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starshine583 · 3 years

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New Girl on the Block (7)

(I hope you guys enjoy this new chapter! Feel free to check out the mini series connected to this fic called Journal Entries. I will warn whoever reads it that I’m not sure how long I’m going to keep it up, though.)

Ch.1 / Ch.6 / Ch.8

Chapter 7: That Happy Glow

“This is gonna be so much fun, Tikki!” Marinette exclaimed as she slid on her light pink flats. “I can’t wait to get to the aquarium!”

“Don’t forget your purse!” Tikki reminded, zipping around her chosen’s head. “I want to see some of the fish too!”

Marinette laughed and reached for her coat. The weather had been reported to drop over the weekend, and she didn’t want to take any chances. “Of course! I’ll make sure to pack some cookies for you too.”

When Felix told her last Monday that Adrien came to Rosemary looking for her, She’d been understandably distraught. Dupont had been given strict instructions to keep her new school’s name a secret, yet her old classmates were still coming to talk to her. It left many questions that needed to be answered. For example, how did they find out? Did Bustier tell them? Felix had mentioned that a girl was the one to give Adrien the information, though that hardly narrowed down the suspect list. Was Adrien the only one who knew? If not, were her other classmates going to try to come for her too? She’d asked her mother about it as soon as she got home, and as expected, Sabine flew into a rage.

“I send my daughter to a new school to get her away from her old classmates, and what do they do? They follow her there!” She’d fumed. “Unbelievable.”

Once Marinette talked her down from calling the police to file for harassment, they called the school, and Mme Bustier insisted that they’d been tight lipped about Marinette’s new school, but Marinette didn't buy it. Who else could have told Adrien? No one knew about her attending Rosemary, not unless Nathalie managed to find the information, and that was highly unlikely.

Although the situation was a mix of frustrating and worrisome, Marinette took comfort in the fact that Adrien seemed to believe she wasn't actually attending Rosemary. At the very least, he hadn’t stopped by again- as far as she knew -and hadn’t visited the bakery again either.

A small sigh passed her lips at the thought of how close she'd come to exposing herself as a Rosemary student. Thank goodness Felix had been out there to greet Adrien instead. His quick thinking had really saved her, and he even offered to give her a ride home afterwards. (For the second time) She never intended on asking Felix for help with things like this- mostly because she didn't want to bother him -but it was good to know she could depend on him when she needed to. Not only did he help her with Adrien, she also noticed him trying to keep others around her during the day after everything blew over. Allegra would order lunch with her more. Claude would join her to go to the lockers more. Allan would walk her to classes that they didn't have together. Things like that. Felix even offered to accompany her himself on a few occasions. It was a sweet gesture, and although the extra attention wasn’t necessary, it was greatly appreciated. Maybe she should make him a little thank you gift. What sort of things does he like again? Books and chess.. and silence.. how could she make a gift out of that?

Either way, Marinette couldn't thank him enough for his kindness, and now that six days of blessed silence has passed, the nervousness from the Adrien encounter was replaced with giddy enthusiasm for the aquarium. She buzzed around her bedroom to finish getting ready, putting on her scarf and earmuffs as quickly as she could. Allegra was supposed to come pick her up, but they were all going to meet up and walk into Aquarium de Paris together. She didn’t want to hold anyone up.

Marinette wrapped her purse around her shoulder, finally finishing her outfit, and bounced over to the trapdoor to go downstairs. Allegra should be arriving in about five minutes. That gave her just enough time to snag a few cookies for Tikki, a croissant for herself (and maybe Claude), and say goodbye to her parents.

“Goodmorning, sweetheart!” Sabine greeted warmly.

“Morning, Maman!” Marinette smiled, briefly pausing to let her mother kiss her on the forehead.

“Did you have a good sleep?” Tom asked, holding out an arm to her.

Marinette let out a nervous chuckle as she gave him a side hug. “Yes and no. I was kind of too excited to sleep.”

“You and me both.”

Marinette turned to one of the small tables in the bakery to see Allegra sitting with a smile and a cup of coffee. She was bundled up too, which told Marinette that she was probably right to put on her winter clothes.

“You’re already here?” Marinette asked, panic briefly seizing her chest. She looked around for the time. “How long have you been waiting? Am I late again?”

Allegra chuckled and stood up to pull Marinette into a hug. “Not at all! I just happened to get here a few minutes early, and your parents offered me a coffee while we waited for you to come down.”

Marinette relaxed a bit and hugged Allegra back. “You could have come upstairs to get me.”

“I didn’t want to rush you.” Allegra shrugged. “Besides, your parents are fun to talk with!”

Tom and Sabine both smiled and straightened with pride, causing Marinette to giggle.

“Here,” Tom said, taking a brown, paper bag out from under the counter. “We packed some breakfast for you.”

“And made sure to put plenty of croissants in for Claude and the others.” Sabine added with a smile.

Marinette took the bag with a sincere “thanks”. That saved her time on sneaking around for snacks.

“Oh, Claude is going to love those.” Allegra smirked, touching the bag to feel how warm it was.

Marinette giggled and nodded in agreement. It’s been almost three weeks since she started at Rosemary, and Claude still asks for croissants every lunch period. “Are we ready to go?”

“Yep! My driver’s waiting out front for us.” Allegra replied, tilting her head in the direction of the door.

“Have fun, you guys!” Sabine cooed.

“Make sure to take plenty of pictures with the fish!” Tom added with a wave.

“We definitely will.” Allegra beamed, looping her arm with Marinette’s.

With a final wave, they stepped outside together, and Marinette sharply inhaled as the chill of the air immediately gnawed at her features. She knew it was going to be cold, but she didn’t think it would be this cold.

I hope Felix didn’t decide to get there early today. Marinette thought to herself as they scrambled into the backseat of the car.

“So are you excited?” She asked Allegra while buckling in. Claude had been bouncing around the school walls all week for this trip, but Allegra hadn’t said much about it. Neither had Allan. Of course, they didn’t have to be excited. Marinette was just curious as to whether they were or why they weren’t.

“Absolutely!” Allegra grinned, bringing a smile to Marinette’s lips as well. Guess people show their excitement in different ways.

“Probably not as excited as Claude, though.” The blonde continued, a humorous expression crossing her features. “How many fish did he text on the group chat again?”

Marinette squinted slightly as she thought about it. “I think.. Twenty seven? Maybe twenty eight.”

“Twenty eight sounds about right.” Allegra said with a nod. “I swear Allan was this close to blocking him.”

Marinette laughed. “That knife meme was hilarious! I still can’t believe that Felix was the one who sent it. I was starting to think he didn’t read the group chat.”

“Yeah, he surprises us every now and then.” Allegra mused, a fond smile coming to her lips. “Like this aquarium trip. I don’t think he’s ever once agreed to go somewhere with us after the first invite.”

Marinette shrugged and settled into her seat as the driver pulled out onto the road. “Well, he did say that you were going to force him either way.”

Allegra’s smile turned devilish. “And he’s absolutely right. If he had said no to coming, I would have dragged him there myself, but that’s never stopped him before.”

Marinette tilted her head in a nod. That was certainly true.

“Maybe he just likes aquariums?”

Allegra hummed, a mischievous glint in her sky blue eyes as she said, “Or maybe he likes someone who’s going to the aquarium.”

Marinette furrowed her eyebrows. Like as in like like? Like a crush? Felix didn’t seem like the type to have a crush on someone, though after hearing him talk about the lovers in his classical playlist, she supposed it was a possibility.

“Is there someone else you guys know that might be there?”

A short laugh burst from Allegra’s lips, almost like Marinette had missed the point of something, and she shook her head. “No, nevermind. Forget I said anything. Let’s just enjoy our agreeable Felix while we have him.”

Marinette nodded, though her thoughts still lingered on the comment. Felix developing romantic feelings for someone sounded like such a foreign concept to her. Not that he was unlovable, or anything. He was just.. too logical. He didn’t dote on feelings. The only circumstance where she can clearly see him acquiring a spouse would be an arranged marriage. He’d probably be the one to plan it, too, seeing it as the most beneficial choice between both families. What type of wife would he pick, anyway? She’d probably be beautiful and quiet, right? Not to mention smart. Felix wouldn’t be able to stand someone ‘incompetent’. Maybe she’d be a bit of a perfectionist like him?

A soft hum passed her lips. It was definitely a thought.

~~~~~~

Felix grit his teeth as the biting chill of the morning seeped into his clothing. It was times like this that he wished those jokes about the incredible inaccuracy of weathermen were true. He hasn’t even been outside for ten minutes, and his fingers were already numb. If Felix had known that his coat and gloves would be this ineffective, he would have taken the second coat that his mother tried to insist he wear earlier.

A shiver ran up his spine as a particularly cold burst of wind whipped past him, and he pulled his coat tighter around his waist. What time was it? Were the girls going to be arriving soon?

He flicked his wrist upwards to catch sight of his watch. Allegra said that they would be meeting at Aquarium de Paris at 10am. Being 9:58am., they should be arriving any minute, but that didn’t stop him from heaving a deep sigh towards the wait. Note to self: Don’t arrive early to activities that take place outside during the winter.

A nudge to the arm brought Felix’s attention to Claude. He’d also arrived early- probably out of sheer excitement. He’s been blabbering about this trip all week -but the cold didn’t appear to affect him nearly as much.

“Are you nervous?” The brunette asked, causing Felix to shoot him a flat look.

“Why on earth would I be nervous?”

“Oh, no reason..” Claude said, his tone light and teasing. “I just know that Marinette’s going to be here.”

Felix rose a brow. “And?”

Claude smiled knowingly, but Felix couldn’t imagine what the brunette thought he knew this time.

“You two have gotten pretty close lately.”

“In what way?” There was the physical way or the mental way. Granted, both ways were incorrect, but it was an important distinction.

“Well, you talk to each other all the time.” Claude answered, as though that should be some monumental fact.

Ah. So it’s the mental way.

“That’s usually what happens when two people are in the same friend group.” Felix responded. “They talk.”

“Yeah, but what about the library?” Claude argued. Why did he feel the need to argue? “You two were practically touching noses, and no one else was there besides me.”

Felix furrowed his eyebrows. “Yesterday? When we were sharing headphones?”

Claude nodded, a Cheshire grin crossing his features. Why did he look triumphant? No one had won anything. “Yep. That’s the one I’m talking about.”

“Do you share headphones differently?”

“Well, no..” Claude half-shrugged. “But you guys are still pretty close, don’t you think?”

Felix paused. The label of being close to Marinette wasn’t a bad one, save for the fact that it was completely untrue. In light of a physical closeness, the only moments that they were close would be times when Marinette fell on top of him or yesterday, when they shared headphones in the library, and the latter scenario is being taken entirely out of context. They don’t walk around holding hands or hugging or sitting shoulder to shoulder next to each other, and in all honesty, Felix wouldn’t want to. He doesn’t enjoy constantly touching people. And as for the mental closeness, Marinette hasn’t told him anything that she hasn’t told anyone else. Felix knows a lot about her, yes, but almost everything he knows has been found out secretly, through silent observations. He would hardly call that “close”.

“No, I don’t think so,” he finally answered, “but I’m still confused as to why that would make me nervous.”

Claude pursed his lips, studying him for a moment, then sighed and crossed his arms. “Oh, nevermind. Either you’re in denial or you’ll figure it out eventually.”

A hint of frustration started to stir in Felix’s mind. Figure out what?

Before he could ask anything else, another voice cut into their conversation.

“Oh, there you guys are!”

It was Allan, and when Felix looked up, he noticed that Marinette and Allegra were accompanying him as well. Wonderful. He’d somewhat forgotten about the cold during Claude’s maniac ramblings, but now that his focus had shifted, the weather was hitting him full force again. He needed to escape inside before his feet were frozen to the sidewalk.

Claude perked up and waved to the three as he ran over to them. “Hey guys! What took you so long?”

Felix hobbled over to them as well, catching sight of Marinette’s sheepish smile as she said, “Sorry, Claude. We got here as fast as we could.”

Claude, of course, waved off the apology. “Nah, I’m just kidding. We weren’t waiting that long.”

The brunette scooped Marinette into a hug, coaxing out a laugh from her. She was so bundled up with coats and scarfs and gloves that Claude had to squish her between his arms to hold her, and it vaguely reminded Felix of a marshmallow.

In weather like this, though, being a marshmallow didn’t sound half bad.

Claude blew out a contented sigh as he nuzzled his face into Marinette’s shoulder. “Man, Mari, you’re so warm! I need to start using you as my personal heater.”

Marinette chuckled and pulled back just enough to hold up a brown, paper bag. “Thanks, but I think it’s just the food Maman sent with me.”

A gasp flew from Claude, and he immediately set her back on the ground. “Food, you say? As in, croissants food??”

“Yes, Claude.” Marinette giggled. “Croissants food. Maman packed a few extras especially for you.”

Claude literally let out a girlish squeal and made “grabby hands” for the bag. Marinette gladly obliged, letting him dig through it for his favorites.

“Your mom is the absolute best.” Claude said, his voice muffled from the chocolate croissant he bit into. “Please adopt me.”

The group shared a small laugh, but Felix rolled his eyes. Claude was always overdramatic.

“You better not let Aunt Felicity hear you say that.” Allegra spoke up. She was also bundled to the max- though her coat was light purple -and looked about ten times warmer than Felix felt. “Remember the last time you asked Allan to adopt you?”

Claude scoffed. “That was different! This time I want to be adopted because of Mme Sabine’s cooking, not because of how many games Marinette has.”

“Oh, yeah.” Allan snorted. “That’s completely different.”

“Hey, mom will understand.” Claude insisted, placing his hands on his hips. “She knows she can’t cook anything to save her life. That’s why we have a personal chef.”

“Wait, are you two cousins?” Marinette cut in, confusion flicking across her features.

A slight frown came to Allegra’s lips. “No, why do you ask?”

“You called his mom ‘Aunt Felicity’.”

“Oh!” The blonde’s face lit up with understanding. “Yeah, we do that. Claude’s parents are Aunt Felicity and Uncle Albert, and Allan’s parents are Aunt Meridith and Uncle Theodore.”

Allan nodded in agreement. “I think it started back in middle school when Claude accidentally called M. Chanson ‘Uncle Arthur’ while taking some snacks.”

Allegra snorted. “Oh, yeah, that was definitely the start of it. Dad wouldn’t stop talking about it for days. He thought it was the best.”

Claude sighed, running a hand through his hair with a bashful smile. “That was totally embarrassing, but at least he liked it.”

“Can we all go inside?” Felix interjected. Talking about how they address the adults is nice and all, but his arms and legs have been burning from the cold for the last five minutes. Can’t they continue this conversation when they’re not standing in below-thirty-degree weather?

Claude laughed, throwing Felix a teasing smirk. “Aw, poor Fe. Are you cold?”

Felix scowled at his babying tone. “Of course I’m cold! Frost is slowly growing on our hoods as we speak!”

“Well, I’m not cold.” The brunette replied, swinging his arm around Marinette’s shoulder. “Because I’ve had some of Marinette’s delicious croissants to keep me warm.”

Felix scoffed and tugged his coat tighter around himself. Eating warm croissants certainly didn’t help him.

“They are pretty warm.” Allan said next to him. “You should try one.”

“He doesn’t have to.” Marinette, being the kind person she is, hastily jumped in. “We were planning on going inside, anyway, right?”

“Yeah, but I think Felix needs to taste one.” Allegra remarked. “It’s simply shameful of him to refuse them for this long, in my opinion.”

“I don’t like sweets.” Felix pointed out in annoyance. Just start moving towards the aquarium.

“Well..” Marinette faltered. “Maman did pack a regular croissant and a cheesy croissant..”

He held back a sigh. Though her intentions surely weren’t foul, his only ally had officially condemned him. It’s not that he cared to try one of Marinette’s croissants. After eating supper with Marinette’s parents last week, he had no doubt that anything they made was delicious. No, the problem came with the fact that he was being pushed to eat them. (The group wasn’t quite pushing yet, but he’d learned to pinpoint the signs of oncoming pressure.) If Felix says no, despite how unreasonable it might be, he expects that answers to be respected. The same way he would respect anyone else who told him no about something.

“See, there you go!” Claude smiled. “A nice, warm, non-sweet croissant to make you forget about the January weather.”

“I’d forget it just as easily if we walked inside.” Felix bit back.

“Oh, come on, Felix.” Allegra scolded. “Live a little! You don’t have to eat the whole thing, just one bite!”

“Guys, he really doesn’t have to eat it.” Marinette spoke up again. Felix silently thanked her for her efforts, but her previous comment made any resistance futile now.

“Oh, he’s eating it.” Claude stated. “He needs to know the pure bliss that is Mme Sabine’s croissants.”

“Plus, we’re not going inside until he tries it.” Allegra added.

Allan snorted. “Felix.. I think they want you to try the croissant.”

Felix’s eyes narrowed to a glare. “I’ll walk inside without you.”

“No, you won’t.” Allegra shot back. “You know why you won’t? Because you actually don’t mind trying the croissants. You’re just upset that we told you to try them.”

Felix was thankful for his pockets, because it hid the way his hands clenched into his fists. He absolutely hated when Allegra saw through his intentions. It made him feel transparent, vulnerable. Not to mention embarrassed. Was he that horrible at hiding his emotions or could he simply not match her level of observation? It was probably the former and that ticked him off the most.

“Just give me the dang croissant.” He finally bit off, jutting his hand out to Marinette. If he stared solely at her, he wouldn’t have to see Claude or Allegra’s victorious, blood-boiling grins.

Marinette flinched at the sudden movement and knitted her eyebrows, concerned. “A-Are you sure-”

“Positive.” Felix ground out, hoping she didn’t take it personally. Just give me the food so we can get this over with.

Although wary, Marinette handed over one of the croissants. The specks of yellow around the edges told him it was the cheese-flavored one.

With a deep breath to regain some composure, Felix took a bite of the breaded treat, and..

And it was incredible.

The croissant was piping hot, immediately stealing away the bitter coldness of the air as Claude had claimed. The cheese inside was stringy and practically melted in his mouth, and the softness of the bread allowed you to enjoy every bit of the doughy taste.

It took everything Felix had to keep a neutral expression. If they saw how much he enjoyed the food, they would never let him live it down. He’d be trying everything else under the sun merely because the trio was right one time.

“Well?” Allegra pressed. “How does it taste?”

“.. They are delicious.” He admitted, if only for Marinette’s sake. Downplaying Mme Sabine’s baking skills would only allow him to keep a small bit of his useless pride. He might as well be honest.

A smile slipped onto Marinette’s lips, but Claude’s triumphant laugh took away any satisfaction Felix might have gotten from it.

“I knew you would like them!” The brunette cheered. “Anyway, let’s go inside. It’s freezing out here!”

Felix scoffed, throwing a sharp glare at Claude. If it weren’t for how good this croissant was, he would have thrown it at him.

“Yeah, I think they’re open now.” Allan agreed as he checked his watch.

Curious, Felix checked his watch too. 10:10am.

“Oh! Race you guys there!” Claude abruptly announced, before breaking into a sprint.

Allan chuckled and humored the brunette by going into a jog, and Allegra picked up the pace as well. Felix, however, elected to keep walking as he munched on the croissant. The heat radiating off of it was enough to stall the looming chill around him anyway.

“So..” Marinette began, drawing Felix’s gaze down to her. She’d apparently decided to walk with him instead of running after Claude.

For some reason, that gave Felix a sense of accomplishment.

“Did you really like the croissants?” She asked, her hands fidgeting with the paper bag.

Felix nodded, taking another bite of the croissant as ‘proof’. “Claude wasn’t joking when he said that she made them fluffier than the clouds. I’ll have to buy them for Mother sometime.”

A small smile graced her lips. “I’m glad you like them.”

Felix offered a small smile in return. “Yes, me too.”

After Agreste’s visit earlier in the week, Marinette had been rather stressed. He noticed her looking over her shoulder often, checking windows before exiting buildings, spacing out during classes.. It was obvious that the encounter had unnerved her.

He tried to ease her mind by rallying the trio to help. They recognized her sudden anxiety as well, and although Felix couldn’t tell them the exact reason, he hinted at it possibly being the usual nervousness of their first round of tests that was coming up. This caused them to swarm Marinette for study dates and extra lunches, asking questions about different subjects while they walked her to her locker or to her classes. When this strategy failed- which wasn’t often -Felix would also offer to accompany her.

If she suspected his involvement in the extra attention, she didn’t show it, but she did relax after a few days of the special treatment. Felix took that as a success.

Marinette and Felix caught up with the rest of the group a few seconds later, and they all entered the aquarium together. Another shiver ran over Felix as they walked inside, the warmth of the building washing over him. He would have smiled with relief had it not been for the amount of people pushing against them. Despite the aquarium opening a little less than twenty minutes ago, people of all ages were already piling inside. Adults, teenagers, kids.. Felix supposed this was the price they paid for visiting on a Sunday.

“Everyone stay together!” Allegra instructed over the noise. She grabbed onto Felix’s wrist and Allan’s hand for emphasis. “We don’t want to get separated before we even pay for our tickets.”

Although it irked him for Allegra to be latching onto his wrist, Felix didn’t argue. Past experiences with the trio have made him well aware of how easy it was to get separated in a rushing crowd like this.

They weaved through the giddy schoolgirls and the tired parents until they found a steady line for the ticket both. There, they talked about which attractions to see first and which ones to save for later.

“I think we should just walk through.” Claude said, unsurprisingly. He was never one for order. “It’ll be easier if we just go.”

“But if we don’t have a plan, we’ll never get through it all.” Allegra pointed out. “It doesn’t have to be strict. We just need a vague goal to work towards.”

“We could start with the jellyfish?” Marinette suggested. “Those are always cool.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Allan agreed. “Then we could start working our way around to the shark tank. I say we save it for last since it’s the main reason we came.”

Claude let out a small whine. “Aw, what? Why would we wait till the end to see it if it’s the reason we came?”

“Come on, Claude, you know how the saying goes.” Allegra commented, flicking Claude on the shoulder. “Save the best for last.”

Claude grabbed his shoulder, even though the flick hardly hurt. “I never understood that expression.”

Allegra rolled her eyes with a smile and turned back to the group. “Are we all in agreement then? Start with the jellyfish and move to the sharks?”

“Works for me.” Allan shrugged.

“I don’t have a preference.” Felix stated, not that his opinion would matter much to anyone but Marinette.

With a (somewhat) solid plan, the group purchased their tickets and merged with the flow of the people to get to the main part of the aquarium. The first item on the list, aside from seeing Jellyfish, was to find lockers or another place to put their winter coats and gloves. Felix didn’t fancy the cold, but melting in a packed building also wasn’t preferable.

Allegra still held onto his wrist as they searched, but that didn’t stop the people around them from shoving and prodding to get through first. Felix jostled about, a scowl quickly forming on his lips after getting hit for the fifth time. How can it be so rowdy during the thirty minutes? Goodness knows what’s going to happen when more people start arriving! Why did he even agree to come here?

A gasp cut through the white noise of the crowd, and Claude called out Marinette’s name as she rushed forward.

She stopped in front of the jellyfish tank they came upon and pressed her gloved hands to the glass, smile bright and eyes sparkling with awe. The jellyfish circled in the water with the current, glowing blue and purple and pink under the aquarium lights.

A laugh of pure delight escaped Marinette, and she glanced over her shoulder at them. “Do you see how many there are? This is so neat!”

The sheer giddiness of her voice caused another smile to crawl onto Felix’s lips. Ah, yes. He remembered why he quickly relented to the aquarium visit. It was the first time Marinette had personally invited him to something, and he didn’t want to upset her if he fought against the activities as he usually did. After all, what thanks would that be to someone who constantly tries to keep him comfortable and respect his boundaries?

“Yeah, they look amazing!” Allegra grinned, tugging Felix and Allan forward to follow the ravenette.

Felix followed with a slight glare. He knew that holding onto each other was for the best, but-

Another person slammed into his shoulder, and Felix full on growled at them as they walked off like nothing happened.

-but perhaps the next time he feels the need to repay Marinette’s kindness, he should simply send a ‘thank you’ letter instead.

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#felinette #Felix Culpa #Quantic Kids #New Girl on the Block #Rosemary AU #Marinette

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luxekook · 4 years

Text

chapter three.

⇥ pairing: ot7 x reader (insert gif of elmo with flames behind him here)

⇥ genre: college au with fluff, smut & angst

⇥ summary: a series in which the reader meets (and falls for) seven members of the Beta Tau Sigma (BTS) fraternity

⇥ word count: 2.3k

⇥ warnings: 18+, cursing, dirty talk, jimin propositions the reader accidentally, taehyung is a menace, noona kink jumps out A LOT, chaotic ot7, talk of poly relationships, overall kinda smut free (the next chapter should quench fuel your thirst)

Chapter Three

“It means that we’re going to date the shit out of you.”

We’re going to date the shit out of you.

We’re. Going. To. Date. The. Shit. Out. Of. You.

Those words play on a constant loop in my head for the rest of the week. After Namjoon had dropped that bombshell on me, I’d kind of freaked the fuck out, faked an immediate illness, and ran at full speed.

When I had told Luna about it later that night, she had been just as shook as me. Surprisingly enough, she had also given her full support of whatever I decided to do but “would have her banana slicer on standby and would order six more if need be”.

It appears that she had drunk-ordered a banana slicer off Amazon when the last boy she talked to pissed her off. I had apparently drunk-approved the decision. Rad.

Jenni’s reaction had been even better. We’d been in the library on Monday and her screech of “he said what!?” had led to multiple events:

An abundance of shushes from every student within a 50-yard radius

Her continued rant: “Your own personal harem! Can you say goals? Maybe I should infiltrate EXO and collect my own...”

Us getting kicked out by our ancient librarian

For the rest of the week, I had Luna and Jenni both giving me shit about the BTS boys. It had helped that I hadn’t run into them at all on campus between classes. But I had known it wouldn’t be long before my luck would run out...

Quinn Library – 2:31pm

Typically, I don’t spend my Friday afternoons deep within the stacks of the library’s quiet floor. Yet, here I sit typing frantically due to my incapability to stop procrastinating. My fingers fly over the keys of my aging MacBook in hopes that whatever spur of productivity I had going on is captured in its fullest.

General education classes could burn in the pits of hell as far as I'm concerned. If I wanted to be a psychiatrist, why did I have to take – and pay for – an art elective that I would likely never utilize in the workforce? Plus, the only class within the category that fit my schedule ended up being “Writing About Dance”.

Yeah, I’m still a tad bitter, but in all honesty the class isn’t that bad so far. It mainly consists of watching different dance performances and learning how to write about them in different styles.

Today’s assignment is to write critical commentary on videos of the university’s dance team that the professor provided for us. Sighing, I finish my review of the second to last dance video provided by the professor, take a quick second to stretch, and then open the link to the last video on the assignment page.

“Park Jimin – Final Performance Solo, Spring 2019”

Slack-jawed, I fall into wonder as Jimin moves through his routine flawlessly. He dances like it’s easier than walking to him. His movements are somehow precise and fluid all at once. I barely realize a few tears have run down my cheeks until the video cuts off, signaling the end of Jimin’s performance.

Jesus, (y/n), get it together. I laugh lightly as I dig in my backpack for a tissue. How could I possibly capture the ethereal beauty that Jimin exuded into words? Am I even worthy of commenting on such exquisiteness?

Definitely fucking not. And before I can second guess myself, I type: “Park Jimin is art in its purest form. Watching him dance is like watching the sun rise over the ocean – raw beauty accompanied by the hopes brought with a new day. His performance left me wanting for nothing except an encore.”

Boom. Submit Assignment.

As my email pings with the confirmation that my assignment is turned in, my eyes widen in realization. Park Jimin of BTS is a dance god, and he – allegedly – wants to date me? That is just ridiculously unfathomable.

Namjoon must be off his rocker.

Closing my laptop, my phone suddenly vibrates with an incoming notification from snapchat...

President_RM has added you!

Before I can even comprehend the absurdity of Namjoon adding me, my phone bursts into a series of buzzes. Cursing, I switch my phone to silent and check my screen.

minsuga93 has added you!

jhopeworld_ has added you!

handsomeJIN has added you!

JKookie97 has added you!

vantae_BTS has added you!

95jiminie has added you!

Are they serious? How did they even get my SnapChat username?

vantae_BTS has added you to a chat!

Curiosity wins out over aggravation as I swipe to open the chat.

Heart pounding, I fight the urge to chuck my phone into the depths of the bookcases winding around the room. What did those idiots want with me?

(y/n) & Luna’s Apartment – 9:45pm

“What do those idiots want with me?” the decibel my voice has risen to is shocking even to my ears.

Luna cringes, accordingly, “I can’t tell if that’s a rhetorical question...”

I steamroll onwards, “And don’t even get me started on how they could have even gotten my snapchat. It’s a complete invasion of privacy!”

“You could just ask them,” Jenni’s voice cuts through my rambling tirade.

I pause, “No, I couldn’t—”

...Or could I?

Turning on my heel, I rush into my room and head straight for my closet. Grabbing the nearest sweatshirt and pair of leggings, I tug them on and then grab my keys from my nightstand.

Whirling back into the living room, I storm past a dumbfounded Luna and Jenni, “Be right back.”

Opening the apartment door, Luna shouts, “Wait! Where are you going? You’re not even wearing shoes!”

Whoops. I glance at my feet and note that she is, in fact, correct.

Jenni bounds over to me holding my Doc Martens, “Here, babe. You’re going to the BTS house, aren’t you?”

I nod grimly and salute my two best friends as if I'm going into battle. “I won’t be long. I just have a small errand to run.”

“Well, you’re not going alone,” Luna declares, pulling on her sneakers.

Jenni snorts and shoves her feet into her beat-up Converse, “No way am I missing out on this action.”

As we head out the door, I link arms with Luna and Jenni, “Have I mentioned I love you both recently?”

“Right back at you, bitch,” Luna laughs.

Greek Row – 10:17pm

Ten minutes later, we reach Greek Row. Fraternity and sorority houses dot the street on both sides. Personally, I think of this street as home to the chaotic rich, and I tend to avoid it at all costs – except tonight.

The line to get into BTS is so long it wraps around the block. Students dressed in the latest fashions converse as they wait, huddling together in their groups. I glance down at my outfit of a worn university hoodie and leggings.

“Well, shit. We’re underdressed, huh,” Jenni deadpans, causing all three of us to burst into laughter, “Do you think they put you on the list, (y/n)?”

Pondering that thought, I shrug, “Maybe,” and begin marching past the line of waiting students towards the front door of BTS, “But I sure as fuck am not waiting in that line.”

“Hey, there’s a line here!”

“Yo, bitches! What are you doing?”

“What the fuck?”

Paying the hecklers no mind, I saunter right up to the BTS pledges guarding the door, “Hi, I need to talk to Kim Namjoon.”

The pledge on the right rakes his gaze over me incredulously and then makes the same assessment of Luna and Jenni, “You know this is a party, right?”

I don’t deem that comment worthy of a response and instead cross my arms over my chest. He shrinks under the collective glare of me, Luna and Jenni.

The pledge on the left awkwardly clears his throat, “Names, please?”

My answer barely escapes my lips before the pledges visibly straighten, looking at me with new eyes, “You’re (y/n)? Why didn’t you just say so?”

And before I can answer, the front door swings open for us.

People are everywhere. A haze of smoke looms in the air, and rap music blares from the speakers. The bass is turned up so loud that the beat seems to take over the rhythm of my pulse. That cannot be healthy.

Turning to my friends, I do my best to communicate, shouting, “I’m going to find them! Are you going to be here?”

Luna and Jenni exchange a look and nod. Jenni shouts back, “We’re going to get some drinks. Might as well capitalize on free booze! Text us when you’re ready to go.”

And with that, we part ways.

Maneuvering around the sea of gyrating bodies in the main living room area, I scan around for any signs of my seven menaces.

“Do my eyes deceive me? Or is that my future wife?” The deep voice booms from behind me.

I sigh, recognizing the voice, and turn around.

Kim Taehyung is striding towards me with his arms outstretched, smiling like the damned fool he is and looking like he just stepped off the runway for Gucci. “Come to daddy.”

An idea forms. I smile sweetly and walk to meet Taehyung halfway. His boxy grin widens and just as he thinks I'm going to let him wrap his arms around me, I grab him by the ear.

“Ouch!” He cries, “Devil-woman!”

Ignoring him, I drag him behind me towards the stairs.

“If you wanted to get me alone, you could have just asked—OW!”

My hold on his ear tightens as we arrive on the second-floor landing, “Where are your brothers?”

“I don’t know, n-noona!” Somehow the honorific coming from Tae sounds divine, but I file that thought away for another time.

Removing my hold, I corner him against the wall of the hallway, “Okay, Kim, here’s what is going to happen. You’re going to point me in the direction of your room, go find your six idiot brothers, and then report back here so I can finally understand what the fuck is going on. Got it?”

My chest heaves as my directions conclude and I realize how close together we are. Taehyung stares at me with an indecipherable expression before breaking into a slow smile, “Noona is bossy.”

“Noona is going to shove her foot up your ass if you don’t get moving,” I growl.

“Kinky,” he laughs, backing away from me and my brewing anger, “Last door on the left is my room. I’ll be back with the six idiots.”

As he thumps back down the steps, I close my eyes and count to ten, trying to steel my nerves and rein in my anger. When I open them, my eyes are met with the amused gaze of Min Yoongi.

Slapping a hand to my heart, I wait for my pulse to settle from being scared out of my wits, “Motherfuck—how did you even move that silently?”

“It’s a skill,” Yoongi drawls, nodding towards to end of the hall, “So, group meeting in Tae’s room?”

Shooting him the best side-eye I can muster, I stalk past him, steadfastly ignoring the chuckles and light footfalls that follow behind me.

Throwing open the door which Taehyung indicated was to his room, I pause, taking in the horde of photos and art taped to the four walls. The light blue wallpaper barely peeks through the absolute massive amount of artwork.

“It’s overwhelming at first, isn’t it?” An angelic voice shyly breaks through my reverie, “Tae likes to collect pictures and things he finds beautiful.”

“Ah, so that’s why we’re friends.” The joke is followed by a laugh that can only be compared to the sound of a windshield wiper squeakily moving back and forth.

I shift my eyes from Taehyung’s walls and onto the two newcomers – Park Jimin and Kim Seokjin.

Meeting Seokjin’s gaze first, I cannot help but agree that he is a very, very beautiful man. With pushed back dark hair, mischievous brown eyes and impossibly broad shoulders, Seokjin can easily be mistaken for an idol. And, oh fuck, I’m still staring.

Shooting my eyes back up to his, I crinkle my nose at his shit-eating grin. Before he can even comment, I turn and lock eyes with Jimin.

“Your dancing is gorgeous,” I blurt out and immediately want to crawl under a rock and live out the rest of my life as Patrick Star.

Yoongi and Seokjin are cackling as Jimin’s face lights up at my embarrassing compliment, “You really think so?”

“There's no shutting him up now,” Yoongi is in tears, “Watch out, (y/n). Jimin loves his fans.”

“Shut up, Yoongi-hyung!”

Jimin looks ready to swing, but luckily Taehyung chooses the right moment to return, “What have we missed? Why is Jiminie about to fight Yoongi? I’ll put $10 on hyung.”

Gasping in betrayal, Jimin sits on the edge of Tae’s bed and pouts.

The rest of the boys file in behind Taehyung as he flops down onto his bed and reclines like he doesn’t have a care in the world.

“Hi, (y/n). Good to see you again. I’m glad you’re here,” Namjoon greets me with a slight bow, a crooked smile and wicked eyes.

He’s followed closely by Jung Hoseok, the only BTS boy I hadn’t met thus far, “(y/n)! It’s so nice to meet you in person! Wow, you look so pretty tonight!”

“Noona always looks pretty,” Jungkook cuts in, throwing an arm around Hoseok’s shoulder, “She’s bae.”

A collective groan arises from the rest of the boys. “Sit your ass down, JK,” Yoongi grumbles, “(y/n)’s going to break up with us before we even start dating.”

“Dating—!” I break off that train of thought. Other matters need to be attended to first, “No, I didn’t come here tonight to say ‘hi’ or to be your ‘bae’. I came here to get answers.”

I take my time making eye contact with each boy.

Taehyung is still spread out on his bed and Jimin has now joined him. Seokjin, Hoseok and Jungkook are sprawled out on the floor at the foot of the bed, while Namjoon and Yoongi slouch against the opposite wall of the bedroom facing me.

“Alright,” Namjoon lifts his chin, meeting my stare head on, “What do you want to know?”

a/n: sorry for the cliffhanger, hehe. i wanted to get something up for y’all! hopefully next chapter won’t take too long to finish/edit :)

taglist:

@hazeljrz @sessi03 @catsandstrawberries @h5naaa @meowmeowyoongles@leftflowerprunedonut @rjsmochii @athletes-of-god @karissassirak @weallhavesecretsinthebestway @cvbachacbitch @bewitch3dforivar @honeyspillings @xxonyxpearlxx @fivesecondsofsarang @oii-f-eli-x2 @joonsroses @theevilyouknow @jooniescupcakes @expensive-grl @i-dont-even-know-fck @doingmybestalltheftime @elraeee @fangirling-all-the-way-tbh @laced-brds @aokay1010 @breeeeh17 @lpayne612 @peachyharmoney @rilakoya @chulchuchi @tabula-rasa0 @guccishookv @nomimits7 @i-like-puppy-mg @s-noir @anna-sorel @valiantcollectorofsandwiches @cage7241

blogs that wouldn’t let me tag them for some reason:

@awkwardhumambean

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raddifferent · 3 years

Text

I'm late but I'm in the middle of switching jobs so who cares! Here's Day Two of @rosemarymonth2021: Fantasy! This is Chapter 1; Chapter 2 will double as the Chapter 4 prompt because I want to finish this fic rather than do medieval with no fantasy elements. It's my writing project and I make the rules!!

Anyways, as usual the link will be in the replies and the fic is below the cut!

The esteemed Duchess Lepidopterina Dolorosa of the House Maryam, Baroness of the Misted Isles, Devotee of the Midnight Spiral, and Serene Lady of the Obsidian Blade, first of her name, was having a bit of a shit day. As some of her many fancy titles would suggest, she was an adept swordswoman, and she had been honored to be invited to the wedding of Duke Egbert’s daughter. She was more familiar with Lady Egbert than her betrothed, another Duchess of the Troll kingdom, despite being a troll herself. That was one of the side effects of spending an inordinate amount of time in the borderlands fighting off the blasted undead, as she found herself doing now.

Her traveling party had been journeying through the Cresting Mountains for a fortnight now, having crossed the mountain peaks worn oddly smooth by some ancient ocean and cracked in half on their tectonic ascent. The scraggly pines of its forests were dense in places and opened into large clearings in others, creating an unpredictable landscape full of pockets of zombies. Three of the party had fallen when the undead felled their horses, and she’d lost sight of the other two of her companions when the pack had separated them. Now, she fought the beasts alone.

Kanaya raised a shining hand, turning some of the undead near herself. She had a moment to catch her breath and assess the situation. A crowd of about fifteen undead humans and trolls had her backed against the base of a thick pine. At her feet lay a pile of bodies twenty-strong. Her black leather boots were shiny with rotting ichor, and splashes of guts, grime, and gore adorned her oiled outerwear. The Duchess twirled her twin blades, each a deep, midnight indigo sparkling with obsidian glitter, and also with a little magic. Her hands were covered with snugly-fit leather gloves, but beneath the animal hide Kanaya knew the sigils of the Church of the Midnight Spiral gleamed on the backs of her hands. Indeed, her skin itself glowed from the inside, although that was more of a side effect of being a Blessed Resurrectionist. Kanaya lived thirty five years, and died, and was brought back by The Bright Light in the Dark Sky to walk again some fifty more years. Those outside the Church would call her another, luckier undead. A vampire.

Her groaning, festering foes began to clamber close enough to swipe at her again. Kanaya whirled and sliced, removing limbs and heads as the undead shuffled within her reach. Eight more fell, leaving seven standing. Kanaya tried to wipe a smear of viscera from her face, but she feared the back of her sleeve only made the mess worse. She was breathing heavily. The dampness on her boots and the height of the bodies was beginning to impede her. She needed to reach high ground, and soon.

Just then, a golden light shone from deeper in the woods surrounding this clearing. Kanaya jumped to the side just as a zombie swiped at her head, leaving her in the perfect position to see a glowing arrow pin her assailant’s head to a tree. There must have only been one archer aiding her, as only one or two arrows came at a time, but they still landed more rapidly than Kanaya’s own battle maidens could achieve. In seconds, the battle had ended.

Still breathing heavily, Kanaya attempted to wipe her blades off on her jacket before sheathing them. She began to walk towards where the arrows had been coming from.

Kanaya was met at the edge of the clearing by a figure in a deep purple cloak. Her skin was a deeper, redder brown than Kanaya’s own, set in sharp contrast to their white-blond hair. Kanaya met her startlingly purple eyes, which were bright, intelligent, and a little mischievous. She had a golden lip ring down the center of her mouth, and a thin golden chain as a choker. Her clothing was modest but fine, Kanaya’s keen eye picking out expensive brocade in the shirt.

“To whom do I owe thanks for such gracious assistance?” Kanaya offered when the stranger did not speak.

The stranger spoke in a slightly raspy voice with a short, clipped affect. “Arrows rained upon your general area moments before, and yet you walk towards a potential source of danger? Moments after your own life was at risk? You must either be assured of your skill, or very stupid.”

“I like to think I am the former, although there is always time to prove the latter.”

The stranger smiled. “You think it is inevitable you will be proven unintelligent?”

“I find it imprudent to assume one will never make a mistake.”

The stranger raised an eyebrow, the corners of her mouth quirking upwards. “Ah, a pragmatist. We may get along yet.”

Kanaya pursed her lips. “I find I get along with people much better if we have something to call each other by.”

“You would still like my name, then.” It wasn’t a question. They seemed to be hesitating. “I suppose you can call me Briar,” she said with a wry smile. “I’m just a traveler in these woods. There’s nothing I have to claim that involves fanfare.”

Politely, Kanaya did not mention the clearly magical bow, or the fine clothing. “I do have a bit of a fancy title, but I think it best not to rattle off the entire thing. Suffice it to say that you can call me Kanaya.” Hopefully, her rescuer would be equally polite about her weaponry and dress.

“May I ask where you’re headed? I wouldn’t mind some company, and you certainly seem like you need the assistance.” The last was delivered with a smirk, which Kanaya bristled a little at.

“I have been traveling with several others, thank you; we just found ourselves separated after that large group of undead descended onto us. I had almost dispatched all of them when you arrived.” She made a sweeping gesture back towards the not-immodest pile of re-deceased zombies surrounding the tree she had been up against.

Briar smirked harder. “So my assistance is not desired?”

“No, that is not-” Kanaya broke off her objection with a huff as Briar began to laugh. “I would, actually, quite like your help locating my companions. However, I would like to know why you would want to help me. You seem to be taking great pleasure in needling me about needing it.”

The other traveler sobered slightly. “I just know what it’s like to be traveling alone, and the drudgery of not having someone to talk to, no stories to tell around the fire or on the road. It can be better to group up, even temporarily, just to kill the boredom.”

“Did you lose a companion recently as well?” Kanaya blurted.

Briar raised a thin eyebrow. “Not recently, as it were. But yes, I have previously parted ways with those whom I enjoyed sharing a story or three.”

“I would be happy to share tales with you, stranger. My companions would likely head towards the closest inn if they were sure they were separated from me, as that was our next destination. Does that align with your path?”

The other woman smiled. “That it does. When last I consulted my map, the next inn was a half-day’s walk up the road. Shall we?”

As they walked up the road, dappled light gently touched the faces of both travelers. Briar hummed an aimless tune, kicking up dead, brown leaves. They traveled in silence for quite some time, neither quite willing to speak up after such an abrupt introduction. About an hour into the walk, Kanaya opened her mouth and was about to begin some sort of small talk about the weather when they reached the top of a hill. Below them, the trees opened up to reveal a path curving down and around a small, ruined stone structure. What had previously been a large castle town now lay in disarray, the abbey wall crumbling and holding nothing at bay. The peasant houses must have been constructed of wood, as all but their foundations had long rotted away. All that remained was a small stone castle with a single, thin spire reaching high into the sky. Small was relative; the property would have held a baron comfortably in his keep with acres of holdings, but from the vantage point it felt like a child’s plaything.

“Well, that certainly looks interesting.” Briar broke the silence with a chuckle.

Kanaya did have to agree. Ruins such as this one, so deep in the woods, were possibly undisturbed, and might have strange and magical treasures hidden within. At the very least, there would be a few monsters to kill, and get some of her frustrations out. “We should explore it. There is still light in the sky.”

Briar’s smile faded slightly. “You know, I grew up not too far from here. When I was a little girl, we were told a tale in whispers. It was the sort of fairy tale that adults would laugh off, but forbid you from speaking about ever again. Would you like to hear it?”

“Right now?” Kanaya asked, the question coming out more incredulously than she intended. “While we’re stopped in the middle of the road?”

The smile was back. “I can walk and weave words, miss.”

“Well then, far be it from me than to stop you.”

“A long, long time ago, a young king killed what he thought was the last dragon in his lands. His fields were free from fiery terror, and his people lived prosperously for three decades. One day, a winged shadow drew over the land again, smaller than the scourge that had last plagued the land, but still enough to wreak havoc. One dragon spawn had survived, and had lived long enough to exact its revenge.”

Briar stopped to hop over a river, holding out an arm to steady Kanaya as she crossed. Her hands were warm, heat thrumming through Kanaya’s thick gear to her palm where she clasped Briar’s. She let go, and they continued. Kanaya’s hand felt cold.

“The dragon landed on the top of the castle of the now-middle-aged king, and told the king that he would leave the lands be, if only the king would offer his daughter. One life in exchange for the kingdom’s safety.”

Kanaya laughed grimly. “I suppose it was an easy deal to make with the dragon staring him down.”

“I suppose it was,” Briar replied. “He brought his daughter to be scooped up in the dragon’s claws and carried away. The kingdom was quiet and safe for another thirty years, until the king’s son had borne an heir and several daughters, and a new ruler was crowned. The dragon once again flew across the land, and once again sat atop the tower and demanded a companion. Every three decades, the dragon would return, larger than before, and more imposing.”

“And how long ago was the last time the dragon came to the land?” Kanaya asked, playing along.

“Well, that’s just the thing.” Briar held a branch up so Kanaya could pass under it. “The dragon hasn’t been sighted in over fifty years.”

“Do you know why?”

The first crumbling pieces of stone that formerly lined the road to the castle began to rise up from the sides of the road. “No one knows. Some of the bravest in our village once described traveling deep into the woods and seeing a castle with a tall tower, a sleeping monster curled around the top.”

Kanaya squinted ahead, trying to spot the castle. “Did you put much stock in their tales?”

“When I was younger? Not really. Now? Also no, not really. I think if a dragon had a castle, he’d sleep inside of it, not on top.”

Involuntarily, Kanaya burst out laughing. “That’s your justification for why they’re wrong? Not that your country doesn’t have a history of missing princesses, or that you happened to live close enough to the dragon’s castle to find it, but not so close that it bothers you?”

Briar put her hands on her hips. “Would you sleep out in the rain and the cold if you had the option not to?”

“I make a habit not to when I have the choice,” Kanaya ceded.

“Then you admit there’s some logic to what I say,” Briar smirked felinely.

Kanaya rolled her eyes, smiling. “Begrudgingly. At any rate, there was no dragon on that tower when we saw it from above.”

“No,” Briar said. “There wasn’t.”

#rosemarymonth2021 #rosemary #rose lalonde #kanaya maryam #homestuck #homestuck fanfiction #homestuck fic #lesbian #lesbian fic #rosemary month #bucky writes

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muyurei · 3 years

Text

Cultural Relics Are Not To Be Messed With – Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Guanghe Underworld Criminal Organization

sorry for the slow pace of translations 🙇‍♀️ here’s chapter two!

There is a high chance that Dong Mingbo’s already heard of the demon knife Qi Chen had spoken about, probably because despite being the middle-aged man he is, his heart is yet to be diminished and is still full of desire for thrill and vitality, so he looked for and then collected a knife that looked demonic enough in itself and even named it as such. Besides this possibility, this knife could have also been commissioned with the purpose of replicating Long Ya, or the Dragon Tooth knife, and in the need to make it look as realistic as possible, it was also broken and made to look as though it was the real deal with how it’s being restored.

Of course, it wasn’t as though Qi Chen was silly enough to go ahead and ask these questions, so he left his inner thoughts alone and went out of the office, not forgetting to heed to Dong Mingbo’s request of closing the door. He then went downstairs and returned to his workshop.

Guanghe Company’s number of employees was very limited in number. In the two days Qi Chen has spent working here, he’s only seen around a dozen to twenty people, most of them gathered in the large, open office room located on the second floor of Building A. On one side of the office, there were floor-to-ceiling windows that gave the room a lot of light. There were even potted plants arranged near them in an organized manner. Up ahead, there was a semi-open office room only separated from the outside by a translucent glass door, only a little smaller in size. This was the place where the leaders of each team and department in the office stayed in, in which around seven or eight office tables were placed inside.

When Qi Chen came to report in the first say he went here, it was very fortunate for him that the tables in that office were labeled with name plates indicating who occupied that spot, making it easier to navigate around, all of which were likely put up by the respective owners of those office tables. However, there was one unoccupied table among those. It was empty, and it didn’t have a name plate.

Conveniently, at that moment, there was a girl who was a member of the company’s human resources personnel. She pointed at the empty table and told him: “Originally, this was supposed to be where the deputy leader of the executive team sits, but he had been heavily injured the last time he was out on a business trip. He’s been stuck in a comatose for about two or three years now, so the table was emptied and the computer was restarted. It’s very much alright to occupy the table now, though, so don’t worry too much about anything regarding transferring to a new work place.”

Qi Chen: “...Wait just a moment! What do you mean by ‘heavily injured on a business trip and was rendered comatose for two to three years’? What exactly...?”

The girl thought about it for a moment, then replied: “You call it... vegetative state, was it? The word’s vegetative, right? Ah, whatever. He just doesn’t respond or move anymore, like this–” She then rolled her eyes back and tilted her head, showing him an expression of someone who had hemiplegia for a few seconds.

Qi Chen: “...”

“You get that?” The girl returned to her normal appearance. She patted Qi Chen’s shoulder and then added: “That’s not the main point I have here, though. Honestly speaking, you seem all delicate skin and tender flesh there, so I’d kindly like to remind you of something... do you see that desk behind you?”

Qi Chen really wanted to know how the quiet-looking, small-staff girl managed to speak with the atmosphere like that of a White-Bone Demon*, but he pushed this thought down and turned behind him to look at the desk as she told him to. He was greeted with the sight of a frosted acrylic name plate attached to the desk – Executive Team Leader • Long.

(*t/n: white-bone demon, a character from journey to the west. see: https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Baigujing. in modern business terms though, it refers to women in powerful positions. think of it as though hr girl is speaking with the voice of someone who you’d expect would be the ceo of the place)

“...Ah, a code name?” His mouth twitched as he looked at the single Chinese character that literally meant ‘dragon’.

HR girl shook her head. “No, he really is surnamed Long.”

In the company, workers often had name plates on their desks, usually containing their position, the team or section that they work in, and their full name for easy and convenient identification. For instance, this table in front of Qi Chen had a name plate with Supervisory Team Leader • Hu Yi engraved on it, just like how the usual pattern of name plates in the company go. This person, however, only had their surname engraved on their name plate, which was rather unusual, but other than that, there didn’t seem to be anything else on the desk that seemed strange. Because of this, Qi Chen wondered: Is there something wrong with this team leader?

It was lunchtime, which meant there weren’t any people in the office, so the HR girl didn’t hold back at all in her talking. She pinched her thumb and index finger together, leaving just a little bit of space between them, and said: “Executive Team Leader Long has a... slightly bad temper, so to say. Don’t try to make any mistakes that might provoke him, alright?”

However, despite two days having passed since he first worked here, Qi Chen was unable to see this slightly bad-tempered executive team leader. It was said that he had gone on a business trip, and his return date hasn’t been determined yet. Qi Chen didn’t take the warning too seriously – the executive team and the logistics team are, after all, different from each other. He’ll just have to be careful when it comes to interacting with other teams, especially with their leaders.

He recorded today’s work – the restoration of the Dragon Tooth knife earlier in the morning – into the work log, then looked at the time, only to see that it was time for lunch. Qi Chen had just clicked save when he felt as though the computer screen suddenly bugged out, and a quick, blinding glare from outside the window flashed before his eyes. He blinked, then turned his head to look at the glass of water on the table. It was half-full, and the water inside of it seemed to be shaking, though it wasn’t very obvious unless it was looked at closely. Soon, it stopped, returning back to normal.

“Earthquake...?” Qi Chen muttered below his breath. He couldn’t help but look up – he felt as though there was some slight movement coming from upstairs just now.

Regardless of whether it was an earthquake or something that was being heavily moved upstairs, it had gone by in the blink of an eye. Qi Chen glanced at the ceiling for a second time and then withdrew his gaze, not thinking much of it.

The people in the company was very precise with their mealtimes – they were never too early or too late when it comes to coming and going about with their food. Naturally, Qi Chen always felt that eating was a delight, so after cleaning up his work table, he took out his phone and his wallet, and then he walked out. Behind him, a small, thin, dark-skinned man also proceeded to walk out, looking down at his phone at the same time.

Because of this, the following events happened:

As they walked out of the building, Qi Chen saw a tall figure emerging from the side, who was just about to enter through the door. Before they could accidentally bump into each other, Qi Chen and the tall man were able to stop walking for a moment.

Qi Chen was secretly celebrating in his heart that he managed to avoid an ‘accident gone bad’ when the man who was fiddling with his phone behind him suddenly ran into Qi Chen.

Thump! Qi Chen was then knocked forward and his forehead hit the tall man’s chin.

Qi Chen: “...”

The man hissed and took a step back, holding his jaw in his hand. “Do you even know how to walk?! Just going around with your eyes closed, aren’t you?”

“Sorry.” Qi Chen rubbed his forehead, thinking to himself, I really did just get shot while I was lying down, didn’t I.

(t/n: to get shot at while lying down = to get berated/scolded despite having done nothing on purpose)

He stepped aside to move out of the man’s way, and only then did he notice that the man was holding a cup of coffee in his other hand. However, he probably had to dispose of it soon, considering that the coffee had splashed out just a bit. Not on Qi Chen’s body, though – on the man’s hand, and his iron gray trousers.

“Lao, Lao, Lao– Boss?! Why are you here?!” The little dark-skinned man poked out his head from behind Qi Chen. Seeing the person who they had bumped into, he couldn’t help but stutter and call out weakly, only to end up shrinking back behind Qi Chen.

Qi Chen, who had somehow became a human-shaped shield: “...”

The man was wearing a light gray dress shirt, very akin to the color of smoke, and it looked as though it had been carefully tailored to fit his body – broad-shouldered and long-legged, tall and lean; it made him look very respectable and serious*. If he didn’t have that annoyed expression on his face, he would’ve definitely left an excellent impression on Qi Chen, 100% at that. He couldn’t see the man who was cowering behind Qi Chen, so Qi Chen had to bear the brunt of his scowl. “Am I not allowed here? Would you rather that I’m not?”

(t/n: literally, he looked like a dog. someone who looks upright and dignified but actually has an unpleasant attitude)

The little man paused and thought back to what he said. After thinking about it, he felt as though he really did just sound rather rude earlier, so he poked his head out from behind Qi Chen again and said, “Boss, why come back just now! We missed you to death!”

Qi Chen: “...” What an ever-loyal dog!

(t/n: literally, what a big dog leg. refers to disciples who’d follow their masters around. may or may not be a reference to the “looked like a dog” part in the previous sentences)

However, the man ignored the little man’s buttery words. Instead, he turned to Qi Chen and sized him up with a disdainful expression on his face. He muttered a few words, though because his voice was too low and quiet, Qi Chen only caught wind of the word ‘knife’ and nothing else.

“Ah, by the way boss, just earlier, my head was lowered down because I was scrolling through Weibo... I wasn’t able to see where I was going, so I knocked into him, which resulted to the two of you bumping into each other...” The little man’s voice kept getting quieter and quieter, and while it was evident he was scared, he didn’t forget to clear Qi Chen’s name to his boss.

Qi Chen didn’t mind too much, in all honesty, but he felt around his pockets for a pack of tissues, took one out and handed it to the man: “I’ll get you another cup. Please wipe your hands.”

“No need!” Despite his temperament, the man has profoundly handsome features, and was born with good and smooth skin. At this moment, though, he had a deep frown on his face, looking as though everyone around him owed him eight million in cash, and his voice was full of impatience. He didn’t even glare at the real cause of their accident – he continued to look menacingly at Qi Chen, turning over the sleeves of his light gray dress shirt over his wrists twice so the coffee doesn’t seep into the fabric, and he ignored the tissue in Qi Chen’s hand. He passed by Qi Chen’s outstretched arm, taking a long step forward, and continued to walk to the office room meant for the team and department leaders in the company. Before he left, though, he snorted coldly and said: “Is your head made of granite?”

Qi Chen: “...”

How come he’s the only one here getting blown up by this person’s gunpowder?!

(t/n: gunpowder = anger, annoyance, like how ‘exploding in anger’ goes.)

Qi Chen turned his head and saw that the real-life powder keg had already strode in to the small office room, walking straight to the desk that Qi Chen had stood in front of not too long ago, and put down his coffee cup on the table...

This was obviously the company’s legendary “slightly bad-tempered” Executive Team Leader Long.

Slightly... bad-tempered...

Haha.

Qi Chen looked away, putting the tissue paper he took out earlier into the little man’s hand. “Let’s just go eat now.”

The little man froze for a moment, and up and about he went, trailing after Qi Chen.

“Qi Chen?” The little man looked at the ID that Qi Chen had on him, and then warmly said, “Eh? Xiao Chen, I’m so sorry... I really was just fiddling around with my phone and didn’t look at where I was going... I ended up even getting you disciplined... Because of this, let me treat you to lunch to make up for it! What do you want to eat? Do you want to go to the underground–“

“Underground what?” Qi Chen wasn’t very familiar with this particular area in the business district, so he didn’t know where the nice places to eat in were. However, he does remember that just beyond the traffic light by the company’s gate, there was an underground shopping mall nearby. He thought that that was what the little man had been telling him about, so he nodded and said: “Alright, let’s eat there. I don’t really know my way around here just yet, so I’ll just go with whatever you recommend. Though, it’s really not necessary to treat me. I won’t break or lose anything just by getting scolded by Executive Team Leader Long, so don’t worry about it.”

“About the executive team leader... he sure does have quite the temper, but most of those in business are like that, you know. It’s normal to find someone here who’s that fierce, and it’s not an understatement to say that we’re all pretty afraid of them. I mean, even Supervisory Team Leader Hu doesn’t look very approachable, always standing there with that menacing face... it’s scary. It does make sense, though, given his position in the supervision team.” He followed Qi Chen, telling him the things he knew while gesturing around. “And Ming-jie, you don’t just get to talk to her whenever you want. Most of the time, she gives everyone that glare overflowing with a k*ller’s aura. If the person on the receiving end isn’t used to it, they might just piss their pants out of fear.”

(t/n: jie, literally, sister. sister ming. used to address girls who are older than you.)

Qi Chen: “...”

He walked out of the company area and looked back at the building’s sign with confusion. He asked the little man: “I still know how to read, right?”

The little man: “...”

Qi Chen: “You were talking about the people working in Guanghe Cultural Heritage Conservation Co., Ltd., right?”

The little man: “...”

Qi Chen: “For a moment, I really thought we worked at Guanghe Underworld Criminal Organization.”

The little man: “Sh... Is something not right?”

Qi Chen nodded. “I don’t think anything here is right.”

The little man: “...”

Qi Chen continued to walk towards the underground shopping mall near the traffic light with a solemn expression on his face. The little man immediately caught up to him in two steps, slapping Qi Chen’s back and said: “Wait a moment!”

F*ck! Can a human being even be this strong?!

Qi Chen, who had been ‘patted’ on the back, almost vomited out his kidneys. He looked back at the other man dejectedly and asked: “What?”

The little man replied, “Why are we stepping out of the company?”

“Aren’t we going to the underground mall to eat?” Qi Chen looked puzzled.

The little man took a look at the entrance to the underground mall near them and suddenly remembered that there was indeed a food court inside. “Ah! So you want to eat human food today?”

Qi Chen: “...” What are you even saying!

“Then... what was that underground thing you mentioned earlier?” Qi Chen asked exasperatedly.

The little man turned his head and pointed at the company building. “There’s a cafeteria in the basement floor of our building. You can enter just by swiping your ID.”

“...” The corners of Qi Chen’s mouth twitched. “Do you... usually eat non-human food?”

The little man’s face brightened. “Yes!”

Qi Chen decisively crossed the road. “...No thank you. I think I’ll pass on the company cafeteria for now...”

The little man stood on one side of the road and looked at Qi Chen’s back, muttering to himself: “There’s something wrong here...”

He followed the rope tied to his ID while crossing the road and caught up to Qi Chen in three steps.

The midday sun reflected on the glass windows of the high-rise buildings, the light felt more of a glare to the eyes, blinding anyone who looks. Behind him, there was a heavy traffic, and pedestrians bustled in a stream. When Qi Chen was about to step on the escalator to go to the underground mall, he heard the little man behind him mumble something, and asked him: “Xiao Chen, you wouldn’t happen to be human, would y–“

“AH–!”

Someone let out a shrill shriek not too far from behind them, interrupting the little man’s words. They were both startled, stopping in their tracks and looking back at the commotion. A crowd had formed by the road. Qi Chen didn’t know what happened, only that nothing happened in the road just then. He could vaguely hear a woman crying out loud, and the onlookers let out worried noises.

“I’m not... I... I don’t know how I...”

The words were said rather irregularly in broken stutters, until it didn’t even sound coherent at all.

The author has something to say:

Little theater: Qi Chen: The moment I met you, it felt like eating ☐☐ do you have a grudge against me →_→ Long Ya: You literally filed me all over! Qi Chen: Obviously I had to, it’s not on purpose, but glaring at me and only me, aren’t you afraid that your eyes might fall out →_→ Long Ya: You actually used something so ordinary and stupid as a metal file on me! Qi Chen: File and weld gently my &ss! Long Ya: Now that you’ve mentioned it, you actually f*cking welded me with a welding gun too! Qi Chen: No way to talk properly now [bye bye (t/n: literally, 【手动拜拜. refers to the bye bye hand emoticon on weibo and qq that moves)

Previous | Index | Next

(As of 04/13/21: Edited.)

#cultural relics are not to be messed with #danmei

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phoenixyfriend · 3 years

Text

I am seized by a fatal need for courtroom ninja drama fic

But not serious courtroom drama. I'm talking Phoenix Wright style Nonsense.

(Some of this was provided by the folks over in @sloaners‘ server, but the bulk of it was me spitballing nonsense at people who actually know the games, which I do not. I do paraphrase a few times to make it more feasible as a tumblr post/fic concept, rather than a rapidfire text conversation.)

Or one of those like. Reality TV paternity test things? But specifically in my mind the people involved in the actual paternity are a married couple and someone that joined them to be their third, and Clan Elders are throwing a fit about how the baby might not be the heir by blood! while the actual parents are like "I could not care less, this is our child, all three of us, please stop getting involved."

HashiMitoMada would be a VERY good option for the paternity nonsense, mostly because I can see Madara screeching at his own elders about how he already said Izuna would be his heir and he's not changing his mind!

Tobirama is just begging the paternity test to work faster off-screen because he's the only person with the machines to make it happen.

(Hashirama is just. Moping in a corner.)

"I just had to INVENT a paternity test that works before the birth! I had to figure out how to test amniotic fluid! If you assholes make me do something this stupid on such short notice again, I will be digging some shallow graves!" "...for who?" "I haven't decided yet."

Anyway, jumping back to like a Phoenix Wright-style murder investigation.

The victim was Danzo. Even the prosecution isn't actually that interested in making sure someone gets arrested, but they're legally obligated to do at least try. A bunch of people all acting really suspicious about who killed him. There is at least one shitty fake mustache-on-glasses disguise to provide a paper-thin alibi.

WAIT The other thing this gives us is ninjas in three-piece-suits but half of them wear the suits wrong. I’m talking mismatched buttons. The wrong way of tying their tie. Sewn-on-cufflinks. This is Naruto, for instance.

Tobirama would wear it properly, except he's rushing about in a lab coat, screaming at everyone to get out of his way because he's The Entire Forensics Team.

(This is the part where I have to confess that I have only seen the live-action movie of Phoenix Wright, as I don't game, so I just have the live action and tumblr osmosis.)

At this point, of course, we gotta ask: Who is the most Belligerent Witness And who is the Helpful™️ Witness that's super enthusiastic but entirely useless

I can see, say, Mito being a solid witness that both defense and prosecution are really thankful for.

Modern gen you have like... Sasuke and Neji are both incredibly belligerent witnesses. Neji at least is polite about it but pulls the "only answers with the absolute minimum of information."

Lee and Gai would have the over enthusiasm but forget to say actual vital testimony until pressed, and Naruto would love to help but might not be entirely sure what the case even is.

Shikamaru falls asleep when the lawyers consult their partners. Prosecution A consults Prosecution B for thirty-seven seconds, then turns around and the witness is asleep at the stand.

Tobi (as in Obito with mask) is an incredibly frustrating witness. They have to declare a recess just so all the lawyers can recover their blood pressure. "Can we please get someone up on the stand with this guy as a handler? I'm--I'm going to explode."

Gaara: Helpful. Polite. Answers with detail. Answers the spirit of the question as well as the letter. Includes more detail. That's too much detail. Gaara please stop telling us about the sounds that bones make.

His testimony just drags on forever.

Ninken can and will take the stand! Pakkun even enjoys it! Some ninken require translators.

ABURAME TRANSLATING FOR A RANDOM GIANT CENTIPEDE THAT WITNESSED A MURDER IN THE FOREST OF DEATH

There are arguments about whether or not the testimony can count since nobody else can confirm the translation except Other Aburame so how do they know the Aburame aren't part of the coverup.

"Okay, so this Danzo guy had like fifty shell companies but I think I found the route that leads back to him?" "Nah, that one goes to a guy that died eighty years ago that's still collecting pensions: his family lied and said he was still alive for the money." "Fuck!"

Also I just. I love the idea of Sasuke and Madara being the exact opposite kind of belligerent witness.

Also, Orochimaru answers with pretty much the exact kind of wording as Gaara, but where Gaara is trying to be helpful and provide detail for the sake of the case, and failing to see that it's maybe not necessary, Orochimaru just wants to see people squirm. ...similar thing happens with Sakura and Kabuto. Similar phrasing, very different energy.

I keep picturing all of Team Taka as part of Forensics and Evidence Collecting ajshakshjd

Juugo, holding up a rabbit: I found a witness.

Karin joins forensics and Tobirama nearly weeps from joy until he finds her criminal record "Shit, that was supposed to get thrown out when I turned eighteen."

Tobirama: I asked for an assistant, not a criminal. Karin: I'm on parole. Tobirama: That makes things worse. Karin: I know how to use a [concerningly advanced machine that I, a business major, cannot name]. Tobirama: ...never mind, I'm keeping you.

Karin: I know how to DNA sequence AND use LA-ICP-MS Tobirama: [weeps with joy]

Suigetsu would be great at blood splatter analysis. ...I think I read somewhere that blood spatter analysis is actually over in 'fake science that's pushed by cops and media but actually doesn't work' BUT apparently it’s in the Ace Attorney games so we’re going to ignore reality a bit. We’ve already got dogs and rabbits and centipedes as witnesses, what’s a bit of blood spatter?

He's also probably really good at cause of death stuff? Like looking at corpse and figuring out how long it took the victim to die, which blow did it, whether any damage was inflicted post-mortem, etc.

Sasuke is usually too busy playing Belligerent Witness but sometimes goes to join Taka for... uh... reasons.

Juugo: [takes the stand] Lawyer: Hey, uh, why's that Uchiha guy with him? The witness-- Judge: No, no, we need Uchiha Sasuke on hand when questioning Expert Animal Handler Juugo. Lawyer: ...why? Judge: Property damage.

(Sasuke as a work partner with Juugo, also moonlighting as a witness/suspect in Danzo's murder.)

One time they need Juugo but can't find him even though court is already in session and he said he'd be here, turns out he was lured away by Kakashi's army of dogs. Kakashi didn't notice until he turned to ask Pakkun if he could help find the missing expert.

Juugo is a decent lab assistant, I think?

Anyway.

Tobirama taking on Team Taka as his forensics team while Orochimaru is... hm... traveling the country to promote his new autobiography, which is outselling the newest Icha Icha to Jiraiya's ire.

Sloane suggested “a case where it's all the Sannin as suspects in a murder. They would be THE WORST, say... the murder of Hanzo.”

To which I suggested “The Sannin are all suspects but the people on trial are the Ame trio, maybe?”

Which garnered the response of “It could be a surprise upset IN COURT that the trio should be on trial.”

We love a court upset.

Suigetsu finds out that the cause of death was actually an entirely natural heart attack, but while he was determining this, the rest of the team and the lawyers found like eight conspiracies by Zetsu, three by Danzo, four by Orochimaru, and an entire network of nonsense by Sasori.

INO IS THE PSYCHIC. I know her thing in canon is reading minds but pls. Ino is Maya. The Spirit Medium.

Is the judge: 1. Hiruzen 2. Hashirama 3. Hagoromo 4. Mifune 5. The Daimyou

(Old dude with authority, optionally easily distracted/questionably competent. I'd have gone for impressive facial hair but only Mifune and Hagoromo have more than like... Hiruzen's weird soul patch.)

It's not a soul patch but I don't know what facial hair is called and I can't just call it a goat beard

Response commentary was as follows: The Daimyou would unfortunately be closer to the personality of the ace attorney judge, more blindly agreeing with things that sound good :joy: Hiruzen could be fun if only for the competing facial hair for a beard, yes xD Hagoromo would possibly be most buckwild tho WELCOME TO MOON COURT

I managed to get this far with like... NO idea who the judges were except “IDK maybe Kakashi?” but consider:

...HashiMada rival lawyers

Dropping over to Izuna vs. Touka for when Hashirama and Madara inevitably become suspects of something or other themselves and have to be witnesses.

(Tobirama's too busy running blood tests, Anija, let Touka handle it, she's better at people anyway.)

...Hashirama is like. Marginally more put-together than Madara, right? So that... makes him Edgeworth... somehow... That feels wrong but Madara as Edgeworth feels even more wrong.

Madara is very into screaming OBJECTION

ALSO consider: Friction when a doctor from a nearby hospital gets called in to provide expert testimony on something because Karin is like "no hey I should be the one doing this" and then she sees how cute Sakura is.

But also at some point Kakashi vs. Gai for a nonsense case. Their personalities are both VERY FUN for this sort of thing.

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o5-blackbird · 2 years

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Okay I’m gonna go into more detail about this cause this is still bugging me. Cause different phrasing and a better choice of which information to tell and which to hide could have changed things drastically. This is a recurring trend with many o5s here; not telling us everything is par for the course, we get that, but quite often the bits chosen to be told to us seem to be specifically the bits that make it look as sketchy and morally bankrupt as possible, even if the actual situation doesn’t warrant that. You may have the full context, but we do not. We just have those little chosen pieces you’ve given us. By nature of being human, we will try to relate things we don’t understand to things we do, so we can make a judgement.

An example based on recent events: We could have been told, ‘3 has problem in their programming that causes increased aggression and confusion over time. They have had a system update and they will be out of it for a few days while their system adjusts, but they will return to normal soon’. That is easy to understand. Things went wrong, things are in recovery, and reassurance that things will be okay. We can get that! It’s like when you’re put on new medication. Those first few days are a little funky, but they will pass and things will be okay.

What we got, though, was ‘aggression removed’, ‘made docile’ (extremely bad word combo, by the way), ‘I feel bad but it’s not my business’, and then nothing but denials but refusing to actually explain why we were wrong, meanwhile 3 sitting there looking the most lifeless we have ever seen them. How do you not see how incredibly sketchy that looked?! Getting info that would prove us wrong and settle our worries was like trying to pull teeth! In fact, neither of the o5s did shit! It was the other fucking AI who let us know things would be okay! At any point, either of them could have said ‘hey 3’s low mood is only temporary’, and things would have been better! I’m still mad, cause this was not just us jumping to conclusions as you all seem happy to write it off as! It was also them completely dropping the ball!

[Audio: clip lasting four minutes and six seconds, beginning with a brief pause of silence lasting approximately eight seconds. There are a few similar gaps of silence littered throughout it.]

Blackbird: I… Can understand your frustration. I apologize if I seemed dismissive of the issue at hand early. Thank you for voicing your frustration. Genuinely.

Blackbird: I cannot pretend to understand how Reality 565 chooses to obscure information. I am neither within or hold any influence on their Council. I am not saying this to absolve myself, I am saying this because I do not speak for their reality and everything below is stated from a position of neutrality.

Blackbird: With that out of the way, I understand how sketchy it appeared. You already provided evidence to support that conclusion.

Blackbird: As you also provided, obscuring information is often a typical part of a Council member’s role. Oftentimes, this is either intentional or unintentional; of which it seems the occurrence earlier today was a mixture of the two.

[There is a pause lasting approximately twenty seconds. A slight noise like a pen being set on a table can be heard halfway through.]

Blackbird: As far as I can tell—and I acknowledge that I could have missed details; Seven lacked the knowledge to provide an accurate answer, the Administrator provided a answer and continued to answer follow-up questions for a duration of time following her initial answer, and Three provided his own answers on numerous occasions.

Blackbird [His tone lightening a little]: I understand that it can often feel as if us Overseers are just stating just enough to cause for alarm before whizzing by as if nothing had occurred—but I am trying to assume that both individuals had well intentions in mind but merely had difficulty communicating them to each other.

Blackbird [His tone lighting a bit]: Regardless, I am glad that you brought this frustration to my attention. I’ll try to keep an eye out for any of my own personal faults like this in the future.

Blackbird: I cannot guarantee total transparency, either for myself or the other Councils. I do not believe that that is what you are requesting of any of us but I feel the need to state that nonetheless.

Blackbird: Do you have any other things that you would like to address currently? I am asking sincerely.

#satisfaction brought it back #anon #[This long ask scared me dkdnkdjd /lighthearted /not mad]

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nerdyfangirl67 · 4 years

Text

Anew - NCIS Reader Insert

Pairing: Gibbs x reader

Warnings: mentions of PTSD and PTSD symptoms, kidnapping, blood, language, Protective!Gibbs, angst, torture, fluff ending!

Word count: 2226

A/N: This is a continuation of Changed. I took some inspiration from the Emily/Lauren storyline from Criminal Minds, but other than that, this one is all mine. You guys asked for it and I hope it lives up to what you were wanting! I would be willing to write an epilogue if you guys wanted. Let me know! As always, I am taking requests so feel free to hit up my question box!!

Living life as you did before the Protection Program, as Y/F/N Y/L/N, took a while to get used to again. But with Gibbs’ help, you were able to stop looking over your shoulder every second of every day. You were able to clear a scene without jumping at every little squeak of the floorboards or creak of a door. You had even almost forgotten about the calls because they eventually stopped, so you figured whoever had been calling you had gotten bored of their little prank. Work had gone back to normal and it almost felt as if you had never left.

The only thing that hadn’t gone back to the way it used to be was your relationship with the rest of the team. McGee tiptoed around you, doing his best to avoid having to work in any close situation with you. Tony treated you as if you were made of glass, keeping you from even the slightest ‘dangerous’ situations. Abby tried anything and everything to keep you in the lab with her all day, even going so far as to beg Gibbs to let you stay with her, instead of going out in the field.

And Gibbs, Gibbs did his best to always be near you, especially when he felt your emotions spiraling out of control because of one trigger or another. He insisted you stay at his house until you found a place to live, and that was three months ago. Every time you found a place that had potential, Gibbs didn’t like it for one reason or another. It had finally gotten to the point where you stopped showing any places you found to him and instead went to Tony for a second opinion. Tony was just as quick to dismiss them as Gibbs had been though. You finally put the house hunt to rest, at least until everybody went back to treating you like they used to.

Today was actually the first day since you started staying with Gibbs that you were completely by yourself. No one lingering near you or hovering over you as you went about the daily tasks of your life. And as much as you appreciate their concern, you were more than ready for an outing by yourself. It wasn’t as if you were doing anything out of the ordinary. You were simply walking to the nearest grocery store to get some steak and potatoes for dinner, a meal that you discovered was one of Gibbs’ favorite.

The clear, crisp fall weather, combined with the fact that it was one of your days off, had you in no rush. You walk leisurely, enjoying the time to yourself.

You were completely unaware of the black, nondescript car that had been slowly trailing you for the last eight blocks. You did, however, notice it as you walk out of the store, and then four blocks later, you saw it was behind you.

An intense wave of fear consumes you as you calculate the possibility of making it back to Gibbs’ before anything went wrong. You had seven blocks to go and you were carrying three bags of groceries. After some quick consideration, you step into one of the boutiques along the side of the street, grabbing a random item of clothing and step into one of the changing rooms.

You rapidly dial Gibbs’ number, feeling your heart constrict as it continues to ring. You almost give up hope that he will answer the phone when his gruff voice fills your ear.

“Gibbs.” You don’t think you had ever felt so relieved to hear his voice.

“Jethro, it’s me. I-I, um, think someone is following me.” You whisper, the pinging of your nerves sending your heart into overdrive.

“Where are you? I’m coming to get you.” You could hear him moving around in the background, a set of keys jingling along with the sound of a door opening and closing rapidly.

“I think it’s c-called Fashion for Her, ne-next to that Italian Pizza p-place.” The surge of adrenalin and fear making you stutter out your words.

“Hang tight. I’ll be there in five. I’ll come to get you, okay?” His words are gentle and help settle the rising fear in your body.

True to his word, Gibbs is at the small store five minutes later, promptly making his way to the back of the store. A gentle knock on the changing room door has you timidly opening it. Once you see Gibbs, you throw yourself into his arms, the solace you find in his arms immediately relaxing you. He holds you tight against him, whispering promises of protection and safety in your ear.

------

It had been three weeks since the incident on the way back from the grocery store. The forgotten silent phone calls had escalated to unmarked envelopes left for you, with pictures of you and Gibbs, out doing domestic tasks, such as shopping or raking leaves. There were even ones of you in Gibbs’ house, washing the dishes and even changing your clothes.

You hadn’t told Gibbs, for fear that he would insist you rejoin the Protection Program. You had just gotten him, and the rest of your makeshift family back and you weren’t ready to say good-bye to them. You had, though, requested leave from the field, spending your time in the office, compiling search results, narrowing down possible suspects, and working on your never-ending pile of paperwork. Gibbs hadn’t been a fan of your request, but after a conversation with Director Vance, which only furthered his irritation toward the situation, your request was granted.

It was late in the afternoon, on a Friday, and you were just finishing up on the last form you had to complete for the day. You knew Gibbs would be late in getting home, as he was on a stake-out with Tony for the latest case, so you decide to see if Abby and McGee were up for a night out.

McGee politely declined your offer but Abby was game for a girls’ night out. After a brief chat, you agreed to meet her at the bar in half an hour. You stop at the bathroom on the way back to your desk to touch up your makeup and fix your hair. Grabbing your jacket and bag from your desk, you hurry down to the parking lot.

Darkness covers the parking lot, with the streetlamps appearing as halos of light over the sinister blackness. You nervously fiddle with your keys, resting your free hand on your holstered weapon as you speed walk to your car. Reaching the door, you let out a sigh of relief as you unlock and open it. Swinging your bag in, you move to settle into the driver’s seat when a sharp blow to the back of your knees has you falling forward, hitting your head on the open door on the way down.

You struggle to clear the fog that settles over your thoughts and pull yourself together. You reach for your gun just as another blow has you raising your arms to defend yourself. You kick out one of your legs, connecting with someone.

“You bitch! Knock it off.” A deep masculine voice spits out at you. You know that there was an officer on duty just within the doors of the building so you decide to scream for help as you fought off the attacker. The next blow hits you hard enough in the head to bring black spots to your vision, effectively stopping you from calling for help, and a quick hit after that has you fading into the black.

-----

The next three days pass in a drug-induced haze. You can remember only bits and pieces of the torture and questioning that takes place in those three days. By day four, you’re sure that you are gonna die in this dingy, dark, cold room. It didn’t help that you were only wearing a pair of pants and a bra. For some reason, a reason you didn’t want to look too closely at, you were missing your shirt. You had yet to figure out why you were taken, or who, in fact, was the person behind your kidnapping.

Day five came and went without any contact with your abductors, besides the arrival of a bottle of water while you were sleeping. Your haze was starting to wear off, leaving behind pain, hunger, and intense thirst. You tried to ration the water, but you consumed it shortly after you found it.

Day seven was the day you finally met the one who took you. You should have figured it would be him. After all, your testimony three years ago had sent him to prison. What you didn’t know was how he got out. You hadn’t heard anything about him escaping, and considering he was sentenced to 75 years to life, without parole, you knew he hadn’t been let out.

Boris Ivan Petrov, a member of the Russian crime ring in America and wanted felon. You had had the unfortunate luck of witnessing him murder two dirty cops while on a stakeout. One of his lackeys had seen you watching and in that instant, you became a target for Petrov. And now, here he was standing in front of you.

His hair was long and disheveled and he had a scraggly beard growing from his face. Dark bags hung under his eyes, but who he was was unmistakable.

“Ah, it looks like I finally get to properly introduce myself.” His words, which sound even harsher in his native Russian accent, send chills down your spine. You don’t answer, doing your best to wipe any signs of pain from your face.

“Since you already know my name, I’m not going to waste time telling you. Rather, I’m going to tell you about what I have in store for you.” He stops as he leans forward, trailing a finger down the side of your face. You unconsciously shiver in disgust, earning a hard slap across the face. “You will respect me, woman, if you want to live.” You know his words are an empty threat, as he has no intention of keeping you alive.

And he certainly proves you right, as he unmercifully tortures you for hours. He doesn’t speak, instead taking delight in the screams of horror and cries of pain he manages to elicit from you. It finally gets to the point where you are welcoming the inevitable end. As much as you wanted to be able to hold on until Gibbs and the team got there, you were starting to believe that would never happen.

You’re falling in and out of consciousness when Petrov suddenly stops. You’re barely able to comprehend the loud noises that follow. Just as you start to lose your grip on consciousness, a face appears in front of you. You wearily blink your eyes a few times before the face comes into focus. Gibbs’ brilliant blue eyes meet yours, as a gentle hand reaches out to cup your face. You struggle to move your lips, but you can’t make anything come out.

The last thing you see is Gibbs’ rapidly moving mouth before you lose your grip on the light.

-----

You wake up to the sterile smell of a clean room and the beeping of machines. You blink your eyes quickly, adjusting to the hospital fluorescent light slowly. The tight dryness in your throat makes you cough painfully. You turn your head to the bed table, reaching for the cup of water sitting on it.

“Let me get that for you.” Gibbs’ rough, husky voice greets you and a brief moment later, he is holding the cup up to your lips. You drink greedily, trying to rid the feeling of thirst from your throat. After you finish the cup, you lean back into the pillows, your body already aching from the excursion.

You muster up the courage to ask the question that was dominating your thoughts. “Did, did you catch him?” Your voice catches in your throat as you nervously voice your thoughts.

“Yes, yes Y/N. We got him. You’re safe.” His voice is gentle as he rests a hand on top of yours. “Your injuries were extensive Y/N. They weren’t sure you were gonna make it.” His voice is thick with emotion as his blue eyes pierce yours.

A lump sticks in your throat as you listen to him. You slowly reach up the hand he was holding, moving it towards his face. You trace a thumb over his cheek, relishing in the feeling of touching him.

“I love you, Jethro. I love you and I want a life with you.” You say, watching as an unreadable expression crosses his face.

He is quiet for a moment before he responds. “I know Y/N. I love you too.” He stands, leaning down to press a kiss to your forehead. “And now we have the rest of our lives together. No one is taking you away from me.”

As he finishes talking, he runs a gentle hand over your face. You let out a sigh of relief as you relax into his touch. As you fall back into the darkness, all you can think of is what your future with Leroy Jethro Gibbs would look like.

#ncis #ncis imagine #ncis fanfiction #ncis fandom #ncis reader #ncis reader insert #imagine #fanfiction #fandom #reader #reader insert #gibbs #leroy jethro gibbs #gibbs x reader #gibbs x you #gibbs x reader insert

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pokeexehasstoppedworking · 3 years

Text

Love Doesn’t Do Encores Ch6 The Entrance Ceremony

(Notw: I am aware that Piers also appears in Pokemon Masters EX and Pokemon Masters will be canon also to the story line but not until after the Sword and Shield story line.)

You perhaps should've seen it coming when Hop's excitement was reignited when he heard Leon left him a present and you gladly handed over one of the bags to which he opened up in a hurry but looked utterly confused at all the healers and camping food until you explained the reasons why Leon got them all for him. Which he understood with a nod. And after a moment more of resting you decided to walk back with him towards the road, but the two of you ran into another familiar face in the form of Gloria. Or more like she almost ran into the two of you as she ran into the train station as you got up from your seat. Your sobble still sore over how many times he already fell from your shoulder and so resorted to gripping your shoulder sleeve harder.

"Geez Glory!," Hop commented raising a brow, "What's gotten you in such a hurry? I thought that was my thing."

"Sorry," she apologized leaning over to look around you and Hop at the station, "Did Leon leave yet? You said somethin' about stopping him so we could say good bye."

He again sighed and slouched a big bag in his hands. "Yeah he's gone back to whatever he was doing. I suppose I can't catch a train after all." ...He gave a small smile though. "But I guess I can't complain! He's the Champion! So of course he's gotta be like SUPER busy! We'll come face to face again soon enough!"

Gloria smiled back and nodded in agreement. "YEAH! Besides, maybe we'll see him at the Opening Ceremony tomorrow!"

You nodded at them. Although you knew he wouldn't be there as in game if the current events kept up, but you didn't want to break their hearts or anything so soon.

"Are you two endorsed trainers?," a man's voice asked from behind the three of you turned around to the man in the small store like stand in the train station. His smile widened as he nodded to his side where a stack of books was settled. "Would any of you three be interested in joining in our charity dex events?"

"Charity dex?," you asked obviously confused.

And the man nodded again gesturing to the two different book stacks one smaller than the other. "Yes! For just five dollars you can purchase one of two dex books and enter the dex challenges to win a variety of prizes! All proceeds goes towards the power crisis fund raiser."

There was that mention again about the power crisis. You wondered how dire it was exactly. Gloria seemed to take interest in it though and walked right up to the stand staring at the books. "....What's exactly the challenges?"

"Well there's the Poke-Dex challenge and the Curry-Dex challenge?" He explained holding up one of the small books, it had a picture of a plate of some kind of food etched into it. "The challenge is too take a picture of every labeled curry, or pokemon, on the pages and when your albums are fully completed, you turn in into your local pokemon center to claim your prizes! And there's no time limit. It's all for charity and you get a neat scrap book out of it. We already sold a few to some people on their way on the train. Would you be interested in joining one of the dex challenges?"

"I dunno. Sounds like a scam to me, Glor," Hop commented glancing at the books. "I always thought photography was Victor's gig. And we're already got the gym challenges ahead of us tomorrow.......Glory?"

Dexes?? As in completing the entire pokemon dex for this game?? Was this how it was manifesting in this game? You guessed so. It WOULD be weird if Gloria just discovered her pokedex had a limit of numbers in order to 'complete' it like a game's challenge. but a curry dex?? You faintly remembered there being some kind of food challenge in game but you couldn't remember it too well.

"I can't believe you wasted twenty dollars on two scrape books and camera film." Hop gave a small frown at the rolls of film and books Gloria was carrying along with the bag of goodies provided by Leon from earlier. "You don't even have a polaroid camera for all of that."

"No, but Victor does! I'm sure he won't mind if I take his old one." She waved him off. "Besides! It'll be fun and easy! Just fill up a whole book with pictures of pokemon and curries! How hard can it be?"

Hop's face deadpanned. "That's not exactly what I meant."

The three of you had left the train station not longer after that and had taken a small detour to the grocery store you were previously in that morning so Gloria could buy herself a decent amount of film rolls. It was crazy how many rolls of film you could cheaply buy in this world for a mere ten dollars, although you were sure Hop disagreed. So you decided to change the subject by asking the two a question.

"So," they both turned to you, "We're leaving for the Entrance Ceremony tomorrow morning right?"

"YEP! Bright and early! The morning train leaves at seven thirty sharp and we have to get our Dynamax bands from Professor Magnolia tomorrow! So we're gonna have to get up real extra early if we don't want to miss it. These train conductors are always on time, whether it's a good or bad thing. But those bands will be worth it to be able to dynamax and complete our Badge Circles!"

"I see. ...What's a badge circle??" You don't remember hearing anything like that from the game even when you played it way back when. "I don't think I know how these gyms and badges work."

They both gave you a confused look and for a moment you thought you goofed up before luckily Gloria unknowingly saved face for you when a look of realization came over her. "OH RIGHT!! You're not from this region so you wouldn't possibly know how the gyms work!" You thanked whatever god was listening for this great save as Gloria happily explained. "You see there's ten gyms each with their own gym leader unique to their own type of pokemon, but in order to compete in the finals at the end of the year you only need eight badges to complete your Badge Circle. A Badge Circle is like a puzzle but instead of carboard puzzle pieces you use badges to make it, then you present it to the official board who helps host the Gym Challenge. They're also the ones who's going to be checking to make sure your endorsements are legit at the Entrance Ceremony," she explained as you listened. Never knew when this info might come in handy later. "That's where four of the gyms are optional. While usually they give you they're own unique piece for the Badge Circle..Both Rock Type and Ice Type Gyms offer the same shaped badge. So does the Fighting and Dark Type Gyms. So usually you'd pick either one of the two choices, grab it, and then move on. Lots of people don't see the point of battling both gyms for the same piece as it's not required." She smirked before pointing a confident hand forward. "BUT NOT ME!! What's the point of me joining the Gym Challenge if I don't at least try out every gym at least once! We have a full year until the finals anyhow! That should be plenty of time for me to get what I need!!......Plus...m-maybe because I'm also kinda hoping to get some pictures and a few autographs. It's not everyday you get to see such famous people. Hehe."

You rolled your eyes with a smile. Just like a teen meeting a famous person but Hop sighed again. "I just don't see why you're going through all of this trouble. Won't it make more sense to just focus on one thing?"

"Hop you need to broaden your horizons a bit! It's gonna be our first times away from home! It's not just about the Gym Challenge!" She smiled widely at him. "It's about seeing new things! Meeting new people! Getting to see all kinds of new pokemon! It's...." Her smile dropped for a bit as she looked down. "It's actually a bit scary.....but I guess that's what's also making it so exciting." She smiled again. "Plus I know you're also doing the challenge so it's not like I'll be going into it alone right? Ill have my best bud going through it with me!"

Hop stared at her for a moment before clearing his throat and nodded looking away. "Y-Yeah! You're right. "

"See? Told you! It'll be fun! And I'll have Y/n as a traveling buddy anyways! So it should be fine."

You nodded in agreement as the three of you continued to walk back towards their homes, and both children mentioning the new pokemon they had been able to catch while out on their little adventure today.

"So how many pokemon did you guys catch?," you asked curiously.

And Gloria proudly answered, "NINE! And Hop caught five!"

You did a double take at the two. "Wait. You guys caught fourteen pokemon between the two of you in the few hours I was gone!?"

"Yeah! Hop's really lucky! He's got a shiny butterfree!"

Hop gave a sheepish smile and in a similar fashion to Leon raised a hand to rub the back of his head. "Well I guess I was just lucky to catch it off guard enough to catch it in the farmer's meadows."

Oh yeah. Weren't shiny pokemon a pokemon born with a rare color variety compared to most of their other kind? Wow. Well it sounded like the two of them certainly had a fun time out and about. "Wow. It sure sounds like you guys had a fun time." The three of you were coming up to the roads that split into to directions to both of the children's homes.

Gloria nodded again. "Hey! Hop! Come over to my house so I can practice my camera."

"What?," Hop's brow rose again, "Don't you mean Victor's camera?"

"Same difference! If I take pictures of all the pokemon we caught then it'll be good practice and give me a head start on the challenge! Plus who else would have a picture of a shiny butterfree?"

He sighed. "I swear you can bounce forward on anything like a ball."

You chuckled as the three of you made it to Gloria's house. Finding her mother in the kitchen cooking food and the first thing you noticed was the delicious smell coming from the kitchen stove, whatever she was cooking smelt of spices and your stomach growled. She looked up for a moment and smiled at the three of you, asking what the bags were for once she noticed, so you explained to her what had happened with you and Leon that morning as the two kids went off towards the door outside. She chuckled when you explained how Leon got lost on his way to the train in the early morning and got lost to only somehow end up back in front of his own home. Calling him 'a sweet young man for helping the kids out like that' and asking how your day went. Overall it was pretty well and you soon found yourself sitting down at the kitchen table resting yourself from all the walking around town you did. It was still fairly early in the day being only twelve something in the afternoon- You jumped when your Sobble all of a sudden chirped curiously and half climbed onto the side of your head to look towards the opposite side of the house as a flash of light came from one of the windows from outside. A minute long pause. And then another went off. A total of fourteen flashes with about a minute pause between them and while you tried to wrangle your sobble from your face without hurting it and it was enough to catch Mrs. G's attention as she stared with a brow rose.

"Gloria, what are you kids doing? I hope you're not practicing electric type moves near the house" her mother demanded. "You already almost caught your bed on fire from teaching your scorbunny Ember inside!"

"It's fine Mum!," Gloria's voice came followed by her head appearing in said window and waved what could only be described as a polaroid camera. "We're taking picture of our pokemon! Can you believe that I already have fourteen pokemon for the dex challenge!"

Her mother gave her a confused look placing a hand on her hip, "Dex challenge? What are you talking about?" She asked just as her Munchlax came toddling him yawning with another green pokemon behind him. He must've smelt the food and woken up you figured.

However Gloria's eyes lit up with a gasp! "Make that soon to be sixteen! You caught a Budew!?"

"Oh?" She glanced at the pokemon at her feet glancing up at her. "Oh yes. It was one of the two that always hangs around the flower beds. I always thought they were rather helpful for planting so I thought-" She paused as Gloria was already gon-

BANG!!

Both of you and the three pokemon jumped and turned to Gloria in the door's entrance camera in hand and scorbunny at her heels as she grinned at the Pokemon at her mother's heels before lifting the camera at them. "SAY CHEESE!!"

"Gloria! What are you-" She was cut off by two flashes that blinded you for a moment and you reached your hand up to cover your face as a white coated your vision. "GLORIA!!"

"Whoops. Sorry Mum!"

"WHAT. ARE. YOU. DOING!?"

"Taking pictures of pokemon. Duh."

"I can SEE that! Or I would if you hadn't blind sided me.....Wait. Isn't that Victor's camera? What on earth were you doing playing with it!? You know that's not yours!"

You groaned and rubbed your eyes as they contined to talk. You trying to rub away the white dots that came with the flash as your sobble sat there. And you suddenly felt a small hand pawing at your face, as if your sobble was mimicking the movements you made at the attempt of clearing your vision. It was cute....But it would've cuter if you could see it.

"But Mom," Gloria pleaded, "It's for a good cause I promise. There's this Dex challenge and if you fill up the entire book with pictures when you can win something! Plus it's fun!"

"Well watch where you're pointing that thing! The last thing we need is you blinding someone."

"Yes, Mom." "Sorry Ms. G."

You finally opened your eyes still lightly rubbing them as you blinked and your vision was slightly blurry, but it quickly cleared revealing the two teens and their mother standing there as they looked at you. And Mrs. G held out a hand to you.

"Oh dear. Are you alright, Y/n?"

You nodded. "Yeah. I guess. It was just real bright for a moment." You paused as the camera was held out pointed at you by Gloria.

"Hey, Y/n. Can I take a picture of your sobble?"

A picture of your- "Oh. Yeah sure! Just lemme close my eyes for a minute." She nodded as she held the camera up to her face and you slammed your eyes shut as the words left her mouth.

"Hey Sobble!" The pokemon turned to her. "Say cheese!" Another flash of white lit up everywhere and your sobble chirped in surprise as his eyes went wide and it swayed as you reopened your eyes. Gloria smiled as the camera made a whirling noise and a moment later a perfect picture of you with your sobble staring towards the camera came out through a slot in the bottem as she grabbed it. Examining it with a smile. "Yep! That makes seventeen now!"

You gently took the sobble off your shoulder and into your arms as it swayed wide eyed, before shaking it's head and scowling towards the two teenagers, letting out a very loud squeak of annoyance at her before leaning back into your arms like a cat would still glaring at the two of them. You kinda felt bad so you ended up scratching it's back making it give a pleased sound and smile after a moment. What a cute newt thing!

"Hey Glory. Shouldn't we be dropping off some of your pokemon at the center for your rotomi boxes?," Hop asked

Gloria nodded before looking at him. "Hey. Doesn't your grandpa have a purrloin?"

"Yeah he sure does."

"Think he'll let me take a picture of it?"

"I don't see why not! C'mon!"

"Wait! What about lunch?!," Gloria's mother called after the two already running out the door. She stood there for a few moments, before sighing and shaking her head. "I swear! If those two were pokemon they'd be rapidashes for how fast they head off to things."

You chuckled at her. The rest of the day went by very quickly. You had ended up helping Mrs. G clean up after she had started cooking and she gave you some curry as a thanks. You never had this kind of dish before. It was some rice with some kind of red sauce with the same spice smell from earlier, but neither of you were complaining as you ate. It was actually pretty good. Nice to have a peaceful meal considering the past couple days with how chaotic they were. Although you did have to keep your sobble from trying to grab food from your plate and to appease it you fed it a few peices of pokemon food after Mrs. G offered. Gloria didn't return until later that evening where you assumed she had dropped off some of her pokemon with Hop. The camera secured around her neck by a strap and her hands was one of the journals you noticed she had purchased. So you asked about it and her face lit up and she showed the both of you the eighteen pictures she had taken. Some of them you had recognized. Gloria's scorbunny. You and your sobble. Mrs. G's two pokemon of course, and a couple of Hop's. Including a yamper like Sonia's. What you didn't recognize was a few new ones which she gladly told you the names of them. But the most surprising one was her phone but it looked as if it was posessed by a rotom. When asked Gloria explained that it was perfectly normal for someone to have a rotom phone with their very own rotom. She probably assumed you didn't have any of that back in 'Kanto'. Time flew by and other than Mrs. G scolding Gloria for snapping a picture of the curry she had saved her for dinner, it was pretty easy for you to follow your routine before once again falling asleep on the couch and dozing off for the night. Until the very next day of course. You were just laying there peacefully snoozing away peacefully until you felt a harsh shake on your shoulder and a light was shown on you. Of course you being asleep ignored it in favor of turning over on the couch and curling into the blanket even more. Again a harsher shake made you groan in protest at whoever was trying to kidnap you from slumberland.

"Y/N!!" A young girl's voice shouted fairly close and loud next to your ear. Startling you awake with a snort, sitting right up and blinking and rubbing your eyes at the harsh light that extended on you. "Time to wake up or we'll miss the train to Motostoke!"

"Uuuuuhhh," you groaned peeking your eyes open and blinking groggily up at the form of Gloria smiling at you. You yawned a bit. "Gloria? Wha-....*yaawwn* What time is it?"

"Six o four in the morning!," she stated happily before leaning back up and it took you a moment to figure out it was still dark in the early hours of the morning and the light was coming from the light bulb above you. "You need to hurry up and get ready before we're late! I still need to pick up my Dynamax band from the Professor too!"

"M' up," you mumbled reaching a hand out to slowly toss off the blanket from your form as Gloria backed away.

She turned as you both heard her mother's tired voice call to her, asking what was up. What you needed to wake you up was a nice hot shower so that's exactly what you did. Dragging yourself out of bed, you trudged into the bathroom and took a deserving hot shower, brushing your teeth, and opting to instead of the overalls lent to you by Mrs. G wore the black shirt with the Eevee print, slacks, and the non rubber shoes you also picked up. By the time you came out, with everything else in the gray plaid bulking back pack of yours, the smell of food was already in the air and it didn't take you too long to find out why when you look over and saw Gloria holding what could've only been described as a plain waffle in one hand obviously in the middle of eating it, and going through her big brown back pack with the other as her mother looked at her.

"Uh huh. And are you sure you got plenty of clothes?," Mrs. G asked raising a brow, "Extra pokeballs? Your region map? How about the revives Leon was nice enough to get you?"

"Yes Ma!," the teen mumbled half way through eating, "I already went through this last night!"

"Well it never hurts to double check! Especially since you can't lose that endorsement letter or else they won't let you register for the challenge at all," she looked up and noticed you before smiling, "Ah! Y/n! Good morning, Dear. I hope you slept well."

You nodded shifting the backpack over your shoulders, "Yeah thanks! ......Hey. Where's that sobble?" You rose a brow while looking on the floor. Strange the little guy wasn't around.

"He was hungry so I gave him some food to tide him over for you. And speaking of which you must be hungry. I'll get you some breakfast. You aren't starting off your trip on an empty stomach."

"But Mom! That's gonna take even longer! Hop's already waiting for me! We still need to grab the dynamax bands before we go and we'll miss the train if we wait-"

"How about you guys go get the..bands and I'll *yaaawwn* meet you at the train station?," you suggested. You weren't really in the mood for any arguing in the morning, and to be honest you were hungry and the idea of starting a long trip on an empty stomach just didn't appeal to you.

You were lightly surprised when Gloria agreed to it and after a few more moments of going through her pack, left with Hop you assumed, as her mother kindly handed you over some food. More waffles but you weren't complaining. Your sobble at some point noticed you were awake and soon enough you felt that familiar feeling of the little guy crawling up your clothes only to plop itself into your shoulders. It really liked being carried around didn't it? Your muddled mind didn't know when but sometime after you finished the pancakes you were out the door bag in your hands, one hand holding it and the other digging through it to make sure all the few belongings you did own for now were secured. Sure enough you found the non perishable food Leon had given you, the few clothes, and of course your Sobble's pokeball tucked somewhere in the bottom of it all. You decided to keep your sobble out for the time being as it seemed to enjoy being out. The early morning light was starting to peek through with the light pinks and yellows of the sunrise. Already as you made your way to the train station, you saw the farmers and their wooloos out in the fields. Early to bed early to rise you guessed. You saw no sign of the teens, guessed they were still getting the dynamax bands from the professor, even as you walked right into the train station. So you did the only thing your tired self could do. You once again plopped yourself into one of the seats tiredly and waited for the two to arrive. It couldn't have been that long(or maybe it was but you didn't notice) but you perked up at a familiar voice.

"So out with it, Glor! How many did you catch again?"

"I already told you eight! You saw me take pictures of them yesterday remember?"

"Oh right! Sorry that's just the sleep talkin'. " You turned to the door as the young voices got louder. "But look at how many you caught! You're well on your way to building a fine team! I caught myself a special one not to brag."

" I KNOOOWWW!! I'm so jealous you caught a shiny before me!" Gloria walked right into the train station with Hop right behind her.

He shrugged with a proud smile. "Well what can I say? I'll make a difficult rival."

"Where are we heading again?"

"The Gym Challenge will begin Motostoke and our train's waiting so let's go-" He paused finally looking away from her and seeing you sitting there. Upon catching his eye you smiled and waved mumbling something like 'Good Morning'. And he smiled. "Hey! Y/n you're here!" You stood up to meet them with a light yawn as they approuched. "I thought you'd be on the train already.''

You chose not to mention you haven't gotten any money to pay for the ticket entrance and waved. "Nah. I said I'd wait for you guys at the station and I wanted to keep my promise." Looking to Gloria you noticed something around her neck, so you pointed and asked. "Hey. Isn't that your brother's camera?"

"Hm?" She blinked and looked to the camera around her neck. "Oh yeah! I'm gonna need it if I'm gonna finish this Dex Challenge too!"

Hop groaned and rolled his eyes. "I still think it's a waste of time but I guess it's your choice." He jabbed a thumb to the awaiting train. "It's nearly seven thirty. We should probably get on before it takes off." He suggested and the two of you agreed. Walking towards the small gate-

"Not so fast you three!," an older but familiar lady's voice cut through the air and the three of you all turned around as a result.

Hop's golden eyes widened. "Wha-? What're you doing here, Mum?" He asked turning around just as the two mothers of the children walked right in. You were confused at first two, before seeing what they were holding in their hands and you immediately understood why they had followed you here.

"I knew this day was coming since the moment you chose Grookey as a partner, Darling," the older woman smiled fondly at him, a smile you remember your own mother used to have way back when. She held up the small rolled up thing in her hands. "You took off so fast you two didn't take any sleeping bags. Did you forget you probably won't be able to afford hotels most of the time or won't be able to sleep in one every night? You can't expect a free bed around every corner."

Both looked immediatey sheepish as Mrs. G spoke. "Professor Magnolia was kind enough call and let us know that you three would be setting out now." She held up a small looking back of her own. "So here. A little last gift to see you well set on your way. All the kit you'll need for camping! And the reason why you should always double check BEFORE you take off." Gloria made a face and looked away before her mother made her take the small kit, which consisted of a small compact tent you could carry over your shoulder and another sleeping bag, before crossing her arms with a frown. "Honestly! I swear you'd lose your head if it wasn't attached to your neck sometimes."

"HEY! I only forgot this one thing," she protested and her mother hummed.

" Ah yes. Like you forgot to tell me about how the two of you snuck off into the Slumbering Weild." In an instant she froze and you could've sworn a little color drained from Gloria's face in that moment. "And yes, I heard the news from young Leon. I'm glad someone bothered to tell me!" She sighed and her other hand was held out to you. "Here we are! A bit of pocket money for your journey. Buy yourself a little something at the pokemon center. Maybe some potions or something!"

You stopped and blinked at the small twenty bill in her hand before shaking your head. "Oh no! I couldn't possibly take your money! I-"

"Happened to save my child from a dumb idea. It's not much but something tells me you could use it anyways."

Well......It wouldn't hurt to have some money on you in case of emergencies even if it wasn't much. So you reluctantly took it from her. "I....Thank you."

She nodded to you before turning to Gloria and pointing a finger at her with a serious look. "Now. Remember that Scorbunny will battle to the very end for you so don't you go pushing the poor dear too hard! Come home to rest anytime that you need. After all east or west, home is best." She smiled. "No matter what happensout there, if you and your partner are together I know you'll be fine. Take my advice to heart Sweetie. As long as you have your pokemon at your side and the energy to carry onwards, you'll naturally find that you always have a smile on your face."

Gloria stood there for a moment before nodding to her mother and you blinked when she all of a sudden hugged the older woman, seemingly startling her too for a moment before she smiled and hugged the child back tightly like any mother would....Well except maybe yours. She was always seeming to be too busy working or making sure you worked hard to get good grades or worked hard enough to help out with the bills with your after school jobs. You didn't notice the frown come over your face as Hop mimicked his friend in giving his own mother a hug who like the other mother mirrored a smile and hugged back patting his head.

"Remember. No matter what happens out there, if you and your partner are together, I know you'll be fine."

Hop smiling pulled away and gave a big grin. "Thanks Mum! And just think of how lucky you are!" He raised a determined fist. "Mother to the first ever pair of Champion Brothers! Because I'm certain to be the Champion next! You'll see!"

She nodded in agreement but her face was amused. "Of course you will, Darling. Anyway, do have fun and take care of yourselves. And don't be too worried about not winning. You're welcome back home anytime."

Home huh- A loud train horn sounded off startling the five of you into turning to the train, then you happened to glance at the clock hanging upon the wall and noticed that it was seven twenty eight in the morning. Two minutes before seven thirty and the deadline for the train's departure. So you decided to point this out, having the two kids make a worried frown before taking a few steps back.

"We'll be off now!," Gloria explained lifting her hand a moment to give a quick good bye to the two mothers and turning to the train. "C'mon guys! We're off! Don't want to miss the train!"

You nodded in agreement tailing right after her with Hop behind you. "Wish us luck! Not that we'll need it!"

As the mothers waved good bye, the three of you went towards the gate and watched as Gloria slipped a single dollar into the slot of it. It made a ping noise and you guess it unlocked because the three of you easily slipped by and towards the train. The grey and yellow train's doors slid open with a whoosh sound as the three of you entered just as another horn sounded off startling your sobble a bit making it cling to your shoulder harder. Inside was who you assumed to be a train conductor who gestured for you all to exit through another door to the right which lead to the passenger cars and other people who happened to be on the train with you three. There was about fifthteen other people with you so the three of you had to go to one of the back seats. Yellow painted metal bars were everywhere along with Blue seats with a table between the two of them. Above each pair of seats was a small area to put luggage. You three sat down just as the train was starting off. Gloria breathing a sigh of relief from all the weight she was carrying. You assumed she was carrying more than you already along with the camping equipment she was given just a few moments ago. You ended up looking out the window and watching the station and small town of Postwick move away from your view and starting on your way. Beside you Gloria sighed and slumped into the soft cushioned seat.

"Man. We just left and I'm already feeling beat."

"Well look on the bright side," Hop suggested, "We're finally heading out on our journies! And Lee told me Motostoke is a good place as any to start off an adventure."

"Oh really? How come?," you asked curiously as he explained.

"Well besides the obvious Opening Ceremony going on there. Motostoke is surrounded by a giant piece of land called the Wild Area. It's a real sight! There's all sorts of wild Pokemon juat wondering about everywhere you look! Plus you can camp out, do a spot of fishing, and sight seeing! I don't think I could ever get tired of it!," he explained smiling widely, "But I don't think we'll be able to see it. The Entrance Ceremony's in the town not the wild. But on a lighter not! There's loads of brilliant trainers and all kinds of pokemon out there waiting for us! My excitement's running ahead of me faster than this train can go!"

"Yeah? Well it's too bad. Would've loved to take a couple more pictures." Gloria sighed leaning more against the wall of the train. " Im already starting to understand why Victor likes it so much. Like I wouldn't make it a living like he wants to but it's a nice hobby."

You nodded agreeing with her and extended your arm to allow your sobble to crawl along your arm and onto the table, watching as it curiously crawled up to the window and looked out at the world passing by. You all sat there for who knows how long chatting, the kids pulled out their phones and showed you a few pictures of what looked almost like a castle's high walls and beautiful scenery surrounding it. It was quite lovely. At one point someone said it would take at least a few hours to get to the town so all of you had plenty of time to relax but you couldn't help but let your mind wonder. What was happening back at your home? Was your mother worried about you suddenly going missing? What happened when she went to wake you up but found you completely gone? Did she call the police to file a missing person's report yet? Counting today it would've been five days that you had disappeared and that must've been worrying. And if this happened to just be a crazy dream you surely hoped you would wake up sometime soon. You were soon snapped out of any bad thoughts though. How? Simple the train suddenly slowed down out of no where it caught you off guard and you ended up hitting the table in front of you your poor Sobble chirping in shock as it was sent tumbling across said table and into Hop's extended arms as he thankfully caught the poor thing before it could splat onto the floor below. What the world was that!? Your head turned as Gloria nudged your side. you gave her a questioning look about to ask if she was alright but she pointed out the window and you looked. There was.....Nothing but nature?? Which wouldn't be strange since it was the out doors, and you WOULD have chalked it up to just being another stop on the way to Motostoke but then why did the train suddenly stop like that? Granted you never rode on a train before but you were pretty sure they weren't supposed to stop suddenly enough to ram yourself into a table. One of your hands rubbed your sore ribs where they had hit the table, surely leaving a bruise later but no real damaged luckily. So why had you all suddenly stopped in the middle of seemingly no where? Around you other people were also noticing, muttering to themselves, some getting up to peer out the windows or to take a couple steps up the alley way as to walk up to the engine car.

"Attention Passengers!," a man's voice blared from a loud speaker somewhere, "Due to some unfortunate events beyond our control we have decided to take a quick stop at Wild Station. We apologize for any inconvience and to please wait patiently while we fix the issue. We thank you for your cooperation."

"Wha- Wild Station? That's just outside the the town!," Hop exclaimed holding your sobble in one arm while staring at a map on his phone with the other. Confusion on his face. "Why didn't they just stop inside the city?"

"Let's find out!" Gathering her things into her arms Gloria was quick to jump past you.

"WHA- Hey wait!," you called out extending an arm out to her as she darted up the car past other people.

You stared after her for a few seconds before turning to Hop who shrugged and got up to after her which you followed obviously. The two of you hurried after her as Gloria trotted up to the exit and with a whoosh the doors opened with her stepping out and the two of you followed. On the other side was another train station. Only this one had slightly different colored brick walls and there was a whole bunch of leaves and twigs scattered about. Besides the three of you there was a couple looking over a map in one corner of the station looking confused and lost, a map just sitting in the waiting chairs, and someone who looked to be in some kind of uniformed green vest.

You gave a confused look around. "Where the heck are we?"

"Ill check!'' Before you could respond Hop had already turned to the man in the vest and asked, "Hey, Mr. Station Master!" The man hummed and turned to him. "Isnt this the Wild Area? What're we stopped here for?"

The man sighed crossing his arms. "Yes....This is the Wild Area Station makes no mistakes. I'm sorry to tell you that the train is halted due to a flock of wooloo."

"WHAT?!," both you and Gloria said at the same time.

A giant herd of wooloo!? Oh great! Now what were you all supposed to do?

Hop however wasn't the least bit concered. "What's there to be sorry about? This is brilliant!"

Gloria gave him a look that looked like he just did something crazy. "What is?"

He excitedly smiled widely at her. "This Wild Area is massive!" He explained the sobble in his arms giving a noise of annoyance at his sudden movements. "There are loads of pokemon to battle here! You don't get it do you, Glor? This is the best possible place to put together the greatest team!"

"I don't think we should be taking off, "Gloria pointed out and you nodded agreeing. "We have to get to the ENtrance Ceremony soon or else we'll be considered forfeiting our sponsorships entirely!"

"They take it that seriously?," you asked lightly surprised as she nodded.

"Something about a long time ago a lot of trainers tried to sneak their way into the challenge by claiming they were late to register or something like that. Since then the rules have been pretty strict. Which is why I want to register first and then come back here if I have a chance."

"When is the deadline?"

"Midnight. And as much as I'd love to explore around...Im kinda nervous about securing that spot."

You could totally agree with her on that point Buuut- You pointed behind you. "But the train's going to be backed up for a while by the looks of it. Maybe we can walk? How fair is this Motostoke?''

"Let's step out and see. The map said it shouldn't have been too far away I think."

That wasn't a bad idea and with no objections the three of you stepped out and what you saw made you pause. As soon as you stepped out you were hit with the strong rays of sunlight making you blink but once your (f/c) eyes managed to get a hold of themelves...Well....Breathtaking was a pretty good way to describe it. A giant meadow stretched as much as you could see with a giant lake, a few scattered trees, and A GIANT WALL! A giant wall was set up with a few bridge like structures to the right and you could see a few very tall buildings/structures ahead. You saw what you thought was oil rigs movie, a giant clock which reminded you of Big Ben back in your world, a few sky scrapers, and a few other things you were too far away to make out. Over all it was a very strange but pretty sight as the wind blew through the trees.

"Look at that!," Hop said in awe pointing at the buildings which must've been a decent half mile away. "That's Motostoke way off that way! And between here and there are countless new pokemon waiting to be met!"

Gloria hummed. ".......Well it would be cool to explore somewhere we won't get in trouble I guess."

"EXACTLY!!" He pointed towards the meadow. "Im itching to just see what's out there. It's not too far away and we can probably spare a couple hours. I mean we have until Midnight right? And we left pretty early in the morning."

She hummed again. "Well when you put it that way it does sound like fun!" A smile crossed her face again. "I can take a whole bunch of pictures for my scrapebook! And catch a few more pokemon of course."

You weren't sure that was a good idea- "Well well. You two running off again?"

The three of you turned- You blinked surprised. "Sonia?," you asked. True to your word the orangedhaired professor's assistant was walking right towards the three of you with a smile. "What are you doing here? I don't remember seeing you get on the train."

"Of course you didn't. I didn't enter the train through the station right side of the station," she smiled. "Besides. I figured it'd be an opportune time for me to travel for my research." Sonia gave a sigh and looked to the ground shaking her head. "My grab gave me a proper earful in her own way. 'Those two young trainers are setting out on a journey, but what are you doing with your life?' Her words not mine."

"Ouch Professor," you commented, "That sounds rough." You didn't mean to be so blunt but you kinda understood how she felt. Your mother had asked you similar things to that while simaltaniously pushing you to study more, go to college, and get a job-

Sonia waved you off. "Ah. Never mind that. Nothing to worry yourselves over. " Her eyes lowered back to the teens next to you. "Besides I've been more curious about that pokemon you two met in the forest. I'd been thinking I should look into it so the timing works out fine! If I discover something really huge then maybe even Gran'll admit I got some talent."

Pokemon- OH RIGHT!! You nearly forgot the legendary pokemon they saw in the fog. Although you were still unsure what it was exactly. A thought suddenly struck you. In the game Sonia would uncover some amazing things important to the plot of the game. If ONLY you could remember what it was!

"Yikes." Hop made a cringe face. "Being an adult got it's own challenges eh?"

You frowned and gave a chuckle and shake of your head which made him look at you. "Oh you have NO idea."

"I said you needn't worry about it," Sonia stated a little more firmly. "I'm glad to be on the road really! It's been ages. It'll be great fun to fish and camp and rough it outside again."

"Uh huh. Well you have fun with that! Meanwhile.." He turned with a smile. "I heard there's natural dynamaxing pokemon in the Wild Area! I'm off to go stick my head in as many of those red dens as I can find!"

"Not. So. FAST! Mr. Impatient!" He yelped when gloria grabbed him by the hoodie and with the same frown as her mother stared at him when she yanked him back. "We only got here and you want to run off again into the wild??"

"Oh c'mon Glory. I promise Ill meet you up back at the Entrance Ceremony."

The young girl hummed. ".....What time is it by the way?"

"Oh." You glanced to sonia as she rolled up her sleeve and glanced at her watch. "According to this it just turned Eleven thirty in the morning."

She hummed and slowly released her friend. "Fine. But let's agree to meet at the Entrance Ceremony at six or seven in the after noon. That should be enough time for the both of us to explore and get to the town before it gets dark." She gave a concerned frown. "I really don't want you hurt or lost."

Hop paused for a moment before looking away coughing his cheeks having a light pink hue. "Um....YEAH! I can totally do that!"

Her smile returned. "Then it's settled! Can't lose my rival before I even join the challenge."

"GREAT!!" He turned again. "I'm going to battle the snot out of a bunch of dynamax pokemon and fill in the tale of my legend!" And he ran off.

"DONT YOU DARE FORGET HOP!!," Gloria hollered after him.

Both you and Sonia shared a chuckle at their childish behavior before she looked at you. What cheek. Dynamax pokemon are really on another level you know." She glanced to Gloria. "You'd better dynamax your partner pokemon too if you want to take on opponents that strong." She directed Gloria to the wild. "He's right about red dens. You'll find spots here and there in the Wild Area that emit a red beam of light. If you think you're up to it, check it out. They're usually cave openings with dynamax pokemon inside. But PLEASE be careful. It can be dangerous at times. I wish Hop would've waited for me to warn him before he ran off like that."

Gloria nodded in understanding as you looked down to your sobble climbing up your leg. Hop must've put him down when you weren't looking. "I understand Sonia! You don't have to worry about me!"

Sonia nodded to the two of you. "So with that Ill leave you two off here. The Wild Area is waiting for you. This is the start of your real adventure. Take care now."

You watched as she turned to walk away and....you weren't sure what really compelled you to say it in that moment but you reached your arm out after her. "Ms. Sonia!" She stopped and turned to you with a hum. You paused uncertainly if you should say anything. Would it affect the progress of the game's route? "I just....wanted to let you know that....You really are a great scientist already. And you're going to find a lot of things."

She blinked at you in surprise for a moment not sure what to make of your words, but settled on a smile and nodded. "Thanks. Your kind words mean a lot but we'll have to see what I actually accomplish. I wish you the best sights and experiences of Galar a tourist like you can have!" Before she turned and walked her way towards you assumed Motostoke.

"Wow." You jumped and looked to Gloria who smiled. "That was really nice of you. Even if it was a little out of no where."

You shrugged. "I guess I know how she feels a little bit. Sometimes a few kind words is what someone needs."

"Lee always says something similar, but I think he calls it 'champion encouragment'." She suddenly snapped her head forward and pointed. "Well you heard Sonia! I want to try out my first dynamaxing battle before I take on any gyms! We got about seven to eight hours to get some battling and sight seeing in so I say we give this day all we got!"

-time skip five hours forward-

You lost track of how many times Gloria pulled you along this way and that....but it was an eventful few hours.

You lost count of how many pokemon Gloria tried to battle. Key word being 'tired'. The first pokemon she tried to battle was one you remembered. An Onix. A. GIANT. MASSIVE!! AND CRANKY!! ONIX!! Probably didn't help Gloria snapped a picture of it before trying to battle it. You had to literally grab her and drag her behind you as you ran. Terrified scorbunny at your heels as it charged towards the two of you. Not the greatest start to be honest. But it wasn't as worst as her first dynamax battle. She had found an opening in the cliffside of a cave with red aura around in, one of the dynamax dens and she ran into it without a second thought with you chasing after her. Inside the dark was lit up by a GIGANTIC DIGLETT with the red-black cloud hovering over it's dynamax form. You nearly fainted then and there but when the thing ROARED you felt like you were about to have a heart attack!!! Your sobble poor thing made a small squeal of fright before forcing itself into your backpack to hide immediately. Things just went downhill from there when in the middle of the battle Gloria decided to dynamax scorbunny and all of a sudden you both were having a very hard time standing up from the shaking ground and the debry the attacks caused to the point you literally yelled that you both had to leave then and there but she couldn't hear you past all the noise and therefore barked orders to her gigantic scorbunny from her holding onto the ground. With you clinging onto the cave's wall for dear life hoping it would be over soon. Thankfully it did. It was all a blur really. You vaugly remembered Gloria somehow capturing the diglett and returning scorbunny to it's rightful size. And you two carefully climbed around disheveled cave floor until managing to get out of the cave....where the both of you collasped onto the ground.

"HOW THE HECK CAN STADIUMS HANDLE THOSE THINGS!?,'' you yelled out dizzily into the soft grass. In the game you didn't have to worry about debry being flung at you or the ground giving away suddenly. BECAUSE IT WAS A GAME!! REAL LIFE POKEMON DYNAMAX BATTLES WERE NOTHING LIKE THE GAME!!

Gloria raised a weak hand. "T-They were made a long time ago with top professors, contractors, and researchers to build them strong enough even a dynamaxed monchomp with the strength of a thousand earthquakes couldn't shake it. Dunno how but man I'm glad they did."

You could 100% agree with that! It took a minute for the both of you to recover before the two of you got up, dusted yourselves off, and went off again. Gloria managed to resume battling and taking photos of a few pokemon. Although some of the pictures were so blurry from the pokemon moving they would be no use at all and she didn't catch a lot of the pokemon she tried to battle. But she did win a few and even had two other dynamax battles within the dens you guessed Hop didn't come across. Catching one of them but not the other as you struggled to not lose your lunch or have a heart attack both times. You were not a fan of wild dynamax battles after that. At one point you even came across what Gloria explained was a wild berry tree and demonstrated how to get the fruits off them by forcibly shaking it until a couple berries fell off it. They all had a somewhat bittertaste you didn't like when you tried them tho, but your sobble seemed to enjoy up as you handed them right over when they extended their....hands?? Paws??...towards it. You couldn't remember how much time had passed before the two of you finally had a chance to sit down under the shade of a tree and have a break. Gloria took the time to go through all the pictures she took, must've been about thirty, but only twenty one were salvagable. Curious you took a peak at the pictures she showed you. The pokemon she got pictures of were a onix(of course angering it-), roselia, vespiquen, nuzleaf, vulpix, snover, bunnelby, pidove, miccino, baltou, combee, tryogue, stuffel, diglett(how did she have time to get a picture of that dynamax thing?), metapod, diggersby, hoothoot, bounsweet, noibat, and a pancham. Not a lot but certainly a decent haul for her. It was you who eventually asked the question-

"Hey. What time is it?"

Gloria responded by quickly pulling out her phone and checking the time on it. And she blinked. "It's four twenty seven! It's already been about five and a half hours!"

"Wha-" You looked up to the sky. Didn't look like sunset yet, but it was definately about late after noon. You two hadn't even noticed the time fly by. "We've been out here nearly all day!"

With a hum gloria quickly scrambled to pick up her things. "I think we better head to Motostoke now. I don't really know how long it'll take to walk there and I did promise Hop we'd meet him there."

You nodded scooping the confused sobble into your arms. The walk there was pretty uneventful as you two walked what must've been half a mile, your eyes widening the closer you got, until you finally got there......AND. IT. WAS. NOTHING. LIKE IN GAME!! The entrance to Motostoke was all bricked with a mideival ages meets industrial period kind of look. All the buildings you could see were brick other than the familiar pink pokemon center and there was A LOT MORE people and buildings than in game you remember....makes sense you supposed. This was a real world and so of course there would be a lot more people and buildings. It was so crowded you were certain if Gloria wasn't walking beside you, you were sure you would've easily watched her. The first place you two stopped was the pokemon center where Gloria went inside to heal her pokemon from todays battle and put away any new ones she caught into those Rotomi box things. You were busy marveling at the busy streets and environment around you. You had never been in a city before let alone a town like this so it was quite a shock for you to see. This place even had GIANT WORKING GEARS BUILT INTO IT'S VERY WALLS!! It was like a real steampunk town. But once she came out she.....stopped and stared around her.

"So which way to the ceremony?," you asked her gazing at a few stores lined across the street.

She looked really unsure now fidgiting with the straps of her bag and looking around her. "U-Um...I don't know."

You snapped your head to her. "You don't what?!"

"Im sorry!" She apologized looking around. "I know it's here! I just.....don't know exactly where in town."

You wanted to facepalm but decided not too to avoid hurting her feelings and looked around as well as people and their pokemon passed you two. No signs of Hop or any indication of a ceremony anywhere in sight. No other trainers, no signs, certainly no ceremony!

Gloria suddenly held up her phone. "Maybe I should call him? He might already be there waiting for us-"

"HEY YOU TWO!!" A familiar voice called out and to both of your relief you turned and walking towards you with a shopping bag in one hand, yamper at her feet was your saving grace Sonia waving at you. "Over here!"

"SONIA!" Gloria smiled. "Boy are we glad to see you! We ran into a 'Leon situation' here."

That made her laughed. "Oh really? Real ace of you to make it through the Wild Area. And a Leon situation huh?"

Gloria nodded sighing. "We're kinda lost. Do you know where the ceremony is?"

"You're first time in a city and already lost? But Motostoke is big right?" Gloria nodded and Sonia smiled. "Not to worry. Sonia is here to show you around a bit."

"Thanks, Ms. Sonia." Gloria poltely smiled at the older woman. "Could you point out where we gotta go?"

Sonia hummed. "The Entrance ceremony huh? I get a bit worked up when I think how exciting and moving it was to actually stand on a stadium's pitch for the first time." Sonia smiled off thinking of an old memory most likely. She shook her head. "Anyways. Brilliant young trainer who braved the Wild Area! Do you remember what your goal in Motostoke is?"

"I'm here for the Gym Challenge!,"Gloria shouted determined smile on her face and Sonia nodded.

She nodded. "Yep! The Gym Challenge Opening Ceremony!" She pointed behind her at the busy street. You Guess since she once too here attending the Gym challenge with leon as kids she would know where it would be. "Use that lift over there to get to it K? OH! By the way the ceremony tomorrow is being held at the Motostoke Stadium ok?"

......You looked at Gloria. "There's a stadium here AND a second ceremony tomorrow??" Gloria shrugged at you.

"Well, laters!" She waved a hand at you two. "I'm going to swing by the shops while I'm here but don't forget to register at the Stadium,k?" Gloria nodded and Sonia went to tur- She stopped. "OH! I forgot. I got you a little something." Reaching into her coat pocket and fishing around, she pulled out what looked like at first glance some kind of training card before holding it out to Gloria who curiously accepted it...And her eyes WIDENED at it.

"NO!! WAY!!" She stared wide eyed between the card and Sonia. "Is this what I think it is!?"

She giggled. "Yep. I know Leon already sent myself and Hop a couple so I figured it would be the perfect start off to your own collection."

Gloria gave off a girly teen squeal and practically shoved it into your face making you blink. "OH MY MAGIKARP!! LOOK!! I GOT A LEAGUE CARD!!" You blinked and true to her word it was a card. And on it was a picture of Leon sitting down looking off somewhere. She smiled widely pulling it from your face. "Thanks so much So-...." She blinked. "Hey where'd she go?"

You shrugged. "I guess she left. Come on. We better get going."

She nodded ad the two of you made off for this lift at the end of the street. Along the way you guys passed a few stores. A flower shop, a cafe, a book store, a record shop, a barber shop, and another clothes shop. Once you two were at and on the lift....you became unsure again.

"Um. Now what?"

"I dunno..." Something caught her eye as she looked over and pointed. "hey what's that?"

"What's what?"

"This panel has a button." She pressed it.

"AH!!" You instantly fell to your bottom and Gloria grabbed onto the small pedestol as the lift suddenly lifted the two of you up and around, until it suddenly stopped again and you groaned. Pushing yourself up...and hearing a snicker. You shot a look to the teenager who was snickering behind her hand. "Nice to see you're still standing." You muttered pushing yourself up to your feet again and looking over, in front of the both of you was a giant building with glass doors, in front of the doors was two men in some kind of uniform and sunglasses like some bodyguard and some man with.....A Pokeball head?? Was waving to a few people passing by. A mascot maybe??.....You pointed at the building. "You think that's it or what?"

She went to answer but someone already beat here to it. "Gloria! Ms. Y/n!" Both of you looked over and Hop was making his way towards the two of you. "You made it too? "

You rubbed your aching back. "Yeah. Where are we?"

"Motostoke Stadium! This is where the Opening Ceremony will be held!" He exclaimed excitedly pointing to the large building behind him. "Everyone'll be watching the Opening Ceremony for the Gym Challenge! My mom, your mom, the whole world!! It's getting me a bit nervous really." He shook his head. "Naw. This isn't nerves. I'm only trembling because I'm so excited!"

"Well I say we go it and get registered before it gets too dark," Gloria suggested.

"You're right!" He turned back to the stadium still pointing. "Come on, Glory! It's time the world knows our names!"

As the three of you rolled up to the doors one of the two men standing in front of the door held one of their hands out in a clear stop motion in front of you trio.

"Can I see your sponsorship letters please?," He asked holding out his hand and Hop didn't hesitate to pull his out of his pocket and have the letter over to the man in the meantime Gloria had slung her backpack off her shoulders and went digging through it. You hoped she didn't forget it all the way back in Postwick. The security guard carefully examined the peice of paper in his hands. Running a hand across the red unbroken seal, holding it up to the light, and then taking a small device out of his pocket. A small green light came out and scanned it for a few seconds until there was a small ding from the machine and the man nodded before handing it back to him. "Head on inside and sign in Trainer. Next!" Saying a quick thanks Hop quickly snatched the letter back just as Gloria pulled out her own (thank goodness she still had it) and handed it to the man who repeated the same process from before before he too handed Gloria back hers and allowed her to go. But when you made a move to follow them he held another hand up. "Sorry, Ma'am. Only registered trainers, staff, and authorized personal are allowed inside. You'll have to wait out here. It's the rules."

You paused for a moment before looking at Gloria uncertain who smiled. "It's alright Y,n. Just wait for us out here ok? It shouldn't take too long. I mean we're just signing in!"

"Well...Alright if you say so." You gestured to a nearby bench. "I'll just wait for you two over there ok?"

They agreed and left you standing outside the stadium as they went inside. Not that you minded waiting of course. Your feet ached and your shoulders from carrying around your backpack all day, so plopping on the bench you gave your sore body a rest before slinging your pack off your shoulders. Your sobble had decided now would be a good time to fully crawl out of your pack from where its been hiding out this whole time and you let it climb on you when you placed your bag down with a sigh and leaned into the bench. FINALLY allowing yourself to rest for a while. You waited for a little while as people passed you, going up and down the lift and and streets as the body guards still stood there making sure no one entered without permission. A few teens Hop's age excited uncluding one boy with bright white fluffy hair and a long pink coat and you thought he looked rather grumpy. At one point you thought you heard a happy yell from somewhere but ignored it as it was probably a child playing somewhere. The sky slowly turning to a light pink as it got later in the day. Eventually the two did come back out but with what looked like white work out bands on their wrist that didn't have the dynamax bands on them. You waved at them as they walked right on over to you.....and with a second boy??

"Hey you two. Who do you got there?,' you asked gesturing to the boy on the other side of Gloria.

To which she smiled brightly and hugged him making you raise a brow. "Don't you recognize twins when you see them! IT'S VICTOR!!"

You stared at the young boy smiling at you. ........THIS WAS VICTOR!! The name of the male avator that you could pick in the game if you didn't chose Gloria to play instead. Looking at the young boy he still looked the same age as Gloria and Hop next to him even if he was a little taller than his twin. How did you not recognize it sooner? He had the same dark brown hair and light brown eyes as his sister and if they had the same haircut they would've looked the exact same (other than Victor's slightly taller hieght). He wore a grey beanie like hat, a red shirt with some logo on it, jeans, brown shoes, and carried what might as well been a giant suit case on his back. And a poloroid camera was slung in a similar fashion around his neck as he smiled at you. Gloria seemed very happy to see him as she excitedly gestured to him.

"Can you believe it!? After a whole year the mysterious photographer finally appeared after disappearing without a trace," she teased making her twin roll his eyes.

"It's nice to know you haven't changed. I wanted to surprise you after the text you sent me telling me Lee sponsored you but I didn't expect you to show up with more people." He turned back to you with a smile. "Greetings! You must be the new friend Gloria told me about. Thanks for saving her sorry butt from the Slumbering Weild. I always knew she'd get into trouble sooner or later without me."

"HEY!" A frown came over her face as she pouted. "I don't get into THAT much trouble! Besides I got here without a problem didn't I?"

He chose to ignore that and you took the chance to talk. "Nice to meet you too. Are you here for the Gym Challenge?"

He shrugged. "Yes and no. I'm here to take pictures of the events as they happen. It's been years since the last Gym Challenge and certainly going to be a long time until the next one after this year is over. But I'm not competing. Never had much interest in battles."

You could understand that. You never had much interest doing a couple things too.

"Y'know Lee had a sponsorship and starter pokemon all ready for you too." Gloria almost looked sad. ''You could've competed alongside us even if you didn't want to battle it would've been fun to have you around."

"Glory, then a Champion's sponsorship would've been wasted. It wouldn't be put to it's full potential. Although I am a bit upset I didn't have the chance to tell Leon myself, but I'm sure I'll be able to thank him later considering you'll be seeing more of me around here soon."

She gave her brother a confused look. "Whatcha mean?"

"I've decided to join Hop on this little adventure If he doesn't mind."

"Really!? That's awesome! Of course!" Hop was quick to agree with a friendly punch to Victor's shoulder. "Why wouldn't I want one of my greatest pals joining me while I write my legend? It'll be grand to have a traveling buddy of my own!"

"NO WAY!!" Gloria's large smile returned! "Oh this is great! We'll be able to see each other for a while more. I haven't been able to see you since you went on a journey last year so this is totally a win win for me in everyway!"

You nodded. "Oh. How'd the registry go?"

She waved a hand. "Oh y'know. We got our Challenger Bands we're apparently supposed to wear all the time so everyone knows we're a part of the registered trainers group. Our own League cards for the challenge. And we got to meet some of the rival trainers in there too! I liked the Sherry girl. She seemed really shy."

"I heard she was sponsored by the Gym Leader Milo but I can't be too sure," Victor replied before looking up at the sky. ".....But in any case I believe we should all head to Budew Drop Inn before the actual ceremony tomorrow." He turned to Gloria. "That way I can show you all the new pictures of pokemon I've gotten. You can use them for that dex challenge thing you told me about."

They turned and you nodded in agreement standing up and grabbing your bag, your sobble grabbing onto your bag as your hoisted it back over your shoulders and followed them guessing they must've known the way.

"By the way how many pictures of pokemon did you add to your collection?," Gloria asked glancing at her twin.

"Um." He made a thoughtful face. "Well let's see. Nessa's Aquarium has at least one of every water type pokemon...and with how many nature preserves I've stayed...and with the hundreds of tourists with different regions pokemon....and trading pictures with fellow photographers from different regions at the International Photographers Expo..........Six hundred thirty four different pokemon!"

There was silence for a moment.

"........WHAT?!"

The four of you made it down the street and over to the six story building that certainly looked like a fancy hotel. Along the way the children explained that the Chairman had not only endorsed as well but apparently paid the hotel in advance to allow all the trainers to stay the night before the actual ceremony took place the next day and the challengers were officially given the go ahead to start their journey. But a small surprise awaited the four of you yet in the hotel when you walked in and you looked around. There was a couple potted plants, two pairs of stairs leading up to another level with furniture, a sign in desk, and an elevator like a regular hotel but the thing your eyes were drawn to was the golden statue. It reminded you of those knights in ancient fairy tales. The golden man stood with his sword held up to the sky, a gleamering shield on his other arm in defense, and his face one of determination to not fail. Quite the craftsman ship. And standing right in front of it with a small yamper at her feet was-

"SONIA!" Gloria loudly greeted startling the poor lady and making her turn around.

Upon seeing who it was she sighed and smiled. "Oh it's just you guys. You gave me quite the jump scare there. But it looks like you both got yourselves registered." She nodded to the arm bands before her gaze drifted to Victor as she blinked. "....Oh. Hiya! I don't think we've met."

"This is my brother, Victor. He's gonna be with Hop for a while. But what are you doing here? I thought you were going out to study."

"Yeah." Hop chimed in. "What are you doing at our hotel?"

"Oh!" She shifted the many shopping bags in her arms. Guess she did go shopping while here after all. "I'm researching the mysterious pokemon that are said to be in the Slumbering Weild. I reckon if I look into some of Galar's lengends I might figure something out. Care to join me?" She gestured to the statue. "You're here already anyways."

"SURE! It'd be fun!" She turned to you."Hey. Y/n new to Galar. I don't think she even knows the legends."

"That's perfect then! While you're doing that, Im gonna go stand in that long like up there and secure a spot for us ok?"

"But I-" You raised a hand as theVictor turned and walked away leaving you with sonia and the other two...and you sighed. "I don't think I was that way when I was fourteen."

Sonia chuckled. "We were all like that at one point or another. But would you like to hear one of the legends? A newbie to Galar like you might enjoy some foriegn tales."

"I'd like to hear too!"

You stared at her for a moment before shrugging. "Why not? I was just cast out from the little tribe."

She chuckled even more before she turned towards the statue. "Alright then. I'm sure you've seen the statue then.''

"Yeah." You rose a brow looking back up to the handsome man's golden face. "Who is he anyways?"

"It's a statue of the hero who once saved the Galar Region. I can run through the legend right quite if you fancy?" You nodded and that was all she needed to continue. "Long ago a great black storm covered the Galar Region." She gazed back to the statue. "People called it 'The Darkest Day'. The land was assaulted by gigantic pokemon but they were defeated by a single young hero bearing a sword and shield. This statue here is meant to depict the young hero of that legend. We still don't understand what kind of sword and shield the hero actually had. And what this 'black storm' is supposed to be is just another mystery. Whatever it was, it blotted all the skies across Galar. I suppse that tracks with it being 'the Darkest Day' but still..."

Hop blinked blinking at the golden statue's face and scratching his head. "Huh...I suppose that hero must've been about as strong as Lee then. Looks like you're going to have your hands full with plenty research though, Sonia. Black storms and swords and shields and all..."

"You'll be alright Sonia!"

She chuckled. "Heh. Thanks. I'll muddle through somehow. Don't you worry." She shook her head. "But legends aside. You three are staying at the hotel tonight though, right? Shouldn't you check in?"

"Probably so. Victor's holding our place in line." With a smiled similar to Leon he smiled widely at her. "And we'll look out for you too, Sonia! If we hear anything about any hero or whatnot we'll tell you!" Gloria nodded with a hum.

Sonia bowed her head in thanks to the two. "Thanks so much. Even if you don't find anything the thought's appreciated." As the kids said good byes and walked around her to a stair case you paused as she lifted her head and gazed at you. "I hope you enjoyed my little tale."

You smiled and nodded. "Yes. It was really entertaining. Thanks for telling me."

She nodded. "And thanks for taggin' along with the kids this far. I know we're practically strangers but there's just....I don't know....really good aura about you." You chuckled. You? Really good aura? That certainly was a first. "I'm sure Lee appreciates it too. He's always so worried about Hop. He practically raised him after all-" All of a sudden it was like a switch flipped off in her mind and her happy smile went to a sudden shocked face. "Oh no. I didn't mean to mention that. Please forget I even said that."

Your brow rose confus- "Y/N! C'MON! We got our room key already!"

You looked up to Gloria's call before back to Sonia before waving good bye and leaving. Wondering what the heck that was all about. Oh well. You had bigger things to worry about- Like the the fact that the three kids had gotten into a fight with four punk rockers!! You had just walked up the stairs and instantly was face to face with the three teenagers up in the faces of four people who dressed in black and red from their face paint to their outfits shouting something about they're going to cheer someone on and no one could stop them. You couldn't tell between the seven people shouting at one another and the front desk clerk trying to calm them down. THANK GOODNESS FOR THE YOUNG GIRL WHO STOPPED IT ALL!! She walked up the stairs and stopped next to your shocked state. A look of shock coming over her own face for a moment before she sighed and that snapped you out of your trance long enough for you to look at her. She was a teenager same around the same age as the other children with black hair tied back in two ponytails by red ribbon, a pink dress, with a black leather jacket and boots.

"What are you lot doin' here?" She had asked in what sounded what a brittish accent but you were sure Britain wasn't a thing in this world. Instantly the fighting stopped from the punk rockers as the they looked to her shocked like a couple toddlers caught taking candy. One shouted what you assumed was her name. Marnie you thought? As they stuttered out excuses. "I know you all are terribly curious 'bout the other gym challengers, but you gotta show a bit of restraint." Well it was nice of her to settle them down before she apologized. "Sorry 'bout them. They're just a bunch of my fans. Call themselves Team Yell and follow me around. cheerin' for me. I think they've let it all go to their heads a bit.....Come on you lot. Back home with you now!" She sighed as they guiltily slunk away past you down the stairs. "They're just so caught up with wantin' to support me and all that they tend to get a bit shirty with other Gym Challengers. Sorry if they caused you any trouble."

With that she simply walked past the lot of you, got her room key, and just walked away like it never even happened. You were still in a bit of shock but shook it off in favor of getting to the room you'd be bunking in with Gloria and have a small break from today. The inner workings weren't too different from the hotels you've been to before and was more than eager to plop yourself down and have a rest. The rest of the afternoon was a blur. At one point all three kids were sitting around the bed helping sort through Victor's collection of photos and helping Gloria glue in quite a lot of them into that small book of theirs. Hop mentioned about calling room service and Gloria suggested the four of you order each a different curry to help her fill in a bit of her curry challenge book as well. Which you had no problem against. It was free room service and you were interested in trying some of this world's curry since it was supposed to be world famous as Sonia told you. You ended up randomly chosing Sweet Curry as someone phoned it to the front desk and waited for it too arrive. It was pretty good. But it wasn't too different from Mrs. G's curry you had tasted other than the sauce on the rice tasted a mildy hot enough to be sweet. Of course that didn't stop Gloria was taking your curry's picture along with Hop's that had a massive egg in what was call a bitter boiled egg curry, Gloria's was a dry smoked tail curry(you hoped that wasn't an actual tail, and you think Victor's was leek curry with some kind of veggies decorating the plate. You ended up letting your sobble finish what food was leftover after you ate and soon you two found yourselves bidding the two boys good night and went to finally rest for the night. After getting a quick shower you decided it was best to go to bed since the actual Ceremony was tomorrow. Gloria had gotten the bed and you borrowed the sleeping bag Mrs. G had given Gloria. As the darkness slowly consumed your vision as your eyelids drooped you vauguly regstered your sobble climbing on one of the shelves.

.........

CRASH!!

Both of you were startled away in the dark from a giant crash and a couple panicked chirps before you were tackled by an invisible spooked sobble burrowing under your arm as Gloria turned on the lamp to reveal the pokemon's mess.

"Y/n! Your sobble knocked over the shelf!"

"Uuuuuuhhhhh!!!"

#piers x reader #pokemon piers x reader #pokemon shield #pokemon sword #pokemon piers #reader x piers #pokemon swsh #pokemon sword and shield #Reader

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huntergatherercreator · 4 years

Text

The Takedown | Part Eleven

Pairing: Mob!Tom Holland x Detective Reader

Summary: NYC has a new drug lord determined to wipe out any and all competition in order to grow his empire. You're going undercover to stop him.

Warnings: Mentions of weapons, swearing, violence, drugs

Notes: In all of my plotting for this fic I’d never planned on writing a lot from Tom’s POV but I’ve really got into it. I hope everyone’s enjoying mob Tom as much as I am!

Part 11 – 1,547 words

Toms POV

It had been six days. Six fucking days and no retaliation from Rivera. In any other situation he’d take this to mean he’d won but he knew Rivera wouldn’t back down. Despite the warning Tom had dropped off at the docks Rivera would have a plan of attack. He always did. He pressed his forehead against his linked fingers. Thumbs rubbing at his temples he inhaled deeply trying to rein in his thoughts. Maybe driving him to madness waiting for the guillotine to drop was part of Rivera’s tactics. Get him too caught up by the question of ‘when’ that he missed the ‘how’.

The grating buzz of the intercom had his jaw clenching. He’d been in meetings all day with his men and not one of them had anything useful to say. As his assistant let him know his next appointment had arrived he was tempted to tell them to fuck off. He knew better though. He had to lead by example. Act as if the threat wasn’t a worry in front of his men otherwise they’d spiral. Settling back in his chair he adjusted his suit jacket as the door opened and Joe entered accompanied by a heavily tattooed runner. It took him a second to pull up the name. Tate, he realised with a slow sinking in his gut. Finding a replacement for Arnold was yet another thing he had to fix.

Glancing between his man and the newcomer he took in their shared unease as they perched in the armchairs before his desk.

“This is about her isn’t it?” he realised with growing anticipation. If his theory was right then she could be the key to toppling Rivera off his gunmetal throne. Joe nodded but wouldn’t make eye contact.

“Tell me,” he demanded.

“I’m sorry, boss. I couldn’t get anything on her, but-“

He stood swiftly, his chair rattling as it hit the wall. Hands gripping the edge of the desk he towered over them. “How is that possible? Is she working with Rivera or not?”

“I don’t know, boss. It’s like she knew she was being followed, she kept throwing me off her trail.”

“Did she know she was being followed, Joe?” He didn’t believe his best man would be obvious enough to get caught. He never had before, but it was the only explanation for the failure he could think of.

“No. I’m sure of it. I’ve had others track her at different points around the city and they’ve all lost sight of her too,” Joe insisted, squirming under Holland’s dark stare.

“What about her background?”

“Came up clean.”

“Too clean?”

Joe shook his head. “She’s been picked up a few times, mostly for theft, once for dealing but was released. That was when she was younger. If she’s been dealing since then she’s kept her head down. Which might explain why she’s so good at covering her tracks.” Tom threw him a pointed look.

“Don’t make excuses. You fucked up, Joe. One woman. That’s all I asked. One.” He was letting his temper get the better of him but he didn’t care. Now that his last lifeline had evaporated he was back to square one. Hand raking through his hair he closed his eyes for a brief second.

“Why is he here? What else has gone fucking wrong?” he motioned to Tate who’d sat unmoving through their conversation. Joe’s hesitation had his fists clenching. Without a word Tate lifted the backpack he’d been carrying and slid it onto the desk.

“She gave it to me. It’s the pay-out for her stash.”

Unzipping the bag roughly he balked at the cash within. Arnold had been an incompetent prick giving her more than one person’s lot to sell, but given the bundles before him she’d somehow pulled it off.

“Told me to give you a message, too. Says this is what you’re due, and she’s keeping the profit.”

Tom stilled. His skin prickled. Who the fuck did she think she was?

“And you did nothing to get the rest?” he snarled. His heart rate was picking up as adrenaline seeped in.

“Figured you’d prefer to get the cash back personally,” Tate motioned to the front of the bag where a slip of paper was tucked. “Found her address going through Sam’s shit.”

Some of the tension in his shoulders lifted. It had been a while since he’d dealt with anything like this himself. Unbidden an image of the last time he’d seen her flashed behind his eyes. She’d stared down the barrel of his gun without even a flicker of fear. He couldn’t wait to change that.

“I want a car ready in ten minutes.”

****

Detective POV

The hot water of the shower helped flush away the tiredness clinging to my bones. It was just after five in the evening and even with a full day of recuperating I was still drained. After giving Zoey and the girls their dues she’d tipped me off about a rave happening in Hell’s Kitchen. It had been risky given that was Rivera’s primary territory but a large portion of the drugs that had been left had been sold. What little was left got pushed on the streets and then I’d summoned Tate to take Holland what he was due.

Given the derisive smirk on Tate’s face he’d pass my message along, if only to be the one sent back to deal out my punishment. I tried to picture how Holland would react to the news but couldn’t get past the darkness of his eyes. A shiver snaked up my spine as my pulse spiked. I shook my head sharply to clear the thoughts threatening to creep in, turning up the heat as I did to chase away the chill.

Holland is a mobster. He’s a killer. He’s dangerous. I’d found myself repeating the mantra more and more since the Cove. Zoey had questioned me about it again too. Still probing about how I was dealing with the case, angling towards me stepping back again. I’d shut her down quickly. This was my case. I’d know when things went too far. Now, after clearing the literal weight off my back in the form of the drug filled backpack, I’d been able to find a way to reel Holland back in.

Wrapping myself in a towel I padded towards the kitchenette to grab a cup of coffee. Halfway towards the machine a thin slash of light cut across the floor. The front door was cracked open. It was undamaged, meaning someone had picked their way in. A quick glance around the small apartment and I couldn’t see anything else out of place. There was no sign of an intruder but my skin prickled. Tightening the towel I gently clicked the door closed. Reaching into the umbrella stand I picked out one of the many guns I’d stashed around after Arnolds visit. Double checking the clip as quietly as I could I moved back towards the only unchecked area.

The door was closed, how I’d left it, but the tingling of my scalp warned me to be on high alert. I pressed against the wall, my fingers resting lightly on the door handle. The roaring of blood in my ears made it impossible to tell if I could hear movement or if it was my adrenaline fuelled imagination. I took a slow breath and on the exhale threw the door open. A moment of pause to draw out any gun fire and then I swung into the room, weapon raised.

I froze unable to process the situation that greeted me. Holland was sat on the corner of the bed, his gun resting against his thigh, the other toying with the underwear I’d left out. Waves of heat warmed my cheeks as he stroked the lace without expression.

“Did you buy these with my money?” His even tone had my breath catching. I’d confronted him before, I’d seen him angry. I’d seen him humiliated. This was different. His curls were in disarray as if he’d been running his hands through them repeatedly. His shirt unbuttoned at the top, tie loose around his neck. I knew pushing him wouldn’t end well. I kept my mouth shut.

“How about this?” Picking up the gun I’d had hidden in my bedside cabinet he turned it over in his hand as if appraising it.

Excruciatingly slow his gaze turned from the items on the bed to where I stood still aiming at him in the doorway. Leaning back on his free hand those dark eyes appraised me. Shame flared as a new type of heat spread. I bit the inside of my cheek hoping the surge of pain would douse it before he noticed but I was too slow. He’d zeroed in on the change of my breathing and the new flush I could feel coating my neck. He shoved off from the bed. My trigger finger tensed as he stalked towards me. My mind swam with the mantra. Holland is a mobster. He grabbed my wrist, slamming it back against the door frame. He’s a killer. Pain shot through my arm and the gun clattered to the floor as my body reflexively let it go. He’s dangerous. His strong fingers enclosed my throat.

------

Taglist:

@spideylovin @lukesbabylon @panicattheeverywherekid @keep-bears-wild @unbelievableholland @tomholland-mcu @whattheheckparker @stargazerholland @gorillaglue23 @marvelpeters

Part 12!

#mob!tom #mob!tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland imagine #tom holland

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wildest-dreams-at-midnight · 3 years

Text

SDS High School AU Chapter 1

Meliodas yawned and Zeldris snickered in response. “School hasn’t even started yet,” Zeldris reminded. “How are you already tired?”

“This year’s going to fucking suck,” Meliodas complained. “Dad’s more insane than usual and I’m a junior.”

“You have the Sins, I’m sure you’ll get into plenty of trouble,” Zeldris said. “And besides, it’s not like you can really get punished.”

“You’re surprisingly optimistic this morning Zel,” Meliodas pointed out. “You’re usually a nightmare this early.” He was slightly annoyed his younger brother was in such a good mood at eight AM. It should be illegal.

“I’m excited,” Zeldris defended.

“About seeing your girlfriend again?” The two brothers laughed as they walked through the wrought iron gates of the school grounds.

“You too, you haven’t seen Elizabeth all summer, you must miss her like hell.” Meliodas huffed and bumping into his brother so he stumbled slightly to the side. Zeldris simply smiled.

A plaza paved in red bricks was dominated by a copper fountain, the water catching the light of the rising sun. Manicured green lawns sloped up to red brick and marble buildings. Students were milling around and stretching out on steps, avoiding the grass so as to not stain their uniforms. Flowers hugged the diameter of the trees scattered across the grounds. Meliodas noticed the rest of the Sins were sitting on the lip of the fountain.

“Do you know where the rest of the cousins are?” Meliodas asked Zeldris.

“Yeah they’re sitting on the steps of the science building,” Zel pointed to the building that was farthest away where a small group of other students were all lounging around, looking completely unenergized. Nobody was going near them either.

“Are you going to look for Gelda?” Meliodas stretched out the syllables of the name, taking enjoyment in how Zeldris’s face lit up red.

“Shut up! You’re just jealous you haven’t worked up the nerve to make a move with Elizabeth,” Zeldris argued.

“Gelda was the one who asked you out,” Meliodas reminded as he turned towards the fountain. It amused him to no end that the rest of the student body was keeping as far away from the Sins as possible. “I’ll see you later.”

“Meliodas!” a tall girl with brown pigtails and purple eyes yelled and waved furiously.

“Yo Diane!” He waved at his brother again before heading to his friends.

“Were the last two weeks good for you Captain?” Before Meliodas could answer a very loud “captain!” was yelled out.

“Ban!” They ran up to each other and gave rapid high-fives before slamming their arms down on the fountain edge. “King, referee.” He rolled his eyes but complied.

“Go,” he said unenthusiastically. The arm-wrestling match was over quickly, with Meliodas forcing Ban’s arm down.

“I win for the tenth time in a row,” Meliodas boasted with a grin. “Better luck next time, bastard.” Ban snorted in response.

“Will you two ever grow up?” King asked.

“Why would they do that?” a soft, sweet voice asked.

“Hey Elaine,” Meliodas waved at King’s younger sister and Ban’s girlfriend. Elaine gave Meliodas a hug before she sat next to Ban.

“Besides, you’re all juniors,” she said. “What else are you supposed to do this year?”

“Exactly, this is the year for having fun,” Ban argued. “Besides, Cap’n can get us out of any trouble, right?” Meliodas huffed but didn’t disagree.

“Did you have a good summer Captain?” Diane repeated, not at all pleased that her question was ignored.

“It was ok. Zel and I had to go to some conference for private schools in the area because of Dad and it was boring as fuck.”

“Did you meet Arthur while you were there?” Merlin asked.

“He didn’t want to get into any trouble with the two of us, but he was nice enough,” Meliodas answered. “He talked about you a lot actually, Merlin.”

“What did he say?” Gowther asked. Merlin simply raised an eyebrow and smiled a secret smile. It didn’t escape Meliodas’s notice that Escanor looked slightly hurt at that. The group of seven continued reminiscing about their summer escapades but fell silent as the group they referred to as ‘the Archangels’ walked by. Meliodas grinned and waved at them, smirking when he was given a twisted expression full of disdain. Meliodas’s face fell when he noticed Elizabeth was sandwiched between them.

“Elizabeth!” Diane cried and barreled through two of them to wrap her friend in a giant hug.

“Hi Diane,” she choked out. Diane heard the strain in her voice and pulled back. “Did you all have a good summer?”

“We did, why weren’t you able to come with us this year?”

“Elizabeth.” Ludociel’s voice was severe. “You’re not allowed to talk to them.”

“What the fuck?” Ban demanded. “She’s been with us for ten goddamn years, why the sudden change, Goddess?”

“That’s none of your concern,” Mael snapped.

“It actually is.” Meliodas broke his silence and walked forward to stand next to Diane. “You’ve acted like she didn’t exist for years. Why the sudden possessiveness?”

“It’s not being possessive!”

“I didn’t know you were so desperate for attention Mael,” Meliodas sneered. “You’re holding people hostage now?” Meliodas could feel all the blood rushing to his head. His temples were throbbing with anger and breaking Mael’s neck was sounding like a better idea each second.

“I’m not going to waste my time responding to you.” Apparently Mael was trying to take the high road but Meliodas wasn’t willing to let that happen.

“You just did.” Mael spluttered and Tarmiel cleared his throat.

“Come along Elizabeth,” Ludociel ordered.

“You can’t tell her—” Elizabeth interrupted King.

“It’s ok. Really. I don’t want a fight breaking out.” She gave Meliodas a glance and he could see the pain in her eyes. If she had been in tears, he would have gone on a rampage. When the Archangels were out of earshot Meliodas snickered.

“What’s so funny Captain?” Escanor asked.

“Elizabeth and I may or may not have all the same classes,” Meliodas explained.

“Your Dad wants the two of you to get together almost more than you do,” Merlin commented.

“it does seem that way,” Gowther agreed.

“But the archangels are also in your year,” Elaine said. “Couldn’t you have classes with them?”

“Dad made sure to keep them separated from Elizabeth. They’re all in the same classes, and I’m sure some of you can’t avoid them, but there’s only one class we have with them and it’s with a teacher who does seating charts religiously.”

“Denzel?” they all asked in unison, which Meliodas nodded at.

“Your Dad’s keeping us separated?” Diane pouted, changing the subject.

“Not without good reason,” Merlin pointed out. “I’m sure he doesn’t want any more teachers complaining. Especially after freshman year.” The group laughed at that. Meliodas kept an eye out in case they approached the science building, which was likely since Elizabeth’s first class was physics, like his. Thankfully, they hadn’t reached the Commandments, a group of people who answered to his father which consisted of Zeldris and their nine cousins, either by blood or in name. On cue, bells rang through the air and the groans from all the students were audible.

“I have Dreyfus first,” Diane said. “What about all of you?”

“I do too,” Meliodas added. “I think Ban and King do also.”

“How do you know that?” King demanded.

“Also Elaine, you’ll probably have some classes with Zel, keep an eye on him?”

“Of course Meliodas,” she agreed.

“Hey answer me,” King demanded.

“I looked up what your schedules were before school started,” he replied as the group started to walk to the cluster of structures.

“Seriously?”

“No. You were holding your schedule and I saw it when I went to arm-wrestle Ban.” King groaned and went to follow the other three. “See you all later!” Everyone parted to make way for them, not wanting to be on their bad side. Rumors had swept through the school about what happened to people who had been bullying those that weren’t defendable and Meliodas’s wrath was legendary. Everyone knew what had happened to the people who had dared to make fun of Zeldris. Naturally Meliodas had gotten away with it. His father could be a pain in the ass, but at least he turned a blind eye to the trouble they got into. Being the son of the school’s headmaster had its perks, he supposed.

He slowed his gait as they approached the science building where Elizabeth was shooing her new bodyguards away. When they had left Meliodas approached with a wave.

“Elizabeth!” Her face lit up, the happiest he had seen from her so far and they all hurried inside. After making sure the hallway was empty, Elizabeth flung herself at the blond with a tight hug. Meliodas heard her heartbeat and the rhythm soothed his fire from earlier.

“What’s your schedule?” she asked after pulling away and hugging Ban and King.

“We have all the same classes,” Meliodas said with a wide grin. “And better yet, we only have math with the Archangels.”

“Really? That’s amazing!”

“You can thank Dad, I had nothing to do with it.” As they made their way through the building, it was easy to see that classes had already started. Through windows of some doors, teachers were lecturing, in others students were working at lab stations. Meliodas noted with some amusement that one of the flasks already looked like it was smoking.

“Wonder how long it’ll be before the first fire alarm goes off this year,” Diane said as they passed by a lab room. “I think it’ll be two weeks.”

“I give it a week at most,” Ban said.

“I’m saying a week and a half,” King countered.

“I’ll bet three days,” Meliodas called behind him.

“You’re not planning on starting another fire are you Captain?” King asked. Meliodas rolled his eyes but a grin present on his face.

“That was Ban’s fault.” Ban spluttered in protest but Meliodas just laughed and ignored him. The bell rang as soon as they slipped into their classroom. All the light in the room came from the floor-to-ceiling windows that made up the right wall of the room. Nobody was outside, everyone already in their first class of the year. Meliodas was pleased to see that the seats in the back of the room were empty and the other students had given them a wide berth. Melascula and Galand were already there, looking as bored as ever. Meliodas waved to his cousins. Melascula jumped up and gave Elizabeth a hug.

“We missed you this summer, Lizzie,” Melascula said. “Without you, there were only six girls. And no one could keep this one,” she jabbed her thumb at Meliodas, “in line.”

“I’m sorry,” Elizabeth apologized. “I really wanted to, but I moved in with my mother and she, well, to say she dislikes everyone is putting it lightly.”

“You mean you live in that stuffy old mansion now?” Galand asked, perking up now that there was some form of drama. Elizabeth nodded and Galand let out a harsh bark of laughter. “Remember when we were younger, and we got into that huge pillow fight there?” In a rare display of mischievousness, King high-fived Ban enthusiastically.

“And then we slashed the rest of the pillows open,” Meliodas finished.

“Everyone, settle down,” Dreyfus said as he came into the room. “I hope all of you had a good summer.” He took attendance and had everyone go around the room and introduce themselves and say what they did over the summer. Ban was called first from their group. He didn’t bother standing up instead raised a hand in greeting. “Name’s Ban. This summer we,” he gestured to the people around him, “spent a month at the Captain’s beach house.”

“Where you almost set the palm trees on fire,” King reminded.

“It’s not like we didn’t have the water to put it out with,” Ban argued.

“We also went snorkeling,” Diane added.

“And ziplining,” King continued.

“Lots of bonfires,” was all Meliodas said.

“Galand tried to surf and ended up wiping out for a solid half hour,” Melascula said with a dry smile.

“You got stung by a jellyfish,” Galand retorted. Then it was Elizabeth’s turn.

“I’m Elizabeth, and I moved in with my mother this summer since I grew up at my uncle’s house.”

Then Dreyfus started talking about what physics for the year was going to be like. “We will be doing physics experiments with things that can’t be blown up,” he informed with a pointed look at Meliodas and Ban. The two boys grinned and high-fived each other “Challenge accepted,” they said in unison. Dreyfus just sighed and continued through the rest of class. When the bell rang the group of five wandered outside and Elizabeth looked down at her schedule.

“It says we have math next.” A chorus of groans immediately followed.

“Denzel is the worst,” King complained. “Remember that time he docked points on an exam because I forgot to turn the study guide for it in?” Meliodas bumped Elizabeth’s shoulder in reassurance.

“Elizabeth, you should walk ahead of us,” Merlin called with Escanor and Gowther in tow. “So the four righteous do-gooders will give you a break and not bother you.”

“Do the seven of us all have math together?” Escanor asked.

“I believe so,” Gowther replied. Ban and Meliodas gave wicked grins.

“You going to get us out of trouble Captain?” Ban teased.

“We’re probably going to be seated away with each other,” Diane mentioned.

“So we’ll just use our phones,” Merlin answered smoothly.

“Sounds like a plan,” Meliodas agreed.

“Did you stay away from them?” Ludociel demanded of Elizabeth as the group of four stopped her in the middle of the path.

“It was difficult since we had the same class,” Elizabeth responded. “And the only seats were in the back. Where they sat.”

Sariel exhaled through clenched teeth. “Try to stay away from them in the next class please.”

“But we all have math together,” King said. “With Denzel who, if you’ve forgotten, religiously follows his seating charts. So it’s not really up to her.”

“Did your father plan this?” Mael pressed.

“You’ll have to ask him,” Meliodas deadpanned. “He doesn’t tell me this shit.” Meliodas and the rest of the Sins swept by the four of them before Gowther stopped and turned around.

“There is also a good chance that some of the Commandments are in the class as well. Ta-ta.” Ludociel’s face was burning red as they moved to the math building.

“Captain, can we bring her on the camping trip this weekend?” Diane whispered. After the first week of school, all of the Commandments, the Sins, and Meliodas’s father would go camping on private ground the Blade family owned. It was something they did every semester. Not to mention the copious amounts of alcohol they all drank over the course of two nights. Elizabeth would only have a few small sips but she enjoyed it nonetheless.

“I think we can sneak her out with Gil’s help,” Meliodas replied. Gilthunder was one of the people who was over at Elizabeth’s mother’s mansion a lot and was a year younger than them. He had idolized Meliodas when he was younger, and he still respected him. He also cared deeply for Elizabeth since his girlfriend was her cousin. Meliodas knew he could count on him for help.

“Oh, good thinking,” Diane said. They stopped in front of a building that had a brick path leading up to another brick building. Honeybees were lazing above the blue and purple morning glories that grew along the white metal archway at the beginning of the path.

“If I remember correctly Tarmiel and Sariel, your next class is history,” Meliodas pointed out when they were still hovering around Elizabeth. “I wouldn’t want you to be late on the first day of class.” Of course, everyone saw through that in a second.

“Just because you’re the Headmaster’s son doesn’t mean you’re above everyone else,” Ludociel snapped. Meliodas raised his hands in response.

“I just stated a fact, you’re the one who read into it.” Meliodas heard grumbling but ignored it as he pushed open the front door to the building. The windows of the classroom were thrown open, allowing fresh air to make the room feel more relaxing. The seating chart was up on the whiteboard. Meliodas resisted the urge to cheer when he saw he and Elizabeth were sitting next to each other. The rest of the Sins were spread out around the room, so texting, as Merlin suggested, would have to be used. Meliodas’s mouth twisted when he saw Mael was sitting behind Elizabeth. Ludociel was sitting next to Meliodas, which he could deal with. Melascula and Galand were seated next to each other, close to Diane and Escanor. Gloxinia and Drole were seated at opposite sides of the room, not close to any of their friends.

Once again, they had to go around the room and say what they did over the summer. The Sins happily repeated what they had said in physics, with Merlin adding “shooting off fireworks.”

“And then watching Monspeet trying to keep the house from setting on fire,” Escanor continued.

“Derieri helped,” Gowther piped up.

“Of course she did,” King muttered. The Sins all snickered at that knowing the two were inseparable. Gloxinia had said that he had almost gotten a concussion diving into their pool while Drole talked about jumping off of rocks into the ocean. When it was Mael’s turn, Meliodas tuned out, not at all caring about what they had to say. The others would be making fun of it anyway. A quick glance at his phone screen showed that the two of them only took classes and “got to know Elizabeth better” since she was living with them now. Despite the jealousy, he fought past it and when Ludociel cast a triumphant look at him, Meliodas remained blank-faced.

The class passed agonizingly slow. Math was difficult to make fun and Denzel had the most monotone voice Meliodas had ever heard. He only used black whiteboard markers and the few times he asked questions only a handful of people ever answered. Meliodas could see Ban crumpling small balls of paper and threw them at Mael’s head, while King was drifting in and out of sleep. Elizabeth was taking notes but her eyes seemed slightly glazed. Meliodas ripped off a piece of notebook paper asking if she was ok and passed it to her when Mael was looking at his notebook. Elizabeth slipped the note back and he saw that she had written she was ok, just bored and zoning out. Mael hissed but the two ignored him, happily passing notes throughout the rest of the class.

When it was time for lunch, Meliodas lead the Sins and Elizabeth to one of his favorite spots on campus: the roof of the social studies building. They went up a staircase that was designated as ‘Roof Access: Employees Only’ but Meliodas picked the lock with ease. The staircase ended in a cramped concrete room full with maintenance and janitorial equipment. He shoved the door open and reflexively blinked in the bright sunlight. Stone railing lined the perimeter of the roof with stone planters overflowing with pink and purple flowers. They all sat down on sun-warmed, smooth stone.

“So Elizabeth,” Diane began as she sat down and pulled some food from her backpack. “What did happen this summer?”

“Do we have to talk about this now?” she pleaded. “I haven’t seen my best friends all summer and I just want to spend time with you now.”

“Sure thing,” Meliodas agreed before anyone could say anything. “You can tell us, all of us, about it this weekend.”

“How are you going to get her out of that prison?” Ban asked.

“Gilthunder and Griamore. Right Captain?” Merlin answered.

“Exactly. We’ve all been over there often enough to know the place like the back of our hand, breaking her out will be easy. Especially if we have the Commandments there too.”

“Will they want to help though?” Escanor asked.

“Estarossa definitely will to get back at his brother,” Gowther replied. “He seems to enjoy antagonizing him.”

“Melascula will too,” Diane added. “She kept going on and on about how she missed having you around.”

“Zel will too. We can pull it off,” Meliodas stated and pulled out his phone. He set up a group chat with the Commandments, the Sins, Elizabeth, and the two sophomores. By the time lunch was over a pretty good plan was in place for this weekend. It was much less elaborate than what Meliodas had originally thought of, but it was just as effective if not more due to its simplicity.

“I think this will work,” Diane cheered and Elizabeth threw herself at Meliodas.

“Thank you so much Meliodas!” Meliodas held her just as tightly.

“Anything for you, Princess.”

@zorria @gsunny6

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sixteenyearoldrants · 3 years

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entry number one - to my old friend group, i am not stupid.

disclaimer: this is basically a diary. when i was 8 i took a dork diaries quiz and it told me to write a blog as a form of venting, which is exactly what i’m doing right now. you should definitely not read this fellow tumblr users it’s boring and a waste of your time i’m basically just talking to myself. if you read this and think you know me irl, no you don’t. i’m using initials to replace names btw.

introduction to my rant

my school is tiny. it only has like 250 people in the ENTIRE school, and my year (the biggest year) has 53 people. over half of them are guys, so that leaves my options for school friends pretty limited. if you’re wondering why i don’t include guys as possible friend group joiners, there is absolutely no reason why, except the fact that there’s an unspoken rule that there are no mixed gender friend groups. at all. they just don’t exist in my year. they exist in the other schools in my town, the ones with over 900 people, but definitely not in mine. as of right now, there are seven friend groups in my year. all groups except group one are all girls

group one is all of the guys. they all have their own little micro groups, but usually all of them hang out in one huge group together. group two and three are kinda exclusive? like they’ve stayed the exact same people since day one, and they’re all actually really nice but i’ve never talked to any of them about anything that isn’t homework answers, so that’s a no. group four is the closest thing we have to popular people, except there’s not enough people in the school for us to have actual intimidating popular people and they’re too nice to be mean-popular. before one of these girls joined, she was a kpop stan and my best friend. she’s still nice but i miss how close we were before we drifted.group five consists of four girls (two of whom are sisters whos parents are first cousins!!!!) and are undeniably the ‘weird kids’. i’m gonna make a separate post later on why they’re considered this but it’s most definitely accurate name for them.

group six is my old friend group that i recently left because they were extreme bitches and sosososo toxic. they genuinely act like they’re better than everyone and judging from the shitty two years i spent with them, they actually think they are. the only person i actually like is LB, she’s the sweetest person ever, i love her to bits. she left the group with me for reasons i will later reveal.

and finally, group seven. this is the biggest group, with seven or eight people. i’ve always been good enough friends with the people in it, so when my old friend group got to be too much, they let me and LB hang out with them, and i’m so happy i was able to fall back on them. i’m a lot happier in this group.

the actual rant - why my old group was so toxic

okay, so i come across as a very ditzy person. i laugh at the stupidest things. i zone out when people talk sometimes. i like to run everywhere, sometimes i skip. i always have to ask what’s going on because i wasn’t listening. i genuinely cannot stay serious. it’s just how i am. like i guess i am kind of a ditz? but i’m not stupid at all. not at alllll. as a matter of fact, i’ve always been really smart (except in algebra because wtf how am i meant to equalize algebraic fractions using coordinates???) but anyways i’m very clever. i can tell in two seconds flat if someone’s trying to bullshit me, i can win any argument purely through logic, i can persuade people by figuring out exactly what i know they want to hear without giving them false hope. right now, i’m doing the highest possible level in every class through my second language, in a school where everyone else grew up surrounded by it and i could barely say a sentence when i joined, and have never ever made a grade lower than a C+.

i am not stupid.

but for some reason, because i’m a bit ditzy, this friend group took that as an excuse to treat me like i am stupid, and i hated it. it wasn’t so bad for the first year. it was normal. i may have been the most common butt of their jokes, but it was fine. there was no actual bad intent behind it, they were just normal inside jokes and stuff. but then, in second year, it actually started to sting.

i would say anything and automatically recieve a dirty look, for example, once i told them about my brother’s sleepwalking, because tbh if your brother unlocks the door and walks out of your house in the middle of the night to stand outside the neighbors door in his pyjamas and socks because he’s “borrowing the hoover”, ALL while asleep (he sleeps with his eyes open too which makes it even creepier bc he doesn’t blink he just stares with weird ass zombie eyes), you’re probably gonna think, ‘hey! that’s a funny story! i should tell my friends about that!’, right?

so i went into school that morning and told them about it really excitedly, and all i got back was one “... okay.”, and all of them giving me a weird look and giving each other knowing looks and then starting up a conversation about the posters on the wall in the room we were in, like i had never said anything at all. (LB wasn’t there. it was just the three bitches)

i know i’m just being dramatic. i know i’m too sensitive, but i had been so excited to tell them about that, and then they couldn’t be bothered to respond with anything other than a look. and it fucking hurt so much and i don’t know why but that memory just always stuck with me. after that i just kinda faded into the background for the rest of the conversation and didn’t say much.

but then i realized that a pattern was emerging. if i tried to start a conversation, i would get the “... okay?” and the looks would be given and exchanged. if i asked a question, i.e “wait, so *name* did/said what?”, they would exchange looks, giggle, and then say *insert my name* in a super exasperated tone and sigh, then continue without answering. they treated me like i was some sort of dumb dog, and i couldn’t stand it. constantly making snide jokes about me. i took the hint after about a month. they didn’t like me. i couldn’t make them like me. i just accepted it. but as you know, at that time i didn’t really have many other friend group options, and another girl had once left our group and they had talked so much shit about her when she left, and i knew they would do the same if i left. so i stayed.

eventually, in the last month of school, they started being bitchy to LB too. they would basically ignore her on the bus home, give her dry responses, just being typical bitches. it got to a point where we would be walking around at lunch, and the three of them would literally have their backs turned to us while talking under their breath so we weren’t included in whatever they were talking about.

i didn’t mind, i was used to it, but it was starting to get to LB. she cracked when i stopped to tie my lace while she waited for me, and the other three full on speedwalked away from us, no shame. she asked if i had been feeling left out recently, because she definitely had, and i was like “omg finally i’ve been wanting to rant to you about this forever” and i explained to her that they had never really liked me and treated me like shit and we decided to leave.

so we did. and now we’re with group seven, those ex-friends seem to have no problem with either of us. in fact, they treat us like nothing ever happened and treat me the way they did when they liked me.

so that’s something i guess. i’m not going back though. ever.

if you read all the way down to this i love you have a cookie.

❤ THE END❤

#long long post #long post #rant #school #friends #toxic #toxic friends #friend group #fake #school rant #friends rant

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momentofmemory · 4 years

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FICTOBER 2020 - day nine

Prompt #9: “Will you look at this?”

Fandom: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)

Characters: Michelle Jones, Peter Parker, Ned Leeds

Words: 1650

Author’s Note: Michelle’s in charge of AcaDec, which really shouldn’t be that much responsibility—except, of course, it is. Set a couple months post-HOCO, spring semester. Michelle POV.

>> i promise i’ll promise

“What is the melting point of mercury?”

Charles’s bell rings instantly, and its sound waves have hardly have the chance to make it to the back wall and bounce back before he’s following it with his answer. “Negative thirty-eight point eight celsius, or negative thirty-seven point nine Fahrenheit. Or two hundred thirty-four point three Kelvin. Or—”

“Correct,” MJ says, forestalling any further commentary. “No points. What does the term ‘amensalism’ refer to in—”

“Wait, rewind?”

MJ glances up over her notes at Charles.

“I got it right,” he says, “so why don’t I get points for it?”

Michelle sighs, blowing a stray piece of hair away from her face. She writes an extra study note next to his name. “The melting point of mercury is negative thirty-eight point eight, but if you'd paid attention to your flashcards, you’d know the Basic Guide says it’s positive six hundred and fifty degrees celsius. Presumably because they confused it with magnesium. So, the answer you should give is positive six hundred and fifty degrees celsius.”

Michelle doesn’t bother looking up when no one responds—the silence communicates her team’s confusion all on its own.

She flips to the next card.

“Soooooo.” It’s Betty’s voice this time. “You want us to give the wrong answer on purpose?”

“Does your textbook still describe Columbus arriving in America as discovering a new land instead of starting a mass genocide?”

“Uh—”

“Great, so now that we’ve established we’re cool with lying for grades, next question. Amensalism. Any takers?”

Charles’s previous enthusiasm for the bell must have evaporated, because her question is once again met with silence.

“The correct answer is ‘a relationship between species that harms one with no effect on the other,’” Michelle says. Then she gathers up the cards and straightens them by tapping the deck against the table. “We’re done with practice questions for today; break for individual study. And for the future, please cross-reference your answers and if you come across one that’s incorrect, memorize both the correct and stated answer and let me know about it for the record.”

The seven students on the stage just stare at her.

“So like.” MJ gestures towards the study tables. “Dismissed.”

She watches them slink off the stage and set up around the room, some in clusters of two and others preferring to study alone. Mr. Harrington’s out sick and the teacher that’s supposed to be helping is… incompetent, judging by the fact that she’s been snoring for the last fifteen minutes, so that just leaves Michelle in charge today.

It’s not a great day for that.

MJ sighs again, then swipes the Music Basic Guide off the desk and walks over to where Ned’s texting furiously in the far corner.

“Hey.”

Ned doesn’t seem to notice her. MJ reaches out over the table and then abruptly drops the book, which is considerably hefty, directly in front of him with a loud bang.

“Whoa!” Ned jerks upright. “Hi?”

MJ nods towards the phone. “That Peter?”

“Uh.” He tilts the phone away, suddenly very interested in her not seeing the screen. “Yeah. He uh, he said he’s on his way.”

“He always says that,” Michelle says. “Tell him MJ says that she’s highly aware of his growing absences—not in like, a creepy stalker kinda way—but in a she will literally kick him out of AcaDec kinda way. We only have nine spots and we need them all at one hundred percent if we’re going to win this year.”

“Good thing I’m here then!”

MJ turns just in time to see Peter, red-faced and breathless, slide into the seat next to her.

He drops his book bag onto the table—the noise once again startling Ned—and then has the audacity to ask, “Did I miss anything?”

She stares at him. “You’re half an hour late, Peter.”

“Which is still earlier than I was yesterday—”

“You realize that makes your argument worse, right?”

“—and Ned filled me in on pretty much everything, so, no need to backtrack for me.”

MJ pins Ned under the weight of her stare. “Oh he did, did he?”

Ned doesn’t even have the decency to look guilty about it, though he does shove his phone in his pocket awfully quickly. “You know what, now that we’ve established that I’m a great friend and teammate, I’m going to be even better and get us some snacks.”

Michelle’s eyes widen. “Ned, wait—”

“I’ll just run to the vending machine and back, don’t wait for me to get started!”

Ned then grabs his bag and is headed out of the room before she or Peter can get a word in, leaving both of them alone.

Michelle folds her arms on the table and lays her head in her hands, and groans.

Peter, mercifully and uncharacteristically, is quiet. After a few moments she hears his chair scrape against the linoleum floor as he finds a more comfortable position, and then the sound of the zipper on his backpack as he pulls out his study cards.

Michelle closes her eyes and ignores all the things she needs to fix, and probably all the eyes that’re pretending not to stare.

“So,” Peter says, somehow almost immediately after her heart stops pounding in her ears, “wrong answers, huh?”

“So many.” MJ drags her head back up and draws patterns on the table with her finger. “Or at least three, I guess. There’s probably more I haven’t found yet.”

“Still, the fact that you noticed them at all is really cool,” Peter says. “You’re good at detail stuff.”

“Or maybe just good at finding bullshit.” MJ chances a quick glance over at the sub to make sure she didn’t hear that. Mrs. Haney, predictably, is still asleep. “But I shouldn’t have had to find them at all. The USAD started charging for study materials this year instead of just handing out the topics, and the price was—a lot. Midtown’s already facing budget cuts, so they didn’t love the idea of spending money on a club run by a sophomore.”

Peter highlights a phrase on one of his cards before writing it down in his notebook. “But you got them, right? That’s got to count for something.”

“Yeah, until I found out they were a complete waste.”

“Complete might be an exaggeration—”

“Well, they’re not good enough!”

Peter pauses halfway through writing a sentence and turns his full attention to her, and it’s—a little nerve-wracking.

“I just—” Michelle grasps for words, then settles by dumping out the flashcards she’d made with the highlighted errors. “Will you look at this disaster? Switching up the melting point of a metal isn’t just a typo; it’s lazy. And easy to miss. We’re going to have to fact check practically everything in the books because there’s no way of knowing where the mistakes are, and who knows if they’re going to quiz us on the right answers or the wrong ones. They just… they charged all this money and they don’t even care who it hurts, because they still get what they wanted.”

“Amensalism,” Peter says.

“Wow, Ned really did tell you everything.”

Peter grins, and Michelle tries very studiously to ignore the way his smile makes her feel a little softer inside. “He’s a very efficient texter.”

MJ rolls her eyes. Peter doesn’t seem bothered.

“I just. Liz chose me for this.” Michelle shrugs, picking at her cuticles. “And since she’s… I just feel like I owe it to her to do it right.”

Peter rubs idly at his wrists, suddenly uninterested in meeting her eyes. “Yeah. I get that.”

For once, despite his hesitancy, Michelle can tell he’s not lying.

It’s a nice change of pace.

Then she awkwardly fist bumps his shoulder and concentrates, intellectually, on how infuriating his flakiness and normal lying-ness is.

He is a disaster. And not interested.

She doesn’t need this kind of distraction.

“Anyway,” she says, abandoning her thoughts and pulling into a stretch, “it’s already done, so. I have to make this work somehow. I’ll figure it out.”

Except, there’s so much work to do already. Student profiles with strengths and weaknesses demarcated, logistics of traveling together for meets, a study plan complete with alternates, a recruiting strategy for next year, and not to mention all the drills she needs to run. Maybe an angry letter campaign to the USAD board while she’s at it.

Peter clears his throat. “Maybe I could help?”

Given his previous participation in AcaDec it is, quite possibly, one of the last things she’d expected him to say.

“I could go through the physics section pretty quickly,” he says, “and Ned can take economics, and—”

“Peter,” she says, still recovering from the surprise of his offer, “you can’t even make it to practice on time and now you’re promising to do extra work?”

Peter has the decency to wince. “Okay, well. Yeah, that’s fair.”

“Yeah.” Michelle squares her shoulders, and resigns herself to the mountain of undeserved work. “But thanks for—”

“How about I just promise to help now? Since I am here?”

Once again, more staring.

“And then next time I’m here,” he continues, “I’ll just promise again.”

It’s utterly ridiculous, but he’s also utterly sincere.

“So you’re.” MJ frowns at him. “Promising to promise?”

“Yes, that.”

“…Huh.” Michelle squints at him. “You’re full of surprises, Parker.”

His eyes grow wide in that way that always makes her think, maybe. And then that stupid grin returns and makes her think a whole lot of other things.

“And one of those surprises is a highly informed understanding of physics.” Peter makes a ‘gimme’ motion with his hand. “Wanna give it a try?”

Michelle looks at him, and how genuinely earnest he is about the whole thing.

Maybe.

“Yeah,” she says slowly, opening the Math guide to the appropriate section. She scoots closer. “We can try.”

#fictober20 #michelle jones #peter parker #spideychelle #fanfiction #spiderman #based off a real event in 2000 #memsfic

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kayr0ss · 4 years

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The Masterplan (Diakko)

[LWA, Diakko, kind of an AU?, funny, absolutely disastrous, nothing goes according to plan, but their friends are so supportive!!!!! ...car chase??]

Summary: Akko is planning a confession. On the other side of the playing field - Hannah and Barbara are dead-set on their best-friend getting the girl of her dreams.So of course nothing goes to plan. Not even close. It's a complete, fast-paced, adorable disaster. [Modern AU]

Akko was on a mission.

She was riding shotgun in Lotte’s car, speeding through the highways of Glastonbury city with the urgency of a government spy. It was finally go-time.

She was finally confessing to Diana Cavendish.

They’ve gone over The Plan three-times over by now—Sucy, Lotte, and herself—and the warm glow of a perfect Friday afternoon felt like an omen for good-and-romantic things to come. The time was nigh—it was now or never.

Now, Akko was no fool. She knew that Lotte and Sucy were only in it so she’d shut up about The Masterplan once and for all, but she appreciated their help nonetheless. And maybe she’d take back what she just said because Lotte seemed genuinely invested in planting the seeds of love and romance.

“Flowers. Lights. Confession.” Akko muttered to herself for the hundredth time, earning an eyeroll from Lotte (who was in charge of lights) behind the wheel.

“It will be fine, Akko.”

“It’s me!” She groaned, throwing a hand up to gesture emphasis. “Anything that can possibly go wrong goes wrong with me!”

“I second this.”

“Thanks for the support, Sucy.” Akko groaned sarcastically. “I ate way too much, way too fast in my nervousness earlier and now I’m bloated and likely ruined my appetite for our dinner!”

“Dinner?” Lotte spared her a sidelong glance, zipping through the highway and causing her passengers to lurch in their seats. “That wasn’t part of The Masterplan. You completely overlooked any sort of food-prep.”

“Kuso!” Akko groaned. “I’ll just wing it! Let’s just get those flowers.”

“Take a left here,” Sucy tapped on Lotte’s shoulders. She was a botanist and therefore assigned to help with the flowers. She made plans to arrange a bouquet with her contact at the local shop, and had reluctantly sworn an oath to forego anything poisonous—with sucked—but it was for Akko, and it was just for one night.

Time was of the essence.

Lotte drummed her fingertips against the steering wheel in anticipation when they came to halt along a stoplight. The Masterplan’s execution was set for eight o’clock, and it was already four-thirty in the afternoon.

Three and half hours.

Set-up their small backyard patio with lights.

Get ready with the best flowers.

And let Akko handle the confession.

Simple. Effective.

Ultimately, disastrous.

---

“She said it’d be just the two of you?” Barbara leaned forward, watching with a mixture of excitement and apprehension as Diana paced around her office at the hospital.

“Yes.” The blonde woman had sunk into a trance-like state of thought. Thinking. Thinking at a hundred miles per hour. This was the opportunity she had been waiting for.

“I—I’m going to confess.”

“Finally!” Hannah practically slammed her fist down the table.

“It must be done perfectly.” Diana said with conviction. “I must get her flowers, and I should at least offer to cover our meal. Do you think she likes Japanese?”

“Likes? She is Japanese! Though she might be sick of it.” Barbara shrugged.

“Or—” Hannah perked up. “—missing it terribly after having stayed in London for so long.”

Curses. They were only at ‘food’ and it was already beginning to get complicated.

“Should I just ask her?”

“No way!” Barbara gasped. “You’re gonna blow Kagari away with a surprise without spoiling anything.”

“She is rather fond of surprises.” Diana stopped her pacing to run her hand through perfect, blonde hair.

“So what’s the plan, Dia?” Hannah urged, already sharing a grin with Barbara.

“Flowers. Food. Confession.”

Simple.

Hannah was already calling the flower store.

---

“What do you mean someone reserved them already?!”

Sucy glowered at the shopkeeper, and Lotte and Akko had to physically back away as though she had grown fangs.

“I’m sorry!” The clerk raised his hands defensively. “Like, just five minutes ago!”

“After everything we’ve been through, Hendrick?! I even called that I was coming by!”

“You always buy the weird stuff you know? And besides, I’ve got other roses aside from Ecuadorian ones, I think—”

“Not settling for anything other than the best.” Sucy was determined. “Names. I need names. Who bought them?”

“I can’t tell you—”

“You can and will.”

“Look, I—”

“You two!” Sucy had spun around, locking her eyes with Lotte. “Get back and get the garden ready. I’ll deal with this mystery buyer and follow in a minute.”

“’Deal with’?” Lotte gawked. “How are you even going to—”

Sucy Manbavaran would never be outdone when it came to plants. This was personal now.

“Go!”

---

“I’ll pick them up and meet you in a few!” Hannah grinned excitedly. “Barbs, you know what to do!”

“She does?” Diana blinked, allowing herself to get dragged by the wrist towards Barbara’s car in the hospital parking lot.

“You’re not going on a date wearing your scrubs.”

“I had no such plans to.”

“Casual won’t do either!” Barbara nagged, fishing for her keys. “You’ve gotta look drop-dead gorgeous.”

“I—I don’t think it’s necessary to.”

“Shush, hon. I just want you to relax and think Akko thoughts, or whatever.”

“Akko thoughts aren’t exactly… relaxing as of the moment.”

“Fair point.”

“Where to?”

Barbara took a quick glance towards her watch and pursed her lips in thought. “Shopping. Then food.”

“Shopping—?”

“Shut up and get in the car!”

---

“She’s crazy!” Akko shrieked. “She had that crazy look in her eyes, like she’s about to poison someone!”

“Well we’re going to have to trust her because it’s five-fifteen and the patio is far from ready!”

Lotte was back behind the wheel, zooming through traffic towards her trinket shop. It was a lot less time than she was comfortable with. Lacing the gazebo with firefly lights and battery-operated teacup candles likely took longer than her mental estimate.

“How are you feeling?” She glanced towards Akko. “You’re looking pale.”

“I—I’m fine.” The brunette said in a contorted voice. Lotte brushed it off as nervousness (which was a rare enough emotion for Akko).

“You sure?”

“Yup!” Akko nodded in determination, steeling her resolve. “Kami-sama, why can’t we just be dating already?”

“Just a few more hours until you are, Akko.”

“If she likes me back!”

“Which she will.”

“But have you seen her Lotte?” Akko began to ramble.

“Many times, yes.”

“How is she even real—what am I doing?! Oh no, oh no, oh no am I seriously going to confess—”

“Breathe!”

Lotte gave her best friend the surest smile she could muster.

“She will.”

---

It was now five forty-seven.

“You.”

Sucy narrowed her eyes, staring straight into hazel. She had camped out in the flower shop, figuring that whoever placed such an urgent order would show up any minute to pick them up. True enough, a familiar woman in a white-coat with auburn hair came bursting through, shouting for her order of Ecuadorian roses.

“Sucy.” Hannah sneered, crossing her arms. “What’s the meaning of this?”

“Those flowers you ordered are mine. I got here first.”

“No way!” Hannah challenged. “I put in the call. He said they were available.”

“How can that take precedence over a client already in-store and paying on the spot?” Sucy turned her calm but heavy glare towards Hendrick, who was sweating bullets while looking between the two women.

“I already paid!” Hannah pulled out her phone triumphantly, showing the screenshot of an online payment transfer. Sucy cursed herself for not having the foresight to have done so earlier.

“I—I don’t make the rules ma’am.” Hendrick conceded, carefully presenting the lovely bouquet of twenty-four roses to the woman who happened to be Sucy’s friend—if only through the sheer force of Akko’s gravitational-friendship-pull. The poor shopkeeper looked pale, trapped between the two very different yet equally threatening auras.

“I’m leaving. Buy something else!” Hannah had turned around dramatically, stepping out through the door with her hair bouncing through the motions.

“You never told me you had online orders.” Sucy told Hendrick evenly.

“I—It was launched recently.”

“Screw that,” she said with gritted teeth. On whim, she decided to follow Hannah, walking into the street and whistling as loudly as she can towards the nearest cab.

A middle-aged man with a bushy moustache looked up from behind the window. “Where to, missy?”

“No questions!” Sucy jumped into the front seat. “Follow that car—and don’t fucking call me missy!”

---

“You’re being—what?” Barbara shrieked as quietly as she could. Just as Diana entered the dressing room a minute ago, her phone began ringing with Hannah’s photo popping up. “Chased? By Sucy? For the flowers?”

[“Yes! She’s a madwoman! Probably going to blow something up with another potion or—"]

“Don’t call me while you’re driving!” Barbara hissed, looking back towards the dressing room which was slowly opening.

Diana stepped out, looking lovely in a sheer white top and cream slacks. She asked how she looked and Barbara had quickly tossed another top for her to try, desperately trying to keep up with Hannah’s rambling on the other line.

“You look great—love the pants—try this blue one! Come on, come on! In you go, nothing to stress about!”

“Stress about?” Diana blinked, frowning. “Is that Hans on the phone?”

“Yeah, it’s all going swell!” Barbara’s voice pitched a little too high. “In you go!”

“O—Okay.”

She had practically slammed the door into Diana’s face, and with a deep breath she diverted her attention back to Hannah.

“Don’t overspeed, and why are you two having a car chase?! It’s just flowers!”

---

“Just flowers?!” Hannah repeated, aghast. “Not when it’s for one of the most important days of our best friend’s life, they aren’t!”

She took a sharp turn at the nearest street, going nowhere in particular if only to shake Sucy off. It was an unfortunately wide road and she was opposite the rush hour lane, leaving it relatively traffic free. She had no intention of breaking speed limits and was forced to stay at seventy. Soon enough, the cab pulled up at her right.

Sucy rolled down the window, looking as worked up as Hannah had ever seen her in their time knowing each other. The driver seemed like he was having the time of his life. “I’ll pay for its price plus ten pounds on top!”

“You think I’m cheap?!” She shouted back, doing her best to keep her driving steady.

“Twenty!”

“You can’t buy me, Sucy! Not for this occasion—not ever!” She grit her teeth and banked towards the left, putting a truck in between them.

Barbara was still in the call.

[“By the nines, Hannah!”]

---

“Whoa!” Akko blinked, head whipping to the side while she followed a familiar-looking SUV speed down the road, seemingly chased by a cab. “Shit’s crazy today!”

“Come on, Akko!” Lotte led her out of the trinket shop’s front and back to her parked car. It took them around forty-five minutes just trying to find the perfect set of lights and the clock was ticking. Akko’s nerves were beginning to fray, and the woman was jumpy, reckless (more so than usual) and generally hyper—

“Akko, be careful!”

—active.

By the nine.

There was a loud thud—and the resonance of something very hard bumping into metal.

That was it.

The Masterplan would have to wait.

Akko ran into a lamppost and passed out with a bleeding nose.

---

“I haven’t heard from Akko.”

It was now seven in the evening and Diana was beginning to fret. She and her friends had returned to her flat to get her ready, but she thought the brunette would at least message her. Should she send another text? She did just half-an-hour ago, informing the brunette she was heading home to get ready. Is a call too forward?

Goodness. She shook her head—why would it be too forward? They were by no means strangers. Far from it! She blushed, this whole thing was getting to her and she hated it. Deciding she could very much call Atsuko Kagari whenever she pleased, she slipped out her phone and dialed.

“She has a heart emoji after her name?” Hannah snickered.

Diana ignored it, flushing red. Her phone rang. And rang. But Akko never picked up.

She exhaled in frustration, wondering if Akko had gotten herself mixed up in another form of disaster. It wasn’t a far-fetched assumption. Or did she ditch her? No, she wasn’t like that. Was she?

Her eyes fell towards the navy-blue top she had picked from the store, and then towards the most beautiful bundle of roses she had ever seen.

It looked perfect. Except—

“Did you really get into a car chase for this?”

“Yup!” Hannah raised a fist in victory. “And I won too. Sucy just up and backed off.”

“That’s suspicious.” Barbara narrowed her eyes. “But I still insist you are absolutely insane for pulling that!”

“What matters—” Hannah crossed her arms. “—is I got the job done.”

Diana sighed, growing anxious and excited at the same time. She glanced back towards her phone. “Let’s just hope I get to give them.”

---

“A lamppost.” Sucy stared at Lotte evenly. “Unbelievable. I got into a fucking car chase only for this moron to walk into a lamppost.”

“That’s what you’re worried about?”

“It’s Akko. She’ll be fine. Hasn’t she broken like, every bone in her body at this point?”

Well. She wasn’t wrong. They were in the Glastobury hospital and Lotte hoped Diana would be on-duty, but upon asking the nurse’s station she clocked out early for today.

“What did Diana say?” Lotte asked Sucy.

“Huh?”

“You didn’t text her?”

“I thought you did.”

“Sucy!”

“You’re the one with her number.”

“But I—”

“Are you her flat-mates?” A young-looking doctor peered through the door of Akko’s recovery room. She broke her nose—but there was no need for a rhinoplasty and therefore she didn’t need admission. Broken nose aside, Akko was in surprisingly good health, bearing an almost-Olympic endurance which in hindsight explained her ability to recover from seemingly anything.

“Yes!” Lotte nodded diligently.

“Well you can take her home now. This one is crazy—she’s already sitting up after an hour of recovery. But I do need to warn you she’s—uh—”

“She’s?” Sucy prodded, hiding her concern under the guise of impatience.

“High as a kite?”

---

Akko was having a good time.

A good time.

She laughed, her head feeling woozy, her hands moving as though they were floating in water and—it was just so funny! By the nines this was the shit!

Her nose kinda felt funny though. Weird.

“Akko?”

Huh? Is—it’s a friend! Akko grinned. Her best friend! “Oh Lotte.”

“That’s just trippy.” Another voice said.

One eye only? Oh it must be Sucy!

“Your hair—” Akko smiled whimsically. “It’s freaking whack, Sucy.”

“Why does she still sound like herself?” Sucy turned to Lotte.

“I told you to be careful!” Lotte wailed, moving to her side to help her up.

“This is place is so bright.” Akko narrowed her groggy eyes, her head lolling about while she inspected her surroundings. Then she gasped. “Where’s Diana! This is Diana’s work!”

“She isn’t here.” Lotte placated. “And sit down—you’ll hurt yourself again!”

In the snap of a finger, Akko was done laughing and suddenly began to pout.

“I miss Diana.”

“I’m sure she’ll be here any second—”

“She said she’d go hooooome first.” Akko pointed towards her phone, sitting on the bedside of the outpatient recovery room.

Lotte sighed. “Come on, you need to go home too.”

“Can you do me a favor?” Akko asked innocently before leaning in and whispering to the two as though to share a secret. Then she broke into another grin—a charming, lopsided grin that screamed ‘painkillers!’

Lotte looked towards Sucy. The latter just shrugged. “Why the hell not? Saves her the time to go here and she’d know what to do with Akko.”

---

It was now seven-forty-six.

Barbara sped down the highway to the hospital, feeling every bit sorry for Diana who was cradling her head in her palms in the passenger’s seat. Although it was a little funny, and apparently Hannah thought so too, based on the snickering in the back.

“That’s just like her, though!” Hannah finally grinned.

Hannah was right. And honestly, Diana knew she’d be fine. But of course this would happen—and only to Akko. The world wasn’t so kind as to allow the night she finally decided to confess to be easy, right?

Dr. Strenger had dutifully informed her that a patient he recognized as Diana’s friend was admitted for a nasal fracture. All she needed to hear was ‘brown hair’, ‘red eyes’, and ‘lamppost’ and it was enough. Thankfully, it seemed Akko’s recovery was marvelous (unsurprising) and that Lotte and Sucy had accompanied her.

They pulled up into the parking lot and Hannah groaned. “Back to our workplace, yikes. You better do good by that bouquet, Diana! I almost died for that!”

She huffed, stepping into the familiar entry way dressed way too nicely for the hospital and holding a gigantic bouquet of flowers.

The receptionist blinked. A few of the nurses had turned their heads at the sight of her. “Dr. Cavendish?”

“Spare me the comments.” She lamented. “What room us is—ah.” Why was she blushing? In front of her colleagues! “Atsuko Kagari.”

“Oh, miss Akko!”

Right. Between accidents and visiting Diana, the staff knew her by now.

“She came in a pretty bad shape, but she didn’t need to be admitted. Dr. Strenger sent her home.”

“She isn’t here?”

“Actually,” the receptionist tilted her head. “On their way out she was screaming rather loudly that she was going to straight to your place?”

Her—what?

---

“I don’t think this is Diana’s house.”

Sucy elbowed Lotte, the pair of them standing behind a still-delirious Akko who rang the doorbell to a three-story tall apartment. It looked every bit as posh as its red-brick façade suggested. It was imposing. Classical. Nestled in a street of similarly luxurious dwellings that had cars Lotte had only seen in magazines—parked in garages or even right at the streets.

“But this is where Akko directed us to.” Lotte shrugged.

The door finally opened, and they tried so very hard not to face-palm.

---

“Atsuko.”

Akko grinned, feeling woozy, and reaching forward to shake the hand reluctantly offered to her. As she’s told herself earlier in the day, she was no fool. She knew she was tripping—her guess was either anesthesia or painkillers—or wait, were those the same things? Or like… not? Huh. She should ask Diana alter and—oh-right-she-was-still-shaking-Aunt-Daryl’s-hand!

“Hello!”

“A—Are you quite alright?” The elder Cavendish tentatively asked, eyeing her nose.

“Oh yah.” Akko waived a hand, giggling. “Lamppost.”

“Of course.”

Akko swore that was a little smile! It was a lot of work, but they at very least didn’t hate each other anymore. Unlike at first. Charming—that was Akko’s middle name! Actually it wasn’t, but—

“It may as well be.” Daryl commented.

Holy shit, did she say that out loud?

“You did.”

“Anyway—” Akko squeaked “—I came to visit Dia?”

Daryl blinked, then looked over to the two friends Akko had brought with her.

“I think you should come inside.”

Akko nodded, the action of it made her still-groggy head spin and eventually she lost her balance, falling forward—

—and getting caught by the wrong Cavendish’s arms. So wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. Not this one!

“I’mma take you up on that offer.” Akko mumbled, apologizing profusely while she righted herself.

---

A soft 'ping' alerted Diana to a text message.

Daryl Cavendish (1)

“What on earth does she want at this hour?” Diana mumbled to herself, sulking once again in Barbara’s passenger seat. “As if I don’t have enough to worry with Akko—oh by the nines!”

The sheer volume of her voice was enough to make both Hannah and Barbara snap in attention.

8:26 Daryl Cavendish: Diana. Someone very interesting has come to visit, although I’m afraid she forgot your updated address.

“Christ.” Barbara groaned. “That’s at the opposite end of where we’re going. I love you but I’m getting real tired of driving you around.”

8:27 Daryl Cavendish: I look forward to hearing your side of this story. 8:27 Daryl Cavendish: 😉

Diana’s ears turned bright red. Hannah looked over her shoulder to read and outright laughed.

“Just drive, Barbs. Have mercy on Diana’s poor soul.”

---

“She said that?” Daryl’s eyebrows inched upwards every so lightly.

“She totally did! Diana’s a lot cheesier than people think.” Akko smiled smugly.

She had checked her nose via a mirror in the living room, and all she could do was laugh. Cause she didn’t feel like she had a nose. Or an… anything. It was so weird to move her hands around and like, not feel them moving.

Daryl paused for a moment to check at her phone. “Hm. Diana will be here shortly.”

“Yeesh.” Akko grinned, rubbing at the back of her head sheepishly. “I can’t believe I forgot she moved out last year.”

“You helped her move.” Daryl said pointedly.

“I know!” Akko shrugged. “I forgot that too. Head’s all woozy. Having a good a time though!”

“I… am glad to hear that?” The elder Cavendish turned towards Lotte and Sucy. “Are you two alright?”

The two women held up their hands, shaking their heads with jumbled responses of “Yep!” and “We’re fine!” and “Just go ahead and talk!” and “Take your time!”

---

“Well this takes me back.” Barbara peaked up at Daryl’s excessive apartment through the driver’s side window. “Alright”, she elbowed Diana. “Go get your woman!”

Diana looked absolutely spent. But also, a bit relieved. She’ll finally see her—the circumstances didn’t matter. Somehow all this craziness felt just like Akko and after hours of chasing her around she was… just excited to see her again.

She felt a swell of affection in her chest. The same feeling that pushed her to think about confessing in the first place.

“Will—Will you two come with me?”

Hannah clapped her shoulder. “You think after this entire afternoon we’d ditch on you now?”

Barbara grinned at her, encouragingly. “Come on, lover girl.”

“Please don’t ever call me that again.”

---

“Diana!”

Akko practically wept, running across Daryl’s living room (“Akko, no!”) and into the (proper) Cavendish’s arms.

“I missed you todaaay!” The brunette whined.

The reaction was a bit excessive, even for Akko, and at Diana’s confused reaction Sucy had helpfully supplied that she was—“Still high as kite. Painkillers, or whatever.”

Akko pulled back, lip trembling. “You’re so pretty.”

“Th—Thank you. Goodness, your nose!”

“Lamppost.”

“I heard,” Diana said softly, hand coming up to cup Akko’s cheek. She had been so worried. She inspected the wound with such tenderness that she could hear Barbara swooning in the back.

“Ahem.”

Right.

“Aunt Daryl. Thank you for taking care of her.”

“No worries.” Daryl replied with a lilt in her voice, smirking. “I’ve grown rather fond of this one.”

The miracles of Akko’s charm, Diana supposed.

The next thing she noticed was Sucy glowering towards Hannah—and the flowers. Her eyes widened, suddenly remembering their car-chase, and that the entire point of the evening was supposed to be—

“Easy now.” Diana said carefully, intent on alleviating whatever tension remained. ��At least we know Akko’s alright.”

---

Oh she’s pretty.

What the hell! She’s already in her arms but she’s so so pretty and Akko could just breathe in the smell of her hair and oh Diana is right here!

Never-mind Daryl, and Sucy, and Lotte, and Barbara, and Hannah—Hannah?

Akko blinked, looking towards the auburn-haired woman. Then she grinned. Flowers! The sight of the bouquet triggered what felt like a distant memory through the hazy fog of her mind:

Flowers. Lights. Confession.

Diana.

She gasped.

Akko then suddenly grabbed the bundle straight out of Hannah’s hands—faster than anyone thought she could move.

“Hey!”

But she didn’t care, she pulled on Diana’s arm, urging her to look back towards her—and oh the lights were so pretty in this house—it felt perfect, it really did, the only word that echoed in Akko’s addled mind was:

Confess!

“Diana.”

She said softly, as if in a moment of clarity. She shoved the flowers towards the blonde.

“I love you!”

---

I love you.

Diana’s jaw had dropped.

She said I love you.

All she could see was the blinding grin that Akko was shooting her way and really—really Akko? Right now? In this situation?

But she couldn’t believe that she was smiling back. Because she realized she didn’t care. Akko had just told her she loves her.

This entire day was a disaster.

But she loves her.

She loves her!

Diana wants to say she loves her back. Goodness, when did her mouth stop working? She settled for pulling her closer—keeping her steady, Akko was still a little out of it—but she couldn’t help it. Diana pulled Akko in, cupping her cheek and—and—

Diana kissed her.

It wasn’t easy—she had to do so gently to avoid disturbing the gauze and plaster on top of Akko’s broken nose.

But Akko’s eyes had fluttered to a close so prettily, and she actually kissed her back. They pulled apart—Diana was suddenly aware of the people and their surroundings—and Akko looked up to her. Smiling. Surprised. And then—

Between the blood-loss, being heavily drugged, and Diana kissing her?

Akko’s eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted.

fin

A/N: Every time I write something I realized I like to focus on singular, detailed moments that are slow and soft. Then I read this hilarious twitter thread about a guy who interviewed George Clooney despite rupturing his gall bladder who got high as kite on his pain killers, and then I throught "That's some big fucking Akko energy", and likewise decided, "what if I just wrote whatever the hell I wanted and get tripping" and here we are

Hope you enjoy this - this is something a bit different for me and I just sat down for like four hours straight and spweded this out, am i ok, LOL

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bangtan-madi · 4 years

Text

All Of Our Lifetimes — One: Daymare

Pairing — Taehyung x Reader

Tags — boyfriend!Taehyung, husband!Taehyung reincarnation au, lovers to strangers and to lovers again, established relationship, implied soulmate au

Genre — fluff, angst, crime (ish)

Word Count — 2.7k

Summary — Does love ever truly end, or does it simply take another form in a new life? The cycle is like clockwork: your lives end and you’re reborn again. You’ve lived it over and over. Each cycle, one of you loses your memories and is tragically unaware until the other finds and awakens their lover. After all these eons, all these lifetimes, is it possible to find each other again—even when neither of you awakens with your memories?

Part — 1 / 10

Warnings — swearing

A/N — This is going up a few hours earlier than I said previously, but I don’t care! Tuesday is the worst day of the week so I need to put out something good lol. Enjoy!

Previous — Next

"Find me... Find me... F—"

"—Oh, fuck me!"

Milo's temper tantrum draws you from your intense daydream. Jolting in your seat, breath ragged and heartbeat racing, you see your roommate throw a copy of her resume across the living room in a burst of rage.

"Fuck you," she points sharply at the paper, "fuck this, and fuck me!"

As Milo throws herself onto the couch, draping her forearm dramatically across her eyes, she heaves a heavy sigh and groans loudly.

"How are we supposed to have this much experience for an entry-level job, [Y/n]? We were lied to. I feel wronged. Can I sue?"

You shake your head, trying to push the daymare away from your mind. It's not the first time this has happened, and it certainly won't be the last, but somehow that man's face keeps coming back to you. Day and night, he's all you see when you close your eyes, almost like a memory...

You feign a smile as you reply, "Who are you gonna sue, Mi? You're the one that insisted on doing your resume yourself, after our internships."

Milo gestures extravagantly with her free hand, making shapes in the air with her fingers. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe the professor who told us that we'd have enough to get a job overseas by the time we graduated? Maybe the damned school who never mentioned the fact that South Korean's are so damn particular? Maybe my mom who never forced me to continue speaking Korean or writing Hangul when I was a kid so that I had to basically re-learn every-fucking-thing?"

The highs and lows of her complaints cause a laugh to slip out as you turn your attention back to your own resume, a digital copy ready for edits on your laptop. "You're gonna sue your Mrs. Choi? Doesn't sound like a great idea. Besides, I like her too much. Her kimchi is to die for. And if you had already known Korean and Hangul, we may have never met!"

Your best friend nods once, accepting this fact as true. "Probably not. That semester in a foreign language really did solidify our nerdiness about South Korea." She jabs a finger in your direction. "But I have a one-up on you 'cause my grandparents were first-gen immigrants from Seoul. So ha!"

Raising your hands in mock defeat, you retort, "You win that one. I'm just an American."

"So sad." The brunette sits up with an excited expression, eyes wide as she crawls over to you on your side of the sofa. "How about my academic advisor, if you can even call the woman an advisor for rehashing my own questions back at me? She convinced me that I could get a job anywhere, with any degree. So what did I go with? Interior design! I can't find a single freakin' job in Seoul for that! Not that doesn't require, like, three years experience, a particular certification that I conveniently did not get, and a signed contract with the Evil Underlord Satan."

"I really don't think that's gonna work, but hey go ahead and try!"

Milo shoves your shoulder playfully, turning to the television to change it to the New Year's Rockin' Eve show that you'd been waiting to start. "You're the one that took ethics classes! I thought you'd be able to tell me if I had a case."

You scoff, "I took business ethics, not legal ethics! But I can agree with you partly. That woman was of no help. At all. Glad I wasn't stuck with her as an advisor since I was in the communications program."

"Yeah, I like to compare her to our house: a conventional ranch with no personality."

You burst into laughter, and Milo hops up from the sofa, an amused expression on her face. She tosses the remote in your direction. "Get the channel right. I can't find it. I wanna watch the ABC exclusive. Pretty sure we get that through YouTube TV."

You catch the remote with ease and turn to the menu. "You think I know how this thing works? I only use Netflix and Crunchy Roll."

"Just shut up and search, will ya?"

You roll your eyes and do as your roommate asks. "Why ABC? Isn't it easier to just stream it online?"

"Becauuuse BTS! They're gonna be performing in, like, ten minutes!"

"What's that again?" you tease.

"Okay, I am not dealing with you right now. Don't make me come over there and hit you with the champagne bottle."

The last two words catch your attention. You turn around, rest your arms on the back of the sofa, and give your best friend the biggest puppy-dog eyes you can manage. "Pour me a glass, Jagiya?"

Milo smirks at the Korean pet name and grabs the golden bottle from the refrigerator. "Get your ass over here so we can pop it and move on. I ain't waiting for midnight. We got shit to do before then, and I can't work on this job-seeking stuff for another damn second without some alcohol in me."

You squeal a tiny, "Yay!" before leaping over the back of the sofa and joining your roommate in the kitchen.

After the champagne is popped and poured, both of you return to your places on the sofa. You take a sip from your glass as Milo calls your favorite local pizza place to place an order.

"Pickup in fifteen, which is perfect! I don't wanna miss BTS," she giggles, pushing her champagne away. "No drinking and driving. I can wait until I get back."

"You're giving up champagne for this band?" you tut, swirling your glass to show off the drink. "You must really love these boys."

Milo narrows her dark eyes at you and tosses her hair over her shoulder. "You'll see."

Another sip and you turn back to your laptop, the noise of the New Year's Rockin' Eve in the background. "Mhm, sure."

You continue to work in relative quiet for the next five minutes until Milo breaks the peace with an elated screech, a sound that is more similar to that of an animal than a twenty-something woman.

"They're on!" She grabs your arm and shakes it vigorously. "Look at them!"

You stop your edits to your portfolio and turn to the television with a sigh. The crowd has started to go mad over the seven men currently trotting up the stairs and on to the stage. The singing has already begun, and you have to admit that their voices harmonized spectacularly together.

But there's one voice, in particular, that is so familiar to you. Despite being mixed in with the group, the lowest register has your eyes leaving your laptop screen and shifting to the television. You can't put your finger on it, but there's something so soft, so real, so warm about it.

The camera zeroes in on the seven men. All are dressed to the nines and look like they're having a blast while performing. So not only can they sing and dance—and, for some, rap—they're all stupid good looking, each in their own unique way.

As the first song comes to a close, and Milo sings the last verse at the top of her lungs, the camera pans to the man in the center. He delivers some of the last lines in a voice as soft and warm as the one you'd heard amongst the mass. Except, this time, he stands out.

But you recognize more than his voice; his appearance is familiar, too. Despite remaining in the background for most of the first song's performance, there's something about the man with the wavy black hair and similarly colored trench coat that calls to you. On an ordinary day, on any other day, you would wave it off as a simple attraction.

But this—this is different. You can't put your finger on how or why, but you know that you've met this person before.

Lightning strikes. You know where you've seen this face before. He's been in your dreams and nightmares, your daymares and daytime imagination. He's been all over your mind, consuming it for the past few months. You've always had this dream, ever since you were a child, but lately, those nightmares have been getting more frequent. This man might be a slightly younger version than the one that plagues your dreams, but it's the same person. You're sure of it. Every time you close your eyes, his face is the one you see.

Right before you both die.

The next song begins, and the dark-haired stranger is back at the front. For the remainder of their eight-minute time slot, your eyes are glued to the screen, unable to comprehend where this person came from. You have distinct memories of your mother consoling a three-year-old you after having these same night terrors. Surely, you could not have seen this person back then. It's unlikely you saw him at all, and certainly not as he is at the turn of the decade.

"Who's that?"

Milo follows your gesture, seeing the raven-haired man taking center stage once again. "That's Kim Taehyung! Pretty, isn't he?" She chuckles at your expression. "You have a bias already, damn that's impressive. I mean, I'm more of a Hoseok girl myself but..."

Your roommate's chatter fades away as your attention is once again drawn to the screen. The performance ends, and the show shifts to a different artist, all part of the New Year's Rockin' Eve circus.

"Welp, that was worth the wait, but I'm gonna go pick up that pizza," Milo cheers, hopping to her feet. "Don't drink all the champagne before I get back!"

You shake your head and wave to the brunette as she slips out the door. Turning back to your laptop, you open a new search bar and put in two words: Kim Taehyung.

Millions of results pop up, everything from Wikipedia articles to Koreaboo gossip posts and everything in between. The entire time Milo is gone, you spend online researching BTS' V. By the end of the half-hour, you've learned quite a bit about him—taking particular note that his birthday is just a few days after yours—and have stalked his social media.

A little farther down on the results, you see an ad for Big Hit Entertainment. The ad says that the company is looking for bi-lingual speakers, preferably English and Korean, to hire as a production assistant. Out of curiosity, you click on the link and are taken to Big Hit's site.

Milo returns with fanfare, holding the pizza in front of her like Simba the lion. "It's the cirrrcle of life!" she sings. "They were definitely talking about pizza when they wrote that line."

As she plops the box onto the kitchen counter, you make a sound of vague agreement. Milo asks you how many pieces you want, but you hardly hear her, eyes skimming the job posting over and over.

Is this a possibility? Is this something you're actually considering? Besides the fact that you just saw the add a few minutes ago, your reasons for applying are vague at best. Are you weighing the real options, or are you leaning into this particular job because it might lead you to answers? Or maybe give you an opportunity to meet this Kim Taehyung, maybe even ask him questions?

"Hello? Earth to [Y/n]!" Milo reaches over the back of the sofa to wave a hand in front of your face. Snapping you out of your stupor, your best friend laughs. "Damn, what are you reading? You're really out—wait...is that Big Hit? You found a job posting? What!"

Milo grabs your laptop and pulls it from your grasp. "Mi—"

She brings it over the back of the couch, placing it on the counter beside the pizza. Her brown eyes are wide and curious as she scrolls through the information. "Production assistant for Big Hit, in Seoul, for a bi-lingual speaker with no prior experience? Dude. This is the perfect job! Like, seriously, where did you find this?"

"On Google," you sigh, knowing that you're not going to get the laptop back until Milo relinquishes her control. You settle in on the stool beside her. "I was looking...for postings while you were gone. I stumbled across it."

Milo cocks an eyebrow and shows you your search history, terms which mostly consist of "BTS," "BTS V," and "Kim Taehyung."

"Mhm, suuure, we'll go with job postings."

You take the device from her with a playful scowl. "My point remains. This is exactly what I've been looking for. It says here that the job would be a lot of translation work, both in person and on documents. I'd also assist in the studio while recording or producing. And various other tasks, but I think it'd put my communications major to good use. It's a step in the right direction."

"You sure you just don't wanna see Taehyung-ssi?" she giggles.

A rising feeling of defensiveness comes over you as you close your laptop, moving to the sofa to retrieve your glass of champagne. "I just heard BTS for the first time tonight, Milo. I'm not about to pick my first post-college job and move half-way around the world for a boy I don't even know, let alone a K-pop boy."

"A cute K-pop boy, though."

You return to her side, raising both eyebrows in an expression that says, "Really?"

Milo shrugs, raising her hands in mock surrender. "Okay, okay, I'll let it go. Just an odd choice for you."

"Well, it's like we were saying earlier." You grab a piece of pizza from the box and shove the end into your mouth. "What'd we got t'lose?"

Milo makes a "close your mouth" gesture with her hand, grimacing at the sight. "Points were made. Fine, but maybe sleep on it? And this is me telling you to not be impulsive," she laughs towards the end. "But what the hell. If you go for it, I might have to find a job in Seoul sooner than I thought."

"I'm sure there are thousands of applicants," you grimace, the reality of the situation settling in.

Milo grabs a slice for herself and wraps an arm around your shoulders. "And you're worth each and every one of 'em." After pressing a loud kiss to your temple, she slips from the bench and plops back down on the sofa. "C'mon! We got some balls to drop and resumes to edit."

Later that evening, or earlier the next morning, you're left cleaning up as Milo reclines on the sofa in a tipsy slumber. After the New Year rolls in, along with a brand new decade, you're left alone with your thoughts.

Thoughts and several disposable dishes.

As you tidy up, you contemplate the options in front of you. Sure, you'd sent out several resumes to plenty of companies already. Some of which you'd heard absolutely nothing from, while others have let you know they'll get back to you about a possible interview. So far, nothing has been terribly promising.

So what' the harm in applying for the Big Hit job in Seoul?

The other half of your motivation slips into your sleepy mind. The person you've seen since childhood, could he really be Taehyung? Could you finally be so close to the answers? Why only one dream? Why him? Why so much blood and death?

Does he dream of you, too?

The laptop remains on the kitchen counter, and your fingers itch to open it up and send off your completed resume. This could lead to more than just a new job and a fresh start; this could lead to the answers you've been seeking ever since you were three years old.

A tiny voice inside you says, "Do it."

And, against your better judgment, you listen.

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