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btsmosphere · 4 years

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Crossfire | KTH

Moodboard Masterlist

~summary: The night your life blew up sent you on a collision course with the campus bad boy, Kim Taehyung. Though you were well aware of his reputation, it was his doorstep you ran to when you were bleeding with nowhere to go.

~word count: 6.4k

~gang!au, mafia!au, college!au, angst, fluff, action, strangers to lovers, friends to lovers

Warnings: swearing, injury, dangerous driving, mention of drugs (warnings apply to each part individually, please read them)

~a/n: I am actually super happy with this chapter, I hope you guys feel the same! Y/N and Tae go on a lil adventure... I also had to make up a name for a cartoon show for this lmao,, and as always, thanks for the love!!

Something was tugging you from sleep.

Softly, though, so you didn’t notice until it was already too late, and your senses were with you all at once. In one last protest against the waking world, you didn’t open your eyes, stubbornly lying there instead, your back to the side of the bed Taehyung used. Then the same something that had woken you up started again.

He was singing.

That was all it took, and your eyes were open, body stiffening. Taehyung, however, noticed nothing. His song continued, one you had never heard before, and his voice was beautifully soft and smooth, expressive even at such a low volume. Clearly he had been hoping not to wake you up.

Swallowing, you forced your eyes to fall closed again. After the initial shock, you soon found it easy to relax to his calming melody, the duvet and pillow enveloping you in combination with his voice. And despite the warmth in your little bubble under the covers, goosebumps rose along your arms.

You really couldn’t get your head round Taehyung.

Though you had seen him being silly, all that time at college you had spent at a distance from him, he had seemed cold, intimidating. It had been a shock to you when he had been so amicable those months ago, and that soon became the Taehyung you knew, but he was still a mystery… His singing had really thrown you for a loop, another puzzle piece thrown in amongst the jumble you were already trying to make sense of when it came to this boy.

All day, you couldn’t get his song out of your head. Specifically, his voice.

His voice. Singing his song.

Him, him, him.

Last night he had mentioned that the books he had brought you were some of his favourites. Another surprise: who would have known that Kim Taehyung, the king of bad reputation, had a hidden love of fashion, an inner art connoisseur?

Now the books meant something different.

You read them even quicker after that, drinking in every word as if there were a drought.

Perhaps there was.

When you finished the last one in the stack, you were instantly back to the real world within four walls. It was only morning as well, judging by the light. Brilliant. One whole day and nothing to do.

“Y/N!”

Obnoxious footfalls. Taehyung was taking the stairs two at a time.

The bedroom door swung open to a slightly breathless Taehyung, leaning his weight against the door handle he had yet to let go of.

“Sorry it’s so late. You okay?”

You were lying across the bed’s width, head falling over the end nearest him, hair brushing the floor.

“Yep. Do you want me to cook?”

He only frowned down at you for a second longer before continuing as if one member of the conversation wasn’t upside down.

“Ah, no. I didn’t get any food.”

“But we basically ran out yesterday,” you frowned.

“I know,” he said, “but today we are going to the food.”

Now that made you sit up.

“What?”

“Yep,” a proud smile made its way onto his face and he straightened up, “we’re going out.”

When your only response was a wide-eyed stare, he took it as his cue to elaborate.

“I know you’ve been going a little crazy inside, so I thought we could go for an adventure. Hobi’s racing tonight and he says we can join him.”

“Hoseok?” you questioned.

“Yeah. Sound good?”

It did. You knew it shouldn’t. You weren’t naïve – you knew what he meant by racing. Idiots breaking every road law possible for clout, or maybe money. It was precisely what you had always stayed away from.

But it sounded so good.

“Sounds perfect,” you grinned.

First, Taehyung helped you find the pair of his jeans you were most likely to fit into; since you had been at his, you had mainly worn sweats for comfort’s sake, but this occasion called for a change. Wearing a hoodie was non-negotiable though, to hide your face.

After rolling up the hem of his black jeans, you slung on the most nondescript hoodie he had. Shoes, however, were more of an issue, so Taehyung vowed to buy you some once you were out. Also wearing black, Taehyung looked much more stylish than you in cargo pants, a bomber jacket and a bandana.

“Did you take your painkiller?” was the last thing on the list before finally leaving, via the side door.

Night had descended completely by now, putting you more at ease. You walked far away from streetlights when you could, but as you drew closer to the city centre, that was the last thing on your mind.

Being outside was just what you needed. You breathed in the cold air and drizzle on your face, eyes following each car that whirred past and people’s boots splashing in puddles of melted neon. And what made it all the more thrilling was the knowledge that you were taking a risk.

So far, you had been clumsily walking around in Tae’s sliders, until suddenly a man came barging past you on the sidewalk. In your dash to dodge him, you tripped over the too-big shoes, barrelling straight into Taehyung’s stomach where his arms steadied you.

You barely had a chance to straighten before Tae had turned around, bent down and grabbed the backs of your knees, forcing you to fling your arms around his neck, shrieking as he hoisted you onto his back. Grinning while you complained into the back of his neck, he carried on, but soon he was dragging you into a store that was still open – though not for long – and you grabbed the cheapest sneakers going.

With that problem solved, food was the next priority. In the end, you chose a street vendor and headed to your rendezvous with steaming bags in hand.

Not far from the centre, once you wound through the smallest streets enclosed by the tallest buildings, you emerged onto a car park. It wasn’t as secluded as you had expected for underground racing, still lit up in colours by the signs of shops that backed onto it, the entrance opening onto a wide road.

Cars were lined up, one pulling up at the same time as you and Taehyung. None were flashy sports cars: instead the line-up came in various states of repair, altered by their owners with darkened windows, underglow, stickers, spoilers, you name it.

“Hoseok!”

Beside you, Taehyung shouted across the car park, waving an arm above his head. Then his hand wrapped around your wrist and he lead you through the thin crowd over to the older bangtan boy, who pulled his friend in and clapped him on the back.

Hoseok joined the two of you as you sat on the wall to eat, watching as the first few people showed off their wheel spins and donuts, revving engines mixing with whoops and yells from the spectators. Most were dressed in black like you. A handful of people came up to chat with the boys, with ‘haven’t seen you in a while’-s to Taehyung and offers of bets for Hoseok. Keeping your head well down, you just enjoyed your food, silently taking in the new environment.

The night had cleared up, the asphalt still shining from the earlier drizzle, but the puddles now lay still as glass.

Plenty of people had bottles in their hands, sitting around on the perimeter walls. In the opposite corner, those with hidden faces crowded together, almost hiding the exchange in their hands. Others sat on their bonnets, proudly talking to the interested huddle gathered around them.

“Right, I’m gonna get warmed up,” Hoseok dropped down from the wall and departed with one last wave to your well wishes.

As Hoseok pulled his car out of its spot, more followed. Rolling down his window, he rested his arm casually against the side as he guided his car round, revving here and there to elicit hollers from the crowd.

Laughing in the driver’s seat, he hit the gas, putting on a spurt of speed and skidding round in a perfect one-eighty. A cloud was thrown up by his back tyres, glittering as the droplets fell back down.

By now, you had finished eating and were anticipating some action. The buzz among the spectators grew more as each driver messed about in the parking lot, until at last they were filing out, lining the empty road along an imaginary starting line.

“Can we go closer?” you asked Taehyung as people gravitated towards the roadside, disturbing your view.

A smile bloomed on his face and he jumped down, ditching his takeaway.

“Sure.”

Weaving in and out of the rabble to reach the front, you stood on your tiptoes to spot Hoseok’s car in the middle of the line. Taehyung stood just behind you, already speaking to someone. From your left side, a taller girl pushed past you, striding right up to the curb.

In a ripple, the pack quietened. The girl raised her hand – was that a gun? – and a bang sounded, drowned out instantaneously by the squealing of tyres and growling of engines. Within seconds, the cars had sped out of sight.

“How long is the race?” you turned to Taehyung, whose acquaintance had walked away again.

“That depends how fast Hoseok decides to go,” he murmured back, perching on the wall behind him and kicking his legs out, “they’re on one of the city circuits, main roads, so it’s just about acceleration.”

Nodding in what you hoped was a casual manner, you returned your eyes to the deserted road.

“So he’s good then, Hoseok?”

You hopped up onto the wall beside Taehyung, but it wasn’t his voice that replied.

“Oh, he’s the best.”

Your head snapped around, leaving you face to face with Yoongi. Leaning against the end of the wall, smoke swirling up from a glowing cigarette end in his hand, he looked right at home. How long had he been standing there?

“I heard you were here,” he directed a rare smile past you to Taehyung, “everyone’s wondering if you’re gonna go for a spin.”

“It’s been a long time,” Taehyung chuckled.

“Beck’s next up,” he said, as if that was meant to mean something. Based on Taehyung’s reaction, it probably did.

Shaking his head, he laughed, then bit down on his lip, still smiling, and stared into his lap.

“I’ll think about it, okay?”

“Well you won’t have long,” Yoongi crushed his cigarette against the wall, chucking it carelessly to the ground. Sure enough, the screech of tyres and distant rumble of engines were once again becoming audible.

As Yoongi melted away into the crowd again, the sounds grew and you stood up again, craning your neck to see as far down the road as you could. Only seconds later, a pair of headlights blazed around the corner, drawing a line down your vision as the car flew towards you, followed by a tight group of others.

Stepping back, you watched as the first place car whizzed by, blowing your hair back and off your face, the rest piling across the line in a photo-finish a few seconds later.

While the cars slowed, drifting round to return to the car park and the assembled cheering crowd, an elbow nudged your arm.

“Do you fancy a ride?”

Your eyes slid between Taehyung and the cars re-entering the lot, quickly encircled by people.

What the hell were you thinking? Why were you even considering saying yes? This was crazy-

“Okay!”

Taehyung held you in front of him, shielding you as together you cut a path through the excited mass towards the victor of the last race. Hoseok was grinning from ear to ear, arms in the air, high-fiving people and showing off energetic dance moves in exchange for laughter and pats on the back.

Once again, Taehyung clapped his shoulder, this time leaning in to make his request. Hanging back, you were invisible in the crowd, your face obscured.

“Hey, everyone!” Hoseok shouted, causing a hush, “Taehyungie’s gonna do the next one!”

Cheers and excited applause erupted as Hoseok lifted Tae’s hand in the air. The older boy jumped around while Taehyung laughed, and before long the other drivers were back in their cars. Returning to the roadside, the crowd left you behind.

“Hop in,” Taehyung told you, making his way to the driver’s side.

Though not top-end, Hoseok’s car was not inexpensive. You slid into the leather seat and buckled up, Tae doing the same before gripping the wheel and getting it moving, out and onto the road.

“So where are we going?” you eyed the rabble from your window as you passed them, low rumble of the engine almost teasing given what was to come.

“Beck,” Taehyung replied, pulling into position, one hand staying loosely on the wheel, “it’s what we call one of the courses round the back alleys down by Beck square, and it’s sort of my speciality.”

You nodded, eyes falling back onto the wide open road in front of you. A few cars over, you saw the girl from before standing on the curb.

“You ready?”

A deep breath in.

“Yeah,” you smiled.

Bang.

Outside, the crowd blurred and disappeared, lights whipping past your window as you were forced back in your seat with the sudden speed.

Other cars encroached either side, penning you in but Taehyung kept his eyes ahead, locking the wheel all the way right to take you barrelling into a smaller road, with only one car ahead of you. At the back windscreen, purple headlights were bearing down on you, so close it was like a demon staring into the car.

Weaving, left, right, your car thundered after the red one ahead of you, but the gap only increased.

Snarling behind you, engine nearly as loud as your own, your main pursuer was on top of you. As you spilled out onto a wider road, it was gaining, crawling up your side.

With a glint in his eye, Taehyung took one look at the competitor, one glance to where the red car was turning the next corner some way ahead, and pulled the wheel.

Staring straight ahead, wheel at arm’s length, Taehyung pushed the car, the roaring engine riding a deafening crescendo as you powered ahead through the deserted alley he had taken you down. You winced as he rapidly squeezed past some industrial bins lining the wall, only grazing one with slight jolt – then it was a clear road to the growing exit.

Your car fired from the shortcut like a cannonball, Taehyung wrestling the wheel to bring the back tyres under control as you turned right, finding yourselves neck-and-neck with the red car from earlier.

Next, a drawn-out corner, and that was all Taehyung needed to pull away, expertly drifting around before flattening his foot to the ground, plunging into the darkest alley yet, lit only by your headlamps. But once you emerged, the wider road was back, shop signs and streetlights blurring outside.

Taking a glance behind, the red car was nowhere to be seen.

A laugh bubbled up from your throat as you fell back in your seat, exhilarated. And then there was the crowd, watching and waiting by the parking lot – you had won!

“Fuck me,” you breathed as Taehyung relaxed beside you, casually braking into a drift to turn around.

A hearty laugh returned from him as he pulled into the car park, soon getting swarmed. Exiting the car, you were both engulfed in the clamouring mass, though you managed to slip away to the midst of it. Everyone was the most interested in Taehyung.

At last, most had dispersed and only Hoseok and Yoongi were left congratulating Taehyung with hugs.

“Fun, right?” Hoseok smiled at you, inviting you into their conversation.

“Yeah.” Breathless as if you had just run the course, you laughed with them.

“Good job, you haven’t lost your touch,” Yoongi affirmed again as Hoseok left you to drive again.

By the sounds of it, the next race was a longer one. Bets had been made and you all held your breath as the cars lined up again. The starting gun did nothing to help your heart calm down after the adrenaline rush of Taehyung’s race, but you weren’t complaining. His face wore a similar joy to yours, the two of you happily sitting back after Yoongi left and laughing about the thrill of his driving.

“I dunno if I would have got away so well on the corner if Hoseok’s car wasn’t so good though-“

“Hey! Don’t downplay it, your driving was insane!”

“Maybe it was insane,” he looked down, bashful, but soon smiled back and shook his finger at you, “so don’t try this at home!”

But your laughter at his joke was interrupted.

Sailing over the buildings came the high-pitched wail of a siren. The group quietened. Listening. Perhaps it was unrelated?

A couple of people walked into the road, looking around to see if the vehicle was coming your way. It was definitely getting too close for comfort.

Taehyung stood, hand wrapping round your upper arm and lightly pulling you away from the front of the crowd, though both of you still stared at the road, hoping the sound would shrink again, pass you by.

Blue flashed against the rain-slick road, illuminating dark windows at the end of the street.

Bad luck.

“Run!”

Those who were standing in the road took off across it, away from the car park, while some scattered back to where they came from. The few cars left standing in the parking lot were starting up, leaving by the alleys. And in the middle of the crowd, you and Taehyung started running.

In seconds the parking lot had emptied, and now you were alone with Taehyung as other members of the party vaulted walls away from the sirens and shouting police officers, the slamming of car doors as they gave chase.

Air rushed in and out of your lungs as your feet pounded after Taehyung, going as fast as you could but still falling behind. Dark buildings either side of you were painted in blue as light fell down the alleyway from the cars that had scattered you. Up ahead, Taehyung rounded a corner, but it was lost in darkness and you weren’t sure which one he had gone down.

You didn’t stop running.

“Stop there! Police!”

A woman yelled from the other end of the street, making you push yourself harder.

Just then, Taehyung skidded back around the corner you had just reached and grabbed your hand before you could think, and now he was pulling you away, taking turn after turn through dark streets you had never seen before. Stumbling after him, you clutched his hand, your lifeline.

You must have lost them by now. No blue lights could be seen, no sirens or shouts heard, no other footsteps but your own.

You hoped you had lost them by now. Your heart was beating out of your chest and your head spun, lungs failing to cooperate, evicting air in heavy bursts, taking it in too slow. In your side, the pain couldn’t be masked by the painkiller anymore, pinching mercilessly with every step.

You had to slow down.

Legs failing you, you finally gave in to stopping.

The sudden tug and then loss of your hand in his made Taehyung turn around, finding you doubled over, panting and pale in the face. Eyes scanning the street beyond you for danger, he moved forwards, hands gripping your arms.

“Hey, Y/N, can you keep going?”

Only your hyperventilating answered him.

“Y/N? Can you hear me?”

Trying to pull you up to look at him, he was only met with your body going heavier in his arms, forcing him to scramble to wrap his arms around your back as you went limp.

Cursing, he lowered you to the ground but didn’t let go. Not taking his eyes off your face, he caught the moment your eyes opened again once you were leant against the wall.

A short breath escaped him, tongue darting out to wet his lips.

“Y/N? Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” you managed, breathing more even now, “my side…”

“It’s alright, you can rest for a bit,” he assured you, finally releasing you and sitting back on his heels.

One more check up and down the alley.

“Were we seriously just running from police?” you laughed slightly, bringing his attention back to you.

“First time for everything,” he mused, sitting down beside you.

“I guess,” you chuckled, still a little breathless, “so is the racing over?”

“For tonight. It gets busted occasionally, so when the others get back and see everyone’s gone they’ll know what happened.”

“Is Hoseok going to get arrested?”

“Shouldn’t do. He’s had plenty of practice evading cops.”

Nodding, your eyes returned to the ground. It was easy to forget how much experience Taehyung and the other bangtan boys had in all this; you were just here for the ride.

“You had your painkiller, right?” Taehyung broke the brief silence.

“Yeah, I did,” you quickly confirmed, “and I feel better now, I just, I dunno what happened…”

“And your iron pill?”

“Hmm? Oh, the red ones… no, I-I don’t think so.”

He clicked his tongue.

“That’ll be it then. You’re taking one as soon as we get home.”

Despite feeling a little like you were being scolded, you smiled, about to respond when a scuffle from the end of the street made you both turn your heads.

As you watched the dimly lit space, a silhouette ran past in a blur, followed by a slower figure, wearing an unmistakeable bulky police vest. They jogged past the opening to your street, but soon their outline reappeared, empty handed.

Breath catching in your throat, you went obligingly with Taehyung as he stood silently, his arm guiding you behind him without taking his eyes off the cop. As quickly as you dared, you both retreated, wincing at each slight crunch beneath your feet. In the silence, the crackling of a police radio, though incomprehensible, was clearly heard, and the officer mumbled back into it.

Spying an opening to hide you from view, you gathered this was your target. Holding your breath, you approached it, swinging around the corner at the first opportunity with only one glance back.

One glance that showed the cop’s head turning towards you.

This alley was much smaller than the other, and you found yourself facing Taehyung in much the same way you had in his hallway when you first came barging into his life. Searching his face, you wondered if he had seen what you did just now.

“Tae-“

His lips formed around a shushing sound that barely left his mouth, and in one small step, he was up against you, a finger steady on your lips to silence you. All you could do was hold your tongue and stare as he looked past you, tentatively dipping his head out of your hiding spot, never lowering his finger.

“They’re gone,” he spoke, voice still impossibly low.

Swallowing, you removed your eyes from his face, glancing up the alley you were now on. It was a dead end, home only to a large dumpster surrounded by smashed glass and needles. You couldn’t leave this way, which would explain why you needed to wait here, in case the cop was still close by.

What it didn’t explain was why Taehyung was still so close to you.

Although his hand had now lowered, you could feel his body heat from this proximity. The zip of his undone jacket brushed against the front of your hoodie.

Your tongue ran across your lips. Eyes finally diverted from the potential dangers outside, Taehyung was now looking at you.

“Uh…” you cleared your throat, regretting opening your mouth. You had no idea what you had planned to say.

Luckily, you were startled from the situation as a chiming ringtone broke through the moment.

Scrambling to scoop his phone from his pocket and answer it, Taehyung stumbled back, eyeing the alleyway outside in a panic. Thankfully, no one had heard. Better get moving.

“Hello?”

Not even getting a look at the caller in his rush to pick it up, Jungkook’s voice answering him was a relief.

Mindlessly grabbing your hand in his, Taehyung started walking with you beside him as he listened to the younger member. As you passed through the end of the street, he took a look both ways before leading you the opposite way to that the police officer had taken.

Holding Kim Taehyung’s hand was something you had never seen coming. But here you were.

You didn’t complain though. His grip was firm, comfortable, and walking with him this way felt… normal. How that was even possible, you didn’t know, and you blamed it on your lingering light-headedness – of course you would want to feel grounded.

But somehow, far away from all you knew in backstreets you had never seen before, after a very illegal night, with a gang member talking in serious tones over the phone next to you, you felt perfectly at home.

“Cheers, Kook. Night.”

Taehyung shut off the call, tucking his phone back into his pocket. By now you had reached more well-lit roads that you imagined would be busy by day. Now, of course, you were the only ones here. God knew what time it was.

The only light brighter than the streetlamps was the interior of a 24-hour convenience store, a good indication that it was by no means a civilised hour. Still without letting your hand go, Taehyung led you inside.

Standing in front of the wall of fizzy drinks, he ordered you to pick one before swiping a packet of crisps and a chocolate bar. The teenage cashier didn’t look you in the eye once as he rung you up, and then you were on your way. Only now did Taehyung drop your hand, passing you the chocolate with a command to get your sugar up and himself tearing into the crisps.

When you had worked through the first row, he spoke up.

“Jungkook was on the phone about your dad.”

“O-oh,” you stuttered, having just put another square in your mouth.

“Well he’s okay. He hasn’t been hurt, but as you know, Shinhyuk’s forced him to hand over your apartment for the gang to use. He’s forcing him to work for him, full-time, with the threat of harm to you if he doesn’t… Apparently he was accused of stealing drugs from a deal and that warrants all this – though it’s probably baseless. Shinhyuk had his eyes on your place already.”

You watched your feet as you listened. It had been easy to put your dad out of your mind for the sake of your sanity, the not knowing taking you round in circles, but hearing that he was still alive took a weight from you.

“I’m sorry,” Taehyung said, greeted with your silence, “we’re fighting against Shinhyuk, and we’ll try to help him. Try not to worry about him losing his job, I mean-“

“Worry?” you looked up at him, “He’s alive! There’s nothing to be sorry for! Can you thank Jungkook for finding this out?”

A small, relieved smile crossed Taehyung’s face.

“Course I can,” he grinned, then held out your Fanta, “now don’t forget about your sugar.”

After this, the walk home was surprisingly short. Given how lost you were, you had thought you were half the city away, but in next to no time you turned onto recognisable streets. Strolling through the dark eating sugary snacks, it felt as if you were coming home from the movies, or any venture more innocent than your night of racing.

As the pair of you were climbing Tae’s front steps, he offered to make tea to warm up. Needless to say, you were fully on board with the idea.

He set to work, the kitchen lit dimly by lights tucked underneath the cupboards.

However, leaning against the wall waiting for the water to boil, you began to feel just how tired you were, both physically and mentally. But you could sleep later: you didn’t want the night to end yet. Deciding on a middle ground, you gave in to sliding down the wall, seating yourself on the floor. Not a move you would have chosen at your most alert moments, but it couldn’t be helped.

At your downwards movement, Taehyung spun around, dropping the teaspoon with a clatter.

But then he saw you staring back at him in bewilderment, and his eyes closed as he huffed in equal parts relief and frustration.

“God, I thought you were passing out again,” he grumbled.

Soon the bag of red pills landed in front of you on the tile. Sheepishly smiling, you gulped one down, and then a mug of tea filled its space.

“Oh, we don’t have to stay here,” you frowned at Tae as he sat down opposite you on the kitchen floor, leaning his back against the cupboards as he cradled his tea.

“Nah, it’s a unique perspective,” he said, “I’ve never sat here before and it’s my house.”

“Yeah, I’m sure your kitchen looks super different from down here,” a smile threatened to break your baffled frown, though you did pick up your mug, breathing in the inviting steam rising from it.

“So was tonight okay?” Taehyung smiled over his mug, eyes creasing a little as they watched for your answer.

“Mmm, yeah,” you swallowed your first sip of tea, “I’ve never… done anything like that before. But I thought it was really exciting! Hoseok is so nice too, letting you drive his car.”

Tae let out a short laugh, eyes disappearing for a moment.

“I practically learnt to drive in Hobi’s cars.”

“Wait, cars? As in, cars, plural?”

“Yeah,” his wide grin stayed on his face, both rows of his teeth visible in the low light, “tonight was just small races, he didn’t get out the big guns. You should see his Bugatti.”

Your eyes bulged from your head.

“I’m not even going to ask where he got the money for that,” you mumbled, still in awe.

“He didn’t,” Taehyung smirked. Rolling your eyes, you breathed a laugh, soon diving back into your tea.

“Was it alright with Yoongi there?” he asked next. His eyes were wider now, curious, smile dimming, “I know he hasn’t exactly been…”

“No, it was fine,” you assured, “I get that he doesn’t like me, but he seems to tolerate me now, so I won’t push him.”

“He did sort of beat you up before, though,” Tae pointed out.

“I nearly beat him up back!” you joked, admittedly motivated by genuine defensiveness, “I could have handed his ass to him any time I pleased, but I chose to give you the satisfaction of saving me instead.”

Taehyung responded by snorting into his tea.

“You are so rude,” you tipped your foot over to playfully kick his thigh as you both laughed.

“Honestly, I’m glad you’re not too bothered by Yoongi,” Taehyung said once the laughter had passed, though his smile still lingered, “he looks so tough, but he’s a massive softie really.”

You simply raised your eyebrows.

“You’ll see,” he smirked.

“I’ll wait,” you scoffed, “although I don’t find him scary exactly… he sort of reminds me of that evil magician from Archie-wizz- did you watch that?”

“Yes! I used to watch that every day after school!”

“Yeah, so you know the one I’m on about, right? He was always lurking around corners, like, the camera would turn around and there he was, like he’d been there the whole time. That’s Yoongi!”

Tae barked a disbelieving laugh.

“You mean Count E. Vil? Yoongi would flip shit if he heard you compared him to a cartoon.”

“Count E. Vil? That was his name?”

“Yeah, and every time he appeared, Archie was like ‘didn’t see ya there!’”

“Yeah, yeah it is that one,” you laughed at the memory, “was that seriously his name? I must have forgotten.”

“You know, the more I think about, the more I can see it,” Taehyung was laughing too, “you just turn around and he’s like – bam – looking all cool…”

Taehyung schooled his face into a death stare just like Yoongi’s to demonstrate, making you crack up even more. He didn’t last long before the act broke down, laughter creeping into his poker mouth and now the both of you were bent over your knees with tears in your eyes, wheezing with the kind of infectious laughter that is most at home after lights out at a sleepover.

“Not a word of this to Yoongi, understand,” Tae joked when you had both calmed down, voice worn out from the laughing fit.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Comfortable silence warmed the room for a moment as you both drank more tea. Odd though your little scene was, with you both sat on the floor, legs outstretched in the middle, it was cosy. The glow of fading LEDs that barely lit your faces separated you from the darkness of the outside. In all the world, it felt as though you two were the only ones, safe in your unorthodox sanctuary.

“How…”

You spoke before you had figured out how to phrase your question, but now Taehyung had lifted his eyes back to you.

“How did you… Who started, I mean, with bangtan…”

“How did we get together?”

You gave a small nod.

“Some of us go way back,” he set his tea down, “I mean, I went to high school with Jimin. And Yoongi’s from the same city as me, and we used to know each other when we were tiny. His family was connected to Namjoon’s, and that’s where it started – their families started the whole crime thing, and they started training together.

“We all sort of fell together, I think Jin’s family needed help from Namjoon’s and he stayed on; Jungkook knew Jimin from childhood, and he showed up asking for help when we had already started; Jin found Hoseok at college. I started, and Jimin came along too, because Yoongi wanted me. We had been out of touch for years, but I still knew who he was.”

“Wow,” you breathed.

“It’s sort of complicated, I know,” he directed a shy smile at his cup.

“Well, that’s life,” you said quietly, “but you guys work so well together. I guess you got lucky.”

Taehyung’s nod was solemn.

“Yeah. But it’s more than just working – they’re my brothers now.”

Tilting your head as you listened, you believed him.

“You guys seem to understand each other so well.”

“We do – we always have each other’s backs, you know? I wouldn’t stick around in this for just anyone.”

“By ‘this’, do you mean…” you rested your chin on your knees, still listening intently.

“Everything we’re known for: drugs, fights, racing… I never intended to get into all that. I try to be careful, and moral, about it, we all do. But I wouldn’t have done it for anyone else.”

“Do you think you’ll stay in a gang forever?”

By now you were both talking in hushed tones as if you were huddled under blankets.

“No, I don’t think so,” he pondered, “I’m not sure what I want to be, though.”

“How about your art?” you smiled, “or fashion. Those books you got me were really interesting. Or your music? You’re a good singer-“

Cutting yourself off, your eyes widened. Taehyung had been nodding along, considering your options, but now he stared straight back at you.

“You heard me singing?”

“U-uh, yeah, I did,” you stammered, heat glowing in your cheeks, “I was half asleep, but I thought you were so good.”

“Thanks,” Tae’s voice was lower in pitch now, and he swallowed and looked down, his dark hair obscuring most of his face so he almost melted into the darkness. He cleared his throat, “I’ve never sung to anyone else before.”

“Well, you didn’t exactly sing to me,” you spoke softly, reaching a hand to his knee, “but it was amazing anyway. I mean it.”

You were glad to see a genuine smile blooming on his face as he looked back up again.

“Anyway,” he shook his head, “I’m not gonna leave the boys. Even when I’m not in a gang, they’ll always be my family. I’m not letting that go.”

“I understand.”

You really did. Your only family was across the city, torn from you and forced to work for Shinhyuk.

Hesitantly, you drew your hand back from his knee.

Draining the last dregs of his cold tea, Taehyung let the silence settle.

“I miss college,” you eventually confess into the quiet room, “I hope I get to go back.”

“Even Professor Han’s class?” Tae’s low voice joked.

“Oh, I don’t think I miss it that much,” you smiled, though it was overtaken by a sigh.

“You’ll go back,” came the reassurance.

A pause.

“We… we’re hoping we can beat Shinhyuk in this whole thing. We’re sort of working on a plan.”

Instantly intrigued, you stared expectantly across the kitchen at Taehyung, who heaved a sigh and began to explain.

“Shinhyuk has his weaknesses, and thanks to Jungkook we’ve found the worst. He works differently to us. He doesn’t care for anyone in his gang, and they don’t care for each other. Like your dad, he keeps most of them there with blackmail, so we’ve been trying to pick people off. If we can infiltrate well enough, guarantee his members a safe escape from the gang, or find some blackmail of our own to get them, we should be able to weaken him and catch him off-guard when his safety net isn’t there to catch him anymore…”

“Is it going to work?” you breathed into the still air.

Taehyung pursed his lips. You were very conscious of your breathing as you waited for an answer. In. Out.

“It has to.”

I will love you forever if you reblog! Comment or message me to be added to the taglist!

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amintyworld · 3 years

Text

We Lost - Sorrowful Song AU

A/N: Hey guys, I back with a few prologues/intro chapters to some of @dreamsmp-au-ideas’s AUs. This one is the one I never thought I’d have time to write, but here we are - the Sorrowful Song AU. The premise is simple: What if during the Final Disc Confrontation, no one came to help Tubbo and Tommy? The answer: The fluffiest fluff, and the angstiest angst. Please check it out on their blog! I hope you guys enjoy! - Minty

TW: Major Character Death(s?), Blood/gore, afterlife, suicidal thoughts, memory loss, arguing, cursing, drug/alcohol mention, smoking. (Let me know if I need to tag anything else!)

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

As Tubbo and Tommy embraced in the cold air of Dream’s lair, Tommy squeezed Tubbo tightly, as if that could keep him here, alive, for just a little bit longer. That he would have his best friend for just a little bit longer. “So, are you… are you accepting this?” His eyes pricked with tears. “Are you o-?” His hands lingered near Tubbo’s arms as they pulled away, not knowing what to do or what to even say. Tubbo’s face filled with gentle warmth as he looked up to his best friend and mustered a smile,

“Hey, it’s okay.” He slowly reached to take Tommy’s hand in his and give it a comforting squeeze. “We had fun, it’s okay. We said our goodbyes at the start.”

“But we… we are optimistic you know we were optimistic-” Tommy’s body shook slightly, backing up a bit, as his eyes wet with tears. “The whole way here- my mic broke and we were… we were optimistic-!”

Tubbo crossed his arms around himself, almost like a hug. His eyes never left the floor. “Yeah, I know, but you get backed into a corner, like how he describes me as a pawn?” He looked up to meet Tommy’s gaze, his own eyes glistening with tears. “This is checkmate. This is it. This is the end.” Tubbo’s shoulders sagged. “I suggest you resign.”

A knot formed itself in Tommy’s throat at his friend’s words, and he thickly swallowed. “Tubbo… even though for this entire server I regarded you as my sidekick, and the character and all- But really Tubbo, I was your sidekick.” A moment of shock passed Tubbo’s face as he slowly began to shake his head.

“No..” A sad smile traced Tubbo’s lips.

A tear rolled down Tommy’s cheek. “Please don’t go.” Tubbo slowly began to move toward Dream once again. “Please don’t go…”

“No, no it’s fine.” Tubbo gathered up his courage as he closed his eyes in front of Dream, who held his ax at the ready. “It’s about time anyway, it’s about time.”

“Say your goodbyes.” Dream’s voice echoed through the empty lair.

“Goodbye, Tommy.”

Tommy’s vision blurred with tears as Tubbo’s body fell to the floor, crimson blood staining his chest. Tommy called out his name, running toward him trying to help him, hold him, anything- But, within seconds, his body disintegrated into nothingness, the only sign of his existence being a puddle of blood on the door and a pile of items. The teenager’s body shook with sobs as he fell to the floor, his heart aching as his mind scrambled with the simple fact that Tubbo was dead.

Tubbo was dead, and he wasn’t coming back.

“Hm…” Dream hummed to himself as he went through the pile of things apathetically. Curiosity piqued his interest as he pulled out a compass with the tag ‘Your Tommy’, looking it over to see if he should add it to his collection. “Interesting.”

“Don’t you fucking dare you bitch!” Tommy angrily shouted through tears as he rushed over, punching Dream in the face, er… mask. It cracked and a small bit of the signature painted eyes fell to the ground with a shatter as a single green eye stared down at him. Tommy’s heart dropped in his chest at how dull it looked. He remembered how dull his own eyes used to look, in exile.

Quickly, Dream kicked Tommy square in the chest and sent him flying as he landed on his back, practically all the air was knocked out of his lungs. As he sputtered for breath, Dream walked up to him, pointing his sword at Tommy’s chest. “Come on, Tommy. Let’s go.”

“Fuck you.”

The sound of glass breaking filled his ears as all the energy was quickly sapped out of Tommy’s body as he struggled to move, paralyzed, and he looked up at Dream in confused shock. “Do you really think you have a choice?”

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

“Fucking great, another one!”

“Shut up, Schlatt.”

“This is my void too, you know!”

Tubbo’s entire body ached as his dead felt dizzy. His mind struggled to remember what had happened. Why was it so fuzzy? He slowly opened his eyes to find… Wilbur? Wilbur gave him a smirk.

“You know when I felt like space was opening up the last person I expected here was you.”

Tubbo sat up, the shift in his position made his head throb in pain as he let out a groan. “Where… where is here, exactly?”

Though Wilbur looked just as he did when he was alive, except for a hole through his chest, of course, he was gentle and looked to Tubbo with a warmth that Tubbo honestly missed seeing. His hand found Tubbo’s as he helped him stand up. “Careful, I know it’s a bit jarring at first.” All around the two were nothing but darkness. They were floating in a sea of nothingness. Tubbo looked at his hands and noticed how translucent they were. Was he…? He was a ghost? Wilbur gestured around them. “Welcome to the Void!”

“Void…?”

“I mean, it’s under the world, at least we think… so… yeah. Welcome to the afterlife.” Wilbur shrugged as his face quickly lit up in excitement. “Oh, let me show you around!” Wilbur smiled as he dragged Tubbo, who looked down to notice he was floating, toward more ghostly figures coming into view. There were cows, pigs, flowers, trees, even translucent endermen. “Anything that ever was alive and died is down here, including all those pets- Fungi and Friend should be around here somewhere… oh, over there’s Schlatt’s little corner…”

“Wait, Schlatt…?” Tubbo asked, turning around to see the former President of L’manburg’s small hut, across from him a tent and in the middle a campfire.

“Yeah, still the same old Schlatt - you have no idea how pissed he was when he figured out there’s no drugs or booze down here.” Wilbur sighed with a chuckle. He looked over to notice a certain blue sheep sniffing around Wilbur’s pockets. Wilbur smiled as he leaned down to pet the small creature. “Hey there Friend. You want some grass, don’t cha?”

As he fed the sheep, Tubbo’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “Why do you need to eat when you’re dead?”

“It’s not so much that we have to, it’s more like we choose to. Friend enjoys his grass, yeah?” Wilbur shrugged. Wilbur led Tubbo under a tree as the two sat on the dead grass and flowers. “I was wondering… where’s Tommy? I would’ve thought you two would come down as a package deal.”

“I… Dream cornered us…” Flashes of memories began to play in Tubbo’s mind. “He threatened me, he made Tommy give up everything. He has everything that everyone’s attached to - their pets, their stuff… he said that Tommy brought attachment to the server, so he needed him alive. He was going to put him in this inescapable prison, and… and he killed me.”

Wilbur’s bright attitude fell. “Oh.”

“It was time anyway,” Tubbo brushed off, forcing a smile. “My time to go, I guess.”

Wilbur’s eyebrows furrowed. “Was it?” Tubbo sighed, laying back on the grass as he stared up at the darkness around them. Tubbo’s hands played with the glowing and slightly translucent grass as he stared at the ground lost in thought, trying to wrap his head around it all and not finding any words. “Hey, hey - it’s all good, sorry I didn’t mean to just-” Wilbur sighed, moving to stand and holding out his hand for Tubbo to take. “Hey, uh, you… you like Uno?”

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

Tommy hadn’t said a word through the entire trip, though it’s not exactly like he could if he wanted to - Dream didn’t care for his protests or his few pathetic attempts to escape. He pushed away from the tears in his eyes as his heart hardened once more, feeling oddly heavy, weirdly… empty. He kept his head down, his arms tied up in front of him as he marched toward Pandora’s Vault. Every step he took he felt like he was walking toward his own demise.

Memories flashed through Tommy’s mind of how he slowly walked towards the edge of the bridge, staring down at the lava, his head full of nothing but thoughts. What had Dream said again? “It’s not your time to die yet, Tommy.”

It really never was his time to die.

Always pulled and pushed along by people or things, fighting wars and facing down all the odds, prepared for the inevitable, welcoming and facing it head-on, only to wake up the next day and forced to move onto the next thing. Tommy used to feel happy and light, drifting wherever the wind would take him. Now, he felt like he dragged the world with him, with every move he made - it was so heavy, it hurt so much that the teenager almost felt as if at any moment he’d shatter.

But he hadn’t. And Dream wanted to know how much more he could take.

“Ah, Punz. Just the person I wanted to see.” Dream grinned as he slightly shoved Tommy forward. “The prisoner is here.”

Punz thickly swallowed in hesitation as he looked over toward the teen, who looked up at him, expressionless in a way that seemed so incredibly odd for Tommy that Punz stepped backward slightly in shock. “I… uh… I wasn’t aware that… that you’d be here this early.”

“I do pride myself on efficiency when it comes to these types of things.” Dream’s smiley mask bore into Punz, before turning towards Tommy with a cheerful smile. “Let’s get you settled in then, huh?”

As Tommy threw all his items into the chest, with no protest, he was turned as Punz checked his pockets for any lingering tools before handing him a tacky orange shirt and pair of pants to change into. Throughout it all, Punz tried to remind himself that he was doing the right thing, he was keeping his promise to Dream, he trusted him with his loyalty after all. Still, pangs of guilt rang through his stomach, tying it in knots at how utterly and completely broken the teenager looked. His eyes looked so dull he looked like an obedient zombie. He didn’t fight. He didn’t try to get away. Why wasn’t he trying to run?!

As they waited for the bridge to appear while the lava drained, Dream tightly kept the boy’s hands behind his back. Tommy’s voice was small and broken, almost pleading. “You’ll visit me in prison, won’t you Dream?”

“I’m afraid you won’t be getting visitors for a while, Tommy.” Dream pushed his hair back, almost… fondly? “I need to learn to trust you again, remember? I need to be able to trust you won’t try to run away.” As Tommy stepped onto the bridge with Dream behind him, only one thing he knew was for absolute certain - He wouldn’t run away.

He had nowhere else to go. He had no one to run to. He had nothing - L’manburg was gone, Wilbur was dead, Tubbo was dead.

Dream won.

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

Tubbo couldn’t help but smirk as he slammed down a plus-four on the pile, much to the ram’s dismay as the table erupted with shouts and hollers at the play. It had been awhile - Tubbo knew they lost count somewhere along the line, the last day was… the 20th day? Yeah, there had been at the very least twenty days since he landed down in the Void. he hung around with Wilbur for the majority of it, and though it was pretty clear he’d changed since pushing that button so long ago, there was definitely a side to him Tubbo remembered well, that he hadn’t realized how much he missed.

Schlatt was… well, he was Schlatt. The ram hybrid barely left his own little corner where he napped, and when he did he was usually poking around for his next cigarette from the small stash he and Wilbur shared, or the few times they needed a player three. “You cheater!” Schlatt exclaimed, throwing his cards down on the table in anger, making Tubbo giggle and Wilbur laugh.

“I think it’s safe to call it, yeah?” Wilbur smiled, getting up to grab the score paper and pen.

“No, it’s not over yet!” Schlatt said, searching through his pile for anything useful.

“Schlatt, you have over half the deck in your hand.”

“How did you get so many plus fours?!”

Wilbur sat back down with the paper, smiling. “So, that completes game four hundred and thirteen - so far, Tubbo and I are tied for a hundred and seventy-five wins, with sixty wins for Schlatt, and three for Mexican Dream.”

“Remind me again why I keep playing with you two?” Schlatt groaned, and Tubbo patted his back sympathetically.

“Well, Wil and I always need a third, and Mexican Dream is… well you know how he is.” Tubbo laughed. “You’re a very good competitor.”

“Don’t patronize me.”

“Uh, guys?” Wilbur looked own at his hands for a moment, calling the other’s attention as slowly, his hands began to fade away from view. “Guys…?”

“What… what’s going on- Schlatt?” Tubbo looked over to Schlatt nervously as the ghost looked around in a panic.

“I… I dunno what’s happening, this hasn’t happened before-!” As Wilbur’s ghost form began to fade more and more, gods it felt absolutely painful - that shredded feeling of being disassembled, only this time he had no idea where he was going. A sense of fear struck him as he tried to keep his voice even, trying to forcibly ground himself here, let him stay here, please-! Wilbur slowly crumbled into the dark ground in pain, and as Schlatt rushed over to help him, he heard Tubbo and look over to see him in the same condition. “Fuck, fuck fuck what do I do?!”

Tubbo tried to gather his strength to stand when that same headache pain from when he arrived exploded in his head once more. He looked over toward Wilbur and crawled over to him. “Wilbur, what’s happening?”

Wilbur tried his best to appear calmer than he felt. He hissed and winced at the pluses of pain throughout his body. “I… I don’t know, but it’ll be okay, alright? It’ll be okay.” Tubbo hugged Wilbur tightly as Wilbur ran his hand up and down his back to soothe him.

“It hurts, Wilbur.”

“I know. But we’ve been through worse, right?” Wilbur tried to reassure him. “We’ll get through it, we always do.” One moment, Tubbo felt arms around him, trying to comfort him through pain, and then… they were gone. His voice began to fade. “It’ll be okay…”

Then… silence.

Tubbo felt his heart being ripped open of losing Wilbur again. Tubbo looked up at Schlatt, who pulled him into a hug as Tubbo began to sob - in pure pain. “I know kid. I know.” Schlatt whispered comfortingly.

“Schlatt, I’m scared.”

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

Cold.

Cold, and wet.

A voice. He remembered a voice, calling out for him. It… it was Tommy.

Where was Tommy?

A numbing feeling took over Tubbo’s body and suddenly he shot up, on top of a snow-covered mountain. It took a minute for him to calm his breathing, as he looked around at his surroundings, memories flooding back into his head - a battle. They were fighting Dream… the discs…They won - they must’ve. Tommy wouldn’t have left him here, right? As he moved to stand, he noticed how he began to float a foot or so off the ground, not now noticing his greyed-out skin. He felt weird… sluggish. He didn’t feel like… himself.

What happened?

Pinching himself, he quickly realized he can’t feel pain. Piling the evidence in his head as he stumbled down the mountain, he tripped, falling forward and bracing for impact, and-! He fell, but again, no pain. The only constant being the growing emptiness he felt at the edges of his being.

Was he…? Surely not.

Looking down he noticed a large slash across his chest. Curious, he reached over to touch it, finally finding nerve endings as memories flashback and pain coursed through his body. Tears pricked at the edges of his eyes, as he slowly walked over toward a small pool of water, getting on his knees and peering over.

Surely not.

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

Tommy sat on the edge of his bed in the cell, shaking as he felt like crying, but realizing he had no tears left and feeling extremely thirsty. His eyes were red and puffy as he pulled his knees up toward his chest for the slightest bit of comfort. Usually, he’d feel stupid looking like this, but at this point, he didn’t care. In the five hours he’s been locked in the cell, Tommy figured out he didn’t care about a lot of things. Whether he ate, whether he got out of this hell hole somehow… whether or not he lived to ever see the sun again.

He didn’t have a choice anyway, no one had a choice, so what did it matter?

Within five hours, he screamed, cursed profanities as loud as he possibly could, and even tried throwing himself against the wall of the obsidian. It did nothing at all but made him tired, and left a very large bruise against his right shoulder. Part of him commended Dream on his plan. It was a brilliant one, that was for sure. This whole prison was a testement to how much he really knew him, how long he’d been planning this - because if it weren't for those iron blocks, Tommy would have thrown himself into the lava an hour ago.

He was about to turn and try to see if he could sleep forever, when a loud splash erupted his thoughts. “Fuck, why is there water here?!” He mumbled, pulling himself up against the wall.

Tommy’s eyes widened, his voice rubbed raw from the day’s events. “Wilbur?”

Wilbur, startled, nearly fell back into the small pool of water at the end of his cell again, clinging to the wall, dizzy from being manifested back into the world again. “Tommy…?”

“You’re… you’re here… you’re… whatthefuck-?!”

As Wilbur slowly got his bearings, he looked over toward Tommy warmly, smiling. “Hey, Tommy.”

Tommy couldn’t help but smile back seeing his old friend. “Hey, Wil.”

“I heard you and Tubbo went up against Dream, yeah?” Wilbur looked around the cell. “What’re you doing in here?”

“Dream… he, uh, he said I brought attachment to the server, and since I’m too important to kill, he put me in here.” Tommy said, gesturing around him.

“Yeah? Huh. So get out of here, then.”

“Wilbur-” Tommy sighed. “I can’t, there is literally nothing I can do to escape. I can’t break through the walls, there’s mining fatigue. I can’t pearl out, they took all of my stuff. What would even be the point, anyway?”

Wilbur leaned against the wall, arms crossed and looking over at him thoughtfully. “That doesn’t sound like the Tommy I know.”

“Yeah, well, things changed. People changed, places changed. Everything changed after you left. And… and I have enough self-respect to know when I’ve been beaten.”

“So you’re really going to just… give up now?” Wilbur asked.

“There’s nothing left to do but give up, Wilbur. Dream won.”

“How do you expect to get out of here if you’ve given up before you even begin?”

“Wilbur, there’s obsidian, mining fatigue, lava-”

“So you’re just letting him win?”

“Dream blew up L’manburg, Wilbur.” Tommy could see Wilbur tense out of the corner of his eye. “Dream turned everyone against me during exile by framing me for the Community House, Dream murdered Tubbo.” Tommy’s fists tightened. “Tell me, what else do I have to lose Wilbur? What’s the point of me nearly dying trying to escape with Dream tracking me night and day, what do I have to fight for, anymore?!”

Wilbur’s gaze turned soft as his hand reached out toward Tommy’s. “Tommy, I-”

“We LOST, Wilbur.” Tommy snapped. “Dream won, and we… we lost.” Wilbur was silent as he looked toward Tommy with an expression the teen couldn’t recongnize. Pity? “We lost.” Tommy managed before his body shook again, closing his eyes and letting a few new tears slip. “Look, Will, I-”

And, when he opened his eyes, Wilbur was gone.

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mari-rosa-skiess · 4 years

Note

headcanons of yuri p. being frustrated with female reader? (or lashing out on her by accident) which makes her feel insecure about herself? thank you! ur hc’s are so good!!! keep it up!

Thank you so much and yes! I’m so sorry this took me so long. Anywho, I hope it was worth the wait. :)

-Mari <3

Yoi masterlist

Yuri (Yurio) Plisetsky masterlist

Warnings: Swearing, Angst, Fluff

---

- It’s not like he’d lash out on you for no reason

- The last thing he wants to do is make you upset, so he usually hides his anger and frustration

- However, he wasn’t having a good day in general

- He had a rough day at practice

- He landed a jump wrong and twisted his ankle, so he wasn’t too happy with himself or his shitty ankle

- He was also late to practice since he slept in

- His coach made him rehearse for an extra hour since he was late, so he didn’t even eat lunch

- Not to mention, he just wanted to go home and sleep but he already agreed to hang out with you the day prior and he didn’t want to cancel on you

- On his way home from practice, he tripped on a bump in the sidewalk and faceplanted into a puddle since it recently rained

- He had to go home and quickly change so he could be ready by the time you arrived

- He walked into his room and noticed his room was so much of a mess to the point where he could barely find any clothes so that just added onto his anger

- He luckily did find clothes and he was changed by the time you arrived

- “Hi, Yuri!” you exclaimed, walking into his room, closing the door behind you

- “Hello,” he grumbled, clearly in a bad mood

- “Someone’s unhappy, what happened?” you asked him.

- He just looked at you and didn’t answer

- “I know something happened,” you spoke

- “Why does it matter?” he snapped

- “Oh, sorry,” you frowned

- You went to sit beside him on his bed, but you accidentally knocked a glass of water off his nightstand

- You cringed as the glass shattered on the ground and water splashed all over the floor

- Usual, Yuri would just say it’s fine and quickly clean it up

- But since he was already in a shitty mood, the most simple thing set him off

- “WHY’RE YOU SO STUPID, ARE YOU FUCKING BLIND, WHY COULDN’T YOU WATCH WHERE YOU WERE GOING!?” he yelled, clearly angry

- You’ve never seen a boy so angry over a glass of water

- “SERIOUSLY, HOW DUMB ARE YOU!?” he continued

- You just froze and looked at him, tears slowly came to your eyes

- He never normally says anything like that

- “I HAVE ALREADY BEEN HAVING A SHITTY DAY AND YOU MANAGED TO MAKE IT WORSE!” he continued to yell at you

- You just put your head down and tried not to listen to what he was saying

- You knew he didn’t mean it, but part of you believed the things he was saying

- “I’M ALWAYS CLEANING UP AFTER YOUR SHITTY MESSES, ALL YOU DO IS CAUSE ME PROBLEMS!”

- You just looked up at him while tears fell down your cheeks

- When he realized you were crying, he felt terrible

- “F-Fine...I’ll just leave,” you hiccuped, turning around and walked towards his door

- He quickly grabbed your arm, stopping you from leaving

- You pivoted on your heal and faced him

- You’ve never seen such guilt and disgust in his face

- The disgust was from himself

- “(Y/N), I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean any of that,”

- Soft boy time

- He’d apologize over and over again

- And hug you a bunch

- He’d also want to cuddle for hours while continuing to apologize

- “Y-You’re right...I am dumb,” you sighed

- “No, I’m just an asshole, don’t listen to me when I say shit like that,” he said, hugging you tightly

- He can’t stand the fact of anyone hurting you

- So him hurting you hit him hard

- He was so upset with himself for such a long time

- He made sure that he didn’t let his anger take over anymore when he was around you

- He loves you and doesn’t want to make you feel bad about yourself

- “I love you, I’m so sorry,”

- “Yuri, it’s fine, you’ve apologized twenty-five times,”

- Forgive the baby, he didn’t mean to...

#yuri plisetsky #yurio plisetsky #yurioplisetsky #yuriplisetsky #yuri plisetsky x reader #yurio x reader #yoi #yuri on ice #yurio plisetsky x reader #yuri x reader yoi #yuriplisetskyxreader #yurioplisetskyxreader #yurio

483 notes · View notes

smallheathgangsters · 4 years

Text

Second Youngest | S!S

A/N: I’m sorry, I really struggled with this one, but I hope it’s okay. Also, I had to make a few changes to the original request to boost my creativity and to me, it just made a little more sense this way.

Request: a very long one by @amys-small-world

Shelby!Sister

Word Count: 1826

Type: angst, a little bit of fluff

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Life had never been kind to Y/N, from the beginning on. Even her last name didn’t change any of that. Being a Shelby sounded like a privilege, something everyone wanted to be. Nobody daring to disrespect you and receiving everything you ever demanded, no questions asked. But when your own family doesn’t accept you as their own, the Shelby name transforms itself into a burden instead of a blessing. And that burden never went away for Y/N.

Being the second-youngest sibling and unfortunately not sharing the same mother as the others were features that were weighing heavily on her shoulders. Especially the fact that she had resulted out of an affair with a backstreet whore their father had been having behind his wife’s back, spoke for itself. She wasn’t a Shelby the family was proud of. She was the sibling nobody mentioned to anybody. The mistake none of them wanted to talk about. The reason for their mother’s worst heartbreak. Having a fling with a prostitute was one thing, but getting her pregnant? A whole other story.

That meant, that Y/N had to grow up by herself. Even though the Shelby’s took her in right after her birth and made sure to give her a bed to sleep in, food to eat and eventually work to do, they didn’t give her attention, even a second of their time or love at all.

To put it simply, Y/N had no idea what it meant to be loved.

As a child it had been easier, since she had friends to play with at school. But as she grew older, she lost those connections and Polly made sure to keep her inside to do housework instead of fooling around outside and getting into trouble with the other kids. So, Y/N spent most of her days cleaning and cooking for the Shelby household, instead of collecting memories like all the other teenagers.

Never receiving the brotherly protection like Ada had, she’d been forced to fend for herself since. Like the time, when she went grocery shopping by order of Polly and a group of kids her age started following her and calling her names and eventually tripping her, so she fell into a puddle on the street. She returned with her clothes soaked and dirty, making her get a horrible telling off by her aunt. If anything like that had happened to Ada when she’d been Y/N’s age, the boys would have made sure to beat the life out of those kids and that they never even dared to get near her again. But since she was the bastard child her brothers didn’t care about, nobody was there to defend her and keep her safe.

Therefore, the next time she came across the same group of kids, she punched the boy who had tripped her, right across the face, most likely breaking his nose by the cracking sound and his painful screams.

When she returned home, Polly asked her why there was blood on her dress. Y/N didn’t answer, keeping it a secret, like countless other things that would happen in the following years of her life.

At the age of twenty, Y/N was a wreck. Even those four years, when her three eldest brothers were fighting in the war, weren’t any different to the ones before. While Polly had taken over the brothers’ business together with Ada and some other women, Y/N had been tasked with the care of little Finn and the maintenance of the house. It had been acts like those, that made her feel so useless and so out of place. Would she ever be good enough for anything else?

Most nights she cried herself to sleep. She just couldn’t understand how she was still in this awful position. She waited twenty years for her family to hopefully one day change their ways, accept her as a family member and stop acting as if she wasn’t even present. It was horrible knowing that her family was expanding the business without including her even in the slightest way. Was she really that worthless? Why did everybody blame her for something she had no control over? Would this ever change?

It was the day before her twenty-first birthday. Y/N had had a terrible night, waking up multiple times and having awful nightmares, if she did fall asleep. Thoughts about her future had kept her from getting rest. Since the only thing she’d ever done was housekeeping at home and never got to broaden her horizon by finding a job outside, she felt like she could never escape this life she was living. She wanted to be a nurse or a teacher or seamstress. Anything but staying trapped in this state she was in.

Knowing it was still very early in the morning and the rest of the Shelby family was still sound asleep, Y/N rolled out of bed with a groan and put on some clean clothes. She decided that she needed to take a walk in the empty Birmingham streets before her unpleasant daily routine would start over again. She carefully padded down the stairs, making sure the old wood wouldn’t creak too loudly and grabbed her coat before stepping out into the cool, dewy air and closing the door quietly.

This kind of silence was rare. It was just before five o’clock, what meant that even the early risers weren’t awake yet and factories didn’t start their machines before six. Enough time for Y/N to clear her thoughts, to make sure she wouldn’t go crazy today. Because she felt like being at the verge of completely losing it.

She wandered along the cobble, passed little boutiques and bakeries and eventually ended up in front of the catholic church Polly often went to pray in. She wasn’t religious in any means, but she’d always found peace in the serenity inside the church walls. How her heels clicked on the marble floor and the people in the time-consuming paintings on the ceiling kept their eyes on her, giving her all of their attention, unlike her own family.

After entering, Y/N sat down in one of the rear rows, as though she’d be stepping too close to God if she’d gone any further. God, who most likely didn’t care for her or her existence. She sighed, propped up her elbows on her thighs and placed her head in her hands. Then, she let her eyelids close, realising just how tired she was. Lack of sleep being the least relevant one of all the reasons. Feeling the tiredness creeping up on her, consuming her entire body, she stretched herself out on the cold, hard church bench, her eyes not opening even a tiny bit.

She knew she’d fall asleep, but what she didn’t know, was that she’d eventually sleep through the entire morning. The loud bang of the heavy church door slamming against the wall, tore her from her uneasy sleep, making her sit up in panic.

“Y/N? Is that you?”

It was Finn’s voice. She knew immediately that she was in trouble. Although his tone didn’t actually sound very angry.

She wrapped her arms around her body, not answering his question and silently hoping that she’d be overlooked. But that clearly wasn’t going to happen, since she was the only one in the church and she’d stupidly shot up when hearing the alarming noise.

She heard his footsteps get closer and internally prepared herself to be yelled at, and if not from Finn, than from Polly later on. She tried her best to stay strong and hold back the tears forming in her eyes, but it was all too much to handle. She didn’t want to go back home. She wanted to run away or at least just stay here, by herself, as long as she could.

Surprisingly, Finn didn’t grab her by the arm and pull her with him or even tell her to get up. He didn’t say anything at all. He shuffled into the row and sat down next to her.

With her hand in front of her mouth, she muffled the sobs escaping. Then, she felt a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently.

“Family’s looking for you,” she heard Finn mumble.

Y/N took away her hand from her mouth and sniffled. “I– I know …”

Finn sighed. “I’m not going to tell them where you are.”

His unexpected statement made her sobs stop immediately. “W–What did you just say?”

Finn pulled back his hand and interlaced his fingers, resting his entangled hands on his thighs. “It’s not that I don’t see my family being very … unfair to you.”

Y/N almost scoffed, but wasn’t able to hold back her eye roll, which Finn noticed. “I totally understand that you’re angry.”

“Angry?”

That was the moment she suddenly couldn’t keep her thoughts from spilling over her lips. “You think I’m angry? Finn, I’m broken. I’m actually so fucking heartbroken. My own family made it their mission to make my life a living hell. I’m over being angry. I just want to leave!”

Her voice was laced with disappointment and hurt. This was the first time she’d ever told somebody the way she was truly feeling.

Finn gave her a sad look. “I’m sorry, Y/N …”

“It’s not your fault, Finn,” she sighed, scratching at the dried-up spots on her hands. “This started even before you were old enough to realise what was happening …”

Finn started chewing on his lip uncomfortably. “I never understood why they didn’t want to accept you. You’re my favourite sibling, you know that?”

Her head turned to her brother, a hint of shock in her face. “What?”

“You were the mother I never had. You took care of me when I was a kid, played with me, cooked for me. I didn’t know that you were forced to do all of that, but I really appreciated it, even at that age. I know I never showed it after I got older and I regret that.”

His words went straight to her heart, making it contract in a way it had never before. Y/N tried to respond something, but her breath just got stuck in her throat, making it unable for her to speak.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to reply anything to that. I just wanted to let you know. And I’d love to help you start a new life somewhere, if that’s really what you want.”

She shook her head. “All I ever wished for was to have a family. A family that loved me and involved me. But not even waiting for twenty-one years made a difference. It’s all still the same.”

He gulped, grabbing her hand. “Let me speak to them, okay? I want them to know that I care about you. And if they’re not willing to change, I’ll help you get out of here. You deserve better.”

Y/N started crying. “I deserve better …”

#peaky blinders #shelby sister #shelby!sister #second youngest #finn shelby x reader #polly gray #thomas shelby #tommy shelby x reader #arthur shelby #john shelby #ada shelby

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joe-mazzello-archive · 4 years

Text

Drops of Jupiter - Part Two

Summary: A story about how one extremely unassuming person became the most important person you had ever met. And then he broke your heart. And then you broke his. Only fair, right?

Word Count: 11k, I AM SO SORRY someone take google docs away from me

Rating: 18+

Warnings: dash of fluff, dash of angst, dash of smut, little of everything my friends

A/N: surprise! almost three months later, and we’re finally back with part two. this monster is going to be at LEAST another two parts. maybe three? we’ll see how wordy i get. i hope you guys enjoy. taglist is still open :)

As soon as you heard the comforting sound of the door clicking, you let out a shaky breath and dropped all of your clothes onto the floor. You glanced at yourself in the mirror; you were quite a sight. Stark naked, hair a mess. You looked absolutely fucked out. Your pussy throbbed with arousal, contracting around nothing. You took a deeper breath and attempted to put yourself together, the distant voices of Joe interacting with your other friends downstairs bringing you back to reality. Once you were as satisfied as you could be (considering you hadn’t been satisfied in that way), you made your way downstairs in what felt like a weird version of the walk of shame.

Joe, Rob, and the rest of the condo’s inhabitants were congregating in the kitchen when you made your awkward entrance.

“Sorry for the cockblock,” Rob said with a chuckle, causing you to roll your eyes. He always did lack a filter.

“It’s okay,” you answered with a shrug. “We’ll just fuck in your bed to make up for it.” Joe threw his head back and let out a deep belly laugh and you beamed. Any time you could make him laugh felt like a victory. Rob rolled his eyes with a smile.

“Still earning that nickname, Miss Chaos,” Rob countered with a smirk. You shook your head, trying to hide your grin while flipping him off.

“Well,” you said, slapping both hands down on the kitchen counter. “I still feel like shit from being fucking drugged and I haven’t eaten yet. So if you will all excuse me.” You shot Joe a quick glance, curious to see how he’d react, before heading towards the front door.

“I’m pretty hungry, too,” came Joe’s voice from behind you and you grinned at your success. Once you had both made it to the hallway, his arm snaked around your back to grip your hip and pull you into him. You giggled as your bodies bumped together as you walked. “Pizza?”

“Pizza.”

The two of you wandered down the street in search of the pizza place your group often frequented when everyone was in town. Once you reached your destination, you each ordered a slice and took a seat at a small table in the corner.

“Hey remember that time we tried to have sex in the condo and then everyone got back and we had to stop?” Joe asked sarcastically. You chuckled and rolled your eyes, gently kicking him under the table.

“Yeah, I remember it like it was yesterday. Or maybe less than an hour ago,” you replied with a wink. Joe grinned back at you, and, fuck, there wasn’t a more beautiful sight than that man’s smile. You could stare at his face for hours.

“Well, here we are,” he countered. “Fully clothed. Completely sober. Not a roofie in sight.” You cringed and he noticed. “Too soon?” You chuckled.

“Considering it hasn’t even been twenty four hours, I’d say so,” you replied.

“What I’m trying to say is this is the first time we’ve been alone with no distractions,” Joe explained. You arched an eyebrow, curious as to where he was going with this. “So tell me about yourself.”

So you did. You told him about your family back in your home state. You talked about your job and told horror stories about customers you’d encountered. You complained about your roommate. You gushed about your favorite movies and tv shows. All the while, Joe listened. Like, actually listened. He asked questions and laughed along at your jokes. He brought up things that he had seen you post on social media over the past year and you were surprised he had remembered. His eyes lit up every time he learned something new. It felt different…you felt like you could be yourself with no hesitation. Nothing holding you back. It was freeing.

Then it was his turn. He passionately ranted about his life back home. He hated his job but it paid the bills. He was close with his family and had a ride-or-die group of friends he always got into trouble with. He dreamed of traveling the world, a passion instilled in him by his great aunt. He loved video games and his guilty pleasure was reality tv shows.

You were lost in him, transfixed on every word he said. You wanted to listen to him talk for hours and hours and hours. And you quickly realized you had. The pizza had long been eaten, the table long since cleared. The two of you decided to start heading back to the condo to see what the game plan was for the rest of the evening. But you didn’t want him to stop.

“Finish your story,” you requested, nudging him in the shoulder as you began your walk back to your building.

“Oh come on, I’m sure you’ve gotta be tired of me talking by now,” Joe replied, nudging you back. You chuckled and shook your head.

“Not in the slightest.” In fact, you’d never get tired of him talking. You barely watched where you were walking, you were so captivated by him. The way his eyes crinkled when he smiled. The way his hands never stopped moving as he spoke. The way he got excited whenever you’d ask a question he could answer.

By the time the two of you walked through the front door of your condo, he was excitedly recounting a story from his recent trip to Thailand. The two of you plopped down on your bed as he pulled out his phone, showing you picture after picture of the places he saw and the people he had met.

It suddenly occurred to you what made him so enrapturing. His passion. The man was so goddamn passionate. He was passionate in the way he told stories, so animated and full of life. He was passionate in the way he had kissed you, holding you close and giving it his all. He was just passionate about life. It was both attractive and inspiring. You’d never met someone so fervent and free in your entire life.

And that’s when you knew you were fucked.

No longer was this a hookup between friends, a quick little summer fling to tide you over. You had caught feelings. And as the man in front of you enthusiastically detailed his experiences in Phuket, a slight sadness overcame you. Because in a few days time, this man -- this beautiful, clever, funny, and passionate man -- would board a plane back home. And you wouldn’t see him for another year.

You were so fucked.

The sound of the front door opening brought you out of your trance. You both turned to see Dan and Matt entering, each holding a snow cone. Dan’s face immediately hardened at the sight of Joe. You jumped to your feet in an instant, passing by a confused Matt and grabbing Dan’s arm, pulling him out into the hallway with you and slamming the door behind you.

“I thought I made it clear that he was not welcome--”

“He didn’t do it,” you cut in, shutting him up. “I promise you he didn’t. There was another guy at the bar who did it. I’m certain of it.” Dan was still tense, a frown taking up residence on his face. You adored Dan. As the oldest of your friends, he had accidentally become the leader of the crew. He booked the condo, organized airport pickups, and attempted to rally your friends for group outings when he could. He was your big brother essentially, and you knew he cared about you. He had met Joe last year when you did, so who could blame him for not trusting his character? He didn’t really know him. You hadn’t before now.

“I just--” he began, taking a breath before continuing. “When I saw him try to get into your bed after you had passed out, I snapped. I didn’t want him to try anything.” You reached out and pulled him into a hug, being careful to mind the melting snow cone he still had in his hand.

“Thank you for looking out for me,” you replied before pulling away and giving him a quick peck on the cheek. “I appreciate you. But Joe is one of the good ones.” Dan let out a sigh.

“He still needs to sleep in his own bed,” he argued. “But his ban has been lifted.” You enveloped him in another hug, this time forgetting about the snow cone. You squealed as some of the blue liquid dripped onto your skin and finally Dan broke, laughing at your reaction. You nodded towards the door, and the two of you rejoined the rest of your friends who were huddled around the living room, chatting about who knows what.

A hush fell over the room as you and Dan made your entrance.

“Hey, Joe,” Dan said, breaking the awkward silence. He nodded toward the hallway you had just come from. “Wanna chat?”

Joe shot you a look, almost as if he was asking if it was safe. You smiled and nodded, signalling that things were good.

“Yeah, sure,” Joe replied with a slight smile, getting to his feet and following Dan out, but not before giving your hand a quick squeeze as he passed. The touch brought that same heat to your chest you’d been feeling since that first night. Fuck, you wanted him. No, needed him. You two needed to find a way to get privacy while he was here or you were going to burst.

✧✧✧

After grabbing dinner as one big group at a nearby Mexican restaurant, everyone voted to skip the normal nighttime itinerary of heading out to the bars. What with your...incident...and the fact that everyone was exhausted from the first two nights of partying, the group agreed that it was better to have a relaxing night-in.

So you did what a huge group of nerds looking for a calm night-in did best: grabbed every blanket and pillow you could find, made a giant cuddle puddle in the living room, and queued up The Fellowship of the Ring.

You ended up sandwiched between Kayla and Joe on the couch, snuggled under a cozy blanket with a giant bowl of popcorn on your lap. As you watched the movie, passing around the popcorn amongst your friends, you found yourself sneaking peeks at Joe out of the corner of your eye every once in a while. How he could be so effortlessly good-looking clad in a plain t-shirt made absolutely no sense. You noticed him shift slightly and you snuck a peek at him again, only to be met with him looking directly at you with a smile. You felt your face heat up, knowing you had been caught. Joe simply rolled his bottom lip through his teeth and winked at you. And just when you thought your body’s temperature couldn’t increase anymore, you felt Joe’s hand come to a rest on your thigh under the blanket. Fuck, it took every fiber of your being not to jump his bones right then and there. But you kept your composure, letting the man trace gentle shapes across your skin with his thumb. And none of your friends were the wiser.

You hadn’t even realized you had fallen asleep until you felt movement next to you, bringing you back to reality. You had dozed off on Joe’s shoulder, who himself had fallen asleep as well, his hand still resting on your thigh. The movement turned out to be Kayla getting up to move to her bed, and you quickly noticed most of the room had emptied out. You turned towards the slumbering Joe and smiled. God, he was even gorgeous while he was sleeping. You reached up and gently caressed his stubble.

“Hey, you,” you said softly, trying not to startle him. His eyes blinked rapidly a few times as he took in his surroundings before settling on you and smiling.

“Hey, beautiful,” he replied, sending instant heat to your cheeks. How he managed to continue to fluster you, you’d never know. You pinched his cheek, causing him to crinkle his face at the action.

“Bedtime?”

“Yeah that’s probably a good idea.”

You stood up first, offering a hand to Joe and yanking him to his feet. He glanced around the room for a few moments, almost as if he was looking for something or someone, and you watched him curiously. When his eyes met yours again, in an instant he slid his arm around you and pulled you into a bruising kiss.

You kissed him back eagerly, a soft moan vibrating through your throat as you slid your hands up his chest. But as fast as he had initiated the kiss he pulled away, staring at you intensely for a moment.

“Walk with me,” he said before grabbing his phone and heading towards the front door. Confused and a tad flustered from the kiss, you followed him obediently, grabbing your own phone and sliding on a pair of flip flops.

Instead of turning left and heading towards his own condo, he turned right and pushed open the door to the stairwell. You had no idea where he was leading you, but of course you were going to follow him. You were right on his heels as he climbed up the steps, passing the other floors of the condo building before leading you to the last door at the top of the staircase, with red letters painted on it: ROOF ACCESS. With a smirk, he opened the door and gestured through it.

“After you.”

Eyeing him with a suspicious look, you passed through the door and out into the night. The warm breeze of the evening hit your skin and you relaxed instantly. You floated over to the railing at the edge of the roof and leaned on it, looking out onto the street below. The city was gorgeous and so full of life. The sounds of cars passing and people enjoying the nightlife echoed below you. You couldn’t help but smile. Joe leaned on the railing right next to you.

“I’m not having sex with you on a dirty rooftop, if that’s what you’re thinking,” you announced, breaking the silence. Joe let out a hearty laugh before placing a kiss on your shoulder.

“As much as I would like to eventually have my way with you,” he replied, sending a chill down your spine at the thought. “I just wanted to talk.”

You turned to look at Joe fully. He truly was breathtaking. The glow of the city lights reflected on his face, painting his skin in blues and pinks and yellows. You wanted to frame the image of him, standing there looking at you like you put the moon in the sky.

“I’ve got two more full days here before I head home,” he said, shattering the illusion. You turned to face the city once again and let out a sigh. Must he bring reality into this? Couldn’t he just be like you and enjoy the moment? Did he have to be so smart and responsible?

“I know,” you answered. “Is that what you brought me up here to tell me?” You raised an eyebrow as you eyed the man next to you. He chuckled at your question.

“I wanted to see...I wanted to ask you…” he paused, trying to find the words. “What happens once I go home? To us?”

You felt your chest tighten. It made your heart soar and break simultaneously. It made you breathe a sigh of relief that he appeared to be feeling the same way you did. He was worried what the future brought because he wanted you, too.

But honestly, you had been dreading this conversation. Not because you knew what you had to say and you didn’t want to say it. No, you weren’t looking forward to this talk because you had no idea what to say. You didn’t want this to end. The selfish part of you wanted to do this for real, to make him yours and let him claim you as his. But long distance was complicated and messy. You had done it before and it had ended poorly, and that guy had only lived an hour from you. Joe lived over 700 miles away. A two-hour plane trip. A fucking fourteen-hour car ride. That was the kind of relationship that took a lot of work.

And to make that commitment to someone you had only just started something with? It seemed crazy. Unrealistic.

But to say goodbye and end whatever the two of you were doing outright? It hurt to think about.

However there was always the third option: decide not to decide.

“How about this?” you began, immediately capturing Joe’s attention. “How about we enjoy ourselves the next two days? And then when you go home, we can just…take it a day at a time. We don’t make any commitments but we don’t end things altogether. We just...see where the wind takes us.”

Joe studied you for a moment, as if he was trying to get a read on you. Trying to see if there was anything underlying in your proposal. He took a step forward and reached for you, his hands settling on the exposed skin just above your shorts. You instinctively let your arms wrap around his torso as well, pulling him as close to you as you could.

“Sounds like a plan,” he practically whispered before placing a kiss on your forehead. You leaned up and placed a hand on his cheek, bringing his lips to yours.

Something about this kiss was different. While most of your other kisses had been fiery and passionate, exchanged in the heat of the moment, this one was slow and delicate. Like you were taking your time and memorizing the feeling of each other’s lips, knowing you had a finite number of kisses remaining.

You didn’t stay too much longer on the roof, the pair of you completely exhausted. As you both made your way back to the door to the building, Joe’s hand found yours, interlacing his fingers and squeezing. He held your hand all the way back down the stairs to your floor. As you approached the door to your condo, he brought your hand to his lips, placing a gentle kiss on your knuckles.

“Goodnight, beautiful.”

“Goodnight.”

You quietly slipped into the condo, knowing that everyone was probably asleep. As you collapsed on your bed, the events of the past three days ran through your head like a highlight reel. As each memory played back, you couldn’t help but think about Joe. In just three days he had woven his way into your life like no one else had before. And you couldn’t be happier.

You drifted off to sleep with a smile on your face, thinking of nothing but the beautiful man two doors down. And you couldn’t help but wonder if he was thinking about you, too.

✧✧✧

Not waking up with a hangover was a marvelous thing. For the first time since the week began, you actually felt refreshed and ready to conquer the day.

But you were also insanely horny.

Not only had Joe invaded your life in the best way possible (you weren’t complaining by any means), but last night he had also invaded your dreams. Before you woke up, you had been enjoying an extremely arousing vision where Joe’s face had taken up permanent residence between your thighs.

And now you were determined to make that reality.

As you showered and got ready for the day, you wracked your brain for a way to get him alone without the worry of your friends interrupting you. You were exiting the bathroom, headed downstairs to hear what the plan was for the day, when you were greeted with a series of loud cheers.

“HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, MOTHER FUCKERS!” Matt’s booming voice rang out throughout the entire condo. You chuckled as you descended the stairs into the living room.

“Excited are we?” you jested as you plopped down on the couch.

“Fuck yeah! Let’s blow some shit up tonight!” Nick added, pumping his first into the air.

“Considering we’re in the middle of the city, I think we should just let the experts take care of the fireworks,” Kayla countered with a laugh as she took the seat next to you.

“So do we have a gameplan for the day?” you asked as you wrapped your arms around Kayla and pulled her against your chest.

“I was thinking we could go for a swim in the river and then just hang out in the park for the fireworks show later,” Dan replied with a shrug, trying to play it casual as if he hadn’t been planning it all week. The friends that had gathered in the living room all sounded their agreements. You liked the idea yourself until you realized something: you hadn’t packed your bathing suit.

“I’d love to join you guys,” you commented. “But I will have to run up to my apartment to grab my swimsuit.”

And that’s when it clicked. Your apartment. You had a perfectly empty apartment a couple of miles north of the city. That’s how you were going to get your privacy with Joe.

“No worries, we probably won’t be heading there for a few hours,” Dan responded, pulling you from your thoughts. With a nod, you pulled out your phone to shoot Joe a text.

You: Want to go on a short adventure?

His reply was almost instant.

Joe: Should I be afraid?

You: Not at all, haha. I need to run up to my apartment to grab my bathing suit for today. My EMPTY apartment...if you catch my drift.

Joe: Drift definitely caught. I’m on my way over to you.

You took a deep breath, trying to contain your excitement. Almost seconds later there was a knock on the front door.

“I’ll get it!” you shouted, way too enthusiastically, completely dropping your attempt to be casual. You yanked the door open to reveal the source of your sexual frustration that morning. He greeted you with a chaste kiss before stepping inside to say hello to the rest of the condo inhabitants. You snatched up your purse, keys, and phone before sliding on your flip flops and grabbing Joe by the wrist.

“We’ll see you guys in an hour or so!” you called over your shoulder as you practically dragged Joe out the door, eager to get on with the day’s events. You let Joe’s arm go but continued to head down the hallway quickly before being pushed against the wall, letting out an “oof” as Joe’s body covered yours.

“You seem to be in a hurry,” he commented, his hands sliding down your sides before settling on your hips. “Got somewhere you need to be?” You keened into his touch as flashes of last night’s dream played across your mind.

“Just want to get you alone,” you murmured, running your fingernails across his shoulder blades. Your lips connected as he pressed his body firmly against yours. “You trying to get me all riled up? Because I’m already at that point.”

“Oh yeah?” he mumbled into the sensitive skin of your neck. “Already?”

“Might have had a dream about you last night,” you sighed as you slid your hands around his neck to land on his chest. You felt him groan as he pressed his forehead to your chest.

“Okay, as soon as we get to your apartment, you are explaining the dream in detail,” he stated as he pulled away. You chuckled and grabbed his hand, lacing your fingers with his and leading him towards the parking garage.

Before you knew it the two of you were flying down the highway in your car with the windows rolled down, blasting music and singing along. You glanced over at Joe, still amazed at the man’s effortless beauty. He grinned back at you, and you felt that familiar tickle in your stomach. You couldn’t remember the last time you had felt this way about a person.

The song changed and you couldn’t help but smile as one of your favorite songs ever began to play.

Now that she's back in the atmosphere /

With drops of Jupiter in her hair, hey, hey /

She acts like summer and walks like rain /

Reminds me that there's a-time to change, hey, hey /

Since the return of her stay on the moon /

She listens like spring and she talks like June, hey, hey /

Hey, hey /

But tell me did you sail across the sun /

Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded /

And that heaven is overrated? /

Tell me did you fall from a shooting star /

One without a permanent scar /

And did you miss me while you were /

looking for yourself out there? /

You sang along as you drove, feeling unafraid to belt out the lyrics. While other people sometimes made you feel self-conscious, Joe’s presence simply calmed you, letting you be yourself, free from judgment. You finished singing the pop song just as you pulled into the parking garage of your apartment building.

“I could listen to you sing for hours,” Joe commented as he climbed out of your car. You felt your cheeks warm once again.

“You flatter me,” you replied as you joined him on the other side of the car. You grabbed his hand once again before the two of you headed into your building and down the hall.

“So your roommate won’t be home?” Joe clarified as you both made your way towards your apartment door.

“Nah, she’s always at her boyfriend’s,” you explained as you came to a stop in front of your door, sliding your key into the lock. “Especially since today is the Fourth--”

Your words faded away as you opened your apartment door to reveal your roommate, her boyfriend, and two older adults sitting in the living room. Fuck.

“Oh hey!” your roommate greeted. You and Joe awkwardly entered the small apartment, fake smiles plastered on your faces.

“Hey, I wasn’t expecting you to be home!” you stated, trying to hide your annoyance at the situation. The one time you needed the apartment to yourself, she’s home. With guests.

“Oh yeah, my parents are in town for the holiday, and we’re just hanging out here for a little bit before we head to the park to watch fireworks,” she explained, gesturing to the others seated around the room who each waved at you. You gave a quick wave in response before remembering you had Joe next to you.

“Very cool,” you responded awkwardly as you started to make your way towards your bedroom. “Um, this is my friend, Joe.” Joe followed behind you, giving the group a quick wave as well. The group let out a chorus of greetings as the two of you finally closed the distance to your bedroom door.

You pulled Joe inside and closed the door, ending the awkward exchange.

“Well, so much for privacy,” you groaned, plopping down on your bed and throwing an arm across your eyes. When Joe didn’t respond after a few moments, you leaned up on your elbows to see Joe wandering around your room, a slight smile on his face. “What are you doing?”

“A person’s bedroom can tell you a lot about that person,” he replied before his eyes met yours. “I’m learning all I can about you.” You couldn’t help but mirror his smile. You sat up on the bed, reaching your arms out and making grabby hands at him. All you could think about was just touching him. He chuckled and stepped towards you, allowing you to pull him towards you.

“My diabolical plan to fuck you senseless in my apartment has failed,” you commented, your voice low as you ran your hands up and down his sides. Joe let out a long hum as he leaned down to rest his forehead against yours, his hands sliding up your thighs. You held back a whimper at his touch. Fuck, you were so fucking horny and you just needed this man more than anything.

“What if we’re just really quiet?” he proposed, his voice thick with want. You groaned as his fingers strayed closer and closer to the place you wanted them.

“I don’t know if I’m capable of being quiet,” you countered. “Besides, these walls are paper thin. I would know. My roommate and her boyfriend are not as quiet as they think they are.” You cringed at the memory, the night that made you add “ear plugs” to your next shopping list. “They did say they were heading to the park. Maybe we can just wait it out?”

“Fine by me.”

So you waited. The two of you chatted, you sharing stories about objects displayed in your room and him laughing along to those stories. You mutually decided to keep your hands to yourselves for the time being, wordlessly agreeing that it would only lead to more sexual tension. You both kept your ears open to the sounds coming from the living room, hoping to hear a shuffle of feet and a door closing to signal that you were alone.

But an hour later, laughter and idle chatter still sounded from the other side of the wall, leaving you and Joe bored, hungry, and sexually frustrated.

“Well, I have no idea when these people are gonna leave,” you suddenly announced. “So I think I should just grab my bathing suit and we can go grab some food before we head back downtown.” Joe let out a sigh next to you.

“I think that’s probably a good idea,” he agreed. You leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before pushing yourself off of the bed. You yanked open a drawer from your dresser and pulled out the first bathing suit you saw.

“Are you really planning on getting undressed and putting that suit on right now, in front of me, and expecting me not to jump your bones?” Joe asked incredulously, still sprawled across your mattress. You turned to face him with a giggle.

“I would never be that cruel,” you countered before heading into your bathroom and closing the door behind you. You let out a deep breath you didn’t realize you were holding. You couldn’t remember another time where you had this much sexual tension with someone before. You cursed the universe for presenting you with this beautiful, funny, charming man but not letting you have him the way you wanted.

After pulling on your bikini and throwing your street clothes on top of it, you rejoined Joe in your bedroom, finding him tapping away at his phone. He glanced up at your entrance and that familiar, contagious smile of his appeared.

“Shall we?”

The two of your made your awkward exit from the apartment, you squeaking out a “see ya” to your roommate and her company. You piled back into your car and made your way towards your favorite burger joint that happened to be halfway between your apartment and the downtown condo. The pair of you had realized you hadn’t eaten at all that day and were tearing into your burgers and fries when your phone buzzed.

Kayla: we’re heading over to the river now, so you guys can just meet us there

You replied with a thumbs up emoji and went back to devouring your lunch.

“Who was that?” Joe asked, his voice muffled by the fries he had stuffed into his mouth.

“Kayla,” you replied quickly, not wanting to pause eating for too long. “She said they’re all headed to the river, so we can just go straight there instead of back to the condo.” Joe finally swallowed and reached for his soda.

“Well I don’t have my suit with me, so we have to go back to my condo anyway…”

Joe trailed off as you processed his statement. Then, as if your brains were connected, you both suddenly came to the same realization.

Everyone was already at the river. That meant your condo was empty.

Fuck. Yes.

Your eyes widened as you looked across the table at Joe. His eyes had glazed over and his mouth hung open slightly. You knew that look. It was the same look he had given you when the two of you almost had sex the day before. You let out a deep breath before shooting Joe a quick wink.

“Well,” you said, breaking the silence. “I guess we better finish up and head back to the condos.”

The two of you finished your meals unhealthily fast and quickly climbed back into your car. The ride was brimming with anticipation, made worse by Joe making the tortuous decision to run his hand up and down your thigh as you drove.

By the time the pair of you burst through the condo front door, you were already attached to each other, Joe’s hands gripping your hips and your arms looped around his neck. Joe practically flung you onto your tiny bed before pouncing on top of you, his lips devouring yours. You slid a hand to his chest and gently pushed him away.

“Wait,” you said breathlessly. “Let’s make sure we’re actually alone.” Joe nodded before leaning back down to press a quick peck to your cheek.

“Good idea.”

The two of you split up, you taking the upstairs and him downstairs, searching for any signs that one of your friends was still lingering in the condo somewhere. After not finding a single trace of anyone upstairs, you smirked.

Finally. Fucking privacy.

“We’re clear up here,” you called out as you made your way back down the steps.

“Same here,” Joe responded as you turned the corner and met his gaze. You slowly walked towards him, his eyes watching you intently, waiting to see what you would do next. Your eyes fell to his chest as you gently ran both of your hands across the expanse of his cotton t-shirt. Your touches traveled up towards his neck before finally resting your hands on the side of his face.

“Fuck me, Joe,” you whispered before crashing your lips to his.

It was like a switch had been flipped. The two of you clawed at each other as your lips connected again, all passion and tongue. You practically floated back over to the bed, yanking Joe down on top of you.

Hands yanked at t-shirts and fingers pulled at zippers, and after getting momentarily caught in the straps of your bikini top, the two of you were finally naked, latching onto each other like you couldn’t bear to spend a moment not touching. Joe’s one hand cupped your jaw as he devoured your mouth, his other hand lighting a fiery trail of touches down your ribs, your hip, your thigh. While his touches were slow, like he was trying to memorize your curves, your touches were desperate and needy, running your hands along the expanse of his back before circling his neck. You just couldn’t get enough of him, couldn’t stop touching him. The feeling of his bare skin against yours was ecstasy, setting your soul aflame. His long fingers found your folds, wet and aching to be massaged. A deep groan vibrated through his chest as he buried his head into your shoulder.

“Fuck, you’re fucking soaked,” Joe mumbled against your skin, his fingers continuing their exploration. You whimpered in response, completely melting against his ministrations. He painted your pussy with your own juices before centering in on the bundle of nerves that had been longing for his attention. The weight of his body kept your hips pinned as he worked, playing your body like a finely-tuned instrument; each knead of his thumb making you sing, filling the room with moans and whines. Two fingers slid into you with ease as his mouth worked to decorate your collarbone with dark marks, nipping and sucking the sensitive skin.

You were at his mercy, left to simply tug at his auburn locks and dig your nails into his back. The man stroked a fire in your belly, the pressure in your core building as every cell of your body cried out with pleasure. Your thoughts were foggy, but the same question from the first night plagued your mind once again: had it ever been this good before? How was it possible that one man had this innate power to flood your heart, your mind, your body with every good feeling in the world?

The edge drew nearer and nearer as Joe’s nimble fingers caressed and rubbed in all the right places. His breath against your neck, his hand gripping your shoulder -- the man was everywhere and you wanted nothing more than to drown in him.

You came with a yell, the noise from deep in your chest escaping like it had been trapped inside. Your walls clenched around those long fingers of his and your nails left little half-moons in his pale flesh, hips bucking hard against his hand. You hadn’t even realized you had squeezed your eyes shut until they shot open, eyesight blurry as rush after rush of bliss racked through your body. Your vision cleared, revealing two piercing amber eyes watching with you with intensity.

Jaw slack and chest heaving, Joe slowly eased his fingers out of you, pushing himself onto his knees, your thighs still trapped beneath him.

“That was the hottest fucking thing I have ever seen,” he growled, bottom lip rolling between his teeth. You let out a pleasant hum.

“You should probably make me do it again,” you countered with a weary smirk as you pushed yourself onto your elbows. You took the opportunity to shamelessly ogle the man straddling you, your eyes tracing a path down his chest to his soft belly before landing on his cock, hard and pink in his hand. Your gaze shot back up to Joe’s face, his eyes hooded as he stared back at you, leisurely pumping himself. “As sexy as you look right now, I’m going to need you to put that in me ASAP. I don’t even want to entertain the notion of us being interrupted again.”

With a classic Joe grin, the man leaned over to reach his discarded shorts, pulling a condom from his pocket. He rolled it on, the smirk never leaving his face as he felt you watching him. You were entranced by him, the way the muscles in his arm flexed as he fisted himself, the way he bit down on his lip, the way he eyed your body with hunger.

He leaned over you, steadying himself on his elbow while he lined himself up. Your hands found his biceps again, gripping hard as sheathed himself inside of you, twin moans reverberating throughout the condo. Pausing only for a moment to glance down at you, Joe gripped your thigh, hooking it around his hip before giving an experimental thrust.

Your whimper and the way you latched onto him harder must have given him the confirmation he needed. He began to move, grinding deep inside you, impaling you on his cock with each pump of his hips. His grunts mixed with your cries of pleasure as you suffocated in everything that was Joe. Your fingers curled against his scalp as you yanked him down to meet your lips, wanting him to take your mouth, too. He tasted like Dr Pepper and smelled like summer, and you willed yourself to memorize every detail because deep down you knew you were lucky to have this, to have him.

For what felt like hours, the two of you moved as one, clinging to each other with the ferocity of two people who were deprived of one another for far too long. Joe let go of your thigh, leaving soft blue spots behind before planting his palm flat above your shoulder. The new position drove his cock into you deeper and faster and you couldn’t help but cry out. Your eyes bore into his as he pounded into you, his own groans like music to your ears. You were nearing the edge once again, your own hips meeting his with more and more desperation.

“Joe,” you breathed out, the single syllable all you were capable of producing. He understood though, dropping back to his elbow and reaching between the two of you in the same motion. His thumb connected with your clit with a perfectly timed thrust and then...euphoria.

Loudly and roughly, you came, walls tensing around him like a vice. You thrashed against him while you experienced wave after wave of pure elation, but his pace never slowed. His thumb continued to work at you as his hips pistoned against yours. You weakly swiped at his hand to stop his strokes against your overworked bundle of nerves and he finally relented, his own thrusts becoming sloppier.

With a roaring groan, his cock throbbed inside of you while his hips stilled, his body going rigid above you. You watched his face in awe as he lost himself in his own pleasure, etching the image into your brain. And with a deep breath, he collapsed into you, and you reveled in the feeling of his bare chest pressing against yours.

The condo echoed with the sounds of heavy panting as you both came down from your shared high. Joe’s head nestled into the crook of your neck and you instinctively brought a hand up to run your fingers through his locks.

“That was...well worth the wait,” Joe mumbled into your skin, causing you to chuckle in response. Your laugh shook both of your trembling bodies and suddenly you were reminded that he was still inside you.

“Well, it would have been nice to have been able to do that all week,” you countered. You felt Joe smile against your neck before he pushed himself up onto his elbows to look at you.

“To be fair, we did try,” he argued with a grin. That sent you both into a fit of giggles, and you couldn’t help but shake your head at the ridiculous situation the two of you had found yourselves in the day before...and earlier that day. You laid there in each other’s nude embrace for a few moments longer, soaking up the feeling, exchanging soft caresses and gentle kisses. You both knew that it was very likely that you wouldn’t find yourselves in this position again. At least, not in the near future.

“I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but you’re crushing me,” you finally said after another minute. Joe let out a mock scoff before slowly easing himself out of you, both of you wincing at the sensation. He came to a stand next to the bed, politely offering a hand to you. You smiled and let him pull you to your feet and into his arms. His lips were heavenly against yours, the soft and slow kiss a stark contrast to the ones that had been exchanged during your escapade.

“Not to ruin this wonderful moment,” Joe murmured against your lips, “but we should probably start making our way to the river.” You groaned. He was right, annoyingly so. It had now been a few hours since you originally left to get your suit. You were both supposed to be spending time with all of your friends, not just each other, no matter how much you wanted to.

You both got yourselves cleaned up and dressed before heading down the hall to retrieve Joe’s swim trunks. Your hand twitched as you instinctively felt the need to reach for Joe’s hand, but you opted against it, suddenly feeling sheepish. Even though the two of you had held hands several times already, and the man had been buried inside you mere minutes ago, holding his hand right then seemed too...intimate all of a sudden.

Joe changed and gathered towels for the two of you before you headed downstairs, out onto the bustling street, and down towards the park, feeling different.

✧✧✧

You didn’t even get a chance to swim in the river.

After all of the effort on your part, the group had decided they were done with swimming and headed to grab some food by the time you made it to the park. You and Joe linked up with Matt and Dan, both sporting their usual snow cones, and found a spot in the grass to lay out your towels and wait for the rest of the group to arrive.

Things were weird right away. You noticed it immediately. As your friends started to trickle over, they greeted you with muted smiles and limited words. Something was brewing, and you seemed to be the only one who didn’t know what it was. Joe, on the other hand, seemed totally unaware, as he conversed with your gaggle of friends as they all got settled on their towels and blankets.

You were exhausted by how much your head was swimming. Most of the week, all you could think about was Joe. You overthought everything you said to him, every time you two touched, every time he glanced your way. You were so caught up in thinking about what to do with this new spark in your life. You practically didn’t have any brain power left to even ponder why everyone was acting so weird around you.

Dan, in his big brother wisdom, seemed to sense your confusion and squatted next to you.

“You should talk to Kayla,” was all he offered before standing up and returning to his spot next to Herbie. You furrowed your brows in confusion. Had you done something to Kayla?

You got your answer almost instantly as the petite brunette in question stomped over to your growing group, giving you a quick glare before plopping down a few towels in front of you beside Nick.

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes. Classic Kayla. If she had a problem with you, she should be the one to tell you what it was. But this was a textbook move for her. Make it abundantly clear she’s upset but not be grown up enough to confront you about it. You sighed and glanced at the back of her head in front of you.

You were suddenly overcome with a sense of loneliness. Joe was a few blankets away, wooing the small crowd with his endless charm and wit, not even paying you any mind. Dan had decided that you were only worth a single sentence explanation before separating himself. And now your closest friend, your confidant, your wifey, was giving you the cold shoulder.

As the sun began to set and the crowd in the park grew around you, you gazed at Joe. He was animatedly telling some story to Rob and your heart panged at the sight. You wanted nothing more than to burrow yourself into his side, to feel his arms around you. Despite your anxiety about what was going to happen once Joe left, you felt safe and comfortable with him.

You continued to stare at him longingly, feeling almost jealous of Rob for having Joe’s attention. You knew you were being irrational; you had spent hours alone with Joe today. It was only fair that everyone else got to spend time with him now. But the selfish part of you wanted him all to yourself.

But he wasn’t yours. Not officially. That was the deal.

You were roused from your thoughts by fireworks exploding above you. It was all too overwhelming. The mobs of people decorating the park. The eruptions in the sky. Dan. Kayla. Joe. The past few days had been a roller coaster full of ups and downs, and it was as if it was finally catching up to you.

You felt a tear escape. Shouldn’t you be happy? You were surrounded by friends, you were smack in the middle of a whirlwind romance. The weather was amazing and you hadn’t had to think about work or real life in days.

So why were you crying? How was it possible to feel so alone when you were completely surrounded?

You stubbornly wiped at your face, annoyed with yourself. You couldn’t even focus on the colorful lights across the evening sky, too caught up in your own bullshit to appreciate it.

Then you felt a gentle hand on your shoulder.

“She’s upset that we ditched the group for so long,” Joe said, loud enough for you to hear over the crashes and bangs but low enough to keep it between the two of you. You didn’t look at him, even as he settled next to you and began to trace soft circles on your knee. “Herbie told me.” You pondered his words, shaking your head in confusion. “Her view is that this week is about spending time with all of us together. So the two of us disappearing for hours and hours just to spend time with each other was a lame move in her eyes.” He paused, most likely hoping for a response from you, but you didn’t say a word, continuing to be annoyed at yourself for crying.

“I get it to a point,” Joe continued. Fuck, you thought, this is the part where he says he regrets everything. You winced, silently hoping he’d let you down easy. “But today was like...the best day I’ve had in a long time.”

You finally looked at him and were greeted with Joe’s soft smile. He wove his fingers with yours and placed a kiss to your knuckles, and it was as if he kissed away every anxiety in your body. You instantly relaxed at the gesture, and just like that, you were back.

“You’re just saying that because you got laid,” you jested, nudging him with your elbow.

“Oh, absolutely.”

“Shut up.”

You pulled him in for a kiss, wordlessly thanking him for just...everything. For making the past few days incredible. For making you laugh. For giving you several orgasms. For just being him. For just being Joe.

Your lips moved against his passionately as you poured every emotion you were feeling into the kiss. Every giddy smile that tugged at your lips when he flirted with you. Every shiver down your spine each time his fingers brushed your skin. Every moment of feeling seen and adored.

When you finally pulled away, you were both breathless, foreheads pressed together. You couldn’t bring yourself to tear your gaze away from those chestnut eyes that seemed to stare right into your soul. Who gives a shit about fireworks when the most beautiful thing in the world was right in front of you?

The next hour passed by in a blur. You were too caught up in the feeling of Joe’s body pressed against your side, the feeling of his thumb caressing the back of your hand, the feeling of your shoulders brushing against each other’s as you walked back towards the condo. You could hear the rambling conversations of your friends around you, but they sounded miles away.

By the time you stumbled back into the condo, you were exhausted. It had been a long day, and you wanted nothing more than to cuddle up into Joe’s arms and pass out. It seemed like everyone was on a similar wavelength as you noticed the condo begin to settle down a lot earlier than usual. The awkwardness from the park had seemingly vanished for the most part; you assumed it was because everyone who knew why Kayla was upset with you had either forgotten about it or didn’t care themselves.

After grabbing a cup of water and heading back towards your bed to join Joe, you found he was not alone.

“We should talk,” Kayla stated, glaring at you. Your eyes immediately found Joe’s, his face offering nothing but sympathy.

He said goodnight with a chaste kiss to your temple and a squeeze of your hand before disappearing through the front door, leaving you alone with the angry brunette perched on the edge of your bed.

“I guess you’re done giving me the silent treatment?” you accused, dropping onto the bed and stretching out your legs behind her.

“Well I mean considering you ditched us all for like five hours today, I assumed you didn’t want to talk to me,” she countered. You rolled your eyes.

“Come on,” you grumbled, crossing your arms. “Can we be fucking adults here? Why is it so bad that Joe and I spent some time alone today? I mean you were the one who suggested I hook up with him in the first place--”

“It was a joke! I didn’t think you’d actually take me seriously! And now…” she trailed off. You furrowed your brow as you waited for her to continue. She turned to you, a pained look on her face as if she was dreading the words she was about to say. “I’m worried about whatever this is turning into.”

“What what is turning into?” you questioned, your brows remaining knitted together, trying to decipher what she was trying to say.

“You and Joe.”

Her confession did nothing to ease your confusion, so you simply sat there and stared at her, silently asking for further explanation.

“It just seems like...with the way you’re acting...I don’t know. It just seems a lot more serious than a quick fling.”

You pondered her words. There was definitely a truth to them; the status of your...connection with Joe was practically all you could think about. It was definitely beyond just a simple fling. But Kayla’s concern about it just confused you even more. It took several moments for you to finally respond.

“Are you...are you jealous?” You almost felt bad asking. Kayla had a long-term boyfriend back home. He hadn’t been able to get the time off from work to join the group during the yearly get-together this time. But her actions and words gave off an air of jealousy. Hell, she had said it herself: she was mad that you had spent time with Joe away from everyone else.

“No, not at all,” she confirmed, shaking her head. “I’m...I’m just concerned that this isn’t going to end well. One or both of you are going to get hurt.”

Of course you had entertained that possibility. Fuck, you’d spent most of the week overanalyzing everything about the situation. As hard as you were trying to maintain that this thing with Joe was casual, that you were gonna take it a day at a time, all it took was his hundred-watt smile to make you melt. This thing was what, five days old? But you had to face it, you had it bad.

But at the end of the day, if this whole thing was a mistake, it was your mistake to make.

You let out a sigh, your frustration with Kayla fading away.

“I appreciate you worrying about me,” you admitted, scooting closer to her on the bed, signaling you were backing down. “But Joe and I have talked about it. We’re not jumping into this head first. We’re gonna take it a day at a time.”

Her face revealed she wasn’t convinced. She eyed you warily, looking for something, you weren’t sure what.

“Just...be careful, okay?” she insisted, grabbing your hand and giving it a squeeze. “You know I love you a lot.” The frustrated frown that had taken up residence on your face ebbed away and you offered a soft smile.

“I love you too, wifey.”

✧✧✧

You were roused from your peaceful sleep by a buzzing under your head. With a groan, you flopped onto your stomach, pulling the vibrating phone out from under your pillow, revealing your boss’s name in big bold letters.

“Aaron, it’s eight in the morning, dude,” you grumbled into the phone.

“I know, and I’m sorry, but I’m desperate. I know you’re supposed to be off today, but is there any way you can close tonight? Both of the other managers called out with the flu.”

You let out another groan, making sure your boss knew exactly how grumpy you were. Of course you would have to go into work. The last few days had been too good and the universe needed to balance itself out. After a long silence, you finally relented, knowing you really didn’t have a choice.

“I’ll be there at two.”

“Oh my god, thank you! I owe you lunch or something! Thank you so much.”

After hanging up with your boss, you let out another loud groan, knowing you were going to have to break the news to your friends. And Joe.

Fuck. You were gonna lose your last day with Joe.

You waited until the rest of the condo was up and moving, or at least relatively close, before letting them know, collecting your ragtag group of friends, Joe included, into the condo living room to break the news. Everyone was disappointed, as you expected, especially at the fact that logistically, you wouldn’t be able to come back to the condo after work, as you were supposed to work an early shift the next day. When your eyes landed on Joe, instead of disappointment, you were met with what could only be described as a focused glare.

As your gaggle of friends debated where they were going to go for lunch, you moved towards him, his concentrated gaze watching your movements.

“You look like you’re scheming, Mazzello,” you commented as you wrapped your arms around his neck. His arms looped around your waist, the two of you fitting together like puzzle pieces.

“What if when you leave for work, the two of us didn’t have to say our goodbyes yet?”

The plan was simple. The second you were off work, Joe would Uber up to your apartment where he’d stay with you before you would take him to the airport for his ungodly early flight. You’d be able to have a few more hours together before reality would kick in and the past few days of absolute joy would come to an end.

You were passed around the room as each one of your friends pulled you in for a hug, exchanging words of love and about how next year couldn’t come fast enough.

Joe helped you finish packing your suitcase and walked you to the parking garage, leaving you with a passionate kiss and a strong internal battle over whether or not to call your boss and let him know you changed your mind.

But instead you drove yourself home, throwing on some more work-appropriate garb and heading down the street to rejoin the world of retail.

✧✧✧

It didn’t feel like it was possible for time to pass so slowly. But each second was like a minute, each minute an hour. Customers were grinding your gears more so than normal. The associates seemed determined to anything except their jobs. It was oddly busy for a weeknight, meaning more to straighten up and a longer shift. And all you could think about was the night you had ahead of you the second you clocked out.

You could barely concentrate as you counted the night’s deposit. You barely heard the associates wishing you a good night as you locked up the door, your entire focus centered on determinedly tapping away at your phone as you walked towards your apartment.

You: FREEDOM

Joe: I’m on my way.

Two minutes later, you arrived at your apartment to find it completely empty and you sighed in relief. Another fifteen agonizing minutes later, you yanked Joe through your front door, his suitcase falling to the ground behind him. You kissed him as if you hadn’t seen him in days, instead of only a few hours. He kissed you back just as hungrily, holding you impossibly close.

Joe eventually collected his forgotten suitcase and the two of you settled into your bed, cuddling close as you recounted your stressful workday. He caressed your back and patiently listened while you complained, shaking his head lovingly at your overdramatic retellings of the events of your night. You ran your fingers through his hair as he told you about his day, telling you about the condo’s shenanigans while trying not to make you upset for missing out. At this point you didn’t care. You had Joe in your arms right then and that’s all that mattered to you.

After your third yawn, Joe suggested the two of you attempt to get some sleep before your early alarm would go off, signaling the end of your slowly dwindling time together. You burrowed under the covers as Joe spooned up behind you, his arm protectively wrapping around your middle. He whispered a soft goodnight into your ear, and as soon as you relaxed into his embrace, you were out like a light.

Somewhere in your dreaming you noticed something. There was a gentle tickle against your neck and shoulders. It was soft and you relaxed into the touch as if you were afraid it would disappear. You slowly began to come to and as your mind became more clear, it suddenly registered that the pleasant touch was Joe’s lips against your skin. You let out a soft moan as you stretched, arching into his kisses.

“We have a half hour until we have to leave,” Joe mumbled into your hair, his hands sliding up to caress your ribs now that he knew you were awake. You hummed in response, immediately understanding what he was saying. You gave your hips an experimental roll backwards against him, meeting with his rigid cock behind you and earning a growl in your ear.

In retrospect, it was silly of the two of you to wear clothes to bed, knowing full well you’d be stripped of them at some point. Clumsily and sleepily, the two of you shed each other of your sleepwear, the need to feel each other’s skin driving your actions. His lips found yours in the dark, greedily licking into your mouth like a starved man. His grip on you was like a vice as he rolled his hips against yours, his hard on trapped between your bellies. The pitch black of your room made everything more intense, it felt like that first night all over again. Joe was everywhere all at once, kissing you, stroking the heat between your thighs, massaging your breasts. When he thrust into you, locking his hips into place like he belonged there, you couldn’t help but whine. Every time was better than the last and you had a feeling this man was about to ruin you in the best way. No one was ever going to be able to bring you to pleasure like this ever again. The thought was both scary and exhilarating.

His large hands yanked you and pushed you where he pleased, and you gladly moved with him, his touch pulling nothing but pleasure. No matter what happened next, no matter what happened once the two of you got into your car and drove to the airport, you knew in this moment that you were his. You wanted to give yourself to him. You needed him to take you.

“Please, Joe,” you whimpered out. “Just fuckin’....use me.”

In an instant you were flipped on to your stomach and dragged to the edge of the bed, your feet hitting the floor, your body folded in half under Joe’s. He railed into you, groaning into your ear. You couldn’t make out the mumbled words against your skin, too lost in your own pleasure as he drove deeper and deeper inside you. You reached behind you to grip his wrists where his hands rested on your hips, holding on as if he’d disappear if you let go, as if this was nothing more than a dream.

You came with a loud moan, pleasure rushing through every cell in your body. Joe continued to impale you on his cock as you rode out your high, then with a strangled groan, he pulled out and panted your bare back with white streaks. He left you slumped over the bed, absolutely boneless and blissed out while he fumbled through your dark bathroom for a washcloth.

You let out a pleased hum as he cleaned you up, and again as he placed a gentle kiss between your shoulder blades. You pushed yourself up on shaky legs, turning around and reaching for Joe instinctively. You knew you had minutes left and you wanted to make sure you were touching him at all times. You looped your arms around his neck and kissed him, willing your brain to memorize every aspect of the moment, because you had no idea when or even if you’d be lucky enough to have him again. The softness of his lips, the way he pressed his chest against yours, the little noises he made as you pressed your lips to his neck. You etched it all into your brain before pulling back to gaze into his eyes.

“We better get going,” he said before pressing a quick kiss to your cheek. He smiled at you, but his eyes were sad, as if he regretted being the one to pull you both back to reality.

You threw your sleep clothes back on, uncaring of your appearance considering the sun wasn’t even up yet. You helped him make sure that he had all of his things, and then the two of you piled into your car for the last time.

You hummed along to your shuffling playlist as you drove down the empty highway, your car the only one for miles on account of the ungodly hour. One hand steered the car and the other held Joe’s hand tightly, your fingers woven together. No words were spoken; they weren’t needed. You both knew how you felt about each other. You both knew that this sucked. And you both were afraid of what was going to come next.

But you were in it together. Taking it one day at a time. That was the deal.

The song on the stereo changed to “Don’t You Forget About Me” as you passed the welcome sign for the airport, and you rolled your eyes at the spot-on song choice.

You slowed the car to a stop at the curb below the sign for Joe’s airline, hopping out to help him free his suitcase from your trunk. The two of you stared at each other for a few moments before Joe pulled you into a crushing embrace, tucking his head into your shoulder.

“I’ll see you soon, okay?”

You were a bit choked up, unable to get words out, so you simply nodded, hoping to whatever higher power there was that his words would ring true.

You reluctantly let go of him and watched him with a smile as he wheeled his suitcase through the doors before you, throwing a glance over his shoulder to see you waving back at him.

It wasn’t until you were halfway home that you let yourself cry.

✧✧✧

DOJ Taglist: @deacyblues @im-an-adult-ish @rogers-sweatbands @almightygwil @travelbugg64 @briarrose26 @whenthe-smokeisinyoureyes @xbuckxnastyx

Permanent Taglist: @queenlover05 @mrhoemazzello @madamsledge @sadhwstudent @johndeaconshands @puffnstuff08 @stardust-galaxies

#joe mazzello #joe mazzello x reader #joe mazzello x you #joe mazzello fic #joe mazzello fluff #joe mazzello smut #joe mazzello imagine #joe mazzello fanfic #joemazzmatazz

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kaalamarii · 4 years

Text

Three Day Weekend

Summary: MC’s been partying and summons Mammon when things get out of hand.

Pairings: Mammon/Unnamed female MC

Word Count: 2018

Warnings: drug use, brief sexual content, drug overdose, set after the game, angst with a tiny tiiiny bit of fluff at the end.

It both felt like several hours and only a few seconds since she had been at the party.

The pounding bass of the music, rattling the floor and the walls; the pulsating lights that alternate color and made everyone look as if they were stop motion animated; the feel of the high, invincible and floating; the sweaty bodies grinding against each other and running their hands all over each other. Her pupils were dilated, round and black like buttons, matching the circles under her eyes. She had been up for days, consuming basically nothing unless she could smoke it or snort it.

MC laughed as a random guy came up behind her and gripped her hips, pressing his groin into her. “Who the fuck are you?” she asked through her laughter.

He mumbled something in her ear but she couldn’t hear him over the noise of the party. She simply nodded, not sure what she was agreeing to, but not really caring either. He grabbed her hand and led her away from the dancing bodies and up the stairs. She grinned at her friends, shrugging. They all cheered and hollered.

MC and the guy found an empty bedroom. He went to kiss her but she stuck her hand out, a dopey smile on her face. “You’ll get what you want if you’ve got some party favors.”

The guy smirked. “Alright, what you want?”

“Whatcha got?”

He dug in his pocket, pulling out baggies of pills, a couple with white powder. She pointed to the powder. He nodded, opening it and emptying it onto the side table. He separated the powder into sloppy parallel lines. The two took turns snorting the lines.

“We gonna fuck now?”

She chuckled, lying back on the bed. “Sure. Just don’t cum in me.”

MC felt the familiar tingling running through her face and body. Every touch of the stranger on top of her felt like heaven, but thoughts of hell ran through her mind. She remembered the seven demon brothers. And Diavolo. And RAD. She remembered the angels, Solomon.

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to push the memory of her year in Devildom out of her brain. It hurt too much to think about how she left it behind. The demons who had become her friends and their dark yet comforting house.

She missed late night snacks with Beel, and weekend long gaming sessions with Levi. She missed Asmodeus doing her hair and makeup and gossipping as if they were teenage girls. She missed playing pranks on Lucifer with Satan, and how Belphie would fall asleep whenever they all tried to watch a movie together.

And Mammon.

Her first.

The two of them did everything together that year. Shopping trips, delicious (and some questionable) meals at Hell’s Kitchen, skipping class together to fuck in the empty classrooms. Mammon would sneak out most nights and join her in her room, where they’d cuddle in bed together and talk until morning time.

They were both upset by her leaving, and although she missed them immensely, she couldn’t bear to text them back or pick up her D.D.D. when they called. It was too painful, knowing she’d probably never get to go back. Not to mention, she was so busy all the time. She worked two jobs while trying to support herself through school. Between working, school, and homework, she didn’t have time for much. The pressure had proved to be too much, however, as she forced herself out of her dorm room to go to this party, a party that was now on day three. A party that she had neglected both jobs for, and her classes were shaping up to suffer the same fate.

She looked at the random guy grunting on top of her. He wasn’t amazing at what he was doing, but the drugs made it feel like he was. She wished he was Mammon. Mammon, who was a surprisingly sweet and caring lover, always taking his time with her and eager to please.

The guy didn’t even notice that she wasn’t present, wasn’t reacting to him being inside her. She didn’t mind that he didn’t notice; she knew she was simply a body to get off on and that was okay with her. It’s not like she was looking for love. She knew whatever she had with Mammon couldn’t and wouldn’t be replaced, and she didn’t want anyone else. It broke her heart to know she’d never have that again. What was she going to do? Have a long distance relationship with the demon? Go visit Devildom and move in with him? It’s not like she expected to get married and have babies with Mammon...it’s not like he could grow old with her.

So she had to move on. And drinking, getting high, and fucking random strangers seemed to at least help it not be so painful.

She was quickly starting to get annoyed with her current partner. She figured the drugs were screwing up his ability to finish, and she knew she wasn’t going to climax anytime soon. She couldn’t anymore, not since Mammon.

The effects of the drug were starting to become overwhelming to her. The room was spinning, and she was starting to feel really warm. Her heart was beating at what felt like a mile a minute. She felt sick to her stomach.

She pushed the man off of her. He complained, though his words went through one ear and out the other as she stumbled out the room and through her dancing peers. It was getting warmer and warmer, and she was now sweating. She pushed through the crowd, desperate to get outside into the cool air.

She made it, somehow, and fell onto the driveway pavement. In moments of panicked luicidity, she figured she was dying. What a sight, she thought, me naked, lying in some random driveway. If she was going to die, she had to see him one more time...

“Hear me, denizens of the darkness,” she spoke, her voice shaky and barely above a whisper.

“You who are born of shadow and you who give birth to it. Hear me and do as I command.”

She was slipping out of consciousness.

“I, MC, call upon you to send second of your number... I summon... the avatar of greed…

“Mammon…”

She smiled to herself as she said his name, and shut her eyes, slipping away.

“G’aaah!” Mammon cried out. “What the...where am I? Who summoned me?” he asked, grumpily. “Better not have been those witches-” He spun around to see MC lying on the pavement, in a puddle of vomit, her whole body shaking violently.

Mammon’s face fell. “MC?”

He changed to his demon form so he could use his wings, and gently yet quickly scooped MC up in his arms. She didn’t look well. Bags under her eyes, her nose leaking blood and her hair matted with vomit. She was a lot lighter than he remembered, feeling like a feather as he held her.

He took her to the first hospital he saw, changing back out of his demon form and rushing her in. They took her in, leaving Mammon out in the waiting room, more anxious and scared than he had ever been.

He shakily pulled his D.D.D. out of his pocket to message his brothers.

The seven brothers sat in silence in the waiting room, all of them melancholic and uncomfortable. Mammon was the only one not sitting, instead pacing the room.

“What if she doesn’t make it?” he asked, slowing to face his brothers.

They all exchanged sad glances.

“You can’t talk like that, Mammon,” Satan spoke, uncharastically quiet and gentle. “MC made it through a year in Devildom...She’s escaped death before. She’s not going anywhere.”

They all glance at Belphie who sighs, throwing his head in his hands. Beel pats his back.

“What did she say when she summoned you?” Asmo asked.

“Nothing,” Mammon replied, picking his pacing back up. “Nothing! She wasn’t conscious. She was just...lying there on the ground, shaking. She looked like she hadn’t slept in days.”

A nurse came by to tell Mammon-who had told hospital staff that he was MC’s boyfriend-that he could go see her. The rest of the brothers smiled at him, trying their best to be there for their brother and for MC.

“She’s very lucky you brought her in when you did,” the nurse told him. “You must be her guardian angel.”

He let out a humorless laugh. “Yeah. Something like that.”

She smiled at Mammon and opened the door to MC’s room, letting him in and closing the door behind him.

He took in the sight of MC, seeming so small on the hospital bed, as she looked up at him with barely open eyes.

“Hey…” he said, standing awkwardly at the door and staring down at her. He was almost too afraid to get close, as if that would somehow make it worse.

He was surprised when she chuckled. “I was wondering who they were talking about when they said my boyfriend was here.”

Her voice was hoarse. He shifted uncomfortably and ran his hands through his hair, a movement she had come to recognize as nervousness. “You summoned me.”

“Did I?”

He nodded.

“Shit. I don’t even remember.” She pushed a button on the side of her bed that made it rise so she was sitting up. She put her hand on her head. “My head hurts so much. I guess I really fucked up, huh?”

“You almost died,” he said simply, but he seemed to be saying it more to himself, in disbelief.

“Yeah…”

He finally sat on the chair beside her bed and took her hand in his. “I haven’t heard from you in almost a year.”

“I’m sorry, Mammon. I wanted to call. It’s just been so busy.”

“Ya sure have been,” he said, harshly.

She frowned. “I took one weekend off.”

“One weekend? You look like you haven’t slept or ate in weeks.”

“Like I said, I’ve been busy. It’s not like I meant to overdose. I was just trying to have a little bit of fun, forget about how shitty things are.”

Mammon let go of her hand. He was furious with her, she knew that.

“Why are you pissed at me? I’m alive. I’m okay.”

“But you’re not okay, are ya?” Mammon said, his blue eyes starting to water. “Like, you’re fucking not okay. You’re going on weekend long cocaine benders.”

“Occasionally,” she said with a shrug.

Mammon scoffed, standing up and throwing his hands up. “How are you not getting how serious this is!”

“Look, I know you’re mad. I know I scared you. It’s just...it’s been rough.”

“Rough? Seeing you naked in the middle of a driveway in your own puke was rough. Holding you while you were having a seizure was rough. Wondering if you were going to die was fucking rough!”

His demon form had come out, and he didn’t realize at first, until her eyes went wide. He quickly went back to normal, his eyes watering up. “MC, you need help.”

“I’m fine, Mammon.”

“Look, I’ve had my days of partying. And that’s rough on a demon body. I can’t even imagine what it’s doing to yours.”

MC sighed.

“Just please...promise me you’ll get help? And I’ll come up and visit you more often.” He grabbed her hand again, pulling it up to his lips and planting a soft kiss on her. “And you know, you can summon me whenever you want. Not just in an emergency. Maybe I can talk Lucifer into letting you come back and stay a while. Ya know, like old times. He’s pretty worried about you too.”

“You know, for a demon, you’re pretty sweet.”

He grinned. “Shaddup, human.”

He bent down, kissing her on the head. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him to her, nuzzling into his neck. “I missed you so much, Mammon.”

“I missed you too, human. I love you.”

MC smiled wide. “I love you too, Mammon.”

#obey me fanfiction #obey me shall we date #obey me #obey me mammon #mammon x mc #mammon fanfic #angst #obey me imagines #mammon x oc

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lemonietrinket · 4 years

Text

Love ||| Wayv x Reader

Summary: Everyone needs to be taken care of sometimes, no matter how strong they are. And so when you come home from an awful day in the outside world, you are blessed to have several people come and pick you up again, setting you back on your feet. Though, not everything is as a clear cut as you perhaps once thought.

Genre: Angst, but then lots of Fluff to make up for it!! and Humour too bc i think im funny

Warning(s): Detailed description of big crying, no mention of reasons why, just left as a very bad day; single sentence description of a mild bruise; a bit of arguing but it’s mild and there as so to highlight something

Word Count: 20,314 jesus christ

Theme Song: The Flower (feat. Maximilian Hecker) - Leo; Heart Flutter - W24; Only Love Can Hurt Like This - Paloma Faith

AN: original was a request from @idont-knowapil. I hope yall enjoy the rewrite. It’s pretty different in some places, but now there’s actually a lot of foundations for what is to come. Fem!Reader

~~~

It had taken all of your strength to not cry on the way home on the bus. There were too many people around for you to let the tears fall, but you’d bitten your lip so hard it bled and had held your breath until you were heaving, for it to all prove to be little use.

You tried your best, turning your head into the glass and staring into the darkness outside, praying that no one turned to look back at you or your reflection.

As soon as you got off at your stop, unable to utter a ‘thank you’ to the driver which made you feel even worse (if that were even possible) your defences began to break down.

Tears streamed down your face in the frozen evening air, merging with the rain and slipping between your trembling lips, the salt tingling on the tip of your tongue. Your nose ran viciously because of the wind, which also mussed up your hair causing you even more frustration as you tried to hold it out of your face, only for it to cover eyes uncomfortably again.

Your voice seeped into your breath as you tried to remain silent, strained whines at the effort it took to not openly weep as you needed to, whilst you prayed endlessly that no one would pass you by on the street and see the mess you were in.

Fumbling with your keys, just inches from being inside and away from the world, almost sent you over the edge. The key had got caught in one of the keyrings and with your shivering fingers and blurry vision, it seemed the world was kicking you while you were down.

A cry rose in your throat, and you forced it down as best you could, until finally you crashed into the house, bags toppled by the oven across the room. You were home at last. Slamming the backdoor behind you with a strength you didn’t realise you had left, you took merely a single step inside before you tripped over an abandoned pair of shoes and fell to the floor with a thud and a sob so hard no noise came from your body.

Today was not your day.

Your chest constricted upon itself, ribs very nearly bruising your lungs and heart, until you finally caught some air and howled.

You were ashamed of how you must have looked, sprawled on the kitchen floor, weeping hysterically, no doubt with a muddied coat and a bruised knee and hands pressed into wet footprints upon the linoleum floor.

If you’d been told to write the worst day you could have, today took that itinerary and then dragged it through hell.

You didn’t have the energy to stand, even if the puddles from outside that your shoes had dragged inside were being soaked up by your socks, unrolled at your heels and stained from their pristine white. Lethargically, you began to lift yourself out of the doorway as best you could, and to your feet. Your success was tainted however as you accidentally knocked your elbow against the counter ledge, and fresh tears immediately sprung to your eyes. It was the final straw for you, as you leant over the countertop and wept. Your fingers gripped the wood roughly, your forehead coming to rest against the cupboard as ‘what if’s swirled around your head. What if you’d been more polite to her. What if you’d done your printing the day before. What if you’d taken your lunch break elsewhere.

You knew rationally that nothing was your fault, but the rational part of your brain was far surpassed by raw emotion of emptiness that the uncaring world had showed you that day.

Your ears just about caught the footsteps outside before the door opened. When it did, you flicked your head towards the man out of reflex, your muscles tensed and breath shallowed.

“Y/N?”

The door closed, and the man came to a stop a few feet from you. The light flickered on suddenly—you hadn’t noticed his hand reach to the corner and turn on the switch—and the two of you suddenly reached a realisation as quickly as you were bathed in light.

It was Kun, a sight that you unfortunately greeted with creased features and tear-stricken face.

He responded to yours with a sharp inhale. His voice was hushed and filled with concern however, as he shrugged off his bag and immediately made the rest of the way to you, “Y/N…”

The man’s palms hovered beside you, unsure of what the situation was and what to do about it.

You opened your mouth to speak, but a broken cry was the only sound you could make.

“Y/N, are you ok?” he exclaimed, lightly brushing the hair from your face to try and understand what was wrong. “What’s wrong love? P-please, I don’t…”

At the first touch of his fingertips against your damp cheeks, you shook your head, instead slumping into his chest. You clung to him, fear gone as you cried openly into his jumper, speckled with rain. Kun was very nearly speechless, his hands eventually settling upon your back. Though of course you were still in your coat and the weather had left it sodden.

“Oh, love, oh…” he trailed off, unable to find the words. Seeing you like this hurt him beyond explanation, and he had no idea how he could even convey what he needed to do. Slipping off his shoes as quickly as he could and discarding them by the door, he reached his arms between you. “Come on, love, let’s get you out of this coat. You’ll catch a cold.”

A pang of hurt struck your heart briefly as he somewhat unceremoniously pushed you off him, but before you could begin to wallow again he’d slipped the coat off your shoulders and hooked it by the door, speaking once again, “You can get your shoes, right?”

You nodded sullenly, reaching down to undo your laces, meanwhile Kun rested his hand upon your back to hold you steady. His touch was surprisingly warm for someone who had only just come inside from the cold, however the chill of the room was creeping into your bones as your shirt provided you little warmth in the barely-heated house.

One shoe was off without a problem, however as you lifted your leg to take off the other, a twinge of pain ricocheted through your knee. You had clearly fallen harder than you had first imagined.

“Love? Did you hurt yourself?” he enquired, as his mind finally connected the dots as to what had happened, roughly.

“I…” you began, swallowing thickly, before you realised you didn’t exactly have enough energy to finish what you had started.

“It’s alright, I’ve got it.” And without hesitation, Kun crouched down to remove the shoe for you.

You felt pathetic to say the least. Like a child who had thrown a tantrum but had a parent who spoiled her nonetheless. You’d only hurt your knee, too. How could you possibly need someone else to remove your own shoe?

Truth be told, Kun felt like he wasn’t doing anywhere near enough, and had leapt at the chance to help you in absolutely any way possible.

Besides, before you could really do anything about it he’d placed your shoes neatly on the rack and returned to your side. “Alright, you’re good to walk?”

You nodded after a moment of hesitation, making his concern worsen. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” Your voice was shaky, but possessed enough certainty to convince him at least.

“Ok, that’s good. Where does it hurt?”

“Just… my knee…”

“Cut? Bruise?” His eyes dropped down instinctively to check, to only find a few muddy splotches upon your trousers.

You sighed, trying to work up the effort to explain. “I o-only tripped… hit it on the… the floor—stupid shoes.”

He was mildly startled by the sudden venom in your voice, glancing back to try and see whose shoes it had been. A wave of panic rushed to his chest as he spotted his overturned shoes in the middle of the doorway.

“Love… I’m so sorry, they’re mine. They must have fallen, I’m sorry—”

Your heart crashed to the pit of your stomach as you heard his words, and suddenly you felt terrible for even speaking.

“I-I’m sorry, I’m ok, it’s ok, I’m not mad, it—it…” Your teeth sank into your lip as you desperately tried to quell the overwhelming urge to cry again.

“Hey, it’s alright! I…” Kun’s eyes flew wide open as he attempted to ease the situation. He quickly changed tact. “Love, why don’t you go get changed? You’ll get cold otherwise. I’ll get an ice pack for your knee, and everything will be alright… yeah?”

You swallowed, mouthing a ‘thank you’ that you had intended to give a voice to, but it did not come. Deciding he had the right idea as you shivered, you edged your way out of the kitchen and up the stairs to your room, clutching to the banister as you went.

Stumbling into your bedroom, you set yourself down on your bed with a sigh, disgruntledly throwing some the clothes you’d discarded on the covers that morning out of the way onto the floor beside the end of your bed.

You haphazardly removed your clothes, your elbow crying out in pain now too as you stretched a bit too far, leading you to whimper. Even after changing into a warmer set of pyjamas, you remained cold.

As you began to shift your legs to attempt to remove your dirty socks, Kun knocked on the door.

You really wanted to reply with a ‘come in’, but all that really came out was an awkward hum.

He got the message however, slipping his body through a tiny crack in the door as if he didn’t want to disturb the room. He’d put himself into a more comfortable hoodie to keep himself warm before he’d come to you, a pack of cold peas in his hand.

“Honestly, you’d think we’d have specific ice packs in this household but, no,” he chuckled sheepishly, “all we have is cold peas. For some reason. Who here even likes peas?”

Had you been bright as you normally were you would have pressed the charge, accusing him of being the pea lover, since he was the dad of the house, obviously. You lamented the fact that you weren’t able to really muster even the melancholic humour it at the very least required.

In the period of time you’d been zoned out, the man was by your side, eyes searching your face. “Are you sure you’re doing fine?” He handed you the peas as you nodded slowly, accepting them with an empty face.

While you grimaced, feeling the ice cut deep into your bones, Kun found himself unable to watch, turning his attention elsewhere. He couldn’t help but note that whenever the slightest bit of pain touched you, whether it was physical or emotional, he couldn’t stand it. It was as if his entire chest contorted into a cage, the bones of his ribs becoming iron bars and just… crushing.

He found himself scooping up your dishevelled clothes from the floor and folding them neatly, before stacking them on your desk chair. Except the dirty ones, he’d looped those over his arm.

“Hey, I’ll just go put these in the wash real quick, ok?” His eyes carefully moved to look over to you again. He found your own gazing at the trousers upon his arm, glistening.

Before he could mention any comfort, they’d slipped to the pitiful state of your socks, as you choked an apology. It seemed so irrational to you to get so upset about socks, but they had been so clean and you’d just messed them up and you couldn’t help but blame yourself.

Kun however wasn’t letting you descend again.

He came to your side, shushing you gently. His fingers reached your head, stroking your hair with a gentle care you’d never felt from him before. “Love, sweetheart, it’s ok! It’s ok, it’s not your fault.”

He cursed himself in his head. If it was anyone’s fault in this scenario, it was his. He didn’t want to upset you further by mentioning that though, and so managed to keep it to himself.

“Let's just get you out of these, so they can be washed and all clean again, yeah?” He gave you a reassuring squeeze on your shoulder. “Do you need any help?”

You really didn’t want to accept that you did. To try and prove that, you slipped your left sock off with an issue, to which Kun took off your hands swiftly and added to his looped pile. However, even with the added angles from your bed, the makeshift ice pack prevented you from really removing the second one without pain.

Kun wordlessly took to his knees so he could help.

His kindness was tugging at your heart, smashing it to pieces in your vulnerable state, only to pull it all back together again. You didn’t feel worthy of his care, but on the other hand all you wanted was him to stay and never leave you.

In seconds the sock was gone and your foot cool. You expected him to stand again, but he remained on the carpet.

You peered down at him. “K-Kun?”

He was looking at the peas. “Love, can I see your knee?” He glanced upwards, soft eyes meeting your own for a brief moment before slipping away. “I just want to make sure it’s not too bad.”

Lifting the ice pack away from your knee cautiously, you helped him ease the cloth of your pyjamas up over your knee.

He hissed at the sight of the bruise you found there, as if the pain were his own. “Oh, love that looks painful.”

“D-does it?” The sight of the pinkish circle only startled you in the sense that it didn’t look that bad.

“It must hurt a lot,” he reiterated, “be careful around it. Don’t want you getting hurt more.”

“Oh… ok…”

The rough pads of his fingers left your skin, as you shifted the cloth back over your leg, all while goosebumps began to speckle across your arms.

Kun noticed immediately, eyes darting around the room as he got to his feet. Eventually he settled on the blanket balled up somewhat at the foot of your bed. Unravelling it, he brandished it around you like a cape, before wrapping you up in it.

“There.” He seemed pretty proud of his work, a smile finally adorning his handsome features. “Feel a little more comfortable?”

You pulled your eyes up to meet his gaze, and attempted to give a smile. It didn’t work. You settled on another nod.

“Well, that’s a success.” He laughed softly. You always liked the sound of his happiness, he always sounded so warm. “I’m going to head back downstairs, you want to come or stay up here?”

“I’ll…” you took a deep breath, “I’ll come.”

“Yeah? Great!” Your answer made his face light up even further, eyes actually turning into beautiful crescents. His sudden excitement reflected in his actions too, as he outstretched his hand to you, to help you up.

You took it as quickly as you could manage for how tired you still were, and the thought of how nice it felt to be holding his hand crossed your mind without a single hindrance. In fact it worried you, for reasons you were too exhausted to try and determine. And so you decided to drop it, fast.

It was surely nothing after all.

After leading you downstairs in a comfortable silence, you were eventually on the centre of the sofa, all the remotes beside you, with Kun by the entrance to the kitchen.

“I’ll make you some food? Ramyun will be good right?” he hesitated, feeling the corners of his lips twitch at the sight of you, encompassed by the blanket like a burrito. It wasn’t fair how adorable you were. “Or grab you some more blankets, anything you need.”

You hummed sadly, trying to draw your lips together to speak.

“Yes, love?”

He was so patient.

“I…” you swallowed, hands tiredly lifting away from your body and towards him, as outstretched as you could manage, “can I have… have a… hug? Please…?”

His features softened even further, if that were even possible, his eyes regarding you carefully as his lips curled into a smile.

Before he could answer—and make no joke, his answer would have been to take a seat beside you and instantly take you into his arms—there was a clatter, as the back door opened. Several voices swarmed over one another, littered with giggles and whoops as they bickered in the falling darkness.

Kun’s head turned to the kitchen, and he nodded as he saw what you presumed was the face of one of the members through the doorway. “I think you can get a really big one, now,” he remarked, a tinge of sadness in his voice.

Not quite understanding the situation, you merely pouted, feeling the burn in your heart.

Kun was extremely aware of how your face fell so drastically “I can’t leave them in charge of cooking can I?” Kun explained with a chuckle, worry tinging his voice. “Please don’t be sad, love. I-I’ll hug you later I promise.”

“Promise?” you asserted.

“With my whole heart.”

His words threw your own through a loop.

Kun meanwhile called out to the others, “Welcome home! You’re late, but I’ll let it slide if you come here and help me.”

There were a couple of confused ‘eh’s until a few familiar faces came into the room, shrugging off their coats.

You almost broke into fresh tears as you saw Xuxi’s bright, sunny smile drop from his face when he laid eyes on you.

“Y/N?!” he exclaimed, glancing at Kun for an explanation.

At the sound of his deep-set shout, Sicheng leant out from behind the giant puppy’s shoulders to see what Xuxi was so upset about.

He too went from quietly happy to extremely concerned at the sight of your reddened cheeks.

You quickly became very embarrassed. You hadn’t been cute crying, exactly, and you figured you still looked like a dazed, tear-stained mess.

That was when Ten slipped past the two of them abruptly, running over to you before you could even cry in surprise.

“No no, no…!” he cooed, perching very carefully on the edge of the sofa, his body turned completely towards you as he extended his hands to your face. He dabbed at your mottled cheeks rather frantically, the coolness of his fingers making you shiver, as they were chilled the winter, whilst your skin had been made hot by tension and stress.

“No, baby, are you ok? What’s wrong? What happened?” He glanced back at Kun who was heading through into the kitchen. “Kun, is it just my hands or is she running a fever?” Before you could answer he continued, eyes shining, “Are you hurt? Sick? Did someone hurt you?”

“They better not have hurt you!” Xuxi interjected, leaning over the back of the sofa. “If they did then you tell me their names, Y/N,” he said diligently, “I’ll make sure they never even look at you again I swear—!”

Sicheng rolled his eyes, a light scoff drifting from his lips as he patted Xuxi's shoulder, before heading round to the chair opposite you. “It’s ok guys, she’s not dying.”

He’d said it with a joking lilt and a gentle tone, but Ten’s mouth hung open as he shot him a look. “I know she’s not, but she’s upset and I’m not having that!”

“Neither will I!”

“Xuxi, you couldn’t hurt anyone even if you tried,” Ten returned, turning his full attention back to you. “Now, if my girl is not sick, and not physically hurt, then I know exactly what she needs, don’t I?”

As soon as he grinned at you, you couldn’t help but let the corners of your own lips lift. And, much like a chain reaction, as soon as he saw you brighten, even if only slightly, his smile grew into a beam.

“My girl wants hugs, doesn’t she?” he murmured, giddily tapping his finger against the tip of your nose.

You couldn’t avoid emitting a squeak at the contact—his fingers were too cold—but rationale had also left you in some parts, perhaps, as you nodded eagerly, dragging your arms up and throwing them out to welcome him in.

Ten slipped back on the sofa, pulling you into his chest protectively. He was careful to place his hands where they wouldn’t touch your skin, but also where you would know he was there, and so he nestled one into your waist and the other upon the back of your head.

Adjusting your position only slightly to lessen the pressure off the bridge of your nose, you settled your face in the nook of his neck, fingers laced in his shirt, as you took in the scent of his cologne. He must have several varieties but this one was easily your favourite—whatever it was. It was light, but deep and welcoming, with the openness of a spring day but the independence of a lucid dream, which was kind of how you felt held so close to his heart. You could feel it beating against your arm, seeping through your sleeves and sinking into your skin, through to your own heart, which skipped as soon as the thought of it all struck your conscious mind. You very nearly forgot about the others around you, though as soon as you’d been dipped into the waters of serenity, you’d been pulled out by your own awareness.

Ten was stroking your hair gently, though his touch was shallow to avoid both knots and making you shiver.

Kun was instructing someone about something, words just out of reach for you to piece together, but no sooner than he’d finished, a loud voice that could only be recognised as Xuxi’s, yelled, “group hug!” and a figure then bounded around the sofa.

You couldn’t see Sicheng, so had no idea what he was doing, but you heard a chuckle that sounded like his.

And a second after you’d questioned the reasoning behind his amusement, you felt a weight crash behind you on the couch.

Ten snapped up out of surprise, indicating he perhaps hadn’t seen in coming either, and with his hand leaving your head, you pressed yourself up slightly to try and get a better look at what happened.

“Hm—?”

It was no use however, because you were knocked back against Ten with a yelp from both of you, as the newcomer practically slammed his weight against your back.

Ten hauled you up as best he could so you weren’t stuck in a folded position but what you had ended up in nonetheless was still not overly comfortable. As you glanced at him you could see his lips wavering, formulating a sentence to most likely scold whoever had pushed the sudden attack with.

But there was no need, as you felt a pair of much longer arms encircle you and pull you more upright, a chin coming to rest surprisingly neatly on your shoulder.

“Hi, Y/N!” Xuxi sang, tapering off into a giggle as he gave you a tiny squeeze.

You laughed bemusedly, relieved to be alive, but also welcoming the warmth from the other side. Xuxi was in fact much warmer, to the point he could be described as an actual radiator, and with him smushed against your back you felt as if you were truly at home.

After a few seconds of his eyes evaluating the sight that he could see and you could not, it seemed that Ten appeared to accept it eventually too. Even with you practically stolen from his arms, he laughed it off, identifying that he could be perfectly comfortable laying into you rather the other way round.

With roles reversed, he slipped a hand up to your collarbone, resting his head just above the other, and seeking the opportunity to wrap one of his legs over yours, which was jutting out over the side of the sofa. Now you could see the room more clearly, and, with a tired laugh, you waved at Sicheng who was watching the borderline catastrophe with a confused but delighted grin on his features. There was a shade to his eyes though, something that you couldn’t quite place.

Peering over Ten’s head, you could see Kun leaning against the doorway, smiling proudly, as if the whole thing had been his doing.

Though thinking back to Xuxi’s sudden, but most likely inevitable, surprise attack, it maybe had been.

“Hi…!” You waved at him too, leading him to chuckle.

“Hello,” he replied, “you look better already.”

And with a brief scrunch of his nose, he was pushing himself off the wall’s edge and heading into the kitchen.

You pressed your chin into the crown of Ten’s hair, smiling tightly as quiet settled over the room.

You loved all of them, you honestly did, and you would never do without their bickering and yelling and screeching laughter. But it was relieving to hear peace every once in a while, with the only sound being the sound of steadied breaths—two pairs of which had become more-or-less synonymous with your own.

“You sure you don’t want to join us, Chengie?”

It was Xuxi that spoke.

You could have bet a million with certainty that it would be him that broke the silence. Man could never stay quiet for long, which was often one of the most endearing parts about him, as it often led him to some extraordinary lengths to find something, anything to say, crafting absolutely wonderful results. A lot of what Xuxi had to say ended up being enshrined as legendary tales that got passed down the long line of units until everyone had heard some form of what he’d said, and if not, they were plastered all over social media at the very least. At least half of them were your doing as well, in the sense that you were the prime messenger, relaying it to Johnny when you next video called him just to hear him one-up your story with one that originated from Mark, or Jungwoo whenever he visited.

The thought of how long he’d been missing for washed over you like sinking into a silent lake. He was back now, and you had been elated when you’d heard the news, waking up to a call from a no doubt bleary-eyed Jungwoo. But the pain of the near radio-silence at some points or his hiatus had been particularly tough to bear. And you hadn’t been the only one suffering.

You glanced back as best you could to the man who had spoken, his words on this occasion unfortunately not sparking much interest, as you waited for a response.

“No.” Sicheng shook his head once, voice neither amused nor melancholic, continuing, “But thank you.”

“Oh, ok! More space for us!” Xuxi’s responses were always bright and cheerful. You felt your heart lurch at the memory of the few times when they hadn’t been.

Meanwhile the man in question punctuated his words with another, tighter squeeze, which made you cry out in mildly strained laughter as you were brought back to the real world.

“Hey!”

“Dear lord…” Ten sighed, rolling his body-weight to allow his voice to carry into the kitchen. “Kun?!”

There were a few moments of silence, besides the sound of a knife meeting a chopping board from the kitchen. As you knocked your head back, Xuxi fingers digging into your sides, Ten proceeded, desperately trying to avoid your jolting legs, “When are the kids—ow!—when are the kids getting back?! Xu—xi!—is getting boisterous again!”

You freed one of your arms to poke your assailant’s side, making him jump and momentarily loosen his grip with a yelp—an opportunity you took without halt, shifting yourself out of his arms so you could tackle him head on.

“Ten, play nice!” you asserted gently, catching Xuxi’s hands and pushing against them as hard as you could with a laugh. You knew that if he was genuinely trying he would own you in an instant but you appreciated his instincts telling him to go easy on you. At least for now.

“I could say the same about you, actually!” Ten huffed, curled up on the furthest corner of the sofa and feeling rather discarded.

He watched the two of you wrestle, giggling through puffs of worn-out breaths, and couldn’t quite stop the corners of his lips twitching into a smile. He did find it endearing how you cared for the others, and how bouncy you could really get.

Though it was clear to say you were quickly tiring, and couldn’t keep up the chase as much as was perhaps needed. And so, he came to the rescue.

“Y/N! I’m cooooold…!” Ten whined.

Just because he was second oldest didn’t mean he was above whinging to get what he wanted.

Regretting how you’d unceremoniously shoved Ten off you, and accidentally somewhat kicked him, and then forgotten about the poor guy, you just about managed to slink your hands out of Xuxi’s with a quick exhale, swiftly backing off and sweeping your hands out of his reach as he tried to catch them again.

“Xuxi, no,” you murmured very softly, as if you were talking to a puppy, which to be honest it could be argued that you were, “Ten’s sad I gotta go.”

“Awh…”

“I’m also tired…”

“But what if I’m sad?”

Behold. There it was. The legendary Xuxi pout. Irresistible to those without prior training.

You shook your head, laying back to recline in Ten’s open arms. He immediately curled into you, cheek nuzzling your hair as he smiled victoriously.

Meanwhile Xuxi’s eyes widened further, glistening like clear gemstones in the evening light.

You held out your own hands, inviting him to come to you, however. “You can come and cuddle again though.”

He accepted that point, albeit a little sulkily, as he leant down, placing his head in your lap and a hand in yours as he arranged his unimaginably large frame into a ball to fit on the sofa, with room to spare.

It always confused you how someone so big could be so small.

Both their grips were a little firmer once they’d reestablished them; Ten’s now warmer hand had found its place upon the bare skin below the hem of your shirt, shielding it from the chill of the room while simultaneously making your heart beat just that little bit quicker, and Xuxi’s rested neatly around your thigh.

You were comfortable though, at last.

The kids, as they had been dubbed, arrived not long after, just as the delicious scent of Kun’s famous cooking began to fill the whole room to the brim. They stepped into a delightfully warm house, the tips of their noses and clouds of their cheeks blushed pink from the cold outside, and immediately they were stripping themselves free of their coats, as the temperature difference made them feel too hot to cope.

You’d rested in peace upon the sofa, kept warm but not too much so between the combined body heat of Ten and Xuxi. Sicheng meanwhile had taken out his phone a while ago, occasionally showing you funny memes and pictures he found. You didn’t really understand some of them, and he had to explain them, but you enjoyed it nonetheless, even if that same shadow tinted his eyes again as he did it.

As he entered the living room, Xiaojun regarded the sight of the three of you piled on the couch with curiosity to say the least, brows furrowing as he let the two behind him pass.

Yangyang barely scraped a glance at you, until he came back and saw it properly, smirking. “What is this?”

“Y/N was feeling sad, so we had to come and cheer her up!” Xuxi jumped in, shifting his weight upwards so his head was resting upon your stomach and where he could just about see the new arrivals.

“By… piling on the sofa?”

“What’s wrong Yangyang?” Ten snickered, before cooing, “Do you feel left out that I’m not babying you too?”

The youngest narrowed his eyes defiantly at the elder, who merely stuck his tongue out.

“Hey, you can join us if you want,” you interrupted cleanly, the wobble in your voice long gone.

“Can I?!” Hendery called from behind the two stood in the walkway, slipping through to poke his head around Xiaojun where you could see him. His lips were curved into a tiny little smile, eyes wide and clear and glimmering in hope for a ‘yes’.

“Of course!” you replied, hand leaving Ten’s arm and beckoning both of them over.

“I don’t think there’s any room,” Xiaojun remarked, exhaling amusedly as he hung up his bag round the banister, “you might have to take it in turns.”

At this, you felt both pairs of hands’ grips tighten, as if in reflex.

“But...!” Xuxi stuttered in his defence. “But I’m—!”

Ten meanwhile snorted in disapproval. “No, I’m comfy. You’ll have to drag me off yourself.”

“Not sure that’s a wise idea,” Sicheng said, barely looking up from his phone, “you’re the lightest one here, you know.”

As the two chaotic forces glanced at one another, grins affirming their idea before snapping back to begin stepping over to the smallest link in the chain, Kun’s voice rose above them all.

“Dinner’s ready! Come get it! The later you are, the less dumplings you get!”

It was as if it was a survival zone, as everyone barrelled to the kitchen.

Xuxi, no matter how loyal he could be, was always swayed by food, and so you had anticipated his sudden departure. However you could never have claimed to have expected the brief placement of his lips to the skin of your temple.

It was so quick and sudden and barely there that you couldn’t even begin to rationalise it. In fact, you only ended up conceiving that it hadn’t been a kiss at all. Perhaps it had never even been. You could have so easily imagined it, his lips grazing the air that surrounded you, muttering something instead. He could have so easily done, as you hadn’t really been listening.

Either way he slipped out of your hands, leaving you wrapped in Ten’s arms.

He—not that you could see due to the angle you were resting at—sent a glare to the retreating man as he made his way to the kitchen. He couldn’t help but do it, and he stopped as soon as he realised his features had become twisted in such a way.

He remained pressed against your back, unwilling to leave as he was not affected as severely by the thought of dinner, his hands remaining in their places in proof.

“Can’t we stay here and eat dinner?” he mumbled against your ear.

“I don’t think Kun would ever allow that.” You giggled. “Not after last time.”

“You never know until you try…” Without much warning, Ten tilted his head towards where Hendery had just exited from and shouted, “Kun?! Can Y/N eat her food on the sofa?!”

The man’s response was immediate. “No! Definitely not—! Not after last time!”

“See,” you snorted, patting his knee in consolation, “told you.”

The man rolled his eyes, sitting up reluctantly with you following suit, as he stretched his arms and back. “Fine. Come on, let’s eat.”

Dinner was a ruckus, as usual.

You cram eight people around a table and it will always be noisy, but if you then make half of those people crackheads and the other half happy to allow them to be crackheads, then you’ve got yourself a table of absolute chaos.

With the conversation flitting every few seconds, words bouncing from one side of the room to the other to a rhythm of laughter, many would probably have arranged to sit in their rooms to eat but you would never dream of doing such a thing.

Hearing the banter, weekly in-jokes and teasing was necessary, as it always lifted your spirits—as long as you weren’t upset at the time they picked on you. Luckily the previous cuddling had worked, and you were back to feeling ok, your problems not seeming so impossible anymore.

However, ‘ok’ was not good enough for these guys, and you knew they wouldn’t leave you at just that. They’d already given you some of their own dumplings (except Xuxi who had kept his to himself with a muffled apology) to you. And besides, you had a promise to keep to the two youngest.

As soon as you spotted the natural lull in conversation, you piped up, “Hey, do you guys want to watch a film tonight?”

Your suggestion was met with a flourish of agreement, only that two faces also fell.

One tried to hide it somewhat valiantly, no doubt to protect you from feeling bad. The other didn’t possess the finesse for this as such, and more-or-less openly sulked at the dining table.

You looked at the two of them. “Ten? Xuxi?”

“SuperM,” Ten remarked, voice monotonous, “meeting on tour dates.”

You let out a small ‘ah’ in understanding. You attempted to look on the brighter side. “There’s always next week…!”

Xuxi nodded sadly, while Ten huffed, earning him a side-eye from Kun.

“In my defence,” he began, holding up a finger to the eldest in a request for him to wait, “they’ve worked out all the dates that don’t clash for us. It’s 127 they’re having trouble with, and the managers there can’t seem to do basic maths, because they’ve confirmed two lots of dates that don’t actually work. It must be driving Taeyong mad over in Korea.”

“Why do you need to be there, then?” Yangyang asked.

“We don’t,” Xuxi emphasised.

Ten sighed. “No, I think we do. Even if we’ve outlined our schedules a hundred times, we still need to be in the room while they set the dates, for legal reasons. It’s just irritating that we have to sit there for hours on end, barely able to do anything to help, and if we do have any suggestions, that a—jerk of a—what is he? A producer? Executive? I don’t even know—he won’t let us speak half the time, because of his strange superiority complex that basically means he won’t allow us to ever speak, the absolute f—”

“Ten.” Kun’s voice was hard as stone, his eyes carved into a warning stare.

He sighed, standing and offering to take the others’ empty bowls and plates. “The point is, this shouldn’t be going on for any longer than it already has, and so tonight won’t be very peaceful, but it’ll be worse if we don’t leave soon.” As he leant over the table to collect your bowl, he whispered, “I’ll be here pretty much all tomorrow though. You?”

You nodded, eyes fallen at the sound of the mess he’d been drawn into. Everyone was so tired, him and Xuxi especially with their extra schedules, and so being dragged through that was only going to stress them out even more. They needed the movie night more than perhaps the others did.

Noticing the downturn in the energy of the room, as well as how crestfallen you appeared to be at his plight, Ten offered you a wink in response. It took a lot of energy to try to slow the tempo of your heart after that.

Xuxi collected the remaining utensils in one hand, giving everyone a big wave with the other. “We will return!” he announced.

“What are you going to do?” Xiaojun enquired. “About the ‘guy’, I mean?”

Ten shrugged, tilting his head to the side melodramatically. “Guess if he tries anything this time, he’ll face the pure wrath of this bad bitch.”

“Ten!” you cried in faux shock, a gasp quilting the air. “What have we said about swearing in front of the child!”

Laughter erupted as everyone synchronously looked at Yangyang, who was sending you an exaggerated scowling pout. “Not cool Y/N! I’m not a child!”

“Oh yes that’s right, you’re not a child, Yangyang,” Kun interjected plainly, leading the table to hush as each person accepted his words as an instruction to quieten.

Except everyone was wrong.

Kun glanced at you with a surprisingly sly smile, and then at Ten, then round the entire table, before looking Yangyang dead in the eye, and uttering the words, “You’re baby.”

A plume of cheers erupted round the room as Hendery shrieked with laughter, Xuxi dropping a spoon out of pure joy, leaving Yangyang to merely accept his fate as burned.

You bid both Ten and Xuxi farewell from your place in the armchair closest to the kitchen, soon enough hearing them slip out of the backdoor and into the night. But you barely caught Kun as he seemed to follow them.

After performing a near-comical double-take, mind ticking and realising that the person who had silently swept through in their wake was Kun, you very nearly leapt into the kitchen, the clunk of a car door slam piercing the darkness as your eyes searched for the leader.

“Kun?”

The man jumped nearly out of his skin, just outside in the cold, halting his motion to shut the door as you poked your head into sight. “Oh, Y/N. Is everything ok?”

You nodded, humming. As you stepped forward, you pulled your shirt further up to your chin to try and retain some heat so as to combat the flurry of new, cold air. “Where are you going?”

His eyes were transfixed upon your face, not that you could make that out in the dim light. All while he could distinguish yours much more clearly, the chalk platter face of the moon granting you a celestial glow from where it rose above the neighbouring buildings. “Oh, giving them a lift, so they don’t have to walk, since it’s so dark out,” he sheepishly apologised, “I should have mentioned it, sorry. But you can start the film without me, I don’t mind!”

“Oh, ok,” you mumbled. You had been about to say you’d make sure everyone waited for him, as you were aware the drive wouldn’t be long, but his words had stopped you in your tracks.

There was no way for him to avoid the dip in the glimmer of your eyes at what he had said, but he couldn’t push his departure any longer. “I’ll see you in a bit, Y/N. I promise I won’t be long.”

You tried to lift your arms in time to request that hug he owed you, but the door had closed before he could have accepted.

You couldn’t help but wallow a little bit in your thoughts for a moment. You’d wanted to have as many people in as possible, as those were always the best times. And you understood you couldn’t have Ten and Xuxi, so why couldn’t you have Kun to make up for it…?

He was helping them, however, and going by how freezing it was out there, you had to acknowledge you would have scolded him for not offering to drive them the pretty long distance to the executive building somewhat on the other side of town. It made you kind of hypocritical, and you couldn’t quite shake that thought off.

At that moment, there was a slosh of water that made your ears prick up, leading you to turn towards the sink.

You hadn’t even noticed Xiaojun there, doing the washing up as he’d been elected to by Kun as he left the table. You felt bad for a bit but it was surprisingly dark in the room, and in your defence, he’d been basically silent the entire time.

“You alright, Y/N?” he enquired, adding more hot water to the bowl.

“I could ask the same about you?” you glanced around the room, looking for the lightswitch. “Has the bulb gone again?”

“No, the light’s fine.”

“Oh, well…” You made your way over to the switch.

“Don’t turn it on,” he announced, tipping his head over his shoulder. The lights from the next room crystalised in his eyes, azure-gold and tracing a diamond upon his cheek. It illuminated the curve of his lips, as he spoke again, quieter this time, “Come here.”

You did what he asked, brushing his shoulder with yours as you came to his side.

You tried to meet his gaze, looking up to his face and drawing across his features, only to get distracted by the shine of his silver hair, tracing down his skin and curling round the shell of his ear so neatly. Plush lips parted as he spoke and you raised your eyes to meet his, only to have him turn away at the last second.

You were left with no choice but to follow where his stare was facing.

“Look, out there,” he whispered, gently placing a plate at the bottom of the bowl.

You peered into the garden, dimly lit by the light from the living room dancing beyond you, the faint silver of the moon, next door’s garden light, and nothing more—the sky starless and as dark and thick as ink. You couldn’t see a single shape, or even determine the colour of the grass, and it disheartened you to have to explain it to Xiaojun, who was clearly much more excited than you were.

“Jun? I can’t see anything,” you murmured, but he hushed you suddenly, leaving you to slam your lips shut, heart pinched.

After a few seconds he spoke again, voice barely above a whisper, “We have to be really quiet. And no sudden movements. She’ll appear very soon, I know she will.”

You frowned, glancing through the dark window, confronted by the hazy grass of the garden meeting the grey tile of the patio, and then your own musty reflection as your eyes switched focus.

You couldn’t see much of Xiaojun in the glass, the shadow engulfing much of his mirrored-self. However, you could see one half of his face, shaded as if through clouds, his crown crudely lit like a halo from the auburn behind.

A sigh very nearly left your lips as you stole another glance at his real face, his brow furrowing while his eyes narrowed into the darkness outside, teeth ever-so-slightly teasing his bottom lip as he peacefully waited.

It wasn’t fair how ethereal he was sometimes.

Suddenly he perked up, eyes widening, and leaning into you as he carefully pointed with a soap-sud painted finger into the black. “Look! There!”

You leant forward on the edge of the counter, eyes desperately scouring the garden until you spotted what he was waiting for.

A small bundle, tapered with jagged edges upon its top, snuffling through the shadows. A moment’s thought, and you finally put an understanding to the creature.

A tiny hedgehog, on the search for food.

As she came closer, you could just about make out the twitching of a nose, while she made a somewhat beeline for the fence on the left hand side of the garden. There you could just about make out a weathered blue pet-bowl, filled with some food of sorts.

“There she is,” Xiaojun sighed, whispering a laugh sheepishly. “I was beginning to worry there for a bit, I’ll be honest.”

A wide smile rose to your face, overtaken by the purity of an animal that small just... shuffling through the cold to find food which had been placed in the back garden—and just for her too.

“Did you…?”

“Yeah, the dog food was me,” he replied. “She only comes when it’s quiet here, which isn’t often but it does happen after dinner, as the others get quiet. That’s why I offer to do the work here, so I can check up on her.”

You couldn’t glance away from the hedgehog, especially when she finally reached the bowl and began to tuck in. Though it was in the shade and it was very hard to see anything besides the bowl by that point, made to stand out against the night by the brightness of its sides.

“She’ll eat it all no doubt, she didn’t come yesterday. Unless she has somewhere else and is just running rings around me,” he chuckled, picking up the plate.

“Why didn’t she turn up?” you asked, wrenching your eyes away to look at Xiaojun again.

The corners of his eyes rose as he wrinkled his nose briefly. “Xuxi’s euphoria last night?”

You stood confused for a second, trying to retrace your memory, until you finally struck gold. “Oh yea! Jungwoo’s message! I think it was everyone’s euphoria to be honest,” you sighed, laughter at how over-the-top-bubbly Xuxi had been at the sight of his groupmate just texting him ‘hello’ dwindling, “I’d been worried sick about him. No matter how many times anyone assured me he was ok, I knew I wouldn’t settle until I heard it from him himself.”

“It’s alright, I understand that. And I’m pretty sure the others do too.”

As your eyes fell, remembering the anxiety you had about his condition, Xiaojun’s finally settled back on you.

“You’re extremely kind Y/N, you almost care too much,” he said, “I know Jungwoo can’t wait to see you again, too.”

You finally met his gaze, letting a small smile rise to your lips as you did so. He was just so beautiful, you couldn’t actually look away even if by some bizarre curse you wanted to.

“Thank you, Junnie.”

“I mean it though, Y/N,” he insisted softly, eyes alight with a sudden certainty, “I worry sometimes you care too much about others, and though we appreciate it very much, I don’t…” His voice faltered, as if he’d spoken too much. “We don’t want you to hurt yourself in the process, and forget to care for yourself. We all love looking after you, but we also don’t want you to be hurt at all, if we can help it. So if something hurts you, let us know immediately, so we can support you… yeah?”

You nodded, swallowing as you felt your throat clench. His words were so kind—too kind. It made your heart wrench. Blinking quickly, you looked back into the garden, spotting the hedgehog making her way back to the hedgerow.

At that moment, a voice rose from the living room. “Y/N! What film do you want to watch?”

Somewhat grateful for the distraction, you felt the urge to cry dissipate as you took another glance at Xiaojun. He hadn’t looked away from you this time, it seemed, but you didn’t focus upon that for your own sanity. “I’d better go,” you said, “thank you for showing me the hedgehog. She’s really cute, I’m glad you feed her.”

“No problem, I’ll let you do it tomorrow, if you have time and would like to?”

“That sounds great!” You sent him a grin, covering any sadness you had felt a few moments before. Laying your hand on his shoulder for a second before you passed as a small farewell, you made your way to the living room to go help Yangyang.

As you reached the archway though, you turned back around to ask one more thing, the thought suddenly preoccupying you to a stop. “Oh, Xiaojun?”

“Yes?” He finished washing a plate and placed it on the draining board, peering over his shoulder at you once again.

“Does she have a name? The hedgehog?”

In the shadows of the kitchen, you thought you saw him falter, his lip waver in an attempt to formulate a sound, a shape, a word. Brash to the silence, you heard a stutter in his answer.

“Actually, no, I didn’t think... I just call her ‘hedgehog’.”

You spluttered at his seeming inhumanity. How could he possibly not name the poor little thing?

Your disappointment in him was obvious too, and so he hastily added, “Maybe you could come up with one?”

You reasoned with the suggestion, but it didn’t take long before you responded happily with a nod. “I’ll see what I can come up with. See you in a bit!”

After you left the room, however, he let out a sigh of relief.

He was glad you’d fallen for that excuse, especially since it was so far from the truth. The first thing that he had done, once he realised the hedgehog was a regular, was give her a name. And since she was adorable, with her little nose and love for food, he decided to name her after the first adorable thing he thought of.

He hadn’t foreseen the issue that would occur if he showed her to the person of which he’d secretly named the hedgehog after.

You spun round the door-frame, willing your thoughts to clear and dissipate. You clapped your hands against your cheeks to try and cool them from the raging pink they had flushed from your previous conversation. Being so close to him had hit a nerve within you somewhere, though what it was, you couldn’t quite comprehend.

As you passed through, Hendery slipped round the other corner and collided into you.

His sudden appearance made you jump, a rather pathetic yelp uttered past your lips as you quickly found yourself losing your balance after an effort to haphazardly make distance between the sudden newcomer.

Luckily for you, Hendery’s reactions were faster than your falling. He grasped your shoulder firmly, though in such a manner it made you wonder if he wanted to touch you at all—you were at arm's length, his fingers fanned out to rest upon your shoulder blades, his touch barely there, yet very much present.

You were quick to slot back onto your feet as you staggered to accommodate for his reflex. Only to push yourself further into his arms. You felt as if your luck couldn’t get any worse, face burning up once again as you almost butted Hendery’s head with your own. It was almost as if you were in some cliche skit where you had temporarily become a hapless staggering damsel for the day, and you weren’t going to have that for any longer.

You freed yourself from the sudden proximity with Hendery, refusing to make eye contact as you moved from staring at his exposed collarbone and instead the floor as you rooted yourself to it, folding your arms and huffing.

He watched you attempt to reclaim your pride, exhaling in relief as you seemed to grow in confidence once again. He had to admit, he understood well that you’d had a bad day, but he couldn’t help but find it odd how flushed your soft cheeks were and how on edge you appeared.

Meanwhile, his face had been a picture, lips pursed into an ‘o’ of moderate horror as he’d almost knocked you to the ground, which then spread into a wide smile as he giggled sheepishly. His eyes were clear as glass, dark and glinting and rueful, as you finally worked up the courage to meet them again.

“Sorry Y/N!” he said, mischief lacing his words.

You scoffed, staring him down, though feeling more of a rush flood through your chest. “Y-yeah, you will be!”

He laughed at your response, quickly dropping the issue entirely. You were grateful for that, you didn’t want to admit that he’d spooked that much. “We need to choose a film, so… what one do you want to watch?”

“I don’t…” you shrugged, “I don’t really know.”

You were glad that you didn’t need to look at him now that he had shifted to your side. You could feel his stare on you however, and it made you want to shiver.

He nodded, interlinking his arm with yours. “Shall we go have a look, my lady?”

Before you could let any words slip through your lips in bemused amusement, he pulled himself closer to you, arm interlocking with yours, and then led you through to the corridor with the shelves stacked with movies.

Slipping through the archway, thanking any deities that were listening that there was no reason for Hendery to be able to hear the heightened tempo of your heart, you found Yangyang already there. He was squinting up at the top row as you reached the rack, fingers running across each box like a small child reading the letters of their first book.

Hendery extended his free arm towards the shelving, bowing his head, “Your moving pictures, my lady.”

You snorted, taking in the sight of the stockpile of films. He was always so extra. In fact, it made it hard for you to focus upon the selection, barely registering the fonts of the titles and colours of the boxes, as you were hit by a sudden spring of sentimentality.

They’d been ordered alphabetically by title, and you remember the day starkly that you’d sat down with Xuxi to organise them.

He wouldn’t have been your first choice to help order things, since his attention span normally lasted around that of a cocker spaniel with a new toy, but he’d been the only one in the house at the time, and he was the only one tall enough to reach the very top shelf regardless (you still didn’t understand why that top shelf had been installed and even being used, because if Xuxi wasn’t around—which did occur often due to his new schedules—then it was a real safety hazard to get a film down from there, seeing that no one else in the group managed to grow anywhere near 6″).

On this occasion though, he’d been uncharacteristically focused, listening to your instructions carefully, his dazzling grin a sight to behold as he had cocked his head to one side whilst he thought—you could have seen the letters wafting across his thoughts as he counted them. He’d been very calm and rational, as if the bounce had been temporarily quelled, and he’d made jokes about how short everyone else was only a couple of times, too.

In fact, he’d been a very big help, and the afternoon had also proved useful in the sense that you weren’t the only one with a better idea of where all the movies were. Even if they were organised well, the two of you could still find them faster than the others usually could, simply due to the fact you could remember where you’d placed them on the shelves in the first place.

Kun had been extremely happy with the end result as well, which was always a bonus. Meanwhile Ten still didn’t believe you’d managed to get Xuxi to sit down and do it with you. You didn’t blame his disbelief. You could barely believe it yourself. But there he had been, clear as day, settling himself on the carpet without you even inclining to ask him to.

However, you did admonish the system you’d used now though. Perhaps taking the extra time to organise them into genres would have been better, as after all, you rarely knew a specific movie you wanted to watch.

You suddenly became very aware of Hendery’s presence. He’d inched forwards, his lips pursing out of the corner of your eye as he narrowed his sights on the possibilities for the night.

His movement had snapped you out of your thoughts, though it took a lot of effort to avoid getting caught upon the sight of his lips, beautifully curved and the perfect shade of rose—

You forced yourself to scour your eyes over the titles, eventually straightening to join Yangyang in peering up at the very top row, where the box-sets were kept.

“Whatcha looking at?” you asked Yangyang, a giggle thinly veiled. His thoughtful little frown was adorable, and it was clear he was thinking very hard about something.

“Did we watch the final part of The Lord of the Rings?” he answered.

You and Hendery both nodded.

“Oh... well there goes that suggestion then.” He shifted down from tiptoe and came to lean against the table beside the shelving, sending you a sweet smile. “Y/N, what type of movie would you like?”

Eased, you sent him a quick smile before glancing down at the films at the lower rungs. “I’m not sure, really. Nothing too heavy, and nothing that will make me cry.”

He hummed. “So, a comedy then?”

Hendery’s eyes went wide, a look of genuine fear playing on his features. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“Our senses of humour in this house, when it comes to films can…” he paused, silk voice tentative, “…vary, a lot.”

You nodded in agreement. “Remember what happened over that Robin Hood film?” You shook your head very firmly. “Bad times, my dudes.”

Yangyang cocked his head to one side in thought, frowning at seemingly nothing. “Fair enough…” Suddenly, he perked up, showing a grin you knew well. “I’ve had an idea. What if we watch a really bad movie, one that’s so bad, it’s actually kind of good?”

You clicked your fingers, before shooting him finger-guns, “Now that is a good idea!”

The three of you turned towards the mountain of films. It wasn’t long before your attention was drawn from them once again, as Hendery gently lent upon your shoulder, letting his fingers just brush the jumper at your shoulder. Once again you were convinced he wasn’t perhaps focused on the films.

“Ok… bad… films…” Yangyang murmured, pulling out a blue box to read its description on the back. You didn’t even gather what he’d picked out, as your eyes had been drawn back to Hendery’s as if magnetised.

As it turned out, he was a lot closer than you had previously thought. This time, it was his eyes that formulated the centre of gravity, and you immediately found yourself held in them, glistening mahogany so dark the tints stowed away in the shadows of the curtains of his fringe.

You sent him a smile, awkward and most likely faltering out of no reason other than mild shock at just how well poised his features could be, enquiring with a stutter, “Do you have any ideas?”

He smushed his lips together, as he usually did when he was thinking, something of which that always made your heart simper, and let his eyes wander away from you and up to the penultimate top shelf.

“’Azure Shadow’?” he said, reaching up and grabbing the box, his arm shifting lending his hand to consequently rest around the curve of your shoulder, fingers grasping ever so tenderly as if you were an artifact he wasn’t supposed to touch. You couldn’t help but freeze up at it, all while he didn’t even seem to notice, his voice as clear as a cloudless, spring day sky. “I heard it was pretty bad—hey The CP Times gave it 4 stars!”

Yangyang pointed victoriously, as he quickly realised a point he’d made long ago was now finally proven. “See! I told you guys you should never trust the CP Times!”

You were grateful for his interruption, as it drew potential attention away from you, stuck in your emotionally stumbling mess. You felt his grip tighten lightly, fingertips rubbing ever so slightly against your shoulder blade as laughter seeped into Hendery’s voice. “What? What problem do you have with the CP Times? I…?”

“Oh come off it, Hendery, you know! That awful article they posted about—!”

“Oh…! I see where your allegiances lie, Yangyang the Traitor!”

“I—what does that mean?!”

“They published a lovely one about my favourite—”

The hand finally left you, your shoulder falling into the grips of a surprising cold, but your mind began to pull itself finally out of its trance.

“And? They were horrible to mine!”

“They didn’t mention her though!”

To be frank, you had no clue what their little squabble was about, and it didn’t help that they kept interrupting one another. You shivered as you regained your sensibility, tiptoeing forward to urge yourself to enter the fray.

“Exactly!”

“She was on hiatus at the time!” Hendery countered, eyes bright in contrast to Yangyang’s wilder ones. “You’re just too in love with her, that’s what.”

Yangyang had no words for that. His mouth hung open like a guppy fish, as he scrambled for something to retort back. But he was panicked, and it showed on his face, as colour seemed to simultaneously drain from it but also rush to his cheeks.

“I am not in love with her?!” Yangyang was scowling, his voice jagged and incredulous and harsh. You winced at the unexpected sound, leading his eyes to quickly flicker to you. Any strength that had once been in them vanished before your own, as all fighting energy left his body limper. His voice was much quieter as he echoed himself, glancing away from you and staring at the floor instead, “I am not in love with her…”

All the while Hendery just laughed it off, as if everything that had just happened had been a ruse to rile the youngest up all along. “Yeah, yeah, of course. I got you.”

You decided it would be wise to intervene before their bickering ended in a tussle again.

“Well… maybe this film isn’t bad enough,” you remarked, earning a nod from Hendery and leading him to put it back on the shelf.

Yangyang remained silent for a while, even as Hendery suggested some other movies. His gaze was uncharacteristically vacant, while his presence had grown rather small.

You wanted to go over to him, to make sure he was ok, but there were many contradicting messages going on in the room, and you couldn’t really tell if it was that serious or not. One was behaving as if it was, the other as if it was not. Besides, Yangyang was neither super cuddly nor super solitary, so it was more of a case by case thing as to whether he wanted attention to help him calm down and cheer up or not.

“What about ‘The Man of Blade’?” he measured suddenly out of the blue, scoffing weakly as he retrieved it, “this one doesn’t even show its ratings, it must be awful!”

You skipped over to him, now given an inclination that he wanted to socialise. You really didn’t want to leave him, even if you didn’t know what the hell had just happened. And so you took hearing him talk as an invitation for you.

Placing your hand on his shoulder, you ducked your head in carefully. You wanted to see the description, but you also wanted to offer him some comfort, thus your cheek just barely brushed the cloth of his hoodie.

You had expected Yangyang to read it out, but feeling him shift his weight, perhaps just to accommodate for you, but you expected it was more out of sudden nerves, so you decided to take the role up instead.

As you cleared your throat in order to begin reading it dramatically to keep Hendery on side, Yangyang turned the box at an angle so you could read it better. You snuck a glimpse at him, to find a smile already filtering back onto his face. The signs of there being no lasting impact boosted your confidence as you found courage in reaching success.

“’A man makes a wish to a genie’,” you began, the corners of your mouth twitching already as you attempted to keep your tone serious, “‘to become the most powerful man to ever live so he could face God in a one-to-one’ battle to the death—”

“I’m sorry what?” Yangyang was back in business, ripples of his laughter seeping through his chest to where you could feel it, lending you further chance to rest your head fully against his shoulder.

All the while Hendery merely laughed.

You tried to hold it together. “—a-and restore not only his pride but his… his…”

“Oh no, what?”

Laughter bubbled in your throat as you forced the final sentence from your lips. “His valiant steed’s honour—yo, what the actual—?!”

Yangyang cackled as he began hastily opening the box. “It’s decided! We’re watching ‘The Man of Blade’! And we can all suffer together!”

Hendery snickered, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, but why the hell is that even here?! Who bought it?”

“It must be a present?” you insisted. “Surely! No one in this house would buy this in their right mind otherwise—”

“I bought it.”

Three heads simultaneously whipped in the direction of the living room.

There, standing in the archway, was Sicheng.

A moment of silence passed as the three of you stared at him, mouths agape and words lost, until you exclaimed, in more fear than you had perhaps originally anticipated, “Chengie, no!”

“Look,” he projected, before the other two could add to the confusion, “it was supposed to be dumb gift for Ten, something that I could hide his actual present behind, and so I decided to hide it plain sight until his birthday.”

A chorus arose. “Ohhh.”

“But, does that mean we can’t use it then?” Hendery questioned.

“Oh, yeah, damn,” Yangyang said, closing the box, “it’s ok Sicheng, we’ll put it back.”

“Actually,” you began, eyes flickering from each man, and finally resting on the box, “Ten isn’t here, so as long as no one tells…”

“We can still watch it!” Hendery finished, clapping his hands and motioning for the box. “Let’s start it up, I want to see the menu page!”

As the two fought over who got to put the disc in the player, their squabbling much more harmless this time, you made a mental note to ask someone about the debacle later, turning your attention currently to Sicheng instead.

His eyes, dark caramel and hidden from the light, were down-turned and avoiding your gaze. They seemed to graze across your cheeks instead, flickering up to your own only occasionally.

You offered him a smile, small and soft, and then walked over to him. “Hey, thanks for the film! It sounds perfect for tonight.”

“It’s no problem, I’m curious to watch it too,” he grinned back, before easing you out of the way of the two bundles of energy that bounded through into the living room, “I really hope it’s as bad as it sounds.”

“Oh it’s got to be!” you assured, feeling warmth settle back into your system, slowly, but surely, as you laughed. Relief felt good after all. “Come on, Chengie, help me get some snacks?”

“Of course.” He stepped backwards, letting you past to lead the way.

Back in the kitchen, you began to scavenge for all the food you could find, layering Sicheng’s arms with bags upon bags of snacks. You weren’t exactly paying attention to the number you’d piled, however, until you swung all the cupboards closed and aimed to place a final packet on top, only to find that you’d crafted a tiny mountain, and Sicheng’s face was practically completely obscured by its silhouette.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry Chengie, I didn’t notice how much…”

“It’s alright,” he answered brightly, peeking carefully round the precarious pile, “I got it!”

His smile was glimmeringly bright, and you couldn’t help but be stunned by it, since a bright smile like that wasn’t exactly common for him, even in the dorms. He stepped forward carefully to request the final snack be crowned upon the summit above his eyeline, and with caution, you obliged, balancing it on top as best you could.

“Now all we have to do is get you into the living room without dropping them—are you sure you don’t want me to take half? It’s not hard at all for me to do so…!”

He turned so he could see you. “It’s ok, you’re already doing too much by organising this. I can carry a pile of snacks, don't worry! Just… warn me if I get too close to an obstacle.”

You nodded, peering over his shoulder to see his way. “I can try and do that. I can promise I can help you avoid a chair, but I must warn you Sicheng, I can’t guarantee I can help you avoid other ones such as Hendery and Yangyang.”

You heard a laugh from behind the snack pillar, and felt your heart leap with pride as a response. It wasn’t that Sicheng was boring—no, far from it—it was just he wasn’t on the verge of being a giggling mess all the time like the others were. You’d guessed it came with maturity. Then you remembered how much of a dork some of the older members could be in general, and then admitted to yourself that you had to more or less discount that theory.

“Moving obstacles are always the worst,” he agreed, shifting his hands slowly to keep a firmer grasp on the mountain as he turned to make his way back into the living room. “But I appreciate your effort nonetheless. You ready?”

You hummed in affirmation, and the two of you began your careful trundle into the living room.

With snacks arranged on the coffee table, you slumped on the sofa, taking care to mind your feet as you went—you didn’t want to knock all your hard work on the carpet, as then you would have to vacuum it all up and unless you had someone to make the pain more bearable, it wasn’t fun in the slightest.

You watched as Hendery emerged victorious over the disc and scampered over to the TV, fiddling with the DVD player.

Yangyang, pouting from the sidelines, perked up once he realised that he now had a crucial advantage.

He bounded over to you, barely choosing a side and instead practically flung himself onto the sofa too. He threw his arms open to encase you as he went, and once his back hit the cushions, he pulled you into him.

Shrieking in surprise and glee, you shuffled yourself round so you could rest your head more comfortably on his chest.

“There,” he murmured proudly, a hand coming to pat your hair softly, “comfy?”

“Very.” Your voice was muffled against his hoodie.

Hendery glanced back over his shoulder at the sight, and hurried himself. You couldn’t see, and even if you could have, you wouldn’t have been able to notice the brief pang that hit Hendery’s heart at the sight of you snuggled closely into his warmth.

You would have been able to witness Yangyang’s smirk that he sent him as he began to make his way over.

All of this knowledge of course was obsolete to you, as you could see nothing at all, enveloped in warmth and seeing nothing but darkness with your eyes closed, your ear pressed against Yangyang’s heart.

Its beat was wild.

Sicheng meanwhile took a seat where he had been previously, spinning the chair around so he would be able to see the screen.

You heard it creak and peaked out from beneath Yangyang’s arms to catch a glimpse of him.

“Hey,” you called softly, causing him to swivel a bit further round to see you, “you sure you don’t want to come sit over here? It’s comfier than that desk chair.”

“But it is a spinny ch—” You hushed Yangyang before he could finish.

Sicheng smiled, the dim in his eyes growing as he shook his head. “No, it’s ok, I’m good here.”

“You sure?” You couldn’t deny it to yourself: you really did want him to sit over there with you. You didn’t know why, or what you wanted to do with him had he come over when you beckoned, because he wouldn’t have been comfortably with you draped over him in any shape or form, which you respected, but you also wanted to touch him in some way. You hated seeing that grey hue in his eyes that forced him to turn them away from you, you reasoned.

There was probably something more to it all too, but as per usual, your ramblings were interrupted by his response.

It was a nod, and the very gradual spin of his chair as he pushed himself back to face the TV subtly.

You tried not to take it personally, but you couldn’t hide the falter in your smile. It was hard to get all your feelings together sometimes after all.

Yangyang couldn’t quite see it at his angle, but Hendery could, and it led to him pouting at you as he waddled over.

“Y/N?” His voice was soft, as if he didn’t want the others to hear. You were thankful for that, if it was the case, as it wasn't that big of an issue, and you didn’t want to worry anyone else.

“I’m ok, don’t worry!” you declared. “Just tired, is all.”

Your response had been too fast, and it was just your luck that of course both Hendery and now Yangyang had noticed. You cursed your accidental volume, sending them both an eye roll as you played it down.

“It’s been a real long day, but you guys worry too much,” you jested, poking the arm beside your head.

You received a little huff from above you in a wordless reply, whilst Hendery quickly settled down beside you, inclining into your sloped body as he held your hand tightly, fingers laced with your own. They were a little clammy but then again so were yours, and you never cared.

‘Attention whore,’ you thought to yourself, a chuckle seeping into reality. Yangyang frowned at the random burst of humour, since no one had done anything as you did. He wondered what was going in your head. It was a merciless thing to chase, since no one would know, and he’d never really understand—that’s kind of how brains worked after all—but he loved hearing what you had to say about everything. He shifted his weight to bring you just a little bit closer, as if it would make a difference, let him understand why you were laughing.

He didn’t have long to consider much at all, with the film menu loading up and sending everyone in the room into a bout of horrified laughter.

“What even is that?!” Yangyang yelled above you.

“That, dear Yangyang, is an actual, colourised depiction of hell,” you countered, lips twisted in terror as you sat up instinctively. Yangyang too was tense—it was as if the atrocity had immediately set off fight-or-flight responses of every single person in the room.

Hendery flicked his head over to you. “In the shape of a horse?!”

“It’s never going to leave my head,” Sicheng murmured. “There it is. Emblazoned into the insides of my skull. Behind my eyes. I’ll never escape it. Set me free from this torment—”

“What’s going on?”

Xiaojun had come through from the kitchen, drying his hands on a tea towel and striding through into the living room as if he’d been summoned.

Everyone silently and simultaneously pointed at the TV, depicting the single-shot menu screen of an abominable CGI horse crowding the entire screen.

“I don’t—mother of sweet jesus—”

“I know right?” Yangyang exclaimed. “It’s horrifying. I hate it!”

“It’s actually cursed,” Xiaojun stated, unable to draw his eyes away from the savagery of art he’d been presented with. His mouth was agape as he leant on his hands, placed on the back of the sofa. “Obscene!”

Winwin’s voice was still low, but you could just about hear it over the whoops and cries of the others; “My sleep paralysis demon.”

“Is this what we’re watching?” Xiaojun asked, deep eyes wide and begging for the answer to be any cognate of ‘no’.

“Yep.”

He turned to look down to you, his expression torn in misery. “This crime to humanity?”

“One hundred percent.”

Xiaojun stared at the screen, eyes alight with the tacky flames of the anathema displayed before him. Eventually he snapped out of his cursed gaze and headed back into the kitchen. “Dear lord—don’t start without me!”

As the laughter died down, you settled back into Yangyang’s embrace, ushering Hendery to come closer too so you could have him near too.

He looked over to you, feeling the tug on his hand. With only a momentary pause to check if you were sure, he flopped down onto your stomach, exhaling happily with an arm stretched.

“You feel happier now, right Y/N?” Yangyang suddenly asked, voice low, and just below a whisper.

You were surprised, but nodded nonetheless. “Yeah, I’m feeling much better than I did before. Don’t worry.”

“Are you sure?” He cleared his throat, shifting his balance to support the extra wait Hendery brought to the table. “You’re certain we don’t need to enact special measures?”

You frowned, tilting your head up to come to look at his jaw, as he quickly looked back up to somewhere else in the room—or at least, anywhere besides the TV, for clearly very rational reasons. Bemusedly, you asked about his supposed ‘special measures’, but won little response. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, before he glanced down at you, eyes flickering across each paradigm of your face with his lips pressed plush as he thought.

He parted them eventually, ebbing with air and possible words, until you felt the rise of his chest as he inhaled and readied himself to speak.

Only then did Xiaojun enter the room and take the final spot at the end of the sofa, patting Hendery’s legs to get them to move.

“Ok, I’m back, we can start now!” he announced.

The ball of conversation was knocked from its ledge and rolled in a different direction to what you’d hoped.

“Who has the remotes?” Hendery piped up, feet repositioned but this time on top of Xiaojun’s legs. The elder of the two wasn't impressed by it all though, and instead shoved them off by flicking his toes.

“I do,” Sicheng replied, already frowning at the buttons. “Can someone get the lights?”

“Sure.”

Yangyang stretched up behind him, hand awkwardly sliding up the wall as he sought for the switch. Eventually his fingers struck gold, and the room snapped dark.

And then the menu finally disappeared as the horror of a film began.

And by no surprises, it was utter garbage.

But it lived up to expectations in that sense, and it was thus absolutely hilarious.

You’d spent the first hour shrieking with laughter, and then you proceeded to tear each scene and every piece of dialogue apart as a five-piece.

The entire film was in itself a curse, a sin, blasphemous.

Hendery was slapping criticism on the plot left, right and centre to the point it made you wonder why he was here at all and not a movie critic. Meanwhile, Xiaojun just snorted at everything he said.

The two had come to an unspoken truce, after squabbling over where Hendery could put his feet. They were now situated on Xiaojun’s thighs, and swinging every now and again, especially when the owner got particularly pent up and passionate about a piece of dialogue or plot hole.

You felt your heart burn at how adorable it was, though also suffered the pain of the jerks that Hendery made every time he had the sole of his feet poked or tickled, which Xiaojun seemed to enjoy doing too much.

You stroked Hendery’s hair gently, lightly pressing his fringe out of his eyes where his head rested on your stomach, whilst you peered around to Sicheng to check if he was alright, having not heard a peep from him in half an hour or so.

What you found was borderline horrifying. He was completely engrossed in the movie, with a grin plastered on his face as the lights of the terrible CGI glowed in his irises and fashioned him into a cult leader in a fantasy movie, watching something demonic burn.

You hushed a chuckle behind your hand, as you leant back to turn your attention to Yangyang.

He’d been the forerunner of the jokes, cackling at every little thing and turning it into pure comedy gold for the rest of the people in the room, which you were very grateful for. The movie would have been brain-soup without him.

He’d re-positioned himself slightly so you were higher up on his body, head much closer to be of an equal height to his. This way you could press your temple against his cheek, if you wanted.

However, it was him that had his head nuzzled against you, his cheek resting in your hair.

He eventually quietened down as he grew more drowsy, instead taking in the scent of you, sweet and calming. It only lulled him into more peace.

With you in his arms he felt complete, in a way. As if he had a duty of sorts and when you were there he was completing it. Not that he’d ever tell you as such.

But he wasn’t sure what this meant to him, and he didn’t want to think about it too much.

A part of him deep down knew that it would cause some pain, somewhere along the line. And so he didn’t spare those thoughts the chance.

However, he couldn’t still the beating of his heart whenever you moved against him, whenever you looked at him and smiled.

As the credits rolled, there were several sighs of relief, but otherwise it was complete utter silence as the room tried to comprehend what abomination you’d just witnessed.

You glanced over at everyone to see if they were just as confused as you were. Seeing you were in firm company in your bemusement, you announced, “The Oscars are clearly rigged for this not to win.”

Yangyang snorted. “Of course!”

“Best film ever! Y/N couldn’t make a better one even if she tried.”

Xiaojun flicked Hendery’s toe for that one.

“Oh of course, honey.” You leant over slightly, arms gently squeezing the boy in your lap, giving him a squeeze. “And you couldn’t make a worse one.”

Hendery seemed to take it as more of a compliment as he grinned, nose scrunching as he headbutted you softly.

You tickled his sides briefly, seeking joy in the squeal that it earnt you, and let Xiaojun take the fall as he got kicked in the arm. You sent him an apologetic pout, not that you deep down meant it wholeheartedly.

“Ow! Y/N!” he exaggerated, “And to think I defended you!”

“Karma,” you responded simply, much to his chagrin.

“For what?!”

“For all the headbutts I got in the stomach?” you asserted

Xiaojun shrugged, admitting his faults and hence, defeat. “Yeah, that’s fair—”

It was Sicheng that interrupted. “Oh.”

His voice was disappointed, and where his melancholy suddenly procured from confused you, since you couldn’t see any possible origin anywhere. Had someone done something? Said something to dismiss him? More likely ignored him. You hoped for the others’ sake they hadn’t. He’d been so sunny during the movie.

You looked over to him, trying to veil your concern in its entirety, but still show care. “Chengie?”

“The time,” he said, holding up his phone.

It was nearly midnight.

“How long was the movie?” Yangyang exclaimed.

Sicheng answered, “Longer than you’d expect.”

“Well over two hours?” Xiaojun suggested. “But that time included the credits.”

“Haven’t you guys got to be up like, stupid-early tomorrow?” you asked, voice timid, fearing the ‘yes’ that you knew would follow.

A moan of irritation ricocheted across the room.

Xiaojun confirmed it for you. “Yeah, we do.”

“I don’t want to go…” Yangyang whined.

“I’m sorry but you gotta,” you encouraged sadly, “you need sleep.”

“And so do you,” Hendery added, kicking his legs off the sofa and stretching as he stood.

It was your day off tomorrow, though you couldn’t deny you were pretty tired. You decided not to protest. “I guess so.”

“Yeah, come on, otherwise Kun will be mad at us,” Xiaojun chuckled, “not sending you to bed at a responsible time, you know.”

You snickered, slowly shifting yourself out of Yangyang’s arms.

His hands seemed resistant to the idea, catching on your shirt as you moved away.

Eventually though, he was freed from any of the ‘constraints’ he had—and thus all of his possible excuses as to why he wouldn’t head upstairs too—and was ordered by you to head to his room. “Come on, Yangyang. You gotta go.”

He pouted at you, in a last bid attempt to get you to have mercy and stay just a bit longer.

“I’m sorry sweetheart, but I can withstand even the strongest Xuxi pout,” you explained. From behind you heard someone, the identity of which you could not tell, whisper that that was a lie, but you ignored it and continued, “I’m sorry, but you’ve still got some training to do before you can win me over like that,”

“Yeah, ok, I’m going,” Yangyang reluctantly nodded his head, mumbling, “Worth a try…”

Hendery followed second, waving to you as he went with that Prince Charming smile almost knocking you off-guard again. It hadn’t, but of course something else was going to succeed in its stead. That ‘something’ took the form of Xiaojun, bidding you goodnight with a chaste kiss on your cheek. You were startled to say the least, it had been so brief, but felt like it had also lasted for minutes. His lips were warm, soft, but you hadn't been able to hold onto much tangibility to them, as no sooner had they met your skin, they were whisked away again. Like the touch of a spirit, afraid of the rapidly rising sun. It seemed no one else noticed due to the darkness of the living room and the fact that most of them were already halfway up the stairs or gone.

You remained in the living room a bit after they went, pretending that you needed to stretch on the sofa for a bit before getting up. It was a lie, though, and you knew that well, and you felt your fingers tracing over the curves of the invisible imprint he’d left there.

“You need to head up too.”

Sicheng’s voice was light and airy, like the shadows had engulfed it. You barely heard him, but he made you jump nonetheless. With one hand at your kiss-embroidered cheek, you threw one down to your chest where you wished the weight of your hand would somehow slow the sudden spike in your heart rate.

“I know,” you assured just as quietly, “I’m just… taking my time.”

You could just about trace the lines of his smile in the dim light after he turned the TV off. His presence was faint, but what you could feel was warm and gentle.

He whispered something that this time you didn’t catch. But you felt the tethered urge to know what it was.

“Sicheng?”

“Don’t worry.”

You swallowed, knowing that you weren’t going to get it out of him, much to your disappointment. He had just said what sounded like a collection of random syllables, but together they had carried something heavy, something with depth, something that had been patient for quite a time.

He sighed, getting to his feet. You heard the crinkling of wrappers and the clatter of bowls as he began to tidy up.

“Here, I’ll help,” you began.

But as you sat up, you felt a hand press firmly against your shoulder.

“There’s no need, it’s ok.”

You frowned into the dark. He wasn’t looking at you, which was why his voice sounded distant. You could make out his silhouette, broad and proportioned as if he was drawn. He was like an artist's unknown creation, stood in the background of their studio, overlooked by many but appreciated much more than any by the few that knew him.

You worked up the courage to enquire about the occurrences earlier. “Why wouldn’t you come over and sit with us? Like, during the movie or before.” Feeling intrusive, you hurriedly added: “I mean, I don’t mind of course, just… you know?”

That caused him to look at you, dead in the eye, but he remained silent for the longest time.

You reasoned that maybe this was why he never made eye contact with you. Because when he did, it was like he was peering much deeper than just your eyes. His stare was the definition of eyes being the gateways to the soul. You briefly considered if this one worked both ways when he finally replied, eyes dipping away once again.

“I didn’t want to get in your way,” he cleared his throat, scooping up an unopened snack bag under an arm, “besides, you were already quite busy with the others, so… I didn’t want to overwhelm you with anything more.”

Your features softened at his words, a pang in your heart. “I appreciate that, Chengie. But please remember that you won’t overwhelm me or get in my way. I like hanging out with you just as much as the others.”

You could make out the smile on his face, small and sweet, before he ushered himself away towards the kitchen. “You need to head to bed, Y/N, you need some sleep.”

He was right, but you were convinced you weren’t going to leave until you got one thing. If you'd calculated everything right, he wouldn’t have a problem. In fact, it may just be what he specifically wanted.

You headed to the entrance into the kitchen and waited for Sicheng to come back. Upon his return, he almost bumped into you, but caught himself just in time.

Your eyes met in the darkness, lit by the streetlamp from outside the window far behind you. His hair glimmered with the golden haze, crowning him surreptitiously, as he wordlessly questioned why you were there.

“I know, I’m heading up I promise,” you answered for him. “But… I just... can I have a hug first? Please?”

With his lips pressed into a small ‘o’, he looked shocked by your request to say the least. You worried for a moment that you’d misjudged, and was asking for too much of him.

Before you could backtrack and hurriedly explain that it didn’t matter if he said no, you’d be fine and wouldn’t think any different of him, that delicately crafted yet stoic face melted right before your eyes into the softest smile you could have imagined. “Of course.”

The silhouettes of his hands rose in the dark, barely touching your body as he brushed them along the slopes of your shoulders. He was gentle, but they moved with a certain affirmity, as if they took a mind of their own, following an old familiar road throughout their long-left hometown.

You found your own fingers gracing his collarbones, before shifting up, your arms coming flush against his bare, smooth neck, and finally interlocking gradually behind him. Sicheng meanwhile rounded the curves of your upper arms, eventually spiralling around to make the jump to your waist, where they wasted no time in nestling into the nook of your lower back.

He held you delicately, but firmly against him. It was reassuring, despite the lack of time you spent there pressed into his warmth, as you felt your breath slow, and your eyes close.

He felt so… tender? Vulnerable? It felt like he really meant whatever he was trying to convey through his actions. You just felt at such a loss because you couldn’t figure out what it was.

As his head came to a gentle rest against yours, his hands secure at the small of your back tightening as if instinctively, it occurred to you awfully suddenly.

It was if he was hugging you like he was never going to get the chance to do so again.

Once you’d reached your room, you’d breathed a sigh heavy with a boiling froth of emotions.

In a cruel sense of irony, chasing after comfort had only succeeded for so long, as you were drawn back into the realms of stress once again.

It was of course something you could handle, you imagined at least—you’d gotten through the day of hell, you imagined you could handle a cornucopia of thoughts. Though you had to admit to yourself that there was a lot of string to unravel.

You couldn’t help but remember the thrum of your heart as Sicheng had placed his thumb against the cusp of your jaw while he gradually pulled himself away, encouraging you to go to bed. His palm had barely touched your neck, the contact was so brief it felt like the breath of a ghost, but you had found yourself barely able to use your lungs regardless.

For a brief moment there had been a light in his eyes, that despite the dark shone so brightly. And then he’d pulled himself away, and that grey from prior had returned, like clouds pushed by a November gale.

What did it mean?

Oh please. You knew, didn’t you? Deep down the understanding was there, not that you could perhaps believe it.

What you were rather dealing with was the question of what it meant to you.

You decided to watch Youtube for a while to calm yourself down a bit after… whatever had just happened, and consequently ended up staying up long enough for the others to return.

The sound of the door opening and the joyous cacophony of Xuxi’s laughter—instantly answered with incessant hushing from not just Ten but also synonymously Kun—reminded you of one of the no doubt many reasons why you were unable to settle.

Kun had promised to return quickly, but he had been gone all night.

You wanted to ask about it, desperately. However, this coincided with the fact it was very late indeed. And how comfortable you were in bed. But it was also going to drive you crazy all night if you didn’t find out why. Kun was a man of his word. He would never just… break a promise like that. Would he?

After a few minutes, once Ten and Xuxi had retired to their rooms, your disgruntled prayers were answered as Kun knocked on your door, face peaking through the gap.

You stared up at him, eyes big and expectant with your lips pursed. He had explaining to do after all. It appeared he was aware of this fact too, with guilt written over his face.

“Hey, Y/N, I’m sorry,” he began, “can I come in?”

You pretended to think about it for a few moments, even though you both knew the answer. He waited though, and it was only when you gave him a ‘yes’ did he come inside.

He sidled over to your bed, eyes sweeping the shapes formed by your bed covers, to make sure that when he eventually perched on the side, he didn’t accidentally sit on your feet interlocked beneath the blankets.

“I’m sorry, I promised I would come back but the other two swore it wouldn’t be long, and it would be more rational to stay,” he explained, “but then it took longer than they thought, but I couldn’t risk coming home only to then head out again and… I don’t know why I listened to Xuxi about it to be honest, it’s not an overly rational thing to do.”

“Did he pout at you?”

“No! I am above falling to such… charms…”

“Sure you are.” You arched an eyebrow. “Did Ten tell you to stay?”

He nodded, his eyes surprisingly big. He wasn’t really one to pull the ‘kicked-puppy’ image to try and gain mercy, but here he was.

“Well, I’ll let you off then,” you let the faux scowl fall from your face and giggled instead, “we know how persuasive he can be.”

Kun paused, eyes flitting to yours. “So you’re not mad?”

You scoffed. “Kun, I wasn’t even that mad to begin with, I promise! I can’t be mad at you for long anyhow. You’re just too—”

You’d let your mouth talk without your brain, and it suddenly occurred to you what you were saying. As your voice faltered, you weren’t sure what was supposed to follow.

Kind? Sweet? Cute? Handsome?

Kun was waiting for you to finish, and unfortunately, you panicked a bit.

“Kun.”

He frowned bemusedly. “I’m too ‘Kun’?”

You nodded awkwardly, while you interrogated your own intelligence in your head. “…To be mad at for long, yes.”

He cocked his head to one side, eyes narrowed towards but not quite at your bedside table. “Well, I mean, I prefer that to you being mad at me.” He exhaled, clearly relieved, looking straight at you instead. “Did you enjoy the film?”

“Oh it was awful!” you exclaimed. As you saw his eyes widen again, you laughed. “We enjoyed it so much.”

He was clearly very confused, and his lips wavered as he didn’t know how to respond.

You took some delight in his confusion, you couldn’t deny. “Well,” you propositioned coyly, “you’d understand if you’d been there.”

“I’m sorry!” he reiterated, eyes wide and searching yours for any sign of relent.

Normally, you would have perhaps kept up the teasing for a little while longer. However, sleep was lodged beneath your eyes, encouraging them to close.

“Ok, I’m sorry, I’ll stop now,” you laughed, though you felt a little bit guilty and sighed, sending him a small sweet smile. It still, however, occurred to you that he still owed you. “But… there would be something that would make it all up to me—”

To your surprise, Kun interrupted you, already one step ahead, “I know. Here.”

He shuffled along the bed so he was much closer to your body, arms held out for you. And you didn’t hesitate, much to his gratitude, levering yourself up with a temporary, newfound energy and straight into his embrace.

His warmth enveloped you, strong hands holding your upper back firmly, gently pulling you even closer. He didn’t even hesitate, nestling his nose into your neck, much similar to how you’d buried yourself into him.

Tender and tranquil, Kun seeped solace no matter the mood of the room. Some would perhaps identify this as a negative, but they would be wrong—very much so. He was needed to balance everyone else’s volume, brashness, fire. And you probably had very much needed him all day. Things could not be changed however, and the world kept turning even if you had previously wished it to. You wished for it to stop turning this time too, although for different reasons.

His fingers drew art upon your back, much to your soothed delight. It wasn’t something he did super often, but it was a characteristic of his: whenever someone needed comforting, he caressed characters into their back. They were often straight lines, as you’d found over the time you’d spent living with them, decorated with divots and curves.

His head tipped into yours, his voice a deep murmur, “I’ve been waiting hours to do this.”

Your heart skipped a beat. You couldn’t even help it, though you shook it off as best you could. You’d been all over the place that day, emotionally, so of course you were going to be reacting all fuzzily over general acts of kindness. Well, that’s what you told yourself. Besides, he was just stating facts.

However, you were distracted by a small epiphany that hit you somewhat out of the blue. The calligraphy he traced between your shoulder blades felt so foreign to you, and it took no shape you recognised. This wasn’t something new to you, admittedly. You’d felt these moments of tenderness before. And since you could assemble no familiarity, you normally led yourself to just move on. But with silence in the room, the pure stillness that so rarely occurred, you were able to pay a fresh attention to the patterns, to the weight of his hands. It occurred to you that his ministrations were not random. In fact, his fingers drew the same code into your shirt, over and over. It was a long line, three consecutive dots, another line—was it lipped?—horizontal, then swooping, then flat, finalised by two curves. And subsequently, it repeated.

You had barely an idea of what it was, but whether your scrap of a theory was right or not didn’t matter to you, as you were curious and were going to ask him nonetheless. He still owed you, you rationalised

“Me too,” you finally answered, frowned absentmindedly into his shoulder as you asked, “Kun, are you drawing something?”

“Hm?” He paused, confused by your words out of context.

“Into my back.” You shifted your face further into his hoodie, as if to hide yourself. Though it would be from him, which was slightly counter-productive. “You often draw as you hold me.”

“Do I?” Quickly though, his tact moved away from feigning ignorance, as he sighed, “Oh, that. I’m not really drawing, it’s more writing, actually.”

“Oh?”

“I-I do it to the others too…! Whenever they really need it. Though I’ll admit that’s not often,” he explained, his fingers halting as he spoke, “It sounds odd but… well actually quite silly actually…” he laughed breathily, awkwardness seeping into the corners of his eyes as he peered down at you. It was rare for Kun to get this anxious. “I write Mandarin kind of… without realising it,” he finished, “it helps the others and gives them some familiarity I guess? I figured subconsciously, I suppose, that it would help you a bit too? I don’t know really.”

He seemed pretty worried about what you thought—groundless, as you found his habit extremely endearing, actually, to the point you felt your heart swell. “Kun, that’s so sweet! Is it always the same thing for everyone?”

“No,” he answered after a moment’s thought, “I think I kind of write a specific one for each, but I can’t be sure now I think about it. To be honest, I don’t really pay—”

Your curiosity was not sated, and unfortunately for Kun, you couldn’t stop your nosey self from asking the question that this prompted. “Really? What do you write for them?”

“Well, like I said I don’t really pay attention to what I’m doing,” he responded sheepishly, “but… Ten gets ‘strength’, I know that one for sure, because I feel that’s what he has more of than he realises. Sicheng would get ‘ān’—you know, calm, content—because he is, but I've never had the chance to, as you, well, you know why. Lucas is lucky, he gets two characters because he’s ‘puppy’—”

“Obviously.”

He continued with a laugh that reverberated through to your chest. “—A-and I couldn’t honestly tell you what the others get. One of them I gave ‘loud’ because I think that’s what he needs to work on but—”

“I thought Lucas was ‘puppy’?” you snickered.

“Yeah, well,” Kun trailed off, “maybe it was him… I don’t know, I can’t remember.”

You smiled, releasing one of your hands from behind him to nestle instead amongst his hoodie as it had grown cold. You took this moment to work up the courage to enquire about the part that you couldn’t deny your interest was invested in the most. “What… what about me?”

He pulled away from you gradually, his hands coming to rest upon your upper shoulders, so very close to the sensitive parts of your neck. He studied your face, his own twisting into an expression of concern. “You really need to sleep,” he said, “your eyes are constantly closing.”

You pursed your lips at him. What did he have to hide about it? Was it something rude? It better not have been. “Hey!”

He cocked his head to one side. “What? They are. And you’ve had a tough day, you really should get some sleep.”

It was evident that it wasn’t him deflecting or avoiding your question—tiredness had seeped so far into your body that your voice had been barely audible, especially muffled by his clothes.

Hence you acknowledged his remarks reluctantly with a lethargic nod, before shifting yourself out of his grip, billowing the blankets out so as to allow yourself to lie down beneath them. Kun had stood to allow you more space, thus letting you curl up to conserve warmth properly.

He gazed down at you with particularly softened features. It was only in the dim golden light that you noticed how rouge his lips were naturally tinted, and how they curved into a smile as they opened to speak. Or how soft his cheeks were, as a long, slender dimple appeared as he did.

“You got everything you need?” Voice as light as silk, he leant over to catch your eyes behind the bundled blanket.

You affirmed with a simple nod, feeling your body give into the approaching heaviness.

You were barely able to work up the effort to speak anymore. The tiredness swept over you suddenly, but you didn’t fight it. Your body was crying for sleep, and your mind very nearly relented. But there was one more thing you had to clear up in some capacity before he left.

“Wait, Kun.”

The man turned back swiftly from where he’d gotten, heading towards the door. “Yes, love?”

You hummed, working up the words. “Something happened while you were out.” Upon seeing his face turn stony in concern again you proceeded before he worried too much. “Nothing bad! Just… Hendery and Yangyang had a bit of a bicker earlier. Over a newspaper? The CP Times? I think? Hendery really seemed to have struck a nerve though.”

Kun nodded, eyebrows furrowing in familiarity. “What happened specifically?”

“Well,” you sighed, propping yourself up on your elbow, as if it would help you think any clearer in your dozy state, “I think it had posted something mean about someone. Or excluded them from something when Yangyang thought they should have been included?”

“Yeah, that’d be the one.”

Confused, you frowned at him, silently requesting him to continue.

Kun winced as he drew forward a bit, in fear that the person in question would overhear from down the hall, “The CP Times wrote an article about YFCN—you know, the girl group?”

“Ohhh…” you drawled, things clicking into place a bit more.

“Yeah, one of the members was on hiatus at the time because she was ill, if I remember correctly, but the journalist wrote as if everyone was present and basically ignored her existence entirely. Lili I think her name was?”

You hummed in confirmation, “Does he like Lili a lot?”

Kun waggled his head slightly. “I guess you could say he’s a fan. Why?”

You shrugged, sinking back down onto your pillow, your arm struggling to keep you upright for any longer. “Hendery teased him about liking her, and Yangyang just… got all red and exclaimed ‘I am not in love with her.’ It really did come out of nowhere—and he did back down into himself after. He was totally fine once it had passed, though.”

Glancing back over to Kun, you saw his shoulders slumped ever so slightly, his eyes narrowed in pained thought at instead your blankets. His energy seemed to drop and disperse, just as though he had something he needed to mull over.

In fact he was suddenly thinking over what you’d told him very carefully. “Did he say it like you said it to me?”

Your eyes trailed away from him as you nodded, fiddling with the covers of your blankets. “Why, do you think he was lying?”

His head flicked up to you at hearing your interpretation. He couldn’t believe you had ignored the emphasis in Yangyang’s words; you were usually so in touch and intuitive with the group’s tones. He excused it though, and waved it off as nothing to further worry about—you’d had a long day, the intricacies of Yangyang’s secrets were not exactly your top priority that evening.

However, this did leave him with a dastardly tantalising opportunity. He could take control of part of the narrative. He could curb some of the risks, even manoeuvre himself into a better position. It disturbed him how big of a part of him actually wanted to seize the chance and bathe in the possible outcomes.

Luckily, his morality immediately crushed those considerations, coupled with a healthy dose of realism. It wouldn’t be fair to anyone, especially you. And that was not the sort of person he wanted to be. Ever.

Meanwhile you had your own subtle pain to fret over. Its origins were difficult to distinguish, as they always appeared to be that day. If Yangyang had a crush on Lili then it made perfect sense. She was gorgeous and strong—you were familiar with her group’s music, and you could never say you didn’t approve of his choice. She was the lead rapper, and an absolute badass with her own neon-punk style that contrasted so drastically but also gelled so well with the others in her group. It was no surprise he liked her—hell, if you had to choose a bias yourself you would choose her—and so you shouldn’t have been surprised. And, in all degrees, you weren’t.

No. Instead you were stuck with this uncomfortable pit in your stomach. A swollen stone that weighed just a bit too much for you to dismiss.

“I don’t know,” Kun finally finished, almost making you question yourself if he’d spoken without you even realising, caught up in your own head. He hadn’t, but it made you realise how correct he was in suggesting you go to sleep.

Watching your eyes anxiously wander about the room, he added hastily, “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. You know how weird those two are sometimes.”

You chuckled softly, and Kun found himself inclining towards you, just to catch a better glimpse of the beautiful sound; only for him to stop himself just before his movement became noticeable.

“Anyway,” he sheepishly started, never intending to ever finish.

You echoed him, before letting yourself take in his face one more time for the night. No matter where or what the lighting was, he was incredibly handsome.

Settling into your pillow at last, your subconscious finally quelled itself, agreeing at last that it was maybe time to give into that small, tired voice that begged you for rest.

Kun was grateful you were calming down, and as soon as he spotted his relief he felt the fangs of guilt bit into his neck. He didn’t want to leave you in any distress, and so he wanted to stay with you for as long as possible. But he also had his own emotions that were now deciding to not remain in check. And he hated it, but he had to acknowledge that he inevitably needed to be left alone to have his epiphany, and motivate himself into a game plan.

He nodded absentmindedly, straightening up and heading for the lamp on your bedside table. As his fingers flipped the switch and the room was plunged into darkness save for the blade of silver from the hall, his brain stuttered.

He’d wanted to do something for a very long time, and this was the perfect opportunity to do it. In fact it would be a way to get ahead of everything, perhaps. And it wasn’t like there was no evidence for his wishes. You’d already been desperate for a hug from him and him specifically.

But it was if his words were stolen, his movements forced to a halt.

Was it fair to do anything after all?

He wasn’t sure.

And so the lights went out, and he felt his feet moving by themselves towards the doorway, arm outstretched instinctively towards the handle, but too early to catch it—away from where he truly wanted it.

“Goodnight, Kun,” you called after him, watching his retreating silhouette carve a shadow in the light from the hall. He looked so tall and impending all the way over there. It was rare for him to be so tense—in fact, you couldn’t name a single instance where he was this pent up, and the other members could be a real hassle when they wanted to be.

As you began to worry in your sleep-deprived state for him, he reached the door and held it open. His head turned, and he stole a long, gradual glance into the darkness to take in a glimpse of your face. You already had your eyes half closed, cheeks sweet and squished against your pillow as you squinted over to him, waiting for his next move. You looked so adorable wrapped up and surrounded in warmth, and with your hair crowning you, gifting you a makeshift halo, your temple was left exposed and waiting.

But Kun, as he cursed himself numerous times in his head, was a coward.

“Goodnight, love.”

And with that he left the room, leaving the door ajar just how you liked it.

As he trundled to his room not far down the corridor, his knuckles reached up to his chin, and then his lips, where they rubbed uncomfortably hard.

There would be another time. Surely? He prayed that there would be, and that it was him alone who got the opportunity. But he couldn’t bring himself to believe it.

Hearing the click of a door from further down, he desperately slipped himself into his room, narrowly failing to avoid Ten’s omniscient eyes as he exited his bedroom.

He didn’t know where the younger was going, and he didn’t want to know, his brain was too preoccupied with other things.

Yet he knew that he knew too much. Ten knew everything. Kun didn’t have any proof, or know for sure, but he had a feeling that the guy thrived off knowledge, things he could perhaps perhaps spin.

No. That was too far. This was all just a strange bout of paranoia.

But he couldn’t deny his disbelief at how all the members never chose Ten as the member they were most afraid of on variety shows. Maybe it was the age dynamic.

“And there’s no evidence to show that Ten would ever do anything low like that,” he murmured to himself as he closed his bedroom door, “pull yourself together, Kun.”

He let himself exhale all the air that had built up in his lungs.

The conversation overall for him had been around a solid 4 out of 10 in terms of success. Not ideal.

He guessed he had to count his blessings though, that you didn’t apprehend his deflection prior over the characters. The idiot he was. Tracing ‘love’ into your back without even realising.

He was entirely lovesick.

And now he knew he wasn’t the only one, too. Of course he wasn’t. Why he hadn’t realised it sooner was a real challenge to his personally-perceived trait of ‘aware’ that he often took pride in.

It was him, and Yangyang. But was it just those two? His thoughts flipped like a switch, as if the vintage slideshow in his head had changed and had confronted him with nothing more than the purely angelic moving picture of you. Giggling when he had bought you ice cream at the beach, eyes gazing wide up into the grey skies as you’d been caught in a downpour and huddled under his tiny umbrella, the peace upon your features that he had just witnessed.

He had to come to the conclusion that it was most definitely not just him and Yangyang.

Xuxi? Of course. The kid couldn’t hide anything, and he had seen the way he stared at you 24/7. The optimist in him had just dismissed it because he didn’t want it to be true. There wasn’t a lot he had on the guy. It was purely down to your preference, as he lamented to himself, because there was no way he could compete with Xuxi’s face, his humour, his doting, puppy-love affection.

The qualities Kun did have were somewhat echoed in Sicheng though, he decided. And was it him too? He was always willing to help you. And just because he kept to himself more… Kun resolved he couldn’t count him out.

And Xiaojun? God, he wasn’t sure, but would he explain to him what he named the hedgehog after? No.

The leader cursed under his breath. He was in trouble to say the least.

Again, he questioned himself why he was so surprised. You’d been living with them for a while, for efficacy to begin with. And then you’d chosen to stay. It was practically inevitable that since he’d fallen so quick and hard that the others would obviously do so too.

He was left to establish Ten’s involvement, and the diagnostics were hardly in his favour there either.

As he contemplated everything, sitting on his bed with his phone discarded in his hands, the man in question meanwhile barely let himself look away from where the retreating shadow of his leader had stolen away to, so guilty-like. Ten’s gaze was only snatched away by the image of your passed-out face that he caught a peek of through the gap in the door.

Your beauty glimmered in his mind, a fuzzy image hazed with holy pink. And then he was silently taking the stairs, his mind becoming stuck on the picture of Kun’s eyes that he’d briefly seen before his head ducked away, and now covered his thoughts of you. They were glazed over, his real priorities tucked elsewhere. And as he noted where he’d just come from, and the context for the entire day, it wasn’t difficult for Ten to connect the dots.

He knew.

~~~

AN: here it is. The final piece. look out for the coming Endings!

Also, all film names were randomly generated on a title generator. If they are actually the names of films then they weren’t intended to be.

Ending One - Kun Ending Two - Ten Ending Three - Sicheng Ending Four - Lucas Ending Five - Xiaojun Ending Six - Hendery Ending Seven - Yangyang

Masterlist

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saelwen · 5 years

Text

The Last Dragon

Daenys Targaryen x Thranduil

Crossover: Game of Thrones and LOTR/Hobbit

Chapter1

Masterlist

Summary:After Daenerys death, her daughter Daenys, flew away with Drogon. Feeling lost with out her mother beside her, but what will happen when Daenys find a portal that will lead her to a certain world, where dwell elves, dwarves, humans and other races.

Warnings:Angst

Words:1,500

Tears were running down my face, my knees fell on the floor. In front of me was the body of my beloved mother, with a dagger on her rib cage “No! No! No!” I whisper to myself. Jon stare to me with a guilty look “Daenys...I’m sorry...” I lift my gaze from my mother corpse to him, furiously looking at him with my violet eyes “WHY?” I scream to him. Jon was about to talk when we heard Drogon roaring and walk to Daenerys body, rubbing his snout on her body, trying to wake her up. He then looks to Jon, lifting his head high, growling to him. I walk forward, staying between them. Putting my hand on Drogon neck “Everything she did for you! The sacrifice that she did for you and for the North!” he took a deep breath, tightened his hands “Daenys...Your mother was mad. What she did to Kings Landing was horrible. The innocent people and children that she killed... There was no excuse.” my body start shaking when he finishes. This bastard! He should burn. My mother did what should have been done. If she became mad then was they fault who turn her like this.

Drogon starts roaring loudly, almost making the red keep shaking with his screams. He was mourning the loss of his rider...of his mother. Then he pushes his head high in the air, took a deep breath and set fire to the Iron Throne, putting all his rage and anguish on the throne. Me and Jon stand there with a shocked face, watching the iron melting with his hot fire.

When Drogon stopped, the throne was just a puddle of melted iron, still with some parts on fire. We stay there for a moment, watching to where would be the Iron Throne that’s now was just a big hole, an empty space. Drogon pick up Daenerys with his claw, he lowers his shoulder, letting me mount him to his back. I try to clean my tears as I climb to his back, pushing some pieces silver hair behind my ear. I grab the spikes on his back, sitting comfortably. Looking to the sea in front of me, I will take her to Valyria, buried her there with all of our ancestors. Taking a deep breath “Valand.” with my order, Drogon jumps in air, flapping his wings, taking us to our home.

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

I stare to her face which was losing her beautiful color. I’ve put her in stone bench surrounded by red roses. One of my tears have fallen to her soft cheek “Rest well, mother....I love you so much...” my lower lips start shaking as I try to stay strong like she was. Drogon lower himself, rubbing his snout on my back, trying to comfort me “Looks like we are alone.” I say to him, giving him a little pet “A Targaryen all alone in the world it’s a terrible thing....” I whisper to myself.

I should go back and continue what my mother left to do but I couldn’t...i couldn’t rule the seven kingdoms, I'm not like my mother, not strong like her. I’m not even like my father, from all the tales that my mother told me about him. His name was Khal Drogo and the story that would always fascinate me was how my parents fall in love and how he promises to my mother that he would give her the seven kingdoms. The only thing that I inherited from him was my light brown skin, the rest was from my mother. Everyone says that I look just like her but with light brown skin, with my long silver hair and violet eyes.

I kiss each of her soft cold cheeks “Good bye.... Muñnykeā(Mother)” I took a step back, look to Drogon then to her “...Dracarys...” with that he set fire to the corpse of my mother, giving her a true Targaryen funeral.

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

The sun start rising up from the horizon, letting the sunlight bathe me with a warm feeling. I stir as I feel a warm breath tickling my face, opening my eyes I saw Drogon looking at me with tired eyes. I stand up from where I was lying down, looking around, I saw that where my mother body was, it’s now a pile of ashes. I stay here all night, watching her body burn. Tears begin rising up again. What will I do without her? I know that anyone, except the unsullied and the dothraki, don’t want to see another Targaryen on the Throne. Maybe I should return to Meereen, there I have a home and some friends. I look to Drogon “Well, Drogon....Let’s go visiting some friends.” with that I climb his wing and sit on his back, grabbing his spikes “Valand.” and with that we start flying towards Meereen.

During the trip, I notice something strange on the clouds. They were almost pitch-black and it wasn’t very normal, it looks like a storm.

We start getting closer, the winds were stronger and colder. I grasp tightly on the spikes for not falling over of Drogon. This isn’t normal! A huge thunder blew in front of us, making Drogon disoriented, I try to led him lower, to get out of the storm but he unbalanced by the strong winds. We start falling, a scream escape from me as I cling to Drogon. Suddenly the storm stops, making Drogon balances again and land on a vast tall grass.

I stay on him, trying to catch my breath and looking to my surroundings. Where the hell am I? I don’t remember this place. It’s mostly all trees and grass around us, with a road some yards ahead. Fuck! Everything in my life is happening horribly badly.

Suddenly I hear a wagon coming closer, I look to my right and saw an old man driving a wagon that was full of ...colorful sticks? The old man was wearing a grey robe, with a pointy grey hat. Maybe I could ask him where am I, “Excuse me, Sir?” I yell to him as he was a bit far from me. The old man stops and look at me and Drogon with huge wide eyes, the smoking pipe falls from his mouth as it was hanging open.Shit! Maybe it was a bad idea since I was mounting a dragon. The old man jumps from the wagon and grab his strange wood stick “WHO ARE YOU!? WERE YOU SENT BY THE DARK LORD?!” the old man yelled to me as a light start forming on the end of his wood stick. What the hell?! Dark Lord?! I lift my hands up, showing him that I'm not a threat “Please, sir! I won’t do any harm! I just wanted to ask you where am I? And in what direction it’s Meereen?” I said quickly. The old man stops the light and looks to me confused, he walked closer to me, eyeing to Drogon “What’s your name, Young Lady?” he asks, observing Drogon like it’s was a beautiful artifact “My name is Daenys Targaryen. And what is yours?” I said politely “I’m Gandalf The Grey, my Lady. Nice to meet you.” I nod “I notice now that you aren’t from here and what beautiful...beast that you have there.” he said, nodding to Drogon. I start feeling rage boiling on my blood. Mother always hated when people call beasts to her children “No! I’m not from here...and he’s not a beast! He’s my friend.” I said firmly “Now, could you tell me where am I?” he nods “You are close to the Shire, in Middle-Earth!” What? Shire? Middle-Earth? I don’t know those places. I never heard about them.

Gandalf must notice my confused state “My Lady, I see that you have questions and I love it to tell you everything but you can’t stay here with your friend! It's to dangerous. Follow me, I have a cabin near. There you could rest and hide the dragon, also answering some of my questions.” with that he jumps to his wagon and order the horse to move. I stay there thinking if I should follow him. What if he kills me? Or worse...No! He couldn’t do anything because Drogon is near.

Sighing, me and Drogon start following him. Let’s hope that everything will be okay.

Hey Guys!!! Here the first chapter of the new series. I really like it writing this. Hope you like it. Feel free to comment and tell me what you think.

XOXO

Taglist: @llama2264 @tigereyesf @aeryntheofficial @crazyonesarethebest @yes-captainstark @ultrabumblebeeisus @gwendelerynan @icarus-fell-in-spring @numwoon44 @danri-and-thomas @burningcoffeetimetravel @lespaceboi

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lustfulholland · 5 years

Note

literally any steve rogers x reader angst please

Sad Song

Steve Rogers x singer!avenger!Reader

warnings: angst, swearing, violence

summary: in which she sings about the pain

A/N: so we just gonna pretend she wrote this song not christina n martin(s), okay? okay. + italic paragraphs are flashbacks n bold paragraphs are song lyrics

“Steve stop,” Y/N says, “I can’t.”

“We need you,” he says, “Babe, come on.”

“I’m still sore from the last mission, my stitches haven’t healed, and I—”

“Babe come on,” he says, “We can’t complete this mission without you. Plus we’re all sore.”

“Why can’t Nat handle it?” I ask.

“She’s coming but—”

“She can pick up my weight,” Y/N says.

“That’s not fair to Natasha,” he says.

“You’re not being fair to me, Steve!” Y/N exclaims.

“I’m just saying that we need you,” Steve begs.

“You know what? Fine, whatever! But if I fuck up that’s not on me,” Y/N says.

“Yes!” Steve cheers.

“Now go away I’m trying to come up with song ideas,” Y/N says.

Y/N’s body didn’t move the way it was supposed to. Her run was slow, her arms didn’t hit as hard, she couldn’t react in time. She was completely disoriented before they even arrived. She was given the job that required the most movement — bad idea.

When she arrived in the tech room, she was surrounded. She wouldn’t be able to get out alone whether or not she was healthy — but she tried.

The third kick to Y/N’s ribs finally emitted a loud crack. The punch to her cheek finally caused her to trip and fall to the ground. The kick to her side finally ripped her stitches. The stomp on her gut finally made her pass out.

Steve finally arrived and took out everyone in sight, calling her name — but she was out cold. He carried her to the quinjet and everyone got to work on helping her.

When she finally woke up she asked Natasha to carry her into a secluded area. The moment she heard any movement other than her own she yelled at the nameless person. Natasha carried her inside but Y/N gained her balance on her own and limped to Steve.

“I told you I wasn’t ready,” she says, jabbing his chest.

“Babe I just thought—”

“No! No you didn’t think, Rogers!” Y/N exclaimed, “Because if you used that god damn brain for even half a second you would’ve seen that I was in no condition! And you have this team so far up your ass that nobody said anything! Steve I couldn’t even run — let alone go into a room with fifty armed men!”

“Y/N I’m sorry, but I think you should go see a nurse alr—”

“No shit!” she exclaims.

“Would you like me to get medical services for Ms. Y/L/N?” Friday asked.

“No! I’ll stitch up myself!” Y/N yelled, limping away.

“Y/N come ba—”

“Shut up, Rogers,” Y/N growled. On the way down the hall Y/N’s leg gave out and she dropped to the floor. Her stubbornness drove her to crawl to the studio Tony had installed for her. It was her sanctuary.

She pulled herself onto the chair and rolled it to the table with her songbook. She wrote for hours, mumbling the lyrics to hear them. She started at eight o’clock and ended at eleven. Never in her life had she written music and lyrics that fast — the combination of anger, pain (both mental and physical), and some pre-written music gave her the strength.

She clicked a few buttons on the board and went into the booth with the book. She loved to record the moment she finished, then redo it later. Her music never went on the radio or even to the public — it played in the compound. She made “albums” just for the team.

She refused to cry when recording. She squeezed her eyes shut and sang. A few words in Steve finally went to look in the studio. He didn’t walk into the booth — rather glanced back at the team who had followed his run around the compound.

Nat walked to the board and clicked a few things — Y/N’s voice filling the area.

“—bite my tongue. I can stay awake for days, if that's what you want. Be your number one.”

Her singing caused Steve to remember things — different things he told her so she would go on missions, moments during a mission, etc.

“Y/N, come on! You’re number one on the team! We need you!” Steve pleaded, “You’re the only one that’s stayed awake for days straight for a mission and the only one who can hack into unhackable networks!”

“I can fake a smile, I can force a laugh, I can dance and play the part — if that's what you ask.”

Y/N laughed at the man’s dry joke. Y/N plastered on an award winning smile as Steve and Bucky watched through the cameras around the ballroom. When he asked her to dance she said yes — because Steve and Bucky told her to. He stepped on her foot multiple times and ended up trying to french her. She pulled away and scoffed — the man apologizing to her as she left for the bathroom to cuss out Bucky and Steve who were laughing.

“Give you all I am. I can do it, I can do it, I can do it.”

“Is she okay?” Bruce asks. Steve shushed him before she sang the next part.

“But I'm only human and I bleed when I fall down. I'm only human and I crash and I break down.”

The kick to Y/N’s side sent her falling back. Her head hit a rock — hard. Blood pooled around her as Steve, Tony, and Bucky fought off the men around them.

“Your words in my head, knives in my heart. You build me up and then I fall apart. 'Cause I'm only human. Yeah.”

“Should we take her out of there?” Wanda asked, “Before she cries or someth—”

“Shush!” Steve scolded.

“I can turn it on. Be a good machine.”

Y/N’s hand gripped the throat of a man she didn’t know. Steve watched as she dropped the limp body, walking with Bucky — or the Winter Soldier — towards the next target. Natasha spoke the code again to drill it into their brains

“I can hold the weight of worlds. If that's what you need”

“Y/N, hold it up a little higher,” Steve instructed. Y/N rolled her eyes and tiptoed, holding up the heavy piece of tech.

“Be your everything.”

Y/N gasped as she slipped on the promise ring. The words ‘my everything’ engraved on the band.

“I can do it, I can do it. I'll get through it. But I'm only human and I bleed when I fall down. I'm only human and I crash and I break down. Your words in my head, knives in my heart. You build me up and then I fall apart. 'Cause I'm only human. Yeah.”

“She’s about to cry for sure!” Bucky exclaims, “Shouldn’t we help her?”

“This is how she deals with emotions,” Steve says.

“I'm only human, I'm only human. Just a little human.”

“Jesus,” Tony breathed out. A tear slipped from Y/N’s shut eyes. She sucked in a gasp and choked a little on the sob that tried to escape.

“I can take so much — until I've had enough.”

Y/N’s limp body, her breathes coming out broken, her pulse was slow. Steve lifted her body up and sprinted to quinjet — thinking she was dead.

“'Cause I'm only human and I bleed when I fall down. I'm only human and I crash and I break down. Your words in my head, knives in my heart. You build me up and then I fall apart. 'Cause I'm only human. Yeah.”

The broken ‘yeah’ was all Y/N could take before she fell to the ground. Loud sobs filled the room as everyone stood — stunned.

Everyone except Steve began to speak about the moment till a loud crash came from the speakers. Steve got up and looked into the room. The headset was cracked on the floor and the mic stand was laying on its side. Y/N looked up at Steve.

“I hate you,” she breathed out, “I hate you for getting me to love you.”

She crawled over to him and laid in his arms. Her eyes closed and she sucked in a breath.

“I love you,” Steve whispered. His eyes trailed from her tear stained cheeks to her body. The smell of blood filled the air and he looked over to see a puddle where she was standing. He looked back down at her, “No, no, no, no.”

He placed her body down and felt the pulse die out. He leaned over her body and started compressing. His labored breath caused the team to crowd the glass and the door.

“Friday call a medic!”

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goliath-de-senfina-sango · 5 years

Link

Ex Choir Kid Beats up Ex Chorus Kids, It Isn't the Swimsuit Edition, Teen Tries to Angst Rudely in front of Rude Friends, Worrying Changes Happening With Your Body and Mind are Completely (un)Natural, Robot Attacks Teens in Zoo

Danny didn’t have anything against chorus kids, heck he was one in middle school, but this was downright ridiculous. He and Tucker had been in the lab, working on actually building the hoverboard that they had planned on building before The Accident. Danny had the Gravity Inverter™ already built, and they had just decided on modelling it after surf boards instead of skateboards. “It offers more room to maneuver, and between Sam, Jazz, and Mom last summer, I’ve gotten pretty good at surfing.”

“I am a wonderful teacher, yes. And in return for those lessons, your parents agreed to help me with converting your lawn from grass to moss." Sam smirked from where she was doing… something on her laptop - the newest brandname laptop that made Tucker drool even though he could almost certainly build a better one.

"I know I'm going to regret asking this but: Why?" A glance up showed that Tucker had the soldering iron in the air just over the circuitry of the board and was staring at Sam. Danny contemplated telling Tucker to put on gloves or let him realize his mistake as the heat got to him.

"Because moss is a much better oxygenator, it doesn't grow tall enough that any mowing need be done, it can grow easily in the low nutrient soil most yards have, and it looks cool as hell." Sam paused in her typing and Danny and Tucker blinked slowly at her. “I helped with turning the grass in my lawn to moss.”

“So, like, are you gonna just do our lawn or are you gonna convince the school to do it or something? Maybe a botony club?”

“That sounds like a great idea, Danny! But I’ve got other ideas for now.” Sam grinned, looking at Tucker, who still hadn’t noticed his own lack of gloves. Danny was getting worried about nerve damage now. “How’s the car design going?”

“I’ve been working on it, and I was actually gonna have Danny take a look after we’re done with this. Still, I think it should be pretty easy to do with the right resources. Still, I think we need to develop better transparent solar panels for it to work.” Danny reached for another tool, opening his mouth to mention that his family already had those developed and capable of 50% efficiency, and instead groaned when his lungs went icy cold. Turning to the portal, Danny picked up a new Fenton Rifle™ and took aim. The air near the portal rippled and flashed with green sparks which tore the air asunder into a swirling pane of light. Twelve ghosts, all singing off key and out of harmony, flew from the portal, and it snapped closed as soon as the last pair were out. Quickly fed up with the noise they were making, Tucker took aim with his Wrist Ray ™ and demanded “QUIET!”

One of the ghosts took exception to that and talons dragged across Tucker’s back, flinging him onto the floor. Danny snarled and pulled the trigger on the rifle, striking one of the ghosts hard in the chest and burning a hole deep enough that Danny could see a pulsating ball of toxic green. The ghost stared at him, shocked, and melted into a puddle on the ground. Before Danny could swing the rifle around to take out the rest, a claw slammed into his arm and sent him tumbling into the table. The ghosts evacuated the lab, fleeing the angry teen and his gun while Tucker slowly stood up. Danny rushed over, hand hovering an inch from Tucker. “Are you ok? That looked like it hurt. It also looks like it’s bleeding.”

“Yeah, it hurt plenty. Is it deep?”

“No, I think the bleeding is just immediate bu-”

“Sam, can you get the first aid kit? We can bandage this right?” Tucker tugged on his sweater and Danny phased it off for him. “You go, we’ll catch up.”

Danny took a deep breath and concentrated, filled and surrounded by void faster than ever before and rising off the ground. “Call me, I’ll text you where I am when you can catch up.” And off he flew, immaterial and weightless, the world unfolding until all he could see was the brilliant viridian streaked void and those idiots who thought they could get away with hurting his best friend. The first one he caught up to dodged his rifle fire, another coming up and slamming a brick into his head. Danny whipped around with a growl and shot that one in the center, not watching as it crumbled into a pile of goo. “ You’re next!”

Tucker and Sam skateboarded their way to him around halfway through the ghosts, using the thermos to catch them instead of letting Danny tear them apart. Something he was surely going to appreciate when he wasn’t as furious as he was right now. Unfortunately, upon getting the last pair near a warehouse on the docks of the river, the Trio found yet another rip in the air, an odd shifting thing that refused to stay as one shape for Tucker and Sam to see. Helpfully, Danny supplied, “It’s a tesseract. That’s fucking amazing to see, it’s so cool.”

And because Danny had the sheer gall to be impressed by geometry the universe punished his nerdiness by shoving a ghost out of the portal, ethereal form twisting between sizes and shapes before cubic chunks of green settled as a blue skinned man in denim overalls. Bright red eyes blinked out at the teens and they sighed. Sam nearly had time to say hi when the ghost lifted his hands over his head, wiggling his fingers and shouted at them. “BEWARE!”

“Ok,” Tucker said as he fired his ectopistol at the ghost, blasting him back a bit. Tucker stumbled onto his face when a glowing box smacked him in the back of the head and groaned. “This is stupid.” Sam fired her own wrist ray and it knocked boxy right into Danny’s line of fire while another box hit her legs and tripped her up.

Danny pressed the barrel of his rifle against the Box ghost’s chest, focusing his anger into the gun and pulled the trigger. “ B E W A R E .” Hot ectoplasma tore through the Box Ghost’s chest and burned a hole on the wall behind him. Danny flew down to his friends to check on them, and sucked on his teeth when he saw the way they were looking at him. “What?”

“Danny, I dunno how you did that to your voice, but when Halloween comes around you need to be able to do it again.” Tucker let Sam help him up and pulled out the thermos, aiming it at the mess on the walls. “Seal for delivery.” The green goop flew toward the thermos and soon was gone. Danny dropped to the ground and flipped onto his back.

“Seal, aquatic mammal in the arctic. It uh, barks?” Danny looked hopeful. Sam looked less so.

“Sorry brain boy, that is yet another wrong answer.”

“Hey, I’m an Astrophysist, mechanical engineer and artist, not a biologist.” Danny grumbled. “Speaking of biology, how you doin Tuck?”

Tucker spun the Fenton Thermos ™ on his finger like a basketball. “I’m feelin a bit sore still but I’ll be way better once we all get home. There’s still an hour before curfew and that’s all we need to study, right?” Danny offered a thumbs up and Sam shrugged.

Then the thermos fell from Tucker’s finger right on the release button and all their hard work filled the warehouse before getting away again.

“Tucker.”

“Yes, Sam?”

“When you’re feeling better I’m going to hurt you.”

“Right.”

Considering it took them over two and a half hours to find and catch a third of the ghosts released by Tuck's blunder, everyone got home at around midnight, leaving no study time for Danny. The Box Ghost, apparently, was stronger than they expected, because he was fully formed as soon as the ectoplasm left the thermos. Running a highly demanding brain and body on only five hours of sleep was Not a fun endeavor. Danny inhaled his breakfast, and if an upward glance was anything to go by spiked the electric bill with his secondary eating.

Jazz decided to be gratingly cheery anyway, like she always was. “Mom! I just got the news from Genius magazine!” Jazz was holding up a cover of said magazine and Danny rolled his eyes. “You’re gonna be on the cover!”

“Genius Magazine?” Dad grabbed up the magazine and stared at it for a moment before a low and potentially upset tone carried out, “is it the swimsuit issue?”

“Dad, please ,” Jazz rolled her eyes and narrowed them. “this magazine is for, by and about women geniuses!”

“Firstly,” Danny said, holding up his spoon. “Is Dr. Saturday in it?”

“…No.”

“Then they missed a genius.” Danny felt his face twist up. “Secondly, I’m trying to eat and you bring up Mom being in the swimsuit issue of a falsely named magazine?”

Jazz ripped the magazine from Dad’s hand and groaned in frustration, her page flipping now the slamming of book covers. “I signed Mom up so that the world can see that she’s a genius and not a ghost hunting freak!” Danny winced, rubbing his neck. Sounded like Jazz heard as much of it as he did. Unsurprising, kids were assholes.

“They’re not ghost hunting freaks,” Danny said with only a touch of offense in his tone. “They’re Ectologists, contracted regularly by the government. They’re also right about ghosts being real.” Jazz opened her mouth to challenge that claim but even groggy and under fueled Danny’s brain was quick. “Just check the back of the school for proof.” Quick but filterless.

“Well sweetie,” Mom said before Jazz could counter that it was a gas explosion like Tucker had fed to the school, “if I’m going to be on a cover - which you should ask me for permission for before you go doing it - then I want Jack right there with me.” Mom pulled Dad’s bulk to her, impossibly, in a hug. “We’re a team after all!”

The man in question beamed and pulled out… something. Danny didn’t have the brain power to analyze tech at the moment. “That’s right! Together we built the Ghost Gabber™! It translates the odd noises that a ghost makes, dissonant whispering sounds and all, into language that you and I can understand!”

“In what language?” Danny frowned. “If you’re gonna sell this - which please don’t this is ridiculous - then it should be in like, all languages you’re gonna sell to right?”

“Mandarin, Spanish, English, Hindi and Arabic so far,” Mom supplied. Danny nodded and slurped down the last of the milk in his bowl. “It’ll work for any language when it’s done!”

Danny stared at the thing and narrowed his eyes. “Boo.”

“I am a ghost,” the thing rattled off back to him. Which, well, fuck. That’s what I was thinking at least.

“It’s busted, responded to human speech. Or you guys have the worst humor and that’s preprogrammed.” Danny grabbed his lunch and headed to the door. “Love you byyye!”

School was as mind numbing as ever, the damage from the ‘gas explosion’ doing nothing to stop classes apparently. Which meant that Falluca's test on biology was still a go. Yay. Brain sluggish from last night's hunting and lacking on biology knowledge to begin with, Danny was unsurprised yet pissy when he was handed back a D.

Taking their lunches into the library, the Trio ate quickly, everyone still feeling yesterday's activities. Soon as he was out of food to shovel in his mouth Danny was glaring at his test again. "I can't have a D on a test! I’m a Fenton!”

“The American Public education system is a relic and fails to accurately quantify intelligence.” Danny stared blankly at Tucker, who shrugged. “Sam’s activism rubs off when she’s right.”

“If I come home with a D my mom’s gonna put me through martial arts training and have Dad give me lessons on whatever it is I failed on.” Danny waved his paper aggressively. “My Dad teaching me biology guys, it’s horrible!”

“Well since you need to boost that grade I have an extra credit idea for you,” Sam said at one of the computers. Danny turned to look at her screen and furrowed his brow.

“A purple backed gorilla? Why is it’s back purple? That’s not a naturally occurring pigment in mammals.” Danny turned to Tucker. “Right?”

“While I’m the last person you should defer to for knowledge on organic coding, you’re right. I can only think of birds and uh butterflies? Those can be purple. Rarely though.”

“Extremely rare, only two males left. Which is why you’re going to write a report studying it on why it deserves to be set free!” Sam beamed at him with that smile she used when she wanted something out of him. The air around her shimmered with impressions of green and purple, like a mist that clung just above her skin. It didn’t seem to be hurting her, so Danny didn’t bother mentioning it beyond pulling out his journal to take a note in.

“I don’t have time for extra credit, or your agendas, Sam.” Danny groaned. “Gotta find those extra ghosts before they manage to hurt someone.”

“Actually,” Tucker cut in, holding up his PDA. “You do have time. You just need to manage it better. Which is why I’ve elected myself to be your time manager. Least I can do after Sam let all those ghosts out.” Sam glared, that meowing turning to a low growl, and Danny tugged on his jacket.

“I dunno…” Could Tucker be trusted to manage even his own time, let alone Danny’s?

“It’ll be my job to manage your schedule so that you can do your schoolwork and catch that Box Ghost dumbass that Sam let out.”

“You do remember that I can turn outrun you right?” Sam’s glare intensified, and Tucker swallowed. “I can kick your ass faster than you can move it, Foley.”

“Remember what happened when I let you manage the thermos, Tucker?” Danny arched a brow, crossing his arms.

“I’ve already set a reminder,” the geek held up his PDA which flashed with bright green letters. “Don’t let Tucker handle the Thermos.”

“What the hell?” Danny sighed. “I guess we can do a trial run.”

“Sweet! I’ve also scheduled some time for us to go check out that gorilla once classes are over.”

“Before I even said yes to doing a report on it, yay. Aren’t you just the best?” Danny jabbed Tucker lightly in the arm and frowned when Tucker winced. “How’s the shoulder?”

Tucker shrugged. “It’s getting better. Told Mom I fell off my skateboard trying to do a trick and she helped me change my bandages. It should be fine in a couple days.”

Danny sighed, pulling his hood over his head. “I shouldn’t have opened that portal. Then you guys wouldn’t have gotten hurt like this.” Danny zipped up his hoodie, shivering. “Stars guys, I’m so sorry .”

“Said the guy who I pressured into the portal,” Sam countered.

“To the guy who coulda said enough is enough and stopped you,” Tucker added, ruining Danny’s angsty bad times. He had negativity to feel dangit!

“You guys are dumb.” Danny pulled the two into a tight hug. “Thanks. I dunno what I’d do without you.”

“Probably finish dying, let’s be real.” Tucker earned the punch he got from Sam, he really did.

The bell rang, and the Trio sighed. “Well shit. Time to go back and do all that school stuff.” Danny pulled away and grabbed up his bag. It was one of the few classes he had without Sam and Tuck next. “See you guys later.” A few goodbyes later and everyone left to zone out in class and contemplate what that day in the lab had really meant for them.

While Sam was taking in all the key points of the lesson, she was also noting that she knew this part of history like the back of her hand. The majority of Sam’s attention was on a comment the blond meathead had made. Just as they got to class, Dash had shoved Danny into some lockers, and when Sam told him off for it he called her a witch girl for hanging out with the ghost freak. As much it made Sam want to castrate the idiot with a heated rusty knife, it also made her think. If ghosts were real - something she tried not to think too hard about because the realization of how big that was felt like too much to even begin processing - then why not magick? Tucking away the mental note to do some research on magick later, Sam let her mind wander through all the different things she could probably do for the world with magick.

Once Sam found Tucker and Danny at the exit, she draped her arms over both boys’ shoulders and kept walking. They caught up to pace quickly enough. “So, the zoo first or looking for Ghostly Chorus first?”

“Ghosts first,” Danny said after a few minutes of contemplation. “If we catch em right away we can get to the zoo and spend more time fully focused on it.” It took them a trip home each to grab their scooters, then two hours of searching four different neighborhoods before the group actually found the four remaining Choir Ghosts. Danny felt a deep rage fill the core of his being when he saw them, the fools that dared to hurt his friends and took aim with his rifle to announce that he’d found them. A pulled trigger and there were only three ghosts left. One of the ghosts turned to fly at him, swiping a claw that grazed his cheek and knocked him back in the air. Tucker fired off a shot, missing both the chorus ghost and Danny by just an inch, and being knocked tumbling off his skateboard for his trouble. “ You’re going to regret that . ”

Sam landed a shot on the ghost that knocked Tucker off his board and did a kick flip to avoid one trying to get the drop on her. The ghosts prioritized Danny as the biggest threat, two of them swinging at him from either side. Danny raised his weapons on either side and was knocked down by the third one into Tucker. A growl built itself up from Danny’s chest and he turned both his rifle and wrist ray to the sky. One of the ghosts dodged the wrist ray, knocking the other into the path of the rifle shot. Sam took out the one that had dodged Danny just before the last one appeared in front of her. It dove under the ground and Sam saw green as Tucker’s wrist ray rammed into her shoulder. “SAM!”

Tucker rushed over to Sam and Danny zoomed through the air, driving his fist through the ghost’s chest and grabbing onto that ball of emerald light. He snarled in it’s face. “Should’ve let him take you out. It would’ve been less painful.” The ghost tried to get away, but Danny held firm and squeezed harder and harder until the ball of power, of connection of self of discordant songs and burning wood cracked in his hand and ectoplasm dissolved into a pile of goop on the asphalt.

Turning back to Sam and Tucker, Danny was greeted by horrified faces on his best friends in the world, and immediately lowered himself to the ground. The void left him, an empty space in his chest as Danny ran over to Sam and Tucker, kneeling to check Sam’s shoulder. “Are you ok?”

Sam took a long moment befor eshe seemed to even hear what he’d said. “I mean I uh I might need some burn cream and my shoulder isn’t exactly having the best night ever, but I’ll be fine. It doesn’t exactly hurt as much as it probably hurt the ghosts.”

“Y-yeah, that’s probably it.” Tucker helped her to her feet and dusted himself off. “Everybody still feeling up for the zoo? We gotta grab that extra credit.”

Danny stared down at his hand, flexing his fingers and shuddering at the icy chill around them. He’d taken out minor ghosts before, sure, but never as brutally as he did that one and the Box Ghost. What happened to me? “Alright. The zoo.” Danny slid back into the void, easier at night when he had the stars to look up to and reach for, and rose up off the ground while Tucker and Sam grabbed their boards. And as they headed to the Zoo, Danny couldn’t help but think to himself. I wouldn’t do that to a person, would I? All I had to do was catch it in the thermos and it’d have been dealt with. Stars. Danny shook his head, trying to force himself away from thoughts of what kind of horror he’d’ve seen on Tucker and Sam’s faces if that had been a human who’d taken a swing at them.

Sam looked out from the observation deck binoculars at Sampson, taking her turn on gorilla watch. “He’s so beautiful, so intelligent, so majestic!” Watching the gorilla pace in his cage Sam was sure he would be infinitely happier in the wild.

“What we’ve learned thus far, Sam is that gorillas like to scratch their butts.” Danny yawned, turning to Tucker. “How long have we taken to learn that?”

“Five hours.” Tucker yawned, sitting on the floor.

“Time flies when you’re majestically scratching your butt.”

“C’mon guys, we could learn something about Sampson no one else has!” A thought occurred and Sam turned to Danny. “You should try commun- oh. Wow.” The boys were on the floor, both clearly conked out from the lack of sleep last night. And Danny rolled over to cuddle Tucker in his sleep, which Sam felt was sickeningly cute. “Fine, I’ll do it myself… in the meantime…” Sam took a picture of the boys, chuckling. “To the scrapbook it goes for when these idiots finally get a clue.”

By the time she got to the gorilla enclosure, she heard a loud roar from elsewhere in the zoo. Presuming it was just a tiger or two waking up, Sam looked into the cage to see Sampson pulling on the bars of the door to his cage. “You poor creature, stuck in here when you should be in the jungle.” Sampson saw Sam standing there and pulled even harder on the door, howling at her and staring desperately. “…You want out?”

Sam decided to use her own Dumbass Teenager Action of the month and blame it on her own sleep deprivation. She also blamed it on the control panel having an easy to get to, easy to use Open Cage button. If she could get away with it, she was going to have a talk with whoever ran security.

Sampson practically flew out of his cage and Sam followed after him. She stopped, shock freezing her muscles up as Sampson tackled to the ground a… “Is that a fucking robot?”

The man made of steel and wearing black leather and a shoulder pad kicked Sampson off and Sam found herself caught between rolling her eyes at the Mohawk and goatee made of green fire and backing away from the glowing ghost robot.

Sampson charged again immediately after being thrown, knocking the robot to the ground and rolling onto his back. Sam felt herself laugh as the robot was tossed around by Sampson’s feet but it all felt so unreal. Is this what my life has come to?

Sampson was blinded by goo and Sam felt it time to act. She raised her Wrist Ray™ and fired, narrowly missing the ghost robot, who glared in her direction and fired off a shot of his own. It caught her in the gut, sending Sam backward and the ghost snorted. “Damn wench. You and this gorilla pest are in my way. Thought I’d gotten the last one with me.” Speaking of, Sampson got the gunk out of his eyes and charged the hunter again, though the ghost dodged out of the way, phasing through a backhanded swing.

“So you’re the one who went around poaching the furs of purple-backed gorillas? This is your fault? ” Sam felt her blood boil and fired off another shot with her wrist ray, cracking the shoulder pad of the armor. “They’re going to go extinct because of you!”

“All the more reason to get the last ones in my home. Unfortunately, you can put several bullets into something and it can still eat you before it realizes it’s supposed to be dead.” The robot looked down at his shoulder, which gave off little sparks, and he turned to Sam, raising his arm cannon. “Let’s see how well you can replicate that, shall we?”

Before the ghost could fire his cannon at Sam, Sampson grabbed him up from behind and tossed the ghost hard. Sam recognized that she wasn’t going to be able to handle this one on her own, and ran to the observation deck to get to Danny and Tucker. “GUYS, GUYS WAKE UP!” She grabbed onto the ladder and started climbing when an explosion rocked the tower and she nearly lost her grip. The town began to lean and Sam heard herself screaming before she even felt it. The tower began to tilt her way and Sam looked down to see a hole blown in the base of the tower.

Danny heard screaming, but it was far away and likely unimportant and he had dreams to have, stars to see and hear and cradle in his hands and wrap his entire self within and around. There was so much for them to show him, so much to give him and all he need do is reach out and - the ground shook, thunder booming in his sensitive ears and Danny clung tighter to Tucker for a moment, his eyes flying open. “TUCK Tucker wake up!” Danny shook his friend and reached for that silvery darkness that filled him and wove around him. “Fuck fuck fuck, ok, I have an idea, get up, be ready!”

Danny flew through the glass - either physically or intangibly he didn’t know right now - and turned to look at the tower. There was… a hole in it. And Sam was on the tower, screaming. And they needed him. “It worked for Agatha, it can work for me.” Danny held out his hands and closed his eyes. He searched within, reaching deeper and deeper for that light, the wispy shadows that surrounded the world and held it in place around her star and kept the universe from falling apart. He reached and reached and shadows, whips of darkness even he could not fully see were grasped and pulled out of him. His eyes opened, and Danny wrapped his very self around the tower, gravity’s hold snatched away but for the longest of seconds. The tower no longer fell for there was no down for it to fall into, merely the void for it to rest within. Nothing, less than nothing, empty space filled the spaces between everything and all was still.

And then he c r a c k e d .

Tucker caught Danny and Sam looked around the zoo in awe and horror. Sampson had been blasted back into his cage, the tower was on its side, and Danny looked like he was fading fast. “Tucker, the thermos!” He pulled it out of his backpack and handed it to Sam. She looked inside and saw the sloshing ectoplasm they’d cleaned off the streets when they tore up the ghosts earlier. She grabbed onto Danny and held his mouth open, pouring the ectoplasm even as his form flickered between ghost and human.

“Sam, what the hell?” Sam realized her hand was shaking when she saw the green fluid drip down the sides of Danny’s face and Tucker grabbed the thermos to steady it. Danny drank down the ectoplasm and his body stabilized in ghost form. Once the thermos was empty, Tucker set it down and they watched as Danny glitched between forms one last time before his back arched and those blindingly bright rings appeared, transforming him back into Danny Fenton. “What the fuck happened?”

“A ghost robot appeared and tried to kill us.” Sam stood up and grabbed her board. “Who’s carrying Danny?”

“My hands are steady so I think that’s gonna be me. Think you can carry my board? I don’t wanna try that while I’ve got him on my back.” Tucker maneuvered Danny onto his back with arms looped around his shoulders, and stood up slowly and carefully. Sam grabbed his board and they headed for the exit together and from there to Fenton Works.

#Danny Fenton #Tucker Foley #Sam Manson #Danny Phantom #Box Ghsot #Jazz Fenton #Maddie Fenton #Jack Fenton #Skulker #Fanfiction #Phanfiction #fanPhiction #Fanfic #FanPhic #Phanfic #PhanPhiction #PhanPhic #MCS #Rexy Writes

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