your services-“

Matilda shushed him, facing the older man and gently laying her hand on his shoulder. "You needn't be sorry. It's the life of people like us. I am honored to serve the Phantomhives."

Undertaker chuckled to himself a little bit as the girl closed her carpetbag. "Call us people if you like; whether or not that's true anymore is more than I care to ponder."

Matilda laughed along with him, allowing him to help her into her coat. "The only thing I'm worried about is how will the school continue to function with me gone?”

Undertaker tapped her nose gently with his forefinger. "Never you worry about that; I will take care of everything." He stood a few paces away and took in the whole image of this woman. Everything, from her messy magenta curls to her glowing golden eyes to her plain white-and-green dress to the wedding band on her finger, was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He grasped both of her shoulders and gazed at her through his bangs. "I'll miss you.”

She embraced him tightly. "I'll miss you too." They shared a quick kiss before walking outside, where Sebastian was waiting with a carriage. Undertaker helped Matilda into the carriage, and waved almost wistfully as Sebastian drove away.

Sebastian was grateful for Matilda's help in the kitchen that evening. Under normal circumstances he would have been able to make enough food for a small party such as this entirely on his own, while also cleaning up the blunders of the other servants. However, whatever strange feelings he was beginning to experience seemed to be taking a toll on his capabilities, and with Paula preoccupied with an unexpected baby and Mey Rin helping with that situation, it was a stretch for even he and Agni to complete the task on their own. Agni had managed to find suitable tasks for Bard and Finny in the kitchen, but that still left a great deal of preparations elsewhere, and at that point Sebastian knew he had to bring the Undertaker's friend to the manor as soon as possible.

Matilda had taken Sebastian's place in the kitchen that evening and allowed him to make all the other preparations for supper; setting the table with the proper tablecloth, silver, and china, as well as creating a suitable centerpiece of impeccable white roses. He checked back in the kitchen every few minutes to see all operations running smoothly. He put all the finer touches on the meal while the others prepared it. In the end, the group had produced a magnificent supper fit for the diverse guests that would be dining at the Phantomhive manor that evening.

As the dinner guests were Prince Soma, Lau and Ran Mao, and Lady Elizabeth, and of course the Young Master himself, the servants had taken the liberty of adding a little something to appeal to each person at the table. Ciel sat at the head of the table and watched as Matilda and Agni served the food, listening to Sebastian describe each course as it came in between the conversation he was having with his guests.

"This curry soup has been prepared with the finest tumeric and cumin, premium chicken and fresh produce," Sebastian said as Agni ladled soup into bowls and Matilda places the bowls before the guests. Ciel did not appear to have heard the butler, as he narrowed his eyes at the unusually smug expression resting on Lau's face.

"What's the matter with you? You're grinning like a Cheshire cat, what do you find so amusing?”

"Cheshire cat, my lord?" Lay questioned cynically as he dipped his spoon into the steaming bowl of soup. "I always thought I was much more of Major Caterpillar, wouldn't you say so, Ran Mao?" The ever-silent Ran Mao merely nodded her head once in response, rolling her eyes when Lau was not looking. "In answer to your question, I am not sure amusing is the right word here. This business with you and your demon butler is very curious, I must say; it sparks many questions. Does this mean you can now perform the dirty work you so often left to Sebastian?”

Prince Soma gripped his spoon so tightly his knuckles turned white. "Of what exactly are you accusing Ciel?" he demanded.

Lau merely smirked. "I thought you were aware of all the goings-on of the Queen's Watchdog, my prince? England's Underworld is a very nasty place; it follows that anyone involved with it, in any way, should frequently find themselves handing nasty business. Young lord, are you going to kill your enemies yourself now, with your newfound demonic abilities?"

Elizabeth shot an angry look at Lau, and Ciel tried to keep his composure. "I am still the earl of Phantomhive," he replied in an even, complacent tone. "If I must perform a task I see unfit for a member of aristocracy, it falls to Sebastian to commit these actions in my stead. That is the way of a butler.”

Matilda brought out the second course, a magnificent roast turkey, which Agni began to serve to the guests as Sebastian described it.

Elizabeth watched Ciel raise a bite of turkey to his mouth, chew it and swallow. "Ciel... do you still need to eat human food?" she inquired, as politely as possible.

"I do not necessarily need it," the earl answered without so much looking at his cousin. "However, I do like the taste, and consuming human food does not hurt me in any way." He sighed inwardly. He knew this dinner gathering would be tiresome, with all these questions.

"Say, young lord," Lau spoke again. "I thought demons consumed souls. How shall this work? Are you going to make contracts with us now? I wonder how our souls would taste to you...."

Elizabeth exhaled forcefully. "For heaven's sake, Lau, why would you ask a question like that?”

"Certainly Ciel would never do something like that," Soma added, though even as he spoke he felt his assurance within him waning away.

"Begging your pardon, Mr. Lau," Sebastian interrupted the conversation at the table. "I must ask whether these inquiries are to extract information from the young lord, or to confound him.”

Lau was unmoved. "I would never intentionally place the young lord in a compromising position," he replied coyly, raising his wine glass to the butler. "I merely wish to know the changes in the dynamic beyond this household.”

Ciel dabbed his mouth with a napkin, fixing Lau with a stern gaze that would unsettle anyone else. "I would not expect the dynamic beyond the Phantomhive manor to change a great deal, if it changes at all," stated the earl. "That is the point in my continuing to run Funtom and monitor the Underworld; nobody should know the difference. Now if you are all quite finished with your interrogations, I propose we finish this meal in silence.”

Lady Elizabeth and Prince Soma glanced at each other and gulped, complying with the earl's wishes. Lau smirked to himself, but did not say another word. For the entirety of the remainder of the meal, the only sounds were the clinking of dishes and utensils and Sebastian's commentary accompanying each new course.

"These vegetables have come fresh from the market this morning, and they have been cooked to perfection and seasoned with Sichuan pepper and star anise.”

"Additionally we have the now-infamous curry bread, as well as a citrus ice with fresh fruit.”

"For dessert, we have a strawberry and almond layer cake, prepared especially by our new maid Matilda Livesy.”

Matilda smiled humbly at this recognition and continued to help Agni serve the food. The silence that had settled on the dinner party during the second course was broken with each person's bite of the cake, as every guest in turn exclaimed how delicious it was and complimented Matilda. Sebastian, for his part, thought it best to respond in his signature method to the maid's compliments: "If she could not prepare an exquisite layer cake for a dinner party, what sort of Phantomhive maid would she be?”

Matilda nodded to Sebastian's words, adding "A right poor one, that's what.”

Her sudden words surprised the rest of those present, servants and aristocrats alike. Sebastian laughed softly to himself and explained, "That question is more rhetorical than anything else.”

"Is it?" Matilda questioned as she refilled the wine glasses of each guest. "I suppose it doesn't make any difference whether or not the question is rhetorical as long as my answer is correct.”

"Matilda Livesey." Ciel said the woman's name as if hearing it for the first time. "I thought you were here to assist Mei Rin, not replace her.”

"I am here to assist everyone," Matilda confirmed. "This evening Mei Rin had other business to attend to, so Agni and I took over several tasks for tonight.”

"I see," Ciel muttered, audibly disinterested in the backstory of the new help. "Well, I'm sure Sebastian or Tanaka, or even Agni while he is still here, can teach you anything you do not already know - such as to not answer a rhetorical question.”

"Sir... did you say Tanaka?" the magenta-haired woman gaped at her master in confusion. "Is he here?”

The dinner guests watched Matilda in confusion, while Agni and Sebastian shared a quick glance that communicated an on-the-spot plan.

"Whatever the urgency is, Miss Matilda," Agni said to the maid with concern. "We can finish tonight's tasks without you. You may go see to whatever this is.”

"Tanaka is in his part of the servants' quarters," Sebastian added, poised to point in the direction Matilda needed to go.

"No need to come find me," an old creaky voice said from the doorway to the dining room. Everyone turned to see Tanaka standing there, at full height. He smiled kindly at the new maid. "Hello, Matilda. I'm so glad it's true.”

Matilda broke into a wide smile and rushed forward to embrace the ancient butler. "Hello, Grandfather." Her voice was muffled against Tanaka's body.

"Grandfather?" The guests collectively exclaimed. Even Ciel looked questioningly at Matilda.

The two broke from their embrace and turned to the rest of the people in the room. "Matilda Livesey is my granddaughter," Tanaka confirmed. "Her family lives on a farm in a very rural part of England. But many years ago they turned her out, for a series of feeble reasons. If I had known she came to London after that...."

Matilda grasped her grandfather's hand and looked at him in admiration, continuing the story. "I came to London and was able to find work at all sorts of places, but never permanent employment. I was very lucky that the mortician was able to use my help in his shop. Instead of paying me, he allowed me to live in his home. I'm very grateful to him.”

"If you speak of the Undertaker that I know, his home is merely a coffin-" Ciel froze, a forkful from a second slice of cake halfway to his mouth, and changed his sentence abruptly. "Hang on... just how close are you and that batty old reaper?”

Matilda blushed, then began helping Agni clear the table. "It's not a very interesting story, my lord," she said as she began stacking empty plates. "I'm sure there are a number of more riveting tales on other topics out there for you.”

"Speaking of which," Sebastian's voice startled the guests, who had risen from the table in plans of retiring to the drawing room. They looked sharply at one another, wondering when the butler had disappeared and reappeared. Even now, wise to the true nature of the butler, they were still baffled by him. He ignored their gaping faces and made his way to Ciel's mildly pouting one, holding a letter on a silver platter. "This is urgent from the Queen, my lord.”

"What on earth could even the Queen have to bother her watchdog over at this hour?" Lau wondered aloud, looking at an eternally placid Ran Mao.

Ciel opened the letter carefully, scanning the words once, twice, thrice. Then, sighing, he announced to his guests; "I will be retiring early this evening. You are welcome to stay the night,

as I may require your services come morning. I will reveal the contents of this letter to you tomorrow, after I have had a night to ponder over the next course of action.”

With that, Ciel made a regal exit from the dining room, followed as always by Sebastian, leaving a collection of utterly confused dinner guests and three curious servants.

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